Chapter 25: This Is Also a Flying Sword

  A gun?!

  An Jing froze momentarily, struggling to believe what he saw, then quickly sed his surroundings with caution. “All these people with guns died here… is this ruin so dangerous?!”

  “And also, what sort of world is this? Sword-spirit… how should I address you? Should I call you ‘Your Excellency’ or ‘Your Lordship’?”

  “We are helping each other. o call me ‘Your Lordship,’” replied the sword-spirit. “I don’t know what world this is either, but one of my fragments is here.”

  “That said, I reize something about these ruins… they feel somewhat familiar, likely ected to my era.”

  It scrutihe area for a while, then admitted, “But since I’m shattered, I’ve fotten many things.”

  “The cultivation of most of these corpses reached at least Internal Breath Like Threads. The leaders among them had reached around Internal Breath Like Rivers her. It appears something with a soul-draining power killed them.”

  “This pce is indeed dangerous. Break through to Internal Energy soon a’s return.”

  An Jing nodded slightly. For so many Internal Energy users—ones armed with guns—to have died here, the ruin was evidently more hazardous than Hanging Fate Manor.

  Moreover, he o move quickly for another reason: to get back to the manor and pretend he had been asleep.

  He had to maintain the fa?ade that nothing had happehis was the tacit uandiween him and the Medie Manor Lord. He could not allow any hint of suspi.

  He had to pass this “test” fwlessly.

  The Medie Manor Lord would never suspect that, by the time An Jiurned, he would already be at the Internal Energy realm!As for potential slip-ups from achieving Internal Energy… with the sword-spirit and the Serene Sword Meditation, An Jing believed that ordinary people could never see his true cultivation. At least the Medie Manor Lord would not.

  However… An Jing recalled how powerful that manor lord actually was.

  The other party had reached the Internal Fortification realm, already “produg Divine Marvels within,” possessing uny abilities unattainable by normal folk.

  Unless…

  An Jing lowered his gaze to the guns clutched in the skeletal hands.

  Sihey had apparently died to a soul-snatg method, presumably there was no poison involved, right?

  He asked the sword-spirit, who firmed there was hus reassured, An Jing began rummaging through the bodies without hesitation.

  None of these corpses carried anything superfluous—mostly ammunition and firearms. The leaders’ corpses had mear, such as ruined unication terminals and pills, all of which were thhly destroyed.

  sidering how far the deposition had advahey must have been dead at least seven ht years. Seven ht years was enough to render eveoughest materials brittle and proo decay.

  Leaving aside the obviously ruined ons and clothing, some stratle daggers at their waists had rusted pletely, covered in corrosion.

  However, the leader’s firearm differed from the rest.

  In size it resembled a typical rifle, but sisted of two metal rails with a piece of white crystal—very much like jade—set in the ter. This strange gun had not decayed; while not looking brand-new, it was merely covered in dust.

  “That’s a Magical Artifact.”

  Seeing it, the sword-spirit sounded surprised. “A ‘Magical Artifact,’ ‘Spiritual Artifact,’ ‘Magical Treasure,’ ‘Spiritual Treasure.’”

  “Even if it’s just a low-grade Magical Artifact meant to carry ‘Daoist Arts,’ it still has its uses. Presumably it was for releasing some kind of offensive spell.”

  “It requires at least Internal Energy to power it, and its ‘Spirit Core’ is almost depleted, so it’s basically unusable now… Hm, there’s another oo the left that might still work.”

  Following the spirit’s prompt, An Jing spotted a still-funal Magical Artifact. He picked it up and discovered the white jade-like crystal still glowed faintly. “Then I’ll just keep it.”

  After searg through the corpses, An Jing mao acquire not only a gun Magical Artifact but also two funal firearms.

  Both firearms were stored in a case, apparently as someone’s backup. They had rge calibers and frightening firepower, seemingly still workable.

  An Jing gathered peared to be intact ammunition, theed the gun by firing a round—and the destructive power exceeded expectations. The thunderous roar of the shot left a palm-deep dent in the rocky ground.

  The guns had extremely rge powder loads, and their muzzles seemed reinforced with sigils or runes, making them more destructive than anything he recalled from his past life.

  “A flying sword?”

  Witnessing the might of the firearms, the Sword Spirit excimed, “Is this a flying sword case of some kind? But these single-use flying swords sure are fragile—never seen anything like it.”

  “This isn’t a flying sword. It’s a firearm,” An Jing started to expin, but the sword-spirit seemed perplexed. “Fed of metals, with high destructive power and great speed, meant for pierg armor and killing targets that are weaker. You see? Doesn’t that perfectly match what a flying sword does?”

  An Jing blihought it over, theed with a ugh. “Right… this is indeed a ‘flying sword.’”

  “They’ve perfected this flying-sword approach pretty well—so well that people with no Internal Energy still use it.”

  The Sword Spirit appeared suddenly intrigued. “Seems the on-smithing in this world is very advanced.”

  An Jing had no response. He truly did not know what else to say. For now, he packed away the bullets, carrying some on his person and leaving the rest in pce. “o take so many; I ’t hide them all.”

  Two guns, plus one Magibsp;Artifact firearm, although the tter he could not yet wield effectively with his current cultivation.

  Two handguns would suffice—he only had two hands, after all.

  Moreover, for some unknown reason, An Jing found himself remarkably adept at wielding firearms. Just what had he done in his previous life? He seemed to know a bit of everything, and now he even handled guns like an old pro.

  Pushing aside that question, An Jing—delighted by his ued windfall—did not fet his inal purpose for visiting this other realm.

  Breaking through to Internal Energy.

  “To be ho, I’m not too familiar with the path of martial cultivation in the Huaixu world. In my time, everyone followed orthodox Qi-refining,” he expined.

  Hearing An Jing’s question, the sword-spirit was direct: “I suspect that even if tens of thousands of years or tless ages have passed in the same world, as long as humans remain what they are, the same fual principles apply.”

  “In the end, it’s all about harnessing Innate One Qi. From the barest thread of it until the entire body is filled.”

  “So now the question is which method you pn to use to advance. A Yahod, or a Yihod?”

  “Yahod? Yihod?”

  From the sound of it, An Jing assumed this referred to a “dynamic” method versus a “static” method.

  Somewhat curious, he asked, “I’m more familiar with the dynamic approach… We came to this alien world to avoid the Demonic Sect’s notice, right? Or is there something special about the static approach?”

  “A ‘dynamic’ breakthrough allows you to break through amid bat; the ‘static’ approach is safer.”

  The sword-spirit uood the cepts of “dynamid “static” well enough. After a moment’s thought, it replied, “But ideally, you’d bih, uniting Yin and Yang.”

  That remark piqued An Jing’s i. “What does that mean?”

  In truth, he was already aware of a “static” approach. The An Family’s Martial included a note: in the Southern Seas, there was a try called “Bo,” which had a strange seown as the White Horse Sect.

  That sect specialized in attaining the Dah dreams, with disciples apparently sleeping day after day, refining their meridians in their slumber.

  Had the Martial Scripture left it at that, one would assume it was mere legend. But its entary eborated that the White Horse Sect possessed a peculiar meditative method to expoially strehe mind, thereby capturing “inactive yet stable Innate One Qi” and thus achieving Internal Energy.

  All roads lead to the divine capital*—both dynamid static are valid paths. It was merely another route.

  The legend that they “slept all day” resumably because they maintained a “still” state through deep meditation. Those sect disciples might have been weak in martial skill, but their Internal Energy was exceedingly robust.

  (End of Chapter)

  *You think of this as the ese equivalent of "All roads lead to Rome." It simply implies that regardless of the path or method all valid approaches ultimately verge on the same goal. Keyword valid approaches.