Chapter 32: Journey by Sword
In front of the main gate of Huanxue Villa.
Rong Xie entrusted the affairs of the villa to the three youngsters, repeatedly instructing them to guard the gate well. If there was anything they couldn’t solve, they were to go to the Mountain Protection Array to find the guards and have them contact Elder Yun Feng.
“Brother Rong, don’t worry, we got it!” Shen Yan said.
Long Shaoye and Fang Renji nodded along.
“Then we’re off. We’ll be back in the last third of the month,” Rong Xie said.
“Safe travels!” “Have fun!”
The three youngsters wished them well with faces full of envy.
Rong Xie forced a smile. If he could, he would truly love to switch places with them—let them go to Shengjing while he stayed home.
When he woke up this morning, Rong Xie had already regretted it. But Shen Bingsi seemed incredibly enthusiastic, talking about the travel itinerary while still lying in bed. It was too late for Rong Xie to back out.
In truth, the accommodation at the Prosperous World Pavilion was quite good, no worse than Huanxue Villa. The restaurants and taverns of Shengjing gathered famous chefs from all over the world, offering different delicacies every day.
The only thing Rong Xie resisted… was probably the mode of transport.
Rong Xie slowly made his way to the lakeside, where Shen Bingsi had been waiting for a while.
“Ready?” Shen Bingsi wasn’t in a hurry at all. He stood with his hands behind his back, admiring the lake water, even humming a little tune he must have heard somewhere.
“Mn…” Rong Xie responded heavily.
“Good!”
Shen Bingsi extended his hand toward the sky. A burst of golden light flashed, and a pure gold flying sword appeared in mid-air.
That’s right. Shen Bingsi’s so-called “flying magical artifact” was not a Skyship, nor a Cloud-Soaring Carriage, but—a flying sword.
The travel style of a sword cultivator was just that unpretentious.
“Do we… really have to ride this?” Rong Xie’s scalp went numb.
“Don’t worry, I’ve modified it,” Shen Bingsi said. He turned his palm to the side, and the golden light surged. The Shengxie Sword grew from a foot long to over ten feet long, a massive, glittering block of gold floating in the air like a small golden boat.
If this entire block of gold were given to Rong Xie, he would be over the moon.
But right now, he had to sit on it, fly over high mountains and valleys, pass through the depths of cloud-covered peaks, and endure at least four hours of low temperatures and strong winds to reach Shengjing, eight hundred miles away.
If you asked how Rong Xie knew this, it was because he had ridden it before. His “long-distance flight phobia” was acquired from those few trips to Shengjing to coordinate construction materials.
“I don’t…” Rong Xie subconsciously wanted to refuse.
But then the golden light dissipated, revealing a golden scabbard. The surface of the scabbard featured gorgeous dragon patterns, and at the end was a jade buckle. As the scabbard expanded, the jade buckle enlarged with it, looking just like a jade bench with a backrest.
“Eh?” Surprised, Rong Xie walked forward and touched the enlarged jade buckle. It felt cool and comfortable to the touch. He couldn’t imagine how comfortable it would be to lie on it during summer.
“Modified. This time there’s a place to sit.” Shen Bingsi patted the edge of the scabbard, and it automatically lowered until it was at a height Rong Xie could step onto.
“That’s great!” Rong Xie breathed a massive sigh of relief.
He still remembered the last time he sat directly on the sword blade. There was nothing shielding him from the high altitude on either side, and the blade was high in the middle and low on the sides. There was nowhere to grip, and a moment of inattention felt like he would slide right off.
Although Shen Bingsi wouldn’t actually let him slide off, visually, it was still terrifying.
This was much better. He didn’t have to sit on the blade; there was a scabbard with a chair to sit on. It looked much more reassuring.
Rong Xie held onto the jade buckle and stepped onto the scabbard, sitting down against a corner of the buckle. The armrests were also made of jade and were very comfortable to lean on.
Shen Bingsi leaped up after him. He didn’t sit but stood at the front of the scabbard to control the takeoff.
Strands of golden light shot out simultaneously from the scabbard and Shen Bingsi, blending in the air. The sword body vibrated slightly and rose steadily from the ground. It rose over the lake surface, over the mountainside. Holding onto the jade, Rong Xie watched Huanxue Villa turn into a small grid. The gray tiles were the borders of the grid, and the flowers and courtyards were the core, looking like the paper models architects made before building palaces—small and exquisite. The three servant boys on the steps in front of the gate shrank to tiny dots; he could only vaguely tell they were looking up in this direction.
“Accelerating.”
Shen Bingsi, with his back to Rong Xie, turned his head slightly to warn him.
Rong Xie had already prepared an Immobilization Talisman, firmly fixing himself to the jade seat.
In an instant, he felt the plane beneath his feet tilt to the side, and the high sky beneath the sword was fully revealed. Rong Xie sucked in a cold breath. Even with the Immobilization Talisman in effect, his arms tightly hugged the upright side of the jade buckle. Even so, he felt a strong sense of fear and dizziness.
The front of the scabbard cut into the clouds. The field of vision was suddenly shrouded in a thick layer of white mist. Tiny ice particles hit his face and body, making crisp crackling sounds.
The temperature dropped sharply, but Rong Xie didn’t feel cold. He had a Warming Talisman tucked in his chest, used alongside the Immobilization Talisman earlier. He was fully prepared.
Gradually, the backward-pulling pressure vanished, and the flight smoothed out.
Wind roared in his ears, but aside from that, there was nothing. Rong Xie felt a bright light illuminating his vision through his eyelids, so he opened his tightly shut eyes a slit and saw a patch of pure blue.
The blue of the high altitude was deep and cold, so pure it was intoxicating.
Rong Xie opened his eyes wide, greedily gazing at the sky—a vast, vast sky stretching from overhead all the way to beneath his feet. The bright sunlight pierced through the clouds, illuminating everything with crystalline clarity.
The shadow of the flying sword projected onto the clouds looked like a small worm.
Shen Bingsi’s voice came from the front:
“Do you want to stand up and try?”
Rong Xie snapped back to reality and looked forward. Shen Bingsi was standing in the middle of the scabbard without any talisman support, letting the fierce wind blow his robes and hair tips. His ponytail and black ribbon fluttered wildly in the air. He turned his head and extended a hand to Rong Xie.
The light shone from the front, so Rong Xie couldn’t see his expression clearly, but that vigorous silhouette was permanently etched into his vision.
So cool…
Rong Xie had once studied Swordsmanship like other inner sect disciples and had moments lying on the communal bunk hugging a wooden sword, imagining himself riding a sword across the five continents and seven seas.
Now, that feeling had returned.
Rong Xie felt a surging power in his chest, urging him to stand up! To bravely walk toward his close friend!
However, the moment he stood up and left the protected range of the jade buckle, Rong Xie’s legs went weak again.
Rong Xie, are you crazy? This is thousands of feet in the air!
Rong Xie kept glancing at the edge of the scabbard out of the corner of his eye.
Moving his legs became incredibly difficult.
…
“Come on.” Shen Bingsi beckoned to Rong Xie.
“I… I can’t.” Rong Xie’s legs trembled, and he began to look back for something to hold onto. He regretted it; he wanted to sit back on his warm, comfortable jade bench.
“Don’t you want to learn sword riding? This is what it feels like,” Shen Bingsi laughed. “Come here, I’ll catch you.”
“My… my legs won’t move.” Rong Xie felt like a tottering old man, terrified of falling to his death in the middle of the road, only able to shuffle.
But Shen Bingsi stood there like a block of wood, neither near nor far, refusing to move a single step, insisting on waiting for him to walk over.
Rong Xie gritted his teeth and suddenly jumped forward a step. In the next moment, his hand was wrapped in a steady, powerful palm.
Rong Xie fell into Shen Bingsi’s arms, one hand tightly gripping his palm, the other holding onto his belt. According to Shen Bingsi’s later description, Rong Xie’s grip was incredibly strong at that moment; he was afraid his pants were going to be pulled down.
Shen Bingsi’s aura surrounded him, and a deliberately lowered laugh came from above his head. “Didn’t you jump quite well?”
“Well… my foot,” beads of sweat oozed from Rong Xie’s forehead. “I’m taking a carriage on the way back.”
Seeing his usually gentle friend cursing, Shen Bingsi stopped teasing him. He wrapped his arms around Rong Xie’s arms, bringing him in front of himself.
Then, he flipped him around.
Rong Xie turned around, standing in the prime position for sword riding. The field of vision was extremely wide. The high-altitude wind rushed toward his face but was blocked by a layer of golden light, transforming into a breeze acceptable to the flesh, fluttering Rong Xie’s clothes.
Is this what sword flight feels like…
Rong Xie’s eyes widened.
“Sword flight is a completely different experience from using a flight talisman,” Shen Bingsi’s voice came from right next to his ear, his warm breath exhaling against it. “Look, riding a sword, flying thousands of feet high, looking down at the mountains and rivers—doesn’t this make you feel like a falcon?”
Following Shen Bingsi’s description, Rong Xie looked at the scenery before him and felt his perspective broaden yet another level.
“Using a flight talisman only lets you fly three feet off the ground. At most, you can see small potholes in the road ahead, just like a sparrow.”
“How far you can see depends on how strong you are. As long as your strength increases, your vision will naturally broaden, and your choices will multiply.”
Shen Bingsi’s voice was very steady, low and calm, conveying a sense of control as if everything was in the palm of his hand. As long as one followed his instructions, one would obtain everything one desired.
Listening to his words, Rong Xie felt something swell in his heart. The tips of his ears were hot, and his heart thumped loudly.
Could he really walk this path?
Could he really reach Foundation Establishment?
Would he really have many choices?
Just a moment ago, he was thinking about what to do if he was kicked out, and the next moment, he was given such intense hope.
What should he do?
With this person behind him tugging at his heartstrings, what should he do?
“Don’t worry,” sensing his friend’s body stiffen in his arms, Shen Bingsi softened his tone. “As long as we persevere in dual cultivation, one day, you will reach Foundation Establishment, and you will fly like this.”
“…”
Rong Xie would rather he hadn’t said that terrible second half.
By noon, the two arrived in Shengjing.
According to the plan, they stayed at one of the largest establishments in Shengjing—the Prosperous World Pavilion.
They also had lunch at the Prosperous World Pavilion.
After enjoying the skills of the capital’s chefs, the two contentedly returned to the large landscape courtyard cordoned off behind the pavilion. The guest rooms in the garden were much more expensive than the rooms upstairs, and naturally, the quality and privacy were a cut above.
The courtyard attendants brought buckets of hot spring water and filled the orchid soup pool in the small garden. One could bathe in the open air here without worrying about being disturbed.
Rong Xie had been flying in the sky for four hours and had long wanted a hot bath. As soon as he returned to the guest room, he took off his clothes and changed into the bathrobe he brought.
However, he couldn’t bring himself to strip naked and walk into the pool right in front of Shen Bingsi.
But that orchid soup pool looked truly comfortable. There were clusters of flowers beside it. If filled with steaming hot spring water and accompanied by a gentle breeze blowing flower petals across the water surface, it would be incredibly pleasant.
Rong Xie looked at Shen Bingsi lying on the lounge chair under the corridor. Although his feet were pointing toward the small garden, he only needed to lift his head slightly to take in the entire scene at the pool.
After hesitating for a while, Rong Xie asked the attendant to pour the hot spring water into the bathtub in the inner room.
After bathing and changing clothes, Rong Xie went to the inner room, stripped off the inn’s original quilt and sheets, replaced them with his own quilt and sheets prepared in his spatial pouch, and then took out two pillows.
It looked much more comfortable.
Shen Bingsi came in from the outer room. Seeing his friend bustling about like a spinning top as soon as they returned to the room, and having just finished making the bed, he asked in confusion, “Why are you making two beds?”
“Hm…?”
Shen Bingsi threw one pillow directly next to the other one. “This is perfect. It’s damp inside; the outside gets more sunlight.”
Rong Xie was slightly stunned. In an instant, he realized what Shen Bingsi meant. “But… but this is outside!”
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