Chapter 228
She had never experienced what it felt like to have a master.
“This matter is settled; I must take my leave for now.”
Chen Huai'an appeared before Li Qingran in a flash, pulling out a chilling ‘chicken foot tendon’ from his player’s backpack.
“This is the Xuan Yin Sword Bone, a treasure my master obtained by chance. I see you have yet to condense your sword bone; why not use this?”
Li Qingran, still a bit dazed, accepted the Xuan Yin Sword Bone that Chen Huai'an handed her.
She could clearly feel how well this sword bone matched her Xuan Shui spiritual root and Tai Yin Dao body.
The sword bone—an essence attained by sword cultivators who have comprehended the sword intent to its utmost, much like the Sword Pavilion’s master and the four elders, all of whom possess sword bones.
In the future, they would undoubtedly be able to smoothly enter the Combined Body stage.
For the sword bone signifies their understanding of their own sword path, far surpassing that of ordinary Transformation Stage cultivators, thus naturally granting them greater combat power.
【Hiss—! Who exactly is this ancestor of the Sword Pavilion, handing out sword bones like it’s nothing! Unbelievable!】
The voice of Hun Yuan echoed in Mo Shu Mei's mind.
“What’s the big deal about this thing?”
【Of course it’s a big deal.】 Hun Yuan scoffed, 【To put it bluntly, if you could condense a knife bone or knife heart from your knife intent, even without cultivating the Great Compassion Verse, you could easily suppress me. This ancestor of the Sword Pavilion can actually extract a sword bone and give it to a disciple? That’s terrifying! Truly terrifying!】
“Master, I can’t accept this sword bone.”
After hesitating for a moment, Li Qingran ultimately returned the ‘chicken foot tendon’ to Chen Huai'an with both hands.
“Why not?” Chen Huai'an was taken aback, deliberately adopting a stern tone. “I’ve said before, when I give you something, you cannot refuse.”
“I wouldn’t dare disobey my master.” Li Qingran bit her lip and bowed deeply, raising her eyes filled with sincerity. “In terms of cultivation, you’ve already helped me immensely, not only by analyzing my techniques but also by providing various resources. But the sword bone is different from spiritual roots and dantians; it represents a cultivator’s understanding of their own path… I wish to comprehend my own way and condense my own sword bone.”
Li Qingran bowed again, unable to rise.
Indeed, she might never catch up to her master’s sword path.
But following her master’s path would forever mean hiding behind him, being that little girl protected by her master.
Being protected feels good, but it’s not what she desires.
Only by walking her own path could she hope to stand alongside her master, or even one day protect him.
Even if that possibility was laughably small.
Buzz—!
A stream of pure energy rose from the top of Li Qingran’s head.
The Three Flowers bloomed in succession, the Five Qi converged in her sea of consciousness, and then surged into her limbs and bones.
In that moment, Li Qingran’s already resilient meridians seemed to be coated in a layer of shimmering golden light.
The spiritual energy stored in her dantian surged and swelled, expanding by at least two circles, and her cultivation realm, which had yet to stabilize after breaking through to the Golden Core stage, instantly solidified.
【Three Flowers gather at the crown, Five Qi return to the origin! Sudden enlightenment… the heart of the Dao is clear!】
In Mo Shu Mei’s mind, Hun Yuan let out a dark, twisted scream.
【Why? Why wasn’t she the one who found the demonic blade back then?!】
The demonic cultivator girl twitched her lips and threw Hun Yuan to the ground, stepping on him.
Chen Huai'an’s gaze reflected the girl, whose aura subtly flowed with the rhythm of the Dao, and an inexplicable sense of guilt surged within him.
It seemed he had only been shoving things he thought were good for Li Qingran without ever taking the initiative to understand what she truly wanted.
She wasn’t a doll to be dressed up or a paper-thin wife.
She was Li Qingran, unique and vibrant, a girl from the Cangyun Realm with a living soul.
“Alright.” Chen Huai'an put the Xuan Yin Sword Bone away and, under the careful gaze of the girl, reached out to pat her head.
Neither of them noticed that this hand was not an avatar but one that could sense the existence of the other.
“Master, you’re not going to scold me?” Li Qingran looked at Chen Huai'an with hopeful eyes.
“No scolding.”
“You won’t kick me out?”
“No.”
“Hehe, Master is so nice.”
…
…
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Chapter 245: The Death of the Demon Dragon (tijin+1)
【Player has completed Main Quest 2.0: Help the electronic girlfriend through the Central Continent Secret Realm dungeon.】
【Reward: Sect Summoning Order.】
【Sect Summoning Order: Usable in the real world to summon Sword Pavilion disciples, elders, and the sect leader, lasting for half an hour. Depending on the targets and numbers summoned, the cooldown time ranges from one day to one month (as the player’s realm increases, the cooldown time will decrease).】
【The ‘Sect Summoning Order’ has been added to your backpack.】
【Main Quest 3.0: Uncover the conspiracy of the Holy Land, challenge the Yaochi Holy Land with a sword—Li Qingran and Yue Qianchi share a deep bond; please assist Li Qingran in rescuing her senior sister, Yue Qianchi. (Quest Failure: Sword Pavilion is destroyed, Li Qingran is on the brink of death, spiritual roots are removed, Dao body is seized, and she will never progress in cultivation, dying in despair / Quest Success: Sword Pavilion survives, Li Qingran survives, and the player’s avatar survives.) Current quest success rate: 0%.】
As soon as Chen Huai'an logged off, his phone was flooded with game notifications.
“Why do I have to lose my avatar if the quest fails? Why is it 0% again?!”
Seeing 0% made him feel uneasy all over.
But soon, he sorted out the logic.
If the quest failed, it meant Li Qingran’s Xuan Shui spiritual root was extracted, and the Jade Yao Zhenren had gathered five mutated single spiritual roots to refine the Five Spirits Absolute Body, seizing Yue Qianchi’s cultivation and boosting it to a level that even his small world couldn’t conceal from her probing, and then she would simply crush his crystal with a basic attack.
Was Jade Yao Zhenren really that terrifying?
Wasn’t that the strength of a half-immortal?!
Chen Huai'an shivered.
Once one becomes an immortal, they become part of the Heavenly Dao, or rather, the executors of the Heavenly Dao.
In some novels, particularly powerful immortals can stand on equal footing with the Heavenly Dao, even refining it.
If he assumed this game was a subordinate of the Cangyun Realm’s Heavenly Dao, and his opponent was a half-immortal, that would indeed be quite tricky.
“I can’t let this go on; I need to quickly increase my strength.”
A sense of urgency suddenly welled up in his heart. Although he usually worked hard at cultivation, his progress had always been slow.
After all, it was due to his poor mortal talent; even having a single Thunder spiritual root couldn’t lift his trash talent.
【Your electronic girlfriend has refined a ‘Bai Cao Jie Du Dan’ for you; please check!】
Swish—!
As soon as the game notification popped up, the Bai Cao Jie Du Dan appeared right beside him.
When he logged off, Li Qingran had already gone to find Elder Liu with spiritual herbs, and he hadn’t expected the pill to be ready so soon.
It seemed Elder Liu was right; this Bai Cao Jie Du Dan wasn’t difficult to refine.
It just had high material requirements, and with the materials, it was naturally easy to handle.
“Just in time; I’ve hit a bottleneck with the first layer of the Tian Mo Gong. Now that devouring the demon dragon’s cancer cells is no longer effective, there’s no time like the present to take action!”
Chen Huai'an grinned wickedly and swallowed the Bai Cao Jie Du Dan in one go.
As soon as he did, his vision went dark, and he fainted.
In the depths of his sea of consciousness.
The demon dragon, which had been suppressed by Chen Huai'an, was not sitting idle. Although its cancer cells were being devoured daily, leaving only its head, it had been devising a way to break free.
As everyone knows, the most formidable aspect of a virus is its ability to mutate.
The demon dragon was mutating.
【Recently, that power consuming me isn’t as strong as before; my mutations must be taking effect! Just like drug resistance, as long as I actively mutate…】
The demon dragon eyed the cancer cells around it, singing sweetly while crackling with arcs of electricity.
Its plan was to disguise part of its cells to resemble these special cancer cells, infiltrate from the outside, and then infect and control everything inside.
At that point, the white pieces on the chessboard would turn black.
The opponent would be powerless to deal with it.
Now, it was ready.
【Kekekeke! Come forth, new mutated cancer cells!】
The demon dragon laughed maniacally.
Suddenly, a cancer cell, crackling with electricity and singing sweetly, formed beside it! This cancer cell looked exactly like the surrounding ones, seamlessly blending in.
【It’s done! Kekeke! It’s done!!!】
The demon dragon was overjoyed.
It immediately commanded the mutated cancer cells to differentiate.
Soon, a small segment of its body began to grow, but due to insufficient nutrients, it couldn’t continue to grow. Typically, at this point, it would need the host to provide nourishment, which would translate to an unbearable hunger for Chen Huai'an.
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