Ji Xuanyuan’s phoenix eyes were slightly wide, her pupils trembling. Before this, she had thought that as long as she regretted and turned back, junior brother would still be waiting in the same spot. She had thought that in this life, she could still make amends. She had thought that in this life, she still had a chance.
But there was none! Junior brother had returned—no, not “returned”—he had discarded the things she had given him, as if they were worn-out shoes!
In an instant, the flame that had been burning in her heart was doused by a bucket of ice water, leaving not even a trace of warmth. She stood frozen, holding the sword he had once cherished, and in her mind surfaced the final words of her junior brother before his death: ‘Senior Sister, actually… I never liked you. Everything before was an act.’
Ji Xuanyuan’s jade-like body began to tremble uncontrollably. Her intuition had never been wrong. Junior brother really didn’t like her. Maybe… he had never liked her at all!!!
At that thought, it felt as if something was blocking Ji Xuanyuan’s throat, making it difficult to breathe. In her past life, the junior brother who secretly gave her a jade lantern for her birthday; the junior brother who quietly warmed her tea while she practiced sword techniques; the junior brother who was rejected by her time and again but never truly left. All of this was an act? She simply couldn’t accept this fact.
She lowered her head and looked at the sword blade, which reflected her blurred face under the moonlight. The heart-wrenching expression on her face only made her more sorrowful the more she looked. Her eyes even began to mist over, as if small pearls of tears might fall at any moment.
“Farewell.” Without noticing the subtle change in Ji Xuanyuan’s expression, Chu Yuan turned to leave.
But Yin Shiniang noticed something from the Crown Princess’s trembling back. Seeing that Her Highness was so concerned about this young sword grandmaster, she stepped forward and proactively blocked Chu Yuan: “Young Master Yuan, you’re returning to the Chu Mansion, right? Would you like to accompany the Crown Princess’s imperial carriage back?”
Seeing this female general’s martial bearing, Chu Yuan asked curiously: “And you are?”
General Yin cupped her hands: “I am Yin Shiniang, a general under the Crown Princess!”
Yin Shiniang???
The instant he heard that name, Chu Yuan’s gaze fell directly on the bulge of her armor over her abdomen, and a word surfaced in his mind: Demon Pill Heizha!
In the previous life, this was a demon that terrorized the Immortal Dynasty. The great flood she had stirred up was one of the reasons for the future chaos in the Immortal Dynasty. Back then, after Chu Yuan became the Great Elder, he discovered that most of the turmoil in the Immortal Dynasty in those years had been instigated by the Demon Path Alliance. And the Demon Pill inside Heizha was one of the four great treasures that could greatly increase the cultivation of his Sovereign.
Of course, there was still some time before Heizha’s birth. Chu Yuan should focus on the other three treasures: [Prison Bull Inner Pellet], [Peach Dao Seed], and [Phoenix Blood Jade]—specifically the [Prison Bull Inner Pellet].
According to the timeline, the hidden underground palace would appear in [Mist Hidden Swamp] where the upcoming [God Hunt] would be held. The Prison Bull sealed inside that underground palace was a “criminal minister” of the East Sea Dragon Palace. Its inner pellet would be quite tempting for his Sovereign’s cultivation. As his Sovereign’s caretaker, Chu Yuan felt that the Demon Path Alliance would soon assign him to seize the pellet. In the coming days, he needed to make thorough preparations for the expedition to [Mist Hidden Swamp].
Thinking of this, Chu Yuan was even less interested in staying here and dealing with the Crown Princess. He cupped his hands to General Yin: “Nice to meet you! General Yin, I have long heard of your deeds. You are pregnant now; you need to take good care of your pregnancy! I still have matters to attend to, so I won’t trouble you to escort me!”
Without waiting for Yin Shiniang to stop him again, Chu Yuan bypassed her and headed back to the city.
Seeing this, General Yin sighed and turned to look at the red-haired enchanting figure.
Ji Xuanyuan slowly raised her head, trying to hold back the tears in her eyes, not letting them fall. Gazing at the figure growing distant, she clutched the sword tightly, like a statue frozen by the desolate moonlight. The wind blew through the mountain forest, stirring her tattered sleeves, but could not move her gaze, which was fixed on his receding back. Her vermillion lips moved, wanting to call out to him, but she found she had no reason to. Now, she was not his senior sister; she was merely a partner who had agreed with her junior brother to cooperate against the demons.
Seeing the Crown Princess’s back become more and more sorrowful, Yin Shiniang hesitated: “Your Highness, are… you all right?”
Ji Xuanyuan’s voice was choked with tears: “I’m fine! Do I look like I have a problem?”
Looking at her like this, General Yin wanted to speak but stopped, then said: “Your Highness must be tired. Please board the imperial carriage. I will escort you back to rest!”
Ji Xuanyuan nodded slightly, and once seated in the carriage, she stared at the longsword in her hand, remaining silent for a long time. She would need considerable time to digest the fact that “junior brother no longer likes her.”
—
As the saying goes, flowers bloom in two places; let’s take one branch at a time.
With his strength at the initial Domain Transformation Realm, Chu Yuan’s speed was nearly comparable to the “Earth Shrinking Step.” After only a few breaths of walking, he was already near the city gates. The night security in Xuanji City was tight—only exit, no entry. Activating his [Phantom Ethereal Dharma Robe], Chu Yuan merged into the void and smoothly entered the city.
Once inside, he turned his gaze and saw four familiar figures.
“Brother, look! The City Lord’s Mansion is going to hold an arena battle!”
The Three Xiao Sisters were pulling Zhao Gongming toward the announcement board by the street.
On the board, it was written: [God Hunt] is imminent; the City Lord’s Mansion is recruiting talented heroes from all over. Loose cultivators can display their strength through the arena battle, and the victors will obtain the qualifications to go to [Mist Hidden Swamp]. This was equivalent to giving cultivators without backing an opportunity.
For Zhao Gongming and the Three Xiao Sisters, this was definitely their chance to shine.
As for Chu Yuan, seeing that the arena battle was just a few days away, his mind began to stir. He needed to find more sparring partners. From the techniques of various opponents, he could comprehend their insights into their respective Paths of Emotion.
This arena competition was an excellent training opportunity for Chu Yuan. Of course, if he wanted to spar, he needed a weapon that suited him. There were many treasures in his Black Ring, but using them for such a competition would be overkill. Moreover, as a sword cultivator, if he was going to specialize in his [Ten Thousand Emotions Sword Technique], Chu Yuan needed to forge a unique weapon.
At that thought, an idea took shape in his mind: [Emotion Vessel]!
Using the Emotion Pill formed from the emotion knot of the [Essence Accumulation Realm], he could forge an [Emotion Vessel]. Once forged, the [Emotion Vessel] would grow with his cultivation level and evolve with his emotional changes. It would be the sharpest weapon for killing and also the most fragile lifeline—the sword exists, the man lives; the sword is destroyed, the man perishes.
Forging an [Emotion Vessel] was undoubtedly a high-risk, high-reward endeavor. But for Chu Yuan at this stage, the benefits outweighed the risks. After all, he would soon have a sparring match with the Fox Venerable. Since he would have to seal his own cultivation for that match, he needed to work on his weapon to increase his chances of victory. With his current cultivation, if he could forge an [Emotion Vessel] and use it then, he could unleash the power of the initial Domain Transformation Realm. That way, Chu Yuan’s chances of winning would be slightly higher.
As his mind moved, he quickly returned to the Chu Mansion.
By the time Chu Yuan stepped into the bedroom of his dilapidated little courtyard, where he had lived for many years, the night had deepened to its darkest hour. He closed the door behind him and took out three formation flags from his ring, activating them with spiritual power and inserting them into three positions on the ground.
The Spirit Gathering Array, the Spirit Locking Array, and the Heart Protection Array. The three formations activated one by one, and pale golden light patterns spread across the ground, enveloping the entire bedroom.
With everything ready, Chu Yuan sat cross-legged at the center of the formation, closed his eyes, and regulated his breath. In his dantian, the Ten Thousand Emotions Pill was slowly rotating, emitting a rainbow-colored rainbow glow. Tonight, he would use it to forge a weapon. Chu Yuan had already settled on the shape of the sword. Since he needed to coordinate with his sword technique and control the sword intent of different emotions, the design of this sword needed to help him better gather and switch between the Paths of Emotion.
For this, Chu Yuan thought of the weapon [Myrtenaster] belonging to Weiss Schnee, one of the four heroines in RWBY. Its appearance was a multi-dust crystal rapier, with a silver-gray blade and a four-sided pyramidal tip with a blood groove. The key feature: the hilt incorporated a revolver mechanism with a cylinder that could load six different colored dust crystals. By pulling the trigger, he could switch between different magical effects, combining both melee and elemental attack functions. This “revolver cylinder” design perfectly suited his sword technique.
Chu Yuan directly followed this blueprint to forge his [Emotion Vessel]. Pressing his hands together into a seal, he immediately circulated the Emotion Pill in his body.
The first step of forging a vessel: using the body as a furnace. Chu Yuan infused his own essence into the Emotion Pill. In an instant, the Emotion Pill swelled violently, and his consciousness sank deep into his Sea of Consciousness.
In the Sea of Consciousness, he saw how his adoptive parents from the past life had painstakingly nurtured him. Their life was tight, but their feelings for him were so genuine.
Clang!
He swung the first hammer of forging: the emotion of love (familial love);
Then, he watched helplessly as his adoptive parents died before his eyes protecting him, while he was powerless to do anything. Grief filled his heart.
Second hammer: the emotion of sorrow;
After that, he was subjected to the harsh teachings of the Fox Venerable. He wanted to resist but was powerless, and anger surged within him.
Third hammer: anger;
After becoming a disciple of the Heavenly Sword Sect, he was bound by the system, acting out the role of a licking dog in love with his senior sister, and from that, he understood an emotion more extreme than love.
Fourth hammer: infatuation…
With each hammer strike, a concrete manifestation of that emotion was stripped from the Sea of Consciousness and attached to the Emotion Pill. Red was anger, blue was sorrow, gold was joy, purple was desire… The interwoven colors eventually merged into a black sword embryo.
In the room, blood began to seep from Chu Yuan’s seven orifices. Forging a vessel was an extreme drain on the soul. Each hammer blow felt like a thunder talisman exploding in his brain. The Heart Protection Array operated frantically, limiting the shockwaves within his Sea of Consciousness. Even so, his body was trembling uncontrollably. But he could not stop. Success or failure hung on this one move! Whether he could forge this sword was also the key to breaking free from the Fox Venerable’s control!!!