Chapter 301: Heartbreak
The general trend of the mortal world is mostly determined by the mountains.
Far away from the sky above Flying Eagle Fort.
The two sides confronted each other.
Their victory or defeat would almost determine the life or death of Flying Eagle Fort.
With three lifebound flying swords, two young men, and the Demon Binding Rope and Five-Colored Belt binding him.
The Old Man with High Crown was completely surrounded. It wasn't that his opponents outnumbered him, but rather that they were wearing him down and burying him with an endless stream of magical treasures.
Facing two inexplicably monstrous young men, the Old Man with High Crown seemed to know he would die. His expression was melancholy, filled with helplessness. He slowly said, "If it weren't for this, when that golden-robed youth stabbed me with his sword, I would have detonated my golden core myself, and then used my remaining yin spirit to blow you up. After all, in my early prime, I was a great golden core cultivator who had touched the threshold of the Infant-Forming stage. Even if you managed to dodge, it wouldn't have been pleasant. That pretty skin of yours might well have been lost."
Lu Tai nodded, not denying it.
But his peripheral vision was constantly fixed on the old man's arms—that was the real killing move that imprisoned him.
The old man, seasoned and ruthless, lowered his gaze and clicked his tongue in admiration. "All good stuff."
The old man looked around, somewhat desolate. "If it weren't for a senior disciple of the Taiping Mountain's ancestors coveting my Five Peaks Crown, and I refused to hand it over, how could I have ended up in today's situation? When he failed to get it, he secretly colluded with rogue cultivators, paying them to massacre my family and friends, leaving not a single one..."
Speaking of this, the old man chuckled darkly. "And I'm no pushover either. I found an opportunity and killed two of their Dragon Gate realm cultivators—true geniuses, similar to you two. With luck, they might have reached the Infant-Forming stage, and the Golden Core stage was a certainty. So Taiping Mountain went mad, abandoning all pretense of dignity. On the surface, a young golden core cultivator fought me one-on-one and ultimately crushed my realm. What's the truth? Hah! What a fine Taiping Mountain! Behind that young golden core cultivator stood an Infant-Forming Earth Immortal, all so I could be a training dummy for him—gaining prestige for killing an old golden core cultivator while also solidifying his own realm. Euphemistically called 'making the best use of resources.' Tell me, aren't these famous orthodox sects formidable?"
Lu Tai's gaze passed over the old man sitting on his cushion and settled on Chen Ping'an in the distance.
He could communicate with Chen Ping'an through heart-mind speech and ensure no mid-fifth-realm cultivator could eavesdrop, but Chen Ping'an couldn't reply. The martial arts technique of condensing sound into a thread might seem miraculous to common folk, but in the eyes of mountain cultivators, it was the crudest and most inferior method. Therefore, for Lu Tai to know Chen Ping'an's decision, the two had to rely on eye contact.
Knowing full well that the two young men were exchanging glances, the Old Man with High Crown, like a fallen hero at the end of his road, ignored them. He raised his arm with difficulty, extended a finger, and lightly flicked the sharp sword tip protruding from his chest. This heroic gesture caused the old man to cough up blood profusely, but his expression remained composed. "If I'm not mistaken, that sword should be the one purchased at a high price from the Fuji Sect by the number one swordsman of the Chenxiang Kingdom. Even without that, it was half a mountain magical treasure. Having drunk my heart's blood, it has taken a step further and fully earned its title as a magical treasure."
The Old Man with High Crown laughed heartily, turned his head to look at the golden-robed youth standing on a flying sword, and extended three fingers. "Kid, you're really wealthy. That sword on your back—although I don't know why it hasn't been drawn from its sheath this whole time—could it be another magical treasure?"
Chen Ping'an remained unmoved, silent.
The old man withdrew his gaze, looked up at the sky, and took a deep breath. The wind up high blew fiercely, making his tattered sleeves rustle.
"All my possessions—you little bastards have ruined my Dao. Don't even dream of getting your hands on them!"
The old man suddenly burst into laughter. "My death is worth it! The sword in my chest, the ribbons on my hands, the Demon Binding Rope, plus the Five Peaks Crown on my head and the cushion under my backside—five magical treasures buried with me! That's worthy even of an Infant-Forming Earth Immortal! And if you add the three lifebound flying swords, even a mountain-top immortal of the upper five realms wouldn't be much more than this!"
The old man's body began to decay, ash falling from him in a rustling shower. But from his dantian, a dazzling brilliance burst forth, shooting out in all directions.
Almost simultaneously, First One, Fifteen, and Awn all retreated rapidly, far away from the Dragon Gate realm cultivator about to self-destruct his dantian.
As for the long sword called Devoted Heart, which had drunk deeply of the old man's heart's blood, it was pulled from the chest by Chen Ping'an using the swordsman's art of controlling swords. But before pulling it out, he twisted it viciously, completely shredding the old man's heart. Clearly, even at the risk of the sword being destroyed by the explosion, Chen Ping'an was determined to ensure the old man's death.
The old man lowered his eyes. As the Five-Colored Belt, crucial to Lu Tai, left his arm, he felt an immediate lightness—no longer a dragon stranded in shallow water tormented by shrimp. He squinted, waiting only for the Demon Binding Rope on his other arm to be taken by the golden-robed youth.
But the old man was stunned.
The golden Demon Binding Rope, of extremely high quality, did not leave but instead tightened further around his arm, clearly intending to be his funerary offering.
Only at this moment, despite all his scheming, did the old man find himself utterly bound. The suppressed malice and ruthlessness deep in his heart exploded forth, along with a hidden terror.
This uncontrollable panic was no less than when he had been hunted by that golden core cultivator of Taiping Mountain back then.
As for there being an Infant-Forming Earth Immortal shamelessly protecting him and forcing the old man to be a training dummy for that golden core cultivator—that was, of course, the old man's wild fabrication.
His purpose was to create the illusion that he was willing to die nobly. Once the Demon Binding Rope and the belt were released, he could detach a strand of his refined yin spirit, abandon his physical body and cultivation, and escape entirely. Though it would damage his Dao foundation, it was still better than dying here. Later, he could go to the mortal world, find a good seedling for cultivation, weave a tragic tale with sweet words, diligently help them cultivate, and then seize their body at the right moment.
No matter what. He couldn't afford to hesitate any longer.
Even with the Demon Binding Rope still coiled around his arm, if he didn't shed his shell now, he would truly be waiting for death.
The Old Man with High Crown's dantian and qi sea exploded together. The cushion was completely destroyed. The Five Peaks Crown was knocked away, flying toward the golden-robed youth behind him.
In an instant, the celestial wind up high became chaotic, blasting in all directions. The spiritual energy shattered abruptly, like a blacksmith in a sword-forging room striking iron, sparks flying everywhere.
Because Lu Tai was a qi cultivator, he suffered more. Even though he was already fifty zhang away, he had to retreat further. Despite the dire situation, Lu Tai still exerted himself to communicate with Chen Ping'an via heart-mind speech, urging him to choose a safe position. This moment could be used as an opportunity to temper his martial body and soul, which would be greatly beneficial.
Through the chaotic energy, Lu Tai couldn't clearly see Chen Ping'an's movements, but he trusted that Chen Ping'an, cautious as ever, would make a safe choice.
Unknowingly, Lu Tai had already come to regard Chen Ping'an, a martial artist at the fourth realm, as a kindred spirit. In certain life-and-death decisions, he was even willing to trust and, to some extent, rely on Chen Ping'an.
For a qi cultivator pursuing eternal immortality on the mountains—especially a favored son of heaven with hopes of attaining the Dao—this was no small thing.
The Old Man with High Crown no longer hoped for a perfect outcome. Though he keenly sensed flying swords lurking and moving in several places, at the moment when his dantian exploded with a bang and the sky was blindingly bright, he seized a gap. A strand of his refined yin spirit flashed upward and vanished.
Although the yin spirit had a strand of golden rope tightly wound around it, in this earth-shattering upheaval, it was negligible.
Unexpectedly, the golden-robed youth had not fallen for the trick. He did not reach out to catch the Five Peaks Crown but let it fall to the ground without wasting a moment. However, the old man's yin spirit was confident. Even standing on that exaggerated flying sword, the golden-robed youth couldn't catch up—unless he used a Square Inch Talisman while flying the sword, and precisely located the escape route. All three conditions had to be met.
And this opportunity was fleeting, for the Demon Binding Rope would soon be shaken off by the yin spirit. After the dantian and qi sea had self-destructed, the spiritual energy on the Demon Binding Rope was almost depleted, and it could no longer firmly restrain the yin spirit.
Why else would mountain cultivators fear the word "if"?
In the sky, the golden-robed youth Chen Ping'an used two Square Inch Talismans in succession. The first took him off the flying sword "Needlepoint," and the second brought him directly behind the refined yin spirit. For the first time, he drew "Long Qi," the sword temporarily lent by the great sword immortal of the Sword Qi Great Wall. Chen Ping'an was utterly focused. In his mind, there was only that one sword strike by Teacher Qi in the dilapidated temple against Liu Chicheng in his pink robe.
With one sword stroke, he cut down!
The pitiful yin spirit was like a broken piece of duckweed, violently scoured away by the flood of sword qi.
In the mortal world, there was no longer any trace of this man.
After the one sword strike succeeded, Chen Ping'an was at the end of his rope, in a miserable state. The entire arm holding the "Long Qi" sword had turned to white bone, so much so that his fingers could no longer grip the sword. The long sword fell to the earth. Not only that, but Chen Ping'an himself crashed toward the ground in a slump.
First One and Fifteen, filled with anxiety, flew in circles around his falling form, but didn't know what to do.
Fortunately, Lu Tai, with lotus talismans blooming on his hands and feet, intercepted Chen Ping'an midair and helped him stand on the slowly descending flying sword "Needlepoint." Lu Tai himself hovered in the air outside the sword, his sleeves fluttering.
Looking at Chen Ping'an's wretched condition, Lu Tai felt both heartache and anger. "Chen Ping'an, you were too reckless! Do you even care about your life? So what if he escaped? A strand of yin spirit—it would take at least decades or even a century to recover. By then, would the two of us still fear him?!"
Chen Ping'an tilted his head and spat out a mouthful of blood. He even had the leisure to look into the distance for a long time, making Lu Tai laugh and cry at the same time.
Chen Ping'an withdrew his gaze, turned his head to look at the high-altitude battlefield where the old cultivator had perished, and showed no expression of complacency. "I was killing a man."
Lu Tai hurriedly took out a porcelain bottle, poured a fragrant and thick ointment into his palm, and gently applied it to Chen Ping'an's gruesome arm. Even Chen Ping'an, who could endure so much, grimaced in pain. Lu Tai explained softly, "Bear with it. It can regenerate flesh from bone."
Lu Tai noticed Chen Ping'an looking around as if searching for something. Understanding, he said irritably, "I already caught the long sword and the Demon Binding Rope for you. They're temporarily stored in my belt. But let me be clear: the Demon Binding Rope is badly damaged. It will cost a lot of snowflake coins to repair it to its original state. Don't worry, I'll cover the cost."
Chen Ping'an let out a sigh of relief, then asked, "What about the high crown?"
Lu Tai rolled his eyes. "We're in the middle of nowhere. No one's going to pick it up. Easy to find."
The two of them, on the flying sword, slowly descended to the ground.
Chen Ping'an sighed. It was a pity that the cushion had been destroyed. Of all the demon-subduing rewards, only the crown capable of lifting mountains was left.
But thinking back, he had insisted on "going against the current" and killing the old cultivator on the spot. The tempering of his soul had been immensely beneficial. For the first time, his martial fourth realm felt "settled," no longer that ethereal, elusive feeling.
This upheaval, or opportunity, was very similar to what happened during their long journey to Great Sui, when Gu Can's father's yin spirit made its choice.
Chen Ping'an felt that this battle, even without the Five Peaks Crown, even if the Demon Binding Rope had been completely destroyed, would not have been a loss.
As it was, he had come out ahead.
Not to mention the long sword "Devoted Heart," now steeped in sinister aura, its quality had greatly improved. Selling it off would be pure profit.
But in the end, magical treasures of the world were external things. Only fist techniques and sword arts were the true foundation Chen Ping'an wanted to grasp firmly.
Lu Tai suddenly laughed. "That Five Peaks Crown is quite beautiful. The old geezer probably hadn't fully unleashed its power—probably didn't know its true origin. When I return to the Central Continent Divine Land, I'll look through my family's library and a few geographical clans. Might find something."
Chen Ping'an smiled. "Alright, that means you want to keep it for yourself. I know you inside out."
Lu Tai said indignantly, "Chen Ping'an, you've read some sage books. Can't you be a little more refined?"
Chen Ping'an snorted. "Two grown men, why be so fussy?"
Lu Tai gave him a charming glare.
Even after traveling together for countless miles—including riding the Devouring Treasure Whale from Inverted Mountain to Tongye Continent—Chen Ping'an still found it hard to take.
They landed in the woods outside Flying Eagle Fort. With a thought from Lu Tai, his lifebound flying sword "Awn" flashed and disappeared.
Lu Tai voluntarily revealed his secret. "Compared to Needlepoint, Awn's killing power is mediocre. But from the moment it was born, Awn had a rare ability: 'Treasure Seeking.'"
"See? Other people's flying swords are just different." Chen Ping'an smiled and patted his gourd for nurturing swords. First One and Fifteen had already taken refuge inside.
But this time, even First One didn't sulk at Chen Ping'an. Probably because, in this life-and-death battle, unlike the previous two times at the City God Temple and amidst the army, they hadn't contributed much.
But the real reason was that, despite Chen Ping'an's envious words, deep down he was full of gratitude toward First One and Fifteen.
Chen Ping'an sat cross-legged under a large tree. He glanced at his ghastly white arm and curled his lip.
Lu Tai's eyes inexplicably reddened, and he fell silent.
Chen Ping'an looked at him. "Crying and whimpering like a woman!"
Lu Tai was stunned.
Chen Ping'an laughed heartily.
Back in the bamboo tower of Fallen Mountain, Chen Ping'an had been scolded like that by the barefoot old man. He had been very upset.
Now he found that scolding others like that was actually quite satisfying.
Seeing Chen Ping'an's hearty laughter, Lu Tai's mind calmed. He sat down opposite him and asked, "Why did you have to fight so hard?"
Chen Ping'an said matter-of-factly, "Didn't we agree beforehand? You go to the main building of Flying Eagle Fort, I'll handle that cloud sea. I promised you I'd do it, right? Besides, that old evil cultivator was dead set on killing me. If I didn't fight tooth and nail, I wouldn't survive. What else could I do?"
Chen Ping'an paused for a moment, then added after some thought, "When you're fighting for life and death, it's always right to think of the worst. If the Demon Binding Rope had really been destroyed, I wouldn't blame you now. That was my own decision. Like before, when we dealt with those robbers—I thought we could stop, but you insisted on hunting down the mastermind behind it. Same principle."
Lu Tai said apologetically, "That rainbow belt is my lifebound object. It can't be damaged. I'm sorry."
Chen Ping'an waved his hand, indicating Lu Tai didn't need to explain. He looked at Lu Tai's gloomy expression and smiled comfortingly. "It's not that I don't care. It's that I'm willing to trust you. So when you do certain things, I believe you have your own considerations. Between friends, there's no need to say too much."
Lu Tai's eyes got wet again. Chen Ping'an said earnestly, "It's a pity you weren't born a woman. I had two friends from the jianghu before—the young Daoist and the bearded wanderer I told you about. They never got so sentimental. You're too indecisive."
A person who casually treats others as friends often doesn't have true friends.
A person who loves to call everyone "brother" doesn't really have brothers in his heart.
So Lu Tai knew how heavy the word "friend" was when it came from Chen Ping'an's mouth.
It was something you could entrust your life to!
And Chen Ping'an had indeed done just that. When the Old Man with High Crown pressed down with the five peaks, if Lu Tai had been even a moment slower, even if Chen Ping'an had been hiding in the pit beneath the "mountain," he would have been crushed to death by the formation's spiritual pressure, suffocated alive.
Thinking of this, Lu Tai's heart twisted again. He became even more womanly.
Because at that time, in that small courtyard, he was the only listener. He had heard with his own ears the things Chen Ping'an had spoken of—things about dreams and hopes.
So Lu Tai said firmly, "Chen Ping'an, this time, when we divide the spoils, I'll make sure you come out with a full load."
Chen Ping'an rolled his eyes and couldn't be bothered to respond.
A long silence.
Only the autumn sunlight, filtering through the sparse and dense branches and leaves, scattered across the forest.
Finally, Lu Tai spoke softly, "Chen Ping'an, you fear death. I fear fate. Don't you think we're both pitiful in the same way?"
Chen Ping'an shook his head. "Of course not. I'm much more manly than you."
Lu Tai had finally opened his heart to someone, only to be drenched with cold water. He was furious. "Chen Ping'an! Why are you so dull?!"
Chen Ping'an blinked. "Why would a man like me want another man to find me interesting? Do I have a problem?"
Lu Tai said dejectedly, "Fine. I have a problem."
Then, in a voice as thin as a mosquito, he added, "I don't even know if I'm a man or a woman."
Chen Ping'an's ears were sharp. He was stunned. "What do you mean?!"
Lu Tai leaned back and lay on the ground. "Exactly what I said. I'm a monster. Since I was little, the people who knew this secret were my parents, my two masters, and one ancestor of my clan. You're the sixth. Only after I went to Upper Balcony was I truly able to..."
At the end, Chen Ping'an couldn't hear clearly anymore.
Chen Ping'an held it in for a long time.
Lu Tai stared blankly at the sky. "Say whatever you want. Since I've said it, I can take any opinion you have."
Chen Ping'an moved closer to Lu Tai, full of curiosity and a little embarrassed. He lowered his voice and asked, "When women have their period... does it hurt a lot?"
Lu Tai felt as if struck by lightning. He turned his head darkly and said through gritted teeth, "Why don't you go ask the girl you like?!"
Chen Ping'an scratched his head subconsciously. "I wouldn't dare."
Lu Tai suddenly laughed. He pointed at Chen Ping'an's arm.
Chen Ping'an cursed under his breath and quickly lowered the arm where flesh was slowly growing back. It really hurt.
They were silent again.
When Lu Tai sat up, he suddenly noticed that the other person was sad. Very sad.
Lu Tai found it incomprehensible.
He didn't know what could make Chen Ping'an so distressed.
He saw a small seal on Chen Ping'an's knee, one Lu Tai had never seen before.
Today, Flying Eagle Fort faced a great disaster but ended up safe.
And Chen Ping'an was still alive.
In Li Zhu Cave Heaven.
Everyone was safe and sound. Even a mud-legged kid like Chen Ping'an had traveled so far in the jianghu.
Because they had Teacher Qi.
So then.
Where was Teacher Qi?