Chapter 27: The Protagonist's Power Fantasy (26)

The Wuji Sect’s position as the foremost of the Eight Great Families of the Immortal Alliance does not rely solely on the Great Perfection-stage Venerable, the Xiaoyao Sword Saint.

Beyond cultivating their bodies and minds, cultivators must rely on medicinal pills from alchemists to cleanse their marrow and redefine their essence, on magical artifacts forged by artisans, and some even seek out beast tamers to form contracts with high-level spirit beasts to bolster their strength.

Thus, for the Wuji Sect to maintain its status for a millennium, it could not afford to neglect alchemy, artifact forging, or beast taming. Given the sect’s preeminence in the way of the sword, it particularly excels in the art of artifact forging among these three disciplines.

Su Bai’s insistence on forging her own sword—though granted permission by Elder Yaoguang—left the elder uncertain of the true extent of Su Bai’s knowledge in the craft. Was it merely the reckless passion of a newborn calf unafraid of a tiger, or did she possess true confidence and a guaranteed path to success?

Elder Yaoguang gazed at the young girl standing before her.

A white ribbon bound her raven-black hair high. The girl wore a cyan-and-white, form-fitting sword-cultivator’s robe, with black cloud-patterned boots on her feet. At this moment, she stood with her head slightly bowed, hands cupped in a salute, greeting Elder Ruogu.

Since she possessed such world-shaking talent in swordsmanship and the mystic arts...

Elder Yaoguang looked at her with complex emotions. Could the heavens truly be so generous as to bestow upon her an extraordinary talent for sword forging as well?

Sword smiths are categorized into primary, intermediate, and advanced levels, followed by the titles of Minor Grandmaster, Grandmaster, Great Grandmaster, and Sword Forging Saint.

Elder Ruogu was precisely the Sword Forging Saint who presided over the Rui Peak of the Wuji Sect.

Commissioned by Elder Yaoguang, Elder Ruogu had invited Su Bai to Rui Peak to first study basic forging theory, familiarize herself with the environment, and understand the process before deciding whether she truly wished to forge a sword herself.

Elder Yaoguang and Elder Ruogu came from prestigious families and were lifelong friends. They had grown up together, braved secret realms, broken formations, and slain spirit beasts, forging a deep, millennial bond.

When Elder Ruogu attained the rank of Great Grandmaster, the Eight Great Families of the Immortal Alliance had all extended olive branches. The Heavenly Sword Sect had even offered staggering terms, yet Elder Ruogu chose the Wuji Sect for Yaoguang’s sake.

Today, Elder Ruogu was here, at Yaoguang’s request, to "make things difficult" for the only personal disciple of her old friend. She was meant to persuade the girl to abandon sword forging and focus on the proper path of cultivation.

Elder Ruogu was thin and gaunt, her hair a tangled mess. Her robes were stained with black and purple smudges; her right sleeve had been torn off entirely because she found it cumbersome, and her left sleeve was rolled up haphazardly, revealing several holes burned by sparks. Clearly, she had just been dragged out of the forge.

"So you are Su Bai?" Elder Ruogu asked with a smile. "The genius who formed a Golden Core in a single month at the Sword Tomb and claimed the Dragon Roar Sword?"

She scrutinized Su Bai from head to toe, clicking her tongue in wonder. "To stabilize your aura to such a degree after only a month of core formation—you wouldn't have formed a Ten-Layer Flawless Golden Core, would you?"

It was meant as a jest, but the girl below replied slowly, "...Indeed, I have."

Ruogu & Yaoguang: ...?

!!!

Elder Ruogu turned to glare at Elder Yaoguang, her look clearly asking: *Why didn't you tell me your disciple formed a Ten-Layer Flawless Golden Core?*

The lecture she had prepared—that one cannot forge without a Fire Spirit Root—was choked back by the sheer weight of that Ten-Layer Flawless Core.

Elder Yaoguang’s expression was one of bewildered innocence and shock: *Don't look at me, I don't know what to do either, I'm just as shocked!*

Elder Ruogu felt a headache coming on. She turned back and offered an awkward laugh. "Little friend Su, are you certain it is a Ten-Layer Flawless Golden Core?"

Thousands of years ago, there was indeed an era when everyone sought to form such a core. Back then, disciples of noble families would spend centuries in preparation, hiring alchemists to refine tribulation pills, artisans to forge lightning-warding treasures, and using secret arts and rare treasures to nourish their souls for decades before waiting for the perfect moment to form the core.

The key to a Ten-Layer Flawless Golden Core lay in the growth of one's divine sense far outpacing their cultivation. If the divine sense grew hundreds of times faster than their cultivation, it would trigger the Ninety-Nine Eighty-One Tribulation.

The tribulation for such a core is incomparable to a standard one. Because the lightning is so immense, it can reshape a cultivator's very bones and meridians. Thus, even with countless protective artifacts, pills, and the protection of experts, countless cultivators still perished or had their dantian shattered, ending their cultivation careers forever.

The process required vast quantities of pills to suppress cultivation while boosting divine sense, and thousands of treasures to handle the tribulation. Even with such thorough preparation, fewer than ten people in the entire cultivation world had succeeded in a millennium.

To spend tens of millions of high-grade spirit stones and a century of planning, only for a project with an incredibly low success rate and high mortality... Elder Ruogu found it impossible to believe that this girl, having formed a core in just one month, could have achieved this alone in the Sword Tomb without any protection.

Su Bai held out a hand.

With a slight exertion of her fingers, the surrounding air began to hum. Ice-elemental energy grew rapidly in her palm, first manifesting as a lotus root, then petals. In an instant, a natural ice lotus bloomed and drifted into the air.

Then, a lifelike fire dragon surged from the void, swallowing the ice lotus in one gulp. Under the intense heat, the lotus evaporated into steam and mist. As the mist gathered on her fingers, she manifested more ice lotuses from her palm, which the fire dragon consumed one by one, until the resulting steam coalesced into a thick, dark cloud.

Under the dumbfounded gazes of Elders Yaoguang and Ruogu, Su Bai flicked her wrist, injecting spiritual energy into the cloud. Thunder rumbled within, muffled and scorching. A bolt of lightning crashed down, and the cloud unleashed a torrential downpour.

Elder Ruogu gulped, exchanging looks with Elder Yaoguang.

*It really is a Ten-Layer Flawless Golden Core?!*

"Stop! Stop, stop!" Seeing the rain from the palm-sized cloud intensifying and vines sprouting from the floor, Elder Ruogu quickly intervened. "Don't! If you keep going, you'll tear up the floor of my forge with your vines!"

Those were white jade tiles with spirit-gathering engravings, bought at a high price! The mortar holding them was made from refined first-grade black profound iron slurry!

Elder Ruogu was heartbroken. The growth rate of these vines was terrifying; they had actually forced their way through the seams between the tiles.

Su Bai clenched her fist, withdrawing her energy. The rain vanished instantly. The fire dragon, the ice lotus, and even the vines retreated back into the earth.

A monster! This was absolutely a monster!

Having spent nearly a month forging artifacts without rest, only to be left speechless by this disciple, Elder Ruogu felt her temples throbbing. But, at least, her jade tiles were intact.

Perhaps sensing her thoughts, the vine that had just retreated poked its head back out, shook its head at Elder Ruogu as if making a face, then straightened its emerald stem and used two tiny leaves to carefully pack the mortar back into the cracks.

Elder Ruogu: ...

!!!

*She's provoking me!*

"Ten-Layer Flawless Golden Core—good, very good, excellent! But—" Elder Ruogu looked away, coughing awkwardly to return to the main topic. "The way of artifact forging is completely different from the way of the sword."

"You must understand what temperatures will not destroy the material's properties, the characteristics of every material, which ones can fuse, and most importantly, you must understand formations."

Speaking of her craft, Elder Ruogu grew serious, her smile fading. "For example, the simplest spirit-gathering array on a sword."

"I appreciate your ambition in telling Yaoguang you want to forge, but if it is merely empty talk without the corresponding strength, you will only make yourself a laughingstock."

Elder Ruogu pulled a piece of yellowish sandpaper and a jade-bodied wolf-hair brush from her storage bag. She channeled her energy into the brush and began to write.

Ink soaked into the sandpaper as the brush danced. Each stroke was precise, never stepping out of bounds. The moment the final stroke was completed, spiritual energy surged, and gold light erupted from the runes, greedily devouring the surrounding energy.

The talisman she had written on a whim was a first-grade earth-tier Spirit-Gathering Array!

Seeing Su Bai remain silent, Elder Ruogu smiled, satisfied, thinking she had finally stunned the disciple.

She waved the talisman toward Su Bai. "An array is a talisman on paper, and an enchantment on a sword. If you can decipher this Spirit-Gathering Array within seven days—you don't even need to replicate it perfectly, just write a first-grade yellow-tier one—I will acknowledge you have a shred of talent for forging."

"Of course," Elder Ruogu added, "that would only make you a decent enchanter. Your aptitude for elemental properties and heavenly treasures is an entirely different branch of study."

Elder Yaoguang also stepped forward. "I also agree to let you train in the Far North to seek out exotic fires."

Su Bai raised her eyes and asked, "And what if I can write a Heaven-tier Spirit-Gathering Array?"

*A Heaven-tier Spirit-Gathering Array?*

Elder Ruogu’s eyes widened. *What arrogant words!* A typical disciple, when first encountering arrays, would be considered talented if they could write a first-grade yellow-tier array within seven days.

"If you can find the flaws I left in this array and write a Heaven-tier one, I will allow you to enter and exit the Rui Peak forge as you please."

"But if you cannot do it in seven days, you must abandon this idea and go back to practicing your arts and swordsmanship."

Elder Ruogu sighed inwardly. What kind of situation was this? Her disciple had taken the world’s greatest sword, the Dragon Roar, from the tomb, and now it seemed as if she and Yaoguang were forcing the girl to use it.

Elder Yaoguang said, "Never mind the Heaven-tier; if you can write an Earth-tier array within seven days, I will no longer interfere with your sword forging and will support you with all my might."

"Deal!" Su Bai said without hesitation.

She stepped forward, produced a brush and sandpaper from her own storage bag, her eyes burning with resolve. "Master, I can write it now."

Elder Yaoguang’s heart sank. She knew her disciple’s terrifying talent for the sword too well. Hearing such a resolute tone, she wondered if Su Bai had been preparing for this all along. Panicking, and forgetting her status as a Peak Master, she blurted out, "Wait!"

Both Elder Ruogu and Su Bai looked at her. Going back on one's word was not the act of a noble. But this was her own disciple’s future!

Yaoguang gritted her teeth and said, "I misspoke. If you can write a Heaven-tier Spirit-Gathering Array, I will support your forging completely."

To everyone's surprise, Su Bai was not angry, but calmly replied, "As you wish, Master."

Her lack of temper made Elder Ruogu feel a flicker of admiration. She leaned toward Yaoguang and whispered via voice transmission, "Your disciple seems quite obedient, doesn't she? If my prickly disciples were treated this way, they’d be jumping for joy in protest!"

Elder Yaoguang’s face went pale. She had spent over a month with Su Bai and understood her well. This wasn't about respecting a teacher; for such an untamable disciple, she simply didn't bother arguing about some things because...

Elder Yaoguang clenched her sleeves, suppressing an absurd, impractical thought. She looked up. The girl held her brush steady, lips pursed, focusing her energy into the tip.

Watching Su Bai’s calm demeanor, Yaoguang’s anxiety grew. Perhaps... for her, writing a Heaven-tier array or an Earth-tier one made no difference at all.

Spiritual energy gathered into ink, shimmering with silver light on the sandpaper. Elder Ruogu was startled.

"Spirit-gathering into form! It’s actually spirit-gathering into form!"

She had intentionally left a flaw in the first-grade Earth-tier array, having downgraded a fifth-grade Heaven-tier one to test her. But if she was using energy as ink, even if she didn't spot the flaw, she might still produce a Heaven-tier array—provided she could replicate the array perfectly!

Elder Ruogu’s earlier interruption hadn't broken the girl’s focus. Su Bai wrote with poise, pondering as she went. Using spiritual energy as ink could exponentially increase the power of the array. If she were to carve such an array onto her frost-ice sword, would the resulting enchantment reflect her own Dao Heart?

With this thought, her eyes brightened, and her speed increased. The brush danced like a dragon, silver light swirling across the sandpaper.

Elder Ruogu watched in stunned silence. The flaw she had deliberately left... had the girl actually corrected it?

To see the flaw in a first-grade Earth-tier array—how many books on arrays had she read? How much preparation had she done in secret?

Elder Ruogu’s gaze deepened. This disciple’s talk of forging was absolutely not the arrogance of youth.

The final stroke landed. Spiritual energies connected seamlessly, swirling silver light spinning faster and faster until it faded into a golden radiance.

*Gold light!* Elder Ruogu’s eyes popped open. *That is a Heaven-tier talisman!*

In an instant, the thin sandpaper stood upright in the air, sharp as a blade, devouring the surrounding spiritual energy. A gale whipped through the forge, all rushing toward the talisman. The array was nearly draining the room of all its energy.

It was a third-grade Heaven-tier Spirit-Gathering Array!

The array landed in Su Bai’s palm. She remained unflustered, bowing and presenting the sandpaper to Elder Ruogu. "Master, Elder Ruogu, I have finished."

Elder Ruogu stood frozen for a long time before she finally moved her fingers. Such talent... such temperament... She turned mechanically, her eyes glowing as she looked at Elder Yaoguang.

"Yaoguang!" Elder Ruogu lunged over, grabbing her hands excitedly. "Let her forge! You must let her forge!"

"She is a genius of the forge!"

Seeing Elder Yaoguang’s numb expression, Elder Ruogu shook her shoulders, thinking the woman still believed the girl was acting on impulse. "Genius is the wealth of the entire cultivation world! A genius of artifact forging is the pearl of the entire realm! I must teach her!"

Elder Yaoguang: ...?

*Betrayal happens in an instant, doesn't it?*

Seeing the gleam in Elder Ruogu’s eyes, Yaoguang suddenly regretted introducing Su Bai to her. It was like throwing a lamb into a tiger's den. Given Ruogu’s obsession with forging, it wasn't impossible that she would try to steal her disciple away in the future!

**

With Yaoguang’s permission, Su Bai prepared to depart for the Far North in seven days. She had wanted to leave the next day, but as Yaoguang’s only personal disciple, and given the extreme dangers of the demon-inhabited Far North, she was ordered to rest and prepare thoroughly.

Rui Peak and Wu Peak were close. On her way back, Su Bai decided to visit the Xiaoyao Sword Saint. On the road to the Wangyue Cliff, she encountered Qin Yang, whom she hadn't seen in a long time.

He looked much more silent and reserved now, his former vigor replaced by a heavy, stable air. Fine wrinkles had appeared at the corners of his eyes, and he looked quite downcast.

The Supreme Elder had said his dantian was destroyed and his cultivation had dropped to the peak of the Foundation Establishment stage, but seeing him now, his cultivation had already fallen to the middle stage. His dantian had been slashed by the Dragon Roar sword; if not repaired, energy would continue to leak. In a few days, he would be at the early stage, then the Qi Refining stage, until he became a cripple who could not call upon a shred of spiritual energy.

This path was the only entrance to Wangyue Cliff, lined with cold-green bamboo. It had rained that morning, leaving wet marks on the stone path and the scent of damp earth and bamboo leaves.

Qin Yang paused, watching the girl dozens of steps away. She rested one hand on her sword, the other hanging loosely at her side, like an immortal from a painting. Up close, her phoenix eyes were deep and dark, making her look all the more heroic.

Every time Qin Yang looked at her, he couldn't help but recall her cold, stern demeanor in the Sword Tomb. He clenched his fists, his heart aching like it was being pricked by needles.

"Yo, yo, yo, can't take it anymore?" The Dragon Overlord system in his mind couldn't stand his pathetic behavior, still bitter about the four-million-point Nine-Turn Soul-Returning Pill. "She lost nothing; she only lost a useless fiancé. But our young master has lost his love."

Qin Yang ignored it.

The system grew more insistent, whispering irritably in his ear. "The Dragon Roar’s sword aura has been honed for a millennium. Your fake 'Divine Transformation' dantian was wounded by the aura she used to strike a real master. The aura remains in your dantian. Even Yun Zhu, your old flame, looks down on you now. You're like a rat crossing the street, everyone wants to beat you!"

"Enough," Qin Yang gritted his teeth. "My friendship with Jiaojiao spanned decades. I was blinded by momentary fame and righteousness, so this sword strike—I deserved it."

"You deserved it?" The system sneered. "Qin Yang, don't play the saint with me. I saw you didn't hold back in the inner sect assessment. When you used the soul-swapping technique for the Dragon Roar sword, you didn't consider what the Saint Venerable would do to your sister!"

Qin Yang remained silent. That sword strike hadn't just damaged his dantian; it had also severely wounded the Saint Venerable’s soul within the jade pendant, forcing it into a deep slumber.

In the time it took for these thoughts to flash through his mind, the girl had walked up to him. Seeing her not even cast a glance his way, Qin Yang felt a complex mix of emotions and couldn't help but speak. "Su—Junior Sister Su!"

Su Bai stopped and turned to look at him. "What is it?"

She stood on a step higher than him, looking down. Seeing her eyes, Qin Yang felt momentarily dazed. Two months to form a Ten-Layer Flawless Golden Core, taking the number-one sword from the tomb, mastering the top-tier Water Cloud Formula, and inheriting the Heavenly Derivation Sword Art.

He once had similar titles. From the moment he entered the Wuji Sect and his Heavenly Thunder Spirit Root was revealed, he had been the recipient of endless attention and praise.

But now, she stood on the stone steps, looking down at him. Just as he had once looked down on her. Because he was now the weak one, his defenses, apologies, and guilt all seemed laughable. Thinking back, hadn't he relied on that same sense of superiority to bring Yun Zhu to the Wuji Sect without a second thought, and remained arrogant because he refused to examine his own heart?

"I'm sorry," Qin Yang said, gripping his fists. "I was wrong."

"I don't expect your forgiveness..."

"Sorry?" The girl on the steps interrupted, repeating the word. "Qin Yang, why are you apologizing to me?"

Her gaze was cold, reflecting the emerald bamboo. She laughed as if she had heard a joke. "Qin Yang, if you truly feel sorry, then get back on your feet and fight me properly in six years."

"I said it before," she looked at him like a predator watching from the shadows, dismissive and provocative. "I still want to win."

When she said this, the live stream chat exploded.

[Too arrogant! Too arrogant!]

[This is basically forcing Qin Yang to go berserk!]

[I finally get it, the streamer is just here to provoke the male lead! No wonder she, a practitioner of the Ruthless Dao, insisted on binding with a 'White Lotus' system—because Qin Yang was just too strong in the original setting!]

[But... haven't you noticed something terrifying?]

The chat paused, then a weak comment appeared:

[From the very beginning, she hasn't even used a cheat.]

[She hasn't even used the most basic one, like inheriting her own attack power panel.]