Chapter 123: Sword Codex
Resource Site.
Unbeknownst to anyone, Gu Mo's pseudo-core incarnation had silently returned to this location. This recent journey had been less than pleasant—Gu Mo had encountered several ambushes along the way.
If it weren't for his considerable strength, an ordinary cultivator would have likely died long ago.
That said, Gu Mo had to admit—robbery truly was the fastest way to make money. At the very least, after this trip, his wealth had significantly increased.
Once he cracked the storage bracelet belonging to the owner of Yuquan Market, Gu Mo's fortune would likely multiply several times over.
"With this, the first step of the plan is complete."
The first step of Gu Mo's plan was to have his incarnation attain pseudo-core cultivation. Now that this step was complete, Gu Mo could face any Foundation Establishment cultivator without fear of assassination.
Of course, that was under the condition that Gu Mo carefully concealed the incarnation's true strength, making others believe he was still just a Foundation Establishment cultivator. That way, any would-be assassins would likely only be at the Foundation level—at most late-stage or peak Foundation Establishment.
In that case, Gu Mo would essentially dodge a fatal attempt. By the time his enemies realized that even peak Foundation cultivators were no match for him and considered sending stronger assassins, Gu Mo would have had ample time to further grow in strength.
With the first step completed, Gu Mo now planned to move on to the second phase: upgrading his plants. In fact, he had already been working on this for a year.
At present, Gu Mo's spiritual field housed a Tier 2 top-grade Sunflower, a Tier 2 top-grade Peashooter, two Tier 2 top-grade Potato Mines, and one Tier 2 top-grade Wall-nut. Along with the two Tier 2 top-grade Cherry Bombs he already had, his plant-based battle force had received a notable power boost.
Thanks to these plants, even without his pseudo-core incarnation, Gu Mo could barely hold his own against an external-core cultivator.
Unfortunately, upgrading a Tier 2 plant to Tier 3 required an enormous amount of Sun Essence. It would take Gu Mo a long time to accumulate it. Fortunately, the Qinglu Sect had been on lockdown for the past few years, and He Shaogang hadn't had the time to trouble him. This gave Gu Mo a rare window for growth.
It had already been three years since the Qinglu Sect sealed its gates. Gu Mo wasn't sure how the Nascent Soul Pill's refinement was progressing. With He Shaogang acting as a traitor from within, Gu Mo had little faith in a successful outcome. If the refinement failed, it would be a devastating blow to the sect.
It could even trigger a chain reaction of crises. The once-calm sect might soon be plunged into turmoil. Faced with such upheaval, all Gu Mo could do was trust that the sect had contingency plans.
"Next, I'll focus fully on upgrading the Tier 2 top-grade Sunflower to Tier 3." Gu Mo laid out his next move. For defense, he already had his pseudo-core incarnation, along with the Peashooter, Potato Mines, Cherry Bombs, and the Wall-nut.
This setup was enough for now, but if Gu Mo wanted to reach the Golden Core stage, he'd need to upgrade the Sunflower to Tier 3. He hoped that, just as the Tier 2 Sunflower had helped him reach Foundation Establishment, the Tier 3 one might help him break through to the Golden Core stage.
Naturally, a Tier 3 spiritual field was also essential—Tier 2 soil couldn't provide the necessary Sun Essence for a Tier 3 Sunflower.
Luckily, now that he was a personal disciple of Elder Qi Chunde, borrowing a bit of his master's Tier 3 spiritual field shouldn't be a problem.
Who knows, his breakthrough to the Golden Core stage might even go smoother than reaching Foundation Establishment. That's the benefit of having a strong backer.
During the Sunflower upgrade process, Gu Mo wouldn't neglect his personal cultivation either. Although he couldn't use Sun Essence to boost his realm due to prioritizing the plant upgrades, he could still improve his physical body.
By channeling pseudo-core energy from his incarnation into his main body, and having the latter run the "Soulforge Technique" to refine himself, the process became far more efficient. With the incarnation in charge of the pseudo-core energy, the main body could focus solely on tempering, increasing the speed of physical refinement.
"I finally cracked it!" One day, Gu Mo exclaimed with excitement—after repeated attempts, he had finally broken the restriction on the storage bracelet of Yuquan Market's former owner.
This was only possible because the original owner was dead. If the bracelet had still been bound, cracking it would've been virtually impossible.
With the restriction lifted, Gu Mo extended his peak Foundation Establishment divine sense into the bracelet. Thanks to the nurturing from his pseudo-core incarnation, his soul strength had risen rapidly—now reaching the late Foundation Establishment level.
However, as the soul's strength drew close to his cultivation and physical levels, the growth rate slowed. Once the three aspects aligned, the soul's growth would come to a halt.
Even though it hadn't yet reached the pseudo-core level, Gu Mo was already quite satisfied. After all, having late Foundation-level soul strength at the early Foundation stage meant that when he advanced further, his foundation would be even deeper.
"Damn, I hit the jackpot!"
His divine sense swept across the bracelet's storage space, and Gu Mo's face instantly lit up with joy.
Inside were a massive number of spirit stones—mid-grade ones, no less—about a hundred thousand of them. That equated to ten million low-grade spirit stones, a staggering fortune.
Gu Mo couldn't understand why the owner of Yuquan Market had carried so much wealth on him. Such a huge amount of liquid capital should have been invested back into the market for greater returns.
What Gu Mo didn't know was that Hua Daoliang had been planning to go to the Immortal City auction house to buy a Tier 3 demon core, which was why he had withdrawn such a large sum—pretty much the maximum amount he could mobilize without disrupting the market's operations.
However, along the way, Hua Daoliang learned that Gu Mo already had a Tier 3 demon core. He then abandoned his trip and decided to rob Gu Mo instead.
In the end, he was killed by Gu Mo, and all that money ended up in Gu Mo's pocket.
And the bracelet held more than just spirit stones—there were several treasures too. The most eye-catching item was a top-grade magical artifact.
However, it wasn't a flying sword—it was a jade abacus. More precisely, it was an artifact related to formation techniques. Once refined, the abacus could be used to arrange arrays, with its beads acting as formation stones.
"A formation tool instead of a flying sword."
Gu Mo let out a soft sigh. The abacus was wasted on him—he wasn't a formation master.
Of course, flying swords weren't exactly the perfect match for him either. But since most cultivators practiced sword techniques and were proficient with dual-sword control, flying swords remained the best default choice until one found a weapon that truly suited them.
Even if the abacus wasn't suited to him, it wasn't a big deal. Gu Mo could simply sell it and buy something more appropriate.
As for giving it to Chu Feifei, that wasn't an option. A top-grade magical artifact was far beyond the abilities of someone in the Qi Refining stage. Even after reaching Foundation Establishment, low-grade artifacts would still be a better fit for her.
Honestly, even Gu Mo himself couldn't wield a top-grade artifact right now. But giving it to his pseudo-core incarnation? That was much more feasible—assuming he could trade it for a more suitable artifact.
Beyond the abacus, the next most valuable items were a few Tier 2 pills. As for the Tier 3 talismans Hua Daoliang had used before, Gu Mo couldn't find them—they had likely been expended.
Tier 3 talismans were expensive. Hua Daoliang had likely spent a fortune to acquire the two he used—one defensive talisman and one escape talisman. Together, they could even allow someone to escape from a Golden Core cultivator.
Unfortunately for him, he had run into Gu Mo. Upon seeing Hua use a Tier 3 talisman, Gu Mo had instantly thrown a Cherry Bomb, breaking the defense and killing him outright.
This served as further proof of the Tier 2 top-grade Cherry Bomb's power—it had reached Golden Core-level might. If upgraded to Tier 3, given how strong it already was, it could likely one-shot an early Golden Core cultivator.
Right now, its power was enough to reach the Golden Core level, but not enough to instantly kill one.
"Hm? What's this...?"
At last, Gu Mo pulled out a jade slip from his storage wristband. As he probed it with his divine sense, he discovered it was actually a cultivation manual—more precisely, a sword manual.
Thinking of the marketplace's owner and the True Person Yuquan backing him, Gu Mo recalled the rumors: this Yuquan was said to be a powerful sword cultivator. This Yuquan Sword Manual must have been left behind by him.
Hua Daoliang, being only a nominal disciple of Yuquan, was technically unqualified to receive such a sword manual. However, Hua Daoliang had exceptional money-making skills and had presented Yuquan with an enormous tribute of spirit stones. Having accepted such a massive benefit, Yuquan naturally had to show some favor in return. Though he didn't formally take Hua Daoliang as a personal disciple, he still bestowed upon him the Yuquan Sword Manual, hoping that he would train well with it.
Unfortunately, Hua Daoliang's aptitude in the sword path was mediocre, and he was unable to comprehend the manual. In the end, he switched to the Dao of Formations and went to great lengths to acquire that top-grade abacus-type artifact.
"This Yuquan Sword Manual is no joke."
Gu Mo had only skimmed the opening passage before his gaze turned serious. Though he wasn't a sword cultivator, as a pseudo-Core Formation cultivator, his vision was more than sufficient to judge the quality of a cultivation method.
This Yuquan Sword Manual was clearly no ordinary work—not something a typical Core Formation cultivator could have created. After quickly browsing the contents of the jade slip, Gu Mo found a note at the end detailing the manual's origin.
As it turned out, the Yuquan Sword Manual wasn't created by True Person Yuquan at all. It was a fragment of an ancient, unnamed sword manual he had discovered in a ruined relic site. After organizing and refining it, Yuquan named the manual after his own Daoist title.
"I see. This really is a powerful sword cultivator inheritance." Gu Mo held the jade slip tightly, a flicker of desire stirring in his heart.
Right now, Gu Mo lacked a proper offensive technique—and among all cultivator types, sword cultivators were undoubtedly the strongest in direct combat. If Gu Mo could cultivate this Yuquan Sword Manual, his combat power would increase dramatically.
The problem was, Gu Mo cultivated the Qingmu Sutra, a wood-element technique, which didn't particularly suit sword cultivation. Sword cultivators typically used metal-element techniques for optimal synergy. While other elements could also be used, they were comparatively less effective. That said, it wasn't entirely impossible—as long as a technique focused on offense, it could be paired with a sword manual to produce decent results.
However, the Qingmu Sutra wasn't an offensive technique—it was more of a longevity method. Using it to fuel sword techniques would naturally put Gu Mo at a disadvantage compared to true sword cultivators.
In theory, a genuine sword cultivator inheritance would include both a sword manual and a compatible cultivation method. Only by combining both could one unlock their full potential.
Unfortunately, the Yuquan Sword Manual was an incomplete remnant. There was no matching cultivation method, and even the manual itself was fragmentary. Yet, even this partial sword manual had earned Yuquan his fearsome reputation—testament to the manual's profound depth.
So, even if Gu Mo used the Qingmu Sutra to power it, the sword manual would still significantly enhance his combat capabilities. His usual cultivation only required refining solar essence, which didn't take much time, meaning he had ample room to train in additional techniques or secret arts.
It was a shame his pseudo-Core avatar had such a high cultivation level. Otherwise, Gu Mo might've considered having the avatar switch to a more aggressive technique to pair with this sword manual. That would've sent its combat power skyrocketing—perhaps even rivaling real Core Formation cultivators.
Having taken stock of his latest gains, Gu Mo nodded in satisfaction and began studying the Yuquan Sword Manual, hoping to grasp its basics as soon as possible.
He had a hunch—these peaceful days were numbered.
It had been more than three years since the Qinglu Sect began refining the Nascent Infant Pill, and the results were likely imminent. Regardless of the outcome, unrest was inevitable.
Time passed.
One day, as Gu Mo was going through his daily routine of studying the Yuquan Sword Manual, he had to admit—it was indeed quite difficult. Despite all this time, he'd only barely managed to master a single sword technique from it.
But even this one technique had become his strongest move to date. Its power surpassed his Minor Gengjin Sword Qi several times over. While that technique was an offensive spell, it was mainly designed to serve spiritual farmers—not a true combat technique.
Moreover, Minor Gengjin Sword Qi was only a Tier 1 spell. It had decent power during the Qi Refining and Foundation Establishment stages, but for a pseudo-Core avatar, it was woefully insufficient.
In contrast, the techniques within the Yuquan Sword Manual were pure killing arts—highly potent and perfectly suited to unleash the avatar's full strength.
Now, all the avatar lacked was a worthy flying sword artifact. No matter how exquisite the Yuquan Sword Manual was, without a sharp enough flying sword, it couldn't unleash its full destructive potential.
"Looks like I'll need to make a trip to one of the immortal cities," Gu Mo thought to himself.
He needed to trade his top-grade abacus artifact for a top-grade flying sword—and only in an immortal city could such high-tier artifact transactions be made.
Buzz!
Just as Gu Mo was pondering when to set out, his Qinglu Sect core disciple token suddenly began to tremble violently.
"Hmm?"
Sensing the anomaly, Gu Mo swiftly pulled out the token. As he stared at the strange symbol glowing on it, his eyes filled with shock.
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