Chapter 283: Wreaths of Incense Smoke
(Ten thousand words, making up for the leave on the 19th.)
Old Dragon City.
Storm clouds gathered.
Especially for one of the great clans, the Ding family, who were on high alert.
Because it seemed that a good-for-nothing clan youth had ruined a common girl from the market.
Ordinarily, such a matter wouldn't amount to much—not that committing evil deeds meant one had to go all the way and do things like exterminating the whole family or uprooting the weeds, but rather that the Ding family had money and was willing to spend it. If money could solve the problem, whether big or small, then it wasn't a problem at all. But the issue was that this girl, who had died suddenly, had some connection to the Dust Pharmacy. The pharmacy was a Fan family enterprise. The bigger problem was that someone had taken this thin connection seriously and pursued it rigorously.
And that someone was a highly valued guest of the Fan family.
The Hou and Fang families, who had been friends with the Ding family for generations, had recently been interacting frequently and moving about together.
As for the Fu family of Old Dragon City, who had married a woman from the Yunlin Jiang clan, they were busy with comings and goings and couldn't be bothered with such a messy affair.
As for the Sun family, now led by the young man Sun Jiashu, they stood by and watched, likely intending to sit on the sidelines and observe from a safe distance.
At the Sun family ancestral home, Sun Jiashu had just received a secret letter.
The cultivator from the Indus Leaf Sect, who had once helped the Ding family prolong their life, was returning to Old Dragon City today with that Ding woman. Because this person held a high status within the Indus Leaf Sect, among his retinue was a Nascent Soul earthly immortal, and he himself was also one of the earthly immortals.
So almost everyone felt that the outcome was already decided.
Sun Jiashu had recently taken a liking to fishing, right at the spot where that young man from Great Li used to fish. As long as there was no pressing family business, Sun Jiashu often stole time from his busy schedule to sit here.
He hesitated, unsure whether to gamble this time. If he did gamble, how much should he stake?
Sun Jiashu had recently encountered a reclusive hermit who came and went without a trace. With just one sentence, this person not only restored Sun Jiashu's slightly flawed state of mind but also advanced him further.
The man had simply laughed and asked, "Sun Jiashu, how can you be so sure you're wrong?"
It was like a sudden shout of awakening in Buddhism.
But that only worked for those with wisdom and accumulated experience—only then could they become enlightened. Otherwise, even a thousand shouts would be useless.
Sun Jiashu put away his fishing rod and poured all the fish from his basket back into the river.
In the end, Sun Jiashu decided not to gamble this time.
---
Above the sea of clouds over Old Dragon City, a woman in a green skirt lightly hopped across a grid pattern she imagined, splashing clouds and mist with each landing. Occasionally, she took out a fist-sized glass bead and tossed it back and forth.
Finally, she locked onto a spot in the sea of clouds, swooped down, her hands pressed flat against the outside of her thighs, her legs together, and she plummeted straight down, landing somewhere in the inner city of Old Dragon City.
Like a green scallion falling from the sky...
She moved at incredible speed, and just before hitting the ground, the woman named Fan Junmao floated gently to the ground.
It was the backyard of the Dust Pharmacy.
The shopkeeper, Zheng Dafeng, was crouched on the steps, smoking a long-stemmed pipe.
Fan Junmao asked, "What's the word?"
Smoke swirled around him, obscuring his expression and face. The man spoke slowly, "Debt must be repaid with money; life must be repaid with life. I'm different from Li Er—he only goes after the old ones. I go after both the young and the old."
Fan Junmao looked at this man, who was usually all smiles, with a thoughtful gaze.
A dog can't change its habit of eating shit.
How many years had it been, and he was still the same person—as if he had been lax his whole life just for this one time of seriousness.
In the distant past, at the four Heavenly Gates, three divine generals had abandoned their posts for various reasons, clearing the way for the unstoppable "rebels." Only the one guarding the south, considered the most cowardly and lackadaisical, refused to step aside, refusing to retreat even in death.
And of course, refusing to retreat meant death.
He was nailed to the pillar of the Heavenly Gate with a single sword strike.
Friend and foe alike found it inexplicable.
This divine general's courting of death had no discernible reason.
Fan Junmao sighed inwardly. She really didn't want to know, but unfortunately, she did.
---
The sage Ruan Qiong had officially established his own sect in the western mountains. For now, he had only three formal disciples.
The sword forge on the banks of the Dragon Beard River was still open and hadn't closed. Ruan Qiong had left the one girl among his founding disciples there. She was missing the thumb on her sword hand, so she now wore her sword on her right hip and wielded it with her left hand.
When Ruan Qiong's only daughter, Miss Xiu Xiu, moved to Divine Embellishment Mountain, she was said to have carried a chicken coop with her, dangling it from her hand. This made all the immortals turn their heads, mistakenly thinking it was some rare spirit beast or exotic bird. Later, when some qi refiners who had visited Divine Embellishment Mountain brought this up, they found it amusing—it turned out that the old hen and her chicks were just ordinary market fare.
Thus, some immortal sects on the surrounding peaks felt that Miss Xiu Xiu's actions showed childlike innocence, which they considered a true Dao heart.
They were very serious about this, and some young cultivators who had moved into new residences began to ponder the deeper meaning, believing there was profound significance.
Truly worthy of Miss Xiu Xiu, truly worthy of the genius cultivator whom Snow Wind Temple had once held in high regard.
Everything she did seemed imbued with mystery, perfectly aligned with the Great Dao.
When the long-browed young man surnamed Xie heard about this, he found it amusing and relayed it as a joke to his sister Xiu Xiu. Ruan Xiu was sitting on a small green bamboo chair at the time, watching the strutting old hen lead a flock of chicks as they pecked around. She just said, "Oh, is that so?" and then fell silent.
The fortunate young man surnamed Xie looked at his distracted sister Xiu Xiu and frowned, which made his eyebrows appear even longer.
Ruan Qiong was a Jade Perfection realm cultivator and had the backing of his "maiden home," Snow Wind Temple. He was also well-connected due to his expertise in sword forging, so he was able to establish a sect with the character "zong" (clan) in its name, calling it the Dragon Spring Sword Sect.
In fact, Ruan Qiong had initially wanted to simply name it "Sword Sect" to stand tall in the world, which showed great ambition. However, first, the Central Plains Divine Continent already had an existing Sword Sect, which violated the rules set by the Confucian scholars. Second, a close friend who came to congratulate him privately advised Ruan Qiong against putting too much effort into that matter, as establishing a sect within the territory of Great Li was already enough to attract unwanted attention.
Although Ruan Qiong ultimately settled on the sect name "Dragon Spring Sword Sect," he still felt somewhat dissatisfied. He disliked passing under the archway at the foot of the mountain that bore the plaque and instead had the Great Li officials lead convicts from the Lu clan to carve a small path. This caused quite a stir, with many feeling it was a bad omen—wasn't he deliberately avoiding the main path and taking a side route instead?
But Ruan Xiu and the three founding disciples knew the reason.
Ruan Qiong had said to them, "Whoever can justifiably remove the first two characters from 'Dragon Spring Sword Sect' in the future will be the next sect leader."
For a time, the Dragon Spring Sword Sect was unmatched in prestige within the Great Li Dynasty.
Aside from the mountain presented by the Great Li Song clan as a gift for the sect's founding, the main mountain of the sect, Divine Embellishment Mountain, along with the three surrounding peaks—Treasure Register Mountain, Colorful Cloud Peak, and Immortal Herb Mountain—had been leased to Sage Ruan Qiong by Chen Ping'an for three hundred years. This had long been incorporated into the territory of the Dragon Spring Sword Sect.
It was a good deal.
Others could carry a pig's head and still not find the temple, and even if they got their foot in the door, actually burning incense successfully was another ordeal.
So for Chen Ping'an, whose cultivation was negligible but who was the biggest landowner in Dragon Spring County, this deal was very advantageous.
Additionally, the newly enfeoffed Northern Peak True God, Wei Po, had once toured the surrounding lands with Chen Ping'an, which was another golden talisman.
It was said that even the two young book-attendant maids had been issued talismans of peace granted by the Great Li court to meritorious qi refiners—another protective charm.
With these three talismans, not only could Chen Ping'an, that lucky fellow, walk sideways in Dragon Spring County, but he could probably even walk backward without any trouble.
Unfortunately, that young man had disappeared, reportedly off on a distant journey.
Probably someone who didn't know how to enjoy good fortune.
On one side of Divine Embellishment Mountain was a massive cliff, a sheer drop of a thousand ren standing alone.
There was a four-character ancient cliff inscription that read "Heaven Opens Divine Embellishment." After Ruan Qiong founded the sect, almost every day qi refiners would ride the wind to come and admire the elegance of those four characters, feeling that Ruan Qiong's choice of Divine Embellishment Mountain as the main mountain of the sect was perhaps a matter of profound, mysterious divine will.
But Ruan Xiu never went near the cliff to join the excitement—it seemed she had never gone even once.
Ruan Xiu, who didn't like to move much, seemed to have grown a bit taller, gained a little weight, and her chin had become slightly rounder.
Ruan Qiong thought that was fine.
In truth, fathers the world over tend to think everything about their daughters is good.
Sometimes, on a clear day, Ruan Xiu would go to the pavilion at the peak of Divine Embellishment Mountain. She would gaze into the distance, watching the winding streams and brooks that eventually merged into the Dragon Beard River, which then became the torrential Iron Talisman River.
Ruan Xiu didn't like looking at these streams and rivers—quite the opposite, she found them annoying.
River earls, river matriarchs, river gods, rain masters, cloud mothers—any deity associated with water, she had disliked since childhood. Just hearing their titles irritated her.
She wanted to deal with them the way she dealt with a freshly forged sword bar—take a hammer and smash it once, and be done with it.
Today, Ruan Xiu was lazily leaning on the railing, yawning.
Outside the pavilion came the sound of light footsteps. Ruan Xiu turned to look and saw a group of four people walking from afar, all dressed in Confucian robes and scholar's caps.
Ruan Xiu glanced at them. She recognized them all: Prefect Wu Yuan, a fairly young man who had been promoted quickly, an outstanding student of the Great Li national master Cui Chan; a Mr. Cao, the current supervisor of kiln affairs; a Mr. Yuan—both the Yuan and Cao clans were Pillar-State surnames, and the two temples, one for civil and one for military, built at Old Porcelain Mountain and Immortal Grave, honored the ancestors of these two men; and finally, a vice-mountain chief from the Linlu Academy on Piyun Mountain, a retired elder of the Huangting Kingdom who went by the alias Cheng Shuidong, actually an old flood dragon.
Ruan Xiu stood up, walked out of the pavilion, and yielded the best viewing spot to them.
The four exchanged smiles. No one was overly fawning, and since Ruan Xiu was a woman appearing alone, they felt it inappropriate to be too warm.
With any other qi refiner, they would have at least thanked Ruan Xiu and announced their names to get familiar.
The four had come by appointment to play chess. Wu Yuan was to play against Vice-Mountain Chief Cheng. Wu Yuan's teacher, Cui Chan, was unquestionably the best Go player in Great Li. When Wu Yuan studied under Cui Chan, his Go skills had soared, making him a renowned master in the capital. The Cao and Yuan men were just there to observe.
The Cao and Yuan ancestors had been close friends, the twin jewels of Great Li. But after several hundred years, the two clans were now at daggers drawn. The Cao and Yuan men sat opposite each other, barely even making eye contact.
Now that Great Sui and Great Li had formed an alliance, with each side setting up a mountain covenant at Great Li's Piyun Mountain and Great Sui's East Mountain, Great Li was dominant in the northern part of Bottle Gourd Continent. The Huangting Kingdom and several other vassal states of Great Sui had begun to shift allegiance to the Great Li Song clan, paying tribute. There had been some turmoil—many aristocratic families felt this was a betrayal—but then the hooves of the Great Li iron cavalry sounded. When the hooves stopped, many heads that had once worn official caps or the high hats of famous scholars had rolled.
Both the court and the martial world in Great Sui fell into an eerie silence.
The mighty Great Sui, the orthodox center of northern Bottle Gourd Continent's literary heritage, with its strong national power, had surrendered without a fight, ceded territory, and sued for peace!
A famous literary man, drunk and singing, climbed a mountain and composed a poem. Before throwing himself off a cliff, he left his last words: "Since the founding of Great Sui by the Gao clan, scholars have been humiliated to this point. Only death can prove our innocence."
A Go grandmaster of Great Sui, whose fame had spread across half the continent, chopped up his beloved Go board and used it for firewood.
In the halls of Great Sui's capital, resignations came one after another, from high ministers to minor officials, numbering over a hundred. It was rumored that the six ministries in the capital were instantly half-empty.
Regardless, the Great Li iron cavalry began marching south.
Chaos had arisen in Bottle Gourd Continent.
From the pavilion came the crisp sound of stones being placed.
Ruan Xiu came to an ancient pine tree by the cliff edge. Along the way, she picked up pebbles from the ground and gently tossed them off the cliff.
Cloud qi drifted like a great river, slow and steady, between heaven and earth.
She suddenly threw the remaining stones in her hand.
Today she still had to help her father with the forging. Oh no, she was so late. Tonight, she definitely wouldn't get to eat the salt-pork stewed with bamboo shoots.
---
A family of three boarded a transcontinental ferry, traveling from south to north. They finally arrived at their destination in Northern Juju Continent, an immortal sect called Lion Peak.
Among the group, there was an extra pair: a young master and his servant. The young master, full of scholarly air, had a young book-attendant leading a horse. On the horse's back hung a gold-and-silver ceremonial saddle unique to the Flowery Feather Dynasty. The book-attendant was reluctant and had worn a sour expression the whole way, but his master insisted on guiding these people, and he couldn't say anything.
The family of three was rustic and, more importantly, had no discernment at all. Although the coarse man and his wife had a very pretty daughter, no matter how beautiful she was, how could she compare to their master? The Flowery Feather Dynasty was one of the few great dynasties in Northern Juju Continent. Although the emperor's surname was Han, everyone knew that half the officials wearing hats in court shared the same surname as their master!
And even though the young master wasn't the only son of the clan, with only an elder brother and himself in this generation, his elder brother was a concubine's son while he was the legitimate heir. Even marrying a princess would be beneath him—why bother entangling himself with a country girl who was blind to his status?
A family from a small place like Bottle Gourd Continent didn't deserve such attentiveness from the young master.
The book-attendant had been so angry during the journey that he had shed tears several times, but the young master at most comforted him a bit before continuing to follow the three on their way to Lion Peak.
The master of Lion Peak was a fairly famous immortal, but so what?
When he met the young master's grandfather, wouldn't he still have to tuck his tail between his legs?
Even those land sword immortals who came and went on wind and clouds—the book-attendant, merely a companion scholar, had seen five of them over the years, thanks to his master.
But this young book-attendant with his high standards had indeed seen several genuine sword immortals. However, he was still underestimating the mountain lord of Lion Peak. Although he was only a Nascent Soul earthly immortal of the tenth realm, earthly immortals in Northern Juju Continent were valuable. Without real skill, it was hard to gain a foothold unless one became a carefree wandering immortal.
Especially this one at Lion Peak, a true outsider. Yet in just two hundred years, almost single-handedly, he had beaten a clan-level immortal sect into submission in the Flowery Feather Dynasty, proving his extraordinary combat prowess. Moreover, Northern Juju Continent was known for producing experts, eccentric characters, unreasonable people, and those who were all three.
So sitting on a mountain in Juju Continent was an easy way to attract sudden calamity.
Often, a great cultivator would take a dislike to your mountain gate and just start hammering away at it. If he couldn't win, he'd run; if he could win, he'd make you tear down your plaque.
That was Juju Continent, which had forcibly taken the word "north" from the Aiai Continent. The people were fierce, and both the court and the common folk revered martial arts. Cultivators were adept at fighting and fond of it. Many young scions of immortal families who loved traveling alone would go down the mountain disguised as wandering or rogue cultivators, just so they could fight to their heart's content.
Here, sword cultivators were as numerous as clouds.
Some renowned peak swordsmen in the martial world had sword arts that approached the divine, capable of even contending with earthly immortals on the mountains.
Thus, the three Confucian academies of Juju Continent, compared to other continents, always had sages who were extremely high in combat power. As for their scholarship, that could come second—otherwise, they simply couldn't keep order.
The current sage of the Yufu Academy had originally been little known, living in seclusion within the academy all year round. In the eyes of native Juju Continent cultivators and kings, generals, and ministers, he also liked to show off his erudition, which made him less popular. Even a rabbit would bite when cornered, let alone a sage whom his teacher had given the admonition "restrain anger" before leaving the Central Plains Academy. Then one day he got furious. Someone had publicly declared that the moral teachings of this sage were complete nonsense. This person was right next to Yufu Academy at the time, then swaggered off, with many cultivators of Juju Continent echoing his sentiment.
The academy was disheartened for a long time. Then one day, the sage left the academy. Within a month, he successively beat up two Nascent Soul cultivators and one Jade Perfection realm cultivator until their faces were swollen. It was said that each time, at the end, the Confucian sage would knock on their heads and loudly demand, "Is it clear now?" The three had no choice but to say it was clear, to which the sage would reply each time, "Clear my ass!"
It became a humorous tale.
And the mountain lord of Lion Peak was one of the few earthly immortals whom that Yufu Academy sage could stand.
But these top-level insider details were beyond the reach of the young book-attendant.
When they reached the mountain gate at the foot of Lion Peak, the book-attendant thought that since they were already there, they might as well ask for a cup of tea. But the young master got stubborn again. He said to the couple and the young woman, "A journey of a thousand miles must end with a farewell," and then turned around and left with the book-attendant. The little book-attendant was so aggrieved he nearly burst into tears again.
They had wandered around for half a year, and heading home was a good thing, but they weren't leaving with any style at all!
After climbing the mountain, the wife whispered to her daughter, going on and on, mostly about how that rich young man was pretty decent—polite, not bad-looking, and clearly a scholar. Compared to the half-baked Lin Shouyi and Dong Shuijing, he seemed much more learned. But her daughter neither nodded nor shook her head, which irritated the wife. She poked her daughter and scolded her with a laugh, "You silly girl, you just don't get it!" The girl, who could hardly be called a girl anymore, smiled softly. She had always been like that since childhood.
She never got angry, never laughed aloud. Except for her younger brother Li Huai, she didn't really care about anyone.
Her mother often said she was like soft dough—anyone could knead her. If she married, she would suffer greatly.
Of course, the mother's main point was that with such a weak temperament, her daughter wouldn't be able to manage a household or stand up to her husband's family, and then how could she help her brother?
Her mother's favoritism was never hidden.
Fortunately, the wife's husband, a simple and honest man named Li Er, had never valued sons over daughters. He doted on both his son and daughter.
Too bad his status in the family was the lowest, and his words carried the least weight.
And Li Liu seemed to have been born with a nature of resigned submission, so she didn't see anything wrong.
This time, the wife had heard that the head of this Lion Peak place had some connection with her husband's useless master. Her husband had assured her that once the three of them were there, they wouldn't have to worry about food or drink. It was only because of this that the wife, who had been through the hardships of traveling across continents and seas, had stopped cursing Old Man Yang so much. She felt that after being his apprentice for so many years, Li Er had finally been of some use. Otherwise, the next time she returned to her hometown and saw that old immortal Yang, she would block the back door of his pharmacy every day and curse at him so much that he wouldn't need to wash his face.
As she walked, the wife suddenly thought of her precious son, who must be suffering and uncared for, and she got angry. She pinched her daughter's arm and said, "What was wrong with that young master with the strange surname? Didn't you think about marrying him? Then we wouldn't have to watch people's faces here at Lion Peak. We'd have that Mr. Situ come in a palanquin with eight bearers to marry you properly, and then we could move into their house openly. We'd quickly bring Li Huai over, and our family of four would be reunited."
Li Liu smiled, her eyes curving like crescent moons, as if she was admitting fault and begging for mercy, or maybe just acting coy.
Her mother couldn't stand it when her daughter looked like that, so she let go of her anger and pinched Li Liu's arm again, but this time more gently. "You ungrateful thing, you don't even know how to care for your own brother. I've raised you all these years for nothing..."
At this, the fickle wife suddenly laughed happily and gently pinched her daughter's cheek. "This girl's face really does take after me. Look, such a pretty and delicate face, like you could squeeze water out of it."
Li Er, carrying a large bundle, grinned.
But then the wife became melancholy again. "We finally waited until that old woman in Apricot Blossom Alley died, and that vixen from Mud Vase Lane moved away. If only we didn't have to leave the town. No one can out-argue me anymore."
This journey north had been fraught with anxiety. The wife felt she had a full set of martial arts skills but no chance to use them, which was a real pity.
Li Liu's delicate features might not have come from her mother.
But Li Huai's tendency to be a bully at home definitely came from his mother.
At the top of Lion Peak, the mountain lord was accompanying an old man who looked like a wealthy merchant. The old man had a greasy face. If he hadn't been there, with an earthly immortal cultivator respectfully accompanying him, he might have been mistaken for the owner of some small shop in the market town below, or a local bully.
The fat old man had a green cord tied around his wrist. He clicked his tongue and said, "Old Mr. Yang is truly broad-minded. If it were me, that sharp-tongued woman would have been reincarnated eight hundred times by now."
The old man beside the wealthy merchant looked like an immortal, with an air of divinity that matched the common folk's image of a celestial being. Upon hearing the guest's teasing, he did not respond, only offered a polite smile.
The plump old man asked with a grin, "Forget about the waste of a Golden Core—how many earthly immortals like you have emerged from the Lit Bead Cave Heaven in the last thousand years or so? Now that we're allies, this little matter shouldn't be kept hidden, should it?"
The old immortal master bowed slightly and said apologetically, "Great Sword Immortal Cao, I'm afraid I cannot speak of this."
So this wealthy merchant was none other than the Sword Immortal Cao Xi of the Swaying Continent, who had come to serve as Li Liu's guardian according to their contract.
Cao Xi asked again, "And why is Li Liu so unwilling to cultivate? What's the reason?"
The old immortal master, who was the mountain lord of Lion Peak, replied helplessly, "You can ask my ancestor about that, Sword Immortal."
Cao Xi was taken aback. "She is the reincarnation of an ancestor from your lineage? But Lion Peak's heritage is only a few hundred years old—how did you find her?"
The old immortal master hesitated, apparently having received some instruction. After weighing his words carefully, he said cautiously, "We have our own secret arts. And it's not just our ancestor."
Cao Xi asked the most critical question. "Does Li Liu know?"
The old immortal master smiled but said nothing.
That was the answer.
Cao Xi clicked his tongue. "What a find."
After that, the family of three, Li Er, his wife, and Li Liu, settled down at Lion Peak. An old steward of Lion Peak received them. Officially, they were said to be distant relatives of Old Man Yang from the pharmacy, and the steward managed some miscellaneous affairs for Lion Peak. He gave them a modest dwelling. He didn't give the wife any work for the time being, saying only that they needed to wait a few days for things to be settled. Lion Peak had strict rules; they were not to disturb the immortal masters in their cultivation, nor were they to wander around casually. If they caused trouble, he couldn't protect them.
The wife felt that all these words were directed at her, so she was very nervous.
Of course, she had no idea that after leaving the house, the Lion Peak elder in charge of legal affairs wiped the cold sweat from his brow. The mountain lord had given him this difficult task, and it was terrifying. The old man didn't even dare look directly at the woman named Li Liu.
A few days later, the wife couldn't stand it any longer. She said she wanted to find something to do in the small town near Lion Peak. Li Er borrowed some money and planned to open a shop. Then, a "certain" expert from Lion Peak "coincidentally" discovered that Li Liu had aptitude for cultivation, so Li Liu stayed behind on the mountain to cultivate.
The wife, being short-sighted, had always felt that marrying a rich man was true happiness for Li Liu, so she wasn't very happy about this. If Li Liu really became an immortal cultivator, she might not be seen for years or even decades—how then could she benefit Li Huai?
But in the end, the wife followed Li Er to the small town. They rented a house and started looking around for a suitable shop, settling down.
When Li Liu saw her parents off at the foot of the mountain, after their figures disappeared down the road, all the Nascent Soul and Golden Core cultivators of Lion Peak, including the mountain lord, appeared behind her. They were all extremely respectful, hardly daring to breathe.
Led by the mountain lord, they all said in unison, "We welcome the ancestor back to the mountain."
Li Liu paid them no heed. She forbade them from following, and climbed the mountain alone. She went to a cave on Lion Peak that had been sealed for a long time and strode inside.
The many layers of restrictions that even earthly immortals found difficult to break posed no obstacle to Li Liu—they didn't impede her in the slightest.
When she came out of the cave, she had a golden lion seal hanging from her waist.
Cao Xi had been waiting at the entrance for a long time. He held a short sword about the size of a dagger in his hand. Raising the arm with the green cord tied around it, he said with a laugh, "Before I refined a river as my lifebound flying sword, this short sword accompanied me in battle for three hundred years. Its sword qi has been accumulating and nourishing ever since. Once you reach the middle five realms, you'll be able to use it freely. It can be used for ten strikes, each on par with the full-force attack of a Jade Perfection realm sword immortal. If, when you reach Golden Core or Nascent Soul, you release all its sword qi at once, that would be a single sword strike from a Sword Immortal at the Immortal realm."
Li Liu smiled softly. She raised her hand, and the short sword flew into her palm. She casually drew it from its sheath and lightly slashed it outward.
A rainbow of sword qi rumbled through the air, as if splitting heaven and earth. The shock silenced every cultivator on Lion Peak.
Li Liu, who had inexplicably risen to the middle five realms in a single step, nodded. "Just as I thought."
Cao Xi sighed. "What a sight."
He rarely thought of that unfilial descendant of his, Cao Jun, who was now serving in the Great Li army.
Ah, look at other people's children, then look at his own—infuriating.
---
True Martial Mountain.
As one of the two ancestral courts of the Warrior's Path in Bottle Gourd Continent, True Martial Mountain had many more warrior cultivators who joined the military compared to Snow Wind Temple, which had more wanderers.
In the past year, more and more cultivators had been coming down the mountain. Half went north to Great Li, and the other half followed their own opportunities to various countries in the central part of Bottle Gourd Continent.
True Martial Mountain, which had been somewhat quiet, was now bustling with activity.
Ma Kuxuan, that arrogant newcomer who had only joined the mountain a few years ago, had stirred up another huge scandal. He had killed a Sight Realm cultivator. True Martial Mountain hadn't announced the specific reason, but it wasn't any life-or-death enmity. The old seventh-realm cultivator had never even interacted with Ma Kuxuan before. Even if they had a conflict, it would have been nothing more than a verbal argument at worst. It must have been that ruthless Ma Kuxuan who deliberately went for the kill.
Even though two old ancestors had spoken on his behalf and pleaded for leniency, Ma Kuxuan was ultimately confined to the Divine Martial Hall at the back of the mountain and forbidden to leave for a year.
The Divine Martial Hall housed the statues of True Martial Mountain's successive ancestors and over a dozen nameless deities. It was said that in the past, there had been a great calamity that affected the entire sect. In that time of crisis, the sect leader of that generation used a secret technique to summon the golden-bodied deities that had enjoyed thousands of years of incense offerings in the hall. They descended the mountain together to fight the enemy, their momentum overwhelming, and in one fell swoop, they wiped out over a dozen immortal clans.
But being confined to the Divine Martial Hall was no comfortable affair. Only True Martial Mountain cultivators who had committed serious crimes were imprisoned there, and fewer than one in ten ever walked out alive. It was said that on certain ancient fast days, when the traditions were broken, the deity statues enshrined in the hall would "awaken" and interrogate, flog, or even devour the souls of the cultivators.
In a celestial residence on True Martial Mountain, draped in immortal mist, a warrior ancestor of very high seniority exclaimed vehemently, "Isn't this punishment too harsh for Ma Kuxuan?!"
The man opposite him had a youthful, handsome face, with fingers as slender and fair as a woman's. He was studying a Go game by himself. Faced with his junior brother's almost rude questioning, the man remained unmoved, unwilling to say even a word.
The old man slammed his hand on the table. "That boy Ma Kuxuan is the greatest genius I have seen in my life, a true genius! If you ruin him, I'll never let it go!"
The man had just picked up a Go stone. Hearing this, he silently put it back in the bowl and frowned. "There are quite a few cases of clan-level sects being destroyed by some stunning genius."
The old man sneered. "But there are more cases of a sect being revitalized and cleansed of its accumulated ills by a single person!"
The man shook his head. "In cultivation, the foremost principle is 'no mistakes.' If ancestral rules are broken for one or two individuals, any temporary prosperity achieved is just a castle in the air. Besides, True Martial Mountain is functioning smoothly now; it doesn't need anyone to save it. Junior Brother Liu, I advise you: you value Ma Kuxuan, and even if you are willing to give him all your treasures and secretly help him win that fortune, in the end, that is your own affair. I will not interfere, because it does not violate the rules of True Martial Mountain."
The old man looked at the "young man," whose expression was growing colder. The previously aggressive warrior ancestor began to feel uncertain. He snorted, "Ma Kuxuan is worth True Martial Mountain breaking a few rules for. Snow Wind Temple has its Divine Immortal Platform and Wei Jin. Who do we have?"
The man smiled. "You have me."
The old man was choked by this remark and couldn't utter a word for a long time.
The man seemed to think the atmosphere was too tense, so he finally put on a smile. "Alright, every child has their own fortune. Moreover, Ma Kuxuan isn't even your descendant. What's the hurry? For the sake of the sect's grand cause? Oh, come on. I know your temperament. In the end, you just want Ma Kuxuan to go to Snow Wind Temple one day and get revenge for you."
The warrior ancestor, known throughout the world for his explosive temper, admitted frankly, "That was the original intention. But after spending time together, I've come to like Ma Kuxuan more and more. My own bunch of useless descendants—ten thousand of them couldn't compare to Ma Kuxuan."
The man unexpectedly agreed with the old man, nodding. "Mm, those little turtle bastards of yours—you never should have had them in the first place. But in the end, it's your own fault for not being able to control your cock."
The old man said angrily, "You, the sect leader of True Martial Mountain, saying such things—aren't you embarrassed?!"
The man laughed and teased, "I heard you've been loosening your belt again lately. You took a beautiful mortal concubine?"
The old man's arrogance immediately deflated. He said in a low voice, "I truly like that woman. She's innocent and lovely. Those so-called immortal women on the mountain are just tiresome."
The man said indifferently, "As long as you're happy."
The old man suddenly felt indignant. "The atmosphere at True Martial Mountain really needs to change, especially the disciples taken in over the last hundred years. Their character is abysmal. Just one Ma Kuxuan has them all in a tizzy, their Dao hearts in chaos. They whisper sour and resentful words behind his back, worse than the gossiping women in the market!"
The man waved his hand. "It's not that their Dao hearts are in chaos—it's just that their Dao hearts were always that fragile."
The old man asked doubtfully, "Aren't you going to do something about it?"
The man retorted, "Should I also handle their eating, drinking, shitting, and pissing? Should I handle your belt?"
The old man rolled his eyes.
"Don't worry. Ma Kuxuan won't die."
The man waved his hand and resumed studying the Go game.
The warrior ancestor laughed heartily and abruptly stood up. "Senior Brother, if you had just said that sooner, why would I have wasted half the day arguing with you!"
The man didn't look up. "Your belt is loose."
The old man chuckled. "Senior Brother still loves to joke..."
With a cry of surprise, the old man hurriedly used his divine abilities and vanished in a flash.
It turned out that the man, with a wave of his hand, had shattered the belt of a Nascent Soul earthly immortal, and the latter had been completely unaware.
If the man had intended to kill...
In the eyes of Bottle Gourd Continent, True Martial Mountain's strength lay in its influence over secular dynasties. In terms of personal cultivation and combat power, the old warrior immortals of Snow Wind Temple were far superior to True Martial Mountain.
Someone once joked that if the two warrior ancestral courts each fielded ten men for paired combat, Snow Wind Temple, with its forest of experts, could beat True Martial Mountain, with its deep involvement in the world, until the latter cried for mercy.
The man put down the old Go manual he had long since memorized. The manual was titled "Compilation of Endgame Moves," recording many famous endgame positions from history. The game he had just been studying was called the "Colorful Cloud Game." The two players were the city lord of White Emperor City and the former chief disciple of the Literary Saint.
The man sighed softly.
Inside the Divine Martial Hall at the back of the mountain.
Ma Kuxuan sat cross-legged on the head of a towering deity statue. A black cat sat on his head.
One person, one cat, one statue.
The black cat extended a paw and gently scratched Ma Kuxuan's head.
Ma Kuxuan didn't mind. He and the black cat had depended on each other since childhood. After his grandmother died, it was even more so.
To his left, a golden-bodied wooden statue suddenly glowed with golden light in its eye sockets. It shook mightily, and the huge statue slowly descended from its altar. It looked around and finally spotted Ma Kuxuan on the head of the central statue. The statue walked to the center of the hall, turned to face the young man and the cat, and knelt on one knee.
Ma Kuxuan seemed used to this. He just reminded it as usual, "When you go back, remember to keep your mouth shut."
The wooden statue nodded slightly, stood up, and strode forward. It climbed back onto the altar and stood in its original position. The golden light soon faded from its eyes, and it became still again.
The doors and windows of the hall were extremely tall and wide. Light streamed through the cracks in the windows, spilling into the hall, making the dust visible.
Ma Kuxuan suddenly said in self-deprecation, "Too many treasures, too much good fortune. It's pretty annoying."
The black cat lifted a leg and gently licked its paw.
Ma Kuxuan leaned back and lay down. The black cat hopped off and landed on his chest just as he lay flat. It curled up and soon fell asleep.
The black cat occasionally shifted to a more comfortable curled-up position.
Ma Kuxuan crossed his legs and stroked the cat's soft fur. Thinking of the backhanded comments and sycophancy on True Martial Mountain, he found it all rather boring. "You don't like me? So what? I don't like you either."
The hall was ethereal.
Only the faint snoring of the person and the cat could be heard.
The golden-bodied statues of the deities stood in rows, as if faithfully guarding a sovereign on high, year after year, a thousand years, ten thousand years.
---
Guarding Lake Academy's worthy, Zhou Ju, did not follow his sage master to meet that Daoist Heavenly Lord from Juju Continent.
He was afraid that he wouldn't be able to control himself and would insult that fellow named Xie Shi, which would only put his master in a difficult position.
His master had left the academy. He certainly couldn't defeat Heavenly Lord Xie Shi in a fight, nor could he just stand by and watch himself get slapped to death by Xie Shi. Would his master have to apologize to an outsider on behalf of his student?
So Zhou Ju came to a mountain not far from where the Dajiao Mountain Kunpeng ship had crashed.
According to records, the sky-piercing sword qi had risen from here, striking down that Kunpeng ship heading south to Old Dragon City. The casualties were heavy, and almost no passenger below the middle five realms survived.
Zhou Ju searched the mountain but found nothing—no clues at all. That was only to be expected.
Because in this disaster, even a blind man could see that someone had meticulously plotted behind the scenes, framing this powerful dynasty, the strongest in Bottle Gourd Continent.
But there was one thing Zhou Ju couldn't understand. Why would a dignified continental Daoist lord from Juju Continent lower himself to wade into this muddy water, even to the point of coming into direct conflict with Guarding Lake Academy? If this continued, Heavenly Lord Xie Shi might well become the public enemy of all qi refiners in Bottle Gourd Continent.
Did Xie Shi truly believe he was the second disciple of the Dao Ancestor?
Zhou Ju didn't think that the Great Li Song clan could have invited a Heavenly Lord from another continent.
Zhou Ju, who had been sleeping in the open for days, decided to go down the mountain.
His master had casually mentioned something: in the past half-year, in the three regions of Swaying Continent, Indus Leaf Continent, and Fuyao Continent, many long-lost masterless treasures had appeared, and even a few half-immortal artifacts were among them. This had caused a huge stir. Countless wandering and rogue cultivators swarmed to the scene, and the deeply entrenched immortal clans were certainly not going to miss out on such great opportunities. For a time, it was a mix of fish and dragons, with wolves and jackals traveling together.
Zhou Ju had no interest in any of this.
He was even less interested in the world to come.
Because it was certain that for scholars to study in peace would be even harder.
That was not good.
Zhou Ju looked up at the sky above.
I, Zhou Ju, a mere worthy of Guarding Lake Academy—call me Zhou Juran—can already see the signs. What about you, who hold higher positions than my master?
Zhou Ju went down the mountain in low spirits. He wandered idly, sometimes riding the wind and sometimes walking. Finally, he came to a lively market and bought a bowl of hot, spicy-and-sour soup.
Zhou Ju immediately broke into a smile. All his troubles vanished.
The vendor's daughter, a girl of marrying age with skin lightly tanned but radiating a healthy glow, secretly stole glances at Zhou Ju.
Scholars were rare in her hometown, and good-looking ones even rarer.
She felt that even a single extra glance was a blessing.
So Zhou Ju ordered another bowl of spicy-and-sour soup.