Severing Ties: The Sect Regrets My Departure

Chapter 255: An Overly Arrogant Artifact Spirit Needs Tempering!

While Xu Wanqing was suffering through her umpteenth heart-shattering Penalty, back in the Listening-to-Rain Pavilion of Cloud Firmament City, Suixing suddenly threw his hands in the air and cheered.

“Done! Lord Sui has done it! Hahaha!”

His laughter was a booming, maniacal cackle, the kind of villainous guffaw that could stop a baby from crying in the dead of night purely out of terror.

Curious, Gu Xiu leaned in to inspect the spirit’s handiwork. Resting in Suixing’s palm was a uniquely shaped object. It looked like a roughly carved wooden sculpture of a carp. At first glance, it was entirely unremarkable—ugly, even.

Yet, as Gu Xiu focused on it, he sensed a strange, absolute barrier radiating from the wood. When he attempted to probe the carving with his Spiritual Qi, the energy slid off an invisible, frictionless membrane, completely unable to penetrate the object’s surface.

“Can’t probe it, can you? Hehehe, that’s Lord Sui’s exclusive craftsmanship for you,” Suixing boasted, his chest puffed out. “This isn’t just any wooden fish. This is the Hidden Abyss Spirit Carp.”

“I won’t bore you with the materials, but my unique forging technique creates a temporary dimensional pocket that completely isolates the interior from all external probing,” Suixing explained, tapping the carp’s head. “Of course, the storage space isn’t the real magic. The magic is the mouth. This little guy possesses a terrifying, gravitational attraction to all forms of source energy.”

Hidden Abyss Spirit Carp? Gu Xiu looked from the wooden fish to the bound White Jade Fan, instantly realizing Suixing’s devious plan.

With a sinister, toothy grin, Suixing marched toward the White Jade Fan still firmly tied to the Green Bamboo Rod.

The White Jade Fan was no ordinary item. Its raw combat power was staggering. Earlier, Suixing had ordered the Duxian Sword and the Carefree Jade Pendant to gang up on it. The fan had taken a brutal beating, yet it remained stubbornly silent. Occasionally, it would even accumulate enough power to unleash a sudden, explosive counterattack. Though the Green Bamboo Rod casually swatted the terrifying blade rays aside each time, the sheer force behind the strikes was enough to make one’s heart skip a beat.

If the Green Bamboo Rod weren’t actively suppressing it, the White Jade Fan’s full eruption would be apocalyptic.

“Its base grade isn’t quite as high as that Heaven-Bestowed Ruyi from last time,” Suixing muttered, circling the bound fan. “But because it’s been constantly nourished by an ocean of source energy, its artifact spirit is far more mature. And much, much more stubborn.”

Gu Xiu nodded in agreement. All high-tier Dharma Treasures possessed an artifact spirit. Suixing, the Duxian Sword, and the Carefree Jade Pendant were prime examples. The artifact spirit within the White Jade Fan hadn’t existed nearly as long as Suixing, but the sheer volume of source energy it bathed in had accelerated its evolution, elevating it to an incredibly high level of sentience.

It was this potent sentience that made the fan so defiantly arrogant. Even tightly bound by a Great Dao divine object, the spirit refused to yield an inch.

It was vastly different from their previous catch. When they fished up the Heaven-Bestowed Ruyi, Suixing had jammed a funnel into it, hijacked it for two days, and tossed it back. Gu Xiu had worried the Ruyi’s spirit might tattle to Jiang Xun.

Suixing had assured him it was impossible. While the Providence Dao Treasure possessed a spirit, it was kept intentionally infantile. The entity controlling the Ruyi actively suppressed its spirit’s growth. The moment the Ruyi showed signs of developing true, independent sentience, the master would forcefully mind-wipe it, reducing it back to a subservient tool.

They didn’t do this out of cruelty, but paranoia. Providence was an unpredictable force. If a Providence Dao Treasure gained true independence, it could very well betray its master, hoarding the Providence for itself and turning the master into a mere battery. Thus, regular memory wipes were mandatory.

But the White Jade Fan was merely a storage vessel for source energy. Source energy, while profound, lacked the treacherous, destiny-altering nature of Providence. There was no need to constantly wipe the fan’s mind. Over countless years, the spirit had grown strong, independent, and incredibly arrogant.

Even now, facing the combined might of the Duxian Sword and the Carefree Jade Pendant, the fan remained aloof and unfazed.

As Suixing approached, the seemingly dormant fan suddenly unleashed a blinding, lethal blade ray directly at the spirit’s face, fully intending to cleave him in two.

Clang! The Green Bamboo Rod casually deflected the strike. This time, Suixing didn’t flinch. He merely shook his head, looking at the fan with a patronizing smirk.

“Young, strong, and completely full of yourself. Not a good combination,” Suixing tutted. “An overly arrogant artifact spirit needs a thorough tempering.”

The fan ignored him, violently struggling against its bonds as it attempted to fire another volley of blades. If it were a human cultivator, it would be praised for its invincible Dao Heart and unyielding will to fight to the bitter end.

Unfortunately, it was an artifact spirit currently hogtied by a supreme cosmic law. Continuing to blindly provoke its captors wasn’t ‘invincible’—it was just stupid.

And when Suixing raised the Hidden Abyss Spirit Carp, the White Jade Fan finally realized the depth of its stupidity.

“The only reason this brat is so cocky is because it’s been swimming in an ocean of Myriad Sources since the day it was forged,” Suixing said lazily, aiming the wooden carp at the fan. “It thinks its power is infinite. The best way to teach a spoiled brat a lesson is to drain their trust fund dry.”

As Suixing spoke, a faint, almost imperceptible spiritual light flickered within the wooden carp’s open mouth.

It was a tiny spark, but to the White Jade Fan, it was a drop of water falling into a vat of boiling oil.

For the first time since it was captured, the aloof, untouchable artifact spirit panicked. A wave of unprecedented terror radiated from the fan, projecting frantic, desperate pleas toward Gu Xiu and the others.

It was terrified!

The fan could feel the unfathomable ocean of source energy it had hoarded for centuries leaking out. The energy was siphoning wildly into the wooden carp’s mouth, vanishing into the isolated dimensional pocket faster than water down a drain.

The fan tried to clamp its internal seals shut, but it was just a container—a container currently paralyzed by the Green Bamboo Rod. It was utterly helpless. It could only watch in horror as its vast, immeasurable power rapidly evaporated.

As the source energy drained, a sickening, hollow weakness consumed the fan.

Spare me! Stop draining it! The frantic thoughts flooded the room. I was wrong! This Junior was foolish! Senior, please spare me this once! I beg of you! When it came to groveling, the artifact spirit proved far more efficient than any human cultivator. It transitioned from an arrogant, unyielding warrior to a sniveling coward without a second of hesitation.

“Tempering isn’t a process you can pause just because you cry uncle!” Suixing sneered, ignoring the pleas. “Weren’t you acting tough a minute ago? Come on, show me that invincible attitude!”

Suixing waited until the vast majority of the fan’s source energy had been devoured by the carp. Then, his sneer widened into a feral grin.

“Alright, brat. Time for the hammer!”

With a battle cry, Suixing materialized a massive, spectral blacksmith’s hammer. He leaped forward and began viciously wailing on the weakened White Jade Fan.

Clang! Smash! Bang! Every strike drew an agonizing wail from the artifact spirit. It was subjected to the most humiliating, one-sided bullying of its existence.

Suixing, of course, showed zero mercy. He was a spirit who held deep, petty grudges, and he hadn’t forgotten the fan forcing him to flee earlier. To maximize the trauma, he rallied the Carefree Jade Pendant and the Duxian Sword to join the beatdown. It became a merciless three-on-one mobbing.

The one-sided slaughter lasted from dawn until dusk, and from dusk until the following dawn.

Throughout the beating, the Carefree Jade Pendant continuously broadcasted sanctimonious lectures, claiming they were “tirelessly expending their blood and sweat to teach by virtue,” and “sacrificing their own comfort to guide a lost soul onto the righteous path.”

Under this highly aggressive, “warm-hearted” education, the White Jade Fan underwent a profound character shift. Its arrogance was entirely beaten out of it, replaced by desperate flattery and endless groveling. It was beaten so badly it began to question its own existence. Worse, the carp had drained it to the point where only a microscopic sliver of source energy remained, barely enough to keep the spirit alive.

To survive, the fan swore absolute fealty, weeping for mercy.

Finally, Suixing decided the lesson was complete. He pulled a small cork from his robes and plugged the mouth of the Hidden Abyss Spirit Carp, cutting off the suction.

“Well, kid?” Suixing asked, leaning on his hammer. “Do you yield?”

The fan aggressively pulsed its unconditional surrender.

“Normally, offending your Grandpa Suixing means I grind you into dust,” Suixing said, adjusting his robes. “But seeing as your attitude has become so remarkably sincere, I am willing to temporarily spare your miserable life. Under one condition.”

The fan immediately projected its willingness to do absolutely anything.

Suixing smiled, a terrifyingly devious glint in his eye. “I want you to be our spy.”

…

Meanwhile, back in the mortal city.

Jiang Xun sat with his eyes closed, his Divine Sense spread thin as he frantically attempted to establish a connection with the White Jade Fan. He wanted to trace its location to either hunt down the thief, or—more likely—catch Xu Wanqing in her blatant lie.

He didn’t believe her for a second. He knew exactly how powerful the White Jade Fan was. An artifact of that caliber couldn’t be silently stolen by a random passing rogue, and it certainly couldn’t just ‘vanish into thin air.’ He was certain Xu Wanqing had used some covert method to hide it.

Yet…

As the minutes dragged on, Jiang Xun’s expression grew darker. He could vaguely sense that the fan’s artifact spirit was still alive, but its location was completely cloaked. It was as if the fan had ceased to exist within the physical realm.

Damn it, what is going on? he thought, his frustration mounting. Could it really be lost? Seeing the genuine confusion and failure etched on Jiang Xun’s face, Xu Wanqing let out a massive, shaky sigh of relief.

“You see, Junior Brother? You must believe me. I was telling the truth,” she pleaded, her voice trembling. “That fan is my personal Dharma Treasure. If I wanted to take it back, I would have just asked you directly. I have absolutely no reason to hide it!”

Seeing the lingering suspicion in his eyes, Xu Wanqing gritted her teeth and made a desperate gamble. She pulled the Storage Ring off her finger and offered it to him.

“Junior Brother, this is my final Storage Ring. Search it! See for yourself!”

“Oh, Senior Sister, you overthink things. How could I possibly suspect you?” Jiang Xun offered a hollow laugh, even as his hand snatched the ring with lightning speed.

Without a shred of hesitation, he plunged his Divine Sense into her Storage Ring, aggressively searching every corner of its dimensional space for the fan.

He didn’t find the White Jade Fan.

But what he did find caused his face to contort into an incredibly complex, wildly entertaining expression.