(Bu Cai POV)

Eventually, the series of breakthroughs finished.

Sun Ting ended this nice session of cultivation with a humble increase of nine minor realms.

Yes.

You heard that right... NINE AT ONCE!

The bastard was now at the fourth stage of the Qi Refining realm and I began to wonder whether this brother of mine was indeed an insignificant young master and not a protagonist instead!

I recalled all the hours upon hours of frustrating and mundane routine circulation I had to do in order to reach where I am, whereas this guy just shat on all my efforts merely due to the fact that he was built a little different from me!

Anyways, after catching his bearings and realised that this wasn't a dream, after I'd told him it wasn't for the tenth time, he jumped with joy and sincerely thanked me for helping him.

He didn't even bother mentioning all the things I had done before and accepted it as part of the treatment- Which I was totally fine with.

He told me he would repay this favour no matter what and gave me big hug. Sadly, I couldn't stay with him any longer to congratulate him, as by now it had become late afternoon and there was one more thing I had wanted to do for my free day.

I bid him farewell and, once again, congratulated him for awakening his physique, then left the Sun family's land.

I then rapidly made my way back to the Chen Clan Mansion, headed straight to my room and locked the door shut.

Then, I rummaged through the wardrobe until I found a small box with a ring placed in it- this was my other storage ring. I withdrew a jade box from it and stuck it away again.

I proceeded to then sit down on a white cushion in a lotus position, and opened the rectangular jade box by the lid. As the contents were uncovered, a slight silverish glow escaped.

What was contained inside was the reward I had gotten from getting third place in the competition, the Steel Heart Leaf. 

After being one-sidedly dominated by Sun Qiu, I realised that I was nowhere near strong enough.

It was sheer luck that my sixth sense procced*, therefore allowing me to dodge that fatal first strike and not die.

(*Essentially just means activated.)

Also, without a doubt in my mind, I was she would have killed me, there and then, if I hadn't promised to save her master at the last minute.

The reason she was able to make that decision, without much hesitation, was, first of all, because I'd disclosed dangerous information to her- like a dumbass.

The other reason she chose to attack me abruptly was because of my lack of power. If I had enough strength to at least fend for myself a bit, then she wouldn't have decided to straight-up strike me like that, and I wouldn't have been at her mercy during the whole fight.

I had to get stronger.

Long Tian was also currently at Golden Core, and I was sure if I didn't do something I'd die at his hands.

After thinking everything through, I resolutely took out the glowing silver leaf, which was palm-sized, and ingested it. The texture of it was smooth and brittle, and it tasted like a salty nacho.

As I swallowed it, my mind started to relax.

I closed my eyes and when I opened them again, I awoke in a place where all there was to see was an empty grass field and a tree.

The grass was mostly green with a few patches of silver and the silver tree nearby had shiny silver leaves which swayed from time to time.

As I approached the large silver tree, I instinctively felt the urge to swing a sword build up in me.

With that urge came a steel sword that suddenly appeared in my hand.

Without further ado, I gave into my instincts and swung the steel sword about whilst executing my techniques.

Each time I made a slash, I'd come to notice that there was a flaw in it. Whether it was my stance or the slash itself, I had been able to find subtle improvements I could make to my swings.

Since I was able to find improvements, I was fully immersed in refining these slashes. It felt great being able to constantly get better after each swing.

I now no longer cared about anything, other than correcting the flaws.

After an unknown period of time, I finally felt like I reached a bottleneck.

I promptly stopped swinging and inspected the massive change that had occurred in my imaginary space.

The grass that was once a healthy green was now... Silver.

All of it was silver.

Funnily enough, I suddenly recalled the time I visited the village.

The field of grass in this space reminded me of the grassy area where the ball game took place.

The silver colour reminded me of the silver coins I bet.

Bizarre right?

How could I think of something as random and inconsequential as that during comprehension?

But it happened.

And I felt it wasn't meaningless. 

I knew that anything I thought of right now couldn't be random.

So I bet on the notion that it would help allow me to break through this bottleneck and sit down on the silver grass and focused.

What was it telling me by making me recall that?

I thought back to when I was first approached by the kid and my first thought was,

Courage?

A swordsman was usually linked with being brave and valorous, and so too did it take bravery to approach me and ask for a bet.

No...It wasn't that.

I recalled when I was taunted by one of the other kids and thought,

Pride?

A swordsman is said to be prideful, so too did the kid show pride when he provoked me due to his belief in himself and his skills.

No...I felt that wasn't it either.

Scenes replayed in my head as I brooded over what it could be.

Creativity, adaptability, determination...

...Freedom?

That was when it clicked.

Freedom!

Wasn't the realm of 'Swordmaster' just having more freedom in the application of Qi?

As I came to that understanding, I felt my bottleneck disappear and I was suddenly flooded with insights.

The way I cut with the sword, the way I slashed with the sword, the way I channelled Qi through the sword, the sword itself.

It all became natural to me.

And with that naturalness came enlightenment.

Couldn't that Qi I imbue in the sword, not also be the sword?

Why must it be channelled from the outside when it could come from the sword itself?

Couldn't the sword be the root of it all?

Then after that final sentence... I awoke and muttered,

"...Sword Qi."

...

(Chen Fei POV)

"Bring me him now!

I won't wait any longer, Clan Leader Chen!"

Oh god, this is bad. Very bad.

Why is the Spear Princess in my living room?!

"Young miss Sun, Bu Cai is currently in closed cultivation therefore I cannot bring him to you!

Tell the Spear God that I, Chen Long, deeply apologise, but cannot do so!

I hold great respect for your master, however, a member of my clan is currently amid a crucial enlightenment and must not be interrupted- no matter what!"

Just what has my brother done to catch the attention of this domineering fairy who is the disciple of THE Spear God?!

Although we are one of the Five Great Clans and are normally not concerned about offending anyone, the Spear God is a bit different.

He is the second strongest in the empire- Only second to the Royal Family's old monster!

Although no one has seen him in ages, his reputation and name still strikes fear in every major power's heart. He was said to be from the same generation as the Royal Family's old monster- the Sword God- and became sworn brothers with him!

The legends of how he reigned terror and slaughtered millions of beasts with his spear millennia ago are still prevalent in today's generation and is the only person not part of any major clan to have such a lofty title as the 'Spear God'.

He is quite literally the only person we shouldn't afford to offend as although we could fend him off by awakening ancestors of our own, it would still be a tragedy hardly worth the hassle because of a single member.

So naturally, my father had to deal with his disciple carefully and reasonably lest we anger the Spear God in any way.

Oh my dear brother, how have you brought such a calamity on us when we are already in a risky situation?

"I've waited a week to give the Chen Clan face, however, this is an urgent situation that involves my master and I can't wait afford to keep him waiting anymore!"

With that said, she took out a rusty token and continued to say,

"If you don't comply, then I'll be forced to use the power bestowed in this token by master!" 

WHAT?!

A-A token with the power of the Spear God infused?!

Father also looked rather distressed as although he could neutralise it before it's activated, the consequences of doing that could be even worse- How could he dare try something against the only disciple of that monster?

He kept a smile on his face despite the situation and said calmly,

"You are being quite unreasonable miss Sun, however, if this really concerns the Spear God so much then it would be wrong of me to interfere.

Though I suggest against this, I will not get in the way of the Spear God's orders.

However, if you do proceed then our Chen Clan will remember this."

In response to father's hidden threat, she just scoffed and walked forward to the upstairs where she definitely sensed Bu Cai's presence.

We also went upstairs to see him, and all the way upstairs I was incredibly nervous for Brother Bu.

Of course, I had been nervous for the entire week as this outrageous woman had been demanding to meet him for the past week saying that it was under the request of a god-like figure.

Anyways, we soon reached the door of Bu Cai's room and Sun Qiu raised her foot and was about to kick it down until... The door clicked open.  

Out came, the cause of all this mess, Bu Cai and seeing him after a while he had changed a bit.

His abyssal black eyes seemed to have a sharp glow to them, and the aura around him was also a bit more intense.

As he saw who was in front of the door, he looked surprised and said curiously,

"What's up, guys?

What's with all the commotion? 

Last time I checked, my room wasn't a social gathering area."

"..."

"..."

YOU CRAZY BASTARD!!!!!

NOW'S NOT THE TIME FOR BEING CASUAL!

...

"Oh- Greetings Clan Leader!"

...

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Author's Notes:

Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed it.