Taiyi Splitting Light Sword

After turning down Purple Cloud Peak's recruitment offer and accepting Lou Zhizheng's duel, Ling Yunpo's relationship with his senior sister was heating up fast.

In the morning, she woke him from meditation, then put him through an intense sword practice. They kept at it through the afternoon, and in the evening, it was more intense sword practice.

It was just like those days in his previous life when he'd spent every day doing practice problems for the college entrance exam.

Fortunately, Senior Sister An looked so captivating with her sword in her red sleeves that it wasn't quite dull enough to be unbearable.

After learning the fundamental sword forms of the Qisha Sword Art, Ling Yunpo began studying the two-handed Sword Control Technique.

The two-handed Sword Control Technique currently practiced within Shu Mountain centered on the Destiny Sword Artifact, with an auxiliary sword added alongside it. The two swords had to attack and defend together; they couldn't be separated.

However, after Su Jian's revisions, the two-handed sword technique of the Qisha Sword Art school truly allowed its user to do two things at once.

The two swords could attack and defend together, or one could attack while the other defended, each following a different sword path. It was like a single-core CPU suddenly turning into a dual-core one; naturally, its combat power increased dramatically.

To control a sword with each hand at the same time, he needed to circulate his qi along different paths in each arm. Since Ling Yunpo hadn't reached the Marrow Cleansing Stage, he tried again and again but couldn't get started.

An Zhisu was troubled by this too, and decided to find someone who could teach him.

But Ling Yunpo's situation could wait. There was still time before the sword duel, so he might as well load a save as Qiu Changtian and ask the Ziwei Sect Master for a trump card.

Over at the Kunlun Taiqing Sect, once that day's Scripture Hall lecture ended, everyone filed out.

Qiu Changtian remained seated upright on his cushion. Xu Yinglian had been about to get up, but seeing him stay put, she sat back down on his right.

"What is it?" the Ziwei Sect Master asked with his eyes closed, only after everyone else had left.

"Master, I have something to report." Qiu Changtian spoke respectfully. "The day before yesterday, while out cultivating, I encountered a Marrow Cleansing Stage cultivator from the Yin Ghost Dao. If Master hadn't given me the Taiyi Splitting Light Sword to save my life, I might not have made it back."

"Your disciple wishes to ask: without the Taiyi Splitting Light Sword, what should I do against a Marrow Cleansing Stage opponent?"

Xu Yinglian, sitting nearby, was taken aback.

Senior Brother has such lofty ambitions! He's only at the Qi Refining Stage, and he's already looking for a way to defeat Marrow Cleansing Stage opponents?

The Ziwei Sect Master didn't answer right away. He pondered for a moment, then suddenly opened his eyes and asked,

"Have you arranged a duel with someone?"

How the hell did he guess that? Qiu Changtian was shocked, but denied it aloud. "I've just been thinking about what happened the day before yesterday. The shock and fear are still with me."

"Hmph." The Ziwei Sect Master snorted, but didn't expose him. He merely turned to Xu Yinglian and said,

"Yinglian, you may go."

"Understood." Xu Yinglian rose and left.

With his junior sister gone, only the master and disciple remained in the Scripture Hall.

Qiu Changtian looked at his master. The Ziwei Sect Master flicked his Fly Whisk and spoke in a clear voice:

"Qiu Changtian, disciple of the two hundred and eightieth generation, I now pass on to you the Roaring Fate Wind Thunder method. The Great Dao is above; listen well!"

His voice rang out like a spring thunderclap bursting from the tip of his tongue.

Qiu Changtian instinctively straightened up. Cold sweat trickled down his back, incense smoke curled before his eyes, and soon he could see nothing at all. It was as if his whole body had been sealed inside a tiny universe apart from the world, with only the Sect Master's chant echoing in his ears:

"Thunderbolts are the pivot of Heaven and Earth. The Heavenly Pivot and Earthly Mechanism are named the two pivots; they stand in the east and west and command the seventy-two offices of thunder. Yang is thunder, yin is its rumble; the pivot is yin, the mechanism is yang. Thunder is benevolent; its rumble is baleful. Thunder gives rise to vital energy; its rumble gives rise to Killing Intent. These two forces, vital energy and Killing Intent, converge and clash with fierce force. The wonder of thunder lies in three in the east, two in the south, one in the north, four in the west, and five in the center, with Wu and Ji returning to the middle..."

As enlightenment came upon him, his consciousness sank swiftly into a haze. Darkness surrounded him, with only a point of starlight in his qi sea, flickering and wavering without end.

A moment later, a flame of light ignited and gradually spread through his whole body. It wasn't unbearably hot; it felt like soaking in warm water, his hands and feet growing warm.

Before long, the chanting stopped, and the fiery light around his body quickly faded.

In a daze, someone patted his cheek.

"Open your mouth."

Qiu Changtian opened his mouth without thinking. The Sect Master took a pill bottle from his sleeve, removed a pill, and placed it beneath his tongue.

The pill melted as soon as it touched his mouth, turning into a stream of heat that flowed down his throat, reached his dantian, and settled into his qi sea. There it joined with something else, forming a ball of purple-gold light that floated unsteadily, brightening and dimming.

Qiu Changtian slowly came to. The Sect Master tossed the pill bottle into his arms and spoke with his eyes closed:

"This is a Thunder Seed. Take one pill every three days, for nine days in all, to consolidate your cultivation."

"Then go to the Scripture Depository and retrieve The Divine Firmament Jade Pivot Five-Thunder Exorcism Method. Study it carefully."

"Whether you're preparing for a duel or protecting yourself, you must do this flawlessly. Do not tarnish the reputation of Ziwei True Person."

Qiu Changtian was silent for a moment, then bowed to the floor in thanks.

After leaving the Scripture Hall, Qiu Changtian went straight to the Scripture Depository to retrieve the scripture his master had mentioned.

The elder in charge of the Scripture Depository was surnamed Xu (she was said to be from the Xu Family of Tiannan as well). She was a thin, sharp-featured old woman who knew the tens of thousands of books in the Scripture Depository almost by heart.

When she heard the title The Divine Firmament Jade Pivot Five-Thunder Exorcism Method, Elder Xu looked at Qiu Changtian doubtfully and asked in puzzlement,

"What do you want a Lightning Magic manual for? That stuff... isn't easy to practice."

"May I ask, senior, what makes it so difficult?" Qiu Changtian asked respectfully.

"Mainly because it's exceedingly difficult to cultivate." Elder Xu explained in detail. "Thunder is the pivot of Heaven and Earth, the command of Heaven, and the force with the strongest Killing Intent."

"Thunder carries baleful energy that specifically breaks through evil and filth, making it immensely powerful against demonic arts. It also occupies the Zhen position, where it breaks armor and cleaves things apart. Flying swords and Magic Treasures can scarcely withstand it."

"With such overwhelming power, it can easily hurt others, but it can just as easily hurt the practitioner. The slightest mistake during cultivation can injure the body, leaving it withered and near death. Or it can warp one's temperament, making one irritable and prone to anger."

She paused to think, then added,

"You have a Clear Dao Heart constitution, so the risks of practicing Lightning Magic are much lower for you. If you can obtain an innate thunder crystal to take as your Thunder Seed, you'll get twice the result with half the effort."

"However, since so few people have practiced it over the years, most of Lightning Magic's spells have been lost."

"Wouldn't it be a joke to take all those risks and work so hard to master the fundamentals, only to have no spells to use?"

"Even our Kunlun Taiqing Sect now has only one scroll, The Divine Firmament Jade Pivot Five-Thunder Exorcism Method, which can be used to cultivate Jade Pivot Thunder."

"With that much effort, you'd be better off practicing another art with a complete lineage..."

She rambled on. Seeing Qiu Changtian standing quietly beside her with his hands folded, she suddenly came to her senses and smiled apologetically.

"What am I saying? Since you specifically asked for the Jade Pivot Thunder manual, you must have already made up your mind. Why should I meddle?"

Elder Xu took a thin booklet from a nearby bookshelf and handed it to Qiu Changtian.

"This is the Jade Pivot Thunder manual you wanted. Be very careful when practicing it."

"Thank you, Elder Xu." Qiu Changtian bowed in gratitude.

"No need to thank me. That child Yinglian will still need you to look after her in the future." Elder Xu spoke kindly. "And, well, as a gift for the two of you becoming Dao Companions..."

She pondered for a moment, then picked up some paper and ink and wrote him a note.

"Besides the Jade Pivot Thunder, our Scripture Depository once had a Divine Firmament Thunder manual, but it disappeared six hundred years ago."

"I checked our records and found that the inheritor of the Divine Firmament Thunder lineage was Chonghe True Person, six hundred years ago. The last record of him leaving the mountain says he went to Yangzhou Kuaiji. He never returned to the sect after that."

"If you have time someday, you can go search Yangzhou."