Chapter 148: On Swords
…
Cizhijian Peak, Earth Suite Twenty-One.
The cave dwelling was filled with the faint, bitter fragrance of medicine.
“Open wider, open wider — open your eyes wider~”
“I already have them open as wide as they go!”
“Heeheehee…”
The scene inside the cave dwelling was rather peculiar.
Xiao He had taken human form and was crouching on the stone table, a small medicine bottle pinched in her left hand while her right hand reached out.
“Hey, what are you doing?!”
“You can’t do it like this. Let me help — don’t move, don’t move.”
“Fine, fine, fine. Just be gentle.”
Song Yan sat in the chair by the table, tilting his head back slightly, allowing the pair of small, cold hands to pry his eyelids open.
“Heeheehee…”
“What exactly are you laughing at?”
Xiao He kept snickering, and little Song had no idea what was going on, feeling that this child was up to no good.
She aimed at Song Yan’s eyes and tilted the small porcelain bottle slightly. Within it, medicine liquid could be seen sloshing about.
After departing from Nanshan Temple that day, Ju Luyi had indeed led him to find several stalks of Seven-Leaf Yang Yellow. Not many, but enough to last for a while.
However, upon returning to the cave dwelling and preparing the medicinal solution, applying it became the problem.
He could not properly pry his own eyelids open. It sounded very strange, but that was simply how it was — his eyes would close involuntarily.
He had no choice but to let Xiao He help.
“Oops!”
The small hand trembled, and a glob of clear medicinal liquid suddenly gushed out, “dousing” Song Yan’s eyes.
Caught off guard, he jerked his head down.
“Are you looking for a beating!”
“Hehe, Xiao He didn’t mean to~”
“I’ll do it myself then.”
“No.” Xiao He stubbornly tucked the porcelain bottle behind her back, her tone brooking no refusal.
After all the fuss, the medicine was finally applied.
Song Yan kept his eyes tightly closed and rolled them slightly. A cool sensation spread outward, and the faint burning and stinging from cultivating the Guanxu Sword Pupil gradually eased somewhat.
As the cool feeling slowly expanded, the effect grew more pronounced.
“Phew…”
He let out a long breath.
Xiao He popped the stopper back onto the porcelain bottle with a little *plop*, then climbed down from the table using the other chair.
She muttered, “You should have used this sooner. Another two days and you’d have turned into a little rabbit.”
Song Yan chuckled. Xiao He’s words were not without merit.
He had only just begun cultivating, and his eyes were already experiencing discomfort. His progress was likely too fast, and his eyes had not yet grown accustomed to bearing such strain.
In the first few days after returning to the cave dwelling, his eyes had been bright red.
From now until the sect’s Sword Testing Tournament concluded, he planned to moderate his cultivation of the pupil technique, shifting his focus to divine sense cultivation and swordsmanship.
He had not long broken through to the seventh level of Qi Refining. His spiritual energy accumulation was still far from sufficient — nowhere near enough for him to break through to the eighth level in a short time.
This was even after the Sword Seed had pushed his cultivation forward significantly when he had comprehended sword intent and forged his natal flying sword.
In terms of swordsmanship, Cloud Sword had already reached mastery. Naturally, his training focus would be on the Sleeve Green Snake sword technique.
Sleeve Green Snake had an extremely high ceiling. According to the Sword Arts Compendium, there had been sword cultivator seniors in history who had made this technique their primary sword Dao.
Devoting effort to it would not be wasted in the least.
As for divine sense, Song Yan actually found it rather headache-inducing.
From the day he had obtained the Five-Star Pulse Grasping Art until now, he practiced it daily without fail, and often found time to practice calligraphy and play chess.
The spiritual energy in the Changping region was scarce, so Song Yan simply dedicated even more effort to cultivating his divine sense.
Yet the rate of his divine sense growth grew slower and slower.
“Perhaps it’s a limitation of my realm?”
His divine sense had already reached the level of the ninth or tenth level of Qi Refining. To make further progress, he would likely need to achieve a breakthrough in his cultivation realm first.
He gathered his thoughts. Slowly, he opened his eyes.
Xiao He had been watching intently. Seeing him open his eyes, she said, “Yan-yan, Grandpa says that when your eyes feel sore and fatigued, you should go out for a walk and look at green mountains and clear waters.”
“Let’s go out and play?”
“Mm… alright.”
Ever since moving to Cizhijian Peak, he had been cooped up cultivating in his cave dwelling and small courtyard, and had not yet properly seen the scenery of the other parts of the mountain.
Xiao He dove into her sleeve, and Song Yan headed out with her.
Rain fell among the mountains, striking leaves as it passed through the forest.
Cizhijian Peak was known for its culture of debate and combat. The mountain vegetation consisted mostly of green pines and spirit bamboo.
Peaks and ridges appeared and vanished within the clouds and mist. Mountain winds swept past, carrying waves of rustling pines.
Whether it was Song Yan’s imagination or not, there seemed to be far more disciples traveling the mountain paths than usual.
Inner sect disciples from all the main peaks were well-represented, their expressions ranging from furrowed brows and distress to bright-eyed enthusiasm.
Some walked alone, lost in silent contemplation.
Some traveled in groups, debating loudly.
“Brother Li, I don’t think this Kong You is as impressive as the rumors say. If you’re more careful and cautious, I feel you still have a chance to win when you meet at the sect’s Sword Testing Tournament in half a time.”
Two cultivator disciples passed by. Judging by their attire, they appeared to be disciples of Zuo Wang Peak.
One of them shook his head. “He’s not my match.”
“That last bout, it looked like Senior Brother Kong and I were close, with him slightly ahead.”
“But in truth, for him it was just a spar, while I had already played almost every card in my hand.”
“This…”
The two chatted as they walked away, but their conversation had reminded Song Yan.
The sect’s Sword Testing Tournament was likely approaching, and many disciples wanted to use this period to hone their abilities.
No wonder Cizhijian Peak had been so lively recently.
“Come on, let’s go take a look too.”
“Okay, let’s go watch them fight~”
Come to think of it, Song Yan had originally advanced to the inner sect primarily because he hoped to spar with others more often, in order to comprehend sword intent.
Later, he had rushed to Changping, where he comprehended sword intent under the pressure of life and death.
That had actually taken him away from his original purpose.
But he did not mind. The path of the sword required fierce advancement, and the intense atmosphere of competition on Cizhijian Peak could only benefit his Dao.
Now that his natal flying sword was complete and he had officially embarked on the path of a sword cultivator, his spirit carried a sharp, cutting edge.
Song Yan ascended the stone steps along the mountain path at a leisurely pace.
Cizhijian Peak had suitable sparring spots everywhere, but the best venue with the most spectators was the Debate Stage.
The Debate Stage was situated on the eastern side of Cizhijian Peak. Though called a “platform,” it was actually a convergence of five sparring grounds.
The central one was the largest, roughly twenty zhang square, while the remaining four were each ten zhang square, distributed across the four cardinal directions.
The central Debate Stage was surrounded by a bustling crowd of cultivator disciples.
Before Song Yan even drew close, the thunderous sounds of techniques clashing could already be heard from every direction, interspersed with exclamations and cheers from the gathered disciples.
Song Yan brought Xiao He a little closer.
However, the two currently sparring in the arena were people he did not recognize.
“They’re both at the late stages of Qi Refining, but why do I feel like Senior Brother Kong You’s spiritual energy is inexhaustible…”
“Indeed.”
The disciple who answered let out a bitter laugh. “He just fought Senior Brother Li Xin, and yet there’s not a trace of spiritual energy depletion visible in him.”
“Truly frightening.”
Kong You?
Song Yan had no impression of the name.