Chapter 20
After returning that night, Fu Yan somewhat impatiently took out the jade slip Bai Yueli had given her. She thought for a moment, then slightly closed her eyes and devoted her whole mind to the jade slip.
The insights were not a secret manual. Rather, they were the views, simple understandings, and realizations left behind by seniors who had comprehended the Heart-Comprehending Sword Strike. Even so, this kind of insight was still something precious that could only be encountered by chance and not sought out. No wonder Fu Yan had been so surprised that Bai Yueli would give this thing to her.
A Heart-Comprehending Sword Strike required one to sense the flow trajectory of sword qi and move according to the heart, placing one’s entire body and mind onto the sword. The person was the sword, and the sword was the person.
It looked like an ordinary sentence, but Fu Yan knew that actually doing it was another matter entirely. This jade slip of insights had been in Bai Yueli’s hands for so long, yet she still had not been able to comprehend it. That showed just how extremely difficult it was.
Sitting in meditation counted as both cultivation and rest, and very soon, the whole night passed in a hurry.
After facing the jade slip of insights for the entire night, Fu Yan still failed to grasp any clue. However, she was not anxious. She knew that everything had to be done steadily, one step at a time.
After refining some more spiritual energy from heaven and earth into true essence inside her body, Fu Yan finally left the house at noon, when the sun was already hanging high in the sky, and went straight to the weapon shop.
“Here, the sheath you wanted.” It seemed the owner of the weapon shop had seen Fu Yan’s figure from afar. He turned around and handed over the finished sheath.
“Thank you, boss.” Fu Yan reached out and accepted her broken Linglong Sword.
The sheath was grayish white, with fine patterns carved on its surface. Fu Yan tentatively injected a trace of spiritual power into it, only to discover that it was like a stone sinking into the sea, without any fluctuation at all.
“All right, since I charged you eight hundred low-grade spirit stones, would I really scam you? This was made with high-quality niter.” As if noticing Fu Yan’s little action, the owner immediately spoke in a leisurely and rather pleased tone.
The sect’s weapon shops generally served the disciples, so they would not usually do anything shady. As long as the spirit stones were in place, everything was easy to discuss.
“By the way, you’re that Fu Yan who shattered Zhou Zhenlie’s qi sea?” Yesterday, when the owner heard Fu Yan’s ranking, he had felt the name was somewhat familiar. Later, he remembered the life-and-death challenge that had been hotly discussed among the inner disciples for several days.
Fu Yan paused slightly and looked at the owner in some confusion. “Is there a problem?”
Although they had only met twice, Fu Yan could tell that this owner was probably not someone who loved gossip, so she was somewhat puzzled now.
Hearing this, the owner smiled, then said, “You haven’t been in the inner sect for long, right? The back mountain has a training field the sect set up for disciples. I think with your strength, you can try challenging the C-rank checkpoint.”
Fu Yan paused slightly. She truly had not heard of this before.
After leaving the weapon shop, Fu Yan thought for a moment, then headed toward the back mountain. The owner’s words had piqued her curiosity, and right now, what she needed was solid, practical training.
When she arrived at the training field on the back mountain, there were already quite a few disciples there. Fu Yan did not pay them much attention and went straight to the registration entrance of the training field.
“Eh, isn’t this Junior Sister Fu Yan, who’s been in the limelight lately? She actually came to the training field too. What checkpoint do you think she’ll choose?”
“Although she’s only at early Illumination stage right now, her strength is at middle Illumination. She should choose the C-rank checkpoint, right?”
“…”
Fu Yan’s appearance once again caused a small wave of discussion. This gave her a bit of a headache. The matter of her shattering Zhou Zhenlie’s qi sea had truly made her successfully famous in the inner sect.
“First time here?”
At the entrance of the training field sat a registration elder. Seeing Fu Yan walk over, he asked without even raising his head.
Fu Yan nodded.
The elder did not say much and directly explained, “The training field is divided into four checkpoints: A, B, C, and D. The recommended cultivation levels for challenging them correspond respectively to great perfection, late stage, middle stage, and early stage of Illumination.”
After speaking, the elder finally raised his eyes to look at Fu Yan, then asked, “Which rank?”
“C-rank,” Fu Yan answered lightly. After all, this was her first time here, and she still did not know what she would encounter inside. With her strength, choosing the C-rank checkpoint was still relatively conservative.
After she spoke, the elder tossed a glass bead to Fu Yan and explained, “If you encounter life-threatening danger, you can crush this bead and give up the challenge. You’ll immediately be teleported out.”
Fu Yan nodded, indicating that she understood.
“The C-rank checkpoint is about to open. Is there anyone else who needs to challenge it?” After placing a spirit stone into the groove of the array, the elder casually shouted toward the crowd behind him.
As soon as his voice fell, a somewhat simple and honest voice rang out from the crowd. “Ah! Me, me, me! I want to challenge the C-rank checkpoint too!”
As the voice sounded, Fu Yan saw a rather broad figure hurriedly run over. At first glance, she thought it was a man. Only after seeing the person clearly did Fu Yan discover that the other party was also a girl around her age. However, her build was indeed… somewhat sturdy and adorably simple.
It was not that Fu Yan judged people by appearance. The other party was indeed a little plump, but she also had a somewhat cute and lively charm. Her watery, big eyes were very pretty, and she had a completely standard loli face, like an adorable girl.
The girl was even holding a chicken drumstick in her hand. She said to the registration elder, “Elder, I also want to participate in the C-rank checkpoint.”
The girl’s appearance successfully caused another commotion.
“Eh, who’s this? I’ve never seen her before. She seems to be someone who recently entered the inner sect too, right?”
“No way. Two early Illumination cultivators are going to challenge the C-rank checkpoint? Are new disciples this brave now?”
“I can understand Fu Yan’s strength, but how does she dare go? Still, this little junior sister is chubby and quite cute.”
“What? So it turns out you like this type?”
Amid the surrounding discussions, the girl had already finished registering. Holding her chicken drumstick, she walked in Fu Yan’s direction. “Hello, Senior Sister Fu. My name is Tong Zhen. I’ve been in the inner sect for less than ten days. I hope I won’t drag Senior Sister down.”
After saying this, Tong Zhen chuckled twice, then took another bite of the chicken drumstick. It was as if she had eaten candy, and she smiled with a satisfied expression.
“Hello.” Fu Yan nodded and did not say much else.
Very soon, the two of them felt a dazzling light flash before their eyes. They had no choice but to raise their hands to shield their eyes. However, in only an instant, they had already landed steadily.
Looking around, Fu Yan discovered that the array had teleported them onto an island in the middle of a lake. A ring of lake water tightly surrounded them in the center. What was even more terrifying was that one head after another could be seen emerging from the lake.
“They’re actually saber-toothed giant crocodiles!” Fu Yan could not help saying in surprise.
Saber-toothed giant crocodiles were second-level demon beasts, with strength comparable to the peak of middle Illumination stage. Moreover, there were so many of them. If they were surrounded and attacked, one could imagine how terrifying it would be.
Fortunately, the distance from the center of the lake to the shore was not particularly far. Fu Yan’s Wind Shadow Steps had also achieved some success now. Passing through the group of saber-toothed giant crocodiles and reaching the shore would be no problem at all.
However, for Junior Sister Tong Zhen beside her, it might not be that simple.
“Junior Sister Tong Zhen, this should be the first checkpoint. We need to get to the opposite shore. Although dealing with a single saber-toothed giant crocodile is easy, there are too many here, so we can only pass through quickly.” Fu Yan kindly explained her view to her, then asked, “By the way, have you learned a lightness skill?”
“Ah?” After listening to Fu Yan’s words, Tong Zhen immediately scratched her head in embarrassment and said somewhat sheepishly, “I have learned one, but my lightness skill is only half-baked.”
Fu Yan felt a little headache coming on. This was training, so she could not exactly carry the girl over, right? That would be completely meaningless.
After carefully observing the surrounding terrain again, Fu Yan finally said, “Then we’ll run across from here. I’ll demonstrate for you first. You need to use the opportunity cleverly, understand?”
“All right.” Tong Zhen quickly ate the last bite of her chicken drumstick and stared at Fu Yan with an extremely serious expression.
Fu Yan did not say much else. Very soon, she used Wind Shadow Steps and swept rapidly across the lake surface. She was almost like an afterimage, brushing past countless saber-toothed giant crocodiles without getting even a single drop of water on herself.
In no more than three breaths, Fu Yan steadily reached the shore.
Very soon, Fu Yan saw Tong Zhen in the center of the lake begin to move. However, her lightness skill seemed only enough to keep her from sinking into the water, without any speed to speak of.
And so, Fu Yan watched helplessly as Tong Zhen walked on the lake surface, step by step, toward the shore. At the same time, the saber-toothed giant crocodile closest to her swiftly opened its mouth and lunged toward her.
Fu Yan was startled, but before the words “Be careful” could leave her mouth, in the next second, her face was filled with disbelief.
Tong Zhen, who stood on the lake surface, directly grabbed the saber-toothed giant crocodile’s tail with one hand. Then, she actually swung it up directly. Just like that, the saber-toothed giant crocodile, which was three times larger than Tong Zhen herself, was swiftly flung by her onto a tree branch on the shore.
It hung high from the fork of the tree.
Fu Yan, who had witnessed the entire scene: “!!!”
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