Chapter 26: The Sword Spirit’s Choice

None of the sword spirits spoke. Those that had been on the verge of flying toward Yu Xiu all returned the way they came, and the ones eager to test the waters froze in place. It was as if all the liveliness just now had been an illusion. The entire floor of the tower fell into a deathly silence so complete that one could hear a pin drop; even the air seemed to become stagnant.

Any sword stored on the seventh floor of the Five Elements Sect’s Sword Pavilion would cause a stir in the world if brought outside. Not a single one of them had an ordinary origin, nor did any of them have an unremarkable past. Each and every one was a legendary artifact in its own right. To these ancient sword spirits, every cultivator who came seeking a sword was nothing more than a junior many generations removed. For them to even acknowledge such young disciples and agree to be their sword was already a tremendous gesture of grace.

In the past, whenever a cultivator earned the acknowledgment of one of these swords, they were always overjoyed and couldn’t wait to take the sword into their dantian, to begin refining it into their natal sword on the spot. Yet now Yu Xiu had said she only wanted a secondary sword?!

To a sword cultivator, a secondary sword wasn’t just a backup weapon in name. It was a tool they only used when the natal sword was unavailable—essentially a temporary substitute. To become someone’s secondary sword was to be shut away in a storage bag, gathering dust, and rarely seeing the light of day!

No matter how talented Yu Xiu was, the sword spirits on this floor absolutely could not accept such an arrangement. Even eternal boredom was better than throwing away their pride and dignity to be stepped on by an unknown junior.

Yu Xiu knew exactly what consequences her words would bring. But she still maintained her cupped-fist salute, standing tall with a straight back, her head slightly lowered in humility. Her attitude was respectful—but firm.

After a long while, a sneering voice came from deep within the tower, its tone emotionless: “…You’re quite honest, little girl. At least you made things clear from the start. Better than having a sword spirit follow you only to discover you merely needed a secondary sword.”

After all, they were sword spirits—created to be used by cultivators. When it came to autonomy, they had little choice in the matter. If Yu Xiu had chosen to deceive them, waiting until the blood contract was signed, it would’ve been too late. And while they did have the ability to forcibly break a contract with a Foundation Establishment cultivator like her, the price would be extremely steep. So, Yu Xiu’s upfront honesty was, in a way, considerate of their position.

More voices now echoed from all directions:
“Young lady, don’t aim so high. Any one of us is more than enough to be your natal sword!”

“Judging by the traces in your dantian, the natal sword you previously forged wasn’t worth much—far inferior to any sword present here!”

“Geniuses often overestimate themselves. But if you go too far, you’ll be walking the path to ruin!”

“Indeed. The arrogant who aim too high—no matter their talent—are just fleeting meteors in the end.”

“You’re without a natal sword now. If you change your mind, I’m still willing to give you a second chance!”

This time, the sword spirits’ words were undoubtedly much harsher. But Yu Xiu actually felt relieved—it was already far better than the worst-case scenario she had envisioned. The sword spirits here hadn’t lashed out in fury or turned their blades on her. Instead, they had merely vented their dissatisfaction verbally. That, in itself, was an extraordinary level of tolerance. Not to mention, even now, the tone of their comments was filled with recognition of her talent. Some even offered to acknowledge her as their master—if only she would change her mind and seek a natal sword instead.

“Thank you for your kind intentions, seniors,” Yu Xiu replied gently, her voice calm and warm. “But my mind is made up. If it turns out I am not fated with any of you, then it only means I am lacking in ability.”

Once Yu Xiu set her mind on something, she would never back down. Coming straight to the seventh floor, she hadn’t been gambling on luck. Even if she was only searching for a secondary sword, she wanted the best possible one she could earn within her ability. If this floor didn’t work out, she was fully prepared to go to the sixth, then the fifth, testing each floor in turn.

Yu Xiu had a precise understanding of her own strength. She was confident that by the time she reached the fifth floor, at the latest, she would find a sword willing to become her secondary weapon.

Seeing her unmoving determination, the sword spirits lost interest and decided to ignore her completely. Finally, amid the collective cold silence, one slender cyan sword hesitantly flew forward and came to a trembling stop in front of Yu Xiu.

This sword was delicate and refined in appearance, but it had been broken cleanly in the middle, its blade separated from its hilt. A faint layer of spiritual energy, as thin as glue, was barely holding the blade and hilt of the sword together. The two halves of the broken sword looked as if they could fall apart at any moment.

“Little girl,” came a hoarse, genderless voice from the sword spirit, “I am the only broken sword on this floor. If you agree to cultivate me, I shall consent to become your secondary sword.”

Seeing this sword spirit, a trace of surprise flickered in Yu Xiu’s eyes. Whether from the wear of time or the scars of past battles, it was not uncommon for sword spirits to bear various damages. As a sword cultivator proficient in weapon refinement, Yu Xiu was well aware that the Sword Pavilion of Qingchu would certainly contain damaged swords. But what she hadn’t expected was that a sword spirit could be damaged to such a degree. A normal sword, once broken at the hilt, would almost certainly be rendered useless. And yet this sword spirit still managed to hold itself together in its proper shape—one couldn’t help but feel astonished.

Yu Xiu’s expression was extremely subtle and fleeting, but this spiritual sword was exceptionally keen and noticed it. “Heh.” The spiritual sword’s tone was half-joking, half-serious. “Little girl, although this old one has fallen to this state, I am more than capable of being your secondary sword.”

“Senior misunderstands,” Yu Xiu shook her head. “This junior has no intention of doubting your strength. The fact that you are on the seventh floor of the Sword Pavilion is proof enough.”

These words clearly struck a chord with the spiritual sword. It let out another “heh,” and the amusement in its tone became much more apparent.

“This junior is just worried about my own abilities.” Yu Xiu said, “May senior allow this junior to briefly inspect your sword body? This junior wishes to get a general understanding of the spiritual materials needed to repair your sword body to determine if I have the ability to fulfill your request in a timely manner.”

Currently, Yu Xiu’s efforts and financial resources were mainly focused on recasting her natal spiritual sword. If repairing this spiritual sword would take up too much of her energy and time, it would be a case of putting the cart before the horse, and the gains would not outweigh the losses. If the materials needed to repair the spiritual sword overlapped with the materials for recasting her natal spiritual sword, Yu Xiu couldn’t just leave the sentient secondary sword’s needs unmet. Yu Xiu’s principle remained the same. It wasn’t that she had no way to hide or deceive, but she would not choose to do so.

Hearing this, the spiritual sword laughed with great pleasure and landed directly in Yu Xiu’s hand, allowing her to envelop its body with her spiritual energy and inspect its current state. Yu Xiu didn’t go too deep. Just as she had said, she got a general understanding of the spiritual sword’s condition and then withdrew her spiritual energy.

Fortunately, the spiritual materials contained in this spiritual sword were wood, water, and earth, completely avoiding the gold and fire spiritual materials Yu Xiu needed to recast her natal spiritual sword. As for the sword’s attributes not being very suitable for Yu Xiu, that was actually not a big problem. Only a natal spiritual sword was nurtured in a sword cultivator’s dantian and participated in the circulation of the cultivator’s internal spiritual energy, which was why it must not conflict with the cultivator’s spiritual root attributes. A secondary sword, on the other hand, was an external weapon and had no requirements for the cultivator’s spiritual root.

With each ascending floor in the Sword Pavilion, the quality of the spiritual swords increased by a significant level. Since she could get a spiritual sword from the seventh floor, Yu Xiu would not consider the sixth floor.

“It is an honor,” Yu Xiu smiled. “This junior’s fate is with you.”

This time, the spiritual sword laughed out loud, “You little girl, you really know how to talk. This old one really likes it!”

With mutual consent, Yu Xiu immediately formed a blood contract with this spiritual sword. A blood contract delved deep into both flesh and soul and could not be broken. Yu Xiu then learned the name of this spiritual sword, “Yin Sha.”

***

Storing Yin Sha in her storage silver hairpin, Yu Xiu returned the way she came, found Jiang Hanxing, and left the Sword Pavilion with him. Yu Xiu had been in the Sword Pavilion for nearly half an hour, yet the teasing Cangling Peak disciples outside had not dispersed. When Jiang Hanxing and Yu Xiu reappeared, there was another burst of chatter.

Jiang Hanxing seemed to have long been accustomed to the behavior of his fellow peak disciples. He just nodded at Yu Xiu at the entrance of the Sword Pavilion as a farewell, then directly rode his sword away, quickly passing through the bustling crowd of disciples from above.

“Ah, Head Senior Brother is still so cold and ruthless.”

“Even Head Senior Brother’s fleeting back is so dashing!”

“Head Senior Brother’s natal spiritual sword, ‘Tian Gang,’ is so domineering! No matter how many times I see it, it makes my heart surge! I really wish I could have such a spiritual sword one day too!”

“Get real. ‘Tian Gang‘ was a natal spiritual sword specially forged for Head Senior Brother by Master Cang Ling. You couldn’t afford any of the spiritual materials in it in eight lifetimes!”

“Head Senior Sister has a much better temper. She doesn’t dislike us for being talkative like Head Senior Brother does!”

“…”

So these Cangling Peak disciples knew they were noisy.

Just then, a woman’s laughter suddenly sounded, extremely charming. Yu Xiu looked in the direction of the sound and saw a woman in a black gauze dress walking over with extremely alluring steps, a smile on her face. The woman’s figure was very eye-catching, exquisitely curvaceous, especially her slender waist, which seemed as if it could be encircled by a single hand. Her long hair was tied up in a complex spirit snake bun, pierced askew by a black jade hairpin with a dangling ornament. A lock of black hair fell to her chest on each cheek. The woman’s hairpin, hair, and the hem of her dress and skirt all swayed with her movements. Her fair left leg would occasionally be revealed through the side slit of her long dress.

She had only taken a few ordinary steps, yet many of the Cangling Peak disciples were already blushing and their hearts were pounding, not daring to look at her directly. Before she could even see the woman’s face clearly, just from her laughter and posture, four words appeared in Yu Xiu’s mind: “glamorous and alluring.”

Without needing any more evidence, Yu Xiu could be certain that the newcomer was the other officially promoted capturable character in “Five Elements Immortal Domain” besides Jiang Hanxing, the Peak Master of Xuanji Peak, Su Miaoyu.

Wherever Su Miaoyu went, the young disciples of Cangling Peak all blushed and quickly made way for her. She soon arrived in front of Yu Xiu. Meeting her gaze at close range, Yu Xiu found that this youngest Peak Master of the Five Elements Sect indeed had a face that perfectly matched the official game’s description of “glamorous and alluring.” With upward-slanting phoenix eyes, a high nose bridge, and full, ruby-red lips, she was a stunning beauty at first glance.

Yu Xiu lowered her eyes and bowed, “Greetings, Master Su.”

Unlike Chiyang, Cangling, and Tianshuang Peaks, Su Miaoyu’s title was not Master Xuanji. She was generally addressed respectfully by her surname.

Su Miaoyu’s lips curved into a smile, and she looked Yu Xiu up and down, “I was just wondering what was so lively on Cangling Peak. So it’s Head Senior Sister who has come?”

Every word Su Miaoyu uttered seemed to have a hook, her tone rising at the end, like she was pouting, or perhaps flirting. Coupled with her voice, which was as charming as her appearance, it was exceptionally seductive. Yu Xiu recalled the players’ comments on Su Miaoyu in “Five Elements Immortal Domain” in her past life. They said she wore the most solemn black clothes with the sexiest effect, like a professional seductress. Countless players had howled, “I want to be Master’s dog,” but even though Yu Xiu was seeing the complete, living person and not just a monotonous portrait, her heart was not stirred much. Thinking about it carefully, in her two lifetimes combined, Yu Xiu had only been moved by someone’s appearance once, and that was when she had unintentionally seen Bu Xiwei’s portrait in her past life.

“You flatter me.” Yu Xiu’s attitude was neither servile nor overbearing. “I wonder if Master Su has any instructions for this disciple?”

In the past fourteen years, Yu Xiu had had almost no dealings with the people of Xuanji Peak. In order for players to be able to choose the gender of the capturable characters more intuitively at the beginning of the game, the officials of “Five Elements Immortal Domain” had simply and crudely set Cangling Peak to be all-male, and correspondingly, Xuanji Peak to be all-female. According to Yu Xiu’s actual understanding, there were actually a few female disciples on Cangling Peak, but she had not yet seen them. Yu Xiu knew even less about the situation on Xuanji Peak. This peak, which was responsible for intelligence in the grand scheme of the Five Elements Sect, had always been rather mysterious. She had only heard that there were many cultivators who were proficient in divination, prophecy, and calculation. The Peak Master, Su Miaoyu, was the most famous master of numerology in the current era. It was said that she only needed to glance at someone to see their past and future clearly.

Yu Xiu didn’t know what Su Miaoyu had seen in her, but even if Su Miaoyu could see her biggest secret—that she was a transmigrator—it wasn’t a big deal. After all, Yu Xiu had essentially transmigrated into this world with her body. Her identity as an orphan had no entanglements, so there wouldn’t be much trouble.

At this time, Yu Xiu also had the presence of mind to notice that the surrounding Cangling Peak disciples were finally gradually dispersing. She didn’t know if it was out of shyness towards the alluring older sister, or awe of the Peak Master, or some kind of avoidance they had been repeatedly told to observe, but they were all trying to stay away from Su Miaoyu. This was an effect that even Jiang Hanxing with his cold face could not achieve.

Soon, only Yu Xiu and Su Miaoyu were left in front of the Sword Pavilion.

“So young, yet so rigid and uninteresting?” Su Miaoyu took half a step forward, her left arm crossed over her chest, and reached out with her right index finger, as if to lift Yu Xiu’s chin.

Yu Xiu immediately took a step back, avoiding Su Miaoyu’s action.

“Pfft.” Su Miaoyu was amused by Yu Xiu’s reaction, her phoenix eyes and red lips laughing so hard they trembled like branches in the wind. “Is this the style of the most outstanding disciple of the Path of Emotionlessness? Truly so emotionless.”

Yu Xiu was speechless. She hadn’t paid much attention to the character of Su Miaoyu in her past life and hadn’t seen her plotline. But considering the nicknames players had given her, like “Gu King” and “Fishing God,” she guessed that this Master Su was a master of teasing. The disciples of Cangling Peak must have been teased by Su Miaoyu like this before, which was why they didn’t dare to get close to her.

Seeing that Yu Xiu still had that unflappable look, Su Miaoyu seemed to find it a bit boring and didn’t do anything else to her. She leaned over directly, her lips close to Yu Xiu’s left ear, her voice so soft it was only a warm breath, “I really didn’t expect that the person Demon Lord Bu Xiwei is so carefully protecting is actually a cold and quiet little thing like you.”

“…??!!”

Seeing that Yu Xiu’s expression had finally changed slightly, Su Miaoyu finally smiled with satisfaction. With a flick of her right index finger, Su Miaoyu threw a snake-shaped black jade into Yu Xiu’s arms, “Take this. You can come find me at Xuanji Peak in the future.”

After speaking, Su Miaoyu turned and left, swaying. From the direction she was going, she was probably going to find Master Cang Ling.

Yu Xiu stood where she was, holding the black jade, her briefly rippled heart calming down again. Hearing from a Peak Master that she had some connection with Bu Xiwei had indeed surprised Yu Xiu. But it was actually not that hard to guess. Bu Xiwei’s concealment and Master Chiyang’s assurance had only made the three masters who were involved at the time not pursue her. Su Miaoyu was not one of them. The fact that Bu Xiwei had specifically made that sword light avoid Chiyang Peak was already irrefutable proof in the eyes of someone as smart and cunning as Su Miaoyu. Su Miaoyu was a Peak Master, and the information she possessed was not something a small personal disciple like Yu Xiu could compare to. Moreover, Xuanji Peak was originally specialized in intelligence and divination. In addition, today Su Miaoyu had seen Yu Xiu with her own eyes. The rumor that she could see through people with a single glance must have some basis in fact, providing even more definite evidence.

Yu Xiu couldn’t help but smile wryly. Putting everything else aside, just her subconscious reaction after hearing Su Miaoyu’s words was a confession in itself. She really needed more practice.

Since the three masters, including the Sect Master, had not investigated, and Su Miaoyu had told her about this in a whisper, there was no need to worry too much. Casually storing the snake-shaped black jade in her storage silver hairpin, Yu Xiu also left Cangling Peak, heading in the direction of Chiyang Peak. She would probably have more dealings with Su Miaoyu in the future. This thing should be useful.

***

Bu Xiwei felt like she couldn’t find her own body. Her limbs, her bones, none of them responded to her. She was like a broken ghost, drifting in an endless void, shielded from all sensations. Only the pain and despair from the depths of her soul had settled, enveloping her tightly, like a cage she could never escape from. Many scattered memory fragments exploded almost crazily, and one fragment was particularly conspicuous.

Bu Xiwei “saw” Su Miaoyu in a black gauze dress, her expression sad, her phoenix eyes filled with an unprecedented depth of emotion and determination. Opposite Su Miaoyu, Yu Xiu’s eyes were covered with a layer of goose-crest red silk, her expression calm.

“Master Su,” Yu Xiu blocked Bu Xiwei behind her, her voice without a single ripple, “please go back.”

“Don’t worry,” Su Miaoyu’s smile was a little tragic, completely at odds with her glamorous appearance. “I didn’t come this time to separate you from the one surnamed Bu.”

With a long sigh, Yu Xiu’s voice was tinged with a few threads of helplessness, “Master Su, you should have known from the beginning—”

Su Miaoyu directly interrupted Yu Xiu, “I know you are of the Path of Emotionlessness.”

“How many times have you rejected me, always using this reason.” Su Miaoyu’s lips curved up, but there was only a watery light in her eyes. “But you’ve already done so much for Bu Xiwei, and you still say you are of the Path of Emotionlessness?!”

At the end, Su Miaoyu’s voice was a low roar, every word tinged with a clear sob.

“…??!!”

No, why was she remembering this part this time?!

Bu Xiwei knew that she was trapped in her own memories right now. Every time she came out of her mad state on her own, she would be swept into various memory fragments for a while. The number and duration of the fragments were all random. The appearance of this sign meant that she was about to wake up.

But Bu Xiwei didn’t care at all about whether she was waking up or not right now. She was about to explode. Because Bu Xiwei knew that soon, this person who had pestered Yu Xiu for hundreds of years, Su Miaoyu, was about to confess to Yu Xiu right in front of her!

Sure enough, quickly recovering from her somewhat hysterical state, Su Miaoyu took two deep breaths to make herself look less disheveled. Su Miaoyu looked straight at Yu Xiu’s face, enunciating each word, “Yu Xiu, I like you. It has nothing to do with you.”