Chapter 118: Chapter 117: Progress in the Sword Dao

A sonic boom erupted. A streak of white Sword Light cut across the sky, startling several wild geese into squawking chaotically and flying off askew.

Peak after peak was left behind by the white Sword Light as he flew several hundred li in a single breath before finally stopping.

’This is exhilarating. Now this is what it feels like to roam the Cyan Nether, swift as lightning, fast as a shooting star...’

Bai Zichen felt utterly refreshed; the speed advantage of a Tier Two Flying Sword was on full display.

He mentally calculated that at full power, the Sound Bamboo Sword’s flight speed was about three times that of his Colorful Cloud Robe.

In a short-distance race, the Sound Bamboo Sword could instantly leave most other flight-type Magical Artifacts far behind.

’Still, isn’t this Sound Bamboo Sword a bit too conspicuous...?’

When the Sound Bamboo Sword reached its top speed, it was accompanied by a Jade Sound.

Trying to use this sword for a sneak attack was completely out of the question.

Bai Zichen flew six hundred li in the direction of Cyan Bull Valley, originally intending to find a Tier Two Demon Beast to practice on.

But despite actively searching, he couldn’t find a single one.

SWOOSH!

The brilliant Sword Light shot straight toward the ground, pierced through the soil to strike its target. With just a muffled thud, the Sound Bamboo Sword was already back in his hand.

A layer of green liquid seeped from the surface, along with wisps of poisonous smoke.

Another slash of his sword overturned the earth, revealing a poisonous scorpion the size of a calf. A finger-width sword hole pierced straight through its back.

’A Tier One Peak Sand Scorpion. Its poison glands, claws, and hard shell can all be used for Refining Magical Artifacts... Every little bit helps. I’ll take it.’

He was currently out of Spirit Stones, thousands of Sect Contribution points in debt, and the Fire Dragon Returning Essence Scripture he practiced was a massive Spirit Stone drain. He couldn’t afford to be wasteful.

Bai Zichen humbly switched to his Demon Suppression Peach Wood Sword and stripped all the useful materials from the Sand Scorpion’s body.

After a moment’s thought, he found a Low-Grade Storage Bag, emptied its contents, and designated it specifically for holding Demon Beast Materials.

As the reclamation war continued, he would inevitably be harvesting these kinds of materials constantly.

’If I go any further, Tier Two Demon Beasts will become more frequent, and I might even have the bad luck to run into a Tier Three Demon King...’

Bai Zichen turned his Sword Light around. There was no need to put himself in a perilous situation just to test his combat strength.

Besides, there would be plenty of opportunities to encounter Tier Two Demon Beasts during the reclamation war.

It was just a small test, and he had only used thirty percent of his Magical Power, but he had already experienced the marvels of the Sound Bamboo Sword.

’Even as a Spirit Plant, the Sacred Sound Bamboo had a slight amplifying effect on Magical Power... Now that it’s been Refined into a Flying Sword, the effect is even more pronounced.’

On his way back, Bai Zichen continuously reduced the intensity of his Magical Power, and the white Sword Light grew fainter and fainter.

Any Tier One Demon Beast he encountered was killed in a single strike.

After striking many times, he was finally able to grasp the specific effects of the Sound Bamboo Sword.

The Magical Power amplification was about thirty-five percent.

When Bai Zichen reduced his Magical Power to one-thirtieth of his normal output, the almost nonexistent, brilliant white Sword Light failed to achieve its goal for the first time.

CLANG!

The yak before him had thick bone armor running from its head to its shoulder blades, like a naturally formed shield.

’Such a tough hide! This is perfect!’

Bai Zichen was overjoyed, as he had been worrying about not having a suitable target to practice on.

This Tier One Peak yak’s defense was astonishing. With its Magical Power suppressed, his Sound Bamboo Sword could only leave a small dent on its bone armor with each strike.

Moreover, to familiarize himself with the Sound Bamboo Sword, Bai Zichen didn’t bother looking for the yak’s weak spots. Instead, he unleashed a chaotic barrage of Sword Light against its hardest bone armor.

He soon discovered that suppressing the Sword Light to such a weak threshold placed a considerable strain on his Divine Sense.

One careless mistake and either his Magical Power would fail, causing the Sword Light to dissipate directly...

...or the Sword Light would surge, blasting the yak to death.

Bai Zichen could clearly feel that maintaining the Sword Light with his current level of Magical Power was his limit.

Any less Magical Power, and he wouldn’t be able to sustain the form of the Sword Light.

He began to execute the Swordsmanship he had learned from the True Enlightenment Sword Techniques one by one, controlling the force in his hands as intricate Sword Techniques crisscrossed like a tapestry of stars.

The yak bellowed in rage, but every time it tried to take a step forward, it was forced back by the seemingly feeble Sword Light.

He toyed with the yak for a full hour. In the meantime, two Wolf Demons passed by and were also drawn into the fray by a sweep of Bai Zichen’s Sword Light, who was delighted to see more prey.

Gradually, Bai Zichen’s Sword Techniques began to flow together seamlessly, transforming from complex and flashy moves into something increasingly simple and direct.

Each streak of Sword Light struck and withdrew instantly. The Sword Path between strikes was straight and direct, not wasting a single shred of Magical Power.

What was once a deliberate effort became effortless, without a trace of overt flourish.

"Go!"

Seeing that the three Demon Beasts were covered in wounds, their limbs weak and about to collapse, the white Sword Light flared.

A single move, "Antelope Hangs its Horns," a Sword Technique as ethereal as an immortal descending from the Outer Heavens, instantly sent three sprays of blood into the air, followed by the sound of three heavy bodies crashing to the ground.

After sheathing his sword, Bai Zichen stood motionless for a long time.

Scenes of sudden Spirit Light and breakthroughs from enlightenment during battle were usually only found in ancient texts; they were exceedingly rare in reality.

Moreover, this wasn’t even a breakthrough on the brink of life and death; he was simply practicing his swordplay on a few Demon Beasts far weaker than himself to get used to his new Flying Sword.

It could only be said that Bai Zichen’s accumulated foundation in Swordsmanship was already profound enough that this breakthrough was a natural outcome.

’My Swordsmanship has now reached a certain level of achievement. I should be close to the Perfection of the first Realm of the Sword Dao as described by the Star River Sword Monarch... The next step is to try and advance toward the second realm, Sword Qi Thunder Sound.’

This trip to test his sword not only allowed him to completely master the Sound Bamboo Sword, but also resulted in a tangible breakthrough in his Sword Dao.

Switching to his Demon Suppression Peach Wood Sword, he removed and stored the most valuable materials, such as the yak’s bone armor and the Wolf Demons’ fangs.

As for the pile of Demon Beast meat, all of it sold together by weight wouldn’t even be worth a few Spirit Stones.

Bai Zichen couldn’t be bothered to take it. Left here, it would soon be carried away by other Demon Beasts.

...

’The fifth transit station, which fell last month, has finally been retaken. More than twenty Sect Disciples died, and several times that number of Loose Cultivators... Senior Brother Gu’s prediction that day was proven right. The farther the distance, the greater the logistical pressure, and mistakes are bound to happen.’

In Bai Zichen’s hand was the latest war report, compiled by the Miscellaneous Affairs Hall and delivered to every Elder.

Over the past six months, with the three Battle Arrays of the Qingfeng Sect as the vanguard, supplemented by several hundred Clan Cultivators and a thousand Loose Cultivators, the force had been steadily advancing toward Feiyue Lake.

Along the way, they had slain countless Demon Beasts, including more than thirty Tier Two Demon Beasts.

But the expeditionary force had now entered deep into Black Mountain, more than four thousand li from the Qingfeng Sect.

The number of Demon Beasts had skyrocketed; a Tier Two Demon Beast could leap out from any random mountain peak.

As the war escalated, even a force of thirty Foundation Establishment Cultivators and over three thousand Qi Refining Cultivators was not enough to cover the entire front.

Just last month, the newly built fifth transit station’s Protection Array was breached by a pack of Fire Lions, resulting in heavy casualties.

Most importantly, without this transit station, supplies being transported from the rear could not reach the front lines smoothly.

The main force had to turn back and re-exterminate the Demon Beast Group, which was led by five Tier Two Flame Golden Lions.

The whole affair caused a two-month delay.

’The second draft has already begun. Another four hundred Clan Cultivators and a thousand Loose Cultivators are ready to deploy... Even within the Sect, Inner Sect Disciples have been organized into patrol teams to guard the area between the first and second transit stations.’

When Bai Zichen had gone out a few days ago, he clearly felt that the number of disciples in the Sect had decreased significantly.

Even Cai Heng, one of the servant disciples around him, had been drafted into the new war contingent and was scheduled to head to the front lines next month.

It could be said that currently, apart from the indispensable production-type Cultivators, anyone could be assigned to the torrent of the reclamation war.

The Qingfeng Sect had even dispatched its Wind Shuttles to patrol day and night between the five transit stations.

They could not only transport supplies but also provide immediate support if any transit station came under attack.

It wasn’t just the fifth transit station that had been attacked; every single one faced an endless horde of Demon Beasts emerging from the vast Black Mountain.

It was just that the deeper they went, the greater the pressure.

’For each transit station, the Sect has assigned one Elder to stand guard, and each Wind Shuttle also has an Elder accompanying it... Add to that the ten at the front lines, and those running between the Sect and the front, at least twenty Elders have already been deployed.’

A simple calculation by Bai Zichen was enough to tell him how strained manpower was for the reclamation war.

He estimated that it wouldn’t be long before his turn came.

As a newly promoted Elder with no official duties, he had already spent almost a year peacefully in the Sect.

’I’m still a little short of reaching the second level of the Five Crystal Glaze Body. Just give me a little more time, and I’ll be able to achieve the initial stage...’

During his last Visualization, the Glazed Red Jade in his Sea of Consciousness lasted for a full quarter-hour. It even established a connection with the Five Crystal Divine Iron, and he almost thought he could truly condense it into form.

Unfortunately, he had failed at the last moment.

"Junior Martial Uncle Bai, is now a convenient time? I have an important matter to report!"

Lu Songx arrived outside the bamboo house at the center of the lake with a panicked expression, bowing from a distance as he asked.

"What happened?"

Bai Zichen found it strange. Since becoming an Elder, he had his own sources for consolidated information. Unless he summoned them, the few servant disciples rarely came to see him on their own initiative.

For Lu Songx, the past few years had been the most comfortable days of his life since he began Cultivation. 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

With a Spirit Land like Moon-Locking Pool, he had exchanged all his Sect Contribution for Cultivation Elixirs and no longer had to spend a great deal of time on Sect missions.

In just a few years, he had smoothly cultivated to the Qi Refining Sixth Layer.

"Junior Martial Uncle Bai, our Secret Realm... it’s been taken by others!"

Lu Songx’s thick eyebrows drooped. He was completely at a loss, flustered beyond belief.

"Speak clearly. What do you mean, the Secret Realm has been taken?"

Bai Zichen’s expression turned grim, and he sat up straight.

Of course, he had kept the Secret Realm that Lu Songx mentioned years ago in mind.

It was just that his own Cultivation had been smooth sailing, and a pile of matters had come up after his successful Foundation Establishment, plus he had run right into the reclamation war.

Even Lu Songx himself, who had been the most eager about this matter, had become more patient after his Cultivation was no longer stagnating and he could see the hope of Breaking Realm.

"I just came back from the Miscellaneous Affairs Hall and saw a Wind Shuttle bringing back a batch of injured Sect Disciples... I know one of them, and I found out from chatting with him that the Blood Wolf Pack outside that Secret Realm has been wiped out by the reclamation force. What’s more, that place has a Tier One Top-Grade Spiritual Vein, and after the war, it will be awarded to a meritorious Loose Cultivator!"

Startled by Bai Zichen’s sharp tone, Lu Songx finally calmed down enough to explain the matter coherently.

It turned out that the location of the Ancient Secret Realm, pointed to by the Ink Jade Ring on Lu Songx’s hand, was right between the third and fourth transit stations.

The Blood Wolf Pack that had coiled around the Secret Realm’s exterior had been easily slaughtered by the reclamation force, and after the war, the area would become the Clan lands for a new Loose Cultivator Clan.