Chapter 24: Internet Outage (2)
24 – Internet Outage (2)
In the stone chamber, Yan Yangzi and Xiaoyaozi stood facing each other. Yan Yangzi gripped his long sword tightly, while Xiaoyaozi held a horsetail whisk in his arms. The atmosphere between them was tense and confrontational.
Xiaoyaozi spoke in a deep voice, “This is the supreme treasure of Qingcheng. Yan Yang, what are your true intentions?”
Yan Yangzi replied, “You merely occupy the Shangqing Palace by chance. The true orthodox lineage of Qingcheng still belongs to us swordsmen!”
Xiaoyaozi said, “Then let us settle this with our skills.”
As he spoke, he suddenly stomped his foot, and an invisible surge of Qi rose within the stone chamber.
Old Man Huo also stepped forward, “Yan Yang, you trespassed into Qingcheng Mountain and treated my disciple this way. Today, you must give us an explanation.”
Butterfly Madam also summoned various poisonous insects. A green snake hissed, flicking its tongue as it coiled around her snow-white wrist.
Yan Yangzi swept his gaze over them, his eyes dark and heavy. Instead of answering their questions, he beckoned to Qi Yun, “Yun’er, come here.”
Qi Yun silently stepped forward.
Yan Yangzi suddenly grabbed Qi Yun’s wrist!
In the next moment, invisible ripples spread across the floor of the stone chamber, and the two vanished simultaneously!
Old Man Huo exclaimed, “What is this?”
Xiaoyaozi frowned and said, “When Yan Yang betrayed the sect, he secretly took the Five Elements Spirit Talismans. This is the Earth Escape Talisman.”
Butterfly Madam asked, “Should we pursue them?”
Xiaoyaozi shook his head, “The Earth Escape Talisman is extremely fast. We cannot catch up. However, I sensed that Yan Yang’s Qi seems severely injured. After today, his cultivation realm will inevitably decline.”
Butterfly Madam snorted coldly, “He got off lightly.”
Peacock Madam turned to Lin Xun, “Suan’er, are you injured?”
Lin Xun shook his head, then explained to the elders how Yan Yangzi had entered deep meditation here and was interrupted by him using a keyboard.
Old Man Huo stepped forward with his hands behind his back, examining the jade coffin before turning to Xiaoyaozi, “Is this… the Chixiao Dragon Sparrow Sword?”
Xiaoyaozi nodded, “Indeed.”
Holding his snow-white horsetail whisk, he slowly approached and placed his right hand on the coffin lid, “Among cultivators, everyone yearns for the Chixiao Dragon Sparrow Sword. Countless visitors came seeking it, overwhelming Qingcheng. The ancestral master, Qing Shuangzi, sealed it deep within the mountains, with only himself knowing its location… However, over a decade later, Ancestral Master Qing Shuangzi suddenly suffered a cerebral hemorrhage and passed away unexpectedly. The whereabouts of the Chixiao Dragon Sparrow Sword were lost, until today when Yan Yangzi discovered it.”
Peacock Madam said, “The nature of the Chixiao Dragon Sparrow Sword is extremely fierce, and Yan Yangzi’s sword Qi is of the fire element. It is possible he sensed it by chance. Just now, he should have been comprehending the True Intent of Departing Fire within the sword’s Qi. If he truly grasped it, I fear…”
“Indeed, we are fortunate that young friend Lin Suan interrupted him in time,” Xiaoyaozi nodded. He drew a talisman in the air with his left hand, and the glow of the jade coffin gradually faded. Then, he pushed open the coffin lid.
The moment the lid opened, the air pressure in the entire stone chamber seemed to drop.
—Inside the coffin stood a terrifyingly imposing dark silver longsword.
The blade was narrow and exceptionally sharp, as if merely looking at it would cut one’s eyeballs.
Flowing along the edge of the sword was a bright crimson light, resembling magma heated to its extreme.
As Lin Xun gazed at the sword, he felt an immense and awe-inspiring aura of killing intent emanating from it.
Xiaoyaozi stroked his beard and said, “With the demon seed appearing and calamity approaching, the re-emergence of the Chixiao Dragon Sparrow Sword at this time is a great blessing for our Immortal Sect.”
Butterfly Madam asked, “What do you mean by that?”
“The Red Sky Dragon Sparrow, the Sword of Imperial Path, vanquishes evil and destroys demons, using slaughter to halt slaughter.” Xiaoyaozi said, “This sword, our Qingcheng Mountain is merely safeguarding it temporarily, awaiting the one who will take and wield it.”
No one replied, only listening quietly as he continued, “Every few hundred years, the demon realm’s power surges greatly, then invades the mortal world. But the Heavenly Dao of the mortal world has its own awareness of this. Whenever the demon race invades, the Imperial Star descends into the world, becoming the Immortal Sect’s Emperor Lord. The Red Sky Dragon Sparrow Sword is precisely the sword used by successive Emperor Lords—and only an Emperor Lord bearing the Heavenly Dao’s fortune can lift it from the jade coffin. The Red Sky Dragon Sparrow Sword is the bane of the demon race. With it here, we need not fear the demon realm.”
Butterfly Madam asked, “Does the Emperor Lord know they are the Emperor Lord?”
Xiaoyaozi shook his head, “The descent of the Imperial Star could be anyone, man or woman, old or young. We must search for them.”
Butterfly Madam said, “We must search the entire world for someone capable of lifting the Red Sky Dragon Sparrow Sword and ask them to deal with the demon race?”
Xiaoyaozi nodded, “Exactly.”
Butterfly Madam asked, “Then how do we search?”
Xiaoyaozi sighed, “We will bring the jade coffin back to Shangqing Palace and first let the fellow disciples and young disciples of the Immortal Sect try.”
Old Man Huo said, “Good.”
Then, he suddenly glanced sideways, “This old man will try first!”
Xiaoyaozi chuckled, “You old rascal!”
Lin Xun watched as his master stepped forward, grasped the hilt, and exerted force to lift it.
—The Red Sky Dragon Sparrow Sword did not budge an inch.
Next, the two madams also stepped forward to draw the sword, to no avail. Xiaoyaozi stepped forward as well, achieving nothing.
Lin Xun saw them turn their gazes toward him.
So he also stepped forward and grasped the cold hilt.
He exerted force.
It did not move.
He exerted force again.
Still, it did not move.
He stepped back, feeling he likely wasn’t cut out for wielding swords.
But this sword was truly beautiful.
Its cold and rigorous color scheme, patterns, lines… it could almost rival his cherry.
Just as he was intently gazing at the sword, his vision suddenly blurred, and the sword’s code interface appeared before him.
Dense, intricate code, quite difficult to understand, and not a system he was proficient in. He felt he couldn’t figure it out.
Thus, they left the cave carrying the jade coffin and the Red Sky Dragon Sparrow Sword inside.
Outside the cave, Boss and Second were still anxiously looking around, while the sword cultivation disciples lay scattered about.
Then, they heard Peacock Madam say, “Xun’er, after receiving your distress message, we immediately rushed here. These two told us they insisted on seeking immortality and lured you here. Is this true?”
Lin Xun replied, “Yes.”
Peacock Madam said, “Be very careful in the future.”
Lin Xun said, “Thank you, Madam.”
Boss and Second fawned, “Immortals, we insist on seeking immortality…”
Old Man Huo swept a glance over them, “Utterly lacking in aptitude!”
—Then he coldly departed.
Only Lin Xun paused, saying to Boss and Second, “If you really can’t find work, you could enroll in a programming training course, Python or Glax are both fine, really. Cultivation has no future; look at them.”
He pointed at the sword cultivation disciples lying all over the ground.
Boss and Second seemed lost in thought.
Lin Xun said, “Goodbye. I hope to see you in Zhongguancun.”
—Then he also left.
After returning to Shangqing Palace, Lin Xun once again received much concern and inquiry from the madams.
Finally, the elders unanimously decided that since Suan’er had been kidnapped by a sword cultivator and tied up in a corner, he must have been frightened. Therefore, he would not be allowed to participate in the martial arts competition among the younger disciples the next day.
Lin Xun felt happy, though inwardly he was completely unperturbed and had not been frightened at all.
After returning to the guest room, he entered the System Space—when Xiaoyaozi explained the origins of the Chixiao Longque Sword, the system had already notified him that the quest was complete.
For completing this side quest, the rewards he received were Spiritual Power, a Chaos Treasure Box, and a Level 1 Magical Artifact.
He first took the Chaos Treasure Box.
Opening it while no one was looking, he found a blue-covered secret manual titled “Heavenly Eye Technique.”
The introduction on the title page read: Heavenly Eye Technique—see through the enemy’s flaws.
Although he didn’t know exactly what it did, it sounded incredibly useful.
Next, the Level 1 Magical Artifact. The reward interface displayed a floating Cherry keyboard, identical to the one he used in real life.
Lin Xun reached out and touched it, and it transformed into a stream of light that entered his body.
“Magical Artifact transformation complete.”
Lin Xun immediately left the System Space and looked at the keyboard on the table.
It seemed even more aesthetically pleasing now and had become slightly thinner. He wondered if it had become as sturdy as he had hoped.
He reached out to pick up the keyboard.
…The next moment, the keyboard suddenly floated into the air and hovered steadily beneath his hand!
Lin Xun tapped it a few times and found that it was positioned perfectly for comfortable typing.
He took a few steps forward.
The keyboard floated forward along with him.
He stepped back.
The keyboard moved back.
He flew up.
The keyboard flew as well.
In short, no matter what, the keyboard hovered in the most optimal position for typing. Compared to his initial expectation of simply making the material harder, this feature was an unexpected and delightful surprise. He would no longer have to struggle with one-handed typing—both speed and experience would see a qualitative leap.
Lin Xun felt an extraordinary sense of satisfaction, almost wanting to sleep with the keyboard in his arms.
The night passed quickly. The next day, he sat with his master and Butterfly Madam, watching the disciples spar.
Before the sparring began, there was a grand sword-drawing ceremony.
One by one, the disciples stepped forward, but no one could pull the sword out.
As Lin Xun watched, he quickly selected what looked like crucial code from the Chixiao Longque Sword and typed it into his phone, sending it to Wang Anquan.
Lin Suanfa: Anquan, take a look at this code.
Wang Anquan didn’t reply immediately this time. After about ten minutes, Lin Xun’s phone chimed.
Wang Anquan: Damn impressive.
Wang Anquan: Where’d you copy this from? Aren’t you on the mountain?
Lin Suanfa: What is it?
Wang Anquan: Looks like antivirus software source code to me, definitely not something you’d find on the market. Where’d you get it?
Lin Suanfa: Is it that good?
Wang Anquan: Let me put it this way—I’d need another ten or twenty years of practice, and even then, I might not be able to write something like this. Whose work is this? If you can, buy shares in it. Once it’s released, we’ll be set.
Lin Suanfa: Hard to say. It’s written on a divine artifact from the cultivation world that’s used to vanquish evil and stop killing with killing.
Wang Anquan: …
Wang Anquan: You’re messing with me.
Lin Xun looked up at the faintly glowing red Chixiao Longque Sword and once again thought it was truly beautiful.
Then, glancing at his own keyboard with its dark silver base and red backlight, strikingly similar in color scheme to the Chixiao Longque Sword, Lin Xun was convinced that his aesthetic taste leaned toward such things.
He admitted he was somewhat tempted.
Soon, everyone had finished trying.
Not a single person could lift the Crimson Cloud Dragon Sparrow Sword.
After Xiaoyaozi discussed with the other elders, they decided to transport both the sword and the jade coffin to the imperial capital.
Xiaoyaozi said to Old Man Huo, “Since the Immortal Sect is sending people to station in the imperial capital to suppress the demon seed, why not place the Crimson Cloud Dragon Sparrow Sword at the station to facilitate finding a destined wielder—right at the Chaoyang residential area we agreed upon the day before yesterday. What do you think, Brother Qingshan?”
Old Man Huo: “Agreed.”
Lin Xun continued sending messages to Wang Anquan.
Lin Suanfa: The divine artifact is going to reside in our building.
Wang Anquan: Then its code must belong to me.
Lin Suanfa: I want its physical form.
Wang Anquan: Then you…
Lin Xun thought Wang Anquan had a solution and perked up instantly.
But then—
Wang Anquan: Then you can just keep dreaming.
Lin Xun stared expressionlessly at the message.
WeChat, closed.