Li Yin met a pair of black eyes, clear and limpid, still as placid water.
Her disciple and his master had looked somewhat similar in their youth, both with black eyes. The resemblance made her zone out for a moment, but upon closer inspection, they weren’t alike.
Little Junior Brother’s eyes had always sparkled with light, unlike his current direct disciple, who showed no ripples or movement.
The black-clothed sword cultivator landed with the two of them. He couldn’t make out the paths, and since the sect hadn’t assigned any disciples to guide him, no one accompanied him. He had simply run into the two female cultivators plummeting from the sky by chance.
Li Yin steadied herself, dazed for a moment before releasing his collar. She spoke slowly. “……There seems to have been some kind of accident here.”
She noticed the youth’s collar again. In her earlier panic, she had grabbed it without thinking and wrinkled it.
After a brief moment of thought, the girl reached out to smooth it down for him and gave it a pat. Although the emotionless sword cultivator didn’t understand her actions, he didn’t stop her. He simply let her pat his chest.
Hearing her words, Ying Zhuochen nodded slightly and glanced sideways at the distant storm.
The spiritual energy currents were fierce, carrying streaks of sword qi. They collided with one another, flashing with spiritual light and buzzing loudly. The momentum was extraordinary. If an unlucky disciple got swept up in it, not only would their protective spiritual energy shatter, but their physical body would likely be in peril as well.
“The spiritual energy and sword qi here are more turbulent than before. They’re all concentrated in this spot too. Judging by the direction, it looks like they came from over there,” Ying Zhuochen said. He glanced sideways at the direction they had come from, which had unexpectedly turned into another wind eye.
At his words, Li Yin gazed toward the southern position.
Dust and gales swirled together, dense sword qi spiraling within like roaming dragons. It turned the view into a hazy blur.
With her cultivation level, she couldn’t see what lay at the center of the wind eye at all.
As she focused intently, Mo Xiangwei quietly broke down on the side, tugging at the flowing beads dangling by her temple. “Something must have gone wrong. What am I going to do about my Heartbreak Pill? I haven’t even caught sight of any high-grade sword qi. Master is definitely going to scold me again. I don’t want to be criticized in front of the junior brothers and sisters…”
“Senior Sister Mo…” Hearing her, Li Yin patted her back comfortingly. “Maybe that Minor Dao Lord we hired has found something?”
Mo Xiangwei murmured a soft response but remained squatting, unwilling to stand.
With the Pill Appreciation Conference approaching and no pill formula results to show, the pill cultivator looked utterly dejected.
Ying Zhuochen glanced sideways slightly. He didn’t quite understand others’ emotions, but upon hearing they needed high-grade sword qi, he extended a hand and pointed. “High-grade sword qi. It’s there.”
The two female cultivators immediately looked in the direction he indicated. Several streaks of sword qi gleamed dazzlingly—high-grade for sure—but they sat right at the center of the wind eye, impossible to reach.
Mo Xiangwei’s eyes went blank. Then she hugged her head and muttered to herself.
Li Yin’s gaze shifted downward. Amid the sweeping sword qi, something in the center of the wind eye faintly rose and fell with the wind.
Uncertainly, she asked, “Does there seem to be something else there too?”
The moment she spoke, Ying Zhuochen answered. “Yes. With my eyesight, it looks like… a Seven Star Sword Flower.”
Identifying spiritual plants was probably the expertise of pill cultivator disciples. But the only one nearby was busy simulating the scenario of failing to produce results and facing her master’s interrogation. She paid no attention to what they were saying.
“Seven Star Sword Flower?” Li Yin had never heard of it. She voiced the question aloud. Suddenly, a clear and mellow voice cut through the wind, reaching her ear distinctly.
Someone else chimed in. “And it seems to have developed spiritual intelligence. From what I can see, it’s stirring things up quite happily at the storm’s center.”
The words had barely fallen when the speaking youth landed nearby with Silent Step.
Li Yin glanced sideways at him. Ji Lingyao returned a smile.
No matter when she looked his way, he always wore that gentle smile, the corners of his mouth slightly hooked, his gray eyes curved in a shallow arc.
As he spoke, other disciples gathered at the spot, having been caught in the sudden storm. Some had lost their bearings, and the number regrouping now was far fewer than before—reduced by more than half.
An Shanyue released her grip, setting down the two fellow disciples she had nearly let get swept away.
“For it to stir up wind like this, its cultivation probably isn’t low. Even without taking human form, it has likely developed spiritual intelligence and counts as part of the cultivation path,” she said. She touched the sword and red tassel at her side, a hint of regret in her voice. “Cultivation is no easy task, but we can’t let it keep rampaging.”
“Are you saying we should slay it right here?” Ji Lingyao lived up to his wind spirit root. He casually plucked a strand of nearby flowing wind and toyed with it at his fingertips.
An Shanyue shot him a glance. “Does Ji Little Dao Lord have a better idea?”
The gray-eyed youth let out a light chuckle. “No, I don’t. It’s growing on Hidden Sword Mountain territory, after all. Naturally, Hidden Sword Mountain disciples get to decide. If you choose to wipe it out, I can only lend a hand.”
As they conversed, Li Yin quietly noted the key phrases.
Developed spiritual intelligence.
This fell right into a beast taming disciple’s wheelhouse.
She asked softly, “Has it really developed spiritual intelligence? What does a Seven Star Sword Flower look like?”
Her low cultivation kept the wind eye’s center hidden from her.
Li Yin first turned to the black-clothed sword cultivator. Hidden Sword Mountain’s chief disciple excelled in all manner of sword arts, but he wasn’t the type to handle other issues.
His ability to name the plant precisely might simply stem from the “sword” in its name.
Ying Zhuochen’s gaze was earnest. Li Yin read the “I don’t know” in his eyes clearly.
Senior Sister Mo remained locked in her head-hugging pose, still simulating her master’s scolding. So Li Yin turned to the azure-robed law cultivator on the other side.
Ji Lingyao, master of countless spells, met her inquiring look. From his palm, he conjured a string of flowers and leaves.
The petals and leaves fluttered gracefully, forming a rough likeness of the plant.
He sent the conjured flower along with the wind right up to her eyes. “Something like this.”
Li Yin examined it. Green leaves framed white flowers with yellow stamens. “Could it be that it flowered and that’s why it suddenly stirred up the spiritual energy?”
She offered a hypothesis. Ji Lingyao’s eyes curved. “That, I wouldn’t know.”
The Firmament Sword Tomb wasn’t opening for the first time. For the plant to have grown this large inside the secret realm unscathed until now, some change must have occurred to make it agitate the sword qi.
Cultivating the Dao was never easy. Erasing it outright felt wasteful. If this were the game, it would likely be a player choice.
The girl sank into thought. The youth at her side simply watched her with smiling gray eyes, not interrupting.
Behind him, a group of Azure Profound disciples glanced at their chief, then exchanged bewildered looks.
Starting from “What does that Seven Star Sword Flower look like,” their chief had acted like he’d been possessed. By their understanding of his temperament, his response should have been something like, “Did your eyes get injured just now?”
Not expend spiritual energy to conjure flowers for some little disciple—let alone one from another sect.
Chief, you’ve never done this for us. The Azure Profound disciples glanced around, thinking to themselves.
But before the girl could reach a conclusion, Hidden Sword Mountain’s eldest senior sister had already directed her disciples to form an array and clear a path straight to the source of the disturbance at the wind eye.
At her side, Azure Profound Sect’s chief let out a light chuckle. He withdrew his gaze and turned to the sword cultivator disciples inching toward the wind eye.
He raised a hand to seize the wind’s momentum, then stepped into the sword qi storm. He seemed to truly mean it when he said he would “assist.” The other Azure Profound disciples exchanged glances once more and followed in their chief’s footsteps.
A moment later, Li Yin raised her eyes again.
“Junior Sister Yin?” Ying Zhuochen glanced sideways, noticing she had something to say.
Li Yin met his gaze. “I cultivate the Beast Taming Technique. I want to give it a try.”
She didn’t elaborate on what exactly. Yet the black-clothed sword cultivator nodded. “Alright.”
“I’ll clear a path for you,” he said.
His Emotionless Sword emerged. One slash silenced the wind and severed its momentum.
Li Yin followed behind him, drawing gradually closer to the wind eye.
Suddenly, flower petals whisked past her eyes, sweeping away wisps of the wind’s breath. The girl glanced sideways. The azure-robed law cultivator wasn’t far off.
As a wind spirit root bearer, he moved here as if on flat ground. Though he had acted first, he hadn’t surged too far ahead.
A half-smile played on the youth’s face. He raised his hand. Airflow passed through his fingertips, sweeping away vast swaths of conjured flowers and leaves. Thousands of petals streamed slowly from his fingertips.
By the time they reached her side on the wind, the flower leaves independently swept away bits of wind momentum, inadvertently easing her resistance.
Li Yin gave him another look. The gray-eyed youth simply beamed at her.
He had clearly feigned clearing the path ahead, but was quietly helping her instead.
The girl raised her hand. Her fingertip brushed a passing flower.
She lowered her eyes, hiding the flicker within them.
The player thought to herself that this Azure Profound Sect chief had likely been thoroughly duped by the cunning demonic cultivator.
With assistance from two major sects’ chief disciples, the girl pulled far ahead, reaching the wind eye before anyone else.
The wind eye’s force weakened there instead. Free of obstructions to her sight, Li Yin finally beheld the Seven Star Sword Flower in full.