The Arrogant Sword

In the end, Sang Ying still went out, after all, even Jiang Zhuoxue himself didn't know when he would be able to return to human form.

According to him, it was the opening of that temporary tunnel, coupled with the inability to fully retrieve the power that had been left outside, that caused his current lack of power, forcing him to revert to his original form to recuperate.

However, Sang Ying didn't care about any of that. She had just sold all the sea creatures she had hunted over the past few days to a purchasing point in Golden Sea City.

Although their prices weren't the highest, they were the only shop in the entire Golden Sea City that could afford to buy all of Sang Ying's batch of sea beast materials.

There was no other way; life on the island was too boring. The astonishing number of sea monsters they hunted down was the result of Sang Ying and her group's restraint.

Perhaps because they rarely encountered such a customer, the shopkeeper smiled and waved to Sang Ying before she left the store, saying, "Come again when you have time, and I'll give you an even fairer price then!"

The implication is that the price is not fair enough.

However, this is only natural, since the Demon Beast that Sang Ying gave him wasn't of a high level, and she was a newcomer, so naturally she wouldn't fetch a good price.

Sang Ying nodded to the other person, but sighed inwardly: There won't be a next time.

After disposing of the sea monsters' corpses, the Storage Bag, which had been emptied during the tribulation, began to swell up again.

Still perched on Sang Ying's shoulder, Jiang Zhuoxue guessed that she wanted to buy a sword next, so she rummaged through her memories in the corner and said to Sang Ying, "I remember there's a nice little shop in Spirit Prefecture. If you want to buy a spirit sword, you could try their stuff."

The black snake, now covered in fine, light scales, raised its tail and pointed in a direction, seemingly certain that Sang Ying would heed its advice.

However, Sang Ying did not refuse, since she really didn't know anything about the town.

Following Jiang Zhuoxue's directions, Sang Ying searched all the way and finally found the "little shop" he had mentioned.

The towering five-story building, entirely painted in a dazzling vermilion, was an opulent structure that seemed completely out of place in Golden Sea City.

The extremely flamboyant name "Tianxia Lou" (meaning "All Under Heaven Pavilion") is quite fitting for the building's appearance.

Now that we're here, there's no reason for us to leave empty-handed.

Sang Ying followed the flow of people into the store. After learning the location of the spirit sword from the shop assistant, she went straight to the third floor.

Before she even reached the third floor, she could hear voices coming from afar:

"Don't underestimate the swords in our All Under Heaven Pavilion. Although not every one of them is a peerless treasure, each one is a rare gem. These swords have been nurtured with Spiritual Qi for many years and have long since developed sentience; they have quite the tempers!"

"They're very picky. If they don't take a liking to you, even if you give me a Spirit Crystal, I can't make the sword follow you!"

Although the speaker used respectful words, his tone was full of arrogance, as if he were very proud of being able to descend from the All Under Heaven Pavilion.

After hearing his explanation, the other person was also surprised. "Are the swords here really as powerful as you say? I've only ever heard of people choosing swords, never swords choosing people!"

The man who had spoken earlier immediately laughed, "If you don't believe me, then come and try! If you can take the sword, I'll give it to you for free!"

Then the male cultivator tried again and failed, Sang Ying could hear his frustrated voice from downstairs.

"Your swords are so arrogant, do you think anyone would want to buy them?"

The other party chuckled and said, "Wouldn't it be even better if no one bought them? That would prove that no one in this world is worthy of the swords in my tower. If someone were to win the favor of these spirit swords, they would surely be a powerful figure with unlimited potential. In that case, I would give all the swords to them and make a good connection. What's wrong with that?"

The man's words were so arrogant that he probably had a powerful backer behind him; otherwise, he wouldn't have dared to offend his customer so openly.

Sang Ying appeared amidst the man's smug laughter. Standing before the door, she looked around before speaking softly, "Shopkeeper, I want a sword."

The shopkeeper, the man who had initially spoken arrogantly, immediately revealed a cryptic smile upon hearing this, "This fairy seems to be unaware of our rules here. We select people through spirit swords..."

As soon as he finished speaking, with Sang Ying stepping into the room, all the spirit swords on the third floor suddenly began to hum.

Whether they were placed on shelves, hung on walls, or even deeply embedded in stones... all those swords that were originally lifeless seemed to awaken at this moment, trembling wildly.

This strange phenomenon quickly sparked discussion among the people inside the building, because the power of these spirit swords trembling was truly astonishing, causing the entire All Under Heaven Pavilion to shake.

Suddenly, the sword stuck in the stone flew up and stabbed fiercely towards Sang Ying.

As soon as the sword in the stone moved, the other swords seemed to be summoned as well, and they rushed over one after another.

Seeing the stance of those spirit swords, Sang Ying initially thought they were going to harm her, and quietly picked up her bone sword.

The next second, more than a dozen spirit swords hovered in front of Sang Ying, pushing and shoving each other, trying to throw the other out, as if vying for favor, each trying its best to show off in front of Sang Ying.

The male cultivator who had been chatting with the shopkeeper was now completely dumbfounded. He turned to the shopkeeper and questioned, "This is the sword you described as having a very strong temper?!"

Although the female cultivator looked quite young to be Golden Core cultivator, there have been plenty of Golden Core cultivators in their twenties or thirties in the Immortal Spirit Realm! This is not unusual at all.

Therefore, the male cultivators really couldn't understand how Sang Ying, a mere female cultivator, could attract so many spirit swords to fight over her.

The innkeeper, who had never seen anything like this before, took out a handkerchief to wipe the sweat from his brow and bravely offered an explanation. "It's a misunderstanding, a misunderstanding. Perhaps that female cultivator possessed something that attracted the spirit sword. Besides, look, the Sword King in our All Under Heaven Pavilion hasn't even been touched yet..."

The word "there" stuck in the shopkeeper's throat, because before he could finish his words, he saw that the sword that was placed on the highest shelf and had the most momentum started to move!

It flew straight towards the young female cultivator!

As expected of the Sword King, the moment it moved, the other spirit swords instantly fell silent. Even the dozen or so spirit swords that had previously flown in front of Sang Ying to "compete for favor" could only reluctantly give way, allowing the Sword King to fly smoothly to Sang Ying's side.

Unlike other spirit swords that wanted to show off their strength to Sang Ying, it directly and forcefully squeezed itself into Sang Ying's belt, carrying its jewel-encrusted scabbard.

After it was properly secured to Sang Ying's waist, the sword instantly returned to its previous stillness, as if it had never "awakened" at all.

Sang Ying:... Am I... being scammed by a sword?

Male cultivator:... What happened to your arrogance?!