Chapter 525: We're All Swords—Why So Competitive?!

The starry sky, southern star region.

Fu Yao Star System, somewhere along Interstellar Route No. 1457.

The starship floated silently in the dark, profound void of space.

Inside the starship, the control room.

With sleepy eyes, Chi Jiuyu stretched, yawned, and sat upright from the reclined seat, glancing around.

But she noticed the screen in front of her had inexplicably gone dark.

Huh?!

Did I turn it off while I was sleeping?!

She instantly woke up!

She quickly reached out to tap and light it up.

Please, please save it—I don't want to rewrite everything from scratch.

Yet, just as her hand touched the screen, before she could activate it, she smelled a fragrance.

There, her sentient sword floated into the control room, carrying a bowl of boiled fish slices and a plate of golden, crispy fried fish bones.

Tender white fish slices were piled high with chili and Sichuan pepper drenched in hot oil, their colors perfectly harmonized, looking utterly appetizing.

Hum~

The slender sword filaments curled once, and the bowl of boiled fish slices and the plate of golden crispy fish bones floated gently onto her table.

Having done this, the emerald-gold long sword circled her once.

"Yu-yu~ Master! Eat!"

Huh?

Looking at the boiled fish slices and crispy fried fish bones before her, the aroma flooding her senses, Chi Jiuyu was utterly stunned!

"Wait—I ever taught you how to cook?"

And a sword cooking? Isn't that just a little bit off?

"Training! Learning!"

Training?

Learning?

Ah…

Chi Jiuyu scratched her head, at a loss for words.

"Emm… well done."

Though surprised, Chi Jiuyu's thick skin quickly accepted this.

No wonder she was her sentient sword—truly unique!

"By the way, did you turn off my mission report? You remembered to autosave, right?"

She pinched a piece of crispy fried fish bone and popped it into her mouth.

Crunch~

The crisp fish bone shattered lightly at the bite, with a bit of fish meat deliberately left clinging to the central bone.

Though only a pinch of salt seasoned it, such a snack never needed much flavor.

The crisp, fragrant taste made Chi Jiuyu reach for another.

Could her sentient sword really have better culinary talent than she did?

A thought drifted through her mind.

At that moment, the screen before her lit up, directly switching to the interface where she'd been writing her mission report.

It wasn't blank as she'd feared, nor did it contain only a few lines.

Instead, dense text filled her vision.

Chi Jiuyu skimmed through it quickly.

Format proper, word choice precise—even her brilliant, wise, courageous, and strategic perfection was described in full.

Exactly as she'd envisioned when she began writing.

This was a perfect mission report!

Huh?

Finished?

Did I write this in my sleep, sleepwalking?

Chi Jiuyu fell into thought, idly picking up another crispy fried fish bone and popping it in.

Soon, the emerald-gold long sword floated proudly before her.

"Yu-yu~ Master! Done!"

Was it her imagination, or did she detect a hint of pride in that childish voice, so eerily similar to her own?

She finally realized.

"Holy shit!"

Looking at the neatly formatted mission report on screen, Chi Jiuyu stared in shock at her sentient sword.

"You wrote this?!"

"Mm!"

Hearing her affirmative reply, Chi Jiuyu's shock didn't fade—she couldn't help but marvel again.

Holy shit!

My sentient sword is way too badass!

……

……

Several minutes later.

Chi Jiuyu held a bowl larger than her face; the rice that had originally piled high was now only half full.

It was her Life Blade who had just brought it to her.

As she ate rice with fish slices, she thought about what had just happened.

The mission report had been approved.

But she didn't know who had reviewed it—they'd called her perfectly written report "excessively self-praising."

They told her to be more careful next time!

She comforted herself for a long while before her Life Blade understood that her writing was fine—it was the reviewer who had a faulty brain.

Fuck!

It was enough to make a person furious!

But to be fair, her Life Blade really was a bit impressive.

Even small tasks like slicing fruit, cooking, and cleaning—it could do those. And now it could even write mission reports!

She was only at Soul Transformation now!

If she reached Dao Union later and became Sect Master, wouldn't she become even more powerful!

Of course!

She was the destined Sect Master of the Life Xiang Jianzong.

Her Life Blade was the destined Sword of the Sect Master!

Chi Jiuyu became even more certain.

Hmm…

By the way, if she published a paper titled "On How to Cultivate a Service-Oriented Sword Spirit," would it cause a sensation?

When she graduated, she had barely managed to complete her graduation project—yet those people had called her heretical!

This is the new era!

How could anyone still hold such rigid thinking? No wonder they were overshadowed this year by the affiliated university of the Tai Shang Dao Sect!

Soon, she finished the entire large bowl of rice.

After letting out a burp, she used a cleansing spell to wipe her mouth, gathered the bowls and chopsticks, and took them to the living quarters to wash.

Actually, her Life Blade had wanted to help her clean up.

But as a considerate and understanding—understanding sword intent—mistress, she firmly refused and ordered it to return quickly to the Shadow Secret Realm to rest.

【Jump will begin in thirty seconds, next…】

Chi Jiuyu looked up.

After a nap, the jump engine had cooled down.

She wanted to return as soon as possible to see her master.

Hehe!

She was eager to see her master's reaction upon learning what her Life Blade had done.

……

……

Meanwhile, inside the Inner Sect of Zong Sect.

Since Jieye had left, Bie Xuening, who had just been bickering with Master Mei Zu in the leader group, arrived at the Xiang Jianzong Hall.

"What do you think, Sister?"

The voice echoed through the hall.

"…" Bie Xuening fell silent for a moment. "That disobedient disciple always has strange ideas."

"But the fact that her sword spirit has been shaped into that form is indeed interesting," Xu Xing chuckled.

Bie Xuening shook her head slightly: "If that disobedient disciple heard your words, she'd probably get even more conceited."

That disobedient disciple was the type who, given a little sunlight, would burst into bloom—and if not beaten for three days, would climb onto the roof and tear off the tiles.

"It's fine to be innocent and carefree. She's still young; there's no need to be so rigid."

Besides, though she was flighty, her actions were always measured.

"…" Bie Xuening fell silent again. "Let's watch the outer realm."

The two said no more, turning their gaze to the Ascension Envoys training beyond the boundary.

Soon after, a figure entered the training hall, carrying a plate of sliced fruit.

Her delicate face was filled with confusion.

It was Yue Ling!

She didn't understand—weren't all swords supposed to just fight and kill?

Isn't it better to play games during rest time?

Why be so overworked?!

……

……

Mission World One.

In the silent, profound space of the universe, a blade of light suddenly appeared, then quickly dispersed.

Revealing a man clad in black combat attire, his posture tall and straight.

Zhou Kongming.

His gaze fixed ahead, his spiritual sense, which had previously expanded to survey the surroundings, slowly retracted.

At this level of Return-to-Void, in a world of starry cosmos, his spiritual sense covered a far greater expanse than even a Union with Dao cultivator's would in the Tai Xuan Realm's starry void.

Of course, he would never do such a thing, for it would be nearly equivalent to opening himself up to be drained by the world.

Even though he was already at the peak of Return-to-Void, with profound foundations, he could not be certain this world held no beings or weapons capable of harming him.

"This is it."

Before him was a star entirely enclosed within a spherical structure.

Most of this world was utterly lifeless, unlike the Tai Xuan Realm's starry void, which teemed with numerous star-dwelling alien races.

It was only through the Grand Void Sword Flight that he had crossed tens of thousands of light-years to find this first planetary system showing traces of human—or rather, intelligent civilization—activity.

And on his personal interface, after the auxiliary module section,

a star map with an abundance of adjustable options had now appeared.

Every region he had passed through was meticulously annotated with data: spiritual energy concentration, number of Dao-entering humans, number of intelligent individuals, and more.

But now…

The spiritual energy concentration row showed a 0 followed by dozens of zeros, stretching long, ending only in a solitary 2.

The number of Dao-entering humans was zero.

Yet the number of intelligent individuals had just updated—683.74.

Honestly, 683 was understandable, but what in the world was 0.74?

He shifted his gaze from his personal interface to one of the planets.

Beneath the planet's crust, he sensed faint traces of life.

His form instantly vanished, then drifted directly toward that planet.

Regardless, he would first observe their civilization type and social structure before deciding whether to plant the Spiritual Source Seed.

Thus, Zhou Kongming gradually approached the planet he had detected.

Due to his exceptional concealment technique, he effortlessly breached the outer warning systems and arrived at the planetary surface.

All he saw was desolation, with no sign of life; the planet's surface temperature was extremely low.

Though he had never formally studied the systematic knowledge of "Star Refining," he had once, out of curiosity, briefly familiarized himself with it.

Thus, he saw at a glance that all planets in this planetary system were uninhabitable.

At the very least, ordinary humans could never survive on such a planet.

"Is it another cultivation system, or…"

Though there was no spiritual energy, perhaps the beings of this world had developed an alternative cultivation system.

Or perhaps they had never developed a cultivation system to strengthen themselves, but instead, relying only on fleeting flashes of wisdom within their brief lifespans, had explored the mysteries of the universe until now…

Zhou Kongming's heart stirred slightly, and his entire form instantly transformed into a wispy, formless vapor, piercing through the thick crust.

Though his spiritual sense had already scanned the general conditions beneath the crust,

he could not rule out the possibility of methods capable of evading his spiritual detection.

To casually underestimate a civilization would be foolish. (End of Chapter)