Chapter 551: The Beginning of the Rune-Sword Cultivation Journey

"M-M-Master! Master!"

Thud!

Before Bie Xuening could speak, Yue Ling knelt down with swift decisiveness.

At the same time, a phrase she often said slipped out.

"Master, I'm wrong!"

Bie Xuening paused for two seconds, then spoke slowly, "Where exactly are you wrong?"

"..." Yue Ling blinked, "I... I don't know..."

To her, asking Xu Xing for money was perfectly reasonable.

After all, she was a Sword Spirit!

A Sword Spirit asking her master's younger brother for money wasn't unusual at all.

As for why she knelt...

It was pure survival instinct overriding her thoughts.

"..." Bie Xuening fell silent for two seconds, then waved her hand and tossed out a Storage Ring.

Yue Ling didn't react in time and remained kneeling, so the Storage Ring struck her forehead.

"Oof!"

She instinctively touched her forehead, then looked at the Storage Ring rolling in front of her.

Huh?

She reached out, picked up the Storage Ring, and looked at Bie Xuening in confusion:

"For me?"

"Go back."

It really was for her!

"Thank you, Master!"

Yue Ling paid no mind to Bie Xuening's words, snatched up the Storage Ring in delight, stood, and ran out.

Jiuyu was right—she should've just asked outright!

Besides, her Master is quite generous!

In the blink of an eye, Yue Ling had already run out of the Xiang Jianzong Hall and headed toward the Xiang Jianzong's Inner Sect Miscellaneous Affairs Hall.

She needed to deposit the Spirit Coins into her other account first, so she could spend freely.

In truth, as one of the Xiang Jianzong's Ancestral Swords, Yue Ling had extremely high privileges and could freely access the Sect's resources.

She even had a dedicated account with more Contribution Points than she could ever use.

But...

Lady Yue Ling has dignity too!

A divine sword! One of the Xiang Jianzong's Ancestral Swords!

If anyone found out Lady Yue Ling was spending Contribution Points to pay for games, it would be utterly humiliating.

So, with Jiuyu's help, she opened a secondary account.

Normally, she just asked her Master for a little pocket money for private spending.

A farce.

Xu Xing turned his gaze to Bie Xuening beside him:

"Ye Shijie."

"Mm." Bie Xuening gave a slight nod.

That rebellious disciple dared to incite her own Sword to beg money from her younger brother!

She'd deal with her when she returned!

"Did you have any urgent business when you went out to meet Hu earlier?" she asked.

Hmm...

Seeing that Ye Shijie didn't want to revisit the earlier incident, Xu Xing dropped the subject and replied:

"Nothing much—he came back to drop off his disciple and just happened to invite me to meet."

He vanished after that meeting; no one knows where he went again.

"Disciple..."

Hu's disciple was the one affected by the Cang Clan's bloodline when Brother Xing emerged from seclusion.

"Is it fine that his disciple was assigned to the second wave of Ascension Envoys?"

"It's hard to believe, but Hu does care for his disciple—he wouldn't act recklessly."

As for whether Hu might sneak in secretly...

The answer is yes.

He has restraint in major matters, but in matters like this...

His promises are worth only half a listen.

"He said he was going to track down Yuan's whereabouts, then later said he wouldn't go."

Bie Xuening paused, then asked casually:

"What do you think of that, Brother Xing?"

"If he wants to go, let him. Once this phase of preparations is complete, it's time to bring Yuan back."

"..."

Bie Xuening hesitated, but after recalling the upcoming arrangements, she found nothing amiss.

……

……

Meanwhile, Chi Jiuyu still didn't know that her master had noted this down against her.

Supreme Dao Sect.

Though it was already night, beams of fleeing light still came and went across the sky, weaving together like flowing streams.

The islands high above were wreathed in all manner of mystic radiance, transforming into various auspicious phenomena, appearing especially wondrous beneath the night sky.

But those two especially grand ancestral-master residences—fashioned from spirit jade, adorned with glazed glass, wreathed in crimson and violet auroras—had now concealed themselves, showing not the slightest trace.

In this Central Continent, if one were to rank the nightscapes of the various great immortal sects, the Supreme Dao Sect could take second place.

As for first place, it was naturally the Salvation Valley.

All sorts of strange flowers and auspicious herbs, ancient pines and verdant bamboos breathed in spirit and exhaled aurora through the night, auspicious colors and spirit streams converging together.

The grandeur of its nightscape was difficult for the other immortal sects to match.

Actually, if one were to speak of scenery, the Thousand Chaotic Sea where the Longxiang Qingtianzong was located was also quite nice.

It's just that the body cultivators made rather loud noises when tempering their bodies, and quite a few of those brutes cultivated sound-attribute arts, so ordinary soundproofing formations couldn't block them at all…

Therefore, the Longxiang Qingtianzong's tourism industry had always been dismal.

However, recently, in order to eliminate the world's prejudice against body cultivators and let more practitioners understand and correctly perceive the profession of 'body cultivator'—

The Longxiang Qingtianzong had already been planning to set up a super-large intelligent soundproofing formation in the Thousand Chaotic Sea.

Even the specific groundbreaking date had already been set…

Returning to the main topic.

At this moment.

In front of a mountain gate that few people used, exclusively for disciples of the Supreme Dao Sect to pass through.

Zhao Ruohan was standing by the road, quietly waiting, a box of pastries just obtained from her mother still in her hand.

She took out her phone and checked the time.

22:28

Time was almost up.

The time she had arranged with Chi Jiuyu was half past ten.

Chi Jiuyu… shouldn't be late, right?

Just as Zhao Ruohan was wondering whether she should send a message to ask—

"Little Zhao!"

She looked up, and Chi Jiuyu had somehow already appeared not far away.

"Hehe! How long have you been here? I didn't arrive late, did I?"

Chi Jiuyu said as she walked forward.

"No, there's still two minutes left." She shook her head slightly.

Waiting for her to come closer, Zhao Ruohan turned and walked inward:

"Come with me, the room for you has already been arranged."

"Oh."

"Oh right, Sister Qianqian asked me to give you this, reminding you to take a look at it when you have time."

Saying so, Zhao Ruohan took out a lustrous jade slip inscribed with golden characters and handed it to her.

Chi Jiuyu took it and glanced over it.

"Scripture-Recorded Sword Manual?"

"This is the foundation that all who enter the Talisman-Sword lineage must learn; it shouldn't be difficult for you." Zhao Ruohan explained.

"It's a sword art, right?"

Although her talent for the Dao of Talismans had been tested, after all she hadn't truly studied it yet…

"Mm."

Chi Jiuyu was relieved:

"Then there's no problem. I'll go back later and study it a bit, and try to figure it all out tonight!"

Tonight…?

After learning of Chi Jiuyu's purpose, she had gone to inquire about it.

Even the most outstanding disciple of this generation in the Supreme Dao Sect's 'Talisman-Sword' lineage had spent three days on this 'Scripture-Recorded Sword Manual' upon first learning it.

But then again, this generation's 'Talisman-Sword' practitioners were indeed rather ordinary; not even one of them was participating in the Immortal Sect Grand Competition.

Thinking this, Zhao Ruohan took out a piece of pastry from the food box in her hand and handed it to her.

Chi Jiuyu didn't stand on ceremony, took it and ate:

"Oh right, Little Zhao, what procedures are needed to set up a stall and sell things at the Supreme Dao Sect? Is it troublesome?"

"Set up a stall? The procedures are pretty much the same as your Xiang Jianzong, but what are you planning to sell?"

"Well, this…"

Chi Jiuyu swallowed the pastry in her mouth, then said mysteriously:

"You know the Heaven and Earth Qi gathered by the Xiang Jianzong's inner sect, right?"

"As for this…" Zhao Ruohan frowned, "if it's not particularly rare, you can just buy it online."

The Xiang Jianzong's official website even sells it, and they offer free shipping; buy more and you get a discount too!

"Mine is different!" Chi Jiuyu chuckled, "this batch of mine has been irradiated by an immortal sword's sword intent!"

An immortal sword's sword intent…

"Xiang Jianzong's ancestral sword?"

"Yes, yes!"

"I'll take them all."

"Huh?"

"I need to refine a divine ability, and it happens to be useful — just sell them to me directly."

"But…"

"Price is no object."

"But this…" Chi Jiuyu glanced left and right, then leaned in a little and whispered, "Actually, I only had Yue Ling help me hold these for a while. Even if there's any sword-intent radiation, there's only this tiny bit."

She didn't doubt Little Zhao's financial strength.

But the two of them had become friends through fighting, and Chi Jiuyu didn't want to cheat her own friend.

Little Zhao was a fairy maiden — she had the ability to get better materials for refining.

As for this batch of 'Heaven and Earth Qi'…

The reason she'd hung the label 'Immortal Sword Sword-Intent Radiation' on them was also with the idea of promoting sales — at most, the price would be a few dozen or a hundred extra spirit coins.

"This much is enough."

One had to know that Senior Sword Sovereign was an immortal sword cultivator who wielded the power of slaughter and execution. If her immortal sword's sword-intent were to fully radiate, she wouldn't dare use it for refining!

Chi Jiuyu's face fell.

Why wouldn't this Little Zhao listen to reason?

"How about this — I'll give you two portions first. Try refining them yourself. If they don't work, forget it."

"That… works too."

They walked forward another stretch.

"Oh right, Little Zhao — Little Ye's sister hasn't gotten back to you either?"

"No."

"Me neither. Haven't you asked your brother about it?"

"I asked, but he didn't say. When the Xiang Jianzong's special recruitment comes, keep an eye out."

"No problem!"

Whether out of her own curiosity or Little Ye's commission, she would definitely pay extra attention!

"But when the time comes, you can just go to the Xiang Jianzong to see for yourself — consider it a trip!"

"…" Zhao Ruohan was silent for a moment. "I probably won't have time."

She was part of the second batch of ascension envoys, so at that time there was a good chance she'd still be carrying out a mission.

"Oh, alright then." Chi Jiuyu didn't think much of it.

The two chatted as they walked.

Soon they transformed into escape-light and headed for a small island in the sky, wreathed in mysterious light and auspicious scenery.

……

……

Late at night.

On the small island in the high heavens.

Inside a quaint, elegant little courtyard.

Having just eaten a big meal, Chi Jiuyu sat obediently across from a beautiful woman whose appearance bore some resemblance to Zhao Ruohan.

This person was dressed in a crimson cross-collar ruqun, embroidered with dark-gold phoenix patterns, a silver-thread tasseled sash hanging at the waist, vermilion broad sleeves falling down, and her dark hair coiled into a startled-swan bun.

Every smile and frown gave one a feeling like a spring breeze.

Zhao Ruohan sat to the side, eyes on her nose, nose on her heart.

This person was none other than the Grotto-Realm Lord of the Supreme Dao Sect, Zhao Ruohan's mother — Lord Chengmeng!

"Ruohan is a rather reclusive child. She never really had friends before, so I must trouble you to look after her."

She'd originally wanted to say the child had an eccentric temperament.

But Chi Jiuyu's temperament was clearly even more eccentric, so she simply changed what she was going to say.

"You're too kind, Senior. My and… I mean, Little Zhao and I are friends — there's no question of who looks after whom!" (End of this chapter)