Forcing the Aloof Master to Madness - Chapter 23.1

Wang Xi paused only slightly, not doubting Shen Lezhi’s words. In fact, she felt these were Shen Lezhi’s genuine thoughts.

Perhaps in Shen Lezhi’s eyes, she should have long ceased to be her Master. Shen Lezhi, like those others, only saw Wang Xi as the “Linglong Heart.”

That was why she was able to frame her as a demon and kill her with a sword in order to obtain her heart.

As for Shen Lezhi’s words about “not needing her sacrifice,” Wang Xi would not believe anything Shen Lezhi currently displayed. The latter was merely using yet another tactic to deceive her.

After all these years, Shen Lezhi had gone to such great lengths; how could she fail her disguise during a simple test by Wang Xi?

Wang Xi retracted her scrutinizing gaze, retreated a few feet, and resumed her usual demeanor, continuing to play the role of the Master instructing Shen Lezhi in spiritual techniques.

And while Shen Lezhi’s face remained placid, her heart was slightly touched.

She knew that not a single word Wang Xi spoke was false. If the original heroine in the book hadn’t betrayed Wang Xi, this Glimmering Moon Immortal Venerable, who had poured all her emotions into her disciple, might truly have carved out the other half of her heart to save Shen Lezhi.

That was why Shen Lezhi said to Wang Xi at that moment: I am not your disciple.

I am not the person you meticulously cared for since childhood, and I cannot bear all that you are willing to give.

Shen Lezhi didn’t know why Wang Xi’s sudden murderous intent had appeared a few days ago, but based on her judgment from the book, Wang Xi’s insistence on Shen Lezhi learning sword techniques was also an attempt to give the other party power and the ability to protect herself.

Coupled with the fact that the Sect Master had specifically nominated Shen Lezhi to participate in the Sect Grand Competition, perhaps this was why Wang Xi had suddenly become so aggressive.

Just as Wang Xi had said, if the withered leaf that attacked her were an enemy’s weapon, her neck would have long been severed, and her life extinguished.

Shen Lezhi was not making excuses for Wang Xi, merely slightly understanding the reason for her behavior.

However, Shen Lezhi hated being forced, she hated this kind of weakness, the feeling of being bound and isolated in the world.

She did not grow up in this world, so she could not adapt to this straightforward law of the jungle.

But she came back to Wang Xi to learn the sword because she didn’t want to simply become a weakling to be played with at will.

Even though she had never touched a sword, and the cold metal felt foreign in her hand, she swung the long sword, mimicking Wang Xi’s movements, but did not know where the blade of this sword should be directed.

Shen Lezhi did not know what this weapon in her hand was supposed to cut down.

To kill people?

She closed her eyes, unable to imagine such a scene.

She merely practiced blindly and was ultimately unable to even fend off a single withered leaf.

For several days, Shen Lezhi continued to practice the sword here with Wang Xi. Although her sword moves became more proficient, Wang Xi still said she had made no progress.

Shen Lezhi remained silent. She would also practice in her courtyard after returning to her small house, but the more she practiced, the more irritated she felt. The iron sword in her hand felt like it weighed a thousand jin. The moment she swung it, she felt an intense dullness from her fingertips.

“There is no Dao in your sword,” a sudden voice from the side startled Shen Lezhi. She turned her head and saw it was Senior Sister Yunsha, who had arrived via sword riding.

Senior Sister Yunsha had come to deliver talismans to Shen Lezhi. Shen Lezhi had previously asked her to refine two Wind-Fire Talismans, and she thought it would be a good opportunity to visit Shen Lezhi, so she delivered them personally.

“Thank you, Senior Sister,” Shen Lezhi did not understand talismans, but she knew Yunsha was the direct successor of the Talisman Peak Master. The quality of these talismans would certainly be excellent, and the person had specially delivered them to her. Shen Lezhi quickly expressed her gratitude.

“Why have you become so polite now?” Senior Sister Yunsha familiarily reached out and touched the top of her head, smiling as gently as a big sister next door.

Shen Lezhi was still unaccustomed to this and stiffened, but not wanting the other party to notice anything unusual, she endured and didn’t pull away.

“Senior Sister, why do you say my sword has no Dao? What is Dao? The Dao of the Sword?” Shen Lezhi didn’t know how to answer the other party’s question, so she simply changed the subject.

Although very subtle, Senior Sister Yunsha, who was always concerned about her, noticed Shen Lezhi’s stiffness and slight resistance. She was puzzled but withdrew her hand, no longer being physically affectionate with Shen Lezhi.

Regarding Shen Lezhi’s question, Senior Sister Yunsha shook her head, then slowly nodded, and then said softly, “It is the Dao of the Sword, and also your own Dao of cultivation.”

Shen Lezhi heard the words but couldn’t understand.

Her puzzled expression was a bit blank, which amused Senior Sister Yunsha. Senior Sister Yunsha raised her hand, intending to rub her head again, but then paused, coughed twice, and continued, “Lezhi, your cultivation has reached its limit now. Do you feel unwilling to accept this?”

Senior Sister Yunsha also knew Shen Lezhi’s situation and understood that no matter how hard she cultivated, she would not achieve much.

If it were the original heroine, she would naturally be unwilling. But as a modern person who had never been exposed to the concept of cultivation, Shen Lezhi had no concept of it. Furthermore, ordinary people had long accepted their destiny of returning to the soil in a hundred years. How could she feel unwilling?

Hesitating for a moment, Shen Lezhi decided to voice her own feelings, not those of the original heroine. “I do not feel unwilling. I want the ability to protect myself and not be bound by others, but I also hope to do only what I am capable of. If I try hard but still cannot achieve it, there is nothing that can be done.”

Yunsha was surprised to hear this, but Shen Lezhi’s expression was calm, as if there was no falsehood whatsoever.

She chuckled, her tone becoming softer: “Lezhi has a perceptive heart.”

After Senior Sister Yunsha finished speaking, she changed her tone again: “But cultivators are inherently going against the heavens. If you do not break your predetermined destiny, how can it be called cultivation?”

She didn’t wait for Shen Lezhi to answer. She raised her hand, pointed at the long sword hanging by Shen Lezhi’s side, and sighed with a slight regret, “Your sword is empty and purposeless. You cannot even perceive it. If you do not imbue it with a direction for the blade to swing, how can it become a useful weapon?”

“Lezhi, you should figure out why you want to wield the sword, and where your sword should cut.” Senior Sister Yunsha’s final words lingered in Shen Lezhi’s mind.

She thought about it constantly, unable to even concentrate, and even made mistakes in her sword practice.

But Shen Lezhi still couldn’t figure it out. Since the gas stove she commissioned was ready and the talismans were in her hand, she decided to focus on alchemy first.

Her project was still in the experimental stage, and she didn’t want too many people to know about it, so she simply moved everything to her field.

Shen Lezhi had always wanted to build a small house next to the field, and she decided to take this opportunity to simply build a small wooden house first.

Fortunately, she had followed the adults in the countryside to build small wooden houses. At that time, she had to climb the mountain to cut trees, and the cut trees could not be carried down by one person. She had to borrow a vehicle, but in some places, vehicles couldn’t go. Her grandmother would take her to find others in the village to help transport the wood down, piece by piece.

Shen Lezhi didn’t need to build a large house now; a space to rest her feet was enough.

The strength one could exert after circulating spiritual energy was indeed incomparable to that of ordinary people. The logs that required five or six people to lift back then could now be easily carried by Shen Lezhi alone.

The small wooden house was built in a square shape, and Shen Lezhi even cut bamboo to make a bamboo door. It only took half a day to complete the construction.

It was still early, so she moved the alchemy equipment into the house.

The design of this stove actually had little to do with a modern gas stove; it just looked somewhat similar.

In the center, there were three circular rings. The rings were hollow, with small, neat holes drilled on top. The openings of these holes could control the size of the flame.

The outermost circle was a triangular arrangement of raised footrests, intended to hold the flat-bottomed alchemy furnace that Shen Lezhi had already polished.

The switch for the stove was not a twisting mechanism like in modern times. Shen Lezhi couldn’t quite draw the principle of twisting control, so she simply used a buckle-type, adjustable gear system.

By toggling the switch, each gear position would correspond to the appropriate heat level. This made designing the internal buckles difficult for Shen Lezhi. Fortunately, the Senior Sister from Artifact Forging Peak studied it for several days and solved the problem for her.

The Wind-Fire Talismans also had specially designed places for placement. Shen Lezhi placed the two talismans inside, activated her spiritual energy, and made the talismans take effect.

The moment the fire and wind appeared, Shen Lezhi heard a violent noise and couldn’t help but marvel at the great power of the talismans made by Senior Sister Yunsha.

Fortunately, Shen Lezhi had anticipated this situation from the start and chose materials resistant to wind and fire when she asked the Senior Sister from Artifact Forging Peak to build this alchemy stove.

Following what she learned in the general alchemy class on Medicinal Herb Peak, Shen Lezhi began to refine the simplest low-grade Golden Sore Ointment. The main material was the Qing-Yun Branch fruit. Shen Lezhi added all the materials according to the ratio, then toggled the switch to control the flame of the alchemy stove.

However, the alchemists here all use their spiritual roots for alchemy, and no one could summarize exactly how much heat was used; they all relied on feeling.

Shen Lezhi also asked them, but they basically couldn’t give a specific answer.

Having no choice, Shen Lezhi could only rely on feeling. She closed her eyes and concentrated her spiritual consciousness, first to feel the flame in the alchemy stove, but she felt nothing but heat.

Her mind shifted, and she began to feel the materials in the alchemy furnace. With the high temperature of the flame, the materials in the furnace were no longer in their original shape. But what Shen Lezhi sensed at this moment was not their form, but the strange Qi that continuously and inexplicably emerged from within the furnace.

Unlike the ordinary spiritual Qi in the natural world, this Qi carried distinct colors: some were green, some were gold, and some were gray.

Shen Lezhi tried to use her own Qi to touch them, and she actually blended them together.

All the colors gathered together, colliding violently, and then…

A “bang” explosion echoed in Shen Lezhi’s ears, nearly shattering her eardrums.

She blinked. The scene before her was a mess, with debris everywhere, including fragments of copper flying all over this small wooden house.

Shen Lezhi stared at the debris, taking a long moment to recover.

Oh, she had blown up the alchemy furnace.

First attempt at alchemy: failure.

However, a small failure could not deter Shen Lezhi’s determination to pursue alchemy.

Although the alchemy furnace exploded, failure was also a form of experience. In the instant of the explosion just now, Shen Lezhi had a premonition that something was wrong. The speed at which the colored Qi mixed together had become extremely strange.

The collisions between them were also extremely chaotic and unstable.

Shen Lezhi tried to control them, but only caused an even more violent reaction, and then it all exploded, and the strangely colored Qi vanished with it.

Despite the failure, it allowed Shen Lezhi to discover something important: perhaps controlling those colored Qi was the key to successful alchemy.

This feeling was very similar to what one of the Senior Sisters Shen Lezhi had asked described: blending them together naturally forms the pill.

However, with the alchemy furnace destroyed, she couldn’t immediately verify her idea.

Shen Lezhi looked at the sky and quickly rushed to Artifact Forging Peak, asking the Senior Sister to help her forge a new alchemy furnace.

For the next attempt, Shen Lezhi made many preparations.

Fearing another explosion, she first chopped a few more logs to reinforce the structure of the small wooden house next to the field and asked the Senior Sister from Artifact Forging Peak to forge three alchemy furnaces at once. Even the Senior Sister couldn’t help but ask, “What pill are you trying to refine that requires so many furnaces?”

“Low-grade Golden Sore Ointment,” Shen Lezhi replied honestly, without any embarrassment.

The Senior Sister from Artifact Forging Peak: “Alright…”

With three furnaces in hand, Shen Lezhi was even more serious this time. She even drew and wrote on her 《Alchemy Learning Record》, summarizing the points of failure and analyzing the reasons for the failure.

This time, Shen Lezhi did not simply use her own spiritual energy to forcefully control the strange Qi. When they rose and slowly dispersed into the air, Shen Lezhi merely observed.

After observing for a long time, Shen Lezhi felt a little dazed. She actually felt that the Qi carried emotions. Their dancing posture had a certain pattern. Unaccountably, Shen Lezhi felt she could read them.

Noticing this, Shen Lezhi began to try to concentrate, reaching out to touch them and feel them, similar to how she communicated with the spiritual plants.

This method proved effective. Shen Lezhi found she could easily understand their intentions: for example, the little yellow one didn’t like being next to the little gray one and preferred the little blue one. The little gray one wanted to be surrounded by everyone and take on the colors of other Qi, but except for the little white one, the other colored Qi all seemed to disdain it.

What temperature was needed and how the colored Qi needed to be arranged to blend—all became clear in Shen Lezhi’s mind. Although it wasn’t as intuitive as communicating with the spiritual plants, this clear and magical feeling immersed Shen Lezhi.

When all the colored Qi completely merged and turned golden, everything settled down.

Shen Lezhi opened her eyes. She hadn’t even realized when she had closed them. She looked into the alchemy furnace, where three golden pills lay at the bottom.

“Success?” Shen Lezhi took out the pills, a little disbelieving.

She felt she hadn’t done much, yet the pills were refined.

She took out a pre-prepared jade bottle, placed the three low-grade Golden Sore Ointment pills inside, and carefully put them away.

This was her first successful attempt at alchemy, and Shen Lezhi couldn’t stop the joy bubbling up inside her.

She quickly got up and tidied up the items in the house. Her first thought was to go to Medicinal Herb Peak to show Senior Sister Qi her results.

The spiritual Qi contained in the small jade bottle of pills was something even Senior Sister Qi couldn’t help but marvel at. Most low-grade Golden Sore Ointment showed a greenish-blue spiritual Qi, and those with more impurities would appear light blue.

This was the first time Senior Sister Qi had seen golden spiritual Qi in low-grade Golden Sore Ointment.

“Junior Sister Shen, how did you refine this?” Senior Sister Qi couldn’t help but ask.

But Shen Lezhi couldn’t clearly explain the process of alchemy. After explaining for a long time, Senior Sister Qi still didn’t understand, only concluding that Shen Lezhi was probably a person with extraordinary talent.

Shen Lezhi was not a Fire Spirit Root, yet she could refine pills of this quality. Senior Sister Qi had previously been inclined to suggest she join Medicinal Herb Peak to study the cultivation of spiritual plants when she saw her diligently planting them, but because of the Glimmering Moon Immortal Venerable, she dared not bring it up.

However, it wasn’t about Shen Lezhi re-apprenticing, but merely joining the inner sect of Medicinal Herb Peak to study spiritual plant cultivation. Now, seeing the pills she refined, the idea of having her join the sect to study became even stronger.

“Junior Sister Shen, could you sell this bottle of pills to me?” Senior Sister Qi asked Shen Lezhi.

“If Senior Sister needs it, please take it. You don’t need to buy it,” Shen Lezhi replied. The materials for her alchemy were all found by Senior Sister Qi, who had also helped her in various ways before. How could she refuse her this bottle of pills? She immediately nodded and gifted it to Senior Sister Qi.

Senior Sister Qi did not stand on ceremony with Shen Lezhi. She took the pills and left to find the Peak Master of Medicinal Herb Peak.

Shen Lezhi was unaware of Senior Sister Qi’s thoughts, only concluding from her reaction that her bottle of pills must have been refined quite well.

Shen Lezhi enjoyed this sense of accomplishment, which finally offered some relief from the gloom and melancholy brought on by her recent sword practice.

However, she still did not neglect her sword technique. Although she hadn’t visited Wang Xi for two days because of alchemy, she still practiced the sword for a long time in her courtyard every day.

But Shen Lezhi still couldn’t find her direction, and her practice showed no progress.

.

This day, Shen Lezhi once again set foot on Linglong Peak. It was the day she had scheduled to practice the sword with Wang Xi.

Ever since Senior Sister Yunsha spoke to her about the Dao of the Sword, she no longer stored her sword in her storage ring, keeping it nearby so she could always touch it.

Shen Lezhi didn’t think this method helped her in any way; she just wanted to do it, wanting to feel the presence of the iron sword at all times.

She walked to Wang Xi’s cave residence and, after the customary greeting, didn’t wait for Wang Xi’s response. Wang Xi usually didn’t respond to her anyway. She consciously walked to a nearby withered tree and began to wield her sword.

She hadn’t been very focused while practicing the sword recently, her mind preoccupied with various thoughts. This was also because she was already very familiar with this set of sword moves and could execute them with only three parts of her attention.

Wang Xi walked out of the cave residence and watched her from the entrance. Seeing that Shen Lezhi’s sword remained unchanged, she didn’t say anything more.

Shen Lezhi practiced for a long time. She would practice here for at least two hours. When she felt tired, she would stop and rest for a while, and when she was rested, she would continue.

She didn’t feel bored. On the contrary, because her mind was constantly thinking, she was powerless to control her Qi, and she wasn’t focused on precision in her sword moves. In Wang Xi’s eyes, her sword technique became increasingly bizarre.

The Shu Footwork itself incorporated many elements from the Xuan-Yu Sword Technique. When Shen Lezhi unconsciously executed the Shu Footwork while performing the Xuan-Yu Sword Technique, the sword moves and Qi became baffling, giving off an uncanny and inscrutable feeling.