Chapter 97: Achievement in a Single Day
From some unknown day onward, the cultivation world of the Chu Kingdom gained a pair of rogue cultivator dao companions.
The female cultivator displayed her brilliance without restraint, her swordsmanship exquisite beyond compare.
The male cultivator carried a sword box on his back, yet never once drew his blade.
Among the rogue cultivators of Chu, the pair had gained quite a reputation.
Inside the Ghost Caves.
Qingmei’s flying sword streaked through the air in a cold flash of light, pinning a Underworld Springs talisman ghost against the cavern wall.
Yan Gui sat cross-legged in the cave, holding a fist-sized piece of ore in his hands, carefully turning it over and examining it.
He paid no heed to the battle raging around him, murmuring to himself, “Mm… this one won’t do either.”
Hualuo retrieved her flying sword and swept up all the scattered remnants scattered across the cave floor.
She walked over to Yan Gui’s side with a gentle smile. “Little Yan’er, when will your flying sword be forged?”
“What’s the rush? Since I told you I want to learn the way of the sword from you, I naturally need a flying sword of my own first.”
As he spoke of this matter, he swayed his head back and forth with a foolish expression, drawing a laugh from the girl.
“Your flying sword is called Qingmei. Mine… shall be called ‘Zhuma.'”
“Besides, over the years I’ve gathered quite a few precious materials and rare treasures. If the opportunity arises, I can help refine your ‘Qingmei’ as well, to elevate its grade.”
Hualuo smiled radiantly. “Then I thank Young Master Yan for his great kindness in forging my sword~”
In this grim and eerie Ghost Caves, the girl’s bright smile was so dazzling that the boy stared blankly at her.
“Still, if that’s the case, when will you ever get to use that sword box you worked so hard to forge…”
The boy laughed heartily. “Once my flying sword is complete, we’ll nurture both our swords together in the same box.”
“When that day comes, if we face a powerful enemy, our ‘Qingmei’ and ‘Zhuma’ shall fly forth together! We’ll make sure those demons, monsters, and all manner of evil spirits pay with their lives!”
“Hehe! Wonderful, truly wonderful!”
……
In a flash, the world before “Yan Gui’s” eyes turned dark and shattered apart.
He knelt on the ground in a daze, watching the frail girl struggle to prop herself up with her flying sword, standing before him.
She faced the rampant and grotesque demonic cultivator alone.
Ghostly fog and demonic clouds devoured the light of the sky.
Thick miasma churned and roiled around the two of them.
A ghost banner howled through the air. Hualuo reached back with one hand and pushed Yan Gui further behind her.
Qingmei’s sword hummed as it slashed forward, splitting the dense fog. In that instant, a ghostly face lunged from within the banner, its clawed fingers wreathed in ghostly qi, striking directly for Hualuo’s throat.
Clang!
She blocked the blow with brute force, her figure already wavering.
“Hualuo!”
“…”
Hualuo raised her hand, stopping Yan Gui’s movement.
Blood seeped from the corner of her lips, yet her eyes burned with unwavering resolve and determination.
“Little Yan’er…”
“Wha—”
Hualuo suddenly rose, her sword cleaving through the miasma as she shoved Yan Gui into the heart of the formation.
“…Watch carefully.”
Demonic qi pierced through her shoulder. Enduring the searing pain, she commanded her flying sword Qingmei.
At the corner of her blood-stained lips, a smile suddenly appeared.
“This is the sword cultivator’s… strongest strike…”
Within the demonic miasma formation, a brilliant cyan light suddenly blazed to life.
It shot skyward from the earth, piercing straight through the clouds.
In a single instant, the demonic formation shattered.
The flying sword disintegrated piece by piece. Countless streams of sword light, carrying with them her scattering soul, transformed into a sword rainbow.
And slew the demonic cultivator.
The chaotic miasma and the razor-sharp sword qi vanished together within the mountain cave.
“…”
Yan Gui knelt upon scorched earth.
Clutched in his hands was the broken flying sword “Qingmei,” and tears fell from his eyes like rain.
……
“A-Hua, I forged ‘Zhuma’ and the ‘Qingmei’ you left behind into a single sword.”
……
“What should I call it?”
……
“In the sky, we wish to be birds flying wing to wing. On the earth, we wish to be branches intertwined…”
“Mm… becoming an immortal is too far away. I still want to see the mortal world with you, the mountains beyond mountains…”
……
“I shall call it ‘Lianli.'”
……
“A-Hua…”
The sword hut blazed with fire, and thunder roared with surging power.
Yan Gui’s consciousness grew hazy, sinking into the flying sword within the sword hut.
“I don’t want to make you wait anymore.”
……
Thunder and fire roared through Song Yan’s vision. He came back to his senses, and his ears were met with the profound silence of the Two Forms Realm.
His scattered thoughts and memories slowly began to clarify.
“…”
He gazed at the sword box before him and let out a soft sigh, falling silent.
Green plum and bamboo horse, love at first sight.
Roaming hand in hand, venturing across mountains and seas.
But alas…
Qingmei, to protect Zhuma, shattered at the hands of the demonic cultivator.
There had been no time to place the matched swords into the box together. No time to gaze upon the mountains beyond mountains with her.
In the end, two strands of soul were forged into a single sword. Could that be called an eternity together?
Just as Song Yan was lost in contemplation.
Suddenly, two streams of spiritual light—one cyan, one purple—slowly drifted out from the sword box.
They circled around the Sword Dao seed before merging into it.
“Hum—”
Yet what surprised Song Yan was that the seed did not undergo any change as it had before.
“…”
However, a familiar sensation of qi reached him.
His divine sense departed the Two Forms Realm.
Within his Dantian’s qi sea, a faint sensation of fullness emerged…
He quickly settled his mind and sat down cross-legged.
Under inner inspection, the lotus-shaped sword qi around the Sword Dao seed surged frantically. Within the Restraining Sword Residence, sword qi churned with violent force!
“This…”
Song Yan found it almost impossible to believe.
But opportunity would not wait. He swiftly produced pills and spirit stones, and the Qi Condensation chapter circulated at full speed.
A Yellow Sprout Pill entered his mouth, and the spirit stones in his hands replenished his spiritual energy.
Moreover, the spiritual energy in this place was dense. Spiritual power flowed into his Dantian like a stream.
His cultivation was advancing at a speed that defied all reason.
“…”
What was happening?
After absorbing those two streams of spiritual light, the Sword Dao seed had shown no change—instead, his own cultivation had begun to rise rapidly.
This phenomenon was something the Sword Planting Technique had never mentioned…
No matter what, growing stronger was always good.
But…
He felt an ominous premonition, as if his body might explode at any moment!
That sword qi was too full and too sharp. Song Yan hurriedly absorbed vast amounts of spiritual energy to temper it.
His Dantian ached with waves of searing pain, and his meridians burned inch by inch.
Those two streams of spiritual light were like a pill of extraordinary purity, yet one of overwhelming dominance.
Sword qi rampaged and clashed within the Restraining Sword Residence, while spiritual energy coursed through his meridians at tremendous speed.
This unbearable agony persisted for a full half-shichen.
Until he was drenched in sweat, nearly exhausted—yet there was still no sign of it letting up…
At this moment, the scene within the Restraining Sword Residence resembled a water basin, its surging sword qi having already risen like floodwater to fill the vessel to the brim.
Sword qi overflowed.
Song Yan could only use his spiritual energy to temper it, easing his own suffering.
He watched as the lotus-shaped sword qi on the Sword Dao seed bloomed and withered, faster and faster, until in a single instant—a dramatic transformation erupted.
All of the sword qi contracted violently and condensed into a single, extraordinarily solid stream of sword light.
The Restraining Sword Residence suddenly emptied.
All of his pain receded in a single instant, like a tide pulling back.
“…”
Song Yan was utterly drenched in sweat.
Yet he still did not dare let his guard down.
The spiritual energy and sword qi within his qi sea continued to grow at a slower, steadier pace.
He circulated his spiritual energy through several full cycles before slowly withdrawing his cultivation.
“Haa—”
He exhaled a breath of turbid air and slowly opened his eyes.
A wave of lingering fear swept through his heart.
Reflecting carefully, it must have been that the spiritual intent left behind by those two seniors within the box had barely been depleted at all.
If that was the case, his acquisition of the Buxi Boat that day had been pure luck.
The natal flying sword had been scorched by demonic fire until only a single trace of pure, formless spiritual intent remained.
Otherwise, given Senior Zhou Ziyin’s strength, he should have suffered nothing but an explosive death that day.
Under inner inspection, Song Yan’s eyes were filled with shock.
His cultivation had nearly reached the level of the seventh stage of Qi Refining!
This fortuitous encounter had replaced months of bitter cultivation.
It truly could be called achievement in a single day.