Moonlight Sword Dance

The Sea God Lake was covered in silver light, like a mirror that had shattered and reassembled.

Yun Jingheng sat cross-legged by the lake, the moonlight falling on him, light and cool.

For the past month, he hadn't done anything. He hadn't drawn blueprints, made Soul Tools, or practiced swordplay with Ye Xinglan. He had barely even practiced his own swordplay.

Every day was spent cultivating, cultivating during the day and cultivating at night.

Meditation under the moonlight was several times more effective than during the day, so he used this to his advantage, cultivating night after night, pushing his soul power higher and higher.

Level 39, 39.5, 39.8, 39.9.

Tonight was the full moon, when the moonlight was at its peak. He felt that threshold was right before him.

In his spiritual sea, the moon was spinning much faster than usual.

Xiao Jiu was curled up beneath the moon, its nine tails wrapped around itself like a ball, sleeping soundly.

Its ears twitched.

Soul power surged through his meridians, several times faster than usual.

Moonlight poured in from above, flowing through his meridians and circulating throughout his body. With each circulation, his soul power increased by a fraction.

That threshold drew nearer and nearer, becoming clearer and clearer.

Yun Jingheng took a deep breath, mobilizing all his soul power, which surged towards the threshold like a tide.

"Boom—"

A burst of silver-white light exploded in his spiritual sea, the light illuminating the entire surface of the sea.

Xiao Jiu's ears perked up.

It opened its eyes, its pupils glowing faintly in the moonlight.

It stood up, its nine tails fully unfurled, every strand of fur radiating light.

It tilted its head back to look at the moon, which grew brighter and brighter.

Moonlight overflowed from the spiritual sea, overflowing from Yun Jingheng's body. The silver-white light illuminated the entire Sea God Lake, making the surface look like it was covered in scattered silver.

Beneath his feet, three soul rings lit up—two purple and one black, slowly rotating.

Then, a fourth soul ring appeared, rising from beneath his feet.

The Fourth Soul Ring, Ten Thousand Years.

Yun Jingheng did not open his eyes.

He felt Xiao Jiu awaken, felt it absorbing the moonlight, felt it growing stronger.

He sensed his first and second soul rings vibrating, as if something was being injected into them.

The color of his first soul ring began to change, from light purple to deep purple. His second soul ring changed from deep purple to purplish-black, just a hair's breadth away from ten thousand years.

He opened his eyes and looked down at the four soul rings beneath his feet.

In his spiritual sea, Xiao Jiu lay beneath the moon, its nine tails swaying gently.

Yun Jingheng sank into his spiritual sea and saw it lying there. The corners of his mouth curved upwards.

He walked over, squatted down, and reached out to stroke its head.

Xiao Jiu's ears twitched. It looked up at him, its eyes shining.

"Finally decided to wake up?" he asked.

Xiao Jiu rubbed against his hand. "No choice. Who told you to eat random things? I could only do that."

"Sorry, sorry. How are you feeling?"

Xiao Jiu thought for a moment. "Not bad, but I need to remind you of something."

"What is it?"

"I can only increase the age of your soul rings one last time for you, and I can no longer provide soul rings."

Yun Jingheng's expression froze for a moment. "Um... it's okay."

It rested its head on its front paws. "Your Fourth Spirit Ability, aren't you going to try it?"

Yun Jingheng pursed his lips into a smile and ruffled its fur fiercely. The latter seemed a little reluctant and squirmed.

He withdrew from his spiritual sea and stood up.

The Moonlight Sword materialized in his hand. He looked down at the sword in his hand, then at the soul ring beneath his feet.

The Fourth Soul Ring lit up.

"Huh?"

Yun Jingheng was stunned. What was going on?

Nothing happened?

He stared at the sword for a long time, but nothing happened...

In the Sea of Spirit, Xiao Jiu was lying under that moon, his mouth twitching.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm using my Fourth Spirit Ability," Yun Jingheng's voice was a little dazed.

"Then did you use it?"

"No."

Xiao Jiu's voice seemed a bit speechless, "If you'd just sense the spirit ability, you wouldn't be standing here like an idiot."

Yun Jingheng froze, touched his nose, and retorted.

"It's because you woke up, I was happy and forgot."

"Uh-huh~"

He closed his eyes, sinking into the Sea of Spirit, to sense the newly formed spirit ring.

A piece of information flowed into his mind.

Fourth Spirit Ability: Moonlight Sword Dance.

Shoot sword energy while performing sword flower movements.

The sword energy is crescent-shaped, as thin as a cicada's wing, and shatters upon hitting the target, causing tearing damage.

The faster the sword flower spins, the denser the sword energy.

Can be released while moving, speed and direction can be adjusted.

As long as the sword flower doesn't stop, the sword energy won't cease.

He opened his eyes and looked at the Moonlight Sword in his hand.

He gripped the hilt, and his wrist began to turn.

Very slowly, on the first rotation, the sword tip drew a silver-white arc of light.

A crescent-shaped sword energy shot out from the spinning sword tip, as thin as a cicada's wing. It flew out and cut across the lake's surface, leaving a thin, straight, deep cut on the water. It took several seconds for the lake water to surge in.

The sword energy flew thirty meters away and dissipated.

He stopped and squinted, sensing it.

When he spun, the sword energy came out; when he stopped, the sword energy disappeared.

This was a continuous area-of-effect skill.

When the spirit ability was activated, it consumed almost nothing, but the process of shooting sword energy consumed spirit power with each strike.

In other words, with sufficient spirit power, it could suppress the opponent to death.

A bit overpowered...

And the passive stacking was quite fast.

He glanced at the sword's guard; it was almost a Full Moon...

If it were combined with a Soul Bone skill, freezing the Full Moon passive to avoid entering the Blood Moon, and then performing sword flower movements to shoot out sword energy, each sword energy would carry mental interference, frost slow, and true damage.

High frequency, high damage.

He held a Milk Bottle to replenish his spirit power, then activated the spirit ability again, and his wrist began to turn.

Not fast, not slow, the sword energy flowed out from the sword tip like water.

He walked forward while spinning, sword energy paving the way, moonlight illuminating the path.

The lake surface was cut by one gash after another, perfectly aligned, as if measured with a ruler.

When he reached the edge of the lake, the sword energy veered off, drifting slightly to the left.

The sword energy might deviate when moving, deviate if spun too fast, or not be dense enough if spun too slowly.

He took a deep breath and continued to spin.

This time, he started slowly, accelerating with each strike, walking while spinning, his eyes fixed on the sword tip, on the direction the sword energy flew.

If it went too fast, he pulled back a little; if it veered, he adjusted it back to center; if it was too dense, he loosened up; if it was too sparse, he tightened up.

After walking ten steps, the sword energy stabilized.

After walking twenty steps, the sword energy became dense.

After walking thirty steps, the sword energy was fast, stable, and dense, like a silver-white ribbon drawn from the sword tip, spreading across the lake surface.

He stopped, panting heavily, but a smile curved his lips.

"It can be released stably while moving now?!" Xiao Jiu's voice was filled with surprise.

"Yes."

Yun Jingheng looked down at the sword in his hand, "But I can only walk in a straight line; it still deviates when I turn."

...Cheating!

Yun Jingheng put away his martial soul, turned, and walked towards his room.

Ya Li stood at the doorway, holding a bowl of noodles.

She handed the noodles to him, and he took them, sat down at the door, and began to eat.

Ya Li sat beside him and watched him eat. "Did you break through?"

"Mhm, Soul Ancestor."

"Did you try out your soul skill?"

"Yeah, it's very useful, a sustained area-control skill."

"That's great, that's great, my son is amazing!"

Long Yeyue leaned against the windowsill, calmly sipping her tea, her brows furrowed.

"Ptooey."

She spat out the tea dregs, placed the cup on the windowsill, and looked at Yun Ming.

"This tea is really not good."

Yun Ming gave a wry smile. "Elder Long, this is the new Mingqian Tea that arrived this year. I specifically saved the best..."

"Even the best isn't that great."

Long Yeyue interrupted him, her tone casual, but the corners of her mouth curved upwards.

She turned to look out the window. Moonlight spilled onto Sea God Lake, and the cuts made by sword energy on the lake's surface had already healed, the water returning to its calm state.

She watched for a while, then suddenly spoke, "His talent is far greater than ours was back then."

Yun Ming remained silent.

Long Yeyue turned to look at him. "When he was so young, why didn't you give him some resources?"

Yun Ming was silent for a moment, then stood up and walked to the window, standing beside Long Yeyue.

He looked at the lake for a long time. "Elder Long, he is my son."

His voice was very calm. "He cannot use the academy's resources."

Long Yeyue frowned and slapped his shoulder.

The sound was crisp and echoed in the room. Yun Ming's shoulder sank from the blow.

"He is my grandson."

Long Yeyue's voice was not loud, but every word was clearly enunciated. "Besides, ask anyone else in Sea God Pavilion if they have any objections? They'd be thrilled to pile resources onto this little guy to make him the number one under heaven!"

Yun Ming remained silent.

He looked down at his hand. The cut on his tiger's mouth, made by a Moon Blade, had already healed, leaving no scar.

He recalled Yun Jingheng standing on the training ground, pointing his sword at him and saying, "Below Soul Emperor, I can't be beaten," his eyes were very bright, not arrogant, but serious.

He withdrew his gaze and looked at Long Yeyue. "Elder Long, I know you dote on him. He was given the Lunar Divine Metal, he was given the Jade Rabbit Soul Bone, and Yue'er even let him dismantle the core she researched for seven years. I remember all of this."

He paused. "But the academy's resources are for the students, and he hasn't enrolled yet."

Long Yeyue looked at him for a long time. "When you were young, did Sea God Pavilion give you resources?"

Yun Ming was stunned.

Long Yeyue didn't wait for his answer and continued.

"When you were young, did Sea God Pavilion give you resources? Did your master teach you privately? Did you get a share of the good things from the treasury?"

She paused. "Your master was the Pavilion Master of Sea God Pavilion, and you are also the Pavilion Master of Sea God Pavilion. If you could take them when you were young, why can't he?"

Yun Ming was silent for a long time. "Elder Long, that's different—"

"How is it different?"

Long Yeyue interrupted him. "Just because you became the Pavilion Master, your son can't use the academy's things? What kind of logic is that?"

She looked at him, her gaze very serious. "Yun Ming, you are the Pavilion Master, but you are also his father. You can't withhold resources just because you're afraid of gossip. Besides, who the hell dares to gossip?!"

Yun Ming looked at her and suddenly smiled. "Elder Long, are you planning to give him special tutoring?"

Long Yeyue snorted. "Special tutoring? This is called rational resource utilization. How many good things are piled up in Sea God Pavilion's treasury? They'll just gather dust if left there."

"Using them for him will at least turn them into useful things."

She paused. "Besides, the core of his Moon Palace used was Cai Yue'er's, the Lunar Divine Metal was Feng Wuyu's, and the Soul Bone was Zhuo Shi's. Which of these belongs to the academy?"

Yun Ming remained silent.

Long Yeyue looked at him, the corners of her mouth curving upwards. "The things he makes are very useful. The Moon Palace is for saving his life, and the Soul Bone is for increasing his strength. He took things, and he achieved results. Isn't that good?"

Yun Ming was silent for a long time, then he smiled. "Alright, alright, Elder Long, you're right."

"It should have been like this long ago! Give him the things. All the things I gave him when he was young are with you, don't think I don't know."

"Give him everything!"

Yun Ming looked helpless. "Aren't you worried about his unstable foundation?"

Long Yeyue was very serious. "Do you think he'll be too eager for success?"

"No."

"Then that's that?"