Volume 2, Chapter 65 – Source Method

After driving Li Sheng off in a huff, Wang Ran and Xiang Xian actually went on chatting quite amiably for a few minutes.

Then Wang Ran used the excuse of needing to preside over venue matters, summoned two Benling disciples, and had them lead Master and disciple Xiang Xian and Bai Xiang ahead to the venue to take their seats.

The venue was called “Qiyun Hall”, located in the southwest of the campus. It was spacious enough to hold twenty-five thousand people watching a match at the same time. Normally, all kinds of competitions at Qizhou University were basically held here.

The two disciples leading the way were very conscientious. As they guided Xiang Xian and Bai Xiang into Qiyun Hall, they also explained all its facilities and functions.

“Qiyun Hall has a long history. As early as six hundred years ago, it was already a famous sword-dueling arena in the Qizhou region. Many renowned swordsmen and wandering heroes would choose Qiyun Hall as neutral ground to settle their grudges,” said the disciple on the left.

“And Qiyun Hall only completed its modernization just last year,” added the disciple on the right.

“On top of the original structure, we added a lift-type arena floor, an underground irrigation and drainage system, and a freely retractable roof. This means that when the field is idle, it can be rented out to host public events, even football matches and celebrity shows.”

Bai Xiang said nothing after listening. She had after all seen far more advanced modern civilizations. In present-day Great Yu this kind of setup might be considered “cutting-edge”, but to her it wasn’t much to marvel at.

Xiang Xian, on the other hand, was very interested in this kind of stadium renovation. She grabbed the two disciples and questioned them for quite a while, only letting them go once they’d found the two women’s seats.

“What a pity.”

The seats were right on the edge of the field. Xiang Xian just picked one at random and sat down, crossing one leg over the other, still complaining as she did.

“Yujing can be called the most conservative, most hidebound place in all of Great Yu. Even if I submitted an application, it might not get approved.”

By now students were already beginning to enter. Bai Xiang stood on the grass and looked up, letting her gaze sweep around the hall. She could see scattered streams of people emerging from various passages, like splayed-out tendrils reaching toward the seats.

In the center of the field stood four small platforms. Arranged together, they looked like a broken-up “field” character. On the second tier of seats, a ring-shaped screen circled the entire hall, currently playing rolling subtitles and accompanying images, laying out the full process for the “observance and exchange”.

First, formal greetings.

Then an address on the Reclamation Operation.

Next, the three sides would duel under the banner of “exchange”.

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After that, they would select the leader of the Reclamation Operation.

Finally, a closing speech.

That was roughly the flow.

After reading through the process introduction, Bai Xiang glanced from the platforms to the stands behind her and felt that her and Xiang Xian’s seats were quite special—at a glance, anyone could tell they were “specially invited guests”.

Even the media section wasn’t this close; this was basically the same area as the teams.

Was Benling Sword Dao worried that the Luohou people would refuse to admit it if they lost, so they’d called her master over to sit on them?

Bai Xiang hadn’t seen the Luohou people yet. If she had to guess, she was more inclined to think that inviting Xiang Xian was a move to counterbalance Shangqing Sword Dao.

After all, that Master Li Sheng’s temper was truly explosive. Without a third Divine Fetus present to keep her in check, who knew what she might do in the heat of the moment?

But Bai Xiang wasn’t interested in that.

Quite a few seated students had already noticed her, pointing over and whispering to each other. She ignored it all, sat down next to Xiang Xian, and asked about the details of the fight just now.

“You want to know Shangqing’s sword path?”

Xiang Xian was taken aback. She hadn’t expected that, in a situation like this, Bai Xiang would still be preoccupied with the earlier clash.

A girl this age, sitting here—wasn’t she supposed to be looking all around, craning her neck with anticipation, maybe itching to give it a try, imagining how she herself would do up on stage?

So alike.

Exactly alike.

In that instant, Bai Xiang’s figure once again overlapped with that person in her memories. Xiang Xian’s eyes prickled with heat, but she quickly hid it behind a smile.

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“If you want to know, then as your master I’ll tell you.”

“The Shangqing Sword was originally called the Taiqing Sword,” Xiang Xian said, eyes full of recollection. “Its sword path originates from a Demon Pool of ‘twin forms of dragon and crane’ named ‘Qing’.”

“Among them, the crane form governs sharp edge and slaughter; the dragon form governs clouds, rain, and thunder. The two forms alternate and transform freely, and from them evolved the Shangqing Wave-Sweeping Lightning-Drawing Sword Formula. It corresponds in our Dao to the Jade Spirit Mingxin Method and the Splitting-Light Multiple-Images Sword Formula, and counts as their fundamental Dao method.”

“This ‘Lightning-Drawing’ is the dragon form’s function; ‘Wave-Sweeping’ refers to the crane form. It implies that the Demon Pool Qing once took the form of a divine bird, rampaging along the Jingshui Great Marsh, flattening it as it went. Wherever it passed, the water demons cowered and let it peck them at will, which also displayed their supreme status in Jingshui Ze Prefecture.”

So their one sword classic contained both sword and Dao?

Bai Xiang listened, absorbed, thinking that if she could fish that sword classic out and read it, she’d have no regrets.

After all, she possessed a one-of-a-kind soul ability unseen in ten thousand ages. Shenming Sword, The Scripture of Returning to Origin and Transforming Qi, the Startling-Spirit Cicada demon scroll, the Fuhu Arhat Scripture, the Jade Spirit Mingxin Method… one classic after another from the predecessors had fallen into her hands, and she could draw out their essence, refine and improve them, and feed them back into her own qi path. How to blaze the trail of qi Dao in the future would, in all likelihood, still depend on other classics.

“The Splitting-Light Multiple-Images Sword Formula can also be considered a dedicated sword art paired with Jade Spirit,” Xiang Xian nodded. “Right now, as your master, I can use Jade Spirit to split off five multiple images in a single breath… yes, it’s similar to that ‘copy’ move you used earlier, only more precise. If you want to learn, I can teach you right now.”

Of course Bai Xiang was willing, so Xiang Xian leaned in close to her ear, orally passing on a section of the key formula. She watched with her own eyes as Bai Xiang closed them in thought for a while, then opened them again and slowly nodded.

She’d memorized it all.

Although the Splitting-Light Multiple-Images Sword Formula was much simpler than the Shangqing Wave-Sweeping Lightning-Drawing Sword Formula and could only be called a “not fully comprehensive sword art” specially created to match Jade Spirit, it still proved that Bai Xiang’s talent was outstanding. Xiang Xian couldn’t help smiling, extremely pleased.

She then asked, “Did you see the tiny characters engraved on Li Sheng’s sword?”

Bai Xiang nodded.

Even if they hadn’t been very clear while the swords were swinging, when the two swords were jammed together, she had been able to see them.

“Do you know why the characters on it read ‘Shangqing’ and not ‘Taiqing’?”

That really was strange.

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Bai Xiang frowned.

Though she didn’t yet understand the reason, she could tell that the two treasured swords Xiang Xian and Li Sheng had just been holding were no ordinary items.

It wasn’t a matter of “being a bit stronger than other swords”; they had completely left that concept behind. It was as if other swords were still mere sword-weapons, while these two had already transcended and weren’t even the same species.

They were probably supreme Dao treasures passed down from ancient times.

But there was a contradiction here… if they truly had been inherited from antiquity, then going by Shangqing Sword Dao’s ancient name, the characters carved on the sword ought to read “Taiqing”.

Why were they different?

Had they been altered later?

“That’s a Dao Sword,” Xiang Xian said softly. “The token, symbol, and supreme hereditary treasure of the Dao Lords of the Nine Daos. Every time it changes hands, the Dao Sword has to be reforged. The new Dao Lord’s personal sword is smelted into it as nourishment, allowing it to gain new life and evolve.”

I see.

Bai Xiang understood.

So the Shangqing engraving had been updated for that reason.

In that case…

The origin of Benling Sword Dao was the Demon Pool Benling Tiger.

The origin of Shangqing Sword Dao was the Demon Pool Qing.

Having now grasped the general outlines of two of the Nine Daos, Bai Xiang suddenly realized she still didn’t know the route Yuming took.

That really was strange… Master had already taught her the Jade Spirit method and the fundamental sword formula, so how could she have skipped over something this important?

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You had to understand, those things actually all counted as “external aids”, merely means to assist inner cultivation.

The true fundamental law, no matter which of the Nine Daos it belonged to, always placed the utmost emphasis on cultivation of the Demon Pool.

Previously, when Chai Xuan joined Benling Sword Dao, she’d had to convert the three-hundred-year Demon Pool gifted by the cicada demon into a Spirit Tiger. That process was bluntly called “raising the Spirit Tiger”, and it was the foundation for all the other Benling Sword Dao methods she would cultivate in the future.

So why was Yuming Sword Dao different?

Why, even now, was there still no mention of a Demon Pool source method?

Although Bai Xiang had no Demon Pool to convert, she had already made her plans: once her cheap master asked, she’d just fob her off with the cicada-shedding method and get her to let Bai Xiang keep practicing on her own.

Yet Xiang Xian never brought it up. Compared side by side, that made things feel very strange.

Bai Xiang had already established a basic trust in Xiang Xian, so she didn’t hold anything back and directly voiced her confusion.

“The Yuming Source Method?”

Xiang Xian happened to be tidying her hair, both hands raised and pressed behind her head. When she heard this, she paused for a moment.

“Master?”

Bai Xiang was certain she had just seen a hint of loneliness and bleakness on Xiang Xian’s face.

“You’ll find out.”

Xiang Xian smiled, suddenly reached out to wrap Bai Xiang in her arms, hugging her tightly.

“But not yet,” she murmured softly into her ear.

“We’ll have to wait a while.”