Starting My Cultivation With Time Management

Chapter 405: Chapter 38: External Incarnation, the 3rd Flying Sword

In the secret chamber, Ling Yunpo sat tranquilly, with the Azure Spirit Divine Bead floating at his chest.

Suddenly, he lifted his right hand and slowly formed a Daoist formula.

Then came the second, the third, the fourth… His hands fluttered like butterflies, continuously casting one hand seal after another.

The Azure Spirit Divine Bead also began to spin rapidly, and slowly, a face emerged on the surface of the bead.

It was not the face of Ling Yunpo, but that of Chen Guanshui.

However, the two originally looked exactly alike; the only difference was that Ling Yunpo had the enhancement of the Mirror Flower Water Moon Illusion Technique, whereas this incarnation did not.

Finally, Ling Yunpo formed the last hand seal, and the Azure Spirit Divine Bead trembled for a moment before suddenly striking his brow.

The moment it touched his skin, it merged into him without any obstruction.

Ling Yunpo had already sensed that the Azure Spirit Divine Bead was now in his Sea of Consciousness, floating together with the Kunlun Mirror.

“So this is your external incarnation,” said the light representing the Kunlun Mirror, circling around the Azure Spirit Divine Bead and remarking, “Interesting, I think its greatest benefit is not in combat, but in your role-playing.”

“Indeed,” the Green Duckweed Sword also agreed. “I feel that, given the Sword Master’s… flexibility, he will definitely be able to utilize the external incarnation in ways we could never imagine.”

“Alright, Qing Ping, you can stop talking now,” Ling Yunpo calmly said. “It’s not flexibility; it’s wisdom.”

Source: NovelFull.com, updated on ƝοѵǤօ.сο

He immersed his Divine Sense into the Azure Spirit Divine Bead once again and quickly ascertained the usage of the external incarnation.

The so-called “external incarnation” did not refer to a separate entity but rather an extension of one’s Divine Sense.

Ordinary cultivators have a limited number of Magic Artifacts they can control with their Divine Sense at the same time.

Most cultivators can only concentrate on one task, which is to control a single Flying Sword for attack.

At most they could also control another Flying Sword under their feet for movement, as Sword Control for movement does not require complicated maneuvers and consumes relatively less mental effort.

Shushan cultivators, through special Secret Technique training, can control two Flying Swords for attack while ensuring Sword Control movement, which is so-called “divided attention between two tasks,” the “Two-Handed Sword Control Technique.”

To control even more Flying Swords is only possible for those with exceptional talent.

However, an external incarnation can serve as a vessel, attaching and extending Divine Sense onto it, thus forming a “Spiritual Consciousness Core” with low-level intelligence.

In other words, with the external incarnation, while Ling Yunpo could control two Flying Swords for attack, his incarnation would control a third Flying Sword for a coordinated distraction, achieving the “simultaneous control of three swords.”

This third Flying Sword is not directly controlled by Ling Yunpo’s Divine Sense, but by the will of an incarnation that has the same thought process as Ling Yunpo.

Therefore, he must always keep his will synchronized with that of the incarnation, and the simplest way to do so is to keep it nurtured within the Sea of Consciousness.

If the external incarnation leaves the Sea of Consciousness for too long without synchronizing with the main will, it may develop an independent consciousness… At best, it means losing an external incarnation, but in severe cases, it can lead to the incarnation becoming hostile towards the original, or even laying traps to possess the body for rebirth, thus it actually carries significant hidden risks.

However, Ling Yunpo wasn’t too worried about this.

Because of Ah Jing’s presence, he really couldn’t think of any situation that would necessitate deploying his external incarnation to distract the enemy and allow his true self to escape alone… This was also the only situation he could think of that might require the external incarnation to be away from him for an extended period.

After storing the Azure Spirit Divine Bead into his Sea of Consciousness, Ling Yunpo left the secret chamber to find Senior Sister An in the back courtyard.

Next, he had to find another Flying Sword to serve as his third Flying Sword.

Upon returning to the back courtyard, Ling Yunpo saw Senior Sister An drunken again, her originally present pipa nowhere to be found.

At that moment, with her hair disheveled and her clothes slightly undone, her hazy drunken eyes caught sight of Junior Brother Ling Yunpo approaching and she smiled, waving at him:

“Come, come, come, Junior Brother, keep your Senior Sister company and drink.”

“Why is Senior Sister drunk like this again?” Ling Yunpo frowned as he spoke, quickly stepping forward to adjust her collar and tidy up her appearance, “As a Senior Sister, you’re not maintaining your dignity. What sort of example is this?”

“Less, less nonsense!” An Zhisu feigned sternness in her reprimand, then immediately broke into a sweet smile, draping her arm, white as jade, around his neck and hooking over his shoulder, “I’m the Senior Sister, you have to listen to me…”

Ling Yunpo’s face bore a forced smile, but inside he sneered to himself, pointedly wondering where else An Zhisu had the bearing of a Senior Sister besides being overprotective and capable of fighting?

“Master,” An Zhisu suddenly turned sorrowful, speaking dolorously, “the White Jade Capital competition is upon us. When will you leave seclusion…”

Hearing her quietly lament, Ling Yunpo’s originally hardened heart couldn’t help but soften.

Without Master, Senior Sister has been shouldering the entire Qingluo Peak alone. No wonder she’s already exhausted.

Under such crushing pressure, if she could relieve her worry with a drink, it didn’t really seem like such a bad habit.

Just as he thought this, he saw An Zhisu wobble to her feet and say:

“Come on, Junior Brother, let’s practice swordsmanship.”

“Practice swordsmanship?”

An Zhisu clutched her forehead, as if battling dizziness, and slowly said:

“Junior Brother, if what Lin Duanshan and the others said is true, then you’ll need to… um, make proper and ample preparations to defeat Qiu Changtian, Xu Yinglian, and Luo Yan in the upcoming White Jade Capital competition.”

“Let’s train well from now on,” she said with a renewed smile.

Ling Yunpo was all too familiar with that smile of Senior Sister’s.

Generally, if Senior Sister was in a bad mood, she would choose to drown her sorrows in drink. But if the alcohol failed to dispel her gloom, she would turn to the sword—of course, at such times, Ling Yunpo became the only designated training partner.

Luckily, Senior Sister An possessed an extremely protective nature, so sparring with her as a Junior Brother wouldn’t result in injury.

Only suffering.

Recalling several past incidents when Senior Sister had left him completely drained, Ling Yunpo immediately showed a pained expression, changing the subject and saying:

“Senior Sister, I happened to acquire an External Incarnation lately, and now I want to get another Flying Sword. Do you have any good ideas?”

“External Incarnation?” Even An Zhisu, who was usually carefree, couldn’t be fooled this time. The shock sobered her up considerably as she exclaimed in astonishment, “How did you get that? Isn’t that something you have to refine yourself?”

“Ahem.” Ling Yunpo hadn’t expected Senior Sister to take it seriously this time and could only offer a vague explanation, “It was just a ‘fortunate coincidence’ that I came across the method of refinement; an ‘error led to the right path,’ and I refined an External Incarnation. That’s why I’m troubling Senior Sister now.”

As expected, An Zhisu’s attention shifted with the last sentence, saying irritably:

“How can you call it ‘troubling’ when seeking help from Senior Sister? When have I ever taught you to be so distant?”

“Our sect isn’t without Flying Swords, it’s just that there are no more Tenth Rank Immortal Swords. Other Sword Artifacts can serve as a means of transportation, but they aren’t enough for combat during the competition.”

“Let’s go to the Sword Pool and apply for one,” she decided.

“That would be excellent,” Ling Yunpo said with a clap and a chuckle.

Of course, he had thought of going to the Sword Pool for a sword, but he had used the topic as a way to let Senior Sister “know” that he had acquired an External Incarnation.

Sure enough, although An Zhisu was astonished, she believed his carefully crafted excuse and didn’t delve further into the matter.

This was the unique consideration and tenderness of a Senior Sister!

If it had been the annoying Miss Shi, her curiosity would have surged, and she wouldn’t stop until she deployed all one hundred and eight coquettish Secret Techniques to get to the bottom of things.