On Xiaozhu Peak, the atmosphere had returned to a comfortable, if chaotic, equilibrium. The grand spiritual spectacle had ended, order was restored, and Lord Pig was back to his favorite pastime: basking.
"Wow, Lord Pig's new fur is incredibly soft and smooth!"
"Let me feel it! It's like liquid sunlight!"
"The belly of Lord Pig feels so wonderfully warm!"
A gaggle of female disciples, their fear of the recent thunder battle entirely forgotten, crowded around Shuiyue. They eagerly reached out, gently rubbing and pinching Lord Pig's miraculously restored, golden body. The Immortal Golden Body upgrade had certainly done wonders for his aesthetic appeal.
"What is all this commotion? Quieten down! What if you disturb Lord Pig's much-needed nap?" Shuiyue raised her phoenix eyes, scanning the overly enthusiastic disciples, and gently scolded them.
Instantly, the girls fell silent, heads bowed like wilted cabbages, and retreated obediently.
Alas, being too handsome is truly a dilemma, Lord Pig sighed dramatically in his heart, comfortably settled in Shuiyue's arms. It's an exhausting mistake that I must continually endure.
That evening, Daoxuan personally delivered the promised ten thousand common spiritual herbs. Lord Pig accepted the massive haul—more than enough to sustain a small village for a decade—and promptly stashed it into his spacious ring, confirming the successful conclusion of his compensation claim.
The night passed in peaceful, financially rewarding silence.
The next morning, Lord Pig was awake with a purpose. He used his upgraded Five Elements Divine Escape Technique and instantly headed toward the Fantasy Moon Cave Residence, nestled beside the ancestral temple in the back mountain.
His cultivation, now at Level 5, meant the complex array restrictions protecting the cave were laughably easy to bypass. The security formations parted for him like butter.
One moment, he was beneath the earth; the next, he crawled out from the ground, finding himself within an enormous, breathtakingly desolate world. It was a vast, unending Gobi desert of dark gray rock and sand, where the only sound was the fierce, lonely howl of the wind.
The sky above was a sight of strange, oppressive beauty. Thick dark purple clouds weighed down on the horizon, constantly spewing colossal bolts of white lightning. In the farthest distance, a mysterious dark green halo glowed intensely, a beacon of light at the edge of the darkness. Countless meteors streaked across the celestial expanse, leaving brilliant trails of starlight—a celestial canvas of chaos and splendor.
"This is the Fantasy Moon Cave? It's far more than just a cave—it's a different world entirely," Lord Pig's face, usually composed, was filled with rare astonishment.
He turned his attention forward. An ancient altar dominated the landscape, constructed from dark gray boulders, accessible by seven tiers of steps on all eight sides. Seven colossal, brightly colored pillars—each dozens of feet high—circled the altar.
In the center of this ritualistic structure, plunged deep into a hard stone base, stood the object of his quest: the Ancient Sword of Zhu Xian. It was simple in form, yet radiated an overwhelming sense of aged, terrifying majesty.
Lord Pig hopped onto the altar and grasped the massive hilt of the Zhu Xian Ancient Sword with his tiny paws.
Boom!
The sound was like a thunderclap right next to his ears, tearing the strange sky apart. Lightning flashed, and the surrounding Phantom Moon above shone with brilliant, multicolored light. This light converged into a gigantic, blinding pillar of pure energy that descended from the heavens, engulfing Lord Pig.
The seven colored pillars on the altar simultaneously blazed to life, their light columns swirling like vigorous, cheering dragons.
In the heart of the light, Lord Pig's figure slowly lifted from the ground, his Wind-Thunder Wings unfolding behind him. As he levitated, the Zhu Xian Ancient Sword began its slow, agonizing ascent from the stone base.
CLANG!
A clear, ancient sword chant ripped through the sky as the sword was finally pulled free by Lord Pig.
Holding the sword aloft, Lord Pig pointed the tip toward the heavens. A monstrous, colorful sword energy erupted, representing the peerless, tyrannical power of the Immortal Executioner, looking down on the world with pure arrogance.
Around the giant sword, under the glow of the phantom moon, a line of colossal, golden ancient characters—each a hundred feet tall—slowly materialized in the empty void, stretching from sky to ground.
Heaven and earth are unkind and treat all things as straw dogs!
The sight was utterly spectacular, the golden words seeming to encapsulate the boundless, indifferent truth of the Dao itself.
Simultaneously, a titanic beam of light shot upward, piercing the protective formations of the Fantasy Moon Cave and striking the upper Nine Heavens. It was as if an imprisoned dragon of ten million years had been released, galloping across the sky, summoning wind and rain, causing the mountains to bow, and forcing every magic weapon in Qingyun to tremble in submission.
"The Immortal Execution Sword!"
Wan Jianyi, hidden deep within the ancestral temple, and Daoxuan, who had just rushed over, snapped their heads up, horror etched on their faces. They both instantly surged toward the Fantasy Moon Cave.
"Is that the Zhu Xian Sword? What in the world is happening?"
"Did the Sect Leader activate it? Why such power?"
"Could a devastating enemy have infiltrated Qingyun?"
The Peak Masters, including Shuiyue, rushed toward the back mountain in horrified confusion, knowing that whatever this light meant, it was the single most important event in the sect's recent history.
Inside the Fantasy Moon Cave, a new prompt appeared before Lord Pig's eyes.
The fifth volume of the Heavenly Book has been discovered. It costs 1,000 energy and 1,000 experience points to collect!
Without hesitation, Lord Pig commanded, "Collect!"
A strange, ancient power flowed from the very air, through the Zhu Xian Ancient Sword, and directly into Lord Pig's internal systems. The moment the transfer was complete, the terrifying, world-shaking sword suddenly calmed down, its ferocious light receding. It was transformed into a plain, simple, and utterly unassuming ancient sword.
Whoosh!
With a thought, Lord Pig shrank the Zhu Xian Sword until it was only half a foot long, holding it in his tiny paw. It looked for all the world like a decorative dagger.
Yet, Lord Pig felt the unimaginable, terrifying power contained within—a power capable of shattering worlds, now completely subdued and driven by his will. He had total, absolute control over the Zhu Xian Sword.
"Awesome, my Pig God's Light!"
Lord Pig played with the miniaturized Zhu Xian Sword, rotating it playfully in his paw. He was delighted by how easily he had claimed and mastered the ultimate weapon of the realm.
"Lord Pig?!"
Wan Jianyi and Daoxuan rushed into the cave, stopping dead at the sight of the golden pig casually handling what appeared to be a knife.
"Where is the Zhu Xian Sword?" they demanded, their eyes darting to the empty stone base.
"Hee hee, are you looking for this?" Lord Pig raised the half-foot-long, short sword in his paw, speaking casually.
"What? That… that's the Zhu Xian Sword?"
Wan Jianyi and Daoxuan stared, hearts pounding. Upon closer inspection, the tiny blade matched the pattern of the legendary sword perfectly, but it was miniature and lacked the world-shattering aura.
"You… you have achieved complete control over the Zhu Xian Sword?" they stammered, horror and disbelief warring on their faces.
They looked at Lord Pig as if he were an impossible, physics-defying monster. Since the sect's founding, no one had ever fully controlled the sword. But then again, only Lord Pig possessed the terrifying, space-rippling power necessary to master it.
"Well, all right. Lord Pig is going down the mountain to show off!" Zhu Hao announced, taking a golden rope, securely strapping the tiny, ultimate divine weapon to his back, and waving his paw dismissively.
"What? Lord Pig is leaving the mountain?!" Daoxuan, having just recovered from the shock of the sword's control, was hit by another emotional bomb and cried out in dismay.
"Do you think I need your permission to travel? Do you doubt that I would use my Big Sword to beat you?" Zhu Hao glared, making the blade on his back twitch menacingly.
"This disciple absolutely dare not!" Daoxuan hurried to say. Lord Pig was already invincible, and now that he commanded the Zhu Xian Sword, he was practically an unchallenged god.
Zhu Hao nodded in approval, then hopped onto Daoxuan's shoulder, patting it earnestly with his little paw. "Xiao Xuanzi, Lord Pig knows your concerns. But the Zhu Xian Sword is an external tool—you can't rely on it too much. Your own strength is the true foundation. Practice diligently. Lord Pig is going out to play now!"
Whoosh!
A flash of golden light from the Five Elements Divine Escape Technique, and Lord Pig's figure vanished instantly.
"P-Pig…" Daoxuan stretched out his hand, but the golden menace was already gone.
Wan Jianyi walked out slowly. "Brother, Lord Pig is correct. Personal strength is the core. And with Lord Pig on our side, even if he's just out 'playing,' our Qingyun Sect is as stable as Mount Tai."
Daoxuan simply closed his mouth. There was nothing left to say. He could only turn and leave, left to manage a sect whose ultimate treasure had just been borrowed by its golden, tyrannical, and newly-magician pig.