Chapter 1

Xuanyun Sect, mountain path.

Two disciples dressed in outer sect attire were carrying a young boy. The boy, around fifteen or sixteen years old, had blood on his chest, a pale complexion, and was already unconscious.

"Damn it, this kid had to offend someone, and he just had to offend Senior Brother Zhang. Is Senior Brother Zhang someone to be trifled with? He got hit by a palm and ended up like this."

"Exactly, it’s not just that he’s asking for death, but he’s also making us two brothers carry him back. What bad luck."

The two disciples grumbled incessantly. Soon, they arrived at the door of an old, dilapidated hut. They opened the door, threw the boy inside, patted their butts, and left.

The boy lay on the cold ground, his chest no longer rising and falling, his breathing shallow and labored, and it seemed he was about to die.

Suddenly, the originally calm space began to ripple slightly, and a dark crack quietly appeared. A destructive aura spread, and a jet of black light carrying a bead shot out from the crack. It circled the room once, then paused, seemingly noticing the boy lying on the ground. The light immediately flew toward the boy and entered through the top of his head.

The bead, made of an unknown material, neither metal nor jade, floated above the boy, emitting a gentle glow that enveloped him. Under the glow, the boy’s injuries began to heal at a visible rate.

However, the bead’s effects seemed to go far beyond that. The boy’s physical body began to become translucent, revealing the bones inside, which were also faintly glowing. After a long time, the bead seemed to have exhausted its internal energy and melted, crashing into the boy’s dantian.

"Ugh..."

The boy propped himself up with his hands and slowly crawled to his feet. At first, his eyes were hazy and full of confusion. Gradually, his gaze became clear and profound, like a vast ocean.

"I was still too careless... I, the mighty Primordial Sword Master Pang Jian, have fallen to this state." Pang Jian looked at his hand and muttered to himself, "I didn’t expect the backlash of this forbidden technique to be so severe, causing my physical body to shatter and my divine soul to be heavily injured. But then again, a forbidden technique that can kill five Sword Masters in one strike, how could the backlash be small?" He shook his head, seemingly amused by his own greed.

But then, he clenched his hand.

"But it was all worth it. I can feel it... this body is full of astonishing potential, and the shackles that once troubled me will no longer exist." He carefully felt his body, a smile forming on his lips.

"What was the name of the original owner of this body again?" He scratched his head, trying hard to recall. "Wei Zong, right? An outer sect disciple of Xuanyun Sect, but why is he in such a sorry state?"

Pang Jian looked around the dilapidated hut he was in. The room wasn’t dirty, indicating that the original owner was clean. However, the facilities were quite simple, with only a bed, a table, and a chair.

Pang Jian was a bit puzzled and continued to sift through the memories of the unfortunate soul he had possessed.

"So that’s how it is." He mused.

It turned out that Wei Zong’s background was quite good. His parents were both elders of Xuanyun Sect, and his father was the sect’s chief array master, a highly respected figure. Under his parents’ protection, although he didn’t show outstanding talent, he had access to all the necessary cultivation resources.

Unfortunately, such good days came to an end two years ago. The Feiyun Sect, which had a long-standing grudge with Xuanyun Sect, attacked. The mountain protection array, which his father had been responsible for maintaining, suddenly malfunctioned. The Feiyun Sect disciples invaded directly, attacking the Xuanyun Sect’s mountain gate.

That battle was the closest Xuanyun Sect had ever come to being wiped out. Disciples and elders suffered heavy casualties, and Wei Zong’s parents died in that battle. Later, it was the Grand Elder of Xuanyun Sect who broke through in the midst of the battle, forcing the Feiyun Sect to retreat and saving the sect.

After the battle, due to his father’s mistake, which almost led to the sect’s destruction, Wei Zong was also implicated. He almost died from a palm strike by the furious Grand Elder of the Punishment Hall, Zhang Zhang, but was saved by the Grand Elder.

However, his family’s resources were confiscated by the sect, including his father’s array diagrams and array materials, which were given to a later array master.

After that, Wei Zong’s life became increasingly difficult. Due to his parents, he was ostracized in the sect. Even the cultivation resources distributed regularly were withheld. Coupled with his mediocre talent, over the past two years, his cultivation had not improved at all, remaining at the Bone Tempering stage.

Today, Zhang Yuan had insulted Wei Zong’s parents, and Wei Zong, unable to bear it, confronted him. He was hit by Zhang Yuan’s palm and severely injured, and then his divine soul was directly possessed by Pang Jian, who had torn through the space.

After sorting out his thoughts, Pang Jian’s gaze became profound again.

"Zhang Xinyuan, in charge of the Punishment Hall, Zhang Yuan... interesting."

"But since I have possessed you, I will help you avenge your enemies, including the matter of your parents. From now on, Wei Zong is me, and I am Wei Zong."

After saying this, Pang Jian, or rather Wei Zong, felt a significant lightness in his divine soul, and most of the resentment left over from the possession dissipated.

"Possession is truly troublesome. The remaining resentment will only dissipate after I help him avenge his enemies and resolve this cause and effect."

"But..." He felt the cultivation of this body, his expression changing as he suddenly thought of something.

"I remember I once obtained an interesting cultivation technique called the Immortal Sword Body."

The Immortal Sword Body was a unique technique of the Immortal Sword Sect, a major force in the Sword World. The name was powerful enough, but unfortunately, he had provoked them, and after becoming strong enough, he directly destroyed them and took their technique.

The interesting part of this technique was that it required building a foundation at the Body Tempering stage. Once perfected, it could achieve the Immortal Sword Body, which was impervious to all techniques and had a remarkable affinity for swords, making the destructive power of sword techniques even greater.

However, the downside of this technique was that it was extremely resource-intensive, and the resources required increased dramatically as one progressed. Although almost every disciple of the Immortal Sword Sect practiced this technique, none of them could perfect it, which is why Wei Cong found it easy to destroy the sect.

In the past, Wei Zong had also tried to cultivate this technique, but the resources required in the later stages were too astonishing, and it didn’t provide much help to him as a Sword Master at the time, so he had put it aside. Now, he suddenly remembered it.

Normally, cultivating this technique at the Body Tempering stage required spirit stones as an aid. Although he didn’t have spirit stones now, it didn’t mean he couldn’t cultivate.

His method was to use his divine soul to move spiritual energy. Although it was less efficient than using spirit stones, it was still a way to cultivate. Although his divine soul was currently very weak, compared to his prime, it was like a grain of sand compared to the sun. However, as a former Sword Master, moving spiritual energy was as simple as eating and drinking.

With this in mind, he immediately sat down and began to cultivate the Immortal Sword Body.