Cohabitation with Sword Spirit-Chapter 42 - 34: The 73rd Successor of the Li Family in Xiangzhou
Faced with his wife’s blood-curdling cry like a cuckoo, Li Fengyun said inexplicably: "Is there a problem? He is the Sword Spirit of the Celestial Divine Sword from the ancient Immortal Demon War period. After being awakened by Qingming, he signed a master-servant contract with her. Everything is quite reasonable and believable."
Lu Xin incredulously raised her head and stared at Li Fengyun: "What’s reasonable? The Immortal Demon War of Jiuzhou? Have you ever heard of it?!"
Li Fengyun said: "Probably a story from the Primordial Era. Now, Demon Essences occasionally appear in the Border Desolate Area. According to scholars’ research, Demon Essences are not ordinary Mountain Spirits and Wild Beasts. It can be determined that long ago, Demon Essences should have had a highly developed civilization, but for various reasons, it was destroyed overnight. This coincides with the account of the Immortal Demon War."
"..." Lu Xin was momentarily speechless from being refuted but quickly continued to question, "This Whiteboard Sword, with nearly imperceptible spiritual power fluctuations, claims to be the Celestial Divine Sword. Don’t you find that laughable?!"
Li Fengyun said: "He mentioned experiencing a long sleep, so power weakening is normal. Conversely, this sword’s material is mysteriously elusive, truly resembling a heritage of the Primordial Era."
"Fine, fine. Suppose there really was an Immortal Demon War in the Primordial Era, and there’s truly a Celestial Divine Sword, but such a Divine Sword was casually awakened by that girl Qingming and signed a master-servant contract with her. How could such a fantastical tale from a novel be real?!"
Li Fengyun asked inexplicably: "Why couldn’t it be real? I encountered it myself."
"What?!" Lu Xin’s eyes widened, "You encountered it? When?!"
"In my youth, I traveled the wilds of Xiangzhou. At the bottom of a snowy mountain cliff, I discovered a Stone Sword. After pulling it out, I awakened an elder Guardian Spirit with only a fragment of Primordial Spirit remaining infused in the sword."
Lu Xin never expected to elicit such a story and nodded somewhat dazedly: "And then?"
"Upon meeting me, he was overjoyed, saying he had finally seen a promising late-generation junior after sleeping beneath the cliff for many years. Then he wanted to pass on all he had learned throughout his life to me, for me to roam the world, only wishing that if I could fully embrace his swordsmanship and Immortal Technique, he would die without regret."
Lu Xin asked: "And then, what happened later?"
Li Fengyun said: "Later, he asked me to first demonstrate my swordsmanship, so he could teach according to my ability. I then displayed the not completely mastered Wind and Cloud Divinity Transformation Technique and Lin Feng Sword at that time. After that, the elder seemed greatly shocked, saying he had never seen such high-level swordsmanship in his life and that all he had learned was far inferior to mine and dared not embarrass himself further. He asked me to put him back into the stone so he could die alone in solitude."
"...And then?"
"Later, I just put him back." Li Fengyun paused, "But this shows that the storylines in novels do truly exist, and since Qingming has inherited my lineage, encountering a personal Sword Spirit is also quite reasonable."
"How is this reasonable?!"
Lu Xin painfully stared at Li Fengyun for a long time, seeing that he still appeared baffled, and just did not have the energy to argue with him anymore. She turned to look at Wang Jiu, only to see that the handsome young man was also inexplicably observing the couple... In a momentary trance, she felt her mental fatigue doubled!
"Fine, whatever, I don’t care anymore!"
Li Fengyun said happily: "Xin’er is indeed understanding."
"..." Lu Xin stomped on him hard and then turned her head away, simmering in silent anger.
Seeing his wife had no objection, Li Fengyun turned his head and asked: "Senior, may I ask where Qingming is now?"
Wang Jiu thought for a moment, Shen Qingming had only asked him to look after the place before she left, without indicating her whereabouts as confidential, so he said: "She said she was going to relax outside the city. Based on the positioning function of the master-servant contract, she should be in front of Shen Yue’e’s tomb."
Li Fengyun was suddenly enlightened: "I should have expected that!"
Subsequently, Li Fengyun prepared to ride his Flying Sword, traveling outside the city to find his daughter. However, just before his Primordial Spirit commenced operation, he suddenly recalled something.
"Senior, there’s something I don’t quite understand. Earlier, when I released one-tenth of my True Essence as a probe, your response was effortless. Among them, you used a move to cause Spirit Wind to interfere with the operation of True Essence. Specifically, how was that achieved?"
Wang Jiu wrote: "Using the Wind Gathering Array’s cohesion to control the direction of the Spirit Wind, inducing the deviation of the out-of-body True Essence’s trajectory."
"In a flash of lightning, how can such precise calculations be completed? Purely deducing with Primordial Spirit, would it not consume too much?"
Wang Jiu wrote: "Two approaches: Firstly, through extensive battle experience, comprehending the wonders of the Immortal Technique Dao, thus relying on accumulated intuition for correct judgement. Secondly is optimizing algorithms to compute the optimal solution with a more concise substitute algorithm."
"I see. Then regarding algorithm optimization..."
Li Fengyun was about to ask more, but Lu Xin couldn’t bear it any longer: "Is this the time to discuss these topics? What are you here for?! Have you forgotten about Qingming’s situation!"
Having said that, Lu Xin pulled Li Fengyun behind her, stepping forward to speak with Wang Jiu: "Um, Sword Spirit... Senior. Since you have signed a contract with Qingming and spent so much time together, you must be familiar with her situation. Why does she want to sever ties with her family?"
Wang Jiu thought for a moment, recalling what Shen Qingming had said before, and summarized the answer roughly: "She has become disgusted with the scheming and conflict within the family, believing that the existence of the family is more harmful than beneficial to her. She would rather rely on my strength to advance her cultivation."
Lu Xin lowered her head slightly, biting her lip.
From this perspective, the situation was clear. Her high-pressure strategy towards Qingming had utterly failed. Although the girl had worked hard against the family’s high-pressure tactics, breaking through the Wind Barrier despite her lack of aptitude, at the same time, her resentment towards the family had been rapidly accumulating and erupted suddenly.
Thinking of this, Lu Xin felt a deep sense of loss. However, at this moment, Li Fengyun patted her on the shoulder: "Don’t blame yourself, you’ve always been trying to care for her and nurture her, I know that."
Lu Xin’s eyes immediately reddened, but she quickly bit her lip and said: "Bah, who’s caring about that ungrateful girl?! I’m just afraid she might disgrace the family. Now that she’s eager to leave the family, I’m more than happy to see it happen!"
After saying this, she stepped down, igniting a Golden Crow Wing, and flew away from Shen Garden.
In the courtyard, only Li Fengyun and Wang Jiu remained.
"Um, Senior..." Li Fengyun scratched his head, "It seems the situation is just like that... Qingming really does surprising things, just like Yue’e. In fact, I’m not surprised by this result. There’s a saying that to know yourself and your enemy is the key to victory, yet Xin’er and I have never truly understood what Qingming is thinking. A young girl’s mind is more mysterious than the Dao of Heaven and Earth."
Wang Jiu said: "I have always known what she is thinking."
Li Fengyun immediately stood in awe: "No wonder you are the Celestial Divine Sword from the Immortal Demon War Period!"
"You’re welcome, you’re quite good too. The True Essence outburst earlier and the previous Wind and Cloud Divinity Transformation Technique were both quite impressive."
Li Fengyun naturally didn’t know the kind of honor it was to receive a word of praise from Wang Jiu on swordsmanship—at least his ancestor, Li Jiulong, had never had such an honor. But he was still so happy that he smiled.
"In any case, since Qingming thinks the family is a burden and has you, Senior, by her side, let her be independent of the family... There is just a small favor I’d like to ask. Since the Sword Spirit Senior is so close to Qingming and knows her mind well, could you perhaps help mediate in private if we encounter problems while communicating with Qingming in the future?"
Wang Jiu considered it for a moment and felt it wasn’t an issue, so he agreed.
"Thank you so much!" Li Fengyun was overjoyed, excited beyond himself, "I really don’t know what I should do to repay you! Hmm... I’ve got it! How about this, I’ll offer the position of the family patriarch to you..."
Before he could finish, a golden light fell from the sky like lightning, striking Li Fengyun’s celestial spirit.
"You fool! Spouting nonsense again!"
Lu Xin landed angrily, jumped up, and grabbed Li Fengyun’s ear, pulling it down unceremoniously.
"Even foolishness has its limits! Offering the position of patriarch to a Sword Spirit, how much water has gotten into your head?!"
Li Fengyun argued: "I’m not being foolish, I’ve thought seriously about it. He has a Master-Servant Contract with Qingming, enjoying all her rights. And since Qingming is to inherit the position of patriarch in the future, it’s reasonable and proper to pre-transfer it to the Sword Spirit Senior."
"Reas..." Lu Xin was choked by this logical sequence and couldn’t argue back, but quickly thought of a countermeasure.
Just treat everything Li Fengyun says as noise!
It’s more prudent for her to deal with this eccentric Sword Spirit herself!
"Sword Spirit Senior, I think this way would be better. Since you’re by Qingming’s side, you should have a convenient identity for operations. Always moving around in the form of Qingming’s avatar is inconvenient, so I would like to invite you to serve as the Li Family’s Honored Guest Elder. You will enjoy monthly tributes, have access to the family’s Inner Sect classics, and attend most meetings. If you need resources like money or magical treasures, you can apply for them at any time. However... there are a few things I must request. First is confidentiality of your identity. The matter of a Sword Spirit from the Primordial Era may not be as easily accepted by others as by Fengyun, and disclosing it rashly could cause trouble. Second, please be sure to take good care of Qingming."
"No problem." Wang Jiu was actually very familiar with this arrangement. When the Jiu Immortal Venerables led the Myriad Immortals Alliance against the Demon Race, he enjoyed the same treatment as a Special Elder, free to consult any sect’s confidential classics, attend any meetings, and receive any financial resources he desired. And the Celestial Divine Sword’s status was even higher.
Wang Jiu agreed readily, which made Lu Xin breathe a sigh of relief: "Is there anything else Senior requires? We will do our best to meet it."
Wang Jiu pondered for a long time, then slowly wrote down his request: "I’d like to meet Li Tianya."
