Chapter Ninety-Two: Departure After Success

The thunderous blast had hardly faded when the great stone before Chen Jin split cleanly in two.

Chen Jin was still somewhat baffled, but he knew an opportunity when he saw one. Reaching out, he plucked from the heart of the boulder the quintessence of a strange iron of the gold element—a lump of liquid metal like platinum.

He then slapped it directly onto the tiger-tooth flying sword.

In the blink of an eye, the flying sword swallowed it whole. Seeing this, Chen Jin immediately spat forth a blaze of bright yellow fire. The flames burned thousands of degrees hotter than an ordinary kitchen fire and were just right for reforging the sword.

Under his command, the flames completely enveloped the tiger-tooth flying sword.

As they raged, the liquid metal was expelled once more by the sword, then wound itself around the blade’s body.

It coiled around the sword in layer after layer, each circuit dwindling as it went, until at last all of it sank into the flying sword. On the sword’s gleaming white blade, platinum patterns slowly began to emerge.

Yet those patterns were chaotic, covering the sword without order.

Seeing this, Chen Jin knew the time had come. He began to chant a formula of his own devising, one he had researched himself rather than borrowed from any ancient text. As he recited it, the patterns on the sword’s blade actually began to move across the steel, as though under his control.

When Chen Jin ceased the chant, the wandering lines also came to a stop, reforming into a new design upon the blade. The patterns were no longer jumbled, but precise and orderly.

But that was still not enough. Chen Jin still had plenty of useless spiritual materials of the gold element in his hands, and the fivefold qi true essence he sought could be condensed with only one especially fitting substance. So he took out the remaining gold-element materials, melted them with flame, and sent them into the flying sword.

Chen Jin had long since calculated everything. He had determined the proportions to the last detail, and he had already prepared the formulas for integrating each gold-element material into the sword.

He had a reason for doing this. He had always felt that the tiger-tooth flying sword was not truly suited to him. Though it was sufficient for use all the way to the Soul Gathering realm, it did not truly belong to him; it belonged to Xin Yang. So Chen Jin had long intended to reforged it, but had been lacking a primary material. After hearing from Master Cixin about that stone, however, he had set his sights on the quintessence of the strange iron within it.

That was why his trip to Mount Lao was not merely to pay respects at his cheap master’s Taoist temple. He had come to obtain the quintessence of that strange iron of the gold element and to reforged the tiger-tooth flying sword so that it would fit him better.

And as Chen Jin merged the gold-element materials into the tiger-tooth flying sword, the sword actually spat out a mass of golden liquid.

The golden liquid was like blood, yet not blood. The aura within it belonged neither to Chen Jin nor to the sword, but to Xin Yang.

"This..."

Chen Jin was startled, but he also felt it was only natural. More than that, he felt delight.

He knew this was the perfect moment to truly claim mastery over the tiger-tooth flying sword.

Chen Jin used mixed-origin qi to cut the fleshy pads of all ten fingers, then forced out fresh blood.

He lifted the blood with mixed-origin qi and sent it into the tiger-tooth flying sword.

Wrapped in the mixed-origin qi, the blood was not burned by the flames surrounding the sword.

It landed intact upon the blade.

As Chen Jin’s blood merged into the tiger-tooth flying sword, he felt as though he had gained another organ—an external organ.

With that sensation, he knew he had succeeded. This was the feeling every sword immortal experienced when forging a flying sword of their own life.

Having reached that state, Chen Jin withdrew the flames surrounding the blade. As for the golden liquid expelled by the sword, he did not destroy it outright.

He sent it back into the great stone, where the original shell of the stone spirit still remained. If fate allowed, perhaps something might yet be born from it. The chances seemed slim, unless...

Thinking of that unless, Chen Jin dropped a single bead of his own blood into the golden liquid.

If it ever truly came into being one day, then Chen Jin could use that drop of blood to make it call him father.

Just as Chen Jin sent the golden liquid back into the great stone, a mass of purple mist suddenly surged up from beneath the boulder and merged into it.

With the mist’s influx, the great stone actually restored itself, reverting automatically to its original, intact state.

Chen Jin stared, dumbfounded.

Had time just run backward?

The answer clearly lay in that purple mist.

While Chen Jin was still puzzled, another mass of purple mist surged up from beneath his feet.

He hurriedly leaped into the air, avoiding it.

Good grief—if that mist could restore a shattered boulder to its original state with a single touch, then if it touched him, would he not turn into a milk-sucking infant?

But Chen Jin could evade it once, not twice. The purple mist was faster than before, shooting straight for his face.

Seeing this, Chen Jin immediately spat out mixed-origin qi, which took the form of a sharp blade and collided head-on with the purple mist.

Yet the purple mist was like a ghost. The mixed-origin qi could not strike it at all; it merely passed through it and smashed into the big tree behind, severing the trunk cleanly at the waist.

Then it shot straight into the center of Chen Jin’s brow.

At once, a great flood of information appeared in Chen Jin’s mind.

The information revealed that this was a legacy from antiquity, a transmission from the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors, specifically the inheritance of the Heavenly Official among the Three Officials. As for this Heavenly Official, he was none other than the ancient sage king Yao.

Chen Jin only read as far as this. He did not yet delve into the details of the inheritance, instead sealing it away for the time being within his mind. Then he turned his gaze to the restored boulder on the ground.

His eyes were a little dangerous. He had indeed briefly entertained the idea of smashing the stone apart to seize that purple mist.

After some thought, however, he decided to let it call him father in the future after all. It had once taken over his body and inherited many of his cultivation insights; now it was time for it to pay its debt.

Besides, Chen Jin’s main cultivation method was still the White Emperor Profound Origin True Scripture, not the secret arts of the Three Officials. So after a moment’s consideration, he left the place.

"This counts as settling the karma between us," Chen Jin thought.

By "the two," he meant Xin Yang and the unborn stone spirit.

Later, as Chen Jin descended the mountain and passed by the Supreme Clear Palace once more, he saw that the place had fallen into complete chaos. The scene was utterly out of control.

Tourists and Taoist priests were mixed together; police had arrived as well, but they were still of no use.

Chen Jin looked over the scene, somewhat at a loss. Still, he knew it was best not to linger, so he simply went on down the mountain.

At the foot of the mountain, he unexpectedly saw Chu Xuan again. His bald head was far too conspicuous in the crowd.

...