Zhou Jinyun followed behind Chen Yan, walking toward the Listening to the Waves Pavilion.
Although Zhou Jinyun still did not know exactly what Chen Yan’s purpose was.
But she was certain this great senior would not harm her.
Because there was no reason to.
This was a superpower capable of creating objects from emptiness, a mastery so mysterious that Zhou Jinyun could not comprehend it at all.
Although she had been praised as having the potential to ascend to immortality and possessed exceptional talent in illusion arts, she was still only a minor Martial Spring cultivator.
Or rather, her life and death were actually decided by the whim of this great senior.
Zhou Jinyun herself had no choice.
Chen Yan’s idea, however, was simple.
At that time during the Heavenly Summit Mountain Dao Inquiry, Su Hongzhen would truly begin to rise in the cultivation world of Chenping Continent.
And Zhou Jinyun would play a very important role in that.
Chen Yan understood that since he had returned eight thousand years into the past, he would inevitably have some impact on this era.
Therefore, to avoid causing any irretrievable consequences, he had to be more cautious.
Chen Yan stepped into Listening to the Waves Pavilion.
The corpse of that cold man lay collapsed against the wall. As Zhou Jinyun entered the courtyard, she glanced at the corpse.
“Do you know him?”
Chen Yan asked.
Zhou Jinyun said nothing, only shook her head.
Of course she did not know him. As the chief disciple of Weaving Dreams Tower, it was almost impossible for Zhou Jinyun to know a nameless Qi Circulation Realm disciple from Illusion Time Tower.
Then Chen Yan turned his gaze to Su Hongzhen, who was lying in the courtyard.
The thirteen-year-old boy was still unconscious, looking pitiful.
His left kneecap was broken, and his right arm was even worse, completely deformed.
If he were an ordinary person, such severe injuries would probably ruin him for life.
Thinking it through, the future foremost Sword Immortal of Chenping Continent had indeed endured many calamities and was rather pitiable in his youth.
Chen Yan thought this to himself.
“…”
Zhou Jinyun stood at the entrance, watching the severely injured youth lying on the ground.
“I’m actually curious about one thing.”
Chen Yan began, asking the girl behind him.
“Please speak, senior.”
The fourteen-year-old chief disciple of Weaving Dreams Tower replied respectfully.
“Back in that alley, why did you save him?”
Chen Yan asked.
“I just felt he had a rare quality about him.”
Zhou Jinyun answered.
“Describe it.”
“…I don’t know how to put it, I can only say it’s a kind of special stubbornness.”
A special stubbornness?
Chen Yan recalled the first time he had met Su Hongzhen.
Back then, the boy had seemed determined to die at the hands of those bandits, as if he would never relent otherwise.
But in the months they’d spent together, Chen Yan had also noticed that the future foremost Sword Immortal did not differ much from ordinary children.
Except…
Chen Yan looked at Su Hongzhen lying unconscious on the ground, at all those injuries.
Indeed, stubborn, headstrong, tenacious.
With that in mind, Chen Yan slowly stepped forward and came to stand before Su Hongzhen.
He lifted the plain white sleeve of his robe, and a thread of his natal spiritual energy flowed from Chen Yan’s fingertips.
This warm, clear strand of natal spiritual energy slowly seeped into Su Hongzhen’s forehead and then coursed into his meridians.
The meridians of Lower Three Realms and Middle Three Realms cultivators cannot carry spiritual energy.
But that refers to the spiritual energy of heaven and earth.
Natal spiritual energy born from the qi sea of an Upper Three Realms cultivator is different. Under the control of an Upper Three Realms master, natal spiritual energy can be used to repair another’s meridians and flesh.
Just like now.
The clear natal spiritual energy roamed through Su Hongzhen’s meridians; his meridians had not been too severely damaged, only partially strained from overuse of true qi.
Then there were the broken bones.
Using his natal spiritual energy as a source, Chen Yan applied the Great Derivation Art to repair Su Hongzhen’s nearly ruined joints and bones. In just a few breaths, all of the boy’s injuries were restored to complete health.
“Get up.”
Then, having retracted his natal spiritual energy, Chen Yan raised his foot and lightly kicked the unconscious thirteen-year-old.
Little Su’s closed eyelids began to tremble.
He slowly opened his eyes, bewilderment clouding his gaze.
Then Su Hongzhen abruptly sat up from the ground, staring intensely at his right hand and then shifting his gaze to his left leg.
Cautiously moving his right hand, Su Hongzhen looked up at the plain white-robed youth beside him:
“Big brother, I think I had a nightmare.”
Chen Yan remained silent, only tilting his head slightly to indicate the corpse of the cold man half-leaning against the wall.
Su Hongzhen froze.
That wasn’t a dream; it was real?
Then Little Su’s eyes moved to Zhou Jinyun standing behind Chen Yan.
“You did well.”
Chen Yan said slowly, then stepped forward and picked up the sword that had fallen from Su Hongzhen onto the ground.
The sword was merely a mundane piece, and among mundane swords, it was of poor quality.
After all, Chen Yan had picked it up casually back when he was in the Northern Desert of Great Yu.
No matter what, Su Hongzhen and that High-Cheekboned Disciple of Mirage Palace were both Qi Circulation Realm cultivators.
This mundane sword could not withstand a duel between Qi Circulation Realm practitioners.
The blade was full of nicks and even slightly bent.
So the spiritual energy in Chen Yan’s qi sea began to surge, coiling around the mundane sword in his hand.
Great Derivation Art!
Spiritual energy poured into the broken sword, straightening the blade while filling its gaps.
Chen Yan’s clear spiritual energy fully infused the sword.
This sword now had the potential to become a spiritual artifact, but it was not yet sufficient.
Just like the Hidden Immortal Art inscription Chen Yan once carved on that bronze bell, for this sword to truly transform it still required tempering by certain cultivation techniques.
Hidden Immortal Art would not work; the sword could not handle it.
Great Derivation Art, however, was superior to Hidden Immortal Art.
Purple Mansion Record, Xun Wind Step, and Li Fire Seal.
Suddenly Chen Yan paused.
He remembered reading, at Qingjin Ravine in Wind Ravine Valley, the records about Su Hongzhen’s participation in that Heavenly Summit Mountain Dao Inquiry. Someone had mentioned the name of the spiritual sword Su Hongzhen had wielded back then—
Xun-Li Sword.
Wind aids fire, fire borrows from wind.
That also meant…
Chen Yan channeled the Great Derivation Art, extracting phrases from the two techniques Xun Wind Step and Li Fire Seal, then inscribed them onto the blade in his hand.
Eight thousand years ago, the great senior who gave Su Hongzhen the Xun-Li Sword was himself.
Chen Yan looked at the white information sword in his hands, its blade flickering with Li Fire patterns, and thought to himself.