May 16, 2017, Rain
Humans are indeed fragile beings.
On the fourth day of the new world, the Celestial Divine Sword Spirit once again confirmed this critical truth.
In fact, whether it was during the grand event of immortal cultivation before his deep slumber or the era of the Immortal Demon War, everything he experienced proved this. Back then, fighting alongside the Jiu Immortal Venerables against the Demon Emperor, the Jiu Immortal Venerables perished entirely before the battle reached its climax, while he battled fiercely with the life-risking Demon Emperor, yet his Sword Body remained unharmed!
As for the humans of the new world, they haven't made the slightest progress. The mount, Li Qingming, due to ignoring her waist injury yesterday and forcing herself to walk, has worsened her condition to the point where she can barely take care of herself.
This time, the worsening of her injury seems particularly severe. Since the night of the 15th, Wang Jiu noticed the little girl lying in bed with her teeth clenched. Although she tried not to groan, her gradually reddening face and the cold sweat slightly seeping from her forehead vividly illustrated her suffering.
As her master, taking care of his mount is only proper. Wang Jiu therefore asked, "Is it very painful?"
Li Qingming softly groaned, biting her lip without speaking.
"I believe as a mount, you should be more open with your master. But if you really don't want to say, that's fine too. I can..."
Before he could finish, Li Qingming's voice came forcefully into his mind: "I warn you, do not try to read my thoughts!"
"...Alright, if you insist." Wang Jiu agreed readily, and then the room fell completely silent.
But such idleness was truly boring, so after a while Wang Jiu said, "Do you want me to tell you a story?"
Li Qingming initially intended to refuse, but then changed her mind, thinking a distraction might be good: "What kind of story?"
"How about a story from the Immortal Demon War?"
"...Is it that absurd tale about the Jiuzhou War? Fine, tell it then."
Li Qingming found it hard to believe Wang Jiu's story about the Jiuzhou Immortal Demon War, where the Jiu Immortal Venerables sacrificed themselves to wield the Celestial Divine Sword. According to him, during the turbulent era of Jiuzhou, even Heaven Shattering Realm experts would die in rivers of blood, and Earth Split Stage experts were mere cannon fodder in the highest-level battles!
Nowadays, Xiangzhou has been peaceful for hundreds of years, with highly advanced immortal cultivation culture and many strong cultivators, yet the top tier is only suspected to be the Earth Split Level Sect Leader of the Saint Sect. As for the Heaven Shattering Realm, the ability to change the sun and moon with a gesture was simply unbelievable.
However, as a bedtime story to divert her attention, the absurdity could be tolerated.
Seeing Li Qingming finally interested in listening to a story, Wang Jiu eagerly began: "It was the Jiuzhou Calendar year 3111, the first time I, after transforming into a Sword Spirit, collaborated with the Jiu Immortal Venerables in a strategic battle. The battlefield was at the Red Water River in the East Province, the largest river in the East Province, running north to south, dividing it east and west. The vast sections were like an endless ocean, even the narrow parts were dozens of miles wide—actually endless as well, because the Red Water River was always shrouded in a misty water fog."
Wang Jiu was engrossed in telling the story, but suddenly noticed Li Qingming's face growing redder, her body trembling slightly, seemingly unable to endure the pain.
"What's wrong? Has your injury worsened?"
Li Qingming struggled weakly, "Can you, tell a different story?"
"Huh, you're not interested in the Red Water River battle? It's a classic! It was my first time going all out with the Sword World, sweeping through a million demon soldiers with one strike, and even smashing the Demon Race's mothership, causing tens of thousands of demons to drown like dumplings in the Red Water River..."
"Change it!"
Seeing Li Qingming's firm attitude, Wang Jiu thought for a moment: "Then I'll tell you a story about the Cloud Sea battle in Yun Province, when Li Jiulong and I broke the Demon Race's dam, unleashing an apocalyptic flood..."
"I don't want to hear about water battles!" Li Qingming, with sweat glistening on her nose, shouted anxiously, "Do you have a desert battle? The kind where people die of thirst?"
Wang Jiu said, "Your interests are really strange, but there is a desert battle. It was the Central Province counterattack, where the Myriad Immortals Alliance and the Demon Race's main army engaged in a major battle in the Nether Desert, which lasted a whole six months. Eventually, the elite teams got lost deep in the Nether Desert, Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi cut off, the surroundings dry as fire, unbearable for cultivators below the Earth Split Stage, suffering from hunger and thirst."
Li Qingming finally got interested, nodding, "And then?"
"Then Shang Lanfei and I conferred, realizing that this stalemate was not a solution. The Demon Race was naturally resilient, unparalleled by humans, and we had to find another way. After calculating again and again, she finally worked out that there was a slim chance of survival in the Nether Desert. I then opened a path through the earth pulses, extracting water from the Endless Netherworld Abyss's Nether River, creating an oasis in the desert. Everyone was overjoyed back then, many simply frolicked in the oasis..."
"Get out!"
Li Qingming shouted as she hurled her pillow like a projectile. Wang Jiu, feeling as if he'd angered his mount, floated out bewildered, marveling at the capriciousness of human beings.
After all, compared to the eternal Sword Heart of a Sword Spirit, humans' emotional control is exceptionally poor, their mood swings often overly intense, manifesting in symptoms like hysteria. Not to mention the Immortal Demon War era, even before he reincarnated as a Divine Sword, he vaguely remembered frequently encountering such people.
However, now that he is a dignified Sword Spirit and a senior expert, he naturally wouldn't dwell on it with Li Qingming. To him, the girl's hysteria was as normal as a human baby's incontinence and should be tolerated.
So, lifting the Shape Manipulation Array, Wang Jiu leisurely floated out of the room. Just as he reached the door, he heard Li Qingming's faint, mosquito-like voice: "Help me, bring me a water bottle."
"Okay." Although Li Qingming's voice sounded peculiar, Wang Jiu didn't think much of it. With a generous attitude, he fetched Li Qingming's favorite water bottle from the kitchen, which was said to have belonged to her late mother, who cherished it dearly.
As soon as he brought it through the door, Li Qingming's expression changed: "Who told you to bring that!?"
"... How's your memory like a goldfish?" Wang Jiu remarked, "You asked me to bring you a water bottle."
"No, no, not this. This is a water bottle!"
Wang Jiu was puzzled, "Then what kind of bottle do you need?"
"Just get an unused jar from the storage room, quickly, hurry up."
Wang Jiu found Li Qingming's request quite unreasonable, but since he had nothing better to do, he decided to go all the way and fetched a small water jar from the storage room for her. After all this fuss, the Sword Spirit was rather exhausted with its current strength. After handing the jar to Li Qingming, it lay motionless outside the door.
After a while, a faint water sound could be heard from inside the room. Initially, Wang Jiu thought nothing of it, but then he remembered the jar he had brought was empty. Where could the sound of water be coming from? It was simply incredible!
The more Wang Jiu thought about it, the more curious he became. He wanted to break down the door to investigate or read minds to see the truth directly. But he quickly realized this might be the magic show the little Rakugo girl from Qing Province had mentioned earlier. Using simple, ingenious methods to create a mysterious illusion. The key to appreciating magic is to enjoy this sense of unbelievable perplexity; seeing through the truth would make it less beautiful. This little girl must have seen how hard he worked on story-telling and performed magic to repay him. Truly heartwarming!
With a bit of comfort, Wang Jiu patiently waited for Li Qingming's performance to end, but there was no sound from inside for a long time.
Could something have gone wrong?
"Wang Jiu, are… are you outside?"
"Yes, do you need me to come in and help?"
"No, don't come in!"
"?!?"
"Not only should you not come in, it would be best if you stayed away, please, please go outside the courtyard."
"Let me confirm, you're not doing magic and got water on the brain, right?"
"You're the one doing magic and got water on the brain, hurry up and go out!"
"But..."
"Consider it a request from me!"
"Alright."
Wang Jiu left the courtyard and waited for a long time before he heard Li Qingming's gentle voice, "Please, please come back. Thank you for earlier."
Wang Jiu asked, "Thank you? Thank you for watching?"
"What did you see?!" Before the words were out, she cried out in pain.
Wang Jiu hurried back into the room to find Li Qingming lying on the ground, holding a waist injury, sweat pouring from the pain.
"Do you realize you're seriously injured? If you worsen your injury just to perform magic, you've really got water on the brain, right?"
"It's all your fault!"
"Hey, where's that jar?"
"Don't mention the jar! You… waaaaah!"
In her frustration, Li Qingming pulled the injury again, tears streaming down from the pain, unable to speak for a while. She lay on the floor for a long time before taking a breath and crawling back to bed.
"Seriously, you got me into such trouble... When I practiced before, no matter how intense, I wasn't bedridden for days. Though my physical strength has improved significantly, the process is too painful. As a top martial artist with considerable inner strength, I can't handle a simple sprain. Is this really how you practice the Immovable Tyrant Body?"
Wang Jiu said, "I haven't practiced it either. I just saw your ancestor, Shen Kaishan, cultivate that way. But when he practiced, it was worse than you, often ending up bloodied, flesh torn, and bedridden."
"It was that bad?!"
"Yes, because when Shen Kaishan practiced this bloodline divine technique, he spent most of the time bedridden, hence Shang Lanfei gave it the name Immovable Tyrant Body."
Li Qingming felt like coughing up blood, "So that's the Immovable Tyrant Body!"
"So when you're moving around so much, I think it's not conducive to divine technique cultivation."
"... Thank you for the reminder."
After some fuss, Li Qingming seemed to feel a lot better. After a moment of silence, she began to speak, "With these injuries, I might not recover in three to five days. I might cope with the outer sect's routine exam, but those troublesome servants are a big problem. They've been so brazen this time, surely following Lu Xin's orders, acting fearlessly with the determination to demolish this small courtyard. But this is the most important heirloom left by my mother. Without it, I'd be homeless. So, Wang Jiu, could you help me?"
The Sword Spirit found it difficult, "I've just awakened a few days ago and am not familiar with the new world. So, if you, a native of Cyan Cloud City, need a new place to stay, you shouldn't ask me, right?"
"Who's looking for a new place to stay?!"