Elder Bai nodded approvingly. "Friend Su summarized that quite well. Please sit."
Su Xiaoyuan sat down, let out a breath, and inadvertently glanced at the Puppet Human beside her. For some reason, she felt as though a hint of green had seeped through his inorganic, cold white skin.
It must be the lighting, right?
She couldn't keep looking at the doll! If she went on like this, she'd ruin herself with frivolity and fail the inner sect exam! Su Xiaoyuan warned herself.
"Those of you who are unclear on anything may take more notes."
Elder Bai continued, "Low quality but long-lasting, big tool but poor technique—that's easy enough to understand. So what does the 'break' in 'nine out of ten swords break' refer to? Who wants to answer?"
The disciples all lowered their heads, afraid of being called on.
"Liu Xian'er, you answer." Elder Bai casually picked a disciple.
"Is it breaking roots?"
The disciples burst into laughter.
Elder Bai was helpless. He waved his horsetail whisk. "How many times have I said it? If you can't remember, then be diligent. Take good notes like Friend Su Xiaoyuan.
"Friend Su, you answer."
Su Xiaoyuan had no choice but to stand up again.
"It's the 'break' of breaking desire. 'Nine out of ten swords break' means that most Sword Cultivators practice the Way of Heartlessness, severing their desires."
"Very good," Elder Bai said. "Can you explain the reason?"
Because Su Xiaoyuan needed to win over Immortal Venerable Lingyue, she had listened very carefully to the parts about Sword Cultivators and taken piles of notes. She immediately found the answer in her dense notes:
"First, because Sword Cultivators accumulate heavy killing karma and fierce hostility. Over time, this easily transforms into a desire to kill, and if they lose control, it breeds an Inner Demon.
"Among the great cultivators throughout history who fell into demonic ways, Sword Cultivators were the most numerous. Practicing the Way of Heartlessness allows for early prevention…
"Second, eight hundred years ago, the seventeenth sect master of the Taizhen Sect created a special cultivation method.
"From then on, it became very easy to uproot the desires in one's Divine Soul entirely, achieving the effect of severing emotion and ending reproduction, greatly lowering the threshold for the Way of Heartlessness."
Simply put—cut it off for a permanent cure.
Except what was castrated was not the body, but the soul.
"Very good." Elder Bai raised a hand, signaling Su Xiaoyuan to sit.
But Su Xiaoyuan did not sit. She hesitated, then raised her hand. "I'm sorry, Elder Bai. May this disciple ask a question?"
Elder Bai smiled gently. "Go ahead, Friend Su."
Su Xiaoyuan steeled herself and asked, "Has Immortal Venerable Lingyue also practiced this kind of cultivation method?"
That question was like a drop of water falling into a pan of oil. The atmosphere in the classroom changed instantly. Even the disciples sprawled over their desks dozing off were no longer sleepy.
Whispers buzzed everywhere, and excitement quietly spread.
No one noticed that the Puppet Human beside Su Xiaoyuan slightly raised his chin and gave her a strange glance.
Elder Bai's expression shifted, then he sighed helplessly. "This master knew someone would eventually ask this.
"This master knows you are all interested in Sword Sovereign Lingyue. I can't blame you. This master was young once too. Young people—ambitious and far-reaching. Who doesn't have a dream…"
He glanced at Su Xiaoyuan.
Su Xiaoyuan was already busy picking at her castle. She didn't want to attract attention either, but she had no choice but to ask.
In the book, although Immortal Venerable Lingyue often made his presence felt even after death, because the original female lead had only caught a fleeting glimpse of him, much of the information was incomplete.
Whether he had practiced that castration-for-a-permanent-cure technique was an unsolved mystery.
If he had already cut it off, then no matter how hard Su Xiaoyuan tried, it would all be wasted effort.
"As I said earlier, nine out of ten swords break. Immortal Venerable Lingyue is the one that didn't break…" Elder Bai continued.
The hall immediately erupted in a chorus of "whoa."
Su Xiaoyuan's eyes suddenly lit up, not noticing that the Puppet Human beside her slightly raised an eyebrow.
Unexpectedly, Elder Bai curved his lips and changed tack: "He was born without one."
Su Xiaoyuan: "Huh?!"
"He was born with severed emotions and extinguished desires—it's not that he lacks the equipment," Elder Bai added. "Naturally, very few have seen Immortal Venerable Lingyue in person. Some even say this person doesn't exist at all—that's utter nonsense, utter nonsense."
"Immortal Venerable Lingyue went to battle against Chaos Desire at fifteen. In the War of Demon Annihilation, with a single sword strike he made stars fall and rivers flow backward—many Immortal Sect powerhouses present witnessed this with their own eyes.
"So he definitely exists. It's impossible that Taiyan Sect fabricated him."
"He possesses the rare Innate Way of Heartlessness, born free from the afflictions of desire. Thus his cultivation advances with half the effort and twice the result, far ahead of the pack—powerhouses of several hundred years can't even come close."
Su Xiaoyuan was swallowed by immense despair. Although the chance to use Dual Cultivation Harvesting on Immortal Venerable Lingyue was slim, at least there had been a glimmer of hope. But being born with severed emotions and extinguished desires basically meant he didn't have that function.
"Elder, everyone says Immortal Venerable Lingyue's cultivation base is high—exactly how high is it?" a disciple asked.
"I heard he's at the ninth realm of Mahayana Stage, but aren't there also two other powerhouses at the ninth realm of Mahayana Stage? And several at the eighth realm about to reach the ninth…"
"This ninth realm and that ninth realm are not the same thing at all." Elder Bai spoke with great authority, drawing a stroke as he did.
A long Barbie-pink line appeared in the air.
Elder Bai drew eight tick marks, dividing the line into nine segments. The first eight segments were evenly spaced, while the remaining tail stretched all the way out the window, disappearing into the horizon.
"This is the difference between the first eight realms and the ninth realm," Elder Bai said. "The eighth realm of Mahayana Stage is an extremely broad range. As long as you've passed the eighth realm and haven't ascended, you count as ninth realm.
"But Immortal Venerable Lingyue's ninth realm is worlds apart from other ninth realms—it might even be a bigger difference than between Mahayana Stage and Foundation Establishment Stage."
He paused: "In fact, aside from Immortal Venerable Lingyue himself, probably no one in this world can estimate just how high his cultivation base has reached."
Elder Bai said with righteous severity: "You may not know what such a high cultivation base means, but as your teacher, I must warn you—do not entertain this thought."
He waved his horsetail whisk, and that flamboyant fluorescent pink line twisted in the air into a row of characters—Cherish Life, Stay Away from Sword Cultivators.
"This saying is no joke. Immortal Venerable Lingyue is the Sword Cultivator among Sword Cultivators." Elder Bai warned solemnly.
"According to reliable information, several years ago he already cultivated to the realm of Unity of Man and Sword.
"What does Unity of Man and Sword mean? It means his entire being is a sword!"
"Even if by some chance—some chance—you had the opportunity to use Dual Cultivation Harvesting on him, remember this: do not test yourself against a sword! That is not something your cultivation base can withstand!
"Never mind you—even powerhouses may not be able to withstand a single strike from him!"
"Just imagine what it feels like to be cleaved by a heavy sword—that's exactly what it feels like. And it's not just one or two cleaves—it's hundreds in succession!
"I'm not trying to scare you—you really will be split open, and most likely die!"
Fu Tingyun stood with arms crossed, listening expressionlessly.
Su Xiaoyuan's cheeks were so hot they felt like they might catch fire, even the tips of her ears had turned bright red.
Whatever the review lesson covered after that, she couldn't hear anymore. Until class ended, she remained distracted, her mind wandering far away.
When class was over, Su Xiaoyuan led the puppet human out of the classroom, still feeling somewhat dejected.
Ruan Mianmian caught up and tugged at her sleeve. "Little Yuanzi, you're not actually thinking of harvesting Immortal Venerable Lingyue, are you?"
Fu Tingyun lifted his eyelids slightly.
Su Xiaoyuan instinctively denied it. "I'm not…"
Ruan Mianmian said, "You can't even lie properly—don't I know you by now? If you didn't have that thought in mind, why would you ask those questions in front of everyone?"
Su Xiaoyuan had no choice but to tacitly admit it.
"No way, Little Yuanzi!" Ruan Mianmian's eyes went wide. "You really want to get on top of Immortal Venerable Lingyue?"
Su Xiaoyuan mumbled vaguely, "It's not that…" It wasn't that she wanted to—it was that she had no other choice.
To say she wasn't afraid would be a lie. Who would want to be split in half by a giant sword? But that wasn't what she needed to worry about.
If she could truly harvest Immortal Venerable Lingyue, even dying wouldn't matter, because she could return to the real world anyway.
But Ruan Mianmian wouldn't let her get away with brushing it off. She grabbed Su Xiaoyuan's arm and shook it back and forth. "Little Yuanzi, you must not be foolish about this. Wait—you've never even met Immortal Venerable Lingyue, have you? Why do you want to harvest him?"
Su Xiaoyuan couldn't tell her the truth, and she didn't know how to explain, so she could only make up some excuse to fob her off. "I heard people say he's especially good-looking…"
Ruan Mianmian was clearly stunned. Her eyes went wide. "Little Yuanzi, I never would've guessed you had such nerve! Aren't you afraid of death?"
It was precisely because she couldn't harvest him that she would die, Su Xiaoyuan thought to herself.
"I am, I am… I'm just thinking about it…"
"You'd better not even think about it. Why not consider a Body Cultivator instead? Once I finish my training, I'll take you home.
"I have several cousins, and a few uncles who still have their Primal Yang intact. You can harvest to your heart's content—as many as you want…"
Su Xiaoyuan hurriedly cut off her scandalous words. "Elder Qin's class is next—we're going to be late! Let's hurry over to Huanhua Island!"
At the mention of Elder Qin, Ruan Mianmian's face fell. "Almost forgot about that. Song Jinshu is missing a head—what are we going to do?"
Su Xiaoyuan glanced at the Fu Tingyun puppet and also felt a headache coming on. He wasn't missing that particular part, but it was tightly protected by the pikapika chastity pants.
"Let's just install it for now. We can do the earlier exercises first—we probably won't need that one…" Su Xiaoyuan said.
Ruan Mianmian nodded. "That's all we can do."
They settled the matter in a few brief exchanges. Fu Tingyun listened from the side. Though he didn't understand what they were talking about, he vaguely had a sense of foreboding.
Elder Qin not only taught two courses but also served as the supervising elder for outer disciples.
This class was Fundamentals of Talisman Arts.
Besides the talismans unique to the Hehuan Sect, there were also some commonly used attack and defense talismans—disciples going out on missions would inevitably encounter danger.
Ever since Su Xiaoyuan had heard that Fu Tingyun was born with the Holy Body of Heartlessness, she had felt somewhat listless.
After absentmindedly sitting through the class, the other disciples dispersed, and Elder Qin kept her and Ruan Mianmian behind.
Elder Qin had been away on some business trip, and she looked somewhat weary.
When she saw the Fu Tingyun puppet, obvious admiration showed in her eyes. "Where did this puppet come from? It's no ordinary piece."
Su Xiaoyuan said, "I found it at a secondhand market…"
Elder Qin glanced again at the bashful Song Jinshu and furrowed her brow slightly. "Yours… is quite unique too."
Ruan Mianmian: "Right, right!" It's just missing something.
Elder Qin didn't say much more. "I'll install the Formation on you two first, then teach you how to use it."
She looked at Su Xiaoyuan. "Yours first."
Su Xiaoyuan looked at the Puppet Human. She wasn't sure if it was an illusion, but she kept feeling like he looked guarded, and seemed to be in a bad mood.
She felt inexplicably uneasy and said to him in a low voice, "Elder Qin is going to install an entrance exam Formation on you…"
Fu Tingyun's brow twitched slightly. The Hehuan Sect's entrance exam—one could guess it wouldn't test anything proper.
As they spoke, Elder Qin had already begun chanting and casting.
A moment later, she stopped, puzzled. "Why won't it install? Is there something wrong with your Puppet Human?"
Fu Tingyun tilted his chin slightly and glanced sideways at Su Xiaoyuan. How could he possibly let someone install those messy Formations on him?
Su Xiaoyuan hurriedly explained, "Because it's a recycled old item… the quality might be a bit off…"
Fu Tingyun: "…"
Elder Qin first installed the Formation on Song Jinshu's Puppet, then began studying Su Xiaoyuan's Puppet.
"There might be some kind of Restriction on your Puppet. I only know a little about Formations, so I shouldn't act rashly…"
"Should we find a specialized Curse Breaker?" Su Xiaoyuan asked.
"There aren't any highly skilled Curse Breakers around here…" Elder Qin mused.
"Forget it, running back and forth is too much trouble. Let me try again. If yours still doesn't work, I'll lend you one for now, and you can return it once you buy a new one."
Although Elder Qin said she'd try again, Su Xiaoyuan didn't hold out much hope.
Elder Qin closed her eyes and tried casting once more. "Huh, seems like it works now."