Yin Biyue's sword was named 'Leaning Lake,' a gift from Jun Yu to his nominal master when he took him on as a disciple.
In the three years at Cangya Mountain, he had practiced the Coldwater Sword Art tens of thousands of times. It was already in his bones, an instinct.
After his trip to Lanyuan Academy, he was no longer practicing the Coldwater Sword.
At the Daybreak, Yin Biyue sheathed his sword.
A large tree, requiring two people to embrace, fell behind him with a crash.
The next second, trees within a ten-zhang radius had fallen, startling countless birds out of the forest.
He stood in the center of the fallen timber and broken branches, sword Qi still lingering around him, and looked back. His heart was uneasy.
He saw Duan Chongxuan excitedly shout, "It's been a long time since I saw Fourth Senior Brother practice sword! Your swordsmanship has improved again! Congratulations, Senior Brother!"
Luo Mingchuan stood beside him, also smiling and nodding.
Yin Biyue's heart settled.
Luo Mingchuan couldn't see anything unusual, which proved that at least nobody below the Barrier-Breaking Realm could tell. The standard could perhaps be raised, especially since Luo Mingchuan practiced the Jialan Pupil Technique, his eyesight should be superior to the average person.
It seemed the opponents encountered during this trip to Chongming Mountain would not be suspicious.
His True Essence couldn't be infused into this sword, but after the academy trip, he was inspired and thought of another method.
Covering the sword's surface with True Essence, enveloping the entire sword. Someone must have tried this method before.
If it were just this, the True Essence would quickly dissipate, and it would require an extremely high output. With his current True Essence, it wouldn't last longer than a cup of tea.
But his Spirit Soul was powerful, so he thought of using his Spirit Soul to condense Spiritual Sense, and then using Spiritual Sense to lock the True Essence on the sword's surface.
The drawback of this method was that the stronger the opponent, the faster his Spiritual Sense would be consumed. Fortunately, with the cheat-like condensation of his Spirit Soul, recovery was also fast. At the current cultivation realm, one night would be enough.
Yin Biyue had already made up his mind. This was the best method to deal with the current situation. As soon as the Flower-Folding Ceremony was over, he would return to Cangya for secluded cultivation and research.
Although changing swords midway was a major taboo for Sword Cultivators, if it still didn't work, he would have no choice but to switch swords.
Yin Biyue turned around and nodded in greeting, "Let's go."
Duan Chongxuan happily followed.
Today's grand spectacle of orthodox cultivation's start of the year was, as usual, preempted by a sitcom.
By the third time, Luo Mingchuan didn't wait for Duan Chongxuan to step forward and say, "Why don't you kneel down and call me Dad?" He made his move first.
Yin Biyue noticed that Luo Mingchuan always maintained excellent control.
No matter how arrogant the opponent's posture, or how foul their language, he never lost his temper or took a life.
If his inner heart was as calm as his expression, it was a terrifying self-control.
Then he thought, Duan Chongxuan probably wanted to test Luo Mingchuan. Or rather, he wanted to see what kind of person he was.
When faced with an opponent as weak as an ant, what would he do in response to the most vulgar abuse.
The result was that Luo Mingchuan lived up to expectations and did everything a saint would do.
The spring blossoms had faded, and the summer shade was lush.
The soft earth underfoot and the dappled light from the swaying tree shadows were refreshing.
Just as Yin Biyue thought things would continue like this, a variable opened a new door to his world.
Because this time, Luo Mingchuan killed someone.
Bright red blood gushed from the man's neck, soaking into the brown earth. The bodies were separated, the head frozen in a look of wide-eyed terror.
Yin Biyue froze in place.
Saint Luo Mingchuan… was so ruthless?
Yin Biyue only then began to recall what had happened.
These people were not ordinary bandits. They were martial artists who had learned some External Martial Arts and rogue cultivators at the Qi Cultivation Stage. They roamed the Panlong Ridge area, and their targets were not scattered travelers, but opportunistically attacking poorly defended merchant caravans.
Luo Mingchuan had originally intended to reason with them this time. But Duan Chongxuan had preempted him with "Kneel down and call me Dad." The opposing side's flood of curses also erupted.
But this time, strangely, the one who took the hit was not Duan Chongxuan, who had provoked them first, nor Luo Mingchuan, who had been brought up by the talkative one.
"Pah! What Cangya Mountain! Look at the one in the back, covering his face, hiding like a woman! Clearly has no face to show!
Yin Biyue, unaware he was caught in the crossfire, broke into laughter. The laughter abruptly stopped because Luo Mingchuan had already made his move.
He only killed one person; the others were only heavily injured.
But his usually well-restrained aura erupted in an instant, and invisible pressure rippled through the air.
Yin Biyue involuntarily took two steps back.
Luo Mingchuan came to his senses.
He scared his Junior Brother? It made sense; Junior Brother had never seen anything like this.
Thinking this, the gloom in his heart instantly dissipated.
He looked at the young man, his voice unconsciously softening, "Junior Brother Yin, you entered the academy as a child and are inexperienced. Naturally, you don't know the dangers of the world. But as cultivators walking in the world, we cannot let others slander us in vain. There are always times when we must draw our swords…"
He didn't know if he was explaining to Yin Biyue or to himself, "Moreover, these are all wicked people. If I don't harm them today, they will cause harm to others in the future."
Yin Biyue was stunned!
He, was he being lectured by the saintly protagonist?
Where does a villain's dignity go?!
Yin Biyue's expression turned cold.
"Ding— Villainous Trait 'Gaze like a Knife' appeared, conditions met, Villain Halo activated!"
Yin Biyue no longer had much hope for the halo's effect.
Minus points! Bad review!
Scammer seller! Didn't even scare anyone to tears with a single glance!
Luo Mingchuan saw the young man still standing there, looking somewhat lost.
He felt a slight sense of helplessness, both annoyed at his own loss of control and thinking that his Junior Brother was indeed pure-hearted and soft-natured. Forget it, as long as he was here, he could always look after him.
If Junior Brother didn't like him killing people, he would just keep it from him next time.
Just as Luo Mingchuan made up his mind, he saw the young man walk straight ahead, and Duan Chongxuan followed.
Luo Mingchuan no longer dared to let Duan Chongxuan go ahead, so he said, "I'll scout ahead." He channeled his True Essence, and with a flash, he disappeared.
Yin Biyue was still complaining about the unscrupulous seller when he heard Duan Chongxuan ask in a low voice, "Fourth Senior Brother, are you angry?"
"..."
"Fourth Senior Brother, don't be angry. I know I was wrong." Duan Chongxuan's tone was quite cautious. "I'll change back into my old clothes tomorrow."
"..."
What happened to the eyes of the masses being discerning? Which of your eyes saw me getting angry because Luo Mingchuan killed someone!!!
Regarding the villain's dignity, Yin Biyue felt he had to explain, "I'm not angry."
Duan Chongxuan was very touched because even though he had messed around so much, his Fourth Senior Brother could still forgive him!
"Fourth Senior Brother, where do you think Luo Mingchuan's bottom line is?"
"..."
How did the topic change so quickly!
Yin Biyue truly didn't know. Originally, he thought the saint's bottom line was no bottom line.
Luo Mingchuan had controlled himself so well in the previous few times; it didn't make sense for him to explode like this all of a sudden.
Duan Chongxuan's voice drifted in the wind, but Yin Biyue still heard it clearly.
"Luo Mingchuan's bottom line is you."
You! Say! That! Again! And! Again!
Yin Biyue was so shocked that he didn't even hear Duan Chongxuan's next relieved mumble,
"This way, I can consider handing you over to him. Perhaps Senior Sister knows about it too, and will also consider it... I'll observe him for a while longer, see his performance..."
He only heard his own slightly hesitant voice,
"Do not speak carelessly."
Duan Chongxuan fell silent.
Before Yin Biyue could think further, he saw Luo Mingchuan's back.
Even more striking was that opposite Luo Mingchuan stood more than ten people. They wore green daoist robes, wooden crowns, had their hair tied up, and their expressions were cold.
It was clear that this group was blocking Luo Mingchuan's path.
Perhaps not blocking, but a narrow encounter.
But the mountain path was too narrow, someone had to yield first.
Yin Biyue walked over and saw the Bagua array patterns drawn on the hem of those people's robes.
Baopu Sect.
He knew then that this was more than just a matter of yielding the path.
...