Shen Lian smiled and asked, “So what do you say now after you’ve lost, Zuo Shaoqing?”

　　Zuo Shaoqing turned rather pale, but he ultimately replied, “I will stick to my words. I will have no complaint to whatever you want me to do, Shen Zhenren.” He never intended to ask for forgiveness, firstly because of his personality, secondly because such action would fall on deaf ears to people like Shen Lian.

　　Shen Lian said, “Good. You cut off all four limbs of Shou Jing and Shou Xuan, which resulted in me using two Life-regenerating Elixir. I would ask to do the same to you, but other than making the two less angry, there is no positive effect from it. How about if you become my sword servant for 300 years?”

　　Meng Xunzhen could not control his anger anymore and he said, “Never!”

　　Shen Lian not only found a way to restraint the technique of Qingjiang Sword Sect, he even wanted to destroy their root. It was hard for the sect to find someone as talented as Zuo Shaoqing.

　　If that was the case, when Meng Xunzhen left, the chances of yet another Huandan master being born in the sect were pretty slim.

　　As a result, he was the pillar of the sect. Even for Qingxuan, in the span of a few hundred years, there were only Chen Jianmei and Shen Lian who achieved Huandan. The difficulty was clear.

　　Zuo Shaoqing was not necessarily going to achieve Huandan, but he had the potential. Shen Lian wanted to take him as a servant to weaken Qingjiang and strengthen Qing Xuan.

　　Shen Lian took a glance at him and said, “Meng Swordsman, we will talk about you later.”

　　He then said to Zuo Shaoqing, “There is a saying in the past where one should crush the enemy totally to prevent revenge. What you have learnt might be shallow and indelicate, but you are talented, and hence I won’t let you go just easily. If you disagree, I will just take this chance and send you to go through reincarnation. You can only achieve that much in life with Cloud and Water Sword. If you were reborn, you might have the chance to achieve greatness.”

　　Zuo Shaoqing had a thousand thoughts in his mind, it was the temperament of a swordsman. He quickly decided, “I can be your sword servant, but I have a condition.”

　　Shen Lian replied, “You are not qualified to discuss conditions with me. You only have two paths, dead or alive.”

　　He spoke plainly, but what he said commanded respect and exhibited authority as the chief of a big sect.

　　Zuo Shaoqing was choked with words. What Shen Lian said was right. He was thinking along the line where he would never agree if Shen Lian wanted him to do anything that would harm Qingjiang Sword Sect. It seemed than Shen Lian could read his mind, and hence was not willing to discuss the conditions with him. He understood that he only had two choices, dead or alive.

　　If Shen Lian wanted him to do something that would go against his Daoist heart, he could either choose death or just do it. It was what being a sword servant meant. He was not a student.

　　Zuo Shaoqing replied, “I agree, but aren’t you scared that I will just obey on the surface?”

　　Shen Lian smiled, “You are using your Daoist heart as the basis of the promise. If you go against me in the future, you will never be able to achieve Dao in all your reincarnations.” Swearing on the Daoist heart was a heavy oath. For any cultivator, to go against an oath that was made with the Daoist heart would have a huge impact on his or her cultivation. It was not that one could not go against it, but it was because there was a huge price labelled to it.

　　Zuo Shaoqing replied coldly, “An oath could not restrain me.”

　　Shen Lian asked, “Are you devoted to the sword?”

　　Zuo Shaoqing replied, “Of course I am.”

　　“If you go against your oath, are you still devoted? Furthermore, what can a loach do?” His words were affecting Zuo Shaoqing deeply.

　　He took in Zuo Shaoqing as a sword servant for a reason. It was rare to come across a swordcraft seed. He held a high position and hence he could not do everything himself. He also did not want to bother Jingqing on some menial tasks, and hence he needed someone for that.

　　Zuo Shaoqing had entered Ruhua and hence his cultivation experience could be considered as decent. If he had the fortune, he could even go through Huandan 6/7 turn. Till then he would have more uses to him.

　　Zuo Shaoqing stayed silent. Shen Lian did not come up with pretty words, but it was the cruel reality.

　　Jiang Shuijie could only look at Zuo Shaoqing making an oath under his Daoist heart, and when Meng Xunzhen wanted to say something, he was restrained.

　　When it was settled between Zuo Shaoqing and Shen Lian, Shen Lian then said, “Meng Swordsman, when did we Qing Xuan ever offend you?”

　　Meng Xunzhen did not answer. Shen Lian laughed and he relaxed his restraint.

　　Meng Xunzhen could now speak, he said, “Zhenren’s technique is indeed powerful. I am very much impressed.”

　　While he said that, he did not feel impressed in his heart.

　　Shen Lian sneered, “Do you think I am Huanzhen? I have to beat you the first time, the second time and the third time to make you satisfy?”

　　Meng Xunzhen looked like he was in a foul mood and replied, “Shen Zhenren indeed speaks your mind.”

　　Shen Lian replied, “You should have something to say now.”

　　Meng Xunzhen did not seem to understand. He was alright as a cultivator, but he was used to being a lone wolf and hence he did not really understand social cues. Jiang Shuijie was more thoughtful, whereby he cupped his hands and said, “Shen Zhenren, our sect has a small request. We Qingjiang Sword Sect respect Qing Xuan for a long time. We are willing to be an affiliate and to listen to your order.”

　　Meng Xunzhen was angry, “What are you doing, Jiang? How dare you?”

　　Jiang Shuijie saw how angry Meng Xunzhen was, and hence he transmitted some messages to him with the mind. Given Shen Lian had created a way to completely keep the technique of Qingjiang Sword Sect under control, if the news spread out, they would no longer have a footing in Nanjiang.

　　There were a lot of enemies out there who were looking to cannibalize the sect.

　　They could not rely on Guangqing Celestial Sect anymore, as they never did send their own students to test the waters of Qing Xuan. It was because they treated their own students as treasure and the cultivators from other sects as weed.

　　The attitude of Guangqing was great due to the focus, but it was not great to gain favors from the others.

　　It was indeed impressive to have 5 Dixian in one sect, and hence nobody really dared to say much.

　　Meng Xunzhen previously was blinded by anger, but now as he was aware of the situation, he grasped that Shen Lian had all their weaknesses. Qingjiang Sword Sect was now merely waiting to be slaughtered.

　　They could not expect that Shen Lian could come up with something to restrain others’ techniques in such a short period of time.

　　While Meng Xunzhen successfully attained Milky Way Swordsmanship which was better than the swordscraft of his own sect, but something critical was missing from it. If not because of that, Huanzhen would not have given it to him.

　　The critical point was that the main chapter was missing – Milky Way: Meaning of Dharma. Even if one were to find a successor and start all over again, it was impossible. He could only learn some of the parts to allow for breakthroughs.

　　As a result, the fundamental of Qingjiang Sword Sect was still Cloud and Water Sword. Even if one could improve, its fundamentals would not change. What Shen Lian had created was pinpointing at the fundamentals. Every improvement would be futile unless the fundamentals could be changed.

　　Shen Lian said nothing and he was waiting for Meng Xunzhen to come to his senses. This was the reason why he demanded someone from Qingjiang Sword Sect to have some moral nature. If a fool were to be here, it would only ruin his plans.