Courtyard Houses: From Bronze Compasses to Global Reach

Chapter 90 The Foundation Establishment Cultivator's First Air Traffic Control

In his villa in Deep Water Bay, Lin Yan let out a long sigh of relief. For the past few months, he had been remotely controlling three thousand Golden Core disciples to stir up trouble around the world (just kidding)... Diligently building his business was even more exhausting than holding three days and three nights of M&A meetings on Wall Street.

"Finally, everyone's settled down for now. Some are dating, some are mining, some are undermining capitalism, and some are scamming people... Tsk, why does my team sound like a large-scale transnational fraud gang?" Lin Yan rubbed his temples and decided to temporarily take off the "King of the World (Reserve)" hat.

He now had something more important and something he was more eager to do—to control his sword and fly!

Which Chinese man hasn't dreamed of soaring through the heavens on a sword, living a carefree life like an immortal? Before, his cultivation wasn't high enough, so he could only drool over the "Basic Sword Control Technique" passed down from his ancestors. Now that he's finally reached Foundation Establishment, he's determined to pass this "driving skill" test!

He flashed into the space and appeared directly in the cultivation technique area on the second floor of the Starshine Tower. The jade slip containing the "Basic Sword Control Technique" was emitting an alluring faint light.

"Hehe, flying sword, here I come!" Lin Yan rubbed his hands together, like a child who had just received a new toy, and eagerly immersed his divine sense into the jade slip.

A flood of information rushed into my mind: spiritual energy output frequency, divine sense locking guidance, balance micro-management techniques, mid-air emergency stop and turn obstacle avoidance techniques, and even... energy-saving cruise mode?

"Tsk, the ancestor has thought things through quite thoroughly, even including a fuel-saving mode." Lin Yan exclaimed in amazement, watching with rapt attention.

The theory was impressive, but in reality... well, he was dumbfounded.

Where's the sword?

Where is my flying sword?!

Where is that huge flying sword, gleaming with a cold light, so cool it's unbelievable, the kind that can make him look cool and fly high?

Lin Yan turned his storage ring upside down, but found nothing but food, medicine, gold, and silver. Then, to his dismay, he remembered a fatal flaw: his ancestor hadn't left any, saying he should refine it himself.

"No way, sir..." Lin Yan was on the verge of tears. "Could it be that my dream of flying on a sword for the first time—the Wolf of Wall Street... no, the Dragon of Nanluoguxiang, the Foundation Establishment master who traveled through time—is going to be cut short by such a ridiculous reason as 'not having the tools'?"

Lin Yan finally gave up and took out the jade slip of "Basic Refining Techniques" again. He immersed his consciousness in it and became dizzy from reading it. The steps of material selection, tempering, shaping, engraving, and spirit activation were so complicated that they were outrageous. Moreover, he had never even heard of many of the basic materials mentioned in it.

"Materials...materials..." Lin Yan, clinging to his last glimmer of hope, caught up with Xiao Qi, who was chasing butterflies. "Xiao Qi! Good bro! In the Wanyan Mountains, is there any ore...that can be forged into flying swords?"

Little Qi stopped flapping its little paws, tilted its head, and looked at him with an expression as if he were an idiot: "Brother, are you still half asleep? The Myriad Evolution Mountains left by our old master are the biggest material warehouse! They have all kinds of mineral veins! You can dig up any first- or second-tier refining materials you want! Just dig them up yourself!" It paused, then became even more curious, "Brother, are you going to start learning weapon refining? That's amazing!"

Lin Yan blushed and stammered out the tragic truth that he wanted to learn sword flight but didn't have a sword.

The air was silent for two seconds.

"Pfft—hahahaha!" Little Seven was stunned for a moment, then burst into laughter, rolling on the ground and kicking her four little paws wildly. "Brother is a big idiot! A super big idiot! You have so many puppet underlings! Five thousand Golden Core cultivators! Surely some of them know how to forge weapons! Are you worried they can't gather a flying sword? And you actually want to go mining and learn weapon forging on the spot? Hahahaha!"

Lin Yan: "!!!"

A sudden realization! Everything became clear!

Yeah, right! I'm the boss now! I have an extraordinary army! If I did everything myself, wouldn't I have wasted my time traveling? The essence of a capitalist... no, a cultivation capitalist, lies in the rational use of labor!

"Ahem!" Lin Yan forced himself to maintain his boss-like dignity. "Little Seven, you don't understand. Weapon crafting is the foundation of the Great Dao, so naturally you have to learn it. As for flying swords... well, let's borrow one from them for now, two things at once, won't interfere with each other!"

Half an hour later, a chilling flying sword was delivered to Lin Yan. According to "Tool Man Number One," this was a spare flying sword for a Golden Core stage sword cultivator puppet, a mid-grade second-tier sword, guaranteed quality, no deception.

"Alright! Dream restart!" Lin Yan gripped his flying sword and ran onto the plain once again, full of fighting spirit.

This time, he carefully followed the methods of the Basic Sword Control Technique, infusing spiritual power and communicating with the sword.

The flying sword hummed and hovered steadily.

"There's a way!" Lin Yan was overjoyed. Recalling Xiao Qi's words, he tried to use his divine sense to feel and communicate with the flying sword, treating it as part of his own body.

He took a deep breath, lifted his foot, and stepped on it—

stable!

"Haha! I knew I was a genius!" Lin Yan said smugly, putting his hands on his hips, but almost lost his balance and fell. He quickly steadied himself.

Then, a thought struck him: "Let's go!"

The flying sword shot out with a "whoosh"!

"Whoaaaaah—!" Lin Yan was caught off guard. The powerful inertia threw him backward, and he only managed to stay upright thanks to the core strength he had gained from body tempering. The wind whistled in his ears, and the scenery rushed past him!

"Too fast! Too fast! Slow down! How do I slow down?!" He frantically tried to reduce his spiritual energy output.

As a result, the spiritual energy stagnated, the flying sword suddenly stopped, and Lin Yan was thrown forward by inertia, almost falling flat on his face. Fortunately, he reacted quickly and held on to the sword tightly.

"This thing is much harder to drive than a Ferrari!" Lin Yan, still shaken, began to try some fine motor skills.

"Turn left!" He exerted too much force, and the flying sword suddenly made a sharp turn of almost ninety degrees. Lin Yan felt his kidneys creak in protest.

"Up!" The flying sword shot upwards almost vertically, startling Lin Yan so much that he quickly ducked down and clung tightly to the blade, feeling as if he were riding a rocket.

"Stop...stop for a second!" The spiritual energy was withdrawn too quickly, and the flying sword suddenly lost speed and began to fall freely!

"Ahhhhh—!" Lin Yan yelled, waving his arms and legs wildly as he finally regained control of the flying sword three or four meters off the ground, hovering shakily, his heart pounding.

For the next period of time, the space was filled with various thrilling and exciting scenes:

Lin Yan attempted to fly in a straight line, but ended up flying out a perfect sine wave.

He tried to skim low over the ground, but the tip of his sword scraped up a patch of grass, giving himself a "hula dance" effect;

He tried to do a graceful spin, but he spun too hard and got dizzy, almost falling off the sky.

He even tried to stand on the sword and make a hand seal to show off, but he almost bumped into the herb garden because he was distracted, scaring several century-old medicinal herbs so much that their leaves curled up.

Xiao Qi went from laughing heartily at first, to covering her eyes and not daring to watch, and finally yawning out of boredom. She even brought over a spirit rabbit she kept in her space, petting it while commenting:

"Brother, you fly like a drunken fathead fish!"

"Brother, the fruit over there looks sweeter, do you want to try bumping into it?"

"Brother, the way you landed... was it like you were preparing to brake with your face?"

Lin Yan: "...Shut up! I'm exploring the ultimate realm of man and sword as one! What do you know!"

"Brother, you're so silly!" Little Seven's telepathic communication was full of teasing. "You treat it like an inanimate object, of course it won't listen! You need to communicate! Use your heart! Use your consciousness to feel it! Let it become a part of your body! Just like my horns and claws!"

Lin Yan was taken aback, then suddenly realized.

Yes, he was just using brute force and the attitude of controlling a precision instrument to operate the flying sword, but he forgot the most crucial point—the fusion and communication of divine consciousness. The flying sword has a spirit, and even if it is only the lowest-grade magical artifact, it is necessary to establish a connection with it, to control it as if it were an extension of one's own arm, rather than simply pressing the accelerator, brake, and steering wheel like driving a car.

He suppressed his previous restlessness and calmed his mind. He gripped the flying sword again, but this time, he didn't rush to infuse it with spiritual power. Instead, he slowly enveloped the sword with his divine sense, carefully sensing every inch of its structure and conveying his gentle intentions.

Gradually, he felt that the flying sword was no longer a cold object, but rather a limb that had truly become an extension of himself.

Infuse spiritual energy once more!

"Buzz—" The flying sword emitted a cheerful, obedient chirp, hovering steadily, and even actively adjusted its angle, as if to make it easier for him to step on it.

Lin Yan took a deep breath, lifted his foot, and stepped on. Steady!

One foot off the ground, and I'm standing still! Still stable!

He carefully controlled the output of his spiritual energy, and the flying sword carried him, slowly lifting him off the ground by one meter, two meters, three meters...

"Hahaha! I did it! I'm flying!" Lin Yan couldn't help but laugh out loud in the air. Although the speed was as slow as a sightseeing balloon in a park, this was a controlled flight achieved by his own strength!

Then his joy turned to sorrow.

Overwhelmed with joy, it forgot to control its direction and crashed into a fruit tree with a loud bang, scattering spiritual fruits all over the ground. Fortunately, it hadn't flown very high and only wobbled a bit.

"Concentrate! Concentrate!" Lin Yan quickly steadied himself and began to try to fly forward.

At first, it wobbled and swayed, like a drunken sparrow, going up and down, and occasionally making a sharp turn that almost threw it off.

"Turn left! Turn left! Oops, you've gone too far!"

"Slow down! Slow down! We're going to crash into the mountainside! Halt! Halt!"

"Wow! That dive was pretty cool... Wait, ground! Pull up! Pull up now!"

His loud shouts and Xiao Qi's excited "woo-woo-woo" echoed in the space (mainly because he was enjoying the excitement).

Finally, after numerous attempts that nearly resulted in the destruction of his sword and his own death, Lin Yan was able to barely control his flying sword to achieve slow, stable, and straight flight.

He stood swaying on the sword, more than ten meters off the ground, looking at the grassland he had ravaged, wiping away non-existent sweat, and letting out a long breath:

"Phew... I've finally... I've finally got the basics down. Flying on a sword is definitely a skill."

Although the process was full of stumbles and his demeanor was far from that of a "carefree sword immortal," at least... he could fly, right?

"Hmm, maybe next time I could try casting a spell while flying? Or drinking tea while flying on a sword?" Lin Yan stroked his chin, starting to come up with some more reckless ideas.

The flying sword beneath his feet seemed to sense something and trembled slightly, as if silently protesting: Please, Master, learn the traffic rules... no, the sword rules first, okay?

For the entire afternoon, Lin Yan performed various "aerial stunts." He fell countless times, crashed into trees numerous times, and even plunged headfirst into the spiritual spring, becoming completely soaked.

However, the learning ability and body control of Foundation Establishment cultivators are terrifying. By evening, he was already able to perform relatively stable low-speed straight flight and simple turns.

He stood on his flying sword, dozens of meters above the ground, gazing at the vast expanse of space. An unprecedented sense of freedom and accomplishment welled up within him. The evening breeze ruffled his hair (though it was a little messy), and his robes fluttered (though they had just been damp), giving him quite the air of a sword immortal... if one ignored his slightly stiff back, which was taut with tension.

"Hmm, although the start was a bit bumpy, this genius has finally mastered it!" Lin Yan proudly raised his chin. "Next time I can try it outside, like... flying around Victoria Harbour? That should be much more exciting than crashing into trees here! It's a pity that my Foundation Establishment level one true essence can't fly for too long; I only have about 50 minutes before I need to meditate and recover!"

Thinking of this, his eyes lit up. He carefully maneuvered his flying sword toward the highest mountain in the space—to get a panoramic view of his "empire" and rehearse his future Hong Kong night view flight plan!

As for traffic rules? Air traffic control? They didn't exist! In the skies of 1958, Lin Yan was the only rule!