With the Songfeng Sword intent opening the path, Su Zhuyi rode the sword intent past one opponent after another, becoming the first to reach the finish line. The mountain peak was the sword tip of Sword Mountain. The sword tip was very cold, with accumulated snow piled on the peak, which made Sword Mountain appear to have a snow-bright gleaming tip when viewed from afar.

The Sword Tomb was actually within the entire mountain. Now that Su Zhuyi had reached the peak, she needed to enter the mountain’s interior to select a sword. She arrived in the snowy area and saw an ancient stone door. She pushed it open with her hand and entered directly.

Su Zhuyi had climbed those last hundred steps too quickly, even several steps faster than Qin Chuan from the Yunxiao Sect. By the time she entered the Sword Tomb, the others were still standing on the sword path, with even Qin Chuan one step short. Many more disciples hadn’t even reached the mountainside. This gap made some people grit their teeth and strive to catch up, while others felt the disparity was too great and became somewhat discouraged.

Her impact on the disciples on the sword path was significant, and her shock to the watching cultivators was even greater.

Su Zhuyi rushed into the Sword Tomb’s entrance like a ball of fiery red cloud. Only after her figure disappeared did the watching cultivators below come back to their senses.

“Just now, she… she flew up there?”

A cultivator somewhat exaggeratedly rubbed his eyes. “Flew up! Even Qin Chuan from Yunxiao Sect is still one step short!” Qin Chuan stood on the second-to-last step of the sword path stairs. His expression was serious, with a thin layer of sweat on his forehead, the sword in his hand trembling constantly, while his foot slowly lifted but hadn’t completely come down.

He was still one step away from reaching the sword path’s end, yet Su Zhuyi had already entered the door. Instantly, who was strong and who was weak became clear.

Within the Gujian Sect, Elder Hu’s palm-sized hand slapped Yi Lian’s shoulder, startling the golden sparrow on his shoulder to flutter its wings, rustling. Then its body stiffened and it directly played dead, toppling over stiff as a board with its feet up. Yi Lian reached out to catch the golden sparrow and put it back in his spirit beast pouch.

His movements while doing all this were also stiff and numb, with his face somewhat flushed.

Earlier, he had said Su Zhuyi lost her integrity, so she would be rejected by the sword path, causing Sword Mountain’s sword spirits’ displeasure. However, that sword intent just now, that sword intent…

That sword intent was full of vitality, like red plums announcing spring, green pines standing proud in snow, advancing despite difficulties, cutting through thorns and forging ahead without retreat. Like a spring breeze passing by, gently yet tenaciously dispelling winter’s gloom and cold. That red figure flying up from below was like spring wind’s comfort, causing welcoming spring flowers to bloom all over the mountainside on the cold and lonely sword path.

Even though she had already entered the Sword Tomb, that touch of red was still engraved in people’s eyes, not fading for a long time.

That sword intent was like a slap across his face—a loud, resounding slap that made him swallow back all the words he had said.

The sect master laughed heartily twice. “Worthy of being the disciple Luo Ying chose. None of our vision matches hers.”

Gujian Sect’s side was harmonious and joyful, while sword cultivators from other sects couldn’t say anything refuting. After all, this was too unexpected. Such a strong sword intent always commanded admiration. Even sour words couldn’t be spoken now.

However, quite a few disciples with low cultivation couldn’t discern how exquisite that sword intent was and just kept saying, “Did you see that?”

“I saw it, really beautiful.”

Sword intent and such weren’t important anymore. What mattered was that she was too beautiful, especially that backward glance and smile…

One disciple murmured, “Too bad she wasn’t smiling at me. If she could smile at me…”

Who was she smiling at? Only then did everyone’s gaze turn to that person. Looking, they were shocked to see that person’s body curved, one hand covering their heart, one hand supporting against the stone wall, body swaying unsteadily as if unable to stand firm.

“That’s… someone from Yunxiao Sect.” They wore Yunxiao Sect disciple robes, but no one recognized the face. However, someone sharp-eyed recognized the sword in her hand and said, “It’s Hua Yining.”

“Hua Yining has been to Sword Mountain before and got the Dongxue Sword. This is her second time, right? Why does she seem to be climbing so difficultly?”

“Because her heart is disturbed,” someone answered pretentiously.

Just as the words fell, Hua Yining’s foot slipped and she fell several steps directly. Fortunately, she desperately gripped the sword path stone steps with her hands, so she didn’t fall off.

Hua Yining looked up at the sword path steps ahead. She was less than fifteen steps from climbing up. She never felt that she couldn’t make it up. If not for Su Zhuyi, even if she wasn’t first, she would have been second. She had confidence in her sword dao talent. Even though her cultivation had dropped and the Dongxue Sword’s spirit had dispersed, Hua Yining hadn’t been defeated. She was just… just because her appearance was ruined, she didn’t want to go out, didn’t want to face others’ gazes, preferring to stay with her sword all day, practicing from dawn to dusk.

She had called Su Zhuyi a waste.

But that waste had easily surpassed her and reached the summit first.

When Su Zhuyi turned back, she didn’t curse her, but that mocking yet gorgeous smile was more painful than being cursed. Those eyes were clearly saying, “You call me waste, then aren’t you worse than waste!”

That smile was so glaring it made her mind waver, getting injured by the sword path’s sword shadows. It also made her doubt her own persistence and sword dao while her mind was unsettled. After decades of bitter cultivation, she actually couldn’t compare to a sixteen-year-old female cultivator!

Earlier, seeing Su Zhuyi walking so difficultly with blood all over her feet, Hua Yining thought Su Zhuyi wasn’t drawing her sword simply because she couldn’t use swords, so her confidence doubled. However, everything that happened afterward was like a blow to the head, leaving her dizzy and causing wild thoughts on the sword path, nearly making her fall from Sword Mountain.

She couldn’t even stand up anymore. Desperately gripping the sword path steps, even if her hands were cut, she was unwilling to give up. She looked at that refined back figure ahead who had already reached the finish and was about to enter the Sword Tomb, took a deep breath, and said, “The sword dao is your path.”

“It’s also my path. I want to stand with you, holding swords side by side atop high mountains, therefore…”

A low growl came from her throat before she finally said, “The sword dao cannot be interrupted.”

If she fell like this, she might never be able to use a sword again in this lifetime. She gripped hard with her hands, slowly crawling upward, gritting her teeth. Even if she had to crawl, she would crawl up.

Such great determination made even some outer sect disciples who were watching the spectacle fall silent, sighing endlessly.

…

Su Zhuyi had no idea what happened on the sword path after she entered.

After entering the Sword Tomb, she didn’t rush straight in. The first thing she did was check her mangled feet. The shoes on her feet were destroyed, with socks and flesh stuck together. Originally, she thought the trials on the sword path were illusions—after all, she was clearly wearing shoes, so how could she end up barefoot while walking? She didn’t expect it to be real.

When she looked down, she felt dizzy. Just how much blood had she lost?

To heal with spiritual energy, she first had to separate the shoes, socks, and flesh. She carefully treated the wounds, sucking in cold air from the pain. With no one else around, or perhaps because the Songfeng Sword intent had just been before her, as if that person had appeared, Su Zhuyi didn’t endure so painstakingly and even hummed a couple of times.

After treating the wounds, Su Zhuyi took medicinal pills, then began observing her surroundings.

This Sword Tomb looked somewhat like a cave. The cave ceiling hung with stalactites one after another, while the ground was covered with stone pillars and stone flowers everywhere. When she swept with her spiritual sense, she knew those stalactites all contained swords hidden inside. However, covered by limestone, she really couldn’t tell the quality of the flying swords.

Swords outside the Sword Tomb were usually quite poor. The deeper one went, the better the flying swords became, while legendary spirit swords and immortal swords were hidden even deeper, quietly waiting for destined people.

Cultivators chose swords.

Swords also chose people. Even if they took a liking to each other, there might still be sword dao trials, so being a sword cultivator was quite troublesome. Other magical treasures requiring master recognition also needed trials, but usually having strong power and imposing pressure to conquer and control the treasure was enough, rather than needing specific conditions.

Su Zhuyi was looking for the Songfeng Sword. She knew what the Songfeng Sword looked like—the sword’s length and width, the dark patterns on the hilt—she knew everything. Now the flying swords in the Sword Tomb were hidden inside limestone stalactites. She couldn’t sense whether they had spiritual energy or determine their quality, but she could still see their appearance with spiritual sense, so Su Zhuyi’s first thought was to judge by appearance.

She didn’t linger long in the cave but continued forward. The sect master had said that, at most, high-grade treasure swords could appear in the cave—spirit swords had never appeared, let alone immortal swords. Although they couldn’t turn back once they went forward, Su Zhuyi’s purpose wasn’t to choose a sword suitable for herself anyway. She was here to find the Songfeng Sword, so there was nothing to worry about. She directly stepped forward with large strides.

Walking out of the cave, she arrived at another very enclosed, narrow place that made her scalp tingle.

This was Four-Sided Mountain.

Called Four-Sided Mountain, it was more like a well. After entering, one was at the bottom of the well. Looking up, the sky overhead was the size of a bowl’s mouth, surrounded by four mountain walls. The walls were densely packed with inserted swords. These swords weren’t frozen by limestone but exposed to human eyes, and one could sense whether the flying swords had spiritual energy and what grade they were.

High-grade, low-grade, broken, damaged, rusted, intact—densely packed flying swords were visible everywhere. Some were inserted in stone walls, some lay casually on the ground half-buried by yellow sand, and others seemed suspended by silk threads, hanging in mid-air like wind chimes. When the wind blew, those hanging swords knocked against each other, making tinkling sounds.

Swords were underfoot, swords were all around, and swords hung overhead. Su Zhuyi felt her scalp tingle, and goosebumps rose on her hands.

This Four-Sided Mountain had produced spirit swords before and was said to have once produced immortal swords, so when others came up, many people would stay here to choose swords. Su Zhuyi rubbed her chest and asked the Zhuxin Curse in her heart, “The Songfeng Sword intent was at least cast by the Songfeng Sword.”

While rubbing her chest, she asked, “Hey, Songfeng Sword intent, do you know where your daddy is?”

“Is he here?”