Chapter 73 - The Wooden Sword’s Wondrous Ability... Ling Xia's Strange Perception

After Xi Shen shooed Tai off the table, he then said, “For a Celestial Treasure to be under the academy, then it must have something to do with the Grand Formation surrounding the entire Celestial Academy. If it isn’t, then I don’t why such a rare and precious item would be under our feet.”

Yang Su had already stood up and poured Xi Shen a cup of tea. Finishing his fiery plum fruit, Xi Shen took a sip from the cup. After, he look towards Yang Su and said, “Are you fine from yesterday’s incident?”

Yang Su nodded his head with a solemn look on his face, as he said, “Thanks to elder brother Shen’s Spirit Weapon Artifact, I was able to defend myself properly and only received minor injuries during their ambush.”

After saying that, Yang Su sported a curious expression and asked, “Elder brother Shen, the Spirit Artifact in the form of a wooden sword you gifted to me, what level of Spirit Artifact is it.”

Yang Su was curious about this particular matter because when he was channeling his Spiritual Qi inside of it while battling those masked black-robed men, he felt that he was only using a small portion of its true power. And from what he saw during the Freshmen Disciple Competition when Xi Shen had manipulated it to attack that unreasonable senior brother Ling Tian, there might be a significant amount of power he was unable to wield. So he was curious about its grade since he hadn’t seen too many Spirit Weapon Artifacts to determine it for himself.

When Xi Shen heard Yang Su ask that, he chose not to only answer his question but turn this into a teaching moment by explaining the different levels of a Spirit Weapon Artifact.

“You’ve entered the Techniques the day I left the Academy, right? So you would have read about the levels of a Spirit Artifact and the different types they are. A Low-grade Spirit Weapon Artifact is used by mostly Sea Expansion Realm cultivators, as for Mid-grade Spirit Weapon Artifacts can be used by Sea Expansion Realm cultivators but they prefer to stick to Low-grade Spirit Weapon Artifacts as it was easier to control. After that is High-grade and Top-grade Spirit Weapon Artifacts. These are used by persons in the Foundation Realm, all the way up to Soul Transformation Realm. But the Top-grade Spirit Weapons Artifacts are mostly exclusive to Soul Transformation Realm Cultivators. As for the Spirit Weapon Artifacts used by higher realm cultivators, I suppose those are Quasi-Celestial Treasures and Celestial Treasures.”

Xi Shen took a sip from his cup of tea and allowed Yang Su to digest the information he was given before he continued. Yang Su had read about the different levels of a Spirit Weapon Artifact, but those books didn’t go into too much detail about which weapon level cultivators of their level would use.

After a moment, Xi Shen began speaking again, “Each level of a Spirit Weapon Artifact is determined by the power the wielder can unleash. You asked what the grade of the wooden sword was, but you should know it’s different from ordinary Spirit Weapon Artifacts, in that I created it using a different method.”

When Yang Su heard that Xi Shen himself was the one who created it, he was taken aback. But he had no time to think about it as Xi Shen continue to speak.

“I created that wooden sword from the Elemental Laws of Wood and Metal. Despite its appearance looking like wooden, it’s more durable than diamond or gold by several times. As for its power level… I’m not too sure myself since I hadn’t created it with a specific level in mind. However, because of that, I think it has gained the ability to grow with the user somewhat. So I guess you could say its power is limitless.”

This answer from Xi Shen caused Yang Su to sink into deep thought.

After a while, he looked up at Xi Shen and asked, “Elder brother Shen, is it possible that it can also reflect, or rather replicate, the power of the person wielding it?”

With a thoughtful look on his face, Xi Shen answered with, “Hmm, you could say that. You must have felt that you couldn’t draw out its full power, but that’s how it felt for me as well when I used it. That feeling is just you sensing the potential it has to become stronger if you yourself become stronger. So as long as you wield that wooden sword, you’ll always have that feeling.”

Something click in Yang Su's head as he heard that. The conclusion he came to was that the wooden sword was a Spirit Weapon Artifact without a specific level, and it was because of that when it was not in use, it seem like any ordinary wooden sword. But when it was being wielded by someone, it has the ability to emit power similar to that person’s cultivation. Meaning, fighting someone with this wooden sword’s ability activated was like fighting two people of the same cultivation realm.

Yang Su couldn’t help but have shock flood his heart. He couldn’t believe his elder brother was able to create something like this.

Seeing Yang Su’s surprise, Xi Shen shook his head and said, “Don’t be so shocked. Even though it has that type of ability, it still has its drawbacks in that when its ability is activated its Qi consumption skyrockets to the point it could drain someone in the Nascent Soul Realm in a few minutes. I place several Qi Gathering runes on it so it could aid the user in wielding it by gathering Qi in the surroundings, which was how I was able to control it from a distance, but due to its special nature the runes won't last forever and would degrade with each usage.”

Hearing this fact from Xi Shen, Yang Su waved his hand and the wooden sword appeared in his palms.

He then sent his Spiritual Qi inside the sword and the golden runes on it appeared, which then immediately started absorbing the Spiritual Qi in its surroundings. Though it was barely unnoticeable, which was a sign that the runes were perfectly crafted. But as they appear Yang Su saw what Xi Shen was talking about. A few runes were already beginning to erode from its edges, as well as several fissures covering their surface.

“Using its ability to replicate your cultivation base, for you, can only be done with those runes since your current cultivation is too low. As long as you used the runes sparingly it will last for a while. However, I suggest you study a few rune inscriptions so when those runes on the wooden sword completely wore off, you could replace them without my help. The Techniques Library should have some basic rune scriptures, so you could start from there and build up experience crafting runes. For now, you can use it like any ordinary Spirit Weapon Artifact without activating its ability.”

Yang Su placed the wooden sword back into his storage ring before cupping his fist and thanked Xi Shen.

Xi Shen waved his hand dismissively before he looked at Yang Su said, “It's just a result of experimentation and isn't really perfect, so you don't need to be so grateful."

"How is your cultivation coming along? Are you still in the Fourth Phase of the Meridian Opening Realm?”

Yang Su nodded in confirmation, and then said, “I’ve opened 61 meridians so far, but after opening 60 there are fewer and less easy meridians to open. The ones that remain are all intertwined with each other, and around my internal organs. So to be extra careful, I decided to slow down as I open each meridian.”

Xi Shen nodded before sipping his tea and then asked again, “I’m guessing that you’ve already opened your eight extraordinary meridians? Those are the most important ones since they carry the most Qi throughout your body. As…”

Xi Shen was about to continue speaking, but he got a bit annoyed at the unannounced visitor that was sneaking around.

Sighing to himself, Xi Shen turned to the entrance leading towards the main gate and said reassuringly, “Senior sister Xia, there’s no need to be so sneaky in someone else’s home. You're a welcome guest.”

Ling Xia, who was casually leaning on the opposite wall, almost slipped from the wall from surprise. She was planning on showing herself but when she overheard the conversation between Xi Shen and Yang Su talking about his current cultivation level, she opted to conceal her presence and listen.

She had been cautious of Yang Su sensing her, but she hadn’t expected Xi Shen, who was said to be unable to cultivate, to be the one to discover her instead. So of course she would be shocked.

Coming out from behind the wall, Ling Xia approached the two seating by the table and her gaze landed on Xi Shen, as a confused expression played on her face about how he had sensed her, but immediately her expression changed dramatically when she saw Xi Shen.

Both Little Snow and Tai had already disappeared into the void during Xi Shen and Yang Su's conversation.

With narrowed eyes, Ling Xia suddenly said, “Second prince, your aura is extremely different from yesterday.”

Hearing that, Xi Shen looked at her with confusion before he asked, “Huh? Come again?”

“You feel… more dangerous than before.”

Xi Shen’s confused expression became strange when he heard that.

‘Is this girl a Spirit Beast or something? What does she mean I feel more dangerous? Is this like her way of sensing how strong someone is? If that’s the case then it must be because of me entering the Meridian Opening Realm. But she shouldn’t have been able to sense my cultivation. Perhaps this sensing ability of hers is like a sixth sense, or rather like a Spirit Beast sixth sense. That’s the only conclusion I can come to judging from how she phrased her words. And does she just go about her daily life determining how dangerous everyone she encounters is to her? Isn't that something totally strange to do?’

This involved Xi Shen's cultivation, which he was unwilling to reveal to anyone, so he decided to completely change the topic and asked, “Senior sister Xia, what brings you here once again to our courtyard?”

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Word Count: 1708