Chapter Forty: The Spirit of the Sword

The storm clouds above churned violently, intensifying the oppressive atmosphere. The ninth heavenly tribulation was slow to descend, and Bingyan’s heart grew puzzled. “What is the tribulation lightning up to?” Soon, he understood: the surrounding spiritual energy was continuously streaming into the sky, accumulating power, and the energy being gathered was becoming ever greater. Bingyan grew anxious. Judging by the pressure, he realized that the ninth tribulation lightning was far stronger than the previous eight combined.

In an instant, the ninth divine thunder struck, its momentum unstoppable, shattering all resistance. A silver flash plummeted from the heavens and reached Bingyan’s head in a heartbeat. “Ah—!” The tremendous pressure shook him, forcing a cry of agony from his lips, and blood spurted from his mouth.

Distracted for a moment, the Lingyu violet energy within him lost control, spinning furiously and greedily absorbing the spiritual energy of the heavens and the divine thunder. Bingyan could not withstand it; the surging violet energy rampaged through his body, filling his meridians and spiritual palace with purple light. Fortunately, five banners shielded his nascent soul, sparing it from harm.

But this could not last. Bingyan felt himself on the verge of exploding, and sadly, much of the divine thunder’s power still lingered outside. Despair crept in; he expected nothing but destruction.

Yet heaven never utterly abandons anyone; even in adversity, a thread of hope remains.

Just as Bingyan’s consciousness began to fade, his body underwent another transformation. His garments, long since reduced to dust by the lightning, gave way to an uncanny metamorphosis. His hair grew longer, not the pale blue of his former Lingyu form, but a gentle violet; his chest slowly swelled until it resembled the budding curves of a young girl; his legs, arms, and waist grew slender and pale.

At the brink of collapse, a sliver of hope emerged, and unexpectedly, the Lingyu form manifested.

The female Lingyu form was the optimal vessel for Lingyu violet energy. As Bingyan became a woman, the violet energy within her madly fused with her flesh, absorbing as much as possible. Each day, she absorbed spiritual energy and converted it into Lingyu violet energy, but never before had she received such a powerful force as the divine thunder. She seized the opportunity, absorbing everything she could.

But the divine thunder’s strength was overwhelming; soon, even the Lingyu form could not contain so much violet energy. Saturated, the violet energy could no longer merge, though it kept transforming. Fortunately, her body was miraculous: excess violet energy overflowed outside, causing no harm. Bingyan marveled at this.

The violet energy did not dissipate into the air but instead gathered on the blue sword in Bingyan’s hand. Encircled by violet light, the sword gradually absorbed the energy until it ceased to be a pure blue blade and became a violet sword.

The tribulation finally ended, and the storm clouds dispersed.

From afar, a black and a white beam of light shot swiftly toward Bingyan, merging into her before she could react.

How many primal sources exist in the world? Bingyan would have said five, the ones she had acquired. But in truth, there are eight: metal, wood, water, fire, earth, yin, yang, and thunder’s judgment. The two beams were the legendary sources of yang and yin, and the divine thunder was the source of thunder’s judgment. By astonishing fortune, Bingyan obtained all the primal sources at once.

Her realm soared, passing tribulation, ascension, mortal immortal… finally pausing at the early stage of Immortal Emperor.

The nascent soul in her spiritual palace had transformed into a pure white immortal infant, charming beyond measure. The immortal infant resided within the chaotic Five Elements Array, guarded by five banners; it was the safest immortal infant in existence.

Bingyan stared blankly at the now-violet sword in her hand. It could no longer be called the Blue Sword, so she decided to name it the Violet Sword.

“I never thought I’d gather all eight primal sources. I am truly proud of myself.”

“How unambitious!” A clear, pleasant voice sounded in her mind.

Bingyan was startled, caught off guard. “Who are you?”

“I? I am the renowned, legendary… well, never mind. I am the spirit of your divine sword.” The sword spirit’s words recalled for Bingyan the scene during the battle with the Fire Lion King, when the sword had attacked autonomously.

“You’re the sword spirit? The spirit of this sword in my hand?”

“Of course.” The voice brimmed with pride.

Bingyan calmed herself. “What’s your name? You sound like a girl.”

“What do you mean, I sound like a girl? I am a girl! You’re the one who’s motherly!” The sword spirit protested loudly. “But… I don’t have a name. Why don’t you give me one?”

Bingyan was speechless. Glancing at her body, she thought, “I really am a female now!” Of course, she kept this to herself. Whatever the sword spirit’s intelligence, female was female; she always argued about male and female…

“Since you’re the sword’s spirit and the sword has turned violet, why not call you Violet Spirit?”

“Violet Spirit? Not bad, it sounds lovely! From now on, I’ll be called Violet Spirit.”

“Hey, Violet Spirit, let’s discuss something.” Bingyan spoke cautiously, almost pleading. “You see, I’m currently unclothed, and my storage ring was destroyed by the divine thunder during the tribulation. Now that I have a girl’s body, isn’t it improper to be naked? Do you have any garments to cover me?”

Violet Spirit rolled her eyes in Bingyan’s mind. “You’re an Immortal Emperor now, even if you’re female—no, a woman, one of the rare female Immortal Emperors. Surely you can use transformation magic? Perhaps your influence has corrupted my pure sword spirit heart…”

“Besides, your situation is special. Your body is now the Lingyu form, filled to saturation with Lingyu violet energy, and you’ve absorbed both yin and yang primal sources. You’re no longer bound by day or night; you can become male or female at will, anytime, anywhere!”

Bingyan was shocked. She possessed the power of an Immortal Emperor, true, but could she transform? Could she switch genders freely?

She decided to try. She opened her hands, envisioning a beautiful dress, and her body was instantly enveloped in energy. Moments later, the imagined clothes appeared on her. Such ethereal attire made Bingyan resemble a celestial fairy.

Flowing white robes—she was dressed in the White Profound Gauze, reserved for female Immortal Emperors of the celestial realm! Violet Spirit, however, seemed unsurprised, as if it were only natural.

Then, Bingyan thought of returning to her male form—the result was perfect. She changed back, and even her clothes transformed into masculine garments, powerful and dignified.

“This ability is wonderful,” Bingyan rejoiced inwardly, not caring how Violet Spirit knew about her Lingyu form.

“Can I completely return to being male?”

“Of course, but isn’t it nice to switch back and forth?” Violet Spirit was puzzled, but explained, “As your Mo grandfather said, as long as you absorb spiritual energy, convert it into Lingyu violet energy, and fuse it with your flesh, once yin and yang are balanced, you can transform Lingyu violet energy into attribute-less chaos energy. Actually, your Lingyu violet energy is the primordial chaos energy from the dawn of the heavens, surpassing the level of ordinary chaos. But what I mean by chaos is not the primordial chaos of the world’s creation, but something similar—attribute-less, in essence.”

“The speed of spiritual energy absorption is slow, though. Who knows how long it will take to meet the requirement? But your fortune is extraordinary. The heavens sent the divine thunder to destroy you, yet it ended up helping you, gathering all the Lingyu violet energy you needed.”

“What do you mean?” Bingyan asked.

“I mean, the Lingyu violet energy in your body is sufficient. As soon as it fully merges with your flesh, you can completely restore your male form.”

“Really?” Bingyan was overjoyed.

“But don’t celebrate too soon. Your Lingyu form has reached its limit. Further fusion of violet energy may not be effective, but it’s only a matter of time before you succeed.”

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I hope everyone will leave suggestions in the book reviews; I will consider them as appropriate. Don’t forget to add to your favorites or cast a few votes!

Has the protagonist’s realm advanced too quickly?

It has indeed progressed rapidly!

This is for the sake of the plot. Many readers enjoy seeing the protagonist improve step by step. Rest assured, this will be reflected later. The Immortal Emperor is very powerful at this stage, but will become weak in the later chapters.

Feather Emperor is divided into several parts. The first part—this one—the protagonist is extremely strong. When this special plot concludes, a new chapter will begin, and dazzling new stories and realms will emerge in abundance. Then, progress will follow a steady, step-by-step path, with the protagonist growing through trials.

I hope everyone can understand.