Broken Sword: “Hmph!”

That single snort carried overwhelming dominance and stirring grandeur.

Pill Elder’s flying sword had been singing long, its sword light piercing toward Su Zhuyi, but unexpectedly, the flying sword suddenly began trembling uncontrollably, as if beyond his control. His flying sword was named Xiangfu—xiangfu was a type of medicine, and also his beloved wife’s pet name. This sword had been forged early on by his sword-forging dao companion, who had perished forty-seven years ago, making it a token of their love. The flying sword wasn’t an immortal sword; originally just an ordinary magical treasure that he had slowly nurtured until it later became a spirit treasure.

The Xiangfu sword had accompanied him day and night for years, its blade naturally carrying medicinal fragrance.

“Xiangfu!”

Situations where flying swords became uncontrollable were extremely rare—he had rarely encountered such a thing. Pill Elder’s expression changed drastically. Then he discovered that his beloved daughter’s flying sword had already left her hand and was flying toward the broken sword in the air. Not only hers, but the three senior brothers behind her also lost control of their flying swords, while Qi Hua, whose cultivation was weaker, had her flying sword directly snap in half!

How could a sword cultivator lose control of their sword?

Hua Yining had already lowered her face veil. Her face had been disfigured and never recovered—those scars couldn’t be healed and could only gradually improve with time. Since not much time had passed, the scars were still hideous and frightening. Due to her tense expression, they twisted and contorted, making that face appear even more terrifying.

Her flying sword buzzed and vibrated, shaking until blood flowed from her tiger’s mouth. Even pouring spiritual energy into it and attempting mental communication couldn’t calm the flying sword. The next moment, she truly couldn’t hold on anymore. The flying sword flew into the high sky, stopping three feet below that azure broken sword, still trembling incessantly as it hung in the air.

Not only hers, but her three senior brothers’ swords had also left their hands, and even her father’s sword was somewhat out of control.

Hua Yining stared at Su Zhuyi with eyes about to split, a thought flashing through her mind. Her pupils dilated even further, her eyes full of bloodshot veins. “What exactly did you do?”

Ten Thousand Swords Paying Homage? This was impossible!

Ten Thousand Swords Paying Homage was the supreme realm of sword dao.

No one in the current world could achieve this realm. How old was she? How could she possibly accomplish this?

Hua Yining had extremely high talent in sword dao.

She believed she was born to wield the sword.

She also loved practicing swordsmanship, becoming obsessed with it and paying little attention to anything else. Until one day, she saw Qin Chuan in the Crane Garden. Old Crane wasn’t gentle at all when teaching disciples swordsmanship. Qin Chuan was only at the Qi Refinement stage, yet he threw himself into the sword formation in the Crane Garden. His whole body was covered in wounds, yet he seemed to know neither fatigue nor pain, using a wooden sword in his hand to fight against the overwhelming flying swords created by crane feather illusions. In just one day, she discovered that Qin Chuan’s swordsmanship had improved significantly.

When she realized this, Hua Yining discovered that she, who usually paid little attention to the outside world, had been sitting on the wall around the Crane Garden watching him for an entire day.

Watching him practice swords for a whole day.

She admired Qin Chuan. When she saw him sheath his sword and sit under a tree to bandage his wounds, Hua Yining felt as if she dimly sensed some other emotions. Like her love for swords, she had also developed an interest in Qin Chuan.

Qin Chuan’s aptitude was very high.

Qin Chuan had been brought back by Old Crane and seemed to have lost his memory. Her mother had died early, and she had been pampered by her father. In the Yunxiao Sect, she could have whatever she wanted. She felt sorry for Qin Chuan, and occasionally, when she saw he was injured too severely, she would give him some guidance. Later, Hua Yining discovered that when she suppressed her cultivation, her swordsmanship could no longer compare to Qin Chuan’s.

This made her very uncomfortable. She was a sword dao genius, and she always felt displeased with those who surpassed her. So she didn’t pass by the Crane Garden for a long time. When she finally couldn’t help but go look one day, she found that the previously gentle and mild Qin Chuan had changed.

He had become cold and even more difficult to approach.

Hua Yining secretly inquired about this. With her extremely high status in the Yunxiao Sect, investigating Qin Chuan’s affairs was effortless. Qin Chuan had remembered his past, but when he returned to his village, he discovered that his village had been destroyed.

Previously, he had lost his memory and fallen to the ground like a beggar, near death. It was Old Crane who discovered him and brought him back to the Yunxiao Sect.

Finally remembering his past and his family, he discovered that the village where he had grown up had long been destroyed, his parents and relatives, and the companions he had grown up with, all dead. Though he appeared aloof and difficult to approach, Hua Yining at that time suddenly felt that the originally handsome youth had grown into someone elegant and distinguished. He was refined and handsome, and though he seemed cold, perhaps because she had guided him in his youth, he would still speak a few words with her. He treated her differently from others.

In others’ eyes, he was a river frozen solid by winter’s cold.

In Hua Yining’s eyes, that was an early spring river. Though the ice and snow hadn’t completely melted, the river water already rippled with warm sunlight, clean and clear. Just one look would make one feel as if their eyes had been washed by water.

Hua Yining was a persistent person.

Just like practicing swords, once she became obsessed with someone or something, she would be especially persistent, persistent to the point of near obsession.

She fell in love with Qin Chuan and told her father about it, receiving his support. She had also communicated with the sect master and Old Crane, and everyone had no objections. Old Crane only indicated that Qin Chuan was still young and focused on cultivation, temporarily unable to indulge in romantic feelings. After both parties reached three hundred years of age, if they were mutually interested, a marriage would be a wonderful thing.

Her father had always said that if she ever found a dao companion, she must find someone with aptitude equivalent to hers, or it would only add to her sadness.

Her mother’s aptitude had been very ordinary. Even after consuming many spiritual pills and miraculous medicines, her lifespan couldn’t match her father’s. In the end, to leave behind bloodline descendants, she had damaged her foundation and perished when Hua Yining was still small. So Hua Yining had always felt that her dao companion’s aptitude must be exceptional. Of course, most importantly, she had to like them.

Fortunately, she had encountered him.

Qin Chuan’s sword dao cultivation grew higher and higher, and she was unwilling to fall behind, wholeheartedly wanting to stand shoulder to shoulder with him. When the Yunxiao Sect spoke of the younger generation with high sword dao talent, they would mention both their names together. Every time she heard others speak their names, Hua Yining felt as if they were already together, like her father and mother, who had been childhood sweethearts. The only difference was that their aptitudes were equivalent, their future lifespans would be similar, and they could accompany each other to the end, until the seas dried up and stones crumbled…

However, one day, a name appeared before her.

Su Zhuyi.

Qin Chuan looked at Su Zhuyi differently than he looked at anyone else.

Her obsession with Qin Chuan had already surpassed her sword dao. She naturally had no good feelings toward Su Zhuyi, who received Qin Chuan’s special attention.

In the sword dao competition, she had wanted to teach Su Zhuyi a lesson, but unexpectedly, her face had been ruined instead.

In the Sword Tomb, she had clearly surpassed Su Zhuyi, but in less than a moment, she was overtaken, receiving a resounding slap in the face.

In the Sword Tomb, she had seen Su Zhuyi undergoing tribulation but still hadn’t been able to successfully kill her.

While she practiced swords bitterly in the sect, Qin Chuan went to Quicksand River with Su Zhuyi. She had also heard that Su Zhuyi had slain Dongri Chen of the Dong Fushang Sect, that Qin Chuan and Su Zhuyi entered secret realms together, and that he would risk his life for Su Zhuyi, rushing over to embrace her and block lightning strikes. When the sect master and others entered, they saw the two of them embracing, with Qin Chuan pressing Su Zhuyi beneath him, difficult to separate for a moment…

When she heard this news, she nearly collapsed completely.

Su Zhuyi had ruined her face, forcing her to hide while practicing swords, unable to see people. There were no mirrors around her, but she had her sword, and each time she could see her own horrifying face in the bright sword blade—or rather, her face bound with black gauze.

Su Zhuyi had also surpassed her in sword dao. Her climbing to the peak of sword dao and turning back to mock her with a smile was like a knife carving her heart. The sword dao aptitude she took pride in had been so easily trampled underfoot by a young female cultivator dozens of years younger than her.

The most devastating blow was that Su Zhuyi had also stolen her Qin Chuan. She was indifferent toward Qin Chuan, yet Qin Chuan would risk his own safety to desperately save her.

The moment she heard this news, Hua Yining directly coughed up a mouthful of fresh blood.

From the beginning, she had wanted to kill Su Zhuyi. She had tried to kill her once in the Sword Tomb and had even hired death warriors from the Xueluo Sect, but none had succeeded. Encountering her in the southern frontier was heaven’s favor—she would not let her go, no matter what.

But—she had once again shattered her confidence.

Ten Thousand Swords Paying Homage? Ten Thousand Swords Paying Homage?

Her flying sword flew into the air, submitting beneath Su Zhuyi’s azure broken sword. Hua Yining felt her face burning with pain, as if she had directly knelt before Su Zhuyi. The bloodshot veins in her eyes became even more obvious, and her expression appeared somewhat deranged.

“Yining!”

His daughter was nearly developing inner demons because of this, Su Zhuyi! A gentle breeze flowed from Pill Elder’s sleeve, slightly clearing Hua Yining’s eyes. At this moment, they saw Su Zhuyi point her toes and fly into the air, gripping her flying sword as she stood above everyone’s heads.

“Tsk tsk, nearly falling into demonic cultivation—what kind of righteous path sword cultivator is that?” Su Zhuyi laughed lightly, pouring spiritual energy into the broken sword, then swinging out with one strike. Like cutting green bamboo, without any sword techniques, she simply slashed out directly.

Sword light swept across like a hurricane in the deep sea of a night, rolling up waves and crashing toward the three flying swords below.

“Crack crack crack…”

Three flying swords directly snapped in half, while Pill Elder’s flying sword finally left his hand and crashed into those waves.

“Yining, Xiangfu!”

Hua Yining’s face went deathly pale as she collapsed directly to the ground.

Hua Yining already had inner demons, and now her natal flying sword had been directly broken, severely damaging her sword dao. Whether she could still use swords in the future had become questionable.

And Xiangfu had also been ground into four segments by that azure sword qi.

Pill Elder felt sweetness in his throat, as if fresh blood was overflowing from his mouth. He straightened up abruptly, his sleeves billowing, the jade hairpin binding his hair directly snapping. His entire person appeared extremely imposing.

Broken Sword: “I can only suppress flying swords.”

Su Zhuyi: “I know.”

The Pill Elder was at the Nascent Soul stage and was also a sword cultivator. Now that his flying sword was damaged, he was injured too. The Sword Ancestor had already helped her tremendously. Originally having to face several people, now her only remaining opponent was the Pill Elder. The others whose flying swords had broken and sword dao damaged couldn’t recover for a while…

There was still a chance to escape! Gripping a Straw Man tightly in her hand, Su Zhuyi was prepared to risk half her life to escape!