Immortal Soaring Blade

The thing Zhao Jiuge had taken out of his storage ring was the Blue Spirit Pill. The Mo family had given him three Blue Spirit Pills. He had used one to break through to the Spirit Transformation Realm. Then, during the battle against the Ten Thousand Corpse Elder, Su Su was injured, so he had given one to her to help her recover. This left him with one pill, and he had been saving it to use it to reach the Foundation Realm. Now that he had reached the Foundation Realm with the help of the sword art instead, he still had the Blue Spirit Pill. Now that he was injured, it was the perfect time to use it. Once his strength improved even more, the Blue Spirit Pill would be wasted.

Each cultivation level had a corresponding pill for that realm. If the pill was too powerful, one would run the risk of exploding from not being able to contain the spirit force inside. If the pill was too weak, it wouldn’t help improve one’s strength.

After looking at the Blue Spirit Pill, in his hand Zhao Jiuge put it inside his mouth. He smelled the pleasant fragrance of the pill, but once it melted, what came was a bitter fragrance instead of the expected dried sweetness.

The Blue Spirit Pill melted in his mouth and flowed through his body. The spirit force inside it surged into his body and then a heatwave flowed through his meridians. Zhao Jiuge didn’t waste any time—he quickly absorbed the effect of the pill.

The Sanskrit Heart Sutra quickly activated as the Blue Spirit Pill flowed through his body. These were the most serious injuries he had suffered thus far, and some of his damaged meridians had even changed colors. His dantian would have been dried up if he hadn’t broken through to the Foundation Realm. Zhao Jiuge felt like there were ants crawling through his body—it was itchy and painful. Spirit force could only nourish his damaged meridians, not heal them. Zhao Jiuge felt a bit helpless. In this current situation, it would take him a few months to recover. That was time that could be spent earning sect contributions.

When the Blue Spirit Pill completely erupted inside his body, the vortex inside his dantian rotated even faster. A powerful suction pulled the spirit force from the pill into his dantain, along with spiritual energy from his surroundings. Feeling the spirit force inside him grow, Zhao Jiuge finally realized the qualitative difference between the Foundation Realm and the Spirit Transformation realm.

If the Spirit Transformation Realm was about accumulation, then the Foundation Realm was an endless well. Even if he wasn't cultivating, the vortex in his dantian would be absorbing much more spiritual energy from his surroundings. This really widened Zhao Jiuge’s horizons. Each realm had its advantages and brought about certain changes.

The Blue Spirit Pill was quickly used up, and some color returned to Zhao Jiuge’s pale face. He was no longer as miserable as before, but the injuries in his body could not be healed in just a day or two—they would need a few months of rest to recover. 

Time slowly passed, and Zhao Jiuge’s spirit force slowly recovered to its peak. Zhao Jiuge was happy to find that after using the Blue Spirit Pill, his spirit force had almost reached the point of the mid stage of the Foundation Realm. This made Zhao Jiuge feel that using the pill was worth it.

Zhao Jiuge looked at the laughing buddha in his dantian. It still had its eyes closed, and Zhao Jiuge still could not figure anything out. Then he looked at the two golden dragons that were extremely dim. They were no longer as lifelike as before. Zhao Jiuge secretly sighed. It looked like it would take a long time for them to recover. It seemed like this was one ace that he wouldn’t be able to use for a while on missions to earn sect contributions.

Finally, when the vortex inside his dantian slowed down, the spirit force in his body had reached its peak. Zhao Jiuge opened his eyes in excitement. He couldn’t wait to learn how to blade soar. Although he would need to reach the Spirit Core Realm to fly endlessly on his flying sword, he could still fly for a sword period of time at the Foundation Realm.

However, the excited Zhao Jiuge didn’t notice that after reaching the Foundation Realm, the Pi Xu jade token he had was absorbing his spirit force. When he finished, an imperceptible light flushed across the Pi Xu jade token.

Zhao Jiuge opened his eyes in excitement. He was going to shout for his senior sister to teach him how to blade soar. However, when he saw the scene before him, his slightly open mouth wasn’t able to make a sound.

Not far away, Fu Hongling was sitting on the grass in her red dress. Her silk-like hair was no longer tied, so it was dancing in the breeze. Her snow-white feet formed a  sharp contrast against the grass. She was looking into the distance in a daze.

This scene startled Zhao Jiuge, who had just awakened from his cultivation. Was this the same cold senior sister? At this moment, she was like a completely different person.

No one knew how long Zhao Jiuge had stared for or how long Fu Hongling was in a daze for. Perhaps because she felt Zhao Jiuge’s burning gaze, she turned her head slightly and saw a dumbfounded expression. Her beautiful brows subconsciously furrowed, but a moment later, her expression returned to normal.

After she came back to her senses, she noticed that Zhao Jiuge was still staring at her with that burning gaze, so she became a little angry. She stood up and walked next to Zhao Jiuge bare foot. She raised her tender hand and swung toward Zhao Jiuge without any hesitation. At the same time, she angrily said, “You’re so young, but instead of properly cultivating, you’re staring at people with that lecherous gaze. Let’s see if you dare to keep staring.” Over the years, she had never relaxed before outsiders. This was her own mountain, but she had forgotten that there was a youth here. Fortunately, he was just a child, but she couldn’t help but feel a bit angry from embarrassment.

His senior sister’s movement looked slow, but in the blink of an eye, she was standing before him, and he felt pain on his face. Zhao Jiuge felt like tears were going to be slapped out of him, but he didn’t dare to refute her. He endured the pain and even awkwardly smiled.

Seeing Fu Hongling’s helpless expression, Zhao Jiuge suppressed the excitement in his heart and said, “Senior Sister, my spirit force has recovered. Is it time to teach me how to blade soar?” Zhao Jiuge looked longingly at Fu Hongling.

When Fu Hongling looked at Zhao Jiuge’s expression, she found it infuriating and funny at the same time. “Here’s the deal. After I teach you how to blade soar, you must quickly go to a spirit vein to refine your body and spirit force. There are less than two years left until the inner sect selection. You have to cultivate well.”

When Zhao Jiuge heard that he could finally blade soar on his own, he didn’t care about anything else. He nodded like a little chick pecking at rice. After seeing Zhao Jiuge agree, Fu Hongling didn’t speak, but her fiery-red sword suddenly floated before them. Although the sword didn’t release any spirit force fluctuations, Zhao Jiuge could feel that it was extraordinary. Even with it just floating there, the space around it seemed to distort due to how sharp it was.

“There is nothing difficult about blade soaring. In fact, it's just like how you controlled the flying sword to attack the Three-Tailed Yin Cat. You need to use your mind to control the sword. The difference is that one only needs spirit force for a short period of time, while the other requires the constant use of spirit force. The reason why Foundation Realm Cultivators can only blade soar for a short period of time is because they can’t recover enough spirit force to keep up with the consumption. Once you reach the Spirit Core Realm, the quality of your spirit force will undergo a drastic change. At that point, even if you blade soar for a long time, the consumption will only be a fraction of your recovery,” Fu Hongline slowly explained. When she saw that Zhao Jiuge was still confused, she gave up on explaining more. Instead, she said, “Take out your sword first.”

Zhao Jiuge obediently listened to Fu Hongling, but when he took out his Blue Plum Sword, he felt his face become hot. They were both flying swords, but the gap was so wide. Zhao Jiuge had just finished his first mission, but his desire for more sect contributions intensified. That was the only way for him to obtain the flying sword he wanted!

Fu Honglin instructed, “Very good. Since you can control the sword to float in the air, do the same but step onto the sword. Maintain your center of gravity—you might find it a bit unstable at first. As your strength increases, you will reach a point where you can control it at will. Now lower your sword and step on it to try for yourself.”

Zhao Jiuge followed Fu Hongling’s instructions. His flying sword circled around and then unsteadily floated ⅓ of a meter above the ground before him. Zhao Jiuge’s right foot stepped onto the sword, and after getting his balance, his other foot stepped on as well. He was now standing on his flying sword, but his whole body was trembling. Feeling very anxious, he tried to control the flying sword to take off. However, the sword just flew off on its own and Zhao Jiuge fell to the ground. Fortunately, he was not high off the ground.

Seeing Zhao Jiuge fall to the ground, Fu Hongling covered her mouth and smiled. “Idiot, after you step onto the sword, you need to wrap your body in spirit force. Bind your body to the flying sword. Don’t be anxious and don’t panic, do it slowly. 

Although Zhao Jiuge had fallen on his butt, he had a big smile on his face. His childish heart was on full display. It was as if he had found a beloved toy, and he was not discouraged at all as he tried again.

This time, after stepping onto the Blue Plum Sword, he surrounded his body and the sword with his spirit force. Then he controlled the flying sword to slowly fly around. The sword was still shaking, but it was much better than before. Zhao Jiuge was nervous, but even more, he was filled with excitement.

Zhao Jiuge felt that just flying like this wasn’t enough, so he controlled the Blue Plum Sword to fly even faster. As the sword sped up and he flew even higher, Zhao Jiuge felt the wind blow against his cheeks. Because he was going too fast, he could only rely on his feeling to control the sword.

At this moment, Zhao Jiuge’s mood was indescribable. The joy of flying by himself for the first time was clearly shown on his handsome face. He stopped being nervous and slowly opened his arms to embrace the wind.

At this moment, Zhao Jiuge felt endless pride and experienced the benefit of strength. This strengthened his desire for strength.

At this moment, the wind is dancing while I accompany it.

Zhao Jiuge flew freely around Lotus Peak, enjoying himself. Below, the gentle woman in red faintly smiled while she watched the youth.