Seeing that Xiang Heng was about to activate the formation plate, Jing Ran had to make a choice: “Uncle, may I stay here?”
Xiang Heng’s hand paused, though he wasn’t surprised.
When mortals come to the cultivation world and witness mystical powers, they naturally desire to cultivate and seek immortality.
But Xiang Heng didn’t encourage it: “Young man, this path…”
This path isn’t easy. In this world, many cultivate simply to survive.
But this young man’s physical foundation was indeed excellent, and his comprehension exceptional. Since he had developed the desire to enter the Way, to cut off someone’s path would be like killing their parents.
Xiang Heng: “How about this—I’ll send you back first to say goodbye to your parents, and after some time, I’ll bring you over again.”
This would consume much of Xiang Heng’s energy, but considering that he had summoned the wrong person, the young man’s parents must be suffering terribly, he truly felt guilty.
Jing Ran shook his head, refusing: “Aren’t cultivators supposed to sever earthly ties? Let them think I’m dead; they’ll grieve for a while and then move on. Besides, I still have a younger brother. If they knew I was cultivating, they’d worry for their entire lives.”
Xiang Heng was momentarily speechless.
He increasingly felt that this young man was truly suited for cultivation, the path of no emotions.
Xiang Heng agreed first: “Alright, if you regret it, tell me anytime. But I must inform you that after building your foundation, it won’t be easy to return, as the formation plate can’t withstand it.”
Jing Ran stepped down from the formation plate and performed a standard local salute with cupped hands: “Thank you.”
On his way back, he came face to face with Xiang Tianqing.
The young mistress of Yin Sha City wore a crimson dress, tall and graceful, as beautiful as peach blossoms.
Jing Ran nodded to her in acknowledgment, then continued on his way.
Xiang Tianqing, however, turned to look at him once more before gazing toward Xiang Heng on the high platform.
The word “Father” caught in Xiang Tianqing’s throat. Her feelings had always been conflicted, hoping her father could fulfill his wish of bringing his biological daughter over.
Yet her heart was uneasy and bitter.
Her father said he loved both equally, but could he?
Blood relations were ultimately different, weren’t they?
…
While Xiang Tianqing was looking at others, someone was also using their divine sense to observe her.
That man had a pair of beautiful, slender hands, and he was carefully admiring them, fingers crossed.
“Both hands loved equally?” He sneered. “These lowly mortals always like to make the young miss unhappy.”
Inside the Ten Thousand Bones Cave.
Xiang Haikui sat cross-legged with the Heaven Fury Sword resting across her knees, waiting for her first sword path lesson.
Qi Yin also sat cross-legged, his chains clanking and sparking as they moved.
“Usually when I teach disciples, I select a sword suitable for them, gift them an appropriate sword manual, and offer one piece of advice.”
Xiang Haikui listened attentively.
Qi Yin: “Before using a sword, first learn to use your brain. No matter how powerful a sword is, it’s merely an extension of your arm.”
Xiang Haikui nodded vigorously: “Disciple will remember.”
“However,” Qi Yin suddenly changed course, “you are different. You don’t need to use your brain.”
Xiang Haikui:?
Qi Yin slightly lowered his gaze to the Heaven Fury Sword on her knees: “This sword comes from an ancient sword sect, the Sword Gate. The founder of Sword Gate spent his entire life forging twelve divine swords, namely: Heaven Grief, Heaven Wound, Heaven Tribulation, Heaven Virtue, Heaven Ruin…”
Heaven Fury was the last of the twelve divine swords.
“The cultivation method for the twelve divine swords differs from ordinary swords.”
Xiang Haikui was confused: “How is it different?”
Qi Yin: “The cultivation method for each divine sword is sealed within its sword realm. First, pick up Heaven Fury.”
Xiang Haikui did as instructed.
Qi Yin: “Close your eyes and look at it with your heart.”
This was quite challenging. Xiang Haikui struggled for some time before her consciousness finally entered Heaven Fury’s “sword mirror.”
Cultivating Heaven Fury was simple—one had to be sufficiently wild, as recognized by the Heaven Fury Sword.
When you’re wild enough, you generate something called “wild intent.”
The wild intent is absorbed by Heaven Fury. When enough wild intent accumulates, the sword master enters a state of wild transformation, equivalent to unleashing an ultimate skill in a game.
The sword master grows flood dragon horns on their head, and their lips turn black, appearing as if possessed by demons.
When reaching a certain realm, the sword master directly merges with the sword, transforming into a black flood dragon…
After seeing all this, Xiang Haikui had only one thought.
Is this even a sword?
That Sword Gate founder must have been a game developer who transmigrated, right?
She trembled: “Master, does that mean I’ll cultivate into a flood dragon?”
Qi Yin: “Heaven Fury was originally a demonic sword, suitable for wild and unrestrained demon cultivators, so it has no requirements for spirit roots.”
She looked dejected: “Oh.”
Qi Yin sternly questioned: “Do you discriminate against demon cultivators?”
“How could I?” Xiang Haikui didn’t understand why he suddenly became angry and hurriedly explained.
She just felt that others who cultivated swords were elegant and graceful, cleaving through nineteen provinces with a single gleaming sword.
Yet she would become a great monster, relying on tough skin to confront opponents.
Qi Yin raised his eyebrows, about to scold her, but remembering she was a female disciple, he suppressed his temper.
“Many years ago, there was such a flood dragon. The dragon race in his world believed that creatures like flood dragons lowered the bloodline of dragons and shouldn’t exist, so they massacred the entire flood dragon race…”
Suddenly telling a story, Xiang Haikui composed herself to listen while glancing at the flood dragon coiled on the Heaven Fury Sword.
In the story, that flood dragon truly suffered, hunted by the dragon race, hiding everywhere in misery. He finally established a home, but before long, his wife and children were also brutally killed…
The anger in his heart could no longer be suppressed.
He vowed to climb to the peak and return for revenge.
“He made efforts unimaginable to ordinary beings. Finally, at the peak of his tribulation, when merging with the Dao to transform into a dragon, he sensed his destiny.”
Haikui was curious: “What destiny?”
Qi Yin: “The Lone Star of Death. One thousand years to become a dragon, three thousand years to become a winged dragon, six thousand years to become a celestial dragon.”
Haikui exclaimed: “So has he already become a celestial dragon?”
No, that’s not right. If he had become a celestial dragon in the Upper Realm, how could he be forged into a sword by someone in the Lower Realm?
“Did he fail?”
“Yes.” Qi Yin sighed. “After glimpsing his destiny, he suddenly realized that all his life’s efforts had lost meaning. His parents’ tragic deaths, the unbearable suffering of his early life—none of it was the fault of those enemies.”
Did he take revenge? No.
The culprit who killed his entire race was fate, was himself.
It was said that heaven bestows great tasks upon worthy individuals.
So, his entire race, his wife, and his children were merely fulfilling the great task heaven had bestowed upon him.
Thus, he abandoned his dragon transformation and killed himself by crashing into the Heavenly Dao Mountain, rebelling against the fate heaven had assigned him.
It was the Sword Gate founder who collected his remains, and with his permission, used his flood dragon pearl and bones to forge this Heaven Fury Sword.
Xiang Haikui: …
This wasn’t wildness; this was madness, wasn’t it?
But the boundary between madness and wildness wasn’t so clear, and no one could judge whether he was right or wrong.
After a moment of silence, Haikui reached out to touch the Heaven Fury Sword on her lap.
Looking again at the black dragon coiled on the sword’s body, her gaze gradually changed.
The timing was perfect. Qi Yin asked: “The Heavenly Dao let the flood dragon enter the Way through countless tribulations to gain immortality, yet the flood dragon chose a magnificent death. Now, if heaven wants to destroy you, what will you do?”
Xiang Haikui gritted her teeth: “I insist on living, living a carefree and joyful life!”
Qi Yin laughed heartily in satisfaction.
…
In Xiang Haikui’s second sword path lesson, Qi Yin only taught basic skills like chopping, splitting, and lifting, instructing her to practice three hours daily.
The third lesson was about combat strategies.
Qi Yin: “Actually, the essence of cultivating Heaven Fury is captured in one word: attack. But not blindly. When facing heavy sword opponents… or light sword types…”
Xiang Haikui listened very attentively: “Master, I have a question.”
“Ask.”
“If someday I provoke a powerful opponent like you, how should I approach it?”
Qi Yin was silent for a moment: “You only need to say one thing.”
Xiang Haikui:?
Qi Yin: “Shout at them, ‘I’ll haunt you even as a ghost!'”
Xiang Haikui laughed: “Master, you’re joking, haha.”
Qi Yin raised his voice: “Still laughing? You’re the one joking with me! Are you bored out of your mind? Why would you provoke someone at my level? And you’re asking me how to deal with them? Why not ask me how to poke a hole in the sky?!”
Xiang Haikui remained completely calm because she couldn’t hear what her master was scolding her about.
Her ears were already ringing from the blast.
…
The fourth lesson was practical training.
Since Qi Yin was imprisoned, he couldn’t take her out for practice, so this task fell to Yin Changli.
Yin Changli worried for two days.
Because after learning that Heaven Fury’s awakening was related to him being scolded, Qi Yin forced him to join in teaching Xiang Haikui.
He had only one task: provide “wild intent.”
This way, by the end of the hundred-day intensive training, Xiang Haikui wouldn’t just be transformed but would soar directly upward.
Yin Changli felt like he had lifted a rock only to drop it on his foot.
After leaving the small black ball, the two landed above a canyon.
Yin Changli pointed at three beasts in the valley: “Miss Xiang, let’s start practicing with these little dogs.”
Xiang Haikui looked over, her mouth twitching. Was he taking advantage of her unfamiliarity with the cultivation world’s animal species?
Unfortunately for him, this animal existed on Earth too—hyenas.
They look like dogs and have “dog” in their name, but they’re not dogs and are very ferocious.
And these hyenas born in the cultivation world might have some cultivation abilities, making them even more ferocious.
With her current foundation, fighting three wouldn’t be a problem. The issue was that hyenas are pack animals, and in the canyon caves, there might be an entire pack.
The canyon wind was strong. Yin Changli’s hair scattered in the wind as he elegantly gathered it: “If you don’t like them, you can choose something else. But in this Fierce Wind Plain with its hundred thousand beasts, you specifically counter these little dogs.”
Gathering his hair was useless; his long locks brushed against Xiang Haikui’s face. She moved away from him and drew the Heaven Fury Sword from its scabbard: “Heaven Fury specifically counters hyenas?”
Yin Changli avoided answering: “I’ll send you down, but I won’t bring you back up.”
She nodded: “Then it’s a fight to the death.”
Currently, she couldn’t yet perform roof-walking or wall-climbing, let alone flying.
Yin Changli waved his sleeve, and she was carried by the wind down into the canyon.
Before the three hyenas could react, she charged forward with her sword, leaping into the air, doing a split mid-air, shifting her center of gravity downward, and slashing down!
With a series of continuous moves, she dealt with the three, but just as she was marveling at her strength, a large pack of hyenas rushed out from over a dozen caves, surrounding her.
Despite being prepared, Xiang Haikui was still startled—the number far exceeded her expectations!
The great Yin must have held a grudge against her previous insolence and was deliberately setting her up!
This was impossible to fight; she could only dodge sideways, crouch, and evade.
And what “counter” nonsense!
When she was nearly overwhelmed by the hyena attack, she suddenly realized what Yin Changli meant by “counter”!
Hyenas are best known for a particular vicious attack method—they specifically target other animals’ rear ends.
What was her name?
Xiang Haikui.
“Haikui” (sea anemone) is a type of aquatic cnidarian that has a mouth but no anus.
So sea anemones specifically counter hyenas?
Was he mocking the name her father gave her?
Her father was her bottom line!
Atop the canyon, Yin Changli stretched out his hand, and the Tuntun Shu quickly spat out two small mud balls.
He used them to plug his ears.
From below, the canyon came various sounds, the clearest being Xiang Haikui’s angry cursing: “Yin Changli, you dog of a man!”