ARK SPIRIT

Hao Nhien looked at the white-robed young man before him once more.

That single sword strike had already been enough for him to understand that the man before him was definitely no ordinary Foundation Establishment cultivator.

He cupped his hands.

“Brother Kiem, if you don’t mind, please stay and have a cup of tea.”

“If you hadn’t stepped in today, my younger sister and I would probably have faced quite a bit more trouble. A cup of tea may not be worth much, but at least it will let me express a little of my gratitude.”

Tieu Kiem looked at the old boat, then at Hao Nhien.

His gaze lingered for a moment before he smiled faintly.

“All right.”

“I’m not in a hurry either.”

With that, Tieu Kiem walked over to the small wooden table on the deck and sat down naturally.

Hao Nhien turned toward Tieu Lan.

“Brother Kiem, this is my younger sister, Tieu Lan.”

“Tieu Lan, come thank him, then make some tea for Brother Kiem.”

Tieu Lan paused slightly.

Perhaps she did not understand why Hao Nhien had introduced her that way, but after only a brief hesitation, she went along with it.

She stepped forward and bowed.

“Greetings, Senior Tieu.”

“Thank you, Senior, for helping the two of us.”

Tieu Kiem immediately waved a hand.

“Don’t call me Senior.”

“I’m only twenty-two. Hearing those two words makes me sound like I’ve lived for several hundred years.”

He laughed.

“Hao Nhien calls me Brother Kiem. You can call me that too.”

Tieu Lan lowered her head slightly.

“Yes, Brother Kiem.”

“That’s better.”

Tieu Kiem looked at her once more and smiled.

“I’ll call you Tieu Lan, all right?”

“Yes.”

After answering, she excused herself and went back into the cabin to prepare tea.

Only Hao Nhien and Tieu Kiem remained on the deck, sitting across from each other.

The atmosphere had eased considerably.

The cool river breeze swept past, carrying away most of the lingering smell of blood.

Hao Nhien looked at the jade bottle Tieu Kiem had just given him.

“Brother Kiem, this Detoxification Pill…”

“Just take it.”

Tieu Kiem spoke casually.

“It isn’t anything precious. That poison mainly seals the meridians. With your cultivation, forcing it out by yourself would take quite a while.”

“This pill may not remove it completely, but at the very least it should loosen the poisonous force.”

Hao Nhien nodded.

He took out a pill and swallowed it.

The medicinal power dissolved quickly.

A warm current gradually spread from his abdomen.

The cold, rigid force sealing his meridians did not disappear immediately, but it was clearly beginning to weaken.

Hao Nhien tried guiding a thread of spiritual qi.

This time, it moved.

Still very slowly, but at least it was no longer completely locked down.

“Thank you, Brother Kiem.”

“No need to keep being so polite.”

Tieu Kiem laughed.

“If you thank me a few more times, I’ll start feeling awkward drinking your tea.”

Hao Nhien laughed as well.

At that moment, a faint fragrance of tea began drifting out from the cabin.

A short while later, Tieu Lan emerged.

She carried a small wooden tray in both hands.

Three white porcelain teacups rested on it, thin wisps of steam rising into the cool air over the river.

She gently placed the tray on the wooden table.

“Brother Kiem, Young Master, the tea is ready.”

Tieu Kiem looked at the tray.

No precious cups.

No precious tea.

All three porcelain cups were perfectly ordinary.

The wooden table was simple as well.

Even the boat itself, at a glance, looked like nothing more than an old vessel drifting downstream.

Yet within the thin steam rising from the tea was a remarkably clean fragrance.

Not strong.

Not sharp.

There was a faint bitterness from mountain tea leaves, mixed with the fresh clarity of medicinal herbs, like young grass after rain.

The three sat around the table.

Pale moonlight had begun spreading across the river.

The water shimmered as though covered by a thin layer of silver.

The river breeze swept across the deck, carrying the dampness of the water and the scent of reeds from both banks.

Tieu Kiem picked up his cup.

He brought it close to his nose and inhaled lightly.

Then he took a sip.

And nodded.

“Good tea.”

Tieu Lan immediately became a little tense.

“Brother Kiem praises it too highly. It’s only ordinary tea.”

“The tea leaves are ordinary.”

Tieu Kiem set the cup down.

“But the hand that brewed them is not.”

Tieu Lan looked slightly startled.

Tieu Kiem looked at the tea in his cup.

“The temperature is just right.”

“The medicinal herbs don’t overwhelm the tea.”

“The bitterness remains, while the sweetness afterward has not been forced too strongly.”

He looked at Tieu Lan.

“You just went through a life-and-death ordeal, yet your hands were still this steady while brewing tea.”

“At the very least, when you stand before a teapot, you can calm your heart.”

Tieu Lan lowered her head.

Her cheeks flushed slightly.

“I only wanted to make a cup of tea so Brother Kiem and Young Master could feel a little better.”

“That makes it even better.”

Tieu Kiem smiled.

“That is what tea should be.”

“Expensive leaves, expensive water, and expensive cups are not what make tea good.”

“When someone needs a warm drink, and it happens to be there at the right moment—that is enough.”

He took another sip.

After a while, he suddenly said,

“I was born in the Sword Sect.”

“When I opened my eyes, I saw swords.”

“When I walked, I trained with swords.”

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“Even when I slept, I thought about swords.”

“Everyone used to say that when they saw me, they saw the sword itself. When I was young, I was quite proud of that.”

He looked at the teacup in his hand and chuckled.

“But after drinking your tea today, I find myself thinking a little differently.”

“Tea has its own path.”

“The sword has its own path.”

“Anyone who truly puts their heart into something, whether brewing tea or practicing the sword, has something others can learn from.”

Tieu Lan hurriedly shook her head.

“Brother Kiem is teasing me again.”

“How could I compare myself to Brother Kiem’s sword path?”

She paused.

Then, as if something had occurred to her, she spoke softly but clearly.

“I brewed the tea.”

“But what Brother Kiem feels after drinking it belongs to Brother Kiem.”

“Someone else drinking the same cup might not think the same way.”

She looked at Tieu Kiem.

“I imagine it is the same in the Sword Sect.”

“People may practice the same sword art and wield the same kind of sword, yet each person’s understanding will still be different.”

“So perhaps what Brother Kiem just said is not because my tea is profound.”

“But because Brother Kiem is looking at the tea through his own sword heart.”

Tieu Kiem paused slightly.

His gaze rested on Tieu Lan for a little longer.

Then he laughed.

“Smart.”

He nodded.

“Very smart.”

Tieu Lan blushed slightly and lowered her head, saying nothing more.

Hao Nhien sat beside them, drinking tea as he watched the two speak.

Just as Tieu Lan turned toward him, their eyes met.

Hao Nhien suddenly found it amusing.

People with strong comprehension really were troublesome to listen to.

It was only a cup of tea, yet somehow they could talk about tea, swords, states of mind, and enlightenment.

Who would have thought that Tieu Lan, who usually just quietly tended medicinal herbs, could open her mouth and produce so much philosophy?

He took a sip of his tea.

“I’m simpler.”

“Drinking tea is just drinking tea.”

“Maybe I never really drank tea before.”

“I was just drinking water with tea leaves in it.”

Tieu Kiem froze.

Tieu Lan froze as well.

Then all three of them burst out laughing.

Their laughter drifted lightly across the river.

A small boat.

Three cups of warm tea.

After a life-and-death struggle, this moment felt rare enough that one wanted to hold on to it a little longer.

After a while, Tieu Kiem set down his cup.

His gaze shifted toward Hao Nhien.

“Now let’s talk about something serious.”

Hao Nhien set his cup down as well.

“Ask whatever you want, Brother Kiem.”

Tieu Kiem looked at him.

“Hao Nhien, I’m rather curious.”

“You’re only at the fifth layer of Qi Condensation.”

“But that poison user looked at you as though he had seen a ghost.”

“He said you killed his big brother and his little brother.”

“I want to know how you did it.”

He paused briefly.

“If there’s anything inconvenient to explain, you don’t have to.”

“I don’t have the habit of forcing others to reveal their secrets.”

Hao Nhien remained silent for a breath.

Then he nodded.

“There isn’t much that’s difficult to say.”

“Brother Kiem, have you heard of the Quan family’s Body-Soul Fist Art?”

Tieu Kiem immediately raised an eyebrow.

“Of course.”

“That cultivation art used to be very famous.”

He leaned lightly back in his chair.

“When the Quan family was still flourishing, the Body-Soul Fist Art was one of the arts that made quite a few people around Thanh Van City wary.”

“But the Quan family has been declining for many years.”

“Fewer and fewer people have been able to truly cultivate the art.”

“Over time, the younger generation stopped paying much attention to it.”

He looked at Hao Nhien.

“You cultivate the Body-Soul Fist Art?”

“Yes.”

Hao Nhien nodded.

“And not only cultivate it.”

“I’ve also gained a different kind of understanding from it.”

Tieu Kiem did not interrupt.

Hao Nhien continued.

“The Body-Soul Fist Art concerns both body and soul.”

“I discovered that if I focus the power of the soul into a single point, I can directly affect an opponent’s soul.”

“It isn’t powerful.”

“And it cannot last long.”

“But if it lands when the opponent is unprepared...”

“it can make his intent falter for a brief instant.”

Tieu Kiem set down his teacup.

His expression immediately became more serious.

“You comprehended a soul attack from the Body-Soul Fist Art?”

“You could say that.”

Hao Nhien answered directly.

“Right now, I only understand a little of it.”

“I don’t know how it may evolve in the future.”

Tieu Kiem looked at him for a while.

“No wonder.”

Hao Nhien recounted his fight with Moc Luc.

He did not hide the calculations behind it.

Nor did he need to turn the Body-Soul Fist Art into some mysterious story.

Only the things that truly had nothing to do with that cultivation art

the Cosmic Ark.

The Spirit Sword within his meridians.

He did not mention those.

Tieu Kiem remained silent for a long time after hearing the story.

Then he nodded.

“Very clever combat.”

Hao Nhien cupped his hands.

“Just luck.”

“No.”

Tieu Kiem shook his head.

“Luck would have been the Quan family’s boat really appearing at that exact moment.”

“But you used a single sentence to make your opponent create his own opening, then struck with your strongest method at exactly the right instant...”

“that isn’t luck.”

“That is knowing where you are weak.”

“Knowing where your opponent is strong.”

“Then refusing to give him the chance to use what he is strongest at.”

He looked at Hao Nhien.

“The stronger person does not necessarily win.”

“The person who knows exactly what he is doing is the harder one to kill.”

Hao Nhien fell silent for a moment.

He liked that sentence.

Tieu Kiem continued:

“As for a soul attack causing protective true qi to stall, that is not difficult to understand.”

“Spiritual awareness is, at its core, part of how the soul directs and senses spiritual power.”

“Every cultivator must possess that ability. Otherwise, cultivation and the circulation of true qi would be impossible.”

“It is simply that during Qi Condensation, spiritual awareness remains confined within the body.”

“Once one reaches Foundation Establishment, the soul and spiritual awareness become stronger and can truly extend beyond the body to sense the surroundings, control artifacts, and even command a sword from a distance.”

He looked at Hao Nhien.

“So when Moc Luc’s soul was struck and his intent faltered, it makes perfect sense that his protective true qi would lose control for that instant.”

Hao Nhien’s eyes brightened slightly.

Those words helped him better understand what he had discovered during the battle.

Tieu Kiem continued:

“But do not take that to mean soul attacks are invincible.”

“At Qi Condensation, they truly are terrifying.”

“Most cultivators at this realm still have no way to properly defend their souls.”

“But from Foundation Establishment onward, spiritual awareness can extend beyond the body, and the soul itself becomes far stronger.”

“Some people also possess soul-protecting artifacts.”

“Others specialize in soul arts.”

“Against people like that, your soul attack may not merely fail...”

“you may even suffer a backlash.”

Hao Nhien nodded.

“I understand.”

The Spirit Sword was powerful.

But it had never been invincible.

If he treated it as a guaranteed winning card, sooner or later that very card would get him killed.

Tieu Kiem thought for a moment before saying:

“In truth, although comprehending a soul attack from the Body-Soul Fist Art is rare, it is not completely unreasonable.”

“That art has always been known for cultivating both the body and the soul.”

“It is simply that the Quan family has declined for too long.”

“Outsiders gradually stopped caring how far that cultivation art could truly be taken.”

He smiled faintly.

“If word of what happened today spreads, I’m afraid quite a few people will begin remembering the name Body-Soul Fist Art again.”

Hao Nhien fell into thought.

That might not be entirely bad.

At the very least, if outsiders believed his soul ability came from a Quan family cultivation art, their attention would not be focused solely on him.

But he still did not know what the current Quan family was like.

He could not trust them too quickly.

Tieu Kiem took another sip of tea.

“Are you from the Quan family of Thanh Van City?”

Hao Nhien shook his head slightly.

“Not exactly.”

He said:

“I only know that I belong to a branch of the Quan family in Dong City.”

“One reason I’m going to Thanh Van City this time is to find out whether the Quan family there still recognizes our branch.”

“Tieu Lan and I have been separated from my father for a long time.”

“Our connection to the Quan family in Thanh Van City is not very clear.”

He paused.

“My father rarely mentioned them in the past.”

“Perhaps their relationship was not good.”

“Only recently, through a few people I met on the road, did I learn a little more.”

Tieu Kiem nodded.

“The Quan family of Thanh Van City is not the greatest power there.”

“But they still have foundations in the region.”

“Even after declining, the name Quan still carries some weight.”

He looked at Hao Nhien.

“If they learn that you’ve cultivated the Body-Soul Fist Art to this level and even comprehended a soul attack on your own—”

“as long as their heads still work properly, they’ll definitely value you.”

Hao Nhien smiled.

“And if their heads don’t work properly?”

Tieu Kiem smiled as well.

“Then you run.”

“That simple?”

“If you don’t run, are you planning to stay and let them harm you?”

Hao Nhien burst out laughing.

Tieu Lan, sitting beside him, could not stop the corner of her mouth from curving upward either.

Tieu Kiem continued:

“As far as I remember, none of the Quan family’s younger generation currently has a name on the Profound Ranking.”

“If they still have any ambition to restore the family’s reputation, someone like you could easily become the focus of great expectations.”

Hao Nhien immediately asked:

“What is the Profound Ranking?”

Tieu Kiem looked at him.

Then laughed.

“You really know nothing about the outside world.”

Hao Nhien remained perfectly calm.

“That’s why I have to ask Brother Kiem.”

“All right.”

Tieu Kiem set his teacup down.

“Then listen carefully.”

“Within roughly ten thousand li around Thanh Van City, there have long been four rankings.”

“Heaven.”

“Earth.”

“Profound.”

“Yellow.”

“The four rankings record outstanding figures at different cultivation realms.”

“The Yellow Ranking is for Qi Condensation cultivators under twenty.”

“The Profound Ranking is for Foundation Establishment cultivators under thirty.”

“The Earth Ranking is for Golden Core cultivators under forty.”

“The Heaven Ranking is for Nascent Soul cultivators under one hundred.”

“Each ranking has only one hundred places.”

Hao Nhien and Tieu Lan both listened carefully.

Tieu Kiem continued:

“If you want to enter a ranking, you can register in Thanh Van City.”

“Then challenge someone who currently holds a position.”

“If you win, you take his rank.”

“If someone on the ranking deliberately avoids a challenge beyond the permitted time, they also lose the right to keep their position.”

Hao Nhien murmured softly:

“Heaven, Earth, Profound, Yellow…”

“Four rankings.”

Tieu Kiem shook his head.

“The Yellow Ranking and Heaven Ranking now exist almost in name only.”

“Why?”

“The Yellow Ranking is too low in cultivation level.”

“Qi Condensation changes too quickly.”

“Someone may be at the sixth layer today and the eighth layer a few months later.”

“Young cultivators under twenty change even faster.”

“Maintaining a ranking like that costs manpower and resources, but offers little value.”

He took a sip of tea.

“The Heaven Ranking is the opposite.”

“Nascent Soul cultivators today are all major powers capable of holding down an entire region.”

“Some remain in seclusion year-round.”

“Some travel in search of opportunities.”

“Some simply do not care about that kind of reputation.”

“Expecting them to constantly compete for positions on a ranking..”

“is difficult.”

Tieu Kiem chuckled.

“I once read in an ancient record that in a very distant age, the Remnant Cloud Continent was far stronger than it is now.”

“Some legends even claim that Nascent Soul cultivators were once as common as Golden Core cultivators are today.”

“But whether that is true or false.”

“I don’t know.”

Hao Nhien’s gaze darkened slightly as he listened.

The Remnant Cloud Continent.

Once again, the past of this continent.

If even part of what the ancient records said was true, then how much had the world declined?

Tieu Kiem continued:

“The most active rankings now are the Profound Ranking and the Earth Ranking.”

“The Profound Ranking is where young Foundation Establishment geniuses compete.”

“The Earth Ranking is where outstanding Golden Core cultivators make their names.”

“Getting onto a ranking brings more than reputation.”

“Sects will notice.”

“Clans will notice.”

“Merchant associations will notice too.”

“Spirit stones.”

“Secret realms.”

“Opportunities to become a disciple.”

“Even marriage arrangements with major clans.”

“All of those can come from holding a sufficiently high position.”

Hao Nhien slowly nodded.

“So that’s how it is.”

He looked at Tieu Kiem.

“Then Brother Kiem must also have a place on the Profound Ranking?”

Tieu Kiem laughed loudly.

“I do.”

“Seventy-ninth.”

Hao Nhien looked surprised.

“Seventy-ninth?”

“Mm.”

Tieu Kiem shrugged.

“Nothing worth being proud of.”

Hao Nhien looked at him.

“Brother Kiem just killed a seventh-layer Qi Condensation cultivator as easily as slaughtering a chicken.”

“And you’re a Foundation Establishment sword cultivator.”

“Seventy-ninth on the Profound Ranking still isn’t worth being proud of?”

Tieu Kiem laughed.

“You’re comparing Qi Condensation with Foundation Establishment.”

“Of course I look strong to you.”

He set down his teacup.

“I’m twenty-two.”

“Seventh layer of Foundation Establishment.”

“In the eyes of ordinary people, that is indeed not bad.”

“But the Profound Ranking does not measure ordinary people.”

“Most of the top ten have already reached the peak of Foundation Establishment.”

“They are only one step away from Golden Core.”

“There are a few of them...”

“that even I would avoid if I met them now.”

Tieu Lan drew in a quiet breath.

Twenty-two years old.

Seventh layer of Foundation Establishment.

Seventy-ninth on the Profound Ranking.

One sword to kill Moc Hoa.

And yet most of those in the top ten had already reached the peak of Foundation Establishment.

Hao Nhien silently looked out over the river.

For the first time, he had a clearer picture of what the true younger generation of this world looked like.

Thanh Van Town was too small.

Moc Luc was too small.

Even Tieu Kiem—the man whose swordsmanship had seemed almost untouchable to him—was only ranked seventy-ninth on the Profound Ranking.

Then how strong would the top ten be?