At the foot of Demon Witch Mountain, Han Yi descended but didn't immediately ascend. Instead, he carefully surveyed the surroundings.
This Immortal Mountain wasn't particularly remarkable in size or height—only 9,000 zhang tall and smaller in area than the Azure Shu Mountain Range. In terms of territory alone, it could barely support a Profound Immortal-Class Immortal Sect, let alone a Golden Immortal-Class one.
Yet, according to legend, the Lord of Demon Witch Mountain was at least an Immortal Monarch—a rank that didn't seem to match the mountain's modest size.
Such discrepancies were common in the Immortal Realm, especially among rogue cultivators who claimed mountains for secluded cultivation, paying little heed to their size.
At the 9,000 zhang summit of Demon Witch Mountain, a thick layer of dark, black clouds obscured the peak, hiding everything from view.
Legend had it that these black clouds were the power source of the Demon Witch Mountain Sword Formation. Even Immortal Monarchs who ventured there couldn't penetrate their mysteries.
Of course, the Demon Witch Mountain Sword Formation was officially declared to target only Immortals of Golden Immortal rank and below, excluding Immortal Monarchs.
Immortal Monarchs who had previously attempted to ascend Demon Witch Mountain had triggered a transformation in the Demon Witch Mountain Sword Formation, causing it to repel them. Those repelled never attempted a second ascent, instead departing silently without a word.
The reasons behind this remained a mystery, with numerous theories but no definitive answers.
Now, Han Yi observed that neither his Immortal Dao Eye Technique, Golden Pupils of the Dao of Fate, nor his Immortal Sense could perceive anything when they came into contact with the black cloud cover.
It was impenetrable, incomprehensible, and invisible.
Han Yi scanned the area below Demon Witch Mountain and spotted seven or eight Immortals meditating in the Void, regulating their breathing. Some were preparing to attempt the ascent, while others had just been blasted down by the Formation Arts, their auras still unstable.
He refocused his gaze on Demon Witch Mountain. At that moment, a black Sword Light erupted from its peak.
Space rippled as a Sword Immortal was hurled out. The Immortal's aura indicated he was at the Golden Immortal level. Though disheveled, he appeared unharmed. As if renewed hope surged within him, he stabilized himself, consumed an Immortal Pill to suppress his surging Immortal Power, and charged back into Demon Witch Mountain.
Han Yi's eyes lit up slightly. He recognized this Golden Immortal; they were both from the Sui Zhu Immortal Court, and Han Yi had interacted with him a few times. He had even witnessed the Golden Immortal's combat prowess at the Pure Yang Mountain Sword Debate Immortal Assembly years ago. This was none other than Du Lang, ranked twenty-ninth on the Golden Immortal Ranking.
Du Lang charged into Demon Witch Mountain, but Han Yi remained calm, observing the mountain with a thoughtful expression.
Rumor had it that the Lord of Demon Witch Mountain had set up a mysterious sword formation and invited sword immortals from across the realm to ascend the mountain and break the formation. However, there were no rewards unless one reached the summit.
Yet to this day, no Golden Immortal had ever reached the peak.
Less than ten breaths later, Du Lang was blasted back out of the sword formation. Several bloody gashes marred his arms, clear evidence of minor injuries. Yet he paid no attention to his wounds, his face instead contorted with confusion.
"Something's wrong."
"This sword form is wrong. It's not like this."
This time, he didn't immediately charge back up the mountain. Instead, he took a deep breath and sat down cross-legged, his aura fluctuating wildly as his emotions surged.
Han Yi turned away from him and slowly began to ascend Demon Witch Mountain.
For an ordinary mountain nine thousand feet tall, Han Yi could see through its inner and outer layers with a single glance. But facing Demon Witch Mountain, he couldn't see through it at all. With ordinary vision, it appeared as a normal mountain. But with his Immortal Eye or Divine Eye, he saw endless black sword qi, swirling like a storm. Whenever he tried to pierce through it, the storm surged, shattering his gaze.
"What ferocious sword qi."
"The Four Fiends Sword Qi needed for the sword heart requires exactly this kind of qi."
"This journey was worth it."
With a slight shift in his thoughts, the space before him shifted. Han Yi found himself in a peculiar realm, ten meters away from a field of black sword light.
The moment he appeared, the black sword light, as if possessed of sentience, began to spread toward him.
At the same time, he realized he was now facing the first trial of the Demonic Witch Mountain Sword Formation.
Within this first trial, the space before him contained 9,999 strands of black sword light. To pass, the challenger must neutralize each strand with a different sword form.
Without enough sword forms, the challenger would fail the first trial and be expelled from the formation. Those who voluntarily withdrew would escape unscathed. But those who stubbornly persisted would face a devastating rebound, potentially leading to injury.
"Nine thousand nine hundred ninety-nine sword forms. This trial is not difficult."
With a snap of his fingers, Han Yi unleashed a torrent of sword light that surged outward like a tidal wave. Each strand of sword light collided with the black sword light filling the space, causing both to vanish in mutual annihilation.
Given his years of cultivation, manifesting nearly ten thousand sword forms was effortless for him.
In fact, any True Immortal-Rank Golden Immortal could effortlessly produce such a multitude of sword forms, as this trial placed no restrictions on the power of the sword forms. Even forms from the Qi Refining Stage counted towards the requirement.
With a mere thought, an Immortal could casually conjure countless such sword forms.
As the sword light swept across the space, the black sword qi vanished completely.
Han Yi wasn't in a hurry to collect the Demon-Witch Sword Qi. Besides, the sword qi from this first trial, while technically Demon-Witch Sword Qi, was weak and failed to embody the true ferocity of the demonic witch.
He aimed to ascend to the higher levels and obtain a strand of the most potent and ferocious Demon-Witch Sword Qi.
With the black sword qi gone, a three-meter-wide mountain path appeared before Han Yi. He followed the path for thirty meters until he encountered a massive ancient tree, towering a hundred meters tall.
Before the ancient tree stood a stone stele, inscribed with two lines of Immortal Realm script.
Second Trial: Sword Appraisal Tree
Leave ninety-nine sword marks on this tree, each imbued with a different law.
After reading these lines, Han Yi felt calm. Using his finger as a sword, he flicked sword light onto the ancient tree, each mark containing a distinct law.
Water Sword, Wood Sword, Golden Sword, Wind Sword...
In an instant, countless laws surged forth, transforming the ancient tree into a Tree of Sword Laws.
When the ninety-ninth mark was imprinted on the tree, a second section of mountain path suddenly materialized behind it.
Han Yi circled around the ancient tree and continued along the path.
Behind him, the tree trembled slightly. The ninety-nine marks he had left transformed into a Sword Token, which fell to the ground, sank into the earth, and vanished without a trace.
The ancient tree returned to its pristine state.
After passing the tree, Han Yi walked another thirty meters and encountered a swordsman sitting cross-legged on the ground. A wooden sword rested on the swordsman's knees. When he saw Han Yi, his gaze remained calm as he grasped the wooden sword and thrust it forward.
In Han Yi's eyes, as the sword moved, all space before him filled with sword light—blades that filled the sky, overwhelming the heavens and earth, pressing down upon him.
This was no ordinary sword strike; it was a strike from the Sword Realm itself.
However...
He remained composed. Though the attack was grand, its true power was relatively weak, equivalent to only the early Sixth-Tier of the Sword Realm.
Han Yi extended his finger once more, channeling it into a sword, and guided the sword-like gesture downward.
Whoosh.
The Sword Light that had filled heaven and earth was suddenly pushed aside, as if a curtain of black sword light had been split apart by a zipper, dividing into two halves.
The sword curtain vanished into the void, and the wooden swordsman ahead placed his wooden sword back on his knees and closed his eyes, becoming as lifeless as a wooden statue. Han Yi glanced at the wooden sword resting on the swordsman's knees. He could tell that this swordsman wasn't a true immortal, but rather the Sword Spirit of the wooden sword.
He walked past the wooden sword and onto the gradually materializing mountain path ahead.
Another thirty meters brought Han Yi to a sword stele. The stele bore a single sword mark, but it was incomplete, needing its second half.
Han Yi immediately recognized that the skill level of this mark wasn't particularly high. Most Peak Golden Immortals could easily complete it.
After fifteen minutes, he perfected the mark. The completed mark shone brilliantly on the stele, and the mountain path beyond materialized.
In the fifth trial, Han Yi faced a sword and clashed with its sword technique.
In the sixth trial, he encountered a Sword Cliff...
In the seventh trial, he stood before a Sword Tower...
In the eighth trial...
As Han Yi cleared each level, his curiosity about Demon Witch Mountain was thoroughly piqued.
Sword forms, Sword Trees, Sword Woods, Sword Steles, Sword Traces, Sword Towers, Sword Cliffs...
!
Everything in heaven and earth could be branded with swords, transformed into swords, and become swords.
The depth of the Sword Dao on Demon Witch Mountain far surpassed Han Yi's imagination.
At 9,000 zhang tall, if each level represented ten zhang, he would need to clear approximately 900 levels, each unique. If someone truly reached the peak, their Sword Dao strength would be unimaginable.
Han Yi deduced that even with his Seventh-Tier Sword Control Immortal Art, reaching the summit would be difficult.
This was truly terrifying.
The power of Seventh-Tier Sword Flight, Han Yi was confident, could rival that of a Veteran Immortal Monarch. Compared to the Qin Yi of old, he was no less capable, perhaps even surpassing him.
Yet even this formidable Sword Flight technique struggled to traverse a single Sword Mountain. The Master of this mountain must possess a cultivation realm at least that of a Peak Immortal Monarch, possibly even an Immortal Sovereign.
Han Yi's curiosity about the identity of the Lord of Demon Witch Mountain grew ever stronger.
Time flowed by as he immersed himself in deciphering the Sword Dao. Before he knew it, he had reached the 100th level.
Before him stood an indistinct, illusory figure at mid-mountain, hands clasped behind its back, unadorned by a sword.
But Han Yi didn't dare to take this lightly.
At this level, every level was extremely difficult for him, requiring him to give his all to pass.
As this thought arose, the illusory figure, who had been standing with his hands clasped behind his back, suddenly extended a hand and gently pointed at Han Yi.
This gesture released a wisp of Sword Qi from his fingertip, radiating an aura that was pitch-black, malevolent, and brutally ferocious. Though it was only a wisp, it carried an overwhelming power, its energy surging with boundless might.
Han Yi's eyes widened sharply.
"Demon-Witch Sword Qi!"
In the previous ninety-nine levels, he had encountered vicious black Sword Qi, which he had assumed originated from the Demonic Witch Mountain Sword Formation. But as he ascended the mountain, he realized his earlier understanding was incomplete. Those earlier energies were not true Demon-Witch Sword Qi.
The genuine Demon-Witch Sword Qi stemmed from the dense black clouds that shrouded the mountain's summit.
Now, as the illusory figure unleashed this wisp of Sword Qi, Han Yi immediately recognized its origin. He was finally certain that the dark clouds atop Demon Witch Mountain were, in fact, a vast aggregation of boundless Sword Qi.
And this very wisp before him was precisely what he needed.
This time, instead of destroying the wisp with his sword, Han Yi enveloped himself in golden light, his divine power surging. His hands blazed crimson-gold as he reached out to seize it.
The Divine Sealing Art was invoked once more.
This time, the strand of Sword Qi was unusually vicious, even capable of piercing divine power.
Instead of fear, Han Yi felt a surge of delight. He channeled divine power from his Divine Aperture World, condensing it into a Divine Power Crystal that enveloped the strand of Sword Qi.
The crystal expanded, completely freezing the Sword Qi within.
Several dozen meters away, the indistinct, black Phantom Shadow seemed to glance at Han Yi one last time before nodding its head.
Han Yi had expected the difficulty of this trial to increase, imagining the Phantom Shadow would unleash more Sword Qi strikes. Having already captured a strand of Demon-Witch Sword Qi, he was prepared to repel the rest. However, this time, the Phantom Shadow didn't send the Sword Qi hurtling toward him. Instead, it coalesced into a two-finger-wide Sword Token, hovering in mid-air.
The black Sword Token slowly drifted toward Han Yi. He raised an eyebrow, wrapped it in divine power, and pulled it close for inspection.
The front of the Sword Token depicted a dark Demon Mountain, bearing a striking resemblance to the Demon Witch Mountain he had seen outside.
The back of the token bore two intricate Runes. Though they weren't the Primal Script of the Great Luo Immortal Realm, Han Yi had seen these symbols before.
Back in the Ancient Vault Dao Ladder, when Han Yi glimpsed the Ancient Vault Seal, the two runes representing "Ancient Vault" flashed and, for a fleeting moment, matched the two runes on the back of this Sword Token.
Han Yi was startled.
Could these be... Chaos Runes?
Then, the two Chaos Runes shifted and transformed into two characters from the Immortal Realm script:
Demonic Witch.
At that moment, the illusory Dao Shadow that had issued the Sword Token spoke slowly:
"To ascend to the hundredth layer of the Demonic Witch Sword Formation grants the title of Demonic Witch Sword Disciple."
"To reach the thousandth layer of the Demonic Witch Sword Formation as a Golden Immortal grants the status of true disciple of Demon Witch Mountain."
The Dao Shadow resumed its stance, hands clasped behind its back, immovable as a mountain. Behind it materialized a mountain path.
Han Yi's heart stirred.
In other words, this Sword Token, inscribed with the words "Demonic Witch," signified the status of Demonic Witch Sword Disciple. By traversing nine hundred more layers to reach the thousandth, he could become a true disciple of Demon Witch Mountain.
Yet this information had never spread beyond these walls.
Throughout the Great Luo Immortal Realm, while few Golden Immortals could reach the hundredth layer of the Demonic Witch Sword Formation, they were not entirely absent.
With a shift in his thoughts, Han Yi roughly guessed the reason. This must be something the Sword Immortals hadn't revealed to the outside world. After all, from the trials he'd faced, Demon Witch Mountain was far more formidable than the external accounts suggested.
The mountain's inheritance likely involved the Chaos, possibly even a major power within it.
"Demon Witch Mountain!" Han Yi murmured.
With his current Sword Dao cultivation, even if he continued, he could at most reach a hundred or so layers—certainly not a thousand. Having obtained the Demon-Witch Sword Qi he sought, the difference between a hundred layers and a hundred-plus held little significance for him.
He carefully stored the Demonic Witch Sword Token and took a step back.
As he retreated, the entire space ahead stretched wildly, and the illusory Dao Shadow on the mountain's midsection vanished from sight in an instant.
The space shifted, and he found himself standing outside Demon Witch Mountain, back at the very spot where he had first entered.
Han Yi flew upward, glancing back to see Du Lang blasted out of the Demon Witch Sword Formation once more.
Without another look, he turned and departed.
His next destination was the Abyssal Ghost Pool in the Soaring Heaven Realm. He was now just one strand of Sword Qi away from completing the Four Fiends Sword Qi required for his sword heart.