The noisy sound of the night rain was overwhelming. Jiang Huai took out a white bath towel and wrapped Bai Li’s body tightly. However, her body quickly stained the towel red. Jiang Huai lowered his head to look at the white snake’s eyes. Bai Li’s eyes had not yet closed, and she was desperately trying to use the last bit of her spiritual qi.
“I told you, don’t be sad.” Bai Li’s voice was very, very soft.
“I will be sad… It’s no use telling me not to… You can’t die… I owe you a life, and if you die like this, I’ll remember it forever! I won’t be able to eat or sleep properly for the rest of my life… Hold on… I’m right here with you, hold on…”
Jiang Huai’s voice trembled uncontrollably.
In all his years of cultivation, he had never truly experienced a scene of life and death separation. The most dangerous situation he had encountered before was when he and Bai Li were in a secret realm and encountered a pack of wind demon wolves. They fought side by side, both heavily injured and exhausted. Bai Li used her body to block the final desperate attack of a wind demon wolf. In her words, a demon’s physique was much tougher than a human’s. If she hadn’t blocked, Jiang Huai would likely have died, but she might not have died even if she did. It seemed like a fair trade.
Therefore, Jiang Huai considered her his best friend and never forgot her when anything good happened. He never liked killing people, but if anyone dared to bully her, Jiang Huai would take their life!
Bai Li tried to open her eyes wider, telling Jiang Huai that she was trying her best to endure, even though she was in so much pain all over her body. She really wanted to close her eyes, fall into darkness, and sleep soundly.
“Why are you still crying… It’s so embarrassing…”
“Hold on… You can’t die… Not allowed to die… Do you hear me… Open your eyes and look at me… Look at me!”
Bai Li tried hard to open her eyes wide.
“Xiao Ning, hurry… hurry… hurry!”
“Coming, coming, don’t rush me, Master, I should find it soon.” The Sword Spirit within the Yening Sword replied helplessly. The spiritual qi she had absorbed into the sword body over half a year was now all being used to help him find the ancestral land of the Ji Shi Zhenren. How much faster could she go?
The Yening Sword was already traveling like lightning through the fierce wind and rain. Its immense sword might caused the raindrops to automatically avoid it. Jiang Huai tried his best to talk to Bai Li, feeding her Healing Pills one by one. Finally, the Yening Sword stopped in front of a cave.
“Alright, if I’m not mistaken, the Dao Charm of Ji Shi Zhenren is here. His ancestral land should be inside. Hurry up and go in and take a look. If his remnant soul is still here, there might be a way to save her.” Without waiting for Ye Ning to speak, Jiang Huai had already rushed out from the flying sword. Ye Ning reminded him from the side, “You should be careful too. You just used that move, and your blood qi is unstable. Your previous injury hasn’t fully healed yet, so it’s easy for accidents to happen.”
As soon as her words fell, Jiang Huai lost his strength due to the counterflow of his blood qi and almost instantly knelt on the ground. Even so, he still held Bai Li tightly in his arms.
The cave was initially dark. After Jiang Huai arrived, the light of the Firefly Stones instantly illuminated, making the cave as bright as day. A voice echoed in Jiang Huai’s ear.
“Who dares to intrude upon my ancestral land? How can you be so reckless?”
This voice instantly ignited a glimmer of hope in Jiang Huai’s heart. Jiang Huai looked up, and the Yening Sword floated beside him, answering on his behalf, “Ji Shi Zhenren, please heal my Master’s friend.”
“Oh? Ye Ning, how did you fall into someone else’s hands?”
“My Master ascended. I wasn’t allowed to be taken with her when she ascended, so I was left behind. She also said that if she could return to the lower realm in the future, she would come to find me, but she never did for a thousand years. Since I couldn’t wait for her, I found a new Master.”
“Ning Yu actually ascended.” The voice contained a hint of emotion and envy. Ye Ning immediately replied, “Stop the nonsense and quickly see if my Master’s friend can be saved?”
A green spiritual qi suddenly surged from within the cave, wrapping around Bai Li beside Jiang Huai. Then the voice spoke again, “Is this the Snake Clan under the Dragon Clan’s kill order? However, the power of this kill order is very weak; she can be saved.”
“Then save her quickly.”
“But why should I save her?” Ji Shi Zhenren suddenly asked the Sword Spirit of Yening. The Sword Spirit of Yening couldn’t answer for a moment. However, Jiang Huai spoke up, kneeling on the ground and looking up at the cave in front of him, “I beg the Zhenren to lend a hand and save my friend’s life. From now on, I am willing to go through fire and water for the Zhenren, and I will not hesitate to die a thousand deaths!”
But Ji Shi Zhenren’s response was helpless, “I am already a dead person. This wisp of remnant soul is merely surviving in the secret realm, hiding from the Heavenly Way’s scrutiny. If I were to save her, I would have to live fewer days. We are not related by blood or anything else, why should I save her?”
Jiang Huai was speechless for a moment. He lowered his head, his forehead hitting the ground heavily, “I still implore the Zhenren to help!”
“Little fellow, your own blood qi is in counterflow, your qi sea is damaged, your spiritual qi is surging chaotically, and your injuries are not light. It’s better not to kowtow like this. I have lived for a thousand years. In my life, I occasionally liked to heal the world and seek some empty fame. But now I am just a remnant soul, and empty fame has long been meaningless to me. I will not save her. It won’t matter if you kowtow ten, a hundred, or a thousand times.”
The Yening Sword suddenly spoke, “Uncle Ji Shi, you weren’t like this before.”
“I’m keeping this remnant soul to find a successor. Since he can gain your recognition, he is naturally following your Master Yu Ning’s path of the Heartless Sword. It has nothing to do with me, why should I save him?”
“No, I chose him as my Master because his sword intent is very powerful, not because it’s the same path as my Master.” Ye Ning replied innocently.
“Sword Spirit, don’t lie to me. Didn’t you choose Yu Ning as your Master back then because you only sought sword cultivators of the Heartless Sword lineage? I remember it clearly. You wouldn’t even glance at my Sword Dao back then.” Speaking of this, Ji Shi Zhenren’s tone seemed to carry a hint of resentment.
“Principles are principles, but mainly because the sword intent of the Heartless Sword felt very comfortable to my sword soul. But his sword intent is so powerful, it’s neither heartless nor affectionate. Because it’s too powerful, I can make an exception.” Ye Ning Sword Spirit replied a little sheepishly.
“Is that true?”
“A thousand percent true.”
“If you lie to me, I’ll kill your little Master.”
“Lying to you would make me a puppy. Besides, he is also very skilled at refining medicine, isn’t he just perfect to inherit your legacy? Your Hong Meng Life and Death Sword has been hidden your whole life. You looked for several disciples when you were alive but were not satisfied and expelled them. He would surely satisfy you.” Ye Ning Sword Spirit tried hard to promote her Master. The Sword Soul’s voice was soft and sweet, like a little girl acting spoiled to a grandfather.
Ji Shi Zhenren sighed, “Then let’s give it a try.”
As the voice fell, another stream of green spiritual qi descended, enveloping Bai Li’s body. Then Ji Shi’s voice rang out, “This Verdant True Spirit can keep her alive for twelve hours. Little fellow, if you can pass my inheritance test and become my successor, then I can teach you how to save her with peace of mind.”
Jiang Huai’s body trembled. He stood up from the ground, “Thank you, Ji Shi Zhenren.”
“Don’t rush to thank me. If you fail my test, she will still die after twelve hours. I will not save her.”
With that said, a vortex appeared in front of Jiang Huai. “My trial is divided into four stages. You must pass all of them to be qualified as my successor. This is the first stage.” Jiang Huai looked back at Bai Li, who was enveloped in green light. Her body was no longer tearing apart, and no longer bleeding. Jiang Huai breathed a sigh of relief, stood up, and tried his best to suppress the dizzying sensation in his head. Dragging his unsteady body, he stepped into the first vortex.
………………………………
A white light appeared before Jiang Huai, and above the white light were countless floating spirit medicines.
What lay before Jiang Huai were three hundred and ninety-two pill formulas.
“My name is Ji Shi, I helped the world. A thousand years ago, I was known as Ji Shi Zhenren. Due to my lifespan dwindling, I prepared my own tomb, waiting for my successor to arrive.”
“My entire life, I was immersed in refining pills and the Sword Dao. My Sword Dao was rather famous, but unfortunately, to comprehend my Sword Dao, one must first understand the principles of refining pills. The vast majority of sword cultivators are impatient and cannot pass this first stage.”
“There are three hundred and ninety-two pill formulas before you. You can choose any pill furnace and any spiritual fire. The spiritual qi for refining pills in this space is inexhaustible. What you need to do is to refine all three hundred and ninety-two pill formulas. The flow of time in this secret realm is different from the outside world. If you stay here for three days, only three hours will have passed in the outside world. Within three days, if you refine seventy percent of the three hundred and ninety-two pill formulas, I will consider you to have passed the test, but you only have three days.”
Jiang Huai took the pill formulas and made them float in the air, asking curiously, “Why not refine all of them?”
“When I was young, I had the same tone as you. When you see what these pill formulas are… perhaps you will beg me to ease the difficulty.”
“Heavenly Tier Spirit Quenching Pill.” Jiang Huai looked thoughtfully at the first pill formula. He took the medicinal materials and did not choose a pill furnace, because the Worldly Rules in this secret realm were very interesting. The spiritual qi was almost inexhaustible. So, he directly used spiritual qi to form a Pill Formation, drawing the spirit medicines from the sky into the Pill Formation, and then chose the spiritual fire with the best effect and most explosive power.
“What kind of technique is this?” Ji Shi Zhenren’s voice was taken aback.
“Pill Formation, I developed it myself, to be lazy.” Jiang Huai replied softly.
“The spiritual fire you chose is too explosive and not suitable for refining the Spirit Quenching Pill. You are clearly mistaken on the first pill formula.” Ji Shi Zhenren’s voice was filled with disappointment.
“No, mainly because the Sky Manifestation Divine Fire refines everything very quickly. To save time, the Pill Formation can avoid the problem of the spiritual fire being too explosive.” Jiang Huai said as he finished placing all the medicinal ingredients. Then he let the Pill Formation burn fiercely in mid-air and stopped looking, turning his gaze to the second pill formula. He used the same method, drawing a Pill Formation, and using the Sky Manifestation Divine Fire, the most explosive and fastest. By the time the second Pill Formation was activated, the medicinal ingredients on the first Pill Formation had already been refined.
Heavenly Tier Perfect Quality. Given that he could choose any spiritual fire, even the top-grade medicinal materials, and had inexhaustible spiritual qi to use, if he couldn’t refine it to Heavenly Tier Perfect Quality, Jiang Huai would be ashamed to cut off his own hands.
