Chapter 26: Practicing Sword Techniques

"Negative emotion received from Zhang Si, +39!"
"Negative emotion received from Wang Ermazi, +28!"
"Negative emotion received from..."

At the height of Lin Fan's excitement, a barrage of negative emotion notifications suddenly burst forth in his mind, leaving him momentarily stunned as he glanced around. Only then did he realize that his standing in place, grinning foolishly, had drawn quite a few strange looks.

"Let's go, let's go. This fellow must be a fool," someone nearby muttered quietly, before heading off into the distance. Lin Fan's brows shot up at the words, and he was about to grab the speaker to argue a bit—for the sake of harvesting a little more negative emotion value—when a guard ran over from afar, calling out, "Young master! Young master! A few youths have come to the house, claiming to be your friends and asking to see you. The master requests your return."

"Oh?" Lin Fan's eyes brightened. He knew it must be news about his blade—after all, he had few friends, and those he could count as such were only Xiao Shuihan and the others. If they had come to find him now, it could only mean that the blade had been finished.

Still, he was a bit puzzled as to why Xiao Shuihan and the others hadn't used a jade talisman to contact him ahead of time and tell him the price of the blade.

Soon enough, Lin Fan returned home and immediately spotted Xiao Shuihan and his companions engaged in lively conversation with his father.

"Haha! I knew it was you lot! Come, tell me—how is my blade? How much does it cost?" As soon as Lin Fan entered the Lin family's main hall, he greeted them with a broad smile and his eager inquiry.

Xiao Shuihan and Li Ji exchanged glances, then addressed Lin Fan, "Brother Fan, you really are impatient—mission accomplished!"

Seeing this, Lin Xiong shook his head with a smile and cut in, "Fan'er, spend some time with your friends. We've already prepared food and wine for you in your courtyard. Go enjoy yourselves—I've some matters to attend to."

"Go on, go on!" Lin Fan waved his hand carelessly, paying no heed to his father's words. All he cared about right now was his blade.

Lin Xiong: "???"

"Negative emotion received from Lin Xiong, +999!"

"He's growing more and more insolent by the day! I must find a chance to teach this little rascal a lesson. If I wait any longer, he'll surpass my cultivation and I'll never get another chance. Next time, I'll beat him so thoroughly that even his own mother won't recognize him!" Lin Xiong grumbled inwardly.

Outwardly, however, he said nothing, only leaving the main hall while pondering how he might find an excuse to give his son a proper thrashing, with the old master's approval, of course.

Suddenly, Lin Fan, flush with excitement, felt an inexplicable chill sweep over him, a coldness that surged straight to his crown. He couldn't shake the feeling that something ominous was about to happen.

"Come, let’s head to my courtyard—we'll drink and talk. Let me tell you, since the Lin family wiped out the three great clans, I was credited with the greatest merit. The old man even gave up a jar of his treasured twenty-year-old brew—fiery stuff! Tonight, we drink until we drop!"

With a shake of his head, as if to throw off the chill, Lin Fan beckoned Xiao Shuihan and the others and led the way to his courtyard.

There, the first thing that caught their eyes was a wind-and-snow pine at the center of the yard, so wide it would take several men to encircle it, though not more than three meters tall, its canopy vast and sheltering. Beneath its spreading branches beside the trunk sat a stone table, already laden with a sumptuous feast, clearly prepared by Lin Xiong for their gathering.

Normally, Xiao Beicheng endured snow all year round, the ever-present chill quickly cooling any food. Yet on that stone table, a jade talisman glimmered faintly, casting a circular barrier that enveloped the table and seats beneath the pine, keeping them warm and untouched by the falling snow. Within the barrier, the air was spring-like, the dishes steaming and fragrant, their aroma setting everyone's appetite alight.

Lin Fan led them to their seats and pressed again, "How's my blade? How much was it?"

His eagerness surprised Xiao Shuihan and the others. Though they'd only met Brother Fan once before, they knew his teasing manner masked a calm and composed heart. Few things could disturb his equanimity. Yet now, he was like a groom desperate for his wedding night, only to have obstacles thrown in his path.

From the moment he returned, he'd already asked twice about the blade—such impatience was most unlike him.

"Haha, just as I said, you're in a hurry, Brother Fan! The blade is right here in my storage ring, but if you want it, you'll have to drink three hundred cups with us first!"

Seizing the rare opportunity to see Lin Fan flustered, Xiao Shuihan, Li Ji, and the others exchanged mischievous glances and burst out laughing.

"You've already brought the blade back?" Lin Fan was momentarily taken aback. To commission a weapon from Master Mao Chengzi usually required not only impressing him with the design and overcoming the challenge of collecting the weapon, but also paying a hefty price. Yet he hadn’t paid a single coin, and the blade was already in their hands?

"Fine! Not just three hundred—three thousand cups if you wish! Come, let's drink!"

A quick thought revealed their intent, and Lin Fan, with a heroic spirit, raised his cup and clinked it against theirs.

Time slipped by—a good half hour later, everyone's faces were tinged with red, and three wine jars now stood empty beneath the table. Two were the fiery baodaozi spirits his father had set out, but the third was his grandfather’s prized twenty-year-old Fierce Blood.

At first, the baodaozi, though strong, was bearable for them, being at the peak of the Body Tempering stage, but after the twenty-year Fierce Blood, even their tough constitutions began to sway, heads spinning.

Still in the Body Tempering stage and yet to reach the Qi Guiding realm, they couldn't use elemental energy to dispel the alcohol. Lin Fan could have done so, but what was drinking for, if not to feel the buzz? To purge the wine would be to defeat the purpose.

"Brothers, allow me to perform a blade technique for your enjoyment!" Suddenly, Lin Fan rose, wine-induced boldness surging, and stepped out of the warm barrier into the swirling snow of the courtyard.

"Excellent! Wonderful!" Xiao Fei and the others clapped and laughed at his words.

Though their families far surpassed the Lin clan in power, Lin Fan had bested them all the last time they met. When asked the reason, he’d only lightly remarked that he'd once been saved and taught by an extraordinary master. Now, at the prospect of seeing his blade technique, they watched him with eager anticipation.

Boom!

Lin Fan strode into the courtyard, his body emitting a low hum. Suddenly, he stomped hard, sending snow flying into the air in a swirling cloud.

"Congeal—!"

With a grasp of his palm, a mysterious force emanated from him, drawing every scattered flake toward his hand. In a blink, a glittering, crystalline blade of pure white snow appeared in his grasp.

"Elemental energy? Has Brother Fan already broken through to the Qi Guiding realm?"

Seeing the snowy blade and the elemental force he'd just displayed, Xiao Shuihan and the others were stunned. They had only been gone seven or eight days, yet Brother Fan had already advanced from the peak of Body Tempering?

Before they could speak, a flash of silver drew their gaze, holding them transfixed.

"A spark of winter’s edge—!"

Lin Fan began to move, blade swirling in his grasp.

In an instant, silver light blazed, sharp and sorrowful, like a full moon rising over the sky, the Milky Way spilling from the heavens!

Invisible snow danced around the blade, twisting in its wake like a white dragon soaring through the sky—diving, dodging, leaping to the clouds, plunging into unseen depths.

The blade’s brilliance was perfect and fierce. Lin Fan himself vanished into the whirl of light, the blade’s arc growing ever broader—until it became a curtain, a surging tide.

"Sudden rise to the Ninth Heaven—!"

His voice rang cold and clear from within the blade’s radiance, and an overwhelming battle intent surged forth. As the growing curtain of light shattered, Lin Fan’s figure emerged once more.

Yet in that moment, though unchanged in form, he seemed to loom immense in their eyes, an endless, boundless force radiating from him.

It was a force of resolve, unstoppable momentum!

As if any obstacle in his path would be cleaved apart with a single stroke, unable to halt his advance.

With one blade, it would be life or death—his own, or his foe’s.

Kill!