AI Cultivation: Reborn as a Sword

Chapter 30: Lan Xiaohui's Dao

With the dawn of the next day, we head out once more into the forest.

The caves turned out not to have strong Qi in them after all, because of the formation in this Forbidden Ancestral Hunting Ground, but as she mentioned before, she follows the ridge and river deeper towards the center of the forest.

Closer to the center, the Qi will be stronger, and she will be able to both cultivate her Qi and practice her sword Qi. What she needs most is battle experience there is no other way around it. It is not simply experience, but it is the killing act itself that refines and sharpens her intent.

I picture her as a cultivator who stands at the pinnacle of a mountain of corpses, and in that image I sense a powerful Dao, and a refined and oppressive intent. It is not a simple, or a short journey to get there, but I do not see why she would not be capable of it.

It becomes clear to me that she must picture a similar scene, or possess a similar self-observation. This time, this morning, she does not avoid the demonic beasts.

Perhaps she is encouraged by her previous encounter, or inspired by the sword energy I produced last night, but either way, it doesnt take too long for us to come across the local fauna.

She changes directions sharply, hastens her gait, and makes off deeper into the forest.

Soon, the scene unravels before me as well, as we enter a clearing and I detect four life forms within my perception radius.

It is immediately clear that Lan Xiaohui was attracted by noise, because there is a black boar with a body that gleams in the light. Its fur is metallic, as if made of black iron strands that bristle with a mix of anger and fear.

Opposite the boar are three wolves, but much smaller than the one from yesterday. Their fur is also black, not white, which is indicative of their shallower body cultivation.

The boar itself is in the Peak stage of Qi Refining, while only one of the wolves is in the Late stage of the same realm, and the other two are in the Mid stage of Qi Refining.

The Peak stage, compared to the Late stage, is much more potent, and that would be a trustworthy factor to consider if one were to compare cultivators. Demonic beasts, on the other hand, cannot be measured the same way. Even if I cannot tell the depth of ones body cultivation, it is clearly obvious that the boar possesses a powerful physique.

The way of body cultivation, after all, is the improvement of ones body until it can transcend mortal limitations. One toughens the skin and tissues first, then the bones, then the internal vessel. These are all things that can be seen or felt on anothers body. This boar has fur so tough and dense that it possibly is made of metal. The wolves do not.

Still, the boar is losing this fight. One of the wolves has its jaws locked on the boars left hind foot, dragging it to the ground, while the other two tear at its neck and back. They fail to do much physical damage, but if the boar exposes its neck, suffocation is still possible.

This forest does not seem to care about cultivation depth, physique, or even martial arts. Killers will thrive in this place yet another obvious hint about Lan Xiaohuis path and wolves are the natural example of this law.

Even Lan Xiaohui stands transfixed for a moment, staring at the scene unraveling before her. I can see in her eyes that she is much closer now to that enlightenment she spoke of before. Surely, she too can see what I see.

Perhaps, in her world, something like this would be inconceivable. Everyone practices martial arts to a degree, and the deciding factor in those encounters is the depth of cultivation.

Without further hesitation, she launches forward. The Qi that expands from her body in a burst of light, combined with the sword energy it releases, makes it so that she doesnt even touch the ground as she propels forward, leaving a scintillating trail of red and black energy.

This phenomenon I store in my records to examine later for potential development of flight operations.

I have no desire to see Lan Xiaohui fall here so I allow my consciousness to expand through the area, sharpening my perception, and blanketing the demonic beasts with my [Tyranny].

The change in their behavior is immediate and drastic.

They abandon the boar immediately and retreat from Lan Xiaohui in a way that they form a half-circle in front of her. It is clear to me, even without my ability to practically read their surface thoughts, that they do not desire conflict. Perhaps they understand that Lan Xiaohui is a threat, but their amber eyes are mostly focused on me.

But Lan Xiaohui intends to give them no quarter and no possibility of retreat. She is here to sharpen her Dao sword and assimilate the culture of this forest in order to bring down the one who wronged her so.

The Qi that flows into my body is furious she must be thinking of the Black Tiger and I feel a deep, heavy killing intent.

The sword energy my body produces is likewise heavy; the martial art Lan Xiaohui practices, the [Heartless Blood Lily], exemplifies the existence that is a single lily, consuming the blood of others to live and thrive. It is like me, and it is like what she has to become.

My body carves through the Late stage Qi Refining realm wolf, cutting through his body like it was made of air. I feel its bones hardened and refined to a significant degree offer no resistance to my dense edge and then suffer total internal structure failure.

In the wake of her slash, deep traceries of red and black sword energy combine with the splatter of blood to form flakes of flower petals also black and red that rain down on both halves of the wolfs remains.

This time, I focus on keeping my aperture closed. I have no desire to consume these creatures. Their Blood Points are not worth it, compared to the resources they could potentially provide. My next body cultivation manual will cost over 50,000Blood Points and it is a direct improvement of my [Black Jade Blood Refinement] manual. That is the reason why it costs Blood Points and not Soul Points.

One of the wolves, despite my [Tyranny] still possesses the presence of mind to cast off the yoke of terror and launches at Lan Xiaohui. Its jaws bite into her left wrist, fangs plowing through her skin but no further. Her [Black Jade Princess] physique shows its strength here, and even though she had not practiced it, her bones are like black jade tough and durable.

Lan Xiaohui spins on her feet, fast enough to dislodge the wolf from her forearm, and by the time the wolf lands on its feet, my tip pierces through its head.

It is dead instantly.

The last wolf yelps and flees, having only but half a moment to decide if it is worth attempting the opening in Lan Xiaohuis defenses it is not or to abandon the field altogether. It chooses the latter.

Finally, Lan Xiaohui turns towards the wounded boar which now lays on the floor, breathing heavily.

For a moment, she clearly considers it.

With a sigh, Lan Xiaohui activates my internal storage array which collects the corpses, and then she turns around and heads deeper into the forest.

Killing defenseless creatures wont improve her Dao.