Chapter 3

To his surprise, as soon as he unwrapped it and wiped away the ointment, blood welled out again.

It had been bandaged for most of the day, yet the wound showed no sign of healing! This was spirit medicine containing ingredients from Spirit Plants.

Something had to be wrong!

Shan Heyuan panicked. He raised his hand, intending to find a fresh strip of cloth to bandage the wound before going back to the clinic, when he heard a "whoosh" as something cut through the air.

He looked up instinctively. A wooden talisman slipped out of the pile of talismans and flew straight into his hand. It pressed against his wound and sucked at his blood.

The suction was so fierce that Shan Heyuan could feel the blood rushing out of his body through the wound, drawn away by the talisman.

It sucked so quickly that half his arm went cold and numb.

It all happened in an instant.

Shan Heyuan cried out and immediately reached over with his other hand, grabbing the talisman and trying to tear it away.

At that critical moment, a red figure appeared and reached for the talisman as well.

Shan Heyuan instinctively looked up. In that fleeting moment, all he saw was a pair of eyes like cold stars.

Before he could react further, his hand collided with the red figure's.

But both of them grasped at empty air. A second before they caught it, the wooden talisman pressed into the wound and vanished into Shan Heyuan's body.

Shan Heyuan could even feel the swelling ache in his meridians as the wooden talisman burrowed into his arm!

Horrified, he looked up instinctively and met the red-clad figure's gaze.

The person in red frowned too, staring at Shan Heyuan's hand, seemingly about to act.

This is bad!

Sensing danger, Shan Heyuan reacted swiftly. He reached to the side, trying to grab the communication talisman on the table and call Ma Rupei for help.

The person in red was even faster. A hand clamped around his wrist like an iron shackle, stopping him.

Shan Heyuan struggled hard twice, but could not break free.

Still frowning, the person in red said, "The broken sword has bound itself to you."

So that wooden talisman was the broken sword?

Shan Heyuan's mind could not keep up for a moment. He did not know what the man meant, but he keenly sensed that the man seemed to mean him no harm.

Only then did he have the presence of mind to study the man before him.

The man was exceptionally tall, with broad shoulders, a narrow waist, and handsome features. He wore an old dark red robe and carried the presence of an expert.

Frowning, the man stared fixedly at his hand.

Shan Heyuan knew neither where the man had come from nor who he was. All he could tell was that the man was definitely more skilled than he was, and that his appearance here had something to do with the wooden talisman.

Holding up his hand, blood still dripping from it, he called cautiously, "Senior?"

The man looked down at him, his frown deepening. "You have no cultivation?"

Shan Heyuan said, "I'm a mortal."

The man looked him up and down, then tossed him a strip of cloth from the side, gesturing for him to bandage the wound. "Since you're a mortal, how did the broken sword burrow into your Dantian?"

Shan Heyuan looked utterly bewildered, even more confused than the man.

Seeing his expression, the man said, "I am this sword's sword spirit. The broken sword is in your Dantian, so I can't leave. I'll have to stay with you for a while."

Shan Heyuan knew this was not a matter open to discussion. He nodded obediently and asked, "What should I call you, senior?"

The man said, "Shen Duheng."

Shan Heyuan asked, "Senior Shen, um, will the broken sword being in my Dantian have any effect on me?"

Shen Duheng looked at him. "It's already a broken sword. It doesn't need much spiritual power, so the effect won't be significant."

Shan Heyuan said, "I'm a mortal. I don't have spiritual power."

Shen Duheng said, "Then it will have to suck your Blood Qi to get by."

Chapter 3

In the morning, while the sun was still down and the weather was cool, Shan Heyuan squatted in the courtyard pulling weeds. He planned to clear the patch of ground and plant some Spirit Plants.

He was hard at work when he suddenly heard the creak of the door opening.

He looked up in surprise and saw Ma Rupei standing outside the door, looking at him.

Shan Heyuan stood up at once. "Senior Brother Ma! What brings you here?"

Ma Rupei said, "Didn't you send me a message saying you wanted spirit beast meat? I had some time, so I brought it over on my way."

Ma Rupei looked at Shan Heyuan and suddenly said, "Why does your complexion look so bad? You can't rush cultivation, and don't take pills at random. It would be terrible if they left you with hidden problems."

Shan Heyuan found it hard to speak about the broken sword in his Dantian, so he could only explain, "I haven't taken any. I just got hurt by accident and lost a little too much blood."

A look of suspicion appeared on Ma Rupei's face. He took a large slab of spirit beast meat from his storage ring and handed it to him. "Then you do need to build yourself back up."

Shan Heyuan accepted it. "Thank you for the trouble, senior brother. Come in for some tea."

Ma Rupei said, "Next time. I have something to do in a bit."

Shan Heyuan hurriedly took out some spirit beads. "Senior brother, how many spirit beads?"

Ma Rupei said, "It wasn't much. Just focus on recovering. I'll be going."

Shan Heyuan grabbed a handful of spirit beads and pressed them on him. "That won't do. You've already gone to the trouble of making the trip. How could I let you pay for it too?"

He was adamant, so Ma Rupei had no choice but to accept 120 spirit beads. He also reminded him to make sure he recovered his health and not to rush his cultivation.

Shan Heyuan agreed repeatedly.

After Ma Rupei said goodbye, Shan Heyuan took the meat to the kitchen, divided it into portions, and stir-fried some and marinated the rest.

Since it was already getting late, he went ahead and made lunch too.

When lunch was ready, he brought the food to the table and called Shen Duheng to eat with him.

The dishes were all made with ingredients containing Spiritual Qi, so a sword spirit could eat them too.

Shen Duheng came over, looked at the dishes on the table, and said, "Building yourself up won't help."

Shan Heyuan looked up at him. "I don't have any other way."

When Shan Heyuan got up that morning, he had looked in the mirror and found that his face had turned sallow.

If the broken sword kept sucking at him like this, he figured the day would come when it drained every last drop of his heart's blood.

Shen Duheng frowned slightly.

Shan Heyuan said, "I noticed you can't return to the broken sword, senior. Hasn't your form grown a little less solid these past few days?"

Over the past two days, Shan Heyuan had made the most of his time and read up on many things. He had learned that sword spirits were spirit bodies, and that before reaching the Nascent Soul Stage, it was best for them to return to their spirit swords every day to be nurtured.

Only after cultivating a Nascent Soul and gaining a physical form could their connection to their spirit swords weaken.

Although Shen Duheng's presence was powerful, Shan Heyuan guessed that this senior was still quite a long way from reaching the Nascent Soul Stage.

Shan Heyuan reckoned that the broken sword burrowing into his Dantian had definitely had a significant effect on Shen Duheng.

Shen Duheng did not answer, but Shan Heyuan did not mind. He went on, "Senior, do you have any way to resolve the predicament we're in?"

Shen Duheng said, "The only way is for you to cultivate. Once you have cultivation, you can take the broken sword out, and we can both escape this predicament in one stroke."

Shan Heyuan smiled bitterly. "I thought of that too, but my meridians are blocked unusually tight. There's no way to clear them for now."

Earlier, Ma Rupei had asked the elders of the Supreme Harmony Sect to examine his meridians.

The Daoist masters of the Supreme Harmony Sect had said that perhaps because he came from a world with no Spiritual Qi at all, impurities had built up in his meridians, blood, and flesh since childhood and fused with them, making them especially difficult to clear.

None of the clinics in Jingzhishan Town could clear them. He would have to go to a major city elsewhere and find a physician at the Core Formation Stage or above to have a sliver of hope.

Shen Duheng said, "It is indeed a predicament."

Shan Heyuan sighed. "We can't just sit here and wait for death. I've spent a long time thinking about it these past few days, but I still haven't found a way out. Do you have any suggestions, senior?"

Shen Duheng glanced at him. "This is your predicament."

Shan Heyuan said, "The broken sword has entered my Dantian and bound itself to me. Isn't my predicament yours as well, senior?"

Shen Duheng said, "A mortal can only affect the broken sword so much. When you die, I'll simply take the spirit sword back."

Shan Heyuan said at once, "The Supreme Harmony Sect has helped me a great deal since I transmigrated here. When I die, I'll go to the Supreme Harmony Sect to do it and leave the broken sword in my Dantian to them."

Shen Duheng looked at him with the hint of a smile. "Are you threatening me?"

Shan Heyuan said, "I wouldn't dare. I have nothing to my name, and this is the only way I can repay them even a little."