CHAPTER 36: NEW WEAPON! SLOT AND STRIKE!

A circular slot with an engraving of a coiled dragon appeared at the junction between the hilt and blade of the Hunyuan Greatsword.

Lu Chen stared at the newly formed dragon-shaped slot, visibly surprised. "What is this? Did the Hunyuan Greatsword get damaged?"

Wind Dragon let out a deep roar and answered, "No, it's not damaged. The Hunyuan Greatsword has mutated."

His transparent body began to change. Bones took shape first, followed by meridians and flesh, then hair and scales.

He said, "I'm no longer in elemental form... I have a physical body now?"

Wind Dragon continued roaring as he looked at his rapidly materializing body. He was quickly transforming from an elemental lifeform into a being of flesh and blood.

He turned to Lu Chen, eyes wide in disbelief. "Could it be because of your blood?"

Wind Dragon thought, The method the Beast King had sought for countless years... had it really been achieved by a few blood-infused pills?

"Wind Dragon, look at your meridians!"

The meridians had already taken shape. A violent, greenish-black aura was surging and circulating within them.

"This... this is the berserk aura of the Hunyuan Greatsword."

"Roar..."

Wind Dragon's physical body gradually took shape as he continued to solidify. The wild aura it emanated clashed violently with the walls of the pill room.

With a resonating hum, the Hunyuan Greatsword broke free from Lu Chen's grip and plunged into the space above Wind Dragon's head.

"Roar!"

Wind Dragon began to coil into a flat spiral and shrink down. Finally, as he took the shape of a disk, his head reached across and bit his tail.

Boom!

The Hunyuan Greatsword and the dragon-engraved disk fell to the ground.

Lu Chen rushed forward and picked up both. "Wind Dragon, are you alright?"

"I'm fine... That last strike seems to have strengthened my connection with the Hunyuan Greatsword."

The dragon-engraved disk suddenly flew from Lu Chen's hand and transformed back into its dragon form.

"Huh?

It seems I can switch freely between my body and this disk form."

As he spoke, Wind Dragon once again morphed into the dragon-engraved disk.

"Wind Dragon... I think I finally understand what this is."

Lu Chen looked at the slot on the Hunyuan Greatsword and gently placed the dragon-engraved disk into it.

"Roar!"

Two streams of light, one green and one black, took the form of two dragons, spiraling along the blade as they raced toward the sword’s tip. The dragon heads met at the tip while their tails remained linked to the disk.

Lu Chen swung the Hunyuan Greatsword. Bursts of dragon roars echoed from the blade.

"Wind Dragon, how do you feel?"

As Lu Chen kept swinging the sword, each strike was now accompanied by twin dragon-shaped shadows attacking alongside the blade.

"Not bad at all. My bond with the Hunyuan Greatsword has grown even stronger."

"That's great. I think I'm beginning to understand what this sword is truly capable of."

Lu Chen removed the dragon-engraved disk from the blade and summoned the Twin-Fish Medallion from his Heavenly Pool.

He gazed at the dragon-engraved disk in his hand, comparing its size to the medallion. "Looks like I was right... This disk is exactly the same size as the Twin-Fish Medallion."

With both the Yang Ocean Pearl and the Yin Ocean Pearl absorbed, the medallion's internal balance of yin and yang had fully stabilized. A black and a white fish were joined head to tail, forming a perfect yin-yang diagram. From their eyes, the pearls glowed with crimson and blue light.

Wind Dragon reverted to his true form. He coiled above Lu Chen's head and urged him eagerly, "Little Lu, hurry up and try it!"

"Alright."

Lu Chen brought the Twin-Fish Medallion close to the Hunyuan Greatsword. The coiled dragon engraving in the slot instantly transformed into one of the twin fish.

Clack!

The medallion snapped neatly into place.

Two beams of light, one red and one blue, shot from the eyes of the fish, shooting straight down the length of the blade and converging at the tip.

Lu Chen rotated the medallion, turning the black fish forward. A surge of flames burst from the blade, engulfing it in searing fire.

"Hah!"

With a single slash, Lu Chen incinerated the nearby tables and chairs. He rotated the medallion again, this time pointing the white fish forward. Immediately, a blast of cold shot out, icy air stretching several zhang from the sword.

Lu Chen felt the biting chill of the blade and murmured, "This sensation... it feels similar to the Spirit Awaken technique, but much more powerful."

Wind Dragon replied, "Do you sense anything else? I feel like as long as I remain on the sword, I can sense your intent every time you strike."

Lu Chen removed the Twin-Fish Medallion from the sword and turned toward Wind Dragon. "That's right. With this move, the sword and I become one. Wind Dragon, have you ever seen anything like this before? I can't shake the feeling that this sword still has other abilities we haven't discovered yet."

As he gripped the Hunyuan Greatsword, memories of that earth-shattering blade surged in his mind.

Wind Dragon replied, "There are countless cultivators across the world, and countless methods of cultivation. But combining a beast with a weapon like this... this is something truly unheard of."

Lu Chen shook his head. "Forget it. There are still many matters waiting for me. I'll think about this later. Wind Dragon, what's your current cultivation level?"

"Hmm. Let me take a look."

Wind Dragon focused inward. A moment later, he stared at Lu Chen with a look of disbelief.

Seeing the strange expression on his face, Lu Chen asked, "What's wrong, Wind Dragon?"

"All my spirit qi is gone. What's circulating in my meridians now is wind elemental energy and a violent, chaotic force."

"How could that happen? Can you still sense what stage your cultivation is at?"

"Yeah, I can. The power I can currently draw on feels like the early stage of the Qi Condensation Realm."

Wind Dragon gathered a swirling orb of violent wind energy in front of him. After a moment of thought, he added, "But I can feel that the chaotic energy within the Hunyuan Greatsword is slowly merging with me. Once the fusion is complete, my cultivation will surpass my previous level."

Lu Chen's heart stirred with joy. Wind Dragon's growing strength meant his chances of finding his grandfather had just increased.

"I need some time to stabilize my condition. You're free to wander around my residence in the meantime. Don't forget to come up with a name for your new technique," said Wind Dragon.

Then he walked into the Bagua formation formed from the medicine racks and began focusing on recovery.

Lu Chen looked down at the Hunyuan Greatsword in his hand, recalling the feeling when he slotted the disk into it earlier. An idea sparked in his mind. "Since the Hunyuan Greatsword can both hold the disk and attack with it, why not call it... 'Slot and Strike'? Hahaha! Slot and Strike, what a vivid and fitting name."

He summoned the Twin-Fish Medallion and shouted, "Slot and Strike!"

The medallion flew into the air and clicked neatly into place within the Hunyuan Greatsword. Red and blue light instantly wrapped around the blade in spiraling waves.

"It even loads up automatically... This sword is so user-friendly!"

Lu Chen removed the medallion and began experimenting with the other features of the Hunyuan Greatsword.

***

Lu Chen walked out of the pill chamber and began casually exploring Wind Dragon's residence. The place appeared spacious, but there were only three rooms inside.

Lu Chen stood at the eastern doorway, disk in hand, weighing his options.

"East faces west... favorable in the southwest. Alright then, I'll try the northern room first. With my luck, things always go the opposite way."[1]

Without hesitation, he strode toward the northernmost room and pushed the door open. A flood of gold coins and glittering jewels came flooding toward him, burying him in an instant.

Lu Chen popped up from the mountain of gold, beaming with excitement. "Hahaha! If the luck lies in the southwest, then going northwest is clearly the best move! Storytellers always say dragons have a hoarding obsession... looks like it's true. And now, all this is mine."

He scooped up handfuls of gold, stuffing them into his clothes while muttering under his breath, "Just a little. Just taking a bit. I'll pay it back once I start making money."

With his entire outfit bulging with gold, Lu Chen looked toward the western room.

"Might as well check out the west. Even if luck's not on my side, I've got nothing to lose. Who knows? There might be more surprises waiting."

***

Lu Chen pushed open the western door. A sharp, commanding energy burst out, rushing straight toward him.

He froze at the sight before him, struggling to speak, "Are those... enchanted artifacts? Spell arts?"

The room was at least fifty meters wide, and right in the center lay a massive pile of various enchanted artifacts and weapons.

Surrounding them were nearly a thousand bookshelves, each one packed with spell manuals.

"Hahaha! I hit the jackpot! 'Favorable in the southwest' is completely spot on! I can't believe Wind Dragon hoarded so many treasures. If I traded these all in, how many spirit stones would I end up with?"

He dashed to the center of the room and dove into the pile, grabbing treasures with both hands. "Rich! I'm finally rich!"

Lu Chen swam through the enchanted weapons like a fish in water, unable to contain his excitement.

***

Half an hour later, Lu Chen finally emerged from the pile of treasures and made his way toward the shelves filled with manuals.

He stepped into the first row. There was a bunch of disorganized scrolls at the base of the shelves, radiating strong fluctuations of spirit qi.

Cloud-Turning Palm, Longevity Technique, Wind-Lightning Kick, Lightning Summoning Technique...

"Ahhhh! A whole pile of manuals! These are the kinds that people would fight over in the outside world! Who would've thought Wind Dragon left them all on the floor! They were not even worthy of shelf space! What a shame. Might as well let me have them. No use letting them go to waste."

With a sigh of mock pity, Lu Chen scooped the manuals off the ground and stuffed them into his pockets.

He looked up and saw manuals labeled as Earth Tier on the shelves above. "What the... low-grade Earth Tier, high-grade Earth Tier?"

Faced with rows upon rows of Earth Tier manuals, Lu Chen calmly dumped the ordinary ones from his pockets.

He muttered as he walked, "It's not that I didn't want you guys... but there's probably a reason why Wind Dragon left you on the ground."

As he reached the second row, a flash of fiery red light suddenly flickered before him. "There's a Human Tier manual here?!"

Lu Chen rubbed his eyes. He'd heard that manuals above Earth Tier would start to develop spirit qi and emit unique glows.

As he walked deeper into the room, the shelves began to sparkle with lights in various colors, nearly blinding him.

"They're all Human Tier! Looks like the storytellers weren't lying! Dragons really do have an obsession with hoarding."

Lu Chen continued grabbing books off the shelves while imagining Wind Dragon's personality.

"Oh, Wind Dragon, you're the one who told me to look around freely. I'm just taking a few... I'll pay you back someday."

He moved through the rows, collecting manual after manual.

Just then, Wind Dragon, now fully recovered, appeared silently behind him. "Little Lu, are those manuals heavy?"

"Not at all! I can still carry more!"

Lu Chen, completely absorbed in the manuals and treasures, didn't even realize Wind Dragon was standing right behind him.

1. In Feng Shui, “east faces west” refers to the orientation of a house or room, which is believed to influence the flow of luck and energy. The calculation indicates that the southwest is the auspicious direction, but he chooses to test the north instead, joking that fortune usually works in reverse for him. ☜