Chapter 14 – When a Fanfic Protagonist Transmigrated into the Original Novel

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Chapter 14 – Dual Cultivation

This chapter is by Windyday of BC Novels.

Dual Cultivation

Since the establishment of the Heavenly Sword Sect, the distribution of the sect resources across the disciples of the Four Great Halls were different. But it was never a matter of who received more materials than the others since it was the resources itself that were different. Spirit stones and other spiritual materials that could be used for strengthening was usually given to the Sword Refining Hall and the Sword Guarding Hall. Spiritual materials with other attributes and uses were usually given to the Sword Cultivating Hall and the Medicine Hall. It was only later that more and more things were given to the two strongest Halls so the disciples of the Medicine Hall gradually became impoverished.

It wasn’t as if Yuying Zhenren do not know of these things, but in his opinion, they were reasonable. As a Sect Leader, he actually didn’t have any ulterior motives: he wasn’t particularly partial to any of the Elders or any of the disciples. He only believed that whoever if the strongest is right and the sword is the law of the Heavens. Therefore, Yi Xichen’s request, although he was surprised after listening to it, he didn’t spurn it, because he was still using his ability to speak for himself.

“Sure.” Yuying Zhenren said, “As the fifth ranking in the Medicine Hall if you can really surpass the fifth in the Sword Refining Hall then, as the Sect Leader, I really should reconsider the partition of resources across the Four Halls.”

Seeing that this matter was decided upon, Wang Qingqiao and Yi Xichen were rubbing their fists, ready for a large-scale battle. Unexpectedly, Xiao Kui jump out again.

Xiao Kui said, “Sect Leader and Elders, since this is a Sword Assembly, we should naturally use the sword to determine their strength. Shouldn’t we have a rule that states that while dueling, you aren’t allowed to use other unorthodox means¹?”

That statement went straight into Yuying Zhenren’s heart. He has always thought that the sword was the best and has always looked down upon other cultivation methods. He immediately replied, “Naturally.”

This time Yi Xichen really became anxious. The disadvantage of a lack of innate talent definitely can’t be overcome with just hard work. The reason he dared to step out to pick up this trouble wasn’t because he was extremely strong when it comes to the sword but because he was agile enough. From his perspective, the disciples of the Sword Refining Hall only knew how to attack fiercely. Many became rusted puppets that couldn’t deviate from their set of moves. Whenever he participates in a real battle, he has hundreds of different methods to go around their attacks. Normally, when he spars with Lu Ziyao, he can at least win 3 times out of 10. Lu Ziyao has the Body of Three Yang, a talent close to that of the Heavenly Spirit Root, so he was the strongest disciple in the Sword Refining Hall. Yi Xichen used Lu Ziyao as the standard which is why he thought that it wouldn’t be too difficult to win against the fifth ranking disciple of the Sword Refining Hall. But as long as this rule is enforced, it is equivalent to tying up his hands and feet.

　　This is unreasonable and unfair! Sword Cultivators aren’t the only cultivators under the sky. If you meet an evil cultivator are you able to bargain with then and come to an agreement to only use the sword when you face off? If there was an attack from the other sects, would you decide to have a fight to the death with swords? Not to mention the Sword Assembly has always allowed the disciples of the Medicine Hall to use any method they want, even the disciples from the Sword Cultivating Hall was allowed to set down arrays in the competition! The purpose of the Sword Assembly is to let the disciples accumulate experience through actual battles, to accumulate knowledge on each others’ strong points. It wasn’t to give those rusted puppets that only knew how to wave a sword around a platform to show off!

Although Xiao Kui has never had a proper match with Yi Xichen, because he has always paid a lot of attention to Zhangsun Zijun, he has also gathered plenty of information on Yi Xichen. He knew that Yi Xichen uses many methods during his matches and since he was willing to step out, it means that Yi Xichen was confident which was why Xiao Kui deliberately interfered. When he saw that Yi Xichen’s expression changes, he immediately became smug——he had suffered so much before, this time he was able to get Yi Xichen back!

Yi Xichen was getting ready to fight against the decision when he heard a voice beside his ear said, “You can.”

He couldn’t help but be stunned and turned his head to look at Zhangsun Zijun.——It was Zhangsun Zijun sending his thought to Yi Xichen.

If they only use the sword to determine the strength of someone, without even mentioning Wang Qingqiao, Yi Xichen doesn’t have the confidence to go up against any random disciple from the Sword Refining Hall. He knows at least this much about himself. But Zhangsun Zijun’s firmness in his two words gave him a random bout of confidence from nowhere.

He hesitated for a moment, Zhangsun Zijun gave him a determined look.

Yuying Zhenren has already made his decision and Yi Xichen knew that even if he wins when it comes to logic he still might not be able to sway Yuying Zhenren. Therefore he ground his teeth together, deciding to bet on this and answered, “Okay.”

Yuying Zhenren said, “The other disciples should retreat from the Battling Plain to allow the two of them to duel.”

Zhangsun Zijun sent his thoughts spiritually again, “Push it back a day.”

The trust that Yi Xichen has in Zhangsun Zijun is something that has accumulated over the years and has already been rooted firmly in his heart. So he went with his words and said, “It’s pretty late already and this disciple still needs to get some things ready. I hope the Sect Leader can allow us to duel tomorrow.”

Tomorrow was supposed to be the day the twenty disciples choose from each of the Halls have one on one matches with each other. But Yuying Zhenren thought that it seemed like the day for the Assembly needed to be pushed back no matter what and that having them duel right now was a little hurried so he said, “That’s alright. Yi Xichen and Wang Qingqiao would battle tomorrow noon on the Battling Plain. We can stop for today, disperse.”

After this round of argument was settled, it left some full of worry, some confused and discomfited and some with a mixture of anger and anxiousness.

Although the disciples of the Sword Refining Hall didn’t know where Yi Xichen got the confidence to ask for a battle, they saw the flicker of trepidation on YI Xichen’s face when Xiao Kui’s idea was agreed upon by Yuying Zhenren. The Disciples of the Sword Refining Hall have always been self-confident; Wang Qingqiao also didn’t believe that he would lose to Yi Xichen if they were only competing with the sword.

The disciples of the Sword Guarding Hall managed to enjoy a lively scene today and they were getting ready to enjoy another lively scene tomorrow. No matter who wins or loses tomorrow wouldn’t affect them too much. At most they would have to give up one or two spots, so they were able to un-worriedly go on with their daily activities.
　　
Although the disciples of the Medicine Hall were anxious, they were helpless. They could only place all their hopes on Yi Xichen.

And the most anxious one was the Sword Cultivating Hall. They were unwillingly roped in together with the Medicine Hall but they have virtually no confidence in Yi Xichen and they don’t agree on placing their bet on the Yi Xichen. It was only that there was no space to intervene when they were having their back and forth. There were a couple of disciples from the Sword Cultivating Hall that gathered together to discuss and came to an agreement to watch the outcome of the match tomorrow. It is naturally great if Yi Xichen could win. But if Yi Xichen loses, they would push the Medicine Hall off to one side and make another scene; they would say that the Medicine Hall’s ability had nothing to do with them. They would try to protect their five spots for the Sword Assembly no matter what.

Yi Xichen sullenly followed Zhangsun Zijun back to his room, closed the door and immediately asked, “You are familiar with Wang Qingqiao’s ability? He can’t beat me?”

Before this, Yi Xichen had never had much interaction with Wang Qingqiao, but if he was able to get into the top five in the Sword Refining Hall then he definitely isn’t someone who is very weak. Yi Xichen’s heart couldn’t help but have uncertainties when it came to having a sword fight with him.

Zhangsun Zijun said, “If you compete with only the sword, the you today probably won’t be able to beat him.”

“I didn’t think I would either. If he is inferior to even a False Spiritual Root like me, the Elder and the disciple of the Sword Refining Hall would have to be blind to give him a placement for the Sword Assembly.” Yi Xichen scratched his head, agitated. “Then why did you let me agree on it?”

“You don’t have the False Spiritual Root.” Zhangsun ZIjun said, “You have the Mutated Spiritual Root.”

“What?” Yi Xichen was stunned.

He has been a cultivator with the False Spiritual Root for the last ten years and has suffered so much for it. But now Zhangsun Zijun is telling him that he doesn’t have the False Spiritual Root and instead, he has the Mutated Spiritual Root? This was a hurt that he has kept deep in his heart and even though he knows that recently Zhangsun Zijun often says things that make no sense but he can’t help but be hopeful that that was true.

“How……how did you know?” Yi Xichen’s voice was slightly trembling, “Was it another one of your delusions?!”

Zhangsun Zijun shook his head, “I can reiterate the fifteen names on the attendance list.”

Yi Xichen hesitated. He also thought that this point was very strange. Zhangsun Zijun couldn’t tell the future and he wouldn’t have done something like peeking at the attendance list beforehand just to mess with him. This event really is inexplicable.

Zhangsun Zijun said, “I don’t know that form of illness I have either. Although some things deviated in my memory, I don’t believe that the deviations are outrageous.”

“It’s very outrageous!” Yi Xichen glared at him, “If this isn’t outrageous than there is no other thing in this world that is f*cking outrageous!” He paused for a moment and then nervously said, “The parts that are outrageous are outrageous, but there could also be parts that aren’t that outrageous.”

Zhangsun Zijun pressed his lips together, “It could be some strange Confusion Array that makes me able to know some things that I’m not supposed to know of. An example would be your talent in cultivation. You originally have the Mutated Spiritual Root that doesn’t lose to the Heavenly Spirit Root. But after you were hurt by Heaven’s Flame, your spiritual pathways in your body were sealed which cause you to display the False Spiritual Root that is unsuitable for cultivation.

Yi Xichen heard the two words ‘Heaven’s Flame’ and instinctively reached to rub the red mark on his index finger.

When he was young, his parents were burned to death by Heaven’s Flame and he was also gravely injured. It was Yao Budu that saved him before bringing him back to the Heavenly Sword Sect to cultivate. This was a secret wound in his heart. Aside from his very best friend, Zhangsun Zijun, he didn’t speak of this with anyone. Because he wasn’t willing to dwell on the painful past, even towards Zhangsun Zijun, he only gave him the general idea of what happened. He told Zijun that his parents were schemed against by evil people and were killed in the process; he didn’t go into much detail regarding their deaths.

So logically, Zhangsun Zijun shouldn’t be too familiar with the abilities of Heaven’s Flame. Yi Xichen gave Zhangsun Zijun a complicated look. Could it be that he really…

“You mentioned once that when you cultivate, every time you reach a crucial part, even though you know that as long as you are able to break through, in the future, there would be endless potential but you just couldn’t get past it.” Zhangsun Zijun said, “If you really have the False Spiritual Root, then your limit should’ve been it. Where would the bottleneck come from?”

After Yi Xichen heard Zhangsun Zijun’s reasoning, he felt that the ground underneath becoming soft, almost as if he stepped onto a blanket of fog. But after the fog dispersed, would it reveal a beautiful paradise or an endless abyss?

Zhangsun Zijun was pretty certain about this matter. Right now he has a guideline that he uses to determine what to be trusted in his memories; his memories regarding his youth weren’t tampered with. As long as the strange things in his head have some connection with the memories of his past, then it was most likely real. And if it arises from nothing with no reason behind it, then it was probably delusions.

He continued, “You probably remember that I went through the records with you and saw how other people describe the characteristics of the False Spiritual Root. Your situation differed a little from their descriptions.”

Yi Xichen stood up abruptly and started to pace back and forth anxiously around the room.

According to the predecessor’s notes, the False Spiritual Root is unsuitable for cultivating towards immortality but it is very suitable for cultivating the body: but he wasn’t able to grow in that aspect. The False Spiritual Root isn’t able to understand Sword Intent: but even though his Sword Intent was very weak, he was still able to understand some aspects of it. The False Spiritual Root often has five attributes but he only has three. The reason he was grouped as a False Spiritual Root was because he was so dissimilar with any of the other spiritual roots along with the fact that his talent was too inferior. What progress others can make in one day, he needs 4-5 days to achieve. He has wished day and night for there to be a mistake when it came to his cultivation talent but as the days dragged on his wish became a fantasy. Although he’s still thinking about it, he has virtually no hope left.

But in this moment and time, Zhangsun Zijun bought his fantasy extremely close to reality.

You said that I was sealed by Heaven’s Fire, then can this seal be broken?”
　　
“It can.”

Yi Xichen took a deep breath, his shaking became even more evident, “How can we break the seal?”

Zhangsun Zijun, “…”

Yi Xichen saw that he wasn’t about to answer so he asked again, “How can we break the seal?”

Zhangsun Zijun continued to be silent.

Zijun???

“Are you sure you want to hear it?”

“Of course.”

“Then I’m really going to say it?”
　　
“…”

Yi Xichen realized that Zhangsun Zijun might say something extremely shocking. Therefore, he twisted his head bitterly to the side “You don’t have to say it.”

“…”
　　
The two of them looked at each other and remained at a stalemate for a while. Then Yi Xichen ground his teeth together and sat down firmly on his chair before yelling resolutely, “Say it!”

“I have the Heavenly Spirit Root so I have the power of the Heaven’s Soul within me. If I use you as a caldron to duel cultivate, it can help in breaking the seal.”

Yi Xichen had an “I knew it” expression on his face as he rolled his eyes. Then he jabbed a finger at Zhangsun Zijun before pointing at his bottom and said, “You. Remember. This place only has things coming out not in!” And then he did a beheading motion.

Zhangsun Zijun, “…”

---

Reika’s Notes:

• This chapter is by Windyday of BCNovels.
• Oh … they have to pa pa pa to unlock his abilities?! *laughs*
• I need to pay the website hosting bill.  If you have a bit of extra money, please consider donating to the BC Novels Ko-Fi if you want to help me out. Thank you very much to those who have donated!
• Please leave a comment if you find any errors. I’ll be sure to correct them ASAP.
• Thanks for reading.

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1. Basically meaning using means other than the sword