Although "Blade Mountain" and "Sword Forest" are collectively referred to as one place, in reality, they are separated by eighty thousand zhang. If they were too close, the two sides would likely come to blows.
Nie Yinzhi naturally leaned closer, wrapping her arms around Gu Jiang's neck. "Let's go."
The rabbit also naturally hopped over, clinging to Gu Jiang's leg. Feng Hanying's soul was trapped in this rabbit, and his demonic energy was suppressed. Apart from the fact that his flesh was somewhat valuable, he was essentially a useless rabbit. Over the past period, in order to keep up with their pace, the muscles in the rabbit's hind legs had become increasingly solid from all the hopping.
If left to his own devices, he wouldn't be able to fly. Each day, Feng Hanying endured his frustration, and over time, he got used to it.
Gu Jiang looked at the human and rabbit hanging off him and couldn't help but rub his forehead. He kicked Feng Hanying away with one foot, then glanced at Nie Yinzhi and lifted her off the ground, her waist in his grasp.
The fat rabbit rolled on the ground, watching the distant figures in the sky with futile leaps and bounds. "Master!"
Gu Jiang didn't spare him a single glance.
Nie Yinzhi rested her head on Gu Jiang's shoulder and waved at him. "Little Yingzi, you can play with Redleaf here for a while. We'll come back to pick you up after we're done."
Feng Hanying: "..." What the hell is there to play with a sword? By the time he hops to Blade Mountain and finds Redleaf, it might be years from now.
Feng Hanying roared, "Auntie, can you take some responsibility for me?!"
The figures in the air paused, nearly falling. Nie Yinzhi quickly hugged Gu Jiang's shoulder tightly, patting it soothingly with her hand. She didn't blush or breathe heavily as she shamelessly said, "He insisted on calling me that. It's just a title; I don't mind. He's just a child, don't take it to heart."
Gu Jiang chuckled. "Do you know how old he is? You're not even a fraction of his age."
Feng Hanying must be several hundred years old.
Nie Yinzhi pouted unhappily. "So, you think I'm taking advantage of your disciple?"
Gu Jiang: "???" He looked at her with a mix of admiration and disbelief, finally unable to hold back and pinched her cheek. "You always have an excuse for everything."
"Ow," Nie Yinzhi winced, her brows furrowing in pain.
Gu Jiang immediately let go, his fingers gently brushing over the red mark he had left on her face. So she was this sensitive to pain.
[*That's all your fault for spoiling her, you indulgent jerk!*]
[*Seriously, Yinzhi is only seventeen, right? Old Demon must be at least two thousand years old. I get it now—my partner is waiting for me two thousand years into the future.*]
[*First, you have to live to be two thousand years old.*]
[*I'm dying laughing. What kind of irresponsible parents abandon their child like this? Feng Hanying is so pitiful. The once-formidable villain is reduced to this? Just this??*]
[*Redleaf Sword is like a dog whose owner let go of the leash. Poor thing, how did it end up with Demon like this?*]
[*I can't get the image of Feng Rabbit out of my head. Even if CEO Feng comes out of the demonic lair and wreaks havoc, I'll never shake this stereotype.*]
[*What CEO Feng? Call him Little Yingzi.*]
[*Little Yingzi, have some self-awareness. Gu Jiang's transportation service isn't something you can just hitch a ride on. You really have no sense of propriety.*]
[*No wonder Gu Jiang is in a hurry to find a sword for Nie Yinzhi. Now you're riding me; later, I'll be riding you.*]
[*???! What kind of wild talk is this? Sister, since you're so good at this, keep going!*]
These comments followed them as they flew, like a long trail of tails. Nie Yinzhi read them all the way, laughing so hard she couldn't stop, her body shaking in Gu Jiang's arms.
Gu Jiang was tired of it and raised his hand.
Nie Yinzhi quickly grabbed his hand. "Don't call Redleaf. Let it play for a while. I won't move around or laugh anymore."
Seeing through his intention, Gu Jiang retracted his hand. "What's so funny?"
Nie Yinzhi glanced at the undismissed comments and mumbled, "Because I'm happy."
Gu Jiang was convinced by her. After all, Nie Yinzhi often laughed like this, easily satisfied.
The two landed on a cliffside near the Sword Forest. The forest was in a valley, with spiritual swords sticking out from the valley to the cliff walls. The valley was filled with thorny vines, their black thorns like snakes coiling around the sword blades, serving as natural sheaths.
"I can't go in; you'll have to go alone," Gu Jiang said. He had Redleaf Sword and wouldn't be welcomed by these swords. Entering would only cause trouble for Nie Yinzhi.
Nie Yinzhi nodded. Just as she was about to jump into the valley, she paused and turned back. She found a suitable spot on the cliff and took out a soft couch from her spatial storage, complete with pillows and a small table. She also brought out a box of chilled fruits and several plates of snacks.
"I'm going now," Nie Yinzhi said with a smile, her skirt fluttering as she leaped into the valley.
Gu Jiang instinctively took a step forward, watching the pale yellow figure swallowed by the sword qi above the valley. Her smiling face lingered in his mind.
He smiled faintly, lying down on the couch Nie Yinzhi had prepared for him, picking up a fruit and popping it into his mouth.
It was a bit too sweet.
The sword qi in the valley gently accepted the intruder. Once inside, it became clear that the living conditions for the swords were quite spacious, unlike how it appeared from the outside.
The swords had their own independent domains, and the sword qi between neighboring swords intertwined and clashed, revealing the state of their neighborly relationships.
Gu Jiang quickly darted inward, his demonic energy crushing the incoming sword lights along the way. When he reached Nie Yinzhi, he crouched down and half-embraced her, lifting her chin, "Nie Yinzhi, what foolish thing are you doing?"
Nie Yinzhi had already extracted three strands of sword energy from her Golden Core, feeling completely drained and weak, still unable to recover.
Seeing the spreading demonic energy and the constant sword lights striking at him, she weakly pushed against Gu Jiang, "Go away, I'm fine."
"Extracting sword energy like this will only shatter your Golden Core." Gu Jiang sat down and pulled her onto his lap, speaking softly, "That sword suits you well. Go coax it again - even the most stubborn woman fears a persistent suitor."
Nie Yinzhi leaned weakly against his shoulder, saying dejectedly, "It despises me for having other sword energy in my meridians. I'll extract it all, then go find it again."
"Don't talk nonsense. The sword energy has merged with your cultivation - extracting all the sword energy is no different from depleting all your cultivation. You must first bond with your destined sword, then replace the old with the new. It's like changing water in a fish pond - if you drain all the water first, how will your little fish survive?"
Gu Jiang tucked her loose hair behind her ear with his finger, "If it still refuses, I'll help you force a bond with it."
"Alright." Nie Yinzhi rested in his arms for a moment longer until she recovered some strength, then pushed him away, "You should leave quickly."
Gu Jiang set her down and his figure vanished from the central platform. His presence here was causing the sword energy to become unstable, which would hinder her bonding.
After quite a while, the valley's sword energy finally returned to calm. Nie Yinzhi released her spiritual consciousness, once again reaching out toward that sword, trying to summon it.
The silver-white gleaming sword was stuck in the shattered thorny bushes, its sword light charging about recklessly, clearly in a temper, forcing all surrounding swords to keep their distance.
Feeling the familiar consciousness calling, the sword light hesitated slightly, showing only a symbolic moment of restraint before the long sword pulled itself free and flew toward the central platform.
Second time's the charm - failing once but meeting again showed that both parties had strong intentions.
Although the spiritual sword despised the other sword energy in her meridians, their compatibility was undeniable. It could only clean house and make do.
The swan sword spirit condensed into a fingertip-sized pure white flame, seeping into her brow and settling steadily in her spiritual platform. In an instant, warm sword energy flowed through her four limbs and hundred meridians, merging into her Golden Core.
Nie Yinzhi sat cross-legged in meditation as sword energy emerged from the flame in her spiritual platform, circulating through her meridians and into her Golden Core in an endless cycle, forcing out the Ruyi Sword's energy.
In the Cloud Scripture Sect, Xiao Ling had returned to her Bright Sky Peak, though this time she was confined in a palace hall, temporarily without freedom.
When the Ruyi Sword began trembling continuously, she was drawing on rice paper. Xiao Ling's spiritual consciousness had recovered, and she could extend it just enough to cover this small range. A bird's perspective was always different from a human's.
Hearing the Ruyi Sword's humming, she curiously put down her brush. The portrait on the rice paper was half-finished - the clothes, crown, face shape, mouth, and nose of a man were complete, but the eyes were notably missing.
The eyes are where the spirit resides - without them, it was impossible to tell who the person in the drawing was.
Xiao Ling had been troubled by these eyes for a long time.
She took down the Ruyi Sword and felt the fine vibrations on the blade. The Ruyi Sword's energy was severely chaotic.
"Ruyi, what's wrong?" Xiao Ling frowned, trying to channel her thin spiritual power into the sword body to soothe it. The sword light suddenly flared, nearly cutting its owner's hand. Xiao Ling instinctively let go, and the Ruyi Sword clattered to the ground.
That surge of sword light lasted only for a moment before dimming. The Ruyi Sword's blade seemed to be covered in dust, appearing much duller than usual. The soft silk wrapped around the sword handle had probably been cut by the sudden surge of sword light, silently falling to the ground.
Xiao Ling was stunned and was about to bend down to pick up the spiritual sword.
A female cultivator's voice came from outside the hall, "Xiao Ling, the Great Elder requests your presence."
Xiao Ling pressed her lips together and responded, "Yes." She then picked up the Ruyi Sword, wiped the blade with her sleeve to no effect, and had to place it on the sword rack before walking out.
The person who came was a disciple of Great Elder Yan Yi, with Nascent Soul realm cultivation. Using someone of her level to escort a person who had just recovered their spiritual foundation and only had Qi Condensation realm cultivation seemed like overkill.
Behind her was a young man at the Foundation Establishment realm.
Xiao Ling recognized him. In the past, when Bai Ying came to Bright Sky Peak to take her to the medical hall, this young man would occasionally come along, but he would leave after escorting Bai Ying to Bright Sky Peak.
They had never met in person - Xiao Ling had seen him through the little white bird's eyes.
Seven days ago, Elder Jing had gone into qi deviation and died by his own hand.
Aliali: 67219cfb3a4784313d7ca9d4
For some reason, Elder Yan felt there was something wrong with Elder Jing's treatment of her and had been investigating the matter, which was why Xiao Ling still hadn't regained her freedom.
The female cultivator's jade tablet flashed with light, opening a gap in the barrier to let Xiao Ling out, then led her to Cihong Palace.
This was a newly constructed palace hall, with carved pillars and railings - everything was brand new, right down to the floorboards beneath their feet.
Inside the hall, the three Supreme Elders were present, along with various hall elders of the Cloud Scripture Sect. Several of them were newly appointed, filling the positions of those elders who had fallen during the battle at Cihong Palace.
In the center of the great hall sat a large circular disk, containing a thin layer of gel-like liquid.
Yan Yi explained, "This is Mystic Clam Fluid. When you project your consciousness into it, the fluid will rise as mist and reveal the true memories stored in your mind palace. Unlike soul-searching techniques, this method causes no harm to the person."
It wasn't just Bai Ying from the Medical Hall - seven disciples had vanished without a trace, their souls impossible to summon back. The timing coincided with the Cloud Scripture Sect's most chaotic period, making it difficult to draw conclusions about whether these disappearances were connected to Jing Chongshan.
With Jing Chongshan's mind palace shattered, they couldn't extract any information from him. In the Medicinal Bath Hall where the treatment took place, some remnants of spirit herbs and medicines remained in the pool. They had taken samples from multiple locations in the medicinal pool but found nothing unusual.
Yan Yi had previously questioned Xiao Ling about the treatment process, but couldn't obtain any useful information from her account. The only option left was to directly read her mind palace.
Xiao Ling performed the ceremonial bow and, following instructions, calmly took her seat beside the clam fluid.