The Sword Spirit sat down on the ground, changing from Zhang Ze's appearance back to a genderless spirit body.
The Sword Spirit was puzzled, wondering why it lost, why those few moves defeated it.
Blood Killing Technique, Five Ghost Transport, and another spell with no discernible purpose.
These three spells are the kind your master teaches you that make you want to shout, "Rnm, refund, please."
Why were they so powerful in this kid's hands?
Can't figure it out, can't figure it out.
Zhang Ze squatted next to the Sword Spirit, his clothes tattered and torn.
Like an older brother, he patted the Sword Spirit on the shoulder.
"Keep learning, learning has no end."
Three minutes ago, the Sword Spirit's sure-win strike was interrupted by Zhang Ze's surprise move.
Five sneaky little ghosts emerged from who knows where under Zhang Ze's command, hugging the Sword Spirit's legs and beginning to self-detonate in sequence.
Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, Earth—the five elements cycled through, blasting the Sword Spirit until its color became somewhat transparent.
Once the Sword Spirit regained its senses, Zhang Ze delivered the most stable strike of the day, right into the Sword Spirit's chest.
"I won't ask you how you learned the Blood Killing Technique and Five Ghost Transport, but you..."
"Senior wants to ask the disciple how I used the Blood Killing Technique to detonate the Five Ghosts, right?"
Zhang Ze took a new set of clothes from the Hundred Treasures Bag and changed.
The Sword Spirit nodded.
"That move is called the Spirit Recognition Technique."
"Whose spell is that? Why haven't I heard of it?"
"Senior, you've been squatting in a cave prison for hundreds of years; how could you know about things outside."
"Then tell me."
Zhang Ze smacked his lips, reluctant to speak because the small sect that developed the Spirit Recognition Technique was really quite silly.
The Beast Taming Technique has existed since ancient times, master and subordinate coordinating to cut through gold.
Among the Six Righteous Sects, the Beast Taming Sect of Cang Mountain specializes in this path.
But there are always some silly ones, extremely lacking in a sense of security.
This group believed that once a demon beast gained intelligence, it would betray its master and to fully unleash its power, they had to fully control the demon beast.
After absorbing some traitors from the Beast Taming Sect and Shaman Wizards from the west, this group formed a Puppet Beast Sect.
The Spirit Recognition Technique was developed by them.
The 'recognition' here means knowledge.
First kill the demon beast and refine it into a puppet, then infuse the intended spells and commands into the puppet's empty shell.
This achieves the goal of controlling the demon beast without puppet strings or mechanisms.
They dreamt of reaching a unity of two bodies, commanding the puppet as if it were an extension of their arm.
However, in practice, it was cumbersome to operate, and the level of the dead demon beasts significantly dropped.
It became a situation of the controller dying, the controlled beast dying, double control double death.
Because the sect's philosophy was too silly and the people who joined the sect were also somewhat crazy.
Their development path increasingly leaned toward the Demon Path.
Within a few years, they were annihilated by the Beast Taming Sect.
The Beast Taming Sect couldn't afford to lose face.
The Sword Spirit was silent for a moment after hearing this and then nodded.
"Indeed silly.
The consciousness of the Five Ghosts is chaotic like puppets, so you infused the cultivation technique knowledge of the Blood Killing Technique into them, then let the Five Ghosts perform it.
The essence of the Blood Killing Technique is still the use of spiritual energy; blood is just a carrier.
Blood is used because the Demon Path developer of this cultivation technique is also silly.
The Five Ghosts are naturally formed from the power of the five elements, the purest spiritual energy. Letting them use the Blood Killing Technique was a natural fit.
The Five Ghosts didn't need special command; just self-destructing was enough."
Understanding the principle of the Spirit Recognition Technique, the Sword Spirit naturally comprehended Zhang Ze's play.
The ingenuity of artificial intelligence is really quick, and Zhang Ze was genuinely impressed.
"By the way, let me give you a piece of advice."
The Sword Spirit said seriously, "Don't use this move outside the mountain gate."
"Why?"
"You might easily get mistaken for a leftover member of the Demon Cult and be killed.
If you must use it, don't say you're a Sword Sect disciple; we can't afford the embarrassment either."
Zhang Ze thought for a moment and realized it made sense. His own open source spirit was useless; no one else in this world had it.
Ultimately, the Blood Killing Technique and Five Ghost Transport were too ostentatious.
As for the solution, his eyes drifted to the Sword Spirit's golden, shimmering body.
A clever idea came up.
"Senior~ Sword Spirit Senior~ May I ask you a few questions?"
Zhang Ze's tone was disgustingly sycophantic.
But fortunately, the Sword Spirit didn't catch on.
After a tense and stimulating discussion, the problem with the Five Ghost Transport and Blood Killing Technique was successfully solved with the Sword Spirit's help.
The solution was to change the skin.
The Five Ghost Transport was fine, but using the Blood Killing Technique was essentially writing 'I am Demon Path' on the face.
Besides the Sword Core of its body, the spirit body that emerged and wandered around was not much different from the Five Ghosts and also the purest Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi.
Just more advanced and complex.
The Sword Spirit could change its appearance to look like others, so naturally, the Five Ghosts could too; this method could be infused into the Five Ghosts' spirit bodies using the Spirit Recognition Technique to change their appearance.
Now, after being taught by the Sword Spirit, the little ghosts he summoned gleamed with gold.
Each little ghost wielded a uselessly fancy treasure sword, wearing a set of golden armor that covered their faces.
During self-destruction, they also shot out chaotic golden light.
Not only stylish but also concealing their five-element attribute, making them hard to guard against.
The system prompt sounded at this moment.
[New spell detected, awaiting naming. Hidden condition met, unlocking the hidden ultimate achievement, Master of Ten Thousand Laws.]
Zhang Ze really wanted to mock the system's copyright awareness, why it had to wait until the skin was changed to trigger the achievement.
But mockery aside, Zhang Ze still named it Golden Armor Soldiers in the naming field, and then claimed his reward.
But the second prompt left Zhang Ze a bit bewildered.
[Outer Sect sole hidden task: Spirit of Confusion is ongoing, completion at 80%]
"Why only 80%, shouldn't it be 100%?"
Seeing that Zhang Ze got up but didn't leave, the Sword Spirit said calmly, "Is there anything else?"
Zhang Ze certainly had more business, not only was the Sword Spirit task incomplete, but there was another task progress that hadn't moved at all.
[Side hidden task: Recalling Past Events]
Zhang Ze felt that the remaining 20% of the Sword Spirit task might be running parallel with this task.
But looking at the Sword Spirit's expression of having already said everything from the past three hundred years and urging him to quickly leave.
Knowing his place, Zhang Ze didn't ask further; his intuition told him there might be clues with Old Li.
"Come back," the Sword Spirit called to Zhang Ze.
"It was indeed my fault before. Tell your master he has a good disciple.
And then, for me, say to your master... forget it, it's nothing, you can go."
The Sword Spirit, having regained the strength of the Golden Core Realm, waved his hand gently, sending Zhang Ze out without giving him a chance to speak.
The advancement and mood of the Sword Spirit were definitely connected to Old Li.
Zhang Ze was now a hundred percent certain.
Exiting the cave, he saw Elder Li and Elder Wang chatting on the hillside.
He hurried over, saluted Elder Li with a discipleship bow, then turned to Elder Wang and grinned, "Grandpa Wang, morning, have you eaten?"
"I have, I have."
"Come here. I have something to tell you," Old Li beckoned.
"Go ahead."
"When traveling in the Jianghu, never say you're a Sword Sect disciple. If you must, don't say you're my disciple either. I don't expect you to achieve immortality and ascend to the heavens one day, just don't bring shame to the sect and me.
Especially that move of yours, use it sparingly."
"Sword Spirit Senior advised me on this as well.
And even helped me improve it."
Elder Li looked at the five golden little ghosts Zhang Ze summoned and breathed a sigh of relief.
"Mm, now it's fine. If those Daoist priests from Dragon Tiger Mountain come looking for trouble, I'll back you up."
Old Li was just satisfied, but Elder Wang squinted and came up with a crafty idea.
"I say, Zhang Ze, how about someday you transcribe that spell and donate it to the Library Pavilion?
Developing new spells for the sect counts as a contribution. As an elder of the Library Pavilion, I'll give you extra credit...
Of course, it's entirely voluntary."
Elder Wang extended his chubby little hand and signaled a number.
Zhang Ze got the message, "Without Elder Wang's and master's guidance, how could this disciple have achieved anything? As for the spell..."
Elder Wang rubbed his belly and double chin, then pointed to Elder Li.
"You're the developer of this spell, just attach our names at the end, with Old Li's before mine."
Elder Li stood aside silently, knowing the old fat man's reasons for getting along so well with his disciple.
Birds of a feather flock together.
While lamenting the declining morals in the current Immortal Cultivation Realm, Old Li noticed his beloved disciple tugging at his sleeve.
"Master, I have a question about past events..."