Chapter 504: Yue Hongling's Sword

Chapter 504: Yue Hongling's Sword

In the end, Zhao Changhe's combined blade-and-sword technique was broken by Yue Hongling. With the longsword resting against his neck, he helplessly raised his hands in surrender.

Yue Hongling could not bring herself to feel too proud. After all, she was at the Second Secret Treasure realm, while Zhao Changhe had yet to break through. She was no Xue Canghai; she was not someone who could be easily challenged by those of a lower rank. Winning was only as it should be.

Yet, it had still been such a hard-fought battle. There was nothing particularly grand about this victory.

At the same time, however, she felt a sense of gratification. Her little man was truly becoming more and more formidable by the day.

Though in another aspect, he seemed to be even more formidable...

The benefit of having a chivalrous elder sister for a wife was that she could not only spar with you and help you familiarize yourself with new skills, but she could also find your flaws and offer all kinds of beneficial insights.

And at the end of it all, you could shed your clothes together and share a mandarin duck bath.

Then, reversing the roles within the bathwater, you could make the elder sister raise her hands in surrender.

It was merely a change of track.

"You... mm..." Yue Hongling propped one hand against the edge of the bath, while her other hand was placed in her mouth, biting down gently to keep her voice from growing too loud.

Soon after, she turned her head to look at him with a trace of resentment: "Did you do this because you couldn't beat me, just to find another way to take revenge..."

"How could that be..."

"Then why use such a shameful posture? There is no end to this... mmph..."

"Uh..." Actually, if you didn't bite your finger and look back like that, the posture wouldn't be quite so shameful.

Doing that is going to increase my attack speed...

They were an old married couple, and one could say that doing this was just like delivering the grain tax... yet Yue Hongling always managed to make Zhao Changhe find that sense of bashfulness from when they first fell in love.

The demurral of a heroine was still so lovely.

Yue Hongling discovered that he only became more spirited after her protest, so she could only bite her finger and remain silent.

It must be because she had won the fight just now, so he had come to launch a counter-conquest. Pressing the enemy down in the water—the very same enemy who had just held a longsword to his neck—must make him particularly happy. What a dreadful disposition.

She would stay silent and see how proud he could get.

Yue Hongling failed to notice that every time she made up her mind to remain silent, the outcome was always particularly wretched. In the end, she could not even keep her finger between her teeth...

...

The rain ceased and the clouds dispersed. Yue Hongling was covered in the rosy flush of satisfaction as she leaned lazily in his embrace. It was only at this moment that the two of them began to slowly scrub and wash each other.

"A truly boorish bear." Yue Hongling's finger lightly traced over the scars that covered his body, and she murmured softly: "Aren't you already able to reshape your meridians? Why didn't you remove the scars? Are you going to say again that this is proof of a man?"

"It's simply because reshaping requires energy, and at that time, the energy was insufficient. There was simply no spare strength to care about these trivial matters. As for now, I'm too lazy to bother. We'll see about it later."

In truth, Yue Hongling felt there was really no need to deliberately remove the scars. Whether on his face or his body, he looked particularly masculine like this.

Accumulated scars were truly a man's medals, fitting the aesthetic of the martial world perfectly.

Perhaps when Sisi saw his heavily scarred appearance back then, her heart melted even more into water, and she became willing to do anything... to put it plainly, his numerous scars this time were entirely suffered for Sisi, so gaining Sisi's heart was practically a matter of course. Yue Hongling felt that she was not too jealous of Sisi. Perhaps it was because she could empathize, or perhaps because this girl's destiny had entwined with his too early, and she had long grown used to that little vixen making her advances...

Thus, she was even willing to create opportunities for them to be alone, though she did not know what the result was.

"You two went to see the burial grounds. What was the result?"

Look at how skillfully that was asked. Zhao Changhe could not help but laugh upon hearing it, giving her a mischievous squeeze.

Yue Hongling batted his hand away in annoyance.

Zhao Changhe gave a rough account of the situation over there, and then added: "I feel that one can catch a glimpse of the ancient celestial ladder here. It may not necessarily bring any benefits to cultivation, but it will definitely be of help in exploring the secrets of antiquity. I plan to build a hut and stay here for a month or two, counting it as a period to settle down what I've recently gained. Will you stay with me?"

Yue Hongling thought for a moment, then shook her head: "My interest in pursuing ancient secrets isn't very large. I will go with you to see the place tomorrow. If it is beneficial to cultivation, I'll stay for a while. If I feel it has little relevance to cultivation, I will take my leave first. I've stayed here for a bit too long."

This was just her temperament; it was hard for her to stay anywhere for long. She had already mentioned her intention to leave a few days ago. Zhao Changhe was well accustomed to it, so he did not force her, merely offering an "mm" in response.

Yue Hongling felt that their parting might be near, and she wanted to give her man a few final pieces of advice: "This combined blade-and-sword technique of yours belongs entirely to a coordination plan you groped out on your own. There are still a large number of disharmonies within it. I see that it's also not suitable for you to stay here for too long. After you return to the Central Plains, you can look for relevant sects to understand the knacks of dual-wielding. After all, the paths summarized by predecessors can be used as a reference, saving you a great deal of groping through the dark."

"There don't seem to be many of those? Most are dual blades or dual swords, which isn't quite the same as my situation..."

"You only need to reference them. You should also begin making preparations to fuse and create your own martial arts... I've noticed you intentionally doing this before, claiming to have created something called 'Listening to the Spring Rain on a Small Building in a Single Night.' Although one can tell at a glance that it is still the mold of the 'As is Hell' technique, you at least have the awareness of wanting to create moves?"

"Mm. I felt very early on that I must have things of my own. Inheriting only the techniques of predecessors will certainly not take you to the very peak. Furthermore..." Zhao Changhe hesitated for a moment, not knowing if the blind woman was listening...

Thinking about it, who cared about her? In the end, he spoke directly: "Furthermore, if you learn other people's things, should you happen to face them in the future, you will be constrained at every turn."

"Our thoughts align." Yue Hongling was very pleased: "That's why I never use other people's things. From the True Martial Sword Stone, I only took a portion of the intent. As for the Setting Sun Divine Sword, regardless of whether it is the inheritance of the Sword Emperor or not, it is actually different from its original appearance now. Combined with my own Sunset Sword Technique, I have long been walking a different path. Now that I have a newer sword intent, it is even more different."

Zhao Changhe truly admired Yue Hongling for this. Coming from a small, insignificant background, relying only on a few remnant move inheritances from an early mystic realm, she had stubbornly forged her own path, truly making her a top-tier hidden dragon.

She already had some knowledge of Zhao Changhe's Heavenly Book, but she never asked about it. It felt as though she had no interest in it at all, preferring instead to observe strange beasts on her own.

This included her statement of having little interest in ancient secrets, which arose from the same principle. Speaking of which, among the people he knew, those with the greatest interest in pursuing ancient secrets were only the Four Symbols Sect and Ying Wu; everyone else seemed to have ordinary interest. Back then in the sword chamber, Han Wubing's interest in the remnant sword intent far exceeded his interest in the identity of the woman or the Glacial Soul, which fell under the same category.

It was not that they did not wish to pursue the power of the previous era, but rather that they cultivated the "Sword of the Self." No matter how strong an ancient secret was, it could not compare to one's own path.

Unfortunately, he could not do the same. Because of the blind woman's existence, whether she guided him or not, the pursuit of ancient secrets was destined to become one of his primary themes, and he could not leave it ignored. This was perhaps also the reason why his relationship with both the Four Symbols Sect and Ying Wu was becoming closer and closer.

Thinking of this, Zhao Changhe scooped up a handful of the white, viscous substance still floating in the water and wiped it into the Heavenly Book.

The Heavenly Book: "..."

Yue Hongling did not know what he was doing. Seeing him touch his ring, she remembered something instead. Reaching out, she took the ancient sword Dragon Emperor resting by the poolside and shoved it back to him: "This is a sword of the Four Symbols Sect, right? I've been borrowing it these past few days and almost forgot to return it."

Zhao Changhe looked at her expression, which was clear and natural, without a single trace of reluctance. He could not help but ask: "Your own sword is broken, and you handed Shi Wuding's sword straight over to Wubing. Now you don't have a good sword. With such a divine sword right before you, do you not want it at all?"

"If it were your sword, I would take it if I took it, and I wouldn't be polite with you. But this is a sword of the Four Symbols Sect..." Yue Hongling smiled faintly: "I don't owe them favors."

"Then what sword will you use?" Zhao Changhe rummaged through his ring for a long time. The bone sword had already been returned to Sisi, leaving only an unformed Night Emperor sword blank, with no other swords left behind.

"Me..." Yue Hongling lazily rose from the pool, tying her long hair into a ponytail: "I can just ask Sisi for any decent, high-quality sword. Those kinds of ancient treasured swords contain the spirit of others; I don't have much interest in them either."

As she spoke, she looked back and smiled: "A swordsman should nurture their own sword spirit. Thousands of years from now, letting posterity seek out what was once Yue Hongling's sword—that is my true desire."

Compared to the way she had bit her finger and looked back just now, she was exceptionally beautiful.