“His younger brother?” Chu Yong murmured quietly Then, his eyes widened. “You’re that Qin Yun?”
He finally remembered.
Qin Liehu had two sons. One was Qin An, and the other was once a rather famous young swordsman. However, he left the city six years ago to travel the world. Also, the Qin Yun of six years ago may have been dazzling among the younger generation, but, in the eyes of the truly strong and capable, he was still considered a little lacking. Chu Yong was one of the most terrifying and formidable demons of Grand Dominance City, so how could he have thought highly of a kid?
“You may have killed me, but the water god won’t let you off easily.” Chu Yong felt his consciousness weakening. Still, unwilling to admit defeat, he growled, “The water god will never let you go. Never.”
“Water god? Seventy percent of the demons in Grand Dominance County are the water god’s subordinates, isn’t that right?” Qin Yun sneered. “Do you think I’m scared of offending a water god by killing some demons?”
Chu Yong’s upper body completely reverted back to its original form. The top half of a large wild boar stopped producing any sound, meaning it was dead.
The entire hall was filled with silence.
The leader of the demons, the eight minions including the cat demoness, as well as the pink-robed woman and the black-robed old man, were all dead.
Only Qin Yun stood alone in the middle of the hall, pondering.
“Just seeing the corpse of the demon leader cleanly severed with one sword strike would be enough to narrow it down to the few people in Grand Dominance County that are capable of such a feat. It would easily expose my identity. I’ll have to do a little cleaning. I’ve only just returned after being away for six years. It is not the right time to clash with the water god.” Qin Yun made careful plans before casually rummaging through the hall. As he searched, he discovered the box of Astral Patterned Steel.
“Astral Patterned Steel.” Qin Yun looked inside the cracked box, finding the slabs of silvery-white metal. “With dozens of pounds of Astral Patterned Steel, the foundation of my Intrinsic Flying Sword will become even more enriched. It will also shorten the amount of time I need to completely refine it by a month or two.”
He continued searching around the hall, as well as the demons’ corpses, but nothing surprised him like the Astral Patterned Steel.
Following that, Qin Yun took out a red sachet and opened it, retrieving a small bottle. He pulled out its stopper and sprinkled a couple of liquid drops onto the demons’ corpses. He sprinkled seven to eight drops onto Chu Yong’s body while using only one or two drops on each of the other demons’ corpses.
“Chi! Chi! Chi!”
After that, he lit them on fire.
If it were burned with regular fire, it would take days to fully destroy Chu Yong’s corpse, and even then, the bones would remain. However, because of those drops of fluid, a ghostly blue flame was eating away at the wild boar demon’s corpse incessantly. In less than a minute, there was practically nothing left of the corpse except gray ash. As for the other corpses that had only received a drop or two, they had already long turned to ash.
“My ‘Nether Water’ is running out. I better concoct more,” Qin Yun muttered to himself as he walked over to the throne. He fumbled with the armrest a bit, restoring it to its original state.
“Rumble!” The doors which had shuttered down previously opened once again.
Qin Yun used his Dharma Eyes to look around and easily found where Chu Yong typically dwelled. After searching carefully, he soon found a treasure box filled with valuables like gemstones and pearls, as well as a stack of banknotes.
“Wow, there are sixty-three thousand taels?” Qin Yun flipped through the banknotes in surprise. “This old demon was a lackey of the water god, so most of what he received had to be offered to the water god. Furthermore, there are the expenses incurred during normal cultivation, yet he was still able to save up so many silver taels.”
“Cultivation stresses the importance of Dharmic formulations, money, companionship, and finally, land. First and foremost is a Dharmic formulation. Without it, cultivation is impossible. Money ranks second.” Qin Yun shook his head. “I am part of the sword immortal’s lineage. I am able to keep expenses for most things low, but nurturing my Intrinsic Flying Sword demands extremely high rates of consumption. I’ve invested more than half of the wealth I’ve accumulated over six years of wandering into it. So how lucky it is that I find these banknotes and Astral Patterned Steel now. If I add it to my original savings, I can barely afford the amount needed to nurture my Intrinsic Flying Sword through the upcoming year.”
Being a cultivator caused more than its share of headaches.
For example, if one were to make talismans, even if one were to use the cheapest of papers and cinnabar ink, the cost of practicing in the long-term was very distressing. If one wanted to create a set of talismans, the cost would only get higher.
Even refining pills and Dharma treasures required heavy investments just to practice. The mere thought of it was terrifying.
…
He searched the entire underground palace and left carrying two bundles. However, before he left, he projected his voice throughout the underground palace. He said with a bold and weathered voice, like that of an elder, “I’ve killed all the demons. You should all leave this place quickly if you want to live.” With that said, he left.
The underground palace was a place where demons led a life of pleasure, but it was also a place where humans led a life of suffering and despair.
Although they had heard a loud commotion coming from the grand hall, the dancers, musicians, and servants hid in their respective living quarters in shock, afraid to come out. However, after hearing Qin Yun’s proclamation, they waited a while before coming out gingerly. Once they saw that nobody was there to stop them, and that all the traps were disabled, they left in excitement and fled into the streets. They were immediately discovered by the night patrol and the underground palace was instantly exposed.
Grand Dominance City’s government officials called for an investigation and learned that the owner of the underground palace was the demon leader, Chu Yong.
To Grand Dominance City, Chu Yong was one of the most terrifying and clandestine old demons. He had been wreaking havoc for decades, and the location of his den had always been a mystery.
This news immediately stirred the upper echelons of Grand Dominance City.
******
Later that night at Qin Manor, in one of the rooms in Qin Yun’s courtyard, mild light escaped from the lampshade, illuminating the room.
“Dong!”
Qin Yun emptied one of the bundles, placing all of the bank notes and treasures into the clothes trunk by his bedside. He then put the other bundle on his bed and quickly opened it. Inside were the slabs of Astral Patterned Steel. “Astral Patterned Steel is considered contraband for ordinary citizens. It is a grave crime to keep it, one that is punishable by the execution of one’s entire family. However, thanks to my status, it would be a trivial matter even if this bit of Astral Patterned Steel is discovered.”
Qin Yun crossed his legs as he sat on top of the bed and calmed his mind.
He focused on the inside of his dantian.
His dantian was like the ocean, where Quintessential Essence surged like the waves. Within his dantian, there was a luminous, silvery metal sphere floating in the center.
All of a sudden, the luminous silver ball began to spin and gradually expand, forming a long strip of “metallic hair.” The silver metal sphere was considered small, about the size of gravel. After it expanded, the metallic strand was long and thin, like a strand of hair on a person’s head.
“Whew!”
The metal hair flew out of his dantian, flowed through his meridians, and quickly exited from his arm through the tip of his index finger. It instantly pierced his skin, leaving behind a small wound. However, with Qin Yun’s strength, he recovered in an instant.
After the strand of bright, silvery hair shot out from his fingertip, it immediately and rapidly started to grow.
It transformed into a three-inch-long, bright silver sword that floated in front of Qin Yun.
“Intrinsic Flying Sword.” Qin Yun continued sitting cross-legged as he observed the three-inch-long flying sword hovering in front of him. “It will still be another year before my Intrinsic Flying Sword is finished. When that time comes, it can freely exit my dantian without me being so cautious.”
At present, his Intrinsic Flying Sword was not completely refined. The flying sword within his body was unable to distinguish between friend and foe. He himself would be severely injured if it pierced and damaged his internal organs. Therefore, he curled it into a ‘sword ball’ and kept it in his dantian during the nurturing process. If he were to store it in its ‘sword’ shape inside his dantian, the sword might accidentally damage his dantian while it was still immature. Then, it would be too late for regrets.
Once the Intrinsic Flying Sword was done refining, it would become a Dharma treasure that could shrink and grow at will. It would be remarkably formidable.
Even if Qin Yun were to find another flying sword that had been completely refined, it would not even come close to his Intrinsic Flying Sword. What was an ‘Intrinsic Flying Sword’? This was a sword that had been nurtured day and night inside his dantian, to the point of fusing with his soul. Over a long period of time, the sword would gradually become a part of his life force, with a strength that would naturally be frighteningly powerful. If the Intrinsic Flying Sword were to be destroyed, the effects would range from Qin Yun being severely injured to having his cultivation path completely severed.
“Go.” He lifted up a slab of the Astral Patterned Steel sitting beside him which weighed approximately ten pounds. He casually threw it and immediately, strands of Quintessential Essence shot out from his fingertip to envelop it, allowing it to float beneath the three-inch-long flying sword.
Buzz—
Following Qin Yun’s circulatory methods, a luster dispersed above the surface of the three-inch-long flying sword. It continuously absorbed the essence of the Astral Patterned Steel below it. Dots of light shot out of the Astral Patterned Steel and flew into the three-inch-long flying sword. As for the slab of floating Astral Patterned Steel, it broke into fragments that began falling down.
After an hour, the three-inch-long flying sword vibrated once, letting out a sword hum.
“I’ll end it here today.” Qin Yun stretched out his hand and retrieved the Astral Patterned Steel that had shrunk to the size of a cobblestone. It now weighed about two pounds. “If I refine approximately eight pounds worth of Astral Patterned Steel a day, it will probably take ten days to exhaust this stock of Astral Patterned Steel. My Intrinsic Flying Sword will also have a more solid foundation.”
“Raising an Intrinsic Flying Sword is really not easy. If I were an ordinary cultivator, or even if I was just someone else from the sword immortal’s lineage, I would have to spend decades nurturing my Intrinsic Flying Sword. Fortunately, I managed to gain insight into the Misty Rain Sword Intent, which allows me to nurture flying swords ten times faster than the average cultivator. I just need several years of hard work to complete it. Unfortunately, the Misty Rain Sword intent doesn’t save me one bit of the materials needed for nurturing a flying sword.” Qin Yun sighed with mixed emotions.
It was like throwing mountains of gold and silver into a cauldron, all for a single flying sword.