Chapter 148

Chapter 148: A New Path

Jade Slip Space.

Su Mu sat by the lakeside, staring seriously at the fish gliding through the water.

Li Shuang glanced at the empty wooden bucket beside him.

Su Mu looked calm as he said: “You’re here. It’s not that I can’t fish; these fish are just too slippery, nothing like the common ones outside.”

Li Shuang nodded, tied a thin line to a wooden rod, rubbed a bit of Su Mu’s bait on the hook, and cast it into the lake.

Su Mu chuckled as he teased: “Fishing like that, how could you catch anything? You even said you were good at it, this is just—”

Before he finished, Li Shuang lifted the rod, and a silver fish flashed in the light.

Su Mu’s mouth fell slightly open as he thought: [That actually worked?]

Li Shuang nodded and said: “It is pretty hard.”

Su Mu went quiet for a moment, then waved his hand; the lake and the cabin vanished, and the Jade Slip Space turned into pure white, as if nothing from before had ever existed.

He spoke earnestly: “Interesting. In such a short time, your Way of the Sword seems to have advanced again.”

Li Shuang nodded: “I gained a little.”

Su Mu raised a brow and stepped aside to give her space as he said: “Try it.”

Li Shuang accepted without fuss, and the Black Abyss Sword appeared in her hand as she began to test one move after another.

Su Mu’s gaze kept changing as he watched. This time, Li Shuang’s swordplay was completely different from before.

It began with the first form of the Emotionless Sword Dao, the strike that condensed into a bloom that opened in her desperate hour; that form, Lotus in Ice, is called Rebirth.

When she grasped that sword, her life also restarted. It was already a fully formed path; if she kept digging along it, Su Mu felt reaching the fifth form would not be hard at all. That road could be seen to the end with little effort, and the end looked bright with flowers.

But after opening that road, Li Shuang now chose another one hidden in thick fog. As she practiced move by move, there seemed to be no pattern to it at all.

Her face stayed cold as frost, yet Su Mu knew she was happier today than usual; otherwise she would not have gone out of her way to fish just to get under his skin.

He let out a soft laugh as he wondered: [What changed Li Shuang?] Whatever it was, he felt: [This is good.]

If her old Way of the Sword said that all beings were hateful, then this new road says that all beings are lovable.

He had met many cultivators who trained in the Supreme Emotionless Art. Some, after betrayal, turned cold inside and out and truly walked the Emotionless Path, which is most people, and the reason the path is called that.

Some others understood the differences between good and evil feelings and did not treat all emotions the same, but their pasts made it hard for them to answer kindness with kindness.

Someone like Li Shuang is rarer still: though betrayed and imprisoned, she still meets the world with a sincere heart.

There have been people who opened both the path with feeling and the path without feeling, yet only Li Shuang chose both roads right from the very first form.

Supreme Detachment was never just one choice. Feeling and no feeling look like two sides of one coin; perhaps only when both roads are walked all the way to the end will one reach true Supreme Detachment.

Even Su Mu had never seen a cultivator like that. Li Shuang was still a long way from that end, but he could not help expecting more from her.

Her sword moves grew more complete, little by little. Su Mu watched in silence, speaking only a few words now and then.

While Li Shuang immersed herself in the world of the Way of the Sword, Ye Zhao Zhao returned to her room with an ugly look on her face.

She cried out: “System! You said my affinity was special, so why did those people at Emotionless Peak not take my side at all?”

Ye Zhao Zhao was close to losing it. Before Li Shuang trained in the Supreme Emotionless Art, her schemes against Li Shuang had always gone smoothly.

This time she used the same lines and tricks as before, yet the people at Emotionless Peak—she fumed: “They’re all wrong in the head! Not one of them followed my script!”

The System went quiet for a while, then said: “Your affinity really is stronger than most. Didn’t Sheng Yuan and Shen Yue trust you at once? But if someone’s will is firm, that affinity works much less. I don’t know how Lin Qing Ling picked them, but her disciples all have strong minds. Their view of Li Shuang won’t shake easily.”

Ye Zhao Zhao ground her teeth as she snapped: “Then what do we do!”

Now it was no longer about whether Li Shuang would burst with negative emotions, but whether she herself would.

The System spoke gently: “Their will is firm, so words alone won’t move them. That doesn’t mean they can’t be moved, only that you may need other methods.”

Ye Zhao Zhao’s face turned even darker. She was used to getting results the easy way; now that it had turned hard mode, frustration rose in her chest.

The System soothed her: “Don’t rush. Their will is hard to shake, but once it shakes, the harm to Li Shuang will be even greater, won’t it?”

Ye Zhao Zhao forced herself to nod: “Then what method? This body only has a Common-grade Spiritual Root. If I don’t get Li Shuang’s talent soon, I’ll need forever to advance on my own!”

In general, someone with a Common-grade Spiritual Root who reaches the Golden Core Stage is already one in a hundred, while reaching Nascent Soul is one in ten thousand. Your spiritual root limits your future from the start. If she had a Peerless-grade Spiritual Root like Li Shuang, she would not need to scheme so hard.

“There is a way,” the System said after a pause: “First, add fuel to the fire.”

As the System slowly laid out the plan, Ye Zhao Zhao’s expression began to change.

The next morning, with the Copper Devil Guard about to arrive, Wu Yong called the cultivators to wait at the city gate.

Wu Yong beamed at the disguised Sui Jin as he said: “Brother Huang, you’re a Foundation Establishment expert and handle affairs with great skill. When Lord Copper comes, he will surely reward you. Once you reach the headquarters, you’ll be put to important use; please remember what we said yesterday and lend a hand to useless me.”

Sui Jin smiled brightly as he replied: “Don’t worry, Brother Wu. I joined the Heavenly Sovereign Society thanks to your recommendation. In the days to come, we’ll climb high together.”

A hint of mockery flashed in Wu Yong’s eyes, but he kept his flattering smile and agreed again and again.

Li Shuang listened to Wu Yong and Sui Jin talk while watching the surroundings carefully.