Cohabitation with Sword Spirit

Chapter 373 - 110: A Sudden +1

March 8, 2018

The name Golden Jade City is the youngest among the major cities of the Xiangzhou Continent, only becoming known about a thousand years ago.

Initially, the city established by the Zhao Family, one of the Seven Great Noble Families, was named the Jing Domain and was located in a truly dangerous place. Although not as wild as Southwest Cyan Cloud, as perilous as Southeast Shen City, nor as barren as Feiyan Mountain, during a time when the world was newly settled and chaos and war still wreaked havoc, Jing Domain was similarly engulfed in chaos and bloodshed. The light of civilization and order flickered unsteadily.

The dark forest that blocked the sky and obscured the sun, the poison-laden thorns spread throughout, and the ever-present demonized creatures formed the main scenery of Jing Domain. It took the Zhao Family, leading their pioneering team, a full century to clear a land where civilization could prosper, during which countless cultivators shed their blood upon the land.

However, rich rewards followed. As the dark forest withered, the lands of Jing Domain became more fertile. The indigenous people of Jing Domain, exterminated by the Zhao Family’s secret arts, became the Guardian Spirits of Jing Domain, assisting the Zhao Family in adjusting the flow of earth vein spiritual power and controlling weather changes. This led to a hundred consecutive years of bountiful harvests in Jing Domain, swiftly making the city one of the most prosperous and peaceful places in the world. Its swift rise surpassed other cities struggling amid war and desolation.

In the following centuries, leveraging its early advantages, Golden Jade City gradually established its economic dominance, amassing wealth to the point where it could almost rival Heaven-Reaching City, the center of the Xiangzhou Continent. By the time the current City Lord ascended, Golden Jade City broke new ground upon its existing framework, elevating itself to a position where it now stands shoulder to shoulder with Heaven-Reaching City as a formidable city in the world.

In the process, the wealth accumulated by the Zhao Family was unimaginable to outsiders.

Just as regular cultivators feel envy towards the wealth of the Seven Great Noble Families’ descendants, members of the Seven Great Noble Families often find the Zhao Family’s wealth equally incomprehensible.

How could they be so wealthy!?

When Zhao Jincheng instantly retrieved a complete set of top-grade magical treasures from his storage bag, changing his outfit and enveloping himself in a glow of treasures, Li Wanqing in the distance was almost blinded by the brilliance. Even this consistently wealthy and lavish woman, unconcerned about money, momentarily entertained the notion: perhaps marrying Qingming to that rich man and conning half his fortune to share with her sisters wouldn’t be such a bad idea...

But Li Wanqing quickly realized it wasn’t the time to consider a marriage scam, as the situation had already turned significantly unfavorable for them!

With Zhao Jincheng re-donning his divine armor and elixirs healing his wounds, he almost instantly returned to his perfect state at the start of the battle, clearly intending to drag the battle into a prolonged one.

Wang Jiu is not suited for prolonged battles.

The Celestial Divine Sword is now too far from its mount, lacking sufficient power supply, its Sword Qi nearly depleted with each use. With Wang Jiu’s current level of Sword World reconstruction, managing to actively attack and suppress a Rain Cover Realm expert clad in divine armor to this extent was already a miracle.

The Celestial Divine Sword, having slept for ten thousand years, has barely been awake for a year, still gravely injured, forcing it to fight with all its might was a tall order.

What added to Li Wanqing’s discomfort was her inability to help at present.

Compared to Li Chaolu and Li Xinyu who had withdrawn from the battlefield early, Li Wanqing’s power was several times stronger, allowing her to stand firm in the face of an opponent one major realm ahead of her. Yet, the decade-long gap in cultivation time rendered her influence nearly null aside from watching from the sidelines.

According to the original tactical plan, when Wang Jiu and Zhao Jincheng exhausted themselves, Li Wanqing, with her powerful explosive force, would have had the chance to deliver the finishing blow. However, Zhao Jincheng’s instant full recovery disrupted the original tactical design.

"Wang Jiu, should we retreat temporarily?"

Receiving Li Wanqing’s secret message, Wang Jiu quickly simulated the battle’s development.

The ability to detect changes in the battle and adapt, the Celestial Divine Sword naturally surpassed Li Wanqing. Though Zhao Jincheng’s instant equipment change was astounding, it was not beyond expectations.

It was merely heading towards the less favorable end of the expected scenario.

Compared to that old friend from back in the day, the descendants have indeed progressed.

Apart from the essence of the Zhao Family’s true inheritance, Zhao Jincheng has also remedied the ancestors’ shortcomings.

If it were that exceptionally beautiful woman, it would have been impossible to prepare multiple sets of magical treasures so extravagantly.

Though during the Jiuzhou Era, relying on beauty and shrewdness, she could be counted as extravagantly wealthy, she hadn’t reached Shang Lanfei’s level of considering money merely as numbers, her assets had limitations. Most of her limited assets were invested in endless beauty and makeup products, with her battle equipment and beauty gear usually comprising half each during battles.

According to that old friend, a woman’s beauty is cultivated with money; no matter how naturally beautiful one is, without diligent postnatal maintenance, she would wither quickly and be replaced by the later enchantresses.

She had the self-awareness, conceding that no matter how hard she cultivated, she could hardly become the best in Jiuzhou, but her natural beauty gave her the opportunity to always hold onto the title of Jiuzhou’s foremost fairy during her lifetime.

Later, facts proved that she indeed achieved that, all the way until she died at the hands of the Great Demon God Emperor. On the Jiuzhou Continent, there was no one who could rival her looks. But Wang Jiu always felt that if, during the final duel, she had replaced those bottles of Youth Pills with Nine Revolutions Pills, she might have had a chance to leave a sliver of hope for herself in the most critical moment.

Although most memories of that grand duel have been lost, Wang Jiu still clearly remembers that Zhao Yuming actually had the highest probability of surviving among the Jiu Immortal Venerables. Unfortunately, she wasted her precious chance of survival on the Youthful Appearance Technique.

Now, her descendants have finally learned the lesson, preparing multiple sets of magical treasures. Although the cost is nearly unbearable in terms of appearance, beauty can’t save lives on the battlefield, whereas magical treasures can.

Facing Zhao Jincheng who has fully recovered, Wang Jiu simulated several scenarios and finally confirmed that his power was no longer sufficient to severely damage him.

Although it was not impossible to use clever techniques to turn the tide, after the first two rounds of failed Breaking Techniques, Wang Jiu believed it was highly irrational to dismantle the opponent’s moves.

As early as the Jiuzhou Era, Wang Jiu had summarized several combat insights, one of which was: when facing opponents with abnormal temperaments, never try to dismantle their moves; instead, use superiority in strength to directly crush them.

Now, his power was insufficient to crush Zhao Jincheng, and his mount that could replenish his energy was confined a hundred miles away... If there were no other changes, Wang Jiu would soon exhaust the power stored within Sword World, turning into a mere whiteboard longsword that only had resilience. Zhao Jincheng, at most, would deplete this batch of magical treasures and sustain severe injuries, but would still retain powerful combat strength.

By then, even if Wang Jiu figured out a way to protect Li Wanqing and others, it would be to no avail. If Zhao Jincheng could not be slain amid these mountains, the strategic objective of preventing this absurd marriage would not be achieved.

Watching as Zhao Jincheng skillfully and methodically perfected his defensive measures mid-air, Wang Jiu couldn’t help but sigh softly.

At this point, there seems to be only one option left.

"Li Wanqing, release your Divine Sense."

"Huh?" Li Wanqing was momentarily stunned, instinctively following Wang Jiu’s instructions, relaxing her tightly wound Divine Sense for a moment.

The next moment, she felt some mysterious words emerge in her mind, a few brief lines forming a solid contract.

Subsequently, the woman’s limbs and bones felt weak, as if every inch of her flesh had undergone a baptism, and the True Essence within her began to become uncontrollable.

The woman did not panic. In the sudden change, a flash of insight occurred in her mind. Then, incredulously, she asked, "Could this be...?"

"Congratulations, you are lucky to become the second mount after the awakening of the Celestial Divine Sword, henceforth at my service, for me to command. I will allow you to share in some of my wisdom and power."

At this moment, Li Wanqing was initially a bit bewildered; then she chuckled and said, "Oh, so am I considered a colleague or a sheath sister with Qingming?"

Wang Jiu frowned, puzzled, "What sister?"

"Sheath sister, don’t you like my and Qingming’s slender type? In that case, as soon as Chaolu grows a bit, sign her as a mount too. I don’t mind sharing."

Wang Jiu suddenly felt that he didn’t quite understand humans. Even though he heard every word she said clearly, put together, it was all nonsense. Logically, Li Wanqing wasn’t the type to be inarticulate...

Oh well, now wasn’t the time to worry about details.

On the battlefield, opportunities change in an instant. Although Zhao Jincheng currently possesses absolute initiative, signing Li Wanqing wouldn’t immediately resolve the energy shortage dilemma. With her Half-Step Cloud Flipping Realm cultivation, she still can’t provide Celestial Divine Sword with the necessary real-time energy supply. Furthermore, Li Wanqing, unlike Shen Qingming, without the support of the Immovable Tyrant Body bloodline, excessive energy extraction would render her weak, undoubtedly a dead end in a high-intensity battlefield.

Therefore, since Li Wanqing can’t be used to enhance the Celestial Divine Sword, why not do the opposite and use the Celestial Divine Sword to strengthen Li Wanqing?

With this thought, Wang Jiu suddenly felt the analysis of the coming battle clear up.

In front of him were thousands of branching paths that eventually converged onto a single point in the distance: victory.

"Wanqing, prepare to deploy."

Li Wanqing immediately understood. She knew the driving skill of the Celestial Divine Sword. Back then, when Wang Jiu drove Shen Qingming to the Cyan Cloud contest, she was utterly defeated by it. Now it’s time to employ the same old trick on Zhao Jincheng.

"It’s an honor to serve the Celestial Divine Sword," Li Wanqing said with a smile, covering her entire body in Yuqing Taoist Armor, hiding her slender figure within the heavy armor.