Chapter 13: Master, I Want to Become Stronger

“As expected, I can’t taste anything.”
Xiu Qingcheng poked the tip of the Ting Tian Sword into the food, then somewhat disappointedly withdrew it.
Meng Yingxing watched Xiu Qingcheng’s actions in a daze.
Gazing at the glistening, oily sheen on the sword tip after it was pulled from the food, he was speechless for a moment.
Meng Yingxing kept telling himself that his master must have a deeper meaning in doing this, but he couldn’t help but ask, “Master, what do you mean by ‘can’t taste anything’?”
“It’s literal.” Xiu Qingcheng glanced at Meng Yingxing.
“Before, when I was purely a sword, I basically had no other abilities besides sight.
Now I’m like a normal human, but without the sense of taste, which is a bit of a pity.”
By now, Meng Yingxing also realized that Xiu Qingcheng had asked him to cook more food just to test if she had a sense of taste.

“You should eat all these dishes and rice.
I don’t get hungry, and to train well, you must replenish enough nutrition.
Look at you, as thin as a bamboo pole.
So weak and still wanting to learn swordsmanship!?
You have no strength at all!
You must finish all this food!”
Xiu Qingcheng forcefully dictated to Meng Yingxing, while raising the Ting Tian Sword and wiping the tip, which had just been stained with cooking oil, back and forth on Meng Yingxing’s clothes a couple of times.
‘Having a disciple is great, I can do whatever I want!’ Xiu Qingcheng thought contentedly, feeling her sword tip become dry again.
Meng Yingxing himself wasn’t particularly bothered by the several clearly visible oil stains Xiu Qingcheng left on his clothes; he was more concerned with what Xiu Qingcheng had just said.
His master told him to eat more.
His master truly cared about him!
Meng Yingxing, who had long missed the warmth of human kindness, now vowed to dedicate his entire life to the Ting Tian Sword, to his good master Xiu Qingcheng.
So Meng Yingxing no longer held back, and began to devour the monotonous dishes before him, quickly finishing more than half of the rice with just a few mouthfuls.
“Master, can you tell me about your past?
So Master, were you not a sword spirit before?” Meng Yingxing didn’t just eat; he also wanted to fish out some stories from Xiu Qingcheng to go with his meal.
“Mm, I wasn’t a sword spirit before.” Xiu Qingcheng had nothing to hide about her past.
Rather, she hadn’t spoken to anyone for hundreds, even thousands of years, and now that someone was willing to communicate with her, she wished she could chatter endlessly all day long.
“Under the Ting Tian Sword, a thousand blades retreat.
Have you ever heard this saying?”
“No.”
“Then, ‘the sword horizontally can open the gates of heaven and distant peaks, and vertically can cut a river flow with one stroke,’ have you heard that?”
“No.”
‘Alright, the Ting Tian Sword was once renowned, but now it has truly been washed into some unknown corner by the torrent of time.’
Xiu Qingcheng didn’t know how long it had been since she was enshrined in the Divine Weapon Pavilion.
She didn’t want to know either.
Because she had long traversed the river of time all alone, looking back, she could no longer remember the beginning of her solitude, the end of her freedom.
“So Master was so powerful before?” Meng Yingxing, upon thinking that he had actually taken such a powerful sword as his master, proudly ate a few more mouthfuls of rice.
“Naturally.”
Xiu Qingcheng proudly straightened her body—oh, she was already straight.
Then Xiu Qingcheng told Meng Yingxing a few more things she remembered, not lacking tales of splitting mountains and oceans, or how one sword’s frosty chill illuminated Jiuzhou.
Meng Yingxing naturally listened with fervent longing.
“Master, why haven’t you mentioned the past wielders of the Ting Tian Sword?
These things you spoke of, you must have created them with them, right?” Meng Yingxing asked, holding his rice bowl.
A sword cannot be separated from a person.
Yet Meng Yingxing noticed that in Xiu Qingcheng’s stories, there was only the sword, but never the person.
‘The sword masters of the Ting Tian Sword?’
Xiu Qingcheng was startled by the question.
She did indeed have vague memories of them.
In those days, as a sword, Xiu Qingcheng only paid close attention to sword moves that interested her and some secret realm cultivation techniques, but she had almost no impression of the various sword masters themselves.
Perhaps it was because, to those people, a sword was just a sword.
No one had ever formed such a magical connection with Xiu Qingcheng as Meng Yingxing had now.
Xiu Qingcheng felt a moment of trance.
“Ting Tian Sword, before my death, I will collect one last divine weapon of the world, and I will enshrine you in the Divine Weapon Pavilion.
Under the Ting Tian Sword, a thousand blades retreat.
This Divine Weapon Pavilion exists for all weapons to pay homage to the Ting Tian Sword!”
Xiu Qingcheng suddenly remembered the creator of the Divine Weapon Pavilion and the words that person had spoken.
She quickly came back to her senses and casually said to Meng Yingxing, “Here, that Divine Weapon Pavilion in your sect, that’s what the previous sword master concocted.”
“The other sword masters were all such great powers; there’s nothing much to say about them.”
Xiu Qingcheng thus covered up the topic.
After Xiu Qingcheng finished speaking, Meng Yingxing’s eating slowed down a beat.
“So, Master’s former sword masters… were all so powerful?”
“Naturally, those who aren’t powerful aren’t even worthy of being the sword master of the Ting Tian Sword!” Xiu Qingcheng said, praising herself.
Meng Yingxing suddenly felt a lump in his throat.

After the meal, Meng Yingxing began his cultivation.
Xiu Qingcheng stood beside Meng Yingxing, acting as his protector.
Meng Yingxing’s cultivation method was the most basic: circulating spiritual energy through all his spiritual meridians to strengthen and expand them.
Although not highly efficient, it was effective.
He had just advanced to Star-like Lower-grade today, and Xiu Qingcheng planned to let him use this basic method to stabilize his foundation first.
Later, she could teach him some more aggressive but more effective cultivation methods.
However, for some reason, Meng Yingxing stopped after cultivating for only a short while this time.
“Master, this won’t do.” Meng Yingxing’s voice was low; he was clearly very frustrated right now.
“What’s wrong?”
“My current cultivation speed is simply too slow,” Meng Yingxing looked at the Ting Tian Sword.
Xiu Qingcheng diligently advised, “I told you it’s just a problem with your body, don’t rush.”
“No!”
Meng Yingxing forcefully interrupted Xiu Qingcheng, “Even if I’m being dragged down by something, I want to cultivate faster on this basis!”
He knelt down, earnestly pleading, “I wonder if Master has any other cultivation methods?
No matter how difficult or painful, I can persevere!”
“Being too hasty isn’t good.” Xiu Qingcheng’s gaze deepened a bit.
Meng Yingxing raised his eyes, staring intently at Xiu Qingcheng, “Master said that the former owners of the Ting Tian Sword were all powerful geniuses, and only I seem out of place.”
“Master, I want to become stronger.”
“To be a sword master worthy of the Ting Tian Sword!”
“Strong enough to stand shoulder to shoulder with you, Master!”
Xiu Qingcheng fell silent.
She saw the unwavering determination in Meng Yingxing’s eyes.
She then began to smile, a particularly brilliant smile.
“Good kid, you have ambition.”
“Then let me see how far you can go.”
Seeing Meng Yingxing so diligent, Xiu Qingcheng was also pleased.
This meant her task of helping Meng Yingxing win the Divine Weapon Trial and permanently leave the Divine Weapon Pavilion was even more within reach!
This disciple, she truly chose well!