Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
The Qi Instrument that flew out from Shen Lian was what he picked up by chance in the Kingdom of Yuetuo. It was an antique shop called “Zhixing House”. The house owner was a middle-aged scholar. Shen Lian had a memorable impression of him. He was elegant and well read. He even tested Shen Lian’s knowledge on the origin of the Qi instrument – if Shen Lian could answer it correctly, he would give the item to him for free. As Shen Lian answered him easily, he gave the item to him.
The reason why Shen Lian was willing to accept the Qi instrument was because of its properties where ‘it stays straight when it is half full; it will topple when it is full; it stays as Qi in the void.’ It was rather mysterious, and could potentially help him in understanding Dan Dao. Without the awareness, he could not have understood the secret of Huandan when he was fighting Zhao Xiaoyu. Or even if he could achieve Huandan, it would not be a comprehensive one.
He did not expect that someone had played a trick on the instrument, and it went under his eyes. The person who had played the trick was rather careful, as he only activated it when the bone relic appeared in Jing Guang Temple.
Shen Lian had been paying attention to Hong Zhen. He realized that Hong Zhen was mumbling something when the odd thing happened to the Qi instrument. He noticed an odd activation of spiritual power and hence related the two incidents.
He intended to suppress the instrument with his power, but as the sword will carry the voice of Chen Jianmei, he decided to just let it out.
Chen Jianmei did not become the sword will, but instead, he made use of some secret techniques to resonate with the sword will within his body in order to transmit the message to him. It could go undercover without anyone noticing. This was because Chen Jianmei had spent a long time understanding Master Yuanqing’s sword will, and hence he could make use of it to transmit a message without anyone noticing.
It would be impossible to hide from all the powerful people present, especially people like Mister Sea and even Baoyue the Venerable.
He connected the dots, but he still could not understand what was wrong with the middle-aged scholar. At the same time, Hong Zhen was the one who transmitted the message to him and invited him over to Jing Guang Temple. While he was under the order of Hui Ke, but coupled with what happened just now, Hong Zhen seemed like a problematic character.
Furthermore, the Qi instrument flew out from him and took the bone relic. He could not just escape from being responsible for its action, but Hong Zhen could stay out of it completely.
Ultimately he wondered what was the trick used by the person who stole the bone relic. He could deceive Mister Sea, and even stealthily placed the real relic on Hong Zhen. Chen Jianmei, however, seemed to predict all of it as he was ready to ambush the blood ray from the void with his sword ray.
To be able to go undetected by Baoyue the Venerable was entirely impossible, even though Chen Jianmei’s Shapeless Sword Incantation had reached an incredible height.
The sword ray was from Chen Jianmei, and the blood ray was his opponent, which was likely to be the middle-aged house owner.
Shen Lian thought that the blood ray resembled the young man dressed in blood clothes who intended to steal his power at the Temple of Killings.
He chased after the rays to clear his doubts, and to help Chen Jianmei.
When Shen Lian hesitated about whether to step forward to help the sword ray, someone said, “Please don’t act rashly.”
It was the voice of Chen Jianmei. A white-robed Daoist appeared from the right. His robes were ruffling in the void. He was staring coldly at the blood ray within the sword ray. He flicked his finger, and a hot white ray appeared from the tip of his finger, which was then turned into a few thousand swords of Qi. The sword ray wrapped around the blood ray dispersed, and the blood ray was trapped by the sword formation. It could not escape.
The sword formation was recorded in the Shapeless Sword Formula as the ultimate technique. It was known as Shenqing Xuanqi Sword Formation. It used thousands of swords of Qi to form a formation and it could destroy not just the body, but also the spirit of people. It was extremely powerful and nobody could set this formation up alone in regions below Dixian.
Chen Jianmei could set up this formation using his own Qi had already exceeded all the previous generations of Qingxuan who had yet to reach the level of Dixian. Even in terms of swordsmanship in heaven and earth, Chen Jianmei could be considered as top notch.
Chen Jianmei stared at Shen Lian and said, “If not because of you, a part of my Primordial Spirit can’t be trapped.”
Shen Lian moved to the side of Chen Jianmei, carried by the wind. He stood in the void.
Chen Jianmei did not seem to be activating any spiritual power or his Qi of vitality to be able to float in this void against the gravitational pull.
Shen Lian wondered, “What is happening?”
Chen Jianmei pointed at the blood ray and said coldly, “Part of the Primordial Spirit of the headmaster’s Apprentice-Brother Yan Xu is trapped inside. We should, in fact, call him our Master-Uncle.”
The blood ray while unable to escape, it remained relatively calm and said, “Little Meier, when I left Qingxuan, you were not even born yet! Why do you not respect me?”
Chen Jianmei laughed coldly, “You were the betrayer of Qingxuan. Nobody from Qingxuan will have any respect for you.”
The blood ray sighed, “Oh really? Caiwei and Sanwen should still be missing me. If I did not go to the far north to collect the elixir for Hong Qianya, I doubt he could even Huandan.
Without my help, Geyuan could just be a skeleton in the graveyard. I had done some people wrong in Qingxuan, but there are plenty many who had done me wrong too.”
Chen Jianmei said, “Well you can tell this to them yourself. If you’re talking about Apprentice-Brother Sanwen, it will be a bit more difficult as he is now in the Nine Underworlds.”
“Even Sanwen managed. He is a bit too stubborn to be a good material for cultivation. It should be about time for him to Zhuohua.”
“Don’t worry about it, even if I don’t manage to destroy this part of your Primordial Spirit, you can hardly escape from Master Ziling.”
The blood ray started to change shape and it turned into a human. He looked just like the middle-aged scholar, dressed in blood-colored clothes. He looked like Asura.
He was covered with a thin film of blood light, which was forcing the Qi of sword to retreat.
He still looked calm and steady and as his glance peered through the swords of Qi at the two, he said, “Since Biyun, finally another who has reached the stage of Huandan in Taixu Strategy. For the Shapeless Sword Formula, while there were others who had reached a similar level as you, there will not be more in the future. If you can reach Powang, who else can be your opponent?”
The Master-Uncle to them both, Yan Xu spoke as if he was not trapped.
Shen Lian was surprised to note that it was just a part of the Primordial Spirit as only Dixian could have Primordial Spirit. This meant that only those who had reached the stage of Powang could have Primordial Spirit.
With that in mind, it would be difficult for Chen Jianmei to tackle him. He managed to even deceive Shen Lian, even though he did not appear to be unreachable.
Chen Jianmei stared at Yan Xu coldly and spoke slowly, “Why do you bother with these advice? If you have successfully mastered the Free Form Incarnation, you won’t be chased by Master Ziling. Even though you took a shortcut to attain Primordial Spirit and divided them into thousands, you are not comparable to those who have reached longevity who can travel ten thousand miles with their mind or have the ability to Burn Mountains and boil oceans. Today if I manage to destroy a part of your Primordial Spirit, it is my contribution to the headmaster.”
Yan Xu laughed and looked at Shen Lian, “I know you are insecure. If you can help me today, I will give you the Free Form Incarnation. With this, nobody can kill you anymore.”
He looked calm, but what he said sounded ridiculous, but Shen Lian could not help but was swayed. He had always been insecure despite being indifferent. It was because he had transcended from another life, and he did not know the origin of the Mastery of Senses. His unknown father, and Su’s Being and Non-Being of Sword Aura both made him confuse and feel that he was not the master of his own fate.
As a result, he stood to always improve himself with a determined mind, but deep down it was driven by his insecurity.
He buried these thoughts deep in his mind and never expressed them. Even in Ruding, these thoughts would not surface, but Yan Xu could tell easily.
That was what was powerful about Free Form Incarnation. The ultimate form of it could allow one to travel through the three dimensions. One could not be destroyed even by Buddha. It was particularly good at detecting someone’s thoughts and made use of them. With just one thought, one could be trapped and could never escape.
Chen Jianmei did not say anything. He had a pure heart and even if everything in the world was destroyed, he would still head towards his goal. He did not carry any unnecessary thoughts, which was what made him excellent. He could be a great swordsman because of that too.
It was different for Shen Lian. He was talented and determined, but he did not have a straight mind.
Without that, one could achieve great heights, but never to the peak. It was a conclusion drawn by many who had lived before this. Even though Shen Lian had gone through Huandan, it did not mean that he would be able to go through the rest of the barriers.
Chen Jianmei did not rush his regime. From his point of view, Yan Xu was particularly good at spotting people’s weaknesses. Under his monitoring, it was better for Shen Lian to know his weakness now instead of later when he was alone.