Chapter 49: The Glass Sword Immortal, Pointing Out Sword Techniques.

Su Yu didn't watch for long. A dozen minutes later, Chu Xiaoyu returned, called him back inside the room, and handed him a jade token.

"This is your temporary identification token. It grants you the privileges of a partial outer disciple of the Crimson Firmament Sword Pulse, but it is only valid for three months."

Su Yu took the jade token and asked, "How extensive are the privileges? Can I pick up daily tasks and accumulate contributions here?"

Chu Xiaoyu shook her head and said, "It only gives you passage rights and access to the sect channel of the Crimson Firmament Sword Pulse. Nothing else."

"Alright."

"In addition, I just asked Miss Qingli, and she happens to have free time right now. She will teach you the Sword Dao over the next few days."

Chu Xiaoyu said earnestly, "Miss Qingli is one of the personal disciples of the Master of the Crimson Firmament Dao Pulse. Having already survived the first Great Heavenly Tribulation, she has ascended to the rank of a Scattered Immortal. Her mastery of the Sword Dao is extremely profound. If not for Miss Chu's request, you wouldn't even get a chance to meet her. You must study hard and not waste this rare opportunity."

Su Yu's eyes lit up, and he nodded repeatedly. "Don't worry, Sister Xiaoyu, I will study diligently."

"Well, get some rest for now. I'll call for you tomorrow."

"Understood!"

Watching Chu Xiaoyu leave, Su Yu clenched his fists tightly, filled with excitement.

A personal disciple of the Master of the Crimson Firmament Dao Pulse—this was a genuine heavyweight figure.

Such a person must possess an extraordinarily high talent for the Sword Dao and an immensely powerful realm of swordsmanship.

Just as Chu Xiaoyu had said, if not for the commander's connections, he would truly have had no chance to meet her, let alone receive personal instruction.

"I must seize this opportunity well."

Su Yu had originally intended to wander around the sect, but he no longer had the mood for that and went straight back to his room to rest.

The night passed without incident. He woke up early the next morning and waited in his room until Chu Xiaoyu arrived at around seven o'clock.

"Follow me."

Instead of summoning a flying boat, Chu Xiaoyu led him to open the side gate of the small courtyard, entering the interior of the manor. Passing through a vine-entwined doorway into the inner courtyard, he saw Chu Xinyue and the Sword Immortal Qingli drinking wine and admiring flowers in a garden pavilion, occasionally exchanging affectionate glances.

"Damn, they really are a yuri couple!"

Both women were absolute beauties with peerless figures and temperaments, and leaning against each other like that was a truly pleasing sight.

Yet he did not dare to look too long and deliberately lowered his gaze.

The two arrived before the pavilion. The Sword Immortal Qingli shifted her gaze toward him, flicked out a jade slip that flew straight toward him, and said, "I'll give you the time of one incense stick to master the swordsmanship inside, and then demonstrate it for me."

Su Yu caught the jade slip and pressed it against the center of his brows. Specks of clear light flew out and poured into his mind.

Thirteen Forms of the Demon-Slaying Sword Formula.

An advanced swordsmanship consisting of a total of thirteen forms.

The clear light vanished, the jade slip shattered, and this swordsmanship appeared on Su Yu's interface.

It was purely a swordsmanship technique, not a foundational sword formula, so its level could not be upgraded.

Su Yu closed his eyes for a moment, summoned the Miri Sword into his hand, and began to practice.

First form of the Thirteen Forms of the Demon-Slaying Sword Formula: Drifting Wind and Whirling Snow. A horizontal sweep of the sword that can freely transition to left or right.

Second form: Flying Blossoms Chasing Waves. The flying sword thrusts out a dozen sword phantoms converging at a single point, with the damage of each strike stacking together.

Third form: Stars Descending on the Vast Plain.

Fourth form: Jade Shattering Kunlun.

Thirteenth form: Nine Heavens Thunderous Movement. Consumes 30% of spiritual power to summon heavenly lightning into the flying sword, inflicting a fatal blow on the target.

It took Su Yu nearly three minutes to complete his first clumsy and extremely unrefined run-through.

Xiao Qingli, who had been watching him closely, frowned and asked with some puzzlement, "Xinyue, are you sure his talent for the Sword Dao is good?"

Chu Xinyue did not explain, merely saying indifferently, "You'll know once you watch a bit longer."

Su Yu rested for a brief moment and began his second round of practice.

Under the influence of his golden finger, the second performance directly built upon the success of the first. All the mistakes made during the first attempt vanished, his speed increased dramatically, and he completed the routine in only about two and a half minutes.

Then came the third attempt, which took only two minutes.

The fourth attempt took a mere minute and a half.

Following that, he practiced it repeatedly, growing more proficient with each run. By the tenth time, his mastery of the swordsmanship had already achieved a small measure of success.

"That's enough!"

A cold voice interrupted Su Yu's practice. He turned his head to see that the Sword Immortal Qingli had walked over. She looked him up and down carefully, nodded, and said, "Although your talent is merely average, your learning ability is quite good."

With a flip of her hand, she tossed over a flying sword. Su Yu reached out and caught it, finding it to be a first-tier flying sword called the Blue Edge Sword.

"Equip this flying sword and attack me."

Su Yu immediately poured his spiritual power into the flying sword to refine it, replacing the Azure Sparrow in his equipment slot, and pointed his hand to send the Blue Edge Sword hovering before him.

He gripped the sword in hand, bowed, and said, "Please enlighten me, Sword Immortal Qingli!"

The next second, he thrust directly at Xiao Qingli with a white rainbow piercing the sun.

Xiao Qingli similarly summoned a first-tier flying sword, the White Rainbow Sword, and met him with the exact same form—a white rainbow piercing the sun.

*Clang clang clang!*

The moment the two swords made contact, the White Rainbow Sword swiftly changed its move, unleashing a flurry of flying blossoms chasing waves that materialized into dozens of sword phantoms.

Though Su Yu reacted quickly and tried to change his stance as well, his identical form could only conjure eight sword phantoms, causing him to instantly fall into a disadvantageous position upon engagement.

Su Yu could clearly perceive that a dozen sword phantoms were far from her limit.

"Pay attention to sensing my sword momentum and force-application techniques."

Although her offensive was sharp, it was not fierce, nor did she press the attack relentlessly after breaking his defense. Every time, she would halt to let him initiate a new strike, and then defeat him again using the exact same movement.

Repeating the exact same form over and over, sensing the exact same sword momentum and force-application technique over and over, slowly grasping her force application amidst failure, pondering countermeasures combined with his own swordsmanship, and then continuing to be defeated by her using the same move.

"Too strong!"

The more they fought, the more Su Yu could feel her formidable strength.

Yet under her suppression, his swordsmanship progressively improved.

The proficiency of the Thirteen Forms of the Demon-Slaying Sword Formula advanced by leaps and bounds, quickly entering the room.

In addition, the progress of his sword realm, Sword Qi Thunder Sound, was also steadily rising. In less than half an hour, it increased by a point—an increment that normally would have taken several days to achieve.

After a continuous hour of sparring, she flicked him away with a single sword strike, withdrew her blade, and stood upright.

"That's it for today. Go back and continue practicing."

Su Yu cupped his hands holding his sword and bowed. "Thank you for your guidance, Sword Immortal Qingli!"

Then he bowed to Chu Xinyue as well and took his leave.

Returning to the side courtyard, he took out the Blue Edge Sword and resumed his practice.

Early the next morning, he received another message from Chu Xiaoyu telling him to come over for sword practice.

It was the same inner garden, the same sparring with the Thirteen Forms of the Demon-Slaying Sword Formula. They sparred for an hour every day, followed by his own solo practice.

On the third day, after Su Yu elevated the Thirteen Forms of the Demon-Slaying Sword Formula to a state of mastery, the sparring time was extended to an hour and a half.

On the fourth day, the Sword Immortal Qingli was busy, and on the fifth day, the session increased to two hours.

As time passed, his swordsmanship grew increasingly proficient, and the progress of his sword realm, Sword Qi Thunder Sound, climbed higher and higher. However, he practiced only these swordsmanship forms every day, and she taught him no other sword techniques.

Yet Su Yu was not anxious and settled down to continue his practice.

For such a heavyweight figure to spare one or two hours every day to spar with him meant she certainly wasn't just perfunctory. There had to be a reason why she wasn't teaching him other things yet.

The daily routine of sparring continued until the eighth day, still using two first-tier flying swords and the Thirteen Forms of the Demon-Slaying Sword Formula.

*Clang!*

A crisp sword hum, vastly different from usual, rang out. The Blue Edge Sword's brilliance suddenly flared, its movements far more agile than before. With a flash of the blade, ten sword phantoms materialized to meet the attack, producing a series of crisp, clashing rings.

Though he was still easily suppressed, he could clearly feel the pressure diminishing.

"My swordsmanship has leveled up."

He took a step back and opened his interface: his sword realm [Sword Qi Thunder Sound] had advanced from entering the room to mastery, increasing his sword-control damage by 50% and attack speed by 50%.

"Great!"

Su Yu was overjoyed.

His sword-control lethality had increased by 20% compared to before. The output of the Miri Sword had risen from 3,198 to 3,690. If he were to encounter Ding Lingyu again, a casual sword strike would pierce through his defense while still dealing around 1,200 points of damage.

Even the Azure Sparrow had an output of 3,450, capable of inflicting nearly a thousand points of damage.

This output was sufficient to suppress him head-on and wear him down slowly.

At this moment, Xiao Qingli twisted the White Rainbow Sword in her hand, and a melodious voice sounded: "Since you have broken through, we will move on to the next stage. Prepare to receive my attack."

With a flick of her delicate wrist, the White Rainbow Sword turned, and a sharp sword qi broke through the air toward him.

Su Yu twisted the Blue Edge Sword in his hand, and a matching streak of sword qi slashed outward.

*Screech!*

The cyan and white sword qi intersected. The edges of the razor-sharp sword qi pressed and cut against each other, causing the sword qi to tremble violently.

*Bang!*

The cyan sword qi could not withstand the pressure and shattered.

"Again!"

The White Rainbow Sword qi pivoted and slashed over once more. Su Yu swung his sword downward, meeting it with another streak of cyan sword qi, which crossed paths and clashed just like before.

This time, Xiao Qingli did not deploy any exquisite sword techniques; she simply crushed him with the sheer intensity of her sword qi itself, utterly blowing apart and scattering his sword qi.

Su Yu's initial response had been to try and neutralize the force using swordsmanship techniques, but after continuous attempts, he found it had little to no effect—or rather, it was useful, but not much. Although his sword realm had risen by a level, the gap between him and Xiao Qingli remained vast, feeling no different from before he upgraded.

He knew this was because the gap between them was too immense; Xiao Qingli's swordsmanship techniques were far superior to his, and a single level-up was simply not enough to close that distance.

He then changed his mindset, channeling more spiritual power to condense the sword qi, making it sturdier.

As soon as he altered his approach, he could sense the difference.

Once condensed, the sword qi's endurance increased dramatically, combined further with technique.

The sword qi crossed paths, exerting pressure, colliding, and cutting, with waves of force squeezing back and forth.

A flash of inspiration struck Su Yu's mind, and he vaguely understood something.

As if she possessed mind-reading abilities, whenever inspiration struck him and he made a change, Xiao Qingli would precisely adapt her attacks to target his modifications.

From the first day onward, for three days straight, no matter how he changed, the result remained the same as the first day. No matter how he altered his moves or condensed his sword qi, he was crushed within just a few collisions.

It felt as though everything he did was meaningless and in vain.

Yet Su Yu could clearly perceive the differences in between, and vaguely sense the intent underlying each of her strikes. He stopped thinking and adjusted his technique and sword qi structure purely by instinct.

At first it was somewhat stiff, but it gradually grew smooth until it became proficient.

Unawares, his sword qi slowly condensed and shrank, gradually transforming from five inches wide to four and a half inches, and then to four inches.

As the sword qi shrank, its degree of condensation rose dramatically.

Under Xiao Qingli's barrage, the duration his sword qi could endure steadily increased—from the initial three seconds to four seconds, then to five, six, and ten seconds, increasing continuously.

When the sword qi had condensed down to three inches, Xiao Qingli suddenly withdrew her sword, stood straight, and said crisply, "That's will do. Practice on your own from now on, and come find me again when you break through."

Su Yu was momentarily stunned, but quickly reacted and nodded.

Returning to his quarters, Su Yu sent a message to Chu Xinyue: "Commander, Fairy Li told me to practice on my own from now on. I'd like to find a place nearby to level up while studying."

She pondered for a moment and replied, "Alright. Focus on practicing well for now. Once you comprehend 'condensing sword energy into threads,' you'd best come back for some practical combat. There's a sword-testing stage down the mountain in Crimson Firmament City specifically for sword cultivators to spar with one another. You can go up there and try it out."

"Understood."

After that, he sent the same message to Chu Xiaoyu, and then headed out.

The Spiritual Fish Flying Shuttle departed the Crimson Firmament Sword Peak and headed straight for Crimson Firmament City.

Upon entering the city, he checked the local regional channel for a bit, spent one tael of gold to order a local map from a local merchant.

Loading the map into his territory interface, the previously pitch-black local map instantly lit up over a vast area.

Su Yu carefully examined the map and quickly selected a leveling location.

Two thousand miles east of the Crimson Firmament Sword Peak ran a river named the Cang River, one of the middle-reach tributaries of the Yuan River. Following the river downstream for over two hundred thousand kilometers would lead to the middle reaches of the Yuan River, and following the Yuan River down from there would take him back to Thousand Feathers City.

This river was even narrower than the Sinking Sand River, but it was the largest water system in the vicinity and one of the most popular leveling spots around.

However, it was not the largest leveling spot.

The largest local leveling spot was located to the north of the Crimson Firmament Sword Peak, where an endless sea of forests stretched for over a million kilometers horizontally and vertically. Countless spirits resided within for leveling, along with numerous demon strongholds and demon territories. It was rumored that deep within the endless sea of forests lay a demon domain ruled by a demon king whose level exceeded level three hundred.

Although he was quite interested in that endless sea of forests, the most suitable place for him to level up right now remained in the water; he wasn't about to abandon his advantages to go to an unfamiliar area.

An hour later, the Spiritual Fish Flying Shuttle arrived above the Cang River. Just as he was preparing to enter the water, he suddenly noticed warships moored far down the river downstream. Black dots filled the air everywhere, and sword lights and flying boats could be seen flying toward that area from time to time.

"What happened here?"

Curious, he flew over as well and soon spotted the massive fleet moored on the river surface.

Eleven sixth-tier giant divine timber vessels, seven sixth-tier poisoned dragon war galleys, over a hundred fifth-tier raging whale boats or iron-clad warships, and two to three hundred fourth-tier wave-piercing giant boats or turtle-shell warships formed a massive fleet spanning over a hundred kilometers across the river surface.

Divine thunder towers stood like a forest on the warships, and outside the battle vessels on the decks, players were densely lined up in formation.

Beneath the river water, naval forces were densely arrayed in formation, with naval commanders of level one hundred and above standing tall and floating up and down in the water as formless blue light rippled across the river surface.

"This is..."

Su Yu rapidly flew over, jumped out of the Spiritual Fish Flying Shuttle, and cupped his hands from afar to a few people on a Taiyi Azure Spirit Boat nearby: "Brother, what happened here? Is this a guild war?"

The few people on the Taiyi Azure Spirit Boat glanced at him coldly without speaking. Feeling slightly awkward, he turned and cupped his hands to inquire a white-robed man sitting cross-legged on a large door-sized great sword nearby.

The man looked him up and down and asked, "Are you from out of town?"

"Yeah, just arrived not long ago."

"Then that's no surprise."

"This isn't a guild war; it's a River God War. These guilds all accepted River God quests to come and assist in the battle."

"A River God War?"

Su Yu suddenly came to realization. "Could it be that the Cang River has two River Gods?"

"You guessed it!"