Phantom Shadow Demon Trace

Volume 2: Phantom Shadow Demon Trace, Chapter 10: Bitter Wine Down the Throat, Heart Aches

"Mm-hmm."

"I'll go persuade him to go back." Mentioning this, Jueyunzi felt a pang of heartache again. Tang Ruowei raised an eyebrow.

"Stop nagging! Can you understand the pain in my heart right now? You Body Integration Stage scoundrel!"

"What is it?" He picked up another jar of Immortal Wine refined from precious immortal herbs nearby, tore off the seal, and said, "Sigh, bitter wine down the throat, the heart aches."

Black Magnetite from the Western Lands, Mystic Crystal from the Heavenly Sea, Demonic Meteorite Iron from the Savage Lands—these materials, the rarest and most precious in the Cultivation World, had all been gathered by him one by one.

Bai Qiuran snapped his fingers, and a tiny flame appeared at his fingertip. The flame was crimson, yet its core held a faint trace of black.

That was why when Bai Qiuran threw a tantrum here, only Tang Ruowei dared to intervene. Besides her, even the Grand Elder Daoist Zhufeng, who was in seclusion, would likely get beaten if he came over.

"I'm happy."

"Bai Qiuran walks the world and never breaks his word." Tang Ruowei walked to Bai Qiuran's side, stretched out both hands, and pulled him up with all her might.

"So, does the bet still count?"

The two of them bickering and poking at each other's sore spots had gradually become the norm.

For all the various Great Dao in the world, one can basically rely on Imprint Techniques to utilize related abilities. However, although the power of a mastered Imprint Technique is no less than a spell of the same level, they are obscure and difficult to practice, requiring a massive investment of time and energy, as well as energy seeds of the same attribute to act as a catalyst.

Directing the Undying Fire from his fingertips into the furnace via a Fire Seal, Bai Qiuran began to forge a brand-new Flying Sword for Tang Ruowei.

"Mm."

Through this Fire Seal, he was able to achieve more and better results than the Origin Fire, even without being able to refine the Origin Fire that only those at the Golden Core stage could produce.

The girl rolled her eyes at him.

After returning to Seven Star Peak, Bai Qiuran was immediately stripped of all his Immortal Wine by Tang Ruowei, and then chased into his own smithy.

"But, have you forgotten the other agreement? That top-grade Flying Sword, I want it now! Hurry back and forge it for me!"

Just by smelling the wine, Tang Ruowei felt the Foundation Establishment True Essence that had just formed in her body solidify a bit more. This showed the grade of these Immortal Wines. Then, she saw the empty wine jars littering the courtyard and her white-haired Master, who was clutching a jar, gazing foolishly at the bright moon in the sky, muttering incessantly.

But what Bai Qiuran lacked the least was time and energy, and the best energy seeds had also been found one by one over these many years.

Due to their age, people of Jueyunzi's generation had basically grown up under Bai Qiuran's watch. They hadn't been spared from beatings in their childhood, and of course, Bai Qiuran would never go soft on them even now; not even the Sixth Elder and Seventh Elder, despite being women, were exceptions.

With a crisp crack, Bai Qiuran threw the wine jar in his hand against the wall, clutched his chest with one hand, and said, "I had long foreseen that this day would come in the dark, but I didn't expect it to arrive so soon. It is only natural for my Master to be at a higher realm than me, and for my senior and junior brothers to surpass me, I can only blame my own dull aptitude. For these three thousand years, I haven't taken a single disciple, fearing exactly this day. Am I, finally, being surpassed by a disciple I taught with my own hands?"

"Sect Master."

"Drinking and crying in my courtyard."

To compensate for his combat ability, and more importantly, to make himself look more like a cultivator, Bai Qiuran took a different path, learning many things that didn't require the Foundation Establishment stage; Imprint Techniques were among them.

Bai Qiuran felt that this little girl was exceptionally assertive today. Facing her, he actually felt a sense of being in the wrong and an inability to resist. By the time he came to his senses, he had already laid out the materials and was sitting cross-legged in front of the furnace.

Her shout startled Jueyunzi and Qing Yun, who were hiding at the door watching. Then, the Sect Master and the Elder looked at her with expressions of admiration.

"Sugoi."

With that, Bai Qiuran gulped down the Immortal Wine, worth several thousand high-grade Spirit Stones, into his mouth.

For instance, this Fire Seal was only mastered after Bai Qiuran caught a Demonic Phoenix in the Savage Lands and forced it to spit out a wisp of its true fire, which he then refined into the Undying Fire.

"Of course not, I'm not stupid."

Watching these Immortal Wines being wasted to no effect, Jueyunzi felt a pang of heartache, even though the wine wasn't his. Simply deciding that out of sight was out of mind, he excused himself, vacated his courtyard for his elder to drown his sorrows, and walked outside alone, staring blankly at the bright moon that had hung over the Azure Nether Sword Sect for thousands of years.

"You've entered the Foundation Establishment stage, really, congratulations..."

"Junior Sister, Uncle-Master Ruowei, you're finally here."

Tang Ruowei was quite clever and didn't pride herself on her seniority. She bowed to Jueyunzi very politely and asked, "Where is my Master?"

Is this it? Is this the natural psychological suppression that the Foundation Establishment stage has over the Qi Refining stage? Seeing her push the door open and enter, Bai Qiuran's eyes filled with hot tears.

Bai Qiuran was inwardly horrified, but just as he had said before, he had lost the bet, and he didn't intend to break his word.

"Very well."

The master and disciple left the Sect Master's residence, pulling and tugging, and returned to Seven Star Peak. Seeing this, Qing Yun smiled slightly and said, "Ruowei is truly capable. In the future, if Martial Ancestor Uncle refuses to cooperate, we will just ask her for help."

Because of the seniority, the person with the highest status in the sect besides Bai Qiuran was now Tang Ruowei, whom he had taken as a disciple. Even after the Grand Elder came out of seclusion, he would still have to address her as Senior Sister or even Uncle-Master.

This was the Undying Fire refined by his Fire Seal. Because he couldn't establish a foundation and was stuck at the Qi Refining stage, many special techniques that required the Foundation Establishment stage were unusable by him.

Seeing his state, Tang Ruowei was furious. She put her hands on her hips and scolded, "Are you crazy? I'm your disciple! My breakthrough shows that you taught me well; shouldn't you be happy? What's the meaning of running to the Sect Master's place to drink and cry?"

The thoughts and ideas he had pondered day and night for three thousand years, the design of the Flying Sword, now transformed into countless seals and arrays, constantly striking the materials that had already turned into liquid inside the furnace.

Like forging.

"Come back to Seven Star Peak with me."

Bai Qiuran sat on the steps at the entrance of the Sect Master's residence, tilted his head back, and poured a bottle of high-proof liquor into his belly like water. Then, with tears and snot streaming down his face, he lowered his head and roared, "Damn it! She reached Foundation Establishment! She only used six years to reach Foundation Establishment, hey!"

"Ah, Ruowei."

"Uncle-Master Ruowei is still the most steady."

"From the time he came to me until now, he has already drunk nearly thirty thousand high-grade Spirit Stones worth of Immortal Wine."

But Tang Ruowei was different. Perhaps because of her status as a direct disciple, Bai Qiuran, who prided himself on "gender equality" and had hacked to death both the muscle-bound maniac of the Blood God Sect and the seductive Sect Master of the Hehuan Sect, had never laid a hand on her.

"Sigh, wait, don't pull me. Men and women should not touch; I can walk myself!" Bai Qiuran still covered his face.

"What? Such a waste? Why are you acting like a child?"

Under the expectant gazes of Jueyunzi and Qing Yun, Tang Ruowei pushed open the courtyard door with a bang. Immediately, a rich yet fragrant scent of wine rushed toward them.

Bai Qiuran shook his head while covering his face, "I'm so happy I want to cry..."

A moment later, the Sixth Elder brought Tang Ruowei over on a cloud from the foot of the mountain. Seeing them, Jueyunzi's eyes lit up, and he hurried to greet them.

"It counts, of course it counts."

"Gulp! Gulp! Gulp!"

Tang Ruowei rolled up her sleeves and walked to the courtyard gate.

Jueyunzi looked at the dozen or so empty wine jars rolling around in his courtyard and muttered, "Martial Ancestor Uncle, please drink less..."

He had started collecting these materials as early as when Tang Ruowei broke through to the first level of the Qi Refining stage.

Jueyunzi nodded repeatedly on the side, giving a thumbs up.

Jueyunzi nodded in agreement.

Through the constant tempering and purification of the Undying Fire, the prototype of a crystalline Flying Sword gradually appeared within the furnace.

Bai Qiuran asked, "Is this your [request]?"