Chapter 1 - Luo Hongyu
『 Translator – Divinity 』
Legend has it that in the Beizhai Continent, there was once a True Immortal who attained enlightenment under a Dragon Hua Tree.
He took a Dragon Hua branch, transformed it into an Immortal Ascension Platform, and entrusted it to the Star Moon Pavilion.
The Immortal decreed that every hundred years, young cultivators below the Golden Core realm from all over the world, regardless of their righteous or demonic sect affiliations, would be invited to gather beneath the Immortal Ascension Platform to comprehend the Great Dao together.
Among them, the outstanding ones could ascend the Immortal Ascension Platform and listen to the teachings of the celestial Immortals; this is the Immortal Ascension Assembly, renowned throughout the cultivation world.
Today, the most powerful immortal sects in the world are still those Four Sects, Five Gates, and Six Pavilions.
As for which young cultivators would be able to ascend the Immortal Ascension Platform in this session of the Immortal Ascension Assembly, public opinions varied widely.
There was only one name that almost everyone tacitly acknowledged would be the first to stand on the Immortal Ascension Platform.
She was the Young Sect Master of the Tianchen Sword Sect, the leader of the Four Sects, the only daughter of the world's Sword Master Luo Wenshui, an existence almost in a league of her own among her peers, Luo Hongyu.
“......”
Clang!
A sound of clashing metal echoed from a fresh and elegant courtyard.
This was the residence that the Tianchen Sword Sect had purchased in the Star Moon Pavilion.
The Immortal Ascension Assembly was officially starting in another half a month, and young talents from all corners of the land couldn't resist the urge to exchange pointers in advance, so the sound of dueling was quite normal.
However, Luo Hongyu's distinctive cyan-white sword qi gale seemed to show no intention of holding back or showing mercy to the person she was currently fighting.
In the center of the courtyard, spiritual pressure overflowed. Luo Hongyu, dressed in plain clothes with a clear face, a blood-red jade pendant hanging from her waist, pursed her lips.
The Lu Lan Sword in her hand shone like a rainbow.
And the one sparring with her was a black-robed man with a strange aura.
His entire body was covered in black; even the hand gripping the sword was tightly concealed by black cloth.
And yet, such a person wore an old and peculiar white fox mask on his face.
Under Luo Hongyu’s fierce offensive, he perfectly parried every move, his techniques meticulous.
But suddenly, the clear eyes visible outside his mask froze, as if his body had stalled, and his movements slowed by half a beat.
Luo Hongyu seized this flaw, her pair of cold eyes showing no hesitation.
She abruptly advanced, steadily thrusting her sword. The incomparably sharp, millennium-old sword intent of the Lu Lan Sword easily broke through the black-robed man’s protective spiritual energy and pierced his shoulder.
Since she began her cultivation, she had already condensed an incomparably pure Sword Heart Clarity; ordinary worldly matters, she no longer paid them any mind.
But towards this man alone, Luo Hongyu merely let go of her hand faintly.
She watched him standing there without a word, allowing her own sword to remain in his shoulder, watching his blood drip.
"Luo He, you are truly becoming more and more useless."
Luo Hongyu pursed her lips and said slowly.
In the past, Luo He, although a fool who could only follow by her side, silent, dull, and unable to speak.
But at least his cultivation and swordsmanship were somewhat accomplished; otherwise, she would not have practiced swords with him.
And he actually got distracted by something while facing her just now... Incorrigibly foolish, he didn't even have that last remaining praiseworthy aspect.
Luo He stood there stiffly, offering no response to Luo Hongyu's words.
It wasn't that he didn't want to respond, but his soul was incomplete; one of his three ethereal souls and seven corporeal po, the Shuang po which governs speech, emotions, and quickness, had been dug out by someone.
But perhaps his luck was decent; he didn't turn into a senseless, witless fool.
He could read and understand words, but he couldn't say anything.
For him, any words he wanted to say would suddenly turn into incomprehensible sounds at his lips, sounding extremely comical and bizarre.
Over time, he simply cultivated the silent meditation and no longer opened his mouth.
Luo He swayed as he got up. After steadying himself, he directly pulled that Lu Lan sword out from his own shoulder, the sound grating against his collarbone making one's teeth ache.
He didn't feel pain, or to put it another way, his threshold for pain had long been raised to an unimaginably high point. He could endure a mere stab.
Remembering the icy, withering sensation from a moment ago, as if plunging into a demonic abyss, Luo He sighed in his heart. Compared to the sword stabbing him, that was what truly pained him.
This body, already riddled with flaws, was really about to give out.
If there were a ranking for the most miserable transmigrators, Luo He felt he would definitely have a spot on it.
He had transmigrated into this cultivation world, unconsciously drifting in the sky as a soul for who knows how long.
He had finally found a body he could possess, but it turned out to be a raft used by others for evil sorcery.
This body was a vessel prepared eighteen years ago by the foremost figure of the righteous path, the world's Sword Master Luo Wenshui, for his then only three-year-old daughter, Luo Hongyu.
Evil inscriptions, used to restrain the soul, were drawn on this body, preventing him from escaping this shell.
If the shell was destroyed, the soul would also perish along with it; this was the vital point used to control him.
A more specific manifestation of this was the red jade on Luo Hongyu's waist, refined from the heart's blood of both Luo He and herself.
That red jade was like a dog leash, compelling him to always stay by Luo Hongyu's side.
And fatally, hidden in this body's dantian was a breath of yin-cold malevolent qi, brought forth from the spiritual embryo stage.
It was said to be the intrinsic spiritual power scattered when the master of the Yin side of heaven and earth perished in ancient times. It should have long since dissipated completely, but some unlucky individuals are congenitally born with this thing.
To any living being, this malevolent qi that erodes the body and consumes life force is an incurable poison; even up to the Immortal Realm, it can be said there is no remedy.
It will grow stronger with age, making the host feel the torment of their body being devoured bit by bit, their life withering.
By now, that malevolent qi had already pierced his dantian; his spiritual power was scattered within his body, difficult to consolidate. For the rest of his life, his cultivation could no longer advance even an inch.
The lapse in concentration during the fight just now was the malevolent qi flaring up, eroding his body and causing him to lose focus.
Of course, Luo Hongyu did not know these things; he was, nominally, her sword servant.
He and she grew up together, inseparable, but Luo Hongyu had always disliked him.
She despised him as a lingering spirit endlessly entangled with her, unable to speak, a strange and bizarre person.
If Luo Wenshui hadn't strictly warned her since childhood, she probably would have killed him with her sword long ago, achieving peace and quiet for herself.
Pulling out the sword, blood flowed ceaselessly from his shoulder. Luo He, with a calm expression, pressed several acupoints to stop his own bleeding, flicked the bloodstains off the Lu Lan sword, and handed it back to Luo Hongyu.
She, however, took the sword, sheathed it, glanced at Luo He’s wound, and said nothing more.
Before she had called Luo He over to practice swords, she had noticed that his aura had been alarmingly weak recently.
But so what? When she wanted to find him to practice swords, it didn't matter the time.
Anyway, he had always been indifferent to everything; the sword strike that pierced his body just now was the same. How could he show even the slightest sign of pain?
He often returned from somewhere with injuries all over his body, would silently disappear for a few days, and then reappear as if nothing had happened, continuing to stick by her side.
Having gone through so many life-and-death situations, Luo Hongyu had actually grown accustomed to it; this person was probably not so easily killed.
However, thinking back on the time spent with him, his indifferent reactions, peculiar behavior, his deathly silent personality in her presence, and that face of his hidden beneath the mask...
Such a hideous and terrifying face, yet it just so happened to possess such a beautiful pair of eyes…
So beautiful that Luo Hongyu believed he had stolen them from someone else; truly ironic.
A hint of disgust and fear flashed through Luo Hongyu’s eyes.
She felt that she already had a withdrawn personality, but the one before her... was simply not like a human.
Then she thought about how he shared the surname Luo with her, and how her father never allowed her to ask too many questions regarding Luo He…
A trace of irritation was added to Luo Hongyu's Sword Heart Clarity, and her already cold face now became even icier.
Who in the world didn't know that Luo Hongyu was accompanied by a guard named Luo He, who never spoke a word nor showed his full face to people.
Speculations about his identity had long since spread throughout all the sects in the world, and the most circulated version was, naturally, the one Luo Hongyu detested the most.
It could be said that Luo He was the only part of Luo Hongyu's dazzling path as a rising genius that she felt was shameful and couldn't bear to be seen in the light.
"You..."
"Oh, Sister Hongyu, what refined leisure. That sword light obscuring the sky, I saw it clearly from a great distance. I wonder who you intended to strike."
Just as Luo Hongyu was about to speak, a clear girlish voice came from the side.
Luo Hongyu glanced sideways, only to see a young girl dressed in red, appearing to be no more than fourteen or fifteen years old, smiling as she appeared nearby.
She had black hair and red pupils, with an apricot blossom mark that seemed to be burning on her forehead. Her coquettish gaze spared a glance for the person beside Luo Hongyu.
Luo He recognized her; she was Su Huanhuan, a true disciple of the Remnant Moon Sect, the only demonic sect among the Four Sects.
"...What are you doing here?"
Luo Hongyu was clearly not pleased to see her arrival. She frowned, and the Lu Lan sword, which had not long been sheathed, flashed with a cold glint.
"Why are you playing by striking your little mute again? How dull..."
Before Su Huanhuan could finish her words, a streak of rainbow light had already flashed past her forehead, severing a few strands of her hair.
If it were in the past, if such a demonic sect enchantress dared to get close to her, she, as a disciple of the righteous path, would have long since struck with her sword. How could she waste even a single word, let alone on a treacherous schemer like Su Huanhuan.
Yet, she had forgotten that the sword thrust at Luo He moments ago did more than just sever a few strands of hair.
Perhaps in her heart, Luo He's existence didn't even amount to that much.
Su Huanhuan, who had slightly tilted her head to dodge, her smile unwavering, but those deep red eyes turned a few shades colder.
"Sister Hongyu, no need to be angry. I came to find you because I have something to discuss."
"Scram."
"Oh, are you sure you don't want to listen?"
Su Huanhuan's smile became playful. She looked at Luo Hongyu as if anticipating some grand show.
"If you still don't want to leave, then stay and be my sword practice dummy."
"Hehe, it's fine if Sister Hongyu doesn't listen. I just hope you won't regret it in the future..."
Su Huanhuan pulled back, her gaze searching for the other person present.
"......"
After looking around, she only then realized he had concealed his aura and slipped away at some unknown point.
This little mute, he runs quite fast.