Chapter 14: Falling into Human Hands

Falling into Human Hands

Within the chaos, there was no color, no substance, no lightness, no weight, no black, and no white; there was only a pure, formless, and shapeless void. In this void, there was originally no beginning and no end, but the very moment consciousness perceived the void, the causal ties formed like the slightest of changes, erupting within the chaos.

In an instant, the chaos became transparent, and myriad wondrous things bloomed, manifesting and vanishing within the chaos. Amidst this birth and death, a wisp of clear Qi gradually condensed. The clear Qi rose, the turbid Qi sank, and both fell into the crevices of a sword tip. This sword permeated the universe; the patterns on its blade were like an abyss, and starlight shimmered at its base. Ruan Ci stood on the sword tip, looking down at the blade. In a trance, she saw a divine sword nailed into this world, piercing through yin and yang, anchoring the cosmos. With the galaxy as its tassel and the sun and moon as its pendants, it defined the mysteries of creation and concealed the secrets of all living things. She reached out her hand in a daze, only to fall to the ground in the next second. It did not hurt, but when she opened her eyes, she felt a sense of loss. She could not help but look around, still immersed in the heavy and mysterious feeling from just a moment ago, unable to return to her senses.

"How was it? What did you see?" Wang Wang Panpan had appeared at some point, lying on the large rock beside her. "Do you feel like you saw a lot, but have forgotten it all, unable to put it into words?"

Ruan Ci nodded. "It seemed I saw a sword, in the universe... I don't know anything more. As I speak, I feel like I'm forgetting most of it."

"Hmph, that is only natural. It is because you possess a Sword Soul. The Donghua Sword contains the memories of this universe's creation. How could such a foundation be easily sensed by a minor cultivator? Without a Sword Soul, rashly sensing the sword intent would likely lead to being lost in the chaos of the primordial creation, never to return." Wang Wang Panpan spoke as if she were an expert. "Even for Sword Seeds, not everyone can pass this hurdle. Some Sword Seeds, carefully nurtured by their sects, become fools for no reason after their first attempt to sense the sword intent. Or, they might enter meditation for decades, only to wake up like you—having seen something, but forgetting it all before they could speak. Such people are effectively ruined. In the first few decades, no matter how diligently one tries to sense the sword intent, it is difficult to comprehend anything remarkable from the Donghua Sword; at most, one can only wield it with ease, unable to manifest its changes. Yet, cultivators at the Near-Dao or Entering-Dao stages only have lifespans of a few decades or centuries. Wasting decades sensing the Donghua Sword with no progress in cultivation, their physical essence exhausted, it is almost impossible for them to advance their realm further."

Ruan Ci could not help but ask curiously, "What kind of people get lost in it? Is there no method that can be taught?"

"Methods? Every generation of Donghua Sword Envoys views other Sword Seeds as mortal enemies. The emergence of a Donghua Sword Envoy is a great tribulation for other Sword Seeds. Even if there were methods, why would a Sword Envoy share them?" Wang Wang Panpan sneered. "Besides, precious methods are not transmitted. For a cosmic spiritual treasure like the Donghua Sword, if one lacks the corresponding cultivation, one cannot even teach certain methods to others. Even if one understands it in their heart, they cannot speak of it. However, my Master did say that during the first entry into the sword, whether one can hold onto oneself might be the key to returning on time. You people of Song Guo have practiced restraint since childhood; perhaps because of this, you are still able to enter and exit. That is also a bit of karmic affinity."

She taught Ruan Ci to practice boxing every day and to visualize the weight and appearance of the Donghua Sword, imprinting the sword in her heart so that she could draw its image in her mind at any time. In truth, Ruan Ci had always had a good memory, and after this encounter, it became even better. Theoretically, the appearance of a sword should have been mastered in a few days, but she found it very difficult to memorize the Donghua Sword's image. It was always stumbling; she would remember it today and forget it tomorrow. After every visualization, she would be exhausted, feeling as though her spirit was drained, and from time to time, she would fall back into the sword intent, seeing things that she would quickly forget upon waking, unable to describe them to Wang Wang Panpan.

This was where the benefit of the boxing set Wang Wang Panpan taught became apparent. Ruan Ci's ancestors for several generations had grown up consuming crystals and Qi, leaving her body free of impurities. Her progress in this boxing set could be described as advancing by leaps and bounds. By the tenth day, she felt a warmth in her body and had developed what martial artists call internal power. From then on, her physical strength was better than before; she could go days without food or drink, leaping like an ape and running like a horse. An ordinary person would likely be no match for her, even if five or six of them attacked at once. Only with such increasing strength could she support her daily sensing and visualization; otherwise, given the consumption of this visualization, it would have been good if Ruan Ci could manage it once a month.

It was interesting to note that when Sister Xie Yan first lent her the sword, the Donghua Sword was as light as nothing. But now, the more she visualized, the heavier the Donghua Sword became. Wang Wang Panpan had intended to take her traveling through Chen Guo, but Ruan Ci could not carry the Donghua Sword for long. After walking ten miles, she was panting, and Wang Wang Panpan had to abandon the plan, instead hunting many spirit beasts and digging up spirit ores in several kingdoms to nourish her body.

By the third month, the Donghua Sword had become so heavy that Ruan Ci could not stand up. Wang Wang Panpan was greatly troubled and said, "This is terrible, this is terrible. Master never said there would be such a period when first obtaining the Donghua Sword. Does Qingjun not like you? But that shouldn't be; you just obtained the Donghua Sword and made it change size, which clearly shows you are extremely compatible with this sword. How could this happen?"

Ruan Ci lay on the rock, the sword hanging on her back like a giant boulder, fused with the ground and stuck to her back. She could not even take the sword off to stand up. She had been unable to move for three days, but her spirit was quite vigorous. She comforted Wang Wang Panpan, "Perhaps it will get better on its own. Let's wait a few more days. If it doesn't work, dying here is nothing; didn't you always say I wouldn't live long enough to return the sword?"

Wang Wang Panpan was almost crying, her tail pressing against the ground and wagging incessantly, her ears flattened against her face, making her head look round at first glance. She said, "How can you die right at the beginning? No, why did Master never mention this? It made me think that refining the Donghua Sword was a very simple matter. She waited seven hundred years for you; what could she not have anticipated? If there were such a dangerous hurdle, she should have made arrangements in advance."

"Perhaps this is the mystery that cannot be spoken? Isn't that what you said? The Donghua Sword has many methods that one understands in their heart but cannot tell others, just like the things I saw when sensing the Donghua Sword. The level is too high; even if I see it, I cannot bear or digest it, and even if I comprehend it myself, I cannot teach it to others." Ruan Ci had already figured it out in her heart. "Perhaps this is just a hurdle that every Donghua Sword Envoy must pass. Those who finally emerge and become known to the world are the ones who passed this hurdle. If one cannot pass it, they die silently."

"But it shouldn't be now! Master killed all the Sword Seeds in the world for you. If you die too, the Donghua Sword will have no master. What will happen to the Langhuan Zhou Tian?" Wang Wang Panpan was so anxious she was about to cry. "Heaven knows when the next Sword Envoy will appear; it might be too late!"

Too late for what?

Ruan Ci could not help but feel a stir in her heart, but Wang Wang Panpan did not explain, and she did not ask further. She just closed her eyes and said, "Wang Panpan, don't disturb me. Let me try again. I think, is it because I cannot sense the Dao rhyme and only have internal cultivation so far, that the speed of my visualization cannot keep up with the speed at which the Donghua Sword becomes heavy? Sister Sister Xie and the others are naturally brilliant and have famous teachers to protect them; their visualization must be much faster than mine."

This was not impossible. Wang Wang Panpan hurriedly said, "Then visualize quickly, visualize quickly! If this continues, within a few days, your internal Qi will not be able to bear this weight, your muscles and bones will begin to deteriorate, and if it continues to damage your internal organs, you won't even be able to focus your spirit. Then there will be only one path: death."

Ruan Ci also knew the gravity of the matter. She closed her eyes, settled her mind, and used the skin on her back to sense the weight, patterns, and shape of the Donghua Sword. Her talent could not be considered poor by any means. Having visualized for several months, her five senses were extremely sharp, and her mind was highly focused, as steady as a needle, without a single stray thought. Gradually, she entered a state of meditation, as if she could sense the violent, heaven-piercing spiritual energy from within the scabbard of the Donghua Sword.

As soon as Ruan Ci's mind dipped into it, she seemed to be stung by boundless sharpness. Previously, she had always been very careful, bypassing the sword Qi and only sensing the shape of the Donghua Sword as Wang Wang Panpan had taught her. Today, however, she thought, "Is my sensing of the sword body so difficult because this sword Qi is always destroying my visualization image in an invisible way? Or should the complete visualization image also include the spiritual energy within this scabbard—if there is no spiritual energy, wouldn't it be empty below the hilt, and how could it be called a sword?"

The image she visualized in her mind changed immediately according to her thought. Boundless sharpness seemed to shoot out from the elegant long sword, as if a tiny sun were hidden within it. Ruan Ci suddenly remembered a scene she had seen during one of her visualizations: in the chaos, the first thought was the first change in eternity, and this change was the emergence of all vitality. Just like now, her thought lit up the dull visualization image, and the long sword, which hid the sun, moon, and galaxy as its pendants, gradually became brighter and brighter. The sword intent was like the chaotic void ignited by her thought, boiling as if being cooked, piercing from her sea of consciousness—which she did not know where it existed in her body—into her limbs and bones, bringing sharp pain. It was too late for Ruan Ci to withdraw her mind, and she watched in horror as the sword intent submerged her extraordinary meridians.

Having experienced many changes, she was not a delicate girl from a sheltered background. When she crawled through the earth veins of Song Guo, the stone walls were narrow, and she was covered in abrasions, her palms raw and bloody. Ruan Ci did not even frown. But this excruciating pain of the sword intent entering her bones made her unable to even scream. She felt as if tiny swords were piercing every inch of her flesh and blood, drilling from her skin and flesh into her bones, and then reversing upward into her brain. The pain was so intense that Ruan Ci could not even think. She did not know how much time had passed, but somewhere in the darkness, a force supported her so she would not faint. But precisely because of this force, she could not be freed from the pain and could only endure it while remaining clear-headed.

Ruan Ci did not know what was in her heart, but a realization gradually arose: as long as she destroyed the visualization image, she could be immediately freed from the pain. She felt as if she had been skinned alive several times, but her consciousness remained clear. She thought, "Once this image is destroyed, I will be unable to control the Donghua Sword with ease, so I will have to do it again in the future. If it doesn't work this time, I will have to endure the same pain next time. It is also possible that after the visualization image is destroyed, I will never be able to sense the Donghua Sword again, and even the visualization itself will become impossible."

She was young, her character not yet fully formed. In the sinister environment of the Song Kingdom, her only goal was survival. She was destined to be at the mercy of her elders, living a muddled existence. Even though she was clever and sharp, her spiritual platform was like one covered in dust, lacking any clear ambition. After a series of upheavals, however, she had developed many concerns. She wanted to see the world, to resolve the karma of the Ruan family, and to return the Donghua Sword to Sister Xie Yan, letting her know that even mortals have their own promises. But these were all things that should be done, things that could be done. Only now, tormented within the sword intent and in extreme pain, was her fierce spirit finally ignited, giving her the first idea of her life. She thought viciously, "Even if you boil me to death here today, or kill me, if I pass this trial and one day achieve success in cultivation, I will surely destroy this sword of yours!"

When she had previously revered the Donghua Sword as a divine sword, she could never visualize it successfully. But at this moment, treating the divine sword as an enemy that was torturing her, she was visualizing the appearance of an enemy, and it was indeed accomplished in one go, smooth and incomparable. In her mind, the image of a brilliant, starlight-shimmering divine sword appeared. It flickered for a moment before slowly dimming, returning to the appearance of a simple, unadorned brown-scabbarded long sword. The sword intent that had permeated her body also slowly dissolved. Ruan Ci was freed from the extreme pain, her spirit exhausted to the extreme. As soon as she relaxed, her eyes rolled back, and she fainted.

She did not know how much time had passed before she gradually woke up. She still felt weak and thirsty, and the Donghua Sword behind her was still as heavy as a mountain, only a wisp lighter than before she entered meditation. Ruan Ci naturally had an epiphany in her heart, understanding that she only needed to visualize the complete sword intent image step by step, and the sword body would gradually become light. However, this was a slow process and could not be completed in a day or two.

Just as she was about to ask Wang Wang Panpan for help, her thoughts shifted, and she sensed the situation outside. She saw that the large rock she was lying on was covered in mud, and it seemed many days had passed. Wang Wang Panpan did not know where she had gone, and a group of black-robed cultivators surrounded her, looking down at her. One of them said, "Is this the girl the Changuang Sect asked us to find?"

"We've made a huge profit this time. The Changuang Sect values this girl highly, even going so far as to mobilize their Old Ancestor to kill the spirit beast guarding her and issuing a bounty. Who would have thought we would have such luck to run into her!"

As they spoke, they reached out their hands toward her. Strangely, the Donghua Sword was as heavy as a mountain on Ruan Ci's back, but in their hands, it seemed to have no weight at all. The black-robed man picked her up gently.

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Hello everyone, sorry for the wait. I will send out a red envelope for the chapter in a moment.

Q&A time: 1. Why does everyone say Ruan Ci has good aptitude, even though she has no spiritual roots?

It's like a top-tier smartphone with a different system that can't install cultivation apps, or a top-tier computer that can't be used because the plug doesn't fit. It's the same principle; being unable to use it doesn't mean it's not top-tier. Other cultivation methods like artifact cultivation just need an adapter.

2. Is there a male lead?

I don't know what you are expecting with this question. Clearly, this is not a romance-focused story. The style is closer to a male-oriented web novel, but it's not like those novels that have no romance at all. There will be romance, but it's not the main plot. The main plot is Ruan Ci's experiences in the cultivation world, and the world-building and various settings are also a very important part.

What else was there? I read the comments yesterday and only remembered these two questions.

Today at noon, I ordered spicy bullfrog from a restaurant outside! The bullfrog is really delicious in restaurants! I'm so looking forward to it; I'm going to eat now!

Thank you to the little angels who gave me overlord votes or poured nutrient solution between 2020-07-04 12:08:12 and 2020-07-05 12:05:26~

Thank you to the little angels who gave hand grenades: De Lizhi who had their account stolen, Urging you to update, Yu Yu Wan Yao (1 each);

Thank you to the little angels who gave landmines: Zhen (2); Qiran, Li Li He Ping (1 each);

Thank you to the little angels who poured nutrient solution: Gu Gu (14 bottles); Wenry (6 bottles); sidewalker, Dandan, Laughing to Death (5 bottles); Youwu, Chengbi, Deng Deng Huo Lan Shan, 26466546, Qingqing Gumeng, 21699986 (1 bottle each);

Thank you all very much for your support, I will continue to work hard! ===== CHAPTER 15 =====