Chapter 40: 40. Chapter Forty

40. Chapter Forty

Guan San is currently stroking the server; please complete your subscription to defeat him!

If another mishap occurs, he might as well stop being a Sword Cultivator and just go buy a block of tofu to bash his head against.

In truth, the youth Zhao also has his own unspoken difficulties. He has just stepped from the age of fifteen into the age of twenty, being a few years younger than Atian. His time spent cultivating is still short, and his Sword Bone has only just begun to take shape. The Duan Yue Sword is his Life-bound Sword, originating from the Sword Bone he carries; it is the root of his Sword Heart and is vastly different from ordinary dead objects, possessing the temper and disposition of a Spirit Sword itself.

Every disciple of the Beihai Sword Sect possesses such a Spirit Sword forged from their own self, and their entire foundation of Sword Cultivation is entrusted to it. How to get along with these Life-bound Spirit Swords has become a difficult problem that plagues everyone.

The Sect Master of the Beihai Sword Sect, the current number one Sword Cultivator of the cultivation world, Duan Xuan, once voiced the inner thoughts of his many fellow disciples:

"Sometimes I really want to snap it in half."

Zhao Kuo and the Duan Yue Sword are currently in the most chaotic period of adjustment, causing trouble all day long. That he could be sent to welcome Atian shows an important characteristic of the Beihai Sword Sect as a Xiuxianmen—they are broad-minded.

"Do your best, just doing your best is enough," the Deacon Elder who assigned him the task said with a chuckle. "In any case, the worst outcome is that Xin Li comes out of seclusion and gives you a sound beating. You couldn't possibly lose the little girl, could you?"

Elder, I didn't lose her, but I almost got her killed; I likely won't survive that beating.

Zhao Kuo felt a lingering fear.

But if one were to think that Immortal Elder Zhao Kuo was useless because of this, they would be greatly mistaken. As a miserable child raised by broad-minded teachers, his daily spells had long been practiced to the point of perfection. With one set of Cleaning Spell, he tidied up the two drowned rats until they were bright and clean.

"Immortal Elder Zhao," Atian said with a look of admiration and sincerity, "you must be a cultivator specializing in housekeeping, right?"

The stifled Zhao Kuo indicated that he wanted some peace and quiet.

However, having already reached the entrance of the Beihai Sword Sect, the escort mission was more than halfway complete, and the mouth-watering reward was dangling right before his eyes. He could only force himself to stay alert, praying that this final step would not go wrong.

As one of the Four Great Immortal Sects, the Beihai Sword Sect is naturally not a place one can just enter at will. Not to mention the island-protecting formation that is active year-round, the only entrance and exit are also set with layers of Daoist techniques. Although these spells have no effect on Zhao Kuo, Bai Tian is here to participate in the Ascension Ceremony, so he cannot just bring her in directly. Therefore, the transit station by the North Sea became a must-visit path.

In the Yuanguang Continent, cultivators are high and mighty, far removed from the mortal world, but there are always times when they must come into contact with the secular. Thus, transition zones between the cultivation world and the secular world came into being, and Shengxian Town by the North Sea is one of them.

Shengxian Town, as the name suggests, originated from the Beihai Sword Sect's Ascension Ceremony held every fifteen years. Through years of evolution, it has completely become a part of the Beihai Sword Sect and is also a necessary place for outsiders to visit the Floating Island.

"People with the aptitude for Sword Cultivation are one in ten thousand. Many who are weeded out, unwilling to leave or having missed the ceremony for various reasons, will stay here to wait for the next opportunity. Over time, a town was formed."

Zhao Kuo led Atian through the bustling crowd. This small port town adjacent to the sea was vibrant with life due to the new Ascension Ceremony. Countless people with dreams of becoming immortals poured in from the Qixia Kingdom and even neighboring countries, creating its peak and prosperity that occurs once every fifteen years.

Compared to Atian's already fading memories, the small town had not changed much. From the post station at the entrance to the port at the far east, various merchants had not even changed their plaques. It seems that as long as something is related to immortal cultivation, it is difficult for anything to change again; the town is like this, the rules are like this, and the people are like this.

More than a month ago, the inns in the whole town were full, even the stables. Most ordinary households also had guests staying over, and it was not uncommon for seven or eight people to be squeezed into one room. Zhao Kuo naturally would not let Atian, a young lady, squeeze into a room with strangers. He took her directly to the Beihai Sword Sect's stronghold in Shengxian Town. Once he handed this little ancestor over to the person in charge stationed at the stronghold, he would have shaken off the hot potato and could happily go collect his reward.

"What exactly is the aptitude to become a Sword Cultivator?" Atian asked.

"Aptitude..." The youth touched the back of his head and gave a hollow laugh, "It's just aptitude."

Atian smiled upon hearing this and nodded in agreement, "That's true. After all, Immortal Elder Zhao is a housekeeping specialist. Atian was being presumptuous."

"... Can you forget the words 'housekeeping specialist'?" Zhao Kuo, stifled to the point of internal injury, looked desperate. "I'll tell you, just don't hurt me anymore. I'm still just a child."

Atian assumed a posture of listening attentively.

"Ahem," Zhao Kuo, knowing he had been played, put his right hand into a fist over his mouth and cleared his throat. "First, you must know that a Sword Cultivator and a cultivator who uses a sword are different. The latter just happens to choose a sword as their weapon, or perhaps knows a few sets of famous sword techniques, but they are merely 'people who use swords.' The sword can be replaced by a saber, spear, halberd, or even weapons like a meteor hammer or a treasure gourd; they are far from being called 'Sword Cultivators.' Most cultivators in the cultivation world who hold swords belong to this category. Only a very small number of people can earn the title of 'Sword Cultivator'."

Zhao Kuo considered this speech to be stirring and was just about to enjoy the admiring gaze from the beauty, only to see that the highly anticipated beauty was looking at him with a complex expression, which, translated into a sentence, was probably: "Then how did a weakling like you manage to mix into the ranks of Sword Cultivators?"

The youth's face turned red in a flash, and he even started stuttering, "Y-you, what do you know! M-my aptitude is top-tier! I have a S-Sword Bone!"

"Sword Bone?" Atian caught the key point.

"Yes, Sword Bone," Zhao Kuo said, frustrated. "The only requirement to become a Sword Cultivator is to possess a Sword Bone. It is not a specific bone, but rather that your body contains a 'sword' that is currently gestating."

"Gestating a sword... inside the body?" Atian blinked in confusion.

"Everyone possesses essence, Qi, and spirit. When they gather together, sometimes a qualitative change occurs," he held up a finger and shook it. "For ordinary mortals, just living a lifetime is rare enough, and those born with the potential for qualitative change have the qualifications to pursue higher and more profound truths of the world. They are cultivators."

"Sword Cultivators have Sword Bone, Dharma Cultivators have Talisman Soul, the Demon Sect has Demonic Thought. The aptitude for immortal cultivation is ever-changing and not limited to one type. But before verification, no one knows if they possess aptitude, or what kind of aptitude it is. That is why the Ascension Ceremony exists..."

"Ah, we're here."

The two stopped in front of a fortune-telling stall. The stall owner was a middle-aged Daoist with a small mustache. He sat on a rattan chair, with copper coins, an Eight Trigrams diagram, and other items placed on the table in front of him. On the left stood a flag inscribed with "Where is the Immortal Bone," and on the right, a flag inscribed with "One Touch and You'll Know."

The fortune-telling stall's business was good, and a long line of customers waiting for bone-reading had formed. Even though most people knew it wasn't necessarily accurate, they didn't mind buying a good omen before the Ascension Ceremony began.

Zhao Kuo straightened his expression, stepped over the people in line in two or three strides, walked up to the Daoist who was muttering to himself while reading someone's bones, and bowed deeply, "Living Immortal!"

The Daoist called "Living Immortal" lifted his eyelids, withdrew his hand from the wrist of the brawny man in front of him, took the opportunity to close the coin box full of copper coins on the table, and waved his hand at the others waiting.

"Closing up for today, everyone please come earlier tomorrow."

The brawny man whose turn it was refused to leave, "Living Immortal! You haven't told me my result yet!"

"What's there to say," the Daoist stroked his beard. "Strong on the outside but weak on the inside, poor performance in the bedroom. Go to the pharmacy across the street and get a prescription!"

The crowd burst into laughter. The brawny man, having his secret exposed, had no choice but to walk away dejectedly and actually entered the pharmacy across from the stall.

"Scatter! Scatter! Everyone scatter!" the Daoist shouted in a sing-song voice, driving away the remaining onlookers.

It was Atian's first time seeing such a strange scene. She took small steps to the side of Zhao Kuo, who was still maintaining his bowing posture, squatted down, and asked in a low voice, "Who is this Daoist?"

Zhao Kuo's thread-thin voice entered her ears, "This is Elder Tan of our sect, nicknamed the Living Immortal."

A dignified Elder of the Beihai Sword Sect, setting up a stall here to read bones and tell fortunes?

Atian was stunned, completely unaware that this question and answer had fallen into the Daoist's ears without missing a word.

Elder Tan stroked his beard and introduced himself, "I hope the young lady will forgive the spectacle. This old man is Tan Tianming, the teacher of this brat. I learned a few country tricks when I was young, which I suppose is a hobby."

"Elder Tan once joined the Taixuan Sect when he was young, but later, because his Sword Bone awakened, he switched to being a Sword Cultivator. Therefore, he is also proficient in talisman arts," Zhao Kuo explained from the side, and even quietly pointed at his head toward Atian, likely implying that the Elder Tan before them had something wrong with his brain.

Atian tensed up; she did not laugh.

"Since the brat Zhao Kuo has appeared here, this must be Miss Bai Tian," Elder Tan on the side rolled his eyes, took out a thick account book from somewhere, opened it to a page, picked up a brush dipped in ink, and put a checkmark in one of the columns. "Let me see, Bai Xinli entrusted Zhao Kuo to go to Guangkai Town in the Qixia Kingdom to escort his fiancée to the sect. As for the reward... one session of study guidance."