The Jade Pendant's Spatial Realm
"Splurt... cough, cough, cough..."
Mo Lanyi gasped for air, her delicate face drained of color, leaving only a feral hatred etched into her expression.
"Curse it! Curse it! Curse it!"
She cursed bitterly as the life force of the space poured relentlessly into the gaping wound in her chest, working to mend the gruesome injury.
"Ji Wushuang! D*mn you!"
The old ghostly immortal materialized, his ethereal body significantly diminished, now resembling a wisp of faint smoke.
Exhausted, he spoke, "You were careless this time. If not for your heart being on the right side, even a Golden Immortal couldn't have saved you."
Indeed, Mo Lanyi's heart was situated on the right side of her chest. Coupled with her natural self-healing Light Spiritual Root and the life energy of the jade pendant, it was only a matter of time before she recovered from her injuries.
But her hatred for Ji Wushuang burned eternal, now laced with a flicker of resentment towards the old ghostly immortal as well.
"You said she was a useless nobody! Why is she so formidable?"
The ghostly immortal replied awkwardly, "She is a useless nobody... but she has comprehended Sword Intent!"
"Sword Intent?"
"Yes! Sword cultivators, like body cultivators, don't rely on their spiritual roots. Body cultivators temper their flesh, while sword cultivators temper their mastery of the sword! As long as a sword cultivator wields a blade and hones their skill to the pinnacle, they become an unstoppable force! A sword cultivator who grasps Sword Intent is terrifying—a single strike can shatter a thousand techniques, an overwhelming force that crushes all opposition. Do you understand now?"
Mo Lanyi was fuming.
She had assumed Ji Wushuang to be an incapable waste. Who would have thought she was a sword cultivator?!
"Fortunately, your identity hasn't been exposed. You must tread carefully around her from now on."
"What?!"
"Isn't currying favor and clinging to power your specialty? You'd better hold onto her tightly!"
Mo Lanyi's chest throbbed in pain, and upon hearing his words, she almost coughed up blood.
Something clicked in her mind. "If Ji Wushuang is so powerful, she must have some destiny tied to her, right? Can't we transfer her fortune to ourselves?"
The ghostly immortal looked constipated. "No, she has no destiny at all..."
"None?"
"None."
"Then how is she so lucky?"
The ghostly immortal: "..."
Could it be that her success came from actual skill rather than sheer luck?
The ghost's form faded further, and he quickly added, "I need to enter seclusion to recover for a while. During this time, you must be extremely cautious."
"Understood."
The ghost sighed, as though wanting to say more, but time ran short. He retreated into the Soul-Nurturing Wood within the spatial realm. The earlier arrow had drained him greatly, and the fact it missed only added to his frustration.
After the ghost fell into slumber, Mo Lanyi healed her wounds and left the jade pendant's space. She shredded a teleportation talisman and rushed back to her sect.
Upon returning to the sect, Ji Wushuang summoned her immortal crane. The two stared at each other blankly for a long moment before the crane, despite its reluctance, lowered its head in resignation. Suppressing its disdain at the soot-covered figure before it, it allowed this walking lump of coal onto its back. With Ji Wushuang aboard, the crane sped back to Zhu Xing Peak, then darted away like a ghost was chasing it.
Ji Wushuang glanced at her soot-stained hands and the crane's now-marred feathers, streaked with an unmistakable coal-black "人" shape.
"... …"
Would the crane believe her if she said she had a cleanliness obsession too?
Forget it. She resolved to bring it some extra treats next time.
After washing up and eating her fill, Ji Wushuang prepared to sleep and recuperate. But her disciple, Lian Xing, rushed back and immediately began nagging her, his words droning incessantly in her ears.
"Shizuzu, what happened to you? These injuries—do you want to give this disciple a heart attack? Blah blah blah..."
"Shizuzu, wherever you go in the future, you must inform me beforehand! Blah blah blah..."
Ji Wushuang: "..."
Enough! She'd had enough.
How could a grown man be so chatty?
After extracting a solemn promise that she wouldn't sneak off again—and nearly being forced to swear an oath—Lian Xing finally relented.
Having eaten, slept, and recovered most of her strength, Ji Wushuang turned her focus to refining the Heavenly Dao's Violet Qi. However, she soon discovered it was no simple task and would require patient effort.
Since immediate progress was unlikely, she decided to attend her Six Arts class.
Struck by Heavenly Dao's lightning the previous day, Ji Wushuang had a sudden epiphany, glimpsing a new shortcut to mastering the Six Arts.
Why not try it today?
Furthermore, now that Mo Lanyi was dead, the fortune tied to the two hapless souls, Lian Yuan and Lu Xingzhou, should have returned to her. She'd fulfilled her second master's trust.
With such thoughts in mind, Ji Wushuang strolled leisurely into the Huang Fa Pavilion at the Dao Transmission Institute.
The moment she stepped inside, someone approached with a friendly smile and greeted her warmly.
"Junior Sister, you're here!"
Ji Wushuang looked at the flawless, smiling face before her and found herself bewildered.
Mo Lanyi?
She was alive?!
But… Ji Wushuang had pierced her heart with a sword. How could she still be breathing?
Was this an unkillable Nether Bug?
No, Ji Wushuang trusted her own strength.
She'd heard of "mirror images" in this world—beings whose hearts were on the opposite side. Could Mo Lanyi be one of them?
No matter. If she could kill her once, she could kill her again, even if it meant enduring another bout of lightning strikes.
As murderous intent surged within Ji Wushuang, the Heavenly Dao Violet Qi within her began to roil violently, grumbling furiously.
Ji Wushuang understood its warning: if she wished to refine it into her sword bones, she could not harm its chosen bearer of fortune. Otherwise, they would both perish in mutual destruction.
Ji Wushuang sneered. You think you can threaten me?
She'd only refrained from erasing this pitiful wisp of Violet Qi out of "appreciation for talent." She didn't even need to use Sword Intent—her spiritual consciousness alone was sufficient to obliterate it.
The Violet Qi retorted with a laugh: If it were outside her body, perhaps it would stand no chance. But now that it resided within her, who would perish first in this struggle?
Ji Wushuang, who had willingly consumed the Violet Qi: "..."
Ah, she had underestimated the situation…