Chapter 17: Chapter 17 Junior Sister Xu Wants to Take a Bath
Editor: Henyee Translations
The Kunlun Mountain Range is located to the west of Divine Land, stretching from Xining County in Yongzhou to the east, connecting with the desert Gobi of the Extreme West, spanning nearly four thousand miles.
If the people of Divine Land wish to go to Kunlun to seek a mentor, they must start from Guanzhong, traverse Longyou to Xining County.
Then they would take the Qiang central road into Shazhou, follow the northern foothills of the Kunlun Mountain Range past the towns of Ruoqiang, Qiemo, and Yutian, and finally arrive at Shule Town to rest for several days.
After that, head south into the Kunlun Mountain Range, reaching the Kunlun Heavenly Pillar.
However, for Kunlun Disciples venturing out, it was not necessary to go through such trouble.
They simply needed to fly on their swords from the Heaven Pillar, head east along the trajectory of the Kunlun Mountain Range, pass through the three regions of Cengcheng, Xuanpu, and Fantong in succession, and soon after leaving the Kunlun Mountain Range, they would arrive at Xining County.
Subsequently, by turning southeast, crossing Longyou, they could reach Chang’an.
The whole journey, covering about six thousand miles, could be flown in merely one and a half hours.
Qiu Changtian and Xu Yinglian rose on their swords, traveling from west to east across the entire mountain range, arriving at the edge of Jade Void Peak in the eastern part of Fantong.
Jade Void Peak is the location of the Kunlun Taiqing Sect’s external service hall. Whether it’s the management of external properties or the distribution of experience tasks, all are centrally allocated here at Jade Void Peak.
Located at the foothills to the northeast of Jade Void Peak is “Chitai,” the largest market of Kunlun accessible to the outside world, which also features “Kunlun Spring.” It is said that bathing in it can beautify and rejuvenate, making it a sacred place where female disciples of the Taiqing Sect linger and forget to return.
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Xu Yinglian had been in the service hall of Jade Void Peak for a short while, and she was already feeling the urge to soak in the Kunlun Spring.
However, seeing that Qiu Changtian was still patiently browsing the mission jade plaques on the wall, she forced herself to suppress the impulse and continued to help him pick one.
“Cooperative exploration of the newly discovered Qishan Earth Vein relics?” Xu Yinglian suddenly said, her tone eager to try, “This one looks good, challenging.”
“We won’t take it,” Qiu Changtian answered succinctly.
“How about this one?” Xu Yinglian asked again, “Searching for the severely injured Demon Cult Cultivator who has fled from Mount Beimang to here?”
“Not taking that one either.”
“Why?” Xu Yinglian asked, puzzled.
“Because they’re both too troublesome,” Qiu Changtian said while he glanced toward the jade plaque that read “Eliminate rampaging Demonic Beasts.”
Hunting Demonic Beasts, a type of task with clear objectives and a short process, would quickly secure Spirit Stone compensation, which would be urgently needed for Ling Yunpo!
“Troublesome?” Xu Yinglian asked in wonder, “Aren’t we out here for experience? What’s there to fear about a little trouble?”
Qiu Changtian chuckled and said:
“Explore relics? Who knows how vast the relics are, how long it will take to explore?”
“As for searching for the severely injured Demon Cult Cultivator, who knows where that guy has gone? If it takes ten days or half a month to complete the task with no results, you might not even get the chance to soak in the Kunlun Spring!”
Xu Yinglian’s face turned red, thinking her thoughts had been seen through, and her voice unconsciously lowered:
“If necessary, I can skip soaking in the Kunlun Spring this time; there will always be opportunities in the future…”
“Who’s talking about you?” Qiu Changtian glanced at her, “I was talking about wanting to soak in the Kunlun Spring myself.”
Consequently, the face of the girl with the long straight black hair turned icy cold again, and her gaze began to grow terrifying.
“What do you think of this task?” Qiu Changtian pointed to another jade plaque, “Hunting Demonic Beasts, interested?”
“Let’s not,” Xu Yinglian replied with successive cold laughs, “Chasing Demonic Beasts through the dense forests where visibility is dark, I fear I might accidentally send my Flying Sword off course, stabbing my senior brother instead.”
“Junior Sister Xu, are your eyes not working properly?” Qiu Changtian asked in amazement, “Confusing a four-legged Demonic Beast with a Cultivator, that’s a first I’ve heard.”
“Although they are different in shape, both have a stench and are repulsive,” Xu Yinglian turned her gaze away, “Indeed, it’s indistinguishable with closed eyes.”
“So why does Junior Sister need to close her eyes while using the Sword Control Technique? Are you planning to murder your senior brother and seize the position of Chief Disciple?”
“If senior brother could be so easily killed by junior sister’s blade, wouldn’t that precisely prove that senior brother is unworthy of holding the position of Chief Disciple?”
“Uh, you just said ‘assassination,’ right?”
“Senior Brother misheard. What Junior Sister said was ‘accidental killing.’”
“There’s a difference between an accidental killing and an assassination. How could I possibly mishear that?”
“It seems like Senior Brother’s ears aren’t that great. How about I recite the ‘Ear-penetrating Listening Charm’ for Senior Brother? Otherwise, if you can’t even listen to Master’s teachings clearly, when you come back to relay them, our junior brothers and sisters will suffer.”
“Junior Sister, don’t change the subject!”
“Listen not with the ears, but with the heart; and not with the heart, but with the qi…”
“So, don’t recite it, alright!”
Seeing Qiu Changtian rendered speechless by her, Xu Yinglian couldn’t help but reveal a cold smile.
She had finally found a way to not be overwhelmed in front of her Senior Brother, which was to use cold and aggressive language for tit-for-tat counterattacks.
Even though this completely contradicted the teachings of the Xu Family of Southern Heaven and would likely cause the clan elders to faint in frustration if they heard her speaking so harshly.
But she would prefer that to being verbally broken down by Qiu Changtian, which was another kind of unbearable failure.
Qiu Changtian caught a glimpse of her smile from the corner of his eye and couldn’t help but sigh inwardly.
“Let’s just take this mission to hunt demonic beasts.” He pointed at the board and said.
“Since Senior Brother won’t heed the warning, don’t blame me if something goes wrong,” Xu Yinglian deliberately scared him.
“Junior Sister can rest assured,” Qiu Changtian smiled and pointed to the Tai Yi Dividing Light Sword he was carrying on his back.
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Speaking of the Tai Yi Dividing Light Sword, it’s worth mentioning that the system of Flying Swords was different around the time when the ancient Chun and Jie sects perished.
Firstly, for the ancient Chun and Jie sects, there was no such thing as swords of various ranks, all Flying Swords were of Immortal Sword caliber.
However, after the perishing of these sects, Artifact Refiners lost the method of forging perfect Immortal Swords, and thus they could only forge lower-grade Flying Swords for use by cultivators below the level of immortals.
This led to the classification system of grades one through ten, known as the “Heavenly Stem Sword Casting Method”. And the dream of all Artifact Refiners was to recover the method of forging Tenth Rank Immortal Swords.
Secondly, to compensate for the lower combat power of low-rank Flying Swords, research into the seals of Daoist magic on Flying Swords had to be strengthened.
For instance, a Ninth Rank Flying Sword would have to have nine different strengths of Daoist magic sealed within it. With each increase in the user’s realm, a layer of the sword’s Daoist magic would be unsealed, thus perfectly matching the user’s power and realm.
For example, Qiu Changtian’s Jade Smoke Sword, since he is currently at the Qi Refining Rank, can only unseal the first layer of Daoist magic on it, called “Dragon Qi Spirals the Sea of Clouds”.
With a mere hand gesture for the sword technique, hastily chanting or mentally reciting “Silk Cloud Rains, Jade Rainbow Produces Smoke” would activate the Daoist magic on the sword, creating numerous Light Swords to attack and bind the enemy.
However, the Tai Yi Dividing Light Sword, being a formidable Immortal Sword existing since ancient times, naturally does not conform to the ten-grade Heavenly Stem Sword Casting Method.
It has only three Forbidden Techniques (powerful ancient Daoist magic) on it, two of which were sealed by the Ziwei Master, leaving only one, called “Connecting Mountains to Ocean’s Edge.”
Once activated, it can conjure endless mountains and seas to trap and suppress enemies, a nearly omnipotent life-saving and offensive method.
After listening to Qiu Changtian’s explanation, Xu Yinglian no longer continued to provoke him.
Despite her competitive nature, she was not so arrogant as to underestimate the power of an Immortal Sword Forbidden Technique.
Since her Senior Brother had the Tai Yi Dividing Light Sword for protection, regardless of how divine the demonic beast they were to hunt was, it could not possibly threaten their safety.
Thinking this, she grew eager to try her hand, wishing she could immediately find the whereabouts of the beast and slay it before her Senior Brother.
“When do we depart?” Xu Yinglian urged.
“Don’t rush, to find the whereabouts of that beast, we first have to contact other disciples who took on this mission,” Qiu Changtian said leisurely.
“Before that, why don’t you go take a soak in the Kunlun Spring? How does that sound?”