Sword Intent Entanglement

Chapter 34: Sword Intent Entanglement

The shabby middle-aged scholar in white walked along the bluestone road. His steps were small and unhurried, and he kept stopping and starting.

Whenever he saw flowers being sold by the roadside, he would lean over to smell them. Whenever he spotted some novel snack, he would buy it for a taste. He even stopped to watch people playing chess, only to be driven away in annoyance because he could not keep quiet while observing the game.

The dark-skinned man simply followed behind him, not daring to disturb his teacher's refined leisure.

Mao Nanbei had not been wrong. Her teacher had come down the mountain to have fun.

The reason he refused to return to the mountain was simple: he had not had enough fun yet.

As for having taken in a new disciple... compared to sightseeing and enjoying himself, that was only a minor matter.

"Teacher." The dark-skinned man hurried to his side and spoke softly.

"What is it?" the teacher asked.

"This disciple does not understand. Why did you establish such a rule for accepting disciples back then?"

The rule the dark-skinned man referred to was, naturally, jumping off a cliff.

"I was merely standing on Reception Peak that day and happened to be inspired. I said it casually." The teacher waved a hand, appearing wholly unconcerned.

Yet the dark-skinned man knew that the more his teacher acted like this, the more likely he was making things up.

He had followed his teacher for many years and knew his temperament well. There had to be some deeper meaning behind setting such an apparently impossible condition; his teacher simply did not wish to explain it.

Still, no matter how hard the dark-skinned man thought about it, he could not figure out how his Little Martial Brother had survived that leap off the cliff.

His curiosity was immediately stirred.

Mao Nanbei had once told Lu Xun that Third Senior Brother loved cooking, but that everything he made was exceptionally awful.

In truth, she had not told him the whole story. Third Senior Brother's cooking was so bad because he loved innovation and was always tinkering with strange new dishes.

Third Senior Brother of the Small Study loved exploring new things and was especially skilled at research.

He looked like a farmer and had a rough, rugged appearance, yet his mind was filled with boundless curiosity and all sorts of bizarre ideas.

Thus, the dark-skinned man instantly became deeply interested in Lu Xun.

He even considered grabbing his Little Martial Brother after returning to the mountain and studying him properly.

At that thought, an honest, guileless smile appeared on his face.

At this moment, on the Back Mountain of the Demon Sect.

Lu Xun had a nightmare.

He jolted awake, drenched in cold sweat.

Huff!

The night breeze brushed past him. Outside the room, fireflies flitted freely through the air, peaceful and tranquil.

"Have I been under too much pressure lately?" Lu Xun rubbed his temples.

But on second thought... he did not seem to have any pressure lately!

He ate well, slept well, and a whole crowd called him their ancestor whenever they saw him. He was living an incredibly comfortable life.

Other than Experience Points increasing at a snail's pace, there was not much to trouble him. Mao Nanbei was just a little difficult to deal with, constantly demanding that he satisfy her cravings.

After calming himself down and steadying his mind, Lu Xun tried to go back to sleep.

The nightmare began again.

"What the hell? This dream even has a second episode?" Lu Xun woke again, panting heavily.

More precisely, the dream was like an endless loop.

The moment he closed his eyes, a blurry figure would chase after him and try to kill him. Once he was killed, he would wake from the dream.

The figure was so indistinct that Lu Xun could not make it out.

He did not think much of it. It was only a dream, after all. Once people woke up, it was normal for them not to remember the details.

He could not even remember how he had died. He only remembered a shadow pursuing him, then himself dying.

Many people had probably experienced this before: clearly realizing they were dreaming, yet only remembering the beginning and end of it.

After taking two deep breaths, Lu Xun frowned, sensing that something was wrong.

This is my dream. I'm the one in charge!

No, I'm going back to kill it!

Being killed twice in a row had somehow aroused Lu Xun's competitive spirit!

The moment he closed his eyes, the shadow appeared again.

He had assumed that within his own dream, he would be the Creator and capable of anything. Instead, he was once again slaughtered so badly that he fled in complete disarray.

"Damn it!"

Lu Xun sat up from the bed. He was no fool; how could he not realize that something fishy was going on?

He checked his character attributes. His character status read:

— Sword Intent Entanglement!

"Sword Intent?" Lu Xun was a little startled.

"Was the thing that killed me in the dream just now Sword Intent?"

This was a high-level thing, something ordinary sword cultivators did not possess.

This was the Back Mountain Study. Other than Lu Xun, only Mao Nanbei and Second Senior Sister lived on the mountain.

Mao Nanbei used blades; Lu Xun had seen it on that rainy night.

The two little bells on her wrist could turn into two short blades. Back then, blade qi had surged in every direction, instantly killing over a hundred ghosts!

"So this Sword Intent... was probably Second Senior Sister's doing?"

Did Second Senior Sister use a sword? Why had he never seen her sword in the Bamboo Forest?

More importantly, why was Second Senior Sister doing this? Could it be special training?

At that thought, the game system unexpectedly triggered a quest.

"Quest triggered: Gu Xiaoman's Sword Intent Training. Accept?"

Without even thinking about it, Lu Xun clicked accept.

He checked the quest details. The quest did not require him to defeat Second Senior Sister's Sword Intent, because that was simply unrealistic. Instead, it required him to endure for thirty days while afflicted by Sword Intent Entanglement!

And this Sword Intent was merely an extremely tiny portion of Second Senior Sister's overwhelming Sword Intent.

Well, that settled it. For an entire month, he would not even be able to sleep peacefully.

"I'm not going to die from overwork, am I?" Lu Xun said with a bitter smile.

But he could not bear to reject the quest, because its reward was simply too tempting.

— Sword Dao Aptitude +1!

It was a Special Attribute Point that could only be encountered by chance, and Lu Xun found it difficult to refuse, even though... he did not even own a sword.

Even if he did not choose the path of a sword cultivator in the future, having an extra Special Attribute Point would not hurt.

Heavenly Dust followed the principle of "know yourself and know your enemy, and you will never be defeated." Even if he did not learn the sword in the future, this extra point of Sword Dao Aptitude would allow him to faintly suppress sword cultivators when he encountered them.

It was like his main account in his previous life. By chance, he had obtained Spear Dao Aptitude +1 through a hidden quest. Though he had not followed the path of spear cultivation, whenever he encountered an NPC or player who used a spear, he could often deal around 10% more damage!

As for what his main account had cultivated?

A staff.

A big stick.