Su Wenjin froze. "You can capture one alive?"
Yu Xiu said, "I can try."
"Alive would be best, but dead is fine too. Just judge by how deeply he's fallen to demonic influence." Su Wenjin didn't pursue the subject further.
He looked at Yu Xiu with admiration in his eyes.
This genius had made a stunning debut at Bright Sword Hall and received top marks across the board. Su Wenjin had discovered him himself—and had been the first to do so.
The greater Yu Xiu's future achievements, the higher Su Wenjin's standing at Dragon-Slaying Peak would rise.
He smiled. "Do you know why I came looking for you at this particular point, one month after you joined Dragon-Slaying Peak?"
Yu Xiu shook his head.
Su Wenjin said, "Every month, Dragon-Slaying Peak's disciples have a Law Enforcement mission they can't refuse. That's the main reason I came to find you."
After a pause, he added, "Of course, you're different. Your talent is extraordinary, and you may well become a True Disciple one day. So whether the elders or the protectors, none of them have brought this up with you.
"You might not know this, but if you're short on pills and don't have the contribution points to exchange for them, you can go straight to the Internal Affairs Hall and take what you need. No one will give you a hard time, but they'll put it on your tab. Once you've truly grown strong, you'll have to pay it back.
"Dragon-Slaying Peak can provide most of the resources you need in advance. In many areas, they'll make things very convenient for you."
Now that's a good system! Yu Xiu silently gave Dragon-Slaying Peak a thumbs-up.
The sect invested in him ahead of time, doing everything it could to help him soar. Once he truly took flight, those resources would hardly amount to anything in his eyes—and there was no interest.
He might not even need to repay them directly. When his strength was high enough, a single action could perhaps bring the sect enormous benefits, or he might solve a major problem for it with a casual gesture.
"The sect does handle this well. But sword cultivators are like swords; we must constantly hone our edge. I was also afraid you'd get bored if you spent all your time in seclusion, painstakingly cultivating," Su Wenjin said tactfully.
What he was really thinking was that Yu Xiu's sword was bound to be tied to slaughter.
After all, on his first mission in the Inner Court, Yu Xiu had wiped out all nine of Fang Jiming's group. Who would believe he didn't have a taste for killing?
So now that the month was up, Su Wenjin had come to find him and give him a suitable target for testing his sword.
Otherwise, Yu Xiu might not have been assigned a Law Enforcement mission from the Sword-in-Chest lineage. Plenty of Dragon-Slaying Peak disciples wanted to test their swords against fellow disciples of that lineage.
"Of course, there's another reason." Su Wenjin rubbed his hands together. "Thanks to you, I'm no longer just the Law Enforcement Hall master of the Inner Court. I also have Law Enforcement authority over some of the Main Sect disciples.
"You know I don't have many formidable experts at my disposal. This is my first time overseeing Law Enforcement for Main Sect disciples, so it wouldn't do to just post a mission and call it a day. Better to handle things myself if I can. Otherwise, my superiors might slap me with the label of a freeloader!"
So he's been promoted and wants to use me to make a name for himself. Yu Xiu smiled. "Thank you for keeping me in mind, Hall Master Su. Leave this matter to me."
He had wanted to see the other disciples of the Sword-in-Chest lineage for a long time!
"Are you free now?" Su Wenjin didn't waste any time.
Yu Xiu said, "Wait. I'll break through first."
Su Wenjin: "???"
No, you'd only joined the Main Sect a month ago. What were you breaking through to?
Before Su Wenjin could ask anything else, the aura concealed within Yu Xiu burst forth, his presence surging higher and higher!
Five Viscera, second level, third... fifth... ninth!
The Five Viscera Realm, perfected!
Boom!
An invisible force seemed to detonate, leaving Su Wenjin gaping in shock. His mind felt like a lump of paste!
No...
I mean...
You...
You've perfected the Five Viscera Realm?
The Dragon-Slaying Evil-Purging Sword had been passed to Yu Xiu by Su Wenjin himself, and all told, it had been only a little over a month.
What could someone accomplish in a little over a month?
Rising from the first level of the Five Viscera Realm to the second would already have been astonishing. But Yu Xiu...
He was at the ninth level of the Five Viscera Realm, and had perfected it completely!
No, that was wrong. He was breaking through beyond perfection, advancing into the second of the Four Great Passes—the Five Elements Realm!
Yu Xiu didn't notice Su Wenjin's turmoil. He simply continued his breakthrough.
The Five Viscera Realm focused on cultivating the five viscera. True Qi broke through the restrictions of the meridians and circulated throughout the body, then settled among the five viscera. This was like gaining five more Qi Seas, while also using True Qi to nourish the viscera until they became extraordinarily powerful.
The inside and outside became one, freeing cultivators from the weakness of having strong sinews, bones, skin, and flesh but fragile internal organs.
The second of the Four Great Passes was different. It was the Five Elements Realm.
It required vast quantities of True Qi to draw out the innate nature of the five viscera.
For example, the heart belonged to fire, so fire was its innate nature. One had to use True Qi to draw out that fiery nature.
The lungs belonged to metal, so one had to cultivate the metal nature.
The liver belonged to wood, the spleen to earth, and the kidneys governed water. In the end, one cultivated all five natures. Most sword cultivators then focused on the metal nature of the lungs, forging peerlessly sharp Sword Qi.
In barely a quarter of an hour, the vast True Qi drew out the fire nature within Yu Xiu's heart, transforming it into fire-natured True Qi.
His heart seemed to become a furnace.
Oh!
The Heart Demon is stirring?!
Yu Xiu was delighted. He didn't know whether it was because drawing out the fire nature in his heart had made his thoughts more resolute, or for some other reason.
At last, the voice of the Heart Demon he had long yearned to hear rang out in his heart.
"You've painstakingly cultivated to this point. Have you never felt lost, helpless, or at a loss? Some want to harm you, some want to use you, some are jealous, and some are resentful. They all can't bear to see you do well!
"You've suffered too much!
"Open your mind. I'll take the road ahead for you!"
The Heart Demon's voice was chaotic and seductive.
But Yu Xiu had already cultivated the Sword Heart—and not just the first level, but the second. His heart was a sword, his thoughts were a sword. Before his Sword Heart, those temptations and chaotic thoughts seemed to be shut out, or perhaps endlessly weakened.
In any case, they were useless.
If he didn't listen carefully, Yu Xiu could barely hear them.
I've suffered too much?
Which version of me are you talking about now?
What have I suffered?
You'll take the road ahead for me?
How did you dare dream of such a sweet deal?
I've got more than seven thousand six hundred years left to live. You think you can take that too?
And you want to use my more than seven thousand five hundred points of comprehension?
When you come out, I'll give you a sword.
Yu Xiu said nothing, simply waiting for the Heart Demon to manifest as a Shadow Demon.
"Your will is weak. You cannot see through the chaos of this mortal world. So be it. I'll help you escape this sea of worldly suffering," the Heart Demon murmured.
The next instant, Yu Xiu once again sensed a force of mind that didn't belong to him, breaking away from him.
That's the feeling! Yu Xiu keenly caught the change in his mental force at that instant.
He had to remember this feeling and follow it, tracking down how the "Heart Demon"—the "Shadow Demon"—was born.
If he could grasp this, he would be able to drag out his own Shadow Demon completely and refine it into an external incarnation.
But what dissatisfied him was how quickly the Heart Demon appeared. Before he could investigate further, an evil, frigid presence had already appeared before him, like a "person" formed from all the world's malice!
It was another Yu Xiu—another version of himself.
"Go back and come out again. I won't kill you," Yu Xiu said calmly to the other version of himself before him: the "Shadow Demon"!
The Shadow Demon: "???"
I've already come out, and you want me to go back in?
Have you ever seen a baby get shoved back in after it's born?
"You've indeed lost yourself in this sea of worldly suffering. Let me take your place," the Shadow Demon said, ignoring Yu Xiu's incomprehensible words.
Shing! The next instant, a flash of sword light passed by. The Shadow Demon before him split in two, then turned into a wisp of green smoke.
It showed its face and got one-shot!
Before you continue