Chapter 63: Return to the Huaixu Realm

  AnnouI've ged "yatun" to "tusked pig" for easier uanding.“Divine Abilities are truly amazing.” After testing his Affli Sword-Finger once more, An Jing excimed in admiration, “Even if I have no Affli Qi, I still el my own blood esseo a flying sword.”

  “Its power is slightly weaker than a pistol?grade sword case, and it does cause some damage to the finger meridians. But iure, once my body is stronger and my blood essence is more robust, I might not need any hidden ons at all. I could perform this teique anytime, anywhere!”

  “That is the venience of Teiques derived from your own Divine Ability. They bee as nimble as your hands a.”

  Using An Jing’s gaze to ihe hole left behind by the Affli Sword-Fihe Sword Spirit smiled and said, “After all, every Heaven?Ordained Fate Divine Ability stems from ‘Heaven’—it is one facet of the Great Dao in a given realm.”

  “A Divine Ability cultivated by a ter?realm cultivatht surpass a Heaven?Ordained Fate Divine Ability in power or refined effectiveness, yet in terms of universal adaptability, most atch it.”

  “It’s like how humans observe birds and create their own wings, which be faster, more stable, and fly higher—essentially being the stroype of wings.”

  “Yet human?made wings are ultimately still just one facet of ‘all wings,’ not the whole.”

  “From what I know, mas’ inal founders possessed a Heaven?Ordained Fate Divine Ability. They analyzed their own Divine Ability and transformed it into a cultivation teique iance, which then gave rise to aire grand legacy—even more powerful and intricate than the inal Heaven?Ordained Fate.”

  “But that was only in the beginning. Very soon, the Qi Refining Dao and Immortal Cultivation surpassed the restraints of Heaven?Ordained Fate Divine Abilities, leading to the creation of various legacies of mystical arts uo Heaven?Ordained Fates.”

  “By the same token, this ‘expansion and supplementation of iances’ also enhance Heaven?Ordained Fate Divine Abilities. sider a winged Divine Ability: initially, it might only grant flight, but ter it could graremely fast flight, on par with the Golden Crow or the Rod eventually perhaps evehrough realms and roam the void…”

  At this point, the Sword Spirit’s toook on a hint of emotion: “After tless millennia of twists and turns, the Huaixu Realm has now returo the inal foundation of cultivation based on Heaven?Ordained Fates.”

  “It’s just that this time, the vessel isn’t Qi Refining, but the Martial Path.”

  “Everything begins ahe Great Dao is a cycle, and the cycle is likewise the Great Dao.”

  An Jing could uand the Sword Spirit’s se. For an Immortal Sword that had lived tless years, It had likely witnessed with Its owhe evolution and cyclical renewal of the Great Dao.

  But for him, all of this merely stirred a sense of bold ambition: “So, if one day I employ my Divine Ability in myriad ways, then I too might establish my ow, pass on my own iance, or even bee an Aral Master who founds his own lihin the Dao!”

  “Mm… perhaps.”

  Fuxie Sword Spirit offered a simple response—maybe perfunctory, maybe a cautious aowledgment. An Jing didn’t mind. He merely ughed aloud, then tinued preparing his future provisions.

  His time in this world was about to end, and he was going to return to the Huaixu Realm, traveling through mountain forests.

  Then, he would have no opportunity to hunt for prey or spare the effort to leave behind traces for ao track.

  While he still had time, An Jing roasted a full dozen?plus jin of tusked pig jerky and prepared a substantial amount of the beast’s coexisting root stems, which were ri nutrients.

  He also meticulously cut out and stored two pairs of pig tusks—for these were where the savage beast’s spiritual essence was trated, and they could likely serve as material for some sort of pill, or an Artifact Refining po, potentially fetg a det sum.

  pared to all the resources the two tusked pigs taihese were mere scraps among scraps. But for now, he had no leisure to be wasteful and simply took the most essential parts.

  If other wild beasts happeo find any of the remains, thehat be nature’s gift to them.

  Su sank behind the western mountains, and the evening clouds dispersed.

  The heavy rain had ceased, and An Jing’s time in this other world was drawing to a close.

  During his final ke (15 minutes) of time, An Jihe cave and spri top speed down the mountain and toward the wastends beyond the forest, rag in the dire of human habitation.

  It was no ce the two tusked pigs had sought shelter from the rain in that cave. It must have been a resting hideaway for the area’s wildlife. Having siusked pigs, their flesh and blood would attract other beasts.

  He would likely only remain in the Huaixu Realm for a single day; one day was too short. The beasts drawn by the tusked pig’s blood a would probably still be roaming the area, so he o get as far aossible.

  An Jing was currently in peak dition, running at tremendous speed. Everywhere he went, birds fluttered into the air, and wild beasts in the forest grew agitated and uain.

  Even savage beasts that were utterly fident in their own strength wouldn’t strike rashly when unsure of the situatiohey bee the first to stand out and expose themselves to risk.

  When faced with the ued, whether tiger or rabbit, the first instinct is always to avoid.

  Of course, ohose savage beasts sensed An Jing’s presend found the st he left behind wasn’t “overwhelming,” they would iably bee enraged and pursue this human who had intruded oerritory.

  Only by then, An Jing would already have departed this world.

  As he ran, and the three sword rays around the broken sword in his Sea of sciousness extinguished, An Ji a pulliion arising from his very soul, deeper still from his most essential being.

  Silvery light fred up, transf into an array of exceedingly intricate, mysterious runes and sword marks, encirg his entire body.

  The instant, An Jing vanished.

  All that remained in the distant cave were extinguished embers and the processed remains of the two tusked pigs, bones and scraps of flesh.

  Huaixu Realm.

  In the crevice of spad time, An Jing—merely a mass of light—saw a mountain range posed of silver traces of light.

  It was the “spherical space” with a radius of one li, tered on the point where he had first teleported to the other world.

  “This is where I y arrival point.”

  Through the broken sword, An Jing sehat he could ma at any point in this spherical space of radius one li—be it midair or underground.

  So long as he could withstand it—if his body were strong enough to shatter rock—he could even teleport himself into solid stone.

  At present, An Jiainly couldn’t mahat, and he had only tehs’ time to decide.

  After brief thought, he opted to desd into a hidden gully deep in the forest.

  Huaixu Realm, the forests surrounding Hanging Fate Manor.

  It was su, and the twilight glow of dark gold paihe hills.

  Without a sound, a faint silver radia a sword mark into the empty darkness. The mark expanded into a doorway, and An Jing stepped through, emerging into the dense depths of the forest.

  In his routiraining, An Jing had long studied the terrain around Hanging Fate Manor. The instauro the Huaixu Realm, he pinpointed his location and instantly sprang into motion, his figure vanishing amid the shadows of the trees.

  After breaking through with his Internal Energy and awakening his Spiritual Root, An Jing’s physical attributes had been prehensively enhanced—be it strength, speed, or perception, all had greatly increased.

  Even carrying a load of supplies, he could leap over boulders two zhang high, and in the forest’s plex terrain, he could still traverse three zhang in a single bound.

  Moreover, by imbuing his legs with Internal Energy and using Mysterious Steps, An Jing could effortlessly evade all obstacles even at top speed, making not the slightest sound.

  Within barely half a ke of time spent running at full tilt, An Jing sped through nearly ten li without so much as reddening in the face asping for breath. He had used up only a portion of his Internal Energy and could maintain such speed for another hour or so.

  His decisive as indeed helped him avoid a fair amount of trouble.

  Hua?.

  About half a ke after An Jiuro Huaixu, amidst the faint ch of leaves and dead branches underfoot, two soldiers in brown armor emerged silently from the shadows of the trees and foliage.

  “Strange. No traces?”

  With armor patterns seemingly blending into the forest, the young soldier surveyed the surroundiation but found no signs of a. Puzzled, he remarked, “Clearly, the formatioed a mid?sized humanoid or beast.”

  “Maybe it was something like a Cloud?Treading Leopard, a savage beast capable of stealthy flight.”

  Another soldier with a steady voice was likewise iing the area. His armor was shifting from dark green to brown—evidently, a type of chameleon?like spiritual armor that mimicked its surroundings.

  The posed soldier likewise found no clues, yet his tone remaihe same, as though he was well aced to this: “Though a grand formation has long sealed the area around Hanging Fate Valley to prevent Heavenly Demon corruption from spreading, even a wild beast entering or leaving be detected.”

  “But the Demon Monit Formation is only sensitive to Demonic Qi. Ordinary spirit beasts or savage beasts, so long as they’re fast enough, slip in or out before the formatios.”

  “Look.”

  At that moment, the soldier discovered a crushed leaf and broken twig, croug to sniff carefully: “Something was definitely here, but it’s her a demonic creature nor a demon?corrupted human.”

  “The st is pure and clear, carrying some kind of herbal fragrance. Likely a sort of spirit beast.”

  “Should we pursue it?” asked the other soldier, clearly a rookie, with eager anticipation in his tone.

  The more experienced soldier sighed in response. “It’s not a demonic creature—what’s there to chase? We’re Demon taining Guards, not the Five?Color Armuards. Capturing a spirit beast like that earns , but deying our patrol would t as dereli.”

  “Besides, even if we actually caught up to it, then what?”

  He didn’t finish, but the meaning was clear. The young soldier sidered his own strength, the spirit beast’s capabilities, and their wages. He had to admit the old veteran knew best: “So we…”

  “We drove away a savage beast trespassing in the blockade zone,” said the veteran soldier. “To protect the formation’s iy, two vigint Demon taining Guards fought a great battle with it, expending quite a few replenishment pills.”

  “That’s an option!” The younger soldier suddenly uood: “I get it!”

  And so, the two Demon taining Guards departed.

  Several more hours passed.

  Daylight vanished, and a bright moon rose high.

  Beh the pale blue veil of moonlight, a Red Armuard, ghostlike, emerged from the shadows of a tree.

  (End of Chapter)