Without Han Li's spiritual sense connection, the electric arcs on the Green Bamboo Bee Cloud Swords immediately subsided. Yet, for some unknown reason, they continued to struggle incessantly, as if trying to break free from the burial mounds.

The three squads of cultivators stationed in the area where the Green Bamboo Bee Cloud Swords were located noticed this and their expressions changed. They cast spells towards the mounds, causing them to light up with a cyan glow, emanating intense restraining power.

Even so, they couldn't completely suppress the Green Bamboo Bee Cloud Swords' restlessness. Several flying swords were still struggling fiercely, seemingly on the verge of bursting out.

"Senior Brother Ye Feng, what's going on? These flying swords usually stir every so often, but they've never been this difficult to subdue," a purple-haired burly man asked, filled with confusion, turning to the person beside him.

The tall, dark-skinned youth beside him didn't answer. He merely stood up from the ground, approached the few flying swords, formed a hand seal, and tossed something high into the air.

Several palm-sized black stones flew up, tracing gentle arcs in the air, accurately landing on the burial mounds.

These stones had rough textures, reflecting sparse black light. They seemed ordinary, but were actually a type of unusual stone called "Sword-Suppressing Stones," capable of temporarily suppressing the spirituality of flying swords.

As the Sword-Suppressing Stones landed, the light on the mounds grew brighter, but the momentum of the remaining flying swords abruptly diminished, and the electric arcs around them completely dissipated.

In fact, the burial mounds, though seemingly ordinary, concealed subtle mechanisms. They not only nurtured the flying swords, preventing the loss of spirituality after being separated from their original owners, but also possessed restraining abilities, ensuring that the swords wouldn't escape.

Seeing that all the Green Bamboo Bee Cloud Swords had calmed down, Ye Feng silently sat back down in his original spot.

Seeing this, the purple-haired burly man could only sigh quietly.

For some unknown reason, ever since that day several years ago, Ye Feng, who had originally been the pride of the sect, suddenly underwent a drastic change in temperament, becoming very silent. His originally rapid progress in cultivation also seemed to be affected, much to the dissatisfaction of Elder Mo Xie.

While the purple-haired burly man was sighing to himself, another person leaned in beside him and said:

"Senior Brother, today is the last day of our Sword Tomb duty. After this, there won't be another task that's so easy, safe, and gives us steady merit points every month."

"Hehe, didn't you complain last time that this task was too boring, so boring that it could make birds grow..." The purple-haired burly man chuckled, teasing him.

At the same time, Han Li, far away at the entrance, hadn't taken his attention away, even though he had lost contact with the Green Bamboo Bee Cloud Swords.

When he saw Ye Feng here as one of the people in charge of the Sword-Suppressing Formation, a certain doubt in his mind was immediately resolved.

Back when he first arrived at Mount Zhongming, the auras of the Crab Daoist and the Green Bamboo Bee Cloud Swords were simultaneously cut off. Therefore, he had always believed that the two must be together. This led to his constant worry when he found the Crab Daoist but failed to find the Green Bamboo Bee Cloud Swords.

It must have been that Ye Feng happened to be carrying out a nurturing mission at that time, and the Green Bamboo Bee Cloud Swords had experienced an anomaly, so their auras were concealed together by the forbidden area formation, leading to Han Li's misunderstanding.

"The time is almost up. I will now explain everyone's task." Xiong Shan said, scanning the crowd with his eyes.

Upon hearing this, the Immortal Realm elders quickly straightened their expressions and listened attentively.

Elder Mo Xie, who had come to observe, also adopted a solemn expression and looked towards Xiong Shan.

"The grand formation you are seeing now is called the 'Thousand Peaks Spirit Gathering Sword Formation.' With this formation, I can erase the marks left by the original owners of the thousand-odd flying swords in this Sword Tomb, converting them into pure sword essence. What I need to do is merge all of this pure sword essence into my natal flying sword," Xiong Shan said loudly.

As soon as these words came out, everyone, including Elder Mo Xie, was shocked.

Han Li was equally secretly astonished.

If he could really melt the sword essence of these extremely high-quality flying swords into one, transforming it into a single flying sword, then this sword, gathering the essence of thousands of treasures, would very likely break through the Spiritual Treasure barrier and reach the level of an Acquired Immortal Artifact. The power of such a weapon would be unimaginable.

"As you should all see, apart from the Sword Consecration Platform in the center, there are a total of ten areas. What you all need to do is guard one of these areas, be responsible for controlling the flying swords in that area, assist me in erasing the marks on the flying swords, and devour the sword essence within," Xiong Shan continued.

Upon hearing this, everyone turned their eyes towards the surrounding grasslands, seemingly calculating in their minds which area they wanted to choose.

While Han Li observed his surroundings like everyone else, he was pondering the contents of Xiong Shan's words, trying to find some useful clues.

The burial mounds in this Sword Tomb seemed to be distributed in a chaotic and disorderly manner, as if they were built randomly. In essence, however, they were distinctly patterned and distributed in an orderly fashion. Flying swords with similar sword intent or from the same source would often be arranged in the same area, while those with conflicting sword intent would be identified and separated into two different areas.

In the center of each area, the black stone pillar, more than three zhang thick and more than ten zhang high, was the formation hub for each area, with more than ten dragon-eye-sized immortal essence stones embedded in the pillar.

Setting aside everything else, this single feat alone was enough to shock all the Immortal Realm elders present.

"Fellow Daoist Xiong, if I may ask, why didn't you erase the marks of the original owners of these flying swords earlier? Wouldn't that be more convenient?" Mo Xie suddenly asked.

"What do you know! After a flying sword's mark is erased, most of its spirituality will be lost, and it will continue to flow away with the passage of time. Therefore, it can only be erased during the official consecration, so as to preserve its original spirituality and power to the greatest extent," Xiong Shan snorted, saying impatiently.

"Haha, so that's how it is. I've learned something!" Mo Xie laughed nonchalantly and nodded.

Xiong Shan didn't speak. With a flick of his wrist, a golden flying sword immediately appeared.

This sword was more than three feet long and about two inches wide. It was golden all over, and its entire body was full of sword intent, with an astonishing aura of overlooking the world and being irresistibly sharp. At the hilt of the sword, there was also a ferocious ancient beast swallowing mouth, its beast mouth wide open and its eyes full of light, making it look as if it were alive.

The surrounding people only glanced at the sword before averting their gazes, as if they felt its sharpness was too intense, and it would simply sting their eyes.

"As expected of Fellow Daoist Xiong's natal flying sword. After these years of tempering and preparation, it's even more different than before! Once this sword is completely refined, it will only take a few hundred years of secluded meditation to break through that threshold and achieve the Golden Immortal realm. It's just around the corner!" Mo Xie's eyes lit up and he praised.

"Then I'll take Fellow Daoist Mo's good words!"

After Xiong Shan summoned his natal flying sword, the aura emanating from his entire body was even stronger than before. With a spirited long howl, he flew up with his sword, his figure flashing like lightning. He landed on the Sword Consecration Platform in the center of the grassland in a few steps.

The entire Sword Consecration Platform was thirty-six zhang in circumference and seventy-two zhang high. It was crystal clear, as if carved from beautiful jade. It was engraved with various complex formation patterns and inlaid with many unknown spirit stones, which were connected to each other to outline a huge formation map surrounding the entire Sword Consecration Platform.

"I have been preparing for today for tens of thousands of years. If it succeeds, everyone will be happy. But let me say the ugly things first. If someone drops the ball at a critical moment, don't blame me for turning my back on you afterwards," Xiong Shan suddenly turned around and said to Han Li and the others.

"Dao Lord Xiong, don't worry, I will definitely do my best and never fail!" Zhu Feng cupped his fists and was the first to guarantee.

The other local elders also patted their chests to guarantee, while Han Li and the other rogue cultivator elders nodded respectfully.

"Enter the Formation Hubs!"

As Xiong Shan let out a loud shout that resounded through the heavens and the earth, Han Li and the other ten people flew up and sped towards the grassland.

Han Li's body flashed with green light, and he immediately sped towards the northwest. But after flying halfway, his figure stopped abruptly in mid-air.

In the instant he flew and stopped, Zhu Feng's figure flashed past him. He glanced at him sideways and "hmph"ed contemptuously, then flew to the area where the Green Bamboo Bee Cloud Swords were located and landed gracefully towards the black stone pillar in the center.

Han Li watched his receding figure, turned around, and flew towards an area in the southwest.

These areas were not divided very regularly, and the shape of each area was not square. The number of flying swords distributed in each area was also not the same. Some areas had only dozens of swords, while others had more than a hundred swords. The area where the Green Bamboo Bee Cloud Swords were located only had those seventy-two cyan flying swords.

If the entire "Thousand Peaks Spirit Gathering Sword Formation" had to be said to have a shape, it looked like a flower about to bloom. The "Sword Consecration Platform" in the center was like the stamen of the flower, and the ten sword formation areas around it were like petals surrounding the stamen.

Seeing that everyone had settled down, Xiong Shan put his hands together in front of him and formed a hand seal.

The golden flying sword that was originally suspended in front of him suddenly released a dazzling golden light!

And as he chanted the incantation, a strange power seemed to resonate with it in this Sword Tomb forbidden area, causing his chanting to resound throughout the entire sky like the sounds of Brahma from the Buddhist kingdom.

At the same time, the Sword Consecration Platform beneath him also began to light up with bright and brilliant light. The complex formation patterns engraved on it spread out with golden patterns, as if they had been poured with liquid gold.

A "rumbling" sound rang out from the high platform, and a three-foot-square white jade altar slowly rose from the center of the high platform.

It was covered with runes, and a black hole with a width equivalent to the sword body was revealed in the center.