He understood Gu Weixin's visit, but did not agree with him, much less intend to follow him. He had too many troubles of his own: his cultivation in the near term, and his identity further down the road. Getting mixed up with others was not appropriate.
Some would rather be a chicken's head, while others were content to be an ox's tail. His temperament meant he wanted only to preserve his independence; this was an indelible mark of a man of the law.
Only independence could preserve impartiality. Any circle would cost him that conviction.
More than half the outer courtyard cultivators went out to clear away the monsters, but there were also half who remained unmoved. As Hou Niao watched with cool detachment, news kept coming in: what monster had been slain in which place, who had stolen the limelight, and so on.
The extermination went smoothly. These were merely fish that had slipped through the net; otherwise, the Quanzhen Sect would never truly have left matters in their hands. Ten or so days later, the rogue cultivators returned in triumph, and it was time to announce the results of this mass recruitment.
...At the beginning of the new year, hundreds of cultivators from various countries had undergone all manner of trials. Now the outcome would finally be revealed.
That evening, the neighboring courtyard grew lively again with revelry after a campaign. Hou Niao had long since ceased finding it unusual. The Quanzhen Sect would post the list early tomorrow morning, and everyone would scatter their separate ways. This was their last gathering; they would not stop until they were drunk.
Hou Niao still shut himself away in his courtyard. The merriment did not belong to him. He could not afford to waste time.
As he set things in motion, the mysterious vortex slowly emerged in his lower Dantian, clearer than when it had first appeared, every minute detail distinct.
After more than a month of Qi Gathering, his progress had covered a thousand miles a day. The transformation of his skin and hair, flesh and blood, and bones was complete, and now his meridians were changing. These changes were gratifying, but the drawback was that the vortex kept growing. Whenever he activated his Dantian, whether he exerted himself or not, his divine soul would be sucked inside, as though this had become part of cultivation.
Worse still, he had already slain virtually all the other wandering souls in that passage. Now, whenever he entered, he was certain to encounter that wandering soul with exceptional swordsmanship, then be slain and thrown out, interrupting his cultivation in the process.
This was why his Qi Gathering had been ineffective over the past few days. He remained in the Soul Realm for too short a time-so short that his body outside could not even complete a single circulation.
The gap between him and this wandering soul was also closing rapidly. His increasingly resilient soul-body was one factor, but more importantly, he had begun to grasp the fundamentals of swordsmanship. He felt he had caught a glimpse of the true essence of the Sword Dao.
Of course, it was still only a hazy glimpse.
Their last few battles had already become back-and-forth exchanges. Only that final step remained.
His awareness flickered, and his divine soul entered the Soul Realm Passage. Almost as soon as he arrived, the wandering soul nearby leveled his longsword and lunged. Though he no longer possessed any awareness, this fellow must have been a belligerent soul in life. The mere sight of Hou Niao excited him...
Hou Niao's soul-body charged straight at him without hesitation. When crossing swords with this fellow, he could not afford the slightest weakness. He could not even defend. The only answer was to meet attack with attack, stop killing with killing, yield not an inch, and fight until death!
In an instant, the two spectral forms became entangled, like two figures dancing against a screen wall. All manner of inconceivable sword moves clashed without regret. Dozens of strikes passed, yet not one was purely defensive!
This was what Hou Niao had learned through countless deaths over the past month. He had gradually gone from a strategy centered on caution to a balance of offense and defense, and now he had become an outright sword maniac!
After dozens of strikes, a sword pierced his heart. In reality, that would have decided the outcome, but here, in a form made entirely of soul, it merely stripped away a portion of his soul-body's energy.
He paid it no heed and still fought with his life cast aside! Nor did he swing his sword wildly without method. His attacks were orderly and richly layered. This was his greatest improvement in sword combat: even when fighting desperately, he struck only after precise calculation, with even a hint of laying traps.
He kept his reason amid madness, and gave madness full rein within reason!
In such a battle, his head was severed after dozens of strikes, and his hands and feet were cut away after dozens more. Yet none of this weakening affected him. He remained calm, waiting for the slightest mistake from his opponent!
To wait for this day, he had already died hundreds of times. He believed the day would eventually come, and he also believed this wandering soul's swordsmanship could not remain inexhaustible forever.
At last, after being stabbed seven or eight times, he found an opening. As his opponent crossed past him, the wandering soul rolled with the momentum and thrust from the elbow. He had seen this move before and had already thought through his response...
He would not roll and thrust in return. That would achieve neither fighter's purpose.
He merely turned his body slightly, letting the other's longsword pass beneath his ribs, then bent his arm to clamp it in place. As his opponent instinctively pulled his sword back, Hou Niao thrust his own longsword out from beneath his elbow. Halfway through the thrust, he had already changed it into a sweeping cut!
This time, the wandering soul finally failed to evade. It was the first time he had been injured, but considering the solidity of their respective soul-bodies, this was a strike he could not withstand!
A piercing shriek rang out. Hou Niao felt as though he heard a trace of excitement in it, rather than fear before death!
Amid that shrill cry, the wandering soul's body flickered, finally failed to hold together, and dissolved into nothingness.
Hou Niao darted forward. Hmm, this soul-body's energy offered him almost no benefit. It was too weak. Yet such a weak soul had managed to cut him down hundreds of times!
He held his sword upright in salute. If souls, too, possessed a spirit, this must have been a Sword Soul?
He had not truly defeated this worthy opponent. He had merely relied on his stronger soul-body, which could take more punishment.
"Rest in peace. I didn't want to defeat you this way either. There's no honor in such a victory! But I had no choice. You insisted on blocking the way, and I had to get past."
Having finally cleared the obstacle before him, Hou Niao surged onward in excitement, driving his soul-body forward. Past this stretch, new wandering souls appeared ahead. Like a starving tiger sighting prey, Hou Niao leveled his sword and charged.
This was the most satisfying slaughter he had enjoyed since entering the Soul Realm. That Sword Soul had clearly been an exception. After the baptism of fighting him, Hou Niao's swordsmanship had undergone a qualitative leap. He treated these ordinary wandering souls as nothing, cutting through them like melons and vegetables, as though advancing through a realm devoid of souls.
In the end, carried away by excitement, he charged too fiercely, plunged into a group of wandering souls, and had his soul hacked apart by a flurry of blades!
Back in his own body, he felt the swelling brought on by prolonged Qi Gathering and could not help laughing aloud in satisfaction.
After enduring every hardship, he had finally passed the trial; after waiting for the clouds to part, he had seen the bright moon. If this was how things stood, perhaps the appearance of this vortex was not such a bad thing?
At least it would not affect him during the Qi Gathering Stage. As for afterward, he could only counter each move as it came.
Though he had yet to enter the Quanzhen Sect, he discovered a new feeling for the sword. Gently stroking the longsword in his hand, he sighed inwardly,
By what chance might I find the True Self Sword, to cut down the injustices of the mortal world?