Chapter Twelve: Acceptance

"Alright alright, I'll give you a name." The boy spoke in a lightened and relaxed tone.

The sword on the opposing side swived upwards as if it were imitating the action of nodding its head. Due to its composition it is unable to create tendrils of spiritual energy yet meaning it cannot slap the boy just yet. 

As a sword it obviously knows some of the weight of the wielder, and the emotions have already affected it since its birth. Every night the boy would go to sleep crying or training for days on end with it without stopping. Only stopping when their body reaches exhaustion.

It was pitiful.

Though it still likes how its master wields it so skillfully and beautifully. It is an art that it cannot ignore, and therefore a master skilled as its cannot be let to waste!

As an innate spirit born from the boy and the energy between Heaven and 

Earth–it cannot let this boy waste away. 

Since it was a mighty sword, its intelligence was obviously not low compared to the fleshy bodies of other creations.

Therefore the best solution to make sure that its master did not lose himself, the best option would be to give itself a name! 

A creation as beautiful as itself definitely deserves a wonderful name, though the priority of this comes below making master happy…

…

"I will give you the name of [Aurora]" and as Yanqing spoke those words, the sword flew straight out of the cave piercing the clouds at a speed nearly invisible to the mortal eye. 

"..." Yanqing slowly pondered to himself as he recalled that [Soulsteel Sync] connected the weapon and the wielder, which would eventually cause their personality to be influenced by one another.

Since Yanqing was the wielder here, it meant that his newborn [Aurora] was heavily influenced by his own personality and experiences. And as a result of knowing all of his sword's specs from his experience on Xianzhou and the Artisan Commission he was able to determine that this Sword, in particular, was weird.

Sensing the abnormal thoughts in their master's mind, [Aurora] swiftly flew to their location with the intent to bash their skull in, yet they stopped for a moment to ponder whether or not this was still part of its plan. 

As a result both sides were still while their thoughts churned with their mental gymnastics potentially winning the mental olympics' gold medal. 

After a while the two simply just went to one another as they just sat there.

Yanqing soon lit a campfire sitting on a log with [Aurora] floating on the side. They both did absolutely nothing with no thoughts on either side for the next couple of hours as Yanqing stared at the sky while [Aurora] stood by his side.

For Yanqing it was comforting to form a connection, one he hoped would last for as long as possible. 

The campfire sounds of the campfire prevailed.

*Snap*

*Crackle*

*Pop*

Paired with the noises of the wildlife, if one were to not know of his situation, others would believe that they were simply on a camping trip. 

The weather now was still in the summer months in the mortal world, but Yanqing did not feel any changes in the temperature due to his physique and [Ice Control]. Each and every time he improved he felt he was becoming less of himself. Yet, there was nothing he could do except to continue and carefully preserve every other part of himself.

The stars were still there for him, unchanging from his perspective, as he stared into the universe. 

…

It's been a day since I gave [Aurora] a name and without a foundational establishment pill, I have just been wandering around the forest. I could try to search for the herbs needed, but due to the current state of the world I doubt I could find them normally. 

Joining a sect… would not be the best option as of right now. The Seven Sects of the State of Yue do not have a complete monopoly on the Trial of Blood currently. So there's a decent chance that I could find or purchase a pill with my own ability. 

What I want right now is to attain some sort of trade skill that I could build off of for the next thousand years, as even with superior ability in combat, one cannot gain any advantage other than making enemies. 

Personally, I want to learn the art of refining to make more swords… 

My current wallet is empty considering my current cultivation, with a grand total of 83 spirit stones… On average someone with a similar cultivation should carry around a thousand. 

I also spent some time traveling back to the first battle I had with a cultivator, but the bell that I hid seemed to be taken already. 

The light-skinned man was a grand perfection Qi Condensation Cultivator who had spent the majority of his wealth on the bell-like treasure. Meaning, I actually lost the greatest bounty from that battle…

But, I do not care as the treasure was not a sword. Anything that is not a sword can be left behind~

Though the profit of selling the treasure would have been quite nice…

Aside from that I determined certain aspects. Since the art of cultivation is dependent on the base ability, it usually doesn't matter in higher stages of cultivation as the gap decreases with each level, but in the lower levels someone with a much stronger physique can dominate the battle. 

For example, I already had the strength to crush a grand perfection Qi Condensation cultivator as a 'mortal', and now as a grand perfection myself, I can probably fight above my level. 

Cultivation is like a multiplicative buff and compared to someone with a 10 in their base stat and someone with a 100, the result can be imagined. 

I wanna try my ability against a late foundational cultivator… it would be suicide for others, but me? 

I'd win. 

Probably, in the worst case scenario I could always just run. 

My [Ice Control] has slowly reached A+, but ever since then it's been frozen and stagnant in its progress. So much for a 'cheat'. 

Yet, with my current ability I could create well over a few dozen swords, 56 in total currently, which could decimate anyone in my level currently. Paired with the divine ability from the [Frozen Azure Essence Sword Art] I've been attempting to replicate a certain sword beam…

Moves like [Excalibur], [Gram], [Durandal], and several other moves like [Tsubame Gaeshi] have been attempted, but with my current skill it feels lacking. 

I've still been attempting those skills, but in a cultivation world I'm unsure of its actual ability. Swordplay is definitely amazing, but when you have people sending literal time space distortions and a planet at you, sometimes it won't work. 

In order to beat those moves, I decided the best course of action would be to…

Use more swords. Create a bigger sword. Use more swords to create an even bigger sword. 

If brute force doesn't work, it means that you aren't using enough of it.

The biggest sword I could create right now is actually 15 feet in length and 4 feet in width, which is awesome. I could barely control it right now since if I were to attempt it via a blood connection I would need roughly 3 gallons…

I feel like something is extremely wrong lately. Ever since I arrived I have not found a single demonic beast, not even one of the first or second stage. Even in an area with barely any Qi this is abnormal. 

The most likely answer would be that there is a much stronger predator here that all others are afraid of. 

And with that discovery I just made now, I'm going to run. Bye bye. 

…

As the young man's face abruptly froze, he called upon his sword before jumping on it and riding it into the sky at speeds that even a treasure specialized in speed would be jealous of. 

The two soon cut through the clouds themselves to accelerate at a pace they have not tried before. 

As the two were leaving, a middle-aged man stepped out of the void, observing the two as they left hurriedly. His azure robes fluttering in the air as he eyed the two. 

As he continued gazing upon them with eyesight far beyond the limitations of any mortal creature, he sighed.

"There were spatial disturbances near here, but that junior is too weak to cause any sort of it. He has potential to reach late Nascent Soul, but with his root it should be impossible to reach my level. " Xiang Zhili, an early Deity Transformation cultivator sighed. "If he was born in the upper realm, with his unique physique he would have eventually become a pillar of the human race." 

…

As Yanqing flew across the sky with [Aurora], he sighed a breath of relief as he was finally out of that 'zone'. The spiritual energy concentration finally began to rise once more as he traveled in the sky. 

Demonic beasts finally began appearing in the vicinity as he soon spotted two of them. The Qi radiating off of them rivaled that of a first stage demonic beast and the other… was already a third stage demonic beast.

The first grade demonic beast was similar to a leopard, although it was clear that it was much bigger than an average sized one. Yet, apart from the similar appearance, its hind legs were much more muscular, showing an obvious focus in speed and leg power.

The third grade demonic beast, rivaling that of a mid-stage foundation establishment cultivator, was a jaguar. Its black fur surrounded with red accents surrounded the body of it, creating lines that were beautiful to the eye of others. 

During this split second of determining the beast's grade, the beast had also spotted him. After two seconds or so, the beast mounted a fireball towards Yanqing exceeding the speed of a bullet. 

Yanqing's [Instinct] warned him of the attack, but he soon sent a message to [Aurora] telling it to dodge the attack while he calculates the appropriate angles.

Sensing the attack, [Aurora] noticed its master was still thinking of a plan and decisively moved out of the way, waiting for its master to take back manual control. 

Yanqing soon calculated the proper angle and length the swords had to be at to be deployed properly, and he planned to use a new move of his.

By using the divine ability of the [Frozen Azure Essence Sword Art], he sent out countless sword beams in the air before attracting more moisture in the air to create the blades needed for his move. 

The third grade beast saw the obvious danger in those attacks as it attempted to destroy them by firing more fireballs, and it dashed up trees attempting to reach Yanqing who was in the air. 

In response, [Aurora] moved the body of its master while Yanqing used his [Ice Control] to condense and manipulate the blades so it did not receive any damage.

The first grade demonic beast was clearly frightened and it attempted to take the opportunity, but it was forced to stay by the third grade demonic beast's side as it glared with ferocity. 

Seeing the gap left by the beast's movements, Yanqing prepared several swords of ice using [Ice Control] before surrounding the two beasts in a barrage of attacks. Each of the swords were quickly made and as a result were quite fragile, but that was a part of the design.

Due to the exposure of the ice to the naked air, the temperature soon began to drop.

As the two beasts were already slightly spiritual, they naturally noticed something wrong with the environment. The first beast attempted to run away before it was slammed on the ground by its companion, leaving a visible bruise on its body. 

During their minor conflict, Yanqing's eyes flickered purple-pink as the temperature fell even faster. 

The blades flashed and flew directly to their designated target, but it seemed to aim for much wider areas.

Upon contact with the ground or the target, the blade would explode, causing shrapnel made of incredibly sharp ice to pierce its target in several areas, preventing them from defending properly. This move was specifically designed by Yanqing to kill demonic beasts as most did not have enough spells or intelligence to defend against it. 

As the ice cracked and spiraled everywhere, the temperature dropped drastically as the ice around them had already started to freeze the air around them. 

The first grade demonic beast had already been slaughtered by the shrapnel. Holes punctured throughout its body, and one of them had hit its eye, leaving a gruesome scene as it was unable to make any noise before its uneventful demise.

The third grade demonic beast was just slightly better than its companion as its body was pierced several times, with blood leaking out from several parts of its body. Since Yanqing was not a biologist he was unable to determine which organs it had hit, but it seemed to have avoided all the fatal areas through sheer luck and instinct.

Yet, its fate was already decided. Crystal-like ice soon froze over, causing the wound of the beast to expand. The blood of the beast soon froze over as well while the beast yelped in complete agony. 

All of this happened in less than 40 seconds.

Its suffering soon ended in a few minutes as it took its last breath while eyeing Yanqing with a look of hatred. 

Yanqing stood silently in the air with [Aurora] observing the effects of his new move, ignoring the cruelty it had brought. He had already fought several battles in this new world and on Loufu itself. This was a casual matter to him now, unlike when he came with amnesia. 

While analyzing his decisions and moves in battle, he decided to take the bodies of the two beasts for sale. Any part of a demonic beast is a treasure, and since they were extremely rare in Tiannan, they were a luxury product that had significant practical uses. 

The demonic core that was extracted from the body of the third grade demonic beast was quite a sight to behold as it seemed to be on the urge of breaking into the fourth grade. It was unfortunate for it to have met its end by Yanqing as within 5 years it could have broken through to the next stage. 

While seeing the two demonic cores extracted from the beasts, his eyes lit up as he soon remembered something from the book of "The Record of a Mortal's Journey to Immortality". 

–Demonic beast cores could be used to create pills!

–The bones of this beast could be made into a cool sword too!

…

New Move:

[Arctic Shatter]: A move created by generating dozens of sharp ice blades with maximum focus on its sharpness. This process is simplified with the divine ability from [Frozen Azure Essence Sword Art] and [Ice Control]. 

Its durability is manually lowered in certain areas, and with help from the structure of the Six-Phase Ice, it is able to explode into several flying projectiles. 

The main objective and purpose of this move is to kill demonic beasts or be used in a scenario in which AOE is preferred over a single target. 

It can also be used to lower the temperature in the air in order to create the perfect environment with Yanqing.