Chapter 691: Redemption List

Chapter 691: Chapter 463: Redemption List

Within the Immortal Mansion, the sky was clear and the air was crisp. Mulberry trees and Spirit Rice paddies grew lush and green, occupying a vast area that stretched beyond the horizon.

Several lakes dotted the vast plains of the Immortal Mansion like scattered stars. Yinbao’s new home was situated in the largest of them, a ten-thousand-mu body of water at the very center where all sorts of Spirit Fish swam freely.

He was currently submerged in the water, trying to escape the incessant noise coming from a small, nearby island.

‘How is a guy supposed to get any sleep? It’s so damn noisy.’

The more Yinbao thought about it, the angrier he became. He finally rose from the lake, shook his bat-like wings, and flew to the source of the sound.

Here, on a tall sacrificial altar, a sword was bound tightly by eight golden chains. Despite this, the sword struggled without end, its every violent tremor shaking the altar and causing it to rumble loudly.

“Ah, Ruoxi, you’re here too.”

In front of the altar, the Bee Queen, Fang Ruoxi, was busy recording something. She didn’t seem to mind how Yinbao addressed her.

That was just Yinbao’s way. When he needed something from Fang Ruoxi, he would call her “Boss Lady.” When he didn’t, he would pull rank as Fang Qingyuan’s first Companion Beast and just call her by her given name.

According to Yinbao, he had witnessed Fang Ruoxi herself hatch from a bee egg back in the day. How’s that for seniority?

Fang Ruoxi, of course, couldn’t be bothered with such things. Only Jinbao would probably be willing to bicker with Yinbao over it. Speaking of which, Yinbao and Jinbao were remarkably similar in that regard.

“Still won’t quiet down? Why not just have the master erase its spirit? A disobedient Magic Sword is useless, no matter how powerful.”

Yinbao offered his opinion, but Fang Ruoxi shook her head. “It’s rare for a Magic Sword to develop a spirit. This is a precious specimen. We should observe it first. There’s no rush; the master doesn’t have an urgent need for this Magic Sword right now.”

After answering Yinbao, Fang Ruoxi returned to diligently recording the Magic Sword’s every agitation.

This Magic Sword was, of course, Nie Xinyuan’s Xuanli Sword. Fang Qingyuan had successfully obtained it during their prior conspiracy.

The only problem was that the Xuanli Sword had already developed a spirit and knew who its true master was. Thus, after falling into Fang Qingyuan’s hands, it refused to acknowledge him and instead resisted ceaselessly.

Left with no other choice, Fang Qingyuan set up a Tier Three Soul-locking Array to imprison the Xuanli Sword. He planned to let the Bee Queen study it for a while as he searched for a way to subdue the blade himself.

As a fourth-tier, middle-grade Magical Artifact, the Xuanli Sword was of a very high rank. According to the market price in the Qi Yun Territory, a Magic Sword like this was valuable enough to be traded for an entire Golden Core Territory—the kind that was even certified by the Great Zhou Academy.

In the Qi Yun Territory, plenty of Nascent Soul Cultivators would have been willing to trade a piece of cultivation land for it.

A fourth-tier, middle-grade Magical Artifact, while high-ranking, wasn’t considered priceless in Qi Yun. The Xuanli Sword’s true value lay in the fact that it possessed a spirit.

An Artifact Spirit was the kind of thing one could only stumble upon by chance, never actively seek out. A Magical Artifact with an Artifact Spirit was worth three others of the same tier. And it was precisely because the Xuanli Sword had an Artifact Spirit that Fang Qingyuan was now in a bind.

To wield the Xuanli Sword as an extension of his own arm, one first had to gain the recognition of its Artifact Spirit. And that was exactly where Fang Qingyuan was stuck.

The Xuanli Sword had a previous owner; Fang Qingyuan had essentially stolen another’s beloved treasure. His behavior was quite reminiscent of Wei Wu.

Stealing what belongs to another is a foul practice, but this was White Mountain—a desolate backwater known for breeding cunning and ruthless people. The White Mountain People would never pass up an opportunity to increase their own strength.

Nie Xinyuan had been backstabbed by his ally precisely because he never fully integrated into White Mountain. If he had learned from Fang Qingyuan to always be on guard and assume the worst-case scenario for everything, then Cui Taihao of the Illusion Sword Alliance would never have had the chance to ambush him.

That day, though Nie Xinyuan’s manifested body was destroyed in a four-against-one fight, he and his sword had still managed to severely injure the Nascent Soul Cultivator from the Sharp Gold Alliance, nearly causing him to dissipate completely.

Of course, that was with Bear Wind holding back considerably. If Bear Wind hadn’t intervened, it was unlikely that Cui Taihao and the other two Nascent Soul Cultivators combined could have truly taken down Nie Xinyuan’s manifested body.

This just went to show how powerful Nie Xinyuan was. And as a Sword Cultivator, the majority of his skills revolved around the Xuanli Sword.

If he could gain complete control of the Xuanli Sword, Fang Qingyuan would be able to hold his own even against an Early-stage Nascent Soul Cultivator.

As things stood, Fang Qingyuan considered himself invincible among his peers. With the support of his Immortal Mansion—an entire miniature world in itself—if a Golden Core Cultivator could still defeat him, it would only be because their own cheat was even more absurd than his.

Fang Qingyuan wasn’t the least bit worried about dealing with other Golden Core Cultivators; it was only when facing Nascent Soul Cultivators that he lacked any real confidence.

Nascent Soul Cultivators were so formidable for two main reasons. First, their Magical Power reserves were dozens of times greater than those of Golden Core Cultivators. Second was the True Meaning Domain of the Great Dao, which they comprehended during the Nascent Soul Celestial Tribulation.

Once a Nascent Soul Cultivator deployed their domain, the world in a thousand-zhang radius fell under their complete control. This was why only a Nascent Soul Cultivator could fight another Nascent Soul. No matter how powerful a Golden Core Cultivator might be, they would be left with no choice but to take a beating.

The tale of how Huo Hu, a mere Foundation Establishment Cultivator, defeated the Golden Core Cultivator Swen Guang was still told and retold. Even now, a hundred years later, people would enthusiastically bring it up, serving it as a bowl of chicken soup for the soul to inspire the younger generation.