Chapter 46: The Dual Mastery of Blade and Sword

Time passed in the blink of an eye.

Before he knew it, it was the end of August.

Outside Qinglin Market, at the edge of the Great Wilderness.

With the beast tide over, wild beast density dropped sharply, and many martial artists dared to venture out in groups to hunt beasts and gather spirit herbs.

Huffing and puffing!

With terrifying snorts, a three-meter-long wild boar, its entire body crimson and bearing a pair of tusks, burst from the dense forest.

It resembled a heavy tank, flattening trees and tearing up the earth wherever it passed.

Opposite it stood a young martial artist carrying a sword and a blade.

“A blade in hand, ghosts and gods leave no trace… Kill!”

Fang Xing moved like a god or demon; his hundred-fold forged steel blade erupted in brilliant blade light, and he surged forward with the blade, his entire body becoming a straight line as he slammed violently into the low-grade stage-one beast.

Whoosh!

Just before colliding with the beast, he twisted his waist and sharply bent his body at the last possible instant, performing a motion defying human biomechanics, as if he were a paper doll.

Hiss!

He sidestepped the boar’s charge, his steel blade flashing as it slashed hard against the beast’s neck!

The beast’s body was covered in thick layers of fat and mud, reinforced by its innate beast talent—harder than iron armor.

Yet beneath the blade’s radiance, it split open like tofu.

The blade cut through the thick outer shell, then skin, muscle, and bone…

“Nothing can withstand it!”

In this strike, Fang Xing gained deeper insight into the Ghost Blade’s nature: relentless forward momentum, nothing can block it!

Plop!

Finally, the massive boar’s head flew high into the air, blood gushing like a fountain.

Even after being decapitated, the headless corpse kept charging dozens of meters, only stopping when it smashed into a giant tree and brought it crashing down.

【Ghost Blade: 7/100 (Beginner)】

“Good, Ghost Blade’s proficiency increased again. Indeed, martial arts require real combat…”

Fang Xing felt excited.

Since both Ghost Blade and Extreme Emotion Sword had reached beginner level, he occasionally ventured into the wild to test his techniques.

Many martial arts advance fastest only through real combat!

And in this cultivation world, there was another advantage: human lives were worthless.

Even if dozens died, it was no big deal—there were fights almost every day.

On Eagle Star, not only would reckless killing be unthinkable, but even a single death would bring police to every neighbor’s door.

Unless it was the black market!

But black market fighters all wore protective suits—hard to kill, and likely to backfire!

In the Great Wilderness of this cultivation world, the chance of backfiring was lower.

“The path of martial arts: one step ahead, and you stay ahead!”

“Especially with the college entrance exam!”

Entering high school with an A-rank martial art at beginner level, his progress naturally far outpaced those who only began A-rank arts in their second or third year.

Just this alone would let him surpass many others and secure admission to a better university!

“Tomorrow’s the first day of school…”

With a touch of melancholy, Fang Xing stepped forward to harvest the beast’s materials.

Recently, beast meat prices had risen, so the pork couldn’t be wasted—he could hand it to Hua Feiyue to sell slowly.

This trip out was nominally to establish herbal supply channels, so he still needed to pick up a batch of herbs at the temporary camp.

『From now on, I’ll mostly leave these matters to Hua Feiyue…』

『This woman seems temporarily trustworthy… The Black Tiger Gang and Chen Yi have suddenly gone quiet lately—no trouble at all…』

Fang Xing was slicing a boar’s thigh when he suddenly rose and stared into the forest: “Who?”

“Young brother, you’ve got sharp ears!”

A figure leapt out—a black-clad young man.

Tall and slender, with a heroic face, he stood atop a tree branch, his body rising and falling with the swaying treetops, revealing extraordinary lightness skill.

Gazing at the fallen boar corpse, his eyes flashed with greed: “By market rules, we split the spoils. Young brother, you—”

He was a primordial martial artist with superb lightness skill; seeing Fang Xing, he naturally looked down on him.

Besides, this low-grade stage-one beast was worth a good amount of spirit stones!

Though insignificant to some cultivators, every grain of spirit sand mattered to every martial artist!

“Die!”

Fang Xing’s face darkened; his steel blade flew straight from his hand.

Whoosh!

The blade pierced the tree behind the young man, buried to the hilt.

“Just a post-heaven martial artist—lucky to kill a low-grade beast with traps or poison, and you dare—”

The young man’s figure turned spectral, splitting into three shadows that slipped soundlessly to Fang Xing’s side, his eyes glinting with cruelty.

Ting!

In the next instant, Fang Xing drew his longsword!

This blade was no blood-refined artifact—just a plain Qingfeng Sword bought casually at a stall.

In secular terms, its material was decent, barely qualifying as a sharp weapon; to cultivators, it was scrap metal.

Swish!

A flash of swordlight.

The young man froze, his mind dazed—he saw the willow tree of his hometown, the moonlit lotus pond, and beneath the willow… her!

『Sorry… Ling’er, I still…』

A tear slipped from the corner of his eye.

Plop!

Instantly, he clutched his throat, unable to speak.

Fang Xing pulled out the sword tip—no more, no less.

Thud!

The young man’s body collapsed to the ground.

?Co

“Post-heaven defeating primordial? That’s all it takes—I didn’t even use a protective suit!”

“Extreme Emotion Sword seems even more powerful than Ghost Blade, but it’s incredibly hard to master…”

Fang Xing sheathed his sword and glanced at his status bar:

【Extreme Emotion Sword: 5/100 (Beginner)】

With the help of the Chaos Soul Talisman, he trained day and night until he finally reached beginner level in this A-rank martial art.

Even at beginner level, its power was astonishing.

Under its simulated realm, even primordial experts would be momentarily disoriented.

In a clash between experts, a moment of mental distraction was enough for Fang Xing to kill his opponent ten times over!

『I wonder if it works on cultivators? Qi Condensation cultivators possess ‘spiritual awareness’—their mental defenses may be stronger than martial artists… but my Extreme Emotion Sword is only beginner level; it can still improve!』

At the very least, the true realm's realm will definitely affect cultivators!

As Fang Xing daydreamed, he covered his hands with a nanoglove and began searching the corpse.

“Pfft, total broke—only a few grains of spirit sand?”

“Where’s the martial art manual? His lightness skill was impressive, yet he didn’t even carry his manual—terrible!”

…

After rummaging through the body, Fang Xing cursed and returned to the market.

These market martial artists were nowhere near as wealthy as black market fighters—none had protective suits or laser guns or any high-tech gear.

Now even manuals didn’t drop—he found it utterly frustrating.

Hut.

“Young master went hunting beasts alone again?”

Hua Feiyue felt she was growing ever more unable to understand this young master.

Though she knew he possessed blood-refined artifacts, why would someone with control over herbal sources risk his life?

“Starting tomorrow, spirit stones settled every three days…”

Fang Xing said no more, handing Hua Feiyue a bundle of herbs and beast materials.

At this point, he could slightly trust her, so he extended the payment cycle.

After all, losing three days’ income meant nothing to him—it was the price of learning who she was.

Besides, once school started, he couldn’t stay here day and night—he had to delegate.

“Rest assured, young master!”

Hua Feiyue accepted it with a smile and threw Fang Xing a seductive glance.

With the assistance of the Seven Emotions Scripture over these days, she had become very familiar with Fang Xing.

Yet today, Fang Xing had no interest in chatting further and simply served tea and dismissed her.

After Hua Feiyue left, Fang Xing fell silent and began cooking spirit rice while setting up the Great Dragon Stake for training.

After eating the spirit rice, he resumed practicing the Ghost God Blade and the Extreme Emotion Sword.

“The greatest benefit of an A-rank martial art is protecting the mind—it allows one to withstand the spiritual assaults and corruption of demonic servants!”

Blade and sword in tandem, amidst countless flashes of blade and sword light, Fang Xing moved fluidly—and his thoughts wandered far.

“I noticed during training: whenever I simulate the essence of the Ghost God Blade while practicing the Seven Emotions Scripture, Hua Feiyue’s spiritual martial art has zero effect on me…”

“Once the Extreme Emotion Sword is perfected, even a cultivator’s Chaos Soul Talisman can be resisted—and nullified—if I choose to stand firm.”

“So does that mean, when facing cultivators skilled in spiritual attacks—like those who use seduction arts—I’ll be able to remain unmoved?”

Cultivators are formidable precisely because they possess countless techniques.

Yet among these, spiritual assault arts are among the most critical.

“But why do I keep thinking about how to fight cultivators?”

“As a true martial artist, am I destined to crush everything with my fists in this other world?”

Fang Xing sighed and descended to the basement, surveying his assets.

“Laser gun, nanotech armor, electric baton, various surveillance equipment, plus a stockpile of spirit herbs—worth roughly fifty low-grade spirit stones…”

“Besides that, I still have thirty-seven spirit stones and eight spirit sands, along with various pills, martial arts manuals, poison powders, hidden weapons, and other odds and ends…”

“At Hua Feiyue’s place, there’s still three days’ worth of unpaid goods—worth about fifteen to sixteen low-grade spirit stones…”

“Finally, there’s this vial of the Primordial Pill.”

Fang Xing picked up a jade vial, inside which sat a single milky-white pill, sealed at the mouth with a Spirit-Sealing Talisman.

After learning from the Qingdan Shop’s maid Xiao Rui that such a Primordial Pill, once refined and stored in a specially crafted jade vial with a Spirit-Sealing Talisman, retains its potency for about five years, Fang Xing immediately spent fifty spirit stones to buy one!

After all, he estimated he’d reach the peak of the Second Realm within a year.

Then, the Primordial Pill could be used to leap directly into the Jade Essence Realm!

“Once in the Jade Essence Realm, I’ll be able to activate many of this world’s talismans with my true qi—my options will multiply.”

A flicker of anticipation passed through Fang Xing’s eyes.