Swordsmanship flourishes in the Qingyun Realm, yet spiritual roots decide one’s fate. Those with a single spiritual root can join a great sect; those with two can become its backbone. But those with five mixed spiritual roots aren’t even qualified to hold a sword.
Chen Fan is one such “waste.” Born into an immortal-cultivation clan on the frontier, he was judged after his spiritual-root test to be “incapable of gathering qi for the rest of his life.” He became a laughingstock among his clan, and even his father considered him a disgrace. When he was ten, he found a rusted iron sword in the family’s mass graveyard. Hidden inside it was the incomplete remnant soul of an ancient Sword God.
From then on, he used the sword soul to open his meridians and drew on the remnant soul to glimpse ancient sword techniques, defying a world where “spiritual roots determine destiny.” At the sect tournament, his Qi Refining cultivation clashed head-on with a Foundation Establishment sword cultivator, and his rusty sword shattered the opponent’s lifebound spiritual sword. On an expedition into a secret realm, he stumbled upon an ancient sword tomb and obtained the art of “turning the body into a sword,” only to be hunted by both righteous and demonic factions. During the war between immortals and demons, he stood atop the Nine Heavens, with the corpses of countless sword cultivators behind him and the Demon Sovereign’s flames before him. The rust fell away from his sword, revealing the inscription: “Heaven-Slayer.”
“We sword cultivators may have mortal bones, but we can still defy heaven and forge a sword heart!” From an abandoned son on the frontier to the Qingyun Realm’s sword fanatic, then to a Sword God spanning the myriad heavens, Chen Fan proves with sword marks and blood that spiritual roots are never the end, the sword heart is the true destination. There is no need to fear a lack of talent; sheer resolve can break through every technique.
