Translator: Subudai11 Editor: Chrissy

  “Master, please accept my respect.”


  Wang Lu had successfully used this master recruitment trick to cause a number of heavy losses of tableware and made the young girl chef somewhat at a loss.

  “H-how could this be? I just sojourned at the Spirit Sword Sect to study; how can I overstep my boundary and be your master? Moreover, don’t you people from the Nine Regions highly value your master-disciple tradition? Wouldn’t doing this besmirch your Master’s dignity!?”


  Wang Lu laughed. “My Master doesn’t even have integrity, where would she have her dignity? Rest assured, no harm’s done.”


  “B…but.” The girl obviously still has some misgivings.

  Wang Lu didn’t say anything; he just bent down and prostrated himself once more.

  “Okay, okay, I get it, if it’s just the sword art training partner, I’m fine with it. But, I’m not your Master, and you’re not my disciple.”


  Wang Lu smiled. “Sure!”


  ——


  In that afternoon, Wang Lu realized how fierce this Western Chef was.

  She came to the Spirit Sword Sect four years ago, and in these four years, she rarely ventured out the Misty Peak Cafeteria, as that place was also her lodging. She also never outwardly showed her skills to outsiders, therefore, Wang Lu never expected that this young girl was actually so formidable.

  At the Misty Peak practice fields, Wang Lu, with his Purple Soft Sword, was forced to go all out against this girl with her wooden sword. Soft Cloud Sword Art, Winding Step, a month long sword cultivation from the various sword arts, the ninth level of Non-Phase Sword Bone, as well as the Core Cultivation Method of the eighth level of Qi Cultivating Stage… he combined these all to form a very tight defense. Wang Lu was confident that his defense would give even lower level Foundation Establishment cultivator a headache…


  However, in the face of such a strong defense from Wang Lu, the blonde girl only used three sword moves before it fell apart.

  The first sword move was a straight strike on the head; the wooden sword put a Mt. Tai-like pressure on his head, which caused Wang Lu’s defense to collapse and reveal an opening! The second sword move was still the same strike on the head. This time, it turned Wang Lu’s situation in disarray, and his qi and blood churned. The third sword move was yet another strike on the head. This time, it jarred the Purple Soft Sword loose from his hand, causing it to fly away. Thus, ultimately, Wang Lu’s struggle ended up in failure.

  After these three sword strikes, Wang Lu willingly accepted her superiority.

  The girl didn’t depend purely on brute force to win. Although she exerted herself at least equal to that of Wang Lu, but her three sword strikes actually won against him. These three sword strikes seemed simple at first, but hidden inside were many subtle moves!

  At the same time, from that three sword strikes, Wang Lu was able to discern the girl’s distinctive sword art.

  According to the standard in the Nine Regions, the girl’s moves were undoubtedly unconventional. Her sword moves were without any formed repertoire. Just now, those three sword strikes were sent as if “in passing” and “without care”, like heavenly steed soaring across the sky, but each sword strike were aimed at strategic points, and each of her body movements was exquisitely peerless… In other words, a formless move.

  However, according to the Lady Boss’s theory, was there any swordplay that didn’t rely on assuming a form? Even practicing basic skill shouldn’t just be attempted in vain. Otherwise, one might as well go to fight by putting firecrackers on their buttocks and light it up. It wasn’t that there wasn’t a truly formless swordsmanship, but the premise was that their swordsmanship ought to have reached perfection.

  Western Continent Swordplay was different than the Nine Regions. Although they didn’t have too many types of sword art, ultimately, their sword art system was already similarly matured and sophisticated… Some times ago, when the Lady Boss was idle, she had explained this mystery to Wang Lu, and even personally ended it up with a demonstration. However, the blond girl’s swordplay was completely different than those mature system.

  To quote Lady Boss’s point of view once again: in this world, if one wanted to enter the Realm of Formless Move, there was only one way.

  Fighting many battles and becoming battle hardened.

  If he reached the pinnacle of this road… even the Lady Boss would be unwilling to be his enemy.

  In other words, this blonde cook was at least on the same level as the Lady Boss!

  Of course, this could also apply to the size of her chest…


  In short, with this great master in swordsmanship helping him in practice, he did not need to worry anymore. Just now, he was defeated with just three sword moves, but after experiencing these three sword moves, he had memorized them and thus reaped infinite gain, which his brain needed to deduce countless times to get the conclusion.

  “Again.”


  The young girl showed a faint smile; she re-griped her wooden sword and attacked his head once again.

  This time, Wang Lu still lost on the third move, however, on the third move, the girl didn’t do the overhead strike, but rather a straight thrust at his chest.

  After these three sword moves, the girl nodded in satisfaction. “Not bad, not bad. You have such a good perception. With such a disciple like you…” Before she could continue the rest of her words, she suddenly realized her slip of a tongue and immediately shut up, but it was too late.

  Wang Lu, of course, already caught this; he immediately jumped in joy. “Haha, you finally admitted that I’m your disciple!”


  The young girl stared at him dumbfoundedly. “… I did not.”


  “Haha, you obviously did! What are you so ashamed about? It’s just receiving a disciple, not to marry me, otherwise, you have to obediently listen to me…”


  “Humph!” The young girl didn’t talk; she just lifted her wooden sword and aimed straight at his head, only this time, she didn’t hold back her strength. As a result, Wang Lu’s Purple Soft Sword flew off from his hand.

  “Humph, you can’t even resist that one sword strike, so how could you qualify to be my disciple?”


  “What the! That’s cheating!”


  “You talk too much!” Another sword strike came at him again; Wang Lu could only stare at her, dumbfounded.

  ——


  For the next month, Wang Lu, under this not quite master-disciple relationship, began the harsh swordsmanship training.

  Being called “harsh” was not excessive; the blonde girl was not a benevolent teacher, or more accurately, she didn’t know how to teach. Her swordsmanship foundation was excellent; she even had an orthodox training. However, what really made her reach the pinnacle of swordsmanship was actually the accumulated experience from thousands of fight.

  Therefore, for her, swordsmanship training was nothing more than the actual fight of two swords. As a result, she only had one method to train Wang Lu: letting him remember with his body.

  In simple terms, doing everything possible to inflict flesh pain on Wang Lu by beating him, so that he could grow with the pain.

  As for Wang Lu, to be honest, he was not afraid of pain—although he would doubt whether he had cultivated the ninth level of Non-Phase Sword Bone every time that wooden sword struck him—with a defense that even a category three low rank monster would find impossible to break—but why was it every time he was struck by this blonde girl’s wooden sword, the pain even penetrated his heart?

  However, Wang Lu didn’t mind this physical pain. Because for every pain that he received, his swordsmanship made great progress. The blonde girl was indeed not qualified to be a teacher, but Wang Lu was a superb student.

  The only problem was, being beaten the crap out by the blonde young girl at the practice field on the Misty Peak for a month was truly an embarrassing scene. Fortunately, as the disciple of the Non-Phase Peak, Wang Lu had learned from the best teacher to not be too concerned about face. Although some Inner Court Disciples would point fingers at them at the start, later on, a few uppity Foundation Establishment disciples started to come and challenge the blonde girl to a duel and, without exception, all of them would end up shrieking and howling wildly after receiving just a single strike from her… After that, no one dared to be a busybody again.

  A month flew pass, and on this day, Wang Lu displayed an extraordinary swordsmanship; he softly and freely wielded the Purple Soft Sword like a long whip. The blonde girl had continuously attacked him for ten sword strikes, yet she still couldn’t break Wang Lu’s sword defense. Despite Wang Lu struggling to maintain his defense at the end, the girl still nodded in satisfaction, stopped her attack, and took a few steps back.

  “Impressive, in just a month, you have already progressed to this degree. Your talent is really amazing.”


  By this time, Wang Lu had loosened his defense; he heaved a long sigh. “After so much hardship, I finally achieved this Three Feet Sword Defense.”


  The blonde girl nodded. “With your present swordsmanship level, it’s impossible for ordinary people to break your sword defense. However, this sword defense is only applicable in a fight against another martial artist. If compared to the Immortal World’s standard, you’re just getting started.”


  “Getting started is not bad. After this, I can still slowly improve at least to the point where it could be called as reliable.”


  Non-Phase Sword Art was undoubtedly profound. If he reached his Master’s realm, where she was able to resist all out attacks from a Yuanying Stage expert with just a bamboo sword, then it meant that he had finally reached the “Sword Destroys All Realm”. Right now, Wang Lu had just practiced for two months, so naturally, he was yet to reach that stage, and at the moment, he had only successfully achieved this third level. At least, at this level, he could be regarded as having reached the Sword Destroy All Realm among mortal world’s martial artists.

  In this one month, although the blonde girl only used a single wooden sword, but in her hand, this wooden sword appeared to have endless change. Sometimes it would be strong and heavy like a great ax, and sometimes it would be light and ethereal like a silver cord golden bell. When Wang Lu fought with it, it was like he encountered a lot of masters, giving him a lot of valuable experience. This Three Feet Sword Defense was also initially molded by that uninterrupted stimulation.

  Indeed, looking at his present situation, in the mortal world, his Three Feet Sword Defense could stop knives, swords, spears, and all kinds of weapon. However, he might not necessarily be able to resist the ninth level Qi Cultivating Stage’s fire ball attack… But, as the basic framework, it was good enough, so he should not expect too much from this third level.

  Not to mention if he really encountered a fire ball attack from the ninth level Qi Cultivating Stage, why would he need to rely on his swordsmanship to resist it? Didn’t he have the ninth level of Non-Phase Sword Bone and the seventh level of Qi Cultivating Stage? He could just easily lift his hand and catch that fire ball.

  In short, his Master’s given tasks have already been successfully completed by him. Moreover, it was about ten days faster than the initial estimate; he was truly worthy to be the possessor of Void Spirit Root, breaking the record was as natural as breathing air for him. Because the tasks have been completed, Wang Lu finally could tie up the loose ends.

  Therefore, as he looked at the blonde girl, he finally couldn’t stop himself from asking the question that he had long wanted to ask, but until now had been suppressed for a month.

  “Miss, what is your name?”


  The blonde girl’s jaw dropped, and the wooden sword slipped her hand and fell to the ground with a clatter.

  ——


  “… It turns out you don’t know my name?”


  The girl sighed; she felt that she had been cheated as a master for a month! Wang Lu, this disciple, has little to no conscience!

  As she said in the beginning, she came to the Spirit Sword Mountain not to be anyone’s master, however, Wang Lu was indeed just to her liking. Moreover, his talent in swordsmanship was excellent, which caused her hands to itch and agree to this half-sparring half-teaching thing.

  Wang Lu also thought that it was a bit inappropriate to ask this thing now. He looked at her bright golden hair and tentatively said, “Um, Gold Master…”


  Gold Master!? The girl felt that she was about to pass out; she had felt this kind of unspeakable feeling a few years ago when she tasted her own dishes.

  “… Just call me Aya.”


  “Oh, nice to meet you, Aya.”


  “Em…”


  After a period of awkwardness, they could finally carry out their exchange as normal.

  Exchange of what? It was about the experience in life and the likes, which Wang Lu had long wanted to ask but had yet to find a good opportunity to voice them out.

  However, he might as well not, because Aya didn’t want to answer those personal questions. She just chose to answer one of them.

  “Aya, you have such a great skill in swordsmanship, so you should be some kind of a big shot in the Western continent; why did you come here to become a cook then? To promote the Western Culture and introduce the Western Food?”


  Aya said, “I didn’t come here to be a chef, but there is something that I need in the Nine Regions, so I had to come.”


  “What thing? Elixir of Immortality?”


  “More or less…” Aya shook her head somewhat sadly, but she didn’t elaborate. “In short, the Elder of the Spirit Sword Sect has done me a big favor, collecting valuable resources that are impossible for me to acquire. And since I can’t repay that debt, I can only do whatever things requires of me to the best of my ability.”


  Wang Lu suddenly understood, thinking, “You’re so called ‘whatever things’ is to use your amazing skill to destroy the Spirit Sword Sect’s disciples’ taste buds, right?”


  However, before he could ask further, a heavy and loud bell directly rang in Wang Lu’s mind.

  “What the hell!” Wang Lu immediately jumped three feet high; he inwardly exclaimed, “This is the Spirit Sword Sect’s call to gather all the disciples. Moreover, the bell rang three times, which means the call is urgent. It’s usually because the Sect Leader Daoist Feng Yin is about to appear personally to address the disciples.”


  This alarm call was effective only for the Spirit Sword Sect’s disciples, but since Aya was just a guest, she couldn’t hear it. Seeing that Wang Lu was acting strange, she asked, “What happened?”


  Wang Lu waved his hand. “It’s nothing; somebody just sounded the Sect Leader’s funeral alarm, nothing more.”


  Thinking that this rare conversation had been interrupted by that bell, Wang Lu was somewhat unwilling; he clenched his teeth and said, “I’m hungry, let’s go to the cafeteria first to eat something before I go to the meeting.”


  Aya’s eyes lit up. “Great!”