In the training room, Ting Lanyue, He Chengchuan, and Elder Pu's other disciples came forward. Ting Lanyue clenched her teeth to come forward despite her heavily wounded body. Most of them had their own soul weapons, but the weapons they possessed were not of high quality—they were all curious about the soul weapons that Elder Pu spent twenty days crafting.
"A wooden box?"
Ting Lanyue and the others were dumbfounded, their sights were fixated on the six feet tall wooden box, even Zhong Yue was confused. The soul weapons Elder Pu talked about is a box carved from a single piece of maroon-red wood. It was made without any signs of connecting components or joints. The wooden box was placed vertically on the floor, and its height reached his chest.
On the surface of the wooden box were carved various markings of dragons, which appeared to be a totem carving. But the dragon totem carvings were not artificially carved; instead, it seemed more like they were intrinsic to the wood itself!
"This is… the Dragon Blood Wood!"
Ting Lanyue was shocked, she exclaimed out involuntarily, "This is really the Dragon Blood Wood! My clan's Qi Practitioner elders said that there is a Dragon Blood Forest somewhere on the Swords Gate mountain. Rumors said that tens of thousands of years ago, the blood of a wounded true dragon splattered into the woods forming the Dragon Blood Woods! The woods were naturally innate with the dragon totem carvings, but their maturity cycles were too long, more than hundreds of years. Even most of the elders are unwilling and reluctant to craft soul weapons out of the Dragon Blood Wood!"
"Even the Swords Gate elders aren't too willing to use them?" Zhong Yue was dumbstruck upon hearing her words, and all of a sudden, the wooden box felt much heavier than just a moment ago.
He was not one of Elder Pu's disciples, yet Elder Pu crafted him a soul weapon using such a precious material, this favor was too deep for him to accept!
Elder Pu caressed the wooden box with his fingers, he smiled and said, "This Dragon Blood Wood was given to me by the headmaster as an appreciation for my contributions to the Swords Gate during my early days. It is good nourishing your soul, soul weapon, and Sword Qi, but it is not of much use to me. That's why I have never crafted it into a soul weapon, I was planning to leave it to my disciple, but I couldn't find any suitable disciple, so it had been laying around collecting dust all this while."
Elder Pu was gratified as he continued with a smile, "Zhong Yue, although you aren't my disciple, fate brought you here. In addition to your [Jiao Dragon Winding Body Totem Art], the Dragon Blood Wood was fated just for you. Hence, I have crafted it into a sword scabbard for you."
Zhong Yue was surprised and overjoyed at the same time, anxiously he said, "Elder Pu, this is too precious…"
Elder Pu laughed and said, "Precious? It isn't precious at all! If it wasn't you that looked after Lanyue and the others, I am afraid my disciples would have all died in the Demon Ruins! The disciples of the other Qi Practitioners all died in the Demon Ruins, thousands or even more of them, but a dozen of my disciples survived, what is the Dragon Blood Wood compared to this? You deserve this Dragon Blood Sword Scabbard! Zhong Yue, open it up and have a look!"
Zhong Yue cleared his thoughts, and he opened the wooden sword scabbard, Ka! A light sound could be heard as the sword scabbard opened, showing a wooden sword's hilt.
He gently removed the soul weapon from the scabbard. The sword was five feet long with strange totem carvings on its blade. It weighed a hundred kilograms with a perfectly adjusted center of balance!
The sword was all jet black, but it reflected rays of dark-gold; it was evident that the sword was made of an alloy of darksteel and mystic gold as the synergy between those two materials to enhance the soul weapon's toughness and sharpness!
Thunder-like engravings could be seen throughout the entirety of the soul weapon as if it were kissed by true lightning—clearly, it was formed when Elder Pu forged it with the thunder totems!
The dragon-scale-like carvings were the Jiao Dragon totem, giving a draconic scale look to the sword. The moment Zhong Yue pulled the sword out from the sword scabbard, he could hear the resounding dragon blood flowing in the body of the sword!
He immersed his soul into the sword without having any difficulties controlling the sword. His soul did not feel any discomfort, but rather, was overtaken by a tranquility that he had hitherto never experienced before.
This was the difference between a high-quality soul weapon and ordinary soul weapons. One's soul could not leave the body for too long, or otherwise, it would be damaged. This was often the quagmire faced by those who possessed ordinary soul weapons!
But a well-built soul weapon was like another body. Immersing the soul into it would feel like occupying an identical body. No discomfort would be felt, and there would be no concern for the risks that are typically associated with the soul departing from the true body for long durations....
While the lower level soul weapons were not as good, they also could not protect the soul too well. If the soul stayed within the soul weapon for a longer period, then it would be put in jeopardy at which point, there was no choice but for it to return to the body to recuperate.
When Zhong Yue immersed his soul into the sword, it felt like he was just entering another body of his own, one could tell how high the quality of the sword was, it was definitely a soul weapon of the highest caliber!
"Dragon Blood Wood nourishes the Dragon Scale Sword, just perfect for you."
Elder Pu said slowly, "These two soul weapons complement each other and would also nourish your body, helping you in your cultivation. The soul weapons require frequent sustenance from the soul. The stronger the link between the soul, psyche and soul weapons, the stronger the power they can unleash and the faster the speed they will travel. Zhong Yue, these two soul weapons, are you satisfied with them?"
Zhong Yue returned his soul to his body and was overjoyed. He caressed the Dragon Scale Sword and Dragon Blood Sword Scabbard, and he said, "Satisfied, satisfied!"
"The Dragon Blood Sword Scabbard can store nine Dragon Scale Swords, but there is only one at the moment, you will have to figure out and find yourself the other eight."
Elder Pu smiled and said, "Moreover, after you become a Qi Practitioner and have consummated the Sword Qi, this sword scabbard can store your Sword Qi. A single thought and there will be thousands of strands of Sword Qi bursting out from the sword scabbard, many times stronger than the ordinary soul weapon!"
Ting Lanyue, He Chengchuan, and the others were envious of him, Zhong Yue too was fascinated, he mumbled, "Sword Qi?"
"Crafting the soul weapon with the darksteel and mystic gold is only a small thing, the truly unstoppable facet is the Sword Qi!"
Elder Pu started his sermon with a solemn face, "As the name suggests, a Qi Practitioner practices Qi. The Swords Gate, in particular, practices the Sword Qi. When you have successfully consummated your spirit, you can then utilize the spirit to harvest various kinds of essence and coalesce them into your Sword Qi. You will then be able to cast those physical steel and iron weapons aside. Taking this sword scabbard as an example, it can only contain nine soul weapons, but if you store Sword Qi in it, it can not only store nine, but you can store a hundred or even over a thousand strands of Sword Qi in it!"
Zhong Yue was enthralled, "Hundreds or even thousands of Sword Qi?"
With a single lift of a finger, hundreds or even thousands of strands of Sword Qi bursting out from the sword scabbard ... how incredible and strong would that be?!
"I will not teach you all any more techniques today. It is unwise to bite off more than you can chew. Continue practicing the arts I have taught before, that way all of you can get a better ranking in the Lawless Battle."
Elder Pu instructed his disciples and then turned to Zhong Yue, "You have just joined the upper house recently, your repertoire of techniques you practice is too limited, even if I teach you anything now, it will be too late to grasp them fully. All you need to do now is to further familiarize yourself with the Dragon Blood Sword Scabbard and the Dragon Scale Sword. Your prowess will not improve much if you spend too much time practicing new techniques. In the Lawless Battle, the participants are mostly the core disciples of the big clans who are fully-equipped with soul weapons. Hence, the chances that you can win with the techniques are slight, but the uses of a good soul weapon are myriad. For the upcoming days, you need only practice with these two soul weapons and further consolidate your [Jiao Dragon Winding Body Totem Art] and [Spring Thunderbolt Sword Skill], increasing their powers."
Zhong Yue was a little disappointed; he thought that during the next round of the knowledge teaching session of the Knowledge Teaching Pavilion, he could seize the opportunity and learn a flying skill. But Elder Pu's words were right. There were only two months left until the Lawless Battle; learning a new technique would be too hasty and an exercise in futility.
Besides, he would need some time to familiarize himself with the soul weapons. It would better for him to just focus on the [Jiao Dragon Winding Body Totem Art] and [Spring Thunderbolt Sword Skill], this way, his odds to win in the Lawless Battle would be greater.
"You need to be careful."
Elder Pu whispered to him, "The battle between you and Shui Qinghe has allowed the others to gain a glimpse at your strength, be cautious that someone might clear you out of their path. If you are wounded before the Lawless Battle, your prowess will invariably be handicapped and unable to be fully unleashed, the chances for the others to enter the Ethereal Palace will thereby be greater."
Zhong Yue's face turned stern while Elder Pu continued, "You may not be among the top ten candidates, but your prowess can definitely threaten their place. Hence, you need to be cognizant of the possibility that someone may surreptitiously jeopardize your chances of entering the Ethereal Palace. Even if they don't, there will also be strong candidates taking you as a practice whetstone for the big battle!"
Taking me as a practice target?
Zhong Yue thanked Elder Pu's warnings, he smiled, "Rest assured Elder Pu, I too, wanted to take them as my practice whetstone, I will simply treat this as the warm-up for the Lawless Battle, I will fight my way to the end of the Lawless Battle!"
Elder Pu gazed at Zhong Yue's back as he walked out of his sights, he exclaimed in his heart, What a young man with great potential, the more I look at him, the more gratified I feel. If it were back in the early days, the Qi Practitioners would have definitely fought over such a talented youngster. Sadly, he offended the Tian Feng Clan… but that's not all. He then formed enmities with the Shui Tu Clan. Of the top ten great clans, he had fallen out with two… I guess that not long later, there will be a third, and then a fourth....
In the upper house, the core disciples of the big clans came down from the Swords Gate mountain to prepare themselves for the Lawless Battle. The big clans all had trained on their own core disciples and among them were quite a number that were comparable to Shui Qinghe!
Almost every clan had core disciples that had achieved the state of Actualization Of Virtuality!
"Shui Qinghe was still holding back. I am really eager to see what he can do with his full strength."
In the training room of the Li Shan Clan, the psyche of a young maiden condensed behind her, actualizing into worldly phenomena, showing a flower that was 36 feet in radius. At its center, was a three-faced four-armed monster god that slowly stood up on one of its leg half curved. It's aura pushing the other Li Shan Clan disciples back.
The totem of the Li Shan Clan is the Li Shan Monster God Flower. During the Cloudless Hall examination, Zhong Yue had a glance on the overall view of the Great Wilderness, and there was this one huge lotus that covered an area of a few hundred miles – that is the totem spirit left behind by the ancestors of Li Shan Clan!
The young maiden of Li Shan Clan could consummate the Li Shan totem spirit and materialize her psyche into the Monster God Flower and the monster god in it. Her cultivation level would surely not be weaker than Shui Qinghe, or even more so, her techniques were more delicate than his!
"Li Xiuniang, other than Shui Qinghe, how is that Zhong Shan Clan member?"
On the training room's stage, the Qi Practitioner of Li Shan Clan asked, "Is he worth paying attention to?"
Li Xiuniang moved, every step she took would instigate the blossoming of lotus flowers beneath her dainty feet, she smiled coquettishly, "Not to the point that he requires great attention, his strength is threatening but not too great. What really interests me are the ace disciples of the big clans such as the You Yu Clan, Tao Lin Clan, Jun Shan Clan and Lei Hu Clan! But the Zhong Shan Clan member can be used as a practice whetstone, to allow me to gather momentum aura for the Lawless Battle!"
At the same time in the training room of Lei Hu Clan, a three-eyed god that predominates the thunder appeared behind a barrel-chested and brawny man. The man smiled, "The Zhong Shan Clan member can be used as a stepping stone to help accumulate my momentum for the Lawless Battles. When I face against opponents such as Shui Qinghe or the like, with my invincible aura, I will crush them like petty bugs!"