Part One: The Frozen Peak (25%)

The snow fell upon the peaks of Jintian Mountain like a shroud upon a king. At the summit, a youth in white robes stood motionless as the wind whipped his hair across his face. Yun Bubuf was twenty-two years old, and he had already reached what the martial world called the pinnacle—Wu Wang, the Martial Sovereign, capable of tearing through the void itself.

Behind him stood over a hundred disciples, old and young, their eyes filled with reverence. They watched their master as he raised both hands and tore open the fabric of space itself. A crack of darkness appeared in the sky, and Yun Bubuf stepped through.

What awaited him was not what any disciple could have imagined. A space of absolute darkness, then a light so brilliant it seared the soul. Purple lightning crackled across the void as a towering figure emerged—broad-shouldered, ancient, radiating power that made Yun Bubuf's knees tremble without his consent.

"Hahaha! Ten trillion years! Ten trillion years I have waited!" The voice shook the void like thunder. "Finally, someone has come. Finally, I can break my seal."

The giant's forehead flashed with purple light, and a force slammed into Yun Bubuf's mind. Yun Bubuf felt his body erupt with sword qi so potent it could have leveled mountains. The giant laughed with ecstasy.

"Sword Spirit Body! It is truly the Sword Spirit Body! Breakthrough is within reach, within reach at last!"

Yun Bubuf's terror gave way to awe. This being—this fragment of a soul, weakened and fading—was so powerful that Yun Bubuf could not even move. The giant introduced himself as Fen Shi, one of the Four Supreme Emperors of the Divine Realm. Ten trillion years ago, in the Great War between the Eastern Divine Realm and the Western Heaven and Hell, Fen Shi had been sealed by eight Primary Gods upon the Supreme Divine Mountain. His weapon—the Destroying Heaven Sword—had shattered into three pieces and scattered across the Three Realms, seeking worthy hosts to one day rescue him.

"Your strength, as impressive as it is here," Fen Shi said with a wry smile, "would be considered third-rate in the Cultivation Realm. In the Divine Realm, it would not warrant a second glance. But you, Yun Bubuf—you are Sword Spirit Body. You can learn my Destroying Heaven Sword Art at a rate ten million times faster than any other. In one hundred million years, you will reach my power. You will find the Ancestral Dragon Jade Pendant. You will go to the Supreme Divine Mountain. And you will free me."

One hundred million years. Yun Bubuf thought it impossible. But Fen Shi's form was already growing translucent, fading like smoke in the wind.

"Take the sword. Take the knowledge. Become what I know you can become."

A purple light entered Yun Bubuf's body. The Destroying Heaven Sword Art—three volumes: Foundation, Heaven Destroyer, and World Annihilator—flooded his mind like a river of fire. By the time Fen Shi vanished, Yun Bubuf was surrounded by a pale purple aura. The first cultivation cycle had raised his power threefold.

The void cracked. Yun Bubuf fell.

Part Two: The Spirit Root Mirror (30%)

He landed in a crater on a hillside, coughing dust and snow. Before him, a caravan moved northwest. He ran to intercept them.

"Who are you?" an old man demanded, his hand on his sword.

Yun Bubuf explained his confusion. The old man's hostility melted into hospitality. "You are heading to Yunling Peak's recruitment, I presume? The test is tomorrow."

Yun Bubuf learned that this world was vast—hundreds of thousands of miles across. The Northwest belonged to Yunling Peak, the greatest sect in the region, with eighteen cities under its dominion. Its core disciples numbered in the tens of thousands. Its outer disciples, countless. Even the city guards were Yunling Peak outer disciples.

The next day, thousands gathered outside the Yun Fortress. By dawn, the number had swelled to seven thousand. At first light, three white-haired elders emerged from the fortress—seemingly in their eighties yet possessing the vitality of men in their thirties.

"Place your hand on the mirror. If it glows, you stay. If it does not, go home."

One by one, candidates stepped forward. Six hundred and thirty-five failed. Six hundred and thirty-six. Six hundred and seventy-two. All without a single glow.

Then came number 691—Yun Bubuf.

He placed his hand on the crystal mirror. The mirror shook violently, then erupted in emerald light so brilliant it filled the entire fortress. The three elders rose from their seats.

"Supreme Spirit Root," the central elder said, his voice trembling with decades of disbelief. "In six hundred years of this peak's history, we have seen only three."

Yun Bubuf was made a core disciple without further testing. He was taken to the main peak by Elder Hei, who flew through the air with Yun Bubuf clinging to his back—a distance that took three days. Yun Bubuf, who could barely fly short distances in his old world, watched the clouds pass beneath his feet in silence.

On the main peak, three peak masters argued over who would claim him. Elder Li Muran, head of the weakest peak—the six hundred and forty-fourth ranked among eighteen—won by offering nothing more than his patience.

"Find a place to cultivate," Elder Li said. "When you reach the ninth layer of the Breathing Art, I will appear."

Part Three: The Spiritual Qi Vortex (35%)

Yun Bubuf sat on a cliff edge, opened the Breathing Art, and began to cultivate. The spiritual qi flowed in—slowly, drop by drop. He frowned. This was too slow. Even at his pace, it would take years.

He switched to the Destroying Heaven Sword Art's gathering technique.

The sky darkened. The spiritual qi of the entire mountain surged toward Yun Bubuf's position like a river diverted from its channel. The air screamed. A vortex formed above his head—spinning, howling, a maelstrom of pure energy that shook the mountain to its foundations.

Every cultivator on the peak stopped. Seventy-two cave masters appeared before Elder Li.

"A Spiritual Qi Vortex," Elder Li whispered, his face pale with shock. "In a million years of Yunling Peak's existence, the founding peak master achieved only this once. And he was not of the Sword Immortal lineage."

The peak master Zheng Yunfeng arrived within moments. He stared at the vortex, his eyes wide. "This is... unprecedented. He is not a Congenital Spirit Body, which is a pity, but a Spiritual Qi Vortex in the Sword Immortal lineage—this has never happened."

Yun Bubuf cultivated for one hour. The ninth layer of the Breathing Art dissolved beneath his meridians like ice in summer. He opened his eyes. Seventy-two cave masters stood before him, their expressions a mixture of awe and calculation.

The first cave master, Wang He, stepped forward. "The Peak Ranking Competition is in three hundred years. If you can condense a Sword Pearl and reach Sword Emperor within that time, we will enter the top three. I will give you my cave. All of it."

Yun Bubuf did not understand the implications. He only knew that the path ahead was long, the world was vast, and he was hungry.

Part Four: The Iron Sword (15%)

Three hundred years would pass. Nine hundred years more. Three thousand years of cultivation, of battles, of enemies who fell before him like wheat before a scythe. Yun Bubuf would collect the three pieces of the Destroying Heaven Sword. He would find the Ancestral Dragon Jade Pendant. He would cross the boundaries between the Mortal Realm, the Cultivation Realm, the Immortal Realm, and finally the Divine Realm.

But in the beginning, there was only the iron sword in his hand, the snow on the mountain, and a promise made to a fading ghost in a void of purple lightning.

The sword was heavy—thirty-six thousand jin in its true form. Yun Bubuf, with his Sword Spirit Body, could barely lift one third of its sealed weight. But he lifted it. He always lifted it.

Because that is what supreme emperors do. They lift the weight no one else can bear.

They become the iron sword that cuts through destiny itself.

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