Ten Directions Sword Master

Zhai Xiao stood upright, his bronze longsword blocking a fat, burly man. He didn't seem to be exerting any force, but he pressed the man down so that he couldn't get up.

The burly man huffed and puffed, his limbs flailing, but the bronze sword on his shoulder, which seemed like a mountain, didn't budge an inch.

"Having seen this pig demon, we shouldn't be far from our target."

Zhai Xiao did a quick calculation with his fingers, then without even looking, he flicked his wrist and smashed the fat, burly man into dust.

With its tusks turned upside down and a hideous, grotesque boar phantom flashing by, it burst open like a bright red flower, sending countless petals flying.

Leaping out of the dilapidated courtyard, Zhai Xiao moved with light steps and leisurely stroll, as if he were in his own flower garden rather than in a secret realm.

Its imposing presence blends seamlessly with its surroundings, like a dragon returning to the sea, exuding an air of confidence that everything is under its control.

After walking a few steps, I stopped when my gaze fell on a corner of the thick smoke.

"A senior student from Yingtian Academy?"

A figure emerged from the thick smoke, her skirt stained with cigarette ash, yet her aloof demeanor remained unchanged; it was Li Xunzhen's niece, Li Wenwan.

She held the sword horizontally in front of her chest, full of vigilance.

"Our directions are different, so why don't we part ways here?"

Seeing that the other party remained silent, Li Wenwan assumed that he had agreed and slightly turned her body to make way.

In the secret realm, unless you are close friends from the same courtyard or have discussed it in advance, it is rare to team up with someone to explore together.

She had only taken two steps when she felt a sharp pain in her chest. Looking down, she saw a hollow space beneath her eyes.

"One touch and you die, the Great Zhou Demon-Slaying Sword Scripture..."

Li Wenwan's eyes widened. Even as she fell, she didn't understand why this person attacked her, or how his sword strike had left her completely unresponsive.

"They're still clinging to the old training system of the Confucian Four Academies, each generation is worse than the last... When the Zhou King's iron cavalry marches south, that will be the time when the longswords of the Yingtian disciples will truly become famous."

Zhai Xiao sheathed his bronze longsword, revealing six bronze nails embedded in his forearm.

Disregarding Li Wenwan's weapons and belongings, he disappeared into the smoke, with only one objective.

……

Floating island.

This place is called an island, isolated overseas, but in reality it is vast.

With a population of tens of millions, numerous sects and sword schools stand side by side, divided into thirteen routes, all revering the central Taibai Sword Sect as their master.

Sailing out to sea, it takes five or six days to see a few scattered islands on the ocean.

As for the legendary land, even a sword immortal with the power to reach the heavens and the earth would have to cross oceans and fly on a sword for several years to reach it.

For the island's inhabitants, it was like another world.

"Brother Bai, long time no see, you've gotten so thin!"

The roadside vendors greeted a familiar figure warmly.

"I caught a cold after going out to sea, and then I fell while loading and unloading the fish. I haven't fully recovered yet."

Lu Li cupped his hands in greeting and entered the Compass World, where he once again became Bai Wuming.

"You young people are so stubborn, always dreaming of catching a treasure fish and becoming rich overnight... My son has been at sea for three years, and he's spent less than ten days at home in total!"

The vendor thought of his son and handed him two pears.

"Those with the talent to be accepted into a celestial sect, how could we, children from ordinary families, possibly achieve that... If you really want to learn swordsmanship, there are countless sword schools in the city, and with enough tuition fees, you can surely find a good teacher... You're just being overly ambitious and unwilling to endure hardship."

"Don't rush, when you get tired of the sea view, you will always come back... just like the petrel, no matter how far it flies, it will always return to its nest one day."

Lu Li comforted the vendor, then, carrying the pears, strolled back home like an ordinary young man living in a real town.

On the floating island, there are two types of sword cultivators. One type is the same as what he knew: they use swords as weapons to cultivate martial arts.

However, the disciples recruited by the Taibai Sword Sect are different; they learn to control their swords with their spirits, and can take a person's head from a thousand paces away.

Upon reaching a deeper level of refinement, one can even enter and exit the azure sky, entrusting one's primordial spirit to it.

The legends and stories on the island about reaching for the sun and plucking stars, and manipulating the universe, are all adapted from the experiences of Taibai's disciples.

He had witnessed the person who demonstrated his sword skills with earth-shattering force; that person was a disciple of the Taibai Sword Sect.

Everyone wants to join the Taibai Sword Sect, but they value innate talent, which is the foundation of everything.

Without a strong foundation, no matter how good your other talents are, you can't even get started.

Go honestly to the other thirteen sects or countless sword schools and learn the normal sword techniques.

Legend has it that there is a treasure fish in the depths of the sea that can cross the Dragon Gate. Eating just one of these fish can change one's constitution and defy fate.

Every year, countless young people fantasize about becoming the protagonist in a storybook, going out to sea to catch a treasure fish, consuming it to strengthen their bones and become a disciple of the Taibai Sword Sect, rising to the top in one step.

Joining the fleet meant exhausting one's youth, and even losing one's life at sea.

Lu Li had visited the Floating Island World twice, fabricating the identity of a shipwrecked orphan. The island was sparsely populated, making it difficult to verify.

To make a living and to integrate quickly, I found a job as a helper in a bookstore, where I would air out books and put them away every day.

Food and lodging are provided, and no wages are required. The main reason is to be able to read books anytime.

Without any missions to force him to stay alive, Lu Li, having been transported here for a few days, only sought to recover his health and seemed to have truly integrated into this world.

There is no rush to seek breakthroughs, no hurry to seize opportunities, and no intention to travel thousands of miles to the nearest big city to test one's aptitude.

After greeting the bookstore owner, I stacked the Xuan paper and envelopes I had retrieved on the counter, and then went back to the back room with two pears and a book of supernatural tales in my pocket.

"According to the book, there is no difference in quality between the two sword cultivation paths, and they will eventually lead to the same goal... However, with divine control of the sword, as long as one has good physique and abundant luck, half a year of entry into the sect can be equivalent to decades of hard training for martial arts masters."

Lu Li chose a comfortable, shady corner, set up the almost-fallen recliner, took a bite of the crisp pear, and the juice splashed everywhere.

"Furthermore, with the Great Dao shifting, martial artists can only live for a maximum of two hundred years, which is not enough to cultivate to a level comparable to immortals and gods, so their status naturally declines."

"Judging from the description, the strongest among the thirteen sects is similar to a grandmaster in the real world, and there is still great value in exploring them."

"The Taibai Sword Sect has seven divine swords, the weakest of which is equivalent to the combined strength of thirteen sects. The demonic calamity that occurs once every hundred years on the Floating Island depends entirely on the efforts of these divine swords."

Lu Li was overwhelmed by the sights and longed to see them.

"The Seven Great Divine Swords are probably on par with the great powers of the ancient times in the real world, and are at a level even higher than the True Person Realm."

The owner of this bookstore was a widower who raised his only daughter to adulthood, and she married the youngest son of the owner of the town's sword-fighting club.

A man guards the bookstore, cold on the outside but kind on the inside. When Lu Li returned after disappearing for more than half a year, he didn't ask a single question, but just tossed him a broom to do his work.

Having gotten used to his place, and with several shelves of books he hadn't finished reading, he was too lazy to bother moving around.

Living here is safe and undisturbed.

"The superficial wounds have almost healed, and in about ten days to two weeks, they won't affect the strength of my arm."

Lu Li rubbed his shoulder, still feeling lingering fear.

The fierce energy from the raging waves grazed past my shoulder; if I had been half an inch lower, I would have broken my bone, and I would have had to spend the entire time healing from the wound.

"Two strands of extremely pure internal energy have appeared in my dantian, their forms almost completely changed, resembling smoke and mist..."

There are still formidable enemies in the real world. After enjoying a leisurely life in the city for two days, it's time to get back to business.

Lu Li sensed his dantian and felt two strands of internal energy, one hot and one cold, occupying the left and right sides respectively, like fire and water that could not coexist.

It was the aftereffects of forcibly unleashing the power of the Great Heat and Frost's Descent that resulted in these two wisps of internal energy resembling mist.

This prevented him from properly using his cultivation techniques, absorbing spiritual energy, and cultivating internal strength.