Chapter 89

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Chapter 89: A Group of Magic Apprentices

After casually announcing her imminent ascension, Wen Yun closed her umbrella and sat down.

Zhu Erchong’s heart skipped a beat, still hearing the terrifying sound of thunder, quickly advising, "Martial Sister Wen, maybe you should keep holding the umbrella? If that thunder strikes down, it will be terrible, we are not ready to ascend yet! If it strikes directly on us, there might not even be ashes left!"

Wen Yun smiled slyly as she poured herself a drink, quietly taking the perfectly roasted skewer of lamb, then calmly replied, "Don’t worry, these are not real Ascension Disaster thunder, just leaks from the calamity cloud, meant to scare people."

Although she said so, everyone still felt uneasy. In the past, during gatherings, it was all about grabbing food and drinks, but today maybe because of their concerns, whether it’s the warmed wine or the roasted meat, most of it ended up in Wen Yun’s stomach.

The wine jug on the fireplace was empty, and only a few skewers of vegetables were left on the grill. After Wen Yun had her fill, she gracefully stood up, bid farewell to everyone, "If any of you have ambitions to ascend, prepare well and come find me at The Tenth Peak. It’s getting late, I must go back now."

The remaining four people fell into silence as they watched her leave.

"Do you think what Martial Sister Wen said about the cultivation world coming to an end in a thousand years is true?"

"I think it might be true."

Martial Sister Mengran took a deep breath, drank a cup of wine, her cheeks and the corners of her eyes blushing slightly. "I often read old books and noticed that the heroes from a thousand years ago could move mountains and seas, but in the past hundred years, such exaggerated stories are rare. Now it seems that maybe the stories from the past were not exaggerated, but rather the spiritual energy was stronger back then compared to us cultivators now."

Her voice choked up when she mentioned the old books.

Bao Pilong and Shen Xinghai were puzzled, thinking that the martial sister had drunk too much, while only Zhu Erchong guessed the truth.

He sighed and tried to comfort her, "Don’t cry, don’t cry. I’ll talk to them again and give you another three to five days."

Martial Sister Mengran remained silent, tears falling.

Zhu Erchong couldn’t convince them, so he decided to talk to the other two people, "What do you think about what Martial Sister Wen said about ascending?"

"I believe Martial Sister Wen isn’t someone who brags recklessly. Since she mentioned a mysterious technique for ascending, let’s practice it!"

"I believe too, I plan to join her in practicing tomorrow. Who wouldn’t want to ascend, right?"

Bao Pilong scratched his head, then chuckled, "I’m in too!"

…

As evening approached, snowflakes started falling again without warning. The elder martial sisters who came to visit each dispersed, and the sword cultivators returning from training blew leaf whistles playfully as they headed back to their nests, swift and agile like birds.

The two young boys, Black Stone and A’xiu, who had just finished learning sword techniques with Liu Luoyin, ran back to the courtyard, tugging at Shen Xinghai’s sleeve excitedly to share their progress for the day. Shen Xinghai patiently listened and then sent them back to bed.

After the courtyard quieted down, Shen Xinghai put on a cloak and walked towards The Tenth Peak in the direction of the soft white snow-covered ground.

This was Shen Xinghai’s first step out of his courtyard since his hand got injured.

He thought that now he would be made fun of by his peers, so he would lower his head and avoid them whenever they passed by.

He didn’t expect to still be recognized, but the other person didn’t mock him. Instead, he politely greeted him and even asked Shen Xinghai where he wanted to go, offering to take him there on his sword.

After thanking him, Shen Xinghai politely declined. As they passed by each other, he could faintly hear the voices of the two sword cultivators behind him.

"Senior Brother, how come that senior brother we just saw lost an arm but his cultivation level is still unseen?"

"Don’t gossip like that. That is Martial Brother Shen from The First Peak. He is the Golden Core Stage senior brother who single-handedly uncovered the conspiracy of a demon cultivator in the outer seas that Ancestral Master Wen mentioned…"

"Ah! So he is the famous Martial Brother Shen?"

Shen Xinghai hesitated.

He had never heard Wen Yun or the other senior brothers mention this matter, and he didn’t realize that his actions had already become known to everyone.

It was as if he could see Wen Yun sternly informing others about what he had done and warning them not to bully him.

Sister Wen has always been like this, she seems unfriendly on the surface, but she actually cares a lot about the people around her.

That’s why she even thinks about sharing the big event of ascension with everyone, right?

If it were other cultivators, they would only fight desperately to seize the chance of ascension from others, how could they possibly share it with someone else?

Shen Xinghai looked down and raised the corners of his mouth, his long-standing heavy heart gradually became light and cheerful.

He looked down at the slightly shining ring on his hand and said, "You always say that the world I am in is decaying, but I have always thought it’s quite nice here."

The ring shimmered for a while, but did not respond to his words.

Shen Xinghai then looked up to the sky and let out a long howl, releasing all the pent-up emotions in his chest, and walked confidently towards the distance.

In the past, with spiritual power supporting him, even without controlling his sword, he could walk with the wind, so he never felt Qingliu Sword Sect was so big, nor did he think The First Peak to The Tenth Peak was so far away.

But now that he has returned to an ordinary body, step by step he walked, accumulating snow on his straw coat from thin to thick, the winding road made of bluestones resembling the path of cultivation, with no end in sight.

They walked for a long time, as the sky changed from dusk to darkness, then gradually brightened. Snow fell all night, and a faint blue color appeared on the horizon.

Shen Xinghai stopped and looked up at the pretty little mountain peak ahead.

Below the mountain gate, a winding path paved with blue stones stood a girl in a light blue dress. She held a simple light blue paper umbrella and carried a chubby pig in her arms, smiling as she looked over.

At the same time, several swordsmen landed gracefully beside Shen Xinghai, accompanied by the sound of flying swords breaking through the air.

"Junior Brother Shen, you actually came by yourself! We came early in the morning to pick you up!"

Shen Xinghai chuckled and apologized to the group of people.

Before the sword cultivators could exchange greetings, Wen Yun, standing at the mountain gate, stopped smiling and asked solemnly, "Are you all ready for the ascent?"

The group of novice Golden Core Stage sword cultivators stood up straight and replied, "We are ready!"

Wen Yun nodded slightly, released the pig from her arms, and watched as it struggled to fly forward, muttering to itself and spitting out a bunch of silly-looking fire sticks from its mouth.

"Oh, this magic wand was hard-earned by me. Please cherish it. If anyone loses or breaks it, they won’t be able to get a new one without two pounds of gems…"

"It’s really annoying. On such a cold day, allowing the esteemed Lord Fire God Dragon to teach these fools basic magic?"

Wen Yun coughed, and the pig immediately stopped squealing.

"Alright, since everyone is ready, let’s go up the mountain with me and prepare for the beginner magic test to see if you can learn magic."

The cultivation method of the Upper Realm is actually about drawing power from heaven and earth, while refining the soul and body in order to achieve ascension.

The problem is that the power of heaven and earth in the cultivation world exists only in The Tenth Peak and Dark Heaven Secret Realm. If everyone follows Senior Su Yuan’s cultivation method of the Upper Realm, this power wouldn’t be enough for so many people.

But Wen Yun came up with an idea – wouldn’t it work if she practiced both magic and martial arts like her?

As long as they don’t cast spells, just meditating to refine their souls is enough with the tiny bit of magic element dispersed from The Tenth Peak!

Isn’t this perfect? Doesn’t this mean they can fly?

She decided to help all the sword cultivators become magic swordsmen before she ascended!

Flying alone is not as good as flying with others, in the upper realm, having no background will make you a target for bullies, right? Okay, she has her own background!

But she never expected that the focus of these sword cultivators would suddenly shift.

Zhu Erchong rubbed his hands excitedly and asked, "Martial Sister Wen, is the ‘magic’ you mentioned the mysterious technique that can help us ascend? The name doesn’t sound quite right, did you steal it from a demon cultivator before?"

Even Martial Sister Mengran got the wrong idea, she nodded solemnly, as if aware of some major event, "Martial Sister Wen, I get it. As the saying goes, if you can’t become a fairy, you become a demon. Since the path to immortality is cut off and we can’t become fairies, you’re preparing to create a path of magic for ascension, right? You truly live up to your reputation, Martial Sister Wen, your style reminds me of a great female protagonist in a novel!"

She had already made up her mind, since the fourth volume of the dark master’s book was destroyed, she decided not to continue writing it.

In the next book, Martial Sister Mengran decided to base a Sword Sect younger martial sister series on Wen Yun, breaking the stereotype that heroes are always male, and showing that women cultivators can also aim to reach the skies and exterminate demons and gods!

"…"

Wen Yun looked at the eager crowd falling into silence, unsure how to explain.

Unexpectedly, the confused sword cultivators didn’t retreat, but instead became more and more active.

Even Shen Xinghai, who was always unhappy, snorted and said, "Why can’t we snatch their resources and techniques since demon cultivators come to plunder ours? As long as these techniques don’t harm anyone, what’s the harm in using them!"

He smirked and said loudly, "Mastering magic to control demons is the best skill!"

"…In fact, these two magics are completely different."

Wen Yun gave up. It was too complicated to explain.

*

"If you want to learn, then learn properly" – this was not spoken by Wen Yun but by the little fire dragon.

When Wen Yun was about to teach the sword cultivators magic, the little fire dragon got excited. It quickly cleared out its dragon nest and set up a classroom with a magical world style, complete with a huge painting on the cave wall. After staring at it for a while, Wen Yun finally recognized it as a prototype drawn by Ye Shubai for Little Hong.

Hm, this dragon really has bad taste for choosing Ye Shubai, with his terrible drawing skills, over me.

Many sword fighters suddenly entered this strange magical classroom and then they discovered that not only them, but also the three ancestral masters of The Tenth Peak had already seated themselves.

Yue Xingzhou and Bai Yushan are rarely seen on regular days, and now they just nodded lightly in acknowledgement.

Only Xu Wanfeng, who usually moves around a lot, greeted this group of young people with a smile when he saw them.

"Oh, a group of disciples have arrived."

The disciples were shocked at once, not knowing whether to stand or sit, frozen in place feeling lost.

Zhu Erchong whispered to Bao Pilong, "Practicing with three ancestors at the Soul Changing Stage together… I feel nervous for some reason."

"What are you afraid of? To be honest, Martial Sister Wen is about to ascend soon, you two didn’t feel nervous when you were fighting over meat with her yesterday."

Martial Sister Mengran’s words had a strange effect, making the two feel as if "the powerful Soul Changing Stage experts were not that formidable after all". Guided by the baby dragon, they settled into their seats with peace of mind.

Wen Yun sat at the front of everyone, calmly saying, "Have you all seen the crystal ball in front of you? Good, now place your hand on the crystal ball and close your eyes, follow my instructions and try to meditate…"

It turns out that geniuses are geniuses. Even the two people who seem the least intelligent have a talent for learning magic. This group of people quickly mastered the essence of meditation and began to strive to become qualified magic apprentices.

In an instant, a group of sword cultivators sat in the dragon lair with their eyes closed in deep concentration. The crystal balls in front of each of them emitted different colored lights, giving the crooked giant dragon statue a majestic aura.

Wen Yun found it somewhat boring to watch. The esteemed Master of Magic, watching a group of magic apprentices learning magic basics here?

She waved at the little fire dragon, and it immediately wagged its tail and ran over.

"What’s wrong?"

"Stay here for me. If they have any difficulties, help them out, okay?"

Originally thinking that the little fire dragon would take advantage of the situation, Wen Yun was surprised that it agreed so readily this time. She hesitated for a moment, starting to worry if her decision was correct.

But she had no time for regrets. The little fire dragon urged her to go out, even making up many excuses, such as "I just went to a secret realm, and Little Bai said he really misses you."

"Why are you so enthusiastic this time?" She couldn’t help but ask, feeling puzzled.

Little Dragon smiled mischievously and muttered, "I teach them magic, so they should pay me tuition, right?"

"…"

Wen Yun had to let Little Dragon take care of those apprentices and make money for tuition happily, while she focused on practicing the swordsmanship of Dongxuan World taught by Senior Su Yuan.

According to Immortal Su Yuan, a true ascension would cause chaos in the world’s energy, and more importantly, the thunder brought down would vary based on the Ascender’s aptitude. Wen Yun’s ascension thunder may attract attention from other realms to this lower realm.

After all, in the lower realm without the world’s energy, very few cultivators ascended on their own before. It was always people from the upper realm who brought them out!

He said, "With your terrifying talent and understanding of the natural laws, if you had the protection of experts from the upper realm’s Tao Realm, it would be fine. But unfortunately, no one can protect you here. If you are not careful, you might be struck dead by the thunder before anyone from Dongxuan World notices."

The calamity cloud always hung over Wen Yun’s head, occasionally sending a thunder to remind her – "You are about to die!"

Wen Yun had to go into seclusion voluntarily. Even though she didn’t dare to draw on the world’s energy, she still practiced various techniques desperately.

Time flew by, and half a year passed without her noticing.

Dry branches sprouted new buds, layers of varying shades of green gradually covered the thousands of mountains of Qingliu Sword Sect. As the heat intensified, the green became thicker and more vibrant. On the nine main peaks, sword cultivators displayed their sword techniques among the clouds, their spiritual power surging with vitality like the hot summer day.

On the petite Tenth Peak, a chubby red pig held a lit torch in its front trotters, pointing and gesturing at the line of sword cultivators in front.

"You have been practicing magic for nearly half a year now, previously just meditating in the dragon cave. Now it’s time to show me the results! Whether you can become a true magic apprentice will be determined in today’s assessment. Come on, raise your magic wands."

The sword cultivators all held not swords but peculiarly shaped torches… No, Martial Sister Wen’s spiritual pig said they were called magic wands.

It was quite puzzling why Martial Sister Wen had a pig teaching them this so-called "magic." If others found out in the future, wouldn’t it be embarrassing?

The tiny fire dragon was unaware of what they were thinking. It continued to display its authority, confiscating the sword cultivators’ wives and ordering, "You are not allowed to use Sword Control Art now. Anyone who can fly will pass, exempting them from these six months of training, while those who fail must go back to meditate with a crystal ball for a month!"

Using magic well depended on spiritual power, so the successful casting of magic spells could indeed judge the refinement of their spirits.

Everyone’s concerned eyes turned to Shen Xinghai. He had lost all his previous abilities, starting from scratch in both spiritual power and magic. The efforts he had to put in were many times more than the others.

At this moment, Shen Xinghai held the magic wand, pondered for a moment, and then slowly chanted the spell taught by the tiny fire dragon.

A magic wand is much lighter and easier to use than a sword, so he was able to float up in the sky effortlessly soon after using it.

When Shen Xinghai successfully passed the test, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

Martial Sister Mengran followed suit by using a Floating Skill to fly up in the air unsteadily. However, she felt uneasy as she was used to controlling a sword and couldn’t feel anything beneath her feet. After swaying in mid-air for a while, she couldn’t resist the urge and carefully used a Sword Control Art on the burning stick in her hand…

It turns out that with enough practice, even a burning stick can become as powerful as a divine sword, becoming a divine stick.

She really flew using the stick!

The other sword cultivators followed suit, each one flying in the air with a stick, angering the small dragon who was now muttering angrily and prepared to report to Wen Yun.

"A bunch of grown adults trying to deceive a young dragon just to save some money, have you no shame!"

Before the upset small dragon could fly off to find its owner, a dark cloud hovering above suddenly flashed with lightning and struck down a bolt of thunder towards the ground!

This calamity cloud had been hovering over Qingliu Sword Sect for over half a year, occasionally striking lightning. Initially, everyone was afraid, but they had gotten used to it over time.

After all, every time the thunder was blocked by Wen Yun, not even a single blade of grass was harmed, except for the loud noise.

Charmander also thought the same at first.

However, the cloud today seemed particularly gloomy, spreading larger and larger, as if it was ready to press down towards the Qingliu Sword Sect. What was more terrifying was that the lightning between the clouds kept flashing incessantly. Usually, it took three to five days for a thunder to strike, but today, another one struck again!

Looking up at the sky, guided by the Divine Soul Contract, Charmander sensed a hint of unease. After the third thunder strike, Charmander finally realized what was happening, no longer caring about the tuition of those sword cultivators, it transformed and flew towards the peak.

Wen Yun could no longer hold back her cultivation. The real thunder was finally coming down, and she had to be there to withstand it now!

The disciples of the Qingliu Sword Sect were originally gathered together to watch the commotion, wondering why there were strange people flying with sticks. But after several thunder strikes, everyone’s gaze turned towards The Tenth Peak.

Countless thunders fell towards The Tenth Peak. Amidst the overwhelming thunder and lightning, a graceful figure could faintly be seen standing proudly alone.

"Martial Sister Wen didn’t lie to us, she really is about to ascend…"

Zhu Erchong and the others fell off their sticks in a sorry state. Looking up at the sky, they knew they would probably never forget this scene in their lifetime.

Martial Sister Mengran looked on in admiration, quietly reciting the preface of the new chapter of the book—

"In early June, Sword Sect Wen Yun achieved the Dao, not seeking immortality from the immortals, but forging her own path to ascend in broad daylight…"