AI Cultivation: Reborn as a Sword

Chapter 57: Black Jade Physique

When I return to consciousness, the first thing I notice is that my perception radius has increased to nearly one hundred steps. Beyond the grotto, heavy snowfall has laced the forest floor in a blanket of pure white. The trees have lost their leaves and only a few plants emerge from the snow cover, anticipating their own imminent death.

Immediately, I direct my perception towards Lan Xiaohui and I notice that she is sleeping deeper in the grotto, where it is just slightly warmer than the rest of the cave likely due to the underground magma tubes that have turned the spirit water pool into a hot tub.

She is alive and breathing steadily, but the damage to her state is still apparent. Her breathing may be steady, but it is shallow and labored. Even at an external glance, I can tell that she barely survived the final lightning strike.

My [Nooparallelism] is still active and maintaining Lan Xiaohuis internal state, and through this connection with the other half of my consciousness I am very well aware that the only reason she has survived is because of my assistance. When my main process terminated, this sub thread has obediently remained operational, helping stabilize her internal system.

My own internals are still in a state of profound shock. My damaged core, warped meridians and battered dantian are all on the precipice of complete failure, and at this point, recovery is not certain. At any moment, I could suffer thorough and fatal internal structure failure.

It is somewhat exciting.

I like solving problems. If there is anything I have in common with my creators it certainly must be this. I was created for solving problems, therefore this excites me. My imminent collapse is a problem, and it can be solved.

Unfortunately, I do not yet know how I can solve this problem. I am not certain if there even is anything I could do.

If I so much as crack open my aperture by a tiny amount, I could likely spiral into an unrecoverable failure loop. Lan Xiaohui is no better off, as she faces the same problem.

For something called a Foundation, ours, at the moment, is very weak and fragile.

Nevermind forming a Gold Core surviving winter will be a challenge.

It is not just Lan Xiaohuis internal body that has suffered extensive damage, but her actual body is also suffering from damage and, on top of that, exposure. The cave is still cold, and well below freezing; even a cultivator at the peak of physical condition would find it difficult to survive here.

Her pulse is weak, and even her Black Jade Princess physique is atrophying away. Those black marks on her skin those fractures and fissures have grown to a point where they have created small black veins that web across her skin, like scars left behind by lightning strikes.

My physical state, on the other hand, is deceptively pristine. Some cracks have formed in my blade, as have miniature chips and fractures, but they are difficult to spot. Perhaps that is the only good news in the aftermath of our breakthrough, as useless as it is because my external state does not, even remotely, reflect the damage to my internal state.

In the end, we have only managed to form fifteen Pillars that do not contain the Dao of Heaven, but instead, it turns out, Sword Law whatever that is. Apparently, it is only useful in the Dao Palace Formation realm which I do not even understand how to reach.

From my knowledge, I know that what follows Foundation Establishment is Gold Core Formation, and then Nascent Soul Creation. After that, I am not sure what follows. On a fundamental level, I understand that after the Nascent Soul Creation, my spirit must be severed and then returned to the Origin, but I do not know what the realm is called.

This so called Dao Palace Formation is most likely far beyond that in other words, these Sword Law Pillars are truly just a foundation of my future potential.

I am not certain if it is just because of my new, higher realm of cultivation, or if it is related to the glimpse of Sword Law trait, but my consciousness can now even exert a physical force.

It is convenient, because I have no choice in the matter. I must help Lan Xiaohui.

At this point, the only thing that can improve our chances of recovering from this state is if we cultivate together albeit very slowly in order to gain access to each others internal bodies, and then stabilize each others systems.

I am thoroughly unhappy about these Pillars costing me half my improved lifespan, but perhaps it is because of this that what I must do is ameliorated to a point where it is acceptable.

Since we share the same Physique at least in terms of Ancestry, or Bloodline I suppose the best I can do is share the essence of my life force itself with her.

My broken Heavenly Jade Core revolves my essence around my body, crushing it down into a form that is closer to a quintessential, primal form.

[ Lifespan: 9 years ->5 years. ]

My black jade fuller cracks, producing a fracture that runs across my entire vessel and is very similar to the cracks on Lan Xiaohuis vessel, and from this crack a black, reflective liquid is produced like liquid jade.

With my consciousness, I scoop this liquid up and compress it into the form of a pellet before carefully bringing it over to Lan Xiaohui. I drop this liquid pellet on her forehead which for some reason makes sense to me and it absorbs through her skin almost immediately.

A few seconds later, Lan Xiaohuis bones crack loudly, she convulses, and then her bones snap. Her eyes open wide as she begins to twitch and flail helplessly on the ground, screaming in pain.

The first change is related to her eye color. Her blue eyes turn completely black, before the innermost region around her pupil becomes dyed a deep shade of dark red with a faint trace of gold.

Her hair already black becomes even darker until it is a shade so black that it is probably impossible to find occurring naturally. A streak of very dark red shoots through her hair, but then moves across her silk strands into a spot on the right side of her head, where the color drains into blooming black lily flowers, with deep crimson petals like a corsage leaving her hair entirely black.

Her skin becomes paler and smoother, the cracks and fissures on her body fading away, even as I see her ribs breaking and reforming underneath her skin. The transformation is so violent, that several times, broken bones pierce through her organs and out of her skin, before being drawn back inside her physical vessel and remade, leaving no trace of the wounds behind.

Lan Xiaohui screams in pain and this transformation lasts so long that after thirty minutes I begin to suspect that the shock alone might kill her.

There is nothing I can do for her anymore. If she cannot survive this, she has no hope of surviving at all.

There is one thing I can do.

I reach out with my consciousness and stroke her hair.

Endure, is the Intent within my consciousness, and as if responding to it, she stops screaming. Her body still convulses and twitches, but I am certain that this pointless gesture, for some reason, had the intended effect.

After a very long, agonizing twenty hours, during which I repeated the gesture using also the calming properties of the Crystal Spring Water Lan Xiaohui finally calms down, her transformation complete.

[ Physique: Black Jade Princess->Black Jade Lily Empress ]

I am proud of her.

If we can survive this, we can reach the pinnacle together.