Crossing Over: The Strongest Mage

Chapter 16: **Chapter 15: Invitation from the Liu Family**



Thus, Elder Yu quietly went to the cliff and burned a few incense sticks for Yan Huo and Xiuning, offering several plates of food they used to enjoy. Elder Yu's wife, on the other hand, cleaned Yan Huo and Xiuning's rooms every day as if the two had never left. When Yan Huo returned to the manor, he saw the two elderly people busying themselves in the manor. In fact, there was no real work to do, but they never wanted to sit idle. Seeing them, Yan Huo's eyes reddened again. "It's better not to disturb them."

 

Yan Huo, still cloaked in invisibility, quietly entered the manor. Everything was unchanged, just as it had been when he left. Several months had passed, but his room and Xiuning's room were as spotless as ever. Yan Huo took a few sets of clean clothes from his room and, after picking up his guqin, went to Xiuning's room. He sat there for a long time. The room still had Xiuning's scent, and everything seemed as if it had happened just yesterday. The embroidery stand still had an unfinished piece of embroidery. Xiuning had few personal belongings, and even fewer pieces of jewelry. The only thing that could be considered precious was a box of exquisite embroidery needles. Yan Huo placed the needles in his clothing, keeping them as a memento.

 

After taking one last look at the room, Yan Huo slowly turned and closed the door behind him. As he stepped into the courtyard and prepared to leave, he suddenly heard Elder Yu's voice coming from his room. "Old man, come quickly, the guqin in the young master's room is gone. It was still there when I came to clean this morning. The young master must have come back. He must have come back!" Elder Yu cried.

 

"Don't speak nonsense, the young master has already passed away. How could he return?" Elder Yu hurriedly entered and said.

 

"Then what do you say happened to the guqin?"

 

Elder Yu was speechless. "Sigh…"

 

"I hope it's truly the young master showing signs from beyond! Wife, why are you crying? It's a good thing if the young master is showing signs, we should be happy, not sad. Why are you crying?" Elder Yu said, his voice also choking.

 

"Yes! Yes! We should be happy. Old man, let's prepare some of the young master and Xiuning's favorite foods and offer them as sacrifices." Hearing the elderly couple's conversation, Yan Huo's heart softened, and his eyes grew warm again. "In this world, besides Xiuning, these two elders are the ones who care for me the most. I shouldn't disturb their peaceful lives."

 

Suppressing the urge to meet the two elders, Yan Huo quietly left the manor and went back down to the cliff. The mountain streams were numerous, and Yan Huo bathed in one of the streams near Xiuning's tomb. He changed into a clean set of clothes. "I promised to mourn for Xiuning for three years, but only a few months have passed. How am I going to spend the remaining two years?" Yan Huo looked at the remaining spiritual iron. "I'll continue forging and cultivating at the same time."

 

Yan Huo had no idea what a flying sword was supposed to look like. Perhaps Chongyangzi never thought anyone would not know what a sword looked like, which was why he never drew a picture of one.

 

"What should I forge?" Yan Huo pondered. "A sword is a weapon, but what exactly is a weapon? Anything that can harm others is a weapon. A needle can also harm someone, so maybe a needle can be considered a weapon too!" He decided to forge a small item, as forging a large item would take too much time. "Let's try forging a needle instead." Yan Huo first cleared the grass around Xiuning's tomb and then spoke a few words to the tomb before beginning to forge.

 

Yan Huo took a small piece of spiritual iron from the main block using true fire, then began forging the needle. His true fire was now at the two-flavor stage, which was several hundred degrees hotter than the one-flavor fire. With his mastery of the fire technique, the first spiritual needle was completed in just ten days.

 

 

"Next, it's time to practice controlling the spiritual weapon." Yan Huo said, looking at the small black spiritual needle in his palm. Unfortunately, Yan Huo was a novice in forging, and he had no other materials to assist him. The black spiritual needle, apart from containing its own spiritual energy, had no other special functions. It couldn't even change size. But Yan Huo didn't mind at all. Once he saw the spiritual needle respond to his blood bond and move in and out of his body like a magic trick, he was overjoyed.

 

"Haha! This is so fun, so fun! Sister Xiuning! Do you see this? In the past, I was always pricked by your embroidery needles, but look at me now—the needle moves in and out of my body, and I'm completely unharmed. Haha!"

 

"Go!" Yan Huo pointed to a distant tree with his right hand. The black spiritual needle shot out quickly and precisely, piercing the tree and immediately leaving a large hole.

 

"Come back."

 

In the days that followed, apart from occasionally talking to Xiuning's tomb or playing the guqin, Yan Huo spent the rest of his time in a frenzy of needle forging. His speed of forging continued to improve day by day—nine days, eight days, seven days… Eventually, each needle only took him half a day to forge.

 

As the number of needles increased, the difficulty of controlling them also grew, but this did not dampen Yan Huo's enthusiasm. At the beginning, he practiced control every time he forged a needle. Gradually, as he forged five, then ten, he only practiced control once he had several needles ready. Yan Huo's practice targets shifted from inanimate objects to living creatures. He couldn't bear to harm the cute little animals, but there were plenty of wild beasts in the mountains that became his practice targets.

 

Though the needles were small, they were spiritual weapons, and even the lowest-grade spiritual weapons were far more powerful than an ordinary sword. The flesh of these beasts was no match for such power.

 

Over time, the wild animals in the mountains began to instinctively avoid Yan Huo, much like mice avoiding cats. But Yan Huo's speed was so fast, and the spiritual needles were so swift, that the animals couldn't outrun them. Moreover, the sheer number of needles was overwhelming. Just imagine—how could the wild beasts escape when surrounded by hundreds of powerful spiritual needles?

 

However, Yan Huo did not completely harm these creatures. He mostly inflicted light injuries on them, as he had a kind heart. After forging a total of a thousand needles, Yan Huo decided to name his spiritual needles "Thousand Bee Needles."

 

Time passed unknowingly, and three years quickly went by. Today was once again Xiuning's death anniversary, the day of parting. Yan Huo played "Forgotten Grief," his heart aching.

 

"Sister Xiuning, this is the last time I'll play the guqin for you. I'm leaving the mountains today to seek the Dao and find an immortal. I don't know how many years it will take, but I hope you will wait for me, wait for me to find an immortal who can bring you back to life. I'll bury this guqin here. When you're lonely or miss me, take it out and play it."

 

As he spoke, Yan Huo's tears began to fall. "I've grown up now. You don't need to worry about me. I'll take good care of myself."

 

Over the three years, the wind and rain in the mountains hadn't left a mark on Yan Huo's skin. Thanks to his cultivation, his skin had become even fairer.


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