Cultivating Immortality, Starting from Childhood Sweethearts

Chapter 240

Within the consciousness of Xu Ming and Xu Xue Nuo, the old man stood with his sword held horizontally before him, as sword energy ceaselessly converged onto his blade.

The air around him seemed saturated with sword intent, as if anyone who dared to approach even slightly would be shredded to pieces.

The old man lightly swung his longsword forward.

It looked like a simple, almost casual motion, as if he were merely waving his sword without much effort.

But in the next moment, the sky above began to tear apart, bit by bit.

Xu Ming felt as though the heavens above him were nothing more than a piece of cloth, and the old man’s sword had just sliced a gash through it.

Through that tear, Xu Ming glimpsed what lay beyond: chaos and nothingness.

But amidst that chaos and void, Xu Ming vaguely saw something—a palace.

“A palace?”

What was that palace?

Could he have seen it wrong?

“That’s more or less the gist of it,” the old man said as he turned to face Xu Ming.

And in the very next moment, the sky behind the old man began to mend itself. The world quaked, and the red clouds that had filled the crimson sky shattered like tufts of cotton, scattering into countless fragments.

Even though the strike had ended and the sky had healed, the sword’s power had completely cleared the heavens for a hundred miles, leaving no trace of the red clouds.

Xu Ming had never seen such a sword strike before.

It perfectly embodied both sword energy and sword intent, clean and decisive, like a stroke from the heavens themselves.

This strike deeply shook Xu Ming’s Dao heart.

He couldn’t help but question himself.

Was he truly suited to the way of the sword?

What was the point of continuing his swordsmanship?

Could he ever surpass the sword strike that the old man had just demonstrated?

“Master it.”

As Xu Ming was caught in a daze, the old man’s voice snapped him out of his thoughts.

“Only by mastering it can you leave here alive and have a chance to free us. Otherwise, you two brats will simply stay here, buried alongside us old relics.”

Xu Ming: “…”

“What’s the matter? Feeling disheartened after seeing my sword?” the old man asked with a smile.

“A little,” Xu Ming admitted honestly.

“Hmph.” The old man snorted coldly. “Feeling shaken is normal. But if you start doubting your own swordsmanship because of this, you might as well die here.”

With that, the old man stopped paying attention to Xu Ming and turned to sit on a nearby stone.

Watching the old man sit there, and recalling the sword he had just witnessed, Xu Ming let out a wry laugh at himself.

“That’s true. Since I’ve chosen to hold a sword, why doubt the one in my hand?”

Taking a deep breath, Xu Ming tightened his grip on his longsword.

He didn’t immediately attempt the strike.

Seeing this, the old man nodded inwardly.

If Xu Ming had rushed to replicate the strike right after watching the demonstration, it would only mean the old man had misjudged him.

Although the essence of the strike was already imprinted in Xu Ming’s mind, there’s a vast difference between remembering a technique and executing it.

This strike would allow for only one attempt.

The greater the power of a technique, the higher the risk.

Only when Xu Ming felt he had truly grasped the essence of the sword should he swing it.

If he succeeded, then he succeeded.

If he failed, then he failed.

But there was a high chance that if Xu Ming failed, his consciousness would be devoured by the backlash of the strike, obliterating him completely.

The old man rested his hands behind his head and slowly drifted into sleep.

No one knew whether this boy could pull off that sword strike, nor when he would manage to do so.

In Xu Xue Nuo’s consciousness, the old man also lay down casually on the ground, falling asleep as if it were nothing to worry about. He’d wait until the girl grasped the technique before doing anything else.

But time was running out for them.

—

“Boom!”

A massive seal came crashing down toward the old man, who was formed entirely from sword energy.

The old man held his longsword steady, and with a simple maneuver, deflected the colossal seal as if it were weightless.

In the next instant, the old man appeared before Xia He and thrust his sword forward.

Xia He didn’t dare face the attack directly, twisting his body to dodge. The rock wall behind him, however, was blasted apart by the sheer force of the sword energy, leaving a gaping hole.

Xia He raised his head and opened his mouth wide.

A green dragon surged out from Xia He’s mouth, hurtling straight for the old man’s head.

“Your breath stinks,” the old man muttered in annoyance, swinging his sword once more. The spiritual green dragon was sliced cleanly in half.

But the green dragon wasn’t a killing move—at best, it was merely the appetizer for what was to come.

As the dragon’s fragmented spiritual energy scattered across the ground, the Tianxuan Star Array was fully activated.

One by one, stars lit up above the old man’s head, and the four sacred beasts of the cardinal directions became vividly clear in their respective positions.

The Tianxuan Sect, being a Daoist sect focused on understanding the Dao of the heavens and the mysteries of the stars, had refined this array as their magnum opus over countless generations. Each sect leader had contributed to its improvement.

However, in Xia He’s generation, the array remained largely unchanged—not because it was already perfect, but because Xia He lacked the qualifications to alter it.

“Descend!”

Within the array, Xia He was akin to a sage presiding over the heavens. With a wave of his hand, a meteor came crashing down toward the old man.

The old man effortlessly split the blazing meteor with a single strike of his sword.

Immediately, another beam of light shot from one of the stars above, aimed directly at the old man’s heart.

The old man swung his sword again, scattering the starlight.

But then came a second beam, a third, a fourth, a fifth—one after another. The starlight from the stars intertwined, forming a vast net that closed in on the old man.

“Balance of offense and defense,” the old man muttered as he formed a sword seal with his hands.

Behind him, countless swords of pure energy materialized, radiating like a halo around a Buddha.

“Go!”

With a single gesture of his sword, the old man sent all the swords of energy hurtling toward the beams of starlight.

The clash between sword energy and starlight echoed thunderously throughout the cavern.

From beginning to end, the old man’s sole objective was to buy time.

But Xia He wasn’t a fool.

Realizing that the time was right, Xia He retrieved a crystal vial from his storage pouch. Inside was a viscous, black liquid.

Opening the vial, Xia He carefully poured a single drop of the black liquid onto the ground.

The droplet, as if alive, began to flow toward the Tianxuan Star Array, merging with it in an instant.

The moment the black liquid fused with the array, the old man’s expression darkened. A repulsive, unsettling aura filled the air.

And then, the entire Tianxuan Star Array was enveloped by a black, swamp-like quagmire.

The ground trembled violently.

From within the mire, a pair of eyes slowly opened.