Moreover, she had left many Memory Feathers on Tai Xu Mountain. By some fortunate coincidence, it was indeed possible to encounter one and enter a dream where he could meet Eden.
"More or less." Ye Chang'an nodded in admission. The simulation really was similar to a dream.
The conversation between cryptic people ended there. Chi Yuan had more detailed matters to discuss with Ye Chang'an.
So she sent Lin Zhaoyu, who was completely on a different wavelength, away.
"Zhaoyu, go cook. I have something to discuss with this child."
PS: I recommend a book, "The Invincible Me Was Picked Up by Hack Rabbit."
Synopsis:
"Pay up."
The girl before me had her legs crossed, her ankles exposed, while gray-blue gradient twin vortex ponytails fell to her waist.
She stared at me, surrounded by shattered exquisite belongings.
In my panic, I swallowed hard, cold sweat running down my back.
Without thinking, I instinctively retorted:
"Impossible, absolutely impossible!!"
The girl narrowed her eyes, her expression turning unfriendly.
She stared at my expensive, luxurious watch, rubbing her smooth chin thoughtfully.
As if she had found a target, she looked me over and revealed a sly smile.
In the night, I would never forget it for the rest of my life.
The girl removed her hood, her smile breathtakingly beautiful, unfolding before my eyes like a painting.
Her voice was calm, yet carried an adorable milky sweetness.
"Then, welcome to Raven's Bar, new employee."
The girl smiled.
She took in a homeless person.
Only afterward did I understand.
Beyond the Imaginary lay infinity, and at the end of the Quantum was a supreme god.
I had failed to save anyone.
Nor had I been able to save my civilization.
I could only repeat it endlessly, postponing that despairing, pitch-black future until the day my heart was completely numb.
I would eventually face everything. (Sweet)
Tai Xu Chapter · Section One: 8. Immortal Chi Yuan, Please Shatter the Sword Heart
The two sat facing each other in private. Chi Yuan was silent for a moment before she spoke.
"Tell me about the story from your dream."
Chi Yuan was curious about it, after all, it was a dream concerning an old friend.
Most of her old friends had grown old. Being able to hear of one today from the mouth of a child was also a blessing.
Ye Chang'an pondered for a moment before speaking, simplifying his experience in the simulation.
He only said that he had entered the dream in pursuit of a Sword Heart, met Eden there, and later had Eden alter the Sword Heart Art for him.
That was the truth. He had merely simplified far too much.
Chi Yuan did not doubt him. She sighed with a complicated expression.
"Alas, if it was her, then she truly could accomplish such a thing. But why did you show me this melody?"
"...I want to ask Immortal Chi Yuan to abandon the Sword Heart Art and incorporate the Chang'an Melody into the Tai Xu Sword Qi."
Ye Chang'an spoke seriously, completely discarding the act an eight-year-old child ought to maintain.
Age held no meaning at all to Chi Yuan.
After all, no one was older than Chi Yuan.
Rather than speaking in the immature tone of a child, he might as well display the poise an adult should possess.
If anything seemed off, he could just blame it on the dream.
Chi Yuan fell silent. Looking into Ye Chang'an's clear black eyes, she softly asked, "Why?"
"Because the Chang'an Melody is more suitable for cultivation than the Sword Heart Art. Even someone like me can gain the ability to control true qi with it."
He did not say that continuing to cultivate the Sword Heart Art would lead to problems, because he could not find any examples to support it.
As for using Chi Yuan as an example... he was not tired of living yet.
"Control true qi..." Chi Yuan lowered her gaze, then looked up again in understanding. "What happened at the foot of the mountain today—was that your doing?"
She had connected that move, which seemed to belong to a sword god, with Ye Chang'an. Anyone with half a brain could have made the connection.
Ye Chang'an did not deny it and nodded.
"..." Seeing those black eyes devoid of wavering or hesitation, Chi Yuan fell silent.
After a brief moment of thought, she rose to her feet.
"Come with me. I'll take you somewhere."
Ye Chang'an did not understand, but he followed her.
Then the two left Tai Xu Mountain on flying swords. However, Chi Yuan carried Ye Chang'an in her arms as they flew.
They were moving too fast for him to stand steadily, and Chi Yuan did not give him the chance to try.
A child's body, an adult's soul, flying on a sword while being held like a princess by a woman.
The embarrassment was unbearable.
—And so was the pressure.
For the first time, Ye Chang'an experienced just how broad and firm Chi Yuan's chest was.
The Shenzhou flat board, Warrior Fu—her reputation was well deserved.
~
~
"We're here." Arriving deep in the mountains, Chi Yuan stepped off her flying sword and set Ye Chang'an on the ground.
Ye Chang'an glanced around. There was no sign of habitation, and the place was as desolate as a mass grave.
There were also many things resembling tombstones, rotten and tilted as they stuck out of the earth.
—This really was the perfect place to murder someone and dispose of the body.
Strange thoughts bubbled up. Ye Chang'an laughed at himself, shook his head, and asked, "Immortal, what did we come here for?"
"Do you see those tombstones?" Chi Yuan asked. He nodded.
"Those buried beneath them are all people who fell to demonic corruption and were slain by my hand."
That single sentence made Ye Chang'an's hairs stand on end. He shifted his feet and put some distance between them. "What do you mean by that, Immortal?"
Lin Zhaoyu was not here to shield him. He truly began to panic.
Chi Yuan glanced at him, unable to understand what he was being wary of, and calmly asked, "Do you know what it means to fall to demonic corruption?"
"...Someone whose true qi cultivation went wrong and turned them into a demon." Ye Chang'an gave the standard answer of the Tai Xu lineage. He had heard those words before.
"Yes, and no." Chi Yuan shook her head, stroking a decayed tombstone as she began to explain.
"So-called true qi is merely a form of free energy in heaven and earth. It may be called Destruction energy.
"To humans, Destruction energy is extremely domineering. Those without innate talent cannot touch it.
"Otherwise, Destruction energy will erode the body and leave visible markings. That is a sign of demonic corruption."
"Yet demonic corruption is not demonhood. Those who show signs of demonic corruption are not the same as those who have truly become demons.
"Those who fall to demonic corruption cannot be cured by medicine, nor can Hua Tuo save them.
"If they are still young, they may cultivate a Sword Heart to resolve the corruption.
"If they are already old, they can only wait for death.
"But demons..."
Her gentle tone abruptly turned severe. Chi Yuan's expression darkened as she spoke coldly:
"They are people who must be slain!"
"There are two kinds of demons. One is a body demon, and the other is a heart demon.
"A body demon is one whose signs of demonic corruption cover their entire body, whose heart is ruined and spirit extinguished. To them, being slain is liberation.
"A heart demon is one whose signs of demonic corruption have not fully manifested, yet whose mind has already been lost in intoxication with power.
"This kind of demon must be slain!"
A stern aura erupted from her, making the already eerie mass grave seem even more bleak.
Ye Chang'an sank into thought, roughly understanding what Chi Yuan was trying to convey.
Body demons were Death Warriors created by complete erosion from Destruction. In human eyes, they were no different from walking corpses, and killing them was indeed a form of release.
Heart demons, meanwhile, had a representative figure—Yan Shiluó, the Tri-Absolute Martial Crown.
Five years ago, the leader of the Sacred Fire Sect had been known as the second strongest under heaven. Erosion Markings covered most of his body, yet he had not completely become a Death Warrior.
However, what he did was exceptionally cruel. In his pursuit of power, he performed rituals and turned the Jiang sisters and Cheng Ling Shuang's parents into Death Warriors.
That man deserved death, and he truly should have died.
Chi Yuan ordering Lin Zhaoyu to kill him was perfectly reasonable.
But what did any of this have to do with his proposal to replace the Sword Heart Art with the Chang'an Melody?
Ye Chang'an could not figure it out and quietly waited for Chi Yuan to continue.
"..." Chi Yuan withdrew her aura and calmed down. Her eyes swept over the rotten tombstones before she spoke again.
"Those buried here are all heart demons—heart demons I created with my own hands before I established the Sword Heart Art."
???
Ye Chang'an was stunned. Looking at Chi Yuan's flawless face in confusion, he asked, "What do you mean?"
"Do you know what the origin of the Sword Heart Art is?" Chi Yuan asked. Ye Chang'an shook his head.
He knew it was divine music, but he could not say so.
It would be far too absurd to say it aloud, and even bringing Eden into it would be difficult to explain.
"The origin of the Sword Heart Art is divine music, created by pioneers of the ancient era."
Chi Yuan said it herself.
"Divine music can make the human body change in the direction of adapting to Destruction. As long as the body has not stopped growing, that adaptability will increase, and one's talent for martial arts will grow stronger as well.
"I once taught this divine music to others, hoping they would grow strong enough to preserve peace in this world.
"But I failed."
"Why did you fail?" Ye Chang'an curiously pressed on, deeply interested in this part of history that had never been mentioned in the game.
Like some random gossiping bystander.
"Because... of the human heart." Chi Yuan slowly spoke those four words.
"The human heart changes. The thoughts of a three-year-old child are completely different from those of a fifteen-year-old youth, and the heart of a youth is vastly different from that of an adult."
Before you continue