Immortal Soaring Blade

Zhao Jiuge pierced through the wind like a sword. He would occasionally let out cries while flying through the air. His robe fluttered in the wind, and at this moment, he had an otherworldly temperament.

Shortly after, the Blue Plum Sword that was circling the peak slowed down and began to shake left and right. Zhao Jiuge found that the spirit force he had recovered had been used up in a short period of time. No matter how fast the vortex in his dantian rotated, it wasn’t able to absorb enough spirit force to counteract the consumption. 

Zhao Jiuge suddenly panicked. He wanted to slow the flying sword down and descend. However, his spirit force could not keep up, so the sword swayed even more. Then Zhao Jiuge lost his balance and fell from the sky. He could hear the wind howl in his ears and he let out a cry.

He saw the grass rapidly get closer and his pupils shrank. When he was only a few meters from the ground, Zhao Jiuge felt something soft take hold of him, and a fragrance entered his new along with laughter in his ears.

Only after landing on the ground did he relax. He felt his whole body become powerful. This was from the lingering fear of almost crashing into the ground. He was simply out of his mind. Now that he was safely on the ground, he recalled how amazing it felt to blade soar.

“Still won’t let go? Do you want another beating?” Fu Hongling said, but she could not hide the laughter in her words.

At this moment, Zhao Jiuge noticed that he had his hands tightly wrapped around her. Due to his fear, he still hadn’t let go. After hearing Fu Hongling’s words, he quickly let go in fear or being hit again.

Seeing Zhao Jiuge’s state of shock, Fu Hongling bent over laughing. Zhao Jiuge’s funny reaction even caused her cold self to laugh.  Fu Hongling said, “So was blade soaring fun? I told you you weren’t strong enough yet, but you had to pretend like you could.”

“It was fun. I’ll wait until I form my spirit core, then I can blade soar as much as I want.” Although Zhao Jiuge had fallen off his flying sword, he was still filled with excitement. This was his longing to blade soar.

Seeing Zhao Jiuge’s stubborn expression, Fu Hongling angrily said, “Hmph, I should’ve let you fall more to suffer a bit. You want to blade soar when you can’t even properly control your sword.” 

Zhao Jiuge lowered his head and felt depressed. His eyes were no longer as excited as before as he whispered. “Alas, I don’t have a good flying sword. All the sword embryos and materials in the Treasure Pavilion cost too much sect contributions.”

After Zhao Jiuge said those words, he raised his head and recovered his self-confidence. Then he clenched his fists and said, “But I’ll slowly earn sect contributions bit by bit to forge my own flying sword. Then I will be able to fly on it as much as I want.”

Seeing Zhao Jiuge’s expression, Fu Hongling hesitated, but when she saw those pure eyes, she gave up the idea of giving him some materials. She was afraid of ruining a seedling. Perhaps to her, these materials meant nothing, but it would make Zhao Jiuge lose his fighting spirit. This was the main difference between their Mysterious Heaven Sword Sect and other sects. At this moment, Fu Hongling understood why her discerning masters ignored so many people with more battle talent than Zhao Jiuge. It was because Zhao Jiuge had the spirit to persevere. He was not afraid of being weak or lacking treasures. He was only afraid of lacking time. With time, he could have everything, even if the path before him was filled with thorns.

Thinking about this, Fu Hongling’s heart became gentle and she smiled, no longer reprimanding the youth. Instead, she quietly listened to the youth nag. She listened to what kind of flying sword he wanted, where he wanted to go, and what he wanted to do once he was strong.

Perhaps he was defeated by the silence of this senior sister. Zhao Jiuge suddenly didn’t know what to talk about. When he became quiet, Fu Hongling was a bit surprised and asked, “Why did you stop?”

Zhao Jiuge pouted and he was in a bit of a dance. He turned his head and said, “It's no fun if I speak and you don’t respond.”

Then there was a short silence. Fu Hongling had never talked so much with someone before, not even her master, Jian Wuxin. Perhaps she was just used to the silence, and she was not used to this atmosphere.

After a long time, Fu Hongling gently said, “I have taught you how to blade soar. Is it not as amazing as you thought? In truth, behind all these amazing moments are people silently working hard to achieve them. All of this requires you to have strength, and strength can only be obtained through your own efforts. Do you understand?”

Zhao Jiuge nodded. “Don’t worry, Senior Sister, I’ll work hard to form my spirit core as soon as possible,” he promised obediently, but his mind was still recalling the feeling of him flying through the air. It was short but beautiful.

Fu Hongling found that there was nothing left to say, so she slowly got up. Her expression returned to normal. “It’s time to go. I’ll take you back to the Duty Hall. Go find your instructor and go temper yourself in a spirit vein in the sect. Don’t focus on playing around so much.”

“Okay.” Zhao Jiuge agreed, but he felt a bit depressed. He looked around and felt like he hadn’t had enough.

“This is the jade tube to open the formation around Lotus Peak. Take it, and once you finish tempering yourself, you can come see me again.” Seeing Zhao Jiuge’s reaction, Fu Hongling found it a bit funny.

After hearing Fu Hongling’s words, Zhao Jiuge became very happy. Zhao Jiuge held the jade tube tightly in his hand and nodded. They had only known each other for a short period of time, but the care that this cold senior sister had shown him warmed his heart.

Then Fu Hongling no longer spoke and the fiery red flying sword flew by. She waved her sleeve and pulled Zhao Jiuge onto the flying sword. Then the flying sword flew toward the Duty Hall. After leaving Lotus Peak, Fu Hongling returned to her cold self. Perhaps only when she was at her own peak would she remove this mask.

The entire trip was silent. The red flying sword passed several peaks and then arrived at the peak the Duty Hall was at. After letting Zhao Jiuge down, Fu Hongling turned to leave.

“Senior Sister, wait.” Zhao Jiuge turned around and shouted toward Fu Hongling to stop her from leaving.

Fu Hongling glanced at him and slowly said, “What’s wrong? Is there a problem?” Her words unintentionally showed that she cared.

Zhao Jiuge shook his head. Fu Hongling’s expression returned normal and she turned around.

At this moment, Zhao Jiuge’s voice echoed.

“Senior Sister, in truth, you’re very beautiful when you smile. In the future, you should smile more. You have to remember this, Senior Sister.”

Fu Hongling was first startled, then shocked, and finally she laughed.

She looked back and only saw Zhao Jiuge rushing toward the Duty Hall like he was afraid that she was going to beat him.

Thinking about Zhao Jiuge’s final words, she smiled and helplessly shook her head. She secretly thought in her heart, “That little brat.”

……

……

Zhao Jiuge had gathered all his courage to say those final words. Then he ignored the result and ran until the Duty Hall was before his eyes.

A few days of being together had made Zhao Jiuge feel a sense of dependence on this senior sister, but in the end, if he wanted strength, he would have to rely on himself. He took a deep breath and threw aside all distractions.

He could play and mess around, but he wouldn’t forget his goal. After looking at the words “Duty Hall,” he walked inside. Before he tempered himself inside a spirit vein, he needed to submit his task, receive his sect contributions, and sell the body of the Three-Tailed Yin Cat. There should be some usable materials in its body.

At this moment, the hall was a bit deserted—it was not as crowded as last time. Only two or three figures were here, perhaps because most of the new disciples were out on their missions. The older disciples would be cultivating unless they were in some urgent need of sect contributions. Once your strength increased, there were more ways to obtain treasures than just the Duty Hall.

The moment Zhao Jiuge entered, he attracted the attention of everyone inside. When they realized that he was just a new disciple, they all returned to their tasks. Zhao Jiuge went back to the old man from last time. After seeing Zhao Jiuge, the old man recognized him too.

“Not bad, it looks like you already finished the mission.” The old man faintly smiled as he observed Zhao Jiuge. However, when he noticed Zhao Jiuge’s serious injuries, he frowned slightly.

“Hehe, yes.” Zhao Jiuge smiled and then took out the body of the Three-Tailed Yin Cat from his storage ring.

The old man’s eyes lit up and he immediately recognized the Three-Tailed Yin Cat. He said, “Speak, it seems that this time there were some difficulties during the mission.”

After Zhao Jiuge explained the situation to the old man, the old man’s eyes lit up and he said, “It seems like it was really dangerous. In light of the fact that there was an accident during the mission, the reward is increased to 500 sect contributions. You’re very fortunate.”

After hearing that he would receive 500 sect contributions, Zhao Jiuge was extremely happy, but he didn’t speak about Fu Hongling.

“That’s just how training is. The sect can’t guarantee you all will return safely from every mission, because there can be accidents. The strong must experience all of this to become strong. You are very fortunate to have survived. In the future, I hope that you will always be cautious during your missions,” the old man said in a serious tone. 

After he finished speaking, the old man formed a seal with his hands and then a ray of light shot toward Zhao Jiuge’s token. After that, he said, “Okay, the sect contributions have been given to you. Do you need anything else?”

Zhao Jiuge shook his head and endured the impulse to receive another mission. He left with the Three-Tailed Yin Cat and exited through the front floor. On the way out, he looked back at the stairs going up to the second floor. When would he be able to go up there to obtain more difficult missions?

After leaving the Duty Hall, Zhao Jiuge immediately rushed toward the Treasure Pavilion. Although he longed for more sect contributions, he hadn’t forgotten about tempering himself inside the spirit vein.

Compared to the deserted Duty Hall, the Treasure Pavilion was much more lively. Zhao Jiuge looked around for a while, but he was unable to find the young man that had helped him buy the Blue Plum Sword last time. Helpless, he found a slightly older young man who had an honest look on his face. After learning about Zhao Jiuge’s intentions, he carefully looked at the Three-Tailed Yin Cat.

“The Three-Tailed Yin Cat you have is a little special, so its value is higher than normal. It can be sold for 300 sect contributions. It is unfortunate that this Three-Tailed Yin Cat’s strength is a bit lacking, or else it would be worth more than 10 times that price.” There was a look of pity in his eyes.

Zhao Jiuge was startled when he heard that it could have been worth 10 times more. However, he was in a rush to find Instructor Zhou to temper himself in a spirit vein, so he didn’t have time to chat.

He agreed to the 300 sect contributions without bargaining. Zhao Jiuge was going to leave, but now that he had 800 sect contributions in his token, his heart became itchy. Although he couldn’t afford the sword embryo yet, he could still buy some materials first. The more Zhao Jiuge thought about this, the more his heart burned with passion. He wanted to see what materials he could buy, because he was going to forge a sword either way.

Looking at the list of goods Zhao Jiuge felt dizzy. He thought that the only material he had was the Yin Spirit Bead, which was a cold attribute material, and perhaps he should form a cold attribute sword. Now that he had a target in mind, he specifically looked for materials with cold attributes.

Soon, Zhao Jiuge’s eyes locked onto one line.

Fantasy Silver Sand, 600 sect contributions.