These were his fellow Qingqiu Sword Sect disciples, his senior brothers and senior sisters, and yet Ye Que didn’t know any of them.

He hadn’t even heard of the name of the so-called girl genius.

His knowledge of the birth of the Divine Tool, the River Soldiers, was even more so sparse.

This sounded like a fantasy but the truth was that he really had no idea.

In his previous life, he had been reticent and laser-focused on cultivation when he first entered the Qingqiu Sword Sect. He completely ignored what was going on in the world outside, least of all the gossip in the Cultivation World. By the time he began communicating with those around him like an ordinary person, a few years had passed and the incident at the ley lines of sovereignty of the Imperial Mausoleum was already a done deal. Not only did the Qingqiu Sword Sect gain nothing, but they even lost their disciples. Naturally, they wouldn’t spread this news.

Everyone chose to forget about this matter.

His speculation that these people in front of him might die in this place wasn’t completely baseless.

On the one hand, this place was the birthplace of the Divine Tool and a bloodbath was sure to follow. Swords didn’t discriminate; life and death depended entirely on fate.

On the other hand, the formation here limited everyone’s realms between the Psychic and Starburst realms. This in itself was a sign of danger. It was common knowledge in the Cultivation World that those under the Starburst realm—even if it was a girl genius like Li Jianqi—wouldn’t be much of a threat. Moreover, her nickname ‘Sword Fanatic’ was not a reference to her prowess as a swordswoman. It was her obsession with swords and eating swords that resulted in that nickname.

Rather than calling her Sword Fanatic, it might be more appropriate to call her Sword Eater.

The records that she broke weren’t all that impressive either. It could be achieved by any genius who put in the effort to cultivate. Talent bestowed by heaven wasn’t something ordinary people could feel envious of.

Li Jianqi called Ye Que’s sword strange.

It was indeed strange.

Technically, he had employed the use of the nine entry-level sword skills of the Qingqiu Sword Sect. Yet, the reality was that it wasn’t as simple as using the sword to manipulate Qi.

Having spent more than a hundred years cultivating and battling, Ye Que had long broken free of the shackles the Qingqiu Sword Sect presented. To top it off, he had tens of years of experience in the Celestial World. The secret arts he had under his belt were innumerable. The foundation of his cultivation had been established in his previous life so it wasn’t a good idea to change it.

Now that he had to start anew, he wanted to slowly put into practice some thoughts that had been brewing in his mind.

What characterized the most powerful Physic Realm?

What tactics should a Physic Realm cultivator use to be most effective in a battle?

Physic Realm cultivators could control Spiritual Force, fly on their sword, and use powerful sword skills and Taoist techniques. They looked an incomparably mighty force that couldn’t be surpassed.

However, the truth was that all these traits were very weak. Cultivators were merely more sensitive to their environment and had a better understanding of the minute changes in their surroundings compared to ordinary people. Moreover, cultivators manipulated these changes to achieve control of their environment.

However, this couldn’t change the fact that cultivators themselves were weak beings.

Cultivators weren’t heaven or earth. They were movers of the Spiritual Force in heaven and earth.

One reason Ye Que, a Physic Realm cultivator, could prevail against Nangong Jie, a Starburst Realm cultivator, was the advantage that his Divine Energy gave him. Another reason, a more important reason, was that he had firm control over the one-meter space around him.

Even if his opponent could reach the sky with his flying sword, call forth rain as a shield, invoke a clear sky, and summon a million of sword shadows, Ye Que was in an invincible realm as long as he had a firm grasp of the one-meter space around him. Regardless of how impressive and worldly his opponent’s sword was, it was all meaningless.

This was the same logic behind Ye Que’s manipulation of Qi to slice maple leaves.

Regardless of how flamboyant his opponent’s sword skills were, all he had to do was keep his invincibility within the one-meter space around him and go on defense or offense!

Though many thoughts crossed Ye Que’s mind, only a split second had passed.

Li Jianqi fished out a vermilion-colored writing brush from her bracelet and dipped the tip in her mouth. She then confidently signed her name on Nalan Rongruo’s clothing. Meanwhile, Qi Shenghua and Yue Shu had already begun cleaning up the corpses of their deceased Senior Brothers with a sorrowful expression.

“Rumble!”

Right then, an ear-piercing quake came from below. The ground subsequently began shaking.

Everyone standing on the Grass-pecking Cliff subconsciously raised their head and looked around.

First, they watched as the waterfall split in half at a speed observable by the naked eye and scatter water everywhere. Then, the entire Grass-pecking Cliff began shaking violently. The ground cracked and sent stones flying.

Nearly simultaneously, the hailstone struck in the clear sky that stretched for miles.

“It’s an earthquake!”

“Run!”

Ye Que’s expression changed. He twisted his turn and made a forward dash. Nearly at the same time, Li Jianqi also rode her plump goldfish and flew up the sky.

“Senior Brothers’ bodies!” Qi Shenghua yelled.

“Hurry and run! You will lose your life if you don’t go now! We can find Senior Brothers’ bodies later,” Nalan Rongruo screeched. She grabbed Qi Shenghua and immediately made a run for it. The sword in her hand had already flown up the sky.

The hail overhead became increasingly dense and behind them was an endlessly cracking ground. The eight of them used their own tricks to swiftly escape the Grass-pecking Cliff.

The stones that fell within one meter of Ye Que, within the range of his Spiritual Force, were all crushed or flung aside by him. When he spared some time to turn his head and look behind him, the waterfall and the cliff had nearly completely collapsed in an instant. The ground had sunken in and he couldn’t see any trace of the faraway maple forest that he had entered from. Everything had changed beyond recognition.

15 minutes later, the ground calmed and the hailstone mysteriously dissipated in the sky.

The eight of them were panting heavily. It was to the extent that Nalan Rongruo and her five fellow disciples felt as if their legs were beginning to tremble.

After all, they were merely disciples in the Physic Realm. Though they could fly on their sword, their Spiritual Force couldn’t sustain them for long. To make things worse, they were forced to frantically run. If the earthquake didn’t stop any sooner, they might very well get buried here and die.

Tranquility returned to the world.

“Why are you still following me around?” Ye Que looked at Li Jianqi.

“You have something that I’m interested in. You’re also interesting,” she replied, not looking away from him.

“Something I have? What is it?” Ye Que looked confused.

“You have the 13 Mother and Children of Spring and Autumn Swords. Those are Spirit Swords in between Level 2 and Level 3. I can smell them even 1,000 meters away. You have merely put them away.” Li Jianqi licked her lips. “I’ve never eaten such great swords! I’m sure they taste amazing!”

Ye Que rolled his eyes. “Don’t even think about it.”

“Don’t worry. I know that you won’t just hand them to me, so I’ll defeat you and then snatch them from you,” Li Jianqi said with certainty.

“You want to fight me?” Ye Que chuckled.

Li Jianqi cocked her head and gave it some thought. “Not now. I have seen your battle with Nangong Jie. The sword that you’re using is very impressive. You have no flaws within the one-meter space around you. I haven’t come up with a way to counter that.”

Ye Que laughed again. “That means you’re not fighting, right?”

“Not now. We’ll fight after I’m done thinking about it,” Li Jianqi said earnestly. Then, she suddenly took out something from the bracelet wrapped around her wrist and threw it to the ground with a resounding thud. “I’m hungry. Does anyone want to eat? I’m going to start roasting venison; anyone who sees this can have some!”

Li Jianqi’s bracelet seemed to have the capacity for storage. What she threw to the ground was that Three-eyed Spirit Deer earlier. No one knew when she had grabbed the deer and put it away.