Old Master, Times Have Changed - Chapter 717 (Patreon)

Chapter 717: Using the Realm-Refining Method to Refine “Taiyi”

It was actually very simple.

As long as you said the other two were already in, the remaining one couldn’t possibly refuse.

They just hadn’t expected the first one to fall for it would be Daoist Ling, who usually never spoke in the group.

Instead, Sword Sovereign was the last to get tricked into coming…

No, wait!

When it came to her, it shouldn’t count as a trick!

“Let’s not talk about that.” Meizu smoothly changed the subject, then asked curiously, “By the way, Dao-brother, how did you meet Daoist Ling?”

The small group had been around for a while, yet she still hadn’t managed to pry even a single sentence out of Daoist Ling.

Or rather, Daoist Ling barely spoke in the group at all.

And the less she knew about something, the more curious she became.

Xu Xing’s gaze drifted. “Why are you asking that?”

“Because I’m curious!”

She knew a bit, more or less, about Sword Sovereign and Daoist Yuanjun. But Daoist Ling was like someone who had popped into existence out of nowhere.

Her origins were a mystery to this day.

“Well… if you get the chance, you should ask her yourself.” Xu Xing still didn’t answer.

Meizu pouted and muttered under her breath, “Like she’d tell me.”

These days, she’d asked in the group all the time. Even when she offered her own experiences as a trade, she still didn’t get a single reply from Daoist Ling.

Sigh.

“Forget it. If I get the chance later, I’ll squeeze it out of her then.”

From the look of it, he clearly wasn’t going to answer. There was no point pressing.

Besides, that wasn’t the reason she’d come to Sword Sect this time.

“Let’s go see Huo first. Little Yinxue has been in the Taiyi Realm for so many days now. Who knows how things are going?”

Little Yinxue had gone that far all by herself—how could she, as her master, not worry?

“She’s not a child anymore, and she knows how to act with restraint…”

He said it like that, but even Xu Xing sounded a little lacking in confidence.

Restraint…

She should have it, right?

“Huo is heading back anyway to take his disciple to the next training session. I already told him what’s up. We’ll just go meet him directly.”

“Mm-hm.” Meizu very naturally hooked her arm through Xu Xing’s. “Let’s go.”

“Actually, for something like this, couldn’t you just ask Huo in the group?”

Xu Xing remembered Meizu was in that chat group.

“In that group, I have to watch even my punctuation. I’m not sending anything there.”

As she spoke, Meizu lifted her chin. Her bright eyes were full of smug satisfaction.

“Besides, this is a perfect excuse to come see you. Why wouldn’t I?”

“…Let’s go.”

“Mm-hm.”

…

…

At noon, the sunlight was just right.

Jianzhou, Yanjian City.

Skyscrapers rose in dense rows.

All around the city, various magical tools streaked by, trailing dazzling flame-like tails. Spiritual light flowed like streams, crisscrossing back and forth.

This was one of Jianzhou’s most prosperous cities.

But a few decades ago, it hadn’t been called this.

Only forty-five years earlier, when Sword Sect’s great Integration realm expert Yanjian True Lord attained the Dao here, the old “Lianjian City” was renamed to today’s “Yanjian City.”

And speaking of that Yanjian True Lord—he was a legend.

“Today’s sword cultivators, because of differing emphases, are divided into many types.”

At the central plaza of Yanjian City.

The sky was a clear, deep blue. It was late summer, and a layer of fallen leaves lay along the edges of the plaza.

Aside from a few special spirit trees, most trees had leaves already turned yellow and withered. A light breeze brushed the treetops, raising a soft rustling sound.

It added a hint of bleakness to the whole plaza.

Xu Xing and Meizu walked side by side.

In the center stood a massive statue—

A heroic man sitting cross-legged, two longswords laid flat across his knees.

It was none other than Yanjian True Lord, who had contributed greatly to Yanjian City.

At that moment, hearing Xu Xing, Meizu nodded slightly.

“I do know that.”

As cultivation theory kept evolving, in today’s system of cultivation professions, “sword cultivator” had split into many branches.

Those who cultivated flying swords, those who cultivated sword pellets, those who cultivated sword arrays, and even those who hid the sword in their heart—using themselves as the material, essence-energy-spirit as the fire, forging a “heart sword”…

“But no matter how you divide it, sword cultivators can be summarized under two major categories: ‘natal spirit sword’ and ‘non-natal spirit sword.’” Xu Xing continued.

A “natal spirit sword,” as the name implied, meant cultivating a single natal sword.

The sword was bound to the sword cultivator’s mind and spirit, aligned with their Dao—prosper together, shatter together!

This was the mainstream among high-level sword cultivators in the Tai Xuan Realm. People like Xu Xing and Bie Xuening could be counted in this category as well.

As for “non-natal spirit sword”…

That was simple, too. Any sword cultivator who didn’t walk the “natal spirit sword” path belonged to this category.

These sword cultivators usually didn’t cling to one sword. Instead, they “use the heart to command ten thousand swords.”

At first, most sword cultivators considered it a “deviant path,” until the emergence of two Soul Transformation sword masters finally proved this sword Dao was viable.

Xu Xing looked at the statue.

“That little fellow walked the ‘natal spirit sword’ path, and also cultivated divination on the side.”

Because his attainments in divination were also very high, the world called him “Yanjian True Lord.”

But that alone wasn’t enough to make him a legend among Integration realm sword cultivators.

What truly made him famous was that at the moment he attained the Dao, he had raised yet another “natal spirit sword.”

A sword cultivator with two natal spirit swords…

You might not dare say “no one will ever come after,” but it was absolutely “no one came before”!

“Right, I remember now. I saw it on the spirit net.” Meizu realized. “What was the reason?”

“Mm…” Xu Xing pondered for a moment. “His original natal spirit sword was a bit strange, so that’s why a second natal spirit sword appeared.”

You had to understand, something like a sword spirit was extremely pure by nature—and it only recognized its own sword master.

A sword spirit with Yanjian True Lord’s kind of personality… Xu Xing had lived all these years and still had never seen another.

“In short, his situation basically can’t be replicated.”

“Oh.”

They kept talking as they walked, and soon reached the edge of the central plaza.

At the end of a road paved with green spirit jade, beneath a spirit tree planted for ornament and environmental improvement, a figure stood there—plain-looking, with a gentle aura.

“Good afternoon, Dao-brother, Meizu, Dao-friend.”

“Sorry to keep you waiting,” Xu Xing said.

At Meizu’s suggestion, the two of them had first wandered around Yanjian City for a while before Xu Xing sent a message to Huo.

“I just arrived too.”

Since they were about to go train, Huo had brought Xiao Fan to Yanjian City to buy more living supplies and cultivation resources in advance.

After all, the training location this time…

The environment was pretty harsh.

With Xiao Fan’s current level, he’d probably have to die around ten times before clearing this training.

“Huo, Dao-friend—how is my disciple doing in the Taiyi Realm?” Meizu asked directly.

“…”

Hearing that, Huo fell silent for a moment.

“Sigh… it’s actually not bad.”

Meizu: “…”

Not bad my foot—why are you sighing?!

“I originally thought she’d act directly and kill everyone she considered ‘evil.’”

Hm?

Isn’t that exactly what she did?

“Yet she didn’t. She used a more ‘gentle’—or rather, relatively more ‘gentle’—method to change the Taiyi Realm…”

As Meizu listened, she frowned slightly. Even Xu Xing’s expression grew a little strange.

According to Huo, after Ji Yinxue arrived near the Taiyi Realm, she directly punched apart the world’s crystal-wall system and entered the world.

At the same time, she interrupted the Taiyi Realm’s transformation and ascension process, triggered the backlash from a failed world ascension, and in one stroke purged two-thirds of the Tai Yi Continent’s chaotic-faction transcendent beings.

After that, she killed four reclusive chaotic-faction Sacred Lords, seven Sacred Kings, and nineteen Saints.

Up to that point, everything was normal.

Everything matched Huo’s expectations.

But after that, Ji Yinxue suddenly changed her style.

“I originally thought she’d purge the rest as well, but she stopped,” Huo said, his expression subtle.

“She remodeled the ‘Heaven’s Will’ she extracted. Using the Ascension Platform’s standards for judging merit and evil karma as a template, she engraved it into the ‘Heaven’s Will’.”

“Then she erased the ‘Heaven’s Will’ self-awareness, and used the Realm-Refining Method to refine the remodeled ‘Heaven’s Will’ back into the Taiyi Realm—changing the Taiyi Realm’s rules from the root level.”

The Ascension Platform’s merit-and-evil-karma standards?

The Realm-Refining Method?

Changing the Taiyi Realm’s rules from the root level?

“The current Taiyi Realm—anyone burdened with evil karma will suffer ‘heavenly punishment’: nothing goes smoothly. Those with heavy merit will receive ‘heaven’s favor’: everything goes their way.”

From top-tier “Sacred Lord-level” transcendent beings comparable to the strongest Integration realm experts, down to ordinary people who had never touched the transcendent—no one escaped that system.

Even Sacred King-level transcendent beings, as long as their evil karma crossed a certain limit, would trigger the Taiyi Realm’s origin lightning that Ji Yinxue had strengthened.

A graze meant death. A hit meant injury.

As for how high that “certain limit” was…

Because when the Ascension Platform’s merit-and-evil-karma standards were established, “the ancient” had been taken into account, that “certain limit” wouldn’t be very high.

In a sense, today’s Taiyi Realm had achieved a truly literal “good is rewarded, evil is repaid”—and it was the kind that took effect in real time.

As for whether all this was right or wrong, and where it would lead the Taiyi Realm in the future…

Only time could verify it.

That said…

When did Little Yinxue learn the Realm-Refining Method?

Meizu frowned.

The Realm-Refining Method was a secret art created by Senior You. As its name suggested, its effect was to carry out “realm refinement” with the “Spirit-Refining Flame” as its core.

She remembered Xu Xing once mentioning that Senior You created this secret art with the goal of using the Spirit-Refining Flame to refine the entire Tai Xuan Realm.

To refine every living being except humans, turning them into the purest world origin to nourish the Tai Xuan Realm.

With that “achievement,” they would offset the Cang race’s favor—favor granted because Heaven’s Will had been biased toward them.

But later, it was abandoned.

First, the Tai Xuan Realm’s status was extremely high. Even if Xu Xing personally used the Realm-Refining Method, it still wouldn’t be possible to accomplish that.

Second…

The Tai Xuan Realm sat at the highest level, spanning beginning to end, hanging over the Chaos Sea.

The living beings within the realm might well be considered part of the world itself. Refining every race except the human race might, in the Heavenly Dao’s judgment, count as “harming the world.”

It could easily backfire.

This secret art touched the level of “supreme laws,” but its effect was far too singular, so almost no one learned it.

Yet somehow, Yinxue had mastered it.

“How about her own condition?” Meizu asked.

“Looks like she did gain some understanding, but I can’t say how long it’ll take for her to succeed.” Huo shook his head. “But I’ll keep watching. Dao-friend, you can rest easy.”

Understanding the Dao-Extremity path could only be done by herself.

All he could do was help guard against that “supreme existence,” just a little.

“I understand. Many thanks this time, Dao-friend.” Meizu thanked him solemnly.

“It’s only right. No need for that.”

If the various Dao-friends weren’t busy sealing and suppressing the Tai Xuan Realm’s “Heaven’s Will,” unable to spare attention, none of this would have needed him to handle.

“Master.”

A young man with a cold aura and an indifferent expression appeared not far away.

It was Xiao Fan.

When he saw Xu Xing, a slight ripple appeared in his eyes.

“Greetings, Senior.”

“You’re back.” Huo smiled and introduced, “This is Meizu.”

In Xiao Fan’s eyes, Meizu was blurry and indistinct—hazy and vague. He could only make out a roughly human-shaped outline.

It was the same for everyone else as well, and if they looked away for a moment, they would forget her.

“Greetings, Meizu, Senior.”

“Mm.” Meizu nodded slightly, then lifted a hand.

A wisp of brilliant red haze tore through the air, transforming into a fiery red maple leaf suspended in midair. Its whole body was glossy and lustrous, like a piece of red jade carved to perfection.

“This is for you.”

As her voice fell, the maple leaf turned back into that red haze and landed in Xiao Fan’s hand.

“If you run into an enemy you can’t resist, activate it and release it,” Meizu added.

It was made on the spot, but dealing with one or two Soul Transformation experts wouldn’t be a problem.

There was nothing else to do. This trip was originally just meant for strolling around with Xu Xing, and stopping by to ask about Little Yinxue.

So she could only pluck one leaf right then.

Anyway, Huo’s disciple was only at Nascent Soul. More than enough.

“Many thanks, Senior.” Xiao Fan said seriously.

At that moment, he finally felt a bit like a “protagonist.”

In the adventure stories he’d read, those lucky people always received a “trump card” or “gift” from their master’s friends after joining their master’s sect.

But somehow, something had gone wrong.

His master was clearly a True Immortal, and had only him as a disciple—yet he had never once received a gift from any of his master’s friends.

No, wait!

He hadn’t even met many of his master’s “friends” in the first place.

Wasn’t his master the Demon Lord of the Path?

He should have had some followers, juniors, something—yet there was nothing at all.

His theoretical identity as the “young master of the demonic path” was even more barebones. He’d been under his master for years and had never seen a single demonic cultivator.

He was a “commander without troops” among “commanders without troops.”

“Since we’ve asked what we needed to ask…” Meizu looked at Huo. “Dao-brother and I still need to go to Qingxu. We’ll be on our way.”

“Safe travels.”

Before the words even finished, the two of them vanished.

Xiao Fan bowed again, then straightened and put the maple leaf away.

“Xiao Fan.”

“Yes, Master?”

Xiao Fan turned around and saw his master looking at him with a very “kind” expression.

“Do you really want to meet my disciples and juniors?”

Xiao Fan: “…”

“Fine, then before the training begins, I’ll take you to meet them.”

As a master, Huo felt he should satisfy his disciple’s curiosity.

“And let them get to know you, the ‘young master of the demonic path.’”

“Master, I—”

He barely managed three words before he disappeared from where he stood.

Huo looked up at the sky, feeling moved by what a good master he truly was.

Next Chapter >