Chapter 28: Fuxie Sword Spirit

  “That was...”

  By the time he opened his eyes, it was already m. The others were still asleep. Almost unsciously, An Jing tried to grasp something, and sure enough, the broken sword respoo his will—transf from an intangible state into solid form within his grip.

  Realizing what he had done, his forehead broke out in cold sweat.

  The broken sword quivered faintly. An Jing’s gaze fell upon it as he muttered to himself, “Subduing Devils... Subduing Evil… is that your name?”

  “I don’t remember.”

  The Sword Spirit spoke in a calm voice. “I’m broken. I remember very little; not just missing pieces, but also many tradis and flicts.”

  “...Why did you e?”

  “The other children had nowhere near your level of curiosity or drive. They felt fear—and they fot.”

  The Sword Spirit let out a light ugh. “But you didn’t. So I reminded you, to keep you from dying too soon.

  “And then your uniqueness roven—once you learhe truth, your first thought was to kill all those evildoers.”

  “That is what ‘Fuxie (Subduing Evil)*’ stands for.”

  “That is why I chose you.”

  “Sister Fuxie, or Brother Fuxie?”

  An Jing sighed. “How should I address you? And if you have any cultivatiohods, please teach me soon. I’m in a manor trolled by a demonic sect, and there’s the Medie Manor Lord who’s at the Internal Fortification level. I’m afraid relying solely on the Serene Sword Teique and a handful of basic martial skills won’t be enough.”

  “That’s true. But don’t call me brother or sister. I’m a sword—I have no gender. You may call me Sword Spirit, or Fuxie.”

  Fuxie Sword Spirit tinued, “As for a cultivatiohod, I would like to teach you... I was on immortal sword, so I know many wondrous Daoist Arts of the immortal path. Although most of them are lost, I still guide you.

  “However, after the great catastrophe, the Huaixu realm abahe ‘Spiritual Root Qi-Refining’ path and repced it with the current Heaven-Ordained Fate martial system. There must be profound reasons behind that, so I do not dare to casually instruct you or mislead you as a teacher.”

  “Spiritual Root Qi-Refining?”

  An Jing frowned slightly. Thanks to being at least half a schor, he recalled seeing brief mentions of it i ’s cssical texts: “Drawing talismans, anding ghosts and spirits...?”

  “That was only part of the old Qi Refining Immortal Path.”

  Fuxie Sword Spirit refuted gently. “Likewise, in my era, martial cultivation was just one branch of body-refi. Ultimately, all would return to the correct path of Qi Refining.”

  “But clearly, the Huaixu realm has developed airely new legaartial arts—deep and vast—seemingly no less profound than the Immortal Path. That’s another reason I hesitate to instruct you freely.”

  “My memories tain no specialized martial cultivatiohods. But if you’re willing to take a risk, I do have an idea.”

  At that point, Fuxie reminisced softly. “I possess a sword cultivatiohod called the ‘Radiant White Spirit's Diviri.’”

  It had waited an unimaginably long time to find someone who met its criteria—An Jing. Fuxie already had this pn in mind, and now expi iail:

  “This method uses Qi to dense baleful energy, then transforms that baleful energy into a restri, f it within the body. It’s a first-rate sword cultivation teique for refining the body. But it’s exceptionally difficult to begin. You have to draw upon pure baleful energy to link up with your own essence, f a ‘Taibai** Restri Seed’ inside you, and then nurture it with the essence of five differeals.”

  “When you perfect this method, you achieve a grand Divine Ability: ‘Taibai Camity-Quelling Evil-Banishing Imperishable Body.’

  “This method does not rely oernal forces, nor does it iernal spirits or baleful aura. It is purely inner cultivation. Though it’s intricate and challenging, it remains effective regardless of how the world’s enviro ges.”

  “The hardest part is finding pure baleful energy—but you have my sword’s baleful aura as a guide. With enough resources, you advance quickly.”

  “Onaster it and bee a true cultivator, you won’t have to fear ordinary ons—swords, bows, and so on—or even most Daoist Arts. It should be perfect for this world.”

  Fuxie paused, then added, “That said, in its early stages, this method requires ing enormous quantities of refined bck-iron, purple-tin, and other of the Five Metals—so much so that it’s called the ‘Taibai Gold-Dev Diviri.’”

  “The only problem is, it doesn’t look like Hanging Fate Manor has any 【Purified Five Metals】.”

  “Indeed.”

  Hearing that, An Jing—who had been quite excited a moment before—instantly cooled down. “No matter how good the method is, if I ’t even start, it’s useless.”

  “You’ll find a way,” the Sword Spirit reassured him in turn. “Keep a. Hanging Fate Manht have an armory, and there might be refined metals stored there.”

  “That makes sehank you.”

  After settling his thoughts, An Jing realized the other youths in the dorm were waking up. He k was time to lead the m drills.

  It was just another day, nothing appeared to have ged. Only g Linzu seemed to notiething and came over to whisper, “Boss, your eyes are a bit red. Didn’t sleep well?”

  “I just dreamt of the ones who left.” An Jing smiled, patting the other’s shoulder. When he excimed, “Boss, so you dream about them too?!,” An Jing dragged him to the training ground and worked him so hard he was left gasping for air, uo speak another word.

  That afternoon, during group training, An Jing ran into the Medie Manor Lord, who had e by “tally” to i.

  They locked eyes.

  The old man gave an encing smile, and An Jiurned a calm look.

  One believed it signaled docile pliance or perhaps an innately callous nature.

  The other simply waited—simply endured.

  Like a fierce tiger crouched in a desote valley, retrag cws and fangs in silence.

  Time flowed on.

  Because the number of trainees had been finalized at twelve squads of nine—making one hundred eight in total—the training at Hanging Fate Manor became more routine. An Jing feigned posure, quietly practig for over a month without exposing a single weakness.

  During this period, An Jing gradually learo handle his Internal Energy, using the Serene Sword Teique to meditate, making the most of Hanging Fate Manor’s resources tthen both his Internal Energy and blood-essence.

  Thanks to his deep reserves, An Jing had leapt straight to Internal Breath Like Rivers from the outset, bypassing the weakest and slowest-growing stage of Internal Breath Like Threads. Thus, he absorbed all forms of nutrition at an astonishing rate. Even though he enjoyed extra daily rations due to his “senior disciple” status, he was always the first to finish eating and still insisted he wasn’t full.

  Ordinarily, Hanging Fate Manor provided ra supplies, but with the tacit approval of the Medie Manor Lord, An Jing effectively ed three times as much food as the average disciple each day. His terrifying appetite and digestion awed everyone else in the manor, especially when it did nothing to alter his physique.

  All of that food became fuel for An Jing’s growth.

  Among the three phases of Internal Energy—Internal Breath Like Threads, Internal Breath Like Rivers, Internal Breath Like Tides—the gaps between them were enormous.

  【Internal Breath Like Threads】 resembled droplets of water in summer: enough to moisten your lips, but gone in an instant.

  It was like when An Jing’s mother fought the bandits—after killing seven, she was nearly drained of strength and got injured when the bandit leader found an opening.

  Only when one’s Internal Energy surpassed a certain threshold and became a flowing river within, reag the realm of 【Internal Breath Like Rivers】, could it endure for long uhe harshest ditions—thus allowing oo truly be called a martial artist.

  An Jing’s Internal Energy had inally been only slightly better than Internal Breath Like Threads, trig like a small stream. He could sustain it for about a minute or two at most.

  But using the demonic sect’s resources, his Internal Energy steadily grew; he could now circute his Internal Energy for nearly three minutes.

  (End of Chapter)

  *伏邪 (Fúxié) literally means "Subduing Evil." In the case in whi Jing's talking about the sword itself, I'll use "Subduing Evil," but in the case of the Sword Spirit, who is a character, I'll transliterate the name as "Fuxie."

  **太白 (Tàibái), literally “great white” or “supreme white,” is an a ese name for Venus. For Radiant White Spirit's Diviri, I "bined" it with 皓 (“bright” or “luminous”) and 灵 (“spirit”) for the final transtion of "Radiant White Spirit."