Chapter 29: Town-Dao Sword Manor
Song Yan sat cross-legged within the cave, fingers interlocked, a faint white glow emanating from his body. Spiritual energy converged, condensing into a sharp beam of light within his meridians.
“Exhale—”
Song Yan took a deep breath. No longer hesitating, he channeled his spiritual energy and, in a single instant, slashed away the three spirit roots at his Dantian, driving deep into its core.
“Cough…”
A muffled groan escaped him. His qi and blood turned chaotic within his body, and tiny beads of blood began seeping from every pore.
Veins bulged on both arms as blood flowed freely.
His black hair gradually turned yellow and withered.
His vitality was severely damaged, his life hanging by a thread!
From his Dantian came a sound like cracking porcelain. The remaining spiritual energy surged outward as white mist from his seven orifices.
Song Yan slowly opened his eyes. Once warm and gentle, they were now gray and dull, as lifeless as common iron.
His Dao foundation was completely destroyed!
Strangely, the sharp spiritual energy he had used to sever his spirit roots did not dissipate. It remained embedded deep within his Dantian.
Song Yan formed a strange sword seal. Spiritual light burst from his fingertips, and the remaining strand of energy tore open a rift the size of a mustard seed within his emptied qi sea.
Agonizing pain surged upon him like a tide.
Song Yan clenched his teeth, forcing himself to stay conscious.
If he fainted now, and this spiritual energy within his Dantian dissipated…
All his efforts would be wasted, and he would have no hope of cultivation in this lifetime.
At first, the rift resembled a sword mark. It devoured the essence, blood, and spiritual qi remaining in his Dantian’s qi sea.
Gradually, it took the shape of a leaf-like space, slightly wider than a sword mark.
This was the initial form of the Town-Dao Sword Manor.
Song Yan bit the tip of his tongue, drawing out a wisp of essence blood.
The essence blood condensed into a trembling sphere, suspended within the sword manor in his Dantian.
The previously scattered spiritual qi suddenly reversed its flow, even plundering the qi from the surrounding mountains, forming a palm-sized vortex above Song Yan’s head.
“Hummm—”
After an unknown amount of time, a soft hum resonated within his Dantian.
The spiritual qi vortex came to a stop.
With inner sight, within the qi sea of his Dantian, a golden shell the size of a bodhi seed hung quietly inside the Town-Dao Sword Manor.
Song Yan felt a surge of joy in his heart, but did not let up.
“One more step.”
He swallowed a prepared Qi Nourishing Pill. Thread by thread, spiritual energy was drawn into the golden shell.
But in just a few breaths, its energy was exhausted.
“Not enough…”
For this sword dao seed, the spiritual energy efficiency of the Qi Nourishing Pill was far too slow.
He had no choice but to take out a Yellow Sprout Pill and swallow it, while gripping two spirit stones in his hands.
The pure and surging qi sea energy, along with the spiritual qi absorbed from the spirit stones, converged upon the Town-Dao Sword Manor, gradually pouring into the golden shell.
The intricate, profound patterns along the shell’s edge slowly began to glow.
The entire sword dao seed began to contract. The shell, once the size of a bodhi seed, gradually shrank to the size of a lotus seed.
Song Yan took another Yellow Sprout Pill. The spiritual qi within his qi sea churned violently, drawn into the golden lotus seed like a whirlpool.
In mere breaths, less than a tenth of his spiritual qi remained.
Fortunately, at that moment, a change finally occurred.
Around the lotus seed, strange sword-shaped spiritual energy unfurled like cicada wings, forming a unique lotus seed shape.
Thus, the opening of the manor and the planting of the sword was truly complete.
Song Yan opened his eyes, feeling as though he had awakened from a dream.
…
May nineteenth. The sky was clear and bright.
Xiao He sat near Song Yan’s temporary cave dwelling, her hands busy weaving something from grass rope.
This craft of weaving grass rope had been taught to her by her grandfather. Song Yan had no interest in it, but she loved it dearly.
Those disordered strands of grass were combined and interwoven, ultimately forming something delicate and orderly.
When Xiao He first saw it, she was deeply captivated by this nimble human craft.
So during the times when Yan Yan was not by her side, she would weave every day to pass the time. Unfortunately, her skill never quite reached her grandfather’s level.
“Oh no, that’s not right…”
She would pick it up from time to time, examine it carefully, seem dissatisfied, and redo it.
“Done!”
She placed the strange woven grass object on the bare ground.
Beside it, various oddly shaped grass rope “creations” were arranged in neat order.
This was the eighth one.
Having placed it, Xiao He began to examine these items with a serious and earnest expression, starting from the first one, muttering to herself.
“Day one, nothing happened! What I ate was a little field mouse.”
“Day two, there was a huge cloud in the sky, like Grandpa’s medicine basket!” “No field mice…”
“Day three…”
Xiao He wanted to wait until Yan Yan came out of seclusion and tell her everything that had happened each day.
But her memory was poor.
There had always been many interesting things, but by the time Yan Yan came to play with her, she had already forgotten them.
She had cried in frustration over this many times.
She also worried that Yan Yan, like before, would be gone for many, many days.
So she came up with a good solution: weave one grass rope each day, so that when she saw it, she would not forget.
“Day six… Hmm? What was this again…”
“What was it again…”
Oh no, Xiao He had forgotten what her grass rope creation represented!
It had only been two days ago!
“Think carefully, think carefully…”
“What was it again…”
Xiao He’s little face flushed red with anxiety.
From behind and above came a familiar voice: “Looks like a little frog.”
“Ah! Right! It’s a little frog!”
Xiao He’s eyes lit up. Then she realized someone was behind her and turned around to see Song Yan watching her with a smile.
She felt a little embarrassed.
“Hehe… Day five, I met a little frog.”
“Where’s the little frog?”
“Ah—”
Xiao He opened her mouth, pointed at it, then patted her little belly: “I ate it.”
“…”
Song Yan found it both amusing and heartbreaking.
This child was so single-minded. She had been told to guard the cave entrance, and she truly had not left a single step.
“Yan Yan, have you recovered from your injuries?”
Song Yan nodded: “More or less.”
Xiao He’s nose twitched. She could smell that Yan Yan’s spiritual energy had decreased significantly.
But it did not matter. As long as he was safe.
This time, Yan Yan had been away from her for such a short while!
Xiao He transformed into a snake and slipped into her sleeve.
“…You don’t want these grass ropes anymore?”
“Nope!”
Song Yan studied the grass ropes on the ground for a moment longer, then with great interest collected them into his Cosmos Bag.
“What a pity.”
“It’s nothing. In the cave on Little Lonely Mountain, there are still five hundred and forty-two little grass ropes…”
“You’ve woven that many…”
“Of course!”
…
Opening the manor and planting the sword took a full three days.
Rebuilding to the first level of Qi Refining took only five.
For his reconstruction, Song Yan had his own considerations.
He still did not know where he was. The journey back to the sect from here would likely be long and arduous. Without basic spiritual energy circulation, he feared that even encountering a few rogue cultivators on the road would mean his death.
Moreover, most cultivators who suffered severe injuries and dropped in realm would still retain some strength. If his spiritual energy were completely gone, it would seem suspicious.
Additionally, his original spirit roots had vanished, replaced by the golden lotus seed pulsing with sword energy.
The cultivation technique he used was still the same Condensing Qi scroll. After a rough test, the speed of absorbing spiritual qi seemed slightly slower than before.
However, the spiritual energy produced was more refined. Under the gentle hum of the lotus seed, strand by strand, the spiritual qi gradually transformed into part of the sword energy surrounding the lotus seed.
Furthermore, this sword dao seed could be refined and strengthened.
The general outline had mentioned that objects of extreme purity, the true meaning of the sword dao, and one’s natal flying sword could all enhance the grade of the sword dao seed.
“Exhale—”
Taking a deep breath.
Song Yan stepped forward and walked out of the deep mountains.