The light around Gu Ningxue grew brighter.
Wen Xian’s face turned even paler than hers. Fear scattered every thought from her mind. Her feet seemed rooted to the ground, and her body trembled uncontrollably.
A Foundation Establishment cultivator’s self-destruction would erase everything for miles. Wen Xian would become dust in an instant.
It was already too late to run. There was nowhere to escape.
She was finished. When the system returned, it would not even need to collect her corpse. There would be nothing left to find.
As Wen Xian waited helplessly for death, Bai Yan displayed her power again. Her spiritual awareness became a needle and stabbed into Gu Ningxue’s sea of consciousness.
Agony tore through Gu Ningxue’s head. She coughed up blood and lost control of the spiritual energy needed to complete her self-destruction. Her whole body wilted like a dying flower, and her face turned gray with despair.
Wen Xian rejoiced. “Well done, Bai Yan! I love you so much!”
Her master’s praise made Bai Yan lift her tail and head as high as possible. Proud happiness filled her golden eyes.
She truly was the finest and most useful snake in the world.
In her relief, Wen Xian forgot to disguise her voice.
Gu Ningxue heard her real voice, and coldness filled her eyes. “You are a woman?”
Wen Xian wanted to slap herself again. Why did she always reveal some weakness at the worst possible moment?
At least her face remained hidden. If Gu Ningxue remembered that as well, Wen Xian would truly be in trouble.
There was no longer any reason to conceal her sex. Wen Xian crouched, gripped Gu Ningxue’s chin, and gave a quiet laugh.
“Now you cannot even choose how you die. Hand over the Blood-Remnant Sword, and I will spare your life. I won’t touch anything else you carry.”
Once Gu Ningxue knew that Wen Xian was a woman, she clearly realized that she had misunderstood the earlier threat. Embarrassed, she turned her head free of Wen Xian’s hand.
With obvious unwillingness, Gu Ningxue slowly touched her storage ring. Blood-red light flashed, and the Blood-Remnant Sword appeared in her hand.
Wen Xian snatched it away and examined it with delight.
Gu Ningxue looked aside. This mission had ended in complete failure. She had not brought the sword back to her sect master. Worse, the elder who accompanied her had died.
Her gaze moved to the old man’s cold body, and grief filled her eyes.
He had died after blocking a fatal attack meant for her. It was all because her cultivation had been inadequate.
Wen Xian stored the Blood-Remnant Sword in her ring and happened to notice the terrible sorrow on Gu Ningxue’s face.
She began to leave, then stopped. After thinking several times, she took a cultivation manual from the ring and threw it in front of Gu Ningxue.
She deliberately made her voice arrogant.
“This worthless manual is far too poor for me. I’ll leave it here. Anyone who wants it can take it.”
Wen Xian wrapped Bai Yan around her wrist and departed.
Gu Ningxue watched until the stranger vanished. Only then did she look down at the manual.
The four words on its cover read *Green Lotus Sword Art*.
She remained frozen for a long time.
“Master, why did you give her that manual?” Bai Yan asked, raising her little head. “I remember that one being very powerful.”
Wen Xian smiled. “Who knows? Perhaps something is wrong with my head.”
She looked toward the sky. The warm sunlight felt pleasant on her skin. Wen Xian narrowed her eyes at the sun, and the corner of her mouth rose.
She had never considered herself a good person. Still, behaving like one occasionally felt rather nice.
She could call it a trade. Wen Xian could not use those manuals anyway, so giving one to a suitable cultivator was better than wasting it.
Whether Gu Ningxue appreciated the gesture did not matter.
Wen Xian had acted only to calm her own heart.
Her most urgent task now was finding a safe place to eat the Blood-Remnant Sword.
For some reason, she felt certain that it would grant her unexpected power.
The thought made her steps lighter.
…
One double-hour later, Gu Ningxue finished treating her wounds. She swallowed a healing pill. Her injuries would not disappear quickly, but she could move and use spiritual energy to fly on her sword again. Once she returned to the sect, better pills would heal her within several days.
She was preparing to carry away the elder’s body when she suddenly turned. A frightening chill entered her beautiful eyes.
Ming Yuan’s body moved faintly. A pained groan escaped his lips, and he slowly opened bloodshot crimson eyes.
“Gu Ningxue… and that damned man… Once I return… my father will slaughter both of you!”
Blood covered his vicious face, making him appear especially horrifying.
He took out a signaling artifact and prepared to contact his sect.
Sword light flashed.
The hand holding the artifact separated from his body. Blood poured from the wound like a spring. Ming Yuan stared blankly before gripping the severed wrist with his other hand. His scream of pain reached the sky.
Still trying to stop the blood, he turned and saw Gu Ningxue holding her broken sword. Blood dripped steadily from its edge.
“Gu… Gu Ningxue… You’re still alive!”
He could not believe that the mysterious man had spared her. Had Gu Ningxue possessed some hidden method and killed him instead?
Gu Ningxue approached without expression.
She had not expected the disguised woman to leave Ming Yuan alive. Whether Wen Xian had done so deliberately or merely been careless no longer mattered. Gu Ningxue’s mind contained only one thought.
She would kill this man.
Without him, the elder would still be alive.
Gu Ningxue had been abandoned as a baby. Her sect master found her and brought her back to be raised. The dead elder had cared for her from infancy until adulthood. He had been family.
Because of Ming Yuan’s greed, the elder she loved and respected most had died before her eyes. She remembered his gentle smile and the kind voice that called her “Xue’er.” Endless grief and rage overwhelmed her.
Ming Yuan had to die.
“You cannot kill me! I am the Blood Demon Sect’s Young Sect Master. My father is a Nascent Soul expert. If you kill me, he will—”
Another line of sword light crossed his vision.
Ming Yuan tried to continue, but terrible pain filled his throat. No sound emerged. Terror seized him as he began to suffocate.
Blood flowed endlessly from his mouth. He pressed both hands to his throat, but nothing stopped it. At last, he fell with his eyes wide open. His body twitched briefly, then became still.
His resentful gaze remained fixed on Gu Ningxue. He had died unwillingly, unable even to close his eyes.
Gu Ningxue looked coldly at the corpse and formed a spell sign with one hand. Fire covered Ming Yuan. Within a dozen breaths, his body became ash. A gentle wind scattered it in every direction.
It was as though Ming Yuan had never existed.
Gu Ningxue took the elder’s body and flew away on her sword.
…
Three days later, Wen Xian emerged from a cave deep in the forest. Feeling refreshed, she stretched beneath the morning sun.
She was completely different from before. Dense, pure spiritual energy surrounded her. If she released it with all her strength, its power would be considerable.
Her presence had become several times stronger. Faint traces of a fierce aura escaped now and then, making the heart tremble. She resembled a sharp sword waiting to leave its sheath.
Wen Xian clenched a fist. Power unlike anything she had known flowed through every part of her body. At her thought, blood-red spiritual energy appeared in her palm and danced like flame.
“Becoming stronger feels wonderful.”
She dispersed the energy and snapped her fingers. A crimson sword appeared from nothing and circled her obediently. None of its former frightening presence remained.
This was the Blood-Remnant Sword.
Wen Xian had consumed it, but unlike the previous sword, it had not dissolved completely into nourishment. Its body remained intact and rested quietly inside her energy center until she summoned it.
She could feel that it had joined her flesh and bones, becoming part of her body. Before her, it behaved like an obedient child. When turned against an enemy, its bloody desire to kill would instantly return.
“Good child. Go back and rest. When your time comes, I’ll let you show everyone your power.”
Wen Xian and the sword now understood each other’s thoughts. She sensed its hunger for blood. It was a murderous weapon that could never drink enough.
Wen Xian, however, did not love killing. Unless left with no other choice, she would never take a life.
The Blood-Remnant Sword gave a soft hum in reply. Red light flashed over its blade. It became a streak of blood-colored light, entered Wen Xian’s chest, and returned to her energy center.
“Being a sword spirit may not be so bad.”
She stretched again, making every bone in her body crack.
Consuming the Blood-Remnant Sword had carried her directly into Foundation Establishment. She crossed several minor levels and one entire major realm in a single leap, far beyond anything she expected.
The sword was truly extraordinary. No wonder her sword body had desired it so strongly.
Consuming and refining it had caused terrible pain, but the reward was enormous. Compared with that result, the suffering meant little.
Powerful spiritual awareness suddenly erupted from the cave.
Wen Xian immediately surrounded herself with spiritual energy and resisted the impact. The birds and beasts for miles around were less fortunate. Every one of them lost consciousness.
“Good heavens. Bai Yan is making an even greater disturbance than I did.”
Birds fell from the sky like rain. Wen Xian quickly sheltered beneath a tree so none struck her.
“It seems she gained a great deal as well.” Wen Xian leaned against the trunk and smiled.
Ming Yuan’s storage belt had contained many useful objects, including the flying magic artifact Wen Xian had wanted so badly. It also held a method suitable for strengthening a spirit-beast cultivator’s spiritual awareness. Wen Xian’s own ring happened to contain a spell focused on mental attacks.
She gave both to Bai Yan, and they entered seclusion together. Wen Xian finished first, while Bai Yan remained deep in cultivation. By the time the girl emerged, her realm would surely have risen.
Good things had happened one after another.
But why had the system still not returned? Had it crashed?
