Others grind levels while I cultivate immortality

Chapter 106 – Ten Years to Forge a Sword, the Enemy-Slaying Sword of Demon-Sealing Pass!

by spirapira

Su Xing’s short-term goal was to kill Old Dog Zong, who was in the Spirit Transformation stage, and then inherit his legacy.

But achieving this would not be easy. Old Dog Zong’s strength was at least equivalent to the Martial Emperor level, and having lived for a thousand years, he had far too many life-saving trump cards. If Su Xing wasn’t careful, he could easily capsize in the gutter.

So Su Xing estimated that he would need at least Qi Refinement at Spirit Transformation plus Body Tempering at Divine Power Realm, along with proficiency in offensive techniques, before he could be confident in handling Old Dog Zong.

To reach this goal, Su Xing had no choice but to run multiple simulations to accumulate his foundation.

And right now, the purple talent Sword Maniac combined with the 《Sword Canon Overview》 undoubtedly gave Su Xing a glimmer of hope.

Never mind mastering Earth Sword — if he could just achieve the first part, Human Sword, and it truly was as the overview claimed, unrivaled among mortals, then Su Xing would have the confidence to defeat Old Dog Zong.

Of course, to be safe, he would still need to push his cultivation realm higher.

Su Xing thought this, then continued simulating.

【Year Nine: After failing to refine the Divine Power Pill, you devoted all your attention to cultivation.】

【You practiced the Sword Canon Overview daily, gaining new insights each time. Your swordsmanship improved by leaps and bounds.】

【That same year, thanks to your ample supply of Demonic Beast Blood Essence and daily consumption of Primordial Martial Pills, your cultivation rose to the Primordial Martial Realm, Ninth Layer.】

【Year Ten: Your comprehension of the sword deepened further, but you knew well that every harvest comes from hard work. You did not aim too high or chase after so-called sword intent or sword qi. Instead, you practiced each sword move diligently and perfected every motion.】

【That same year, thanks to the abundant spiritual energy in the Blessed Spirit Field, your Qi Refinement cultivation advanced further. You became a Nascent Soul Stage, Third Layer cultivator.】

【Year Eleven: Having practiced the sword for ten years, you had thoroughly mastered the four fundamental categories of sword techniques. Dozens of basic sword moves had been practiced until they were second nature. Ten years of honing a single sword — you were no longer satisfied with the most basic swordsmanship. You wanted to practice the killing sword!】

【You understood deeply that the sword dao was fundamentally meant for killing — killing people, killing demons, killing all enemies. If you only practiced basic sword moves after ten years of training, you would never achieve a greater breakthrough.】

【Year Twelve: At your insistent request, you joined the Demon-Sealing Pass army and became a border soldier.】

【The Great Xia leadership initially opposed you at every turn. They believed your identity was far too important and that you absolutely could not risk your life at Demon-Sealing Pass. Besides, Demon-Sealing Pass didn’t lack your single contribution of strength.】

【But you understood that you weren’t killing enemies for others — it was to temper your swordsmanship. Ultimately, under your persistence, the Great Xia Military agreed to let you join Demon-Sealing Pass and fight on the front lines.】

【However, to ensure your safety, the Great Xia Military dispatched several Heavenly King-stage powerhouses and one Martial Emperor-stage powerhouse to protect you. Their orders from the Great Xia Military were clear: before they themselves died, you must not suffer any harm.】

【You were not worried about your own safety, because you knew that Luo Shuying, the Legendary-stage powerhouse, was watching over you on the battlefield at all times. Unless a Legendary-stage alien personally made a move, your life would not be in danger.】

【You joined Demon-Sealing Pass. To ensure your swordsmanship would receive sufficient tempering, you disguised yourself and started as the most ordinary foot soldier, fighting freely on the battlefield.】

【Your strength was formidable — enough to slay Heavenly King-stage demonic beasts — but you had no experience fighting and killing on a real battlefield. So you decided to start with the easy targets.】

【In your first month at Demon-Sealing Pass, you slew 36 Grandmaster-stage demonic beasts and 178 Master-stage demonic beasts. As for Gold-stage and below, the count was beyond reckoning!】

【In your second month at Demon-Sealing Pass, you slew 60 Grandmaster-stage demonic beasts and 270 Master-stage demonic beasts. Gold-stage and below were countless!】

【In the third month, by virtue of your military merits, you became a chiliarch, commanding a thousand soldiers.】

【But you cared nothing for any of this. You only wanted to constantly battle sufficiently powerful enemies to hone your swordsmanship.】

【In the fourth month, the demonic beasts that had died by your hand were beyond counting. You were no longer satisfied with killing Grandmaster-stage demonic beasts. You set your sights on the Demon Kings.】

【At first, due to your lack of combat experience, although you could overpower them with raw strength and emerge victorious, your wins were rather ugly.】

【But as you continued to battle, your understanding of the “killing sword” deepened. You began striking lethal blows with every move, without a shred of hesitation.】

【In one month, you killed a full seven Demon Kings! By virtue of your military merits, you became a myriarch of Demon-Sealing Pass, with even two Heavenly King-stage Class Users under your command.】

【Month Five: You remained immersed in combat and honing your craft. This month, the number of Demon Kings who died by your hand exceeded ten!】

【Month Six: Your astonishing battle record drew the attention of the alien races. They dispatched a full six Demon Kings to encircle and eliminate you.】

【Alone with your sword, you fought six Demon Kings for an entire day and night. When the other soldiers finally found you, the ground around you was littered with Demon King flesh, and blood flowed like a river.】

【In this great battle, you too suffered severe injuries — a wound over a foot long had appeared across your abdomen. You had no choice but to withdraw from the front lines and begin recuperating.】

Seeing this, Su Xing’s expression grew solemn.

“That’s right! I’ve always focused on advancing my cultivation realm, but I’ve neglected improving my actual combat ability and fighting experience…”

“In that situation, dealing with weaker enemies is fine, but when facing an enemy of similar strength or even stronger, I would absolutely be at a disadvantage because of it!”

This simulation served as a wake-up call for Su Xing. Beyond cultivation realm, sufficiently outstanding combat experience was also essential.

“But combat experience — shouldn’t I be able to obtain that from the simulator too?”

Su Xing thought this, then continued simulating.

【Year Thirteen: After several months of recuperation, your injuries had largely healed with almost no lingering damage. Moreover, since you had been consuming blood essence daily during this period to strengthen your physique, your cultivation advanced further.】

【The half year of killing had taught you that a sword cultivator’s weapon is of paramount importance. Over those six months, you had worn through dozens of swords, and the insufficient quality of your weapons had hampered your performance.】

【Thus, you requested a suitable sword from the human leadership — a Legendary-stage sword-type weapon: Ink Ice!】

【All weapons that reached the Legendary stage were supreme treasures of the human race. But with your status, obtaining a Legendary-stage sword was naturally no difficulty.】

【Like all other Legendary-stage weapons, Ink Ice possessed its own unique effect: all enemies slain by Ink Ice would have their wounds turn ink-black.】

【Furthermore, when you held Ink Ice, even while slaughtering on the battlefield, a refreshing coolness would emanate from the sword’s hilt, keeping your mind calm and preventing you from losing yourself to the killing.】

【With the legendary sword Ink Ice in hand, you returned to the Demon-Sealing Pass battlefield like a tiger given wings. In a mere half year, the Demon Kings who died by your hand numbered no fewer than a hundred. Grandmaster-stage and below were beyond counting.】

【Year Fourteen: The human forces at Demon-Sealing Pass had their supply lines inadvertently severed. Hundreds of thousands of Great Xia soldiers faced the danger of food shortages.】

【You had no choice but to temporarily abandon the front lines and begin refining Fasting Pills.】

【Fortunately, although you hadn’t refined pills in years and your skills were somewhat rusty, you had already perfectly mastered a low-level pill like the Fasting Pill. You could refine them at tremendous speed.】

【Moreover, you had accumulated considerable stores of Spirit rice and demonic beast flesh over the years. In a mere half year, you completely resolved the food supply problem for hundreds of thousands of soldiers.】

【Afterward, to prevent future emergencies, you refined an additional batch of Healing Pills, ensuring the human forces at Demon-Sealing Pass would have sufficient restorative supplies in the short term.】

【Year Fifteen: You returned to the Demon-Sealing Pass battlefield, becoming the nightmare of all Demon Kings and Grandmaster-stage demonic beasts.】

【The threat you posed to these Demon Kings was no less than that of an Emperor-stage Class User. Often, you needed only minutes of engagement to slay a Demon King-level enemy.】

【That year, you were targeted for assassination by the alien races once again. Because the threat you posed on the battlefield was too great, they dispatched two Demon Emperor-level demonic beasts to assassinate you on the battlefield.】

【Fortunately, Luo Shuying and the other human powerhouses were watching over you at all times. They blocked this lethal assassination for you, and you escaped unscathed.】

【Year Sixteen: After surviving the assassination attempt, you became even more cautious. Your swordsmanship grew increasingly refined. You began discarding your previously elaborate sword techniques — everything simplified, every swing of the sword made solely for the purpose of slaying the enemy.】

【You came to understand even more deeply what an enemy-slaying sword truly was: it meant discarding all unnecessary moves and killing the enemy before you in the fastest, most energy-efficient way possible. All elaborate sword techniques existed solely in service of killing the enemy.】

【In the past, you needed several sword strikes to kill a Grandmaster-stage demonic beast. But now, a Grandmaster-stage demonic beast was no longer worthy of a second strike from you.】

【In battles against Demon Kings, you grew ever more effortless. Even Demon Kings standing ten meters tall with massive frames could not last more than ten minutes in your hands.】

【Year Seventeen: With Luo Shuying’s help, you hunted down two Demon Emperor-level demonic beasts and obtained the blood essence of one of the Demon Emperors.】

【Over the course of a year, you consumed over a hundred jin of Demon Emperor blood essence. Your realm successfully broke through — you became a Primordial Martial Realm, Grand Perfection cultivator!】

【That same year, the Demon Kings who died by your hand reached a staggering two hundred! Your contribution on the battlefield alone was equivalent to that of dozens of Heavenly King-stage powerhouses!】

【One day, grim news arrived. Luo Shuying’s homeland, after holding out for over a decade, had been completely overrun by the alien races. Several thousand members of the Spirit Clan fled to Earth to jointly resist the alien races of the real world.】

【Year Eighteen: This was the most favorable year for Demon-Sealing Pass.】

【With the Spirit Clan’s addition, the pressure on the human side of the battlefield was greatly reduced. Meanwhile, your performance on the battlefield grew ever more heroic. No Demon King could withstand ten exchanges against you. Your swordsmanship grew ever more terrifying.】

【That same year, your Qi Refinement cultivation advanced to the Nascent Soul stage, Fourth Layer!】

【Year Nineteen: The situation at Demon-Sealing Pass began to grow strange and unpredictable.】

【For reasons unknown to you, the demonic beasts on the battlefield seemed endless — there were always more to kill, always more alien forces to slay.】

【The demonic beast army was like a bottomless black hole, seemingly without end. But humanity’s numbers were ultimately finite. Even though you had helped create many powerful warriors for the human race over the years, the number of Grandmaster and Heavenly King-stage Class Users had still been steadily declining through over a decade of slaughter.】

【And the rate at which new Grandmaster and Heavenly King-stage Class Users emerged was far outpaced by the rate of death. Humanity’s overall strength began to decline.】

【Year Twenty: Humanity completely abandoned all counterattacks and retreated behind the walls of Demon-Sealing Pass, hoping to rely on this mightiest fortress under heaven to hold back the assault of the alien races and demonic beasts.】

【Although you longed in your heart to completely drive out the demonic beasts, your strength was limited. By your power alone, it was simply impossible. All you could do was continue killing demonic beasts to vent the frustration in your heart.】

【Year Twenty-One: This was your eleventh year at Demon-Sealing Pass. Your killing on the battlefield had lasted a full ten years. The enemy-slaying sword you had honed for ten years had claimed the lives of nearly a thousand Demon Kings. The weapon in your hand, Ink Ice, had been utterly transformed into an enemy-slaying sword — before it was even drawn from its sheath, the killing intent upon it was enough to make demonic beasts tremble in fear.】

【But over these years, the situation for humanity at Demon-Sealing Pass had only grown more dire. More and more comrades and brothers-in-arms around you died at the hands of demonic beasts. Friends you had once made, companions on the battlefield to whom you would have entrusted your life, fell one by one before your eyes.】

【Ten years of slaying demons at Demon-Sealing Pass had made your will ever more resolute, your swordsmanship ever more ruthless. Your entire bearing had grown bloodthirsty, your gaze enough to make others recoil in fear.】

【You began to wonder if this was truly the result you wanted. Ten years at Demon-Sealing Pass had thoroughly forged you into an iron-blooded soldier, but you seemed to have become more callous toward life than before — colder, more bloodthirsty.】

【The sword no longer seemed to be your companion, no longer your beloved. It was merely a tool in your hand — nothing more than a tool for killing enemies.】

【This had strayed from your original purpose, from your initial goal of tempering the sword dao.】

【And so, you prepared to withdraw from Demon-Sealing Pass and return to the real world to properly contemplate the years of swordsmanship and the meaning within your heart.】

【On the day you left Demon-Sealing Pass, tens of thousands of soldiers saw you off. Your former comrades and brothers-in-arms all cast gazes of admiration upon you.】

【Under the farewell of tens of thousands, you departed Demon-Sealing Pass and returned to the real world. Upon your departure, by virtue of the military merits you had accumulated over the years, you became the only soldier in hundreds of years of Demon-Sealing Pass history to attain the rank of general without being a Martial Emperor.】

【Your comrades said that you were once the most dedicated person in all of Demon-Sealing Pass. After you left, your spirit would be carried on by them.】

【You returned to the real world. It took three months before you could free yourself from memories steeped in blood and slaughter. Luo Shuying and Jin Congxue came to visit you during this time. Your parents and younger sister also offered you their care and warmth.】

【A smile returned to your face. You began to reconsider the sword in your hand, to reconsider your sword dao.】