Forty: A Gifted Inheritance.

Su Qing'an remained silent.

Through the passive perception of his manas consciousness, he could sense the budding anticipation, unease, and loss in the girl's heart, as well as that yearning as a faint spark.

Li Shishi still failed to Sword Heart Technique.

In her heart, she clearly had the opportunity to learn extraordinary skills from immortals whose names were recorded in historical legends, a precious opportunity that millions of people would covet, but she lacked the aptitude and ability to seize it. Naturally, she would regret this wasted opportunity.

After more than two months of repeated practice, she roughly understood that at her own pace, she could not reach the corresponding threshold within two years.

Youth is the best time to temper one's sword spirit; the earlier one begins, the purer it will be.

For an adult to cultivate sword heart is like trying to control the wind with the palm of their hand—it's all in vain.

Su Qing'an knew in her heart that this was not only because the other party's talent in Qi cultivation was relatively ordinary and his age was approaching the threshold, but more importantly, it was the personality and state of mind that he had been influenced by since childhood and his overall environment.

The reason why it's better to start practicing the Sword Heart Technique as early as possible is simply because the purer and more enlightened one's heart, the easier it is to cross the initial threshold.

However, Li Shishi had been accustomed to right and wrong and filth in Zhen'an Ward since childhood. As she grew older and her figure matured, she had to face many social obligations and the covetous eyes of some people. As her fame gradually rose, the criticism from the outside world and the human encounters became increasingly heavy.

In such an environment, even a pure heart would be tainted; to expect Li Shishi to completely return to a state of pure mind free of all distractions is simply wishful thinking.

Restless mind.

--A person's mind wanders and is scattered, like a monkey or a horse that is difficult to control.

The so-called state of mind is not something that can be easily controlled.

Even though Li Shishi held onto her beliefs and followed her past vision, and had the courage to take steps outward, it still didn't mean she could simply ignore or disregard her past experiences.

She was the least suitable person to cultivate the Sword Heart Technique among all the people that the Immortal Chi Yuan had taught over the centuries.

He lacked outstanding natural talent in Qi cultivation, a clean upbringing, and a pure state of mind, and yet he was only two years away from the timeline when the difficulty threshold was raised again.

This is also the core reason why Su Qing'an deliberately created the Qi Technique for him. Even though the Qi Technique he created was specially tailored for the other party and elevated him to an extraordinary level in all aspects, even surpassing the limit of the Void Sword Qi before the Mingjing, it is still safer to hide the Heaven and Earth Qi in the outside world.

Given Li Shishi's exceptional talent in Qi cultivation, circulating Honkai Energy within her body would be extremely dangerous.

Although Su Qing'an deliberately wove this Qi technique towards making it harmless and even indirectly elevating the Qi technique's essence, its actual effect could not possibly be more stable and safer than a structure that directly uses heaven and earth as the dantian.

He had already anticipated the other party's situation after regaining some of his memories. Special cases like Jiang Rongyue, who could immediately master the Sword Heart Technique after the age of fifteen, were extremely rare, and one could search the whole world for very few examples.

This is the normal situation for Li Shishi.

Therefore, the boy hesitated for a moment before deciding not to offer any immediate comfort.

Having regained his previous understanding of human relationships, even without a direct warning from Manas, he understood that the other party was unwilling to show their inner disappointment.

Moreover, Su Qing'an knew in her heart that Li Shishi's deep sorrow stemmed from something far more profound.

The reason why a girl like her, who never craved power, was troubled by her inability to master the Sword Heart Technique was due to a problem stemming from this.

That is, distance.

Birds of a feather flock together.

Li Shishi wants to integrate into Mount Taixu, starting with the Beginner's Sword Heart Technique is the best choice.

Otherwise, once she has mastered enough skills to protect herself, she would probably choose to go down the mountain directly, and there would be little reason for her to return.

Li Shishi would not use her status as the "older sister" to increase her legacy or establish a fixed bond with her.

This was her unspoken pride.

The girl felt she hadn't helped Su Su much, even though she had initially shown familial care regardless of Su Su's status, even though she had given Su Su the first chance to rediscover herself when Su Su needed help the most, and even though she had been drawn into the conspiracies and plans of the powerful for Su Su's sake.

But all of this was completely repaid through Su Qing'an's subsequent actions.

Her destiny was changed, and she gained the right to go to the future. In order to have the power to move forward, she was also given a strict yet gentle teaching.

Perhaps it's not appropriate to use quantifiable numbers to measure whether one party owes the other anything.

However, Li Shishi had her own scales weighing the pros and cons in her heart. She couldn't just openly and naturally declare that she was the other person's sister and could live on Mount Taixu without any reason. Therefore, whether or not she could enter the Sword Heart Technique was essentially a turning point in whether or not she should sever her ties with him.

A young girl is like a kite; if she doesn't want to drift away to a place she can no longer be seen, she needs a reason to be tied to Mount Taixu.

Su Qing'an saw all of this.

However, he himself was not without his own struggles.

The severely flawed version of himself didn't give much thought to the matter when he took Li Shishi away from the Capital City. At that time, he only felt that Li Shishi longed to leave the Capital City and find her own future, but he never thought about what would happen in the future.

Li Shishi is a mortal. Unlike herself after awakening her genes and Fu Hua, her youth will pass by rapidly over the decades until her beauty fades and her black hair turns white.

The once-famous Courtesan, renowned throughout the Capital City, will become an old woman with white hair.

If the karmic ties between the two continue, they will eventually see each other's eternal marks and passing away, creating a stark sorrow for this chasm.

Su Qing'an would watch her slowly grow old and die, and in the end, just as Chi Yuan buried the red-clothed girl under the tree thousands of years ago, he would also bury her in the earth and erect a tombstone as a final farewell.

But he has always hated parting, just as he hates the cicadas leaving in summer.

Su Qing'an is only 19 years old now. He understands the principle and power of the passage of time, but he still has not personally experienced this kind of separation that is not related to natural disasters or man-made calamities.

The Immortal Chi Yuan had no doubts, but she had long ago chosen to avoid having too much interaction or contact with the human world in order to avoid experiencing similar separations.

Nobody likes to say goodbye to family and friends forever.

No one likes being the one left behind.

Therefore, the boy had some doubts.

He even considered letting things unfold as they would, letting the other person go down the mountain to travel, letting the connection between them break, letting... the girl with no relatives or friends end up all alone.

Su Qing'an had considered granting the other party true immortality.

However, with the Black Abyss gone and [Creation] as faint as a candle flame, he no longer had the ability or qualification to transform ordinary people's bodies into immortality.

Besides, is Senior Sister Shishi really willing to accept the so-called immortality?

The boy lowered his eyes, his fingertips brushing against the other's blinking eyelashes, touching their slightly warm temperature, his heart filled with indescribable emotions.

"Susu, what's wrong?"

Su Qing'an's gaze met and then crossed with the man's upward gaze. His lips moved slightly, and he still asked:

"Senior Sister Shishi, do you want to stay on Mount Taixu?"

Li Shishi was slightly taken aback upon hearing this, then curled the corners of her lips and answered frankly:

I will leave here.

She smiled:

"Didn't I tell you? My wish used to be to see how big this world is, so naturally I won't stay here forever. Once Susu feels that I can protect myself, I'll go down the mountain."

The girl reached out and pinched the other person's cheek, tilting her head and smiling.

"What? You're already starting to feel reluctant? That won't do. Didn't you say you wanted to marry Sister Chi Yuan? You can't act like a clingy child, even though Su Su is cute like that too."

Su Qing'an calmed her chaotic thoughts and asked sincerely:

"What happens after we go down the mountain? Will you travel the rest of your life, Senior Sister Shishi? And won't Hua and I stay on Mount Taixu when we get married?"

"Would you like to make this your home?"

Li Shishi's lips moved slightly, but the smile on her lips vanished completely. She suddenly felt a pang of sadness, but she still maintained her composure perfectly, even though she knew that no emotion could be hidden from the other person. It was a habit ingrained in her very being.

Home.

That dyehouse, which left little trace in my memory, was buried in the heavy snow of Capital City ten years ago, and I will never see it again.

But when such words are mentioned, the first thing that comes to mind is still the dilapidated dye house in my memory, rather than the elegant pavilion where I lived for a long time in Zhen'an Ward.

The girl knew exactly what those words meant. Looking at the other person's features, which seemed to be gradually maturing, she swallowed her emotions and softly chuckled as she said:

"I will come back to visit often, and I will watch you and Sister Chi Yuan get married."

She lowered her eyes, her lips slightly upturned, a rare hint of shyness on her face, yet she still answered the question earnestly:

"The world is so big, it's really lonely without a home."

"If Su Su really wants to, I'm not against making Mount Taixu my home."

Su Qing'an remained silent for a long time, until the little girl, who was waiting for him to speak, puffed out her cheeks in slight annoyance, before he finally responded:

"Okay, sure."

"I see."

The young man retrieved a weathered and broken sword, bearing the marks of history and the passage of time, from the Soul Hall. He handed it to the other man, and seeing his stunned expression, said:

"From today onwards, you will sleep with it in your arms."

"...?"

"I need to take it with me when I eat, train, wash, and even when I need to use the toilet."

"Why?"

"In short, you can only descend the mountain when you can resonate with the Xuanyuan Sword to the point of transformation."

"...!!!"

Li Shishi, still holding the heavy antique, was unaware of what it meant when the boy pressed his fingertips against her forehead.

Su Qing'an peered into the feelings of his initial cultivation of the Sword Heart Technique, and synchronized the vivid memories in his mind with the other's soul in the form of Manas consciousness, allowing this experience to vibrate endlessly within it.

The young man withdrew his fingertips, glanced at Li Shishi was sleeping soundly on the jade bed, clutching her sword, and walked out of the room.

This is the limit of what I can do.

A pavilion inside Fuyun Temple.

Fu Hua put down the book that exuded the fresh scent of ink, looked at the person who had entered through the door, and said:

"You used your manas consciousness on her."

Su Qing'an gazed at her winter-gray hair that fell down her back, then glanced at the comb on the table.

The finely toothed comb is a fine-toothed comb used to remove smegma.

A comb with widely spaced teeth is used to style hair.

The boy simply ran his fingers through the cool, flowing strands of hair, savoring the delicate touch, and whispered:

"Yes, I've passed on my initial memories and feelings about swordsmanship. As for whether it can activate Ji Lin's legacy within that sword, that depends on her own destiny."

She had grown accustomed to such affectionate gestures from him lately, and merely blinked slightly before casually commenting:

"It's difficult."

"The way that sword was passed down is very subtle, making it a troublesome matter for her to cultivate its essence before she goes down the mountain."

Although the cultivation of meaning is not inherently related to Heart Essence, the inability to grasp Heart Essence in a short period of time reveals a lack of natural aptitude.

Jiang Rongyue has not yet reached the perfection of her meaning, and it would obviously take Li Shishi years to achieve the same.

Furthermore, given the extraordinary nature of that Xuanyuan Sword, this gift of opportunity should truly be considered merely a chance.

Neither Su Qing'an nor Fu Hua knew much about how Ji Lin's Stigmata could be passed down or what the selection criteria were.

If it were Mobius or Mei, they would probably display it in a laboratory for observation and research.

However, the two, who were both very easygoing and laid-back, were not interested in the potential value or ownership of the object.

As long as it doesn't go against Ji Lin's original intention, that's fine.

Su Qing'an is using his elevated perspective to compile a basic technique from top to bottom, based on his own initial aptitude, which uses the Heaven and Earth Qi to accelerate the body's immune and evolutionary systems, thereby indirectly enhancing his Qi cultivation.

This is an outcome that can only be achieved by one person after the Soul Essence has increased tenfold and the Manas consciousness has been able to receive more essential information.

If this is successfully incorporated into compulsory education, then the world a thousand years from now will not be filtered by the initial Honkai environment, reducing the sources of tragedy by ninety percent.

Fu Hua, on the other hand, was planning to start establishing her power structure as soon as possible.

She wasn't interested in developing her power to the level of the World Serpent or Schicksal; she preferred to focus on a single base, similar to Anti-Entropy, and develop it for the long term. Her initial goal and idea was to become a potential power with a dominance over the entire Shenzhou.

It means neither interfering with the development of civilization in this era, nor overtly usurping the initiative.

As for the specific ideas, she's still struggling with them; she's really not good at these things.

The boy glanced at the little girl lying by the bed, realizing who was in Gaomi, and replied:

Maybe.

"But Senior Sister Shishi knows better than Rongyue what she wants and who she is. This might help her speed up the synchronization of her inner meaning."

Fu Hua remained noncommittal; instead, she asked:

"What do you think is the best way to establish the Taixu Sect?"

Su Qing'an replied:

"The knowledge left behind by Cang Xuan within that quantum computer is of paramount importance."

"Since you know exactly where similar Soul Steel spheres are located, find some time to dig them all out."

"Even to avoid the rapid development of civilization attracting the exacerbation of Honkai, there is no need to deliberately seal it away."

"Following the traditional cultural structure of Shenzhou, only those who possess the aptitude for Void Sword Qi can come to cultivate here."

The young man said calmly:

"But this is too time-consuming and labor-intensive, and it cannot guarantee loyalty."

"Elite politics is good, but if you forge the sharpest swords in the world, how can you guarantee that their blades won't hurt you?"

Even if you may always have the ability to clean house and kill it, the initial effort and time spent can never be recovered.

Unless...

After Chi Yuan proposed the idea of establishing a power, he couldn't help but think that if the transmission of the Manas Consciousness was used as a fixed reward or foundation within the sect, it would be possible to establish the most powerful sect in the Number One Under Heaven within a few months.

As for the issue of loyalty, let's assume we disregard morality and our own bottom line.

Whether it's the influence of the Manas consciousness or the transformation by Udu-dust, both can embed the prohibition against betrayal into the underlying logic of humanity, and even directly imprint the rules and precepts of the sect, thereby achieving the result that no matter how bloated the power is, it can expand infinitely and without any risk.

If the Taixu Sect were truly established in this form, it would quickly reach the level of the future Schicksal and the World Serpent, even surpassing their governing abilities. The entire world would submit to it, and even the Herrscher's body, under the onslaught of the Honkai Consciousness, would be unable to break free from the shackles of consciousness power and the influence of the Manas consciousness.

The protagonist of justice will lose the right to regain his original aspirations, and the world will be turned upside down by the will of one person.

Once it expands to its limit, the whole world will become a playground in the palm of your hand.

After Su Qing'an covered the anomalies of the world line through [Personal Record], he realized that if he did not want to become the existence he had previously despised, he had to find a solid and clear reason for using every bit of his power.

Neither I nor Hua are suited to be in power.

But there's still plenty of time, and if they're willing, they can all grow into different versions of themselves.

The young man carefully considered his words, making no attempt to conceal his earlier thoughts:

"With the combination of Udu-dust, we can ensure absolute safety."

"But by doing so, we have already betrayed our original intention."

Su Qing'an rejected this path that would turn the world into a playground, saying:

"It would be much more convenient than having an official organization like the imperial court act as its mouthpiece, or even merging into it and making it a unique authority, rather than having one person issue a declaration to the vast Shenzhou."

"Whether for the sake of continuation and inheritance over the next few thousand years, or for finding talent capable of implementing the technologies of Previous Civilization, this approach is much more convenient."

Upon hearing this, the immortal lowered his eyes:

"Not considered an official... official organization?"