Chapter 9
In a single day, the story of the heavenly lightning I summoned while forming my Golden Core made me mildly famous throughout the Changheng Sect.
Of course, Li Yuan became famous along with me.
The sect’s disciples jokingly called the incident “Li Yuan Raises Hell on Canglan Peak.”
This was what happened—
After I finished humiliating Ah Yuan, Li Yuan abruptly dropped to the ground like a village shrew and began to wail.
“Goddamn Shen Du! Kidnapping my precious disciple was bad enough, but then you let her suffer such humiliation on Canglan Peak! You may look down on her, but do you know how precious she is to me? She’s my heart, my very life! You bastards owe me an explanation!”
Shen Du had always carried himself with serene, spotless elegance. This was his first encounter with such a shameless scoundrel. His temple throbbed like a flea jumping beneath the skin. Only after enduring it for a long while did he grit out, “What do you want?”
Wiping at his tears, Li Yuan raised five fingers. “Nothing less than fifty thousand high-grade spirit stones can settle this.”
Shen Du: “…”
For one instant, his habitually composed expression cracked. He drew a deep breath, took fifty thousand spirit stones from his storage pouch, and tossed them to Li Yuan.
Canglan Peak might be wealthy, but even it could not afford to hand out fifty thousand stones at a time forever.
I stared at Shen Du’s money pouch, silently calculating how much he had left.
Ah Yuan’s eyes reddened with fury, but she could do nothing against us. I was now the Changheng Sect’s prized prospect, while Li Yuan was impervious to reason or persuasion. After nursing her grievance for a long while, Ah Yuan could only look at Shen Du.
“Master, sob…”
Before she could say anything else, Shen Du suddenly swept her with a cold glance.
From a certain perspective, Ah Yuan had caused today’s entire disaster.
He favored her, but disliked troublemakers. Before, he had dismissed her behavior as mere willfulness. Now that the trouble had reached his own doorstep, much of his indulgence toward her abruptly vanished.
“Return to your room and reflect on your mistakes. You are not to come out without my permission.”
Leaving those words behind, Shen Du hurried away.
Ah Yuan bit her lip. Her tears refused to fall for a long moment, and at last, she glared viciously at me.
Before seeing Li Yuan off Canglan Peak, I casually asked him about Big Sword.
Sure enough, he looked utterly bewildered. “That happened? I just picked the sword up somewhere at the foot of the mountain.”
I knew it.
After forming my Golden Core, I cultivated on Canglan Peak for several more days.
One night, while I was meditating, an extraordinarily seductive female voice suddenly called,
“Fellow Daoist? Fellow Daoist?”
I opened my eyes and saw the phantom of a dark red sword engraved with intricate runes standing before me.
I nearly blurted, “Big Sword?”
Big Sword: “…What a terrible name.”
After a moment of silence, she said, “Forget it. Whatever makes you happy.”
I rose and reached for her, then remembered Shen Du calling her a demonic sword and drew my hand back.
Big Sword sneered. “What are you afraid of? Do you truly believe that male cultivator?”
“What do you mean?”
“He lied. I’m no demonic sword. I am a divine sword that fell from the Celestial Realm into the Demon Realm during the Immortal-Demon War ten thousand years ago. My former master placed seals on me only because I absorbed too much demonic energy in the Demon Realm. That energy is gone now. Once the seals are broken, I can make my return. With me in your hand, you’ll be invincible!”
My eyes lit up. “You’re that powerful?”
She said proudly, “Of course. You can see my sword spirit only because forming your Golden Core caused your cultivation to soar. Otherwise, I still couldn’t speak with you. But that male cultivator wants to destroy my sword spirit. I can’t maintain this form for long. You must hurry and save me.”
I asked, “Really?”
She said, “Of course it’s true. Hurry. Break the formation and free me.”
“Oh.” I lay back down on the bed. “Why should I believe you? Do you take me for a three-year-old?”
She: “…”
Big Sword immediately panicked. Her sword spirit circled my bed, chattering without pause.
“No, listen. I’m a divine sword, one with a sword spirit! If you don’t trust me, who can you trust? Would a divine sword like me deceive some insignificant young female cultivator?”
I picked at my toes. “You said it yourself—I’m insignificant. What if you use me to break the seals, then turn on me the moment you’re free?”
Big Sword fell silent for a moment before saying through gritted teeth, “I won’t. If you don’t trust me, form a life-and-death pact with me. If I’m telling the truth, you gain a divine sword for nothing. If I deceived you, you can destroy my sword spirit at any time.”