Chapter 1: Ling Qingyan's Plan

  Soft morning light shines down, a young man opens the door and walks out slowly.

  In the quiet courtyard, only the gentle breeze rustling through the grass and the sound of butterflies dancing remained constant. The young man in purple robes suddenly took a few steps forward, and in an instant he had already exited the courtyard gate, heading left for about twenty meters until he arrived at a vast expanse of lawn.

  On the lawn, the young man's long gown was windless and automatically fluttering, elegant beyond compare.

  Whoosh!

  At the moment when the young man's left hand swung forward, a dark long sword wrapped in a faint bloody aura suddenly appeared, and as his left hand swung out, it brought up a slight sword hum, attracting attention.

  "The Long Sword of the Underworld has indeed changed..."

  The young man in purple robes, Ling Qingyan, looked at the dark long sword that had already been withdrawn from his hand, and a hint of puzzlement flashed across his eyes.

  Since the last time he executed the Xing Tai event, Ling Qingyan had been in a low profile for nearly half a month. The memories that were suddenly dug up made his heart fluctuate and it was difficult to calm down for a long time. During that period of time, even his usual behavior was quite inappropriate, let alone practicing sword skills and merging spiritual consciousness and innate totems.

  "This time," Ling Qingyan's eyes flashed, "under the emotional turmoil, I didn't faint, which is hard to imagine in the past. Could it be because I merged my spiritual consciousness with the Blood Python Totem by about 70%? It should be, otherwise it wouldn't be so strange. This is good too, at least the 'chronic illness' of the past decade or so has been cured."

  Between the ages of fifteen and eighteen, nothing unusual happened. Because during those three years, all his thoughts were almost focused on practicing "Tianjian Jiushi", he had no time to think about anything else, and after reading the classics at night, he went to bed early and didn't have the energy to think about anything else.

  He was more emotional than the last time he fainted at home, and even though he hadn't fainted this time, his mind wandered uncontrollably. As the saying goes, "something unusual must have a reason", and Ling Qingyan couldn't help but think deeply about it.

  It's clear now, it's understood now, so Ling Qingyan won't think about this issue anymore, after all, this is also a good thing.

  He refocused his gaze on the Netherworld Longsword still emanating a bloody aura in his hand, and Ling Qingwan couldn't help but recall, "This Netherworld Longsword, during that battle with Precept Law Elder Wen Tianhe, I was too tense to notice. Now that I think about it, it seems that at that time, the Netherworld Longsword in my hand had already undergone a change..."

  "Moreover, logically speaking, that Wen Tianhe's sword which contained a thick purple true energy, even if my true energy containing Yumeng longsword could withstand it, my hand shouldn't have just been tiger-mouthed and cracked, I should have definitely been injured to the tendons and bones! Now thinking about it, it must be that the blood slaughter aura on the Yumeng longsword neutralized most of the true energy on Wen Tianhe's sword," Ling Qingyan thought to himself, nodding his head more and more as he felt it was correct.

  Ling Qingyan now also knows that, although he doesn't know why, but one thing is certain, which is that the blood evil spirit of the Blood Python Totem and the Long Sword of Youming have reached a certain harmony. Moreover, this harmony has only benefits and no drawbacks for Ling Qingyan!

  "But, I really didn't expect it," Ling Qingyan said with a smile, shaking his head as he looked at the Yumeng Long Sword in his hand. "If Hou Jin hadn't mentioned it to me afterwards, I wouldn't have known that the long sword used by Wen Tianhe was actually one of the divine artifacts of the Tiangong Sect, an ancient sword passed down for thousands of years!"

  "It's just this ancient sword, yet it was broken on my own Netherworld Longsword! My elder brother's cultivation has reached what level? The material of this Netherworld Longsword is clearly not ordinary. Just by looking at how it can withstand the powerful purple true energy contained within the Qingfeng Sword without leaving any marks, one can see its extraordinary nature. And yet, such a hard and powerful material was transformed from an unformed sword to a formed sword in just half an hour by my elder brother's scorching flames..."

  Ling Qingyan couldn't help but sigh, "The scorching flames in Big Brother's hand, what exactly are they? Could it be a special ability unique to top-level warriors? And that fiery red space he was in, must have been caused by him too. I didn't think much of it before. It seems my Big Brother is absolutely not an ordinary top-level warrior, even the likes of Guan Lao Ge would have to show respect."

  The more he felt the extraordinary nature of the Long Sword in his hand, the more curious Ling Qingyan became about his elder brother Tuoba Xiu.

  Big Brother's cultivation, what degree has it reached?

  "Could it be," Ling Qingyan suddenly seemed to have thought of something, "could it be because Big Brother possesses the Heavenly Gift Totem? Ah! It should be, I can clearly feel the scorching aura emanating from Big Brother's 'Scorching Totem' that he has been deliberately suppressing!"

  "Talent Totem," Ling Qingyan's eyes lit up, her face slightly flushed with excitement. "I didn't expect the Talent Totem's abilities to be so powerful! My Blood Python Totem has already merged with my spiritual consciousness by about 70%, and once it's fully merged, that means I'll also be able to control the abilities possessed by the Talent Totem!"

  Looking forward! Exciting!

  A strange emotion, like a strong and resilient plant breaking through the earth, completely filled Ling Qingyan's body and mind.

  Ling Qingyan, in a great mood, stood on the lawn, practicing the eighth move of the Tianjian Jiushi as usual... Although he didn't feel any progress for an entire morning, his pleasant mood made him not feel the frustration he usually did, and he continued to practice until noon before calmly returning to his courtyard.

  ………

  "It's been three years and five months since I arrived at Tianjian Sect. In another half year, I'll be nineteen..."

  Ling Qingyan, who had eaten and drunk his fill, held a long, thin blade of grass in his mouth, with both hands clasped behind his head, lazily lying on the lawn gazing up at the blue sky, the scorching sunlight also made his eyes narrow slightly.

  "It's been over three years since I left home, I wonder how things are back there now... And my father, mother, Fourth Uncle and the elders, their bodies should all be fine, right?" Ling Qingyan thought to this point, a hint of nostalgia flashed across his handsome face. "In this life, even ordinary people almost all cultivate some unconventional secret techniques, which has actually made the physical health of people in this life much better, with minor illnesses and pains being extremely rare."

  "It's been over three years since I've returned home, and I don't know how my mother is doing now," Ling Qingyan thought of his mother and suddenly sat up straight, casually throwing the blade of grass in his mouth to one side. "When I left, Mother was already reluctant to part with me, her face pale and haggard. After these three years have passed, she must be even more worried about me..."

  "Whatever!"

  "In two more days, I will go to the Sect Master to request to leave the mountain! It's been over three years... In these three years, I've almost always been practicing the Tianjian Ninth Style. This eighth style, in particular, has made no progress at all for several months now. It seems like I've hit a bottleneck. Continuing to stay in the Tianjian Sect is also useless. Perhaps going out to explore the Chongwu Continent will allow me to make a breakthrough and further accelerate the fusion of my spiritual consciousness and the Blood Python Totem."

  "And," Ling Qingyan seemed to have thought of something, muttering to himself, "and in this way, it's also possible to fulfill the promise with Big Brother within an even shorter period of time, and see him! Clear up all sorts of doubts I've had for these three years!"

  "It seems that the sect has a rule, inner disciples, unless the sect master grants permission, only those who have reached the level of Qingji Wuzhe can actively request to go down the mountain!" Ling Qingyan's heart moved, and his right hand also slowly stretched out.

  In the midst of his turbulent thoughts, a faint cyan light suddenly rose from Ling Qing's right hand.

  Blue rank middle tier!