AI Cultivation: Reborn as a Sword

Chapter 86: Center of the Forest (3)

There is the consideration that the enemy Lan Xiaohui lets live and stay at her back, that they would prove an obstacle going forward. But Lan Xiaohui is a sword cultivator and the righteousness of the sword doesn't care for potential complications. She has allowed others to live before, and though she knew it was a mistake, it simply had to be that way; such is the Dao she seeks.

In truth, Lan Xiaohui is relieved that the fox steps forward, although the display of martial art attainment does not improve her mood.

Mostly, however, Lan Xiaohui wants to test her Dao and to improve it further. If she falls now, here, then what hope does she have of entering the Galaxy Sword Sect or gaining her revenge? She wants to test herself within reason, preferably.

Whether a three-tailed demonic fox that comprehends martial arts qualifies as within reason is now too late to calculate or debate.

Lan Xiaohui presses a finger into the middle of my black jade core and then swipes it down along my length, a trail of sparkling Qi in the wake of her finger. System command, she utters the words as she takes the first breath of her Emptiness Prana, and her mind and heart completely become clear and empty. Lily.

I feel her consciousness pour into my internal vessel and sea, the arrays that normally forbid this kind of mind-merge creating pathways for the input of her consciousness in the wake of the activation of the mnemonic device.

Even though her body and spirit may be suppressed by the Immortal Slaying Formation, her consciousness and mind are not affected by it.

She immediately takes control over some of my functions, by now well-accustomed to them. She activates a sliver of [Nooparallelism] to become aware of the optimal attack and defense vectors. She uses my [Critical Analysis] in a manner that exposes the weak points in the body of the demonic fox. Lastly, she makes use of my [Tyranny] and my own consciousness that follows hers to create a powerful aura of sword Qi.

Within moments, she is ready for battle and her chosen stance is rigid and steadfast. She stands tall and proud, holding me behind her back so that most of my vessel is concealed from the foxs vision, with only the tip of my sword visible over her shoulder.

In the emptiness of her heart, I feel an ember of excitement borne of battle lust. At the limits of her personality, where all is erased, this is the first and only thing that motivates her. To say that Lan Xiaohui was born for this role to wander from one bloody battlefield to the next would be such a gross understatement that it would be like calling the universe small.

Despite her righteousness, Lan Xiaohui was born to slaughter demons and cultivators and in all her life, her Dao had never improved as fast or as deep as when she is in this type of situation.

This realization is not unknown to her even though some part of her might reject the conclusion. But I yet feel another thing appear in her heart besides excitement.

Devotion.

Beyond the icy cold determination in her killing intent and the vast tyranny of her stance, she holds me in a gentle way. There is an affection in her mannerisms towards me that only I can know and experience and it would not be wrong to say that another part of why her Dao improves so quickly is in order to be able to hold me like this.

It is as if she is not seeking the Dao just for herself, but in a way, also to become worthy of me.

Lan Xiaohui is a foolish girl who ultimately misunderstands the nature of our relationship, but if this helps her overcome her limits then I have no desire to interfere.

Ultimately, there is but only one path forward for us: to slaughter all under Heaven until we become the pinnacle of all existence.

As the fox leaps forwards, it turns into a red flash of lightning that zig-zags between the trees and crosses the one-hundred-step separation between us in the manner of seconds.

Lan Xiaohui also launches forward, deceptively nimble and agile from her rigid stance. She almost appears like a spear with its tassets flaring out in the way that her dress billows out as she spins through the air in a corkscrew motion.

The fox and my owner meet in the middle and Lan Xiaohui releases the energy stored in her spin by slashing out horizontally with my vessel to meet the demon foxs claw.

At the moment of impact, vast sword energy flares out Lan Xiaohuis is black and red, while her opponents energy is just a deep, dark red.

The two forces cancel each other out, and Lan Xiaohui recoils from the blow, landing on her feet and preserving some of the rotational momentum from her dash to attempt another, immediate, strike against the fox.

My vessel lands on the foxs neck and blood gushes out, spraying into the air, but despite the gruesome visuals, the injury is only minor.

The demonic fox does not allow Lan Xiaohuis opportunism to go unpunished, and it retaliates with a swipe of its claws which trail a malevolent red light from which sparks of lightning shoot out, aiming at Lan Xiaohuis neck. In those claws, I sense the presence of a mystical, profound sword.

Lan Xiaohui twists her body back, far away enough for the claw to miss her vitals, and when the fox attacks again with a cross slash, Lan Xiaohui has to duck underneath the second swipe.

Here, her advanced swordsmanship shines through. Before, Lan Xiaohui had no other option but to take the blow from Wukong and hope that her sword Qi is powerful enough to deflect the force enough for her to survive the initial impact.

This fox possesses the same power and speed as Wukong and if its claws were to connect with Lan Xiaohui the result would likely be that she would turn into biological scrap.

However, with the mnemonic device, not only can Lan Xiaohui see the attacks coming her way, but with her advanced swordsmanship she can also dodge them.

A final swipe of the foxs claws forces Lan Xiaohui to leap away from the demonic beast parrying the blows is not an option which gives the fox enough room to display its deep attainment of martial arts.

A sphere of red energy expands right in front of Lan Xiaohuis head, as the claw passes in front of it, capturing several strands of hair from her bangs and annihilating them in an instant. Within the sphere of energy, I feel a combination of sword, lightning, and wind Qi that is tuned to such an extreme that it could crush matter to dust.

Lan Xiaohui leans away from the expanding sphere and then ducks under it, just as more appear in the wake of the foxs claw, and instead of retreating back, Lan Xiaohui advances forward.

Even if demonic beasts could comprehend martial arts or somehow develop their own internal methods, Lan Xiaohui is still an existence that has a deep attainment of the Dao. Her swordsmanship, compared to that of a beast, is unconquerable. Her sword Qi is so vast and sharp compared to that of an ordinary Foundation Establishment beast that they are incomparable entities, regardless of the difference in stage.

As if to demonstrate her vast superiority over the fox, Lan Xiaohuis Sword Domain comes into existence. Unlike Lady Yues Domain, there is no physical manifestation that accompanies the phenomena only a single pulse that stills everything in the area.

The spheres of red energy appear as if they stop expanding frozen in time and even the sparks flying from the foxs tails become still.

As the laws of the universe locally and temporarily become rearranged, Lan Xiaohui uses her footwork technique [Vanishing Moon Steps] to cross between the spheres of expanding energy, using the frozen surface of each one as a platform to jump off of, and moves to the side of the retreating fox.

A vast amount of sword Qi washes over my vessel, extending my reach and focusing my cutting power to a point where I feel like I could cut through metal with ease.

Lan Xiaohuis stance widens as she grabs me with both hands and takes a second breath. A corona of energy appears around me, trailing red and black lily petals just like Lan Xiaohuis corsage as she slashes me upwards.

Within her Domain, the distance between my edge and the foxs neck shrinks to a point where Lan Xiaohuis slash is nearly instantaneous and its reach extends to as far as the edge of the tree line.

Sundrinker Blade, Lan Xiaohui utters the words as my blade carves through the foxs flesh, muscle, and bone with incredible ease and the energy shrouding my vessel explodes outwards and up, collapsing into itself into a crescent shape that seems to devour the light of the sun pulsing even in the stillness of Lan Xiaohuis collapsing domain.

The shock wave of the slash extends far enough outwards to shred the nearby trees and plant life, scattering leaves and debris into the air to further contribute to the momentary darkening of the vicinity.

The foxs body drops to the ground, and its head rolls away from its body not that far from where it was previously attached to.