When Su Ling'er stepped onto the hundredth stair, the world spun around her.
All the blood and fire, all the warmth and loneliness, faded away in that instant.
Only a vast emptiness remained before her eyes.
Then, she saw it.
She saw the "fruit" borne from her long journey in pursuit of the Dao and immortality.
She also saw the one scene she was most unwilling to face.
She had succeeded.
Her *True Understanding of Ten Thousand Transformations Returning to the Origin* had reached the Transformation Realm. Spiritual Power surged through her body like a tidal wave.
Her *Sword Refining Skill* was also mastered. With a light tap of her toes, she could tear space itself asunder.
The bottleneck that had driven her to despair for countless days and nights, the one born of her aptitude and Spirit Root, seemed to have long been overcome.
She was just one step away from ascending to immortality!
However, there were no auspicious signs descending from the heavens, no golden path of light, and certainly no celestial music playing in celebration.
Her body was constantly being reorganized and reshaped.
A supreme, formidable power surged from the depths of her soul, forcibly twisting and forging her flesh, bones, meridians, and even her very soul...
In the end, she became an Immortal Sword.
A peerless Immortal Sword, flowing with supreme Dao rhythm, embodying both the righteous aura of the correct path and a potent air of slaughter!
Her consciousness was imprisoned within the cold body of the sword.
She couldn't scream, nor could she move.
The only thing she could feel was the hand gripping the hilt.
It was Lin Qingfeng's hand!
He held her as he walked out of the Guixi Sect, striking down arrogant and powerful foes.
Wherever the sword's light passed, mountains and rivers shattered, and the sun and moon were overturned.
He held her as he ascended to the pinnacles of the major sects. Amid mountains of corpses and seas of blood, under countless gazes of reverence and fear, he forged an immortal reputation.
The world sang praises of this Divine Sword's supreme edge:
"Look! That's Lin Qingfeng's personal sword!"
"The sword is named 'Selfless.' Legend says it has a spirit within, that it can choose its own master, and that it can even devour all techniques and make them its own!"
But no one knew that imprisoned within this Divine Sword hailed as "Selfless" was a soul filled with unwillingness and despair.
She had become the strongest sword in his hands.
She had become the most perfect weapon in his hands.
The only thing she was no longer was the Su Ling'er who could single-mindedly pursue the path of immortality, yearning for a long and carefree life.
...
'This is not the destination I wanted!'
'This is not the path to immortality I sought!'
'After enduring countless hardships and endless suffering, after walking this path of certain death, was my only fate to become an Immortal Sword in someone else's hand?!'
'I can't accept this!'
'I can't accept the sight of myself being casually wielded by Lin Qingfeng in this illusion!'
The man wore a compassionate smile, as if he pitied all of creation, while spouting specious universal truths.
But it all made her unwillingness and struggles seem utterly ridiculous.
He had transformed everything she was into the sharp edge he used to cut down others.
That power was so immense that even she, the "Artifact Spirit," trembled before it—so immense it suffocated her.
That so-called "path to the Dao" had been, from the moment she entered the sect, a dead-end road he had paved for her—a road leading to becoming a "sword."
Seeking the Dao, attaining long life, ascending to immortality...
This was the sole obsession that had set her on this path.
Yet when she had given her all and finally touched the pinnacle of power, what awaited her was not a carefree existence across the heavens and earth.
It was the annihilation of her self.
She would no longer be herself.
Instead, she would be the sharpest tool in that man's hand, an appendage to his power.
This was a snare, a net cast from heaven to earth, woven just for her.
She couldn't escape it, nor could she hide from it.
Agony and conflict tore madly at her soul.
'Could it be that everything I've endured, all the humiliation I've borne, was just so that one day I could become a peerless weapon in the hands of that demon?'
'To clear his path to immortality for him, to slaughter the masses for him?!'
"The righteous path... long life..."
"Ascending to immortality..."
These beliefs, which had sustained her through every desperate situation, now transformed into the sharpest mockery, roaring in her mind.
The figure of her senior brother seemed to have become an eternal nightmare, occupying all her senses.
Every step she took, every path she followed, ultimately pointed to the same destination.
Becoming "the sword in Senior Brother's hand."
The light in Su Ling'er's eyes died out, inch by inch, and her pupils lost their focus.
"Ascension..."
"Ascension..."
"Ascension..."
That one word was endlessly murmured from her lips.
Her heart, so devoted to the Dao that it had helped her climb a hundred stairs, shattered with a resounding crack.
Her obsession transformed into a Heart Demon, instantly devouring all her clarity.
...
Below the Asking Dao Ladder, the crowd watched as the slender figure finally came to a stop on the hundredth stair.
She stopped moving.
She was no longer advancing, just standing there with vacant eyes, muttering to herself.
"A hundred stairs! The new junior sister reached the hundredth stair on her first try! Who would believe that?"
"Incredible! It's insane! Her aptitude is terrible, but when it comes to climbing this ladder, she's seriously strong!"
"Looks like she's fallen to a Heart Demon. We'll have to wait for her to snap out of it before she can claim the hundred-stair reward."
The crowd chattered, their eyes fixed on the figure.
Meanwhile, the eyes of the Artifact Refining Pavilion disciples, who also cultivated the *Sword Refining Skill*, were practically glowing with golden light.
"See that?! That's a heart for the Dao! That's willpower! Isn't she just born for the *Sword Refining Skill*?!"
"Exactly!"
"Senior Brother has to get Junior Sister to cultivate the *Sword Refining Skill*!"
"With her aptitude, not cultivating this would be a complete waste of such a strong heart for the Dao and willpower!"
"With such a heart and will, how could her future path of cultivation possibly advance if she doesn't practice the *Sword Refining Skill*?"
"Junior Sister's true path isn't to transform her body into an elixir and smelt all things. Becoming a peerless Immortal Sword—that is her grand road to the heavens!"
"She has to cultivate this *Sword Refining Skill*!"
"Even if we have to tie her up, we have to make her cultivate it!"
Lin Qingfeng watched the figure stalled on the hundredth stair, his gaze resolute.
Privately, Lin Qingfeng had already contacted Zhan in the Sword Grave, telling him to prepare for a good show.
Later, he would take his junior sister to the final Sword Grave to solidify her determination to practice the *Sword Refining Skill*!
Then, he and the group of disciples enthusiastically discussed their aspirations for the future:
"Don't worry, leave it to me."
"Once I've mastered Ten Thousand Swords Return to the Origin, you guys and Junior Sister will back me up, we'll max out all the special effects and lighting, and we'll absolutely be the coolest guys in the world!"
"We're definitely going to be showing off like crazy from now on!!!"
But these words also reached the ears of Su Ling'er, who had just awakened from her Heart Demon state, without a single one being missed.
She was instantly startled!
And at the very moment she regained her senses!
BZZZZ—!
The entire Asking Dao Ladder suddenly erupted with a magnificent rosy light. A majestic torrent of Spiritual Qi crashed down from the heavens, pouring entirely into Su Ling'er's body.
This was the reward for reaching the hundredth stair, a gift from the Asking Dao Ladder for her devotion to the Dao!
BOOM—!
The Spiritual Qi entered her body, completely uncontrollable, and scoured every inch of her meridians.
She didn't even have time to think before the technique of the *True Understanding of Ten Thousand Transformations Returning to the Origin*, which Mr. Qian had poured into her mind, began to operate automatically.
It then began to frantically refine the immense Spiritual Qi.
Her Cultivation inside her body began to skyrocket at an unbelievable speed!
The disguise of being at the third level of Qi Refining was instantly shattered.
But no one noticed this subtle change, because her bottlenecks were being smashed open one after another at an extremely fast pace!
Fifth level of Qi Refining!
Seventh level of Qi Refining!
Tenth level of Qi Refining!
Furthermore, this torrent of Spiritual Qi was even washing over the inferior "Dust Seal" she had formed when she began her training at Qingxu Temple.
Under this deluge, the Dust Seal trembled violently, flickering in and out of sight. The dust covering it seemed to have been washed away slightly.
Everyone's attention was captivated by the aura rising steadily from Su Ling'er.
Finally, under the gazes of countless people, Su Ling'er's aura soared higher and higher until it crashed against an invisible barrier.
Qi Refining—Peak Completion!
However, the torrent of Spiritual Power was blocked by this invisible barrier.
With nowhere to go, the vast Spiritual Qi began to divert on its own.
A small portion quietly nourished her Sorrow Flower, while another part sank into her Wooden Sword.
After all this was done, the torrent of Spiritual Power finally dispersed slowly.
Su Ling'er opened her eyes. Feeling the abundant power within her, she couldn't help but be stunned.
'I... reached... Peak Completion of Qi Refining?!'
'I reached Peak Completion of Qi Refining just like that?!'
'Just from climbing a few stairs?!'
In an instant, a wave of ecstasy washed over her.
The fear and unease born from the Heart Demon were somewhat diluted by this sudden surge in her Cultivation.
She clenched her fists, feeling a strength she had never known before.
Unfortunately, she was just one step away from Foundation Establishment!
But no matter how her internal Spiritual Power battered it, the barrier to Foundation Establishment remained as insurmountable as a chasm.
This was the shackle of her Pseudo Spirit Root, the dead end of her natural talent.
Su Ling'er's joy cooled as she calmed down.
'If my innate aptitude weren't so poor, with that massive amount of Spiritual Qi just now, maybe... '
'I could have broken through to Foundation Establishment in one go without even needing a so-called Foundation Establishment Elixir!'
At that moment, she also clearly heard the loud scheming of her senior brother and those few disciples from the Artifact Refining Pavilion below the Asking Dao Ladder.
"Senior Brother! We have to make her cultivate the *Sword Refining Skill*!"
"That's right! If Junior Sister doesn't suffer through a bit of forging and tempering, it would be an insult to her devotion to the Dao!"
"We can't let such a perfect peerless Immortal Sword get away!"
Su Ling'er: "..."
The joy she had felt from her sudden cultivation breakthrough instantly vanished.
The final scene from the illusion uncontrollably replayed in her mind:
that compassionately smiling face, that hand reaching out to grip her, and the world's thunderous praise for the one who wielded the Divine Sword...
Su Ling'er's lips couldn't help but twitch.
'I will never become an Immortal Sword in your hands!'
'I will never use my body to build the infamous reputations of you fiends!'
'Also, you pack of fiends, could you at least try to be a little more secretive when you're plotting to harm someone?!'
'It's like you're afraid I won't hear you, isn't it?!'