Immortal Soaring Blade

Everyone, welcome to 2021!  2020 has been an absolutely horrid year for many people on many levels, and I think many (most? all?) of us are glad to leave it behind.  With that said, I wanted to give everyone a preview for some of the things that are coming up in the coming few months for Wuxiaworld.

Front-End Site Redesign - This one has been a long time coming!  Historically, we've focused more on incremental changes and feature build-out rather than overhauling the site itself, but for quite a few months now...

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There was a picture following those words, the image of a cloud of fine, silver sand. The sand emitted a seven-colored halo, and there was a description below it.

Fantasy Silver Sand, a strange material produced 10,000 meters underground in cold currents. It’s shaped like sand and is very small. However, it weighs over 100 kilograms. When mixed into treasures, it can improve their quality and have some strange effects.

Seeing this description, Zhao Jiuge immediately decided to buy the Fantasy Silver Sand. Not only could it increase a treasure’s quality, it could also give it a strange effect. Also, the seven-colored halo it exuded made Zhao Jiuge love it a lot.

“Senior Brother, I want to buy this Fantasy Silver Sand. Here are the sect contributions.” Zhao Jiuge impatiently handed over his token.

The honest-looking young man took Zhao Jiuge’s token and deducted the sect contributions. Then he said, “You wait here, I’ll get the material for you.”

After the successful purchase, Zhao Jiuge felt a bit excited. He was one step closer to his dream. He was going to buy the materials one by one and then buy the sword embryo in the end. He refused to believe he wouldn’t have a high-quality flying sword!

Because it would take time for the young man to get the materials, Zhao Jiuge continued to browse through the other materials. The more he saw, the more heated he became, but he was too poor to buy any more.

Thousand Year Ice Essence, 900 sect contributions.

Jade Spirit Stone, 300 sect contributions.

Flying Cloud Scatters, 450 sect contributions.

As Zhao Jiuge read them one by one, his mouth dried up. He wanted to buy them, but after looking at the prices, he could only look.

Finally, after a minute, the Fantasy Silver Sand he had purchased arrived. Otherwise, he would have to enviously look at the materials recorded in the jade tubes for a while.

After taking the Fantasy Silver Sand, he saw that it was indeed emitting a seven-colored halo. Even though it was inside the jade bottle, he could still feel the coldness inside. He carefully put it inside his storage ring and happily walked out of the Treasure Pavilion.

He was prepared to look for Instructor Zhou, who would take him to a spirit vein to temper himself. He also wanted to see what exactly a spirit vein was.

Along the way, Zhao Jiuge’s mood was a bit heavy. Thinking about all the materials he couldn’t buy made him want more strength! He continued to repeat that word to himself.

Zhao Jiuge walked through the mountains, immersed in his own thoughts. He didn’t notice that there was a figure standing not far away.

“Zhao Jiuge, what are you thinking about that’s making you so lost in thought?” A voice echoed while Zhao Jiuge was walking. He looked up to see Instructor Zhou’s smiling face.

Zhao Jiuge was still thinking about stuff when he quickly looked up. “Instructor Zhou, why are you here? Did you know I was coming to find you?”

Instructor Zhou had a profound smile as he said, “Of course, I also know that you are looking for me in order to temper yourself in a spirit vein. Not bad, just one trip outside and you reached the Foundation Realm.”

As for how Instructor Zhou knew, it was Fu Hongling who had told him. Normally, new disciples could only enter a spirit vein after three years. He would need the Head Teacher’s permission for this; otherwise, he won’t dare to bring people into the spirit vein on his own.

While talking with the Head Teacher, Instructor Zhou could see that the Head Teacher really admired Zhao Jiuge. Fu Hongling’s order had confirmed his thoughts even more. Fu Hongling was the Head Teacher’s head disciple, and she had personally come to talk about Zhao Jiuge’s tempering in the spirit vein. This caught Instructor Zhou’s attention, and so he put even more attention on Zhao Jiuge. This made him feel like his vision was very good.

“Hehe, Instructor Zhou, it was all pure luck. Fortunately, a senior sister called Fu Hongling saved me; otherwise, I might have lost my little life. That’s right, Instructor Zhou, do you know which peak that senior sister belongs to?” Zhao Jiuge smiled and scratched his head in embarrassment.

Instructor Zhou’s gaze suddenly became strange, but thinking about who Fu Hongling’s teacher was, he swallowed his words. “I don’t know, but once you enter the inner sect, you will know. There is only a bit over one year left until the inner disciple selection, so you must work hard. If you can’t even enter the inner sect, I’ll laugh my teeth off.”

“Instructor Zhou, I’m not lazy. Although I was not the first one to reach the Foundation Realm, I should still be among the first few this batch. I’m very confident in the selection.” Zhao Jiuge was not one to be too proud of himself, but he thought that he had reached Foundation Realm fairly quickly. He inevitably felt a bit complacent.

Seeing the pride on Zhao Jiuge’s face, the admiration on Instructor Zhou’s face disappeared and he became a bit gloomy. His expression became stern once more, and angrily said, “A frog at the bottom of a well. The most taboo thing about cultivation is self-complacency. You have just started—once you reach higher cultivation levels, you will feel what advancing after hundreds of years feels like. Cultivation is walking against the flow—if you don’t advance, you are receding. Yes, some people take a hundred years to reach the Foundation Realm, but do you know that the top genius in the sect reached Nascent Soul in less than 100 years? You must look ahead!”

Hearing Instructor Zhou’s angry words, Zhao Jiuge was a bit shocked. He lowered his head and whispered as though he had been wronged, “Disciple knows he is wrong.”

Seeing Zhao Jiuge’s reaction, it was obvious that he didn’t understand at all. Instructor Zhou sighed. He thought about how hard Zhao Jiuge usually trained, so he didn’t say more. “Okay, let’s go. I’ll take you to the spirit vein to temper yourself. After you finish tempering yourself, there will be little over a year until the selection. You have to quickly improve your strength as there isn’t much time left. The selection is more than just our Mysterious Heaven Peak, it also includes the Mysterious Fall Peak and the Mysterious Strange Peak. Let’s go, it's time for them to come out. I can send you in and pick them up.”

Zhao Jiuge nodded and then remembered what Instructor Zhou said at the end. He looked up and asked, “Who are they? Someone else also entered the spirit vein?”

Zhao Jiuge found this a bit strange. He originally thought that he was the only one who reached the Foundation Realm. He didn’t expect someone else to have already entered, and there was more than one.

“Bai Zimo and Mu Zijun. They broke through to the Foundation realm a few days ago, and they weren’t the first ones.” Instructor Zhou looked at Zhao Jiuge with a teasing gaze.

“Oh? If they aren’t the earliest, then who was the first?” Now Zhao Jiuge became interested.

“It’s your friend Bai Qingqing, she was the fastest to reach the Foundation Realm. The old rules state that no matter how fast new disciples reach the Foundation Realm, they have to wait until after three years to temper themselves inside the spirit vein, but this time is different. The Head Teacher gave the order to allow anyone who reached the Foundation Realm to temper themselves inside the spirit vein immediately.” Instructor Zhou’s expression became serious when he talked about the Head Teacher. If even he could feel the change in the sect, then there was no need to mention the pressure the Head Teacher felt.

After hearing Instructor Zhou’s words, Zhao Jiuge remembered Instructor Zhou talking about Bai Qingqing entering the spirit vein to train when he went to pick up his mission. He had almost forgotten about that.

After Instructor Zhou finished speaking, he saw Zhao Jiuge’s unmoved expression and frowned a little. He added, “You have to take advantage of this opportunity. When you temper yourself inside the spirit vein, your spirit force will increase. As for how much, it will depend on you. Bai Qingqing was able to stay inside for half a month, while some people can’t even stay for one day. The longer you stay, the more you will gain.”

Zhao Jiuge nodded, but he didn’t fully understand. However, he did understand that the longer he stayed, the stronger he would become. In order to gain strength, Zhao Jiuge was not afraid to pay the price.

Seeing Zhao Jiuge’s determined gaze, Instructor Zhou relaxed. He was still very optimistic about Zhao Jiuge’s character.

“Okay, before we go, let me tell you this. Spirit veins are divided into nine ranks, and the Mysterious Heaven Sword Sect has three rank 2 spirit veins. Each has different attributes, and you can choose one. While you can temper yourself inside multiple spirit veins, some spirit veins have attributes that suppress each other, so it would cause more harm than good. Also, you need to pick an attribute to be your main attribute. This will also be the attribute of your spirit force once you’ve formed it.” Tempering inside a spirit vein was an important matter, so Instructor Zhou had explained it very seriously in fear that Zhao Jiuge would not understand.  After all, tempering during Foundation Realm was very important. It was like building a foundation for a house—the better the foundation, the taller you could build the house. The better the tempering, the further you could walk on the path of cultivation.

“I choose the Cold Sky Sword Spirit Vein.” Before Instructor Zhou could tell him about the three spirit veins, Zhao Jiuge stated his choice. Back at the Lotus Peak, Senior Sister Fu Hongling had told him about the three spirit veins. They were the Cold Sky Sword Spirit Vein, the Extreme Flame Burning Yang Spirit Vein, and the Lonely Wing Five Tribulation Spirit Vein

The three spirit veins were divided into cold attribute, fire attribute, and wind attribute. Originally, Zhao Jiuge didn’t have any special feeling towards any of the three, and they were all rank 2 spirit veins. However, when he asked Fu Hongling, she said that she had tempered herself in the Cold Sky Sword Spirit Vein. Zhao Jiuge chose the same spirit vein because he had experienced the power of the Cold Sky Sword Spirit Vein firsthand.

This was also why he had bought the Fantasy Silver Sand back at the Treasure Pavilion. This wasn’t only because the Yin Spirit Bead was a cold attribute material. He had already made up his mind to forge a flying sword with the same attribute as his spirit force!

While Zhao Jiuge was working hard, he was walking toward the goal he had set in his heart.

Hearing Zhao Jiuge’s answer, Instructor Zhou was stunned, but thinking about Fu Hongling, he understood why Zhao Jiuge understood so much. Fu Hongling must have already told him about the spirit veins.

One could see the foundation of a sect from its spirit veins. This was why even though the Mysterious Heaven Sword Sect’s newer generations had fallen, it could still stand as one of the seven holy lands.

“Since you already know, I’ll take you to the Cold Sky Sword Spirit Vein.” Instructor Zhou waved his sleeves and left with Zhao Jiuge on the flying sword.

The flying sword shined and pierced through the clouds. The top of the Mysterious Heaven Mountain Range was covered in clouds. There were occasional flashes of light inside the clouds due to people flying through the sect.

Instructor Zhou’s flying sword turned left and right and soon arrived at a mountain. Zhao Jiuge curiously looked around. He found that the peak here was no different from the other peaks. He was curious and confused.

“Follow me, we aren’t there yet.” Instructor Zhou seemed to read Zhao Jiuge’s mind.

They walked for a while at the foot of the mountain, then a grey, stone door appeared before them. The stone door was made of two boulders, and there were words painted on it with red paint.

Zhao Jiuge became excited. He thought that this was the entrance to the Cold Sky Sword Spirit Vein.

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