The Sword Spirit

Gu Ningyun lowered her eyes, recalling every detail of the case in her mind.

Her own observations within the manor, Steward Miao’s account, and what she had seen within the sword stand all aligned.

Based on the current evidence, the memories left behind by that sword were genuine.

With that thought, she utilized her movement technique and arrived before the grave of Nie Yuquan from the memories.

Looking at the small mound of fresh soil, Gu Ningyun called out, "Sword spirit."

Beside the grave, only a ten-year-old willow tree stretched its branches in the wind.

No one answered.

Gu Ningyun broke off a willow branch, placed it in a jade bottle, and set it before Nie Yuquan’s grave.

"I have seen the memories you left behind."

The grave remained as silent as ever.

Gu Ningyun thought for a moment, took out her identity jade token, casually chose a nickname, and posted a message on the World Forum.

Did Your Strings Break Today: Looking for a reliable divination cultivator to find the whereabouts of a deceased person. Reward to be discussed privately.

A few comments popped up shortly after.

"Are you still worried about being poorly informed? Are you still regretful over missed chances? Linglong Pavilion is at your service."

"Which message seller is the best? Within the Five Continents, it's the Broker Tower."

"Buy information from Master Information. From the Five Continents to the Demon Realm, as long as you ask and as long as I have it, the price is fair and the source is reliable."

Gu Ningyun rubbed her brow in exasperation, hesitating whether she should ask Qin Xiaosheng.

Just then, a message popped up in her private chat on the World Forum.

"What is the reward?"

Gu Ningyun’s fingers paused. A reliable one had finally arrived!

She calculated her resources, unsure if the sect would reimburse her for trial expenses.

After some thought, she decided not to gamble on that possibility. "Perhaps when you return from your trials, you will need a music cultivator who excels in healing melodies?"

The other side was silent for a long while. "I am Cui Mengzhi of the Tianji Sect. May I ask your name?"

"Gu Ningyun of the Xiaoyao Immortal Sect."

After she sent that, there was no immediate reply.

Gu Ningyun waited patiently for a while before Cui Mengzhi said, "Add as a friend?"

That meant there was hope!

"Whose whereabouts are you looking for?"

"Nie Yuquan, originally named Jiang Qi. He committed suicide ten years ago in Ningchuan Town, Yunzhou."

"Wait a moment."

Gu Ningyun looked at the words "Tianji Sect," recalling what she had seen in the sword spirit’s memories.

The mandate of heaven—what did it truly mean?

Before she could dwell on it, Cui Mengzhi’s message arrived. "He bore three counts of mortal karmic debt. After being punished in the Hell of the Mountain of Knives for six years, he was reincarnated as Lin Zizhen, the eldest grandson of the second branch of the Lin family, a cultivation family in Linghua City, Shaozhou. He is now four years old."

"You calculated it that accurately?" Aren’t glimpses into the mandate of heaven usually vague and ambiguous?

Cui Mengzhi: "There was no need to calculate. I asked a friend in the underworld."

Gu Ningyun: "!!!"

This new divination cultivator friend of hers didn’t seem simple at all.

She carefully read Cui Mengzhi’s message. "For mortal karmic debt, does one only need to be punished for six years?"

Cui Mengzhi: "Those six years were calculated based on the time in the cultivation world. Time in the underworld is the same as in the cultivation world, but each of the eighteen levels of hell has its own time laws.

Six hundred years in hell is only six years in the outside world."

Gu Ningyun: "So that’s how it is!"

She recalled reading in the library that the higher a cultivator’s cultivation, the harder it was for them to have descendants.

Most of the fresh blood in the cultivation world still came from the mortal realm. It was no wonder this world’s protection of mortals was so strict; once a mortal was killed, the mortal karmic debt would be carved into the primordial spirit, or rather, the soul.

If one did not wish for their soul to be extinguished, they could only redeem their sins in the underworld before they could enter the cycle of reincarnation.

Mortal karmic debt was truly something one must never provoke.

In the distant Tianji Sect, the divination cultivator friend Gu Ningyun spoke of, Cui Mengzhi, was putting down his tortoise shell. He recalled the hexagram he had received when he previously performed a divination for Gu Ningyun.

A sky full of stars.

One who observes the stars knows the heavenly mandate. Could it be that this friend from Xiaoyao was a natural divination cultivator?

Since they were destined to cross paths with divination, he might as well build a good relationship with her.

Perhaps his chance to break through to the Nascent Soul stage lay with this friend...

Having obtained news of Nie Yuquan, Gu Ningyun, completely unaware of Cui Mengzhi’s hexagram, returned to the World Forum and deleted her previous post.

Just as she deleted it and was about to withdraw her divine sense, she suddenly saw a post complaining about something.

"So unlucky to be at Taiyi Peak; Gu Lianxue is disturbing everyone's cultivation..."

Without a second thought, Gu Ningyun forwarded the message to herself, planning to enjoy it properly once she returned to Xiaoyao.

Stowing away her identity jade token, Gu Ningyun looked at the silent cemetery and said calmly, "You probably wouldn't mind if your master knew what you've done, right?"

She faced the tombstone. "Daoist Nie, I wonder if you would like to hear..."

Before she could finish, a high-pitched, childish voice filled with anger and anxiety spoke up. "Since you've seen the memories I left behind, you should know they got what they deserved. Why have you come to disturb the peace of my master and me?"

"I was not involved in the grievances of the previous generation, so I have no place to interfere."

Gu Ningyun’s tone grew serious. "I only ask you, how was the child to blame?

"He knew nothing, yet you made that five-year-old child kill his own father and kin with his own hands.

"You clearly could have done it yourself. Why did you insist on controlling that child?

"He is only five. If he ever learns that his father and kin were killed by his own hands, how will he live with himself?

"He will likely spend his entire life in regret and self-loathing!"

"Are you talking about the young master of the Miao family?"

The sword spirit’s voice sounded mocking, yet resentful. "They forced me to kill my master with my own hands, so I wanted them to watch their own son—the junior they cherished and raised—kill them with his own hands.

"I was merely giving them a taste of their own medicine. What did I do wrong?"

"If you aren't feeling guilty, why are you so afraid of your master knowing?"

"He will never know!"

The sword spirit’s voice sounded like the mournful wail of an infant. "He is dead. He can never know again."

"He has already been reincarnated as a human and has re-entered the path of immortality."

The sword spirit’s sobbing stopped abruptly.

"Did you not know that cultivators can enter the cycle of reincarnation after death?"

Gu Ningyun glanced at the small grave mound, which was now glowing with spiritual light. "Then again, you are a sword spirit. You are single-mindedly devoted to the Sword Dao, so naturally, you wouldn't pay attention to anything else."

The grave was silent for a while. Not long after, a cautious voice spoke up.

"Is what you said... true?"

The voice sounded as if it were about to break. "Master... where is he?"

"You want to find him?"

"Yes. Can you tell me? I can summarize all of my Sword Dao insights and give a copy to you."

Every sword spirit possessed its own purest Sword Dao insights. Obtaining them would allow a sword cultivator's realm to advance by leaps and bounds; it was something every sword cultivator scrambled for.

Although the original rank of this sword was only mysterious-rank top-grade, a sword spirit was not defined by its rank.

Gu Ningyun recalled what she had read in the library: a precious sword has a spirit, born from a destined chance.

This sword was a family heirloom of Nie Yuquan and had existed for countless years, so its Sword Dao insights were naturally profound.

However, she could not simply agree to its request.

"No one is perfect; humans make mistakes, and sword spirits are no different."

Gu Ningyun’s tone was remarkably steady. "But the mistake you made was too great. You were wrong, and you must be punished."

"What punishment? If I take it, will you tell me my master's whereabouts?"