Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Path of Emotionless

She had spent ten years with the Dragon Roar Sword, pouring all her strength into raising this treasured blade. To keep Long Yan from feeling like a slave, she had even refused to bind him with a harsh Sword Spirit Contract.

She had thought their trust had grown beyond any contract.

But now, the Sword Spirit she trusted most was controlling the sword and driving it into her dantian.

Blood welled at the corner of Li Shuang’s lips as she stared at Long Yan in confusion and asked: “Why…”

Long Yan knew Li Shuang was as good as dead, and he spoke through gritted teeth: “Once you die, I can choose a new Master! The Master I want has always been Ye Zhao Zhao from start to finish! Li Shuang, just die peacefully.”

Li Shuang coughed hard as fresh blood burst from her wound.

Suddenly, she laughed.

[Long Yan wants a Master, and it is Ye Zhao Zhao.]

[Master wants a disciple, and it is Ye Zhao Zhao.]

[In the hearts of the junior brothers, there is only Ye Zhao Zhao.]

[I, Li Shuang, am completely unnecessary.]

She had treated everyone with a sincere heart, but now not one of them returned even a trace of sincerity.

She had always been proud to be a disciple of Immortal Ling Xu. As First Senior Sister, she had tried her best to carry her duties and value the sect’s bonds above all.

Who could have guessed that the feelings they had built over so many years would fall apart the moment Ye Zhao Zhao appeared?

They did not trust her, not even a little.

Forget it. She no longer cared for such teacher and student ties.

At her chest, a jade carving shaped like a furnace glowed faintly.

Li Shuang did not notice this change.

On the edge of death, her heart was clearer than ever.

[These people… have all given up on me.]

[The Sword Spirit is right here, waiting for me to die.]

[I do not want to give them what they want.]

A chant rose in her mind, sudden and sharp.

[Supreme Emotionless Art.]

This art was said to be the cultivation method of the Sword Sect’s founding Ancestor. But after the Ancestor’s Ascension, no one had managed to enter it for a thousand years.

By now, many disciples believed that talk of the founding Ancestor’s cultivation was just a rumor and that the art could never truly be practiced.

The Sword Sect had long switched to other methods. Only the line of Emotionless Peak, led by Peak Master Lin Qing Ling, still held to the Ancestor’s will and studied the Secret Art day and night.

To let more people try it, Lin Qing Ling would stop a disciple and make them memorize its verse. Most people in the Sword Sect had been caught by her at least once.

Li Shuang had also been stopped and made to memorize it.

Strangely enough, she had never cared about the Supreme Emotionless Art, yet now every word of it rose up in her mind as if carved in light.

Li Shuang subconsciously whispered: “The Dao gives it its nature.”

She breathed again and murmured: “Heaven gives it its form.”

Her voice fell to a hush as she said: “Let no love or hate harm your body from within.”

Things she could not understand before became crystal clear in this instant.

A pure white glow slowly rose from her dantian.

The fatal wound at her core began to mend at a speed she could see with her eyes.

Long Yan’s face changed.

What was happening? Zhao Zhao had told him to strike the final blow at Li Shuang’s most desperate moment. He had seized the chance and pierced her with a killing stroke.

She should have been waiting for death. Why was her wound healing now?

Long Yan clenched his teeth and drove the Dragon Roar Sword toward Li Shuang’s dantian again.

But the jade carving on Li Shuang’s chest burst into dazzling light. The Dragon Roar Sword was thrown aside, and Long Yan was dragged back into the blade, unable to move at all.

Li Shuang was fully immersed in a brand new world.

She lifted her eyes to the sky. The heavens and earth were vast. She should be soaring free, so why bind herself?

In a heartbeat, a shackle inside her broke open.

“Heaven and earth are born with me, and all things are one with me,” she said softly, as a torrent of pure energy surged through her dantian.

A calm smile touched her lips.

The Sword Sect’s supreme Secret Art, the Supreme Emotionless Art. She had entered it at last.

Only after truly entering did she learn how worthy its name was. Its mysteries far surpassed her old Mirror Heart Art. She let her old power scatter, and even the Nascent Soul she had formed before, she gave up without a second thought.

Her cultivation fell back to the Qi Refining Stage.

Yet a new, crystal pure spiritual power slowly rose from her dantian.

Under the strange effects of the Supreme Emotionless Art, the fatal wound in her core quietly finished healing.

Sitting cross-legged, Li Shuang ran the art a few cycles. Her Spirit Terrace felt bright and clear, and her whole body seemed light and clean.

Even at the Qi Refining Stage, when she closed her eyes she felt every part of her body under control. She could sense the clean breath she drew in and the turbid breath she let out, each as clear as water.

Suddenly, Li Shuang paused.

In this clear state, she found that her sea of consciousness now held a slowly turning furnace.

This furnace…

Her pupils shrank as she reached to her chest by instinct.

Before her mother died, she had given Li Shuang a jade carving in the shape of a furnace. Li Shuang had treasured it dearly and kept it close to her skin.

But now the jade carving was gone.

An identical furnace had appeared in her mind instead.

Li Shuang hesitated, then slowly reached out with her awareness.

An instant later, a line of information surfaced in her thoughts: [Heaven and Earth Furnace (Locked): Break then rebuild, and the furnace appears.]

[Break then rebuild?] Her eyes tightened.

[Did I open the Heaven and Earth Furnace only because I crossed the gate of ghosts and almost died?] Thinking it through, her new spiritual power was very weak, while Long Yan was a Sword Spirit she had carefully raised. Such weak power could not have stopped his strike. It seemed the jade carving had flashed and blocked him for her. [Was Mother protecting me?]

As she wondered, more words appeared: [Furnace progress is 0. Feed it heavenly and earthly treasures to raise the progress. When progress reaches one hundred percent, the furnace will open.]

[So I can open the furnace by feeding it rare treasures?] Li Shuang’s face grew serious. Even if it were useless, this was her mother’s gift. She would open it no matter what.

[Mother was a mortal. How did she have such a treasure? What did she mean by giving it to me?] There were too many secrets hidden in this.

[But… heavenly and earthly treasures?] Li Shuang gave a bitter smile. All these years, she had taken missions. Part of what she earned went to the Dragon Roar Sword, and the rest she gave to her junior brothers and junior sisters. Now she did not have any savings at all.

It was fine. From now on, she would not be dragged down by these so called feelings.

The sky is high and the sea is wide. I will roam as I please.

From this day on, Li Shuang would only be Li Shuang.

At the Sword Sect.

The moment Li Shuang switched to the Supreme Emotionless Art, the Peak Master of Emotionless Peak, Lin Qing Ling, opened her eyes.

Joy flashed in her gaze. She needed to be sure, so she moved her hand and a jade slip appeared in her palm. It had been silent for years, yet now it glimmered with a faint light.

Lin Qing Ling’s voice trembled with excitement as she said: “Supreme Emotionless Art… someone has finally entered the Supreme Emotionless Art! But the sensing jade slip only glows a little. This person may not be inside the sect. Could it be a disciple outside on a mission?”