Asking about longevity

Ouyang Mu looked at the old demon cultivator again with a sigh on his face.

Calculated in this way, this old evil weapon master trapped in the demon cultivator's lair should be regarded as his own sect and clan, the real... family predecessor?

And it has been hundreds of years, so he is probably much older than me.

Ouyang Mu couldn't help but feel a trace of respect in his heart.

The old demon cultivator glanced at Ouyang Mu with a complicated expression and said melancholy:

"Back then, I was just like you. I had considerable talent for refining weapons, but I was dull and taciturn. I only knew how to forge swords all day long. It was my lifelong wish to forge a sword that was unique in heaven and earth... "

"Immortal sword..."

The old demon cultivator looked dejected, "I was young and frivolous at that time, and I didn't know the heights of the sky. I didn't know how out of reach these two words were, how... it made people despair."

Then he laughed at himself, "We call ourselves monks, and we cultivate immortality, but no one knows what 'immortal' is."

"Everything that comes with the word 'immortal' is profound, terrifying, and indescribable..."

Ouyang Mu looked solemn and nodded.

Indeed, he regards forging "immortal swords" as his lifelong dream of practicing Taoism.

But the deeper he cultivated and made more swords, the more he felt that the word "immortal" was unattainable.

I may not be able to get close to the "immortal sword" in this life.

Not to mention being able to cast it with one's own hands, just taking a look at it is probably a huge luxury.

The old demon cultivator glanced at Ouyang Mu silently with his turbid eyes. His thoughts were complicated and difficult to understand. Finally, he sighed and continued:

"Hundreds of years ago, I was a Tai'amen, a disciple of... the Ouyang family."

"At that time, the Ouyang family had already begun to plan to change their course. They would no longer major in sword making, but instead focus on sword making as a supplement and focus on swordsmanship. They would embark on the path of developing sword techniques and becoming a true kendo sect."

"But I don't want to practice swordsmanship, I just want to make swords."

"Others put aside their swords to learn sword skills, but I still focused on it, working day and night to study the art of forging swords."

"It doesn't matter if I'm not respected in the sect, as long as I can make swords..."

When the old demon cultivator said this, he couldn't help but hunched over, coughed a few times, and coughed up blood.

But he didn't care, but silently wiped away the blood and continued:

"I originally thought that I would continue to learn to forge weapons and swords in Tai'amen until I grow old, but I didn't expect..."

The old demon cultivator looked bitter, "One time I went into the mountains for hunting, but I entered the dense forest outside the Ten Thousand Demons Valley by mistake. I lost my direction..."

"Several demon cultivators discovered me, and they started to hunt me down. I was not a match for them because I was not cultivating enough, so I was captured by them."

"They opened their bloody mouths and wanted to eat me, but when they discovered that I had the ability to forge swords, they spared my life and asked me to forge evil swords for them."

"I...have no choice."

The old demon cultivator looked dull, "When I was in the sect, I also thought that I was a righteous monk with a firm heart. I thought that I could uphold the righteous path when facing demons and regard death as home."

"But when I actually faced those evil cultivators who were grinning, I realized that I was wrong."

"I know nothing about myself."

"I... am a coward."

When the old demon cultivator said this, his eyes were cold, as if so many years of inhuman suffering had softened his self-esteem and accepted the helpless reality.

Ouyang Mu showed sympathy, "Old... senior, it's not your fault."

The old demon cultivator shook his head, "The matter has come to this, and I am already like this. Now it is meaningless to discuss the rights and wrongs of these things..."

Ouyang Mu wanted to comfort him.

But he was clumsy and couldn't think of anything to say to comfort him.

The old demon cultivator sighed and continued:

"I compromised, I surrendered, I betrayed my sect, my family, and my sword."

"Since then, I have become a demon cultivator and an evil swordsman."

"I gave up my previous identity and stayed in this dark prison of ten thousand monsters, keeping company with monster beasts and monster cultivators. I used human bones, human flesh, and human blood to refine weapons. So far, I don't know how to refine weapons for these monster cultivators. How many evil swords have been made, and I don’t even know how many people have been killed by these evil swords driven by these demon cultivators..."

The old demon cultivator smiled, and there was blood in his mouth. He didn't know whether he was laughing at himself or feeling complacent.

Ouyang Mu felt complicated.

The thing about swordsmiths is that even a righteous swordsmith cannot decide whether the sword you forge will be used to ward off demons and do good, or whether it will be used to kill people and do evil.

Not to mention the evil weapon master who forged the evil sword.

"And now, my end is approaching. I have committed a lot of sins in my life, and I finally...have an end..."

When the old demon cultivator said this, he glanced at Ouyang Mu, "But before I die, I still have a wish. I have been trapped in this prison of ten thousand demons almost all my life. I don't know how old I am, I don't know day and night, and I am studying all the time. Weapon refining..."

"These refining techniques are both good and evil. In the end, I couldn't tell them apart."

"However, whether it is good or evil, it is my life's hard work. I must pass it on, otherwise I will die in peace."

The old demon cultivator stared at Ouyang Mu with deep eyes:

"In the entire Ten Thousand Demons Prison, the only person I can pass on to is you."

Ouyang Mu was startled and looked hesitant.

If the sword is made in the right way, he will naturally be grateful.

But this old man is an evil swordsman, and his skills are mostly bloody and evil sword-making methods.

He didn't want to learn at all.

Just when he didn't know what to do, he habitually lowered his head and glanced at his sleeves, and then he felt confident.

"Thank you for your kindness, senior..." Ouyang Mu's expression was "tangled" for a while, then he sighed and said, "I will learn..."

The old demon let out a long sigh, and his whole body felt a little more relaxed.

Then he said to Ouyang Mu with a bit of arrogance:

"I learned from the Tai'a Ouyang family. This sword-making skill was forged through thousands of hammers and forgings..."

"At least in the scope of second-grade refining, I believe that I am no worse than any other swordsmith."

"I have also devoted too much effort to the research of my life magic weapon."

"If you learn my skills, you will definitely be the best in the same realm. Even if you can't get out of the Ten Thousand Demon Prison and can only associate with these demon cultivators, you can still thrive."

"No matter how vicious the demon cultivator is, he dare not neglect you..."

"If one day, you can form a pill in the Ten Thousand Demon Prison and become a third-grade evil swordsman... "

The old demon cultivator showed a glimmer of hope, and slowly said: "The young master will even let you go out, let you become his confidant, and work for him outside."

"Life outside is much more carefree..."

Ouyang Mu looked surprised, "Can you go out?"

The old demon cultivator nodded, "As long as you can form a pill."

"But," he then sighed, "It's not easy to form a pill. There are so many demon cultivators in this Ten Thousand Demon Prison, and few have been able to form a pill in hundreds of years."

"Although there are insufficient resources, flaws in the skills, and the demon power is easy to get out of control, it is enough to see how difficult it is to form a pill."

"But, at least it's a thought..."

Ouyang Mu nodded slowly.

Then he glanced at his sleeves with his peripheral vision, and asked according to Mo Hua's instructions:

"Old senior, you said you work for the 'young master'... who is this 'young master'?"

Who knew that when Ouyang Mu mentioned the young master, the old demon cultivator's expression immediately became gloomy, and he said in a trembling voice:

"Don't ask, and it's better not to know. You just need to know that in this Ten Thousand Demon Prison, everything is subject to the orders of the young master. Don't be too curious, otherwise you will die without knowing how you died."

Ouyang Mu's heart trembled, and he nodded:

"I know."

The old demon cultivator's expression eased a little, and he said: "Starting tomorrow, I will officially begin to pass on my life's learning to you. The first thing to bear the brunt is..."

"...casting the evil sword of my destiny!"

"Well." Ouyang Mu looked a little indifferent.

Seeing this, the old demon cultivator sighed, "I know that although you have agreed to be an evil sword master, you can't accept it in your heart for the time being."

"Your surname is Ouyang, and you are from the same school and clan as me. I don't want to embarrass you."

"How about this, you come here tomorrow, and I will teach you the righteous way of refining weapons first. After learning, you can slowly go from righteous to evil, refine evil weapons, and forge evil swords..."

"The Ten Thousand Demons Valley is a dangerous place. I can't help myself, and I can only help you here. For the rest of the matter, you can only pray for good luck..."

Ouyang Mu was stunned, and then he was grateful and bowed his hands and said:

"Thank you, old senior."

The old demon cultivator waved his hand indifferently, "Say less false words, let's go, come back tomorrow."

Ouyang Mu bowed, and then said goodbye, and was escorted by a demon cultivator back to the prison.

In the evil weapon room, only the old demon cultivator was left.

"Tai'a..."

His voice was hoarse, like an old crow, he muttered these two words silently, and then suddenly, his whole body trembled violently.

The old demon cultivator reached out to cover his mouth, but he was a step too slow, and blood had already come out of his mouth.

He hurriedly took out a large pile of red or white pills from his storage bag, and swallowed them whole.

After a while, the cough eased.

The old demon cultivator sat down slowly with his hunched body, tilted his head, stared at the gloomy fire in the bone refining furnace, and there was an inexplicable brilliance in his turbid eyes.

Mo Hua frowned, and then slowly left.

He went to the prison.

In the prison, Ouyang Muzheng and Linghu Xiao were whispering about something.

Song Jian was eating secretly on the side.

He was eating the dried meat Mo Hua gave him. Because it was hard to get, he ate it carefully, tearing it off bit by bit and throwing it into his mouth to chew.

The guarding demon cultivator was gone, and Mo Hua showed up.

The three people in the prison were no longer surprised.

Mo Hua came and went without a trace, just like a "ghost".

The few of them chatted briefly, and Ouyang Mu said with some emotion: "That old senior is actually from the Ouyang family..."

"I wonder if he can help us escape..."

Mo Hua shook his head, "Don't think about it."

Ouyang Mu didn't quite understand.

Mo Hua said: "That old guy is an old liar. What he said was a lie to you."

Ouyang Mu was stunned. "Isn't he from the Ouyang family?"

"That's hard to say," Mo Hua pondered. "Eight or nine out of ten sentences of that old guy are false. At most, only one or two are true."

"He is a disciple of the Tai'amen Ouyang family. This sentence may be true. But the other words are very suspicious."

"Think about it..." Mo Hua said:

"The dense forest outside the Ten Thousand Demons Valley is very dangerous. What is he, a weapon refiner, doing alone in the dense forest?"

"And there is a formation in the dense forest. The spiritual sense cannot distinguish the direction. This is true for cultivators and demon cultivators."

"If you just simply enter the dense forest, how could you run into a group of demon cultivators by chance?"

"If the demon cultivator was so hungry and thirsty, he would definitely have eaten his share if he met him. How could he keep him as a swordsmith?"

"Whether he knows how to forge swords, unless he takes the initiative to say so, the demon cultivator most likely won't know about it?"

"Also, he has been trapped in the Ten Thousand Demons Prison for hundreds of years, drinking blood like hair and eating raw flesh and blood. His humanity has been almost wiped out for a long time. How could he care about the friendship between the same sect and the same clan?"

"We come from the same sect and the same clan, so what?"

"So, what the old guy said sounds fine, but when you think about it carefully, there are many flaws..."

Of course, this is just what the ink painting says on the surface.

In fact, when he was listening to the old demon cultivator's words, his spiritual consciousness keenly noticed that there were some unusual fluctuations in the old demon cultivator's spiritual thoughts.

It seems that he has some other thoughts.

Furthermore, it is the intuition that comes from cause and effect.

When the old demon cultivator spoke, the line of cause and effect was somewhat disordered.

Mo Hua almost instinctively sensed that there might be something fishy in his words.

The simple little wood opened his mouth silently, and at the same time couldn't help but feel confused in his heart:

How did my little brother's head grow? How many evil intentions does he have to hide in his heart...

Linghu Xiao on the side frowned when he heard this, "If this old demon cultivator has other agendas, wouldn't Junior Brother Mu be in danger?"

"Yes." Mo Hua nodded, "But speaking of it, you have never been safe. Whether it is Jin Gui, the old demon cultivator, or the young master behind you, they are all trying to plot against you."

So far, the demon cultivators have used many methods, both covertly and covertly.

Now on the surface, only small pieces of wood are targeted.

But this is probably just the beginning. Linghu Xiao and Song Jian will not be spared either.

Judging from the intelligence eavesdropped on Mo Hua during these days.

Among the three, Linghuxiao's situation was slightly better.

His swordsmanship is clear, and he is a genius rarely seen in Chongxu Sect for 500 years.

No matter how good or bad he is, he is always a "treasure".

Although the demon cultivator also broke off Linghuxiao's little finger, his attitude was quite respectful and he obviously did not dare to offend easily.

Guesses drawn by ink.

These demonic cultivators most likely want to make Linghuxiao get on the "flower boat" of the young men, and use "sugar-coated bullets" to seduce him, corrupt him, and make him fall, so that they can become monsters together and join in the evil deeds.

As for the flower boat, what sugar-coated bombs are there?

I am still naive and have relatively little experience, so I cannot imagine it for the time being.

But Song Jian...

Mo Hua looked back and saw Song Jian, who was still chewing on the dried meat, feeling a little sympathetic.

Song Jian was a hostage.

These demon cultivators probably don't necessarily want to "assimilate" him.

Maybe one day, I can give him to him directly, it's not impossible.

Song Jian noticed Mo Hua's gaze, snorted coldly, and turned his back. He didn't seem to want to see Mo Hua, but he still chewed the dried meat silently.

Mo Hua sighed in his heart:

"Forget it, this poor kid, I won't tell him, lest he won't even be able to eat the dried meat when he finds out."

On the other side, Ouyang Mu was a little sad.

He also thought that the old demon cultivator really did not forget Tai Amen, cared about his family, and wanted to teach him the sword-making skills he had learned throughout his life.

The human heart is indeed sinister...

"Senior Brother Mo, what should I do? He taught me how to make swords, do I still want to learn?"

Mo Hua thought for a moment, nodded and said, "I have to learn."

"You just pretend you don't know anything and have forgotten what I just said. You still think that old man is an old man of your Ouyang family who has gone astray but is about to die and has a little kindness in his heart."

"You should learn what he teaches you normally. If you don't learn, it will be useless."

"When encountering other situations, please act on your own initiative. I will teach you when the time comes..." Mo Hua said.

"Okay, Senior Brother Mo." Ouyang Mu nodded repeatedly.

"However," Ouyang Mu was a little confused, "What is the plan of that old demon cultivator?"

Mo Hua's eyes narrowed slightly.

"You'll know when the time comes..."

…

The next day, inside the evil weapon room.

The old demon cultivator was looking at his piece of demon paper again.

Ouyang Mu is refining white bones and melting fine iron.

After the bones were melted, the old demon cultivator put away the demon paper and said in an old voice: "It's almost done. I will teach you how to cast the natal sword bone."

"Yes." Ouyang Mu remembered Mo Hua's instructions and nodded.

The old demon cultivator looked solemn and said slowly:

"Every sword must have bones."

"This bone refers to the root bone of the sword, the 'backbone' of the sword, which may not really be the 'skeleton'."

"Depending on the inheritance of the sword, the material of the sword bone can be gold, jade, silver, copper and iron, or wood and stone spiritual objects. Of course, it can also be demon bones, animal bones, or even human bones and other bones..."

"Generally, the sword bones of spiritual swords are not so particular."

"But the natal sword embryo needs to be warmed and cultivated to be fused with spiritual power. The natal magic weapon related to life has extremely strict requirements on the sword bones."

"In fact, the sword bone itself directly determines the final quality of the natal spiritual sword magic weapon."

"Only good bones can make a good sword."

"A sword without a bone is just scrap metal..."

After saying that, the old demon cultivator took out a long spine from the storage bag and said solemnly:

"This is the material used to make sword bones."

Ouyang Mu looked at the blood on the bones and his expression changed slightly, "Is this... human bone?"

The old demon cultivator said indifferently: "What about human bones, what about demon bones? Bones that can be cast into top-grade sword bones are good bones..."

"You have to learn to abandon these pedantic ideas about good and evil little by little, otherwise how can you gain a foothold in the Ten Thousand Demon Prison in the future?"

Ouyang Mu stammered: "Yes, senior..."

The old demon cultivator's expression was slightly relieved, "I will forge it, you watch from the side."

"Yes."

Then the old demon cultivator began to take Ouyang Mu to formally learn "forging sword bones".

This set of procedures is very cumbersome and requires extremely high refining skills.

Mo Hua didn't understand it very well.

He only knew some theoretical things about the art of refining, of course, including some knowledge of formation design.

When it comes to refining, he is very bad.

He can't swing the second-grade refining hammer well.

So, when the old demon cultivator taught Xiao Mu to forge a sword, he could only watch from the side.

However, although Mo Hua didn't know much about the art of refining weapons, he was very concerned about another thing:

"Whose human bone is this used to forge the 'sword bone'?"

"This human bone is treasured and hidden by this old demon cultivator, and is specially reserved for refining his own sword bone. This shows that the origin of this human bone must be extraordinary..."

Mo Hua stared at the hunchbacked old demon cultivator, and suddenly felt a chill in his heart.

This bone, could it be...

This old demon cultivator's own spine?

He pulled out his own spine and used it to forge his own sword bone?

Mo Hua took a breath of cold air.

What kind of sword-making method is this?

It's too cruel.

Mo Hua stared at the old demon cultivator's bent body, which seemed to have been deboned, and the more he looked at it, the more he felt it was similar.

The evil cultivator killed people and peeled off their bones to forge swords, which was only cruel to others, but this old thing was cruel to himself...

"But, is there any special meaning in forging a sword with your own bones?"

Mo Hua didn't quite understand.

In the evil weapon room, the old demon cultivator tempered blood, melted iron, and forged bones... all in one go, and his weapon-making skills were indeed perfect.

Ouyang Mu watched intently, and at the same time, he was also thinking about what methods he could learn.

After casting for a while, the old demon cultivator said:

"The next sword-making process is the blood sacrifice method. If you don't want to learn it, you don't have to watch it."

Ouyang Mu hesitated for a moment and nodded slowly.

The old demon cultivator took out a piece of fine iron and handed it to Ouyang Mu, "Take this fine iron to the blood pool over there to temper it. You will need it later."

"Yes, senior."

Ouyang Mu took the fine iron, walked aside, and put it in the blood pool to temper the blood.

The old demon cultivator glanced at Ouyang Mu with a cautious look, and then his old hand slowly took out a pen from the storage bag.

After that, he used this pen to start drawing something on the sword bone, and his movements were very obscure.

Although he sent Ouyang Mu away and avoided Ouyang Mu's gaze, he did not avoid Mo Hua.

Mo Hua was a little shocked when he took out the pen.

This evil swordsman did not swing the hammer, but used a pen instead?

What was he going to draw?

Mo Hua was very curious, and then he held his breath, tilted his head, stared at it for a while, and suddenly his pupils shrank, and his mind was shocked.

This old demon cultivator who was proficient in sword forging, he secretly drew on the sword bone, and it turned out to be...

Shinto array pattern? !