Chapter 170: Flying Swan Sword Spirit – Famous Swords Seek the Strong

As Lian Mu hesitated, the Black Flood Dragon lunged at her. She instinctively dodged in circles, and the beast twisted its massive body to follow, nearly winding itself into a knot.

The Black Flood Dragon let out a heavy, blood-tinged breath. Its saliva dripped onto the ground, releasing a foul stench that quickly filled the entire cave.

It seemed to have found a weakness in Lian Mu’s defenses. Instead of attacking her directly, it opened its jaws and went for her sword.

Lian Mu: “…”

That familiar feeling again—she had a pretty good guess now. Just like the Mirror Guardian Beast from before, this Black Flood Dragon was an apex-grade beast, a creature at the very pinnacle of the beast hierarchy.

But… she had consumed too many demonic beast inner cores. Her Flame Blade could only be summoned when resonating with the frenzy of nearby demonic beasts—and there were none in this area.

Lian Mu considered whether she could go head-to-head with it using the true form of Wealth Bringer. If only her sword were a first-grade weapon…

Just as that thought crossed her mind, the white bird nibbling on fruit nearby lifted its head. With a flap of its wings, it flew over and landed on her shoulder.

Lian Mu raised her hand and swatted it away. “Don’t come messing around.”

The Black Flood Dragon twisted its body, circling to her side. It feinted with its tail, then suddenly turned its head and bit down on the blade of Wealth Bringer.

In an instant, a crack split across the sword’s body.

Lian Mu gasped sharply. That was her newly upgraded sword!

Without thinking, she gathered spiritual energy in her fist and slammed it into the Black Flood Dragon’s head, striking it squarely on the horn. She grabbed the horn with her bare hand, intending only to vault onto its head—but with a tug, the horn snapped clean off.

Lian Mu blinked in disbelief. “?”

Why did that horn come off like it was fake?

The Black Flood Dragon froze for a moment, then bared its teeth in a hideous snarl. No longer caring about the cave walls, it began thrashing wildly, slamming into the stone with bone-jarring force. The ground trembled as if it meant to drag her to the grave with it.

Lian Mu took two steps back and tossed aside the broken horn. The Black Flood Dragon grew even more frenzied. Its body thickened, and the whiskers at the corners of its mouth quivered violently.

Its scales flared open slightly—clear signs of rage.

Lian Mu aimed at the gaps between its scales. Now was the perfect time to strike. But her sword had a crack. If she went in hard, Wealth Bringer wouldn’t hold up.

As she hesitated, the white bird suddenly flew back onto her shoulder. Not far away, the Flying Swan Sword began to stir.

Lian Mu turned her head. The Flying Swan Sword was floating in midair—and then it flew straight toward her.

She caught it almost instinctively.

The white bird clutched the fabric of her shoulder, chirped sharply at the Black Flood Dragon, then hopped onto her hand. It pecked her finger, drawing blood. The blood trickled down the sword’s hilt, soaking into the etched image of a swan treading snow.

Lian Mu suddenly felt a connection form between her and the Flying Swan Sword. The white bird flew upward, perching on a rocky outcrop, tilting its head as it watched her.

“…”

Could it be… the sword spirit of the Flying Swan Sword?

But… if this sword already had a master, why would it willingly lend itself to her? Could it be that the Flying Swan Sword had never truly acknowledged Ying You?

No time to think. The Black Flood Dragon charged again.

Lian Mu channeled spiritual energy into the Flying Swan Sword—it flowed effortlessly.

With a single slash, a blade of chilling sword energy cleaved the Black Flood Dragon clean in two.

Lian Mu: “!”

So this was the power of one of the Ten Great Famous Swords?

But the beast wasn’t dead yet. Its severed flesh writhed in the air, strands of blood reaching out, trying to reconnect its body.

Lian Mu narrowed her eyes. “…”

As expected, a sword forged from demonic beast materials couldn’t kill a Spirit Beast.

Looks like she’d have to use *that* move.

She raised the Flying Swan Sword to her brow, one hand gripping the hilt, the other slicing across the blade. Blood welled up and hovered in the air, condensing into a hundred crimson blades.

“Spirit-Slaying Sword Formation—Strike!”

The moment the words left her mouth, countless blood blades surrounded the bisected Black Flood Dragon, piercing it from all directions. The blades sliced through scales and flesh, tearing its body into fragments.

The Flying Swan Sword shot from her hand, piercing straight through the beast’s skull. The sword’s edge cut effortlessly through bone, even slicing open the rock wall behind it, carving out a new tunnel. At the far end, a faint light shimmered.

The mountain had been cleaved in two. The residual sword energy surged outward, striking a distant hurricane over the sea. With a thunderous boom, it exploded into a towering wave.

Lian Mu didn’t see what happened outside. All she knew was that the Black Flood Dragon had been defeated.

The beast was finally dead. Between the two halves of its skull, a smooth, round pearl rolled to Lian Mu’s feet.

She picked it up and saw that it fit perfectly into a groove on the cave wall.

So this snake wasn’t a true Flood Dragon—it had merely swallowed this Flood Dragon Pearl, which gave it those dragon-like traits.

No wonder its horn snapped off so easily—it was a counterfeit through and through.

Lian Mu pocketed the pearl and turned to check on the Flying Swan Sword. But when she looked down, the blood runes had vanished. The resonance between her and the sword had been severed.

She couldn’t help but sigh. A first-grade sword… it felt so natural in her hand.

She really needed to upgrade Wealth Bringer to first-grade as soon as possible.

Lian Mu glanced instinctively at the white bird. It looked back at her.

“You’re the sword spirit of the Flying Swan Sword?”

She’d heard that famous swords often housed nascent sword spirits. She hadn’t expected to meet one so soon.

The white bird spread its wings and flew toward her.

Lian Mu thought it was going to land on her again, so she raised her arm to give it a perch.

But instead of landing, it flew straight into her face.

The expected pain never came. The white bird dissolved into a beam of light and shot straight into her forehead.

Lian Mu’s vision blurred, her consciousness fading again as her body collapsed forward uncontrollably.

……

……

Outside the cave, the Clear Thought Sect’s chief team had been squatting for quite some time, but no one emerged.

“There’s definitely more than just Lian Mu in there. This Fire Barrier—clearly the work of a Heavenly Spirit Root talisman cultivator. Bai Li Que might be inside too,” Shen Wuxie said.

Feng Huanyin frowned. “There’s a lot of commotion in there. What are they doing?”

“How would I know?”

Tang Wuxun was visibly irritated. He had thought this was the perfect chance to drag Lian Mu down, but once again, the opportunity had slipped through his fingers. If Bai Li Que was in the cave, then the Returning Immortal Sect’s chief team must be there too. That made it much harder for them to make a move.

“So what now? We came all this way—can’t just leave empty-handed, can we?” Shen Wuxie suggested. “Why don’t we just storm in and fight to the death?”

Tang Wuxun gave him a cold look. “Can you break through that Fire Barrier?”

Shen Wuxie hesitated. “…No. You know how Bai Li Que’s barriers are—second only to Jiang Yuechen. There’s no way I can crack it. Besides, I’m a talisman cultivator from the Bright Heart faction. Fighting is what I’m good at.”

“Then what the hell are you talking for? Shut up and get lost,” Tang Wuxun snapped.

Shen Wuxie chuckled. “Weren’t you all refined and proper before? What, showing your true colors now?”

Tang Wuxun: “……”

“Team Leader, you all go ahead. I’ll stay here,” Gong Rumei offered.

Tang Wuxun turned to him. “You sure?”

Gong Rumei’s voice was cold. “She’s been arrogant long enough. Someone needs to put her in her place. I’ll wait here for her. The moment she steps out, I’ll make sure she understands that a top-ten spot on the Magnolia Ranking isn’t something you just sit on.”

Tang Wuxun hesitated. “If you go off on your own and something happens to our chief team…”

“Yuan Wuxu will protect you,” Gong Rumei said firmly. “This fight—between her and me—it has to happen.”

Seeing how determined he was, Tang Wuxun didn’t press further. He gave a few parting instructions, then led the team away.

……

Meanwhile, outside the Illusion Realm, the Venerable Elders were at a loss when suddenly, the image-recording stone linked to the Returning Immortal Sect’s second-seat sword cultivator lit up again.

All the Venerable Elders turned to look. Inside the cave, Lian Mu lay slumped against the wall, clutching the Flying Swan Sword in her arms, with a bird nestled on her shoulder.

Not far from her, the mangled corpse of the Black Flood Dragon remained, its death gruesome and tragic.

Murong Yi furrowed his brow. “What happened?”

In a flash, he ran through every possible scenario in his mind, finally landing on one conclusion: Lian Mu and the Black Flood Dragon had taken each other down.

“She’s seriously injured. Why hasn’t the Illusion Realm ejected her?” Murong Yi didn’t even have time to worry about what losing Lian Mu would mean for the competition—his only concern now was her condition.

“She’s not injured,” said one of the Alchemy Cultivator Elders.

Murong Yi frowned. “She’s unconscious—how could she be fine…”

Before he could finish, Shang Liu burst in, holding a new image-recording stone. He stopped in his tracks at the sight on the screen.

“She…” Shang Liu exclaimed in shock, “She actually summoned the Flying Swan Sword Spirit.”

The room fell silent as the Venerable Elders collectively gasped.

The Flying Swan Sword was the foremost of the Ten Great Famous Swords. Its spirit rarely revealed itself—each Sword Master only glimpsed it once, during the bonding ritual.

“Isn’t that the Azure Profound Sect’s chief’s sword? How is she able to wield it?”

Shang Liu glanced at another image-recording stone. The mountain housing the cave had been cleaved in two, sword energy churning up a sea storm—stronger even than the strike Lian Mu had used to slay the Mirror Guardian Beast.

“What’s so surprising?” said a Venerable Elder from the Crimson Sky Sect, a sword cultivator, with a half-smile. “Famous swords don’t care about loyalty—they follow strength. Maybe the Flying Swan Sword Spirit just prefers her. Even a so-called Sword Bone Genius can be abandoned by his blade.”

Shang Liu’s expression darkened. “It’s only because Xiaoyou hasn’t awakened yet. The Flying Swan Sword Spirit’s been temporarily misled.”

Murong Yi asked, “Then why did she pass out?”

Just then, the Venerable Elder monitoring the Heart Realm Trial cried out, “The Returning Immortal Sect’s second-seat sword cultivator’s Trial Recording Stone is lighting up again!”

Everyone instinctively turned to look. Lian Mu’s Heart Realm Trial recording had indeed reactivated—but the scene it displayed…

Shang Liu’s vision went black. “…Go get your Sect Master. This Illusion Realm is completely out of control.”

Murong Yi looked over and saw that the trial Lian Mu was now in matched exactly with the one assigned to the Azure Profound Sect’s Team Leader.

She had entered Ying You’s Heart Realm Trial—and not as a participant, but as an observer.

Murong Yi’s mouth twitched. For a moment, he was at a complete loss for words. “…”

The recordings of each disciple’s Heart Realm Trial are strictly confidential, accessible only to the accompanying Venerable Elders, and no details of any disciple’s trial may be disclosed to outsiders.

Yet somehow, Lian Mu inexplicably entered Ying You’s Heart Realm Trial. In other words, from that moment on, she would have near-complete knowledge of the other’s innermost vulnerabilities.