The Heavens: A Qing, the Yue Girl at the beginning

Lingyu condensed from high-purity uranium ore? Could it be that the Chu Dynasty is about to create a "homemade atomic bomb"? Hearing this reply, Zhao Qing was also slightly surprised. His previous guess was confirmed. Just as he was about to point out the dangers of this thing, the Chu Emperor continued to add:
"Many years ago, there were records of 'offering jade to kill people' in the classics. People have long discovered that some jades with seemingly pleasing colors can emit rays that kill people invisibly. In the world of practitioners, such jades and refined gold have been refined into powerful magic tools in every dynasty."

"While they have unique properties, they are also naturally accompanied by certain negative effects and risks. This is a trade-off and a balance."

"In fact, the craftsmen and practitioners of our dynasty had already noticed the lethal nature of the 'Erosion Sky Bead' when it was being refined. They set up dozens of seals inside and outside it, placed it in a black lead treasure box, and hid it deep underground in the palace treasury. Almost no one had ever touched it... until the day I unearthed it."

"Have you ever heard of the name 'Demon Sword'?"

Perhaps recalling his magnificent past, Emperor Chu sighed, "This is also a famous sword with similar characteristics. The first and second generation sword masters were both first-class grandmasters, but they brought them misfortune and bad luck."

"Qi Hanshan and Li Guanlan?"

Zhao Qing's mind moved slightly, and he remembered the two sword masters in the Bashan Sword Field in the past. The former was a generation older than Wang Jingmeng, and the latter was Wang Jingmeng's senior brother. He was betrayed by Liang Lian, the current general of the Tiger and Wolf Northern Army, during the Changling Incident, and died under the siege of the Qin army.

"Exactly."

Emperor Chu nodded and continued, "Nearly a hundred years ago, a meteorite fell in the Qin territory of Guanzhong. The star officials at that time called that meteorite a demon star or a planet. The place where the meteorite hit happened to be the largest sword hut in Guanzhong, Quhuoju, and several famous sword masters died in this skyfire."

"However, what is unbelievable is that when the meteorite fell into the blast furnace, some of the sword embryos turned into molten scrap iron, but at the center where the meteorite fell, the refined gold in the meteorite and some of the black iron in the blast furnace condensed into one object, which is the Demonic Sword."

"This sword cannot be said to be completely naturally formed, because it generally comes from a meteorite, but half of it also comes from some almost completed sword embryos in this blast furnace. But it happened to form such a sword shape, and in the eyes of many people, it is naturally a demonic thing."

"When this sword was created, it was associated with a strange color, so it was generally called the Demon Sword or the Demon Star Sword."

Chu Qifeng looked sad as he continued to explain, "But what makes this sword even more memorable is its weight. It is truly as heavy as a mountain. Practitioners below the sixth realm cannot even lift it, let alone perform any complete sword moves with it."

"And the first owner of this sword was the young master of the Qi family, a powerful family in Guanzhong to which the sword-refining workshop belonged. He was the most famous genius cultivator in Guanzhong at the time and the fastest to reach the seventh realm in those decades. He was later known as the 'Master of the Bewitching Sword', Qi Hanshan."

"The young and energetic Qi Hanshan was not afraid of the ominous sign brought by the Demon Sword. Instead, he was full of love and expectation for the sword. In order to bring out the most powerful side of the sword, he even went to great lengths to obtain the Mountain Prison Sword Scripture of the former Xuanshan Sword School."

"He combined many sword moves from the Shanyu Sword Scripture and created a style called 'Heavy Mountain Sword', which was called 'One Sword Break' by people at that time. After Qi Hanshan created this sword, he became invincible in Guanzhong for a while. No one could withstand such a sword. He defeated countless powerful enemies and left behind countless legends."

"This style of 'Chongshan Sword' is the prototype of the 'Jianshan Sword' practiced by Gu Huai, a former disciple of Bashan Sword Field and now the leader of Lingxu Sword Sect. Even today, few people can match it."

"However, just as Qi Hanshan's fame was rising, the curse of the Demon Sword quietly descended. Some of the refined gold inside the sword had a slowly corrosive effect on the bodies of some ordinary people. By the time he discovered it, his wife had become seriously ill and was pregnant with his child."

"Her death seemed to have triggered an even greater disaster. That year, Guanzhong suffered a drought that was rare in a century. Countless people were displaced and starved to death. After the drought, the plague raged again, claiming countless lives. Many wealthy families fell into decline, including the Qi family."

"Later, Qi Hanshan appeared again at Bashan Sword Field, the year Wang Jingmeng became a disciple of Bashan. The demon star in the sky emitted a strange red light and returned to the human world. It was reflected from the cold starry sky thousands of miles away, as if it was echoing with the demon sword."

Chu Qifeng sighed, "No one knows why this Demon Sword was passed on to Li Guanlan, who was the most advanced among the younger generation of Bashan Sword Field at that time, instead of Wang Jingmeng, who joined later and had the highest talent. But no matter what, Li Guanlan eventually became the first Grandmaster of that generation in Bashan to enter the seventh realm upper grade."

So, is the Demon Planet a short-period comet or a Centaur (Chiron family comet)? It has characteristics of both an asteroid and a comet, and is particularly red due to the large amount of tholins on its surface? It looks like the Demon Sword is a fragment of it?
Zhao Qing pondered secretly in his heart, and speculated that the Demonic Sword that came from this kind of comet should be an excellent sword to match when using the Starfire Comet Tail Sword, and its power may be quite close to the Nine Netherworld King Sword.

"I don't want a sword that can corrode and damage my body. Any normal person should understand this, right?" At the same time, Xia Mi frowned and interrupted, "Doesn't Li Guanlan know the curse of this sword? Why did he accept it?"

"The reason is very simple. The curse of the Demon Sword was exaggerated, and its value in cultivation far exceeds its negative effects. I'm afraid that more than half of Qi Hanshan and Li Guanlan's progress in cultivation and their final achievements can be attributed to it."

The Emperor of Chu chuckled and casually revealed a long-buried secret: "Although the Demon Sword was somewhat responsible for the death of Qi Hanshan's wife and children, it was mostly because he used to be too heavy-handed when fighting his enemies. He always killed them with one move and left no room for them to escape. As a result, his enemies found an opportunity and poisoned the medicine to death."

"Wang Jingmeng voluntarily gave up the Demon Sword because he was stronger than the sword and did not need such a sword at all. Such a sword would only hinder the heights he could reach. However, most practitioners need to rely on this sword to reach higher heights."

"Similarly, after learning the truth about the curse of the 'Demon Sword', I immediately thought of the 'Erosion Bead' which was rumored to have similar properties. I was obsessed with the idea that the quality of an artifact does not lie in whether it has flaws, but in whether the person using it has enough will and determination."

"Considering that the skill of our 'Saint Hand' should be better than that of the Quehhuo House in Guanzhong, and Qi Hanshan himself did not age or die prematurely because of this sword, it was only his wife and children with low cultivation who became ill. The risk is quite limited. I thought that if we take proper protective measures, there would be no major problems in activating it."

The tone of the Chu Emperor was filled with self-mockery and regret: "However, I was wrong after all. Very wrong! The harm of the Sky-Erosion Bead is far greater than I imagined. It is countless times more terrifying than the Demonic Sword."

"In the early stages of my cultivation, the Eclipse Bead did bring me indescribable benefits. Under the dual effects of it and the 'Human King Jade Disc', my cultivation progressed by leaps and bounds, almost at a speed visible to the naked eye, and soon broke the cultivation speed record of the entire Chu Dynasty."

"Next, I closed my eyes and comprehended the changes in the formation. Based on the 'Eclipse Bead', I successfully evolved a set of 'Unrivaled Skills', which can change the laws of vitality in this world on a large scale and confuse the minds and perceptions of practitioners. This is already one of the main characteristics of the Eight Realms!"

"Most people know that the eighth stage of cultivation is called 'Enlightenment', but in some unique ancient texts, there is another name, which is called 'Divine Confusion'. The two different names represent two different perspectives on the Eighth Stage."

"Although this feature is not complete and represents a simultaneous weakening of both the enemy and us, coupled with our dynasty's powerful talisman craftsmanship, it is enough to significantly reduce the cultivation advantage of the Qin Realm swordsmen and amplify the role of the army. During the battle, we can also use specially made heavy armor to resist this effect."

"At that time, I was filled with joy, thinking that I had finally found a magic weapon that could counter those powerful practitioners in the Bashan Sword Field of the Qin Dynasty, and that would allow my dynasty to dominate the world. However, I never expected that this so-called 'magic weapon' was actually a demon that posed a huge crisis."

"After I refined it into a life-giving substance, everything changed. The originally gentle rays became extremely violent, corroding my body all the time. Although my cultivation is still slowly increasing, every improvement is accompanied by unbearable pain."

"I tried to suppress it in various ways, but to no avail." The face of the Chu Emperor turned extremely pale, as if he recalled those painful days: "During that time, I felt like I was living in purgatory, fighting against the erosion of the Sky-Erosion Bead every day."

"My body gradually weakened, and my life span was shortened drastically. I finally realized that I had made an irreparable mistake. And my unworthy descendants were probably also affected by the 'Erosion Bead', which is why they became so deformed."

Having said that, a faint but powerful aura slowly emanated from Emperor Chu's body, and a dark ball of light rose in the palm of his hand. Through the cold black light curtain, one could clearly see that inside it was a clustered sphere made up of many small colorful crystals combined together, sealing a majestic aura of death.

Then, he frowned slightly, and as if enduring great pain, he pointed his finger towards the ground. The "Erosion Bead" immediately shot out a thumb-thick beam of annihilation light, which silently penetrated hundreds of feet of soil and rocks, leaving a bottomless hole on the ground. In Zhao Qing's perception, this beam of annihilation formed a strange scene like an inverted mushroom cloud deep underground. Countless eroded vital energy in the strata collided with each other in a disorderly manner, gathering into numerous vortices, like a black lotus suddenly blooming.

In the area of ​​dozens of square miles where the talisman bidding conference was held, there were dozens of ordinary-looking spectators and five or six craftsmen who were measuring and verifying the data of the talismans. Suddenly, they felt a lot of unfamiliar energy surging into the soles of their feet, which infiltrated into the meridians of their whole bodies in a blink of an eye.

The next moment, the blood and qi in the bodies of these well-hidden Qin Dynasty spies began to evaporate, their bodies felt hot and as if they were being pricked by needles. The originally normal flow of true energy seemed to be disrupted and became violent.

It was also like the precipitation of crystals, with countless tiny particles naturally generated, accumulating layer by layer in the flesh and meridians, blocking the normal flow of vital energy. The nearby flowers and plants also withered immediately, contaminated by the leaked energy, and turned into gray-lead dust.

"Ah——!" A Qin spy disguised as a craftsman was the first to be hit. He screamed and fell to the ground with blood coming out of his seven orifices. His skin was festering at a speed visible to the naked eye, turning pitch black and constantly bubbling, as if it had been doused in boiling oil.

"Save me, save me quickly!" Another Qin spy lurking in the crowd discovered something wrong with his body and screamed in horror. His face quickly swelled up like a pig's head, and his eyes were almost squeezed into a thin line, making it impossible for him to see clearly what was in front of him.

Similar screams rang out one after another.

These spies, who were usually well-trained and determined, seemed to have completely lost their minds at this moment. They kept rolling on the ground, tearing their hair and faces with their hands, and some even tried to dig out their eyeballs. It was an extremely miserable scene.

These spies, who normally have at least the fourth realm of cultivation, are so vulnerable in front of the invisible rays emitted by the "Eclipse Beads" that they can't even escape. They can only watch their bodies quickly fester and their vitality fade away.

At the same time, the Tiangong Pavilion's heavily launched talisman "Demon Star Pendant" was officially put on display. The sky looked like it had been cut by a giant knife, a gap appeared, and countless light rains fell like meteors.

Every time a star of light fell to the ground, there was a horrific explosion. In every colorful glare, there were freezing cold stars and blazing sparks flying and rumbling, which just covered up the noise of Qin spies dying one after another and their bodies being dragged away and disposed of by the Chu army practitioners.

The instigator of all this, Emperor Chu, just watched this scene calmly, as if he was already used to it. He gently took back the "Erosion Bead" in his hand and put it back into his body. The dark ball of light and the powerful aura also dissipated without a trace.

"What a terrifying killing weapon..." Xia Mi witnessed the whole process and couldn't help but gasp. She looked at the Chu Emperor's palm, which had become as transparent as jade, with lingering fear. Faintly, she could see countless tiny spots of light inside, slowly moving along some mysterious trajectory.

Zhao Qing's heart also moved, sensing the changes of the "Earth Vein Sword" which used rays similar to the star energy. He had a deeper understanding of Emperor Chu and the Eclipse Pearl, and speculated that it was very likely to kill hundreds of thousands or even more unprepared people at a time.

She thought about it and stretched out her finger towards the newly formed hole. A gray long sword made up of countless tiny metal particles naturally condensed. A sword energy as ethereal as smoke shot out from the tip of the sword, and seven-colored sword flowers bloomed underground.

This was the result of the fusion of the damaged natal swords of the Seventh Realm Grandmasters that Zhao Qing had collected when she passed by the ruins of the Bashan Sword Field. The sword move she made was to track the trajectory of the annihilation ray and eliminate its remaining energy to avoid causing any spreading harm.

"This is just a small part of the power of this pearl."

Sensing the blooming of the sword flower, the Chu Emperor's eyes lit up slightly, and he casually took out a pill and swallowed it, calming his restless spirit. He slowly said: "These Qin spies have been lurking in our dynasty for many years, and have never been completely eliminated. Today, with the power of the 'Erosion Bead', I have caught them all in one fell swoop."

"However, although the killing power of this bead is amazing, it also puts a great burden on the user. It can be said that it hurts oneself before hurting others. I just slightly stimulated its power, and it is already a little unbearable."

He turned to look at Zhao Qing who seemed to be thinking about something, his voice revealing deep helplessness and regret: "Thinking back then, I thought I could use the power of this pearl to break through the Eight Realms of Qitian in one fell swoop, and even peek into the secret of Nine Realms of Immortality, but I didn't expect to end up like this..."

"Since you can see the dangers of the 'Erosion Bead', do you have any way to resolve it?"

"Maybe only 90% sure."

Zhao Qing thought for a moment, and replied carefully, "After all, it has been refined into a life object, and has been integrated with life. The degree of closeness is far beyond normal use. It is indeed quite difficult to completely eliminate the harm in it and restore your majesty's lost life span."

With the blessing of his innate vitality, the radiation lethality of the "Eclipse Sky Bead" is far beyond the reach of natural radioactive minerals, and the radiation itself has become one of the attributes of Emperor Chu's vitality. It is no longer an object that can be cured at will by the Changsheng Jue Qi, and it requires some effort.

"Ninety percent sure?" At this point in the conversation, the Emperor of Chu fell into a long silence for the first time. The expression on his face seemed to be crying and laughing, and it seemed extremely complicated, as if he was lamenting his unfortunate fate.

There is no doubt that for a strong man who stands at the peak of the seventh realm and has gone through countless hardships, a 90% chance of success is already a very high success rate, enough to make him excited.

But at the same time, the Emperor of Chu was also very clear that since Zhao Qing dared to say such a thing, the demands or prices she proposed would certainly not be low.

Sure enough, after a brief pause, Zhao Qing continued, "Whether it's the problem of insufficient tax revenue, food shortage, or extending life span and suppressing the power struggles among the princes, I can solve them all. However, I have to put forward two conditions here."

A sharp light flashed in the eyes of the Emperor of Chu. He knew that Zhao Qing's request must be not simple, but he also knew that he did not have much choice. He took a deep breath and slowly said, "Tell me about it."

Zhao Qing smiled slightly. She knew that the Emperor of Chu was already interested, so she said calmly, "Among them, I want to gain control of at least half of the craftsmen in the workshops controlled by the central government of the Chu Dynasty. Skilled workers, famous craftsmen, and masters must all be included."

"Only in this way can I ensure the efficiency and quality of large-scale production, develop many new talismans, and allow the advanced productivity directly controlled by the court to develop to a level that exceeds the sum of all local forces in a short period of time, forming absolute suppression, and thus gradually achieving institutional reforms."

"Secondly, in order to solve the hidden dangers of your majesty's health, you need to open up the entire royal library to me, including the cultivation books and talisman catalogues, so that I can consult various materials at any time. At the same time, you also need to help me contact the descendants of the many Dan Sects that have destroyed the Han Dynasty, so that we can communicate with each other..."

These two conditions were not excessive in solving the two corresponding problems, but Zhao Qing was, after all, only an outsider cultivator who had just entered Chu territory. It was really abrupt to make such a request all of a sudden.

"I can agree to your conditions." However, after Emperor Chu hesitated for a moment, he spoke up and agreed: "But before that, someone wants to see you first... I believe this is the person you want to see."

"Also, the Demon Sword is now in my collection. In order to gain some experience in dealing with the 'Erosion Bead', Qifeng, you must immediately go to the palace to fetch it and give it to these two good friends from the 'Bashan Sword Field' as a greeting gift."

...(End of chapter)