Volume One, Chapter 11: The Initial Awakening to the Path of Sword Cultivation!
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Though Yun Yao did not quite understand the thoughts of the human race, all she wanted was a temporary peace. If she could remain here, that would be enough.
As for the rat clan, which occupied the lowest rung among the demon tribes—even while sealed, she could still afford to trample them beneath her feet.
There was no need to worry about them.
What mattered now was something else.
“Then do as you wish, Little Senior Brother.”
“By the way, something even more important than this is the inspection at the end of the month. The Elder in charge of passing down techniques will send someone to test your lessons.”
“Have you thought about how you will deal with it?”
Zhao Fusheng shook his head.
Senior Sister Song had already made the necessary arrangements. Most likely, the senior brother sent to inspect him would merely go through the motions.
At that time, he would only need to perform a meditation posture or practice a couple of sets of basic boxing techniques to get by.
He had therefore given the matter little serious thought.
But just as he was about to mention this, Yun Yao caught the trace of disdain in his expression. She earnestly added two more warnings.
“You must not take this lightly.”
“If your cultivation is too lax, he will deliberately examine your spiritual roots to determine the reason.”
“If he discovers that you are not cultivating your spiritual root but instead practicing an elixir-condensation method, he will certainly settle accounts with you.”
“When that happens, both of us will be in trouble!”
Zhao Fusheng thought it over, his brows sinking as well.
This watch post had been established as an insignificant, idle assignment, but it stood in a sensitive region between the sect and the demon realm.
Although the place was exceedingly dangerous, it also offered convenient access to trade with demons and profit from it.
Thus, though the higher-ups spoke of inspecting his lessons, in truth, it was no less than an investigation.
“Very well. I understand.”
“You rest first. I will go through the lessons Senior Sister gave me and learn as much as possible.”
“That way, I won’t expose myself seven days from now.”
Zhao Fusheng acted at once and soon took out several books to read.
Yun Yao stopped him in time.
“No. Your spiritual root is too weak. Even if you practiced these for seven days, it would be a waste of effort.”
Zhao Fusheng grew embarrassed and scratched at his neck.
“Then what should I do?”
“I will teach you something now. Practice according to my method, and you should be able to muddle through.”
Zhao Fusheng nodded without hesitation.
She was a great demon who had been sealed away. Her knowledge could hardly be shallow. Besides, the two of them each wanted something from the other; she had no reason to deceive him.
“In the Linglu Sect, qi-gathering disciples revere the cultivation of fire incantations, while body-refining disciples primarily practice the sword.”
“Your spiritual root is crude and inferior. If you practice qi gathering, your flaws will only be more obvious.”
“Practice swordsmanship instead. I will teach you how to perform one of our sect’s techniques—the Mountain-Shattering Strike.”
“With this to report, the elder will regard you as having achieved an average result and let you pass.”
As she spoke, Yun Yao rose from the bed and picked up the iron hook used to tend the charcoal in the brazier.
She held it horizontally before her chest, formed a sword-finger with her left hand, lightly tapped the ground with her toes, then swept up her arm and pointed the hook like a sword.
Roar!
It had been an utterly casual movement, yet it sounded like a dragon roaring beneath the heavens.
Countless sparks burst from the charcoal. A slash suddenly appeared across the wall beside the doorway, cutting clean through and exposing the outside air.
The force of the wind had yet to dissipate when the tough branches of a withered willow a hundred yards away were snapped with ease.
“I’m sorry. I failed to display its true power.”
“My body is in poor condition, so it appeared somewhat weaker than it should have.”
“But if you follow the principles I have taught you, you cannot go wrong!”
Yun Yao became somewhat flustered. She was actually afraid Zhao Fusheng would take offense and refuse to listen.
She did not know that Zhao Fusheng was already staring at her in stunned silence.
Had he not previously taken some advantage of her, and relied on the sharpness of Crimson Snow, he would probably have been hacked into minced meat long ago.
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“Then teach me.”
“I don’t need to excel. As long as I can pass, that will be enough.”
Zhao Fusheng swallowed, though he forced himself to remain calm.
Yun Yao brightened considerably.
“Of course.”
“Listen to me. There is no way you can go wrong!”
She proceeded to teach him about acupoints, the circulation of breath, and the secrets of inhaling and absorbing energy.
Zhao Fusheng had possessed a foundation of understanding laid by his grandfather since childhood, so grasping the essentials was not difficult.
The problem was this body of his.
It was sluggish and heavy, without the slightest trace of qi available to him.
And he was clumsy to an extraordinary degree.
“You should sleep first. I’ll go study.”
“Forget it. Go to sleep. There’s no need to hurry.”
“It is inconvenient for us to share a room in any case. Once you have slept enough tomorrow, I will sleep.”
With that, he took some medicine from the cabinet, filled the brazier with mature charcoal, and left the room without listening to Yun Yao’s protests.
One move alone was enough to occupy his thoughts for a long time.
During the night, he continued refining medicine with the pill furnace.
At the same time, he wielded Crimson Snow and practiced the technique again and again.
As the qi circulated, his spirit grew clear. Once his spirit was clear, all his apertures became unobstructed.
With nothing blocking them, the elixirs he formed and swallowed immediately released a warm spiritual energy that replenished his entire body, filling every limb and bone.
When he wielded the sword again, his movements were lighter and freer than before.
This continued until dawn.
When Yun Yao awoke, two pills had been left beside her pillow.
A note accompanied them:
“You taught me your skills; I give you spiritual medicine.”
She smiled, then tightened her expression slightly.
“So young, yet already so perceptive?”
“What must he have gone through to develop such a temperament?”
Looking through the window, she saw Zhao Fusheng outside, turning the soil with a hoe.
The entire riverbank had been cultivated. A fence of tangled branches enclosed three square plots.
Some branches were thick, others thin. Their ends had been cut at slants, flat across, or with two or three broken ridges. Some had only a single clean cross-section.
The closer they came to the right side, the clearer the pattern became: thick trunks, flat cuts, and one precise, even stroke.
“His progress is truly astonishing!”
Yun Yao could not help sighing in admiration.
“In a single night, he has reached the second level of body refinement.”
Near the riverbank, he had even dug a channel.
Once water flowed through it, the many fields could be irrigated with ease.
Although it was cold beneath Azurecloud Mountain, the temperature was still very different from that of the mortal world below.
The mountain streams gathered spiritual energy from countless rivers, and the power that nourished plants within the earth was also unlike that of the outside world.
Growing medicinal herbs here was therefore not a bad choice.
Besides, when Yun Yao had inspected the medicine cabinet earlier, she had found that the remaining herbs were already scarce.
As a disciple at the very bottom of the hierarchy, Zhao Fusheng would certainly receive only a limited supply from the alchemy hall atop the peak.
Supporting themselves through their own cultivation was indeed a sensible solution.
What was more, Yun Yao remembered that he had said he intended to do business with the rat clan.
If he truly succeeded, and profits began to multiply, perhaps she could benefit as well and break the seal upon her body.
After turning the soil, Zhao Fusheng divided the land into three plots and planted catechu, plantain, and other herbs before taking a brief rest.
His grandfather had mentioned in the thirtieth page of his notes:
“With inferior mixtures, the amount of condensed spiritual energy is meager. The more refined the materials, the greater the spiritual energy they can gather.”
The amount of energy these low-grade medicinal mixtures could provide was limited.
Once the present crop had matured, it would be better to sell the herbs in bulk for money, then find a way to exchange it for better materials.
But just as he was thinking this, strange noises arose from within the mist along the riverbank.
“Seems to be an unfamiliar face.”
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“That pill aura smells rather fragrant. Eating him would probably be quite nourishing, wouldn’t it?”
The voices were shrill and broken, unpleasant and noisy to the ears.
“Hey, hey, hey!”
“Don’t act recklessly. We didn’t come here looking for food this time.”
“Don’t forget, Lord Huang is waiting for us. We cannot return empty-handed again, or we’ll become his rations!”
One of the voices was also high-pitched, but noticeably steadier and more seasoned.
“The eldest brother is right!”
“Last night, that senior brother guarding the post was carrying the treasured Crimson Snow sword, so we had no choice but to retreat. That angered Lord Huang terribly.”
“Today, no matter what happens, we cannot lose focus again!”
As they spoke, a bamboo raft slowly approached the riverbank.
Three gaunt jackal demons climbed ashore. Their faces were gray as earth, their bodies hunched and wretched, and each held a woodcutter’s knife.
The three demons looked left and right, carefully surveying the area.
The leader gave a sly chuckle.
“No one’s here!”
“They must have heard our voices and fled.”
The two beside him immediately echoed his words.
“Excellent!”
“That girl Yun Yao is hiding inside the house. This time, she won’t get away…”
The three exchanged glances, all of them revealing crafty smiles.
The leader raised a hand.
The three demons followed the path and charged straight toward the guardhouse.
“Oh, for heaven’s sake!”
They had taken only a few steps when the leader’s foot sank into a concealed pit.
Half his body lurched sideways as his leg collapsed into the hollow.
He tried to struggle free, but mud surrounded him, causing his foot to sink even deeper.
Then he screamed.
Spikes had been hidden beneath the pit, and they pierced through him like a skewer through a string of gourds.
“Which brat did this?”
The jackal demon chief shouted in panic.
“I did.”
A voice came from the shelter of the distant woods.
Within the curling mist, Crimson Snow gleamed with a piercing chill. The swordsman holding it was a tall man.
“A mountain-guarding disciple—Shi… Shi Changkong!”
One of the jackal demons was so terrified that he collapsed onto the ground. Then, without even thinking, he scrambled up and fled toward the river as fast as he could.
“Trying to scare us with tricks? Come out!”
The jackal demon on the right shouted, his nerves taut.
“I’m right here.”
Zhao Fusheng emerged from the other side, holding a branch. He gathered his concentration and opened his apertures.
“Mountain-Shattering Strike!”
He swung.
Boom!
The jackal demon on the right had no time to react before the sword aura struck him. He spat out a mouthful of hot blood and rolled across the ground three times.
A charred, scorched mark remained across his chest.
“Sorry, boss.”
“I can’t handle being attacked from both front and rear!”
The right-hand jackal demon lost his nerve as well. Clutching his stomach, he limped away after the other.
Only the leader remained.
Zhao Fusheng seized a rope. At the other end, Crimson Snow flew back from the hand of a temporary wooden dummy.
He tightened his grip and walked back to the jackal demon chief.
He laid the cold sword across the demon’s neck.
“Tell me. Who is this Lord Huang?”
“What does he want with Yun Yao?”
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