Chapter 266: A Thousand Miles by Flying Sword to Taichu Mountain

After bidding farewell to his Senior Brother Ye Yiming, Qin Haoxuan hurried back to the registration office.

There, Elder Yu was helping Li Jing tally his merits, his anxious eyes glancing at the door from time to time.

After Qin Haoxuan entered, he bowed to the elder. “Elder, my business is finished. Are we…”

“Junior Brother Qin, Elder Yu is busy. If you have something to say, please wait a moment!”

Before he could finish, Li Jing, who was in the middle of calculating his merits, couldn’t help but interrupt. Previously, Qin Haoxuan had ignored him outside, and now he was being so impolite in front of Elder Yu.

Qin Haoxuan might not know Elder Yu’s status, but how could he, Li Jing, not know? Even other elders, when they had business with him, had to wait obediently at the side until he was finished.

For a mere weak seed like Qin Haoxuan to speak with such a lack of propriety… If Elder Yu weren’t present, and Li Jing didn’t have to consider his own status, he really wanted to ask him, What do you mean, ‘my business is finished’? What does your business have to do with Elder Yu? And you’re acting as if you’re so familiar with him? Don’t you know how close I am with him? He has been giving me guidance on my cultivation during this period.

A weak seed, who has gotten a few Qi-Circulating Pills under the care of Xu Yu, and his cultivation speed is comparable to a Gray Seed’s. But it’s only comparable. Just arrived, and you already want to show off your good relationship with an elder? To try and one-up me? I am already number one on the leaderboard. You had better stop pretending with me.

Li Jing looked at Qin Haoxuan, the disgust in his eyes unconcealed. He thought to himself, ‘I was nice to you before because I wanted the Qi-Circulating Pills in your hands. Do you really think I need to suck up to you?’

Numerous thoughts flashed through his mind, and then he said unceremoniously, “Junior Brother Qin, I still have some cultivation problems that I need to ask Elder Yu about. If you have something, please come back later. How about it?” Although his words were a suggestion, his tone was incomparably firm, no different from a command.

If it had been anyone else, after Li Jing had given the order to leave, they would have certainly slunk away. But Qin Haoxuan just gave him a faint look and then stood quietly, waiting for Elder Yu’s reaction.

For Elder Yu, the time he had been waiting for Qin Haoxuan felt like years. This matter was too important; every moment of delay added another layer of danger. Seeing that he was ready, he no longer bothered with tallying Li Jing’s merits. He placed the jade slip on the table, immediately stood up, and said, “Let’s go.”

As he spoke, he slammed his hand on the table in front of him, using the force to stand up. At the same time, the flying sword that was slung diagonally across his back unsheathed itself. He formed a hand seal, and the sword grew larger, flying in front of Qin Haoxuan. The moment it did, Qin Haoxuan felt the faint sword intent it emitted, making it difficult for him to breathe. And this was with the elder having no ill intent towards him.

Looking at the flying sword before him, and imagining the rainbow of light it had created as it flew from the elder’s back, it would be a lie to say he wasn’t excited. ‘A flying sword, this is a real flying sword. I finally have a chance to ride one.’

Elder Yu’s actions had startled Li Jing. Especially when he saw the sword unsheathe, he had thought the elder was angry and was about to cut Qin Haoxuan down. Just as he was preparing to watch a good show, Elder Yu, who had been stone-faced while talking to him, put on a smile and said to Qin Haoxuan kindly, “It seems you’ve never ridden a flying sword before.”

Qin Haoxuan was very honest. “I have not.”

Elder Yu nodded. He had only been in the sect for less than two years, and the Nature Hall was weak; how could he possibly have ridden one? Even the three Purple Seed disciples from his year had never had the chance. He immediately said, “After the sword ascends, you will stand behind me. I will summon my spiritual energy to block part of the astral wind for you. You will also need to use your own spiritual energy to protect your body. Don’t worry, I won’t fly too fast. Just stand firm.”

Qin Haoxuan nodded and, under his guidance, stepped onto the longsword, which had transformed from a four-foot-long, three-finger-wide blade into a flying sword half a zhang long and five feet wide. After he stepped on, the sword, which was floating in mid-air, did not even tremble slightly, as if it were fixed in place. At the same time, a faint fluctuation of spiritual energy came from under his feet. This energy was like a sticky substance, fixing his feet to the sword.

He, of course, knew that this was the considerate elder looking out for him. An ordinary person riding a flying sword, how could there be a faint spiritual energy to fix them to it? The elder must have been worried about his low realm and that an accident might happen in the air.

After doing this, Elder Yu finally remembered the Purple Seed disciple he had left to the side. He said to Li Jing with some apology, “Li Jing, you can go back for now. We’ll tally your merits next time.”

Seeing this scene and hearing his words, Li Jing, who had just been preparing to watch Qin Haoxuan be taught a lesson, his face turned the color of a pig’s liver. He had originally thought the elder had released his sword to punish him. At the time, he had even been thinking, to teach a lesson to a mere weak seed, is it necessary to use such a high-grade item? Aren’t you afraid his dirty blood will stain the sword? He never thought that he was taking him for a ride.

A flying sword was such a noble treasure. Even he, an Unsurpassed Purple Seed, had never had the chance to touch one with his own hands. But this bastard Qin Haoxuan, by some unknown means, had actually tricked Elder Yu into taking him for a ride. Wasn’t he afraid that his dirty feet would stain the noble sword?

Li Jing still wanted to ask why, but the arrow-like eager Elder Yu had no interest in dealing with him. After hastily throwing out that sentence, he leaped onto the enlarged sword and, with a change of his hand seal, the sword, carrying Qin Haoxuan, transformed into a streak of light, shot out of the tent, and disappeared over the horizon.

Until he could no longer see his figure, Li Jing, who considered himself to be of high quality, cursed fiercely, “Damn it, what’s going on?”

For a moment, he felt as if he were dreaming. Even as an Unsurpassed Purple Seed, valued by the Sect Master and the other high-level members of the sect, no one had ever taken him for a ride on a flying sword to experience the feeling of soaring through the nine heavens. But Qin Haoxuan, a weak seed, on what basis could he get on Elder Yu’s sword? Could it be that Elder Yu was his biological father?

…

On the flying sword, with Elder Yu in front and Qin Haoxuan in the back, as the elder changed his hand seal, the sword was like an arrow released from a bow, shooting straight into the sky. The huge gust of wind nearly made it impossible for him to breathe.

He immediately mobilized his spiritual energy to protect his body, and at the same time, the elder also released his own spiritual energy, blocking part of the astral wind for him. Only then did it become a little more bearable.

At this moment, he looked down again and was shocked. He was now a thousand zhang above the ground, the sword weaving through clouds.

Looking down, even the bold Qin Haoxuan’s legs felt a little weak. After all, it was his first time riding a sword through the nine heavens.

Seeing the houses below become tiny stars, the originally huge lakes become small puddles, and the large and small mountains become little mounds, the mountains, lakes, and fields that he could not see in their entirety before were now all beneath his feet. The feeling was truly wonderful.

No wonder so many people yearned for cultivation, and so many cultivators hoped to obtain a flying sword. Putting aside its power, just the temptation of riding a sword and flying through the sky was something few cultivators could resist.

However, he also felt that the pressure of the astral wind from flying in the sky was different from running on the ground.

When running on the ground at the speed of a flying sword, although the wind pressure was great, he was confident that with his physical strength, plus his spiritual energy protection, there would be no problem at all.

But in the high sky, the astral wind pressure brought by the speed of the flying sword, even with the elder’s care, plus his own spiritual energy protection and the strength of his demonic body, the feeling of being unable to breathe was still very obvious.

The same speed, in the sky and on the ground, were two completely different concepts.

After flying for about two hours, he saw the towering, cloud-piercing Emperor Peak in the distance. If it had been before, at the foot of the mountain, the elder would have descended and walked up the “Stairway to Heaven.”

But now, the matter was urgent; a moment’s delay added another layer of danger. So, he did not descend. He took a jade slip from his robes and, after crushing it, a pale-yellow light barrier protected the two of them.

The great mountain array of the Taichu Sect was immensely powerful. Never mind a Spirit Tree Realm expert like him; even a Dao Fruit Realm expert entering on a sword would be ground to a pulp by it.

This “Sword-Riding Order” was given by the Sect Master to the elders who had flying swords, but each person only had one. In extremely urgent situations, as long as one crushed it, they could enter the great array on their sword without being attacked.

Soon, the sword carrying the two of them arrived at the summit of Emperor Peak, in front of the Taichu Grand Hall. The sword descended, and the giant blade once again became a small sword, three fingers wide and four feet long, and returned to the scabbard on the elder’s back.

Elder Yu said to him, “You wait here. I will go and report to the Sect Master.”

“Yes,” Qin Haoxuan said with a slight bow. The Taichu Grand Hall was not a place every disciple could come to. In the nearly two years since he had joined the sect, he had never been here before. He looked around and couldn’t help but be secretly shocked.

He had heard from his senior brother that Emperor Peak had originally been a steep mountain, and it would have been difficult to even build a thatched hut on it. But an ancestor of the Taichu Sect had once cut off the summit with a single sword strike, and it was here that they had built the Taichu Grand Hall.

He stood in place, quietly waiting for the Sect Master’s summons. In the main hall, the moment Elder Yu had walked in, Sect Master Huanglong had also rushed over. When Elder Yu had crushed the Sword-Riding Order, he had already sensed it.

Such an item was extremely precious. Unless it was a critical, life-or-death situation where every second counted, no one would be willing to crush it. After all, even for an elder with a flying sword, it would only take an extra incense stick’s worth of time to climb the stairway.

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