Chapter 8: The Nineteen Chapters of Xuanming

Bai Sheng adjusted the true qi in his body to the most balanced state. Fortunately, he had broken through to the level of perception, allowing him to distinguish the footsteps of the two people above and simulate their positions in his mind.

The Five Lusts Venerable and Cuiyu Fairy teased each other for a while before the former shouted, seemingly reciting some incantation. A black mist suddenly rose from the rocks above, and a black rainbow shot into the sky. A hoarse voice called out from the black mist to Cuiyu Fairy, "I will leave my yin spirit to gather information and see if I can contact Duan Gui. I will return with news for you, Fairy." With one less target, Bai Sheng felt a bit less worried. He thought to himself, "That Five Lusts bird clearly has higher cultivation. I would need to put in a bit more effort to pierce both of them with one sword, but assassinating this Cuiyu Fairy will be much easier."

Bai Sheng calculated the position and posture of Cuiyu Fairy above, estimating the route for his sword strike, while slowly circulating the Chicheng true qi.

Suddenly, a闷雷 (thunder) rumbled in the sky, and heavy rain poured down. Cuiyu Fairy seemed to pause, clearly taken aback by the overwhelming force of nature, her spirit becoming distracted. This was a rare opportunity. Bai Sheng turned his hand, lightly flicked, and the sword light, like a wriggling snake, followed the trajectory of the wind and rain, flying up to the rock. It was the same move "Meteor" he used to assassinate Dugu Qiuyou in front of a crowd.

As the sword was released, Bai Sheng stepped on a depression he had created earlier when he came down, flipped over, and followed the sword light up to the rock. The heavy rain soaked Bai Sheng's clothes, but he paid no attention.

Bai Sheng was absolutely confident that he would not fail.

This unparalleled confidence was forged from his countless victories over powerful enemies in "Sword of Shu 2." Only true experts could cultivate such confidence.

Cuiyu Fairy had a beautiful face, with an old scar on her forehead. However, after Bai Sheng's sword pierced through her head, she no longer had that charming beauty. The sword, which emitted a dull yellow light, pierced through her from the back of her head, the light emerging from her eyes. Even the lowest quality flying sword, once stained with fresh blood, emitted a chilling cold.

However, Bai Sheng did not immediately plunder Cuiyu Fairy. Instead, he focused his gaze on the brown-robed man sitting in a black light circle. The man was still breathing but remained silent and motionless. Recalling the black mist that had escaped earlier, Bai Sheng understood that the Five Lusts bird had left his yin spirit, leaving only a physical body behind.

"Heh heh, relying on a protective magical treasure to survive under the hands of your master, the Hundred Birds, is impossible!"

Bai Sheng spread his fingers, and the flying sword that killed Cuiyu Fairy flew up. The sword light, like a swallow playing in water, touched the black light circle four times. Each time the sword light touched the circle, the black light at the point of contact became more intense. When the sword light struck for the fifth time, the black light circle protecting the Five Lusts Venerable's body had become almost invisible, with all the defensive power concentrated at the four points where Bai Sheng's sword had struck. Bai Sheng broke through the defense with one sword strike, entering from the left temple and exiting from the right, killing the physical body.

With the death of the Five Lusts Venerable's physical body, a black iron ring fell to the ground, rolling a few times. Bai Sheng smiled and bent down to pick it up.

Although in the game, items would drop automatically when enemies or monsters died, in reality, he had to search the bodies himself. However, Bai Sheng had done this many times before, and he quickly and efficiently plundered both Cuiyu Fairy and the Five Lusts Venerable.

Bai Sheng did not have time to inspect his loot. He stored the bodies of the Five Lusts Venerable and Cuiyu Fairy in the Five Lusts Venerable's leopard skin bag and immediately descended Tongtian Peak while the rain and wind continued.

Although Bai Sheng could command the elements in the game, in reality, he was just an ordinary person. However, now that he was in Duan Gui's body, he felt boundless energy, with agile movements far surpassing those of a normal human. While he was not as agile as Spider-Man, his physical abilities were much better than those of Avatar. With Duan Gui's martial arts skills, despite the slippery rain and the steepness of Tongtian Peak, Bai Sheng descended without any mishaps, finding it even easier than he had expected.

Relying on his familiarity with the thirty-six peaks of Chicheng Mountain, Bai Sheng did not immediately return to the Chicheng Immortal Sect's base at Jietian Peak. Instead, he found a hidden mountain hollow and an uninhabited cave to inspect his loot.

The names of the Five Lusts Venerable and Cuiyu Fairy were not in Duan Gui's memory, so Bai Sheng had no idea about their backgrounds. The Five Lusts Venerable had a leather bag containing all his magical treasures, including a black iron ring and seven other items. In addition, there was a black, rough-feeling book and a large amount of gold and silver.

The cover of the book had five white, bone-like characters: "The Nineteen Chapters of Xuanming."

Bai Sheng casually flipped through the book, which recorded cultivation techniques vastly different from the Chicheng Sect's direct lineage. It was clearly the method of cultivating a magical weapon, one of the four major cultivation paths—qi, talismans, weapons, and souls—known for being the most difficult to master.

The cultivation of a magical weapon required selecting a life-bound magical weapon at the beginning of practice, cultivating both the body and the weapon simultaneously. Once the weapon was refined to a certain level, one could use its power to enhance cultivation. In the end, the practitioner and the weapon would merge, achieving the supreme path, with results not inferior to those who followed the qi cultivation path. If a practitioner could obtain a high-quality magical weapon, they could save the time and effort of refining their own weapon, making their cultivation progress the fastest among the four paths. If they could not find a good weapon, they would have to divide their attention between cultivation and refining their life-bound weapon, making their progress slower at the beginning. Only when the weapon reached a certain level of refinement could the practitioner benefit from both cultivation and weapon refinement.

The Nineteen Chapters of Xuanming recorded over a dozen of the most advanced methods for refining magical weapons. As Bai Sheng casually flipped through the book, he suddenly remembered its origin when he saw the method for refining a white bone relic.

Duan Gui's life memories were vast, and although Bai Sheng had taken over his body, he could not digest all the memories in such a short time. He needed a trigger to recall certain key events. The white bone relic was one of the most famous magical weapons in the evil path, known for its immense power and the cruel, unimaginable methods required to refine it, far beyond the limits of ordinary people.

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(End of Chapter 8)