Chapter 58 A Little Bit of Pain
In Swords Gate upper house, Zhong Yue returned the upper house token and carried his medicine basket with the weathered lamp in it, he visited Tao Daier and the others to bid them farewell before he left for the inner hall. Tao Daier and the other young ladies of the female house all cried out loud when they were sending him off.
Tao Daier could not claim her spot in the Lawless Battles, hence, she was barred from the Ethereal Hall. Luckily, she was still young, with her current age of fourteen, she still had plentiful time to cultivate and become a Qi Practitioner within these two years.
While Yu Feiyan, Ting Lanyue, Li Xiuniang, Yu Zhenlong and the others had entered the Ethereal Palace and started to manifest their spirits, they were still cultivating in the palace.
“The techniques of the Tao Lin Clan accumulates your prowess overtime, Tao-tao you will definitely be a Qi Practitioner in the future.”
Zhong Yue comforted her and said, “Furthermore, I have not yet entered the Ethereal Palace, even if I have, it is uncertain whether I can be a Qi Practitioner, I might not be able to manifest my spirit and be forced to come back to the upper house.”
His words caused a smile to bloom on Tao Daier’s face, “Junior Martial Brother Zhong, you are already the strongest in the upper house, how is it possible for you to be unable to manifest a spirit? The inner hall must have prepared the strongest spirit for you, once junior martial brother comes out from the Ethereal Palace, you will then be our Junior Martial Uncle Zhong!”
“Junior Martial Uncle Zhong?”
Zhong Yue was stunned, he then shook his head and laughed, before he met with Xin Huo he was still an outer hall lower house disciple that was knocking his head trying to liberate his soul but now, he was at the verge of becoming a Junior Martial Uncle Zhong.
He waved at the young ladies and strode towards Swords Gate inner hall, behind him came a young and graceful voice that sang a melodic song, it was the young lady of Tao Lin Clan sending him off with a melodious goodbye song, the voice faded as he walked away until he was so far that he could not hear her ethereally beautiful voice anymore.
The young man turned his head, the figures of the young lady could still be seen vaguely.
“I will be waiting for you all in the inner hall!”
Zhong Yue waved his hands, he then struck the gong in front of the escarpment.
Not long later, he was walking in the inner hall, he glanced around at the surroundings, the sceneries in the inner hall was much better than the outer hall. Water river cascaded down, exotic beasts basked in the sun, often he could see there were sword rays clashing in the air giving off metallic clanking sounds, far away on the mountains there were Qi Practitioners sitting in the lotus position cultivating and controlling soul weapons.
There were also Qi Practitioners flying in the air training on their flying skills, some had wings while the others relied on their soul weapons.
It is indeed different after being a Qi Practitioner, there weren’t such sceneries in the outer hall upper house, Zhong Yue praised in his heart.
“Junior Martial Brother Zhong, you just came up here like this!”
Suddenly, a Qi Practitioner saw Zhong Yue, he quickly descended from the air and walked towards him, he whispered lowly, “You are a little too brave! Almost the whole inner hall knew you had the sword token and they were unconvinced and indignant about it, they have plans to look for your trouble!”
“It’s Senior Martial Brother Gu.”
Zhong Yue looked at the Qi Practitioner that approached him, it was the senior martial brother that led him into the Valley of Swords, he was perplexed, “It's only a sword token, don’t all the Qi Practitioners have one of their own? Why are they trying to look for trouble with me?”
However, he was more curious about how the disciples knew about the sword token, only the elders in the Hearts of Swords Palace knew he has it, but why did it seem as if it had propagated throughout the entire inner hall already?
Who was spreading the news all around?
Senior Martial Brother Gu made a face contorted with chagrin, “Everyone has one? If I have one then I must have been blessed by my ancestors. Junior martial brother, you have to be careful, there are strong and formidable disciples in the inner hall. If you meet with them, don’t engage in a fight. Oh yes, I suppose you have not registered yourself in the book yet? You are still unfamiliar with the inner hall, I will lead the way.”
“Register myself in the book?” Zhong Yue followed him and asked.
“The inner hall and outer hall are different, outer hall disciples or even the upper house disciples are really only considered as nominal disciples of Swords Gate, only the inner hall disciples are the true disciples of Swords Gate.”
Senior Martial Brother Gu started to explain the rules of inner hall, he said, “The techniques imparted to the disciples in the outer hall comes from the clans, they are not the of the true capital of Swords Gate. While in the inner hall, the techniques we are taught are the true arts and skills that make up the foundation and identity of Swords Gate. But before this, junior martial brother, you need to register yourself in the book with the Minglu Hall, register your name and only then will you be considered as a true disciple of Swords Gate.”
This is the difference between the inner hall and outer hall.
The outer hall disciples, their names would not even be recorded in the Swords Gate, while only the inner hall disciples will have their names registered in the book and officially be a bona fide Swords Gate disciple.
Senior Martial Brother Gu accompanied him all the way to the Minglu Hall, he said, “Junior Martial Brother only need to register your name in the book in Minglu Hall, then you may proceed to the Ethereal Hall. After you become a Qi Practitioner, you can then have a property of your own.”
“A property?”
Zhong Yue’s eyes brightened up, “A property like the palaces on the ganoderma-like platforms?”
Senior Martial Brother Gu laughed out involuntarily, he said, “Junior martial brother, you think too much! Those palaces are the cave dwelling of the elders and the hall masters, if you can take control over any of the halls, then you would be said to have the qualifications to stay in one of the palaces. But we, the disciples, are still a distance away from becoming an elder or hall master. Only when you are a legacy disciple are you a step closer to becoming a hall master. The hall masters are also known as the swords masters, for example, Zuo Xiangsheng was a legacy disciple but after he defeated the hall master of Cloudless Hall, he was then promoted to the Cloudless Hall hall master, he is now also known as Sword Master Zuo.”
“I see.”
Zhong Yue suddenly remembered something and he asked while smiling, “Has Senior Martial Brother Gu ever heard of the name of Qiu Jin’er?”
SMB Gu took a moment to sift through his memories and said, “Qiu Jin’er? The innate spirit body of Qiu Tan Clan? She cultivates alongside with her mother, I hear that she is in the Yang God Palace, but she has never walked out before, I have never once seen her with my own eyes. But I did hear words about this young lady falling sick the last month, she was sent over to the You Yu Clan grand elder by her mother, but I don’t know whether or not she has returned.”
“Junior Martial Sister Jin’er is sick?”
Zhong Yue asked for directions to the Yang God Palace and Ethereal Palace, he then thanked Senior Martial Brother Gu and headed into the Minglu Hall to register his name on the book. After the registration process was done, he walked out of the hall and thought, Should I go to the Ethereal Palace first or the Yang God Palace? The Ethereal Palace is basically useless to me since Xin Huo had promised to bring me out of Swords Gate and manifest the Sun and Moon spirit. I should go to the Yang God Palace and see whether if Junior Martial Sister Jiner has returned or not.
Right after he left the Minglu Hall, the Qi Practitioner that registered Zhong Yue’s name transformed his psyche into a crane flying out of the Minglu Hall. Moments later, the crane fluttered its wings and flew over to a mansion, it said, “Ta Wuyou, Ta Wuyou, the Zhong Shan Clan disciple you are looking for has arrived!”
The mansion’s door opened, a Qi Practitioner walked out, he raised his head and said, “Thank you senior martial brother. Heihei, the sword token that contained the headmaster’s secret art, Great Boundless Sword Qi is finally here!”
A big black bull that was eating the green grass beside the mansion overheard the conversation, it quickly turned and ran away, leaping in the wind and galloping past mountains; not long later, it arrived at another marvellous cavernous cave dwelling, it shouted, “Master, the Zhong Shan Clan disciple is here!”
“Shut up!”
A voice that brimmed with anger reverberated out from the cave dwelling, “Idiotic bull, can’t you see that I was entertaining so many guests? You shouted the news out and let them all know about it?”
From within the cavernous cave dwelling came the sound of the laughter of a woman, “Is senior martial brother trying to keep the news to yourself? The sword token contains the secret technique of the headmaster, if you snatched it away and the headmaster came looking for your trouble, can you withstand the consequences?”
“Just right because it is the secret technique of the headmaster, that is why I have to snatch it away.”
A few Qi Practitioners walked out from the cave dwelling, a young man among them smiled and said, “If we are able to snatch the sword token away, then it means that the Zhong Shan Clan disciple is not fit to be headmaster’s apprentice, having the headmaster’s secret technique and yet being unable to defeat us, it is only justice that the sword token is taken away from him.”
“That’s true!”
The Qi Practitioners dispersed in all directions, they all resolved, “We will first find out where he stays and we will wait for him right there!”
Swords Gate golden summit, Qiu Jin’er’s face was calm and indifferent while the beautiful woman was in low spirits, she pushed the young lady in the wooden wheelchair back to the Yang God Palace.
“Mother, my heart hasn’t fully turned into wood yet right?”
Qiu Jin’er comforted her, “It’s only the tip of the heart that was affected, moreover, I won’t die even after the heart is fully affected, it’s just that I wouldn’t be able to move anymore.”
The beautiful woman forced a smile even though her heart was in chaos, “Even the grand elder can’t suppress the wood element in your body, this means that you are really talented.”
The mother and daughter comforted each other all the way back to the Yang God Palace, the beautiful woman accompanied Qiu Jin’er and they chatted for moments, she then suddenly stood up and clenched her teeth, “Mother will go to the headmaster for one more time! If he doesn’t want to see me, I will kneel to death at the golden summit, I don’t believe that he will stand aside with his arms folded!”
Qiu Jin’er quickly tried to stop her but the beautiful woman had departed towards the golden summit.
“Mother is truly too shrewd, the【Great Boundless Sword Qi】is meant for the next headmaster, if he is willing to pass you the【Great Boundless Sword Qi】after you kneel and begged for it, then the golden summit will be filled with people kneeling and begging.”
Qiu Jin’er shook her head and a smile appeared on her face, “I wonder if Senior Martial Brother Zhong is still refining his soul in the lightning zone, it’s been quite some time since the last time I saw him.”
Just when the thought had crossed her mind, a familiar voice came from outside of the palace, “May I ask, is this the Yang God Palace? Junior Martial Sister Qiu Jin’er, is this where she stays?”
Qiu Jin’er was surprised and yet overjoyed, seconds later, the old woman who looked after the palace came in and asked her, “Missy, there is a big-eyed little young man outside of the palace, he says that he is a friend of yours, do you want him to come in?”
Qiu Jin’er was elated and felt as if there were flowers blooming in her heart, just when she was about to answer, she suddenly saw the wooden wheelchair from the corner of her eyes, the young lady was downcasted, she shook her head and said, “Just say that I am not here.”
“Alright.”
The old woman walked out of the palace and her voice came from the outside, “My missy says that she is not here….”
Qiu Jin’er’s face immediately blushed crimson with embarrassment, she shifted her psyche and the wooden wheelchair was lifted into the air, she covered her legs with her blouse and said angrily yet coquettishly, “Grandmother Lu, can you not be so honest? You … nevermind, I will meet with him!”
The wooden wheelchair flew out of the palace, she could still hear voices of the old woman saying, “The big-eyed little guy, you humans are so complicated, first she said she is not here then the next second she says she is here, I have followed madam for half of my life but I still can’t understand you humans at all….”
Qiu Jin’er was even more ashamed, her heart thumped as if there was a little reindeer running around in it, the wheelchair flew out of the Yang God Palace. On the ganoderma-like platform, an innocent young man turned his head over and gazed at her, the warm sunlight shone down at him, the young man was also as bright and warm as how the sun is today.
“Junior Martial Sister Jiner, it’s been a long time.”
Zhong Yue stepped forward and said apologetically, “I am here to return to you this sword token, I have learned the Geng Jin Sword Qi in it and it really helped me greatly. But this swords token is very valuable, may the junior martial sister keep it nicely. Junior martial sister, your legs?”
“Senior Martial Brother Zhong, it is fine for you to keep the sword token, it is of little use to me.”
Qiu Jin’er’s face was filled with despair, the wooden wheelchair slowly landed down onto the ground, she said, “The Wood Qi in my body is too strong so I can never smite it away. I’m afraid that not long after, I will turn into a humanoid piece of wood. The grand elder says that I am of the Wood Innate Spirit Body, I will turn into a wood spirit….”
Zhong Yue was perplexed, “Even the Geng Jin Sword Qi can’t smite it away?”
The old woman beside them was dumbfounded, “Big-eyed little guy, if the Geng Jin Sword Qi can smite away the wood element in missy’s body, then it would be the biggest anecdote ever.”
The Geng Jin Sword Qi can manifest every element in the heaven and earth into Sword Qi, how can it not manifest the wood element in Junior Martial SisterJin’er’s body?
Zhong Yue was puzzled, he stepped forward and said, “Let me try and see, junior martial sister, please move your blouse a little and show me your legs.”
Qiu Jin’er’s face blushed red, she did not know what Zhong Yue was trying to do but regardlessly she bit the bullet and shifted her blouse a little, revealing part of her white and smooth legs below her knees.
Zhong Yue crouched down and placed his palm on her leg, he visualized the mysterious totem carvings of the ‘Boundless Great Sword Qi’, intending to absorb the wood element from the young lady’s body.
Just right when he started visualizing, he could feel a surge of immensely strong wood elemental Qis gushing towards his palm, deluging the sword totem carvings in an instant!
Cui——
A Wood Sword Qi was formed in his psyche ocean and was still growing bigger and stronger!
“What a strong wood elemental Qi!” Zhong Yue was shocked and so was Xin Huo.
Moments later, Zhong Yue lifted his palm and pinched on Qiu Jin’er’s leg, he raised his head and asked, “Do you feel any pain?”
The young lady’s head was so low that her head almost touched her chest, her voice was low and quiet, “A little bit of pain….”
Zhong Yue heaved a breath of relief, he smiled and said, “Then it seems like it is still working.”
The old woman beside almost had her deer eyes popping out from her face, she mumbled, “The Geng Jin Sword Qi can heal the missy’s body? Then what was madam turning from side to side looking for remedies all these years for?”