Chapter 322 Immortal Sword Ascension, Eve of the Great War

After all, from the current perspective, the Primordial Purple Qi merely elevated him to the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Root (Spiritual Root).

Although this method was extraordinary, any immortal could accomplish it with ease, and even a Primordial Spirit Dao Lord would not be without means to achieve it.

Although the Primordial Chaos Sutra currently appeared to possess extraordinary wonders—perhaps even enough to make immortals covet it—it was likely merely a legacy at the Great Luo Golden Immortal level. Never in his wildest dreams could he have imagined anything beyond that.

However, Eldrin knew full well that once the 40-9 strands of Primordial Purple Qi were condensed into 1, they would yield a single wisp of Primordial Purple Qi Essence—perhaps enough to elevate the treasure into a Heavenly Spiritual Root.

If 1 could gather 3,650 strands of Primordial Purple Qi in the future, perhaps they could coalesce into an even more astonishing Innate Primordial Purple Qi. Would that then allow 1 to ascend and manifest a legendary Innate Spiritual Treasure?

Eldrin suppressed the thought deep within his mind. If the news that the Primordial Purple Qi could gather and undergo metamorphosis were to leak out, it would likely stir even the Immortals and Demons.

Though somewhat excited, Eldrin soon calmed his emotions.

Just 40-9 wisps of Primordial Purple Qi would require nearly 5 100 years to condense. To refine 3,650 wisps would likely take over 30 1000 years, let alone advancing further. Such realms remained far too distant for the present.

And all of this was merely his speculation—whether the Primordial Violet Qi was truly the supreme, unparalleled entity remained uncertain.

The Broken Sword spoke at length, appearing somewhat weary.

Its glow dimmed slightly as it calmly stated, "I observe your heritage is extraordinary—you must have remarkable origins."

"Devote yourself to cultivation. Should you ever ascend and become an immortal, do not forget the promise you made today."

Eldrin nodded to Lyra and said respectfully, "Thank you for your guidance, Senior."

"Go."

Can Jian spoke, then sank into the spiritual spring, beginning to continuously absorb the power of water essence to heal his wounds.

The 2 of them withdrew from the water vein and returned to Spirit Isle Lake (Location).

Lyra glanced back at the vanished water vein, her expression grave as she spoke, "Senior Broken Sword mentioned earlier that its original owner was Daoist Lord Qingyuan. I fear this karmic bond may bring considerable trouble in the future."

"No matter."

Eldrin's expression remained serene as he spoke calmly, "So long as I devote myself to cultivation, these karmic entanglements shall merely serve as my whetstone for the sword."

Having forged the Great Luo Golden Pill, he had now laid the initial foundation for ascension to immortality. Naturally, a soaring ambition surged within him, and his state of mind began to shift.

Seeing his unwavering confidence, Lyra (Person Name) revealed a faint smile.

She dropped the subject and turned her gaze toward the distant Earthlion Ridge. "Now that you've formed your Golden Core, we can finally make our move against Earthlion Ridge."

"Hmm."

Eldrin nodded and continued, "Let us wait another year or 2. It would be wiser to strike after I elevate the Li Fire Sword of the Returning Abyss to mid-tier Rank 4."

"We can first summon a grand army."

"Attacking the demon race is not something that can be accomplished overnight," Lyra (Person Name) remarked.

The Earth Lion Ridge was protected by a grade 4, mid-tier formation. Relying solely on the power of high-level cultivators to breach it would be extremely difficult. Even if they succeeded, their spiritual energy would be severely depleted, and they would likely be at a disadvantage when facing the Golden Core realm demon beasts afterward.

It would be far more prudent to mobilize a large number of low-level cultivators to surround Earth Lion Ridge and deplete the majority of the formation's energy before breaching it—that would make the task significantly easier.

However, assembling a conscription army requires a process. Once tens of thousands of low-level cultivators are fully recruited, launching the operation would likely take another year or 2.

In this span of time, it was more than enough for Eldrin (Person Name) to advance the Li Fire Sword of the Returning Abyss (Magic Treasure).

After the 2 had finalized their plan, an order from the alliance leader was swiftly issued from the Tianxu Alliance. In an instant, every major immortal clan and even solitary cultivators within the alliance began mobilizing their personnel.

Cultivators from various other prefectures of the Chu Kingdom (Location) have also gathered here, eager to join the Sky Ruins Alliance's assault on the Earth Lion Ridge. They hope to distinguish themselves in battle and seize the opportunity to earn treasures as rewards.

Meanwhile, the Earthlion Ridge received the news immediately and began recalling all demon tribes from various spirit mountains to gather at the ridge. It was clear they intended to rely on the fourth-grade formation to wage a defensive battle.

For ages, it had always been humanity using formation arrays to resist the demon race. Who could have imagined that today, the tables would turn to the point where the demon race was now activating formation arrays to withstand humanity.

In the blink of an eye, over a year had already passed.

By now, Eldrin had exhausted the 5 Elements essence, successfully advancing the Celestial Li Twin Swords.

Meanwhile, Lyra had also successfully advanced her Heavenly Ruins Immortal-Slaying Sword. After the sword ascended to the upper fourth rank, her conventional combat prowess surged by several tenths.

"Alas, there still isn't enough time."

That day, Eldrin opened his eyes within the seclusion chamber.

During this period, he had been contemplating the great supernatural power 'Phantom-Splitting Sword Art (Cultivation Art)'. This divine ability was obtained from the Qingxu Sect, and its power was truly astonishing. However, to master it successfully, 1 required the assistance of a Demon-Slaying Immortal Sword (Magic Treasure).

Fortunately, his comprehension was extraordinary. After observing the remnant sword left by the senior, he had somehow reached the threshold to cultivate this divine ability.

Unfortunately, time was far too pressing now; he hadn't yet managed to master it successfully. "It seems I'll have to wait until the Battle of Earthlion Ridge concludes before I can fully refine this divine ability."

Eldrin murmured softly as he emerged from the seclusion chamber.

After leaving the seclusion chamber, he directly teleported to Mount Qingyang, only to find over a dozen colossal treasure ships already docked upon the mountain.

Among these treasure ships, 12 were slightly smaller, while the 2 largest measured over a 100 zhang in length, capable of accommodating a full 10 1000 cultivators.

The smaller ones were naturally the third-tier treasure ships of the Sky Ruins Alliance, while the 2 colossal vessels were the alliance's war treasure ships.

1 was a Celestial Python Treasure Ship that had been in use for nearly a 100 years, while the other was a Black Flood Dragon Treasure Ship forged by Eldrin from the bones of the Black Flood Dragon demon king after he had slain it.

To forge this treasure ship, Eldrin and Lyra mobilized the entire resources of the Sky Ruins Alliance. They even journeyed to the Yan Kingdom—a region abundant with wood-element veins—to acquire over 10,000 precious spirit woods before finally achieving success in its creation.

The power of this vessel slightly surpassed even that of the Heavenly Python Treasure Ship, not only due to the formidable bloodline of the Black Flood Dragon (Demon Beast) Demon King, but also because Lyra (Person Name)'s artifact forging techniques had advanced significantly.

Soaring through the skies on his sword, Eldrin boarded the Black Flood Dragon treasure ship and found Lyra already stationed there.

Upon arriving here, he discovered that Elara (Person Name) and Xavier (Person Name), 2 Golden Core cultivators, had already reached the location. The former clan leader—a False Core cultivator—and the Purple Mansion cultivator from the Heavenly Ruins Alliance had also gathered at this place.

The Tianxu Alliance now had barely over 50 Purple Mansion cultivators, and over 40 of them had joined this battle.

Eldrin suppressed his aura, greeted the assembled crowd, then turned to Lyra and inquired.

"How is the situation?"

"The personnel are nearly all assembled. We will commence the operation tomorrow."

Lyra handed a battle plan to Eldrin, smiling as she spoke.

He picked up the plan and glanced at it, gaining a concrete understanding of the battle situation.

This campaign would deploy 2 Tier-4 war treasure ships and 12 Tier-3 transport treasure ships, with a total of over 30,000 cultivators participating in the battle.

Although the number of cultivators participating in the battle was not particularly large, most were elite practitioners at the Qi Refinement, Late Stage (Cultivation Realm). With fewer than 200,000 Qi Refinement cultivators across the 4 provinces in total, these 30,000 Qi Refinement, Late Stage (Cultivation Realm) experts essentially represented the complete mobilization of the regions' finest talents.