Ning Weixuan sat suspended in midair, a smile of absolute confidence on his face.
The two prospective disciples beside him exchanged baffled looks, seemingly unable to understand.
“Master, with your lofty reputation, isn’t it beneath you to wait here for Shu Xin to come and ask to become your disciple?”
“Exactly, Master. In all our years, we’ve only ever heard of disciples traveling countless miles and enduring every hardship to seek out a renowned master. When has a famous master ever taken the initiative to wait for a disciple?”
The two of them were distantly related to Ning Weixuan. They had also served at his side for many years, and only today had they finally received his approval to become his disciples.
They had been surrounded by praise as geniuses from childhood onward.
Yet in front of Ning Weixuan, they had been forced to remain obedient, sensible, and attentive in every way. They had outlasted countless others from their generation before finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.
In their eyes, Shu Xin possessed decent aptitude, but after entering the Longevity Dao Sect, her cultivation had barely progressed. Clearly, she had relied too heavily on shortcuts in the early stages to break through to the Dao Nascent Realm, exhausting her potential in the process.
And yet, she had made Ning Weixuan take the initiative to step aside and even wait outside the lake prison just to accept her as a disciple?
The comparison alone was enough to make the two of them feel they were worth less than something picked up off the roadside.
People were always like this. Before achieving their goals, they could endure any hardship. But once their goals were within reach, they naturally tended to relax and let their guard down.
Seeing the two disciples he had only just agreed to accept behave this way, Ning Weixuan felt a trace of disappointment. But after another thought, he decided that any young cultivator with ambition would probably act the same way. Even he might not have behaved any better in his youth.
“You think Shu Xin’s cultivation has made no progress. That is precisely what makes her formidable,” Ning Weixuan said indifferently. “Although she exchanged only one move with me, her cultivation is clearly already at the peak of the Dao Nascent Realm. She could become a Grotto-Heaven cultivator at any moment. Yet she endured in the sect for years without revealing the slightest sign of advancement. As a result, most of the clans that once had designs on her have abandoned the idea. Those that remain are hardly formidable.”
The Longevity Dao Sect appeared fair and upright on the surface, but in truth, its hierarchy was sharply defined. For a female cultivator of humble origins to endure everyone’s ridicule, slander, and temptation while remaining steadfast in her cultivation and revealing nothing at all showed how unshakable her Dao heart was.
Furthermore, both times Ning Weixuan had sensed Shu Xin’s aura, she had been alone. There had been no sign of any so-called “helpers.”
That meant she had killed three Grotto-Heaven True Persons by relying on her own strength.
Even if she possessed some extraordinary treasure, the ability to slay three Grotto-Heaven True Persons across a major realm was proof enough of her strength.
Did the Longevity Dao Sect lack rare treasures? Of course not. Then why didn’t the sect simply distribute them among its disciples?
Because without abilities that matched them, rare treasures would only become obstacles to a cultivator. They might even bring about the cultivator’s death.
Ning Weixuan had lived long enough to understand just how terrifying people like that could be.
He had remained here for reasons beyond that.
If Shu Xin was willing to become his disciple, he was willing to impart everything he knew and teach her without reservation. Then, once he became the sect master of the Longevity Dao Sect, he would decide her fate based on whether she was obedient and sensible enough.
If Shu Xin refused to become his disciple, however, he absolutely could not allow someone with such talent and such a steadfast Dao heart to leave the Longevity Dao Sect and join the Divine Inquiry Sect. Even less could he allow her to continue growing stronger until she returned one day to cause him trouble.
He would kill Shu Xin on the spot and leave himself no future threat.
So whether this was a path to the heavens through becoming his disciple or a road to certain death all depended on a single thought from Shu Xin.
Time passed bit by bit.
The faint smile that had originally rested on Ning Weixuan’s face had gradually turned into impatience.
Shu Xin still had not emerged after so long.
Even if she needed time to consider, she had been taking far too long.
This also meant that she was unmoved by the recruitment of an Immaculate Realm grand cultivator like himself—or perhaps she even looked down on him.
At the thought of that possibility, Ning Weixuan felt only that it was absurd.
Yet just as he was about to release his divine sense and investigate the surroundings, his gaze suddenly shifted to his own hand.
His fingers were trembling involuntarily.
“M-Master…”
The two disciples beside him were holding the magical artifacts he had bestowed upon them earlier. Their eyes were filled with terror.
They struggled to keep their eyes open, but they were powerless against the vast and terrifying pressure of the sword.
The spiritual energy in the surroundings seemed to be drained away in an instant. Even the spiritual power within their bodies had become utterly rigid, as though they could no longer circulate it.
In the next moment, their eyes rolled back, and they plunged from the sky like dumplings dropped into a pot, smashing several deep craters into the ground.
But Ning Weixuan had no attention to spare for the lives of these nominal disciples.
He had already risen to his feet, releasing his cultivation without restraint in an attempt to display his strength before the newcomer.
Yet his trembling hands and the cold sweat breaking out across his back told him that he had already caught the scent of death.
The newcomer wore a long veil hat that concealed most of their body.
Only the hand gripping the sword was fully exposed.
Ning Weixuan could not even bring himself to continue probing with his divine sense. He knew that the instant he extended it, it would be shredded by the invisible sword qi that constantly surrounded the newcomer and enveloped the area.
But that was not the most frightening part.
The most frightening part was that Ning Weixuan had already laid down a formation in the vicinity, yet it had not reacted in the slightest.
Indeed, he was currently standing near the lake prison, where the elders guarding the peerless demons imprisoned within should have sensed something. Yet none of them had shown the slightest response.
This meant that the newcomer had refined control over their sword qi and the spiritual energy around them to a horrifying degree. They had caused a disturbance within only this tiny area, while the elders inside the lake prison remained completely unaware.
“I am Ning Weixuan of the Longevity Dao Sect. May I ask what business Senior has within our sect?”
Many cultivators’ names had already flashed through Ning Weixuan’s mind. Who among them was skilled with the sword, possessed such terrifying cultivation, and could infiltrate the Longevity Dao Sect without making a sound?
Could it be that this person was not afraid of provoking the Earthly Immortal of the Longevity Dao Sect?
“Heh.”
The newcomer did not answer. They merely gave a soft laugh.
Along with that laugh came a flash of sword light.
The radiance was like a white rainbow piercing the sun, or the Milky Way from the ninth heaven cascading down in an instant.
In that brief moment, it seemed as though everything around them had lost the breath of existence.
Between heaven and earth, there was only this one person—and this one sword.
Ning Weixuan even forgot how to defend himself.
Or perhaps it was that he had no way to defend himself at all.
Just as when he had first succeeded in questioning his Dao heart, formed his core, and flown on his sword over mountains, rivers, and seas—when he had gazed upon the boundless ocean and the vast starry sky—he could summon no thought of resistance whatsoever.
It was like the first time he had seen his Sect Master all those years ago—as though he were a mayfly gazing up at the heavens, looking upon a realm he could never hope to reach in his lifetime.
The sword light swept past Ning Weixuan’s left arm.
In that instant, the powerful physical body of an Immaculate Realm cultivator—whose flesh was harder than gold and jade, beyond the reach of ordinary blades—was no stronger than paper. It shattered on the spot.
Yet the sword light did not stop after severing Ning Weixuan’s arm. It continued onward, shooting directly above the prison in the lake.
It slammed into the tower that had been fortified by countless formations laid down by the Longevity Dao Sect, unleashing a tremendous boom.
Only then did the sword light shoot into the heavens, cleaving in two the dazzling clouds and cascading waterfalls that shrouded the skies above the Longevity Dao Sect.
Boom—
The tower shook.
All the formations and restrictions were activated with a resounding crack.
At that moment, the demon cultivators imprisoned in the lake prison, as well as the elders responsible for guarding them, could not help but raise their heads and look upward.
“Who dares trespass upon our Longevity Dao Sect?!”
From some distant place—or perhaps from the depths of the void—came a thunderous voice brimming with fury.
“I feel so much better!” the Sword Spirit cried out exuberantly.
Not long before this, inside the room—
The Sword Spirit had struggled greatly to fuse its two severed halves back together.
The resulting sword, however, looked truly awful.
Not only was the blade covered in bloodstains, its edge was also pitted and uneven, while several obvious cuts marred the hilt. It was uncomfortable even to hold.
With an appearance like that, someone would probably be too lazy to pick it up if they found it lying by the roadside.
The Sword Spirit felt that Shu Xin had ruined its overall image by turning it into two swords, while Shu Xin believed she was giving the immortal sword a makeover.
There was no helping it. It had simply been too embarrassing to look at.
“That should be about enough, right?” Shu Xin urged. “We’re almost out of time.”
【Don’t rush. Just a little more. The bonding strength of this Fingertip Profound Light is still lacking. It’s not as if you’re short of money now—couldn’t you buy something more expensive?】
“First, I didn’t have any money when I bought the Fingertip Profound Light. The spirit stones I have now were all obtained only in the past few days. Second, why should I buy anything that good for you? If I do, you might not be able to split into two swords later.” Shu Xin shook her head. “That old bastard outside is definitely thinking about how to kill me. Ugh, I know people like him all too well—selfish to the extreme. Once you get involved with someone like that, the only difference is whether you die sooner or later.”
【That should do it. I’ll conceal your aura for you first.】
【But remember this: you can only strike once. Your body won’t be able to withstand more.】
The Sword Spirit was not boasting. Even after lowering its grade, it was still beyond Shu Xin’s ability to fully control.
One strike was more or less Shu Xin’s current limit—and also the limit at which the Sword Spirit could ensure that the Earthly Immortals would not notice it.
“Don’t worry. I care more about staying alive than you do.”
Shu Xin gripped the immortal sword, now fused into one.
Several crooked characters were engraved on the hilt:
—Slaughter Every Immortal Beneath the Heavens.
Just from those words alone, one could understand why, the moment the Sword Spirit truly emerged into the world, the Earthly Immortals would hunt down its wielder.
Something like “Wait” or “Hold on” would have been much safer.
“This time, we absolutely cannot fool around.”
【I never do that. You’re the only one who does.】
Shu Xin burst out laughing.
“Then let me witness the might of your peerless immortal sword!”
“What happened? What happened?”
“Look at the sky!”
“What is that?”
The countless disciples and cultivators of the Longevity Dao Sect—even Qin Rushan, who had been keeping a tense watch, and Xu Guan, who had already grown impatient—raised their heads in unison and looked toward the sky.
That sword light, infused with overwhelming sword intent and accompanied by boundless killing intent, became a memory they would find impossible to erase for the rest of their lives.
“What realm has this sword cultivator reached?”
“Immaculate? Mahayana?”
“No. At the very least, they’re a Mahayana cultivator.”
“When did our Longevity Sword Sect ever provoke a Mahayana sword cultivator?”
“No—when has our entire cultivation world ever produced a Mahayana sword cultivator?!”
…
Xu Guan stared blankly, unable to stop himself from murmuring, “What kind of peerless bearing must one possess to unleash such a world-shaking strike?”
Countless people began investigating and speculating, but even more were thrown into panic and terror.
A Mahayana cultivator of such overwhelming strength was capable of overturning half of the Longevity Dao Sect.
Yet it had been several thousand years since their cultivation world had produced a new Mahayana cultivator.
Situ Jian, who had been cultivating inside his cave dwelling, also sensed this terrifying yet familiar sword strike in that instant.
He paused for a brief moment.
Then he closed his eyes once more and continued cultivating.
After this single strike, no one in the Longevity Dao Sect would pay any further attention to the affairs of Situ Jian and Shu Xin. No clan would continue scheming about how to capture Shu Xin.
The entire sect, from top to bottom, would be plunged into chaos.
They had to determine who had challenged their sect—and what that person wanted.
All their guesses and fears would ultimately turn into endless speculation, followed by a long period of cautious vigilance.
【Tsk—the sword is cracking again. I put a little too much force into that strike.】
【Did you see that? Now that is my true power.】
【The previous masters who wielded me had even the true immortals running for cover when they saw me.】
The Sword Spirit was practically beaming with pride.
After spending a hundred years following Shu Xin around and helping her bully the weak, launch sneak attacks, and flee, it had nearly forgotten that it once possessed such glorious days.
Now, with a single sweep of its blade, it had not only severed that old bastard Ning Weixuan’s arm, but also cracked the protective grand formation around the lake prison. Taking advantage of this opening, Shu Xin could escape directly.
It was a pity that this was not even close to its peak. Its current might was less than half of what it had once possessed.
And Shu Xin, its swordmaster, had merely served as another tool.
【Hurry! Let’s get out through this crack before they notice you.】The Sword Spirit urged her anxiously.
“…I don’t have any strength left. Didn’t you notice?” Shu Xin held a mouthful of blood in place, doing her best not to let it show. She could only respond to the Sword Spirit through divine sense. “That strike of yours drained all the spiritual energy in my body. It also burned through most of the spirit stones in my storage bag.”
She was merely at the Dao Infant Realm. What right did she have to unleash a strike comparable to that of a Mahayana cultivator?
【Then what do we do?】
The Sword Spirit was dumbfounded as well.
【Weren’t you planning to put on a grand show?】
I didn’t expect you to put on that grand a show.
The last time she had wielded the sword, she had only been able to unleash a strike at the Immaculate Realm at most.
Well, that had been a hundred years ago.
There was no point bringing it up now.
In truth, her several exchanges with the Sword Spirit had all taken place within the span of a few breaths after she swung the sword.
“Take me back to the lake prison,” Shu Xin decided at once. She was barely able to keep the blood in her mouth from spilling out.
【Back again?】
“This is my clumsy imitation of the most advanced historical tactics from my era. Just do as I say.” Shu Xin was beginning to lose focus.
The Sword Spirit was afraid that Shu Xin might pass out the very next moment.
Taking advantage of everyone being stunned by the sword light, it immediately swept Shu Xin up and transformed into a streak of sword light, vanishing from sight.
Although it appeared that they had escaped, they had actually returned to hide in the prison beneath the lake.
I’m not very good at writing tactics, so I looked through some history books and studied the military strategies of the favored children of destiny, then tried to imitate them.
