Old Master, Times Have Changed - Chapter 728 (Patreon)

Chapter 728: Contacting the "Sword of Extremity"

Silence hung for a long while.

“You won’t know until you’ve fought.”

Even though his sharp-tongued little sister had said that Chi Jiuyu’s progress over the past few years had been huge, Zhao Ruoming still felt his own gains weren’t small either.

If you haven’t actually crossed swords, how could you draw conclusions so easily?

Seeing how firm he was, Ye Zhiwei could only give one last reminder. “Then… be careful.”

Don’t go and get beaten into tears again.

She kept that line to herself.

“Relax.” Zhao Ruoming seemed far more easygoing now. “Even if I lose to her, I won’t be like I was back then.”

At this point, he could face that old embarrassment with composure.

“Then I’ll head over first. I won’t bother you any more.”

He’d already asked his sister to pass along word about the “match,” so Chi Jiuyu should be prepared as well.

Last time at the Immortal Sect Grand Tournament, he’d been eliminated before he even got a chance to exchange moves with her.

This time, he would make up for that regret from years ago.

A flicker of fighting intent flashed through Zhao Ruoming’s eyes.

“Mm. Take care, Brother Ruoming.”

Ye Zhiwei stood where she was, watching him leave.

Only when his back vanished completely from her sight did she withdraw her gaze and look forward again.

Flowers bloomed in clusters, and fresh, tender buds covered the branches.

She closed her eyes and calmed her mind, quietly sensing the “spring radiance” aura that permeated this place.

After a long time, a light breeze brushed past.

In a daze, it was as if she glimpsed the very first wind of early spring—wherever it went, dead wood flowered and barren ground turned to green.

At the same moment, Ye Zhiwei lifted her hand. Faint, half-seen sword threads coiled around her five fingers, gradually dyed by the spring radiance here, taking on a hint of green—brimming with life.

Little by little, that green grew brighter, until it transformed into a dazzling gold-red.

The once gentle, dense spring radiance also turned scorching—like wildfire sweeping the plains, violent and hard to predict.

But as it touched a boundary, the blazing aura began to ebb. The brilliant gold-red shifted into a bleak gray-yellow.

The color faded more and more, until it could no longer be seen, like a frozen lake sealing over—buried by wind and snow, leaving only an endless blank expanse to the eye.

The intent of the four seasons’ turning stirred the nearby sword cultivators who were also comprehending intent. They all looked up, surprise rising in their hearts.

Huh?

It actually worked?!

Ye Zhiwei opened her eyes then as well, a trace of satisfaction flashing through them.

“To draw the sword is to turn the four seasons; to cut with the edge is to shape all things…”

For five years, she had often come to this Four Seasons Garden to comprehend intent. At last, she had managed to step into the beginner stage of the Flowing Seasons Sword Canon.

She raised her hand and looked at the sword threads winding between her fingers, cycling through four colors.

Back when she first arrived at the Sword Sect, Chi Jiuyu had seen that her thoughts were too heavy—she wasn’t suited to the Flowing Seasons Sword Canon. So Chi Jiuyu had vouched for her, letting her learn the Celestial Spiderweb Sword Technique instead.

At the time, Ye Zhiwei hadn’t said anything, but she’d still wanted to prove something.

Unfortunately…

“Just like Sister Jiuyu said… it really doesn’t suit me.”

Disappointment—of course there was some.

But what she felt more was relief.

Just as Zhao Ruoming could calmly face his old embarrassment, she too—after all the trials in the Sword Enforcement Hall, and everything involving Li Ke—could now accept this with composure.

“Sister Jiuyu… you’re really incredible.” Ye Zhiwei’s voice was very soft, but it came straight from the heart.

Now she was twenty-three, already at late-stage Nascent Soul, with a solid foundation—she would soon reach peak Nascent Soul.

But Soul Transformation…

Even if everything went smoothly, she would still need at least a year.

And Sister Jiuyu, who had stepped into Soul Transformation at twenty-two…

The further you cultivated, the more you advanced, the more pressure you could feel from her.

Sometimes you just had to admit it—when she kept calling herself “the number one heaven’s chosen genius of the myriad heavens and worlds,” she really did deserve it.

…

…

Evening.

Sword Sect inner sect.

At the exit of the Sheng Ji Cave-heaven, Zhao Ruoming walked along the bluestone road into the distance, face blank and spirit drifting.

Two swords…

She’d only needed two swords to defeat him.

He’d expected the outcome—but to lose that easily…

He still couldn’t accept it.

He even started to feel like his five years of effort had been a joke.

Not far behind him, Chi Jiuyu was chatting with a handsome, heroic young man.

“Junior Sister’s progress these past years has only gotten greater,” he said.

“Hehe! Of course it has. Senior Brother, don’t you know who I am?” Chi Jiuyu wasn’t modest at all.

This young man was the Sheng Ji Sword Master, Cheng Ding.

After five years, he had finally recovered from his injuries, and would soon depart again for the Starfront Battlefield.

“‘The number one heaven’s chosen genius of the myriad heavens and worlds,’ after all,” Cheng Ding said, very obligingly.

“Yep yep!”

Ugh, talking with Senior Brother is always fun—unlike Senior Sister, who dumps a bucket of cold water on me every few sentences!

Suddenly, she seemed to remember something.

“Oh right—Master told me to take a divine ability from you, Senior Brother. It’s called the ‘Sword of Extremity.’”

Cheng Ding paused. “Sword of Extremity?”

Chi Jiuyu took out her phone, tapped into the group chat, looked it over, and then confirmed it.

“Yeah! That one!”

It really is “Sword of Extremity.” I didn’t remember wrong!

“…” Cheng Ding fell silent for two seconds.

Senior Uncle had told Junior Sister Jiuyu to “take” the Sword of Extremity, not to “learn” it.

Besides, Senior Uncle himself knew the Sword of Extremity. If it were just a simple matter of teaching her, there was no need to have her come here to “take” it.

So…

“I understand.”

He opened his hand, and a perfectly regular six-sided crystal appeared in his palm.

It was crystal-clear throughout. Inside, threads of tiny light flowed back and forth, faintly converging into the shadow of a sword—three chi and three cun long—its exact shape impossible to make out.

This is the Sword of Extremity?

Chi Jiuyu took it, about to examine it carefully—

“With this sword…”

A low whisper, like murmuring, sounded by her ear.

What?!

Chi Jiuyu’s heart clenched. She immediately looked around, and the whisper vanished along with her movement.

“No need to worry,” Cheng Ding said at just the right time.

“This…” Chi Jiuyu was confused.

Cheng Ding didn’t plan to explain much. “Normal.”

After all, he didn’t know what Senior Uncle’s intention was in having Junior Sister Jiuyu touch the Sword of Extremity at this moment. Explaining too much would only be inappropriate.

“You’re about to enter the Immortal Sect Grand Tournament. I suggest you ask Senior Uncle or Master first, and then decide whether you want to learn this Sword of Extremity.”

Chi Jiuyu scratched her head.

“Is learning it dangerous?”

“Dangerous… you could say that. Mainly it’s just too hard.”

Too hard?!

Chi Jiuyu had never expected that answer.

“If you start learning now, it might affect your performance in the upcoming tournament.”

As if anything could be harder than Master’s “unlucky sword”…

Emm…

“I got it. Don’t worry, Senior Brother.”

She always listened to good advice.

“Alright, I won’t keep you.” Cheng Ding started shooing her off. “Hope I’ll hear soon that you took first place at the Immortal Sect Grand Tournament.”

“Guaranteed, Senior Brother! Just watch!”

She’d worked hard for five years, and with the Ascension Plan missions, she’d quickly made up the “accumulation” gap she had compared to those Soul Transformation sword cultivators in their forties and fifties.

Ancestor Jiuyu wasn’t who she used to be!

…

…

Not long after.

The sun sank toward the west. In the distance, the afterglow painted the sky, rosy clouds filling the heavens. Sword rainbows came and went, weaving like flowing streams.

Chi Jiuyu carried the Sword of Extremity up the mountain steps and stopped before the hall.

Looking into the distance, she suddenly wanted to say something that fit her mood and sounded cool.

But after racking her brains for a long time…

Forget it!

Ancestor Jiuyu doesn’t need that empty stuff!

She turned to walk into the hall, when someone approached from the front.

“Senior Sister?”

The newcomer was Zhang Yunlu.

She glanced at the six-sided crystal drifting around Chi Jiuyu.

“Your match with Sister Ruohan’s brother ended that fast?”

Earlier today, when Sister Ruohan’s brother came looking for Senior Sister, Senior Sister had still been grinding through talisman orders.

Sister Ruohan had mentioned it to her, but she’d completely forgotten it.

Sister Ruohan’s brother had waited quite a while, only catching Senior Sister after she finished the orders.

“Fast? It was fine,” Chi Jiuyu said indifferently.

He was about the same level as Little Zhao. One Four Symbols Sword Wheel of Nirvana and one Lingyun Dao Sword, and it was settled.

She didn’t even need to use the Sword of Annihilation, or the two swords she’d comprehended during those Ascension Plan missions over the years.

She wasn’t bragging—among early-stage Soul Transformation cultivators in the Tai Xuan Realm, fewer than a hundred could withstand two of her swords, and fewer than ten could trade blows with her head-on for any length of time without falling into the disadvantage.

“Though he did look kind of stunned. When he left, he was wobbling.”

Back then, there had been a gap between them, but it hadn’t been that huge.

Now Chi Jiuyu had crushed him with absolute dominance in only two swords.

How could Zhao Ruoming not take a blow from that?

“Alright, alright, enough about that.”

Chi Jiuyu didn’t take it to heart.

Over the years, plenty of people had challenged her. Not to mention Zhao Ruohan and Ye Zhiwei—those three sparred all the time.

Besides them, there were geniuses from other immortal sects, and even Chen Yuanlin—who had risen again and joined the Sage Emperor Yuan—had fought her several times.

Notably, Chen Yuanlin was the only opponent who had made her feel pressure—she’d needed three major sword moves to defeat him.

That guy was truly strong.

As for Little Zhao…

He could barely scrape into her top five.

“I’m going to see Master first, yeah!”

“Mm.”

They passed each other.

Zhang Yunlu went down the mountain. Chi Jiuyu, steps light, entered the Sword Sovereign Hall.

“Master! Master! I’ve taken the Sword of Extremity. Senior Brother said I should ask your opinion—should I start learning it now, or later?”

Before she even arrived, she was already shouting.

When she reached the training ground, she saw Bie Xuening seated as usual in the center—and also…

“Senior Uncle?”

Senior Uncle was here too?

She first gave a proper salute.

“Disciple greets Master and Senior Uncle.”

Then she immediately became lax again.

“So, Master—what even is this Sword of Extremity? I asked Senior Brother and he got all mysterious and didn’t say.”

Bie Xuening didn’t answer, only looked to the side.

“The Sword Sect’s third supreme sword art.”

Xu Xing lifted a hand and drew the perfectly regular six-sided crystal from where it floated around Chi Jiuyu, pulling it into his palm.

The Dao has no fixed form—let alone a supreme sword art like the Sword of Extremity.

The true essence of this crystal was a wisp of sword intent. Only by shaping it with true immortal power could it display this form.

“Third supreme sword art…” Chi Jiuyu froze, then blurted out, “Doesn’t the Sword Sect only have the Sword Codex of Annihilation and the Tai Void Sword Codex as supreme inheritances?”

“It’s a sword art—still not an inheritance,” Xu Xing explained.

More strictly speaking, it could only be called an unfinished supreme sword art.

“Then why haven’t I seen the Sword of Extremity in the Hall of Inheritance?”

“The difficulty is too high, and it’s easy for sword cultivators to become obsessed, so it was removed.”

For a sword cultivator who truly possessed a sword heart, seeing the Sword of Extremity was like a starving gourmet seeing the finest delicacy in the world.

Especially those with high talent—they would only feel that the Sword of Extremity encompassed all sword Dao, contained all phenomena, and pointed straight to the ultimate summit.

How could they be willing to give it up?

So it really is like Senior Brother said.

Chi Jiuyu muttered inwardly.

Then she looked up again.

“So should I learn it now, or wait until after the Immortal Sect Grand Tournament?”

“Up to you.”

“Huh?”

“Learn it whenever you want.”

Xu Xing sent the crystal back.

Chi Jiuyu took it again and couldn’t help scratching her head.

“Senior Uncle, you trust us that much?”

Didn’t you say it’s insanely hard and easy to get obsessed with?

“Aren’t you the one who calls yourself the number one heaven’s chosen genius of the myriad heavens and worlds?” Xu Xing said. “Coincidentally, he also believed back then that he was the number one heaven’s chosen genius of the myriad heavens and cosmos.”

That arrogant?!

“But he did deserve that title,” Xu Xing added.

Huh?!

Chi Jiuyu’s expression immediately turned serious.

“I understand!”

She looked at Xu Xing, then at Bie Xuening, and silently made up her mind.

Sooner or later, she would make Master and Senior Uncle acknowledge her like that too!

“Then Master, Senior Uncle—this disciple will take her leave.”

“Mm,” Bie Xuening said lightly.

Chi Jiuyu left with a solemn face, carrying the crystal that recorded the Sword of Extremity.

After she completely departed the Sword Sovereign Hall—

“Anything?” Bie Xuening asked.

“No.”

Xu Xing sighed and looked toward a certain direction.

Qingxu.

Just over a month ago, Gu had sneaked into Qingxu, trying to draw close to the living world.

Of course, Gu was still discovered by their preparations and wounded once again.

But knowing the risk and appearing anyway meant they had to recheck Qingxu and investigate information related to Tai.

Not long ago, Daoist Yuanjun had mentioned that Xu Xing’s third disciple had once used the Soul Transformation realm to stop a severely injured Tai for an instant. That was why Xu Xing and Bie Xuening had Chi Jiuyu go to Cheng Ding to retrieve the sword-intent crystal of the Sword of Extremity.

On one hand, Chi Jiuyu’s performance these years truly meant she could touch this sword.

After all, once she learned the Sword of Annihilation, the first thing she wanted was to turn it into her own sword.

On the other hand…

They wanted to use the sword-intent crystal of the Sword of Extremity as a medium, to see if they could glean any information related to Tai.

But the result was still nothing.

“Still, keeping a closer eye on Qingxu can’t be wrong,” Xu Xing said.

“Mm.” Bie Xuening nodded slightly and said no more.

No matter what Gu’s purpose was, what they had to do was stop it.

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