One month later.
Barren Cloud master peak.
Outside of the Sword Abyss, on the great tree next to the valley.
Gu Qing Shan was lying on one of the tree’s branches.
His eyes were closed with a jade tag in his hand.
Occasionally, he would squint, then smile, apparently studying the mystical knowledge inside the jade tag.
A few moments later.
He placed the jade tag in his hand down and stopped studying it with his inner sight.
Apparently, he had finished today’s cultivation and was about to take a nap.
However, when he seemed to be asleep, he suddenly took out a gourd, opened it, and took a large swig of the liquor inside.
“This time of the day is always the most relaxing huh”
Gu Qing Shan muttered to himself.
He then put the gourd of liquor away and fixed his posture a bit to sleep more comfortably.
Below the great tree.
Gusts of sword-infused wind were drifting about like a faint harmless mist, yet gave off a sense of sharpness at the same time.
Huang Zhan and Shen Yang were doing everything they could to repel the attacks of the sword-infused wind.
“Shen Yang, dodge!” Huang Zhan shouted.
He swung the dagger in his hand.
Dozens of earth-colored light immediately flew over and formed a thick wall of dirt behind Shen Yang.
But the wall of dirt wasn’t able to stop the sword-infused wind at all and was quickly cut into fine grains of dirt and sand in just one breath’s worth of time.
Fortunately, Shen Yang was able to take that chance to catch his breath.
He weaved through the thick mist of sword-infused wind and attacked Gu Qing Shan on the tree.
“Oh”
The corner of Gu Qing Shan’s mouth lifted just a bit as he played with the jade tag in his hand.
While he could tell that Shen Yang was getting closer and closer, he still didn’t open his eyes.
A gust of wind made completely out of sword qi came from his body, turning into an intense wave of sword qi that attacked Shen Yang.
“Help me!”
Shen Yang shouted.
Huang Zhan wielded the dagger in both hands and swung it again from afar.
Oom
The ground at Shen Yang’s feet suddenly lifted up, perfectly aiding him in avoiding this wave of sword qi.
Shen Yang used the momentum to jump up, gritted his teeth and attacked with everything he had.
A phantom black dragon manifested around his body.
Martial Divine Strike, [Phantom Dragon Void Strike]
Shen Yang punched the void of space with his full power.
Immediately, the black dragon’s huge jaws opened as it flew to attack Gu Qing Shan.
Gu Qing Shan wasn’t playing with the jade tag anymore.
He opened one eye and lightly glanced at the black dragon.
Inside his eyes, hundreds of thousands of sword images suddenly flashed in and out of existence.
This was an extremely weird thing.
No one had ever thought of hiding swords inside their eyes before.
Just like before, he already became a Sword Saint when he reached Ascended realm.
Following the Master’s teachings two years ago, he no longer sought to collect more flying swords.
Instead, he began to think about how to best exert the power of a Sword Saint, at the same time using that as preparation for converging his power once he reached the peak of Sword Saint.
And then, he recalled what happened with the Golden Dragon, Kirin, and Vermillion Bird.
So he started to experiment with condensing his sword qi inside his eye through willpower, using that to exert the power of a Sword Saint.
This way, not only would he be able to unleash the power of a Sword Saint, but he would also be converging it at the same time.
After all, no matter how many sword images there are, they still come from his eyes and are gathered inside his gaze.
In truth, this method of attack had one huge flaw compared to controlling flying swords like he normally does.
That was the fact that his flying swords all have extraordinary abilities. By unleashing sword attacks through his gaze, he wouldn’t be able to use his swords’ abilities.
And so, after a lot of thought, Gu Qing Shan decided to specialize it more and focus the power of his attack to damage the soul vessel.
Just like that, as he trained it to the limit, he created a Thaumaturgy that specializes in slashing people’s soul vessels.
Gu Qing Shan named this Thaumaturgy [Soul Sword].
This extraordinary thought process of his received ample praise from Xie Gu Hong himself, saying that he was wise and that he found his own path to heaven.
Hoh!
The intense sword-infused wind completely dismantled the black dragon and pushed Shen Yang back several dozen feet before he safely landed.
Gu Qing Shan clapped his hands and sat straight up on the tree branch: “Well done, you’ve learned to perform proper battle coordination. Furthermore, your spell casting and adaptive abilities have greatly improved”
Huang Zhan dejectedly spoke: “But we were barely able to force you to open one eye”
Shen Yang has already been bullied by these sessions so much he’s already numb, so he carefully reconsidered the battle just now and asked: “If we can stop the sword qi in your eyes, does that mean we’re already stronger than the disciples who challenged you that time?”
“Hm, I guess you can say that” Gu Qing Shan nodded: “I only used 10% power that time. Just now, I only opened one eye, but I was using 20% of my strength”
Shen Yang continued to ask: “What if they also learn how to properly coordinate attacks like Huang Zhan and me? How much power would you need to defeat them?”
“30%, and don’t discuss this again from now on. As disciples of the master peak, there is no need to compare ourselves to our peers from other peaks, your eyes should be aiming a lot higher” Gu Qing Shan told them.
Shen Yang uttered his confirmation and sighed: “No wonder the other peak masters couldn’t say anything at all that day”
Huang Zhan asked: “Eldest brother, how did you create such a terrifying Thaumaturgy?”
Hearing that, this time it was Gu Qing Shan who sighed.
He appeared to have recalled some distant past before shaking his head: “When you get killed a few times by someone looking at you, you naturally learn a thing or two”
Huang Zhan chuckled: “Hahaha, ‘killed a few times by someone looking at you’, Eldest brother’s jokes are always so funny”
Gu Qing Shan clapped his hands and jumped down the tree.
Ever since he got two junior brothers, he received another daily chore.
Which was what happened just now.
Laying on a tree branch and sparing with his two junior brothers.
This was also the time of the day when he is the most relaxed.
But today’s sparring session was over.
And he had something else he needed to do.
His two junior brothers are still growing, so besides putting in daily effort cultivating, their daily nutritional needs also have to be satisfied.
Gu Qing Shan spoke: “The food stock is empty, I’ll be going to Grey Crane peak to pick out a few ingredients to make dinner for you tonight”
“Ah”
Huang Zhan and Shen Yang’s eyes both lit up.
Eldest brother’s cooking skills are absolutely top-notch, the spirit cooking he makes are so good that once you start eating, you wouldn’t want to stop.
“Eldest brother, I want meat stew tonight” Huang Zhan sincerely spoke.
“I want spicy noodles, and a few eggs as well” Shen Yang also said.
Gu Qing Shan spoke without turning around: “Do your best and keep cultivating, if I see either of you being lazy when I come back, no one gets any dinner tonight”
He leapt to the air, heading for Grey Crane peak.
…
Grey Crane peak.
“Eldest brother, greetings”
“Hm, greetings”
“Eldest brother, greetings”
“Hm, greetings”
“Eldest brother, greetings”
“Hm”
Wherever Gu Qing Shan went, the disciples he met on the way would clasp their fist and greet him.
After the explanations of their masters and cultivators of previous generations, everyone gradually slowly understood just how terrifyingly strong this eldest brother of the sect was.
The strong are respected, this is a principle that won’t change, no matter the era.
And so everyone’s attitude towards Gu Qing Shan instantly became different.
When they heard that he came to get cooking ingredients and other resources, a lot of disciples quickly ran to help him place his order and collect the ingredients.
Gu Qing Shan himself became free.
He only needed to take a stroll around the peak and enjoy the scenery while waiting for his order to be prepared.
At this point, a young girl approached him.
“Senior brother Gu” she shyly spoke.
“Yes, what’s wrong?” Gu Qing Shan asked.
The girl didn’t say anything and only gave him a communication talisman before running away.
Holding the communication talisman, Gu Qing Shan was a bit speechless.
A few moments later.
Another female disciple landed next to Gu Qing Shan and shoved a jade tag into his hand.
Hoh!
She then immediately flew away.
Gu Qing Shan glanced at the jade tag he just took, then at the feminine figure that just flew away, again speechless.
Seriously, I’m not in a mood to look for a Dao companion or anything here.
But if you take a look at it from a socialization perspective, the way ancient cultivators socialize is a bit strange, isn’t it?
The first female disciple at least called my name before running away; but the second one said nothing, gave me a jade tag, and flew away immediately. What is that supposed to mean?
Comparatively, the first female cultivator was a lot more polite.
Gu Qing Shan glanced down at the communication talisman again.
After a brief moment of thinking, he understood.
With a communication talisman, there was no need to say anything face-to-face, giving both parties a lot of room to wiggle, thus avoiding the natural embarrassment that comes with getting to know each other.
Hmm, a polite and clever girl.
Gu Qing Shan silently praised her and glanced at the jade tag in his other hand.
She didn’t say a single word.
What’s in here?
He scanned it with his inner sight.
There was a recording of her stored inside the jade tag.
Ah.
I see…
