Sword cultivator

Within the grotto-heaven, the camps had now split into two factions.

Judging by the situation, the Beast Taming Sect held a considerable advantage, but the other three were unwilling to give up easily.

The young swordsman, who had yet to make a move, finally spoke.

"Forget it. I have a sword technique."

"If you can withstand it, I'll withdraw."

"I won't need those two to help." He drew a deep breath and finally made his decision.

"Fine." Lin Jing agreed.

"If I lose, I'll withdraw."

Lin Jing was reasonable, too.

Hearing this, the Green-Robed Scholar and the female Alchemist were even more pleased. They planned to watch the tigers fight from the safety of the mountain.

Disciples of the Heavenly Sword Sect had always been unrivaled in combat. Neither believed a sword cultivator would be weaker than a scholar cultivator or an alchemy cultivator like themselves.

Both hoped Lin Jing and the young swordsman would end up badly wounded.

"Command the sword with Qi!"

The young swordsman's Demon-Slaying Sword flew from his hand, hovering in midair as though supported by an invisible palm.

He leaped onto the flying sword, then turned and flew away.

Through his observations just now, he had already calculated the effective range of that strange Mechanism Construct.

The flying sword was incredibly nimble and fast. He immediately put a great distance between them.

"Sword flight... usually, only Foundation Establishment sword cultivators with abundant true essence can manage that." Seeing this, the Green-Robed Scholar began speculating about his identity.

This man had to be one of the Heavenly Sword Sect's outstanding outer disciples. Perhaps he was even their top outer disciple of this generation!

"He probably wants to open up some distance, then defeat his opponent with a flying sword, but..." The Green-Robed Scholar froze.

As he flew, the young swordsman glanced back and fell silent again.

At some point, a squirrel had actually copied him and begun flying on a leaf. He rode a flying sword, while the squirrel rode a flying leaf. All the while... the squirrel still held the Mechanism Bamboo Gun, tracking him with its muzzle as though afraid he might run away.

"Weren't you going to use a sword technique? Why go so far away?" Lin Jing asked.

Everyone found the sight absurd.

This squirrel could even fly on a leaf, and its speed was hardly any slower than his sword flight!

What in the world was all this?

"Rainbow-Soaring Sword!" Seeing this, the young swordsman gritted his teeth and brought out a blue-green flying sword, directing it through the air.

"Sword Shadow Technique!"

With another spell, the Rainbow-Soaring Sword split off nine sword shadows. They were so lifelike that everyone soon lost track of which was the real sword.

"Go!" Under the young swordsman's control, the sword shadows streaked like lightning toward the Pineleaf Squirrel from every direction.

With attacks coming from all sides, the Mechanism Bamboo Gun would struggle to block them all, nimble though it was.

Yet, faced with the flying swords filling the air, ten Red Leaves flew from the Pineleaf Squirrel's Storage Bag. Just like the ten flying swords that had become streaks of blue-green light, they turned into ten streaks of red light and shot away.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!!!

Flying swords and Red Leaves crisscrossed in midair. The nine sword shadows were cut down by the flying leaves, while one flying leaf was sliced apart by the real Rainbow-Soaring Sword. Seizing the opening, the Pineleaf Squirrel aimed at the real sword and pulled the trigger.

Boom!!!

The Rainbow-Soaring Sword was blasted away, and the young swordsman swayed.

As the Pineleaf Squirrel and the young swordsman completed their first exchange in midair, everyone stared, dumbfounded.

"Holy shit."

Was this... really something a Pineleaf Squirrel could do?

The Beast Taming Sect disciples' heads were already spinning.

In their Great Wilderness Region, a Qi Refining sword cultivator who could release seven or eight strands of Sword Qi already counted as an expert. This Heavenly Sword Sect disciple was practically a little monster, yet their own sect's basic Spirit Beast seemed even more monstrous.

"Who needs the Heavenly Sword Sect's My Sword Spirit Wife? The bizarre stories are happening right beside me," Senior Brother Ziran said.

"How is the pet beast this strong, too?" The Green-Robed Scholar and the female Alchemist had thought Lin Jing's entire strength lay in his Mechanism Constructs. They truly had not expected this Qi Refining seventh layer Pineleaf Squirrel to be so outrageous that it could duel a sword cultivator high in the air.

No wonder this Pineleaf Squirrel wanted a tree all to itself. They suddenly came to terms with it and even found it reasonable, though the whole thing was unreasonable to begin with.

"I'm done." After two exchanges, the young swordsman had already flagged and chose to concede.

Although he could still fight the Pineleaf Squirrel for several more rounds, he understood that the Pineleaf Squirrel... was merely a tamed beast. Its Beast Tamer had yet to act.

"Once I reach Foundation Establishment and develop my Sword Body, I will certainly visit the Beast Taming Sect to seek instruction," he told the Pineleaf Squirrel. He could not accept losing to a squirrel spirit at the Qi Refining seventh layer, even if the Sword Canon he cultivated only revealed its power after Foundation Establishment.

"Squeak!" The Pineleaf Squirrel flicked its Daoist robe and did not look back.

What a waste of its flying leaves and ammunition.

"Whatever happens, I'm taking a green bodhi tree," the young swordsman said.

They were all in the Qi Refinement Realm and lacked accumulated experience. None would be creating cultivation methods or divine abilities here; most intended to use the bodhi trees to improve their mastery of existing spells.

Under these circumstances, the young swordsman was not particularly fixated on the Golden Bodhi Tree.

"I don't care. You can't leave me without a single tree." Seeing all three trees claimed, the female Alchemist voiced her displeasure.

As she spoke, she took out a pill and held it between her fingers.

"This pill can grant me Foundation Establishment cultivation for a while."

None of them paid her any attention.

"Hey, say something." The female Alchemist looked at Lin Jing. "Beast Tamer, how about we share the Golden Bodhi Tree?"

"You don't want me swallowing this pill, do you?"

Holding the Mechanism Bamboo Gun, Lin Jing smiled at her. "Fellow cultivator, if that pill had no side effects, you would have taken it already."

"Go ahead. After defeating me with that pill, would you still be in any condition to comprehend the Dao?"

"Besides, how can you wager that you'll definitely defeat me after taking it?"

"You cultivate fire spells, but..." Lin Jing looked toward the Mechanical Tortoise. "This Mechanical Beast has the patterns of a Spirit-Gathering Array engraved inside it. Its water spells are even more powerful than the Mechanism Construct in my hand, and it can self-destruct with ten times the force of the earlier explosion. Care to gamble?"

"In the end, will you perish together with me, or with this Mechanical Tortoise?"

"It has no Spirit, no fear of death, and no need to preserve its condition to comprehend the Dao. You wouldn't want to fight it to the death, either, would you?" As Lin Jing finished speaking, the bamboo tortoise silently stared at the female Alchemist.

The female Alchemist was furious. Who wanted to perish together with a mechanical tortoise?

Lin Jing had not actually lied. Over the past two months, he had spent little time cultivating, devoting himself instead to improving the Mechanism Bamboo Turtle. It possessed every function of the Mechanism Bamboo Gun. Moreover, Lin Jing had learned the formation patterns of the continent's most widely used array, the Spirit-Gathering Array, and successfully engraved them onto the bamboo tortoise, incorporating them into its mechanical system.

It counted as the second spell he had mastered after the Spirit-Nurturing Art.

In truth, any cultivator with a little experience could set up a Spirit-Gathering Array. It was the most basic introductory array, accelerating the accumulation of spiritual energy within a certain area. It was often used to establish cultivation sites, and almost every sect was built within an enormous Spirit-Gathering Array. After learning it, Lin Jing had immediately used it to strengthen the blue spirit bamboo.

Activating the Spirit-Gathering Array in battle allowed the blue spirit bamboo to gather water spiritual energy faster and shoot more powerful streams of water.

As for self-destruction, that was a lie. Even if it did self-destruct, it would not be very powerful. Lin Jing was betting that she would believe him.

Out in the world, there was no need to be an honest man.

Sure enough, after a moment of silence, the female Alchemist finally put away the Fire Spirit Pill. "Beast Tamer, let me use the Silver Bodhi with your squirrel, and I'll owe you a favor."

Before Lin Jing could speak, the Pineleaf Squirrel raised the Mechanism Bamboo Gun and aimed it at the female Alchemist. Seeing this, she stormed away angrily.