Book 9: Chapter 37: Poison Named Quicksand

In order to let An Keyi have a more direct observation, Lin Xi reached out his hand, letting his soul force flow out from his palm and fingers. Faint yellow strand-like radiance flickered about from his fingers.

“You still haven’t reached mid stage Soul Master mid level… there is no way your soul force and perception can compare to a State Master.” An Keyi looked at Lin Xi, saying this with a slight shake of her head.

Lin Xi nodded. “There is no way it can compare.”

An Keyi then lowered her head and thought for a bit. She raised her head, as if she understood a key issue, recovering her normally calm appearance. “Let me take a look at your sword.”

Lin Xi stared blankly. He lowered the chest on his back. “Teacher… could it be that it has something to do with this soul weapon longsword?”

An Keyi didn’t immediately reply. Only when she saw Lin Xi remove that light green exquisite longsword did she seriously nod her head, calmly saying, “I’ve never seen this type of sword before… If it doesn’t have to do with a cultivator’s body, then it obviously has to be this sword.”

“It is just because of this sword?” Lin Xi said with a bit of disappointment.

An Keyi gave Lin Xi a blank bookworm look, asking probingly, “If it doesn’t have to do with the sword, where do you think the issue lies?”

Lin Xi was a bit embarrassed as he said, “It’s because I have some unique cultivation talents, my soul force is different from normal people’s.”

An Keyi shook her head, a bit unable to understand Lin Xi’s thinking. “A cultivator’s unique soul force… this refers to the soul force being naturally a bit more condensed than that of others, dissipating slower, or the power being a bit greater. Your soul force doesn’t scatter slower than others, nor is the power naturally stronger, so how is it special?”

Lin Xi was even more embarrassed and speechless, only able to mutter to himself, consoling himself, thinking that for better or for worse, I have ‘two bowls’.

An Keyi didn’t notice Lin Xi’s awkwardness. She received Lin Xi’s sword, carefully examining it as if she was reading a book.

Suddenly, this longsword in her hands released sword radiance.

Lin Xi, Gao Yanan and the others all knew she was pouring her own soul force inside. However, Lin Xi who already had this sword for a long time suddenly couldn’t help but widen his eyes.

Under the pouring of An Keyi’s soul force, not only was there a layer of silver radiance that continuously flowed about the sword’s surface, those fine white transparent runes on the sword’s surface also released strands of pure white faint radiance, as if forming streaks of white slender and long wings, looking extremely pure and holy. Moreover, the wind flow in this room also suddenly seemed to have become a bit greater.

“Where did you get this sword from?”

An Keyi calmly looked at Lin Xi while asking this.

“I found it in a battlefield site outside Great Desolate Swamp’s Magnetic Swamp.” Lin Xi already understood that his current cultivation wasn’t enough to activate all of this flying sword’s power and some of its special features. Moreover, he also understood that the grade of this sword might not be something Daybreak’s series of soul weapons could compare to. His heart began to beat a bit faster, unable to help but ask a useless question that he already knew the answer to. “Does even teacher not know what kind of soul weapon flying sword this is?”

“Battlefield site?” An Keyi thought for a bit. She still looked calmly at Lin Xi, moreover still using a bookish tone to ask, “Did you report that place to the higher ups?”

Lin Xi was a bit confused as to why An Keyi asked this. He nodded and said, “I did.”

“Then the academy will investigate it.” An Keyi was also used to chatting with Lin Xi, also able to tell what Lin Xi was asking, directly responding in this way. Then, she calmly said, “I don’t know where this weapon came from and I also don’t know if Vice Principal Xia and the others have seen it before or not… However, I have never seen a soul weapon more suited for cultivating a flying sword.”

The amount of information An Keyi’s words carried was extremely great. The academy will look into it meant that An Keyi didn’t know why that battlefield took form either, and ‘the most suitable soul weapon for cultivating a flying sword’, these words, if it was said by anyone else, it might not be all that shocking, but it was said by An Keyi, a Green Luan Academy professor.

“It wasn’t my soul force being special… but rather this sword that was special.” Lin Xi couldn’t help but quietly say this to himself.

“Correct.” An Keyi returned this longsword that gave off a great flowing feeling to Lin Xi, “However, for you to develop sword sense means that you are naturally suited to cultivating a flying sword. Within ten State Masters, only two or three have sword sense, and only then can they become a sword controlling Sacred Expert once they reach that level… if you can reach Sacred Expert level, you will definitely be able to use a flying sword.”

Ever since that instance of cultivation and that unique perception of the Daybreak Longsword, Lin Xi never doubted that he would be able to cultivate that flying sword he was so fond of one day. A flying sword flying in the air, just what kind of free feeling was this? That was why he was always sure that he could do it, so he didn’t feel too much joy over An Keyi’s words, instead becoming a bit nervous. With a bit of an expectant and conflicted tone, he asked, “Then because this sword is special, and since I even have sword sense right now… will I be able to control a flying sword earlier than others?”

An Keyi became a bit sluggish. When she was seriously pondering some matters that were more troublesome for her, her entire figure would seem a bit slower.

“Even though there has never been an instance of this happening before, it should be possible.” Only after remaining sluggish for a long time, did An Keyi look at Lin Xi, replying with a bookish tone, “According to the customs of cultivators, as long as one can reach a level where soul force can leave the body and not disappear, then they have reached Sacred Expert level… However, because of the differences in cultivation methods, the age in which one breaks through into Sacred Expert level is different as well… the body’s condition being different, the endurance of soul force surging different, even sicknesses, past cultivation and hidden injuries from past battles that are hard to completely recover from, at that level, they can make one’s soul force power and perception develop some flaws.”

“You should also be able to understand this. The higher one’s cultivation becomes, the more the differences in power, for normal people, will seem even more clear. That is why even if one is a merely a State Master, some of them can pour their soul force into soul weapons more than a hundred steps from themselves… some sword controlling Sacred Experts can control a flying sword over a hundred steps, while some sword controlling Sacred Experts can only control it within a hundred steps.”

An Keyi calmly and slowly said, “With your cultivation, as long as your soul force separates from your body, it will naturally scatter. However, above the Soul Master level, below the Sacred Expert level… as long as you continuously release soul force, you can at least send soul force a set distance from your body like a fountain… only, the consumption of soul force will definitely be great, and if you want the flying sword to truly move, your soul force also needs to be cultivated to a certain degree of strength.”

An Keyi’s words were even more beautiful than the stringed instruments that sounded from within Sparrow Lord City. He took a deep breath, calming his own agitated emotions a bit and then gave a slight bow of respect. “Teacher, please teach me the sword controlling method.”

Lin Xi clearly understood that there was no way he could control a sword right now, but he also understood the reasoning behind An Keyi’s words. He already knew about it clearly from some cultivation ancient books and records, knowing that to go from sword sense to truly moving the sword, it wasn’t that far off of a process.

As for his current cultivation and soul force power, whether or not he could move the sword, how much power it would have and if he could use it in a battle, he didn’t consider it at all. What he was thinking about was that after the sword moved, how was he supposed to pour in soul force, how to make the flying sword move according to his will. There were definitely many methods and techniques involved, the cultivation records also mentioned that the various great academies had quite a few sword controlling scriptures for different cultivator natures and flying sword characteristics. There were some sword scriptures that specially taught a cultivator how to move the flying sword more nimbly, while some were more explosive and violent in style, then there were also some that moved in a swift and sly manner.

An Keyi could sense Lin Xi’s intentions. She didn’t say that Lin Xi was biting off more than he could chew, instead shaking her head, a bit apologetic as she said, “I don’t know any sword controlling techniques… I have never read those texts.”

Lin Xi immediately felt a bit embarrassed. The other party was a Medicine Department professor, so she obviously spent most of her time on the research of medicinal theory, yet he viewed her as all knowing.

“There is no rush.” An Keyi calmly said these words.

“Right.” Lin Xi nodded, knowing that there truly was no rush. It was because there was no lack of people who could teach sword control in Green Luan Academy, and this time around, they were going to bring back Internal Study Department’s Gu Xinyin, rumored to be one of Yunqin’s most formidable sword controlling Sacred Experts.

“Teacher, what did your respected self need to tell us?” After asking about this crucial cultivation issue, Lin Xi recalled that An Keyi definitely had something to tell them after telling them all to enter the room. When he thought about how he already wasted so much time, he was a bit apologetic.

“We have already been targeted by Wenren Cangyue’s people.”

An Keyi nodded. “They will likely make a move soon… However, I have never left the academy before, so they do not know me… when you all are outside, remember not to call me teacher.”

Even though An Keyi’s tone was calm, as if she was reading, Lin Xi, Gao Yanan and the others were immediately shocked when they heard this.

“I smelled a bit of Sand Scorpion Venom’s smell in the city.”

Apart from her voice being a bit harder for normal people to adapt to, as well as the amount of information stored within every sentence being tremendous, often treating real matters the same as recounting some stories from records, piling it all together and making it hard for others to immediately digest everything, An Keyi was definitely the academy teacher who had the most patience, someone who explained things in the most detail.

She didn’t stop for a long time, continuing with her customary tone, speaking in a manner that was neither too fast nor too slow, “Apart from our Green Luan Academy’s Medicine Department, there are also some cultivators and medicine masters in Yunqin who have some accomplishments in medicinal theory… Wenren Cangyue’s troops have a cultivator named Gongsun Quan, he can also prepare extremely shocking medicines… Even so, powerful poisons that cultivators cannot use soul force to suppress or eliminate usually have extremely precious ingredients, the amount that can be prepared is very small, and they also don’t last for long when smeared on weapons or mixed into food. However, the ‘Tarsus Bone’ Gongsun Quan prepares from Sand Scorpion Venom, Chaste Sand Venom, Shadow Sting Venom, and other ingredients can exist for a long time even in water, the amount of this poison he can prepare is not small either… however, his most formidable poison is ‘Quicksand’, made from the toxins found in a type of sandworm excrement within Sanskrit Passage, almost lacking any odor. Most cultivators cannot distinguish it at all, upon infection, the entire body will start to fester and ulcerate, previously, not even the academy had an antidote to this type of poison… this type of ‘Quicksand’, even though it is extremely precious, not even he has much of it on hand, but the medicinal effects are extremely fierce. If one isn’t careful and ingests it, if I am not nearby, there would be no chance of rescue either… that is why when you are outside the troop, do not eat anything.”

Lin Xi was the one most used to An Keyi’s way of speaking, so he immediately sensed all of the implications in her words. He quickly frowned and quietly asked, “Your respected self’s intentions are that this Gongsun Quan might even already be in the city?”

Right now, Gao Yanan recalled those carps in the well, immediately reacting a bit. “Teacher has already developed the antidote to this Quicksand poison?”

“Correct.” An Keyi nodded towards Lin Xi and Gao Yanan. “The reason why Vice Principal Xia had me come is precisely to have me deal with Gongsun Quan. I have always been pursuing him and Wenren Cangyuan’s people. I have already refined the antidote, but the amount is extremely little… less than how much poison he has.”

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