Sword cultivators

The ninth day of the fifth month, on the frontier of the Chu Kingdom.

Silent Valley, in the Autumn Leaf Mountain Range.

Several clusters of old, simple buildings stood scattered across the eastern cliff face. This was the foothold of the three great sects.

The disciples taking turns guarding the valley and those carrying out missions usually stayed here.

Liaoran Hall, Council Pavilion.

A soundproofing formation shut out all sound from the surroundings. Wang Xi stared coldly at the spirit talismans and Law Artifacts hovering before him.

"I'm already at the Qi Refining eighth layer. Killing a few outer sect disciples from small sects at the Qi Refining fifth layer-having me ambush them is one thing... but do I really need these things?"

He raised his eyes, a trace of anger in his gaze, seemingly feeling slighted.

Shen Yu frowned. "Of course you don't. But you know, the sooner it's over, the more time we'll have... to turn it into an accident."

Shen Huai stood silently beside Shen Yu.

Shen Yu continued, "What I want isn't for you to fight two at once and win a great victory. I want you to erase the two sects' outer sect disciples with thunderous force, without a sound."

Like casually wiping away an ant while scratching an itch.

"Even without these, I can still..."

Wang Xi seemed to think of something. He clenched his fists and gritted his teeth.

Why does everyone look down on me? Whatever Zhou Liu can do, I, Wang Xi... can do too!

Shen Huai watched and sighed softly.

They had entered the sect in the same cohort, with the same dual spiritual root aptitude, yet Senior Brother Zhou Liu was already at the Qi Refining ninth layer, preparing to advance to the perfected Qi Refining tenth layer.

They were all proud, headstrong youths. None of them could accept such an outcome.

And so Wang Xi had become what he was now, resenting his master, his fellow disciples, and the injustice of the world.

Suddenly, he fell quiet. His gaze calmed, and his voice turned cold.

"Understood."

Shen Huai still wanted to offer a few reminders. "If there are other disciples..."

"Kill them too."

Wang Xi's emotionless voice cut her off.

In his view, the Xuanyuan Sect was every bit an emperor within the Chu Kingdom's cultivation world. If it took a fancy to a Spirit Vein or a spiritual mountain, it could simply seize it. Why hide anything?

Precocious from childhood, Shen Huai actually saw things more clearly than Wang Xi.

So many filthy deals between sects, selling out their disciples' interests for benefits, took place in precisely this fashion.

But the Dongyuan Sect was special. This procedure had to be followed, and followed with everything clearly accounted for.

"Buzz..."

A voice-transmission spirit talisman carried a report from a disciple outside the door.

"Elder Shen, the disciples from the Dongyuan Sect and Spirit Talisman Sect have all arrived."

"Come, let's go out and meet them."

Following Lu Ziye at the rear of the group of disciples, Song Yan stepped off the sect's flying Law Artifact, the Wind and Cloud Spirit Boat.

An ascetic cultivator who took part in almost no social activities, he did not know a single person here.

Yet just now, aboard the spirit boat, the senior brother and junior sister sitting on either side of him had chattered nonstop, and somehow Song Yan had become acquainted with the pair.

Shao Sichao, Qi Refining sixth layer.

Gu Qingqing, Qi Refining fifth layer, a disciple of Lianyou Peak.

One somewhat unusual feature of the Dongyuan Sect was that female cultivators' cave abodes were all assigned to Lianyou Peak in the Inner Sect, regardless of whether they were inner or outer sect disciples.

Everything else was the same as for male cultivators.

The other disciple was called Tang Lin. Song Yan did not know him either, though Shao Sichao occasionally exchanged a few words with him.

Come to think of it, this Senior Brother Shao's manner of speaking and his behavior struck Song Yan as somewhat familiar.

He vaguely felt that this was the stallholder who had sold forbidden books at the Night Market that day.

But he had no proof.

"Elder Xu, I trust you've been well since we last met."

"Heh, same as ever... your Spirit Talisman Sect, though-I hear you've recently taken quite a few promising seedlings into your fold..."

Quite a coincidence.

The Spirit Talisman Sect's party seemed to have only just arrived at Silent Valley as well.

Elder Xu Ziqing, who led the Dongyuan Sect's party, was exchanging pleasantries with Elder Zou of the Spirit Talisman Sect when Shen Yu flew over from the distance, accompanied by Shen Huai and Wang Xi.

Song Yan was unfamiliar with everyone else, but this elder and these disciples of the Xuanyuan Sect were, by contrast, the most familiar faces to him.

They had visited the Pill Workshop before and even given lessons.

"Elders, forgive me for not coming farther to welcome you."

For some reason, Xu Ziqing said little in response to Shen Yu, merely smiling.

The elders had matters of their own to discuss. The juniors all followed Silent Valley's arrangements and settled into their respective lodgings.

Some cultivators from the three sects knew one another and took this opportunity to meet and gather.

Some drank and chatted merrily; others... spent a lovely night beneath the moon.

No one came to chat with Song Yan.

Still, being a loner had its advantages.

With no one to disturb him, he could take a proper look at the miscellany of scenery and lore he had bought for two Spirit Stones at the Night Market that day, the Complete Record of Immortal Dao Scenery.

These past days, Song Yan had been wholly absorbed in training his Divine Sense and condensing that "Sword Dao True Essence," leaving him no time to read it.

"South of the Southern Sea, there is yet land. Upon it lies the Longbo Kingdom, whose inhabitants are giants a thousand zhang tall..."

It said that in High Antiquity, east of the Ancient Nether Sea, there had been a natural abyss that the ancients called "Guixu."

Within Guixu were five immortal mountains, all inhabited by immortals.

Fifteen great ao turtle demons bore the five immortal mountains on their backs, maintaining the distance between them.

Unexpectedly, there was an ancient Longbo Kingdom in the Southern Sea whose people were all a thousand zhang tall. One giant, with nothing better to do, fished up six of the great ao turtles carrying the immortal mountains. Thus, two of the mountains sank and vanished without a trace, leaving only three of the five.

The immortal lord in the heavens flew into a thunderous rage over this, turning the Longbo Kingdom into a place of exile and casting an immortal art that made their bodies shrink with each successive generation.

"..."

Song Yan fell silent...

People a thousand zhang tall?

Still, Song Yan was not here to question or correct the text. His Divine Sense continued scanning.

Skipping over some legends and myths, he finally found what he wanted to read.

In High Antiquity, cultivators of the Sword Dao had been very pure in their pursuit.

"A Life-Bound Flying Sword is something one can possess only after refining the Dao heart and comprehending Sword Intent."

The so-called sword cultivators and Life-Bound Flying Swords of today's cultivation world were merely cultivators skilled in attacking with sword-control techniques, and the Law Artifacts and Law Treasures they primarily wielded.

For the sword cultivators of High Antiquity, however, the Sword Case, the Sword Scabbard, the Sword Gourd-everything existed solely to nurture that one Life-Bound Flying Sword within the case.

Some abandoned Law Artifacts and Law Treasures, abandoned formations and talismans. The extremists among them even abandoned Spiritual Qi and their physical bodies, seeking only to comprehend supreme Sword Intent and Heavenly Craft Sword Techniques.

The Great Dao was simplicity itself. To slay an enemy, they struck with but one sword.

Reading this set Song Yan's heart surging.

But...

The Dao heart...?

Sword Intent?

To Song Yan, these profoundly mysterious things were wonders that a dull, talentless good-for-nothing like him would struggle to touch in an entire lifetime.

He drew a deep breath, forcibly suppressing that yearning and impulse in his heart.

At this moment, within the sea of Qi in Song Yan's Dantian, a strand of incomparably sharp, unusual spiritual power hovered quietly.

If he sank his Divine Sense into it, he would find that besides the sound of spiritual power and blood coursing through his limbs and body, there was also the faint yet piercing ring of a sword.

"Sword cultivators..."

With silence surrounding his lodgings, Song Yan closed his eyes and carefully experienced the Qi workings of this so-called "Sword Dao True Essence."

"..."

As though moved by some unseen impulse, he gently raised his right palm. The Sword Dao True Essence within his Dantian began to break apart, then gathered at the fingertips of his right hand.

He pressed his middle and index fingers together, and that keenly exposed presence sang at his fingertips.

"Buzz-"

The Sword Essence gradually began taking tangible form. Only when he felt a stabbing pain in his fingertips did Song Yan snap awake as though from a dream and hurriedly disperse the Sword Essence there.

That wisp of keenly exposed "Spiritual Qi" gathered once more within his Dantian, only slightly smaller than before.

"If this Sword Dao True Essence were unleashed on me, even with protective Spiritual Qi, it really would mean ten deaths and not a single chance of survival..."

Nearly a month of condensing spiritual power had yielded the might of this single sword strike.

Its power had not disappointed Song Yan.