Li Yu gazed at the Lesser Clarity Sword in his hand, his eyes blazing.
Never in his wildest dreams had he imagined that this sword concealed the "Taiqing Mystic Sect's Formless Sword Qi."
Hailed as the foremost sword art of the Eastern Lands, it was the supreme secret art of the Mount Lao Sword Sect, said to have been passed down by an Immortal.
In ancient times, Mount Lao's founding patriarch had used this sword art to battle the Demon Race's great sage, the Kui Ox. His Primordial Spirit manifested sword intents of life, death, darkness, light, illusion, and extinction, separating the Thunderclap Domain from Mountain Sea to shelter all living beings.
Unfortunately, the Mount Lao patriarch's cultivation had fallen a little short, leaving him unable to fuse all those sword intents. Otherwise, a single stroke would have reduced the Thunderclap Domain to a speck of dust, and the Kui Ox within it would have passed through life, death, illusion, and extinction in an instant.
Did this only appear once the Sword Embryo was given an edge? Was this a rite for choosing the wielder of the Taiqing Divine Sword?
Li Yu did not know whether sharpening the blade automatically granted this sword art, or whether the Taiqing Sword Intent within the Lesser Clarity Sword had taken a liking to him, judged him a peerless swordsmanship prodigy, and offered him the cultivation method.
Whatever the case, the "Taiqing Mystic Sect's Formless Sword Qi" was already in his head.
As for this Lesser Clarity Sword...
Li Yu turned to look at Xu Wei, who kept diving beneath the seawater and surfacing again as she searched for Qin Jian and Luo Guan.
After Ying Feiyun's death, her first thought had not been to reclaim the Lesser Clarity Sword from Li Yu, but to find her two senior brothers.
The Mount Lao Sword Sect's disciples really are just as the stories say. Watching Xu Wei disregard her injuries, Li Yu nodded inwardly.
The Ten Great Sects of the Mystic Dao in the Eastern Lands did not actually enjoy much of a reputation across Mountain Sea's four lands. Beyond the change of dynasties, in which the Western Lands had supplanted the Eastern Lands and the Western Lands Orthodox School now controlled the narrative, there was also the fact that sects such as the Five Lotus Sect had indeed once been known as heretical sects.
Although the root of the problem lay with the Great Xuan Dynasty, that former dynasty's fondness for killing people as sacrificial offerings had tainted several of the great Mystic Sects with its crooked, sinister practices.
The Mount Lao Sword Sect, however, strictly forbade its disciples from taking lives to cultivate their swords. Whenever war broke out, they would also descend from their mountain. To spare the people some suffering, they would help the True Dragon Son of Heaven settle the realm as swiftly as possible.
That had been true when they helped the Great Xuan Dynasty conquer Celestial Xia, and equally true when they helped the Western Lands destroy the Great Xuan Dynasty.
For precisely that reason, Emperor Tianwu had personally inscribed a commendation recognizing the Mount Lao Sword Sect as a renowned orthodox sect.
Most disciples raised by this sect were pure-hearted by nature, and many cultivators liked to befriend them.
"Junior sister, your injuries are serious. Regulate your breathing and recover your energy first. I'll help you find those two fellow Daoists..."
As he spoke, Li Yu returned the Lesser Clarity Sword to Xu Wei, then used a Sea-Diving Talisman to enter the sea. With the help of Taiyi Starshine, he soon found Qin Jian lying unconscious on the seabed.
Although Ying Feiyun had grievously injured Qin Jian, his foundations were deep. Even unconscious, a breath of True Essence naturally flowed out of his Dantian, protecting his heart meridians, internal organs, and other vital areas.
When Taiyi Starshine's spiritual sense swept over him, Qin Jian's True Essence actually reacted. This made Li Yu curious about the cultivation method he practiced. Considering that he was at the Qi Refinement Tenth Layer, that his swordsmanship surpassed Ying Feiyun's, and that he could fight the latter to a standstill so long as Ying Feiyun did not stake his life on the battle, he was clearly a genuine prodigy of the sword.
Yet such a genius had been tucked away in the Zhao Kingdom, his name virtually unknown.
He truly lived up to the Mount Lao Sword Sect's reputation for having the fewest disciples in the Eastern Lands, but the finest.
Next, Li Yu searched every part of the sea where they had fought, yet found no trace of Luo Guan.
"He's probably dead."
After emerging from the sea again, Li Yu shared his conclusion with Xu Wei and Qin Jian, who had already regained consciousness.
Xu Wei's face went pale. Gritting her teeth, she was about to dive back into the sea to search again.
Qin Jian let out a deep sigh, and several new creases suddenly appeared on his forehead.
Just then, Li Yu's mind stirred. Taiyi Starshine had detected two immense surges of spiritual energy flying toward them from afar.
Two streaks of flight light flashed and resolved into two male cultivators above the sea.
One had a square face and an imposing gaze. He was Yuan Hao, the steward leading the Five Lotus Sect's party on this expedition.
The other was a handsome, fair-faced, beardless youth with a sword on his back.
"Master, Senior Brother Luo may have..."
Upon seeing the handsome youth, Qin Jian cupped his fists with a bitter smile and explained what had happened to Luo Guan.
As the handsome youth listened, a piercing, icy gleam burst from his eyes. Through Taiyi Starshine, Li Yu sensed an incomparably sharp wave of spiritual sense erupt outward from him, covering an expanse of sea dozens of times larger than his own in an instant.
About three breaths later, the handsome youth transformed into a streak of sword light and vanished. A moment afterward, he returned with a corpse, his face filled with grief.
"Senior brother!"
At the sight of Luo Guan's corpse, both Qin Jian and Xu Wei looked stricken with sorrow.
Although cultivators were accustomed to life and death, the sudden loss of someone close to them was still difficult to accept.
Sun Yuanji put away Luo Guan's corpse, his expression icy. After glancing at the unfamiliar Li Yu, he asked Qin Jian, "Who killed him?"
Qin Jian immediately recounted everything in full. "This time, if Fellow Daoist Li hadn't lent us a hand, Junior Sister Xu and I would probably have fallen victim to him as well..."
After hearing him out, Sun Yuanji composed himself, then turned and cupped his fists toward Li Yu in thanks. "Young friend, if you ever need anything, come to me."
Li Yu waved his hands repeatedly, explaining that he, too, had been a target of the Ying clan, and that he had intervened mainly to protect himself and purge his own sect of its rotten elements.
"Are you from Hanging Moon Peak too?" Yuan Hao, who had been listening silently at the side, finally spoke.
Li Yu nodded and explained his background.
After hearing him out, Yuan Hao merely remarked, "A mere outer disciple, yet you managed to kill cultivators at the tenth and twelfth layers of Qi Refinement. It seems Junior Sister Ge's eye for talent isn't all that sharp."
Clang!
Just then, Sun Yuanji suddenly drew his sword and slashed straight at Yuan Hao.
Yuan Hao seemed prepared. With a pinching motion of his right fingertips, a white lotus appeared in the air and blocked Sun Yuanji's chilling sword light.
The two controlled their exchange exceptionally well, allowing not the slightest trace of its force to leak outward.
Yet through Li Yu's Taiyi Starshine, they appeared like two suns, their spiritual energy buried deep within their bodies. Once it erupted, it would overturn rivers and seas.
"Fellow Daoist Sun, what is the meaning of this? Does your Mount Lao Sword Sect intend to make an enemy of our Five Lotus Sect?" Looking utterly bewildered, Yuan Hao demanded to know why Sun Yuanji had suddenly gone mad and attacked him.
"Wouldn't that be exactly what you wanted?" Sun Yuanji sneered. His pupils abruptly turned gray, and a sword intent that made everyone present's hair stand on end spread outward.
Li Yu saw dead fish suddenly float to the surface, one after another. They bore no injuries, inside or out, yet they were dead, as though their allotted lifespans had ended at that very instant.
"Death Sword!"
At this sight, Yuan Hao's expression turned grave, and at his finger-
tips, the white lotus began to bloom as well. Blossom after blossom opened on the sea beneath his feet, transforming the area into a lotus pond in the blink of an eye.
Death Sword was one of the Taiqing Sword Intents, and also the most terrifying in power and the hardest to control.
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