The Journey of Immortal Cultivation

Chapter 1072 - 586: The Birth of the Nanming Lihuo Sword

"—The Nanming Lihuo Sword!"

Before hearing the full announcement, Ning Xiaoxian had already stood up abruptly, her eyes shining brightly, causing even the servant standing nearby to avert his gaze hurriedly.

The Divine Sword she had been desperately waiting for, the only one in the world that could help her and Changtian gain liberation, had finally appeared.

She had traversed millions of miles and danced on the edge of life and death several times just to hold this Divine Sword in her hands. When she was almost in despair, it finally emerged before the world in such an abrupt manner!

At this moment, her qi-blood surged within her chest. She longed to whistle aloud and laugh heartily, not caring about her usual poise and demeanor.

Seeing her body tremble slightly, her face flushed red, Jiu Mo stepped forward, gripping her arm gently but firmly: "Mistress, calm yourself!"

"I know, I know!" Ning Xiaoxian took several deep breaths, trying her best to suppress the surging emotions within her, but with little success. Besides Changtian, who had always shared her joys and sorrows, who else could understand the boundless joy and gratitude of finding a way out of desperation and seeing the light in the darkness?

Such joy, such fulfillment, such a reward after all the hardships!

She closed her eyes gently, and two crystalline teardrops silently rolled down her fragrant cheeks and fell to the ground.

In her lifetime, opportunities to shed tears of joy were indeed rare.

Ning Xiaoxian’s breath was unsteady. Suddenly, three silver needles appeared in her right hand, and before Jiu Mo and Qi Zai could react, she had already pierced them into three locations on her chest.

That was the position of the heart meridian! Qi Zai was startled, exclaiming: "Mistress!"

Ning Xiaoxian stood quietly with closed eyes, just shaking her hand to signal them not to panic.

Before long, the alarming flush on her face gradually faded, and her expression returned to calmness, although her complexion appeared a bit rosier.

She gently withdrew the silver needles, her voice mostly calm now, though still carrying a hint of laughter: "It’s just a method to relax the liver and relieve spasm, don’t worry." Really, it was embarrassing. Despite Changtian’s long and dedicated teaching, and although she felt she had almost mastered composure, the appearance of the Nanming Lihuo Sword shattered that illusion immediately.

She saw that her mind was unsettled, and she felt a dull pain in her chest. She had no choice but to use this technique of pushing needles to relieve the suppressed emotions in her chest. Otherwise, such overwhelming joy could be detrimental rather than beneficial to her health. Similar to how some people, when faced with extreme happiness or sorrow, experience mental disturbances, sometimes even leading to sudden death.

The Divine Sword had merely come into the world; it hadn’t yet fallen into her hands. It was too soon to celebrate. Yet, she couldn’t help but think, "Changtian, if only you were here now, how wonderful it would be?"

At this moment, the Nanming Lihuo Sword was also placed on the showcase. Strictly speaking, no one present saw the true form of this Divine Sword, as everyone only saw a long sword-hiding stone box. This stone box was light blue, seemingly crystal but not crystal, seemingly jade but not jade, glossy as if bathed in light, obviously not an ordinary item at first glance. The cultivators present had sharp vision and immediately saw the eight ancient seal characters engraved on the box: "Mystic Sky Treasure, Reserved for Yu".

The auctioneer, meanwhile, was enthusiastically introducing it: "The Nanming Lihuo Sword is a Divine Artifact jointly forged by ancient Immortals and demons. It was made by refining Western True Gold and Southern Fire Essence, crafted from tangible to intangible substances, and from intangible back to tangible ones, refined nineteen times. From its creation, it inherently embodies the wondrous principles of mutual generation and restriction between acquired and innate, specifically breaking all evil demons and filth. In ancient times, it drank the blood of countless great Immortal Demons, and even personally cut down the Xuanwu Divine Beast! After proving the Dao, its previous owner hid the sword in the belly of a snowy peak in the Northwest of the Southern Continent."

"Many sects know this legend, but never have I heard of anyone being able to take it out from the Great Snow Mountain, all because the Nanming Lihuo Sword is a Rebellious Sword. Fortunately, on the day the sword was cast, that Grandmaster also used a pellet of Divine Mud to simultaneously make this sword-hiding stone box. Weighing over a thousand pounds, possessing the wonders of mutual generation and restriction of the Five Elements, it perfectly encases the Nanming Lihuo Sword when sealed with a Spirit Talisman. Our seller spent years finding the sword box, which allowed them to retrieve the Divine Sword from the depths of the Snow Mountain. Today, no matter which hero obtains this treasure sword, being destined with the Divine Sword like this is a great fortune!"

As he passionately spoke, Ning Xiaoxian frowned slightly at the eight-character inscription on the box. Perhaps only a few knew that this "Yu" character might hold some mystery.

Her gaze swept over the stands below, and sure enough, she saw that Senior Sister Zhen was tightly clutching Yu Yingnan’s arm, obviously too excited to contain herself. However, in such a public setting, the two of them certainly wouldn’t dare to discuss it out loud.

Even the previous owner of the Snow-hidden Divine Sword claimed that the Nanming Lihuo Sword should belong to Yu Yingnan? Ning Xiaoxian’s lips curled into a cold smile: The bond between a Magic Artifact and its master runs deep. Once you have achieved the Dao, you discard this Divine Artifact as if abandoning a life-and-death companion. What right, what standpoint do you have to decide who its next owner should be?

You say that this Divine Sword should belong to Yu Yingnan, does it really belong to her then? What a joke! In this world, even the greatest principles have to be spoken with a fist. Not only does she think this way, but the seller of the Nanming Lihuo Sword and the Heavenly Residence think this way too. Otherwise, why would this Divine Sword, said to be capable of choosing its own master, end up on the greatest auction on the continent?

So at this moment, although Yu Yingnan’s figure was blurry, Ning Xiaoxian could vaguely see her shaking her head, clearly not optimistic about the Divine Sword falling into her hands. Where is this? It’s Bai Yujing, the gathering place of wealth for the world. Even if she is a small Foundation Establishment Stage female disciple, supported by the Jiuxiao Sect, she still cannot appear wealthy here.

Indeed, even if the true master of the treasured sword really had Heaven backing her, no one could imagine how, in this money-spending auction venue, a little girl like Yu Yingnan would get the Nanming Lihuo Sword.

The faces of the VIPs below were blurry, not even the auctioneer could see them. Of course, even if he could see, he wouldn’t think Yu Yingnan was the owner of this Divine Sword, so he loudly announced, "Due to the sudden participation of the Divine Artifact, Bai Yujing will begin auctioning the Nanming Lihuo Sword in two hours. Please prepare accordingly."

This is still a place of business. Even though Ning Xiaoxian could guess that the on-site auction was at the insistence of the seller, otherwise with the nature of the Heavenly Residence, they would probably have wanted to delay for half a day to allow buyers to gather funds more generously and have the auction proceed more smoothly. The Divine Artifact does indeed qualify to make Heavenly Residence make an exception, but as a chamber of commerce, its instinctive desire is to make more money. Therefore, Heavenly Residence reluctantly dragged the auction of the Divine Sword by two hours to give interested buyers time to raise funds.

In such a short time, it is impossible to mobilize large amounts of funds from outside Central Capital, so the next buyers interested in bidding for the Nanming Lihuo Sword will be competing with confidence, capital, and connections in Central Capital!

Ning Xiaoxian immediately summoned Steward Wu. When he arrived, her expression was not good, "Steward Wu, how could you not inform me earlier about such a Divine Artifact entering the auction?" At such critical moments, information equals success rate. The earlier she knew, the greater her chances of winning.

Steward Wu almost reached out to wipe the sweat off his nose, "Today wasn’t my shift. I only came to the venue on a whim. Who knew I’d run into a Divine Artifact auction as soon as I arrived! It was indeed worth the trip."

Ning Xiaoxian was merely making a casual complaint. Time was too precious to waste on idle chatter with him. She quickly brought out the items she had appraised by the appraiser at Heavenly Residence a few days ago and decisively said, "Pawn!"

Seeing her stance, Steward Wu knew she was intending to bid for the Divine Artifact and was naturally excited, "I’ll go handle it now." Taking the treasures, he hurriedly departed.

Jiu Mo and Qi Zai exchanged glances, both feeling curious. They had calculated every possibility but never guessed their mistress would have to compete for the Nanming Lihuo Sword in this manner – not in the deep mountain forest but in Bai Yujing; not with life-and-death combat but by paving the way with enormous wealth!

But Ning Xiaoxian had no time to worry about what they thought. She knew that her opponent today was likely not just the VIPs present. As people left to spread the news, many more might rush to Bai Yujing within the two hours, and while admiring the Divine Artifact, wealthy big shots would also arrive. The difficulty in bidding for this Divine Sword would likely rise steeply.

She summoned Qi Zai and said, "Take my token to Manager Yang, and have him bring all the money from the Central Capital branch’s accounts. Be quick, very quick!" After a pause, she added, "Also, don’t be afraid to take your time. After leaving Bai Yujing, bring the Hidden Guard with you before withdrawing the money for safety." Qi Zai’s speed was the fastest, so assigning him this task was only reasonable. Manager Yang was the person in charge of Ningyuan Hall in Central Capital, managing all business income here. Ningyuan Hall was her private business, so as the Boss needing to withdraw funds, he certainly couldn’t object.

But as the theft of Spiritual Tea happened first and Jin Wuhuan came later, she wasn’t sure how many people were secretly watching the Hidden Stream now, so it was imperative that Qi Zai fetched the crucial funds without any mistakes.

Qi Zai, understanding the urgency of the matter, left decisively upon receiving the order. After he left, he witnessed Bai Yujing bustling with noise, as many indistinct figures were diligently flying out, probably all rushing to gather funds for their masters like he was.

The entire Central Capital was in an uproar!

Even the well-informed and proud Central Capital people weren’t so lucky as to have seen a Divine Artifact in their lifetime, especially one as renowned as the Nanming Lihuo Sword!

The vast region of Shangdu, from north to south, even riding the fastest Green Water Golden Eye Beast would take several hours to traverse. (To be continued. If you like this work, please support by voting for recommendation tickets and monthly tickets at Qidian.com, your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please visit m.qidian.com to read.)