Four months after Lin Dan left, Liang Jinxi finally woke up from his meditation, and his cultivation level was stabilized at the middle stage of the Golden Core. A sixteen-year-old mid-stage Jindan cultivator was the first of its kind in Nanhua Continent. The news shocked the world, and the leader of Xuan Ji Sect was so happy that he couldn't stop smiling. He specially summoned all the elders to discuss holding a sword-testing ceremony for Le Zhengjiu and Liang Jinxi.
"You two have officially begun to practice the Chaos Sword Art together. Such a major event must naturally be seen by everyone. My Xuan Ji Sect has waited 70,000 years for such an opportunity to restore its reputation. How can we not treat it with great ceremony?" The sect leader said with a smile, stroking his beard.
Yes, "Chaos Sword Art" is the most advanced martial art in the South China Continent, but it is also the martial art with the most demanding conditions for cultivation. It requires a man and a woman to practice together, and their physiques must be nine yang and nine yin. The difference in their cultivation cannot be too great, and they must have a spiritual connection and a fusion of consciousness to achieve complete unity of two swords and two people.
The Nine Yang Body and the Nine Yin Body are both top-grade Taoist bodies, rarely seen in the world. To say that they are one in ten thousand is a bit of an understatement; it should be more like one in a hundred thousand. Therefore, since the last pair of practitioners of Xuan Ji Sect ascended to heaven, this unique skill has not found a qualified practitioner in the past 70,000 years. The great reputation that the pair of practitioners had established for the Xuan Ji Sect had been eroded after tens of thousands of years and was almost gone. If the Xuan Ji Sect still wanted to stand out as the number one sect in the South China Continent, it had to find a successor as soon as possible.
In desperation, they would settle for the second best and choose to cooperate with the Wuji Sect. After all, the daughter of the Wuji Sect's leader happens to have the Nine Yin Body. It is said that those who are not of our clan must have different hearts. Lin Dan is from an outsider sect, and the Wuji Sect has been rising rapidly in recent years. Its ambitions are obvious. How can the Xuanji Sect not be on guard against her?
On the one hand, they were afraid of Lin Dan, but on the other hand, they had to ask her for help. One can imagine how frustrated they felt. Now, the Xuan Ji Sect has also produced a peerless genius with a superb Taoist body. How can they not announce such good news to the world?
Le Zhengjiu was not interested in these superficial efforts. He just looked at Liang Jinxi and asked her to make the decision. Liang Jinxi immediately nodded in agreement. These days, she has been studying the skills every day and has already memorized the tricks inside. She will definitely not let the sect down.
The leader of the Xuan Ji Sect clapped his hands and laughed, then immediately sent out jade letters to invite all the guests to come and watch the ceremony. Half a month later, all the people who were supposed to come arrived one after another, and even Lin Tianshui brought his son Lin Zeyu to attend the ceremony. A pair of perfect couples were standing side by side on the sword-testing platform made of ten thousand year old snow jade and thousand year old black iron. The man was imposing and handsome, while the woman was cute, lively and smart. They were a perfect match.
The two held the same spiritual swords in their hands, only the sizes were slightly different. They bowed and greeted the guests sitting around them. The guests smiled and returned the greeting, and then talked about it: "These are the two outstanding young people of Xuanji Sect? Their aura is indeed extraordinary."
"What a grand sword test conference. I'm afraid all the prominent and righteous people in Nanhua Continent are here. The last time Lin Tianshui sent his daughter here, she didn't get such treatment."
"One is an outsider, and the other is a direct disciple. How can they be the same?"
"This Liang Jinxi has a wood spiritual root, which is more compatible with Le Zhengjiu who has a fire spiritual root. Lin Tianshui's daughter has a water spiritual root, which is incompatible with Le Zhengjiu, and may hinder her progress in cultivation. Moreover, Liang Jinxi's talent is even higher than Lin Tianshui's daughter, so even a fool would know which one to choose."
Lin Tianshui felt embarrassed by everyone's comments, so he could only pick up the glass and pretend to drink. Lin Zeyu was also a little embarrassed, and he gritted his teeth, then looked at Liang Jinxi on the sword-testing platform with a gloomy look in his eyes.
Le Zhengjiu, who was admired by thousands of people, looked around the sword-testing stage expressionlessly, but did not find Lin Dan. His already ugly face suddenly became even darker. As expected, she didn't come. He should have thought of it earlier. She was such a decisive person. Since she had chosen to give up everything, she would leave his life forever.
He lowered his eyelids, stared at the sword in his hand, and suddenly felt a little dazed. However, this feeling only lasted for a second before it was interrupted by Liang Jinxi's gentle call: "Big Brother, Big Brother, the Sect Master wants us to start."
"Well, you have memorized the sword techniques, right?" Le Zhengjiu immediately regained his calm and composed appearance.
"I remember them all and have practiced them many times in my sea of consciousness. Come on." Liang Jinxi nodded with a smile.
"Empty your sea of consciousness and merge with my soul." As soon as Le Zhengjiu finished speaking, he released his spiritual consciousness, probed into Liang Jinxi's sea of consciousness, and made contact with her. This is an essential process at the beginning of sword practice. If the practitioners cannot achieve unity of mind and body, they will reveal great flaws when practicing sword techniques and will be defeated one by one.
The difficulty of "Chaos Sword Art" lies here. If you practice it well, you will be invincible in the world. If you practice it poorly, it will be worse than the most ordinary "Sword Control Art".
Liang Jinxi had obviously done homework in this regard. Although his eyes flickered slightly, he still tried his best to remove his defenses and tried to accept the invasion of another spiritual consciousness. However, two breaths passed, and Le Zhengjiu's fingertips were still pointing at his forehead without any movement, while Liang Jinxi stood opposite him blankly, feeling quite at a loss.
The other guests had never comprehended the "Chaos Sword Art" and naturally had no idea what was going on between the two of them. However, the leader of the Xuan Ji Sect was startled and had a bad premonition. Before practicing sword skills, two practitioners must first closely connect their spiritual consciousness with each other and merge them into one, otherwise they will not be able to unleash the full power of the sword skills. This is the first hurdle, which is extremely difficult for others, but for the two disciples who already love each other, it should be the easiest procedure.
Why are the two of them still not moving? The leader of Xuan Ji Sect was secretly anxious, and inadvertently recalled the scene when Lin Dan and his eldest disciple started practicing sword. They just looked at each other, then put their fingers together and pointed at their foreheads. Almost instantly, their consciousnesses were connected and their minds were integrated.
To be honest, the leader of Xuan Ji Sect was very surprised at that time, and therefore, he thought that this time would be easier than the last time. But he was wrong. Le Zhengjiu and Liang Jinxi stood face to face without moving for three or four breaths. After a while, Le Zhengjiu increased the output of his spiritual sense, but felt that the resistance was even stronger.
He looked at Liang Jinxi in astonishment, as if he couldn't believe what he felt. Liang Jinxi stared at him with red eyes, as if begging for his forgiveness.
"Don't resist me, try again, otherwise we will have no chance of practicing the Chaos Sword Technique. I will touch you with the softest spiritual sense, don't be afraid." Le Zhengjiu said in a voice transmission.
"Okay, senior brother." Liang Jinxi smiled very reluctantly.
This time, Le Zhengjiu pulled his spiritual consciousness into an extremely thin thread and carefully drilled into Liang Jinxi's sea of consciousness. It went smoothly at first, but when the thread touched the core, it was attacked violently. Liang Jinxi has a natural spiritual root of the wood element, so her consciousness is in the form of a vine, with countless poisonous thorns, which suddenly wrapped around and strangled the thin thread. The whole process was merciless and was completed in just a moment.
Le Zhengjiu was completely unprepared for her and was seriously injured, almost vomiting blood on the spot. He raised his eyes and looked across, his face still stern, but his eyes were filled with emotions such as confusion, embarrassment and disbelief. This instant and efficient attack was obviously not a deliberate drive, but a defensive instinct. In other words, no matter how much Liang Jinxi showed that she loved Le Zhengjiu, her heart was closed to him. Even though she knew how important this occasion was and how necessary this procedure was, she still couldn't do it.
She did not trust and rely on her senior brother wholeheartedly as she said. On the contrary, she did not dare to accept his approach at all, let alone allow him to peek into her heart.
A person's conscious mind can deceive others and himself, but his subconscious mind will never lie. The spiritual consciousness and the subconscious mind have the same characteristics on a certain level, which means that Liang Jinxi's so-called trust, dependence, and even love may all be false.
For the first time, Le Zhengjiu looked at the woman in front of him with suspicion, and his heart gradually began to be troubled. He inevitably recalled the scene when he and Lin Dan practiced sword for the first time. They completed the fusion of spiritual consciousness in an instant and never concealed or resisted anything from each other. Her sea of consciousness was the blue sky and the emerald green ocean, where the wind was gentle and the water was warm, completely wrapping him and accepting him. At that time he felt it was normal, but now he was overwhelmed by an indescribable sadness and confusion.
He swallowed the blood stuck in his throat and said in a voice transmission: "Forget it, let's skip this process and practice swordsmanship directly."
Liang Jinxi's eyes became even redder, and she seemed to feel very guilty, but she couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.
The two flew into the air and began to practice sword moves. Others did not notice anything unusual and just clapped and cheered. However, the leader of the Xuan Ji Sect looked at Liang Jinxi with dark eyes, fearing that she would make another mistake. However, what you fear will come to you. When the two of them were practicing the move of Dou Zhuan Xing Yi, Le Zhengjiu swung out a sword intent with flames and strong winds, and Liang Jinxi should have caught this sword intent with the tip of his sword, and then attached his own vibrant wood sword intent to it and slashed it towards the enemy, which was the Xuanying stone wall not far away.
Wood can produce fire. The superposition and blending of the wood and fire sword intents of the two people can bring out even more powerful power. But unfortunately, Liang Jinxi subconsciously dodged the moment the sword intent attacked, so the sword intent flew away and slashed towards the cultivators sitting in the VIP seats.
Most of the monks who were invited were respected seniors with good cultivation bases, so they were able to dodge naturally. However, the cultivation bases of the younger ones they brought with them were uneven. Those who could dodge quickly flew to both sides, while those who could not dodge could only stand there and scream. The scene was very chaotic for a while. Fortunately, a powerful man erected a barrier in time, weakening most of the sword intent, but some of the sword intent still remained and injured many young monks.
The leader of the Xuan Ji Sect, who had been paying attention to Liang Jinxi for a long time, immediately sent people to treat the injured, apologized to everyone in person, and took out many treasures as compensation. A sword-testing competition turned into a joke in an instant. Liang Jinxi was suspended in mid-air, his face was pale and blue, very ugly, but Le Zhengjiu did not show any strange expression, and said in a deep voice: "Go down and apologize."
"Oh, I'll go down right away. Senior Brother, I didn't mean to do that. I didn't expect your sword power to be so powerful and your spiritual pressure to be so vast. I was scared and somehow I dodged."
Liang Jinxi didn't know that his apology made Le Zhengjiu's already dark eyes even darker. The reason they avoid you is simply because they don't trust you enough. The sword intent was coming towards the front. Without full courage and 100% trust in the partner, most people would not dare to take it.
However, Le Zhengjiu always thought that the relationship between Liang Jinxi and himself was incomparable to that of ordinary people. She understood him so well that she could often finish the second half of his sentence after he had just said the first half; she would support him in whatever he wanted to do; she understood all his ideas, no matter how weird they were, and never questioned any of his decisions. He thought they were in tune with each other, but everything that happened today was like a slap in the face.
Le Zhengjiu walked to the sword-testing platform without saying a word and apologized. The powerful man's cultivation had reached the peak of the fusion stage, but he was unable to block his sword intent. He was extremely fearful in his heart, but did not dare to make things difficult for the Xuan Ji Sect.
Seeing that the situation was finally under control, Lin Tianshui slowly walked towards the mountain gate and sneered, "I originally thought that Liang Jinxi was an outstanding junior, but today I am really disappointed! When my son and Le Zhengjiu practiced together, there was never such a mistake."
He walked away slowly. Although the leader of Xuan Ji Sect tried his best to appear calm, he was very anxious in his heart. Yes, when Lin Dan was practicing with the eldest disciple, there was no such mistake!
The sect leader was in a bad mood, and the sect disciples were also very surprised. They had not expected that today's sword test competition would end up in such an embarrassing situation. They used to go to the cliff every day to secretly watch Lin Dan and his senior brother practicing sword skills, but because they had no basis for comparison, they naturally didn't think Lin Dan was that good. Now with Liang Jinxi as a reference, the gap is immediately apparent.
Liang Jinxi had no way of keeping pace with the senior brother. Her movements were always one beat faster or slower, which looked very awkward. When the senior brother was attacking, it was difficult for her to protect him completely. When the senior brother was defending, she was frequently distracted to pay attention to her own back and did not dare to entrust him with her trust.
The sword moves that were originally extremely powerful seemed so mediocre after she mixed them in, which disappointed the sword practitioners who came here to practice sword skills. Some even sneered in disdain. The Xuan Ji Sect disciples sitting around were ashamed and embarrassed, but God knows, it was not like this when Lin Dan and Senior Brother Le Zheng practiced sword!
The guests all left without saying anything unpleasant, but the leader of the Xuan Ji Sect still felt humiliated.
"Follow me in." He turned and walked into the Xuanji Hall.
Le Zhengjiu immediately followed, and Liang Jinxi pulled at his clothes and apologized quietly, with tears in his eyes. The Apocalypse Sword in her hand, which had been fused with her heart's blood, kept humming and vibrating, trying to break free from her palm. Anyone with a discerning eye can see that it is very uncomfortable and irritable.
Le Zhengjiu just nodded without saying anything, and there was no strange expression on his face.
Several inner disciples followed closely, then stood at the entrance of the hall and whispered, "Junior Sister Jinxi didn't mean it, so don't be angry with her, Senior Brother. This is her first time practicing with you, so it's inevitable that she's a little unfamiliar. She'll be fine after practicing for a while."
Liang Jinxi turned around and smiled at them gratefully, her eyes full of tears, looking very adorable, but Le Zhengjiu walked into the hall without even looking back.
"This is definitely not a question of proficiency or not!" The leader of the Xuan Ji Sect hit the nail on the head. Several elders also nodded solemnly.
"As long as your two consciousnesses are integrated, even if Jinxi has never comprehended the Chaos Sword Art, he can follow Le Zheng's movements and perform sword moves perfectly. You two were wrong from the beginning, why?" The leader of the Xuan Ji Sect was determined to find out the reason.
"I'm sorry, Master. My spiritual consciousness could not merge with Senior Brother's." Liang Jinxi said guiltily.
"Don't you two truly love each other? Why can't you do what Lin Dan can do?" The leader of Xuan Ji Sect felt incredible. How could there be lovers who couldn’t even merge their spiritual consciousnesses? How about dual cultivation in the future?
Liang Jinxi bit her lip and said nothing, her face blushing, seeming to be very shy. Then she glanced at the senior brother, hoping that he could say a few words for her. However, this time, Le Zhengjiu did not speak for the first time, and even kept his eyelids slightly closed throughout, as if he was thinking about something.
The leader of Xuan Ji Sect thought that Liang Jinxi was only sixteen years old after all, and the feeling of spiritual fusion was almost the same as dual cultivation, so it was natural for her to resist. He let the two go reluctantly, and told them to practice more in private. Liang Jinxi nodded repeatedly in agreement, and when she came to her senses again, she found that the senior brother had left without saying goodbye to her.
Her eyes darkened and she felt anxious, but there was nothing she could do. Since then, the two of them have tried to merge their spiritual consciousness every day, but they have never succeeded. Two years have passed unknowingly.
Two years later, Lin Dan returned to the heartland of South China Continent with a young and beautiful maid. The spiritual stones and natural treasures in her hands had been almost squandered by her. This time she came to make money and also to find an old friend to do something.
"Master, this is Nanhua Danhang." Lin Shiyi said, pointing to a shop on the street.
"Let's go in and take a look." Lin Dan walked in first, but was stunned.
The people standing in the store were also stunned for a while, and then the first person called out in an extremely hoarse voice: "Lin Dan, why didn't you tell me that you came to Zhongyuan?"
"Le Zhengjiu, long time no see." Lin Dan raised the corners of his lips with a faint smile.
"Are you here to buy pills? If you are missing any of them, I will pay for you." Le Zhengjiu naturally took out his Qiankun bag. Over the years, he has continuously sent the treasures he collected to Qianyan Mountain where Lin Dan is. Although they are always returned, he has never stopped.
Liang Jinxi, who was standing next to him, greeted Lin Dan with a smile, as if there was no grudge at all. However, several Xuan Ji Sect disciples who came with him rolled their eyes in disdain. Two years have passed, and this guy is still lingering in the foundation-building stage. Even though he has practiced alchemy, he still has to come to the alchemy shop to buy pills. It can be seen that he has no talent in this area. What a failure!
Lin Dan ignored these people and shook his head, saying, "I'm not here to buy pills, I'm here to sell them."
"Oh? Have you made any progress in alchemy?" Le Zhengjiu's cold face melted unconsciously.
"There has been some progress. By the way, are you free later? I would like to ask you for a favor. In fact, I came back to Zhongyuan this time just to find you." Lin Dan said frankly.
Le Zhengjiu's dark eyes suddenly lit up, and the smile on the corner of his mouth couldn't be suppressed: "Okay, I'll wait for you!"
Liang Jinxi looked at the two people who were looking at each other with smiles, and couldn't help but tightly grip the hilt of the sword in his hand. God knows, if she didn't try her best to suppress it, the Apocalypse Sword would have flown towards Lin Dan long ago.
Lin Dan did not notice Liang Jinxi. The woman whom she once envied the most was now just a passerby in her eyes. She placed several small porcelain bottles neatly on the counter and introduced, "Shopkeeper, I'm here to sell you pills."
For the sake of the Xuan Ji Sect's young master, the shopkeeper asked in a friendly manner, "What kind of elixirs are you selling?" Generally speaking, their alchemy shop would not accept elixirs sent by alchemy practitioners in the Foundation Establishment Stage.
"This is the Dahuan Pill, this is the Huiling Pill, this is the Foundation Building Pill, and this is the Detoxification Pill." Lin Dan pointed at several porcelain bottles of different colors one by one.
Sure enough, they are all low-level pills. How can I refuse them politely? Thinking of this, the shopkeeper showed a somewhat embarrassed look. Just as he was about to speak, he heard a disciple of Xuanji Sect mockingly: "These pills are all low-quality pills used by major sects to send outer disciples and menials away. How dare you sell them in the largest pill shop in Nanhua Continent? Aren't you a shabby person?"
Before Lin Dan could say anything, Le Zhengjiu was already looking at the man with an extremely cold gaze. Liang Jinxi hurriedly stepped forward to block the disciple, and reached out to pull Le Zhengjiu's sleeve, but he was coldly shaken away.
Lin Dan was not disturbed at all and continued, "Shopkeeper, although these pills are not of high grade, they are all free of poison. Oh, I almost forgot to say that this detoxification pill does not cure ordinary toxins, but poison."
"Hiss, what did you say?" The shopkeeper took a breath without any psychological preparation. In recent years, spiritual energy has become increasingly thin, and the growth of spiritual medicines has been very poor. The pills made contain more and more poison, causing great pain to those who take them. But what if you don’t take drugs and get injured? What to do if you are poisoned? What should I do if my cultivation progress is too slow? What should I do if I have no spiritual power and am about to be killed by the enemy?
These difficulties can only be solved by elixirs, so everyone can only endure the various sequelae caused by the elixir poison. The behind-the-scenes boss of Nanhua Alchemy Company dreamed of developing a non-toxic elixir, but to no avail. He thought it was just his own fantasy, but never expected that someone would actually do it!
Knowing the value of the non-toxic elixir, the shopkeeper quickly took out a plate of furnace sand and said in a trembling voice: "This monk, please pour out the elixir for me to test."
Several disciples of Xuanji Sect also gathered around and muttered, "A pill without poison and a pill that can cure poison? How is this possible! You are dreaming!"
The Dahuan Pill is used to treat internal injuries, and the Huiling Pill is used to quickly replenish spiritual power. Although these two kinds of pills are low-level, they are also the most frequently used. After all, internal injuries and spiritual power depletion are problems that all cultivators have to face frequently.
It is also because of this that many cultivators are afraid that the accumulation of elixir poison will affect their cultivation. After suffering internal injuries or losing spiritual power, they dare not abuse these two types of elixirs, resulting in many people dying in vain. Just imagine, if someone made these two types of elixirs that were completely non-toxic, it would mean that one could take them without worrying about the aftereffects after being injured, and after one's spiritual power was exhausted, one could take drugs in large quantities without any worries!
In this way, even if the quality of these two kinds of pills is not high, they can still be sold at a high price, because they are so practical and are simply must-have items for home and travel! Not to mention that Lin Dan has also developed a special elixir for detoxification. This is not a question of whether the price is high or not, but a question of whether there is a market for it but no price!
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