Yin Long tightly grasped his now crimson blade, the slight aura of power radiating from it going into his hand and pulsating as it traveled up his arm. He now realized that what he was actually doing whenever he cultivated by swinging his sword was absorbing the Qi that had been sucked up when he drew in the surrounding space, each swing unconsciously drew in a bit more space and a bit more Qi.
And that phenomenon was repeating itself right now, his parasitic soul was constantly siphoning some of the power from the 'materials' used to create his sword. And in this case, the power came from the bear blood that served as the material to fill his sword, nourishing Yin Long's body and soul. Yin Long was the sword, his body and soul the blade, the stronger his sword was, the stronger he would get.
The gash in his waist was still throbbing with pain and leaking blood, but right now it barely registered in his mind, he was simply too elated about learning the truth. Knowing his own power and his affinities gave him not just a starting point from which he could start coming up with his own personal cultivation technique, it also gave him a starting point for figuring out new skills and techniques that he could use to further increase his own strength.
Yin Long sucked in a deep breath and pointed the tip of his sword at the bear, which was warily eyeing him after seeing the strange situation. Yin Long charged forward once again, lowering his blade and allowing the tip to drag along the forest floor.
He hadn't been thrown far away from the bear so the distance between the two of them was quickly crossed, the bear swiping out furiously with the already wounded paw. It aimed for his waist this time, lowering its paw enough that Yin Long couldn't just slide underneath it to dodge this time. Yin Long didn't move to evade, raising his sword into an upwards slash that threw up all the surrounding leaves.
A red blur moved through the air and collided with the swiping paw, a scene that caused his pupils to tremble taking place in front of Yin Long. As the blade and the paw collided, cracks immediately appeared all over his blade before it swiftly shattered. This was his first time actually filling the blade with something so he underestimated the control it took to maintain the blade, resulting in it shattering straight away.
But while the blade shattered, Yin Long's attack actually didn't stop. A sharp crimson light continued to head upwards, bisecting the claw of the bear and even leaving a cut on its face before it flew another few centimeters into the air and dissipated. Yin Long was initially caught off guard but quickly came up with a guess he found reasonable after comparing it to some of the things he had read in the past.
The law of the sword, despite what it sounded like, wasn't solely a law for close-quarters combat. If one managed to reach a stage where they could merge their law with their own Qi, they could turn their own Qi into a sword and use that to perform long-range attacks. When it came to true sword cultivators, their range wasn't limited to the area around them, it was limited to how far their Qi could reach.
And if there was one thing that Bai Xiang had pounded into Yin Long's head countless times, then it was that he was a child blessed by the blade, born for it, he was the sword itself. And right here and now, he proved just that, albeit unintentionally.
But he also discovered another fact that was rather concerning. With a slight move of his mind, he once again found himself standing on the silver ocean, looking at the rainbow-hued sword. This time he didn't lose sight of the surrounding world, it was more akin to having his eyes see the ocean while his senses took in the 3-d image of the surroundings.
Looking at the rainbow-hued sword floating in front of him, it had unmistakably shrunk slightly compared to last time, it had also grown somewhat dimmer. He used his soul to form his sword, his soul serving as the string that tied together the materials into the proper shape. And now, from the looks of it, each time his sword shattered he would lose a bit of his soul, or it would at least weaken temporarily. If that was the case, Yin Long suddenly understood why Bai Xiang constantly reminded him that each time his sword broke, he died.
The agonized roar of the bear forced Yin Long's thoughts back to the current situation, reminding him that he couldn't waste this chance. The leaves that had been thrown up were being tossed around by the violent thrashing of the bear, the two sections of the bisected paw flapping around loosely.
Yin Long pushed out his right arm in a stabbing motion, the surrounding spray of blood and floating leaves all getting sucked into his hand and forming a red and green version of his sword. He took a swift step forward and completed the stabbing motion, his sword piercing through the remaining leaves in the air and finding its way to the bear's head. It pierced into the cut that his previous attack had left, Yin Long unleashing a bit of his Qi as a test.
The sword pierced into the skull of the bear, having finally been filled with something and controlled halfway properly, his sword was sharper and stronger than it had ever been. And the Qi he unleashed achieved the desired effect, a red-green ray of light shot through the bear's skull and pierced into the splintered base of the tree that stood a short distance behind the beast.
The agonized roar of the beast warped into a low gurgling sound, the light from its eyes vanishing shortly after, the ground trembling slightly when the beast collapsed to the floor. Yin Long let out a long and heavy breath and dissipated his sword, the part of his soul used to form it as well as some of the power contained within the blood that formed the sword sinking into his body and nourishing his soul, allowing the rainbow-hued sword to return to its normal size.
Yin Long let out several heavy and slow breaths while standing over the corpse of the bear, blood continuously trickling out from the gash in his waist. This was his first life-and-death battle and it was also his first kill, his mind was currently drifting between the discomfort of how easy killing was and elation at having won and gotten stronger.
But the discomfort didn't last for long, Yin Long letting out another deep breath as his eyes turned calm and sharp. It was just like Bai Xiang had kept telling him so many times, there was no room for mercy in a battle, there was no room for mercy in survival. If he wanted to live, if he wanted to protect his family and clan, then he would have to stain his hands with the blood of others.
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After all, there were countless people who would be more than happy to take over the spot of the Lang clan leader, there were also those who just wanted to take down the Lang clan to acquire their territory. The Lang clan might control a city, but they were far from the only city-ruling faction in this province, not to mention the 17 other provinces, any one of them would happily see the Lang clan fall just to open the spot for them.
Yin Long let out another deep breath and then took out his interspatial ring, swiping it and taking out a cucumber-sized vial filled with murky green paste that almost resembled jelly. He kept a close eye on his surroundings while pouring some of the paste on his hand, quickly applying it to the gash on his waist before closing the vial again. The paste started to harden the moment it came in contact with air, forming a bark-like cover that blocked up Yin Long's wound and temporarily stopped the bleeding.
After he finished taking care of his bleeding, he crouched down by the side of the bear and pulled out a curved dagger from his interspatial ring. This bear had mutated uncontrollably, but it should still contain the Demon Core, the crystallization of a beast's Qi and power that could be found in all Demonic beasts. It was the same as a cultivator's dantian, and if one could find a refining master to purify the rampant nature of the Demon Core then it could be used in the same way as a Spirit Stone, as currency, cultivation material, or an ingredient in alchemy, medicine, array creation, or even forging.
The location of the Demon Core wasn't set in stone, some beasts would have it within their brain, some in their heart, some would even have it within one of their toes. Yin Long was crouched in front of the corpse, his empty hand leaning against his face and tapping his temple as he thought about where the Demon Core might be hidden, not too keen on carving open the entire beast.
But as he moved his free hand from his face and onto the beast, sliding it along the body to feel for any signs of where the Demon Core might be placed, his eyes shot open wide in alarm. Something shot into the range of his senses, his body spinning around as he slashed out with the curved dagger. The blade of the dagger collided with a wooden arrow, cutting a few centimeters into it before being unable to move further. Yin Long quickly hopped back and over the corpse of the beast, his eyes vigilantly checking the surroundings as he crouched behind the corpse.
"Who!?"
His eyes were narrowed dangerously as he swept the surroundings, his heart starting to thump heavily in his chest. The attack clearly didn't come from a beast, and looking at the fact that it had been launched just as his vigilance should be at its lowest, he guessed that it was likely that whoever attacked him had been watching him for a bit of time.
Two more arrows shot out from the forest as he was checking the area, this time the arrows came at him from the sides. But while the attackers were hiding outside the range of his senses, the arrows could not escape his detection once they got close to him. He dropped his dagger and took out his white sword, standing up and swinging it in a full circle with a swift motion, cutting both arrows in two when they got close to him.
Yin Long's eyes moved slightly to inspect the wooden arrows he had sliced in half, as well as the wooden arrow still stuck on the blade of his dagger. The arrows weren't just made from wood and tipped with metal, they were made completely out of wood. They looked as if they were branches that had just been picked and altered slightly, one of them even still had a leaf attached to it. The leaf had twisted and bent slightly, taking on the role of the feathers that would usually adorn the base of the arrow.
Yin Long's thoughts raced slightly as he looked at the arrows, his mind digging through everything he had learned over the last 13 years. And when he coupled what his parents had taught him with the route he had taken to leave the city, he realized who he was likely facing, his expression turning gloomy.
"Freely bending wood and foliage, even hardening it so that it can be used as a tool. That should be the Forest Lord's Scripture of the Four Valley's Village, no? Was it the guards at the transmission station that sent out the word?"
As the ruler of four villages, the Lang clan obviously had extensive information on the four villages, they knew all the ins and outs of the cultivation techniques possessed by the villages. There were two villages that had cultivation manuals that specialized in wood, but Yin Long had left the city after arriving at the transmission station guarded by the Four Valley's Village, the other possible village and its transmission station were located on the opposite end of the city.
There was a bit of silence from the forest after Yin Long stated his guess, but three men walked into Yin Long's senses after only half a minute, quickly appearing in front of him. They were clad in simple green and brown robes to help them blend into the forest, each one carrying a bow and a sword. All three of the men had reached the 6th Mortal Door in cultivation, their bodies releasing a faint sense of pressure.
Yin Long swept his eyes over the three people, his gaze shivering slightly as it lingered on one of the three men. The robes they wore covered their faces, but Yin Long recognized the eyes of one of the men, mainly due to how the fact that he had seen them quite recently. The man was one of the guards who had been stationed at the transmission station when Yin Long arrived there, the two had even chatted for a few minutes before Yin Long left. Yin Long spat out a drawn-out breath, his eyes narrowing slightly.
"So it really was you. What, you've given up on taking out my sister so you want to take out your frustration on me? Or do you hope that killing me here will draw my sister and the others out of the city for an investigation, making it easier to assassinate them?"
The three men didn't reject or confirm Yin Long's guess, dropping their bows and drawing their swords, pointing the tips at Yin Long. The man who Yin Long had recognized, Siu Kong, looked directly at Yin Long, their eyes meeting as he spoke.
"Young Master, please just sit down and close your eyes. You indeed have a lot of weapons stored in your ring, and our technique might not be as refined as yours, you even managed to kill this beast with nothing but your sword technique. But our strength and skills are above yours, fighting would only be pointless."
Yin Long's eyebrows twitched slightly when he heard Siu Kong's words, a thought popping into his mind. His sword technique, weapons stored in his interspatial ring? Could it be that they had been unable to see his attacks since they had to look at him from behind? His attacks didn't move too far from his body, and the leaves fluttering around made it possible that they indeed had been unable to see the attacks he unleashed at the end.
They might have seen that he could create a sword from nothing, but as there was no precedent for something like this, they probably chalked it up to him bringing a new weapon out from his interspatial ring. A plan started to form in his mind, his white sword pointing at the three men. He had never fought someone at the 6th Mortal Door before, nor did he know how high his cultivation would be rated if one accounted for the Qi within his body, the spark of interest and curiosity blooming within him as he prepared himself to face them.
"Sorry, but I'm actually rather fond of doing pointless things."