Sword Immortal Sis, Someone's Here to Kick Your Ass!
Qingzhou. Behind Canglan Academy.
Yeop Hyeon sat cross-legged, countless strands of sword intent and sword haze gathering around him.
Sword Eyes!
Condensing sword intent and sword haze into the eyes, granting vision through the blade.
Lately, he spent most of his time training Sword Eyes.
It wasn't something easily mastered.
To ultimately wield Sword Eyes, he first had to concentrate his sword intent and sword haze, compressing it as tightly as possible. Then, he needed to control that compressed energy to prevent it from dispersing. This was the part where he'd failed repeatedly these past few days.
Moreover, every time he gathered the sword intent and sword haze, excruciating pain followed. If his body weren't as robust as it was now, he never could have even attempted this technique.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the mountain, Bai Ze was slamming his body into the cliff like a madman. The base of the mountain where he'd been colliding had already changed dramatically from its original shape.
After brutalizing his body for a good while, Bai Ze collapsed flat on the ground, sprawling out like a starfish. He panted heavily, his veins writhing across his body like snakes. Any outsider witnessing it would have been shocked.
After a brief rest, Bai Ze pulled a jade bottle from his bosom. It contained Quench Body Pills.
Yeop Hyeon had bought them for him. Each pill cost a staggering 300,000 taels of gold—an invaluable treasure.
The bottle held a full twenty of them.
Bai Ze's gaze on the bottle was complicated. Yeop Hyeon occasionally got drunk and rambled, but he took excellent care of Bai Ze, Mu Yun Qi, and Ji An Zhi. He handled all of Canglan Academy's miscellaneous tasks alone, ensuring they could focus solely on training.
They accepted his consideration because they didn't want to burden him anymore—they yearned to grow stronger.
No longer did they wish for Yeop Hyeon to shoulder everything alone.
Whatever came, the four of them would face it together, pooling their strength.
To unite their power, they first had to match Yeop Hyeon's strength. Otherwise, they'd only drag him down.
Bai Ze drew a deep breath and swallowed a Quench Body Pill.
About an incense stick's time later, he rose and charged the mountain again with ferocious intensity.
Thud!
The entire cliff shuddered from the impact.
The training repeated endlessly.
Boom!
When Bai Ze shattered part of the cliff, his body suddenly rebounded violently.
Thump!
A massive crater formed where he landed.
Bai Ze, collapsed in the pit, began convulsing wildly as if seized by epilepsy. His veins swelled grotesquely, threatening to rupture!
Half an hour passed like this.
“Haaah!”
Bai Ze roared, and the ground beneath him caved in.
Moments later, he leaped out of the crater. His body was now markedly larger than before!
More crucially, he had broken through to the Penetrating Nether Realm!
A savage aura emanated from his entire frame, and his eyes gleamed not like a man's, but a beast's!
Feeling the changes, Bai Ze clenched his fists tight.
“The power of my bloodline... it's finally awakened! Heh... time to spar with Yeop Hyeon. If I win, I'm the big bro from now on!”
Bai Ze charged fiercely toward the bamboo grove where Yeop Hyeon was.
He arrived before Yeop Hyeon in an instant! But he couldn't charge in—he skidded to a halt.
Terrifying sword intent and sword haze enveloped Yeop Hyeon. To Bai Ze's eyes, it condensed like crackling lightning!
Besides that, the hovering Spirit Water Sword vibrated intensely, unleashing fierce sword qi that whipped the air around it.
Bai Ze stood frozen for a while, watching, then cautiously turned and slipped away from the grove.
“Can't find a better guy than Yeop Hyeon... Guess I'll go smack Mu Yun Qi instead!”
There wasn't a hint of hesitation in his retreating steps.
Moments later, Bai Ze arrived at the base of a cliff. Looking up, he saw a monkey-like figure screeching as it scaled the sheer face.
No, it was Mu Yun Qi!
The cliff was nearly vertical, but Mu Yun Qi ascended it like flat ground, swift as the wind.
“Mu Yun Qi! Come down for a spar!”
Mu Yun Qi halted at the peak, then appeared before Bai Ze in a flash.
As Mu Yun Qi panted, gearing up to say something, Bai Ze's fist suddenly smashed into his face.
Crack!
Caught off-guard by the ambush, Mu Yun Qi flew backward through the air. Mid-flight, his form flickered repeatedly, halving his momentum.
Pure speed minimized the damage!
Mu Yun Qi landed lightly and yelled angrily at Bai Ze.
“You lumbering oaf, cooped up in the mountains so long the itch got you, huh...”
Bai Ze didn't let him finish.
As Bai Ze barreled toward him, Mu Yun Qi gritted his teeth and shouted.
“You're dead by my hand today!”
In an instant, Mu Yun Qi's figure blurred into an afterimage, shooting at Bai Ze.
The two clashed immediately!
Bai Ze's raw power overwhelmed Mu Yun Qi. Mu Yun Qi's movements were far too swift for Bai Ze to match. Cleverly avoiding direct confrontation, Mu Yun Qi struck intermittently at Bai Ze's flanks. They fought on without a victor for quite some time.
Inside the bamboo grove.
Yeop Hyeon remained seated cross-legged, eyes closed. His body trembled ceaselessly, just as before. After a long while, he suddenly snapped his eyes open.
Two orbs of sword haze burst from his eyes like lightning!
Shraaa!
In that instant, all the bamboo within a dozen zhang around him was sliced clean in half!
Yeop Hyeon collapsed to the ground. As his eyes closed again, two spheres of mingled sword intent and sword haze gleamed within them!
Sword Eyes!
After countless failures, mastery achieved. Sword haze forms in the eyes, piercing all illusions. Bamboo grove halved in a flash. New vision through the blade!
After endless failures, Yeop Hyeon had finally attained Sword Eyes!
One Sword Binds the Soul. This new technique, which shackled the enemy's soul, wasn't ready to learn yet.
Maximizing Sword Eyes came first.
The essence of swordsmanship lay not in quantity, but in precision.
After lying there a while, Yeop Hyeon slowly sat up, ready to resume training. That's when someone appeared before him.
It was O Lu-ju.
But his expression looked extremely urgent.
“Just got word from Qingzhou's Chwiseonru. Changmok Academy and Dark Realm powerhouses are already heading this way! Must be from Jungto Sinju, no doubt!”
Yeop Hyeon rose to his feet.
“They're here already.”
“Their target seems to be your master. Has she said anything about needing help?”
Help?
Yeop Hyeon gave a wry smile.
The Heavenly Maiden hadn't spoken a word to him lately. Whether she needed aid or not, he had no way to know.
At that moment, an immense formless pressure blanketed all of Canglan Academy.
O Lu-ju's face darkened sharply.
“Damn, they're fast!”
Yeop Hyeon looked up to see four warriors appear in the sky.
An elder in black robes, an elder in white robes, a man with a massive greatsword on his back, and an elder standing atop a long bamboo staff!
The aura pouring from all four was unmistakably peak Myriad Laws Realm or higher!
Yeop Hyeon grew serious and spoke inwardly.
“Knock knock, Sword Immortal Sis? Some folks showed up saying they'll give you a spanking... You busy?”
Right then, one of the three swords embedded atop Gyeok Ok Tower trembled lightly.
The entire tower shook as if struck by an earthquake.
Boom!
In that instant, blood streamed from Yeop Hyeon's seven orifices!
“Yeop Hyeon!?”
O Lu-ju's face changed as he saw Yeop Hyeon suddenly vomiting blood.
Yeop Hyeon quickly sat cross-legged again and waved him off.
“It's nothing.”
Gu Lu-ju still looked flustered.
“What the hell is going on?”
“Just a minor issue during training. No need to worry!”
A training issue? Gu Lu-ju's expression twisted oddly.
What kind of training made blood pour from the seven orifices! No ordinary warrior, that's for sure!
Yeop Hyeon, slumped on the ground, called out inwardly to the Heavenly Maiden.
“Heavenly Maiden, was that you just now?”
The Heavenly Maiden remained silent.
Yeop Hyeon felt a bit frustrated.
By then, the white-robed elder had approached and fixed his gaze on Gu Lu-ju.
“Chwiseonru?”
Gu Lu-ju looked up at the elder.
“And who might you be?”
The elder ignored the question and countered.
“Why is Chwiseonru getting involved in this?”
The elder couldn't underestimate Chwiseonru.
It was one of Jungto Sinju's top powers. If they intervened, even he would find proceeding awkward.
Meanwhile, Gu Lu-ju was equally troubled.
Chwiseonru wanted to pull Yeop Hyeon and his master into the fold, so they were willing to get involved to some extent—provided Yeop Hyeon's master approved.
Without her permission, they couldn't offer aid.
Gu Lu-ju glanced at Yeop Hyeon. Yeop Hyeon wiped the blood from his mouth and said,
“O Lu-ju, I'll handle this place.”
As Gu Lu-ju hesitated, Yeop Hyeon spoke lowly.
“If I truly need help, I'll beg without a care for face. For now, let me and my master deal with this!”
Gu Lu-ju sighed softly.
“Yeop Hyeon, if anything happens, just say the word without delay. Chwiseonru will help with everything we've got!”
With that, Gu Lu-ju turned and departed.
At that moment, Mu Yun Qi, Bai Ze, and Ji An Zhi arrived in the yard.
Spotting the four hovering in the air, their faces darkened instantly.
Mu Yun Qi and the others couldn't even gauge their realms.
The white-robed elder scanned Yeop Hyeon's group and murmured,
“Not bad, any of them.”
The black-robed elder nodded in agreement.
“Not just not bad—quite impressive.”
Then, the bamboo staff elder eyed Bai Ze and chuckled.
“Never thought I'd encounter a half-demon body here. Bloodline power already unlocked... and at Penetrating Nether Realm, no less. Even a Divine Fusion Realm expert wouldn't take him lightly.”
The white-robed elder nodded.
“Indeed impressive. Excellent physical toughness, amplified by bloodline power—makes for a superior warrior.”
Their gazes shifted to Mu Yun Qi.
Mu Yun Qi straightened his back hastily.
The white-robed elder frowned after appraising him.
“This one's got nothing useful.”