Mortal: Fifteenth Realm Sword Cultivator

Everything in the world has a pattern to follow, and everyone's thoughts and ideas have a traceable origin.

Zhuang Huayi looked at the pill Lu Jianghe handed her without hesitation. She leaned forward, bent down, and reached out to take the emerald green pill.

However, her goal was not merely the elixir.

Just as they were about to touch, that fair, delicate hand, along with Lu Jianghe's fingertips and the emerald green pill, gently grasped it.

After a brief pause, it was immediately released.

The woman sat down again, her posture returning to its usual aloofness, as if the inappropriate interaction between the man and woman had never occurred.

"I will personally oversee the teleportation array. In the meantime, if Fellow Daoist Lu has any needs while at White Wall Mountain, just give the order to your servants."

Her voice was calm and even, revealing no emotion, but her gaze never left the pill in her hand, as if she were assessing its authenticity and potency.

The voice just fell.

A deathly silence descended, just as the moonlight has been silent since ancient times.

One dared not look up, while the other had a strange expression.

Zhuang Huayi couldn't bear it any longer. She looked up at the other person staring at her, a hint of unease flashing across her face. She asked coldly, "Is there something on my face that Fellow Daoist Lu is staring at?"

Lu Jianghe said calmly, "I just feel that Fellow Daoist Zhuang's words and actions are somewhat inconsistent."

Zhuang Huayi replied coldly, "If you have nothing else to say, please make yourself at home."

Lu Jianghe said no more, got up and left.

He walked with ease, pausing slightly as he passed through the hanging beaded curtain.

Without turning his head, he merely glanced out of the corner of his eye, his gaze landing on an inconspicuous corner of the waterside pavilion.

That one glance made Zhuang Huayi's heart tighten instantly; she could almost hear her own heartbeat quicken.

Lu Jianghe immediately withdrew his gaze, as if it had just been a casual glance, and turned to leave without lingering.

Much later.

Zhuang Huayi activated the protective array of the waterside pavilion itself.

An invisible curtain of light instantly enveloped the waterside pavilion.

However, this still seemed insufficient to quell the turmoil within her.

With a light lift of her jade-like fingers, she successively set up three or four more layers of complex soundproofing and barrier light shields, layer upon layer, completely isolating this cliffside waterside pavilion from the outside world.

After doing all this, she slowly breathed a sigh of relief, as if trying to completely eliminate the strange feeling brought about by the brief contact just now.

His gaze fell on the emerald green, warm "White Bone Regenerating Flesh" pill in his palm, and his eyes darkened.

Just then, a figure quietly stepped out from the quiet room connected to the waterside pavilion; it was none other than her sword-bearing maid, Qi Yu.

Qi Yu held a faintly glowing image-recording bead in his hand, his expression a mixture of complexity and worry.

"lady……"

Qi Yu hesitated before respectfully presenting the image pearl.

"It was all recorded just now."

Zhuang Huayi took the image-recording bead, and with a slight release of spiritual energy from her fingertips, light and shadow flowed within the bead, clearly reflecting the image of her and Lu Jianghe intertwined.

She looked on expressionlessly.

Qi Yu couldn't help but say, "Just now, a divine sense swept over me; the other party must have sensed my presence."

Zhuang Huayi's voice was indifferent, "The moment he stepped into this place, his divine sense had already taken in the entire area. To avoid alerting him, I had you hide in the side room. Although he knew you were there, he never expected that your presence was only to cover up the recording bead."

Previously, the other party had remained unmoved by her verbal probing, and she thought that the other party was too gentle and kind, unlike a late-stage Nascent Soul cultivator.

That final, fleeting glance allowed her to truly feel the cold, sharp edge unique to sword cultivators emanating from the other person.

Only then did she realize that the other party was a sword cultivator.

Sword cultivators, however, are never gentle and good-tempered.

Just like herself, although the "Luanfeng Sword Manual" she mainly cultivated had "Luanfeng" in its name, its essence was also swordsmanship and killing.

If it weren't for numerous concerns, and if it weren't for the realization that he couldn't withstand more than a few rounds from the Six Paths Demon...

Isn't Zhuang Huayi also a person who would rather break than bend?

If pushed to the brink, she might just pull the other party into a desperate fight!

However, the thought was fleeting.

Such a battle of egos is meaningless in the grand scheme of things.

The cultivator surnamed Lu before us...

Zhuang Huayi's mind raced.

He may not be able to defeat that old demon Liudao.

But at the very least, he should be someone who can fight.

Zhuang Huayi's gaze calmed down, as if she had made up her mind.

If only... if only she could have a little more time.

Once she advances further in the "Phoenix Sword Technique" and reaches the mid-Nascent Soul stage, she will no longer feel helpless and powerless in the face of the Six Paths Old Demon's coercion, as she does today.

Zhuang Huayi tossed the photo-remembering bead to Qi Yu.

"Once we remove the part about the woman surnamed Wen from their statement, let's proceed according to plan."

After carefully putting away the image-recording bead, Qi Yu finally voiced the worries that had been building up over the past few days:

"Madam, there is something that has been troubling me. If the other side finds out that we were the ones who secretly spread the information, wouldn't we have offended another late-stage Nascent Soul cultivator for nothing? At that time, our White Jade Mountain will be caught between these two, and our situation will be very difficult..."

Upon hearing this, Zhuang Huayi let out a cold sneer: "Bai Bishan is already at the mercy of others, like fish on a chopping board. How much worse can things get? If we really anger him, it would be quick to strike him down with a sword, saving me from this endless torment."

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

Baibi Mountain is thousands of miles away.

Holy Demon Island.

Deep underground, inside a dark, circular cave.

A young man wearing a tall crown is sitting cross-legged.

He was handsome and possessed an air of nobility and royalty.

Six thick, inky black wisps swirled around him, causing his wide robe sleeves to flutter and his black hair to fly wildly.

As time went on, the faint phantom images of demonic statues began to appear within the six wisps of black mist.

The young man clasped his hands together, and his body rippled with a chilling dark purple spiritual energy.

As he formed a strange hand seal, two of the six thick black clouds surrounding him suddenly surged violently, and the illusory demonic images within them rapidly solidified.

After he retracted the other four wisps of black energy into his body, the two solidified demonic shadows had completely manifested behind him.

It was a figure with huge, ferocious horns on its head, a menacing face, and a strange skull staff in its hand.

The other figure wields a massive, dark red scythe wreathed in ominous red and black energy, radiating a chilling aura of death.

The two illusory demonic statues, fierce and terrifying, caused the demonic energy within the entire cave to surge, shaking the rock strata above and sending dust and stone fragments falling in a flurry.

After the two demonic figures behind him solidified completely, the young man slowly opened his eyes.

A deep, pleasant laugh welled up from his throat, turning into an uncontrollable soft chuckle, which then evolved into a hearty laugh.

"Hehe, hahaha!"

Not only did he successfully refine two demonic shadows of the sixth-level True Demonic Art, but his own cultivation level also jumped from the early stage of Core Formation to the middle stage.

He could clearly feel that the true energy within his body was several times more powerful than when he first entered the Core Formation stage.

The two demonic figures floating behind them, the horned demon exuding a chilling aura and the scythe demon shrouded in deathly intent, though still phantoms, seemed to possess their own sentience and could respond to their own will at any time.

The young man suppressed his wild laughter, his eyes gleaming even brighter, like two clusters of deep, demonic flames.

The two illusory figures were so helpful...

Feel the mysterious connection between the demonic power and the illusory image as it is activated.

Next, we will continue to refine and solidify these two illusory figures, and then condense the third, the fourth... until all six appear together. The Nascent Soul stage will not be far away!

Then, he slowly stood up, and with a wave of his hand, the two hideous demonic phantoms silently dissipated, transforming back into pure demonic energy, which, like weary birds returning to their nests, seeped into his body in wisps.

He sighed softly, his neck twitched slightly, and his bones cracked softly. A nonchalant indifference that seemed to look down on everything else was naturally revealed in his eyes.

With a slight thought, the heavy stone door opened with a click.

A pretty girl dressed in black, carrying a sword, entered the cave.

Seeing that the young man had emerged from seclusion, she immediately clasped her hands together and bowed deeply, her posture extremely respectful: "Congratulations on your emergence from seclusion, Master. Your cultivation has improved once again."

The young man flicked his sleeve, put one hand behind his back, and fixed his gaze on the girl. "How many days did this seclusion take?"

The girl with the sword on her back remained bowed, and said clearly, "Your seclusion this time lasted three years."

The young man transformed into a streak of purple light and appeared behind the black-clad maid in the blink of an eye.

"It's acceptable, as expected."

He walked out without stopping, his voice calm.

"Has anything changed recently, either at sea or inland?"

Being trapped in this dark and sunless underground for so long, and then seeing the light of day again, is always a feeling that broadens one's mind and brings comfort to one's body and soul.

The maid in black immediately turned around and followed closely behind, speaking clearly, though not very fast.

"Reporting to Master, in recent days, our Demonic Path, the Righteous Path, and forces outside the Star Palace have officially formed the 'Reverse Star Alliance.' During this time, the Extreme Yin Island probed and destroyed the barrier between the inner and outer seas. Now the Star Palace is in a state of chaos, busy repairing everything and unable to attend to both. In addition, there is another matter..."

The young man didn't stop walking, nor did he even glance to the side; he simply hummed in response.

"Why don't you continue?"

The woman carrying the sword seemed to be carefully choosing her words, and finally said slowly, "There seems to be something strange about White Wall Mountain."

The young man raised an eyebrow almost imperceptibly. "Oh, Zhuang Huayi?"

Before he went into seclusion.

I once accompanied my master to a council meeting with many Nascent Soul cultivators.

That meeting was the precursor to the formation of the "Reverse Star Alliance".

His master took him along so that he could meet those old monsters who had been famous for a long time and occupied their own territory.

Zhuang Huayi from Baibishan was among them at that time.

The woman indeed possessed an innate aloofness and a sense of detachment that surrounded her.

Coupled with her stunning appearance, she was indeed very eye-catching among those cunning and scheming Nascent Soul cultivators.

Another Nascent Soul cultivator, which adds to the overall appeal.

He did have some thoughts about it, but when he caught a glimpse of his master's gaze at the woman, which clearly showed that his master had designs on her, his heart instantly calmed down.

Before the woman carrying the sword could speak, the young man chuckled softly:

"It seems that I, Wen Tianren, am going to have a master's wife. Zhuang Huayi is not a disgrace to my master."