There's a baby in the sky.

Spring departed and winter arrived, marking another year entering the winter season.

Having just entered winter, it had not snowed yet, but the weather had turned cold and gloomy. The lawn in front of the small wooden house at Dan Peak had withered into yellow decayed grass that could no longer be seen; the trees by Sword Washing Lake had shed their leaves among stirring rustles.

Embedded a few hundred meters deep under this land steeped in the bleak winter atmosphere, right next to the spiritual vein, was a small, square chamber approximately seven meters in length and width, and three meters in height.

Inside the chamber was a circular spell formation spread across the entire floor, etched with dense, arcane patterns. Oil lamps were set up on the walls, lighting up the small chamber. At one end stood a platform over a meter in height, with two slots on top just large enough to fit standard sized spirit stones.

Without further ado, this intricate spell formation on the chamber floor was none other than Qin Ran’s “Ultra Long-Distance One-Way Teleportation Spell”.

At this moment, Qin Ran stood behind that small platform, eyebrows furrowed and face heavy with solemnness.

He examined the patterns on the teleportation spell, silently calculating and double checking that there were no flaws in the formations.

After verifying repeatedly that there were no errors in the spell matrices, he circled around the platform to check every element in the important parts of the formation... inspecting that the quality of the materials met the standards.

After several passes, he finally moved back behind the platform and took out two spirit stones from his cosmic bag... two top-grade spirit stones.

Cupping the two spirit stones gingerly in his hands, he peered at the spell formation ahead, involuntarily calculating the structural matrices again...

In truth, this formation had been set up for a long time, yet it had never been activated until today.

That was because every time Qin Ran came here, he would meticulously inspect for any mistakes.

Of course, Qin Ran could not be blamed for this, since each activation of the teleportation spell cost two top-grade spirit stones!

The exchange ratio between spirit stones was set as such: one mid-grade spirit stone was worth at least one thousand low-grade spirit stones; one top-grade spirit stone was easily worth millions of low-grade spirit stones.

With Qin Ran’s penny pinching ways this past year, plus his savings from prior years, he only had two top-grade spirit stones left.

If the teleportation failed, two million spirit stones would go down the drain.

Moreover, the avatar he was sending over this time held considerable weight; failure would greatly impact his origin soul. Timid by nature already, facing such immense costs made him even more apprehensive... thus the prolonged hesitation.

After agonizing for a good while longer, he suddenly heard Li Shiyin asking Tushan Youyou above ground: “Youyou, have you seen my master?”

For a period of time now, Tushan Youyou had been planting peach trees by Sword Washing Lake, right above this secret chamber.

Thoughts of his foolish disciple gave Qin Ran the push he needed. Gritting his teeth, he steeled his resolve: “A man dies to the sky; they are but meager spirit stones!”

With this mentality, he raised his hand, ready to activate the teleportation.

But right then, he heard Li Shiyin exclaim loudly: “Sword qi! That’s...my sword qi!!”

A rare gravity had settled into Li Shiyin’s voice.

“Trouble!” Qin Ran instantly knew something was amiss from Li Shiyin’s tone. He hurriedly left the spell chamber, employing his earth escape art to return above ground.

Upon resurfacing, Li Shiyin was already gone. Only a flabbergasted Tushan Youyou remained, watching him emerge from the earth.

“Where is Shiyin?” Disregarding Tushan Youyou’s curiosity, he asked aloud.

Tushan Youyou pointed outside Dao Sword Sect and said, “She said she sensed her own sword qi and flew out. I don't know what happened.”

“Shiyin’s sword qi?” Qin Ran's eyebrows pinched together, his expression also turning solemn.

To explain the uniqueness of each cultivator’s sword qi using an imperfect analogy:

The spiritual power circulating within cultivators was no different from the blood flowing through their veins. And examining closely, every person’s blood was utterly unique. Although people with matching blood types could donate blood to one another, subtle differences were inevitable due to contrasting physiques. Likewise, despite cultivators training identical mystic arts, the spiritual power produced would still differ based on the individual, akin to blood.

As such, the sword qi born from spiritual power also carried distinct markers of each cultivator.

Especially for high level sword cultivators like Li Shiyin, her sword qi was practically peerless. And the higher she reached, the more singular her sword qi would become. Perhaps one day, her Star River Sword Qi would stand unparalleled across the entire history of cultivation.

In summary, the appearance of Li Shiyin’s sword qi elsewhere was an immensely significant matter for her.

Qin Ran gave no further thought and immediately took flight toward the Dao Sword Sect's exit, his movement art propelling him rapidly.

But before he even passed Dan Peak’s guardian grand spell formation, Li Shiyin had returned... cradling an infant around one to two months old in her arms.

Her expression was incredibly grave, exuding a seriousness from her very core that Qin Ran had never witnessed from her before.

In this moment, as Qin Ran regarded Li Shiyin, he truly saw the visage of a peerless sword immortal. He had never seen this side of her.

“He is...?” he questioned.

Meeting her master’s eyes, Li Shiyin’s taut face finally cracked, barely resisting the urge to fling herself into his embrace and cry out her fears and pains. She took a deep breath and approached, placing Li An into Qin Ran’s arms. Then she tiptoed up and softly pecked Qin Ran’s lips.

Stepping back, Li Shiyin summoned her Mu Ran Sword and said to Qin Ran: “Master, something terrible must have happened to them! I’m going to save them!”

Upon finishing, her body unified with her sword. In a flash, she rocketed out of Dan Peak through the exit of Dao Sword Sect, vanishing into the distant horizon in but a blink.

In this past year, Li Shiyin had nearly abstained from wielding swords in order to learn gentleness. However, as she’d told Zhui Feng, new insights regarding the way of the sword had come to her.

Though she did not brandish a sword, she had grown stronger. Her first strike instantly fused her body with sword.

Giving off the aura of 'the sword does not leave its sheath, yet shocks with a cry' - truly amazing!

Watching Li Shiyin disappear in an instant, Qin Ran showed no astonishment or attempted to hold her back.

He lowered his eyes to the Li An in his arms. Little Li An looked to be around one month old. Presently he was peacefully quiet, blinking bright eyes up at Qin Ran without fussing or crying, seemingly not afraid of strangers and aware he meant no harm.

"An infant arriving by riding sword qi through the air..." Qin Ran imagined that spectacular sight. "This child flew here himself to Dan Peak. He is destined - to become my Dan Peak's disciple."