The goatee cultivator swallowed hard.
How did a zither's sound suddenly appear?
Isn't this child skilled in divine sense attacks?
A melodious, pleasant zither tune entered his ears—a piece he had never heard before.
The conception was elegant and exceptionally beautiful.
Under his divine sense, however, he saw layers of killing intent ripple from the strings, heading toward the small spiders opposite the zither.
This killing intent seemed even more terrifying than the previous water wave from the water-attribute magic cultivator.
It was killing without form.
The small spiders directly in front of the zither had blood flowing from their four simple eyes, and they stopped moving, layer by layer.
This child, besides divine sense attacks, was actually skilled in physical attacks as well.
A nine-year-and-four-month-old music cultivator, who had been cultivating for barely over three years at most.
To be able to master both divine sense and physical attack melodies—what kind of monstrous talent was required for this?
He had seen two music cultivator disciples in the Yuebai Sect, but were they this ridiculous?
The goatee cultivator fell silent.
It wasn't that he felt defeated.
Truly.
After all, he wasn't a music cultivator himself.
...
Underwater, it was the home field for Gu Ningyun, the music cultivator, and Mu Chenze, the water spirit root cultivator.
In the seawater, the two were like fish in water, as if aided by the heavens, displaying strength far beyond their usual level and even gaining insights in this special environment.
Originally, when Gu Ningyun played 《The Mountain Has the Thorny Elm》, she could only release green sound blades.
Underwater, she had somehow managed to hide the color of her wind spirit energy within the sound blades, leaving only invisible killing intent.
But Wen Xuan, Jiang Yao, and Jun Luo were no ordinary people either.
As a single-attribute high-grade fire spirit root cultivator, Wen Xuan was facing a situation where she was completely countered by water spirit energy for the first time.
All her fire-attribute spells, when cast in this seawater, inevitably fizzled out.
Water and fire are mutually exclusive. No matter how pure her fire spirit root was, she only had a cultivation of Qi Refining level seven. Facing the pure water spirit energy of the seabed, her tiny flame naturally could not contend with the vast ocean.
But under absolute suppression, she took an unconventional path, discovering another method.
Just like refining the body under intense gravity, she chose to temper her fire-attribute spells under the absolute suppression of the water element.
Fire spirit energy continuously flowed into her mace as the fire-attribute mace techniques she had learned at Preaching Peak circulated without stopping.
At first, the mace lost its spiritual glow.
She could only rely on her strength as a body cultivator to attack within the swarm of small spiders.
Of every wave of small spiders controlled by Gu Ningyun, she could only deal with one-twentieth.
The lion's share was handled by Mu Chenze.
Later, the first spike of the mace lit up with a faint red spiritual glow.
She popped two Spirit-Replenishing Pills into her mouth and charged directly into the third layer of the spider swarm.
This time, she dealt with one-seventeenth.
Time passed bit by bit.
The spikes lit up one by one, row by row.
Red spiritual glow covered every spike.
Unlike before on land, when it floated on the surface or even spread several inches beyond the spikes...
This layer of glow emanated from within the mace and stopped at the outer layer of the spikes, without a single bit of dissipation.
But the density of this spiritual glow was dozens of times greater than before.
By now, she could deal with one-eighth of the controlled small spiders.
On the seabed, in a region of pure water spirit energy, she was no longer absolutely suppressed.
As her cultivation improved in the future, this suppression would only grow smaller.
Once she returned to the surface and left this suppressed environment, her fire-attribute spells would surely be several times stronger than before.
Jiang Yao was using a spear on the seabed for the first time.
Metal generates water; water does not counter metal.
However, in the seabed where only water spirit energy existed, he couldn't circulate a technique to replenish his consumed gold spirit energy, which made him very uncomfortable.
Spear techniques are flexible, but there were many obstacles in the water.
When Jiang Yao brandished his spear, the water current frequently affected the direction of the spear's body.
If his spear was affected, why were the sea spiders' long legs so agile on the seabed?
Jiang Yao observed as he attacked and gradually came to an understanding.
It was about borrowing momentum.
Borrowing the momentum of the water current.
He closed his eyes, sensing the spear in his hand and the relationship between the spear and the water current only through his divine sense, spirit energy, and hands.
Gradually, the speed at which he brandished his spear increased. Every thrust, pierce, and whirl became increasingly fluid.
Like a fish born and raised in the sea.
With a lift of his hand and a turn of his forearm, the spear followed the current, sweeping through a group of small spiders as gold spirit energy containing the aura of sharp metal sliced through them.
The underwater environment was no longer an obstacle to his spear techniques.
Once he returned to the surface, he might be able to borrow momentum in the air and wind just the same.
This was his insight into spear techniques. Even if the resistance of water was replaced by the resistance of air, the principle was similar—
Borrowing momentum.
Jun Luo possessed a top-grade ice spirit root.
Although ice spirit roots were a mutation of water and earth, as an absolute mutation, ice spirit energy was fundamentally different from water spirit energy.
An ice spirit root could not absorb water spirit energy.
However, water can be condensed into ice.
When Jun Luo first brandished his sword in the water, the temperature of the ice spirit energy on the blade was so low that it directly froze the surrounding water into solid ice.
To brandish the sword smoothly, he either had to be fast enough to swing the blade before the water in its path froze...
Or he had to consume extra ice-attribute sword qi to cleave through the ice obstructing the blade.
Jun Luo didn't have a wind spirit root. Even though he had practiced movement techniques and honed his sword thirty thousand times a day, allowing him to swing over a dozen times in a single breath...
The temperature of the ice spirit energy on his blade from his top-grade ice spirit root was extremely low.
Even seawater containing salt and other impurities froze at an incredible speed when it encountered this ice spirit energy.
It was even faster than the speed of Jun Luo's sword swing.
The first method of swinging before it froze was naturally impossible.
If he chose the second method, it was also unsuitable.
Extremely powerful and pure ice spirit energy had actually become an obstacle in the water, requiring extra spirit energy to overcome.
This second method of cleaving through was naturally not good either.
Jun Luo looked at his exceptionally powerful and pure ice-attribute sword qi, which had been tempered through much effort, and suddenly thought of Gu Ningyun's wind-attribute sword qi.
Why was there no sound of wind at all when her wind-attribute sword qi was released?
It was silent and stealthy.
How did she do it?
He couldn't help but recall the form of Gu Ningyun's sword qi.
Subtle, thin, sharp, and dangerous...
Subtle?
Restrained?
Jun Luo fell silent as he looked at the sword qi emanating frigid air from his blade.
He remembered his first time practicing the sword at the Sword Hall, and the daily honing of his sword.
He remembered sparring with Gu Ningyun and other talented swordsmen.
He remembered the many floors of the Trial Tower and every training expedition.
Honing the sword.
How could his sword qi be subtle and restrained?
Following his heart, Jun Luo gently swung his sword. Ice-attribute sword qi froze a stretch of seawater along its path, along with dozens of small spiders within it.
This sword qi did not travel very far.
But it didn't matter. The Sword Dao was meant to be tempered a thousand times over.
The hand holding his sword never loosened for a moment, and his sword-swinging movements never ceased for a single breath.
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