Chapter 48: The Xuanzhen Branch, The Chixiao Sword Vein

"However, you can rest assured that the young lady's friend is an extremely formidable sword immortal, even more powerful than Sword Immortal Liao. Study hard when the time comes, and hopefully, you can make significant progress before we leave."

Upon hearing this, Su Yu quickly expressed his stance:
"I will study hard."

"Mhm!"
Chu Xiaoyu gave a soft acknowledgement, picked up her teacup, and said:
"Go and prepare yourself. Tomorrow, you will accompany me out."

Realizing what she meant, Su Yu finished his tea, stood up, and took his leave.

As soon as he left, Chu Xiaoyu asked with a mischievous smile:
"Miss, how do you think his progress has been lately?"

Chu Xinyue took a small sip and nodded:
"Beyond my expectations."

"Compared to Mu Chen, Xiao Yuanya, and the others?"

Chu Xinyue glanced at her and chided:
"You ask when you already know the answer!"

"Hehe, I knew he was stronger than Mu Chen and Xiao Yuanya."

Chu Xinyue sighed softly and said in a deep voice:
"His rapid progress is indeed beyond my expectations. Moreover, aside from his strength, his innate bone structure has also improved significantly. The last time I saw him, his innate bone structure was less than 20, and now it's approaching 30."

"Is that so?"
Chu Xiaoyu's little face blanked for a moment before she quickly smiled again and said:
"Isn't that even better? Higher innate aptitude means a higher upper limit for his future growth."

However, Chu Xinyue shook her head and said:
"Of course this is good for him personally, but you must understand why I am investing in him. What I want to cultivate is not some peerless master, but a guild vanguard commander to take charge of the second regiment for me. After all, my future focus will be on the sect, and I won't stay here for long."

"But if he can advance further in the sect to become an elite or core disciple in the future, how could he possibly care about being a mere guild vanguard commander?"

"Uh"
Chu Xiaoyu also came to her senses:
"That seems true. If he becomes an elite disciple in the immortal sect, he will stay there for the long term; why would he run back here to be a minor guild official?"

She pinched her delicate chin and asked:
"Then, Miss, will you continue to invest in him?"

"Of course I will continue."
"Since the lottery ticket has already hit a few numbers, how could I possibly stop watching?"

"What if he's unwilling to return to the guild in the future?"

"Then he won't return."
Chu Xinyue said indifferently:
"We can just find someone else then. As for him, it will be treated as a normal investment. If he can successfully survive the tribulation in the future, forge his Dao foundation, and ascend to become a rogue immortal, he will still be an asset within the immortal sect."

"Oh!"

That night passed in silence. The next day, Su Yu received a message from Chu Xiaoyu telling him to wait at the city wall on the west side of the city.

Su Yu closed his communication interface, headed straight out, and made his way directly to Susha River.

Entering the depths of the river, he found Ao Run, who was still striving hard, explained the situation to her, and stored her away into his Spirit Caging Belt.

Returning to the west city wall, he waited for a short while before a Spirit Wing Flying Boat halted atop the wall. Chu Xiaoyu waved to him from the bow.

He leaped onto the deck and greeted Chu Xinyue at the bow:
"Commander, Sister Xiaoyu."

Chu Xinyue nodded slightly. With a wave of her water-sleeve, the spiritual wings on both sides of the flying boat fluttered gently, and the vessel rose rapidly, heading towards the west.

Chu Xinyue and Chu Xiaoyu were not the only ones on the deck; five men and one woman were gathered together chatting. Seeing him come aboard, all six recognized him and either nodded in acknowledgement or waved.

The speed of the Spirit Wing Flying Boat was extremely fast, cruising at around 2,500 kilometers per hour. It sped onward like lightning, rapidly crossing mountains and rivers, and before long, it had deviated from the Yuan River and entered the mountain ranges.

This was Su Yu's first time leaving the vicinity of the Yuan River, and everything he saw—the mountains and rivers—was entirely fresh. He leaned enthusiastically against the ship's railing to observe his surroundings.

This endless, rolling mountain range was also a part of the Taihu Mountain Range. Swathed in spiritual mist, the peaks below were hazy and indistinct. From time to time, pillars of demonic aura could be seen shooting straight into the sky from the mountains, and occasionally, the silhouettes of colossal beasts flashed past.

As the flying boat gradually penetrated deeper into the Taihu Mountain Range, the peaks grew taller and taller. Countless towering giants overlapped one another, their ridges intersecting in an unbroken chain.

"Screee!"

Suddenly, a piercing shriek came from the distance. Su Yu immediately looked up and saw a massive figure suddenly soar out from behind a ten-thousand-foot giant peak amid the hazy mist.

Its huge wings flapped, whipping up layers of fierce wind that dispersed the mist to reveal its true form.

It was a giant avian with a wingspan exceeding three kilometers, its entire body covered in dark iron feathers.

Iron-Feather Divine Eagle (Elite): Boss, Level 192, Avian.

"Such a huge bird!"

The divine eagle flapped its wings and soared into the sky, plunging into the clouds at a distance not too far from them and disappearing completely, paying no heed to the Spirit Wing Flying Boat nearby.

***

Five hours later, the flying boat crossed a giant peak whose upper half was covered in snow. Behind the peak lay a deep pool nestled between three summits, the water shrouded in spiritual mist, where a massive dark shadow could faintly be seen cruising through the water.

The next day, the flying boat crossed a range composed of a dozen giant peaks. With sharp eyes, Su Yu spotted a massive white snake, over a dozen kilometers long and pure white from head to tail, coiled around the apex of one of the giant peaks.

The white snake resembled a dragon-python, its scales as white and pure as jade, with a single horn on its head. Frigid Qi overflowed with every breath, and an invisible halo slowly rippled outward.

"Could this thing be level three hundred?"

Unfortunately, it was too far away to view its attribute panel.

Su Yu opened his map and marked the location with a skull icon.

Five days later, having crossed an unknown distance of vast mountains, the Spirit Wing Flying Boat arrived in an entirely unfamiliar region.

Amidst the rugged, boundless mountains lay a massive basin, with a grand river cutting through it from northwest to southeast.

As they entered the basin, they began to successively spot flying boats and sword radiances streaking across the sky.

Passing the grand river that bisected the basin, one could see towns lining both banks of the river—which spanned over a hundred kilometers in width—as well as warships cruising the river and leveling players. The population was far greater than that of Thousand Feathers City.

The flying boat traversed the basin, arriving at the southeast river mouth. To the left of the estuary, a giant peak rose abruptly from the ground, towering tens of thousands of feet high.

From afar, the giant peak could be seen enveloped by a grand array. Through the transparent barrier of the formation, pavilion-style towers could be seen dotting the mountainsides, alongside beams of treasure light shooting into the heavens.

Every now and then, streaks of sword radiance flew out from the mountain gates to pierce the firmament, while other streaks of sword radiance flew in from the distance to plunge into the mountain.

The flying boat did not enter the mountain gate directly; instead, it slowly descended, halting at a massive platform situated at the foot of the mountain where flying boats could continually be seen landing and taking off.

The party disembarked. Su Yu prepared to step off the boat as well, but Chu Xiaoyu called out to him:
"Our destination is not here."

"Oh!"
He nodded, looking up with curiosity to appraise the city.

This city was on a larger scale than Thousand Feathers City, with an even denser flow of pedestrians. Su Yu noticed that the number of sword cultivators here was exceptionally high; out of every ten people, half were sword cultivators.

This was an exaggerated proportion—in Thousand Feathers City, they didn't even make up one percent.

Just as he was observing the city, several people at the edge of the platform waved to them from afar. Chu Xiaoyu flew over, exchanged a few words with them, and then the party that had brought them joined forces with those people and left.

Once they departed, the Spirit Wing Flying Boat took to the air once more, leaving the city and flying toward the giant peak not far away.

Su Yu asked curiously:
"Sister Xiaoyu, which sect is this?"

Chu Xiaoyu shook her head and said:
"This is the Scarlet Firmament Sword Vein, a branch of the Xuanzhen Immortal Sect."

"?"
"You can understand it as the Xuanzhen Immortal Sect having many internal branches. This is one of them, named the Scarlet Firmament Sword Vein."

"Oh!"
"The Miss has a friend who is precisely one of the contemporary core disciples of the Scarlet Firmament Sword Vein. Her swordsmanship is exquisite, and she is fully qualified to be a teacher."

At this point, Chu Xiaoyu's tone suddenly turned serious as she instructed him:
"Although she is the Miss's friend, you will have to repay this favor in the future."

Su Yu hurriedly nodded and promised:
"Don't worry, I'll keep it in mind."

A smile appeared on Chu Xiaoyu's face as she nodded and said:
"You don't need to rush either. With your current strength, even if you wanted to repay it, you couldn't. It won't be too late to consider these things when your strength is sufficient in the future."

"Mhm!"

While they were talking, the flying boat had already reached the foot of the mountain. There stood a massive mountain gate archway, beside which was a stone cliff inscribed with four forceful, vigorous characters: — Scarlet Firmament Sword Peak. Su Yu's gaze fell upon the characters, and instantly, a piercing sword intent washed over him.

He tilted his head back slightly, quickly regaining his senses, and looked on in shock:
"Such piercing sword intent!"

Sword intent—this was the power attainable only at the fourth realm of swordsmanship. An extremely condensed will combined with one's sword-dao conviction, the refined sword intent could sever all laws in the world, making it immensely powerful.

The so-called "breaking ten thousand laws with a single sword" had as its prerequisite the mastery of sword intent.

The sword intent contained within the four characters on the cliff before him had been left behind by some powerhouse. To be able to preserve sword intent within characters so that it did not dissipate for decades or even centuries meant that the creator's sword intent level had reached the peak of perfection—an extremely exaggerated feat.

The Spirit Wing Flying Boat landed on the plaza before the mountain gate. A rainbow of sword light flew out from the gate, arriving before the Spirit Wing Flying Boat in a flash.

Su Yu only felt the sword rainbow blink, and the next second, a tall and slender, graceful figure abruptly appeared on the flying boat.

The woman was dressed in a moon-white long dress, her waist cinched with a light green silk ribbon that perfectly outlined her curves. The mounds on her chest were full and prominent, seemingly about to burst through her bodice.

Her brows were long and slender like swords, her phoenix eyes as cold as frost, her nose delicate and jade-like, and the corners of her lips curved upward in a gentle, restrained smile.

Then, Chu Xinyue—who for the most part of the journey had been sitting cross-legged in meditation, cold and reticent—wore a smile Su Yu had never seen before and embraced the young woman.

Su Yu blinked, feeling somewhat awkward as he looked at their intimate behavior.

The Spirit Wing Flying Boat soared into the air, flying straight into the hundreds-of-meters-tall grand mountain gate.

Passing through a gently rippling transparent barrier, a wave of cool spiritual energy rushed over them.

On the flying boat, the two women had already finished whispering to each other. The woman turned to look at Su Yu, scanning him up and down. A piercing sword intent, sharing the same origin as the Scarlet Firmament Sword Vein, washed over him, sweeping back and forth across his body like the edge of a blade.

After a moment, she nodded, her cold voice ringing out:
"Not bad."
"For Xinyue's sake, I won't hold back anything, but how much you can learn depends entirely on your own ability."

Su Yu hurriedly cupped his fists and bowed:
"Su Yu pays his respects to... Senior!"

Chu Xiaoyu whispered a reminder in his ear:
"Call her Sword Immortal Li!"

He quickly corrected himself:
"Su Yu pays his respects to Sword Immortal Li."

The woman nodded, turned to look gently at Chu Xinyue, took her hand, and soared into the air, vanishing in an instant, leaving behind a slightly gaping and utterly shocked Su Yu.

"Slap!"

Chu Xiaoyu patted him lightly on the shoulder. He snapped out of it and heard her earnest admonition:
"Don't look around randomly, don't speak carelessly."

He nodded hastily:
"I didn't see anything."
"Mhm."

After entering the mountain gate, the flying boat ascended rapidly, soon arriving above a courtyard on a mid-mountain ridge over ten thousand meters high, surrounded by lush flora and the shimmering light of formations.

However, it did not enter the main gate, instead flying directly to a small courtyard at the edge of the property and landing.

Chu Xiaoyu pointed to the small courtyard and told him:
"We will temporarily stay here for about a month or so. During this time, Miss Qingli will come to lecture you when she has free time."

Su Yu thought of something and asked:
"Is there no specific schedule? Lectures shouldn't take too much time. How should I arrange the remaining time? Surely I can't just stay here for the whole month, right?"

"Don't worry, stay here for a few days first. I'll ask the Miss later."
"Alright."

Following that, Chu Xiaoyu arranged a room for him inside the small courtyard, admonished him not to wander around or leave the courtyard for other parts of the estate, and then left.

Su Yu watched her depart, then turned to look around.

The main peak of the Scarlet Firmament Sword Vein stood tens of thousands of meters tall, and the estate was located midway up the mountain. Standing at the edge of the courtyard and looking down, he could see various pavilion-style towers and sect buildings constructed along the mountain slopes.

Streaks of sword radiance shuttled back and forth through the air, nine-tenths of them flying on swords.

Compared to the city outside where about fifty percent of the players walked the flying sword path, inside this sword peak, ninety-nine percent of them walked the flying sword path, and their proficiency was quite good.

Of course, just "quite good." Many of them actually had lower proficiency than he did.

It wasn't that the proficiency of the Scarlet Firmament Sword Vein was poor, but rather that the vast majority of people he saw were merely outer disciples, so their strength naturally wouldn't be terribly high.

Having awakened a digitized law-body and entered the Other Shore for so long, Su Yu had also learned quite a bit.

First of all, the difficulty of merely joining a sect was actually not high. As long as any single innate attribute reached 20 points or more, one could attempt to seek apprenticeship; generally, ordinary non-immortal sects were very easy to enter.

However, disciples of this kind were merely outer disciples, also known as registered disciples. Their names were not yet recorded in the sect's official roster, meaning they weren't true sect members.

Every sect had a large number of such disciples, and their strengths varied wildly—the strong were very strong, while the weak were no stronger than external rogue cultivators.

It was equivalent to casting a wide net to catch many fish.

Taking in disciples widely to let them compete among themselves, raising them like Gu worms, would eventually yield a few elite experts.

Of course, an innate bone structure of 20 points had already barred ninety-nine percent of players.

Registered disciples generally had a ten-year probationary period. After ten years, if their cultivation progress failed to meet the standards, they would be expelled and could no longer stay within the sect.

Once they met the standards, they would be promoted to formal disciples, their names recorded in the sect, allowing them to be called true sect members.

Formal disciples had no time limit; regardless of your cultivation level, you remained a member for life.

The vast majority of disciples in the sects of the Other Shore were outer disciples who, after squandering ten years, had no choice but to leave the sect.

However, this was not necessarily a bad thing. The vast majority of outer disciples had long prepared themselves mentally; in fact, many had never intended to stay in the sect from the very beginning. Their primary purpose in joining the sect was not to become formal sect disciples, but rather to obtain the sect's cultivation techniques.

No matter how poor a sect was, the Qi-refining mental cultivation methods practiced even by outer disciples were advanced-grade techniques—stuff that cost hundreds of taels of gold outside. But if one managed to enter a sect, those techniques could be learned for free right upon entry.

In addition to mental cultivation methods, there were also numerous lightning arts, various powerful Daoist spells, and the like, which were extremely difficult to acquire outside, all of which could be redeemed once sect contribution met the requirements.

Such good things were hard to buy outside even with money, yet they could be learned casually within the sect.

Moreover, these Daoist spells learned and redeemed within the sect would not be revoked upon leaving; one could continue to cultivate and improve them, provided they were not passed on to others.

Disciples eliminated from sects in this manner were hot commodities outside, heavily sought after by various large and small guilds, and could easily become elite members simply by joining any guild.

Therefore, every year, various guilds would pull strings and use massive resources to redeem disciple quotas from various sects, specially cultivating elite experts.

If someone had the capability to become a formal disciple of a sect, they would receive financial subsidies from the guild to help them along.

Even if these formal disciples did not return to the guild in the future, it still forged a bond of goodwill and human favor. While it might seem like nothing usually, whenever the guild faced danger, they could summon a group of experts at any time to come to their aid.

Through year-after-year accumulation, those large guilds only grew stronger and stronger.