The flying boat of Zixiao Sect slowly descended, landing on the suspended platform above Ten Thousand Swords Island. The platform was supported by the island’s spiritual energy, providing a place for everyone to rest. Those who came to see them off naturally stayed here.
When Fu Zhiyi led everyone down, there were already many sects and clans gathered there. People were clustered together in lively groups, exchanging greetings, chatting, and comparing notes.
When they saw Zixiao Sect — one of the Four Great Immortal Sects — arrive, everyone naturally came forward warmly to greet them. Each group had their patriarch or leader present, all familiar faces.
But when the crowd caught sight of Gu Baiqing, dressed in black and exuding a natural air of aloofness, the chatter quieted down.
“Fu Zhiyi, why the grand entourage this time? You’ve even brought along your sect’s prized treasure?” an elder of Tianzhao Sect joked with a smile.
Fu Zhiyi was about to reply when a cold snort cut in.
“Obviously here to protect his precious disciple.”
The tone was anything but friendly. Gu Baiqing, who had just caught up, also heard it. He turned to look, not recognizing the man who spoke, but he did recognize Elder Zhao standing behind him.
“Patriarch Zhao, what brings you here in person? Could it be that your grandson is here to find his life-bound sword? Young Master Zhao truly is a genius — already at mid-Foundation stage so quickly. No wonder he was once evenly matched with my fourth junior brother’s disciple. Both of them have progressed just as fast,” Fu Zhiyi said with a beaming smile.
The other man’s face instantly turned ashen, as if he were about to spit blood right onto Fu Zhiyi’s face.
Everyone watching the scene had heard the story before and thought to themselves that Fu Zhiyi was really vicious.
Who didn’t know that Gu Baiqing had chased away Zhao An, who had been eager to become his disciple?
It was even said that Gu Baiqing had secretly given Zhao An a beating, which damaged Zhao An’s mental state. Even after taking a supreme-grade Foundation Establishment Pill, Zhao An failed his breakthrough and had to start over from scratch. Now, forget mid-Foundation — he hadn’t even formed his foundation. This time, the Zhao patriarch was only accompanying other young members of the clan.
For Fu Zhiyi to bring up this well-known incident right now was truly a slap in the face — no wonder the Zhao patriarch looked ready to faint from rage.
But there was an even more attention-grabbing matter at hand: the Zixiao Sect’s internal competition had only been not long ago, which meant Gu Baiqing’s disciple had been in Foundation Stage for less than half a year — and was already in mid-stage?
Hadn’t they all heard before that Gu Baiqing had taken in a useless disciple? The whole cultivation world had mocked him for it. Now this kind of meteoric progress was almost unbelievable.
People were skeptical that anyone’s talent could reach that level. If he had such talent, how could he have been completely unheard of for a year? They suspected Zixiao Sect was just saving face and had force-fed him with pills.
But no one dared to say it aloud — such words wouldn’t stand scrutiny. Even feeding someone supreme-grade pills nonstop likely couldn’t achieve this speed.
Of the people present, only a few had actually interacted with Gu Baiqing before, so dealing with them was easy — a polite nod was enough before he stood off to the side alone.
Before long, Mo Xuanli arrived at Gu Baiqing’s side, obediently staying close. At that moment, everyone present understood his identity, and the way they looked at him changed.
Mo Xuanli, however, didn’t notice at all, focusing only on keeping his master company.
“When you go in later…” Gu Baiqing began, still uneasy. “If you encounter danger, don’t force yourself. Just run…”
Mo Xuanli froze for a moment, eyes flickering. Was it that whenever something involved him, his master would lose all sense of proportion and reason?
As the sole personal disciple of Elder Luofeng, if he only knew how to run when faced with trouble and didn’t fight his hardest, wouldn’t that make people laugh at his master?
But his master didn’t care about that — only about his safety. Such deep care made Mo Xuanli feel unworthy. He sighed softly. Faced with such concern, he could only cooperate obediently and nod, then quietly muttered, “Master, you too…”
“Hm?” Gu Baiqing paused.
“Has Master forgotten again? You have no spiritual power for protection. If something happens, don’t push yourself.” Mo Xuanli spoke with genuine concern. Who knew if, after he left, someone here might challenge his master or cause trouble? Without little senior uncle around, and with Second Senior Uncle not skilled in fighting, if he were here, he’d stand in front of his master no matter what, to keep others from discovering his secret.
Looking into Mo Xuanli’s clear black-and-white eyes, the worry there was undeniably comforting.
Gu Baiqing couldn’t help but curl his lips slightly, though his tone remained cool. “Just take care of yourself.”
“Master, this is Ten Thousand Swords Island. When it comes to man-made dangers, I’m confident I can handle them.”
On the way here, he had already assessed things — there was no one here who could truly threaten him.
Of course, Gu Baiqing knew that people weren’t the only source of danger. Boy, your danger isn’t that simple.
“Always keep your guard up. There are plenty of sword-spirit artifacts here. If you run into something strange, it could still harm you.”
“There’s something like that?” Mo Xuanli was a little surprised.
(There’s a sword demon here waiting for you.)
One sword through the heart, triggering demonic nature, and from then on it’s all downhill… I’m scared, disciple.
Not to mention the scripted “master-disciple drama” in the novel, just this special plot — even if the system didn’t warn him — once triggered, the demonic corruption value would skyrocket. It could hit a hundred in an instant, and then what would be the point of playing?
So this time, Gu Baiqing’s only hope for Mo Xuanli was: find the treasure, but don’t get attacked by the sword demon.
As long as they passed this stage, Gu Baiqing felt that half the fate dictated by that master-disciple novel would be cut away, and from then on, he could get along with his disciple with a solid sense of safety.
For him, this trip was both a danger and an opportunity.
Gu Baiqing was even prepared to sacrifice contribution points for this, only hoping that Mo Xuanli would be smart enough when the time came and not clash head-on like in the original story.
Thinking about it, Gu Baiqing’s gaze drifted toward Yun Yue, who was chatting with other senior brothers and sisters nearby. He remembered it was this Yun Yue who accidentally triggered the plot. In his memory, there was no mention of her getting hurt, so Gu Baiqing didn’t say anything—anyway, when the time came, he’d be watching, and he wouldn’t let the little girl be sacrificed.
Half an hour later, the sword-seeking team officially set out. Everyone flew their swords toward Ten-Thousand Sword Island. The time allotted to them was three days—after all, if they couldn’t find their swords, it wouldn’t do to just loiter inside forever.
The others stayed on the platform, returning to their own flying boats to rest as needed. In the middle of the platform was a massive water mirror. By channeling spiritual power into it, one could see whatever part of the island they wanted. Several areas were fixed views, but other spots could be monitored freely by any sect or clan that was interested.
Fu Zhiyi had the disciples traveling with them keep watch on their main group at all times. He thought Gu Baiqing would be keeping an eye on Mo Xuanli, but for the first two days, Gu Baiqing never even left the flying boat.
On the third day, Fu Zhiyi saw that more than half the disciples had already returned, and with all the chatter around about Mo Xuanli, he was starting to feel uneasy.
When Gu Baiqing finally came out of the flying boat, he hurried over. “Your disciple still hasn’t found his life-bound spirit sword.”
“Oh.” Gu Baiqing answered calmly.
Fu Zhiyi felt like this was a case of the emperor not worried, but the eunuch is. “Oh? Oh what? Aren’t you worried? If he can’t find one, or finds a bad one, that’s a bit…” He motioned for Gu Baiqing to look at the others.
Everyone was clearly waiting to see the joke about the so-called “forced growth.”
Gu Baiqing thought for a moment, then gave Fu Zhiyi a comforting pat on the shoulder. “Then you’d better be mentally prepared.”
Fu Zhiyi’s face instantly went green. “What do you mean? You’re sure he won’t find one? What kind of luck is that?”
After all, Ten-Thousand Sword Island had existed for countless years; nearly all the named spirit swords were here. If someone couldn’t find one here, it meant either their fate was abysmal—destined that all suitable swords were elsewhere, which was extremely unlikely—or they simply didn’t have the affinity. In truth, a “life-bound” sword just meant one whose attributes matched and whose spirit was willing to follow you; if you later met one even more compatible, you could change.
For example, of the four Guardian Elders of Zixiao Sect, only Luo Nianyi’s gourd was found elsewhere; the other three had taken theirs from Ten-Thousand Sword Island.
So, if you still couldn’t find one here, the most common reason was that your aptitude was too poor to sense the swords’ spirits—meaning you weren’t qualified to be acknowledged by any sword on the island, doomed to go without one for life. Or, you weren’t a sword cultivator and had too few weapon options.
If that happened, everyone would surely believe Mo Xuanli was unqualified—a product of “pulling the seedling to make it grow.” That kind of disgrace would be severe.
Fu Zhiyi was already worrying about how to handle the situation later, but Gu Baiqing went over to the water mirror instead. Seeing Three Bean there keeping watch, he said, “No wonder I haven’t seen you—you’ve been here.”
“Hmph. Since you don’t care about your disciple, of course I have to,” Three Bean said anxiously, clearly worried Mo Xuanli wouldn’t find his life-bound sword. This wasn’t just about lacking a sword; it was a deeply humiliating matter. If things went badly, it could even affect his mental state and hinder his future cultivation.
Gu Baiqing stepped forward and looked at the mirror.
The mirror reflected the imposing island, where spirit weapons were everywhere. Some stood arrogantly in the middle of the road; others lay unnoticed in the grass; some even flew off on their own when someone tried to forcefully touch them.
With the island’s spiritual energy sustaining them, these swords wouldn’t shrink like Morning Snow when her power ran out—they stayed in their original forms. Yet, despite so many distinctive swords, not one responded to Mo Xuanli’s spiritual power.
Before coming here, Gu Baiqing had already told Mo Xuanli that not everyone was fated with the swords on the island, and some bonds might be found elsewhere. But clearly, Mo Xuanli hadn’t fully taken it to heart—his expression now was far from calm.
Watching his senior brothers and sisters leave the island one by one with their life-bound swords, how could he not be anxious?
The last day, the last few hours—if he really didn’t find one, he would utterly disgrace his master. Back on the platform, he had already overheard people talking. He knew many were waiting to see his master humiliated.
How could he…
“Junior Brother!” Yun Yue’s sudden voice cut off Mo Xuanli’s mounting restlessness.
She also hadn’t found one, but instead of leaving with the main group, she had stayed by his side, apparently unwilling to leave him alone.
“It’s fine, let’s keep looking,” Yun Yue said, comforting him like an older sister.
Mo Xuanli forced a smile and kept walking.
At a fork in the path, they happened to run into a group of people.
“Well, well, if it isn’t the genius who beat my cousin.”
“Beat? More like his master protected him and bullied my cousin out of first place. Genius? He’s just like us—left till the very end.”
“He was originally a medical cultivator. Makes sense he’d be last.”
“I don’t know how Elder Luofeng went blind and picked—”
The speaker froze before finishing, because Mo Xuanli was staring at him coldly. The oppressive aura around him was terrifying—nothing like a mid-Foundation cultivator’s. The man’s knees nearly buckled under that gaze.
“What did you say about my master?” Mo Xuanli asked, each word like ice, making even his fellow Zixiao Sect disciples look on in surprise. Was this really their polite, mild junior brother?
Insults toward himself, Mo Xuanli could ignore—but toward his master? Absolutely not.
“What, trying to start something?!” the others immediately grew riled up at his tone.
In their eyes, someone who couldn’t earn the recognition of Ten Thousand Swords Island was probably truly an “over-forced” cultivation product — their aptitude might even be worse than theirs, nothing to be afraid of. Better to take this chance to vent Zhao An’s anger; later, when they returned to the clan, they could even gain credit for it.
A few people exchanged glances, and in an instant, they moved, starting a fight. The disciples of Zixiao Sect were about to step in, but Mo Xuanli raised a hand to stop them.
Everything played out in the water mirror. Even though they couldn’t hear what was being said, it was clear a fight was about to break out.
Still, in matters like this, the outside world generally wouldn’t interfere.
“This kid wants to fight a whole group by himself? He really doesn’t know the height of the sky or the depth of the earth.”
“Youthful hotheadedness. I guess after failing for two days straight, he’s been holding in a lot of fire. But he clearly doesn’t have a realistic grasp of himself — probably been pampered in Zixiao Sect under the protection of his status.”
By now, Patriarch Zhao had long regained his confidence. At some point, he walked up beside Gu Baiqing and said with a faint tone, “Oh dear, should we go stop this before Elder Luofeng’s precious disciple gets hurt?”
Gu Baiqing turned to glance at Patriarch Zhao with a hint of puzzlement. Everyone waited for him to step in on behalf of his disciple, but after a long moment, Gu Baiqing said nothing at all and simply turned back to keep watching the show.
Fu Zhiyi had already given up expecting Gu Baiqing to defend his disciple, so he stepped forward himself to shield him verbally, daring to exaggerate: “Hasn’t Patriarch Zhao heard what your Elder Zhao said about Mo Xuanli’s strength? Or did Zhao An hide the truth about how he lost? Oh, I’m just kindly reminding you — maybe you should send someone to stop this, in case your people all—”
Before Fu Zhiyi could finish, exclamations rippled through the crowd gathered by the water mirror.
“Heavens, what a powerful kid!”
“Mid Foundation Establishment? I think I saw late-stage opponents among them — how did he win?”
“One against five… well, he really is Gu Baiqing’s disciple.”
“At least the boy knows his limits — no blood, just knocked them flat. As expected of a personal disciple from a great sect, his manners are different. Hahaha…”
The tone of the conversation flipped in an instant. Hearing this, Patriarch Zhao hurried to the water mirror to see for himself — and indeed, the five remaining disciples of his clan were all sprawled on the ground, unable to stand. Mo Xuanli stood off to the side as if nothing had happened, calmly sheathing an ordinary sword, looking down at the people on the ground as if saying something.
“This… this…”
Only then did Gu Baiqing speak lightly: “Relax. No need to send anyone — my disciple knows his limits, he won’t hurt them too badly.”
Patriarch Zhao’s face went dark at once, the kind of dark that came from sheer fury, as if he could spit blood on the spot.
Fu Zhiyi smugly snapped open his fan to waft away the cold sweat. Thank goodness little Xuanli had fought for his honor — even if he couldn’t get a sword now, at least it wouldn’t be too humiliating. And thank you, Zhao Clan, for delivering such a confidence boost.
Mo Xuanli, having knocked the four down, didn’t push things further. He had wanted them to apologize, but they were the kind of unreasonable people you couldn’t talk sense into. Seeing they had no intention of apologizing, he didn’t waste time and simply continued on his sword-seeking journey.
By now, he had nearly traversed the entire island, but no matter how he released his spiritual power, not a single place resonated with him.
Gradually, despair took hold. It was as if he had no affinity with any weapon on this island at all. When only he and Yun Yue remained among Zixiao Sect disciples, the allotted time was nearly up. Of all who had come to the island, fewer than ten were still searching.
Mo Xuanli radiated a deep, heavy disappointment from head to toe.
Just then, the island’s guardian beast came out for its routine activity.
Yun Yue, unfortunately, happened to be near the river. She didn’t notice in time and was grabbed by the ankle and lifted up by the beast emerging from the water.
Hearing her cry out, Mo Xuanli immediately rushed over.
Gu Baiqing watched through the water mirror, counting the time in his head. Noises of confusion rose around him.
“What’s going on? Why is the guardian beast acting so strange?”
“Look — behind the beast, is that a crack in the ground?”
“That Zixiao Sect girl fell in! Even if she’s a medical cultivator, doesn’t she know how to fly with a sword?”
“Disciple Mo is flying over to save her!”
“Ah!”
Gu Baiqing didn’t need to look to know — Mo Xuanli had gone to save her and fallen in as well.
“Quick, track them with the water mirror.”
“No use — it’s pitch black, nothing’s showing. What’s going on?”
Fu Zhiyi, trying to stay calm, hurried to question the sect that had been responsible for guarding the place in recent years. They couldn’t explain either, only guessing it might be an ordinary fissure and the two disciples had fallen in by accident.
They weren’t necessarily trying to dodge responsibility — after all, what dangers could Ten Thousand Swords Island possibly hold? The only real threat was the guardian beast, which, despite its massive size, was only at Foundation Establishment level. Beyond that, it was just a floating island rich in spiritual energy, covered in swords tossed down by cultivators from the air — nothing more.
The guardians themselves didn’t patrol the island, since a barrier sealed it off; it only opened during designated times, and anyone trying to force entry would trigger their notice. There had been no unusual changes recently.
Seeing no answers forthcoming, the crowd hesitated — should they wait for the two disciples to come out on their own, or go in after them? By custom, everything on the island was for the disciples to handle themselves, and interfering might be seen as making a fuss over nothing.
Fu Zhiyi, unsure, turned to ask Gu Baiqing’s opinion.
But when he looked over, a huge tricolored Illusion Cat appeared in a flash — Gu Baiqing was already astride Three Bean, flying straight toward Ten Thousand Swords Island.
The snowflake ornament in his hair, Morning Snow, trembled as if in protest. Gu Baiqing reached up and tapped it.
“Don’t get impatient. If we see that thing later and you dare to strike at it, I’ll be impressed.”
Why was it that, near that crack, Yun Yue couldn’t fly her sword, and Mo Xuanli fell when he flew over?
Because inside was hiding a sword demon.
Unless one wielded a divine sword, any weapon touching a sword demon would be suppressed.
In truth, there should have been no chance of victory at all—but this sword demon was already a broken sword.
So, according to the original text’s setting, after the initial moment of fear, Morning Snow could still give it a fight.
Because of the master-disciple contract, Gu Baiqing could find Mo Xuanli’s location the fastest.
Looking at the pitch-black crevice below, Gu Baiqing’s heart tightened.
It was here, because Morning Snow had lost control for an instant, that the original master had fallen into the crevice, remaining unconscious for quite some time. When he finally woke, he had already missed the best chance to save his disciple.
Instead, in order to protect his unconscious master, Mo Xuanli had dared not flee and could only fight the sword demon head-on. The moment the original master opened his eyes, he saw Mo Xuanli being pierced through the heart by a single sword strike.
The master, in shock and fury, struck down the already weakened sword demon. But when he turned back, he was met with the sight of Mo Xuanli’s blood-red eyes.
And the Mo Xuanli whose demonic nature had been triggered had only one thought left in his mind—
That long-suppressed, deepest desire, which he had dared only to bury in his heart since leaving the illusion, had been ignited.
The irrational Mo Xuanli lunged at Gu Baiqing directly, his overwhelming power completely suppressing Gu Baiqing’s cultivation. The sudden turn of events shocked Gu Baiqing, but the next moment brought an even greater shock—
His disciple was kissing him.
The all-encompassing kiss, steeped in a destructive aura, left Gu Baiqing’s mind momentarily blank—this was, in his memory, the first time. Once he regained his senses, shame and anger flared, and he tried to push him away—only to have both his hands restrained.
And not only that—the maddened disciple went even further, pressing him down, carrying with him an almost blatant impulse…
…
Gu Baiqing dared not recall it. Although in the end the invasion had not succeeded, the process alone was enough to chill his straight man’s heart. He had to seize the opportunity—this time, he absolutely could not allow Mo Xuanli’s demonic nature to be awakened by the sword demon.
At this moment, Mo Xuanli had already found the unconscious Yun Yue in the depths of the crevice, and had also spotted a strange light, as if something there was resonating with his spiritual power, calling to him.
