Chapter 53

Chapter 53: Lotus in Ice

Su Mu stood quietly by her side and kept watch.

Li Shuang remained still for a long time, but he did not hurry.

Sometimes enlightenment comes in a single instant.

Suddenly, Li Shuang moved a little.

Snow slid off her shoulders with a soft whisper.

Su Mu looked at her with a touch of expectation.

With the wind and snow swirling, Li Shuang slowly stood.

The Black Abyss Sword appeared in her hand.

It still looked black and plain, but at this moment, a soft glow seemed to flow across the blade.

Li Shuang looked at Black Abyss with gentle eyes.

Su Mu waved, and Snow Fiends appeared on the mountain once more.

Li Shuang did not move from her spot.

The Snow Fiends drifted and closed around her until Su Mu could hardly see her figure.

A brilliant sword light flashed.

For a heartbeat, a giant lotus bloomed among the Snow Fiends.

Petals flew. They looked soft and pure, yet every Snow Fiend brushed by them fell and vanished.

Soon, heaven and earth were quiet again, and only a woman in plain robes stood there.

Her robe seemed to carry the colors of mist and rosy clouds, untouched by the flowers of the Mortal Realm.

Su Mu smiled a little.

Li Shuang had, after all, grasped the first form.

In the snow, Li Shuang held Black Abyss, studying the blade.

In this moment, she felt with perfect clarity that a strange link had formed between her and the Black Abyss Sword.

It was not a contract, and yet it seemed higher than a contract.

It was a bond born from the soul.

Her relationship with the Black Abyss Sword had changed in that instant.

Su Mu asked in a voice of Dao-Questioning: “Does the first form you grasped have a name?”

Li Shuang shook her head: “I have not had time to think of one.”

At the moment of insight, for some reason she had remembered the lotus she saw during Foundation Establishment in the Langya Secret Realm.

On a frozen lake, only that lotus bloomed.

It was soft and beautiful, yet extremely dangerous.

It swayed freely in the wind, as if nothing in this world could stain it.

It opened quietly and carried its own faint fragrance, owning a free world of its own.

In extreme cold, it was born as a strange treasure.

She too was reborn from extreme pain.

The instant she thought of that lotus, all her understanding found a path to flow out.

Then, naturally, the sword move came.

Su Mu smiled and said: “Pick a name. If your name is recorded in history later, people should know what this move is called.”

Li Shuang did not care about being written into history, but a move did need a name.

She thought for a moment and said: “Let’s keep it simple and clear. Call it Lotus in Ice. How about it?”

Su Mu laughed: “It is indeed simple. But your sword move is yours, so pick what you like.”

Li Shuang was about to say more.

Su Mu waved his hand: “Time is up. Go out now.”

Before she could react, she was sent out of the Legacy Space.

Su Mu’s voice still sounded in her ear: “Li Shuang, you shall be the Thirty-third Successor of the Emotionless Path. In today’s match, do not let the name of the Emotionless Path be shamed.”

Li Shuang froze for a breath.

In the next moment, a pure spiritual power poured in, and all of her state was restored to its peak.

His voice came again, calm as ever: “Now you have truly entered the gate. From now on, any spiritual power and effort you spend in the Legacy Space will be returned in full.”

Li Shuang wanted to ask more, but his voice had already faded away.

She called to him a few times, but there was no answer.

A light flashed in Li Shuang’s eyes.

This jade slip was far from ordinary.

Books record that some Inheritance Jade Slips leave behind a Phantom Stage to pass on techniques. But a Phantom Stage cannot affect things outside the jade slip.

Senior Su seemed to be more than a Phantom Stage. He felt like a complete living being.

He knew about today’s match and told her not to shame the Emotionless Path.

Even while within the jade slip, he could see what was happening outside. Something made by people as a Phantom Stage could not do that.

[Thirty-third Successor of the Emotionless Path…]

If she was the thirty-third, then what about the founding Ancestor?

Was he the thirty-second?

And the Seniors before?

And what was Senior Su’s situation?

The Emotionless Path held too many secrets for her to explore.

Of course, exploring these mysteries would be for the future.

Right now she had only one task.

[Win!]

Today’s opponents were Ye Zhao Zhao and also Long Yan.

[Black Abyss and I must win.]

Li Shuang rose and pushed open the door.

Outside, sunlight was bright, warm, and gentle.

The cold of the snow mountain had already bloomed into flowers.

She lifted her foot and walked straight out.

Luo Ming Yue and the others were already waiting at the door.

She walked toward them with a slight smile at the corner of her lips and said: “Let’s go.”

The Martial Arena.

Today’s Central Arena.

The match: Li Shuang vs Ye Zhao Zhao.

It was the first time the Central Arena had been assigned to the same person two days in a row.

But no one felt it was strange.

Today, what fight could draw more heat than this one?

Li Shuang had once been a peerless genius. People from Ling Xu Peak claimed that she stalled in her cultivation because she was jealous of Ye Zhao Zhao.

Ye Zhao Zhao, quiet when she entered the sect, had only Mixed Spiritual Roots. Yet for some reason she caught the eye of Immortal Ling Xu and was taken under his wing.

After that, she showed a training speed that did not match Mixed Spiritual Roots at all. In less than ten years, she reached Nascent Soul Formation, breaking even Li Shuang’s record from back then.

One suddenly fell silent.

One surged ahead.

The two of them were like the yin and yang of a fish. When yin rose, yang fell; when yang rose, yin faded.

Their ties were more than that.

Li Shuang said she had been betrayed by the Dragon Roar Sword and threw it away.

Ye Zhao Zhao denied this, yet took the Dragon Roar Sword without hesitation.

At the same time, proud Li Shuang actually accepted Ye Zhao Zhao’s Black Abyss.

They had completely exchanged swords.

In Li Shuang’s hand, the Dragon Roar Sword had been incredibly sharp.

In Ye Zhao Zhao’s hand now, what would it be like?

In Ye Zhao Zhao’s hand, Black Abyss had been dull and lightless. In Li Shuang’s hand, would it shine?

All these hot topics together guaranteed that no matter where this fight was held, it would be the most eye-catching of all.

Placing it in the Central Arena only made it easier for everyone to watch.

“They’re coming, they’re coming,” people whispered as they opened a path.

This time, everyone from Ling Xu Peak came. They protected Ye Zhao Zhao in the middle, as if to show a certain stance.

Ye Zhao Zhao glanced at Li Shuang, then tilted her head on purpose and asked Sheng Yuan: “First Senior Brother, who do you hope will win this time, me or her?”

Sheng Yuan looked at Li Shuang with a complex expression.

New fellow disciples already stood around Li Shuang.

But her eyes did not move at all. She would not give them even a speck of attention.

A stab of pain pierced Sheng Yuan’s heart. He suddenly raised his voice and said: “Of course I hope you win, Junior Sister.”

As he spoke, he stared hard at Li Shuang, waiting to see her reaction.