Chapter 232: Li Sushang's Sword Intent
"Master, I'm back! I brought them back, and we even killed a demonic beast on the way!" Ye Shixing's voice echoed through the courtyard as he waved enthusiastically toward the inner halls.
An elderly man stepped out from the shadows of the corridor. His white beard cascaded down his chest, longer and thicker than a sweeping broom. Despite his age, his aura carried a distinct, almost ethereal weight—a touch of celestial poise. Just by sensing the ambient energy around him, Rovel could tell this old man was significantly stronger than the mutated eagle they had fought earlier.
"I am Zhang Chengqi, the leader of the Wu Sect," the old man announced, his voice smooth and practiced. "I have been entrusted by the Peerless Fairy to welcome our distinguished guests." He gestured toward the courtyard. "Everyone, please take a seat. Once I have finished the matters at hand, I will inform you of the news regarding the Red Kite Immortal."
He then turned his gaze. "Mingyu, come and attend to these seniors."
A young girl, perhaps thirteen years old, stepped out from behind him.
"We don't—" Li Sushang opened her mouth to refuse the hospitality, her hand resting on her hilt, but Rovel stepped forward and gently placed a hand on her shoulder, stopping her.
"Thank you for the trouble," Rovel said with a polite, measured nod.
Zhang Chengqi smiled thinly. "Xiao Jiu, come with me."
"Yes, Master!" Ye Shixing replied eagerly.
The old man and his disciple turned and walked toward the heavy wooden doors of the Alchemy Room in the back of the compound.
Meanwhile, Rovel, Cheng Lingshuang, and Li Sushang followed the young girl, Mingyu, into a quiet side hall. The room smelled faintly of old wood and stale incense.
Rovel took a seat, his eyes observing the sparse surroundings before landing on the girl. "Your name is Mingyu, right? You're the tenth disciple of the Wu Sect?"
Mingyu puffed out her chest, a proud gleam in her eyes. "Did Eldest Senior Brother tell you? Yes, I was the tenth disciple before, but now I'm the second senior sister of the Wu Sect!"
Li Sushang's gaze swept across the sprawling, empty courtyard outside the window. A massive sect, yet so few disciples remained. The withered, desolate state of the grounds sent a sudden, creeping chill deep into her bones. Something was terribly wrong here.
Time ticked by. Li Sushang paced the floor of the side hall, her fingers anxiously scratching at the back of her head. In stark contrast, Rovel and Cheng Lingshuang sat at the low table, calmly sipping the lukewarm tea Mingyu had poured. The young girl stood rigidly by the door, her posture acting as a silent barricade to prevent them from wandering.
"Master, Martial Aunt, do we really have to wait?" Li Sushang finally snapped, unable to sit still any longer. Her boots tapped rhythmically against the floorboards.
Rovel took another slow sip of his tea. He didn't answer immediately. The porcelain cup clicked softly against the wooden table.
"Catching someone in the act is much faster than looking for evidence anyway," Rovel finally said, his voice low and devoid of its usual warmth. He tilted his head toward the back of the compound. "It's starting over there."
Cheng Lingshuang didn't even blink. "Mhm. Sushang, I'll leave that old man to you. It's a good chance to see what you've learned from your recent sword trials."
Li Sushang's eyes lit up. "On it!" Unable to restrain her pent-up energy any longer, she kicked the door open and charged out, her hand already gripping her sword.
"Hey! That's the Alchemy Room, you can't go there!" Mingyu shrieked from the doorway, her voice suddenly shrill and tinged with genuine panic.
Rovel stood up, brushing a speck of dust from his coat. "Let's go out and see what tricks he's up to as well."
He and Cheng Lingshuang strolled out of the side hall, following the path toward the Alchemy Room.
By the time they arrived, chaos had already erupted. Thick, billowing clouds of black smoke poured from the windows of the Alchemy Room, carrying the vile stench of burning flesh and corrupted herbs.
The heavy doors smashed open, and Ye Shixing stumbled out. His face was pale as a sheet, his eyes wide with absolute terror.
"Ma... Master... he... he wants to... refine me into a Divine Pill!" Ye Shixing screamed, his voice cracking. He collapsed onto the dirt, practically scrambling on all fours toward Rovel and the others. "Immortal, save me! Immortal, save me!"
Cheng Lingshuang looked down at the groveling man, her expression entirely flat. "Realizing it only now? How stupid."
"I know now! I know!" Ye Shixing wailed, tears and snot mixing on his dirt-streaked face. He pounded his fists against the ground. "Eldest Senior Brother and the others... they were all refined into pills by Master! I saw it before! There was a demonic beast whose eyes looked exactly like Eighth Senior Brother's, but... but... Master killed it!" He was completely broken, frightened out of his wits by the gruesome truth of his missing martial siblings.
A sharp gust of wind swept the courtyard as Li Sushang stepped forward, her eyebrows arched in furious indignation. "You evil cultivator! How dare you use living people to refine pills!"
The Xuanyuan Sword in her hand connected with her righteous anger, emitting a terrifying, heavy pressure that cracked the paving stones beneath her boots.
From the smoke-filled doorway, Zhang Chengqi emerged. His celestial poise was entirely gone. His hair was a disheveled rat's nest, and his eyes burned with the manic light of a madman.
"What if you know?" Zhang Chengqi cackled, his voice distorted. "Perfect! Today I shall extract the Taixu Sword Qi from you! Once I obtain the Taixu Sword Qi and combine it with the power of this Divine Pill, I will be the next Red Kite Immortal!"
A massive, suffocating wave of true qi erupted from his body, surging toward Li Sushang like a tidal wave. Rovel narrowed his eyes against the gale. The old man's raw power was staggering—likely not much weaker than Yan Shiluo back in his prime.
What surprised Rovel the most, however, was that despite wielding such violent, corrupted energy, Zhang Chengqi had not yet fully succumbed to mara. His mind was twisted, but his body hadn't entirely broken down.
Fortunately, Li Sushang was no longer the same girl from a few weeks ago. Her battle with the mutated eagle had forced a transformation in her technique. She met Zhang Chengqi's tidal wave of qi head-on. Sparks flew as her blade danced, holding her ground without falling behind. In fact, her precise strikes were completely suppressing the old man's wild onslaught.
"Taixu Sword Qi! Taixu Sword Qi!!!" Zhang Chengqi shrieked, the sight of the legendary technique driving him further into frenzy. He abandoned all defense, lunging at Li Sushang with reckless, animalistic swipes.
The sheer madness on his face startled Li Sushang. For a fraction of a second, she lost her composure. Her footwork faltered, and her sword movements became slightly disorganized, forcing her to take a step back.
Standing at the edge of the courtyard, Cheng Lingshuang shook her head. "Still not good enough. To be frightened by such a weak opponent..."
The old man's aura was merely intimidating on the surface. In the face of genuine Taixu Sword Qi, an opponent's overwhelming true qi would normally become an aid to the practitioner, easily redirected and dismantled. The fact that Li Sushang couldn't finish him off within a few minutes made it obvious why Cheng Lingshuang considered her unskilled.
Rovel glanced sideways at the silver-haired woman. "Lingshuang, just how strong are you now?" he asked, genuine curiosity in his tone.
Cheng Lingshuang didn't look away from the fight. "Within ten moves, I can defeat Master. Within a hundred moves, I am a match for Master. After a hundred moves, death is certain."
Rovel let out a dry, self-deprecating chuckle. "I'm afraid I'm no match for you either."
Even though he had pushed the Liangyi Immortal Art to an entirely new level, compared to Cheng Lingshuang, the gap was still vast. The current Cheng Lingshuang had already surpassed the Red Kite in the world of God Accumulation. When they had reunited at the Peerless Freedom Gate, she had casually unleashed a Sword God at Rovel with a mere wave of her hand, expending absolutely no effort. He knew right then that beating her in a straight fight was off the table.
A faint, rare smile played at the corners of Cheng Lingshuang's lips. "Senior Brother should be able to take one sword from me."
"That's not bad then," Rovel nodded, feeling no frustration at all. He knew very well that her "one sword" didn't refer to an ordinary strike, but the manifestation of the true Taixu Sword God. Surviving that was an achievement in itself.
In the center of the courtyard, the battle reached a fever pitch. Li Sushang was breathing heavily, exhausted from dealing with the old man's frenzied, suicidal attacks. She was forced to fall back, continuously relying on the defensive Sword Form to deflect his blows.
Meanwhile, Zhang Chengqi's madness reached its breaking point. A massive amount of chaotic true qi violently invaded his body and meridians. Disgusting, thick purple veins bulged and spread rapidly across his neck and face.
He was finally succumbing to mara.
As the corruption took hold, Zhang Chengqi's physical strength surged unnaturally, his muscles tearing and reforming under the dark influence.
Li Sushang gritted her teeth, her grip tightening on her hilt. "If I can't even cross a small hurdle like this, then how am I qualified to seek the truth?!"
The Xuanyuan Sword in her hand suddenly erupted with a blinding, pure golden light. After ten long years of grueling training, her mind finally cleared. She had comprehended her Sword Intent.
The heavy blade of the Xuanyuan Sword seemed to respond to her soul, its form shifting and narrowing until it transformed into an elegant, slender blade.
"Is that... Ink-Dyed Fragrance?" Cheng Lingshuang raised a delicate eyebrow, a flicker of genuine surprise crossing her stoic features.
Rovel blinked, equally intrigued. "Isn't that Junior Sister Suyi's Sword Intent manifestation? Why did it appear in her hand?"
He had seen Li Sushang's Xuanyuan Sword take many forms before; she had even manifested the Water of Serenity during her spar with Fu Hua.
"Could it be that this little girl's Sword Intent allows her to use the intent of others?" Rovel speculated aloud. Ink-Dyed Fragrance definitely couldn't be Li Sushang's own original Sword Intent. While Sword Intents weren't strictly unique to one person, Li Sushang and her mother had vastly different personalities. It made no sense for them to naturally share the exact same manifestation.
"...Tsk."
Beside him, Cheng Lingshuang let out a highly uncharacteristic, dissatisfied click of her tongue.
She, a peerless genius, had never learned a Sword Intent of her own. Yet her disciple, Li Sushang, could apparently just copy and use the Sword Intent of others to change the form of the Xuanyuan Sword.
Was that even fair?
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