Chapter 146: Sorry, Wrong Transformation

“That’s weird—weren’t those guys from the Fearless Alliance just now? One of them bumped into me and actually said sorry. They’re following rules now?”

“Seems like all the Fearless Alliance people are acting like this. No idea what kind of scare they got.”

Passing by, Jiang Li overheard the conversation and smiled faintly.

“The Sword Tomb is about to open. Wuxing, are you going in?”

Yuan Wuxing was stunned. He clearly didn’t meet the criteria—how could he possibly enter?

But when he saw Jiang Li’s gentle gaze, he understood. Whether he could enter the Sword Tomb didn’t depend on the tomb itself, but on Jiang Li’s will.

Still, he declined.

“I don’t deserve it. Your talent in the Sword Dao is peerless, but I have no accomplishments in swordsmanship. Even if I go in, it would be a waste. Better not.”

Though Yuan Wuxing was being sincere, something about how he said it sounded off to Jiang Li—like a subtle jab.

“Fine. Then I’ll pass on a divine ability to you—comprehend it well.” Jiang Li didn’t mind and transmitted to him one of the hardest divine abilities to learn:

Five-Colored Divine Light.

Yuan Wuxing was moved to tears. The Human Sovereign truly valued him, to pass on such a skill. It was said that some Fusion cultivators spent three full cycles of sixty years and only barely grasped its surface. That proved just how difficult it was. Correspondingly, the power was terrifying—when the five colors surged, nothing could escape, nothing could withstand it.

He would not fail the Human Sovereign’s expectations—he would cultivate diligently.

In the end, Jiang Li still brute-forced his way into the Sword Tomb.

The Sword Tomb, true to its name, was a graveyard for swords. Broken swords lay everywhere, like two armies of sword-wielders had clashed, perishing together. Only the endless sword qi remained, the soldiers’ bones nowhere to be seen.

Sword qi surged chaotically through the place, flying about wildly. One careless step, and you’d be slashed.

“Look! That’s the Sword Dao Stele!” Seven Kill Daozi pointed excitedly. He really liked the atmosphere of the Sword Tomb.

Seven Kill Daozi was quite talented in swordsmanship. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have managed to beat Qin Luan two out of ten times—especially since, at the same cultivation level, Qin Luan rarely lost.

In the Sword Tomb, the most eye-catching feature wasn’t the broken swords, but the twelve towering stone steles.

These steles were pitted and weathered—not by wind and rain, but by sword qi wearing them down.

“The Sword Tomb has three trials. This is the first one. Only by comprehending three sword techniques can you proceed to the next.” Jiang Li gazed at the steles, nostalgic for the past.

It was at these very steles that he comprehended the Heart Sword.

But the chatter of the passersby ruined his mood.

“Is that the stele where the Human Sovereign Jiang mastered his swordsmanship?”

“I heard he meditated here for three days. When he stood up, golden light shot from his eyes, sword qi swept across thirty thousand miles, and six of the eighteen steles were shattered—only twelve remain now!”

Seven Kill Daozi heard this and looked at Jiang Li with utter admiration.

Jiang Li felt a pang of guilt. Yes, he had meditated for three days. Yes, there was sweeping sword qi. Yes, six steles were broken. But none of it had been his doing—it was all Bai Hongtu next to him!

Bai Hongtu had told him afterward: each stele held one sword technique. He had comprehended all twelve. The remaining six were decoys, so he destroyed them to avoid misleading future cultivators.

Song Ying, hearing the story for the first time, looked at Jiang Li with admiration. “I heard that Dao Sect Master Bai is called the Sword Immortal, and you’re even stronger than him. That makes you the Immortal among Sword Immortals.”

Qin Luan chimed in, “In short, Sword-Immortal-Immortal.”

Jiang Li lovingly patted Qin Luan’s head. What a good kid—shame about that mouth.

He didn’t want to get dragged further into the topic. “Go sit under the steles and give it a try. See how many moves you can comprehend.”

While the three and one fox sat before the steles, fully focused, Jiang Li secretly tried as well—to see if he could unlock the remaining eleven sword techniques.

[Host is comprehending Sword Dao. Would you like to activate the Source Point Comprehension feature to boost effect?]

Jiang Li chose no, of course.

“I still can only comprehend Heart Sword.” Jiang Li sighed.

After five hundred years of refinement, his Heart Sword had already surpassed what was etched into the steles. Even though Bai Hongtu often mocked him for lacking sword talent, he had to admit—on this one move, Jiang Li had surpassed him.

Still, Jiang Li really wanted to grasp the other eleven.

Clearly, he failed.

Three days later, many people awakened—including Song Ying.

“I understood five moves.”

On the fourth day, the little fox woke up, excitedly waving its paws nine times—it had comprehended nine moves. It had already imagined itself as a restored Nine-Tailed Heavenly Fox, wielding nine tails to unleash sword techniques and slay all rebels.

But when it saw Jiang Li’s amused expression, it toned itself down.

Another two days later, Seven Kill Daozi and Qin Luan woke up at the same time.

“I got ten.”

“Me too. Almost had the eleventh.”

“Same here.”

Seeing neither had surpassed the other, they both clicked their tongues in disappointment.

Of the four people and one fox, only Jiang Li didn’t meet the standard to move on to the second trial.

Three people and one fox were teleported away. Jiang Li was left all alone.

Jiang Li pouted, tore open space, and followed their teleportation trail.

He had never seen the second trial before—he only knew what Bai Hongtu had described. The second trial tested your bond with the spirit swords. If you could pull out the best spirit sword, you’d qualify for the third trial.

Bai Hongtu thought he had found the best sword. But the sword wouldn’t budge from the earth. He figured fate wasn’t on his side and picked another one.

Because he didn’t pull out the best sword, he never reached the third trial.

In four thousand years, no one had entered the third trial.

Now Jiang Li saw it with his own eyes—the second trial. Countless identical spirit swords stabbed into the ground like gravestones.

They were dull and grey, with no hint of rank—as if they weren’t spirit swords at all, just iron blades.

Song Ying pulled one out, and it instantly transformed—shedding its dullness, revealing its true form as a magic artifact-grade spirit sword. That was already quite good for her.

But clearly, magic artifact grade wasn’t the best.

She tried to pull out another, but it seemed fused with the earth—completely immovable.

The little fox picked a sword and slowly tugged it free with its two tiny paws.

Also a magic artifact—slightly better than Song Ying’s.

Still, the little fox wasn’t satisfied. It thought it at least deserved to pull a Dao Artifact-grade sword.

Unfortunately, it ran into the same issue as Song Ying—couldn’t pull a second.

“Each person can only draw one sword,” Jiang Li said, casually pulling one out.

A rusted blade, one step away from scrap metal.

Jiang Li felt embarrassed and shoved it back in, then reached for another.

This time, the resistance was immense—so he pulled out the sword with the dirt still attached.

The sword began to transform, shedding its dullness to reveal its true form. But halfway through, it froze—realizing it wasn’t really drawn out—and retreated back into the ground, turning plain and dull once more.

Sorry, wrong transformation.

Song Ying: “…”

Little Fox: “…”

Jiang Li: “…So you’re forcing me to go all out, huh?”