Chapter 137: Slashing the Primordial Spirit

"Greetings, Senior Brother Gong."

Qin Sang bowed respectfully.

"It's you!"

Senior Brother Gong clearly still remembered Qin Sang. His expression turned complex as he spoke, "Junior Brother Qin, are you here to select an art? You are free to browse any of the arts for the second level. You can choose one for free. However, if you wish to cultivate a spell, you will need to exchange spirit stones for it, and its cost will depend on the power of the spell."

Upon entering the grand hall, Qin Sang immediately noticed how different the interior was from the alchemy room. In the hall stood dozens of jade pillars, each with a glowing orb floating above it, while the walls at the back were lined with jade slips.

He approached one of the jade pillars nearby and glanced at the characters inscribed on it. To his surprise, it happened to be the

Thoughtless Art

.

Sweeping his spiritual consciousness over the orb, Qin Sang carefully examined it. As expected, the

Thoughtless Art

was a cultivation art that directly aimed at the Spiritual Infant Realm. However, just as the sect leader had mentioned, it had only one divine ability during the Foundation Building Realm, and that ability was meant for escaping.

If one chose this art, they could forget about engaging in direct combat without powerful artifacts.

And to gather top-grade artifacts would require an immense amount of effort. Even though Qin Sang possessed several top-grade artifacts, they were rare even among Foundation Building cultivators.

Withdrawing his spiritual consciousness from the orb, Qin Sang began to wander around the hall. Each glowing orb contained a different cultivation art, but the core portions of these arts were sealed behind barriers. Only after selecting an art could he request Senior Brother Gong to pass it on outside.

The arts were filled with various mysteries, broadening Qin Sang’s horizons. Many were incomplete, though there were also complete arts that led directly to the Divine Transformation Realm.

For some reason, it had been countless years since a Divine Transformation cultivator had appeared in the Small Cold Domain. Numerous brilliant talents, like Founder Kuiyin, had all ended their lives at the Spiritual Infant Realm.

Qin Sang dared not think that far ahead. Whether or not an art was incomplete didn't matter to him; as long as the Foundation Building Realm part was complete, that was all he needed.

He also reviewed the few arts recommended by Sect Leader Yu.

Just as the sect leader had said, with his talent, he could only choose from the

Thoughtless Art

or similar ones.

Even so, the hope of forming a Golden Core remained slim.

The sect leader had subtly advised him.

"Only a rare few Foundation Building cultivators can form a Golden Core. Rather than chasing after such a distant, illusory hope, many prefer to choose a powerful art, one that allows them to live freely, pursue their desires, and not waste two hundred years of life in vain."

But how could Qin Sang accept that?

He withdrew his spiritual consciousness from the

Vital Core Art

, swept his gaze across the hall, and headed directly towards the row of jade pillars at the far end.

Primordial Spirit Sword Nourishment!

When his spiritual consciousness entered the glowing orb, the first thing he saw were seven large characters. Qin Sang’s heart trembled violently.

"Kill, kill, kill, kill, kill, kill, kill!"

Seven blood-red "kill" characters, radiating an overwhelming killing intent!

In that instant, Qin Sang felt as if he had been transported to a bloody battlefield, engulfed by a killing intent so thick it made his hair stand on end. He had the illusion that, in the next moment, the violent killing aura would tear him to shreds!

Suppressing the shock in his heart, Qin Sang continued to study the rest of the art. The more he read, the more his expression shifted to one of astonishment and horror. After a while, a hint of hesitation appeared in his eyes, but his expression gradually became more resolute. Without further delay, he grabbed the glowing orb and strode out of the grand hall.

"Primordial Spirit Sword Nourishment!"

Senior Brother Gong looked at Qin Sang in utter disbelief, as though he were looking at a madman. He sighed and said, "First it was... and now it's

Primordial Spirit Sword Nourishment.

You truly live by the saying, ‘madness is the path to survival’! You must have heard of this art through the legend of Senior Qingzhu, right? But do you know how Senior Qingzhu cultivated the

Primordial Spirit Sword Nourishment

?"

"Please enlighten me, Senior Brother."

Qin Sang was indeed filled with curiosity.

This art was an incomplete one, its origins unknown, and it only contained the first five stages, allowing one to cultivate up to the early stage of the Golden Core Realm.

The name

Primordial Spirit Sword Nourishment

was given by later generations, based on the characteristics of the art itself.

As the name implied, this art was not a conventional sword cultivation method where one would nurture their spiritual sword with their spiritual consciousness in the dantian. Instead, it was about truly nourishing the sword with the primordial spirit, allowing the spiritual sword and primordial spirit to merge!

Qin Sang, having cultivated the

Zhixuan Sword Art

, had gained some insights into the sword cultivation path. Yet, he had never heard of anything like this. If it weren’t for the undeniable rumors within the sect that Senior Qingzhu had indeed cultivated this very art, he would have suspected that the

Primordial Spirit Sword Nourishment

was a hoax, meant to deceive people.

The spiritual sword was an extremely sharp weapon, and sword qi was razor-sharp to an extreme degree.

Before reaching the Spiritual Infant Realm, a cultivator’s primordial spirit was incredibly fragile.

According to the art, cultivators had to pierce their primordial spirit with their spiritual sword, forcing themselves to endure the constant agony of sword qi gnawing at their spirit. This pain originated from the depths of the soul, a level of torment unimaginable.

But that was not all—

Primordial Spirit Sword Nourishment

had an even more terrifying requirement.

While cultivating this art, one had to visualize the killing symbol described within it, drawing the intent of slaughter into their primordial spirit. The final step was to condense the killing symbol into the sword itself—nourishing the sword while refining it at the same time!

With the primordial spirit constantly subjected to the influence of slaughter, if one’s mind was overwhelmed by it and they could no longer maintain their true nature, there would only be one outcome: being dominated by the intent to kill, losing all sense of self, and turning into a mindless killing machine!

As one’s cultivation progressed, the condensed killing intent from the symbol would grow even stronger. No matter how resolute one’s mind, the erosion of their consciousness would be inevitable.

There should have been a secret art within this cultivation method, one that allowed the primordial spirit to resist the killing intent and keep one’s mind clear. Without it, there would be no way to cultivate this art at all.

How had Senior Qingzhu managed to practice this incomplete art?

"It’s said that Senior Qingzhu used a secret art to directly split his primordial spirit in half, using one half to nourish the sword. This mitigated some of the inherent dangers of the art, but even then, he ended up half-crazed. If you're worried about your foundation, you needn't take such a huge risk. Taiyi Core Sect is the top authority in alchemy, and they may have ways to restore your foundation. Junior Brother Qin, are you sure you want to cultivate

Primordial Spirit Sword Nourishment

?"

After speaking, Senior Brother Gong gave Qin Sang a deep, penetrating look.

Qin Sang was left speechless. He had thought he was already harsh enough on himself, but when faced with Senior Qingzhu’s actions, he couldn’t help but feel inferior.

A Foundation Building cultivator could indeed split their consciousness and control multiple artifacts at once, but that was only splitting their spiritual consciousness.

To split the primordial spirit in half, survive, and even form a Golden Core within forty years, breaking the sect’s record—what kind of immense willpower was that?

Qin Sang took a deep breath and nodded. "Please pass on the art, Senior Brother."

Senior Brother Gong’s earlier reminder had only come from a place of concern upon seeing Qin Sang.

Seeing that Qin Sang had made up his mind, he refrained from further persuasion. Placing his hand above the glowing orb, he activated the barrier. A beam of light shot out from the orb and entered Qin Sang’s forehead.

𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

The complete cultivation art now appeared in Qin Sang’s mind. With just a brief glance, he saw the core of the art, the killing symbol, and immediately felt a sharp pain stabbing at his spiritual consciousness.

At that moment, Senior Brother Gong suddenly spoke up, "I won't hide it from you, Junior Brother Qin—I once considered risking everything to cultivate this art, so I studied it for some time. Based on my observations, this art requires an extreme level of killing intent. Simply visualizing the killing symbol won’t be enough—you must walk the path of slaughter to truly comprehend it. I hope you will take care of yourself."