Sword Mansion of the Dao-Subduing

Song Yan sat cross-legged inside the cavern, his fingers tightly interlocked, a faint white glow rising around him.

Spiritual power gathered around him, forming a sharp gleam of spiritual light within his body.

"Whew-"

Song Yan drew a deep breath. Hesitating no longer, he drove his spiritual power to sever the three spiritual roots at his Dantian in an instant and plunge into its depths.

"Cough..."

He gave a muffled grunt. His Qi and Blood fell into disorder, and beads of blood slowly began seeping through the skin all over his body.

Veins bulged along both arms, blood streaming like a torrent.

His black hair gradually began to wither and yellow.

His vitality was grievously damaged, his life hanging by a thread!

A sound like shattering porcelain came from his Dantian. His remaining spiritual power turned into white mist and poured out through his seven orifices.

Song Yan slowly opened his eyes. His once gentle eyes were now ashen, dull as ordinary iron.

His foundation in the Dao was utterly destroyed!

Strangely, the sharp strand of spiritual power used to sever his spiritual roots had not dispersed. It remained embedded deep within his Dantian.

Song Yan formed a peculiar sword seal. Spiritual light burst from his fingertips, and that remaining strand of spiritual power tore a mustard-seed-sized rift in his empty sea of Qi within his Dantian.

Excruciating pain surged over him like a tide.

Song Yan clenched his teeth, forcing himself to remain conscious.

If he passed out now, once this strand of spiritual power in his Dantian dispersed...

All his previous efforts would truly come to nothing, and he would have no hope of cultivating in this life.

The rift initially resembled a sword scar. As it breathed in and out, it devoured all the Essence Blood and Spiritual Qi within his Dantian's sea of Qi.

It gradually formed a green-leaf-shaped space slightly wider than the sword scar.

This was the initial form of the Sword Mansion of the Dao-Subduing.

Song Yan bit the tip of his tongue and drew out a strand of Essence Blood.

The Essence Blood condensed into a round bead, hovering shakily within the sword mansion in his Dantian.

The dispersing Spiritual Qi suddenly surged back, even plundering the Spiritual Qi from the surrounding mountains, forming a palm-sized vortex above Song Yan's head.

Humm-

An unknown amount of time passed before a soft hum sounded within his Dantian.

Only then did the Spiritual Qi vortex stop.

Looking inward, he saw a thin golden shell the size of a bodhi seed quietly suspended within the Sword Mansion of the Dao-Subduing in his Dantian's sea of Qi.

Joy rose in Song Yan's heart, but he did not let up.

"One more step."

He swallowed a Qi-Nourishing Pill he had prepared beforehand, and wisps of spiritual power were drawn into the thin golden shell.

Yet its spiritual power was exhausted in just a few breaths.

"It's actually not enough..."

For this sword Dao seed, the Qi-Nourishing Pill supplied spiritual power far too slowly.

He could only take out and swallow a Yellow Sprout Pill, while grasping two Spirit Stones in his hands.

The pure, surging spiritual power in his sea of Qi converged with the Spiritual Qi absorbed from the Spirit Stones above the Sword Mansion of the Dao-Subduing, gradually pouring into the thin golden shell.

The fine, profound patterns along the shell's edges slowly lit up.

The entire sword Dao seed gradually began to draw inward. The thin-shelled seed, originally the size of a bodhi seed, slowly shrank to the size of a lotus seed.

Song Yan swallowed another Yellow Sprout Pill. The Spiritual Qi in his sea of Qi churned violently, drawn into the golden lotus seed like a vortex.

In just a few breaths, less than a tenth of the Spiritual Qi in his body remained.

Fortunately, a change finally occurred at that moment.

Around the lotus seed, strange sword-shaped Spiritual Qi slowly unfurled like cicada wings, forming a peculiar lotus-seed shape.

Only then was Opening the Mansion, Planting the Sword fully accomplished.

Song Yan opened his eyes, feeling as though he had been dreaming.

On the nineteenth day of the fifth month, the sky was bright and the air clear.

Xiao He sat not far from Song Yan's temporary cave abode, weaving something from grass cord.

Grandpa had taught her this grass-cord craft. Song Yan had no interest in it, but she loved it.

Those disorderly grass cords were joined and interwoven, ultimately becoming something so delicate and orderly.

When Xiao He first saw it, she was deeply captivated by this dexterous human craft.

So during the time Yanyan was not beside her, she wove things herself every day for fun and to relieve her boredom. Unfortunately, her grass-cord weaving never reached Grandpa's level back then.

"Oh, that's wrong..."

From time to time, she picked it up and examined it carefully, yet seemed dissatisfied, kneading and adjusting it.

"Good!"

She set the strange object woven from blades of grass on the open ground.

Beside it, all sorts of oddly shaped grass-cord "creations" were arranged in neat order.

This was the eighth.

Once it was in place, Xiao He began examining these things with solemn concentration, starting with the first and muttering to herself.

"On the first day, nothing happened! What I ate was a little field mouse."

"On the second day, there was such a big cloud in the sky, like Grandpa's herb basket!"

"There were no field mice..."

"On the third day..."

Xiao He wanted to tell Yanyan everything that had happened each day once he emerged from seclusion.

But her memory was poor.

In the past, there had always been so many interesting things, but by the time Yanyan came to play with her, she had already forgotten them.

She had cried in frustration over this many times.

She also worried that, as before, she would not see Yanyan for many, many days.

So she thought of a good solution: weave one grass cord each day, so that when she saw it, she would not forget.

"On the sixth day... Huh? What was this again..."

"What was it again..."

Oh no, Xiao He had forgotten what this grass cord she had woven was!

It had only happened two days ago!

"Think carefully, think carefully..."

"What was it again..."

Xiao He grew so anxious that her little face flushed red.

A familiar voice came from above and behind her. "It looks like a little frog."

"Ah! Right! It was a little frog!"

Xiao He's eyes lit up. Then, realizing someone was behind her, she turned and saw Song Yan watching her with a smile.

She immediately felt a little embarrassed.

"Hehe... On the fifth day, I met a little frog."

"Where's the little frog?"

"Ah-"

Xiao He opened her little mouth and pointed inside, then rubbed her little belly. "I ate it."

"..."

Song Yan found it both funny and heartbreaking.

This child had a one-track mind. Told to guard the cave entrance, she really had not budged an inch.

"Yanyan, have your injuries healed?"

Song Yan nodded. "More or less."

Xiao He sniffed, sensing that the spiritual power on Yanyan had diminished by a great deal.

But that was all right. As long as he was fine.

This time, Yanyan had been away from her for such a short time!

Xiao He turned into a snake and slipped into his sleeve.

"...You don't want these grass cords anymore?"

"Nope!"

Song Yan examined the grass cords on the ground a while longer, then tucked them into his Heaven and Earth Bag with interest.

"What a waste."

"That's nothing. There are another five hundred and forty-two little grass cords in the cave on Little Solitary Mountain..."

"You've woven that many...?"

"Of course!"

Opening the Mansion, Planting the Sword had taken three full days.

Cultivating back to Qi Refining, First Layer, however, had taken only five days.

Song Yan had his own considerations about recultivating.

He still did not know where this place was. The journey back to the sect from here was probably long, and without basic spiritual power to wield, he feared he would meet his end if he encountered rogue cultivators lying in wait to rob travelers.

Moreover, most cultivators retained some strength when their cultivation fell after grievous injuries. If his spiritual power were completely gone, it would instead look false.

Besides, his original spiritual roots had disappeared, replaced by that golden lotus seed surging with Sword Qi.

His cultivation method was still the original Qi Condensation Scroll. After a rough assessment, his Spiritual Qi absorption speed seemed slightly slower than before.

However, the Spiritual Qi he cultivated was more condensed. As the lotus seed hummed softly, strands of Spiritual Qi gradually transformed into part of the Sword Qi surrounding it.

Furthermore, this sword Dao seed could be strengthened through fusion and refinement.

The general outline mentioned that Supreme Spiritual Objects, Sword Dao True Intention, and Life-Bound Flying Swords could all raise the grade of the sword Dao seed.

"Whew-"

He drew a deep breath.

Song Yan strode out of these remote mountains.

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