The long, silver glacial sword was completely stained and soaked in blood. It was spinning around that lass, seemingly defending its wielder.

However, this never lasted longer than a mere moment. The energy within that blade had faded away as the glimmering spiritual ray of light had completely dimmed.

This was an indescribable obscure ray of light. Compared to the immense power earlier, it did not appear to be the same weapon.

After losing that endlessly overwhelming spiritual rays, judging from the looks of this very sword, it was merely an elegant, pretty looking sword. A long, slender silver blade only for the lassies.

This was similar to the mysterious glacial deity after shedding her external coat that revealed an unprecedented, most honest inner beauty.

‘When a blade gains sentient spiritual affinity, although, from an external physical perspective, that blade’s appearance would not change. However, the very core of the blade itself would undoubtedly be different. Judging from the way this blade behaves, to have her personal sword evolve to such an extent, her training must’ve been even more powerful than I could ever imagine,’ mumbled Zhou Yan to himself.

After standing still at the same spot earlier for a brief moment, he reluctantly approached that lass.

Judging from the lass’ current state, it seemed that her identity and status would very likely be of high status. From the major injuries she sustained, it seemed that this lass had just experienced an extremely brutal battle.

Due to the cruel nature of this realm, any common-folk, even Zhou Yan, after his change in his own personality would most definitely not save this injured lass. The harshness of reality meant that there were way too many incidents of people faking an injury to ambush passing folk. Incidents stretched from petty robbery to blatant murders. All of this was done in the name of training. Hence, countless methods had been implored in this manner.

This maiden, however, based on what she said earlier, had proven her deep bond with the Lady of the Snow-Jade Palace. Even if Zhou Yan were to ignore her, he still owed the Lady of the Snow-JadePalace especially after receiving her graceful aid in helping him to further his own progress and the countless valuable items she had gifted him.

This generous aid graced by her was a huge favor to the lad. Even as wealthy as the Zhou family was, their combined wealth of the family would not even come close to the extent of wealth given to the lad by the Lady of The Snow-Jade Palace.

With this point, Zhou Yan could not bear leaving the lass alone due to her bond to the Lady of The Snow-Jade Palace.

Hence, he walked towards her.

The maiden was lying unconscious in the damp, wet bush due to the rain. She was completely covered with blood; thus, the lass was in dire straits.

The maiden’s eyebrows twitched slightly. It was as pure and as elegant as the leaves of a Willow Tree. The smooth, pure face of that maiden was extremely beautiful.

Although her eyes were shut, her long curly lashes were twitching uncontrollably, seemingly hinting the unimaginable agonizing pain she had gone through.

This pain that reflected through her inhumanly pale face and blood-soaked body was as if a demon had been inhabiting her body, feasting on her soul.

As Zhou Yan stared into the sky above him, he pondered what kind of situation would come after this, and thus, he proceeded to carry this lass in his arms as he walked towards the distant land.

Zhou Yan was uncertain of what the extent of her injuries was. However, since he had inherited the will of the ancient sage, Zhou Yan was well versed in the art of healing one’s inner Qi. In addition to that, he had methods from the ‘Nine Folds Yin-Yang Manuscripts’ and ‘The Scriptures of Unbound Flexibility’ as reference.

Hence, after walking for quite the distance and sensing no one was following them, he discovered a quiet and secluded area.

These abandoned plains did not comprise of an endless stretch of flat land. Instead, these grounds had countless valleys and hills. The only difference in comparison to an actual mountainous terrain was that these plains appeared smaller.

Thus, Zhou Yan carried the maiden and proceeded to sit on a steep boulder. Then, he slowly sat the lass down in a cross-legged position, directly facing him.

During the entirety of this process, Zhou Yan was unable to avoid touching the lass’ body…

It was only until… the lad had seemingly heard a ‘ringing’ sound emanating from the lass’ body, did the lad snapped out of his trance.

The lad then proceeded to mumble to himself with a perverted yet serious look on his face, ‘Yes, it seems her heart is fine, and no major injuries were sustained by her heart. After a thorough examination, I can confirm that there aren’t any major issues.’

As he spoke, the lad took out two mid-tier crystals from his ring and placed it on both her legs as he began to cycle and concentrate the transfer of his Blade’s Essence. He focused on pushing this condensed Blade’s Essence through every meridian channel within his body. Then, clapping both his hands with the lass’ hands together, he forced the concentrated Blade’s Essence into the lass’ body.

The lad was now able to peer within her body with the help of his vitality. He was seemingly able to visualize the condition within the maiden’s body. However, this was only a crude and unthorough deduction, or else, with Zhou Yan’s lustful personality, he would have abused this ability to once again to peer through the maiden’s body without a doubt.

At this moment, it seemed like the lad’s sensory ability was clouded, and he was only able to confirm the pathways of her meridians. Hence, Zhou Yan decided to not be distracted any longer and was determined to heal this young lass.

The energy from the Spirit Crystals had been slowly refined within the lad’s Qi Pillar. However, it seemed like it was significantly more difficult this time. Nonetheless, he succeeded in refining the energy. However, every time the energy was refined, it felt terrifyingly enormous, but the lass, on the other hand, felt nothing more than a minute, regular energy. Every single time a wave of enormous energy was released, the lass would absorb and completely drain it in mere moments…

Zhou Yan was uncertain if this had any effect on the lass, but he persisted regardless. He endured it until the lad himself gradually felt extremely exhausted. However, this exhaustion was not physical. Instead, it was straining the lad mentally.

After a lengthy amount of time, Zhou Yan was uncertain if his methods were working. He began to feel this healing process was ineffective, and his only hope was for this lass to wake up so he could begin to recover as well. This would be a better choice for him.

Thus, he persisted until he felt the maiden’s breath was still as shallow as she was before. As of his current state, he no longer could keep up with this arduous task.

“It seems, I can no longer save you. I have done my very best, so please don’t blame me if you die.”

Thus, Zhou Yan released the maiden after glancing at her.

The instant he released the lass, the maiden’s face suddenly grew pale, even though just mere seconds ago, she was recovering. Her body was as if it was unable to contain any form of energy. The energy that was forced into her had all been expelled out. The only saving grace was Zhou Yan’s special meridians that had at least made her body absorb some Blade’s Essence.

If not, with the progression of her current condition, the only fate that would greet her was death.

Zhou Yan was remorseful as he watched the lass’ deteriorating condition. Her face gradually turned pale after he had spoken his mind.

No matter the quality of her personality or her looks, she truly was a stunningly beautiful maiden.

On top of that, she was also a close friend of the Lady of The Snow-Jade Palace. This was because she noticed the soul of the blade and the brand that was infused by the Lady of the Snow-Jade Palace herself. Even with the dire condition she was in, she had chosen to spare his life…

If it was to be him in the same situation, upon sustaining such severe injuries, he would not bother to ask for anyone’s reasons. He would impulsively strike them down to preserve his life and safety…

The lad’s heart was heavy and was in fact wrenching as he thought about those points.

This lad had never been a kind man, and after inheriting the will and the collective memories of the ancient sage, this lad had undoubtedly become much more ruthless. However, at this moment, he could not explain why he felt so depressed.

The maiden’s body was starting to become limp as if there was no soul present in her body. She was close to slumping over. It was at this moment that the snow colored blade instantly flew out, whimpering softly. It was as if the blade was crying. The sounds emanating from the blade was extremely sad.

Through the lad’s eyes was a flash of shock and awe. The lad was indescribably moved by the actions of this blade. It mimicked an actual living human, as this blade was actually mourning and crying!

A blade that was sentient and alive?

It did not matter how vast this lad’s knowledge that he had inherited from the foreign realm of ‘Earth’ was. He was extremely touched by this scene alone.

That blade was frantically dancing midair, and a ray of light once again was emanating from it. However, this time it was a painful ray of white light as Zhou Yan somehow felt this blade was close to being completely extinguished.

“Slow down there, fear not… I’ll think of something else, so don’t extinguish now, or else when she awakens and notices your death, she will obviously be unwilling to live alone!”

Zhou Yan was completely blown away by the actions the blade demonstrated!

He finally understood the saying in the final chapters from The Ways of The Sword, ‘If the wielder of the blade is alive, so will the blade itself. However, when it’s wielder dies, so will the blade perish.’ This was all because the blade itself was sentient and too possessed feelings.

The very act this blade demonstrated was the embodiment of the Way of The Sword Through Bond!

Zhou Yan took a deep breath, as he spoke to the blade with the utmost respect.

After he had spoken to it, the lad could clearly feel that the blade had ceased its intention of self-destruction. The glaring light slowly dimmed.

However, the blade was still whimpering, seemingly calling out. Zhou Yan felt this whimper was not of despair and sorrow, but… a calling of endless gratitude.

Thus, Zhou Yan took another deep breath while gritting his teeth. He proceeded to take out two top-tier Spirit Crystals and a jug of ale from the Spatial Ring of Infinity his father left him. That was his father’s favourite ale to drink for the sole purpose of refreshing his mind!

Within this ring was not only the completed hand-carved effigy and some metal blocks but also a full jug of ale, filled to the brim.

The young lad, Zhou Yan had never tried even a single drop from that jug of mysterious, unnamed ale. It was only due to the incident in the past when he spoke to his father which enlightened him and caused him to accidentally drop the jug of ale that the strong, stinging, pungent gases released, stimulated the young lad instantly!

Without any other options left, he intended to use the ale to stimulate his mind in order to save this young lass.

This time would be the final attempt for the lad. If this attempt was ineffective, it would not matter how powerful this lass was. There would be nothing this lad could do for her.