Unexpected Spirituality

After some thought, Xu Changxing finally decided that he would win this tournament fair and square.

Once he made that decision, he suddenly felt his mind grow a little calmer, and the sword intent around him became more concentrated.

The corners of Xu Changxing's mouth lifted, and he prepared to close his eyes and regulate his breathing.

But the moment he closed his eyes, someone knocked on the courtyard gate.

Immediately afterward, a young Dao Attendant's voice came from outside.

"Senior Brother, are you there? The master asked me to bring you a few things."

Somewhat surprised, Xu Changxing opened the courtyard gate and, sure enough, saw the familiar young Dao Attendant.

He asked curiously, "What did Master ask you to bring me?"

The young Dao Attendant took out a Storage Bag. "This. The master specifically asked me to deliver it."

Xu Changxing accepted the Storage Bag and found several bottles of pills, a pile of low-grade spirit stones, and a disc-shaped Defensive Artifact inside.

Before he could examine them closely, the young Dao Attendant placed a Message Jade Pendant in his hand and said:

"Oh, right, Senior Brother. The master also told me to hand this Message Jade Pendant to you personally.

"There's a message from Master inside."

Xu Changxing paused at that and took hold of the Message Jade Pendant.

When he extended his spiritual sense into it, he indeed heard Liu Chenyu's voice.

"Fight well tomorrow. Don't disgrace our Flying Stream Peak."

Besides those words, the Message Jade Pendant also contained a packet of information.

It recorded everything about Ye Hong in detail.

That included Ye Hong's cultivation, the spell arts he excelled at, the artifacts he carried, and so on.

"Uh..."

Looking at the jade pendant in his hand, Xu Changxing was momentarily speechless.

It was not as though he knew nothing about Ye Hong.

In the previous simulation, he had watched Ye Hong fight as a spectator.

But what he knew was nowhere near as comprehensive as the information recorded here.

Xu Changxing pondered quietly for a moment before murmuring:

"No wonder Ye Hong dared to provoke me. So he actually has an artifact specifically designed to counter flying swords.

"If I hadn't known about this, I really might have fallen into his trap.

"But Master is taking this tournament far too seriously.

"Could he have made a bet with someone too?

"Tsk, I wonder what Core Formation elders wager with..."

He had barely finished speaking when the young Dao Attendant said with a grin, "I know that!

"The master wagered his carefully cultivated Spirit-Nourishing Fruit against a piece of heaven crystal sand from Elder Li.

"Then he used the Spirit-Nourishing Fruit and the heaven crystal sand to enter another bet.

"But the master didn't say what that wager was about."

After hearing that, Xu Changxing's mouth twitched slightly.

"That's one ruthless wager. He even added leverage.

"If he loses, won't he have to jump off a building?

"No wonder Master is so concerned about my match tomorrow."

After muttering a couple of remarks, Xu Changxing told the young Dao Attendant, "Go back and tell Master that I'll definitely give it my all tomorrow!"

The young Dao Attendant first nodded, then shook his head.

"The master told me to tell you that if there really is no chance tomorrow, you don't need to risk your life.

"The most important thing is to make it through the fifth round."

The fifth round... so that's what Master's bet is about?

Xu Changxing nodded thoughtfully. "I understand."

Once the young Dao Attendant had passed on everything Liu Chenyu had told him to say, he excitedly offered Xu Changxing a few words of encouragement before skipping off into the mountains.

Xu Changxing returned to his room and examined the things the young Dao Attendant had delivered.

There were not many pills in the Storage Bag, but every one was of excellent quality.

Among them were Life-Vein Pills for healing injuries, Spirit-Consolidation Pills for quickly stabilizing and healing his spiritual sense, and Essence-Stabilizing Pills for stabilizing his dantian.

Each pill had its own use. Clearly, Liu Chenyu was worried that he might have suffered some internal injury during the day's matches.

Xu Changxing shook his head and put the pills away.

Although he had no use for them now, he could certainly keep them for a rainy day.

Besides the pills, the Storage Bag contained a pile of low-grade spirit stones.

Xu Changxing counted them and found that there were a full three thousand.

These spirit stones left him somewhat puzzled, since they did not seem likely to improve his performance in the tournament.

He could only assume that his master had noticed his thirst for spirit stones and casually given him a few.

That delighted him quite a bit.

With these three thousand low-grade spirit stones, even if he lost tomorrow, what he had left would still be enough for one simulation.

Xu Changxing excitedly put away the spirit stones before finally turning his attention to the disc-shaped artifact.

After studying it for a moment, he discovered that it was actually a Defensive Artifact of rather impressive quality.

Even more pleasing was the fact that he did not need to control it constantly.

As long as he activated it and kept it near him, it would automatically block attacks from his opponent's spell arts.

If he had possessed this artifact during his fight with Han Mingguan that day, he would not have needed to withstand that rain of talismans head-on.

Could Master think I was too reckless today?

Xu Changxing shook his head, somewhat speechless, and prepared to refine the artifact.

Hum!

He had only just taken the artifact in hand when the Greenwood Sword's Sword Pellet suddenly sprang out with a hum, as though competing with the Defensive Artifact for his favor.

Xu Changxing paused in surprise at the sight.

He had not expected this Sword Pellet to possess such spirituality.

Generally speaking, a Sword Pellet's spirituality was extremely weak when it was first refined.

Only after years of use by its owner would a flying sword's spirituality steadily increase.

When he had previously watched the simulation from a first-person perspective, the Greenwood Sword had only developed this degree of spirituality after he formed his golden core.

Yet now, he had only been refining the Greenwood Sword for a little over two months.

Xu Changxing asked thoughtfully, "Do you not want me to divide my attention between wielding you and defending myself?"

Hum!

He had no idea whether the Greenwood Sword truly understood him.

In any case, the moment Xu Changxing finished speaking, the flying sword gave another soft hum.

After pondering for a moment, he suddenly smiled.

"In that case, I won't use this Defensive Artifact.

"In tomorrow's battle against Ye Hong, I'll defeat him with you alone!"

As he finished speaking, a surge of heroic spirit suddenly welled up within him. The sword intent around him surged forth and poured into the Greenwood Sword.

Hum!

The Greenwood Sword's blade trembled gently, its sword light growing ever more concentrated.

Xu Changxing stood with the sword in hand, his entire being seamlessly united with the sword intent around him.

Had an ordinary Foundation Establishment cultivator stood before him at that moment, they might not even have been able to tell whether he was a man or a sword!

Before he knew it, the first glimmer of white had appeared on the horizon.

Still reluctant to let the experience end, Xu Changxing withdrew from his state of resonance with the Greenwood Sword.

He lightly flicked the Greenwood Sword's blade, then took a Qi-Restoring Pill from his Storage Bag.

Only after restoring himself to peak condition did he fly toward the tournament grounds on his sword.