Chapter 46 Part 2

But this heaven and earth had been evolved by the Qing Emperor with great magic—sun and moon were illusions, their essence mere wisps of vital energy. How could they sustain a spirit object’s cultivation? As the sky shifted unpredictably, the silver light beneath the sun’s rays quickly retracted.

Li Ruoshui sensed it the moment the silver light appeared. While it absorbed the “purple qi,” she quietly spread her magic, unfurling an immense net of Wood Element Qi. As the silver light whirled, she slammed the net down onto it. The silver light panicked, darting left and right within the Wood Element Qi, its momentum fierce—but Wood Element Qi was the most tenacious, allowing no escape. Soon, the great net contracted, binding the silver light into a ball.

Li Ruoshui captured the silver in her palm and examined it closely. It was a palm-sized silver Command Sword, with a seal-script “Emperor” on the front and strange mountain-form diagrams on the back, like a talisman. Li Ruoshui looked at it curiously, then summoned a strand of Taiyi Blazing Fire Profound Light to try refining it.

As soon as the profound light arose, the Command Sword emitted a piercing shriek, followed by furious cursing.

Li Ruoshui raised a brow. “What are you?”

The Command Sword kept cursing, “You’re the thing! Your whole sect is full of things!”

Li Ruoshui chuckled coldly and intensified the Taiyi Blazing Fire Profound Light. It couldn’t even break free from the Wood Element Qi net—clearly useless. It still dared to curse? Let’s see if that mouth could withstand the blazing fire.

“You dare provoke me? When my master returns, she’ll make you—”

Li Ruoshui cut it off before it finished, drawling lazily, “Make me pay? No worries, I’ll make sure she knows she’s provoked the real villain.”

The Command Sword choked, speechless for a long while.

Li Ruoshui asked again, “Who is your master?” Could it be a cultivator training here who lost their treasure? But a treasure with spirituality couldn’t be brought into the Shanyue True Form Chart. Or perhaps a spirit born from something in this Cave Heaven paradise? That possibility was minuscule. Rather than guessing it was a spirit from an object inside a dharma treasure, it was better to assume it was the true spirit of the treasure itself.

A jumble of random thoughts flashed through Li Ruoshui’s mind. Her eyes flickered as she suddenly seized the last wisp of an idea. She flipped the Command Sword over and stared at the symbol on the north side for a long time. She then recalled the terrain in the True Form Chart from her memory and matched it against the symbol one by one. “Could you be the true spirit of the Shanyue True Form Chart?”

The Command Sword buzzed and vibrated in Li Ruoshui’s palm. It asked, “Are you scared now?”

Li Ruoshui mused thoughtfully, “With the Empire without a ruler, it means no one can truly control the Shanyue True Form Chart.”

The Command Sword snorted. “With your cultivation, you can’t refine me. Give up on that idea.”

Under the Taiyi Blazing Fire Profound Light, aside from its ghostly wails, the Command Sword showed no discomfort. The silver light grew brighter the more it was scorched, clearly unafraid of fire refinement. Li Ruoshui wasn’t in a hurry. She smiled faintly. “Earlier, when the Ruin Spirits appeared, why didn’t you, the true spirit, show yourself? Looking at how weak you are, either you were just born, or you’ve been asleep for too long. The Shanyue True Form Chart might have been in perfect condition before, but now it’s been invaded by baleful qi, even torn open with rifts connecting to the outside world. Can it still remain perfect?”

The Command Sword put on a fierce front to hide its weakness. “Even so, without imperial bloodline, you can’t inherit this artifact.”

Li Ruoshui continued her nonsense. “Is this the Qing Emperor’s intention? That the artifact she personally forged can only be controlled by the imperial family? I heard she cultivated the Human Sovereign Great Dao, a path with no petty households, treating all people as her children. The imperial family ascending the throne was actually just usurpation, wasn’t it? What if her intention was to abdicate? In the end, it was ruined by those unworthy descendants.”

The Command Sword was stunned. “Ah? Really?” Li Ruoshui had hit the mark. It hadn’t been born for long.

The qi mechanism of the Shanyue True Form Chart had been too perfect, and the primordial chaos couldn’t awaken the true spirit. It was only when a rift tore open in the True Form Chart that a strand of spirituality, dormant for thousands of years, was awakened. It instinctively received messages from successive treasure masters, but unlike the Emperor Sword, which was meant for slaughter, it was rarely used. Thus, it remained in a state of naive ignorance.

Li Ruoshui said, “If you really are the Shanyue True Form Chart, you should be able to sense the state of the treasure master, right? Look at you now—are you in a state of having a master? The Empire’s throne is vacant, and no one in the imperial family cultivates the Human Emperor Dao. Heaven itself has already begun to change.”

The Command Sword asked, “Then has anyone among the common folk succeeded in cultivating it?”

“What nonsense are you spouting?” Li Ruoshui withdrew the Taiyi Blazing Fire Profound Light and sighed in disappointment at the Command Sword. “The Empire blocks the path of advancement for ordinary people precisely because they’re afraid someone will awaken the Human Emperor Dao and take everything they have. Cultivation is already difficult enough; under suppression from all sides, how could anyone cultivating this Dao possibly grow?”

“I thought an artifact personally refined by the Qing Emperor would gain some intelligence upon developing spirituality, but now it seems you’re too dull.” Li Ruoshui stroked the Command Sword and casually tossed it to the ground. “I’m the one and only chosen of Heaven in the Nine Provinces. Like all the other artifacts I’ve seen, you don’t deserve to follow me.”

Who said the chosen of the Vow Dao weren’t fated? It was destiny!

Li Ruoshui made as if to leave, but as she turned, the Command Sword flew to her side on its own, asking suspiciously, “But you don’t have any treasures on you.”

Li Ruoshui shot back without missing a beat, “Because they don’t deserve it.”

Nurturing artifacts cost money, and gluttonous artifacts didn’t deserve to hang out with poor people.

The Command Sword was awed by Li Ruoshui’s words. It paused in a daze for a moment, then asked unwillingly, “Then what would be worthy to be your artifact?”

Li Ruoshui clasped her hands behind her back, putting on a profound and mysterious air. A gentle breeze blew through her Daoist robes, and the mountain mists from all around drifted toward her, enveloping her in ethereal clouds.

She declared, “I shall have a sword—with Taiyi and Wind Moon Heartless Sect as the edge, Medicine King Mountain as the forte, Origin Sea and Tianyan Sect as the spine, Joy Sect as the guard, Three Saints Academy as the grips, wrapped in the four seasons, encircled by the four seas, belted by the mountains, controlled by the five elements, debated by penal and virtuous, opened by yin and yang, held in spring and summer, wielded in autumn and winter. This sword strikes straight ahead without obstruction, lifts without superior, presses without inferior, swings without sides. It cleaves the floating clouds above and severs the earth’s veins below. Once this sword is used, the world submits!”①

The Command Sword was completely fooled by Li Ruoshui. Its movements froze for a moment before it rushed in front of her, asking urgently, “What Dao do you cultivate?”

Li Ruoshui proclaimed resonantly, “The Dao watched by Heaven, the Dao that profits the people, the Dao that dares to lead the world!”

The Command Sword murmured to itself, “Human Emperor Dao… Are you the one chosen by the Emperor Lord?”

Li Ruoshui blinked. “I don’t know any Emperor Lord. I only know I shall be for all people!”

The Command Sword grew excited and eagerly split off a strand of silver light that formed a contract talisman.

With Li Ruoshui’s cultivation, she couldn’t forcibly refine the Command Sword, but if it willingly acknowledged a master, that was another matter. A smile floated in Li Ruoshui’s eyes as she didn’t give it a chance to regret, directly imprinting her name on the contract talisman. A faint silver sword mark appeared on her brow, vanishing after a few breaths.

Soon, the Command Sword exploded with a sound. “You don’t cultivate the Human Emperor Dao?”

Li Ruoshui looked innocent. “I never said I did.”

She had spoken nothing but the truth—slaying Ruin Spirits was for the benefit of all living beings. It was the Command Sword that had misunderstood.

But this artifact really didn’t check for imperial bloodline. Then the Emperor Sword—

Could she succeed in pulling it out too?

The true spirit of the artifact that delivered itself solved Li Ruoshui’s problem, so she no longer needed to act against the Blue Butterfly.

In the Shanyue True Form Chart, the only spirituality Li Ruoshui could communicate with was this one. Destroying it to send a message to Chen Buyan would have felt too heartless.

“Time to leave. My dear friend, my good senior sister—surely you haven’t forgotten me, right?” Li Ruoshui stroked the Blue Butterfly and smiled with raised brows.

In Shanyue City.

The city lord’s mansion enshrined a projection of the “Shanyue True Form Chart,” from which the Guiding Talisman Edicts were generated. As for the True Form Chart’s true body, after it fell outside Shanyue City, it had fused with the world’s qi mechanisms and was no longer a physical object.

Suddenly, the projection twisted like rippling water for a moment before inexplicably vanishing.

The Daoist guarding it paled in shock and struck the bell and chimes to report to the city lord. Before long, the news reached Rong Yin’s ears.

“The Shanyue True Form Chart is gone? Did Rong Luo take it?” Rong Man happened to be at Rong Yin’s mansion and cried out in alarm upon hearing the news.

But Rong Yin didn’t think so. If Rong Luo could claim the Shanyue True Form Chart as emperor master, she could also wield the Ying Di Wang. Could it be some Cave Heaven Realm expert? Rong Yin took a deep breath, feeling a pounding headache.

At this moment, Li Ruoshui was utterly unaware of the storm she had stirred in the Empire.

Remembering Rong Luo’s promise, she planned to quietly pull the Emperor Sword once before leaving the Empire.

In the inn.

She took out the Tianyan Mirror and messaged Chen Buyan.

She drafted a string of words, but hesitated at the moment of sending. How should she start? Why didn’t the Tianyan Mirror have expressive spiritual emojis? What should she say? Over a year had passed since that rift; would thanking her now seem too late?

Chen Buyan: “Junior Sister, have you come out?”

While Li Ruoshui was still hesitating, Chen Buyan messaged first. Li Ruoshui lowered her head and rewrote her message. She sighed inexplicably and replied, “I’ve come out.” Maybe it was time to get a new Tianyan Mirror—only two hundred Spirit Jade Pills. “Thank you, Senior Sister,” Li Ruoshui added. A strange emotion welled up in her heart, indefinable. Could it be “homesickness timidity”?

Chen Buyan: “The Prodigy List results are out. You’re the champion.”

Li Ruoshui said in surprise, “There’s already a result? Wasn’t it interrupted by the Ruin Spirits?”

Chen Buyan: “There is. Since you’ve come out, the Immortal Dao Conference will also be scheduled. It’s no longer being held in the Empire.”

Li Ruoshui: “Where then?”

Chen Buyan: “Taiyi.”

Li Ruoshui frowned. She actually didn’t want to return to Taiyi yet. Xie Chaosheng had already recognized her, so variables must have arisen in Taiyi Sect. That said, she still needed to return to Taiyi to cancel her enrollment, so a trip wouldn’t hurt. Li Ruoshui replied with an “Mm.” “Got it. I’ll be there on time.”

Chen Buyan sent no more messages.

Li Ruoshui withdrew her thoughts from the Tianyan Mirror and looked at the Blue Butterfly perched on her fingertip. She muttered to herself, “My dear friend seems off. She didn’t mention meeting up—does that mean she’s not attending the Immortal Dao Conference?”

That made sense. Online friends agreeing to meet in person was often just impulse; upon second thought, they’d regret it and find every excuse to back out.

The unspoken understanding of adults—she got it.

Li Ruoshui sighed, a sense of loss lingering in her heart.

She rubbed her cheeks and grumbled, “And here I thought of you several times.”