A domineering sword?

Qu Zhengfeng watched coldly from the side, recalling the thrilling, life-risking scene from moments ago, thinking to himself: What was domineering was not just this sword? Clearly the sword was domineering, but the person was even more domineering.

Such a dangerous method—one careless move would result in soul scattering and spirit destruction.

“Congratulations to Fellow Daoist Jian Chou for obtaining the sword. In the end, it was still safe despite the danger.” He ultimately didn’t reveal his most genuine inner thoughts, only looking at her with a calm face from his elevated position. “Since Yashan established its mountain gate over ten thousand years ago, A Thread of Sky has existed for thousands of years and finally has a master. I imagine your sect’s elders would be happy to know.”

The three-foot deep black sword body had a thread of crimson crawling along its ridge.

The moment her heart’s blood soaked this sword and her five fingers grasped the sword hilt, that vague spiritual connection appeared between her and this sword.

However, it was quite different from blood recognition.

Generally speaking, magical artifacts recognize masters through life essence and blood. Once recognized, the artifact can only be used by the master of that blood, and unauthorized use by others would be rejected by the artifact. Yet though this sword had been nourished by her heart’s blood, only a vague, faint connection appeared—not as strong and obvious as blood recognition.

Even more, Jian Chou felt this connection didn’t come from recognition, but from resonance.

The resonance between her and this sword.

Frowning slightly, she lightly shook her wrist, causing the three-foot blade before her to shake as well. Following her thought, it extended back to six feet.

For a sword, this was an astonishing length.

Strange and dangerous!

It didn’t remind her of anything else, only suddenly brought to mind Xie Buchen’s Human Emperor Sword, which couldn’t be recognized by masters but could be wielded by anyone with the will.

Jian Chou’s thought moved again, and the six-foot sword contracted back to three feet. Aside from the startling thread of crimson blood on the ridge, it didn’t seem different from other swords.

At least it was much more low-key than Wu Duan’s White Bone Dragon Sword.

Thinking this, she raised her head to look at Qu Zhengfeng, seeing him standing on the high cliff opposite, backlit so his expression wasn’t very clear. She said: “This sword seems different from the other swords in the armory—it cannot be recognized through blood.”

Qu Zhengfeng smiled: “Any disciple of Yashan needs no recognition—all are masters of this sword. It’s just that not everyone has the ability to wield it. You used an axe before, later a sword, and your swordsmanship isn’t particularly good. The Burning Lamp Sword has only been in your hands for over twenty years—you probably haven’t even learned the basic sword techniques well. Now that you’ve newly obtained this sword, it’s quite good. You can take this opportunity to make up for it and practice. Once you can use this sword, we’ll set out—perfect timing.”

“Set out once I can use this sword?”

Jian Chou had actually practiced sword techniques, but the time she’d spent on this path, compared to someone like Qu Zhengfeng who had practiced swordsmanship for at least hundreds of years, really wasn’t much. So she didn’t refute at all. However, his unhurried manner, seemingly unconcerned about the situation on the extreme domain battlefield, made her frown.

“But the extreme domain has already begun fighting…”

“With Kunwu there, what are you panicking about?”

Without waiting for Jian Chou to finish, Qu Zhengfeng already knew what she was going to say next. He was too lazy to listen and directly asked back with a half-smile.

Jian Chou’s gaze toward him immediately became more thoughtful.

The implication in Qu Zhengfeng’s words was not polite at all. The indifference vaguely revealed seemed at first to show great confidence and trust in Kunwu, but upon careful consideration, it was completely different.

She still had some understanding of the old grievances between Yashan and Kunwu.

She remained silent for a long time without responding.

Qu Zhengfeng seemed unconcerned whether she responded or not, and even less concerned about what she thought. He casually tossed a jade slip across to her, saying: “A Yashan disciple who can’t use a sword is ultimately shameful. With great battle at hand, opportunities are rare. Since you’re anxious, you might as well hurry up and practice swordsmanship.”

With a light “snap,” Jian Chou reacted quickly and caught the jade slip in her hand. When her spiritual consciousness examined it, she found it contained all kinds of sword path knowledge from basic to advanced—sword techniques, sword qi, sword intent—everything was there.

Looking more closely at this jade slip and seeing its seal, she knew it was a Yashan artifact.

It should have been Qu Zhengfeng’s from his time at Yashan, she thought.

She had started using an axe after Foundation Establishment, and later when the Ghost Axe was lost in the extreme domain, her cultivation had already reached Nascent Soul. Having all the necessary techniques and being basically self-taught, she had neither the opportunity nor the need to delve deeply into the sword path, so naturally she had never asked Fudao Shanren for similar things.

She hadn’t expected to receive them from Qu Zhengfeng now.

Jian Chou couldn’t help but remember his time at Yashan, when he was half a teacher. According to legend, Fudao Shanren didn’t manage affairs and went traveling the world, so the later disciples were actually taught by him.

So now holding this jade slip, she felt quite strange and thanked him: “Thank you for the trouble, Your Majesty the Sword Emperor.”

Qu Zhengfeng took his wine and left, only saying: “When first learning swords, one has a mortal body and must first experience sword techniques and master sword forms to harmonize with the sword. You now have Void Returning cultivation, so learning swords again should be starting from scratch. Don’t use cultivation power to control—just consider yourself an ordinary person who knows no magic and start from swinging the sword.”

As his words ended, his figure had already hidden in midair and disappeared.

Jian Chou stood on the mountainside, alone with her sword, watching the direction where he disappeared. Her feelings grew increasingly complex.

By rights, Qu Zhengfeng had after all betrayed Yashan.

But this person who had already betrayed Yashan always had a hot-and-cold attitude toward her—sometimes friend, sometimes enemy—making it impossible to distinguish clearly.

Moreover…

Ordinary Yashan disciples needed to carry Yashan tokens to enter and exit Yashan through the mountain-protecting formation. Qu Zhengfeng had already betrayed Yashan, so supposedly couldn’t enter easily anymore. But when returning to Yashan earlier, he had entered and exited without restrictions, not to mention this armory that should have required a token to open.

He entered these places like entering his own backyard.

To say there was nothing fishy about this, she truly didn’t believe.

Though he had betrayed Yashan, and the sect elders often sighed when mentioning him, did Master truly think he had betrayed Yashan?

Various thoughts flashed through her mind but were ultimately set aside by Jian Chou.

With great battle at hand, she truly had no more time to investigate.

She now focused her mind and seriously began reading the jade slip’s contents, temporarily setting A Thread of Sky aside.

Though the jade slip’s content was complex, what she needed to do was actually simple—

Just consider herself an ordinary person.

Set aside all the power she possessed and start from the beginning, using the most primitive and tedious method to comprehend the original true meaning of the word “sword” at its most fundamental level.

But how difficult it was for a person to abandon everything they once possessed?

Though Jian Chou had this intention, when she took out an ordinary mortal sword to practice, the spiritual energy around her naturally began flowing—it had completely become a habit over these many years.

She tried for a full moment but couldn’t get the method right.

She stopped to think for a while, vaguely feeling this contained some life philosophy: Getting up after falling wasn’t actually difficult—what was truly difficult was being able to cast aside everything one currently possessed and plunge headfirst into a completely new field, starting over.

Though she wanted to do this, habit made it very difficult for her to do so.

If learning swords was like this, how much more so the long path of life and cultivation—how could it avoid mundane concerns?

Unable to think of any better method, Jian Chou smiled bitterly and simply hardened her heart, sealing many major acupoints around her body. She even placed restrictions on her ancestral aperture at the brow center to ensure her powerful spiritual consciousness stayed within her spiritual platform, making herself infinitely close to the mortal she had been on the isolated island.

Only when she picked up the sword again did the feeling finally become right.

Except that her body’s strength had become much more formidable after years of “Human Weapon” body refining, everything else was completely like an ordinary person. Even standing on this ice plain, she felt somewhat unsteady.

But she had a heart for learning swords.

From mortal to great power seemed like a huge change, but truly casting aside all superficial appearances, Jian Chou was still that same Jian Chou.

Settling what others cannot settle, steadying what others cannot steady.

Precisely through “moving the heart and enduring hardship” could one “increase what one cannot do.”

Qu Zhengfeng told her to learn from the rootless place, and she truly didn’t equivocate—she learned from the rootless place, not feeling that because her current self was already comparable to Qu Zhengfeng, her realm no longer needed to heed others’ advice.

In the path of learning swords, she was truly just a beginner.

Following the jade slip’s instructions strictly, she started from the seemingly simplest holding and swinging of swords, repeating the most tedious movements over and over until reaching the standard shown in the jade slip.

Abandoning all power, practicing swords as an ordinary person, standing on the ice plain with eye injuries not yet healed—though she had the advantage of physical strength, when truly practicing, there were still many inconveniences.

The first three hours were spent mostly falling down.

Qu Zhengfeng returned to the armory once and watched her accidentally step on unstable ice below and nearly fall into an ice ravine, but didn’t offer help.

He was just an observer.

Whether Jian Chou’s sword practice was difficult or easy, dangerous or safe, seemed to have nothing to do with him. He watched completely without emotional fluctuation.

After watching for about a moment, he turned and left.

When he came for the second time on the third day, Jian Chou could already stand steadily despite unclear vision, but was still practicing only holding and drawing sword movements, just more fluid than before.

The sword wind howled—she already had some bearing.

This time Qu Zhengfeng watched for two moments but still said nothing. After finishing his wine on the cliff, he left.

On the eighth day, she had progressed to sword techniques.

A set of basic swordplay flowed like moving clouds and water when light, swift as a comet striking the moon when fast, and like bearing thousands of jun while moving mountains when heavy. All variations followed sword principles. She could even generate some sword qi at the height of sword momentum without relying on any spiritual energy.

So this day, Qu Zhengfeng watched for half an hour.

The further along, the more rapidly Jian Chou progressed.

As they say, all things are difficult at the beginning. Once she endured the beginning, with her temperament and comprehension, understanding the fundamental path of “sword” became simple.

Holding the sword took four days, swinging took three days, but sword techniques only took one day.

Others found it increasingly difficult and slow as they progressed; she found it increasingly easy and fast.

This was the principle of sharpening the axe before chopping wood—half the work with double the effort versus double the work with half the effort.

Watching, Qu Zhengfeng felt that Fudao Shanren’s choice of her was not wrong. But watching for long periods inevitably made him feel somewhat vexed, so after watching for half an hour, he still left.

On the tenth day, sword intent emerged.

Over these ten days, Jian Chou had practically not slept or rested. The Yashan armory was cold year-round, and without spiritual consciousness and power automatically activating “Human Weapon” body refining, she couldn’t withstand it. Many frostbite wounds appeared on her hands, but her swordsmanship became increasingly proper.

Where the heart goes, the sword moves with the heart.

She practiced a sword technique called “Swimming Dragon.” With a turn of her wrist, the sword’s hum was like a dragon’s roar, and though the person was above the sword, she truly had some dragon-like bearing.

Though it was a mortal sword, she wielded it with some dragon-like power.

When Qu Zhengfeng arrived, it was the you hour of this day. Without sun and moon changes in the armory, Jian Chou was still practicing swords.

He saw the mortal sword’s edge turn with swimming dragon following, quite imposing.

A white rainbow swallowed and emerged from the sword tip, piercing through the long sky horizontally. In its graceful attitude, pure killing intent was hidden!

He stood on the mountainside, watching from you hour to hai hour—a full two hours without speaking. Only after Jian Chou sheathed the dulled mortal sword and stopped did he say: “That’s enough.”

These days Jian Chou had withdrawn her spiritual consciousness and focused on sword practice. Qu Zhengfeng’s cultivation was high, so he came silently. She had no spare attention to notice, so she only vaguely remembered he had come to watch but wasn’t clear how many times or how long.

Now sheathing her sword and suddenly hearing this voice, she turned to look at him.

But Qu Zhengfeng calmly walked to a nearby spot.

There on a protruding rock lay A Thread of Sky, which Jian Chou had placed there earlier. He bent to pick it up, looked at it, and casually held it in his hand as he walked toward her.

Then he stopped before her, gazing at her, and asked: “Do you trust me?”

His gaze was too calm—calm as a breeze without ripples. In the instant of this simple four-word question, it revealed a strange and captivating quality.

Jian Chou almost instinctively frowned.

She also looked back at him, answering very calmly: “No.”

Qu Zhengfeng suddenly smiled, and the sword in his hand moved, actually rising with the sword just as her words fell!

One sword pierced into her brow!

The extraordinarily long and dangerous blade instantly entered but didn’t emerge from the back of her head at all!

In an instant, all light in Jian Chou’s eyes was extinguished. As pain swept through her mind, she felt a magnificent world rushing toward her!

With a “bang.”

Qu Zhengfeng released his hand, his expression calm, allowing A Thread of Sky in his palm to remain inserted in her brow as she fell with it into the deep ice ravine!