Ling Yunpo, You're in Deep Trouble!

"Qingping Sword?" Ling Yunpo asked with a frown.

"Yep," Qingping Sword replied.

"A Jing!" Ling Yunpo ignored her and asked the Kunlun Mirror instead. "Is what she said true?"

"Would I lie?" Qingping Sword said. "Isn't that right, Yao Yao?"

"What the heck is 'Yao Yao'?" the Kunlun Mirror protested.

"A mirror on the Jade Pond terrace in the Palace of the Queen Mother of the West. What's wrong with me calling you 'Yao Yao'?" Qingping Sword said with a bright smile.

"By that logic, I should call you 'Jianjian,'" the Kunlun Mirror said, unusually snarky.

"Sure. It's not as pretty as Qingping, but I don't mind," Qingping Sword said indifferently.

Seeing that the Kunlun Mirror had no retort, Ling Yunpo spoke up again:

"Qingping, what's your rank? What's your attribute? What Daoist Magic do you have?"

"Rank?" Qingping Sword asked in surprise. "Aren't I an immortal sword?"

"The Heavenly Stems Sword Forging Method only became popular eight thousand years ago. By its reckoning, you'd be a tenth-rank sword now," the Kunlun Mirror reminded him.

"Then I'm a tenth-rank flying sword," Qingping Sword said, adapting quickly. "As for my Five Elements attribute, it's actually 'Heavenly River Water.'"

"Resonant-tone Five Elements aren't in fashion anymore," the Kunlun Mirror said again. "Just say you belong to the Water Element."

"Oh, right. A tenth-rank Water Element flying sword," Qingping Sword said readily. "As for my Daoist Magic, I'll keep it secret for now."

"What do you mean, 'keep it secret for now'?" Ling Yunpo said, displeased. "You're my flying sword. How can you keep secrets from me?"

"Listen here, young man," Qingping Sword reminded him. "I'm not your flying sword. I was just bored, so I decided to play along."

Ling Yunpo: ?

He turned to the Kunlun Mirror and asked:

"A Jing, if we toss this wretched sword back into the Sword Pool and replace her with a proper flying sword, is it still in time?"

"Of course," the Kunlun Mirror said. "In fact, I strongly recommend it. She won't be easy to tame."

"Fine." Ling Yunpo headed straight for the door.

"Hey, wait, wait!" Qingping Sword wailed in a hurry. "I was only joking! I've already pledged myself to you. How could I betray my Sword Master so easily?"

"I'll give you one more chance. Whose flying sword are you?" Ling Yunpo asked coldly.

"Yours, of course, yours! All right?" Qingping Sword said in a sweet, coaxing voice. "Yao Yao and I both belong to the Sword Master~"

"Don't drag me into this," the Kunlun Mirror complained, having been enjoying the show.

"Let's get back to your Daoist Magic," Ling Yunpo cut them off.

"As for my Daoist Magic, you can't use most of it yet." Qingping Sword pretended to ponder with a thoughtful "Hmm." "How about you try this one?"

"This technique is called Green Mist Shrouding the Blue Peaks. It transforms Water Element True Qi into a thick fog that spreads for a thousand li. Anyone caught inside will have their six senses sealed and their movements slowed, while the power of all non-Water Element spells will be greatly reduced."

"To activate it, all you have to do is recite, 'Mists drift and swirl; smoke rises, veiling phantom towers.' You can say it aloud or silently."

"Fine," Ling Yunpo said with a nod. "I'll give it a try. If it's no good, back to the Sword Pool you go!"

"Don't!" Qingping Sword began to whimper. "I don't want to leave the Sword Master. Can't you trust me just a little? Once the Sword Master grows stronger, I'll provide even more useful Daoist Magic!"

"Qingping," Ling Yunpo said, cold as ice, "remember this: you didn't choose me. I chose you."

"It isn't that the weak trust the strong and choose to follow them. It's that the strong are superior to the weak, so the weak have no choice but to follow."

"Followers who are too weak will be left so far behind by the strong that they can no longer keep up. That's true of both you and me."

Qingping Sword: ...

"If you don't want to fall so far behind that you can't even keep up with me, then work hard to grow stronger," Ling Yunpo said at last, heading outside.

"Yao Yao, I think I'm starting to like him," Qingping Sword said, avoiding Ling Yunpo's spiritual sense as she whispered to the Kunlun Mirror. "What should I do? I've never met such an interesting Sword Master before."

"Are you planning to take human form and fall in love with him?" the Kunlun Mirror asked.

"No, no. Being human is boring. It's more fun to be a sword," Qingping Sword said, shaking her head.

Ling Yunpo paid no attention to their private commentary. He left the temple and went to the open ground outside, raising one hand with his fingers together in a sword sign.

His spiritual sense connected with the sword spirit. Qingping Sword hovered in the air, trembling faintly.

"Mists drift and swirl; smoke rises, veiling phantom towers," Ling Yunpo chanted in a clear voice.

In an instant, boundless fog surged out of nowhere, shrouding the clearing around him.

Ling Yunpo scanned his surroundings and saw nothing but a vast expanse of white, like endless static on an old television with no signal.

He couldn't see his outstretched hand or hear a sound. The thick fog seemed to absorb every color and every noise, leaving only a pure, silent white between heaven and earth.

His body seemed to grow heavy. Ling Yunpo looked down and saw that his clothes had somehow become soaked through.

Water trickled from his hems. Ling Yunpo tried to mobilize his spiritual sense and circulate the qi in his sea of energy, only to find his spiritual sense blocked less than half a meter from his body and his True Qi sluggish.

He connected his aura to Qingping Sword. The weight on his body immediately lifted, and his spiritual sense spread through the fog without hindrance.

Within this thick fog, every tiny droplet of water could become an extension of his spiritual sense.

Ling Yunpo stopped circulating his True Qi and dispelled the surrounding fog. Then he put away Qingping Sword, found a shady spot beneath a tree, and sat down to wait for Senior Sister An to return.

At the same time, he considered how he could use the sword's Daoist Magic to build a flexible combat system.

For instance, when sparring with fellow disciples from Mount Shu, he could raise a thick fog to block their senses, then use Qingping Sword to deliver a perfectly aboveboard backstab.

Hmm. That plan was still a little too conservative.

Since the thick fog suppressed his opponent's spiritual sense, they would surely pull their flying swords back to defend themselves.

For example, I could bring two swords and deliberately hurl one at my opponent from the front while controlling Qingping Sword to circle around and stab them in the back.

If my enemy reacted quickly enough to block the sword from the front, they'd surely miss the backstab...

As he was thinking this, Ling Yunpo suddenly looked up and saw a strange, short, pudgy young man descend onto Green Snail Peak, riding a streak of sword light.

"Ling Yunpo, Junior Brother Ling?" The man looked his way.

"That's me. May I ask who you are?" Ling Yunpo asked, cupping his hands.

"Lou Zhizheng." The pudgy young man's gaze shifted and settled on Qingping Sword behind him.

"Ugh! His eyes are so creepy!" Qingping Sword cried out in Ling Yunpo's mind. "Quick, hide me! I don't want him looking at me!"

"Is Senior Sister An here?" Lou Zhizheng asked to confirm.

"She went out," Ling Yunpo said coolly. "You can wait inside the temple until she returns, Senior Brother."

"No need." Lou Zhizheng lifted his chin and gave a cold laugh in a haughty, regretful-sounding drawl.

"Junior Brother Ling, do you know?"

"You're in deep trouble!"