For the time that followed, Ye Luqing planned to continue cultivating the One Qi Sword Art.
She didn’t go to the White Jade Platform, but instead returned to her own courtyard.
The One Qi Sword Art was one of her few offensive methods. Whether it was the Singles Match or the Duo Tournament, it could be considered her trump card.
Her identity as a Formation Cultivator was an additional smokescreen. Who would ever imagine a Formation Cultivator’s killing move to be a sword art?
And right now, the White Jade Platform was crowded and full of prying eyes, even including people specifically gathering intelligence. Being seen by others would render it pointless.
Half a shichen later, she discovered a pink furball sneaked into her courtyard.
“Little Ying? What are you doing here?”
Watching Ying Qianqian walk into her courtyard as if entering her own home, Ye Luqing only then realized that the formations hadn’t even been triggered.
Because most of these formations were set up by Ying Qianqian before she woke up, she could naturally come and go as she pleased.
“I need to find some time to modify the formation permissions…” Ye Luqing thought to herself.
Otherwise, she wouldn’t even know if she got ambushed one day while sleeping.
“Senior Sister Ye, I… I came to borrow the Seven Emotions Branch.”
Ying Qianqian said softly, her gaze darting to the right. She looked utterly guilty.
This little gesture naturally didn’t escape Ye Luqing’s eyes. This Junior Sister who couldn’t lie was probably just making an excuse to come cling to her.
“Little Ying, lying doesn’t make you a good child.”
She pinched Ying Qianqian’s soft, pink cheek, putting on a stern expression as if scolding her for not practicing properly.
She really needed to keep this pink furball under control. If she didn’t establish authority now, it would be too late when she got overthrown later.
However, in the next moment, Ying Qianqian simply followed the pull of her cheek and threw herself into Ye Luqing’s embrace.
“Wuwu… Senior Sister Ye, I was wrong.”
“I just wanted to be with Senior Sister Ye.”
Ye Luqing paused, looking at the fragrant, soft pink furball snuggling in her arms. The scolding on the tip of her tongue suddenly became hard to voice.
Moreover, a warm feeling rose in her heart.
Unlike Xiao Qingxuan, who only cared about the original host, in the original plotline, Ying Qianqian didn’t have much interaction with the original host.
That meant Little Ying’s affection for her had developed after she crossed over. It belonged solely to her, the “substitute.”
“Ah…”
“Don’t do this again next time.”
She still went soft.
She then took out the Seven Emotions Branch and placed it in Ying Qianqian’s hand.
“Hehe.”
Ying Qianqian stuck out her cherry-colored tongue, looking like she’d definitely dare to do it again.
“You stay here and meditate on it properly. I still need to practice our Duo Tournament trump card first.” Ye Luqing resumed her sword stance.
“Trump card?” Ying Qianqian blinked.
“Mm, a sword move Senior Sister Xiao taught me. It might have a surprising effect when the time comes.”
Although she had heard that Little Ying’s Sword Dao talent was very high, without Xiao Qingxuan’s permission, she couldn’t teach this sword art to Little Ying.
As for Little Ying secretly learning it? Her own One Qi Sword Art was still half-baked right now. She’d be shocked if anyone could learn it by watching.
At that, Ye Luqing took out the Jade Spirit Sword, held her breath, focused her mind, and silently activated the One Qi Sword Art.
Her Sword Dao talent certainly couldn’t match her heaven-defying comprehension of the Formation Path; in fact, it could even be called mediocre.
Without Xiao Qingxuan’s guidance, this Profound-Tier Superior One Qi Sword Art—she could ponder it for half a month and still not grasp the basics.
But even so, a dull person had dull methods.
Xiao Qingxuan’s analysis was already very detailed. The slow condensation speed was mainly because her understanding of the One Qi Sword Art wasn’t deep enough—or rather, her understanding of her own “Sword Intent” wasn’t enough.
The Sword Intent she used to condense Sword Energy wasn’t her own; it was derived from novels, anime, and games she’d experienced in her last life.
If she wanted to push this technique to a higher level and speed up Sword Energy condensation, she had to transform this borrowed Sword Intent into something truly hers.
Ye Luqing closed her eyes and concentrated, her consciousness falling upon the sword diagram within her Spirit Palace.
Ever since she grasped the basics of the One Qi Sword Art, the sword diagram from the art had remained in her Spirit Palace.
She drew upon the Sword Qi within the Jade Spirit Sword, then poured all her consciousness into the center of the sword diagram, onto the small white figure that looked seventy-to-eighty percent like her.
It was still a rigid, mechanical action, but Ye Luqing fully memorized these movements.
In the next moment, her body suddenly moved, synchronized in action with the white figure in the sword diagram.
Since she was imitating Sword Intent gleaned from observation, why not just master it?
First, use memories from Earth to construct Sword Intent. The Sword Intent transforms into physical sword moves through Sword Energy.
As long as she mastered these sword moves, then this Sword Intent would fully belong to her.
From ancient times to the present, Sword Cultivators always practiced sword moves first, then condensed Sword Intent from those moves.
Someone like Ye Luqing, reverse-engineering sword moves from Sword Intent, was a rare sight in the world.
Ye Luqing’s execution of the sword moves grew faster and faster, the transitions between moves becoming increasingly fluid, gradually shedding the earlier rawness and stiffness.
Nearby, Ying Qianqian was completely entranced, staring directly, her cherry-colored little mouth slightly agape, almost drooling.
Sword Cultivators were always elegant and unrestrained. Coupled with the unique heroic spirit within Ye Luqing, she perfectly embodied the image of a righteous swordswoman.
Imagining the heroic Senior Sister Ye pinned beneath her, peeling away layer after layer of her firm, righteous exterior to reveal the unseen softness and shyness inside, Ying Qianqian felt a heat in her lower abdomen and her legs turned to jelly.
However, in the next instant, the Seven Emotions Branch in her hand flashed with a crimson light, instantly enveloping her entire being.
Ying Qianqian only felt a wave of utter indifference wash over her. The desire that had just been stirred was completely drained, as if entering some kind of Saint Mode.
Ying Qianqian: …
Nasty thing!
She snorted softly and threw the Seven Emotions Branch to the ground, completely ignoring that it was something bestowed by her Shizun.
When she looked up again, she could no longer detect her earlier urge to push Ye Luqing down within the latter’s swordplay.
Instead, all that remained in her eyes were those exquisite sword moves and the gradually perfected “Sword Intent.”
“This is…”
Ying Qianqian’s Sword Dao talent told her that what Ye Luqing was executing wasn’t just ordinary sword moves, but something deeper.
She quickly realized this was a high-level technique sword art.
As a technique, besides Sword Qi and Sword Intent, it required unique energy circulation routes.
She stared intently at Ye Luqing’s body. As the latter twirled and moved with the sword, Ying Qianqian seemed to see silver starlight flashing within Ye Luqing’s meridians.
I saw it!
In the next moment, sword energy white as jade swirled around Ying Qianqian. Sword light overflowed from her blue eyes. An innate sword aura formed around her, natural as if born, just like a Sword Cultivator at the Golden Core Stage.
She used her finger as a sword, imitating Ye Luqing’s energy circulation route to activate the sword art.
“I want to share Senior Sister Ye’s burdens. I can’t let her be the only one attacking.” She thought to herself.
Ye Luqing’s Sword Dao talent was limited. Even by simulating Sword Intent through a clever trick, she couldn’t unleash the full power of this sword art.
But with her Sword Dao talent, she could bring this sword art to its peak.
After flawlessly running it a few more times, reaching perfect harmony between Sword Qi and Sword Intent, Ying Qianqian would be able to train this sword art to Minor Achievement.
“This technique was passed to Senior Sister Ye by Head Disciple Xiao. I’m learning it in secret…”
A Profound-Tier Superior technique was the strongest method accessible to Inner Sect Disciples and Direct Disciples at the Golden Core Stage.
It was only because of Ye Luqing and Xiao Qingxuan’s relationship; under any other circumstances, no one could cross peaks and learn such a superior technique.
So she had to hide it well. No one could discover she had learned this in secret.
Unless absolutely necessary, she absolutely could not use this sword art.
Having made her resolution, Ying Qianqian restrained her aura, and the surging Sword Qi instantly vanished without a trace.
She returned to being the Formation Cultivator Ying Qianqian of Azure Sky Peak.
