5. A Certain Young Girl's Sword-Drawing Journey (1)

Regarding Chen Sheng’s drawn-out way of speaking, the little female ghost actually had a strong urge to punch him with her small fist.

However, she did not dare.

He was not a Qi refiner; he was an immortal.

The weight of these words was by no means light. Just moments ago, she had learned in detail from Chen Sheng about the immense power of Qi refiners, and along the way, she discovered that their ultimate goal was to ascend and become immortals.

Therefore, with the ultimate goal of a Qi refiner standing right before her, how could the little female ghost possibly dare to throw a punch at Chen Sheng?

Let alone throwing a punch, she wouldn't even dare to act the way she used to. Even though she knew very well that Chen Sheng would, at worst, just give her a beating—and she had already been beaten by him many times...

Hmph, this was purely out of respect for an immortal, absolutely not because she was too cowardly!

Yes, exactly, that was it.

She was simply showing the utmost respect to the immortal before her!

The little female ghost desperately tried to deceive herself, and surprisingly, the self-deception succeeded...

Chen Sheng glanced at the little female ghost, then stretched out one hand, initially keeping his five fingers tightly clenched before opening them up.

A jade-green, eyeball-shaped ring was now resting in his palm.

"Wear it. People in this world will not be able to kill you by gathering the conditions required for your demise. But this does not mean you are completely unkillable from now on; as long as someone collects sufficient conditions, brings those items before you, and meets you face-to-face, you will undoubtedly die. This ring can only buy you a brief buffer of reaction time," Chen Sheng said.

He naturally understood what the little female ghost was worried about. This was a world that seemed incomparably bizarre, yet was actually infinitely biased toward the living.

Humans could constantly be reborn into the world, whereas ghosts could be killed.

And they were killed in a manner that felt almost like a joke.

Anyone could master this method of slaying a ghost, and as long as the gathered items met the conditions to destroy the spirit, the ghost would vanish instantly, without taking the slightest risk.

It could be said that the living stood in the light while the ghosts lurked in the shadows.

As a ghost, what she feared was self-evident.

Upon learning the purpose of the ring, the little female ghost instantly abandoned the thought of fleeing to other realms. No matter what, she was a supernatural entity possessing extraordinary power in this world, and she was already familiar with its laws. Here, she could live freely and leisurely.

If she truly went to that world filled with Qi refiners, the probability of her failing to adapt was actually much higher.

The little female ghost departed quite happily.

After a faint smile, Chen Sheng returned to his original point in time; after all, he was currently in the past. As for his meeting with a certain young maiden, the time was not yet ripe for them to truly see each other.

Only when he unraveled the past world and the secrets hidden within would it be time for him and her to finally meet.

Otherwise, he and she could only remain strangers to one another.

Having completed a temporal closed loop, Chen Sheng had already transcended humanity in his consciousness, gradually drawing closer to a true immortal.

Removing her gold-rimmed glasses, Yu Youxin dazededly looked around her surroundings. Recognizing it as her own home, she finally confirmed that she had indeed been playing that healing game entirely inside her mind.

As for why she had harbored such confusion, it was simply because the sensation of decapitating people had felt far too real.

"This game is truly amazing. After playing it just once, my swordsmanship has actually become much more profound," Yu Youxin muttered under her breath. With a slight lift of her small hand, an ordinary long sword materialized in her grasp. Yet, the very next instant, this sword—which could not have been more ordinary—burst forth with an extremely fierce sword qi.

Like a dense web of swords, it tightly intertwined and enveloped Yu Youxin within.

Sword qi like silk, sword qi forming a web; this was an exceptionally profound state of swordsmanship. Across all the Qi refiners in the Spirit Realm, very few could achieve this step. Consequently, Yu Youxin’s cultivation realm received feedback from her soaring swordsmanship, skyrocketing all the way up.

This was precisely why sword cultivators were so popular in ancient times.

Possessing sufficiently strong talent in swordsmanship could compensate for a lack of cultivation resources. Coupled with formidable combat prowess, it was a method of cultivation that held a significant possibility of achieving immortality.

The reason it was said to have a significant possibility was because, since ancient times, the number of true sword immortals had never been large.

After all, this method of cultivation tended toward extremes, making it very easy to take unorthodox shortcuts and trap oneself in a dead end. In such cases, sword cultivators were often completely unaware of it until they were trapped and perished at the very final step of the path to immortality.

Because of this, it frequently happened that sword cultivators would go half-mad, loudly shouting "With my sword, I shatter the firmament!", only to drop dead directly on the road to immortality.

As Yu Youxin’s cultivation advanced, the grievances and resentments clinging to her body grew increasingly dense, seizing the opportunity to merge into her sword qi. This caused Yu Youxin's sword qi to gradually become overbearing and sinister, and an unprecedented murderous aura emanated from within her body, pouring entirely into the long sword.

From that moment on, this already ordinary long sword ceased to be ordinary, transforming into a lethal weapon of slaughter.

"Eh?"

This made Yu Youxin couldn't help but feel puzzled, but she didn't take it to heart. After all, this was her sword, and she was only thirteen years old; how could her mind be that meticulous?

However, the improvement in her cultivation did give Yu Youxin a notion she had never had before.

She wanted to participate in the Spirit Realm Cultivation Tournament!

This was a cultivation competition spanning the entire Spirit Realm, and the ultimate winner of the tournament would receive exceptionally generous rewards.

She had been tempted by those rewards for a long time, but previously she knew her strength was insufficient.

But now things were different!

Once this idea popped into her head, it could no longer be suppressed. After brooding over it longingly for three days, Yu Youxin sneaked behind her mother's back and secretly went to register.

Then she simply ran away from home, flying on her sword the entire way to rush toward the competition venue.

The Spirit Realm Cultivation Tournament was divided into regional preliminaries and the grand finals. To advance to the grand finals, one naturally had to secure a top ranking in the regional preliminaries.

Each city was only allowed to send one Qi refiner to the grand finals.

However, large cities were the exception, sending anywhere from one to five participants to the grand finals depending on the local population of Qi refiners.

The city where Yu Youxin resided had three slots.

She had rushed over full of excitement, but upon arriving at the venue, she was informed that all three slots had already been predetermined behind closed doors, and she was told to just take the cash according to the standard procedure.

Having said that, the person in charge even handed Yu Youxin a corresponding price list.

Perhaps seeing that Yu Youxin was lovely in appearance and could help boost popularity and television ratings once the regional preliminaries of the Spirit Realm Cultivation Tournament were broadcast, the person in charge went ahead and added a few extra words: "Little sister, I'll have you enter the arena earlier. If you perform well, I can apply for extra matches for you, letting you participate a few more times, or even go all the way to the end and play in the final match. Take a good look at the price for each match; this should be quite a handsome sum of pocket money for you."

The young maiden who had originally arrived in high spirits... oh, right now she was a little lolita, instantly darkened her small face. With utter shock and a puzzled gaze, she stared at the person in charge.

So this Spirit Realm Cultivation Tournament was actually all an act?

They weren't actually fighting for real?

No wonder when she watched the sword cultivators who emerged from past tournaments, she always felt their realm of swordsmanship was pitifully low. Back then, she had assumed it was because her own cultivation wasn't high enough, leading her to misjudge them!

Thinking of this, a surge of anger rose in the little lolita's heart, followed closely by a wave of malice born from audacity. But just as the murderous intent residing within that lethal weapon was about to be triggered, Yu Youxin managed to suppress the thoughts in her mind once again, and then flashed a sweet smile at the person in charge: "Okay sure, thank you, mister."

That soft, girlish voice instantly made the person in charge's mind wander. He wanted to say a few more words to Yu Youxin, but at that moment, someone came over to look for him.

"Young Master Zhang's people sent word saying he wants first place in the tournament, and he has already negotiated with the person from the Liu family who was originally scheduled. Boss, how should I reply?" The speaker was a subordinate of the person in charge.

"I'll go ask the Liu family first, don't rush to give an answer yet," the person in charge's expression shifted slightly, but he spoke thus and prepared to leave. Before departing, however, he instructed the subordinate: "Arrange a match slot for her, ideally two or three appearances, arrange as many as you can."

"Got it, boss." The subordinate readily agreed, then cast an ambiguous glance at Yu Youxin, muttering inwardly that he hadn't expected the boss to be into this type. Still, this little girl was truly adorable, so he said, "Come with me, I'll check the schedules for you first, because today's lineup is a bit tight."

Yu Youxin maintained her sweet smile, but the moment the subordinate turned around to lead the way, her smile instantly turned sinister.

She decided that the moment she stepped onto the stage, she would go all out—one strike per person, cutting down as many as she could!

Let them witness what a true sword cultivator was really like!

Anyway, if worst came to worst and she couldn't beat them, she could just run away. In other aspects like alchemy or artifact forging, Yu Youxin lacked confidence, but when it came to flying on a sword, her confidence was absolute.

In the past, she only needed to use half of her strength to shake off anyone causing her trouble. Furthermore, her cultivation had now advanced drastically, multiplying her strength several times over!

Yu Youxin was led backstage at the regional venue of the cultivation tournament. There, she witnessed two guys who had previously been walking arm-in-arm and chatting with smiles immediately put on furious expressions the moment their names were called to enter the stage. Following that, as if rehearsed, the two of them struck at each other almost simultaneously, yet each smoothly dodged the other's attack.

Most of the onlookers outside the arena were clueless, so upon seeing this, they simply assumed both individuals possessed profound cultivation and superb skill, each anticipating the other's moves.

And the two people on stage wore identical, synchronized expressions. One of them proclaimed, "I never expected you to dodge that move!"

"To think you could dodge that strike of mine as well, I concede you're good!" said the other. Though their expressions were fierce, the appreciation in their tone was undisguised.

This scene, resembling heroes cherishing one another, instantly drew thunderous applause from the audience.

At that moment, the subordinate of the person in charge leaned close to Yu Youxin and said, "See that? You just need to act like them. I've arranged a slightly chubby Qi-refiner brother for you. Look over there, see him? But because he needs to secure a spot in the top ten, you'll have to lose to him by half a move later. That way, you can participate in the subsequent repechage matches, understand?"

Yu Youxin glanced over and spotted a slightly plump young man who nodded at her with a smile.

Yu Youxin didn't care who she was supposed to spar with; anyway, whoever it was, they were just destined to be hacked down by her sword. So she asked curiously, "Isn't it true that only three people can participate in the grand finals of the cultivation tournament? Why does he still want to get into the top ten?"

Because Yu Youxin was far too cute when she wasn't talking, and she behaved so obediently, the subordinate didn't think much of it and bluntly spilled the details: "You're asking about that? Heh heh, let me tell you, don't go spreading it. Sure, only three people can go to the grand finals, but nobody ever said the other rankings had no value!"

"As long as you get a ranking, you can use it as a foundation for your personal reputation! Among the people who come here to compete, look at that little boy there. Don't let his age of nine fool you; his dad is the sect master of the Skywind Sect. So he's here to grab tenth place, using the opportunity to make a name for himself and pave the way for eventually inheriting the Skywind Sect. If he weren't too young—since getting too high a rank too early raises suspicions—we originally planned to arrange fifth place for him."

"And that guy over there, although his background isn't much, he happens to be very good-looking. Quite a few female cultivators adore his face, and an ancient Qi refiner took a fancy to him, hence the order came down for him to take fourth place."

The subordinate shared everything he knew with Yu Youxin—what their backgrounds were, and which rankings had already been predetermined. He also mentioned that the two guys who had just sparred on stage had agreed beforehand to put on a show together, specifically invited by the tournament organizers for the regional preliminaries.

"If you perform well this time, you can also get invited back to participate a few more times just like them in the future. And by then, your appearance fee will be even higher," the subordinate didn't forget to advise her.

"Do the other participants know about all this?" Yu Youxin found this completely baffling; wouldn't they resist? A competition that was entirely rigged was just making a mockery of everyone!

"Of course they know, who doesn't? Those who come to participate are all just here to hustle an appearance fee, aren't they? Who actually practices cultivation diligently these days? What is more important than having a good background? If you don't have one, you just have to obediently accept your fate!" the subordinate said with a self-mocking smile.

It was evident that he had once felt bitter and indignant about this, but by now he had accepted it.

He was just one person; he truly couldn't fight against it.

Since everyone chose to muddle along in a daze, he would just muddle along in a daze as well. Cultivation—was there really anyone in this world who could cultivate and become an immortal?

Even if there were, it wouldn't be someone like him, lacking background or pedigree.

Yu Youxin nodded, though she still didn't fully understand. To her, those words were far too profound, so she chose to stick to her original plan: once she got on stage, whenever she met someone, she would draw her sword and hack them down.

And then, Yu Youxin heard her own name called. It was finally her turn to go on stage!