Old Master, Times Have Changed - Chapter 729 (Patreon)

Chapter 729: With This Sword, I Prove the Peak of My Sword Dao!

By the time Chi Jiuyu reached the foot of the mountain, most of the sky had already darkened.

Specks of starlight flickered, and in the direction where the sun had set, a faint bluish-gray haze still lingered.

Walking along the small path toward her cave abode, she looked at the perfectly regular six-sided crystal in her hand.

“The Sword of Extremity”…

Chi Jiuyu understood her current state very clearly.

Just like she’d mentioned before, because of the ascension tasks, she had made up for years of lacking accumulation in only a few short years.

Five years ago, her biggest trump card was three divine abilities.

The first was the Four Symbols Annihilation Sword Wheel, created after she used the Tai Void World-Nurturing Observation Technique to comprehend cave-heaven changes.

The second was the Lingyun Dao Sword, which she realized while carrying out ascension tasks in Spirit Cloud Realm, through trading blows with Gu Xingyun’s sword-dao avatar.

The last was the Sword of Annihilation. She’d only learned a scrap of it from Xu Xing, but after relentless effort she finally got started, then improved it into something that suited her far better.

After years of constant refinement, those three were no longer remotely comparable to what they used to be.

On top of that, over these five years she had observed the unique sword-dao styles within each task world, absorbed their sword-dao foundations, and on the basis of those three swords, she comprehended four more swords—

Yuelan Seven Sword Forms.

Chi Jiuyu planned to compile them into her own First Sword Codex once her cultivation was fully accomplished.

Sure, there were still plenty of traces of other people in these swords, and her current cultivation was still very far from the level required to create a true “sword codex.”

But if you don’t have dreams, how are you any different from a salted fish?

Besides, apart from Xu Xing, Bie Xuening, and Zhang Yunlu—who shared the same lineage and knew the inside story—no one else even knew this was a thing.

Even Zhao Ruohan, who had been very close with her for these past five years, didn’t know she’d comprehended four new swords.

“Should I learn it now or not…”

Chi Jiuyu felt torn.

The Immortal Sect Grand Competition was coming soon. “Seven swords” was already the best short-term state she could reach.

The Sword of Extremity…

Whether it was her senior brother or her martial uncle, they both said this sword was extremely difficult—and that it was easy for sword cultivators to become obsessed with it.

Even though Ancestor Jiuyu was peerlessly gifted, supremely wise, her Dao heart unbeatable…

Uh…

Majestic and invincible!

Still, with so little time left, trying to get started with a sword on par with a supreme inheritance really was unrealistic.

And it might even affect her performance in the Immortal Sect Grand Competition.

All things considered, the best choice was to wait until the competition ended before studying this sword!

But…

She was just too curious about it.

After all, this was a sword created by a sword cultivator who claimed to be the number one genius across the heavens—and one even acknowledged by her martial uncle!

After struggling for a while, she forced down her curiosity and took out a jade box from her Storage Ring.

She opened it, placed the six-sided crystal inside, and closed the lid.

“Huu…”

Letting out a long breath, she immediately felt much lighter.

Better to ask around first, then decide whether to learn it.

Mainly because this Immortal Sect Grand Competition happened to coincide with the matter of the Tai Xuan Dao Web going public to the world. The scale was far larger than previous competitions.

Naturally, the champion special effects for each bracket were also way more insane than in past years.

She’d already been jealous last time. This time, there was no way she was missing out…

Ahem!

Anyway, this Immortal Sect Grand Competition was important to her, so she had to play it safe!

…

…

When she returned to her cave abode, it was completely dark.

She casually picked up a washed spirit fruit from the fruit plate on the coffee table, tossed it into her mouth, and sprawled onto the sofa.

Just as she took out her phone, a streak of azure light shot from between her brows, transforming into a cyan-gold longsword.

Humm!

A web of fine azure sword threads flashed and vanished. The skin of the spirit fruit in Chi Jiuyu’s hand trembled—and then peeled off cleanly, leaving only the tender white flesh.

After doing that, Yu Yi drifted toward the kitchen and started bustling about.

Honestly, as a Soul Transformation cultivator, Chi Jiuyu had long since achieved the so-called “dining on wind and dew, feeding on qi without death.”

But she still kept the habit of three meals a day.

There was so much delicious food in the world—what a waste not to enjoy it properly!

And after years of hard work, Yiyi’s cooking skills were no worse than an average high-tier spirit chef.

Crunch.

She took a bite of the spirit fruit, opened her chat app, and started scrolling through her contacts.

She wanted to find someone suitable to ask about the Sword of Extremity.

Mm…

First, she had to exclude fellow disciples—her senior brothers and senior sisters.

If her master and martial uncle hadn’t said anything, they definitely wouldn’t either.

But something like a supreme sword art clearly involved an extremely high level. Ordinary people wouldn’t know much. She probably needed to ask one of the “big seniors” on her friends list to get a real answer.

Thinking that, Chi Jiuyu tapped the “Big Seniors” group.

There were only three.

“The most generous Senior Daoist Ling”

“My most respected Senior Meizu”

“Senior Daoist Yuanjun”

She stared at the screen for a while.

Senior Daoist Ling…

She could rule her out first. Senior Daoist Ling was generous, gentle, and incredibly beautiful, but she was usually very busy.

Barging in over something like this didn’t feel right.

As for Senior Meizu…

Among the three big seniors, she got along best with her!

They also chatted the most. But she loved teasing people—asking her might not get an answer anytime soon.

So she had to rule her out too.

That left only Senior Daoist Yuanjun.

Little Zhao’s aunt.

They were added as friends, but they’d barely talked over the years.

Not close. Probably had to rule her out too.

Chi Jiuyu scratched her head and muttered, “Why are all three kinda unsuitable?”

Suddenly!

As if she remembered something, her eyes lit up.

She immediately opened another group.

Future Sword Sect Master: “Sister Qianqian, have you heard of the Sword of Extremity?”

That’s right—the person she thought of was Hong Qianqian!

As the founder of the talisman-sword lineage of the Supreme Dao Sect, she would definitely know everything about the Sword of Extremity.

Sister Qianqian: “Sword of Extremity?”

The reply came quickly.

Hong Qianqian was still in the Supreme Dao Sect. Only after this Immortal Sect Grand Competition would she rotate to the Starfront Battlefield to serve as a Star Territory Warden.

Future Sword Sect Master: “Yeah, do you know it?”

Sister Qianqian: “I do, but why are you asking that?”

Sister Qianqian: “Forget it. Let’s video chat.”

The moment that message appeared, Hong Qianqian called with a video request.

Chi Jiuyu accepted. She saw Hong Qianqian seated at a stone table beneath a tree in a courtyard, also holding a half-eaten, unpeeled spirit fruit.

Worth noting: Zhao Ruohan was sitting right beside her.

“Tell me,” Hong Qianqian said. “How did you even learn about the Sword of Extremity?”

“Master told me to go to senior brother today to pick up the Sword of Extremity…”

Chi Jiuyu sat up a bit straighter and explained the whole sequence of events.

“I’m worried that if I start studying it right now, it’ll affect my state for the Immortal Sect Grand Competition. So I wanted to ask you about it first.”

Hong Qianqian didn’t answer right away. Instead, she murmured softly, “That guy actually still has sword intent left behind…”

Hm?

Chi Jiuyu blinked.

Why did Sister Qianqian’s tone feel kind of… off?

“Sister Qianqian?”

Hong Qianqian snapped back to herself. “Since Sword Ancestor senior told you to decide for yourself, then decide for yourself.”

Huh?

“But since you came specifically to ask me, I’ll tell you about the person who created the Sword of Extremity.”

Chi Jiuyu’s expression turned serious. She set down the fruit in her hand.

Hong Qianqian said, “That guy, strictly speaking, counts as your third senior brother. He calls himself the number one genius across the heavens.”

“Heh. On that point, he’s pretty similar to you.”

“But he really does deserve that title.”

Even Sister Qianqian said that?

But…

Third senior brother?

Chi Jiuyu said nothing. Zhao Ruohan, beside Hong Qianqian, was also drawn in by those words and looked over.

“Back then, if not for him, maybe I would’ve become your senior sister.”

“He’s a bit arrogant, but aside from that, his personality is actually pretty good. He was also the first of our generation to achieve the Soul Transformation realm.”

“Oh right—he was also the first Dongzhen Sword Lord of your Sword Sect: the Extreme Sword Lord.”

Xu Xing, Bie Xuening, and the sword cultivators of their generation didn’t have the title “Sword Lord.”

“The Sword of Extremity you’re asking about is the sword he created after Dongzhen, then refined and perfected for two hundred years.”

“Only sword-dao geniuses can comprehend it. Only peerless prodigies can even get started. The difficulty is extremely high, and it’s very easy for talented sword cultivators to become obsessed.”

Hong Qianqian herself had tried to learn it back then.

Forget obsession—she couldn’t even understand it at a glance…

“With your talent, Jiuyu, comprehending it won’t be a problem. Getting started shouldn’t be hard either.” Hong Qianqian smiled.

“After all, among all the sword cultivators I’ve seen over the years, your sword-dao talent is second only to his.”

Second only…

Chi Jiuyu felt unconvinced, but she didn’t say anything.

She knew very well that no matter what she said right now, it would have zero persuasive power!

“Sister Qianqian, do you like my third senior brother?” Chi Jiuyu asked curiously.

“…”

To her surprise, Hong Qianqian didn’t refute it. She just fell silent for a moment.

It was like she thought of many things, and only then did she smile.

“There’s no point talking about that now.”

Huh?!

Holy crap!

…

…

Late at night.

After ending the call and practicing talisman crafting for a while, Chi Jiuyu sat upright in her meditation chamber.

Across her knees lay a plain, ancient-looking cyan-gold longsword. Pure sword intent coiled around her as she continuously adjusted her state.

The Immortal Sect Grand Competition was near. She needed to tune herself to her best condition.

Beside her was a palm-sized jade box. Inside was the sword-intent crystal she’d gotten from Cheng Ding.

Perhaps because its “status” was too high, once the jade box held the sword-intent crystal, she couldn’t put it back into the Storage Ring anymore.

But this thing was extremely valuable—and also a little dangerous—so she had no choice but to keep it by her side.

Time passed like this. Chi Jiuyu’s aura grew steadier and steadier, and the longsword across her knees lit with a hazy layer of white radiance.

A pure, chilling, killing sword intent filled every corner of the chamber.

Humm humm…

An extremely faint sword-hum rang out, as if it didn’t exist on the level of reality at all.

The jade box beside her trembled lightly. With a soft click, it opened by itself, and the perfectly regular six-sided crystal floated out.

By all logic, a disturbance like this should have been noticed long ago by Chi Jiuyu, a Soul Transformation sword cultivator.

Yet she remained seated and unmoving, until the six-sided crystal drifted to hover in front of her.

Inside the translucent crystal, thin strands of light flowed, gathered, and finally stopped at a certain point, forming the shadow of a sword.

A faint glow spread out, resonating with the sword intent that saturated the entire chamber.

“With this sword…”

Just like when she’d received the sword-intent crystal from Cheng Ding during the day.

A murmur like a whisper sounded at her ear—blurry, as if separated by thick glass.

Chi Jiuyu frowned slightly, but still showed no sign of opening her eyes.

In that instant, her consciousness seemed to fall into a boundless, endless “void” where nothing existed.

Sinking and sinking…

Her whole being slid into a hazy, drifting, half-awake state.

“With this sword…”

Still that whisper-like murmur—only this time, it was much clearer.

Whoosh.

As if a breeze brushed by, Chi Jiuyu’s consciousness cleared a little, and in that same moment she realized something was wrong.

This is…

What’s happening?

“With this sword, I prove my—”

The voice sounded again. This time it wasn’t a murmur. It was like someone stood opposite her, speaking calmly.

Chi Jiuyu sensed her consciousness continuing to sink. Dazed, she looked upward.

Far, far away, there was a tiny speck of white light.

As she stared, that speck kept expanding.

Or maybe it was drawing closer—maybe Chi Jiuyu herself was falling toward it.

The white light grew larger and larger. In her haze, it already replaced most of the emptiness.

Like two sides of yin and yang.

Above was “light,” so pure it held not a trace of impurity.

Below was absolute “void,” where nothing existed at all.

Between them was a razor-sharp boundary.

Humm!

A clear sword cry rang out!

Chi Jiuyu finally shook off that drifting stupor and snapped fully awake.

“What the hell?!”

What kind of place is this?!

Don’t tell me it has something to do with the Sword of Extremity?!

Chi Jiuyu instantly seized the key point.

In a flash, she threw her voice into a shout:

“Third senior brother! I’m Sword Sovereign’s direct disciple—his eldest disciple! I’m your junior sister!”

But the only reply she received was a single line.

“With this sword, I prove my sword dao!”

Boom!

An ultimate brilliance, impossible to describe with language, drowned everything.

An instant—or an eternity!

As the light dimmed, the sight of mountains and rivers came into view. Strange treasures and exotic beasts ran across the land, while fire phoenixes drifted through the skies on patrol.

Ten-thousand-li waves surged, and hidden dragons lurked within.

Endless mountain ranges stretched on. Auspicious qilin leapt and bounded, and wherever they passed, wondrous flowers spilled霞-like radiance, and giant trees grew, rising straight up to the heavens.

A scene both mysterious and wild.

A figure in white robes, holding a green-edged sword, strode through the sky with boundless arrogance.

Hidden dragons or fire phoenixes— even the auspicious qilin bounding through the endless mountains—could not compare to even one ten-thousandth of that figure’s brilliance.

“With this sword!”

That shout was wild and unrestrained, as if proclaiming to this world, to all living beings, the fact of his existence—his Dao!

“I prove the absolute peak of my sword dao!”

A sword strike so dazzling it reached the extreme, so exquisite it cut down to the finest hairbreadth, beyond the reach of any language, overwhelmed everything in existence.

Next Chapter >