Practicing the Sword

Jiang Ding slumped weakly in his chair, waves of pain washing through his mind.

"Are you... suffering from spiritual exhaustion?"

Li Junhao hesitated, then glanced again at the intricate, exquisite array diagram on the desk. One look told him it was not a mere imitation—it truly had function.

Spiritual exhaustion.

It was a common occurrence when cultivators inscribed talismans or array diagrams beyond their own abilities.

And that was only when the task exceeded their abilities by a little. If they attempted high-grade talismans or array diagrams far beyond their limits, their souls could be drained dry in an instant, leaving behind nothing but a corpse.

"...Yes. I saw it in the library. You have a bright future ahead of you, so don't learn from me."

Jiang Ding barely stretched out a hand and tucked the talisman sword array diagram into his clothes, lest it harm Li Junhao.

Unlike himself, neither outstanding nor hopeless.

Li Junhao was guaranteed admission to Qingfeng Beidou. Even if he could not enter the cultivation department, he had a good chance of working in auxiliary research for immortal-path technology. He might even be able to embark on the immortal path through an institute.

Ring, ring...

The dismissal bell rang. Jiang Ding staggered toward the cultivation room.

The door opened. Ignoring everything else, Jiang Ding drank the Essence-Consolidating Bone-Strengthening Soup. A warm current flowed into his stomach, and he immediately felt somewhat refreshed.

He took out the talisman sword array diagram.

The array inscriptions were exquisite and magnificent, layered with spatial depth. An ordinary person would feel dizzy and disoriented at a single glance.

Jiang Ding studied it carefully. After putting it into practice, his understanding of the first-layer talisman sword of the Divine Firmament Hundred-Step Flying Sword deepened further.

It used a Sharp Gold Array as its core, combined with a trace of soul runes for spiritual connection. Later, it would need to incorporate levitation arrays, spirit-gathering arrays, and flight arrays. When the four talisman-paper array diagrams were combined, they would form a talisman sword that could be controlled independently.

The levitation, flight, and spirit-gathering arrays were each more difficult than the last, and the crucial point was that they were weak. Even if the talisman sword was completed, its power would only rival that of a bird's impact, and its endurance would be short.

Naturally, there was a shortcut.

Refining it with blood essence.

Not only could it use the soul runes for spiritual connection as a foundation to hasten comprehension of levitation, flight, and spirit-gathering arrays, but the talisman sword's power would rival a powerful bow or heavy crossbow. More importantly, it would be agile enough to dominate Inner Qi realm martial artists for a time.

It would cost one's life, however, and ruin one's future.

"Great Sun Sword-Planting Sword-Refining Art, once a Dao-child-level cultivation art of one of the Nine Great Immortal Sects beyond this realm..."

Jiang Ding murmured, his heart filled with longing.

If he could forge a Dao-child-level Hundred-Step Flying Sword, his soul would undergo a qualitative transformation while he was still a mortal. He would gain an enormous advantage over other cultivators out of thin air, not to mention the flying sword's continued nurturing of his soul afterward.

If he succeeded, the Great Dao would be within reach.

He lay groggily in the cultivation room for two hours. Only when the array spirit notified him that class was over did Jiang Ding wake up and slowly make his way toward the classroom.

He picked up his backpack and inspected and maintained the parts of his pistol.

"Announcement from Teacher Guo."

The class monitor, Hua Bing, did not dismiss the class immediately. "The midterm exams will begin in one week. Everyone needs to work harder and strive for better results. The school places great importance on these midterms, and those who rank near the top will receive substantial resource rewards."

"Dismissed!"

The classroom fell silent for a moment before buzzing with noise, most of it worried.

With the midterms approaching, half the first semester had passed. The college entrance exam that would decide their fates was not far off either.

Jiang Ding and Li Junhao followed the crowd outside. All kinds of chatter filled their ears, while in the distance came the roar of tank engines returning to the school.

"I've decided."

Li Junhao suddenly said, "I won't practice martial arts anymore. I'll devote all my time to studying and aim for 800 points on the college entrance exam."

"...I wish you every success."

Jiang Ding froze. What enormous ambition!

Eight hundred points while still at the Flesh-Refining realm meant nearly perfect scores in every academic subject!

Someone like that would count as a prodigy even across the entire Immortal Sect. They would certainly receive special admission from the Immortal Sect's cultivation department, along with a generous set of pills to improve their martial aptitude.

In fact, if they did not die, experience from past years showed that such people were destined to rise.

When he returned home and was about to head back to his room, Jiang Ding stopped short.

Lin Wanqiu and Jiang Yuan were both staring at him with stern faces.

"Criminal Jiang Ding, confess honestly!"

Jiang Yuan said solemnly, "Or I'll spank you with this!"

She waved a thin bamboo switch she had specifically snapped off in the garden downstairs.

"Hm? Your skin itching?"

Jiang Ding glanced at Jiang Yuan. She shrank back in fright and hid behind Lin Wanqiu.

"Mom, are you taking a compensatory day off today?"

He set down his backpack and sat across from Lin Wanqiu.

"Dingding, why..."

Lin Wanqiu hesitated, her face full of concern. She had clearly learned about what had happened in class.

"Because I yearn for it."

Jiang Ding answered calmly, spreading open his palm. Though he was only sixteen or seventeen, it was covered in calluses.

Ever since elementary school, he had practiced swordsmanship day and night without interruption, rain or shine, until today, when he had reached the limit of training that his daily nutritional intake could sustain.

"You..."

All the lectures and reproaches Lin Wanqiu had prepared suddenly would not come out.

As his mother, she knew how much her son had sacrificed for this. But he had inherited her poor aptitude as well—how desperate must he have felt?

"You still need to be careful!" Lin Wanqiu sighed. "I know that when you were little, your father..."

Not long after Jiang Yuan was born, Father Jiang had an affair. He chose another woman of great strength, and he already had another child older than Jiang Ding. Vaguely, he still seemed obsessed with becoming a cultivator.

She thought her son was working so hard to prove something.

"It has nothing to do with him."

Jiang Ding said indifferently, "Mom, to live forever, to roam the world with a sword—this is every boy's long-cherished wish. Besides, it can bring blessings to one's family and forcibly raise the aptitude of those who are somewhat lacking."

"Ah..."

Lin Wanqiu sighed. She knew that with their family's aptitude, it was simply too difficult.

"Big Bro!"

Jiang Yuan's eyes sparkled with little stars. She seemed to be imagining a future where she could loaf around and do nothing, yet still become a high-level cultivator.

At dawn, Huang Deyou came to knock on the door as usual.

"Come in."

A faint voice sounded from within.

Huang Deyou carefully closed the door behind him, then approached Jiang Ding respectfully. "Master, we have less than one tael of silver left. Here are the account books."

He handed over the ledgers, which he had checked no fewer than ten times.

"Mm."

This time, Jiang Ding did not look at the account books. He tossed over fifty taels of silver. "That brother... Han Lin, how is he doing?"

"Reporting to Master, Little Brother Han is doing very well." Huang Deyou forced a smile. "He can read and knows a little arithmetic, so I assigned him to the accounting room. He records the specimens we have already collected, so we don't purchase duplicates."

Knowing that Jiang Ding valued the matter, he added:

"Also, ever since we began collecting animal specimens, the numbers have increased greatly. We receive more than a hundred intact specimens every day."

"You've done well."

Jiang Ding glanced at his library points, which had already reached 658. One had to know that not every specimen was an unknown new creature; often, more than ten specimens were needed to produce one.

"There is one more matter. I need Purple Spirit Grass. Get more than forty portions for me. Find several experienced herb gatherers. I need them today."

"Yes, Master."

Huang Deyou respectfully took his leave.