"Sword Seed?"
How dare Yun Ze tell the truth!
He tilted his head, looking at Zu Changdao strangely, "Sect Master, what are you talking about? These things were all passed down to me by Brother Xiao, weren't they?"
"Little friend."
Zu Changdao smiled faintly and patted Yun Ze's shoulder, "This is you being dishonest!
These twenty-three cultivation techniques, totaling over two hundred thousand characters, unless you have a photographic memory, there's no way you could have memorized all of them in one night!"
"But Brother Xiao passed them down..."
"Don't you dare mention inheritance."
Zu Changdao knew what Yun Ze wanted to say and interrupted him before he could, "Senior Brother Xiao is only at the Condensing Dao realm. Even if he passed down all his sword dao insights to you, he could at most teach you those twenty basic sword techniques.
But the Turtle Martial Art, the Way of the Wanderer, and the One Sword Eye are not sword dao inheritances! They are techniques recorded in secret texts!
These three techniques could not possibly be part of an inheritance! The fact that you can recite them flawlessly now leaves only one possibility!"
"You have a Sword Seed!"
"Just confess it honestly!"
I had no idea about this!
Yun Ze looked helpless.
The reason he told Zu Changdao that he had memorized all these techniques overnight was to use Brother Xiao's inheritance as an excuse to study these techniques early under Zu Changdao's guidance.
Unexpectedly, it backfired, exposing his possession of a Sword Seed.
This matter of the Sword Seed couldn't be hidden anymore, but... no matter what, he couldn't tell him that it was taken from an immortal jade!
The Sword Seed was exposed, but the immortal jade must not be!
"Little friend!"
Zu Changdao once again unleashed his sword domain, flashed to Yun Ze's side, and whispered in his ear, "Tell me honestly, did that person give you this Sword Seed?"
"That person?"
"The Emperor Venerable!"
Zu Changdao looked at him expectantly, "He's still alive, right? You've seen him, haven't you!"
What a good excuse!
A flash of inspiration struck Yun Ze, and he nodded, "Yes! He passed it down to me."
"As expected! I knew it, otherwise how could you call Senior Sister Mu 'Senior Sister'? I see now!"
Zu Changdao looked as if he had expected this, and he grabbed Yun Ze, bombarding him with questions, "How has the Emperor Venerable been recently? Has his cultivation progressed? What exactly happened back then? And... when will he return?"
"This..."
"It's inconvenient to say, right? It's okay!"
Before Yun Ze could even finish fabricating a story, Zu Changdao spoke first, appearing extremely excited, "I know you can't say much about the Emperor Venerable's affairs. As long as he's alive, that's good enough!
By the way, this Sword Seed of yours, does he want you to inherit the Guiwu Sword Sect, or..."
"Hide it! He told me to hide it and not let anyone discover it! Brother Xiao giving me the inheritance was also to help conceal the matter of the Sword Seed!"
Yun Ze scratched his head sheepishly, "It's quite embarrassing, really. This was my mistake, and you shouldn't have known about it, Sect Master.
Sect Master, please don't tell anyone else, or that person will get angry!"
"Understood! I understand! I understand everything!"
Zu Changdao breathed a sigh of relief and patted Yun Ze's back, "He's alive! As long as he's alive, that's good enough! Our Guiwu Sect will one day ascend to the pinnacle of the Northwest Profound Heaven again!"
"Mm!"
Yun Ze never expected that all these details would be imagined by the Sect Master, and he hadn't even explained anything.
However, since things had come to this, he only needed to 'nod, smile, and hum'.
"Little Yun... no, I should call you Junior Brother Yun!"
Zu Changdao turned to look at Yun Ze, "Regardless of the Emperor Venerable's intentions, since he passed the Sword Seed to you, I, as the contemporary Sect Master of the Sword Sect, must teach you well.
Let's begin now!"
"Okay!"
Yun Ze responded, filled with anticipation!
"Then let's start with the Water Cloud Art, which you are most familiar with."
Zu Changdao casually dispelled his sword domain, tilted his hand, and the water vapor in the air instantly condensed into a water sword!
"The Water Cloud Art is one of the Five Elements principles of the Guiwu Sword Sect, and it is also the foundation of the Drowning Water Sword Rain. Below the Golden Core stage, there are three sword techniques: the Water Sword Art, the Soaring Cloud Sword Art, and the Rain Calling Sword Art.
You have already learned the first two, and the Soaring Cloud Sword Art has reached great accomplishment. As for the Rain Calling Sword Art, its foundation can only be displayed after the first two sword techniques have reached great accomplishment.
Shall I teach you the Water Sword Art first?"
"As the Sect Master arranges."
Yun Ze was a little confused, "But Sect Master, doesn't the Water Sword Art require reaching the ninth level of Qi Refining to achieve great accomplishment? Why..."
"That's the basic version. Condensing water into a sword consumes a large amount of spiritual energy. Besides disciples at the ninth level of Qi Refining, those at the sixth level of Qi Refining who have reached the seventh realm of the Sea of Qi can already do it.
We wrote it this way to prevent untalented disciples from being overly ambitious and trying to condense water into a sword prematurely.
Zu Changdao looked at Yun Ze and smiled, "Now that you meet the conditions, it's time for you to learn it."
So that's how it is!
Yun Ze wondered why only this technique had a realm requirement, while others didn't. So that was the reason!
"Then let's begin."
Zu Changdao dispelled the water sword in his hand and instead condensed a mass of spiritual energy in his palm, "The first step is to condense a water mass, and then..."
His voice abruptly stopped. Zu Changdao glanced at Yun Ze and found that he was already holding a brilliant blue spirit sword!
That was clearly a water sword condensed by the Water Sword Art!
Yun Ze looked up at Zu Changdao, somewhat stunned, "Sect Master, is it like this?"
Zu Changdao: ...
Can I say it's not!
This Sword Seed inheritance is too outrageous!
When I first joined the sect, summoning a sword created the miracle of eight swords hanging in the sky, but it still took me three hours to reach great accomplishment in the Water Sword Art!
But he... only took an instant?
No!
Such a genius cannot be allowed to become arrogant; suppression is the way!
"Yes, very good, very good."
Zu Changdao suppressed the surprise in his eyes and smiled, "Although it's a bit slower than when I did it, you're still exceptionally talented.
Then let's learn the Rain Calling Sword Art next."
"This Rain Calling Sword Art is extremely simple. The principle is to combine the Water Sword Art and the Soaring Cloud Sword Art.
With one strike, a rain of swords follows, and each drop of rain is a sword qi!
With your current cultivation, if you practice it well, you can at least make the sword rain cover an area of ten meters. You first watch..."
*Buzz!*
Before Zu Changdao could finish speaking, he felt a cold and sharp force rushing towards him, stinging his face and piercing his heart.
This is... sword rain!?
Zu Changdao was completely stunned.
If the Water Sword Art could still be attributed to Yun Ze's prior accumulation, then the Rain Calling Sword Art was definitely a technique he had only recently encountered!
Is this Sword Seed truly this terrifying?
"Sect Master?"
Seeing that Zu Changdao remained silent, Yun Ze retracted his water sword and waved his hand in front of Zu Changdao, "Sect Master, are you alright?"
"Mm, to be able to grasp it so quickly, it seems the Sword Seed is indeed extraordinary."
Zu Changdao suppressed the tremor in his heart and could only praise casually, "However, you've only just begun. To survive against those prodigies in the Heaven Building Secret Realm, this is far from enough!
The sword rain you just displayed was there, but it lacked sharpness and had too much coldness. Try to adjust more sword qi and do it again."
"Okay!"
...
A month passed.
Yun Ze spent nine hours a day, besides his three hours of meditation and cultivation, studying the twenty-three sword techniques and cultivation methods.
By the last day, he had cultivated the Water Cloud Art, the Fire Burn Art, the Wood Generation Art, and the Gold Edge Art to minor accomplishment. Further breakthroughs would require reaching the Foundation Establishment stage.
The sword techniques accompanying these four sets of cultivation methods had all been cultivated to great accomplishment.
As for the Earth Stone Art, it remained at the introductory level, and no matter how he practiced, he could not advance further. The sword techniques of the Earth Stone Art had also only reached minor accomplishment.
He had also gained an introductory level in the other three cultivation methods!
The cultivation difficulty of these three techniques was far higher than those sword techniques, and gaining an introductory level was already difficult.
According to Zu Changdao, to advance further and reach minor accomplishment, one would need at least Foundation Establishment.
Overall, his achievements in one month had far exceeded Zu Changdao's expectations!
Therefore, on the last day of the month, he gave Yun Ze a day off.
This day was for him to relax and clear his mind, and tomorrow, the next phase of teaching would begin!
Yun Ze immediately went to find Chen Xiao!
He needed to get some pills from this guy!
Strangely, when Yun Ze arrived at the small courtyard, he didn't see Chen Xiao. Instead, he saw the tongue-less Senior Brother Xiao.
He only gave Yun Ze a pill. No matter what Yun Ze asked, he said nothing, not even writing anything down when paper and a pen were placed in front of him.
Yun Ze took the pill and left, not lingering any longer.
He then went to the Mission Hall.
He had originally intended to find Sister Shang, but upon arriving, he learned that Sister Shang had become a top-tier disciple and was no longer working at the Mission Hall.
Yun Ze had no choice but to return to Su Ling'er's small courtyard.
As soon as he arrived at the courtyard, he saw Su Ling'er and Sister Shang cultivating together, looking like close friends.
When Luo Shang saw Yun Ze arrive, she disengaged from her cultivation and spoke with him.
Yun Ze briefly recounted his recent experiences, describing his cultivation on the isolated peak at two thousand meters as Zu Changdao's appreciation for his talent, wanting to take him as a personal disciple.
He wondered if Luo Shang believed him.
But no matter what, he couldn't tell Luo Shang that Zu Changdao wanted him to be a double agent, which was why he was treating him so well!
After a brief exchange, Yun Ze planned to head to the thousand-meter mark to check on Xiao Shu.
Luo Shang gave him two bottles of pills, saying they were sent by Yu Xian. One bottle contained first-grade Blood Nourishing Pills, and the other contained first-grade Spirit Nourishing Pills.
The former could treat internal and external injuries, while the latter could replenish spiritual energy. Each bottle contained nine pills, intended for emergencies in the Heaven Building Secret Realm.
With Yun Ze's current cultivation, as long as his heart wasn't shattered or his brain lost, the Blood Nourishing Pills could save his life, and one Spirit Nourishing Pill could even fill his current Sea of Qi!
It could be said that each pill in these bottles was equivalent to a life!
Yun Ze compared them. The pills that Brother Xiao had prepared in his spatial ring before were also these two types.
Including these eighteen pills, he now had a total of thirty-six Blood Nourishing Pills and thirty-six Spirit Nourishing Pills in his spatial ring.
It seemed he wouldn't be lacking in these items for the Heaven Building Secret Realm trip.
After thanking her, Yun Ze headed towards the thousand-meter mark of the isolated peak.
With one month left until the opening of the Heaven Building Secret Realm, he wanted to see how Xiao Shu was preparing.
As soon as he reached the entrance of Wei Lanshu's cave dwelling, Yun Ze saw Li Po kneeling at the entrance.
What was once a delicate old woman was now completely white-haired, her head covered in dry leaves and cobwebs, as if she had been kneeling there for a very long time.
Yun Ze frowned slightly and stepped forward to ask, "Li Po, you..."
He only managed to utter three words before his speech abruptly stopped, and his expression gradually turned to horror!
Li Po, she...
was dead!?
A Golden Core stage cultivator, dead just like that?