Chapter 1318 - 837: Holy Sword Among Flowers

After a nice, satisfying lunch, Li Mengnan cradled Xiaoyan in her arms and went with Du Yu to the Mountain Realm.

Dark clouds rolled across the sky, with faint peals of thunder rumbling in the distance.

Must be that Kui Chou, the Supreme, finally came home and still hasn’t calmed down from the excitement, huh?

Du Yu dropped onto the Peak of All Mountains, picked up a Jia Rong Grass leaf with one hand: "Good afternoon, Jia Rong."

"Shasha~" The Jia Rong Grass leaves gently swayed, brushing across Du Yu’s palm and the back of his hand.

Du Yu asked, "Where did Shiwei go?"

Jia Rong Grass: "The mistress had me take the Purple Bamboo Forest in the valley and go together with her a hundred kilometers to the northwest."

"A hundred kilometers?" Du Yu was a bit baffled. "Why’d you go that far?"

Jia Rong Grass: "There’s a mountain valley over there, recommended by Kui Chou."

"Kui Chou?" Du Yu raised his brows slightly. That Ancient Bull seems really invested in this Ghostly Radiance Hammer, huh?

Could it be Niuniu wants to wield the two hammers?

But it doesn’t even have hands!

Is it planning to fight like the Desolate Silver Lynx, wrapping its tail around the Warhammer to battle?

The problem is, Kui Chou’s damage output is already explosive enough; if you add two Warhammers, the DPS is going to overflow.

Feels like a bit of a waste.

"Let’s go take a look." Du Yu patted the deep red grass leaves, then turned his gaze to Li Mengnan.

Something suddenly occurred to him, and he said softly, "Right, this too."

Jia Rong Grass was a little confused: "What is?"

Du Yu looked at Li Mengnan and said quietly, "Mistress."

Jia Rong Grass: "..."

Li Mengnan’s face flushed slightly. She glared at Du Yu once, then hugged Xiaoyan and flew off toward the northwest.

The silk nightgown she’d been wearing had already been changed into a white dress, making her look pure and beautiful, gentle and lovely.

So that one glare she gave Du Yu didn’t have any real killing power~

Du Yu patted the Jia Rong Grass leaves and said his goodbye: "See you in a bit."

"Shasha~" The Jia Rong Grass swayed lightly, seeing Du Yu off.

Li Mengnan, who had flown up into the high sky, suddenly stopped and lowered her head to look at Du Yu.

"What?" Du Yu had just been saying she had no "killing power," but seeing the girl now with a look like she was about to interrogate him, his heart instantly tightened a little.

However, Du Yu misunderstood Li Mengnan. The girl only said, "I’ll summon the Wind Dance Sword and use it as our mount, how’s that?"

Du Yu couldn’t help but be moved: "Sword flight?"

"Sounds pretty poetic, right?" Li Mengnan had a very expectant look on her face. She wrapped one arm around Xiaoyan, and stretched her other hand out to the side.

"Whoooo~~~"

A huge wave of wind swept out, whipping Li Mengnan’s long hair into a dance and sending her white dress fluttering.

"Damn~" Du Yu covered his mouth and nose with one hand; in his eyes there was no Holy Sword at all, only that tall, graceful white figure.

Worthy of the name Shen Meng Nan!

This is way too "Immortal-like."

If you were in a gacha pool, you’d at least be an SSR!

"Tone it down a bit, Wind Dance." Li Mengnan commanded in her mind.

The Holy Sword immediately pulled back its aura, lowering the windstorm level.

Li Mengnan smoothed back the long hair the wind had messed up, then gazed up at the sword that was a full seventy-nine meters long, her heart brimming with joy.

The long sword, semi-transparent, naturally carried a sense of something elusive and drifting.

Half-transparent petals continually drifted around the sword’s body, making the Wind Dance Sword appear all the more mysterious and beautiful.

Li Mengnan pressed her hand down, directing it: "Don’t stand upright, lie flat."

The long Wind Sword slowly leveled out. Though it was a Holy Soldier, it behaved very obediently.

Li Mengnan held Xiaoyan and flew up onto it, then casually set the Little Fox down.

Hu Xiaoyan was startled!

She can’t fly!

"Yip?" Hu Xiaoyan let out a soft cry, reacting fast—she even flung out the Shadow-Luring Fire Fox.

Li Mengnan had just put down the Beautiful Demon Fox, and another Fire Fox came crashing into her arms.

"Tap." Hu Xiaoyan’s four paws landed steadily, stepping onto the semi-transparent longsword, and only then did she let out a huge breath of relief.

After confirming that the Wind Dance Sword was solid, the Shadow-Luring Fire Fox shattered, turning into specks of Fire Demon Breath.

Li Mengnan half-knelt down, smiling as she patted Hu Xiaoyan’s head. "Scaredy-cat, huh?"

"Yip!" Hu Xiaoyan protested with a whimper, using her tail to brush the girl’s hand away.

Prince Yan blinked her fox eyes, very curious as she examined the Wind Sword, even scraping the sword body with her little claws...

Honestly, that move was very "dog-like"!

"Don’t be afraid, this is our Spiritual Artifact World." Li Mengnan patted the semi-transparent Wind Sword with one hand, comforting her softly. "It’s very safe here."

Hard to imagine these were the words a Demon Tamer was saying to a Holy Soldier.

Meanwhile, Du Yu also stepped onto the Wind Dance Sword.

Looking at it as a whole, the Wind Dance Sword was slender. If it were held by a hundred-meter giant, the sword body would probably only be two fingers wide?

But in front of tiny members of the Human Race like Du Yu and Li Mengnan, the sword was very wide and long; they basically didn’t have to worry about falling off.

"Let’s go, that way." Li Mengnan pointed forward with one hand.

"Bzz~" The Wind Dance Sword lightly trembled, its tip pointing directly northwest as it slowly picked up speed.

Li Mengnan was over the moon; this Wind Dance Sword fulfilled all her fantasies about Holy Soldiers.

Unparalleled in power, mysterious and beautiful, obedient and docile!

It was her Dream Love Sword, that’s what it was...

The girl started walking, making her way along the sword body toward the tip.

Perhaps a bit smug and excited, as she walked past Du Yu she even took hold of his hand, pulling him along with her.

There was a soft "pap" sound.

Li Mengnan’s long hair, fluttering in the wind, smacked right into Du Yu’s face.

"Pfft... hehe~" The girl couldn’t help but laugh.

Du Yu: "..."

"Silly Du Yu." Li Mengnan turned back with a smile. "Why don’t you walk in front?"

"Oh." Du Yu quickened his pace, poking his face out from his curtain of pitch‑black hair.

"Ying~ying!" Hu Xiaoyan in the back immediately got sulky and hurried to catch up with the two.

Two people and one fox moved forward for dozens of meters, finally reaching the sword tip.

"It’s really beautiful." Li Mengnan looked out at the vast world, murmuring softly.

Thinking back to three years ago, she’d still been an ordinary high schooler, full of fantasies about being a Demon Tamer, daydreaming her life away.

Later, with the Thousand Paper Cranes’ help, she finally awakened.

From then on, her unrealistic fantasies gained another layer: she wanted to become a God, a Saint, to stand at the Peak of Demon Taming with tens of thousands of followers behind her.

Back then, on the bus heading to the rookie training camp, she’d shamelessly bragged about all this to Du Yu.

Yet right now, she was flying atop a Holy Artifact·Demon Soldier Sword, as if she really had the whole world beneath her feet.

There was no question she was already standing at a height others could hardly even aspire to, but she no longer wanted tens of thousands of followers.

Li Mengnan pressed a hand to the top of her head, slightly gathering in her fluttering long hair, and slowly knelt to sit.

Being some leader is such a pain in the ass... mm, just following him is fine.

Just like she’d been doing all these years.

"Your name is Wind Dance?" Du Yu looked down at the Mountain Realm, letting a thread of Demon Soul seep from under his feet and merge into the sword tip.

"Wind as in ’breeze,’ Dance as in ’to sway.’" A graceful female voice echoed in Du Yu’s mind.

"Huh?" Du Yu was very surprised; every Holy Soldier he’d seen before had leaned male in voice.

Low, hoarse, ringing with iron.

Some weapons didn’t even have a gendered voice at all, just the sound of clashing steel.

The Wind Dance Sword’s voice was soft and gentle as it said gratefully, "Thank you for freeing me, Human Race, thank you."

A dignified Holy Soldier, yet its temperament was unexpectedly docile, its posture lowered very, very far.

Clearly, every living thing has its own past. What it goes through shapes its nature.

Thinking back to when the Wind Dance Sword first burst into the world, it must have been a spirited, world‑scorning sort of fellow too.

But the experience of nearly shattering, and the century of wear and tear that followed, ground away whatever arrogance Wind Dance might have had, filling it instead with gratitude.

"No need to thank us. From now on we’re comrades in arms." Du Yu said, "How many Demon Soldier Arrays do you have? Mind giving us a little demo?

So that once we’re on the battlefield, Mengnan can make good use of you too."

"Of course." the Wind Dance Sword answered softly, and the half‑transparent petals swirling around the blade suddenly turned into spinning blades, stabbing forward.

"First Array·Flower Non‑Flower."

"Ha!" Du Yu let out a cry of amazement, startled not only by the terrifying display but also by the name of the array.

So poetic, huh?

Flower Non‑Flower... wasn’t that the name of a poem?

Du Yu watched the half‑transparent petals crisscrossing the sky, shredding back and forth, and nodded inwardly.

This Sword Array had an astonishing presence; its power was bound to be impressive!

The key was that these "non‑flowers" were semi‑transparent, extremely hard to spot.

Especially on a chaotic battlefield, this petal rain would be more than enough to kill enemies invisibly!

"Who~"

The petals filling the sky quietly vanished, and a new cluster of petals floated up around the sword body.

"Second Array·Autumn Flower Moon."

As the Wind Dance Sword spoke, layer upon layer of petals wrapped around the entire blade.

For a moment, it was like someone had "blurred out" Du Yu’s vision.

The petals really were transparent—there were just way too many of them!

They wrapped layer upon layer, until the world in Du Yu’s eyes turned hazy.

"This is a defensive Sword Array?" Du Yu mused aloud. "Why call it Autumn Flower Moon?"

Wind Dance Sword: "From the outside, you’ll see the petals wrap into the shape of a half‑moon."

Du Yu: "..."

Seriously?

So pretty?

Du Yu really had his eyes opened today; other Holy Soldiers all went for sheer explosiveness and swagger.

The Wind Dance Sword, from top to bottom, was just... gorgeous?

Du Yu spun in place, studying the Flower Moon Defense Array made of petals: "Any other Sword Arrays?"

"Swoosh!"

A gust of wind surged up, violently compressing the petals and slashing forward in a long sword mark.

"Third Array·Wind Flower Trace."

Du Yu nodded again and again, praising, "You’ve got single‑target damage, AoE offense, and a Defense Skill. Not bad at all!"

Wind Dance Sword was delighted by the praise, and continued, "I can also use petals to piece together my master’s image, I just never acknowledged a master, so I never named that Sword Array."

Du Yu casually said, "Then call it Flower... mm, Hua Mengnan."

Inscribing her name onto a Holy Soldier Array was, of course, an honor.

And it fit Li Mengnan’s identity as its ’master’ perfectly.

Wind Dance Sword answered properly, "Yes."

Clearly, Wind Dance understood the relationship between Du Yu and Li Mengnan, as well as Du Yu’s role within his squad.

Du Yu: "Anything else?"

Wind Dance Sword said quietly, "No, I only have four Sword Arrays."

"That’s enough. More than enough." Du Yu said softly, turning his head to look at Shen Meng Nan in her snow‑white dress.

The girl hugged the Beautiful Demon Fox, smiling at Du Yu, "Jealous, aren’t you?"

Du Yu very graciously nodded, and seeing the girl’s little flicker of pride, he couldn’t help but grin too.

The Demon Soul beneath Du Yu’s feet was still merged into the Holy Sword as he reminded it, "Wind Dance, you have to protect her for me."

"Yes."

...

The next Chapter’s update will be a bit late, so don’t wait up, go to bed early and read it tomorrow.

Don’t worry, Yu will definitely finish writing before going to sleep.