Chapter 143 - 142: Sword Spirit
Two Dao Stone!
The magnitude of the reward was staggering. A single Dao Stone was a supreme treasure of such immense value that it had allowed Lord Zhao to imbue a sliver of his Dao Domain, Seek the Dao with the Illusion of the Heart, into the Dao stone, which allowed Lin Yuan to forge a Mortal Heart powerful enough to bridge the bottleneck of the Spirit Severing Realm.
And Lin Yuan had just received two of them.
The realization alone was enough to make his heart race.
Lin Yuan turned his gaze toward Bai Qingyue. She was still smiling softly at him, completely unaware of the extraordinary fortune she had just inadvertently brought him.
A low, rich chuckle escaped Lin Yuan’s lips. He gently released her hands, then rose from his seat and walked around the low table. Without giving her any chance to react, he effortlessly scooped her up into his arms.
Bai Qingyue blinked in surprise before a faint smile appeared on her beautiful face.
"You are truly my greatest treasure, Qingyue," Lin Yuan whispered.
With that, the deepest hours of the night had finally settled over Sky Jade City. The formalities of the provincial palace, the grand declarations of the eunuchs, and the elaborate performances had all faded into the quiet sanctity of the royal quarters.
After the long journey and the exhausting day, Bai Qingyue had quickly fallen into a deep slumber. It had only been a few minutes since Lin Yuan had gently placed her on the bed, yet her breathing had already become slow and steady, her beautiful features relaxed as she surrendered herself completely to sleep.
Lin Yuan stood beside the bed for a moment, quietly looking down at her.
A faint smile appeared on his face.
The woman who could once shake the hearts of countless cultivators with nothing more than the sound of her zither was now sleeping peacefully before him, completely unaware of the enormous fortune she had brought into his hands.
Those two Dao Stones...
Just thinking about them made Lin Yuan’s eyes flicker with anticipation.
But he did not disturb her.
Instead, he gently pulled the blanket over her shoulders and tucked it around her before turning his gaze toward the quiet room.
The city outside was still brightly illuminated. Countless cultivators had gathered in Sky Jade City for the upcoming Lord Tournament, and beneath the seemingly peaceful surface, powerful figures from the various provinces were already beginning to make their moves.
The tournament was only five days away.
Before then, Lin Yuan had something far more important to accomplish.
The Emperor’s Primordial Sovereign Sword!
If he could fully connect with it and fully comprehend the mysteries contained within it, the benefits to his cultivation would be impossible to measure.
Lin Yuan then looked back at Bai Qingyue one final time before turning and quietly withdrawing to the expansive outer balcony.
The balcony overlooked the sleeping metropolis, the cool night wind carrying the faint scent of pine and incense. Lin Yuan sat cross-legged at a low table.
With a thought, a ripple of spatial energy warped the air over his open palm. After a long time of letting it sit dormant within his spatial ring following its reward from the system, he finally manifested the Emperor’s Primordial Sovereign Sword.
He placed it upon the table. With the Lord Tournament of the Central Continent looming, he knew that whatever battles he was destined to face, this blade would surely be his primary weapon.
However, the longer he looked at it, the more a profound sense of dissonance grew within him. He had expected a weapon with such a legendary name to radiate a blinding, heaven-cleaving aura. He had imagined ancient runes glowing like liquid fire, a blade forged from peerless materials, perhaps even a hilt adorned with countless stars.
Instead, it was remarkably plain. The blade was a matte gray, lacking any discernible sheen. The crossguard was simple, unadorned dark metal, and the hilt was wrapped in what looked like ordinary, worn leather. It didn’t look like a weapon that cleaved heaven and earth; it looked like a sword a mortal foot soldier might carry into a muddy skirmish.
"You don’t look like much," Lin Yuan murmured, half to himself, turning the plain blade over in the moonlight.
There was a brief moment of silence.
Then, very faintly, like a voice heard through a thick barrier of deep water...
"Rude."
Lin Yuan froze.
His deep purple eyes narrowed instantly as his aura flared to life. His divine sense swept across the balcony and the surrounding airspace, searching for any hidden intruder. Yet the voice had not come from the shadows, nor had it come from anywhere outside the room.
It had come from the sword.
The sensation that followed was like a presence slowly unfolding from deep within the blade’s aura, similar to a pair of lungs taking one long, desperate breath after being held for centuries before finally releasing it. A soft, warm pulse of pure white light traveled along the entire length of the dull gray steel. It gathered in the air just above the hilt, swirling gently before slowly condensing into a distinct form.
The light materialized into the shape of a girl.
She was tiny, sitting cross-legged in midair, no taller than Lin Yuan’s forearm. She possessed an ethereal, delicate beauty, but what immediately caught his attention were the nine fluffy, pure white fox tails fanned out behind her like a magnificent peacock’s display. Two soft, triangular fox ears twitched atop her head. When she opened her eyes, they revealed a startling, brilliant molten gold.
She hovered there, looking Lin Yuan up and down with open scrutiny. It was exactly the kind of look a precocious child would give a new toy, carefully deciding whether it was actually worth playing with.
"Finally," she said, her voice clear and chiming. She stretched both of her small arms high above her head, letting out a small, immensely satisfied groan as her nine tails swayed lazily behind her. "Do you know how boring it is to be sealed away and asleep for three hundred years? Nothing but noise outside. It was like being wrapped in wet cotton."
Lin Yuan, to his credit, recovered his composure quickly.
"You’re the sword spirit," Lin Yuan stated, his voice calm.
"Obviously." She flicked one of her fluffy white tails, looking thoroughly unimpressed by his deduction. "Ling Xi. That’s my name, in case you were wondering, which you clearly weren’t, because you haven’t asked."
"Ling Xi," he repeated smoothly, deciding to match her conversational pace. "I’m—"