1555 Like Teacher, Like Friend, Like Soulmate

Zhang Ruochen was sure that he'd heard his sword soul instead of his sword intent or sword spirit.

Ling Feiyu's slender frame floated up like a feather. She landed on Cloud River without even the slightest ripple.

Clang!

Following a metallic chime, a saint sword appeared in her snow-white hands.

The glint was like frost.

Now, Zhang Ruochen finally realized that Ling Feiyu's sword was the Heaven-Burier Sword, one of the six swords that locked Pluto and was stolen by Blood Emperor Qingtian.

Blood Emperor Qingtian had already been killed by Chi Yao. The Immortal Vampires of Kunlun's Field were practically all wiped out.

The present Kunlun's Field was a unified world. Humans were the kings and everyone else submitted to them. Thousands of races respected only the Empress. It was normal that the Heaven-Burier sword was back in Ling Feiyu's hands.

She raised the sword and started dancing on the water.

The woman, sword, and water seemed to transform into a beautiful painting. She was extraordinary and every action had been practiced thousands of times.

She explained to Zhang Ruochen while moving.

"Average swordsmen cultivate the techniques.

"A beginner swordsman cultivates the Sword Qi.

"A true swordsman cultivates sword intent."

Ling Feiyu's moves started off rough like a beginner martial artist. Gradually, her moves grew more and more precise. Sharp sword Qi also spread out. It was like a swordsman who kept improving.

"Cultivating Sword One is crossing over the first doorway.

"Cultivating Sword Seven is officially entering the chamber. You will strike without regret and become a Sword Saint. When you strike, sword intent can become tangible and kill people thousands of miles away.

"Cultivating Sword Eight, you'll be able to produce the Sword Way Xuangang. You will be unbreakable and able to strike down mountains and stars.

"Cultivating Sword Nine, you'll be able to create the soul of your sword intent, known as the sword soul."

Hearing this, Zhang Ruochen's eyes became extremely bright. He uttered, "Sword soul… Can the sword intent really have a soul?"

Whoosh!

Ling Feiyu's beautiful figure gradually faded from the water and disappeared. Only the Sky-Burier Sword remained hovering above the water, shining brightly.

It was as if everything had only been a dream.

Now, Zhang Ruochen realized that Ling Feiyu had been by his side the whole time. She'd never left.

"Come back," she called.

The Sky-Burier Sword flew back and disappeared into her body.

"Who was the person using the sword?" Zhang Ruochen asked.

"That was my sword soul," Ling Feiyu said. "The soul of my sword intent."

Zhang Ruochen was extremely jealous. "How strong is the sword soul?"

"The sword soul is ten times stronger than the Sword Way Xuangang. More frightening, it can directly attack the enemy's saint soul. With my cultivation, I can only fight with a weaker fourth step Saint King with only my strength. But if I use the sword soul, I can easily kill the saint souls of some fifth or sixth step Saint Kings. That would heavily injure them and may even kill them. Of course, I may also die in their hands. After all, the difference in realm is too much!"

"What level are you in now?" Zhang Ruochen asked.

"Second or third step Saint King," Ling Feiyu said. "I didn't try on the Nine Steps to the Sky Path, so I don't know which exact level."

Zhang Ruochen gasped. She had a low cultivation, but she could kill a sixth step Saint King. She was indeed someone who'd completed Sword Nine.

Saint Kings studied the Rules of Saintly Way. Each step had a big difference. It was already a feat to cross over a level to fight. Those who could do that were top geniuses of each world.

According to Zhang Ruochen's calculations, even he would only be able to cross two levels in the Saint King Realm. Crossing three steps would be impossible unless he had major breakthroughs in the ways of time and space.

Zhang Ruochen chuckled. "Your talent in the Sword Way is comparable to Xue Hongchen, the Sword Emperor. How about we crown you as Sword Empress?"

Ling Feiyu rolled her eyes. "Your talent in the Sword Way isn't lower than mine, but you spend far less time on it. You should know that I've already cultivated for 300 years and… I also cultivated seven lives in the Seven Lives and Seven Deaths Map. I've experienced all the flavors of life. This is something that others don't have. At that time, my cultivation was far more advanced than yours, so I benefited more as well."

The higher your cultivation was, the more you could benefit from the Seven Lives and Seven Deaths Map.

One had to admit that Ling Feiyu and Zhang Ruochen had a very strange relationship. She was both teacher and friend, and also soulmate.

Zhang Ruochen remained sitting on the ground, playing with the Merits Godly Stamp. Nodding, he said, "You're right. My biggest disadvantage is that I haven't cultivated for a long time. Thankfully, I had the understandings from the sixth life of the Seven Lives and Seven Deaths Map, so I'm not behind. How about I look at the memories and understandings of the seventh life so I'm stronger?"

Hearing this, an unnatural expression appeared on Ling Feiyu's cold face, but she forced herself to stay calm. "As you wish!"

Her body shook and she disappeared from the lakeside.

Seeing her reaction, Zhang Ruochen knew that something extraordinary must have happened in the seventh life and was silent for a long time. In the end, he still didn't touch the memories of the seventh life. "Let's wait some more!" he said to himself.

He put away the Merits Godly Stamp and took out the white bone staff left behind by King Hun.

This staff was created from a complete human spine with connected vertebrae. At the top, there was a skull with strands of black hair flowing from it.

"What a heavy staff. It's probably a few thousand kilograms. It seems that it really was made out of a Supreme Saint's bones."

Zhang Ruochen carefully undid the saintly power sealing the staff. With a loud boom, it started shaking.

The skull screamed. Like rolling thunder, it hurt Zhang Ruochen's eardrums and he flew backward.

The staff broke free from his grasp and flew out, trying to escape.

In an instant, wind and thunder interwove in the sky above the lake. Demonic Qi gathered into black clouds.

"This powerful? It even escaped by itself?"

Zhang Ruochen landed on the ground. Relaxing his arms that had gotten numb from the reverberations, he used the Spatial Move to pursue it. He grasped the staff with both hands and activated Divine Fire Jingmie.

Sizzle, sizzle.

He dragged the staff back onto land and stabbed it into the ground, repressing it fully. He used Divine Fire Jingmie to start purifying it.

After spending an hour, he finally pushed down the evil Qi. Gradually, the staff calmed down.

He opened the Heavenly Eyes and studied hard. He discovered that the surface of the staff was carved with many strange patterns. The patterns on the skull were even more complex.

"King Hun once said that the skull contains a strand of a Supreme Saint's soul. These patterns must be used to seal it."

Zhang Ruochen activated his Holy Qi and inserted it into the staff.

Whoosh!

Densely-packed patterns emerged on the staff, shining with blinding light.

Zhang Ruochen lifted it slowly and struck out. It carried the origin power of a Supreme Saint with evil Sha Qi. It fell in the lake and lifted tall waves.

"The power that it unleashes is a bit weaker than the Buddha's sarira. This shouldn't be so…"

Suddenly, he got an idea. Instead of using Holy Qi, he split his Spiritual Power and inserted it into the skull.

The next moment…

Ghostly fire appeared in the eye sockets of the skull. Terrible black Qi poured out of the staff, converging into bones. Some transformed into hands while others into leg bones.

The white bone staff turned into a black skeleton.

"Haha, so you have to activate it with Spiritual Power."

Zhang Ruochen couldn't help but laugh. Then he made attacks with the black skeleton.

Soon, he measured that the black skeleton's combat abilities were comparable to a third step Saint King. Anyway, it was much stronger than Zhang Ruochen currently.

He pulled back the Spiritual Power and said to himself, "The skull portion contains fierce Sha Qi. It's clear that the human Supreme Saint's soul has become an evil spirit.

"Merely by manipulating the Sha Qi, the staff can unleash a third step Saint King's power.

"Then what if I activate the evil spirit directly?"

A Supreme Saint's power was boundless. Even the power from a bit of the saint soul was unimaginable to a Saint or average Saint King.

Activating the evil spirit directly, the bone staff's power would definitely be stronger than now.

The thing was, Zhang Ruochen couldn't activate the evil spirit at all with his current Spiritual Power.

If he did so forcefully, his Spiritual Power might get swallowed by the evil spirit.

He touched his chin and thought about the solution. "What if…"

He took out the Buddha's sarira. Squeezing it, he looked at the skull's forehead and murmured, "A human cultivator puts the Martial Deity Print in the forehead. If I embed the sarira into the skull's forehead, I should be able to suppress the evil spirit. Plus, with the sarira continuously feeding Supreme Saint power, the staff might even become stronger."

It was a good idea, but the patterns on the skull were too abstruse. The average cultivator couldn't make the Buddha's sarira and bone staff fit together perfectly, especially having the patterns weave together.

"Senior Ling Xiu is a Spiritual Power Supreme Saint. Perhaps he has a solution."

He put away the bone staff for now, no longer thinking about it. Then he took out the rules emperor weapon. Sitting cross-legged on the lakeside, he started studying the rules of the Palm Way.

Two days later, Ling Xiu's voice traveled into Zhang Ruochen's ears. "Come see me in the Demon Pavilion."

Zhang Ruochen's eyes flew open. Standing up, he dusted himself off and climbed up the steps. He went toward the pavilion in the shadows up top.

As soon as he reached the outside, he saw Ling Feiyu.

Clearly, Ling Xiu had also summoned her.

When Ling Feiyu saw Zhang Ruochen looking at her, her heart jumped and she actually avoided his eyes. Her snow-white cheeks also reddened slightly.

This made Zhang Ruochen blanch. Sword Saint Feiyu was usually so domineering, but she could actually be so shy?

Soon, Zhang Ruochen realized why. Could it be that she thinks I really did look at the memories of the seventh life? he thought.