Chapter 59: The Unmoored Boat

In an instant, the world before "Zhou Ziyin" shattered and dissolved into black and white.

When his eyes opened again, the scene had changed abruptly.

...

The mountain gate.

Demonic clouds blanketed the sky, drowning out the last ray of daylight. Waves of demonic flame surged and spread, and the floating islands of the sect crashed down with a thunderous roar.

Zhou Ziyin staggered, blood dripping from his wounds. He no longer had the strength to wield his ancient sword with spiritual power; he could only grip it in his hand.

With a dull thud, he collapsed to the ground.

"One hundred and eight immortals of the Central Realm, the Sword Immortal who subdues evil..."

A demonic cultivator approached, stepping over the corpses of fellow disciples, one step at a time.

"Impressive indeed, to have fought until now..."

The demonic cultivator casually crushed the skull of a fallen cultivator underfoot, looking down at him with mocking amusement. "Did you know? My favorite kind of kill is you sword cultivators..."

He seemed to want to have a friendly chat with Zhou Ziyin.

"To trample your so-called righteous heart and sword intent underfoot, to watch the despair on your faces..."

...

Zhou Ziyin sat listlessly on the ground, the ancient sword stabbed into the earth beside him.

It was just like centuries ago, outside Xianyang Village, atop the Tomb of Three Evils.

"How utterly dull," the demonic cultivator snorted.

"Die!"

Waves of black flame surged. No miracle occurred.

Zhou Ziyin, soul extinguished, body destroyed.

A sneer escaped the demonic cultivator's lips. "So much for the genius of the Central Realm, the pride of the immortal path. In my hands, you are just another lamb to the slaughter..."

"Hmm?"

His gaze shifted to the cliff above.

Zhou Ziyin's corpse had turned to ashes, yet the ancient sword still stood upright in its place.

As the flames receded, the blade remained pristine and white, as if brand new.

The demonic cultivator ground his teeth. "These life-bound flying swords are just as stubborn and foul as their masters!"

"Very well."

Flames surged once more.

"Let the spirit within this sword suffer eternal torment beneath demonic flames..."

"Let it be tortured for all eternity!"

A monstrous wave of demonic power swept forth!

BOOM!!!

...

The surging flames filled Song Yan's vision.

A jolt of terror passed through him. When he regained his senses, he found himself, still in the form of divine consciousness, standing within the duality realm.

Gone were the noise and clamor—only a tranquil silence remained.

"...Phew."

What was that just now...

His scattered thoughts and memories began to settle and clarify.

...

He felt as though he had awoken from a vast dream—in that dream, he had been a cultivator named Zhou Ziyin.

From humble origins in the mortal world, he had stepped into the world of cultivation, only to meet a tragic end at the hands of the demonic sect...

All else was hazy, as if upon waking from a dream, save for the clear memories of his repentance and the sect’s destruction.

To face the overwhelming power of that demonic cultivator then—truly, it had been like a mantis trying to stop a chariot.

He lowered his head and looked at the sword in his hands.

“How many years…”

“How many years have truly passed since that era…”

After Elder Zhou Ziyin’s death, his sword intent and righteous heart had remained within the blade.

But it had been devoured by the demonic flames, tormented day and night, until now…

Its spiritual essence had long since been worn away.

What was astonishing, however, was that the sword’s body showed not the slightest mark of wear…

No one knew what it had been forged from.

Even if one were to ask Elder Zhou Ziyin himself, he would not have known.

After all, he had retrieved it from the belly of a wicked flood dragon.

As Song Yan pondered, a wisp of milky-white spiritual light slowly drifted from the sword, winding gently around the blade.

Then came a second wisp.

A third...

One after another, the spiritual lights hovered above the seed of swordsmanship, swirling and circling, and then, led by one strand, all fused into it.

A low hum sounded.

The shadow of the seed of Dao seemed more solid, more full.

Song Yan started.

"Formless spiritual intent!"

Both the Sword Seed Technique and the general principles of the Spirit Transformation treatise mentioned this: as a life-bound flying sword gradually forms and improves, it enhances the grade of the sword's Dao seed.

At its core, it is the growth of one's pursuit of the Dao and sword intent.

Thus, there is another, unconventional way to strengthen the Dao seed.

That is, formless spiritual intent.

Formless spiritual intent is usually something only great sword cultivators can bestow upon juniors, separating a strand of unformed intent from their own life-bound sword, refining it, merging it with a spiritual object, and gifting it to a successor.

Yet nowhere was it mentioned that one could obtain such intent from a predecessor’s abandoned sword...

“Could it be the work of the Duality Pearl?”

Song Yan frowned, realizing this matter was not so simple.

A bold suspicion and idea began to take root in his heart from this moment.

“But for now, refining the flying sword is most urgent…”

Pulling himself from these roaming thoughts, Song Yan calmed himself and left the duality realm.

He retrieved the sword from the pearl, encountering no resistance.

Ordinary cultivators, when refining a flying sword, must infuse it with spiritual power and chant the incantations.

But Song Yan did not intend to use it as a mere flying sword.

He would make it the very body of his own future life-bound flying sword!

Therefore, he drew out strands of sword qi from his Sword Mansion, slowly infusing them into the sword.

By the way…

After the demonic cultivator seized this sword, it had been called “Heart Demon.”

But now, the surging demonic flames had been dispelled by the Duality Pearl. It would be inappropriate to keep that name, and the memories showed that Elder Zhou Ziyin had never named the sword.

"Sword Immortal who subdues evil..."

...

Song Yan suddenly shook his head slightly and sighed.

"Once, you vanquished demons and subdued evil, only to end up tormented for a thousand years, your spirit scattered."

"Now that you are with me, let us not carry such heavy burdens again."

"Let the task of righting the world and saving the people fall to those blessed with greater wisdom…"

"I will be an ordinary cultivator, you will be an ordinary sword. Together, free of constraint, we will behold the myriad wonders of this world, roaming at ease between heaven and earth."

"All I ask is for peace of mind and a spirit in harmony."

With this, Song Yan’s gaze grew clear. He looked fondly at the sword in his hand, reluctant to let go.

"Is there not an ambition for immortality? Yet to be bound is not to be free..."

He murmured, quoting a nameless poem remembered from somewhere.

"One day I shall return to the Wei, drifting free as..."

Let it be called—

"Unmoored Vessel."

...

The refining process took little time—just two and a half days, and it was done.

Song Yan channeled spiritual power, and the sword obeyed as if it were his own arm.

It was his first time refining a sword with sword qi rather than spiritual power, and the sensation was most peculiar.

Compared to those issued by the sect, this “Unmoored Vessel” was far more agile than any greenwood or gengjin flying sword he had used before.

As a mid-grade magical tool, its quality was more than enough for him to pass through the entire Qi Refining stage.

Moreover, as the future body of his life-bound sword, it held much potential for further improvement.

After practicing his sword arts for a while, Song Yan returned to his cave dwelling.

Over the next few days, he cultivated as usual, surprised to discover not only a modest improvement in his cultivation, but that his absorption of spiritual energy had also become much more efficient.

"This formless spiritual intent really does boost the sword seed’s grade—it’s immediate..."

At this pace, it would take only three months before he could attempt to break through to the sixth level of Qi Refining.

There were no real bottlenecks in the early and middle stages of Qi Refining.

As long as one had talent and trained daily, accumulating spiritual energy, advancement would follow naturally.

The bottleneck would come only in the later stages of Qi Refining.

In the days that followed, Song Yan cultivated step by step, practiced with his sword, and honed his control.

Occasionally, his thoughts would return to the predecessor named Zhou Ziyin.

If his story were adapted as a tale and performed in a mortal theater, or told by storytellers, it would surely be a great hit.

It might even be passed down for generations.

But Song Yan saw himself as an ordinary man—he always had.

Certainly, Elder Zhou’s change of heart was admirable.

But when Song Yan thought of the harm Zhou had done to his village, the families he had bullied and ruined, he felt little sympathy.

It was only in later years, when the elder acted with justice, subduing evil and upholding righteousness, that he became truly worthy of respect and admiration.

...

On another note…

Where had all that demonic flame, dispersed by the Duality Pearl and the nascent righteous heart, gone?

Had it become the inky darkness within the duality realm...

Or had the wondrous pearl truly erased it?

Song Yan did not know.