Chat Group: Starting by Swapping Bodies with Elysia?

Consciousness melded into it, like silk threads entwined and interwoven.

The next moment—the brown-haired girl slowly opened her eyes. Within those gilded irises, the 'clear, intelligent light' from before was gone, replaced by a competence befitting a young female knight, yet the unchanging element was still that youthful vitality belonging to a maiden.

"Eh—?"

A flicker of the same 'intelligence' as before flashed in 'Sushang's' eyes—the girl lowered her head to look at her own smooth palms, hands that were clearly visible to be somewhat rough from the calluses left by years of sword practice. She uttered in surprise,

"This is such a strange feeling."

You within me, and me within you—although due to various reasons it wasn't a complete merging, this sensation of two consciousnesses overlapping, jointly accommodating and manipulating the same body, was undoubtedly quite novel for Little Pillow. [Little Pillow is Sushang's nickname.]

She tentatively swung the Xuan Yuan Sword in her hand. Hmm… it felt even lighter to wield, and her movements were noticeably faster. Simultaneously, her observation skills, reaction time, and a whole series of other attributes had experienced an exponential increase.

"I feel like the me right now could beat a hundred of the old me!"

Jiang Qiao didn't take this seriously—spiritual synchronization was originally a technique for 'amplification.' In battle, with the coordinated combat of a spirit-perception type fusion warrior, an ordinary warrior could unleash 200% of their power.

Of course, what he was aiming for with this method wasn't a mere 200%.

The gilded eyes reverted to their competent sharpness. 'Sushang' gripped the sword in her hand and raised it before her eyes—within 'Qingque's' line of sight behind her, the 'Part of the Authority of Truth' began to take effect.

At the same time—the portion of Jiang Qiao's consciousness dispersed within Bailu's body, having adapted to Bailu's power, also began to drive the half of the Dragon Lord Power of the Vidyadhara buried within Bailu.

"It feels kinda warm, like drinking hot goat milk, so comfy."

Because the spirit dispersed within Bailu's body wasn't much, Bailu still held the dominant control—the latter could clearly feel the changes within her body. Although she couldn't understand what was happening at all, her body involuntarily began to tremble.

The next moment, the power drawn and coordinated from Bailu, along with the remaining sliver of the Path of Elation's power from 'Qingque,' was channeled into the Xuan Yuan Sword in Sushang's hand.

"Uh… my Xuan Yuan Sword!"

Little Pillow, who was with 'Qingque', watched with wide eyes as the Xuan Yuan Sword in her hand gradually changed—the bronze-colored blade transformed into a cyan-blue, and the shape of the blade also underwent subtle alterations. This made Little Pillow feel somewhat flustered.

"It, it, it… it's losing its color!"

"Crap, crap, crap! If Mom finds out, she'll definitely chase me with a sword!" A crestfallen expression hung on the girl's face—the Xuan Yuan Sword was a gift her mother had prepared meticulously for her! With her mother's temper, if she couldn't see the Xuan Yuan Sword next time, who knew how big of a tantrum she'd throw.

The next moment, a hint of helplessness surfaced on the girl's face. Annoyed, she said:

"What's with the panic? I just temporarily imbued it with some attributes."

If they wanted to blow up the Xianzhou delve, this kind of super-advanced folded space, besides weakening its strength and finding its weak point, a suitable weapon was naturally indispensable—and while the Xuan Yuan Sword in Little Pillow's hand was indeed a treasured blade, it still had a considerable gap compared to the Xuan Yuan Sword that was a Divine Key.

As the saying goes, "To do a good job, one must first sharpen one's tools". Based on this principle, Jiang Qiao squeezed out another portion of his remaining power, attempting to construct the 'Saint Sword Durandal.'

That was the pinnacle of pre-civilization technology—a 'sharp weapon' capable of cutting through worlds.

Unfortunately, his power was already almost completely depleted, coupled with the fact that the Authority of Truth in his hand was incomplete, under the three major constraints of immense power consumption, incomplete construction, and a rapidly emptying 'mana bar,' Jiang Qiao could only settle for second best.

Instead of constructing the Saint Sword Durandal, he chose to invest this portion of power into Little Pillow's existing Xuan Yuan Sword, temporarily modifying it to possess some of the space-cutting properties of the Saint Sword Durandal.

As for the appearance—

Since the power was already being channeled, might as well take the opportunity to change it into a form more suitable for this body. It was just a matter of changing the style and color, after all, it wouldn't consume much power.

"Calm your mind and quiet your Qi, I'm going to start."

"Oh…"

Hearing that her sword was fine, Little Pillow instantly relaxed. As for calming her mind and quieting her Qi, it wasn't difficult for her; after all, her mother had taught her how to do it with a stick since she was very young.

Although she was quite curious about what exactly Qingque wanted to do—being able to sense the other party's seriousness, Little Pillow still kept quiet.

—As if a switch had been flipped, her body gradually became warm and tingly.

This was the Imaginary Energy belonging to the Path of The Hunt.

The Imaginary Energy of the Path of Elation within 'Qingque's' body had already been drawn to the limit that a mortal could extract by Jiang Qiao—any further would require the authority of a Star God's Emanator…

However, although it was said to be the limit of mortals, his method and efficiency of extraction were probably unmatched even by those long-lived species in the tavern who had stepped onto the Path of Elation for ages.

After diverting his spirit into Little Pillow's body, in order to gather enough energy to shatter the delve, Jiang Qiao once again did the same thing—through Sushang's own Path of The Hunt, he leveraged the Imaginary Energy of the Path.

He obtained Imaginary Energy within a short period of time that would be worthy of attention from even the Seven Arbiter-Generals of the Hunt.

Originally just a newbie scrub, Little Pillow felt this surge of abundant energy and couldn't help but exclaim in amazement—well, she didn't really understand what was so amazing about it.

The girl slowly closed her eyes, only feeling that the surrounding environment had become tranquil—although being underground in a delve was already secluded.

But at this moment, Little Pillow felt as if she were in a sea of mind, a mirror-like lake.

This was the entry-level mental technique within the Five Skandhas of Taixu [Grand Emptiness], and also the most difficult part of the Five Skandhas, divided into four realms: Still Water, Dustless, Clear Mirror, and Grand Emptiness. Practicing it could temper the mind and develop the brain's potential.

Only by cultivating it to perfection could one comprehend the 'Sword Heart.'

And the 'Sword Heart' was a prerequisite for using the fifth Heart of Taixu Sword Qi—Divine Heart.

Only by comprehending the Sword Heart could one use the ultimate move of Taixu Sword Qi—Taixu Sword God.

This move originated from the heart, formless and immaterial, filling space, it is space. It was the culmination of pre-civilization's mastery of Honkai Energy application.

Elysia could also use this—or rather, the formation of Taixu Sword Qi was inextricably linked to her. In its initial design, much of it was inspired by Elysia's inhumanly exquisite Honkai Energy manipulation skills.

However, she didn't want to experience the taste of divine judgment, so even if Elysia could also unleash Sword God, in essence, it was merely a semblance achieved through ultra-precise Honkai Energy techniques, lacking the spiritual aspect.

As for this move, besides obtaining it from Elysia, the reason Jiang Qiao knew more about it was that when he went to Mount Taixu to look for things, he just happened to pick up some feathers—those contained a large amount of 'Fu Hua's' lost memories, among which was information about the complete, fully-fledged version of Taixu Sword Qi after her thousands of years of refinement.

"Spirit, the extremity of change, subtly manifests in all things, indescribable by form."

The girl chanted the incantation softly—this incantation wasn't just for ceremony, but a supplementary technique to guide the move into shape.

Skilled practitioners could naturally avoid it, but unfortunately, this was Little Pillow, whose nine apertures had just been opened, still a novice. It was best to just use it as intended.

"Spirit, cha… change's extremity… what was it again?"

Because their consciousnesses were intertwined, Little Pillow was also subconsciously reciting along under the influence, but as she recited, she became confused.

A hint of helplessness flashed across the girl's face—Jiang Qiao knew this girl would definitely have problems.

Fortunately, he was personally in control. Although it wasn't complete dominance like 'body-swapping,' with Little Pillow's cooperation, it could still achieve a similar effect.

Ignoring Little Pillow, who was still struggling with what the words were, 'Sushang,' with a few nimble leaps, lightly stepped onto the illusory sword that had formed at some point.

The abundant power of the Path of The Hunt within her body was frantically mobilized and poured into the Ruoshui Sword she held behind her back.

As she spread out her slender jade hand, terrifying power erupted from her surroundings, dyeing the area with a circle of ink-like darkness. Then, a light smile flickered across her beautiful face. She formed a sword gesture with her hand and held it vertically in front of her chest:

"Three feet of water, enough to cut through clouds!"

The maiden's voice, full of vitality yet incomparably competent and refined, although not loud, resounded throughout the entire delve—and this undoubtedly alarmed the members of the Disciples of Sanctus Medicus in the underground delve.

Already feeling something was off, how could they not realize there was a problem now? They immediately swarmed and gathered, approaching menacingly, some even revealing their true forms.

However—

The instant the girl's voice fell.

From the top of the delve, a terrifying, ancient, towering giant sword materialized out of thin air, falling towards the ground of the delve with a booming sound.

That was the weakest point of this delve after 'Qingque's' weakening and observation.

The giant sword plunged into the ground like a steel nail piercing an eggshell. Everyone's ears could hear a piercing 'crack' sound.

The faces of the members of the Disciples of Sanctus Medicus were filled with terror—this delve was collapsing!

"BOOM——"

The tremendous sound symbolized the shattering of the Disciples of Sanctus Medicus's underground delve, constructed using the Xianzhou Alliance's most advanced folded space technology.

Without the protection of the delve space, the ancient sea water that had been blocked outside immediately surged in, engulfing the entire secret realm.

The Six Dust Smoke that the Disciples of Sanctus Medicus had painstakingly accumulated was completely soaked in ancient seawater and destroyed in an instant.

At the moment the delve completely collapsed, 'Sushang' stepped on the Ruoshui Sword, one arm cradling the panicked Guinaifen, the other carrying Bailu, and with 'Qingque' on her back, she shot out of the bottom waterway and into the outside world at an extreme speed, landing on the high platform of the Alchemy Commission.

"Cough cough… phooey… choked me…" Guinaifen, after being put down, leaned against the railing, spitting out a mouthful of ancient seawater, coughing, still with lingering fear.

'Qingque' shook her head, turned her head to wring out her already disheveled hair, and sighed, "Should've added a water-repelling barrier as well."

Bailu still had some spare power, and coupled with the Dragon Lord Power, which was inherently special, adding a water-repelling barrier wouldn't have made them end up as drowned rats.

But there was no helping it—who told that Little Pillow in her head to keep rambling on and on? Jiang Qiao glanced at Sushang, full of resentment.

This unlucky kid was really hard to use, although she was quite obedient.

But once she encountered something she didn't understand, entering her 'a bit slow on the uptake' state, her whole brain became mush, and he, who was linked to her consciousness, was also affected by this, almost having his own mental technique for Taixu Sword God's prerequisites interfered with.

The ancients said: "Don't hang out with those who are a bit slow on the uptake," they truly did not deceive me.

"Qingque, that move just now was so cool!" Sushang, having snapped back to her senses, was savoring the aftertaste of before, looking at 'Qingque' with excitement, little stars practically twinkling in her eyes.

She approached the latter rather diligently, and asked bashfully:

"Can you teach me?"

For Little Pillow, who had always aspired to be a female knight-errant, the experience of those few minutes was simply fantastic—Sushang felt that if she were to truly become a female knight-errant in the future, 'Jiang Sushang' would definitely be the version of herself she dreamed of.

Especially that ultimate move—Three feet of water, can… what was it again? It was just too cool.

"…You memorize those incantations for me first, then we'll talk." Jiang, having been through a wave of mental exhaustion, wasn't in a good mood for Little Pillow's eagerness. He used his hand as a blade and chopped the a bit slow on the uptake girl on the head.

"Ow ow ow…"

Clutching her head, Sushang looked at the small slip of paper 'Qingque' handed over. Looking at the densely packed small characters on it, her eyes immediately glazed over, finding it very difficult.

"There's… so much of it?"

"Reading is my biggest weakness…"

—The true Taixu mental incantation wasn't just a few lines, its number was extremely vast. Jiang Qiao didn't dare to fully guide her, after all, with just a few words, this Little Pillow was already starting to overload her brain.

If the whole thing came out, wouldn't her CPU just burn out?

Of course—the Sword Heart Incantation itself was actually meaningless. The real Sword Heart Incantation was just a string of extremely awkward syllables, totaling two hundred.

However, reciting the Sword Heart Incantation itself had the effect of refining the mind, so this thing was an essential requirement for those who wanted to practice Taixu Sword Qi.

Without mastering the Sword Heart Incantation, anything else was meaningless.

"Then forget about it."

"Eh! No no no, I'll memorize it, I'll memorize it, okay?! Qingque, we've got a deal, if I memorize this, you'll teach me that move!" Little Pillow hurriedly knelt and hugged 'Qingque's' waist, looking eager.

Jiang Qiao, finding it quite amusing, readily nodded in agreement—but didn't hold out much hope.

After all.

How could he not know what kind of person she was?

Making Little Pillow memorize such a long Sword Heart Incantation was no different from asking for her life, right?

Laughing to death, she barely recognizes a few big words.

"Speaking of which, Qingque… didn't you say there would be minions of the Destruction?" Guinaifen asked, somewhat complexly—although this trip had been quite fruitful for them, and for her too.

As long as this achievement was reported to the Divine Strategists' Office, her brothers who were making a living in Luofu wouldn't have to carry criminal records and do odd jobs anymore, and she would surely become famous because of this.

But Guinaifen still kept Jiang Qiao's words about the Doom of Smoldering Calamity in mind at all times.

"Mm, indeed… when I divined it, there were, it should be just recently that they'll arrive. But as for what form they will take, I have no idea." 'Qingque' shook her head—this divination was too vague, making it difficult for him to even report it.

It was even more vague than Ruoyue's divination about the Ambrosial Arbor disaster.

At least Ruoyue only lacked time information—but Jiang Qiao's divination only indicated that there would be people from the Doom of Smoldering Calamity appearing, but what exactly, whether big or small, was completely unknown.

This kind of divination could never pass the review, because once a divination from the Divination Commission was issued, it would involve the entire Luofu—a slight misstep, and Luofu's external policies would change because of it.

"Hey… is the network in your Luofu this unstable?" Little Pillow suddenly complained. Jiang Qiao glanced over, she seemed to be browsing Xianzhou Miscellany, but the jade shard in Little Pillow's hand was flickering frequently, resembling an old-fashioned static TV.

…Old-fashioned static TV?

'Qingque' suddenly raised an eyebrow—the Xianzhou's jade shard network was a quantum biological computer, its technological advancement could not be understated. As for Xianzhou Miscellany, the most popular chat forum and short video exchange platform on Luofu, its operation had been highly praised for a hundred years. How could it be like an old-fashioned static TV?

The girl raised her head and looked up at the sky, trying to find something.

The next moment—

"*Beep beep beep~*"

Sushang's expression underwent a subtle change, which caught the attention of the three others.

"What's wrong?"

"The Divine Strategists' Office has sent a decree!"

"*BEE——!!!!!*"

A sound like a piercing arrow resounded in their ears. 'Qingque's' brow also furrowed slightly… This sound was… the Xianzhou's wartime siren.

In Qingque's memory, the academy had let academy-era Qingque and the others hear it, and provided pop science explanation about it—once this thing sounded, it basically meant that the Xianzhou had entered a state of combat.

Mm… it wasn't surprising for the Xianzhou Alliance, after all, they were inherently 'sharp swords' that followed the will of the Aeon of The Hunt, Lan, to pursue and kill the enemies of The Hunt.

On the Yaoging Xianzhou among the six Xianzhou, this thing even sounded once every so often, but generally it wouldn't last too long.

As for Luofu… the last time it sounded was hundreds of years ago, during the Ambrosial Arbor Crisis.

…Electromagnetic? Jiang Qiao suddenly remembered a certain related divination he had seen when he was divining and organizing data in the Divination Commission.

A neighboring industrial planet in the Xianzhou's navigation route—Balanza Furnace, seemed to have been attacked by the Anti-Matter Legion, and the one attacking there was one of the Annihilation Gang's leaders, [Irontomb] 'Iron Curtain.'

Under Irontomb's attack, that planet had completely fallen into a state of paralysis. The other diviners in the Divination Commission gave judgments that the probability of victory was infinitely close to zero.

The Xianzhou naturally didn't want to risk a major battle with a Destruction Emanator to save that planet—Balanza Furnace had nothing to do with them, not worth Luofu changing its scheduled navigation route to go to rescue.

Therefore, even though they were hostile to the Anti-Matter Legion, under the premise that the other side didn't actively provoke them, the Alliance's attitude was also "live and let live."

After all, the other side was not a revenge target of The Hunt. The Alliance's main enemy was still the Abundance monstrosities.

Under such circumstances, Luofu's defense against [Irontomb] 'Iron Curtain' was only to maintain vigilance, marking it with a 'medium-low' threat level, just needing to slightly detect its signals was enough.

After all, the Legion wasn't without brains either, it was impossible for them to have a brain fart and, instead of attacking planets, deliberately come to provoke the Xianzhou Alliance, this tough nut to crack, right?

"Let's go, we'll head back to the starskiff first."

After thinking it over again and again, the girl made a decision while resting her chin on her hand.

Go to the starskiff first to see the situation. As for the remaining Disciples of Sanctus Medicus in the Alchemy Commission… Six Dust Smoke completely destroyed, Abundance monstrosities all soaked in ancient seawater, plus the suddenly collapsed and sunken 'Medicine Bureau,' the Ten-Lords Commission, which found clues from the broken delve [Dongtian], believed they wouldn't mind having a heart-to-heart talk with Dan Shu, the main person in charge of the Medicine Bureau.

And at this moment—within the Divine Strategists' Office.

General of the Luofu, Jing Yuan—the Divine Strategists General among the Seven Arbiter-Generals of the Hunt. Of course, the people of Luofu preferred to call him [Blindfolded General].

For various reasons, Jing Yuan's personality could be considered quite good, kind and amiable, rarely getting angry.

But at this moment, his expression was clearly not good, his brows even more tightly furrowed, revealing a hint of anger.

The Chief Strategist of the Xianzhou Luofu, Qingzu, was quite troubled:

"General, currently the Xianzhou's automatons and mechanisms have fallen into chaos, and at the same time, Anti-Matter Legion soldiers have appeared to some extent in various places."

Undoubtedly, this was definitely the handiwork of that Annihilation Gang leader, [Irontomb] 'Iron Curtain.'

Irontomb was most adept at attacking worlds with developed technology, causing AIs to paralyze and defect, causing outer defense arrays to fire at the ground, making flying vehicles like headless flies—according to the few pieces of information the Xianzhou Alliance had obtained, it was said that this guy had a part of [Emperor] Rubert's Anti-Life Equation in his hands, and it was precisely because of this that he was so invincible against technologically advanced worlds.

"What are the losses?"

"Not too great, since the Emperor Rupture, the Xianzhou had already researched countermeasures against it… the main problem is the commotion caused is rather troublesome." Qingzu sighed.

The Xianzhou was also a victim in the Emperor Rupture—that is, the Mechanical Emperor's Wars

Since then, the Xianzhou had been extremely cautious about the use of Mechanical life, only using them in some necessary places.

And even when using them, they would take many precautions.

But even so, being caught off guard by the Anti-Matter Legion like this had thrown Luofu into a rather chaotic state.

At least—those mechanical birds that usually delivered messages were all having problems. Although it wasn't a big problem, its impact on the common people was too great.

Of course, it was also possible that the Artisanship Commission would have a headache, after all, there were too many Mechanical life.

But compared to the Ambrosial Arbor resurgence, it was still much better.

"Cloud Knights at the front line are to be on alert for the Anti-Matter Legion's movements, mobilize the Cloud Knight army to garrison the Artisanship Commission, order the Divination Commission to investigate this matter quickly, and all delves to enter a state of emergency." The experienced Jing Yuan quickly made arrangements, speaking rather coldly and sternly:

"As for those little minions of the Doom of Smoldering Calamity… this debt, we will settle it slowly!"

"Cough…"

In the heat of anger, he couldn't help but feel a tightness in his chest.

Jing Yuan sighed.

He was now old, in terms of Xianzhou people's age—logically speaking, at this age, nine out of ten would have become Mara-Struck, not to mention that he, who was once a member of the High-Cloud Quintet, had also experienced various setbacks.

But for the future of the Xianzhou, Jing Yuan still had to shoulder the heavy responsibility.

As for the candidate for the next General… Fu Qing was virtuous and talented, but unfortunately still lacked a bit of experience.

The Sky-Faring Commission… Yukong was also an unadulterated old thing. With the lifespan of a Foxian, she was already considered elderly.

As for the heads of the other three Commissions, they were either old-timers like him mentoring newbies or people who were incompetent for important tasks.

The current Luofu was clearly entering a state of generational succession crisis.

Sigh… after this incident is over, he should go to the Alchemy Commission to recuperate for a while.