Cohabitation with Sword Spirit-Chapter 256 - 216: How Should One’s Life Be Spent

During those rebellious years, Shen Qingming once made her relationship with her family quite tense. Lu Xin, as the Great Demon King of the Li Family Mansion, didn't need mentioning, and Li Fengyun, the eternal transparent one, in her view, was absolutely not a qualified father.

Of course, now all misunderstandings have been resolved, and the previous issues were just due to some discrepancies in intelligence and perception. Shen Qingming also decided to return to the family—she even considered whether to change her last name back, but considering the tedious procedures of continuous name changes in a short time, she temporarily had no intention of doing so.

However, the burden of history over the years ultimately exists, and Shen Qingming's relationship with her family, especially with the little transparent Li Fengyun, is not as close as the father-daughter relationship in other families.

At least not close enough for Shen Qingming to draw her sword and commit seppuku without hesitation to save her dad.

"Hey, isn't there another way? Like..." Shen Qingming weighed her options, "cutting a... finger?"

Wang Jiu said, "That's too insincere. Everyone knows your Immovable Tyrant Body's regenerative ability is formidable, and regrowing limbs is effortless."

"But it would still hurt, okay! Anyway, if cutting fingers doesn't work, what else can be done?"

Wang Jiu thought for a moment, "In terms of short-term impact, I'd suggest disfiguring yourself."

"...I might as well die!"

Wang Jiu curiously asked, "Do you have that much confidence in your looks?"

Shen Qingming blushed, "I'm my mother's daughter after all!"

"But judging by your Intelligence Index..."

"Repeating the same joke too many times becomes dull!"

Wang Jiu pondered, "If disfiguring doesn't work, shaving your head might do. How about the setting of a bald Shaking Qingming?"

"Forget it, I'd rather commit suicide."

Just as Shen Qingming finished speaking, Wang Jiu suddenly said, "The battle is about to end."

Ahead, not far away, Shen Ziyu's voice came floating by, "Yeah, it's about to be over. Don't worry, I won't kill him."

Wang Jiu interrupted, "Li Fengyun is about to win."

"...What?" Shen Ziyu couldn't believe his ears. The situation on the scene was so one-sided, how did the Celestial Divine Sword see that Li Fengyun could win?!

Then, in the next moment, Shen Ziyu suddenly felt his arm tremble. Within the furious Wind and Sand Array ahead, the target that should have been locked suddenly disappeared in an instant!

And then, a hand suddenly appeared on his shoulder.

"Amazing, Ziyu. You've become quite impressive over these 20 years."

Shen Ziyu looked incredulous at Li Fengyun suddenly appearing beside him and then turned to glance at the still howling Wind and Sand Array, feeling his mind temporarily tied into knots.

"How... how did you? Impossible, absolutely impossible!"

As he spoke, Shen Ziyu wanted to rush into the Wind and Sand Array himself to see if there was any flaw in his Immortal Technique. But in a flash, a spark of inspiration crossed his mind, reminding him of not long ago when he used the Celestial Tribulation Thunder Prison to trap Wang Jiu, and when Wang Jiu unfazedly escaped, he tried it himself, ending up with a stylishly electrocuted hairstyle...

Learning from past mistakes, he quickly curbed his suicidal impulse, and as his True Essence circulated with his Primordial Spirit, transforming into another fierce Magic—yet just as the Magic was about to form, his Primordial Spirit suddenly seized, the Magic went out of control and naturally dissipated, and the True Essence returned to circulation like fish diving into the sea.

"This..."

Li Fengyun patted his shoulder again, and with a comforting tone like that of a fatherly brother, said, "Alright, alright, I already know you're impressive. The teachings of the Saint Sect are indeed remarkable. You're only 43 this year, right? You're just a step away from the Sea Overturning Realm, your strength even surpasses mine."

Shen Ziyu naturally didn't want to be patted on the shoulder by Li Fengyun. In an instant, his figure spun around, flashing a thousand illusions within a ten-mile radius, yet each illusion wasn't without a gentle tap from Li Fengyun.

"You!?" Shen Ziyu was shocked and furious, his right hand directly covering the milky-white mask, ready to use his killer move, but just as his fingers touched the mask... he felt a slight warmth, directly touching his cheek.

The milky-white mask, without knowing when, was in Li Fengyun's hand.

"Is this the Immortal Envoy's mask issued by the Saint Sect? It's indeed mysterious, perfectly matching your Cultivation Technique."

At this moment, Shen Ziyu felt a chill in his heart.

Although he had yet to fully utilize his trump cards and could not claim to have shown his true abilities, Li Fengyun was undoubtedly toying with him, their strength and realm clearly not on the same level... It was as if he were sparring with a master.

No, no, no, what a joke, how could a prematurely aged waste like Li Fengyun be compared with a master?!

Just as Shen Ziyu was feeling as if his worldview was crumbling, he heard Wang Jiu say, "It seems your Wind and Cloud Divinity Transformation Technique has finally achieved a phase of great success?"

Li Fengyun nodded and bowed to Wang Jiu: "Thanks to Elder Divine Sword's guidance over the past few months in solving several theoretical difficulties, I can now maintain the Sword God Body for a five-minute duration."

"Sword God Body!?" Shen Ziyu was momentarily stunned, then cried out in shock, "You're still thinking about such an outlandish idea!?"

Li Fengyun, however, looked seriously at Shen Ziyu and said, "Twenty years ago, everyone thought Yue'e and I were daydreaming with the concept of the Sword God Body. Indeed, if not for Elder Divine Sword's guidance in the past six months, perhaps the Sword God Body would remain a fantasy for ten or twenty more years, while I would continue pondering endlessly, my vitality and spirit rapidly declining, perhaps dwindling within ten or twenty years. But now, I have finally completed the first step of the Sword God Body."

Shen Ziyu pressed his lips tightly together, his eyes flashing different colors as he scanned the Li Fengyun before him.

Is this the Sword God Body that even the Sect Leader of the Saint Sect deemed a daydream, impossible to become reality within a hundred years?

To unite the physical body, True Essence, and Primordial Spirit into one, break free from tangible constraints, shatter the barrier between inner and outer worlds, transcend above reality, and instantly gain nearly ascendant divine abilities.

If the conventional path of immortal cultivation is a progressive journey, from the Wind-Rising Realm all the way to the Heaven Shattering Realm, breaking the world's structure for a distant ascension, then the Sword God Body proposed by Li Fengyun is a shortcut that bypasses all obstacles, directly reaching the endpoint. If it truly becomes reality, all existing immortal cultivation theories would be overturned.

After a long pause, Shen Ziyu slowly spoke, "Twenty years, you've spent the past twenty years for this?"

Li Fengyun said, "Yes, for the past twenty years, I have been constantly contemplating how to perfect my Wind and Cloud Divinity Transformation Technique, and elevate the Wind and Cloud Body to the Sword God Body. Yet, besides Yue'e, there was no one else to support my vision."

Upon hearing Shen Yue'e's name, Shen Ziyu's previously calmed anger reignited: "Yet you are the one who led to her death!"

Li Fengyun fell silent immediately.

After a long time, facing Shen Ziyu's bloodshot eyes, Li Fengyun finally said softly, "In our youth, we indulged ourselves recklessly, knowing no restraint, and eventually… it resulted in a tragic outcome."

Upon hearing this, Shen Ziyu's eyes nearly turned into fireballs.

Meanwhile, Shen Qingming's face turned scarlet as she muttered, "To talk about such a thing in front of one's daughter?! How utterly tactless!"

Wang Jiu frowned and said, "What's wrong with talking about it openly? Your human society is full of all sorts of unnecessary norms."

"You..." Shen Qingming gritted her teeth, "Do you even know what he's talking about?! Indulging recklessly and knowing no restraint and all that."

Wang Jiu said, "Of course, both Li Fengyun and Shen Yue'e were scholarly cultivators. In the early days of marriage, they naturally engaged extensively in academic exchanges, exerting their Primordial Spirits to deduce each other's academic theories tirelessly, enjoying each moment of theoretical breakthroughs without a care for the possible consequences of such excessive mental and physical exhaustion."

Shen Qingming was left speechless, her face turning pale.

Wang Jiu looked at her: "So, what do you think he was talking about?"

Shen Qingming blushed and gritted her teeth, saying, "The same thing as you!"

Wang Jiu said, "Indeed, that's the limitation of a human body. If they could reincarnate as a Celestial Divine Sword like me, they could freely deduce and compute without worrying about running themselves to exhaustion at a young age. Of course, the price would be certain difficulties in reproduction. However, considering their reproductive efforts greatly accelerated the exhaustion of both, even leading to Shen Yue'e's irreversible demise, and the unsatisfactory results in terms of offspring... I think it hardly matters."

"Unsatisfactory results in reproduction... You're being too much!"

As the two whispered back and forth, Li Fengyun once again broke the silence and said, "Yue'e, she... actually knew from the start the potential outcome. She said she would rather live like a brief but brilliant firework than be a dull and lifeless stone."

Shen Ziyu raged, "With her talent and aptitude, how could she possibly be a dull and lifeless stone!?"

Li Fengyun was silent for a moment, then said, "Born at the wrong time, in this era, everyone is merely a stone. Ever since the Saint Sect unified Xiangzhou with the Seven Great Noble Families, it's been two thousand years, yet has anyone ascended?"

Shen Ziyu was suddenly at a loss for words, "This..."

"Not to mention ascension, not even the Heaven Shattering Realm has been reached by anyone. It's the limitation of the times and the world; as individuals, we're merely stones atop a mountain in the endless night, for future generations to step on in their quest to pluck the light of the stars… But we are not content to be just stones. We hope to witness that light within our lifetimes."

"Absurd..."

Li Fengyun said, "Before meeting her, such thoughts only occasionally flitted through my mind as naive fantasies. Until I met her, all the previously insurmountable barriers were overcome one by one, only then did we realize, perhaps... with combined efforts, we could accomplish something within our limited lifetimes."