Chapter 82: Refinement and Advancement

The Imperial Palace.

The guardians reported the situation.

Upon hearing their words, the aged emperor lying in bed had no light in his eyes, as if already dead.

Even Du Jiuli had been frightened away?

What else could be done?

Despair filled the old emperor’s heart. Was he truly to bow his head to that young scoundrel?

Never!

“Withdraw,” he finally spoke in a low voice, dismissing the guardians.

Afterward, he ordered all eunuchs and maids to leave, leaving himself alone in the bedchamber.

“Sigh,” the old emperor let out a long sigh and closed his eyes.

“Guiyuan, have you made up your mind?” Suddenly, a shadow shrouded in mist appeared at the foot of his bed, emerging from nowhere.

The old emperor opened his cloudy eyes and stared blankly, not replying.

The mist-shrouded figure continued, “Guiyuan, you are the ruler of a nation. Your son has been slaughtered, do you not wish for revenge?

“Are you truly planning to issue a self-condemnation decree and admit fault to that inexperienced boy?

“You disappoint me. Every ancestor of the Yu clan was a pillar of strength—how could you, Yu Guiyuan, be so spineless? Your son was killed, and now you must apologize to others?

“In my opinion, you’d be better off dead than living in disgrace.”

Yu Guiyuan, the old emperor, was already weeping with age-old tears upon hearing these words.

For over two thousand years, the Yu dynasty had never suffered such humiliation.

“No need for more words, sir. I agree. I am willing to offer my soul and become the master’s loyal servant,” Yu Guiyuan finally decided.

“Hahaha, excellent!” The misty figure laughed. “Guiyuan, had you decided sooner, you wouldn’t have suffered so much.”

“Lifespan! Grant me lifespan!” Yu Guiyuan demanded.

“Rest assured, the master has already prepared it for you. Once the offering ritual is complete, your lifespan will increase by five hundred years! The master will bestow upon you supreme divine powers. With that, what vengeance could you not exact?” the misty figure replied.

Yu Guiyuan trembled as he climbed down from his bed.

He knelt, choking up, and said, “Ancestors above, the unfilial descendant Yu Guiyuan of the Yu clan, for the sake of avenging my son, willingly pledges servitude. After five hundred years, when my time is up, I will ask forgiveness before your spirits in heaven!”

With those words, he kowtowed three times, his expression resolute as he rose.

“Sir Mingyue, please allow me to offer my soul to the master.”

The misty figure gave a dry laugh, then produced a fierce-faced idol and placed it upon the prepared altar.

“Kneel, and recite devoutly after me…”

…

Spirit Manor.

Xia Jiuxuan entered the alchemy chamber. At this moment, Li Luoyan was deeply unconscious, her life force extremely weak.

Clang!

A spirit sword hovered above Li Luoyan.

“Luckily, I obtained a spirit sword, or even I wouldn’t be able to save Luoyan’s life,” Xia Jiuxuan mused. If Li Luoyan died here, it would leave an eternal knot in his heart.

Perhaps it would even affect his cultivation in the future.

Buzz, buzz, buzz…

The spirit sword, under Xia Jiuxuan’s mental control, vibrated with a resonant hum.

Xia Jiuxuan then placed his palms on Li Luoyan’s chest.

“Sword spirit, emerge!” he called out.

The spirit sword trembled violently, emitting a mournful wail.

Then, the shadow of a young girl floated from the sword—she was its sword spirit.

“Better than I anticipated,” Xia Jiuxuan thought with satisfaction upon seeing the sword spirit.

“Sword spirit, rest assured. Following her, your future will be limitless,” he said to the sword spirit.

The spirit girl shivered, perhaps unable to comprehend what Xia Jiuxuan was saying.

Xia Jiuxuan paid no heed. His spiritual intent enveloped the sword spirit and guided her into Li Luoyan’s body.

“From now on, you shall become her sword soul—go!” he commanded.

The sword spirit whimpered, dragged into Li Luoyan’s divine soul by a powerful force.

Once inside, strands like green vines pierced into the sword spirit’s body, binding her completely to Li Luoyan.

“Mmm…” In her coma, Li Luoyan let out a soft moan, her life force rapidly gathering.

“Ah!” Half an hour later, Li Luoyan, pale-faced, suddenly opened her eyes.

She gazed in confusion at the face so close to her, and instinctively slapped him.

She could feel that a pair of hands had pressed upon her chest for a long, long time…

What a shameless scoundrel, daring to take advantage of her!

Xia Jiuxuan never expected Li Luoyan would slap him immediately upon waking, leaving him stunned.

“Ah! It’s you, sir!” In an instant, memories flooded Li Luoyan’s mind and she recognized Xia Jiuxuan.

Seeing the red mark on his face, she stuck out her tongue, “Sorry, sir, I didn’t mean it. Please, continue.”

She hurriedly pulled Xia Jiuxuan’s hands back to where they had been.

Xia Jiuxuan: “…”

Li Luoyan seemed to realize something was amiss, stammering, “Sir, I—I… sigh.”

Xia Jiuxuan calmly withdrew his hands and smiled, “Alright, alright. How do you feel, does it still hurt?”

Li Luoyan looked puzzled, “Hurt? Ah? No, it doesn’t… Could it be…”

Her gaze instinctively drifted downward.

“Ahem, what are you looking at? Silly girl, I meant your soul—is it still in pain?” Xia Jiuxuan rolled his eyes at her.

Li Luoyan stiffened, finally coming to her senses.

No pain!

Her wounds had healed!

“Ah, this… Sir, I didn’t die! I’m actually alive!” Li Luoyan jumped from the ice bed, joyful as a child, flinging herself into Xia Jiuxuan’s arms.

“I told you, without my permission, I wouldn’t let you die,” Xia Jiuxuan said softly.

Li Luoyan could not describe her feelings at this moment.

She only wanted to say, sir, you’re amazing!

To save even a burnt-out sword soul—her understanding had been refreshed yet again.

“Have you hugged enough?” Xia Jiuxuan asked.

“Uh.” Li Luoyan paused, “Hmm, not yet!”

Xia Jiuxuan: “…”

…

Li Luoyan and Xia Jiuxuan went together to Xia Ran’s room.

“Teacher, Miss Ranran has been clamoring to see you,” Xia Jiuxuan was told; during his work, Xia Ran had been cared for by Han Yu.

“Second father.” Upon seeing Xia Jiuxuan, Xia Ran didn’t cry, but looked at him with sadness, pitifully.

“Does it still hurt?”

Xia Ran had many wounds, but after taking healing pills, her life was not in danger.

“It hurts,” Xia Ran pouted, then said, “Second father, teacher was killed by bad people.”

Her eyes brimmed with tears, but she stubbornly held them back.

Xia Jiuxuan felt a pang in his heart; Yao Yunya had died terribly, her face unrecognizable.

“The bad people have all been slain by your sister Luoyan, she’s avenged your teacher,” Xia Jiuxuan said.

“But teacher will never return, just like father and mother, right?” Xia Ran asked, utterly dejected.

“Not necessarily. If our Ranran grows strong enough, perhaps you can bring them all back someday,” Xia Jiuxuan said after some thought.

“Really?” Xia Ran’s little eyes brightened. “How strong do I have to be? Is being like sister Luoyan enough?”

“You’ll need to be even stronger, you’ll see in time,” Xia Jiuxuan said, picking her up. “So, you must cultivate diligently, understand?”

“Mm!” Xia Ran nodded vigorously. In her young heart, she felt for the first time an intense longing—to become incredibly strong!

“Ranran, why not go practice with sister Luoyan? She’ll teach you swordsmanship.”

“Alright, alright! Thank you, sister Luoyan. Let’s hurry, tomorrow I’ll become very powerful!”

“Silly girl, cultivation takes years of perseverance, it’s not something you achieve overnight. Just follow sister Luoyan and learn well,” Xia Jiuxuan chuckled.

“Hmph, it doesn’t matter. Ranran will be strong, and won’t let bad people bully you anymore.”

The little girl rushed off with Li Luoyan to the training hall.

Only Xia Jiuxuan and Han Yu remained in the room.

“Han Yu, I’ll now teach you a technique. From now on, focus on cultivating in the manor. When you master it, you can become my right-hand man!”

Hearing this, Han Yu clenched his fists, his cheeks taut.

The events of the past few days had taught him deeply that in this world, only strength matters!

Han Yu knelt respectfully, “Teacher, I will give my all, and never let you down!”

Xia Jiuxuan nodded, “Good. This technique was created by a true Sage of Confucianism, named ‘Hao Tian Demon-Elimination Sutra.’ Even if I recall only part of it, once mastered, it will make you a thousand or ten thousand times stronger than you are now!”

“Disciple awaits your teaching!”

Han Yu’s heart surged with excitement; he was sick of feeling powerless before his enemies!

He yearned for strength!

“Relax your mind, I’ll transmit it to you through soul memory.”

“Yes.” Han Yu silently recited the scripture and entered a relaxed state.

A flood of unfamiliar memories rushed into his mind, imprinting themselves as his own.

Immersed in the vast world of the soul, Han Yu did not open his eyes again, completely absorbed.

Xia Jiuxuan locked the door and left alone.

“Sigh, if I could cultivate myself, I’d have reached the Saintly Realm by now,” he lamented.

Even though he had advanced from the Innate Realm to the Profound Realm in just over a month, he was still dissatisfied.

Such speed was unimaginable for ordinary martial cultivators, but to him, it was agonizingly slow.

Even the Saintly Realm was only the entry point to martial arts in Xia Jiuxuan’s eyes.

Moreover, only upon reaching the Saintly Realm could he use the most basic martial techniques from his memories, which would truly transform his strength.

Sadly, he was only at the eighth level of the Profound Realm.

However, in recent days, he had collected many talented souls and two thousand premium spirit crystals, so his advancement would be much faster.

Xia Jiuxuan fed a hundred premium spirit crystals into the slaughter arena.

These crystals were enough to elevate him to the Sealed Spirit Realm.

Ten days later, the hundred crystals were depleted, and his cultivation advanced smoothly to the Sealed Spirit Realm.

A new problem arose.

Advancing into a new realm meant many puppets below the level of sealed spirit crystals lost their effectiveness, and his progress slowed again.

“Continue. As much as possible,” Xia Jiuxuan thought, sending in five hundred more crystals, hoping to quickly reach the Mortal Transcendence Realm.

“Is Master Xia present?” came a voice from outside the manor.

Xia Jiuxuan extended his spiritual sense; a team had arrived, their leader at the seventh level of Mortal Transcendence, with the rest also strong, at the first or second level of Mortal Transcendence.