Shadow Sword Technique

Taking a step forward, Xiu Ying's glare traveled with unnerving thoroughness and she raised a hand.

Golden flames erupted from the tips of her nails and she took her fingers close to his face. However, Li Chen reacted instinctively and held her wrist.

Yet he discovered his feet had slid backward. His eyes gleamed and he drew her wrist, causing her to stagger.

Before hitting his body, Xiu Ying somersaulted, easily floating over him and wrapping her fingers around his hair.

"Don't…"

She couldn't complete her sentence when Li Chen raised his left foot and stepped on her right foot.

"Ah!" Xiu Ying yelled, and Li Chen released himself. 

Knowing who he dealt with, Li Chen stomped the ground and flew into the air. At that second, flames engulfed where he stood. 

Subconsciously, a smirk formed on Xiu Ying's lips when she saw that Li Chen had already evaded. 

Her golden eyes twinkled and she launched swirling flames toward the man, who slowly landed.

'He's good!' She gasped, seeing Li Chen split the flames apart and land stably.

[Next time, I would love to know when you want to spar.]

"Oh? I wasn't sparring. I just wanted to test if your mask is resistant to flames." 

[Why now? You could have done that before.]

Xiu Ying placed her hands on her back. "I just felt the urge to."

[You mean, you were furious because I looked at you lecherously.]

"No. I was furious that instead of apologizing, you gave an excuse." 

[Was? Why aren't you still furious? You didn't harm me.]

"You ask a lot of questions, Old Cat!" Xiu Ying hissed.

Avoiding his face, she muttered in a low tone, "You'll make a good swordsman though." 

[Thank you.]

Xiu Ying became flustered when Li Chen appeared beside her. Although he had no mouth, she could sense he would be smiling right now.

Leaving her courtyard, they walked past a few others. The path was made of stones on grass. The shimmering carpet grass spread to the unkown and only stopped at the gates of each courtyard.

After a while, the duo arrived before the Alchemy Hall. Right in the courtyard was a large sculpture of a cauldron. 

The metallic doors were wide open and disciples streamed in and out. Most of them had a silver Hanfu belt, which meant they were inner disciples. 

The presence of Li Chen and Xiu Ying garnered lots of attention. For Xiu Ying, it was her beauty and her fame as the third-top newbie, while for Li Chen, it was his exquisite mask and his position as the No. 1 outer disciple.

Few considered Li Chen worth their time since he wasn't in the official outer disciple rankings but seeing both of them stirred up whispers.

"I'll meet you at the library." Xiu Ying said that and left.

Li Chen briskly walked up to the counter. "Five thousand points worth of energy-gathering pills." 

The man brought out a small glass container that had five blue pills. "You could either take five of these low-grade pills or one medium-grade energy-gathering pill for five thousand points." 

Looking at the man's plain expression, Li Chen knew he didn't even care if a disciple took a badly refined pill.

The low-grade pills weren't even good looking but combined, they had more energy than one medium-grade pill. But the low-grade pills also had toxins.

[I'll take the low-grade one.] 

Li Chen paid, sent the pills to his storage space and turned. He had faith in his body. These toxins wouldn't have any detrimental effect on him because they would be naturally expelled from his system.

"Hey, you're Li Chen, right?" Someone asked but Li Chen didn't bother checking. He left the hall without looking back, leaving the senior stunned.

Walking into the library, before he could speak, the old man took a glimpse at his belt and his grumpy voice rang.

"First floor."

Li Chen dropped his jade and it revealed his position, which made the man puff out. "You have access to the second floor." 

[Thank you.] Li Chen chortled, leaving the old man staring at his floating words with raised brows.

He walked into the first floor and it was a large hall with several shelves filled with scrolls. At their top were labels such as movement techniques, body arts, offensive techniques, and defensive techniques.

There were also shelves with techniques specifically for certain elements. Scanning through the mortal-grade techniques, Li Chen sighed.

His search for a decent sword skill was fruitless.

With a shrug, he climbed the stairs to the second floor. The moment he entered the room, Li Chen felt like he had walked into a different dimension.

The walls had a cerulean hue, the same as the shelves and the hall was much smaller than the first floor. 

'Wow.' he gasped. There was a certain soothing energy lingering about and it made his tensed muscles relax.

His search for the sword section did not last because it was one of the biggest sections. He picked up a scroll, untied it, and scanned the content.

'Swift Sword Cut?' 

At that moment, Li Chen's mind was transported into a grassland. He saw a man wielding a longsword. The man stood still, his ears and eyes shifting about.

'What is he waiting for?' 

As if he were the catalyst, four gray-fanged wolves, using the tall grass to their advantage, lunged forward.

SLASH —!!

The man's sword moved.

A bright gleam reflected in Li Chen's eyes as he watched a 1.7-meter-tall wolf divide. Not a drop of blood stained the sword!

The man turned and slashed. He was so fast that Li Chen saw three intersecting condensed radiances.

Both the wolves and the grass around him were cut down. Sheathing his sword, the man walked away until his figure vanished.

Li Chen woke up.

Though he was fast, he yearned to have such reaction speed and quick reflexes. That man did not detect where those wolves were but he could accurately deliver quick, deadly strikes in a short time.

'His element had to be wind. I have light, so I'm much faster.' 

When he saw the technique was a 1-star sky-grade one, he sent it to his storage space. Excited to find another great sword skill, he turned, only to freeze.

Staring at him was a white-haired girl. Her lashes swept up and she blinked. "Li Chen, right?" 

Her soft, soothing voice rang. Right before him was the woman he created to be Feng Lanxi's rival and eventually his wife.

[Ah, Senior Bai Fenxi. It's a pleasure to meet the princess of the Sea Dragon clan.] Li Chen clasped his hands.

Bai Fenxi's right brow slanted, expressing her bewilderment.

"Xiu Ying and I are not on speaking terms." Bai Fenxi replied.

[I know but I also think you two should compare skills to grow faster.]

"We might have reached an unreconciled stage." 

Bai Fenxi picked up a bamboo scroll, took a glance at it and dropped it. Her every slight act, including the wrinkling of her nose, exuded outstanding elegance.

"I haven't seen you with her before. Who is she to you?" 

[Let's say she's the reason I'm here.] 

"Oh? I guess she has a nice part of her, seeing how you want to make me befriend her." Bai Fenxi smiled.

Her sapphire eyes twinkled as she gazed at the floating words. Although floating words weren't a new sight since some scrolls could do it, Li Chen's was out of the norm.

[Of course-....]

"Fenxi! I've found it. Come, quick!" A golden-haired man pushed aside the scrolls from the other side of the shelf and hurriedly called out to Bai Fenxi.

"I'll take my leave. Goodbye." Bai Fenxi clasped her fist and walked around the shelf. On the other side, Feng Lanxi turned and saw Li Chen.

His eyes grew wide.

"Ah! It's the masked guy! We'll talk about it later. I want to greet him." 

Before Bai Fenxi could react, Feng Lanxi leaped over the shelf and landed before Li Chen. He cleaned his robe and stretched his hand.

"I'm Feng Lanxi. Bai Fenxi's friend. We're close." He winked at Li Chen.

Li Chen unglued his eyes from the gourd strapped to Feng Lanxi's belt. 

[You're looking thin. Eat more meat.] 

"Eh?" His golden brows were slanted.

Bai Fenxi grabbed Feng Lanxi's hand and dragged him away. 

Flashing an apologetic smile, she took the tipsy man away.

Li Chen slumped, leaned against the wall and stared at the ceiling. It was his first time meeting the protagonist of his comic and he was quite stunned.

He never expected they would meet this way. Now, he didn't know how to react to seeing the protagonist become a real person.

'I feel weird. Talking with two of my favorite characters feels like a dream.'

"What are you doing?" A melodic voice rang. Although it wasn't soothing and soft, Xiu Ying's voice had a certain charm that affected the heart.

She dropped two scrolls on him. "Both of them should suit your dual elements. Well, what are you waiting for? Check them out!" 

'So impatient.' Li Chen chuckled and opened one of them.

Unlike the Swift Sword Cut Technique, this one had rune diagrams and the creator's deep comprehension. 'Shadow sword technique.'

His mind was once again transported but this time, he found himself in a cavern.

"Hehehe, where will you run now?" 

From a bird's-eye view, Li Chen watched several men garbed in black flood the cavern. They surrounded a woman wearing a straw hat and a dirty, worn-out light green robe that had a golden Hanfu belt.

SHING—!

"I've been waiting for you." She hissed, unsheathing her sword.

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