Cohabitation with Sword Spirit-Chapter 89 - 74.5: Strategy of Psychological Warfare

Chapter 89: Chapter 74.5: Strategy of Psychological Warfare

In the next moment, Li Tianya immediately withdrew the fierce Sword Qi that permeated in all directions.

Continuing to launch a strong attack would be meaningless; even if he elevated Inch Sword Intent to the complete Inch and Mile, he had no confidence in defeating this ancient hero from the Primordial Era.

Although the change just now was fleeting, it was enough for Li Tianya to see the might of the Celestial Divine Sword. The Pure White Sword Body, made of an unknown material, was absolutely indestructible, placing Wang Jiu naturally in an unwinnable position. Moreover, the sword’s clever use of power was astounding; even in absolute adversity, it could borrow the opponent’s power to counterattack... the gap in their understanding of power was simply too great.

Facing setbacks, Li Tianya remained calm, as this was expected. Since he concluded the opponent was an ancient creature surviving from the Primordial Era, he never hoped to harm him; the murderous Sword Qi was merely a probing appetizer.

However, despite their gap in strength, unable to kill doesn’t mean there’s no way.

Li Tianya withdrew the Sword Qi and immediately reached out to condense True Essence, drawing two mystical patterns in front of him. The solid and pure True Essence within his body, as firm as a mountain under the agitation of his Primordial Spirit, transformed into a soft force, locking the entire space.

The hovering Pure White Long Sword instantly froze, unmoving.

After a while, Li Tianya confirmed the sword was indeed locked and immobile, finally letting out a breath.

"See that? Although I indeed can’t harm you, I can control you. I have three or five similar spells, and if it were a Cultivator of my realm but specializing in Immortal Techniques and Divine Techniques, they’d have even more methods, not to mention the Saint Sect’s power far surpasses my own foolish self; you shouldn’t be too confident...."

However, before Li Tianya could finish speaking, he suddenly felt a slight sting in his Primordial Spirit, as though he had suffered some backlash. In the next moment, the sting intensified, the pain blossoming like an explosion, and the Immortal Techniques firmly bound by his Primordial Spirit showed signs of losing control.

With eyes tempered by Sword Qi, Li Tianya incredulously saw a vortex resembling a black hole appeared in front of him.

With the Pure White Sword Body as the core, surrounding energies were drawn away like water absorbed by a whale, disappearing without a trace.

The Immortal Techniques securing the space, like a helpless girl encountering **, had her garments brutally ripped apart, her sensitive areas fully falling under the opponent’s control!

Out of necessity, Li Tianya hurriedly waved his hand, forcibly withdrawing his Immortal Techniques, quickly retracting the remaining True Essence into his body, intensifying the backlash on his Primordial Spirit, causing a world-dizzying pain... but it was better than continuing to have his True Essence drained.

If he hadn’t confirmed Wang Jiu as an unparalleled hero from the Primordial Era, Li Tianya would truly suspect he was facing a millennia-old demon. Such a method of breaking someone’s Immortal Techniques and then absorbing True Essence is clearly the favorite of nefarious heretics!

After Li Tianya withdrew the Immortal Techniques, the Pure White Long Sword did not continue to pursue. It swayed in mid-air for a moment, then slowly reorganized the Illusion Sword Technique, manifesting its Sword Spirit True Form. Compared to its earlier appearance, the current illusion seemed somewhat blurry and unstable.

However, at this moment, Wang Jiu’s slightly blurry visage, in Li Tianya’s eyes, bore a different meaning. The hazy distortion on his face signifying his depth and unfathomable nature!

This creature has survived since the Primordial Era... a bona fide monster! Even in his most vulnerable state, he could instantly shatter a Mountain-Overturning Realm Peak Stage expert’s proud Immortal Techniques; no wonder he led the Cultivators to win the Immortal Demon War!

Laughably, I even thought to use Inch and Mile Sword Qi to remind him not to underestimate worldly heroes... clearly, it was I who underestimated the Celestial Divine Sword!

Yet, just as Li Tianya was self-mocking, he heard Wang Jiu earnestly say.

"Thank you for your reminder, I have understood."

Li Tianya shook his head with a bitter smile and said, "Elder, you don’t need to comfort me; brandishing an axe in front of a master carpenter, truly ridiculous!"

Wang Jiu seriously refuted, "It’s not ridiculous; your warning is very meaningful."

Hearing Wang Jiu speak seriously, Li Tianya raised his head in confusion, "How so? My full-effort Sword Qi and Immortal Techniques had no effect on you... though the Saint Sect’s cultivators are better than me, they couldn’t accomplish such incredible feats."

Wang Jiu explained, "Ordinary attack methods are indeed ineffective against me, but control-oriented Immortal Techniques I cannot rely solely on the Sword Body to fend off. I can break your Immortal Techniques because I’m very familiar with your Li Family’s Immortal Techniques driven by Sword Heart, so I can immediately find a flaw, opening Sword World to redirect the energy into it. Though this has significant side effects, processing the alien True Essence flowing into Sword World takes at least three to five days. Also, with other Immortal Techniques, I can indeed break them, but it will take some time."

Li Tianya said curiously, "Just a bit of time to break them? That doesn’t matter; as long as the opponent can only temporarily control you, they can’t do anything else."

Wang Jiu shook his head seriously: "Of course, there is a way. The enemy can completely engage in various disgraceful desecrations while controlling me."

"...Desecration?" At that moment, Li Tianya felt his brain was a bit stuck.

"Yes, just now while breaking your Immortal Technique, I considered, if I stood in an opposing position, facing an opponent that couldn’t be eliminated but only temporarily controlled, what measures should be taken."

"And then?"

Wang Jiu said, "My conclusion is to subject them to shameful desecration. On one hand, it can humiliate their character and cause mental damage, and on the other, according to the traditional psychology of human society, humiliating the enemy could greatly boost our morale. Cases worth referencing include ’The Last Fate of the Female Literary Cultivator’ and ’Red Blood’ and other classic battle histories."

Li Tianya was left dumbfounded: "What kind of classic battle history is this!?"

But Wang Jiu was completely immersed in this enlightening academic discussion, saying: "Any social creature with higher thinking abilities and independent self-awareness will have a so-called sense of self-respect. Attacking this point can effectively bypass physical defenses and cause mental damage. For example, for the Immortal Celestial Divine Sword, we can refer to storylines in ’***’, forcibly inserting it into a sword scabbard carved from a giant carrot. Tsk, just imagining that scene in my mind, I feel hurt."

"..."

"Oh right, you could also refer to ’Immortal Technique Maiden Xiaoyi’, using the Immortal Spirit Transformation Technique to create a carrot spirit with hundreds of tentacles, spraying freshly pressed carrot juice on the Pure White Sword Body. Tsk, I feel wounded again."

"The Sword Spirit Senior has an unusually unique imagination, my respect..."

"This is just a simple sense of innovation. However, although innovation may sound simple, back then even among the Jiu Immortal Venerables, only Zhao Yuming, Shang Lanfei, and Jing Hong had a sense of innovation. Alas, it’s a pity I didn’t get your inspiration earlier, otherwise, I could have employed more flexible tactics during the final battle to gain the upper hand sooner."

"Huh?"

"Though time has muddled my memories of that final battle, I recall initially overpowering the Demon Emperor, but due to the Demon-slaying Blade breaking, I couldn’t rapidly defeat his Undying Emperor Body. As a result, he managed to catch a breath and recovered quite a bit of strength, dragging the battle to the late stage. If I had thought of this trick back then, I could have used the Moon Spirit Finger Sword to lock the Demon Emperor and thoroughly humiliate him... Though I’m not sure what his sensitive points might be—do you think rubbing carrot juice on him might work?"

"I, I don’t know..."

Wang Jiu lamented: "Indeed, having not experienced the Immortal Demon war, you know nothing about the Demon Race and naturally have no clue about the Demon Emperor’s weaknesses. However, if I’d thought of this method earlier, at least Shang Lanfei and others could have helped me think of ways. She was particularly adept at humiliating others, for instance, your ancestor Li Jiulong once offended her with his words, and she sent his Flying Sword Communication numbers to the Longyang Sect, Broken Sleeve Sect, and South Wind Hall, causing him so much trouble that he even considered self-destructing his Primordial Spirit several times."

Li Tianya was now drenched in cold sweat, feeling that the clear thinking he had managed to regain thanks to Wind and Cloud Tower’s resonance was starting to cloud again.

This topic needed to end quickly!

Thinking of this, Li Tianya hurriedly said: "In short, though the world is peaceful nowadays, it doesn’t mean everyone is good-hearted. Since you, Sword Spirit Senior, have discovered your own weaknesses, you must proceed with caution."

Wang Jiu said, "I understand. Until my strength recovers enough to protect myself, I won’t rashly approach the Saint Sect... Tsk, carrot sword scabbard, freshly pressed carrot juice, incredible they thought of such things."

Li Tianya was drenched in cold sweat: clearly, it was all your own idea!

Wang Jiu asked, "If it’s inconvenient to confront the Saint Sect directly, do you have any other means at your disposal?"

Li Tianya said, "Regarding that period of history, it’s not just me who’s interested. The Seven Great Noble Families each hold fragments of history, and they’re all somewhat puzzled by the twisted history of the Primordial Era and Ice Age. Among these families, the Shen Family and Zhao Family are the most deeply invested in historical research, but the Zhao Family is genuinely difficult to deal with, and the Shen Family... ever since that rogue Fengyun took Shen Yue’e home, they’ve become sworn enemies with the Li Family."

"So that means there’s no way, right?"

"Not exactly—besides the pieces of history kept by the noble families, Xiangzhou Continent has several mystical historical relics filled with puzzles. For us, because of the incomplete historical records and Immortal Dao civilization, it’s difficult to uncover the true nature of these relics, so we can only assume they’re related to the Primordial Era. However, as someone from that era, you might find clues within the relics... The Primordial Ruin closest to QingCyan Cloud City is within the Li Family territory, 200 miles north of the city is the Trial Cave situated below Cyan Peak Mountain. Demon Essences continuously appear there—the more you venture in, the stronger they become. Up until now, we’ve been unable to decipher the principles at work. We can only control the extent of the Demon Essence’s appearance. Currently, the upper layers of the Trial Cave are open for disciples below the Cloud Surge Realm to practice combat, while the lower six layers have been sealed off as forbidden areas, though I can grant you a passphrase. Additionally, in Shen City, there’s a Blood Moon Ruin. Ordinary cultivators who approach it are besieged by miscellaneous thoughts and Heart Demons. Deepening in recklessly could lead to a mental breakdown, with the Primordial Spirit shattering. Nowadays, it’s used by the Shen Family to hone their wills and refine their Divine Senses. Like the Trial Cave, deep within the ruin lie inscrutable secrets."

Subsequently, Li Tianya pointed out a few other Primordial Ruins, but as he continued, he couldn’t help but shake his head: "Now that I think about it, the largest Primordial Ruin on Xiangzhou Continent is still the Saint Sect’s Main Altar in Heaven-Reaching City."