```
There was a crackling pop,
wood shavings exploded and scattered.
Gong Caiyu opened her eyes, the firelight warmed her soaked body somewhat.
A young man in green was sitting cross-legged beside the fire, his longsword slanting across his waist, roasting a pierced fish on a stick over the flames, constantly turning it; the fat dripped down, and golden yellow fish flesh sizzled, sending a delicious aroma in all directions.
Gurgle...
Gong Caiyu's face reddened, just as she was about to say something, the roasted fish was handed to her.
"Without salt or spices, this is the best I can do, but it should still be edible," Jiang Ding said indifferently, somewhat confident in his cooking skills.
Gong Caiyu hesitated for a moment, "Young Master, please wait."
She got up and walked towards the river, keeping a distance of at least a kilometer away.
She removed her clothes, then washed and rinsed.
Jiang Ding averted his drone's vision.
When he saw her again, she was a girl with snow-white skin, wearing a flowing white dress like a fairy, her hair black and shiny, cascading to her waist. Even with some damage to her dress, it was as white as snow without a speck of dirt.
Inner energy? She still has so much left?
Jiang Ding thought to himself.
Although she seemed weaker now, he could probably kill her in an instant.
"Thank you, Young Master."
Gong Caiyu carefully took the wooden handle that Jiang Ding had not touched and then used her inner energy to cut off all parts he had touched, even scraping off a thin layer of the fish flesh, and briefly put it back beside the fire to roast.
Jiang Ding: "?"
You have so much inner energy to spare?
Even my sister has never scorned me like this!
Gong Caiyu took a small bite of the fish meat, indeed golden and crispy, fragrant and lingering on the lips; maybe it was because she was so hungry that it even tasted better than the signature dishes at the Manxiang Pavilion in Dongling City.
Jianghu daughters are not so fastidious, taking small bites; in no time at all, a whole fish was reduced to nothing but bones.
The emptiness of her stomach over the past several days was finally satiated.
"This."
Jiang Ding passed her a bamboo tube with a charred exterior, and after she scraped off the parts he had touched, drank from it, and went down to the river to carefully clean her mouth and hands, tidying herself up a bit, she said:
"I was apprenticed to a hermit when I was young and have not been in contact with the outside world for many years. Would Lady Gong be willing to introduce me to the world, so as to avoid inadvertently offending others and meeting my demise in the jianghu?"
Gong Caiyu's face paled.
"Young Master, be assured," she said with a determined look, "even if I am powerless and captured, I will take my own life at the first opportunity, I certainly won't let the Golden Knife School implicate you!"
"Golden Knife School?"
"In the Jianghu of Yue Nation, there are the names of Three Sects, Six Schools, and Eight Great Heroes," Gong Caiyu explained. "For hundreds of years, the three sects—Qingniugong, the Wolf God Cult, and Prajna Temple—each have their own supreme techniques and dominate the peak of the jianghu, with each generation having Xiantian Masters to solidify their foundations. Below them are the six major schools, each of which also sees the emergence of Xiantian experts generation after generation without interruption, among which the Golden Knife School is one."
Gong Caiyu pronounced each word with emphasis and said with a hateful tone, "The head of Golden Knife School, Patriarch Jin Dao Wei Tu, achieved Xiantian status decades ago and became famous in the jianghu."
"The last of the Eight Great Heroes are heroes and brave warriors from various individuals and minor schools. In terms of strength, they are actually not inferior to the heads of the six major schools; it's just that they cannot pass on their mantle generation after generation."
"How strong is the imperial court?" Jiang Ding pondered for a moment and asked.
"I don't know. Tianjilou actively conceals the information about the experts of the contemporary dynasties, but they should not be weak," Gong Caiyu said. "Hundreds of years ago, the founder of Yue Nation and his Twelve Heavenly Clouds Generals swept through the jianghu, destroyed the previous dynasty's royal family, and each of his twelve beloved generals became the twelve noble families that suppressed various regions."
"For instance, the area we are in, Dongling City, is guarded by the Zhendong Marquis Tang family."
"According to calculations from the historical records of past dynasties in the Sect's Book Pavilion, such closed-off bloodline noble families, after centuries of wealth, probably don't have much strength left, but it's hard to say when a genius might emerge."
"I see, I heard earlier that the lady was known as the Flying Snow Fairy, ranked ninety-eight on the Dragon and Phoenix List?"
Jiang Ding caressed the hilt of his sword; Xiantian, in fact, corresponds to the Qi Practicing Realm of cultivators. In theory, a Xiantian martial artist could also exchange a few blows with a cultivator of the same realm, as long as the distance was not drawn out. Actually, they had a chance to make a difference.
"It's just a ranking Tianjilou put out for martial artists under the age of twenty-five," Gong Caiyu said with a wistful smile. "These are just empty titles. Even the first on the Dragon and Phoenix List is no match for the seasoned Xiantian experts."
Jiang Ding fell silent, looking at her age, she was only seventeen or eighteen, yet she had already experienced her father being killed and her mother being abducted, and her entire sect wiped out.
In Xianmen, she would still be a minor about to enter university.
"Young Master, don't worry," Gong Caiyu reined in her sorrowful expression and smiled calmly, "Wei Tu is getting old, and sooner or later I will annihilate his clan and slaughter his entire family."
"Now, I dare not bother Young Master any longer. I will take my leave."
She rose to her feet, her white dress lifting from the ground and spreading out, and she threw an ancient thread-bound book over her shoulder.
"I have no way to repay you for saving my life. This 'Shenxiao's Hundred-Step Flying Sword' passed down by my ancestor is indeed a technique. Although no one has perfected it since my ancestor a thousand years ago, it can still serve as a reference."
Her forlorn voice carried from a distance.
"A thousand years ago, when the ancestor was alive, we were the largest sect in Yue Nation."
Jiang Ding carefully drew his sword and used the flat of the blade to catch the ancient book flying towards him.
Without much force and no hidden traps, it appeared she had good intentions.
However...
It probably wouldn't be of much use.
In Xianmen, all knowledge is shared; it's only when one's own aptitude and intelligence fall short that one cannot glimpse the ultimate techniques.
He made a rough wooden box, and using his longsword, he dropped the ancient book into it and sealed it properly.
With the drone monitoring the surroundings, after Gong Caiyu left and tranquility returned, and no men in black came back, Jiang Ding continued his own grand endeavor of collecting specimens.
...
After school, Jiang Ding retrieved an express delivery, carrying a small cage with two hamsters and a small pack of hamster food home.
Jiang Yuan was watching cartoons as usual, and unexpectedly, his mother Lin Wanqiu was also busy in the kitchen.
"Ah! Brother! Did you buy these for me?"
Jiang Yuan glanced over unintentionally and bounced over excitedly.
Based on her life experience from childhood to adulthood, apart from the Sword Dao tutoring classes, Jiang Ding never showed interest in pets like little goldfish or turtles.
```
"No."
Jiang Ding coldly refused.
"Impossible! This is mine!" Jiang Yuan couldn't believe it, and exclaimed loudly, "If you don't give it to me, when uncle and auntie come, I'll tell them you bullied me!"
"That's if uncle believes you."
Jiang Ding immediately understood why Lin Wanqiu had left work early to bustle about in the kitchen.
Uncle Lin Yong taught at a small school in Rongcheng City. His income was not as high as Lin Wanqiu's, but he had more leisure time, and Cousin Lin Yuanwang was even a well-known figure in the family.
He was admitted to the Qianling University Cultivation Department last year!
"It would be nice if Yuanwang brother came too," Jiang Yuan grumbled discontentedly. "Then I'll have Yuanwang brother beat you up."
"Humph."
Jiang Ding felt somewhat jealous and headed to his own room.
When they were younger, Lin Yuanwang had used his height and strength to frequently bully him, and what made it worse was that the guy had good aptitude in the martial Dao. By his high school graduation, he was already a Xiantian martial artist, and Jiang Ding really couldn't beat him.
After putting his school bag down, Jiang Ding pulled out a rough wooden box from under the bed, which exuded a faint scent of raw wood.
Upon opening it, there naturally lay the ancient text given by Gong Caiyu. It was made of a special material that was said to be a thousand years old, and showed no signs of decay; it could still be flipped through normally.
"Squeak, squeak!"
After sprinkling some rodent feed, Jiang Ding tossed two hamsters into the box.
The two hamsters frantically tried to escape, but were trapped by the small walls formed by stacks of books. After waiting for a while, they finally started eating the rodent feed.
"No worries, at least it's not an acute toxin."
Jiang Ding felt slightly relieved when he even saw one of the hamsters licking the book cover a few times without any issue.
Going to the kitchen to grab a pair of chopsticks, he flipped through the pages of the book, tossing two grains of rodent feed into each one. After spending over half an hour, Jiang Ding finally confirmed with certainty that there was no problem with the book.
"That lady had good intentions."
Jiang Ding let out a sigh of relief, tore open the express delivery package he had ordered yesterday containing transparent gloves, and put them on his hands.
These were what he had thought of yesterday, in an otherworld where encountering strange substances was unavoidable, a pair of light, breathable gloves that were virtually invisible to the naked eye could not be better.
The ancient text felt thick to the touch, seeming to be made of some kind of beast skin, and emitted a faint scent of books.
"'Shenxiao's Hundred-Step Flying Sword', can warriors also control flying swords?"
Jiang Ding gently stroked the six square characters on the cover that he couldn't recognize, feeling a slight thrill, yet pressed down his excitement.
"I need to learn the words of that world first, but I can't casually learn cultivation methods that haven't been verified by the Xianmen Library; it's very dangerous."
Recalling something, Jiang Ding turned on the computer in his room, logged into the Xianmen Library, and searched for warriors using the Hundred Step Flying Sword.
A series of information popped up with low-confidentiality levels that could be accessed online.
"Song's Hundred Steps Flying Sword," "Blood Refining Hundred Step Flying Sword," "Small World Spirit-Nurturing Hundred Step Flying Sword," "Fire Refining Hundred Step Flying Sword"...
Just as Jiang Ding had thought, the Xianmen Library was comprehensive, even the knowledge of commoners controlling flying swords, though sounding miraculous and quite obscure, was still extensively collected.
This was no mere rumor or trivial knowledge. Since it was included in the Xianmen Library, it indicated that in theory, these cultivation methods could be practiced, and were attainable as the theories specified.
The mouse clicked on "Song's Hundred Steps Flying Sword".
A box popped up with a ding.
"The knowledge you are attempting to access is dangerous, and minors are prohibited. If you require access again, please have your guardian authorize it."
Jiang Ding, not easily discouraged, closed the box and clicked on "Small World Spirit-Nurturing Hundred Step Flying Sword." Another ding, and the same box appeared with identical information inside.
After repeated attempts, he found that all entries on the Hundred Step Flying Sword had similar restrictions; out of hundreds or thousands of cultivation methods, not a single one was an exception.
"The Hundred Step Flying Sword of martial artists is very dangerous," Jiang Ding realized.
Beyond being dangerous, its power was just so-so. It appeared miraculous, but a heavy machine gun could easily shatter it from a thousand steps away. In fact, it was more a loss than gain for people of the Xianmen.
But still...
I really want it.
Sighing, Jiang Ding returned the ancient text to the drawer, carrying the hamster cage and feed out of his room to give to Jiang Yuan.
"Here, it's yours, but you have to take care of them."
"Ah, my dear brother!"
Jiang Yuan jumped on the spot, agreeing wholeheartedly.
Jiang Ding ignored her and turned back to the kitchen to help out.
"Dingding, help me cut the potato into strips, the radish into chunks, and chop a handful of spring onions," Lin Wanqiu instructed as she saw Jiang Ding come in.
"Alright."
Clang...
Drawing his sword, the cold light illuminated the kitchen. He then took a damp cloth to meticulously clean the blade.
Jiang Ding actually didn't want to do this; he was sure his sword was very clean, occasional blood or sweat would be vibrated off, so there was no need for overkill.
Unfortunately, Lin Wanqiu and Jiang Yuan didn't see it that way.
Expose Sword Style!
Arm Sword Style!
Point Sword Style!
...
The sword-light flickered, the carrots and white radish were tossed into the air, followed by chunks of radish falling down, layers of potato strips piling up, and sprinkles of chopped green onions forming a little mound the size of a fist.
"You with this..."
Lin Wanqiu stopped what she was doing, looking at her kitchen filled with the flashing sword-light, and sighed in exasperation.