Painting spirits and sword spirits were essentially the same so Lin Jin valued Shu Xiaolou’s comments highly.
If this Clear Wind Sword was older than Shu Xiaolou, it might just be an artifact from the era of immortals.
Since Shu Xiaolou couldn’t pull the sword out, Lin Jin gave it a try. Sure enough, he removed it from its sheathed effortlessly.
He had no idea when the sword chose him as its owner.
Could it have happened back when Lin Jin was subduing it?
That was possible.
Back then, Lin Jin had unleashed flames with his Blazing Sky Palm. Since ancient times, fire was known by all to be a weakness of metal. When he subdued the sword, Lin Jin must have forced it to acknowledge him as its master.
What amused Lin Jin most was how oblivious he had been.
Shu Xiaolou loved researching novel things. She was also quite well informed when it came to spirits.
“A spirit sword that would serve a master is considered an incredible weapon. However, it seems like your sword lacks assistance. Otherwise, its strength could grow up to tenfolds stronger.” Lin Jin wasn’t sure if Shu Xiaolou was trying to bluff him but her words got him excited.
“What does it lack?” asked Lin Jin.
“Sword skills!” After a thought, Shu Xiaolou said, “This blade is sharp, that’s obvious, but the spirit’s level isn’t very high. It can’t even unleash its full potential on its own as a blade. Logically speaking, there should be relevant sword spells and sword skills that could further increase the sharpness of a sword spirit.”
Lin Jin pondered before nodding in agreement.
Shu Xiaolou’s words made sense.
Lin Jin had met Banner Master Clear Wind before and he wasn’t exactly weak. It was only regretful that his opponent was Lin Jin, or he could have easily defeated his enemies.
More importantly, Banner Master Clear Wind did not possess a barbaric personality. Instead, he was as elegant as a scholar, and what did that mean?
It meant that the sword spirit was once taught by humans after its birth. Otherwise, it wouldn’t have turned out like this.
Lin Jin explained this to Shu Xiaolou. She tilted her head and thought about the possibilities before she slapped her thigh in realization. “So that’s it!”
Sounds like she figured something out.
Lin Jin made an inquiry, which was met with Shu Xiaolou’s laughter.
“This is like sending a tiger into a temple. After being forced to accept a vegetarian diet and practice meditation, its innate instincts had been suppressed to such a degree that its unique traits have faded away. What are a tiger’s traits, you might ask? It’s razor-sharp claws, fangs, and its predatorial nature.”
Upon hearing Shu Xiaolou’s explanation, Lin Jin started to understand the situation.
“Shu Xiaolou, you’re trying to say that it’s the same for this Clear Wind Sword?” asked Lin Jin.
Shu Xiaolou nodded.
“Did you even have to ask? Simply put, this sword spirit doesn’t know how to utilize its talents. It’s like a herbivore tiger. It must have heard useless scholarly lectures and its spiritual intelligence emerged from there. However, it has forgotten that it’s a blade, a weapon whose sole purpose is to kill.”
With this, Lin Jin finally grasped the root of the issue.
A tiger raised by sheep would surely hope to grow into a sheep.
However, a tiger was still a tiger. So long as it was given guidance, its innate nature would shine through.
The same could be said for Clear Wind.
That’s why his next step was to get Clear Wind to learn sword skills and undergo training.
“Honestly, you were lucky. This sword spirit is very strong and if its strength had been sharpened from the start, you wouldn’t have been able to subdue it at all,” Shu Xiaolou said.
It had indeed been dumb luck.
Even Lin Jin admitted it.
The two continued to chat. Their tone grew increasingly excited, while Tiger Taoist listened fuzzily. Amidst the confusion, it became clear to him that the sword Lin Jin held was once his ‘second in command’ in Dark Wind Cave.
He hadn’t realized it before. Finally, Tiger Taoist found the chance to squeeze his way into their conversation.
“Banner Master Clear Wind did enjoy practicing his speech. Sometimes, he would even come to talk to me about deep principles and theories that make my head spin. Since he’s a sword spirit, he should be slashing away at the enemy. Indeed, the time has come for him to change. How far can he go by studying philosophy anyway?”
Tiger Taoist clearly had no issues with Lin Jin subduing his second in command.
Lin Jin saved his life and they were both sworn brothers, so he would overlook tiny matters like this one. If Lin Jin could straighten Clear Wind up, Tiger Taoist would be more than glad. After all, he and Clear Wind had been acquainted for centuries now.
A sword was a sword. Why pretend to be a scholar?
Now that Shu Xiaolou had pointed it out, Lin Jin was fully enlightened.
While he wasn’t particularly fond of researching sword skills and spells, he just happened to possess relevant knowledge. What’s more, he was highly adept in sword skills.
During his chance encounter at the Unending Nature Landscape, he obtained the ‘Divine Blade Scroll’. Back then, Lin Jin was able to condense his psyche into Sword Intent and use it as an invisible weapon.
However, Lin Jin did not pursue the study any further, as he figured that he did not have the talent for it. His Sword Intent was only powerful because of the Divine Blade Scroll.
Lin Jin knew that much.
After listening to Shu Xiaolou’s analysis, he was reminded of the scroll.
It was such a waste to let this amazing technique rot away in his possession so why not pass it onto Clear Wind?
According to Shu Xiaolou, since the sword spirit had chosen its master, it would remain loyal till death.
That being the case, passing the Divine Blade Scroll onto Clear Wind seemed appropriate. Lin Jin was also thinking of other ways to help it improve. Clear Wind may be strong now, but he was still far from achieving his maximum potential. He wouldn’t be useful in dealing with someone like Corpse Taoist for now.
If he could raise Clear Wind’s level by a notch with the Divine Blade Scroll, that would be best.
However, there was no need to rush into things. Lin Jin went on to urge Shu Xiaolou to keep an eye on the headless zombie from time to time. They couldn’t eliminate it, so it remained a ticking time bomb. Despite this, they had no other choice but to leave it here.
If anything strange happened, they had to take immediate action.
Shu Xiaolou was much more cautious than Lin Jin when it came to this. After all, she would be the first to suffer if the headless zombie did anything.
“You don’t need to worry about this,” said Shu Xiaolou while waving her hand.
Lin Jin still had much to do so after a little chat, he got up to leave. Tiger Taoist did the same, and he bid Shu Xiaolou farewell. He hadn’t spoken much as Lin Jin and Shu Xiaolou dominated the conversation.
“Go. And don’t come back if you don’t have a valid reason. You never bring good news every time you’re here,” said Shu Xiaolou, even though she knew that it did not reflect her true feelings.
Lin Jin knew that too.
Before using the Cosmic Ink, Lin Jin remembered something. “Shu Xiaolou, with your beast appraising skills, you can already advance to Rank 6. Zhong Zifeng can also advance to Rank 5 now, but he’s holding himself back out of respect for you. Even if it’s for the sake of others, you should consider advancing your rank.”
