Chapter 223 - Time
When Qin Yun was young, he felt that time pa.s.sed very slowly. Each day seemed to pa.s.s as though he was counting his fingers. He looked forward to growing up, becoming an expert of an era, and killing Water G.o.d for revenge.
But when he truly embarked onto the path of cultivation, Qin Yun felt that time began to pa.s.s even faster. One round of sword art cogitation would take half a month. Without him realizing it, several years had pa.s.sed.
Morning.
Qin Yun was having his breakfast and eating some pastry.
"Master." Ah Gui respectfully placed a dossier on the side of his food.
Qin Yun nodded and opened the dossier. It contained the latest daily news on humans, demons, and the Water race!
"Fiendish demons are becoming more crafty in the way they handle things." Qin Yun looked at the information and shook his head. "They’re taking human form to infiltrate us humans, before they secretly commit murder."
"Master," said Ah Gui immediately. "Years ago, demons wreaked havoc openly. They would pillage villages directly, killing and eating people in an unbridled fas.h.i.+on! Now, great fiendish demons do not dare to publicly appear and the lesser demons have been forced into hiding by cultivators. No matter how bloodthirsty they are, they do not dare act brashly. They occasionally pillage while others transform into humans to infiltrate large family clans, villages, or even cities. There, they secretly kill and eat people. They do not dare attract attention to themselves anymore."
Qin Yun nodded.
Now, many sects had fiendish demons lurking within them. There could be demons hidden in brothels, wh.o.r.ehouses, escort companies, local gangs, beggars, etc.
"According to the records, the number of humans that have died due to demons had been reduced by 99%!" Ah Gui lauded. "This is all because of you, Master. Now, every cultivator in the world looks up to you, Master."
"Enough, enough. Stop flattering me." Qin Yun smiled. "Alright, you can take your leave."
"Yes." Ah Gui retreated respectfully.
Ah Gui had been working in the Qin Manor for a long time. He was honest and intelligent. Although he was mortal, Qin Yun trusted him with many tasks. After interacting with all sorts of information on a daily basis, Ah Gui had a deep understanding of the fiendish demons. The more he understood, the more impressed he was by Qin Yun. The second young master of yesteryear was now the most famous and best sword immortal in the world.
"Unknowingly, the tactics of fiendish demons have changed. They do know how to adapt." Qin Yun read the dossier. "But in that case, it will become harder to deal with fiendish demons."
In the past, he could storm a demon lair once it was discovered, wiping all of them out in the process.
But now, fiendish demons had infiltrated the humans. For one thing there were too few cultivators, and also, not all of them were capable of using Dharma Eyes! Even if they had Dharma Eyes, most could only discern their surroundings.
There was news of demons killing humans everywhere in the world. However, it became rarer for commoners to see demons with their own eyes.
Demons went from being blatantly open to discreetly hidden.
But these days were a lot better than the past!
After having breakfast, Qin Yun leisurely went to the mirror lake.
As he walked across the water"s surface and into the middle of the lake, he extended his hand. He began practicing his swordplay with a sword that appeared in his extended hand.
As long as there wasn"t anything important to take care of, Qin Yun would spend every morning practicing his swordplay.
"Hum! Hum! Hum!"
While demonstrating his swordplay, the surrounding world would gentle reverberate. Furthermore, Qin Yun"s every move naturally formed a picturesque scene. Ordinary cultivators would see a "picture" when they saw Qin Yun"s swordplay. It was art such as that of misty rain, pedestrians, or migratory birds… They were the Heaven and Earth phenomena stemming from his sword arts.
After practicing for an hour, Qin Yun put away his sword and stood there.
"Now, I have grasped three Paramount realms. The three are Defense, Decimation, and Juxtaposition." Qin Yun stood on the lake. "If there is the heaven, there is also the earth. Where there is night, there is day. My sword path has defense, as well as decimation. However, they similarly need to fuse together. They are complete opposites but they rely on each other. That is the Juxtaposition Paramount realm."
"With the Juxtaposition Paramount realm as the bond, the two Defense and Decimation Paramount realms will be the foundation. As such, my Sword Dao has finally taken embryonic form."
"I can also faintly see my Sword Dao."
"I just wonder when I can fully perfect it. It"s said that gaining insights into the Dao will be a great awakening. The heart becomes clear without any puzzlement. From the looks of it, I still need some time before I can step into the Dao," thought Qin Yun.
Speaking of time, he had grasped his Defense Paramount realm in the winter of his twenty-sixth birthday.
Now, he was already thirty-four. Seven years had pa.s.sed.
According to the past experiences of sword immortals that grasped Sword Dao in history, the heaven-defying ones took only three or four years to go from Paramount realm to stepping into the Dao. Ordinary ones would take about twenty or thirty years. Those that spent more than a century were considered slow.
"Seven years have pa.s.sed since I grasped the Paramount realm. I wonder how long more it will take before I step into the Dao." Qin Yun looked forward to the day.
As for creating a Dharmic formulation to condense an Essence Soul himself?
If he could not even step into the Dao, what was the point of creating a Dharmic formulation?
If the difficulty of stepping into the Dao was like climbing a tiny building, then creating a Dharmic formulation to condense an Essence Soul himself was like ascending into the heavens!
Qin Yun walked from the lake to a garden.
He cast his senses around the area and discovered a young man and woman eating happily from a street-side stall in Grand Dominance City.
"Shuyan, Shubing. Come over here!" Qin Yun frowned as he bellowed with a voice transmission.
When the young man and woman heard the voice ring in their ears, they immediately gave each other wry looks. After that, they obediently returned to Qin Manor.
Moments later.
"Uncle." Qin Shubing and Qin Shuyan stood respectfully in front of Qin Yun.
"Both of you are already sixteen. Neither of you are exactly young anymore," Qin Yun said with a frown. "According to our Qin family"s agreed upon date with the Hong family, Shuyan, you will be married in three years. Can’t you be more enterprising?"
Qin Yun and Yi Xiao remained childless.
He naturally taught his brother Qin An"s children with painstaking effort. The many cultivation manuals, treasures, and conditions given to them were even more exaggerated than those used to nurture core disciples of thousand-year-old families. As thousand-year-old family clans had many rules and members, it had to be fair to all. Qin Shubing and Qin Shuyan did not have any compet.i.tors so a large amount of resources were spent on them. It was enough to make even Connate cultivators envious. Under such conditions, both of them had knocked open the gate of immortality two years ago. As they both idolized Qin Yun, they also practiced in the way of the sword.
But in terms of sword arts? Qin Shuyan had barely become one with the sword while Qin Shubing had not even done so.
"Okay." Qin Shubing and Qin Shuyan nodded obediently.
"Work harder. Shuyan, Brother Hong"s daughter is one year younger than you but she"s so much better. She has long reached the Seamless realm and is already at the perfected twelfth level of Qi Refinement. She might even step into the Connate realm by the time of your marriage," said Qin Yun exasperatedly.
"Orh." Qin Shuyan felt a little vexed.
The marriage his uncle had arranged for him was troublesome.
His future father-in-law, Hong Lingtong… had recently broken through to the Connate Golden Core realm! There were two Connate Golden Core experts in Grand Dominance County. One was Qin Yun and the other was Hong Lingtong. As the best sword immortal, Qin Yun"s fame was so great that it drowned out the other genius Hong Lingtong"s halo, but it did not matter. His future father-in-law was at the Connate Golden Core realm. It made Qin Shuyan feel a lot of pressure.
As for his fiancée? She was also a genius!
"I have spoken to Brother Cui from Sword Tower," said Qin Yun. "You will be going to Sword Tower"s Hundred Sword Peak to gain experience. You will return whenever you are done with it."
"Sword Tower?" Qin Shuyan"s eyes lit up and he was bewildered. "Uncle, what is this Hundred Sword Peak?"
"It"s a test for Sword Tower disciples. If they do not pa.s.s Hundred Sword Peak, the Sword Tower disciples do not have the right to leave the mountain to vanquish evil," replied Qin Yun. "You are too lazy, so it"s good that you experience Hundred Sword Peak for yourself."
"Oh?" Surprisingly, Qin Shuyan began antic.i.p.ating it.
He had been in Grand Dominance all his life and wished to go out into the world. However, he had been barred from doing so by his uncle.
Sword Tower was the best sword cultivation sect.
Although Sword Tower would send many excellent disciples to visit Qin Yun annually, wis.h.i.+ng for Qin Yun to give them pointers, Qin Shuyan was still very curious about it.
"Uncle, Uncle. What about me? Am I going too?" Qin Shubing asked immediately.
"You?" Qin Yun pointed at Qin Shubing. "You have the nerve to even ask? You are already sixteen and you haven"t even become one with the sword. I don"t even dare to make it public that… you are my niece and you were taught personally by me!"
Qin Shubing immediately nodded obediently.
"I, Qin Yun, personally taught you, my niece. Yet at sixteen, you have yet to be one with the sword?" Qin Yun shook his head. What a disgrace!
"Then, then, when can I go to Sword Tower?" Qin Shubing could not help but ask.
"Whenever you become one with the sword, I"ll send you to Sword Tower," said Qin Yun helplessly.
It was only one with the sword!
All he did was practice ordinary sword arts with his father and a few constables. He had become one with the sword at age thirteen! He later obtained the Sword Immortal Legacy but, without a master to advise him, there were many complicated things in the Sword Immortal Legacy which he failed to understand at all. Some of the terminologies in cultivation could be learned instantly if there was a master to go to for advice, but he did not have one. He had to learn everything through trial and error.
At fifteen, he traveled the world and spent most of his time risking his life in combat. Only then did he gain insight into the profundity of the Sword Immortal Legacy. He nearly missed the maximum age limit to knock open the gate of immortality at nineteen.
Yi Xiao came out of seclusion and saw Qin Yun reprimanding his niece and nephew in a distant garden.
"Sigh."
Yi Xiao suddenly felt her heart wince.
They had been married for more than ten years since their time in the immortal abode! Yi Xiao looked down at her belly.
"It"s been ten years and still nothing. Mom said that I"m a Connate True Core realm cultivator and I have a dragon bloodline. Brother Yun is a Connate Golden Core, a purplish-gold Golden Core one at that. His bloodline is equally strong. It will be very difficult… to have children. But it has already been a decade. How much longer do have I to wait?" Yi Xiao thought to herself as she looked at her belly.