Returning from the market to her small courtyard, Li Yin took stock of her self-defense measures. Besides Jade Ecstasy Myriad Methods and the spells from the contract, she also had the Flowing Cloud Step Method.
As the player, she differed from the locals. She didn’t need to painstakingly cultivate; she just had to mentally select them on the game panel to use them.
However, limited by her cultivation, she couldn’t cast spells for long, and she wouldn’t last many exchanges in a fight.
With one day left before Hidden Sword Mountain opened, she carefully reviewed the skills she might need. She also made another trip to the Martial Field. This time, nothing happened, and she didn’t run into her predecessor again.
On the day of the opening, Li Yin was roused early by her senior brothers and sisters to attend the ceremony.
Quite a few disciples were heading the same way. She pricked up her ears to listen as Fat Senior Brother explained.
“The sword qi in the Firmament Sword Tomb lingers for years without dissipating, and it’s no small part thanks to Hidden Sword Mountain’s disciples. Before every opening, there’s a sword sacrifice ritual to temper sword intent. That’s why all the sword cultivators have been diligently practicing their swordplay these days.”
Xia Erruo chimed in. “The ritual has to be led by someone acknowledged by the Firmament Sword Intent—namely, that Sword Venerable elder.”
As she spoke, she suddenly muttered, “I heard from some other disciples that the day before yesterday on the Martial Field, not only did the Sword Venerable make an appearance, but the sword he always carries with him actually moved!”
“They say it’s his late senior sister’s lifebound sword…” As Xia Erruo spoke, she suddenly turned her gaze to Little Junior Sister beside her.
She couldn’t hear the scream echoing in Li Yin’s mind. With eyes sparkling, she leaned in close. “Little Junior Sister, I remember you were going to check out the Martial Field that day. Did you see anything?”
Li Yin shared some gossip straight from the source with her senior sister.
“I did,” she said with an innocent and obedient expression, completely honest. “But that sword only flew one circle before returning to the Sword Venerable’s side.”
She continued, “At the time, Azure Profound’s Chief Disciple happened to be standing right next to me. After the Sword Venerable elder took back the sword, he walked over and gave instructions to his disciple. It gave me a close-up view of his presence.”
Not happened to be, but it was exactly that—though Li Yin wasn’t lying. She sliced up the melon and served it to her senior sister to savor.
Staying on Hidden Sword Mountain’s turf, it wasn’t wise to gossip too freely about their Sword Venerable’s private affairs. Xia Erruo had no suspicions and simply nodded with lingering interest.
Li Yin quietly breathed a sigh of relief.
In the time it took to savor the gossip, a crowd of disciples had already gathered outside the Sword Tomb. Leading them, of course, were Hidden Sword Mountain’s disciples, while the others stood further back to observe the ceremony.
With a cultivator’s eyesight, Li Yin scanned the crowd at a glance and spotted the figure at the very front.
The man’s posture was straight and vigorous, like jade yet impossible to overlook with its sharp edge.
He was presiding over the ceremony today and wore black robes as usual, but the collar and hem now featured subtle gilded patterns that shimmered faintly. His body was adorned with a few gold ornaments and jade pieces. The previous hair ribbon was gone, replaced by a simple yet elegantly gilded hair crown that bound his hair.
Li Yin only saw his back. He stood tall and unmoving amid the howling long winds, his black hair fluttering lightly, the gold and jade ornaments at his waist swaying and sparkling in the breeze.
Then she saw him raise his hand to signal. Instantly, his sword cultivator disciples formed ranks. A vast chorus of sword cries rang out piercing the heavens. Fierce sword breaths surged from the tips of their swords like a dragon roar charging skyward, but in the end, they all converged in the Sword Venerable’s hand.
With a flash of a long rainbow, the Sword Venerable drew his sword. All those myriad strands of sword qi lay dormant beneath it, drawn by his sword intent. They transformed into dragons and flew together toward the majestic sword shadow hanging in the sky.
In a daze, it felt like dragon roars echoed nearby. Vast yet blinding dragon shadows coiled and surged toward the giant sword in the heavens. At the moment of collision, winds and clouds churned violently. The giant sword’s illusory shadow solidified in an instant, gleaming as if new—like the moment a sword immortal had first struck here, leaving behind a heaven-shattering sword intent.
Li Yin understood at once. They were gathering the sword intent of today’s disciples to sacrifice to the ancient sword immortal’s sword shadow, tempering the old shadow with the new intent.
There was no such scene in the game. She watched wide-eyed from the ground.
Her gaze fell not only on those towering sword intents but also on her former junior brother.
The man’s brows and eyes remained steady and unmoving, his dark eyes serene. The stirred airflow whipped at his robes and hair tips ferociously, yet it couldn’t shake the hand gripping his sword.
After drawing and striking with crisp efficiency, he now held his sword horizontally before him. The blinding golden rainbow of sword qi had yet to fade. Even in his black robes, he drew every eye.
He slowly descended. With a shift of his long sword, he sheathed it with a light click.
The golden rainbow vanished in an instant. As the man intoned deeply, “The rite is complete.”
The silent crowd snapped awake like dreamers, finally stirring again.
Li Yin came back to herself and blinked her eyes.
Junior brother. Little junior brother.
She hadn’t managed to supplement him that night in her dream. It seemed a bit of a pity, she suddenly thought.
Her silent senior brothers and sisters beside her also recovered. Fat Senior Brother muttered, “I’ve watched this sword sacrifice ritual plenty of times, but I still can’t tear my eyes away.”
Xia Erruo ignored him and took out a stack of jade tokens from her mustard seed pouch. “Mother-Child Guidance Talismans and Escort Talismans. Take these first.”
At her words, Li Yin curiously craned her neck to look. Senior Sister Xia stuffed two jade tokens into her hands.
“Essential items for secret realms,” she explained. “The Mother-Child Guidance Talisman can be used multiple times. The child token points to the mother token’s location. The Sword Tomb forms its own small world inside. The spiritual power surge the moment we enter might scatter everyone, so we’ll rely on these to regroup.”
“The Escort Talisman is one-use only. If you run into danger inside the secret realm, crush it to escape.”
“I see.” Li Yin examined them closely in her hand.
The game had no such items. If she’d had these back then, she wouldn’t have met with a bad end from danger in the secret realm.
After some discussion among the group, they decided the mother talisman should go either to the highest-cultivation person or the lowest.
Li Yin shook her head. Zhang Baille, whose cultivation was about the same as hers, shook his head too. Fat Senior Brother patted his chest. “Leave it with me. After all, I’m the highest cultivation here among us. Rally to me.”
With the jade tokens distributed, the Sword Tomb opened. Hidden Sword Mountain’s steward disciples directed everyone inside one by one. The group waited a moment longer.
The entrance was a winding vertical fissure. The moment Li Yin stepped inside, dizziness hit her, and in the next blink, she was some distance off the ground.
She selected the skill and landed with Silent Step. She casually flicked her robe hem and looked around. Sure enough, she had scattered from her senior brothers and sisters.
The soil and plants inside the Sword Tomb had an iron-brown hue. Broken swords occasionally lay in corners, long bereft of spiritual light.
Li Yin glanced at the jade token in her hand and followed its glow to pick a direction.
Who knew that after just a few steps, the jade token started flickering like it was broken.
She hesitated slightly and patted it, trying to fix it.
Fortunately, one pat did the trick. Li Yin followed the light and set off again.
With the disciples all entering one after another, outside the Sword Tomb, a pavilion hung high in the clouds. Elders from various sects exchanged greetings, chatted briefly, and took their seats one by one. They lowered their gazes to observe the situation inside the secret realm.
“Let me see. This opening seems much like the previous ones. Spirit Void Sect and Brahma Sound Temple sent disciples from thousands of li away—their elders must really trust them, not even bothering with escorts,” one Hidden Sword Mountain elder remarked, peering intently and shaking his head slightly.
“Though I don’t see many from Pill Cauldron Sect or Medical Poison Valley,” he added.
Another elder picked up the thread. “Bad timing this year. It coincides with the Pill Appreciation Conference for debates. They’re probably all busy preparing. I hear Pill Cauldron Sect’s Elder Fu is holding a forum with Medical Poison Valley’s Mercy Abyss Valley Master, Ci Yuan.”
“I see. I’ve been in seclusion so long I nearly forgot. That’s a rare sight indeed—they must prepare thoroughly.” The elder then turned to Azure Profound Sect’s lead elder. “No sign of Elder Shen this time. How’s the situation in Northern Delusion City?”
He inquired about recent Demon Domain activity. The Azure Profound Sect elder didn’t hide anything. “Unusual movements at the border. And earlier, according to Myriad Beasts Sect reports, a demonic cultivator seems to have infiltrated, nearly harming one of his disciples.”
Another Hidden Sword Mountain elder glanced sideways. He had a middle-aged appearance, unconcerned with youth-preserving spells.