Chapter 58: with translation of chapter title

Ying Wuji saw she wasn't speaking, put away the branch, "Not convinced?"

"I'm convinced to the point of having nothing to say." Yuan Yao sighed deeply, feeling she was truly inadequate, actually being defeated by a fellow Foundation Establishment Realm Youngest Senior Brother with just a branch.

"How? Did I strike you?"

"Yes." Yuan Yao admitted, "But I will absolutely not be discouraged!"

She took a deep breath, secretly encouraged herself, then raised her sword, aiming at Ying Wuji, "Come, I just don't believe I can't beat you."

Ying Wuji smiled without speaking.

He continued to spar with Yuan Yao, but almost every time Yuan Yao suffered a crushing defeat.

Ying Wuji looked at her, "Do you know why I can defeat you so easily?"

"Because you're stronger than me."

Ying Wuji slowly shook his head, "No, it's because I know every move of the Carefree Sect sword technique inside out, so your attacks are all within my expectations. Sometimes, don't just have a one-track mind focused on winning; you also need to think about why you can't win. Only then can you keep improving."

Yuan Yao nodded in realization.

In the following, when Yuan Yao sparred with Ying Wuji, she began to mix the Carefree Sect sword technique with the Thousand Mountains sword technique, occasionally launching a surprise attack on Ying Wuji.

After three bouts, Yuan Yao finally cut off the broken branch in Ying Wuji's hand, pointing her sword at his chest.

"You won one bout." Ying Wuji lowered his eyes and glanced at her multicolored long sword.

"Again!"

Yuan Yao's spirits gradually rose.

Ying Wuji looked up at the darkening sky, "It's getting dark; let's train again tomorrow."

Upon hearing that, Yuan Yao glanced around; originally many people were training here, but now only a few senior brothers and sisters remained.

"Go back." Ying Wuji reached out, grabbed her collar, and forcibly took her away.

Yuan Yao thought she could still train her mental power after returning, so she didn't struggle.

Soon, Ying Wuji personally escorted Yuan Yao to the outside of her house.

Ying Wuji said, "Rest well; tomorrow I'll come pick you up again."

"Okay." Yuan Yao yawned, nodded, and agreed.

But after she returned to her room and closed the door, she quickly performed a Dust-Clearing Seal on herself, then swiftly climbed onto the bed and took out the inheritance key.

She continued to immerse herself in mental power training.

Yuan Yao didn't want to waste any time; she wanted to become stronger.

Meanwhile, Lu Xiangxiang was fully focused, immersing herself in cultivation without distraction.

Lu Xiangxiang knew time was pressing; she needed to quickly raise her cultivation. Only then could she, before the upcoming Ninth Province Sect Grand Competition, have enough strength to break into the Carefree Sect's forbidden area to contend for that secret treasure. Once she obtained it, she would unhesitatingly leave the Carefree Sect.

After she becomes stronger, she will return to exterminate the Carefree Sect completely!

Fortunately, she had memories and experience from her past life; that night, her cultivation successfully broke through to the middle stage of the Foundation Establishment Realm.

…

For three consecutive days, Yuan Yao trained swordsmanship by day and secretly cultivated mental power by night.

Under the guidance of the Youngest Senior Brother, her swordsmanship advanced by leaps and bounds.

Since he was old enough to understand, Ying Wuji knew his little junior sister had extraordinary talent, but he never expected her talent to be this terrifying.

At first that day, when he sparred with his little junior sister at the same cultivation level, he could easily suppress her to the point of having no power to retaliate, even completely overwhelming her at times.

But as his little junior sister's grasp and understanding of sword techniques deepened, this directly led to her gradually gaining the ability to engage him in an evenly matched, hard-to-decide fierce battle!

Ying Wuji felt it was also time to teach her a new sword technique: "Today I will teach you the most overbearing and ruthless sword technique—the Great Wasteland Sword Technique."

"Good!" Yuan Yao happily agreed.

Ying Wuji took out a wooden sword, tilted his head toward her, "Now I will teach you the first form of the Great Wasteland Sword Technique—the Cross Cut!"

Just as Yuan Yao didn't understand why the first form of this sword technique was called the "Cross Cut," she saw the Youngest Senior Brother pick up a stone from the ground, toss it into midair, and the next moment, as he gripped the wooden sword and moved, before she could see clearly, he had split the stone into four pieces.

Yuan Yao quickly walked over, picked up the stone fragments, and put them together, only to see two traces of sword qi on the stone's surface.

One vertical, one horizontal, exactly forming the character for ten.

She turned her head to look at Ying Wuji, "Is this the Cross Cut?"

"Correct." Ying Wuji nodded, "If you want to kill someone, just use this move."

Split a person into four large pieces.

Upon hearing that, Yuan Yao stepped before Ying Wuji, her expression firm, and said, "I want to learn it!"

Ying Wuji said nothing, instead demonstrating while transmitting the oral formula and heart method for cultivating the Great Wasteland Sword Technique to her.

Yuan Yao learned it quickly.

…

The little junior sister's diligent cultivation spread like a whirlwind throughout the Carefree Sect, causing a great commotion.

This left everyone in the Carefree Sect, from top to bottom, shocked.

"Did the little junior sister show up again behind the mountain on time today?"

"You don't know, the little junior sister is learning sword technique incredibly fast!"

"Do you think the little junior sister has been stimulated by something?"

"Could it be because the little junior sister has also become someone else's senior sister, so she feels she ought to set an example for that Lu junior sister?"

"How many days do you think the little junior sister can persist?"

"……"

At this moment.

A figure suddenly appeared behind the back mountain of Tianwu Peak; a silver-haired man stood on the stone slope beneath the waterfall, his gaze falling on the two people not far away.

And the keen-eyed disciples of Tianwu Peak instantly spotted the silver-haired man; their faces changed in surprise, and they hurried forward to pay respects.

"Disciple, I have seen the Immortal Lord."

The sounds here quickly attracted the attention of Ying Wuji and Yuan Yao.

They turned to look this way.

"Master!" Yuan Yao shouted with a laugh.

The two hurried up to the silver‑haired man's presence.

The silver‑haired man wore a cold expression, "Why didn't you ask the master to teach you personally?"

Yuan Yao explained, "I thought the Youngest Senior Brother was too idle, so I asked him to practice sword with me! Moreover, having you teach me personally would be a waste of your great talent on a small matter. If the Youngest Senior Brother teaches, it would be a small talent used for a great purpose!"

Ying Wuji: "... Who taught you to use idioms like that?"

Qian Jueshan said evenly, "The master has not been busy lately, so from tomorrow onward, you should go to the Sky Ladder Arena and wait for me there."

After a brief pause, he added, "Remember to summon A Li and your seventh junior sister together."

Yuan Yao's complexion changed slightly upon hearing it.

Oh no, she had originally planned to sneak out of the Carefree Sect in a couple of days...

"Master, I..."

"What?"

"May I slack off?" Yuan Yao blinked.

Qian Jueshan was stunned, "Haven't you become more diligent?"

Yuan Yao: "..."

The next day.

Yuan Yao, Cang Li, Ying Wuji, and Lu Xiangxiang all appeared together at the Sky Ladder Arena.

The so‑called Sky Ladder is a climbing ladder, but because a gravity array is installed, each step climbed adds one unit of weight.

The Sky Ladder has a full thousand steps, clinging steeply to the sheer cliff, winding and twisting, extremely perilous.

Although Ying Wuji and the others have been climbing the Sky Ladder since childhood, they can only ascend up to the eight‑hundredth step.