I Can Copy the Talents of All Creatures

Yu Fei immersed his consciousness into the tiny seed. As his crimson blood seeped into it, he felt a natural sense of intimacy, as if the seed had always been a part of him.

However, as time passed, a faint barrier began to form. He understood this was because he had yet to fully refine it; the Primordial Qi Sword Lotus Seed still possessed a will of its own.

Yu Fei’s mind focused. A flash of watery-moonlight sword radiance shot out, and his Sword Intent, carrying the entirety of his consciousness, pierced into the seed’s core.

BOOM...

It was as if he had entered a bizarre, kaleidoscopic world. Blades shaped like lotus flowers were everywhere. Yu Fei wasn’t surprised; this was mentioned in the Heart Furnace Lotus Planting Skill.

The seed’s name contained the words "sword lotus" precisely because of these naturally formed, sword-shaped lotuses.

Normally, upon reaching this stage, a Cultivator would have to rely on their own Sword Intent to cut down each of these naturally sharp sword-lotuses, then find the seed’s core consciousness, and finally subdue and refine it with their Sword Intent.

By doing so, they would obtain its Primordial Formless characteristic, making it seem as if it were an innate ability.

But Yu Fei had a better option. He had a premonition—an intuitive guidance from the martial path—that leaving these sword-lotuses might yield some unexpected benefits.

The watery-moonlight glow flashed, and his consciousness, wrapped in Sword Intent, vanished into the void. The sword-lotuses, which had just been howling and restive, suddenly fell into a state of confusion. Their instinctive will drove them to seek out and destroy foreign invaders, but now they sensed nothing at all.

This was the will-space of the Primordial Qi Sword Lotus Seed itself. Everything here was under its instinctive control. Logically, it should have been able to discover any foreign power, no matter where it hid. But now, something unexpected had occurred.

This was the freakish power of Yu Fei’s Illusory Sword Intent. Combined with the sliver of spatial power he had integrated from Mr. Lanren’s legacy, his Sword Intent’s ability to conceal itself had become even stronger.

An invisible speck of dust drifted through this will-space. Countless sword-lotuses floated past, but Yu Fei’s mind was as still as an ancient well, his consciousness silent as death.

Outside, Yan Sea was utterly perplexed. Logically, this stage was the moment to test the power of a Martial Artist’s Sword Intent. The battle taking place in the will-space should cause fluctuations in the Martial Artist’s own aura; that was what the cultivation manual recorded.

Yet, Yu Fei’s aura showed no fluctuations whatsoever. Even his own Qi Blood was starting to grow quiescent. A nurse had even hooked him up to a high blood-energy monitor, and it had already been on for half an hour.

During this time, the nurse kept glaring at Yan Sea, as if to say, ’If anything goes wrong, you brought it on yourselves. It has nothing to do with me.’

This exchange caused his previous confidence to evaporate, replaced by a renewed anxiety. All sorts of terrible thoughts began to bubble up in his mind. The more Yan Sea thought, the more nervous he became, but things had already progressed to a point where they couldn’t be stopped.

On the rooftop, Su Yue’s expression was grave. She couldn’t observe Yu Fei’s true condition and could only infer the progress of his cultivation from Yan Sea’s reactions.

Not far from Su Yue, two elderly men had appeared at some unknown point, playing a game of Go. The pair seemed as if they had always been there, yet also as if they had never appeared at all.

"Mr. Tang, are you sure you don’t need me to go and chop up that old dog, Dust Sacrifice?"

Mr. Tang, holding a white stone in one hand and deep in thought, answered nonchalantly.

"Ah, Kong, opportunities for the younger generation to gain experience are so rare. You shouldn’t interfere needlessly, alright?"

At some unknown time, Su Yue’s maternal grandfather had traveled all the way from Divine Capital Taibai Mountain to a remote county town in the Yu Kingdom.

The Soul-Breaking Sword, Mr. Kong, smiled faintly. He kept some thoughts to himself. ’If you really wanted your junior to gain experience, why drag me all the way out here? And under the lovely pretext of enjoying the local culture of the Yu Kingdom’s great northwest, no less.’

’What was there to see in a place like this, besides a bunch of stinking heretics? The only one worth tangling with was that old dog, Dust Sacrifice, and to think that fellow actually ran all the way out here too.’

’When it all came down to it, Mr. Tang was just worried about his precious granddaughter.’

’Mr. Tang couldn’t make a move himself; too many eyes were on him. I, on the other hand, just happened to be on vacation with nothing to do, so I got dragged over to be the safety net. It couldn’t be helped. To break through to the Grandmaster realm back then, I ended up owing Mr. Tang a huge debt. It’s long past the point of being able to pay it back, so I can only repay it with my labor.’

He had heard about Su Yue and Yan Sea’s story back in the day. At the time, Mr. Lanren’s fame was widespread. Despite his lack of innate talent, he had painstakingly cultivated step-by-step to become an eighth-realm Grandmaster, even possessing strength comparable to a Martial Saint. Such an accomplishment had been unheard of for three hundred years.

He had inspired countless people at the time. After all, while the world had no shortage of geniuses, ordinary Martial Artists were far more numerous.

Mr. Lanren had sparked a trend of arduous cultivation throughout the Yu Kingdom, unearthing a great deal of talent. He had even challenged the education and merit systems of the time, causing more resources to be allocated to ordinary Martial Artists.

Of course, the fact that some Martial Artists of genius pedigree were displeased was another matter entirely.

On that note, the Martial Artist downstairs—the one with the dark, farmer-like complexion—was one of the beneficiaries of that policy. He had made a name for himself as the Bloodthirsty Dragon General. Back then, his ascension to the Grandmaster realm was considered a virtual certainty. As a result, he was naturally seen as a prime catch by the ladies of many prominent and noble families.

Later, for some unknown reason, news of his swift engagement to Mr. Tang’s granddaughter, Su Yue, had spread. After that... war broke out, Mr. Lanren was ambushed, and the Jie Jian lineage was nearly wiped out. The incident was shrouded in mystery and difficult to investigate.

And the Bloodthirsty Dragon General of old vanished without a trace, his cultivation realm shattered, hiding here to work as a teacher.

It was the stuff of a grand, dramatic tale. In the countless millennia of the martial path, such stories had played out innumerable times. The strange part was Su Yue; for reasons unknown, she too had disappeared as if possessed, even though it had only been an engagement.

He never thought that the next time he saw them, the two would be in the same place.

Thinking of this, the Soul-Breaking Sword, Kong Sheng, let a smile grace his lips.

’That Mr. Su has been searching for his precious daughter all these years. His own father-in-law clearly knows Su Yue’s whereabouts but hasn’t told his son-in-law. Now *that* was amusing.’

Kong Sheng made a judgment in his heart. Mr. Tang’s status was lofty and his wealth immense, but his personality was somewhat exasperating. He was always fond of doing the most baffling things.

"Mr. Tang, I heard Marshal Lei raised a huge ruckus on Taibai Mountain these past few days, causing quite a stir."

Kong Sheng seemed to play without a second thought, placing one stone after another. Mr. Tang, in contrast, was sweating, his forehead beaded with anxiousness. The difference in their skill was clear at a glance.

Without looking up, Tang said, "Oh? What’s with that bald tiger now? Did he have another one of his fits?"

"I heard that the twenty-year Enlightenment Tea that was supposed to be allocated to Marshal Lei this year was... ’eaten by insects due to improper storage,’ or so they say. He’s supposedly furious."

Kong Sheng looked at the portly old man before him and guessed that he was most likely the one who had pulled the strings. The man had the means and the motive. After all, Mr. Tang had given him a full two taels of twenty-year Enlightenment Tea, which was the only reason he’d come scurrying over so eagerly.

’Otherwise, how could he have ended up owing the man so much? Every time he was said to be "helping out," he failed to repay his old social debts and ended up incurring new ones. Yet every time, the things Mr. Tang prepared for him were exactly what he desperately needed. Sigh... he was truly helpless.’