Meng Fan took the Hongqi Sword and the Tongshan Sword and walked out of his room.
The Tongshan Sword had been destroyed, and he didn't know if he would have to pay compensation for it.
Yesterday, Senior Brother Luo seemed to have mentioned that if his sword broke in the future, he wouldn't need to hand over any Spirit Stones and could just exchange it directly.
He hoped Senior Brother Luo hadn't just been talking nonsense.
Although he had made a tidy sum of Spirit Stones from Liu Yanping, he had already spent all of them on medicinal pills, leaving him completely penniless now!
He washed up, went to the cafeteria to eat, and upon returning, began polishing his longswords.
Out of the forty longswords he polished, only one contained baleful energy.
Relying on his mastery of Sword Dao to refine the baleful energy, Meng Fan learned a mediocre sword technique called the "Falling Leaf Sword Technique," which was not worth mentioning.
This technique was not even as strong as the "Blue Sea Rising Tide Sword Technique" he had learned from Liu Yanping, so Meng Fan naturally didn't take it to heart.
True to his usual routine, Senior Brother Luo slept until the sun was high in the sky before lazily waking up and stepping out of his room.
Meng Fan had been waiting for him for a long time and quickly brought the Tongshan Sword over.
Looking at the Tongshan Sword broken into two halves, Senior Brother Luo couldn't help but wear a look of astonishment.
"What is the situation here? You just picked this sword last night, and you managed to break it?"
You could understand it if Meng Fan had gone out to fight someone and broken the sword.
Yet he had only taken the sword last night, hadn't stepped outside, hadn't done a single thing, and yet the sword was broken.
That was simply absurd!
Meng Fan explained somewhat awkwardly, "Actually, this Tongshan Sword wasn't broken by me; it was broken by the Hongqi Sword."
Upon hearing Meng Fan's words, Senior Brother Luo finally noticed the Hongqi Sword on Meng Fan's person.
Hong...
The Hongqi Sword!!!
Senior Brother Luo's eyes widened in shock as he stared incredulously at Meng Fan and the Hongqi Sword.
Meng Fan continued to explain, "Yesterday, I chose the Tongshan Sword, but when I woke up this morning, I discovered it had been broken by the Hongqi Sword. Furthermore, the Hongqi Sword wants to follow me and become my personal sword."
Senior Brother Luo's eyes grew wider and wider because Meng Fan's words sounded increasingly unbelievable.
The crucial point was that while this sounded absurd, Senior Brother Luo could tell that Meng Fan was not lying.
He fell silent for a good while before managing to calm his racing thoughts.
The Hongqi Sword was a spirit sword with extremely heavy baleful energy; among the sword weapons on the first floor of the Sword Pavilion, it was undoubtedly an absolute top-tier existence.
Many sword weapons on the second floor of the Sword Pavilion might not even compare to the Hongqi Sword.
The most important thing was that the Hongqi Sword hadn't even deigned to look at him, yet it had actually taken a fancy to this punk Meng Fan?
Although Senior Brother Luo had always felt that this kid Meng Fan was quite decent, at this moment he was still thoroughly shocked by him.
However, so as not to lose face in front of Meng Fan, he forced himself to calm down and said with a pretense of casual indifference, "The Hongqi Sword is extraordinary. The fact that it chose you proves that you are quite capable. Keep it up!"
That final word of encouragement sounded a bit out of place, and he patted Meng Fan's shoulder with extreme awkwardness.
Meng Fan asked somewhat cautiously, "Senior Brother Luo, since this Tongshan Sword is damaged, do I need to compensate for it?"
This was what he cared about most, and the very reason he had waited all morning for Senior Brother Luo.
Senior Brother Luo rolled his eyes and said, "Didn't I already tell you yesterday? You can use any sword in the Sword Pavilion as you please. Don't worry if you break them, no compensation is required. Just throw the Tongshan Sword into the recycling room!"
"That's a relief." A smile appeared on Meng Fan's face, and he let out a complete sigh of relief.
If he were an outer disciple, he would have had to hand over ten Spirit Stones in a situation like this.
Right now, he simply didn't have ten Spirit Stones.
He couldn't possibly go fleece Liu Yanping's wool all over again, could he?
Besides, it wasn't certain that Liu Yanping would even let him fleece her!
Senior Brother Luo glanced at the Hongqi Sword on Meng Fan, a trace of envy hidden deep within his eyes.
He hid it very well, though, and Meng Fan didn't notice.
In truth, while this Senior Brother Luo looked immensely weathered, with white eyebrows and white hair, exuding an overwhelming aura of prestige like some formidable expert...
To put it bluntly, he was merely a veteran sword-guarding disciple of the Sword Pavilion, whose status was equivalent to that of an inner disciple.
Three years ago, he had been nothing more than an ordinary outer disciple!
Therefore, he was actually quite envious of a spirit sword like the Hongqi Sword, because he himself had been unable to subdue it.
Yet the Hongqi Sword had actually taken the initiative to follow Meng Fan!
This was somewhat demoralizing for him.
Even so, it proved that his earlier judgment had not been mistaken: this kid Meng Fan was indeed supremely suited to be a sword-guarding disciple, even more so than himself.
"Don't go out today, kid. I'm going out to buy some wine; you can go out and mess around tomorrow," Senior Brother Luo casually said to Meng Fan before leaving the Sword Pavilion.
Looking at Senior Brother Luo's retreating figure, Meng Fan felt a bit puzzled.
Why was Senior Brother Luo in such a rush to leave today?
"He's demoralized by you." After Senior Brother Luo left, a red light emanated from the Hongqi Sword, and Hongqi's phantom coalesced in front of Meng Fan.
"Demoralized?" Meng Fan looked surprised.
"Earlier, he wanted me to be his personal sword, but I didn't agree. I looked down on him."
Hearing Hongqi's words, Meng Fan smiled, suddenly understanding.
The Hongqi Sword was unwilling to follow Senior Brother Luo, yet willing to follow him; Senior Brother Luo had naturally been stung by the contrast.
"Actually, Senior Brother Luo is a really good person," Meng Fan remarked casually.
"What use is being a good person? What I want is someone who can help me take revenge, and he clearly holds no hope of that!"
Meng Fan gave a wry smile. What a mercenary wom—
Ah, a mercenary sword.
Hongqi continued, "Every time I talk to you, I have to emerge from the sword. It's too tiring this way. Bite your finger, squeeze out a drop of fresh blood, and drip it onto the blade."
Meng Fan followed her instructions, drew the Hongqi Sword, and let a drop of fresh blood fall onto the blade.
The next second, the fresh blood melted directly into the sword body.
"Blood recognition to establish ownership? Such a cliché method actually exists in reality? So if a stranger dripped blood onto the blade, would you acknowledge them as your master too?" Meng Fan asked out of curiosity.
Hongqi's phantom had already returned into the sword, but the next second, Hongqi's crisp voice rang directly in Meng Fan's mind.
"Heh, if it were someone I looked down upon who dared to voluntarily drip fresh blood onto my blade, I'd suck them dry and kill them on the spot, let alone acknowledge them as master!"
Was this the magical operation after blood recognition?
Hongqi's voice could actually appear directly inside his mind.
A spirit sword truly lived up to its name; it was indeed immensely wondrous!
"Right, since you're a spirit sword after all, do you have any ultimate moves? What kind of buffs and assistance can you provide me with?" Meng Fan addressed the Hongqi Sword.
"Of course I have ultimate moves, but you shouldn't use them lightly," Hongqi's voice resounded in Meng Fan's mind.
"Alright, how about introducing them first?"
"The Hongqi Sword possesses a [Charm] effect. As long as you infuse True Qi into the Hongqi Sword, I can cast [Charm] on the enemy. At that time, the enemy will become like they've lost their mind, leaving them entirely at your mercy so you can easily kill them!"
"Since you said not to use it lightly, it must mean the restrictions are definitely huge, right?"
"Indeed, because this [Charm] not only consumes your True Qi, but also consumes my accumulated power. After using Charm once, I need to recuperate for at least three days before I can build up my power again!"
In other words, this [Charm] was an ultimate skill, and its cooldown was a full three days.
"Then what is the upper limit of this Charm? Meaning, what realm of martial artist can it affect at most?" Meng Fan asked helplessly.
"Although I am strong, you are too weak. With just this tiny bit of True Qi you have, even if you went all out, the effect on a martial artist in the True Martial Realm would be limited.
However, for anyone in the Qi Condensation Realm, even the Peak of Qi Condensation, I can easily charm them into submission."
Meng Fan nodded, understanding now.
Although Hongqi spoke with utter disdain, this was already formidable.
It meant that a martial artist like him at the 1st Layer of Qi Condensation could easily slaughter a martial artist at the peak of the 9th Layer of Qi Condensation.
That was utterly absurd!
Of course, this move could only be used once every three days, making it a true trump card.
It could not be deployed unless absolutely necessary!
"Not bad, you're even stronger than I thought," Meng Fan said with a satisfied smile.
A spirit sword was a spirit sword, far too fierce and formidable compared to ordinary mortal swords.
With Senior Brother Luo out buying wine, Meng Fan could only stay behind to guard the Sword Pavilion today.
However, traffic in the Sword Pavilion was very low; it was already considered not bad if a single disciple came to collect or exchange a sword in a day.
In the afternoon, sitting in his chair, he mentally rehearsed the sword techniques he had previously seen in the Martial Arts Hall.
Meng Fan roughly calculated that he had learned over forty sword techniques in the Martial Arts Hall.
However, such a miscellaneous and scattered way of learning was somewhat one-sided.
It lacked the sheer power of techniques like "Extreme Dao Sword-Drawing" or "Mountain-Splitting" when unleashed by his own hands.
Moreover, Meng Fan simply didn't have the energy to specialize in so many sword techniques; he was merely deducing and integrating them in an effort to create his own "Myriad Swords Return to Sect."
One day, once the Myriad Swords Return to Sect was completed, this sword technique would undoubtedly shake the entire Shushan Sword Sect.
No, it would shock the entire world!
Pity that this could not be accomplished overnight; the road ahead was long and arduous.
Twilight gradually descended, and a day's time was about to slip away.
Senior Brother Luo hadn't returned yet, but Meng Fan was in no rush to close the doors; he figured he would wait for Senior Brother Luo to come back before closing up.
Instead of Senior Brother Luo, however, he ended up waiting for a disciple.
"I'm here to exchange my sword." A young man wearing the attire of an inner sect disciple walked through the gates of the Sword Pavilion and spoke directly to Meng Fan.
Meng Fan nodded, then produced a register.
"Sign in. Are you collecting a sword or exchanging one?"
"Exchanging a sword!" The youth took the register and wrote down his name.
[Dugu Ming]
A double-barreled surname, quite rare.
Meng Fan didn't pay it much mind, though, as he had never heard of this name before.
In fact, Meng Fan's world was far removed from that of the inner sect disciples; he had practically had zero contact with any inner sect disciples prior to this.
Oh, excluding that girl Li Xuerou!
This little girl had entered the Shushan Sword Sect on the very same day as him, starting out as a handyman disciple, yet when she became an inner sect disciple, Meng Fan was still a handyman disciple.
Comparison could truly drive a person crazy!
Although Meng Fan envied Li Xuerou, he had never felt any jealousy toward her. After all, in his heart, this girl was as dear to him as a younger sister.
"Your sword is completely intact. Are you certain you want to exchange it? Exchanging a sword costs ten Spirit Stones."
Meng Fan glanced at the sword at Dugu Ming's waist and offered a reminder.
Dugu Ming looked at Meng Fan in surprise and said, "My sword hasn't even been unsheathed, yet you can tell it's completely intact. The Sword Pavilion's sword-guarding disciple truly has some skills!"
Meng Fan smiled and said nothing.
If he didn't even have this much skill, what right did he have to be a sword-guarding disciple?
Dugu Ming fished out ten Spirit Stones and placed them on the table alongside the sword from his waist.
Then he walked into the first floor of the Sword Pavilion and began choosing a sword.
Meng Fan picked up Dugu Ming's discarded sword.
[Sword Name: Changbing]
Simultaneously, a stream of baleful energy surged into Meng Fan's body.
His mastery of Sword Dao activated, refining the baleful energy.
This baleful energy wasn't particularly intense, so refining it wasn't difficult.
Following that, Meng Fan saw the "memory" of the Changbing sword—it was the memory of Dugu Ming practicing his swordsmanship.
A moment later, Meng Fan opened his eyes and returned to normal.
He had learned a sword technique; this technique consisted of only a single move, yet that single move could adapt to ten thousand variations.
"Facing the Wind, a Single Sword Slash"
It carried somewhat of the flavor of breaking ten thousand laws with a single sword.
Meng Fan could sense that once this sword technique was cultivated to its absolute limit, it was entirely capable of giving birth to Sword Intent!
In form, this sword technique bore some similarity to [Mountain-Splitting], but in truth its power was slightly inferior to it.
Therefore, to Meng Fan, this sword technique was dispensable and he didn't take it to heart.
Then, he drew the Changbing sword from its scabbard, and a wisp of sword essence flowed into his body.
However, this sword was in good condition with no damage whatsoever. Why would Dugu Ming want to exchange it?
In this situation, the only explanation was that he felt the Changbing sword wasn't strong enough and wanted to exchange it for a stronger one.
Could it be that he wanted to swap for a spirit sword?
Meng Fan looked at Dugu Ming's retreating back and fell into slight contemplation.
A spirit sword was not so easily claimed!
Unless the spirit sword was willing to follow you of its own accord, trying to forcefully subdue it wasn't a matter of difficulty anymore; things could easily turn dangerous, even life-threatening.
Meng Fan had guessed correctly: this Dugu Ming indeed wanted to exchange for a spirit sword!
He ranked in the top ten among the inner sect disciples of the Shushan Sword Sect, and he felt that he was now worthy of wielding a spirit sword.
Under Meng Fan's watchful eye, this Dugu Ming wandered around several rows of wooden racks on the first floor of the Sword Pavilion.
In the end, he chose a longsword with a pitch-black scabbard.
[Chiyue]
Meng Fan had an impression of this sword.
Back when Meng Fan first entered the Sword Pavilion, this very sword had erupted with sword radiance to intimidate him.
At that time, Meng Fan had been given quite a scare!
Later, Senior Brother Luo had told him that everyone who entered the Sword Pavilion would be provoked by that Chiyue sword.
This sword could be said to be the most malevolent one on the first floor of the Sword Pavilion!
Wanting to subdue such a sword was undoubtedly the most difficult task.
Because in a sense, sword spirits were actually very similar to humans—they had different personalities too.
Take Hongqi, for instance: she clearly understood the current situation and was very smart and rational.
Chiyue, on the other hand, was like a madman, exceptionally frenzied, and dealing with it was clearly not as easy as dealing with Hongqi.
Of all the swords Dugu Ming could have chosen, he just had to pick Chiyue. This was undoubtedly asking for trouble!
The moment this fellow placed his hand on the Chiyue sword, the weapon abruptly erupted with boundless baleful energy.
Spirit swords possessed consciousness, so it was well aware of Dugu Ming's intentions.
This human wanted to subjugate it and take it as his personal sword.
In Chiyue's eyes, this was a provocation and an insult to it.
Not just anyone was qualified to be its master!
Therefore, Chiyue was filled with malice toward Dugu Ming. The instant Dugu Ming touched it, it unleashed terrifying offensive power.
The boundless baleful energy instantly condensed into a sheet of black mist, enveloping Dugu Ming in a split second.
Inside the black mist, Dugu Ming's face turned pale as he circulated the True Qi within his body, struggling desperately to fend off the baleful energy.
Clearly, he was finding it extremely taxing!
Not everyone was like Meng Fan, who could refine baleful energy.
For an ordinary person facing such terrifying baleful energy, it was a nine-to-one chance of death!
And just as Dugu Ming was pouring all his effort into dealing with the sword's baleful energy, the Chiyue sword once more emitted a captivating glare.
A pitch-black sword Qi burst forth from the Chiyue sword, slashing toward Dugu Ming.
Meng Fan's expression shifted; his intuition told him that if this sword Qi landed, Dugu Ming would die with high probability!
Pity that even if Dugu Ming really was slain, he had no ability to rescue him.
An inner sect disciple of the True Martial Realm—was that someone he could save?
In this situation, going over there would simply be throwing away another head!
"Are you spirit swords all this terrifying?" Meng Fan furrowed his brow and muttered softly.
He knew that Hongqi could hear his voice.
Sure enough, Hongqi's voice sounded in Meng Fan's mind.
"What did you expect? Spirit swords aren't something just anyone has the ability to wield!
Chiyue was originally the most malevolent spirit sword, and it even shows signs of transforming into a demonic sword.
Only martial artists in the Xiantian Realm have the ability to subdue it.
For this Dugu Ming to choose the Chiyue sword is sheer overestimation of his own abilities. If he weren't in the Sword Pavilion, he'd be dead for sure today!"
Meng Fan didn't know what a demonic sword was.
Just hearing those two words, however, allowed him to roughly guess how terrifying a demonic sword must be.
Without a doubt, it was definitely stronger than a normal spirit sword!
"You said if he weren't in the Sword Pavilion, he'd be dead for sure today. Does that mean he can't die inside the Sword Pavilion?" Meng Fan asked with some curiosity.
From Meng Fan's perspective, Dugu Ming's current predicament could already be described as certain death.
This kid was one hundred percent going to be tortured to death by the Chiyue sword!
The next second, Hongqi's voice rang out in Meng Fan's mind.
"Inside the Sword Pavilion, you aren't the only person here. Just because you can't save him doesn't mean someone else can't."
Hearing Hongqi's words, Meng Fan finally remembered that there was still someone upstairs in the Sword Pavilion.
However, he had never laid eyes on the bigwig upstairs.
Senior Brother Luo had never taken him upstairs, and he certainly wouldn't dare to go upstairs on his own initiative!
Just as Dugu Ming looked on the verge of being cleaved in two by the Chiyue sword, Meng Fan felt an immense pressure descending from above his head.
He faintly sensed an aura emerging from the second floor of the Sword Pavilion, suppressing the Chiyue sword.
What kind of aura it was, however, he had no inkling of whatsoever.
No matter what it was, though, it was definitely the bigwig on the second floor of the Sword Pavilion making a move.
Dugu Ming was truly lucky; if he had encountered this kind of trouble outside, he would already be a corpse by now.
With the emergence of this aura, the Chiyue sword immediately became well-behaved.
It slowly drifted back to the corner, remaining motionless while the baleful energy on its body completely dissipated.
Dugu Ming sat down hard on the ground, gasping heavily for breath.
Just then, he had been a hair's breadth away from death, truly experiencing the terror brought by the Reaper.
"It was me overestimating my capabilities." After a long while, he staggered to his feet, letting out a helpless sigh.
He didn't continue choosing a sword; instead, he picked up his original sword and Spirit Stones from the table and turned to leave the Sword Pavilion.
Call this fellow reckless, and reckless he truly was.
Yet the moment it was time to be sensible, he became excessively sensible!
Though he couldn't handle the Chiyue sword, picking a sword stronger than the Changbing sword shouldn't have been hard, right?
Meng Fan shook his head and paid this Dugu Ming no more mind.
"You need to watch out for this fellow!" Hongqi's voice suddenly popped into Meng Fan's mind.
"Huh?" Meng Fan was slightly startled. "What do you mean by that?"
"Although he didn't converse with you, before he left, he gave you a stealthy look—his gaze was filled with creepy malevolence, and even faintly carried a hint of murderous intent."
Hearing Hongqi's words, Meng Fan was instantly stunned.
He had been busy tidying up the register just then, so he hadn't noticed Dugu Ming casting a look at him before leaving.
"Do you have persecutory delusions? I have no grievances or enmities with him, how could he possibly have murderous intent toward me?" Meng Fan felt that Hongqi was overthinking things.
"Because of jealousy. I'm hanging so brazenly on your person right now, practically making a public announcement that I'm your personal sword."