Chapter 162: The Return

The scene before him was like ink dissolving in water.

“……”

His chaotic thoughts gradually cleared as Song Yan regained consciousness within the Yin-Yang Realm.

Descending into the illusion for the third time, he seemed to have grown accustomed to the lingering discomfort upon exit.

Yet unlike the previous two times, there appeared to be no spiritual intent left behind by predecessors for him to absorb and refine this time.

Perhaps it was because Jilin Jun was, after all, only a mortal iron sword, and moreover, was later replaced by Senior Nie Chao.

No matter, he had already reaped a bountiful harvest this trip.

Now he knew what those two treasures left behind by the senior were.

With the help of the sword-robed Taoist priest, Nie Chao had obtained three scales from the fierce Qilin—namely, the beast’s heart-protecting scales—along with three portions of Qilin primordial blood.

He had used one portion himself, leaving the remaining two here.

Among them, another portion should have already been taken by the Sect Master.

The heart-protecting scales could be used to forge flying swords, elevate the grade of a sword body, or refine other magical instruments.

The Qilin primordial blood could be used to strengthen the physical body.

Since the Utterly Useless Sword Box could only hold two flying swords, Jilin Jun had to be wronged for the time being and stay within the Yin-Yang Realm.

In Song Yan’s subconscious thought, Jilin Jun was, after all, only a mortal weapon, and likely would not have many opportunities to strike in the future.

He would just keep it in the Yin-Yang Realm as a collection.

After all, it was a flying sword once used by a senior sword cultivator.

Hum...

Just as Song Yan was preparing to leave the Yin-Yang Realm, he acutely noticed that the speed at which the black and white runes around him flickered into existence and perishing was much faster than usual.

And it was growing faster and faster.

“Huh?”

Immediately, ink-colored rune patterns leaped out from among them and began to circle around his side.

This scene was so familiar.

At a certain moment, these rune patterns flew straight toward him and surged into Song Yan’s glabella.

The dizzy and swollen sensation in his head lasted only for a moment.

“This is...”

After sorting through his thoughts briefly in his mind, Song Yan wore a look of astonishment.

If he guessed correctly, this was the body-refining technique imparted to Senior Nie Chao by the sword-robed Taoist priest!

It could refine monster beast blood essence to strengthen the physical body.

A surge of overwhelming joy filled Song Yan’s heart.

Human nature was such that when one had already prepared oneself for "loss," and that misfortune ultimately did not occur, the joy of finding something lost was far greater than simply "possessing" it from the very beginning.

However, after a brief moment of elation, he fell into deep contemplation.

Up to this point, Song Yan had never mentioned the Yin-Yang Pearl to anyone.

All its miraculous effects, functions, and rules of use were entirely based on his own experiences and deductions.

His previous two experiences occurred because the original sword masters were already dead, and the remaining Dao heart and sword intent spiritual charms still lingered within the flying swords.

Therefore, he had naturally assumed that all ancient swords were the same.

After thousands of years of vicissitudes, the will belonging to the original owners within these flying swords had long been worn away by various events.

These spiritual charms could strengthen one's own sword qi and increase one's cultivation base.

They were akin to...

Pills without any medicinal poison or other side effects.

However, the appearance of Jilin Jun completely overturned his previous deductions.

The situation seemed somewhat different from what he had imagined.

For a sword cultivator, inheriting the legacy of a predecessor and seeing a slight improvement in sword cultivation was quite easy to understand.

Yet why was the Yin-Yang Realm able to allow him to learn the techniques once practiced by his predecessors?

Such knowledge should have already reached the realm of memory.

“……”

“Anyway, this is a good thing.”

Without pondering for too long, Song Yan decided to wait until the Sword-Testing Assembly concluded before beginning to practice this body-refining technique.

Being within the Lesser Grotto-Heaven Realm, there might be many people outside observing him through the illusion, which made it rather inconvenient.

He exited the Yin-Yang Realm and opened his eyes.

Xiao He had transformed into her human form, sitting solemnly on a rock she had moved from somewhere unknown, staring at him very nervously.

Seeing him finally open his eyes, Snake Baby let out a sigh of relief: “You’re finally awake.”

Xiao He did not know what Song Yan was doing, but she believed there must be a reason for it.

What worried her was that the restriction boundary had already moved past them.

She transformed back into a small snake, her tail wrapping around little Song’s neck.

“Let’s go, let’s go, or we’re going to lose.”

Song Yan took out the jade token at his waist used for recording spiritual patterns and found that a large portion of the "5" displayed on it had become dim.

This was the rule of the Sword-Testing Assembly: if a cultivator stayed outside the restriction for too long and the spiritual pattern dimmed completely, they would be teleported out.

This was mainly to prevent cultivators who avoided combat from using such methods to climb to the top of the rankings.

“Fortunately, it’s only the second restriction movement, and the spiritual pattern is not dissolving too quickly.”

He had actually stayed within the Yin-Yang Pearl for nearly two hours...

The second restriction movement was already nearing its end.

Xiao He was Song Yan’s registered personal spirit pet for this event, so if Song Yan was teleported away, Xiao He would be eliminated along with him.

Snake Baby had a very strong competitive streak.

“We should still make it in time!”

Song Yan bowed three times toward the autobiography on the wall.

He strode out of the cave and judged the direction.

Then, sword qi surged throughout his body, and the Soaring Cloud Intent was fully unleashed as he bounded toward the central area of the Sword-Testing Realm.

...

Drifting Cloud Cliff.

Three cultivators were hiding in a secluded spot on the cliff, intently gazing at the hazy white mist outside the restriction.

Judging from their Dao robes, they appeared to be three disciples of the Same-Dust Peak.

One was at the eighth layer of Qi Refining, and the other two were at the seventh layer.

“Brother Guo, at this hour, will anyone still come?”

One of the cultivators asked: “I feel like there aren’t many people around here.”

The cultivator addressed as Brother Guo slowly shook his head.

“Although the teleportation is random, there are far too many fellow disciples participating in the Sword-Testing. Generally speaking, the number of people in each area should be roughly similar.”

“However, it’s normal for no one to be here. There aren't many resource points in the southwest; the west and northwest are where regions marked with spiritual herbs and medicine are located.”

“If we can’t ambush anyone here, they’ve probably headed further up along the path.”

The three of them were naturally lying in wait here to see if any solitary cultivators had just stepped in from outside the restriction so they could earn some spiritual patterns.

Cultivators who had just stepped from outside the restriction into the safe zone usually lowered their guard, making them easy targets.

Moreover, the terrain of Drifting Cloud Cliff was complex and highly advantageous, making it very easy to hide.

“...Brother Guo!”

The young cultivator was about to say something when he suddenly noticed a faint figure in the white mist outside the restriction rapidly approaching their direction.

“Oh?”

The cultivator surnamed Guo also spotted the disturbance and made a decisive judgment: “Zhe, you take the left. Long, you take the right. I’ll attack from the front. There’s only one opponent, let’s finish this quickly.”

“Understood.”

The three of them concentrated fully and waited quietly.

Only, the speed at which that figure was approaching made them feel that something was somewhat amiss.

Almost in the blink of an eye, the person’s appearance had already come into view for the three of them.

Dressed in the Dao robe of the Sword-Testing Peak, with a sword box strapped to his back.

It was none other than Song Yan.