Chapter 084 - Those Who Misbehave Get Smacked!

With an air of nonchalant curiosity, the Sword Lord’s voice rang from above the Jade Sun Tower. “What’s going on down there?” His neck craned forward, inspecting the peculiar situation beneath him.

“Sword Lord, she’s refusing to escort me to the Wind Listening Pavilion. Now she's putting on the waterworks," Yun Xiao replied calmly.

Without missing a beat, the Sword Lord answered back, “Give her a good smack if she misbehaves!” Dismissive yet oddly jovial, he returned to whatever madness had prior enraptured him. “Remember Sword Heaven! Never have we bowed beneath others, generation upon generation, never becoming subservient to anyone’s behind—nor to their excrement!”

A lethargic chorus of agreement came from the wearied folk of Sword Heaven, all while Lin Lin teetered, internally imploding at her father’s utterance. Smack her?

With a frosty, muted demand, Yun Xiao decreed, “Lead.”

Lin Lin, her spirit subdued and somewhat humbled by an admittance of attractiveness, surrendered, “You... Hmph!” Admittedly, his handsome features were a formidable part of the equation. Had it been another person who dared slap her, a tempest would have ensued from her, the once-proud small princess of Sword Heaven. This time, her tempest was tamed.

“Let’s hope your abilities are as robust as that mood of yours!” Lin Lin mustered, her words sharply cold.

From within Yun Xiao’s arms, an incongruent, milky voice piped up, “All is robust!”

Lin Lin halted, perplexed. “What was that?”

“Ventriloquism,” Yun Xiao deadpanned, solidly patting the back of her head with a resonant slap, “Move!”

Again struck, Lin Lin’s mental state quivered on the brink of eruption. “Brother Chu, please, come rescue me! This man, handsome facade aside, embodies revulsion in every other respect!”

As the words slid from her, her eyes involuntarily lingered on Yun Xiao’s chiseled side profile.

She sighed, melancholy lacing her breath, “Ah, if only Brother Chu was this handsome..”

?ι══????????══ι?

The Wind Listening Pavilion lay bathed in serenity, nestled amidst a vibrant garden sea, where a myriad of blooms congregated. Lotus blossoms graced a tranquil pond at its heart, a petite pavilion sat on its gentle surface, flanked by dual, tasteful towers aglow with an ancient charm.

Indeed, it trumped Cai Maomao’s squalid chicken coop by leagues!

Yun Xiao, meandering through, couldn’t stave off an exclamation, “Living with a girl does have its merits!”

With Cai Maomao, his nocturnal repose was confined to a coffin.

“East Tower’s yours. Don’t dare set foot in my West Tower,” Lin Lin commanded, ushering Yun Xiao toward his quarters.

“Even if you pleaded, I wouldn’t visit,” he retorted, desiring merely a place to rest. After all. he had a coffin to place, and he couldn't just leave it anywhere. So, he required solitude, undisturbed and adequately dignified. Lin Lin’s Wind Listening Pavilion was perfectly suited!

Unlike the vibrant Azure Spirit Mountains, the Sea of Swords was an ethereal sky city with scarcely a scrap of forest, where every inch of land was worth its weight in gold.

Upon entering, Yun Xiao, dismissing Lin Lin, sequestered himself within the East Tower—her training sanctuary. Spacious and sealed adequately, it perfectly accommodated the ancient bronze coffin.

“Let’s settle first. Tomorrow, we attend the Sword Homage Ceremony and challenge the Azure Kites. Before Ye Guying emerges from seclusion, I have to make full use of these four days,” Yun Xiao resolved, his gaze fixedly intense.

“A peculiar day, wasn’t it?” A minuscule black creature slinked from his embrace, eyebrows arched in a sardonic half-smile.

"Yeah, I definitely didn't expect the testing of my Sword Soul to lead to this. But thankfully my trump card still remains hidden," Yun Xiao acknowledged.

Blue Star and Red Moon, the little black creature were his silent weapons, his trump card.

"What’s churning in that head of yours?" Blue Star asked curiously.

"Desire for monster milk is what's churning," Red Moon replied lazily, on the cusp of falling asleep.

A crisp smack resonated through the air as Blue Star delivered a slap, exclaiming, "Not you, fool! I meant Creator!"

Yun Xiao, unblinking, declared, "No need to overthink. When soldiers approach, we fight; when floods rise, we build. Taking the title of Young Sword Lord first, seizing all benefits... once I grow stronger, every scheme, every deceit, and manipulation— they all become nothing but fleeting illusions."

Blue Star chuckled, mischief twinkling in his eyes, "Exactly! Devour their wealth first. If they treat you well, repay them. If not... well, do not."

"I do hope they show their unpleasant side," Yun Xiao mused, an impish grin flickering momentarily.

He’d returned a staggering 1,500,000 Spirit Stones to Zhao Xuanran from the spoils reaped from the Northern Wastelands. It was a painful exchange, a back-and-forth pull of two impossibly frugal beings.

"Senior Sister Zhao is fearsome. I’d rather not encounter such a penny pincher again," he sighed, a playfulness lingering beneath his words, "Those 1,500,000 Spirit Stones still sting."

Pausing, a thought fluttered into his consciousness, "Right. I forgot to ask Lin Lin about what time the Sword Homage Ceremony starts tomorrow." He turned to his companions, "Would you two kindly check what she’s up to?"

"Why not go yourself?" Blue Star lobbed back, an eyebrow raised sardonically.

"Seems improper, doesn’t it?" Yun Xiao responded, lightly.

"Barging into Little Cloud Residence wasn’t exactly proper either," Blue Star countered, with a smidge of contempt.

"Just go!"

Grabbing their neck, Yun Xiao propelled the little black beast out.

Before long, they returned.

"She’s in the middle of her cultivation. The door's open for you," Blue Star reported, a trace of casual indifference in his voice.

"Fair enough." Yun Xiao rose, sauntering to the western pavilion. The door, slightly ajar, conceded under his gentle push, and he announced, "Lin Lin, I need to speak with you."

SPLASH!

Lin Lin surged upwards from her bath.

Yun Xiao was speechless, realizing he'd been tricked.

A sharp shriek, pregnant with embarrassment and indignation, sliced through the tranquil air of Wind Listening Pavilion.

The young lady, blossoming in her youthful allure, alternatively covered top, then bottom, cheeks aflame, eyes flashing with ferocious defiance.

"Why not just sit down?" Yun Xiao suggested, a cool indifference to his voice.

PLOP!

Then, as if light struck dark, Lin Lin remembered her tub.

"Out, you rogue!!" As tears fell down her cheeks, she lamented her fate. She, who had only held hands with Brother Chu, now laid bare before this rascal.

"When is the Sword Homage Ceremony tomorrow?" Yun Xiao, unperturbed, pressed.

"Seven in the morning!" Lin Lin, grabbing a ladle, launched it towards him.

"Understood!" Yun Xiao withdrew, closing the door, his parting words floating back, "A budding lotus reveals but its tips. What need is there to conceal?"

Lin Lin reeled from the parting words. She looked down at her chest, then broke out into even louder sobs.

Yun Xiao’s hand, strong and determined, commanded the door shut with a resonant crash, his palm then theatrically grasping at the unsympathetic emptiness before him.

“Senior Sister Zhao,” he sighed, looking at a space only he could perceive, “You really are forever a goddess in my heart.”

“Yeah, what a let down. There's nothing there!” Red Moon chimed in.

"Mhmphh haha!" Blue Star stifled a laugh.

“I’ll strangle you, you little liar!” Yun Xiao threatened, but without venom, turning their tail into a makeshift handle as he retreated back to the East Tower.

Sealing the door, he prepared for cultivation. The ancient bronze coffin opened once again, absorbing the world’s spiritual energy for Yun Xiao.

“The Sea of Swords floats above the heavens, absorbing the essence of the sun and moon. This world’s spiritual energy mixed with the power of celestial bodies; it's far superior to the Azure Spirit, truly a treasured land!” Yun Xiao pondered.

Precisely for this reason, the Sea of Swords was able to systematically spawn so many sects and noble families, creating a Sword Cultivator’s metropolis with complicated intertwined influences!

Within this city, Yun Xiao found the ancient bronze coffin to be strikingly more efficient.

Even without consuming the Heavenly Dao Sariras, simply absorbing the spiritual energy using the Primordial Void Technique would allow Yun Xiao's Dragon Springs and Divine Seas to grow much more rapidly than in Azure Spirit.

An hour later, Yun Xiao suddenly halted his cultivation, his expression peculiar, his eyes somewhat lost.

“Is something wrong?” A pair of deep blue eyes, reminiscent of the starry night sky, materialized on the coffin lid.

“News from Moon Fairy in the Grand Wasteland,” Yun Xiao said, his head lowered, his expression odd.

“That's good fortune, is it not? Now that you're in the Grand Wasteland, the path to sanctifying your body double can officially commence!” Blue Star’s words tumbled out, marked by a sardonic cheeriness.

“Hmm. Damn...” His nod was almost consolatory, interrupted by a stifled grunt, his expression a mix of perplexity and reluctant amusement.

“Why such an indignant sound?” Blue Star inquired, an eyebrow invisibly arching.

“Phew...” A long exhale preceded his words, “The Grand Wasteland Demon Lord’s daughter, she has... an interest in me. Things nearly caught ablaze, metaphorically, of course.”

𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

“Ohhh!” Blue Star and Red Moon found their immaterial eyes widening in tandem.

“Creator, quick, switch our view! This, I have to see!” Blue Star urged, a keenness palpable in his ethereal voice.

“Demon milk! The authentic kind!” Red Moon bellowed, an odd lustre in its voice.

“Switch it yourself!” Yun Xiao’s retort was blunt, yet colored with a mocking humor.

How could he possibly switch it?

His body double, Moon Fairy, resided in the Grand Wasteland.

“I fancy it's more vibrant there. I request to follow the double!” Blue Star’s utterance was spirited, a peculiar enthusiasm bubbling beneath.

“Demmons! There must be a big boobed cow demon, fixing her eyes on our Creator” Red Moon’s voice, painted with an insatiable excitement, echoed through the pavilion.

"..." Yun Xiao remained silent, at a loss what to say. “It is true though, the society of the demons, it's more... raw, compared to the Sea of Swords, where hearts hide behind fortified walls.”

When life was primitive, passions naturally flared brighter. For instance, the Grand Wasteland Demon Lord’s daughter was incandescently so.

“Sigh! Life with Creator's original body is so boring! I still haven't tasted a single exciting drop of milk yet!” Life for Red Moon seemed desolate and unlit.

“Shut up. We have the Sword Homage Ceremony to prepare for tomorrow..

"I'm curious to see what these revered talents of Sword Heaven have to offer," Yun Xiao mused, a chill light flickering in his eyes. "They really believe I couldn't even withstand a single swordstroke from Holy Son Chu? What a joke."

?ι══????????══ι?

Meanwhile, at Sword Heaven, within the Mundane Pavilion, resided Lin Chen, the Sword Lord's eldest son.

In the deep of night, three young, gifted Sword Cultivators from Sword Heaven lingered in the Pavilion. Alongside the youth carrying a sword on his back, Lin Chen, they sipped drinks under the moonlit pavilion.

Yet, the atmosphere was heavily laced with unspoken tension.

Clad in unstained white robes, Lin Chen sat at the head of the group, gently caressing a white Sword Soul, his fingers tracing its essence. The intertwining of murderous intent and sword light gleamed in his eyes.

"You three Sword Princelings, none older than nineteen, carry the dignity of Sword Heaven upon your shoulders," Lin Chen's voice was a solemn murmur.

"Yes, Brother Chen," the three bowed their heads slightly.

Directly opposite Lin Chen sat a boy in plain clothes named Ning Bei.

"Brother Chen, I don’t quite understand your father," Ning Bei said, usually cold and sparing with words, yet now his eyes blazed with an uncharacteristic fire, hinting at words unspoken.

"No one in the entire Sea of Swords knows what he intends, not just you," Lin Chen responded, his expression cool.

"The events of today have shaken the Sea of Swords. It's become public knowledge. Everyone across the Sea of Swords is discussing how our Sword Lord is willing to wage war against the Forbidden Tower, all for a Star grade Sword Soul talent," a woman in orange sighed.

"Brother Chen, are we in Sword Heaven really going to engage in a life-or-death battle with the Forbidden Tower? We don’t have deep-rooted hatred with them, so why escalate matters to this level? Yun Xiao acts ruthlessly, capitalizing on his high-quality Sword Soul, daring even to execute the family of Ye Guying. I can’t comprehend why we would protect such a troublemaker!" Another young man in yellow spoke with palpable frustration.

"Rest assured, there will be no war," Lin Chen stated calmly.

"Wasn't today already on the brink of battle?" Ning Bei asked.

"Although my father is the strongest in Sword Heaven, he cannot control everything. During today's meeting in Sword Heaven, a few of our elders strongly voiced their opposition, leading to quite the heated argument. After the meeting, those elders went directly to the Forbidden Tower to explain the situation," Lin Chen said, his voice low. "From what I can see, if my father continues down this path, he will be isolated."

"No one in Sword Heaven truly wishes to fight for him."