“Then what about the other two techniques?”
As a practitioner of the Forgetting Emotion Path, although Beichen Yue wasn’t the most qualified, she still regarded the Sword Cultivation Path as paramount.
The moment Dongfang Xiaotian unleashed just a single sword strike, Beichen Yue seemed to have some sort of vague enlightenment, a subtle sensation dawning within her.
If the first technique was this powerful, how terrifying would the following two be?
“That comes at another price.”
Dongfang Xiaotian sheathed his sword and said, “You should contemplate it yourself. I’m going out to use the restroom first.”
With that, Dongfang Xiaotian retracted his sword without hesitation and dashed away.
This one sword strike should keep her busy pondering for a while, and it would also prevent her from trailing behind to improve her favorability with the protagonist.
Beichen Yue opened her mouth but ultimately didn’t ask whether she could defer payment or perhaps offer Chun’er as collateral.
Just as Dongfang Tian said, even this single sword strike alone was enough for Beichen Yue to meditate on for quite some time.
She had no choice but to settle for a lesser request. “Does that sword technique have a name?”
“It does.”
Dongfang Xiaotian said confidently, “It’s called ‘Fellow Daoist, Wait.’”
Beichen Yue blinked, thinking Dongfang Xiaotian was calling out to her, before realizing that was actually the name of the technique.
A faint memory stirred within her.
She recalled certain rumors that some unscrupulous cultivators liked to give their techniques misleading names—like ‘Fellow Daoist, Wait’ or ‘Master, Assist Me’—to confuse their opponents.
No one knew who had first corrupted the cultivation world’s customs. Virtuous sects looked down on such names, but the evil cultivators used them to great effect.
Realizing this, Beichen Yue felt speechless. How could a dignified Azure Dragon Sword Immortal resort to such low tactics?
Although she was a sword cultivator herself and not entirely opposed to it, the problem was that this was the sword intent she was supposed to learn!
Incorporating “Fellow Daoist, Wait” into her Dao foundation felt… off.
“Maybe change the name? It would be a shame to waste such a good technique, and it wouldn’t be good for your reputation, Young Master.”
“This technique is mostly used against evil cultivators, not for banditry or murder.”
Dongfang Xiaotian waved his hand dismissively. “Just figure it out yourself. Don’t bother me while I’m on the toilet.”
Beichen Yue wanted to say more but noticed Dongfang Xiaotian had already grown impatient and ran straight toward the depths of the miasma.
Rejected once again.
Watching Dongfang Xiaotian’s expression that screamed he wanted to get as far away from her as possible, a faint loneliness stirred within Beichen Yue—an almost unprecedented feeling that set her heart aflutter.
After stabilizing her mind with the Forgetting Emotion Path’s heart method, Beichen Yue pondered and still found it hard to accept having such a strange sword intent in her Dao foundation.
A slight smile tugged at her lips. It seemed that while Young Master Dongfang knew a lot, he was hopeless at naming things.
“I’ll help him think of one.”
***
Spirit Pill Ruins, Miasma Forest
The place remained covered with withered trees and jagged rocks, cold and damp.
Occasionally, the sharp cries of spiritual beasts pierced the air, poisonous insects crawled about, and the perennial miasma formed a fog that reduced visibility to less than a hundred meters, making the place even more eerie and terrifying.
Suddenly, a white figure burst out of the dense miasma in a mad dash.
The white-haired girl had delicate features, with two canine ears atop her head. However, her entire body was covered in vicious wounds, and her white dress was stained blood-red.
On her back, the female she carried bore a deep sword wound, so deep it seemed to split her body in two.
“Third Elder, hold on a little longer!”
Tushan Bingxian urged while running, speaking to the Third Elder Liu Bingchan of the Four Sages Academy on her back. “In just two more hours, we’ll reach the Four Sages Academy’s camp!”
Tushan Bingxian’s face was full of frustration.
She had originally come here simply to search for a miraculous heavenly treasure, a legendary immortal herb called Seven-leaf Yangzhi, which would greatly aid her cultivation.
But unexpectedly, they had been ambushed by evil cultivators and outnumbered, forced into a desperate retreat through the ruins.
Three days had passed, and the evil cultivators still pursued them relentlessly. After using up all the Blood Pills in her possession, Tushan Bingxian was weakened by the miasma and couldn’t fight at full strength.
Fortunately, Third Elder Liu Bingchan had come with reinforcements to rescue them. They had nearly reached the exit of the Miasma Forest when they were ambushed by another group of evil cultivators.
By rights, a late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator was already considered the top-tier combatant in Ling Tian City, which had only three Golden Core cultivators, but they still fell into a trap.
One of the evil cultivators wielded a rare treasure containing a terrifying sword qi. The Third Elder was careless and was cut by the sword qi, falling unconscious immediately.
They had no choice but to retreat back into the Miasma Forest with the remaining disciples of the Four Sages Academy.
After killing seven or eight of the evil cultivators in the ensuing chase, they suffered heavy losses themselves.
Eventually, they had to scatter and flee separately.
But it seemed these evil cultivators had marked Tushan Bingxian and the Third Elder specifically.
Apparently, compared to ordinary Qi Refining cultivators, the leader of these evil cultivators preferred to target those with robust physical bodies like themselves.
“Bingxian, put me down.”
Liu Bingchan said weakly, “If you throw me off, you still have a chance to escape.”
“If not for the Blood Pills you brought, Third Elder, I might have died long ago.”
Tushan Bingxian gripped the elder’s legs tighter and said, “If you still have strength, please use your spiritual power to suppress your wounds quickly.”
“You only have Qi Refinement stage nine… you can’t outrun them.”
Liu Bingchan tried to get off Tushan Bingxian’s back to avoid being a burden, but she was too severely injured to exert any strength.
Trying to mobilize spiritual power to break free, she suddenly lost her breath and fainted.
“Third Elder!”
Tushan Bingxian had just wanted to put her down and feed her some healing pills when several sinister laughs echoed behind them.
“Little beauty, why run so fast?”
A lecherous voice came from behind Tushan Bingxian. It was one of the evil cultivators chasing them.
“Stop running, little beauty. Hand over that Foundation Establishment girl on your back so I can refine her into Blood Pills! If you serve us well, maybe we’ll give you a share!”
At the mention of Blood Pills, the two lackeys behind the pursuer showed greedy expressions.
“Big Brother, that Foundation Establishment girl just wiped out most of our men. Her cultivation must be high, at least mid-stage Foundation Establishment!”
In the Saint Hua Dynasty, each cultivation realm was subdivided into ten minor realms: stages one to three were early, four to six mid, seven to nine late, and the tenth was the Grand Perfection, halfway into the next realm.
One of the lackeys couldn’t help licking his lips. “Blood Pills made from a mid-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator… Boss, you have to give me one.”
“Enough chatter! Catch her first!”
“Tch.”
Tushan Bingxian clicked her tongue. Judging by the sound’s proximity, it wouldn’t be long before the demon cultivators caught up to her.
Though the Third Elder’s breath was faint, she could still hear the voices behind her and forced herself to say, “Bingxian, if you keep carrying me, those thieves will catch us… put me down, and you should still make it to the camp for help.”
“The senior brother will be here soon! Third Elder, please hold on!”
Tushan Bingxian said with no real confidence but still tried to reassure her.
The Third Elder only shook her head in silence.
Dongfang Xiaotian… If his cultivation were intact, he would easily deserve the elder’s position.
But now, with his cultivation crippled and stuck at Qi Refinement stage seven, unable to cultivate for life, how could he save them?
Before Tushan Bingxian could finish, the Third Elder suddenly coughed up a mouthful of congealed blood and passed out from her grave injuries.
“Hahaha, no use hiding, beauty!”
The relentless evil cultivator’s voice was filled with triumph.
“You already have miasma inside, and we locked you down with a Ten Thousand Miles Pursuit Talisman. No matter how much you struggle, you can’t escape our grasp!”
“Why not save your energy and become one of our brothers’ concubines? We’d even take you out sometimes.”
The evil cultivators spoke greedily and recklessly, their speed quickening as they fantasized.
—They marked me?
No wonder the miasma was so dense that visibility was less than a hundred meters, and even though she had shaken them off more than a dozen times, they still found her.
Upon hearing this, Tushan Bingxian only furrowed her brow slightly, then breathed a sigh of relief.
At least this meant the Third Elder she carried might survive.
Tushan Bingxian took out her last second-grade Swift Movement Talisman, quickly activated its incantation, and sprinted toward a narrow cave just big enough for one person before stopping.
Looking at the fading spiritual aura of the Swift Movement Talisman, she couldn’t help but feel a bit regretful.
Senior Brother had given her only a few spirit talismans, and now one was gone.
While sighing inside, she gathered the little spiritual power she had, flicked her hand, and froze all the ants, insects, and snakes inside the cave.
Only then did she place the Third Elder inside.
She wanted to chop a dead tree to block the cave entrance but hesitated, instead stuffing the space ring she probably wouldn’t use into the elder’s hands, leaving herself just one third-grade spirit talisman.
This third-grade spirit talisman was a failure Senior Brother had discarded, and she had shamelessly begged it from him.
She recalled Senior Brother’s face and, despite hope, knew he was probably still taking a nap somewhere, unlikely to come to her aid.
After all, how could things be so conveniently perfect every time?
Finally, Tushan Bingxian’s gaze shifted back to the unconscious beauty in her arms.
“Third Elder, the camp is only twenty li away. I hope you can get there on your own.”
The fox-eared girl said this as she formed a hand seal, causing a stone wall of moderate size to rise from the ground, perfectly blocking the cave’s entrance and hiding her unconscious senior disciple.
Then, the fox-eared girl immediately fled in the opposite direction, running a full two kilometers before stopping.
She gripped a slender green sword tightly and silently calculated the time it would take for the evil cultivators to catch up.
That had already been her last escape method, and she had no strength left to run any further.
Not long after, several figures of evil cultivators appeared right before Beichen Yue—six of them, no one missing.
Originally, there had been more than twenty, but only six remained after the slaughter.
Facing the exhausted Tushan Bingxian was more than enough for these six.
“Hahaha, little beauty, have you finally decided to become our concubine?”
A middle-aged man laughed lecherously as he looked over the girl in green. Her graceful figure made him lick his lips uncontrollably.