The energy in her dantian gradually stabilized, and the pain from the wounds on her body eased slightly.
Shen Qingci temporarily halted her cultivation. Her hand brushed against the grayish-white longsword resting by her pillow, so she simply picked it up and laid it across her knees.
The sword was sheathless, its surface a dull, dusty gray. The rough hemp rope on the hilt was wrapped haphazardly, clearly the sloppy work of a shop apprentice.
When the old cultivator sold her the sword, he had spouted nonsense on the fly, claiming it was forged from “Thunder-Tempered Stone fragments and low-grade cold iron.” She had known it was utter rubbish right then and there.
A sword forged with Thunder-Tempered Stone fragments and cold iron should have specks of silver-gray. This sword was entirely grayish-white; there wasn't a single trace of Thunder-Tempered Stone to be seen.
Yet, there was something inside the sword!
She sent her divine sense sliding down the sword, probing it inch by inch.
When she reached the middle of the spine, she suddenly hit an obstruction. It felt as if three thin membranes of lightning were layered together, hidden deep within the sword's body.
Had she not possessed a high-grade Lightning Spiritual Root, giving her a perception of lightning spiritual force far exceeding other lightning cultivators of her realm, she would never have noticed it.
She channeled a wisp of lightning spiritual force into the sword.
The moment her spiritual force touched the membrane, the entire sword shuddered violently. Lightning patterns surfaced on the grayish-white blade, creeping three inches up from the guard before fading away.
Under the influence of her lightning spiritual force, a hairline crack split open in the membrane, and the lightning energy sealed inside nearly gushed out through the gap.
She quickly withdrew her spiritual force, choosing not to push any further.
It was a restriction.
A lightning-sealing restriction that would only trigger when probed by a cultivator with a Lightning Spiritual Root.
Shen Qingci stared at the sword, finding it more and more unusual the longer she looked.
A lightning-sealing restriction was not something just anyone could place.
The person who laid this restriction was able to seal it within the sword and integrate the seal seamlessly with the blade itself; their cultivation must have been exceptionally high. If the sword's true body were fully unsealed, its rank would be at least Mystic-grade Low-rank, perhaps even higher.
Yet, it had simply lain in the corner of an artifact shop, sold off as low-grade junk by that old cultivator.
The reason was not hard to guess.
The old cultivator was an artifact refiner, but he was not a lightning cultivator.
Only a cultivator with a Lightning Spiritual Root could detect a lightning-sealing restriction. No matter how experienced his divine sense was, he could never touch that membrane.
In his eyes, the sword was merely an ordinary artifact forged with a few scraps of leftover materials.
Shen Qingci curled her finger and tapped the blade a few times.
The blade vibrated with a dull hum, as if it had been sealed and buried for so long that it was finally rejoicing at meeting a master who could awaken it.
The origin of this sword was, in all likelihood, dubious.
The Soul-Severing Cliff was a place abundant in spiritual lightning, and since ancient times, genius lightning cultivators had come here to train.
Lightning Spiritual Roots were already extremely rare in the Four Regions. The person who once owned this sword was most likely a core disciple of some sect or great family.
That person had probably met with an accident on the cliff or had been ambushed and killed, after which the sword fell into the hands of a rogue cultivator.
The rogue cultivator, unable to recognize its value, could neither peel away the lightning-sealing restriction nor channel the lightning power within. Thus, they simply sold it off to an artifact-refining workshop at a low price.
The workshop owner had also failed to see its true nature and left it piled up like junk. After changing hands multiple times, it had finally ended up in her possession for a mere twenty mid-grade spirit stones.
Sure enough, spending time with her senior sister had boosted her luck. Even a minor cannon fodder at the start of the story could have a day where she picked up a hidden treasure.
Shen Qingci reined in her wandering thoughts. Holding the sword, she stood up and made a few tentative swings against the moonlight filtering through the window.
The blade was slightly heavy with its center of gravity leaning forward, which perfectly suited her current sword style. As she channeled her lightning spiritual force into the sword, a thin edge of lightning force automatically condensed on the blade.
She wondered which fallen senior lightning cultivator had left this sword behind. If the sword did not break on the Soul-Severing Cliff during this trip, she would find an Earth-grade sheath for it in the future, ensuring she did not squander this stroke of fortune.
She stood by the window for a moment before sitting back down cross-legged on the bed, closing her eyes to circulate her cultivation method.
Two shichen later, her spiritual energy had recovered to eighty percent.
Shen Qingci got out of bed, changed into a clean robe, wrapped the grayish-white longsword in rough cloth, and strapped it to her back.
The old wounds on her shoulder and leg still felt a bit tight, but fortunately, they had already scabbed over. The efficacy of the Blood-Stopping Powder and Qi-Returning Pills was decent enough that her movements were unaffected.
When she stepped out of the inn, dawn had not yet fully broken.
The morning market of Leiyuan Market was already bustling. Vendors pulled back their spiritual cloths, displaying sea beast scales and beast cores.
She avoided the main street, exiting the market through a small gate on the western side, and walked along the gravel path toward the shore.
The outermost cliffs of the Soul-Severing Cliff lay northwest of Leiyuan Market. The closer she drew, the denser the free-floating lightning spiritual force in the wind became, leaving a tingling sensation as it brushed against her skin.
Shen Qingci slowed her pace and circulated her cultivation method, guiding the stray wisps of lightning spiritual force into her meridians.
The purple vortex of qi in her dantian spun slightly faster, greedily absorbing the scattered lightning energy of heaven and earth.
After traveling with Thunder-Concealment Steps for two shichen, she stopped at the base of the cliff.
The cliffs rose straight out of the sea, towering over a thousand zhang high. The rock face was a dark purple, a coloration dyed by tens of thousands of years of bombardment from lightning clouds.
The surface of the cliff was covered in charred cracks of varying widths, some wide enough for a person to squeeze through sideways.
The sea breeze rushed upward from the base of the cliff, crashing against the stone walls with a roaring sound. Together with the rolling thunder overhead, it vibrated with enough force to make one's eardrums ache.
Layer upon layer of lightning clouds pressed down a hundred zhang above the clifftops. Thousands of lightning bolts danced between the cloud bank and the cliff face, occasionally unleashing a thicker arc of lightning that struck the rock, sending shattered stone flying.
Shen Qingci looked up and watched for a while. Her gaze shifted between the lightning clouds and the sea before finally locking onto a diagonal band of cracks on the eastern side of the cliff.
The lightning spiritual force was densest there, and the stray arcs of lightning were most concentrated, yet there happened to be several protruding rocky ledges that could serve as footholds.
Ascending along this path, the spiritual energy concentration was fifty percent higher than at the base of the cliff.
She flexed her wrists, channeled spiritual energy into her hands, and began to scale the cliff.
The first hundred zhang or so went smoothly. Using both her hands and feet, she made her way up by gripping the rock crevices.
The higher she climbed, the fiercer the wind blew, and the denser the lightning spiritual force became.
Electric currents seeped into her palms through the rocks. She was forced to press herself against the cliff face every ten-odd zhang to take a brief rest, pressing the wild, surging lightning spiritual energy back into her dantian.
When she reached two hundred zhang, a sharp, piercing screech echoed from above. The sound was incredibly grating, boring straight into her sea of consciousness.
Shen Qingci pressed herself against the cliff and looked up. She spotted several grayish-brown specks swooping down from the lightning clouds, which in the blink of an eye expanded into giant birds with wingspans of nearly a zhang.
The birds were grayish-brown all over, with long, featherless necks and ferocious expressions.
When they spread their wings, pale purple lightning flickered between their feathers. Their curved beaks were razor-sharp, and threads of electricity crackled around their talons.
As they dove, they tucked their wings slightly, trailing a crackling sequence of lightning arcs.
A passage from the records of the Dharma Academy flashed through Shen Qingci's mind: “Purple-Necked Lightning Vulture, a pack-dwelling lightning bird of the Foundation Establishment stage. The lightning feathers under its wings can be launched, it controls lightning with its wings, and its screech can tear the soul apart...”
To think she would run into a pack of lightning birds just by climbing a cliff...
There were a total of six Purple-Necked Lightning Vultures.
The leader was the largest, with a wingspan of nearly two zhang, and was at the mid Foundation Establishment stage.
The other five were all at the early stage.
Shen Qingci did not wait for them to make the first move. She unsheathed the sword from her back and channeled her lightning spiritual force into it.
Using a protrusion on the cliff to push off, she leaped sideways. Her sword tip shook out several arcs of lightning as she slashed at the vulture on the far edge.
Her strike took an unconventional angle. Instead of targeting the wings, she aimed straight for the third rib under its belly. The Purple-Necked Lightning Vulture's lightning sac was hidden right there. If she pierced it accurately, the lightning force would explode inside, instantly frying its internal organs.
That vulture reacted with lightning speed, tilting its wing to block while the lightning feathers beneath its wing bristled.
The sword tip collided with the feathers with a loud bang. A few lightning feathers shattered, and her sword's momentum was deflected.
It leveraged the force of the impact, surging upward. With a flap of its wings, three lightning feathers detached, hurtling toward Shen Qingci's face in a flash of lightning.
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