Chapter 95: Preparation

After a moment of thought, Ji Jiuxuan gritted her teeth and said, "Kill."

She would not let such a chance to grievously wound her opponent slip away. By now, she and Yu Heng were locked in a struggle to the death.

The only question was: how could she make sure he could not discover her at all?

She went through everything in her spatial storage, and only then did she realize that among the items her grandfather had sent her, there was actually an invisibility cloak.

There had been too many things at the time; she still had not found the chance to study them carefully.

When the black cloak was spread open, it shimmered with a blue sheen, its surface embroidered with intricate array patterns.

Once her divine sense bound itself to it, the moment she shook it out, the entire cloak shrank to her own size.

Touching its soft fabric, Ji Jiuxuan liked it immediately.

She had so many excellent treasures in her spatial storage. It seemed she would need to set aside some time to study them all thoroughly, so that she could make use of them when the need arose.

If she had been able to wield everything in her storage back then, she would not have been so miserable in the Ancient Fall Forest.

"Forget it. Your storage items are indeed excellent, but with the cultivation you had back then, it would not have been easy to unleash their full power. In the end, you would only have ended up feeding them to the Heavenly Qian Giant Python."

The system mercilessly exposed the truth. Ji Jiuxuan was not annoyed; it was the truth, after all. Her cultivation had been even lower back then. She did have some means of defense, but against a beast of that level, surviving with her life intact was already quite fortunate.

"So the host still needs to work hard and raise her cultivation. Only then will all those treasures in your storage have a chance to display their true might."

She agreed with that. She looked inward at the spiritual energy flowing naturally through her dantian and discovered that ever since the Azure Fall Sword had entered her dantian, the speed at which it absorbed spiritual energy had become even faster.

Now that she had entered the scholarly path, her understanding of the breathing and energy-gathering technique that Aunt Wen Ying had once given her had taken on an entirely new meaning.

A technique that could actively absorb spiritual energy was exceedingly rare in this world.

Even so, she could still further increase its absorption speed; the only issue was that her practical experience had to keep pace.

She had been thinking for several days about whether to modify the foundational breathing technique.

"So long as your training keeps up with your rising cultivation, there will be no problem at all. Friendly reminder: the time limit absolutely must not be violated. If you go over, there will be no chance of leniency or exemption from punishment."

At first, it had wanted to keep the girl from becoming a cultivation maniac, hoping she would grow in a flexible way rather than becoming rigid. In the end, however, she only trained with even greater ferocity.

It was certain that if there had been no time restriction, she would have used every waking and sleeping moment for cultivation.

Once cultivation speed increased, training had to keep up with it. That meant more tempering in combat, and body refinement would have to accelerate as well.

The system also imposed limits on the time she could spend practicing her swordplay, and even her rest time was restricted. How to arrange everything properly had therefore become especially important.

From the very beginning, she had pursued the principle of speed, and nowhere was this truer than in her swordsmanship.

Recently, there had been many matters to deal with, and she had grown somewhat lax in this regard. From now on, she would have to work even harder.

She draped the black invisibility cloak over herself and tested it carefully. It was indeed excellent.

Her cultivation, aura, and figure were all concealed. As long as she did not remove the hood, there was no need to fear being discovered.

Still a little uneasy, she asked the system, "Do you think it can hide me from Yu Heng's cultivation? Suiyi said he is no ordinary man."

"It can. As for how you are going to wound him badly, that depends on you."

She had searched through a great many good things in her storage. In the end, aside from the invisibility cloak, Ji Jiuxuan also took out high-grade talismans for changing appearance and shape, along with many offensive talismans of different attributes.

"Then tell me, with my current strength, what are my chances of dealing with the Feather Phoenix Imperial Bird?"

The itch of greed made her restless, her fighting spirit stirring within her so strongly that she could almost imagine stewing a true phoenix-and-dragon broth.

Of course, she still had self-awareness. She was already planning that if she could kill the Feather Phoenix Imperial Bird while Yu Heng was grievously injured that night, she certainly would not let the chance slip by.

If she could sever one of Yu Heng's aids and also eat something delicious, why would she not do it?

Ever since she had first decided to kill the Feather Phoenix Imperial Bird, she had worked out every possible plan. There were still plenty of preparations in her storage for dealing with it.

"Didn’t you already prepare everything? Besides, this will still depend on you."

If the other members of the sect learned that Ji Jiuxuan intended to use a cultivation of only the eighth level of Qi Refinement to kill the Feather Phoenix Imperial Bird, a spiritual beast that was almost at the ninth rank, they would surely think she had gone mad.

"Fine. Then tonight, we act."

If this had been in the past, she would have surely thought she was possessed, or else why would she be doing something so reckless and life-threatening?

But she trusted the system completely. After all, if she died, the system would not fare any better.

In the afternoon, Ji Jiuxuan still went to the Lecture Hall as usual to cultivate.

This time, the demands on her swordsmanship were even stricter.

The afterimages left by her sword techniques carried clear rings of sword song, and Elder Huaxu, who had come to visit Zhou Guangsheng for tea, could not help but marvel.

Once again, he lamented that they had never drawn her into the path of heavenly calculation. Such a lively little girl was far more vivid this way, and with a talent like hers, she was certain to become a mighty figure in the future.

Yet when he thought of that disciple with such extraordinary aptitude for heavenly calculation being lost like that, Elder Huaxu could not help feeling a little envious of Zhou Guangsheng.

"What is it? Are you jealous?" Zhou Guangsheng asked as he poured Huaxu another cup of tea, his face full of wariness. "This is my final disciple. You will absolutely not be stealing her away."

Huaxu laughed as well. In all these years, only when he sat together with his old friends did he feel truly at ease.

"If I wanted to steal her, I would still have to see whether the girl herself would let me."

By now, she had already chosen her own path, and it was impossible for her to learn the arts of heavenly calculation from Ji Jiuxuan.

When the time limit was up, Ji Jiuxuan sat down cross-legged, palms turned upward, closed her eyes, and began to recover.

This time, she did her best to stabilize herself at her best condition.

After saluting her master and Elder Huaxu, Ji Jiuxuan hurried off toward Spirit Beast Peak, where Yu Heng was staying.

Just before entering the territory of Spirit Beast Peak, she found a secluded place to draw up her hood. When she stepped out again, no one would be able to discover her.

Ever since she had formed enmity with Yu Heng, she had thoroughly investigated even his residence, and of course, she also knew everything about the Feather Phoenix Imperial Bird.

The Feather Phoenix Imperial Bird had been sent by the Yu clan to protect Yu Heng. Though they were bound by a contract, it was only a partnership, not that of beast and master. Moreover, the imperial bird itself was extremely proud and disliked remaining inside a beast-keeping space.

For that reason, the Feather Phoenix Imperial Bird even had its own quarters.

Upon reaching Yu Heng's location, Ji Jiuxuan looked at the protective array on the door and realized that, in addition to the defensive formation set by the sect, there was another array as well.

That meant Yu Heng was either cultivating inside or doing some unspeakable business.

After the incident at the back mountain, her study of formations had deepened considerably over this period, and it was entirely within her power to break the array without making a sound.

She held a stack of high-grade talismans in her hand in case of emergency, so she could use them if danger arose.

She had specially studied how to bring out the strongest possible attack from such high-grade talismans.

"Once inside, hide by the wall first. Do not come out until I call you."

At those words, Ji Jiuxuan was filled with delight. "Suiyi! Are you going to help me?"

Recently, the phantom had helped her a great deal. Because the system had reminded her tonight, she had originally not intended to trouble him.

"Yes. Next time you have something like this, remember to call me."

If he had not been watching her movements at all times, he would never have known that this girl was preparing to do something so dangerous.