Chapter 28: Ting Tian Sword Spins for an Hour

As Meng Yingxing was dutifully boiling water in preparation for his body tempering, the Ting Tian Sword slowly flew over.

Xiu Qingcheng had already positioned herself horizontally. The not-so-wide back of the Ting Tian Sword carried a bowl of green, lumpy, and somewhat sinister-looking herbal poultice, as well as a roll of gauze.

The herbal poultice was something Xiu Qingcheng had painstakingly chopped and mashed with her own body, and the gauze was something she had found after rummaging through chests and cupboards.

“Before you temper your body, reapply some medicine first,” Xiu Qingcheng said in a casual tone. “Although the body tempering process is painful, it won’t cause a secondary impact on your wounds. It can even speed up their recovery during the process.”

Xiu Qingcheng didn’t know how such a magical thing was achieved through body tempering, but it was something she had heard somewhere before. Otherwise, as someone who had transmigrated from a scientific era, she wouldn’t have believed a single word of it.

“Okay, thank you, Master.”

Meng Yingxing put down the already boiled water and examined the unappealing bowl of medicine that Xiu Qingcheng had painstakingly carried over on the back of her sword. However, when he subconsciously sniffed it, the medicine had a fresh fragrance that didn’t match its appearance.

Meng Yingxing knew that the extra herbs Xiu Qingcheng had gathered, the ones not in the body-tempering formula, were for this bowl of wound medicine.

‘Master truly says one thing but means another.’

“This is wound medicine, it won’t poison you!” Xiu Qingcheng thought Meng Yingxing was looking at the bowl of medicine because he was afraid she would poison him as she had said before, so she offered a somewhat forced explanation.

She was just afraid he would overthink things.

“I know,” Meng Yingxing smiled and took the wound medicine and gauze from Xiu Qingcheng.

Meng Yingxing sat on the edge of the bed and slowly peeled off the gauze that had just been wrapped that morning.

Although good wound medicine had been applied, some unavoidable adhesion had occurred between the wound and the gauze. Coupled with a slight reopening of the wound, Meng Yingxing couldn’t help but let out a muffled groan as he removed the gauze.

Xiu Qingcheng looked at Meng Yingxing and said to him nonchalantly, “I’ll help you.”

She moved forward and used the tip of her sword to cut open the new gauze, assisting Meng Yingxing in applying the medicine and bandaging the wound.

It was as if her disciple’s wound reopening had nothing to do with her.

But deep down, Xiu Qingcheng knew that the reason Meng Yingxing’s wound had split open again was because of the blow she had given him at the restaurant.

Although she had said she wasn’t angry at the time, she felt that maybe she really had been angry.

But the object of her anger wasn’t Meng Yingxing.

It was herself.

Although Xiu Qingcheng was now a sword, her soul was, after all, still human.

Humans are always greedy, always begging for more.

She had thought that being able to move freely as a sword would be enough to satisfy her.

But when faced with that table of delicious-looking delicacies, she really couldn’t hold back.

Why didn’t she have a sense of taste! Why couldn’t she eat!

So, the object of Xiu Qingcheng’s anger was actually her uneating self!

Meng Yingxing was just a victim of her sudden fit of madness!

Xiu Qingcheng swore that if she ever got a body one day, she would eat and eat! Steamed lamb, steamed deer tail, roasted duck, roasted goose—this mouth of hers would eat everything!

Deep down, Xiu Qingcheng was still a mortal, greedy for money and fond of food.

It was just that she had not yet fully revealed all this to Meng Yingxing, still maintaining her dignity in front of her disciple.

After Xiu Qingcheng’s wild train of thought, Meng Yingxing had already finished re-bandaging himself and had even prepared the medicinal bath for body tempering.

“Master, you’re pretty dirty too. Want to wash together?”

Meng Yingxing, half-submerged in the water, pointed to the Ting Tian Sword, which was stained with some grass juice. He knew his master was a bit of a neat freak, so he kindly invited her.

“No need,” Xiu Qingcheng recited mercilessly, pushing Meng Yingxing down into the tub with the back of her sword.

Although she knew Meng Yingxing didn’t have any ulterior motives, even as a sword, Xiu Qingcheng would never bathe with him.

If she were to bathe with anyone, it would be with a pretty girl!

So, while Meng Yingxing was tempering his body, Xiu Qingcheng flew outside and rinsed herself with well water.

‘How on earth do I become human?’

‘Will I really turn into a girl when I get a physical body?’

‘Maybe it’s better not to change?’

‘But those dishes looked so delicious.’

‘I’m a man!’

Whenever she was alone, Xiu Qingcheng’s old habit would act up, and she would mutter to herself endlessly.

And to an outsider who couldn’t hear her voice, they would only see a magical sword, magically spinning on the spot.

When Meng Yingxing finished his body tempering half an hour later, he could still see his master spinning in place, muttering something about becoming human, a woman, a man, I want to eat, and so on.

Meng Yingxing squatted down next to Xiu Qingcheng and listened very attentively.

Then, the back of his head was slapped by the Xiu Qingcheng who had come to her senses, with a thump.

Sounded good? A good sound means a good head.

As the days of the Divine Weapon Trial drew nearer and nearer, Meng Yingxing, with Xiu Qingcheng’s help, cultivated his spiritual power and practiced his sword techniques with increasing diligence.

Although the progress in his spiritual power was not very obvious, in terms of swordsmanship, Xiu Qingcheng could only describe Meng Yingxing’s progress as meteoric.

The ‘Four Swords of Cloud’s Arrival’ she taught him only had four moves, but they were easy to learn and hard to master. Yet, in just a few days, Meng Yingxing had managed to grasp the essence of these moves and could unleash seventy to eighty percent of the sword technique’s full power.

At this moment, Meng Yingxing held a wooden sword, facing the Ting Tian Sword, which stood on its own without anyone controlling it.

“Master, be careful.”

With a low shout from Meng Yingxing, he raised his wooden sword. In an instant, the first move of the Four Swords of Cloud’s Arrival, ‘First Gaze at Distant Clouds’, was already thrusting towards Xiu Qingcheng.

“Good!”

Xiu Qingcheng silently cheered, but she easily moved her body to dodge Meng Yingxing.

But Meng Yingxing’s reaction was very fast. The moment his first move was dodged, he immediately changed his sword’s momentum, following Xiu Qingcheng’s movement with the second move of the Four Swords of Cloud’s Arrival, ‘Thousand Mountains Enter Clouds’.

“For the ‘Thousand Mountains Enter Clouds’ move, you need to use more force!” Xiu Qingcheng blocked Meng Yingxing’s wooden sword with a slashing motion, while not forgetting to point out his shortcomings.

Xiu Qingcheng controlled her strength and kept her scabbard on, so the Ting Tian Sword wouldn’t cut Meng Yingxing’s pitiful wooden sword.

These past few days, in order for Meng Yingxing to improve, Xiu Qingcheng had also put herself on the line, letting him use a wooden sword to spar against her. After all, practical combat is the best teacher.

“The third stance, Entering Peak Towards Clouds—” Meng Yingxing shouted lightly, turning his wooden sword and swinging it towards Xiu Qingcheng.

Just as the wooden sword was about to collide with Xiu Qingcheng, she suddenly dropped to the ground, embedding herself diagonally in the dirt.

Meng Yingxing’s movement screeched to a halt. Just as he was about to ask Xiu Qingcheng what was wrong, several mocking laughs, with no attempt to hide their ridicule, came from outside the courtyard.

“Yo, yo, yo, isn’t this Meng the good-for-nothing? Haven’t seen you in a few days, and you’ve gotten even more pathetic, huh?”

“You think this loser is actually training seriously because he wants to get a ranking in the Divine Weapon Trial? That’s hilarious!”