“It’s absolutely outrageous that someone would dare leave such marks on the Sword Scarre Stone!”
Wei Zhaoliu clenched her fists tightly, trembling with barely contained fury.
Li Mo cleared his throat lightly.
“Could there be a possibility that he didn’t mean to? Maybe he just happened to have an enlightenment while standing on it and accidentally left the mark.”
Hearing this, Wei Zhaoliu paused, her mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water before finally shutting her lips tightly and lowering her head.
She had studied the mysterious stone since she was young, yet could never change the faintest detail of the sword marks etched on it.
But that person, upon their first attempt, had managed to reshape the stone entirely to their will.
The gap between them was simply heart-wrenching.
For a moment, Wei Zhaoliu stared aimlessly with a defeated expression.
The sword trace resembled the will of heaven itself—how could it be so easily altered…
“Cough.”
Seeing her about to break down emotionally, Li Mo spoke earnestly.
“Big Sister Wei, your talent in swordsmanship is astonishing. One day, you’ll surely develop even more formidable techniques, and then you’ll have no problem restoring the stone!”
Such soothing words coming from his soul and consciousness were undeniably effective.
“Yes, I just need to work a little harder…”
Wei Zhaoliu nodded resolutely. “Thanks for enlightening me, Junior Brother! If you have any questions about swordsmanship in the future, feel free to ask me!”
“Helping others brings joy, there’s no need for thanks.”
Li Mo blinked calmly.
Wei Zhaoliu sighed.
“This person is definitely insane.”
“In what way?”
“In every way! We’re talking about someone whose talent is already off the charts. Who trains hammers for goodness sake?”
Wei Zhaoliu said this with righteous indignation.
Li Mo paused in silence for several seconds, then said in complete agreement:
“If given a choice, who would willingly…? Not all hammer trainers are bad people, though.”
Wei Zhaoliu furrowed her eyebrows. “Junior Brother, why are you sympathizing with that person? Do you know him well?”
“To put it bluntly, the two of us are sworn rivals.”
“That’s true. Junior Brother, you clearly don’t have that kind of vibe.”
Wei Zhaoliu nodded.
When she thought of ‘hammer trainers,’ she immediately envisioned a burly giant with an intimidating demeanor who could devour three children in one sitting.
This junior brother, however, was refined and handsome. It was impossible to imagine him in the same category as those types.
And just a moment ago, he had helped her.
He seemed like a genuinely good person.
…
After leaving the Sword Building, he didn’t return to Yunzhou City.
Today, Ice Chunk was lecturing at the Sword Pool.
The Sword Pool was where Hengyun Sword City stored all its sword-like artifacts, similar to the Divine Edge Cave. It was a vast open-air plaza.
In the center was a crystal-clear pool that housed various kinds of swords.
At that moment, the area was packed with people, forming inner and outer circles of spectators.
“No wonder Ying Bing became the top swordsmen of this session. Her teachings are even better than my master’s.”
“If only she were a disciple of the Sword City.”
“If she were a disciple of the Sword City, it wouldn’t take long before the title of Elder Sister might have to change hands.”
“It’s too bad that Young Hero Li isn’t lecturing; he has the potential of a Sword Immortal. I wonder what unique insights he might have had on the way of swords.”
…
While listening attentively, occasional whispers of conversation could be heard.
Seeing the crowd was about to disperse and it was getting crowded, Li Mo decided against entering.
He stood there for a while and lost himself momentarily in thought.
Not far away, a small figure with a backpack was poking the ground with a peach branch.
With a gentle flick, a jagged piece of a broken sword blade flew into her little backpack.
The damp air made her strands of hair stick to her neck, yet she remained happily focused on collecting.
“Chu Long, why aren’t you in the Sword Pool?”
Seeing the dimples at the corners of her mouth, Li Mo approached and asked.
“I’ve already… already listened.”
“Already? To whom?”
“To what Sister Ice spoke… it seemed very similar to what Teacher explained.”
“…”
“Could Sister Ice… have been… guided by Teacher?”
Jiang Chulong tilted her head in confusion.
“Well, not necessarily. The principles of swordsmanship often converge despite different paths. Perhaps their understandings happen to be similar.”
“Mm… Right.”
Little Jiang thought that Elder Brother Li’s explanation made a lot of sense.
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Seeing her skillfully pry up another fragment of a broken sword from the soil, Li Mo marveled.
“Chu Long, how do you know there’s a sword in the dirt?”
“Because… because I can hear it… and… and there are many others.”
Idle and having nothing else to do,
Li Mo ended up accompanying Little Jiang in a pleasant sword-hunting expedition around the Sword Pool.
If you ignored the fact that what they were picking up were mostly broken and damaged swords, it was almost like a mountain outing to gather wild herbs or mushrooms…
After a short while,
The little backpack was almost full.
“Why are there only swords…”
“Strange.”
Li Mo noticed that the surrounding soil contained only damaged swords, and they were neatly placed.
“Not normal.”
A familiar voice came from nearby.
One could hear the suppressed emotions in it.
“Hm?”
Li Mo looked up and saw Elder Zeng standing there with a stern expression, glaring at the two of them.
“These swords have been buried around the Sword Pool for a long time.”
“Who would have thought they’d be dug up by you two.”
“For a long time?”
Li Mo’s heart stirred. If they’d been buried for so long and hadn’t been discovered by others, that meant these swords were extraordinary!
It must have been thanks to Little Jiang’s innate Sword Embryo that they were able to find them.
Could these be deliberately placed treasures to test the disciples’ talents?
Elder Zeng’s expression turned even darker.
“Yes, I arranged a sword-nurturing formation around the Sword Pool using the principles of mystic geography. Now it’s ruined, all thanks to your digging!”
Li Mo: “…”
He was about to explain to Little Jiang that these swords weren’t just useless debris and should be returned…
But Jiang Chulong’s head hung low, looking utterly pitiful, with the heavy backpack almost crushing her thin shoulders.
In a soft voice, she said, “But… but these swords… they’re crying…”
“Cough… Elder Zeng.”
“Hm?”
“Could your sect find another method for nurturing swords?”
“Compared to burying broken swords, other methods would be more costly. Who’s going to pay for it? You?”
“Necessarily, it’d be me.”
…
[Congratulations, Host. You’ve funded an array of Precious Stone Sword Storage.]
[Feedback from investment: Martial Arts Insights – 100 units.]
Trading money for martial arts insights? That was an unbeatable deal!
Little Li was in dire need of vast amounts of martial arts insights.
He still had to form four Xuan Pills.
That meant mastering four more techniques to the Xuan Dan Realm and transforming them into stars for his All Heavens Starry Xuan Pill Sutra.
Currently, no amount of martial arts insights would be enough for him.
So, Elder Zeng enhanced the spiritual aura of the Sword Pool, Little Jiang got some valuable debris, and Li Mo harvested martial arts insights.
A true win-win-win situation!
…
Three days later.
The long journey elders were yet to arrive, but the new Qianlong List announcement was already out.
Little Li had spent the entire night deducing the Eight Treasures Swallowing Gold Technique, practicing all night.
Thanks to various rare resources and his prior experience with Xuan Dan Realm techniques, things went rather smoothly.
However, he was still short of what he needed to solidify another Xuan Dan.
“At this rate, it might take two months to complete seven stars…”
Not long after,
Everyone from Qingyuan Sect had gathered.
“The elders should be arriving soon. We might just make it to see the list in time.”
Shen Yunfei smiled. “Let’s set out!”
Qingyuan Sect had very few students who ever made it onto the list.
But this time, two of them were certain, though their exact rankings were still unclear.
Thinking of this,
He looked over to a distance.
There, a youth and a young maiden had just come out of the courtyard.
A little girl with her eyes covered by a bandage followed behind.
Shen Yunfei had a strange feeling.
In just a few days, their auras… had grown stronger?
…
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