Xu Xian froze for a moment, forgetting the pain in his fingertip. He rubbed his eyes vigorously, and after confirming it multiple times, he spoke in disbelief:
"Holy crap—am I cheating?"
"It’s not a cheat; it’s visual sharing." A voice devoid of emotion rang out near his ear, sounding as if it were coming from inside his own head. Xu Xian instinctively looked up.
By the red glow of the candle and the white gleam of the moonlight, he saw only the empty roof and a few dark beams...
"Shuer, where the hell are you?"
"Master, please look down."
Xu Xian lowered his gaze and saw the little book spirit from his dream again. It was standing on the floor with its arms crossed, puffing out its cheeks and staring at him.
"You’re like a ghost, appearing out of nowhere," Xu Xian grumbled.
Shuer tilted its head, a trace of clarity flickering in its deep eyes. It couldn't help but feel that its master seemed a bit... unintelligent. A bit slow...
"Why are you looking at me like that?"
Shuer let out a tiny sigh.
"Sigh~"
So what if he was a bit slow? It was the master she had chosen, after all.
Xu Xian’s mouth twitched. He felt like he was being looked down upon by this thing again.
Shuer.
A contract had been forged in the dream, making him its master. Since then, it had resided within his sea of consciousness. It claimed it would lead Xu Xian to the pinnacle of life, to stand at the peak of the sword dao and reign supreme across the ages...
It wanted to rebuild the Heavenly White Jade Capital.
As for how to build it...
The little creature hadn't said.
Whenever Xu Xian asked, it would put on an air of mystery and say that the time was not yet ripe and heavenly secrets could not be revealed.
Regardless, it kept everything very mysterious, leaving Xu Xian completely bewildered.
However... since waking up, an entire day had passed. Xu Xian had tried calling out countless times, but there had been no response. He had begun to think the little thing was lost.
Its sudden appearance was quite unexpected.
The youth said lazily, "Where did you go during the day? I’ve been calling you all day without a single response. I thought you’d kicked the bucket."
"I only just woke up within the sword stele. I'm not yet used to the laws and shackles of this world, so I fell into a slumber for a while. I just woke up," Shuer replied earnestly.
Though the words were spoken casually, they caught Xu Xian's attention. He stared intently at Shuer and pressed, "You don't belong to this world either?"
Shuer was stunned for a moment...
What did he mean by 'either'?
However, it didn't think too much about it. After all, this master wasn't very bright to begin with, so it was perfectly reasonable for him to talk nonsense.
It said cryptically, "Heavenly secrets cannot be revealed."
Xu Xian looked thoughtful. It was playing coy, but the answer was obvious. Honestly, this book spirit's IQ... matched its appearance.
Not very high.
He muttered to himself, "It shouldn't be. Could it be that the Sword Ancestor wasn't from this world either, just like me..."
Confused, Shuer looked up and asked, "Who is the Sword Ancestor?"
Xu Xian frowned and spoke his master’s name directly.
"Li Taibai."
Shuer's confusion doubled, and it blinked its eyes. "And who is Li Taibai?"
Xu Xian hummed and asked instead of answering, "You don't know?"
Shuer thought carefully, then shook its head, saying dejectedly, "I've never heard of him. I've been asleep for a very, very long time. There are many things I don't know."
The tiny book spirit’s eyes looked lonely. Its finger-length body exuded an indescribable sense of weariness and sorrow.
Xu Xian understood.
It must be a very long story.
He didn't doubt it, but instead shared what he knew.
"Li Taibai is the founder of the Wendao Sword Sect, known as the Sword Ancestor. Well... he’s the one who placed you on that square. The endgame was also left by him. I met you after breaking that endgame."
Shuer understood. It stroked its chin and said with an air of feigned maturity:
"Oh... then he probably just picked me up. As for that endgame, I was the one who left it, not him. But never mind, it’s not important."
Xu Xian didn't press for details.
It really wasn't important.
The man couldn't be found anyway, so there was no point bringing it up.
He pointed to the lines of text appearing over the pile of items and asked, "Tell me, what's going on with this? What is 'visual sharing'?"
"A divine technique."
"A divine technique?"
"Yes, a great divine technique called the Pupil of Insight. It allows one to see through all things at a glance, to understand everything, to predict the future, and to trace the past... Of course, your current body is too weak to endure it. You can only look at these inanimate objects for now; you can't see living beings. But as your cultivation increases and your mental power grows, you'll slowly unlock those abilities."
As it spoke, it raised its hand, curling its index and middle fingers toward its own eyes before turning its palm toward Xu Xian, saying profoundly, "When the time comes, you'll be able to stare someone to death just with your eyes. Pretty impressive, right?"
Xu Xian curled his lip, gave a thumb-up, and said insincerely:
"Impressive!"
Killing people with a look was indeed quite badass.
But...
The premise was that he had to become strong first.
Once he was strong, why would he need to kill people so sneakily? It felt a bit redundant!
However, the ability to understand everything, and even predict the future or trace the past, sounded quite good.
In the world of cultivation, fights between cultivators weren't against the law. If one could see through an opponent during battle, one could seize their weakness and deliver a fatal blow.
Aside from identifying treasures...
It was also a must-have god-tier skill for dueling.
Shuer said triumphantly, "Hmph, that’s nothing. Once the Heavenly White Jade Capital is rebuilt and the twelve floors are all open, even gods will be slaughtered like sheep."
Xu Xian rubbed the bridge of his nose and remained silent.
It sure knew how to talk big.
It was a massive promise.
But he doubted it would be that easy...
A person had to look at the present. Taking things step by step was the wise move.
Ignoring Shuer for a moment, he packed all the items on the floor back into the spirit bag, leaving only a body refining manual. Suddenly remembering something, he asked with a serious expression:
"By the way, there’s something I need to ask you."
"What is it?"
"I remember being inside the sword stele for only a few days. How did four whole years pass outside?"
Shuer first shook its index finger left and right, then switched to four fingers and gave them a wave as it denied the claim.
"It wasn't a few days. To be precise, it was only four hours."
Only four hours?
Xu Xian felt even more cheated.
He continued to press, "So? What happened?"
Shuer spread its hands and said nonchalantly, "It was nothing much. I just accelerated the flow of time within the sword stele space. One hour inside equals one year in the human world. After you entered, I just forgot to change it back, so four years passed."
Xu Xian’s eyes widened.
Shuer said casually, "You don't know how hard it is to wait. If I didn't speed up the time flow, I would have died of boredom..."
It spoke with such conviction that Xu Xian couldn't even argue.
Was that reasonable?
A single mistake on your part...
And four years of my prime are gone.
What a scam.
Xu Xian rolled his eyes. "You’re really something."
Then, he asked with some anticipation, "Do you have any other abilities? If there's anything else we can share, tell me now."
"Others can't see me, only you can. Does that count?"
Xu Xian didn't speak; he just gave it a look.
Shuer plopped down on the floor and said honestly, "Then, for the time being, there’s nothing else."
Rate on N.U.
