Chapter 524: Qian Yi's 'Sword Heart'

Chapter 524: Qian Yi's 'Sword Heart'

Su Ping pursed his lips as he observed Qian Yi at this moment.

He suddenly stepped into Qian Yi's energy-isolated combat room, catching the attention of Master Yin Luo, who was nearby cultivating the other Quintessence Paper Spirits, and Jian Yue, who was practicing in the distance. He approached the origami person, Qian Yi.

No one knew what Su Ping said to Qian Yi, but this origami person, who had spent most of its time with them, assisting in the challenging and troublesome cultivation of the Heptagram Elemental Body, suddenly underwent a transformation.

They had witnessed Qian Yi creating a sword by combining three origami persons on multiple occasions.

However, this was the first time they saw Qian Yi transform into a sword himself.

Indeed, as an origami person, Qian Yi had also mastered the race skill 'Paper Body Folding'.

Moreover, Qian Yi's paper body folding had reached the Perfected level.

So, before their eyes, Qian Yi's body slowly folded into a sword.

A sword that was slightly larger than an ordinary paper sword.

At this moment, not only did Su Ping's eyebrows furrow and then relax, revealing a look of realization, but even Jian Yue and Master Yin Luo, who were curiously observing the scene, frowned slightly.

Although the paper sword that Qian Yi transformed into was larger and more energetic, with a sharpness that chilled the onlookers, there was something lacking.

Perhaps it was because the sword was held in Su Ping's hand, but it felt somewhat underwhelming, though they couldn't quite pinpoint what was missing.

What was missing?

Su Ping had been pondering this question, and just then, Qian Yi provided an answer.

Qian Yi had once shared his profound understanding of swords with Su Ping, explaining that the folding of a paper sword involved three parts: the sword heart, or sword soul, the hilt, and the blade.

However, if Qian Yi were to transform himself, it seemed like something was missing.

The sword heart!

The sword that Qian Yi had condensed was too empty!

Indeed, this was normal.

Qian Yi's paper body couldn't be infinitely extended, and to form a sword like the one created by three origami persons, it was impossible to solidify the blade's foundation and condense the most robust and solid sword heart.

Without a sword heart, how could the paper body be enhanced? Of course, this was just Su Ping's speculation.

After all, Qian Yi was not just a sword but an origami person, a Paper Immortal Swordsman.

The sword was just one of the forms it could transform into; it could also become a knife, a halberd, or anything else.

Perhaps it didn't need to transform into a sword to solidify its foundation?

However, Su Ping had a certain degree of confidence in his deduction.

The reason was simple.

Aside from Qian Yi's inherent attributes, the last time it evolved, it mysteriously changed from the 'Gold' attribute to the more abstract 'Sword' attribute, a mutated attribute leaning towards the Gold element.

More importantly:

What was Qian Yi originally? An origami person? No!

In the secret realm of the Fengdu Sword King, the spirit of the realm had made it clear.

It was also a promise that Su Ping had yet to fulfill.

Qian Yi's true origin was a sword soul! A soul-based Undead-type companion beast born from a soul seed and the essence of sword intent.

It was the Fengdu Sword King's final attempt to create a brand-new, advanced companion beast.

However, when it was first extracted from the secret realm, the sword soul and the origami person had merged, and the spirit of the realm had also erased Qian Yi's self-awareness and birth memories.

For Su Ping, it was as if Qian Yi had become an entirely different companion beast.

He couldn't accept such an outcome.

But ultimately, Qian Yi's soul was still that sword soul.

Not the so-called sword soul from the Sword Dao Incarnation, which had merged with the skills of the sword body, but the genuine source of the soul.

It was still that sword soul.

A sword soul should naturally be more compatible with a sword body, shouldn't it?

As Su Ping's understanding of companion beast cultivation deepened, he was no longer the inexperienced cultivator who had once focused solely on origami person cultivation.

In fact, from his current perspective, he should have utilized this deduction and idea during Qian Yi's first evolution.

Because this was the path Qian Yi should have taken!

Qian Yi's evolution, in its first stage, had been very satisfying to Su Ping at the time, as the subsequent growth in sword techniques and control over other origami persons had made Qian Yi incredibly powerful.

Especially with the emergence of the Heptagram Elemental Body and the Sword Dao Incarnation.

Not to mention the awe-inspiring improvement in the Golden Spear Technique later on.

However, these advancements were not inherently related to the evolution; in fact, to put it bluntly, there was almost no connection.

The sword soul, being influenced by the essence of sword intent and its origins, and the improvement in the Golden Spear Technique, were entirely due to Qian Yi's natural talent.

The Heptagram Elemental Body was the culmination of the entire origami person companion beast's efforts, not the result of evolution.

Of course, without Qian Yi, it would be difficult for an ordinary origami person to cultivate a Heptagram Elemental Body, even with years of dedicated training.

However, the truth is, Qian Yi's body is not that powerful.

Especially when it comes to evolutionary enhancements.

The Paper Immortal's skills, which seemed impressive at first, now seem rather mediocre.

Evolution, however, is the most crucial stage for a companion beast. If evolution doesn't make it stronger, then it's a failure! At the very least, it can't be considered a particularly successful evolution.

So, after carefully analyzing Qian Yi's origins and attempting to cultivate and evolve from the perspective of an origami person, all of which ended in failure, Su Ping finally understood these insights.

Even now, he is still in the process of making deductions.

But after this period of time, this deduction seems to be largely valid.

Of course, a deduction is still just a deduction. So, how can Qian Yi's Sword Heart and Sword Soul be enhanced?

Previously, the compression of origami people had no use for Qian Yi.

While his paper body compression could compress other origami companion beasts, it was mostly used for the Hundred Swords Unsheathed technique.

It had no use when applied to himself.

Therefore, according to the deduction, the most intuitive and straightforward method is to integrate resources.

Su Ping thought for a moment and turned to Yin Luo beside him:

"Master Yin, do you still have the Vein Peak resource?"

Vein Peak.

A gold-type King-rank resource that can be nurtured in any vein, it is, as its name suggests, a resource that condenses the sharpness of the gold element. It is often used in the cultivation and evolution of tool-type companion beasts.

During this time, relying on his identity as a Celestial Mausoleum Special Beast Tamer, Su Ping has indeed obtained quite a few resources through this connection.

Yin Luo nodded, searched for a while, and quickly found a special metal similar to an ancient halberd, with three prongs.

The middle protruding point was like a sword blade, just a bit smaller.

Su Ping thought for a moment, looked at the object, and said:

"Bring me another bottle of Golden Fusion Balm!"

"Vitality Water, Dreamflower Dew, and Spirit Crystal, grind them into powder..."

As he spoke, each item was handed to Su Ping.

In no time, over ten different resources were delivered.

Su Ping held the Vein Peak in his hand and smeared the Golden Fusion Balm on it.

For a Monarch-ranked companion beast, the resources used are limited unless they are relatively special; otherwise, resources like this are capped at the Emperor rank.

Moreover, some precautions need to be taken.

Resource damage is one aspect; you don't want your companion beast to be severely injured, right?

After completely smearing the pitch-black balm, Su Ping's mind moved, and Qian Yi appeared before him.

"Hmm?"

Su Ping pursed his lips: "Transform into a sword body, connect with the hilt, and wrap around this Vein Peak. Let this thing fuse with the sword body and become the Sword Soul!"

"Hmm?"

At Su Ping's command, Qian Yi didn't hesitate at all.

Once again, it transformed into a sword, and during the transformation process, it quickly wrapped and fused with the Vein Peak coated with Golden Fusion Balm.

A strange, somewhat bloated long sword appeared before Su Ping.

Without hesitation, Su Ping placed the paper longsword into the Vitality Water.

Although Life-type resources have the least effect on Undead-type companion beasts, the ground-up Spirit Crystal will still enhance the effect.

And water-shaped resources have the highest absorption efficiency for origami people.

Paper dissolves in water; this is inevitable.

It must be said that Su Ping's idea is excellent.

He considered all possibilities and potential harm to his companion beast.

But in the end, the result was still quite disappointing.

Yes, it failed.

However, the failure wasn't too severe.

After three full hours, Qian Yi, with a sharp aura, emerged from within.

Qian Yi opened his eyes with a slightly dazed expression, which Su Ping guessed was the case.

At this moment, Qian Yi began to move slowly.

After a slight sway, it quickly transformed back into an origami person.

Even with the protection of the Golden Fusion Balm and the recovery of the Vitality Water,

Qian Yi's paper body still had scratches on it.

The little guy didn't seem to mind at all, blinking his big, anime-like eyes:

"Hmm!"

Su Ping didn't pay attention to it. After sensing that its life force was intact, he picked up the pitch-black Vein Peak that seemed to have been pulled out by the little thing.

"Breeder Su!"

Jian Yue finally spoke up from the side, and Su Ping turned to look at her. She was holding a scrubber, and he nodded.

The remaining Golden Fusion Balm residue was scrubbed clean, revealing the original state of the Vein Peak.

However, after the original state of the Vein Peak was revealed, Su Ping's eyebrows slightly lifted.

The previous deep contemplation and furrowed brows completely disappeared.

At this moment, on the Vein Peak, which resembled a gilded halberd, there appeared an extremely peculiar mark.

This mark seemed to be the result of vigorously rubbing with sandpaper countless times.

For a resource like the Vein Peak, which was of the Emperor Rank, such an action could only cause it to fade slightly, and even the effects or the sharp golden aura on it would not change.

However, this mark was enough to explain many things.

Su Ping blinked, lying back in the large chair in the laboratory, watching Qian Yi shaking off the remaining Golden Fusion Balm on her body.

His mind quickly raced.

What did this abrasion mean?

He didn't choose to ask Qian Yi because, after waking up, she had already given him feedback. During that process, she couldn't feel anything, as if she had been drugged and lost all sensation in her body.

However, it was precisely because of this that Su Ping felt his idea was correct.

What was incorrect, however, was the Vein Peak material resource.

So, what was correct?

Su Ping engaged his entire brainpower, thinking about all his knowledge of gold-type resources, the myriad of their characteristics, and the reason why Qian Yi had undergone such a change.

At the same time, he turned and instructed:

"Bring me all the existing gold-type resources."

Now, he no longer cared about how to integrate the Heaven-Circling Quintessence Body into Qian Yi's body, as he had said before that this wasn't a difficult task.

Qian Yi's control over the five elements and her manipulation of the quintessence paper diagram had already reached the pinnacle.

Once the evolution was confirmed, using the five-element resources on herself and then employing Master Zhu's method to cultivate the quintessence elemental heart in advance would almost guarantee success.

For Su Ping, the real challenge was Qian Yi's evolution!

Jian Yue and Yin Luo, neither of them disturbed him. The two, a master breeder and a senior breeder, worked silently like apprentices, performing menial tasks.

Time passed by without Su Ping noticing.

A day and a night went by as Su Ping continuously had Qian Yi test various gold-type metal resources.

However, what made Su Ping's eyes bloodshot was that no matter what kind of characteristic metal resource was used, Qian Yi showed no signs of evolutionary fluctuations or radiance in that state.

So, what was it? Or was his evolutionary theory, like the previous period, failing again?

Su Ping couldn't help but doubt himself once more.

However, this doubt was quickly crushed again.

He wouldn't let his mind wander.

Just then, from dawn to dusk, Jian Yue finally interrupted Su Ping's breeding process, speaking softly:

"Breeder Su, the Golden Fusion Balm is all used up."

Su Ping nodded but didn't respond.

Instead, he continued to ask:

"Are there any more undead-type metal resources?"

The only change from this night's attempts was the Nether Chill Iron, an undead-type metal resource, which showed even more severe abrasion marks.

Upon hearing this, the two people present shook their heads.

Su Ping's eyebrows furrowed, and he meditated for ten minutes.

Only then did his restlessness and irritability subside. His mind emptied, as if the Ten Thousand Spirit Diagram had activated, and the simulated space appeared in Su Ping's mind.

All the repetitive experiments from the night before flashed through his mind, and every change and subtle difference was reflected in Su Ping's heart.

Why was there a difference with the undead-type resources?

Of course, Qian Yi herself was of the undead type, so this was natural.

But why was this so? Moreover, even the undead-type metal resources couldn't bring about a metamorphosis in Qian Yi, let alone a glimmer of evolutionary light.

This obviously didn't have much significance.

However, Su Ping had to dig deep into this matter.

It was at this moment that Su Ping seemed to have caught something!

The only difference in the undead-type metal resources was that they were tainted by the negative power of undead souls.

Suddenly, Su Ping's eyes lit up again.

He knew what kind of resource he should use next for the experiment.

It was a special 'resource' that he had never tried before but had indeed come across many times.

(End of Chapter)

Chapter end