Once Jing Qian fully grasped the essence of Flame Qi, the eighth layer of the Origin Sea opened before him.
He now stood only a single step away from breaking through all ten layers and condensing his first Minor Immortal Qi.
It was a clear sign that his foundation had grown immensely solid.
By this point, Jing Qian already had a complete plan for his cultivation along the Path of Spirit Subjugation.
If he wanted to, he could easily begin transforming his current Blue-Blood Life Essence into the higher-tier Violet-Pupil Life Essence.
But given his circumstances, he realized that maintaining his cultivation at the Longevity Realm for a while longer would yield far greater benefits.
After all, for every ten Blue-Blood units, he could later forge one Violet-Pupil unit upon advancement.
More importantly, the resources required to increase ten Blue-Blood units now were nearly thirty percent cheaper than the energy needed to gain a single Violet-Pupil unit after his breakthrough.
In other words, so long as his pace of cultivation didn't slow, it was far more cost-effective to stay where he was and push his mana reserves to the absolute limit.
And besides, with his current realm, he could absorb Chef Luo Tian's high-grade food tonics with twice the effect. Each serving of spirit cuisine boosted his strength more efficiently than before.
He was now in a rapid-growth phase of the Longevity Realm.
He couldn't afford even a moment of slackness.
Jing Qian drank deeply from the cauldron of Yang-Fortifying Soup, feeling his entire body surge with power. His mana grew livelier and denser with each swallow.
Luo Tian, meanwhile, drank right alongside him, sweat pouring down his round face as the furnace fire within his chest roared to life.
Even Mo Pin'er, though a ghost, took a bowl, her pale cheeks flushing pink as yin turned to yang, giving her body a hint of living warmth. Her aura swelled, edging her closer toward breaking into the Star-Seizer Realm.
Qi Li, the spirit raccoon, downed three bowls in a row, then begged Jing Qian for another, taking it back to the Kitchen Realm.
After all, not a single kitchen spirit could resist a broth simmered with True Solar Flame. Qi Li was already planning to sell samples at a premium.
Little Corn, of course, was the most shameless of them all, extending seven or eight roots straight into the pot, greedily soaking up the soup as though trying to bathe in it.
This Yang-Fortifying Soup was different from the earlier Coral Noodles.
It wasn't a fleeting burst of Immortal Qi; it was a rich, dense essence, infused with the Dao rhythm of the Great Sun, capable of being consumed long-term to strengthen one's foundation.
For Jing Qian, it was the perfect method to absorb and refine the True Solar Flame.
The chef's value to the team had once again risen sharply.
The small and seemingly ordinary ship sailed across the waves for three days before the first cauldron of Yang-Fortifying Soup was finally consumed.
By then, Jing Qian's planned Spirit Subjugation Path had reached its third milestone.
In this stretch of sea stood a Dragon Palace, within which dwelled Ao Run, a descendant of a previous Dragon God, the thirteenth and youngest of his line.
Though the thirteen dragon sons were locked in bitter struggle for control of the Vast Sea Dragon Palace, a second-rank spiritual treasure of immense power,
Ao Run's impure bloodline and incomplete draconic form had forced him to withdraw from the conflict long ago.
But Jing Qian couldn't care less about internal dragon politics.
Among all sea demons, dragonkind were by far the most valuable prey.
As soon as the Dingyuan anchored, he rose from the deck and plunged into the deep sea, heading straight for the Dragon Palace.
At the same time, he split off thirty-six strands of sword-light, each one taking the shape of a Formation Nail, hidden from all sight as though they existed in another dimension entirely, and they began to encircle the Dragon Palace.
In an instant, the Heavenly Gang Sword Formation was deployed flawlessly, ensuring that not even a dragon could escape.
Jing Qian slipped silently through a gap in the Dragon Palace's grand formation and entered within.
Just as he activated his Three-Life Eye to locate his target, he froze in surprise.
The vast halls of the palace were empty, no servants, no furnishings, not even a trace of ornamentation. Only a single female dragon cultivator remained, her graceful figure moving fluidly as she practiced sword forms.
A ribbon of aqua-blue sword light shimmered around her, each strike trailing crystalline arcs of frozen light through the water. The sword aura was sharp and fierce, its freezing power biting enough to maim even a seasoned fighter; every swing cut beautiful yet deadly curves through the air.
But what truly caught Jing Qian's attention was something else.
Within her sword aura… There was a faint, unmistakable trace of Pure Yang Heaven.
He examined her more closely.
This dragon girl hadn't even forged a Sword Casket, which meant she wasn't a true disciple of Pure Yang Heaven. Yet the sword in her hand had its spiritual signature; its structure was clearly of Pure Yang lineage, originating from Hidden Sword Mountain itself.
With that connection, Jing Qian chose not to strike her down.
Instead, he flicked a single Invisible Sword Qi through the air.
It slipped soundlessly between dimensions and struck precisely at the weakest flaw in her sword technique.
Even without drawing the Immortal Sword Embryo, his current Skin-Flaying Sword Qi was leagues beyond what it had once been.
The dragon girl's smooth, flowing sword dance shattered instantly, the elegant arc collapsing as a blade of ice flickered into view, its aura disrupted.
"Who's there?!"
"Show yourself!"
Her voice was sharp, her expression cold as frost.
Jing Qian's divine eye swept across the blade, instantly revealing its nature:
[Spiritual Construct: Yin Sword (Sealed)]
Type: Root of Self-Seeking
Grade: Fourth Rank (True Rank: Second)
Suppression Requirement: Pure Yang Disciple, Daughter of Ren Chong
Lifespan Burden: Seventeen days per day
When Jing Qian had charted out his Spirit Subjugation Path, he had sensed a faint Star-Seizer aura emanating from this Dragon Palace. Now he understood it had been coming from this sword all along.
He recalled what Old Niu had once told him about the power struggles of the Vast Sea and quickly pieced the clues together.
There had once been a Pure Yang disciple who married into the Merfolk Clan of the Vast Sea.
That man must have been Ren Chong.
Yet the girl before him, her dragon bloodline was dominant. There was hardly a trace of human or merfolk features left in her.
So how exactly was she connected to Ren Chong? Jing Qian would have to find out.
Facing the wary dragon girl, Jing Qian showed no hesitation.
Yes, she wielded a Pure Yang Heaven sword artifact, but she had no Sword Casket, no Pure Yang Golden Eye, and had never received the true inheritance.
Her sword spirit was sealed, limiting its power to the fourth rank.
From any perspective, she was no match for him.
He still didn't draw his Immortal Sword Embryo; instead, he unleashed wave after wave of Invisible Sword Qi, surrounding her.
The Dragon Palace is filled with swirling sword pressure. The invisible strikes had no form, no sound, yet every blow landed precisely upon the weak points of her ice sword technique.
She could barely hold her stance. Every defense was disrupted; she felt smothered, suffocated, her body bound by unseen force.
Desperately, she drove her Yin Sword to defend herself, but the floating blade seemed to lose its way, like a headless fly buffeted again and again by unseen strikes.
Though the sword's body remained undamaged, her control over it was shattered entirely.
Finally, with a sharp clang, the Yin Sword was knocked from the air, smashed to the ground, and pinned there by Jing Qian's relentless invisible sword aura, completely immobilized.
At the same time, an ethereal edge of sword qi coiled around the dragon girl's neck, grazing her skin. A thin line of blood welled up, sending a chill down her spine.
Whoever this unseen assailant was, he could have ended her life in an instant.
Instead, he had deliberately held back.
Knowing resistance was futile, the dragon girl Ao Run lowered her sword hand and spoke in a trembling but respectful tone:
"I know not which master of Pure Yang Heaven has descended… but I am the direct granddaughter of Ren Chong's daughter, Ren Chong's own flesh and blood.
Senior, please show mercy and withdraw your sword qi."
She ceased all resistance, surrendering her life into his hands.
Jing Qian then revealed his true form, appearing beside the fallen Yin Sword.
In his hand, or rather, in another dimension just beyond sight, the Immortal Sword Embryo shimmered unseen, pressing down from a higher layer of space.
Its weight, though invisible, pinned the Yin Sword completely to the ground, holding it fast as though the heavens themselves had nailed it in place.
Jing Qian looked at the dragon girl and said evenly,
"I am the current Pure Yang Heir, Chi Xiao. Yet I've never heard that Ancestor Ren Chong left behind a descendant like you. Explain how all this came to be."
The dragon girl bowed deeply, her voice clear but carrying a note of bitterness.
"This little one is Ao Run, the thirteenth daughter of the former Dragon God. My mother, Ren Yao, was born to Ren Chong and the previous queen of the Merfolk Clan.
Nine hundred years ago, my mother fell into conflict with the Vast Sea Dragon Palace over matters concerning her merfolk kin. She was crushed and humiliated by the Dragon God himself, and that is how I came to be born.
Later, the Dragon God grew greedier still. He sought to seize my mother's Yin Sword, and when she resisted, he killed her. That act drew the attention of my grandfather, Ren Chong, who saw the truth through his divine eye from the farthest reaches of the heavens.
With a single sword strike from beyond the firmament, he slew the Dragon God outright. The dragon's life monument collapsed, and he could never be reborn.
That was the beginning of the chaos among the dragon sons, each vying to claim the fallen throne of the Vast Sea Dragon Palace.
I was but a child then, yet my bloodline was… peculiar. My elder brothers, terrified by my grandfather's wrath, dared not touch me. So they sent me away to this quiet corner of the sea, where I've remained ever since, cultivating in solitude."
Jing Qian listened quietly.
A flicker of sympathy touched his expression.
This poor girl… what a cursed lineage.
Her father had enslaved and murdered her mother over a treasure, and her grandfather, upon discovering the deed, had struck down the killer in rage, only to abandon the child that remained.
No wonder she had grown up alone at the edge of the sea.
After a moment, Jing Qian asked,
"I've heard no mention of you within Pure Yang Heaven. Why have you never sought out the sect for aid?
You've barely cultivated the basic sword teachings. Had you petitioned my master, Elder Shangxi, he could have granted you a single transmission that would have raised your strength by leaps."
Ao Run lowered her head.
"To answer the Daoist heir, though I bear human and merfolk blood, I am still of the Dragon God's line. A Binding Dragon Pillar of the Dragon Palace keeps me tethered to the Vast Sea. I cannot easily leave.
Moreover, my brothers keep a close watch on me. They would never permit me to make contact with the human sects.
Were it not for your personal arrival today, I fear it would have taken me centuries more to reach Pure Yang Heaven."
Jing Qian studied her through the Three-Life Eye. Her spirit flickered, clear no deceit in her words.
Ao Run continued earnestly,
"Daoist heir, I've longed to return to the sect, to beg for the support of Pure Yang Heaven and be freed from this ocean prison.
Between me and the sea dragons, there can be no reconciliation.
If you would help me destroy the dragon race, I will offer you my mother's sword in gratitude and personally guide you through the sea's depths."
Jing Qian glanced at her, a beautiful, tragic figure with ice-blue eyes, and chuckled softly.
"So, you'd have me fight for your claim to the Vast Sea Dragon Palace?"
"One Yin Sword won't be enough for that. What else can you offer?"
He wasn't about to throw himself into a war between dragon princes just because a pretty woman asked.
Yes, he had come here with designs on the dragon race's flesh and essence, but that didn't mean he'd play her pawn.
Ao Run's expression stiffened, caught off guard that her ambition had been laid bare so easily.
After a moment's pause, she changed her tone, her voice far more sincere.
"Daoist heir, among the thirteen true dragon children, the one who claims the Dragon Palace will inherit the supreme Dao path.
My cultivation depends on the power of my dragon blood. Though my chances are slim, the Palace remains my only hope of ascension.
Before meeting you, I had already given up such dreams. But now that you stand before me, perhaps… You are the same as my grandfather Ren Chong, a man who boiled dragons and cooked phoenixes, testing his divine might."
"You are my destined chance, Daoist heir. Unless you kill me with your own hand, I will never stop following you."
And before Jing Qian could respond, Ao Run's aura flared. She coughed a mouthful of blood and severed her spiritual bond with the Yin Sword right then and there.
A clean break.
She had just sold herself into his fate.
The precious second-grade divine sword, a treasure beyond price, was abandoned without hesitation and handed to Jing Qian like a tribute.
Jing Qian watched her calmly, his gaze sharp as he assessed this woman with an unshakable Dao heart.
"I told you, one Yin Sword isn't enough," he said lightly.
"What else can you offer me?"
He wasn't truly interested in wealth or treasures; it was another test, a probe into her heart.
He rarely encountered a woman of such conviction.
From the very moment she learned of his Pure Yang identity, she had weighed the odds, chosen her path, and even cast aside the inheritance sword of her own grandfather, all for a single, uncertain chance at transcendence.
She knew that to become a true Dao cultivator, she would have to walk the most perilous path of all: the dragon heirs' struggle for the throne.
Even her mother's treasured Yin Sword, unsuited to her nature, had become a burden she was eager to trade away for the faintest promise of destiny.
Ao Run met his gaze and spoke once more, steady and composed:
"Daoist heir, I possess only two things of true worth: this Yin Sword, and my bloodline connection to Ren Chong.
To most, these may mean little. But to you, they must hold far greater value.
In my hands, the Yin Sword is nothing but a clumsy iron rod, and I can never draw out its true strength.
But in your hands, it could reveal its full power.
And as for Ren Chong, he was your own senior master. Surely you wouldn't turn away the granddaughter of your sect's forebear?"
"For the sake of my path, I can only beg for your aid."
She said nothing about Jing Qian's further demands, instead playing up her status to the hilt. Her attitude was clear: look how low I've bowed, I've already given you my ancestral great sword, what more do you want?
Jing Qian shook his head and ignored her posture. He stooped, picked up the Yin Sword from the ground, and began pouring his own power into the second-grade spirit construct.
The sword's nature matched his perfectly; he wasn't about to pass it up.
For him, the first-grade Immortal Sword Embryo was still something he could only barely control and therefore kept for direct strikes. A second-grade Yin Sword, however, posed no such problem; he could readily fuse it into his sword qi and sword light, greatly boosting his combat strength.
The daily life-cost of the Yin Sword was indeed high, higher even than the Immortal Sword Embryo he'd been coaxing along bit by bit. But for Jing Qian, that was entirely bearable.
Using the forging methods from the Pure Yang Sword Refining Scripture, he gradually tore apart the Yin Sword's magical structure. In the process, he could clearly peer into Ren Chong's mind to see how that top-tier sword master had refined his spirit sword. Such insight was invaluable in cultivating knowledge.
Before long, he was completely absorbed in the Yin Sword. He worked as if the world had no others, so absorbed, in fact, that he paid little mind to the dragon girl standing by. Ao Run watched, her heart churning as she saw the heirloom blade she'd kept for a thousand years being incrementally taken over.
What looked like control on her part was really just the last flailings of someone in despair; she was testing the Pure Yang heir's moral limits. In the end, her weakness left her no bargaining power; she had to rely entirely on him.
Jing Qian's refining took three full days. At last, he managed to graft a sliver of his own qi into the Yin Sword. He lifted a finger, and the Yin Sword slid into his Qingping Sword Casket, where it wove together with his fundamental sword qi.
Under the tempering of his root sword intent, the Yin Sword would grow ever closer to him. And with a second-grade spirit construct supporting his root sword qi, the swordlights it produced would naturally be far more powerful.
Jing Qian's invisible sword qi had already improved in kind. He was very pleased with the gain.
Ao Run, on the other hand, was growing restless. Jing Qian's indifference and single-mindedness rattled her. She was further shaken when, after subduing the Yin Sword, he announced matter-of-factly, "Dragon girl, since our bargain won't do, I'll be on my way. We shall meet again."
"Wait!" she cried. "My mother left a hidden grotto that even the Tiangang Tower does not know of. I'll give it to you! But you must secure the Vast Sea Dragon Palace for me and pull out its Binding Dragon Pillar."
"Words mean little. Promise me you'll do your utmost, then lead me to the grotto," Jing Qian replied.
As he led Ao Run toward the exit, a blunt voice carried in from outside her cave:
"Thirteenth Princess, the Crown Prince asks me to remind you about this season's tribute. Have you prepared it? If not, I shall, as before, take whatever fate-fire you have refined in your chamber."
Jing Qian's Three-Life Eye soon made it clear: a star-ranked old white tortoise sat blocking the palace gate.
He turned to ask Ao Run, "What is this 'tribute' you speak of?"
She answered, "The sea tribes like to build isles and raise humans as rations, and the Vast Sea Dragon Palace collects such tribute from many dragon princes and great monsters.
"I have never been involved in that," she added quickly. "If my grandfather returned and discovered I had done such a thing, he would strike me down with a single sword."
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