At the summit of the Sword Tower.
The peak of the Sword Tower still bore the mystical scenery formed by the peculiar stones, seemingly unchanged at first glance. Yet upon closer inspection, subtle differences could be detected—a few more fish swimming in the clear spring, the trees slightly more lush...
Li Mo had just finished his third attempt at sketching the strange stone, each time falling just short of perfection.
So he stood atop the Sword Tower, gazing into the distance, his mind adrift.
"That over there is the Sword Pool..."
The moment his eyes landed on the vast circular plaza, an image flashed in his mind—Ying Bing standing on the high platform, pointing with a ruler, her demeanor icy yet exuding an air of absolute authority.
She always carried an aura as if she held the ultimate truth.
Li Mo could even vividly imagine her lecture—where she would pause to demonstrate, the look in her eyes when encountering a dull-witted disciple...
"Wait, why are last night’s memories surfacing too?"
"No, why does she keep popping up in my thoughts?"
Li Mo couldn’t help but mutter to himself. He should be focusing entirely on replicating the essence of the stone...
"What are you looking at?"
The voice belonged to Wei Zhaoliu.
She still wore those round spectacles crafted from North Sea crystal, her face partially obscured. Her hair was noticeably shorter than before, and judging by her aura, she must have just returned from studying the strange stone.
"Looking at the Frost Fairy," Li Mo replied, his gaze still fixed on the Sword Pool.
"Huh? You can see her from here?" Wei Zhaoliu’s eyes widened in astonishment, thinking to herself that this young master Li’s vision was truly terrifying. Then she nodded in realization.
"Oh, you mean Ying Bing. I attended her lecture—it was truly awe-inspiring. How laughable that I once dared to compare myself to her..."
Li Mo asked, "Why is your hair so much shorter?"
"Well... every time I listen to her lectures, I feel like my swordsmanship improves. So afterward, I try to erase the hammer marks."
"And then?"
"I fail every time. So to remind myself of the lesson, I cut off a finger’s length of hair as a pledge."
"...You do seem a bit stronger now."
A pang of guilt suddenly struck Li Mo.
But Ying Bing deserved half the blame—if not for her, Wei Zhaoliu wouldn’t keep thinking she had improved.
He needed to finish replicating the stone as soon as possible.
That way, he wouldn’t have to witness the day Wei Zhaoliu went bald.
"Why does he keep drawing that stone?" Wei Zhaoliu wondered. Was this some new cultivation method?
Creating divine observation diagrams?
Some Sword City elders had entertained the idea before, but it always fizzled out—because the stone itself didn’t seem suitable for direct study. The sword marks on it, however, could be contemplated... though few were qualified to bear their divine intent.
Li Mo sat down before the stone on his own.
He laid out his brush, ink, paper, and inkstone. The ink had been ground by Ying Bing earlier that morning while she sipped tea.
His once-plentiful stock of Cyan Vein Jade Paper was now down to five sheets.
Li Mo steeled himself. Sword City had granted him permission to study the stone, but he couldn’t take it with him.
Before leaving Yunzhou, he had to complete the sketch...
"This stone... it can’t just be a stone."
Li Mo murmured to himself.
---
At the Sword Pool.
In the past, visiting sword masters in Yunzhou never took breaks during their lectures. But after Ying Bing arrived, that rule changed.
Her teachings, though profound in their simplicity, required time for comprehension.
Otherwise, listeners might lose track halfway through.
The breaks lasted about half an hour—neither too long nor too short.
Ying Bing stood on the high platform of the Sword Pool, holding Tianfrost, and decided to brew a pot of tea to rest her mind.
But the moment she closed her eyes, her thoughts drifted back to last night—the dim moonlight, the flickering candlelight in the private room... The sensation lingered, stubbornly vivid, impossible to shake.
Even the warmth of his palm seemed to remain...
Below, the sharper disciples noticed her expression and exchanged glances.
"Has Lady Ying gained another insight?"
"Tsk... she masters peerless sword techniques in the blink of an eye! It’s entirely possible!"
"I wonder what profound swordsmanship she’s contemplating now..."
They whispered among themselves, careful not to disturb her "enlightenment."
Ying Bing: "..."
No, she couldn’t keep thinking about this.
She reached for her tea set, hoping to distract herself, but her movements paused.
Was this even her tea table?
The set before her had been a gift from Li Mo—simple in appearance but made of rare, exquisite material. The only downside was that there was just one cup.
And earlier that morning, he had casually taken it to drink from.
The tea leaves were ones he had casually handed her. The table had been hammered together by him. Even the snacks were his handiwork.
And then...
Gurgle—she poured the rinse water over the chubby little figurine beside her.
Well...
Since this spatial artifact was sturdy, it had become her tea pet.
Even the tea pet was a chibi version of Li Mo’s big-headed likeness!
"When did everything around her start carrying traces of him?"
"Really..."
Ying Bing pressed her lips together and lightly flicked the figurine’s forehead, making it wobble.
Then, with a faint glint in her eyes, she picked up a tea leaf and stuck it on the chibi Li Mo’s philtrum.
Last time, she had pasted a slip of paper there, and he hadn’t seemed too pleased...
"Lady Ying..."
"Lady Ying?"
Only when Elder Zeng called her twice did she snap back to attention.
"It’s almost time to resume the lecture."
Elder Zeng glanced at the doll and raised an eyebrow, leaning back slightly.
"Alright..."
Ying Bing stood and began packing up her tea set.
She had never noticed before how short these breaks felt...
"What were you looking at just now?"
"Looking at..."
Ying Bing adjusted the doll’s head and lowered her gaze in thought.
"A prosperity-bringing battle spirit?"
"??"
---
"Just drawing isn’t enough."
"I need to experience it firsthand..."
After ruining another sheet of Cyan Vein Jade Paper, Li Mo stood up.
He approached the stone and slowly reached out to touch it.
Strangely enough, the moment his hand made contact, the seven Mystic Pills within his body flickered faintly.
Rotating in their celestial cycle, their speed increased rapidly, trembling slightly before the vibrations grew stronger.
Boom—
Li Mo suddenly sensed something.
This inexplicable connection wasn’t due to the pills themselves but because they were stars within the seed of his inner world.
Like called to like—they seemed to recognize a kindred presence.
"Haah..."
Li Mo realized he could now peer beyond the stone’s surface, glimpsing its true mystery.
This was something he had never achieved before, even after studying its martial secrets.
"What’s happening to him?"
From Wei Zhaoliu’s perspective, however, Li Mo was simply standing there, motionless.
Nothing unusual seemed to be occurring. But what astonished her was that the stone wasn’t something one could touch so casually—those unworthy would instantly drown in its boundless profundity...
The next moment.
The Cyan Vein Jade Paper floated into the air.
Li Mo lifted his brush, wielding it with bold, sweeping strokes—no longer cautious, but with an effortless grace that flowed like a dragon in flight.
ts me of treason?" "Correct. The host must return to the capital and gradually build up influence." "Wait—I have half a million soldiers, and you want me to go back to the capital to 'build influence'?" "Host, you are currently the Northern Garrison General, loyal to the Great Xia Dynasty." "Of course I am loyal to Great Xia! Absolutely loyal!" "But you keep referring to yourself as 'We'..." "Never mind the details! Summon all the regional commanders and military officers! We suspect treacherous officials are manipulating the court! They shall march with Us to the capital and purge the corrupt!" "......"
ut it can buy an entire year of absolutely perfect training results! Su Yu stared at his empty wallet and decisively opened up various online loan platforms. “Borrow a thousand bucks! Recharge my vitality!” Boom! His vitality broke a hundred points, shattering the limits of the human body! “Borrow ten thousand bucks! Recharge my combat skills!” Boom! A basic punching technique so common it was everywhere instantly maxed out, revealing the ultimate assassination technique of Five Elements Unity—Inner Force! When a rich kid hired assassins for a midnight ambush, aiming to break both of his legs, they instead ran headfirst into a monster—a human-shaped tyrannosaur, brimming with dragon-like vitality. With just two fingers, Su Yu snapped a steel staff reinforced with alloy. Staring at the killer’s stash of stolen cash—a staggering quarter-million dollars—he showed a corporate-sincere smile: “Thanks for the pre-exam gift pack, Mr. Zhao! I’m gonna go re-invest this!” Three days later, at the National Martial Arts College Entrance Exam, while everyone else struggled just to reach the passing line, Su Yu threw a single punch—and more than a thousand vitality points literally detonated the entire arena!
e bizarre and supernatural had descended. The previous emperor was a thoroughgoing tyrant; no longer satisfied with human women, he had set his sights on a stunningly beautiful supernatural entity. He met his end in his bedchamber, drained of all his vital essence. As the legitimate eldest son and crown prince, Wang Hao was thus hastily enthroned, becoming the young emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty. No sooner had he awakened the "Imperial Sign-In Intelligence System" than he was assassinated by a Son of Destiny—a classic villain's opening. The Great Zhou, ravaged by the former emperor's excesses, was in national decline. The great families within its borders harbored their own treacherous schemes, martial sects began to defy the imperial court's decrees, and border armies, their pay and provisions in arrears, grumbled incessantly against the central government. Fortunately, the central capital was still held secure by the half-million Imperial Guards and fifty thousand Imperial Forest Army who obeyed the court's orders, along with the royal family's hidden reserves of power, barely managing to suppress the realm. As the Great Zhou's finances worsened and supernatural activities grew ever more frequent, the court sat atop a volcano. Ambitious plotters everywhere dreamed of overthrowing the dynasty, and even some reclusive ancient powers emerged, attempting to sway the tides of the world. At the first grand court assembly, the civil and military officials nearly came to blows, fighting tooth and nail over the allocation of fifty million taels of silver from the summer tax revenues. The spectacle opened Wang Hao's eyes—the Great Zhou's bureaucracy was not only corrupt but also martially proficient, a cabinet of all-rounders. Some officials even had the audacity to suggest the emperor release funds from the imperial privy purse to address the emergency. Wang Hao suddenly felt weary. Let it all burn.
nto another world, I bought a slave for the first time, never expecting the silver wolf girl to be so cute... Lin Feng: I know it's cold, but you don't have to sneak into my bed! Yuna: Just sharing body warmth, if you dare do anything naughty, I'll definitely...
