FVN Chapter 51 The first drumbeat rouses the spirit, the second weakens it, and the third exhausts it.
Chapter 51 The first drumbeat rouses the spirit, the second weakens it, and the third exhausts it.
Xu Changqing dared not relax. The white bone jade hairpin transformed into a black dragon of Gui water, raising its head and coiling around it. The mysterious evil energy spread out, but it was silently pierced through and turned into Gui water energy that scattered all over the sky.
His expression remained unchanged. He hadn't expected the Gui Shui Black Dragon to block the sword; all he wanted was to slightly slow its momentum and reduce its sharpness by three-tenths.
The sword shadow pierced through the dragon and arrived, less than three zhang away.
With a flick of his left hand, Xu Changqing's Thousand Transformations Banner suddenly opened. The umbrella surface spun slightly, and on the dark gold background, dark yellow, five-colored, and pink patterns flowed and rotated like living things.
His form and aura shifted and changed, sometimes appearing as bloated as a toad, sometimes as charming as a woman, and sometimes as stout as a monk, his appearance and form intertwined, creating a chaotic and disordered spectacle.
The dark sword shadow pierced into the area covered by the umbrella, and indeed paused slightly, as if a falcon had suddenly lost its way, drawing a subtle arc in the air and circling briefly.
"Huh?" The Sword Madman stood in the corner of the courtyard, his blue robe motionless, but a hint of surprise flashed in his eyes. Then he lightly raised his sword finger. "It is ingenious, but unfortunately, it is not enough."
As he finished speaking, a flash of sword light appeared in his eyes. This sword madman came from a sword sect that was on par with the Pure Yang Sect, and possessed the Taihua Pupil, a supernatural ability comparable to the Pure Yang Sword Eye, which was used to dispel illusions.
Then, the sword shadows rang out again, as if drawn by an invisible force, suddenly accelerating and locking onto Xu Changqing's true location once more.
Xu Changqing had anticipated this, and his dantian churned as he unleashed the Devouring Heaven and Devouring Fortune Divine Power he had gained after absorbing the Altar Toad.
The air around the sword shadow distorted, and palm-sized phantoms with grayish-yellow edges appeared out of thin air, opening their greedy jaws to frantically absorb the sharp sword energy and abundant spiritual energy surrounding the sword shadow.
The hissing sound was like rain pattering on banana leaves. The toad's mouth opened and closed repeatedly, and with each inhalation and exhalation, the sword's brilliance dimmed slightly, and its forward momentum slowed down by a fraction.
However, although the sword shadows were casually unleashed by the Sword Maniac, they were ultimately not something that such rudimentary supernatural powers could completely neutralize.
With a slight tremor, the sword shadow burst forth with sword energy, and the surrounding phantom images of toad mouths were extinguished and dissipated one after another, like thin ice exposed to the blazing sun.
There was no disappointment in Xu Changqing's eyes, but rather a glint of shrewdness.
A deep blue eagle image quietly appeared behind him, with a wolf's head and an eagle's body, its cold eyes like lightning. It was the "eagle's gaze and wolf's look" that he had transformed into after devouring the Greedy Wolf's destiny.
With this appearance, the field of vision suddenly widened, and every blade of grass and tree in the courtyard, every wisp of air and dust, and even the slightest fluctuation of the silver-white sword shadow, became as clear as lines on the palm of one's hand.
Each time the sword shadow was blocked, the originally unified killing aura would weaken slightly.
As the old saying goes: "One should strike while the iron is hot, but the momentum will wane on the second attempt and be exhausted on the third."
The other wonderful application of the "Eagle's Gaze and Wolf's Gaze" in the astrological chart, "Eagle Hunting and Wolf Chasing," also quietly activates at this moment. The so-called "Eagle Hunting and Wolf Chasing" means relentlessly pursuing until the goal is achieved.
At the same time, a purple light flashed in his eyes, and the "Purple Star Annotation of Death Scripture" quietly began to operate, allowing him to see through the workings of death with his Eye of Death.
Xu Changqing knew that the time had come.
Within the dantian's sea of qi, the killing qi surged and boiled, like hundreds of rivers flowing into the sea, all rushing into the central crimson-gold sword seed.
Driven by this, the sword suddenly shone brightly.
A clear, melodious sword cry erupted from his body, even drowning out the sound of the wind in the courtyard.
A condensed, almost tangible, crimson-gold sword light, no more than a foot long, shot out swiftly.
Extremely fast, striking first despite being behind, precisely targeting the weakest point in the sword shadow's energy.
"Ding!"
At the point of contact, a blinding light suddenly shone and then vanished, as if a star had been annihilated.
The crimson-gold sword light and the pitch-black sword shadow clashed head-on, and time seemed to freeze for a moment. The two beams of light were locked in a stalemate in mid-air, the crimson-gold and pitch-black intertwining and reflecting each other, dyeing the courtyard with a strange glow.
The next instant, the dark sword shadow, ultimately a result of a distracted attack, lost its support of subsequent magical power and let out a low, mournful cry.
A hair-thin crack spread from the point of impact on the sword shadow, and then the entire sword shadow dimmed abruptly, shattered with a bang, and turned into specks of black stars that drifted away and disappeared into the twilight.
The crimson-gold sword light was condensed from Xu Changqing's mind and spiritual energy; once damaged, it would naturally perish.
He swayed slightly, his face paled, and a metallic taste rose in his throat, which he forcibly suppressed.
The mana in his dantian was almost depleted, and the light of the sword seed had dimmed considerably, clearly indicating that this strike had consumed a great deal of energy.
The courtyard fell silent for a moment. The dewdrops on the pine needles, which had just been shaken off by the invisible sword energy, were now hitting the bluestone slab with a "thud," the sound clearly audible.
The Sword Maniac stood still, the jet-black sword pellet at his fingertip somehow rotating and hovering quietly in his palm.
"Not bad." Sword Madman spoke slowly, his voice still calm, but less cold and hard than before, and more full of unreadable praise. "What's even more remarkable is that the timing was perfect. That old codger Chi Mingzi really picked up a treasure."
Xu Changqing suppressed the churning of his dantian and the exhaustion of his soul, cupped his hands and said, "Senior is too kind. This junior relied on trickery and luck."
His voice was slightly hoarse; that all-out attack had almost drained most of his magical power and had also taken a huge toll on his spirit.
"Trickery?" Sword Madman scoffed. "In sword duels, victory is victory, and defeat is defeat. What's the point of trickery? Your skill lies in seeing through illusions and seizing that fleeting opportunity."
He paused, then flicked his finger, and the jet-black sword pellet spun around, transforming into a streak of light that disappeared into his sleeve.
"The three sword strikes have been delivered, and you have received them." The Sword Madman looked at Xu Changqing. "Although it was just a casual move by this old man, without using my full strength, it is still rare for someone with your Qi Refining body to be able to do this. Do you know that even ordinary early Foundation Establishment cultivators might not be able to handle this with such ease under my sword?"
Xu Changqing remained silent, simply standing still and adjusting his breathing.
Sword Madman didn't care. He took something out of his pocket, flicked his finger, and the object floated lightly toward Xu Changqing.
"Then, I will keep my word and grant you an opportunity."
Xu Changqing reached out and took the object. It was cool and heavy to the touch; it was a silver-white sword pellet the size of a longan, with a smooth, mirror-like surface and subtle, flowing cloud-like patterns.
The moment he touched it, a sharp sword intent that could annihilate all things and silence all sounds rushed straight to his mind from his fingertips, causing a sharp pain in his mind.
"This is the standard sword pellet of my [Taihua Cave]." The Sword Madman stood with his hands behind his back, his green robe fluttering slightly in the evening breeze. "I have infused it with my own sword intent. If you can suppress and refine it, and nurture it in your dantian, you can follow the method to refine it into your own sword pellet in the future."
As he spoke, he pointed his fingers into the air, and a wisp of invisible divine consciousness was transmitted into Xu Changqing's brow from a distance.
"The method for refining sword pellets is here."
Xu Changqing felt a slight throbbing in his head, and a mantra titled "Taihua Sword Pill Mystic Method" appeared in his mind.
The incantation is not long, about a thousand words, and it details how to collect various magical materials, use the dantian as a furnace and magical power as fire, to temper and condense them, and finally form a sword pellet embryo in the dantian.
The parts about condensing the sword pellet and tempering the mind are quite exquisite, but the parts about how to integrate it with one's own swordsmanship and how to balance the sword pellet are vague.