"We leave in three days."
Li Yang sat cross-legged inside the wooden cabin, having set up a simple Spirit-Gathering Array.
For his cultivation, he used the Spirit Stones from the storage rings of Chu Du and the other two men he had killed.
He knew nothing about arrays, and the cabin's true owner was Qin Feng, after all. He had no right to alter it without permission.
By now, his injuries had healed completely.
After slaying the three prodigies, his aura had grown a little stronger.
He cultivated the Blood Sea Asura Sword Art. Although killing did not directly increase his cultivation, the growth of his killing intent brought an increase in strength.
With nothing else to do these next few days, he only needed to play Qin Feng's part well and wait to enter the secret realm.
He had hardly any friends in the Mystic Heaven Sword Sect anyway, so he could simply devote himself to cultivation.
Before long.
The cabin's restrictions were triggered, and Li Yang extended his divine sense.
"Master."
Li Yang opened the cabin door. Sect Master Ling Wujie stood outside, with a middle-aged man behind him.
Judging by his appearance, Li Yang noticed that the man actually bore some resemblance to Qin Feng, whom he was impersonating.
Could he be...
"Li Yang, this is Qin Ge, your senior brother Qin Feng's father and the head of the Qin Household."
Li Yang immediately cupped his hands in greeting.
"This junior, Li Yang, greets Senior Qin."
"No need for such formalities." Qin Ge stroked his beard, a faint smile on his face. "I've heard about your performance on Duel Sword Peak a few days ago, and I've watched the Recording Stone of your battle against those three prodigies from the other lineages.
"If Feng had even half your character, he wouldn't have wasted his time and energy on a handful of women."
Li Yang asked curiously, "May I ask where Senior Brother Qin Feng is?"
The jewel at Qin Ge's chest erupted with multicolored light, and a figure flew out from within. It was none other than Qin Feng.
"Your sect master and your master have already discussed this matter with me. The Qin Household has always been on good terms with your Mystic Heaven Sword Sect, so naturally, we wouldn't refuse.
"But I have one favor to ask."
Seeing Qin Ge's expression turn solemn, Li Yang could not help feeling curious.
"Senior, you have something to ask of me?"
Qin Ge sighed and unceremoniously kicked Qin Feng in the backside.
"My intention was for this brat to join the Mystic Heaven Sword Sect and become a proper Sword Cultivator-as unyielding as a sword, and decisive when it came to killing.
"Instead, he devoted himself entirely to the five female disciples on Sect Master Peak, wasting all the hopes I placed in him.
"As his father, I naturally hoped he would surpass me. He possesses the Geng Metal Spirit-Bone Physique, and if someone with that physique becomes a Sword Cultivator, he is naturally far stronger than an ordinary one.
"I thought that after reaching Foundation Establishment, he would quickly refine a powerful metal-attribute Sword Pellet, and perhaps even enter the Xuanyuan Sword Sect for further training in the future.
"But who could have imagined this brat would be so useless that even a Geng Metal Sword Pellet of the same affinity wouldn't acknowledge him... Hah."
By the end, Qin Ge had no strength left to continue.
"Young friend, although saying things like 'look at other people' is bad for a child's development, I wish so dearly that Feng could reach half your standard. Even if he merely stopped fawning over female cultivators and could freely rebuke them, that would be enough."
Li Yang understood Qin Ge all too well.
He looked at Qin Feng.
The fellow had his head lowered, and the handprints on his face had yet to lose their swelling.
Even in this state, his eyes still drifted, seemingly by accident, toward the Cave Abodes where the senior sisters cultivated.
Hopeless.
"What would you like me to do?" Li Yang asked.
"I beg you to keep him by your side as a little follower. You will still be Qin Feng, while he will merely be a servant of the Qin Household-your servant," Qin Ge said earnestly.
"I hope that through you, he can learn what he should and shouldn't do, and how to make the right choices in different circumstances.
"But most important is how you conduct yourself, especially when dealing with female cultivators."
The request was not unreasonable.
"Certainly. But I'm afraid he might expose me, so I'll need a way to restrain him. I'm not accustomed to keeping an uncontrollable variable by my side." Li Yang stared at Qin Feng.
Qin Feng froze, then immediately protested, "What gives you the right-"
Before he could finish, Qin Ge clamped a hand over his head and extracted a drop of soul blood.
He cast several intricate runes into it, then delivered it into Li Yang's hand.
"Once you refine this, a single thought will let you silence him and control his actions to a certain extent. If he does something unforgivably stupid inside the secret realm, you may even... kill him!"
Qin Ge hesitated for a moment, but that hesitation was quickly replaced by resolve.
If his child was ruined, then even if high-level cultivators had difficulty producing offspring, he would have to start over with another.
Li Yang had no reason to refuse.
The man had shown the utmost sincerity.
"I'd be happy to help, Senior. However, this junior's methods are rather extreme. You really should prepare yourself for the possibility of never seeing him again."
"Don't be disrespectful," Ling Wujie said, offering a token reprimand.
"I already understand your ways quite well. In handing him over to you, I've already considered this son dead." Qin Ge shook his head.
"Father!" Qin Feng turned back, his face full of disbelief.
"Don't call me Father!" Qin Ge snapped coldly. "The Qin Household has no young master as useless as you. Come back when you truly understand your mistakes."
Finally, Qin Ge gave Li Yang two wooden boxes.
"Inside is a second-grade, eight-pattern Spirit Artifact, the Hundred-Flower Mask, woven from hundred-flower silks. Unless a powerful cultivator carefully scans your body with divine sense, your disguise will generally go unnoticed.
"There is also a top-tier Spatial-Shift Talisman, which you can use to save your life inside the secret realm.
"The Immortal Relic Province Secret Realm has caused a great stir this time. Cultivators from all eight provinces will be taking part, making it extremely dangerous. When your life hangs in the balance, don't be stingy."
Li Yang nodded.
"Thank you for these treasures, Senior."
Qin Ge then left with Ling Wujie.
Only Li Yang and a grim-faced Qin Feng remained outside the cabin.
"What have you done to my senior sisters?"
Li Yang delivered a backhanded slap across Qin Feng's face with a crack, sending him flying into a patch of the Spirit Herb Garden and destroying it.
"I don't like your interrogating tone. A servant should act like a servant."
Qin Feng looked at the ruined spirit herbs, his face filled with anguish.
He glared furiously at Li Yang.
"Who do you think you are?! I'm the real Qin Feng, the young master of the Qin Household! You're a fake!"
But in the next instant-
A heart-clenching dread of death instantly devoured his reason.
He saw Li Yang holding his soul blood suspended above his palm, toying with it.
"It's genuine, then. Your father truly deserves to be the household head. Such extraordinary resolve. He really did place your life in my hands.
"But as I said earlier, your father should prepare himself for the grief of losing a son.
"Because I have very little tolerance for a bootlicker like you. If you keep this attitude, there'll be no need to enter the secret realm. I'll crush it right now.
"If you don't believe me, ask around the sect about what I've done under your identity."
With that said.
Li Yang flicked a finger, and several streaks of blood-red Sword Qi burst from his fingertip.
Under Qin Feng's stunned gaze, they destroyed swathes of spirit herbs surrounding the cabin.
The spiritual energy that had been diverted to them naturally returned to the cabin, filling it to abundance.
The cabin door slammed shut with a bang.
Qin Feng was left outside, clenching his fists in outrage.
He had spent all this time at the Qin Household and truly had no idea what had happened.
He immediately left Sect Master Peak and began asking around among the inner disciples.
When he learned what Li Yang had done in his name, his face turned pale with fright.
"A madman! A complete and utter madman!
"He's absolutely not normal! Has Father gone mad too? He actually put my life in a madman's hands!"
Yet some inner disciples of the Mystic Heaven Sword Sect also told him:
"Qin Feng really has changed. The man he is now deserves our admiration. Honestly, I used to envy him, but looking at it now, those five stunning senior sisters on Sect Master Peak aren't worthy of him at all."
"He lives for himself, brilliantly and radiantly!"
"Now that's a true Sword Cultivator! A pure Sword Cultivator, too!!!"
Countless thoughts swirled through Qin Feng's mind.
He stood there for a long time.
He asked himself a very foolish question: What is a Sword Cultivator?
He remembered asking that question once as a child, when his father sent him to the Mystic Heaven Sword Sect.
But his father had told him to discover the answer gradually on his own.
Later, his mind had become filled with nothing but the five senior sisters, and he had never thought about that question again.
Then-what is a Sword Cultivator?
P.S. Please leave a five-star rating and a written review.
If possible, it would be even better if you could leave a check-in comment on the first chapter.
Please, fellow Daoists.
Before you continue