Practicing Sword

Jiang Ding sprawled weakly in his chair, waves of pain crashing through his mind one after another.

"Have you... overdrawn your soul?"

Li Junhao hesitated, then glanced again at the intricate and exquisite array diagram on the desk. One look told him it was not a mere copy drawn by imitating a cat after seeing a tiger, but something that truly had a function.

Soul overdraft.

This was a common phenomenon when cultivators inscribed talismans or array diagrams beyond their own capabilities.

That was only when they exceeded their limits by a little. If they tried to inscribe high-level talismans or array diagrams far beyond their abilities, their souls could be drained dry in an instant, leaving behind nothing but a corpse.

"...Yes. I saw it in the library. You have a bright future ahead of you, so don't learn from me."

Jiang Ding reluctantly stretched out a hand and tucked the Talisman Sword array diagram into his clothes, lest it harm Li Junhao.

Unlike himself, neither high nor low, neither here nor there.

Li Junhao was guaranteed admission to Qingfeng Beidou. Even if he could not enter the Cultivation Department, he still had a good chance of working in supporting Immortal Path Technology research. He might even step onto the immortal path through an academy.

Ding-ding-ding...

The dismissal bell rang. Jiang Ding staggered toward the cultivation room, swaying with every step.

The door opened. Ignoring everything else, Jiang Ding drank the Essence Condensing Bone Strengthening Soup. A warm current flowed into his stomach, and he immediately felt his mind ease somewhat.

He took out the Talisman Sword array diagram.

The array inscriptions were exquisite and magnificent, brimming with a sense of spatial depth. An ordinary person would feel dizzy and disoriented from a single glance.

Jiang Ding studied it closely. After some practice, his understanding of the first layer of the Divine Firmament Hundred Pace Flying Sword Talisman Sword deepened further.

It used the Sharp Gold Formation as its core, combined with a trace of soul runes for spiritual linkage. Later, it would need the addition of a Flying Array, Spirit Gathering, and a Flying Array. When the four talisman-paper array diagrams were combined into one, they would become a Talisman Sword that could be controlled independently.

The Flying Array, Flying Array, and Spirit Gathering Formation were each harder than the last. Worse still, they were weak. Even once the Talisman Sword was completed, it would only be comparable to the impact of a flying bird, and its endurance would be short.

Of course, there was a shortcut.

Refining it with essence blood.

Not only could it use the soul runes for spiritual linkage as a foundation to speed up comprehension of the Flying Array, Flying Array, and Spirit Gathering Formation, its power would also rival a powerful bow or heavy crossbow. Most importantly, it would be nimble. It could dominate among Inner Qi Realm martial artists for a time.

It just cost one's life and ruined one's future.

"Great Sun Seed Sword Refining Art, once a Dao Child Grade cultivation method of the Nine Outer Immortal Sects..."

Jiang Ding muttered, his heart filled with longing.

If he could forge a Dao Child Grade Hundred Pace Flying Sword, his soul could undergo a qualitative transformation while he was still a mortal. Out of thin air, he would gain one enormous advantage over other cultivators, not to mention the continuous nourishment the flying sword would provide to his soul afterward.

If he succeeded, the Great Dao would be within reach.

He lay in a daze in the cultivation room for two hours. Only when the array spirit notified him that class time had ended did Jiang Ding wake up, slowly making his way toward the classroom.

He picked up his backpack and checked and maintained the components of his pistol.

"Announcement from Teacher Guo."

Class Leader Hua Bing did not dismiss the class immediately. "The midterm exams will begin in one week. Everyone needs to work even harder and strive for better results. The school attaches great importance to these midterms. Those who rank near the top will receive abundant resource rewards."

"Meeting adjourned!"

The classroom fell silent for a moment, then buzzing discussion erupted, most of it worried.

The approaching midterms meant that half of their first semester had passed, and the college entrance examination that would determine their fates was no longer far away.

Jiang Ding and Li Junhao followed the crowd outside. All around them were chirping voices, while in the distance came the roar of tanks' engines as they drove back into the school.

"I've decided."

Li Junhao suddenly said, "I won't practice martial arts anymore. I'll devote all my time to studying and strive to score 800 on the college entrance exam."

"...May you succeed the moment you mount your horse."

Jiang Ding was stunned. What towering ambition!

Eight hundred points, while still reaching the Flesh Refining Realm—this meant scoring close to full marks in every academic subject!

A person like that could be considered a prodigy throughout the entire Immortal Sect. He would surely receive special admission from the Immortal Sect's Cultivation Department, and they would not begrudge him a set of pills to improve his martial arts aptitude.

In fact, so long as he did not die, experience from the past showed that such a person was destined to rise.

When he returned home and was about to go back to his room, Jiang Ding halted.

Lin Wanqiu and Jiang Yuan were both staring at him with stern faces.

"Criminal Jiang Ding, confess honestly!"

Jiang Yuan said seriously, "Or I'll spank you with this!"

She waved the thin bamboo switch she had specially snapped off in the garden downstairs.

"Hm? Is your skin itching?"

Jiang Ding glanced at Jiang Yuan, frightening her into shrinking her head back and hiding behind Lin Wanqiu.

"Mom, are you taking a compensatory day off today?"

He set down his backpack and sat before Lin Wanqiu.

"Ding Ding, why..."

Lin Wanqiu hesitated, worry in her voice. She had obviously learned about what happened in class.

"Because I yearn for it."

Jiang Ding answered calmly, spreading open his palm. Though he was only sixteen or seventeen, it was covered in calluses.

Ever since elementary school, he had practiced his sword day and night without pause, rain or shine, until he had reached the limit of training his body could sustain through daily nutrient absorption.

"You..."

All the lectures and reproaches Lin Wanqiu had prepared suddenly would not come out.

As his mother, she knew how much her son had paid for this. Yet he had inherited her terrible aptitude. How despairing must he have been?

"Even so, you have to pay attention to your safety!" Lin Wanqiu sighed. "I know that when you were little, your father..."

Not long after Jiang Yuan was born, Father Jiang had an affair. He chose another woman of formidable strength and had another child even older than Jiang Ding. Vaguely, he still clung to an obsession with becoming a cultivator.

She thought her son was working so hard because he wanted to prove something.

"It has nothing to do with him."

Jiang Ding said faintly, "Mom, Eternal Life and Vision, Sword Ascends the World—those are every boy's long-cherished wishes. Besides, it can bring blessings to one's family and forcibly raise the aptitude of those with poorer talent."

"Ah..."

Lin Wanqiu sighed. She knew that with their household's aptitude, it was simply too difficult.

"Big Brother!"

Little stars sparkled in Jiang Yuan's eyes, as though she were imagining herself idling away her days in utter laziness yet still becoming a high-level cultivator.

At dawn, Huang Deyou came knocking as usual.

"Come in."

A faint voice sounded from inside.

Huang Deyou carefully closed the door behind him. He came before Jiang Ding and said respectfully, "Master, we have less than one tael of silver left. Here is the account book."

He handed over the account book, which he had checked no fewer than ten times.

"Mm."

This time, Jiang Ding did not look at the account book. He tossed over fifty taels of silver. "That brother... Han Lin, how is he doing?"

"Reporting to Master, little brother Han has done very well." Huang Deyou forced out a smile. "He can read and knows a little arithmetic as well, so I assigned him to the accounting room to record the specimens we have already collected, so that we do not buy the same ones repeatedly."

Knowing that Jiang Ding valued the matter, he added:

"Also, ever since we began collecting animal specimens, the numbers have increased greatly. Every day, we receive more than a hundred intact specimens."

"You've done well."

Jiang Ding glanced at his Library Points, which had already reached 658. One had to know that not every specimen was an unknown new creature; often, more than ten specimens produced only one.

"There is one more thing. I need Purple Spirit Grass. Get over forty portions for me. Find several seasoned herb gatherers. I need them today."

"Yes, Master."

Huang Deyou respectfully took his leave.