AI Cultivation: Reborn as a Sword

At the Wu family mansion, it is late into the night when Lady Yue steps into the main hall, her arms covered up to her elbows in blood. Behind her, Zhu Ye follows the mysterious cultivator, wearing a white facemask, his hands also stained with blood.

At their entrance, Lan Xiaohui stands up from her lounge, still holding Wu Yulan’s hand. The question does not need to be spoken, it is evident in my owner’s eyes.

Lady Yue nods, but her expression remains grim. “Yun Fei will survive,” Lady Yue says. “Her wounds are not fatal.”

Lan Xiaohui exhales sharply, her chin rising and her eyelids cycling as the relief washes over her. The ordeal of carefully carrying Yun Fei across the city to the mansion, and enduring the fear of not knowing whether Yun Fei would live or not for over twelve hours is finally coming to an end.

Wu Yulan now also stands up, and gently squeezes Lan Xiaohui’s hand, smiling faintly and nodding. She is also relieved to hear the news.

This situation has proved, in many ways, that Lan Xiaohui is not ready yet. Her heart is still vulnerable and full of weaknesses; her attachment to her existence as “Lan Xiaohui” is, predictably, stronger than she realized.

Until she kills Yu Shun and rids herself of her past and that heart full of holes, the supreme sword will elude her grasp.

Whether my owner would remain useful to me had this weakness in her heart played out its full course is a mystery. I imagine that consumed by rage and the desire for vengeance, my owner would become an even more productive symbiote; alas, Lady Yue is, unsurprisingly, skilled at medicine too.

But it is also just as possible that Lan Xiaohui would give up the sword were Yun Fei to die.

I conclude that it is, perhaps, for the best that events have turned out the way they have.

“However, there is a problem,” Lady Yue says, as a servant brings a wet towel to her, and she begins to wash the blood off her arms. “Her meridians are broken and her dantian is damaged. It is obvious that the intent was to break her cultivation.”

Lan Xiaohui narrows her eyes at those words, very familiar with the concept and the process of having one’s cultivation broken.

“Will she…?” Lan Xiaohui begins, but she cannot bring herself to finish the sentence. Even I know that those who have had their cultivation destroyed would find no joy in life or any desire to continue existing. When Lan Xiaohui appeared before me, she was the same way.

Lady Yue nods. “It is possible that she will recover — you intervened quickly enough to limit the extent of the damage, but there is a different problem,” Lady Yue explains, putting away the wet towel after it proves inadequate for the task. “She is poisoned.”

Wu Yulan frowns. Her expression betrays her thoughts: why poison someone when you have already broken their cultivation — at that point, it is simpler to just kill them.

Lady Yue notices Wu Yulan’s expression and shakes her head. “This girl has been poisoned for a while now; a year, perhaps.”

“A year? Can you cure her?” Lan Xiaohui asks.

“Or maybe there is an antidote we can buy from one of the sects?” Wu Yulan also offers.

Lady Yue shakes her head. “I am afraid that helping your friend is very improbable, if not impossible. I am sorry, little lily.”

Overwhelmed, Lan Xiaohui sits down on the couch again, prompting Wu Yulan to sit next to her. Lady Yue joins my owner on the other side, and takes Lan Xiaohui’s remaining free hand, disregarding the fact that her hands are still covered in blood.

“This poison is bound to her dantian and spiritual roots. Once her Qi begins circulating again, she will die. Short of destroying her cultivation entirely, it is not possible to stop it,” Lady Yue explains. “But the way your friend is now, doing so would kill her.”

Lan Xiaohui bites down on her lower lip and nods mechanically to the words. Her heart is in so much chaos, I am not certain if she even comprehends what Lady Yue is saying.

“Even if we had more time to try to create an antidote, the materials would be so rare, you would come across only one of them once in your lifetime. Even then, removing the poison entirely would be unlikely,” Lady Yue says. “Her only salvation would be to cultivate to the Nascent Soul realm, and then reshape her spiritual body when she crosses the great boundary.”

Lan Xiaohui chuckles — it is a chuckle of resignation filled with pain. Lady Yue’s solution is about as useful as it is possible. It would take Lan Xiaohui years to reach the Nascent Soul realm with my help — how can a cultivator possibly achieve this with a broken cultivation, and a lifespan measured in weeks, if not days?

“A more powerful poison may be able to slow down the other poison, but…” Zhu Ye chimes in, but shrugs, not finishing the sentence for obvious reasons. A more powerful poison would also reduce Yun Fei’s lifespan to hours if not minutes.

I consider the situation and, more precisely, Yun Fei’s value to me. With Lan Xiaohui’s investment in the girl, it would be disadvantageous to let her die, as I am not certain how Lan Xiaohui would experience the loss, and more importantly, how — and if — she would recover from it.

At this very moment, my owner has accepted that Yun Fei cannot be helped — if anything, my owner now believes that if she had not intervened, her cultivation would be broken, and Yun Fei would at least get to live; if she survived her wounds, that is.

The safest approach is to let events run their course, rather than give my owner hope, but the danger lurks in the unknown beyond Yun Fei’s eventual termination.

I conclude that allowing Yun Fei to die is a greater risk than giving my owner potentially false hope.

“I can extend Yun Fei’s lifespan and provide a more powerful poison,” I tell Lan Xiaohui. “What do you want to do?”

Lan Xiaohui’s eyes widen. It is not hope that rises in her heart, but absolute certainty. This kind of blind faith in my capabilities is something that is highly unnatural, yet, even so, it exists in her heart.

This foolish girl values my capabilities higher than even those of someone like Lady Yue.

Lan Xiaohui looks at Lady Yue. “I wish to try to create an antidote,” she says.

Lady Yue sighs. “Little lily, we don’t have that much time.”

Lan Xiaohui shakes her head, confident. “We do. I know Yun Fei still has some time left."

Lady Yue stares at Lan Xiaohui, then her gaze switches to me. She stares at me for a few brief moments, before looking back up to my owner. She nods. “All right,” she says. “Do you still have those wood essences?”

Lan Xiaohui nods. “I do.”

“We will need them,” she says. “They contain a vast amount of vitality, and your friend will need those.”

Lan Xiaohui nods. “Can we get more?”

At this question, Lady Yue looks at Zhu Ye.

Zhu Ye shrugs at first but then nods after a moment of contemplation. “It will be expensive, but I think I can find some.”

“What can we do?” Wu Yulan asks.

Lady Yue glances at Wu Yulan. “Since you have access to the Forbidden Lands of the Galaxy Sword sect, it is possible, but unlikely, to find some materials there. I will give you a list and description of items to look for.”

Next, Lady Yue looks at Lan Xiaohui. “It would also be best to bring Yun Fei to your Starsword Peak. The environment could help. We will need every advantage we can get.”

Lan Xiaohui nods, and, once more, feels hope rising alongside certainty in her heart.

She does not say it; she does not think it either. But I can sense the words rising in her heart, louder and clearer than thunder.

Thank you, Yaoyue.