Chapter 821: Luopo Mountain Attends the Ceremony at Zhengyang Mountain
(Apologies, the update is a bit late. PS: The physical books of "Sword Comes" volumes 8-14 are now on sale.)
When Liu Xianyang saw that no swordsman had come to block his path for the moment, he turned his head while climbing higher and glanced between First Thread Peak and Full Moon Peak. Patches of white clouds were still drifting leisurely past, but from now on, there would no longer be a woman in this world who rode a sword through the clouds, clad all in pitch-black night attire, with the lush green grass and trees of the mountain at her back. Such a sword challenge truly made Liu Xianyang feel it had no meaning at all.
Today, Liu Xianyang had consecutively climbed and challenged three peaks: Qiongzhi Peak, Rain Foot Peak, and Full Moon Peak. Each peak had one swordsman come forth to receive his sword.
In the end, Liu Yǔ was defeated and retreated. Yu Lin, the venerable peak master of Rain Foot Peak, was still lying on the ground sleeping, with no one daring to pick him up. The last one, a female Nascent Soul ghost who exhibited the aura of a Jade Pure stage realm and only revealed that she came from Full Moon Peak without giving her name—a female sword immortal—had perished, her path severed.
Green mountains wait for the bright moon night after night; white clouds urge you to drink the contents of the pot.
Liu Xianyang took out a flask of wine, drinking as he climbed higher.
He finally reached near the halfway point of First Thread Peak, still far from the Sword Pavilion, let alone the Ancestral Hall at the sword summit.
But it seemed that earlier, when the flying swords had transmitted messages—like flowers blooming one after another on the mountain—Chen Ping'an must have already found a chair over there as agreed, drinking tea while waiting for him.
Chen Ping'an had this one good quality: since childhood, he never spoke big words. If he only had one copper coin in his pocket, he would never claim to have two. What he said, he did.
Actually, apart from the various peaks and green mountains, it seemed like one had met with bad company and found it hard to leave a thief's ship. Besides that, the green waters and white clouds should never have come to this Zhengyang Mountain.
Liu Xianyang cursed all along the way, yelling for Zhengyang Mountain to hurry up and send out another old bastard who could actually fight, instead of disgusting him, Lord Liu, by only having women and youngsters come to receive his sword. What kind of nonsense was that?
Liu Xianyang called out names one by one, cursing the sect master Zhu Huang, Full Moon Peak's Xia Yuancui, Autumn Mountain's Tao Yanbo, and Water Dragon Peak's Yan Chu. He once again promoted the unique, coarse folk customs of his hometown, rare in the entire continent, and casually gave these old sword immortals nicknames: Yellow Bamboo, Winter Near Green, Can't Escape, Yan Comes. Stringing them together: "Winter bamboo green and yellow, Yan comes and can't escape." Perfect—today, your Zhengyang Mountain can hold red and white ceremonies together.
Strangely enough, at Full Moon Peak, Autumn Mountain, and other peaks whose own founding ancestors had been cursed so badly, the swordsmen were all indignant, yet showed no sign of leaving their mountains to draw their swords.
On the other hand, at peaks like Disperse Cloud Peak and Flutter Peak, which could have completely stood aside, several groups of young swordsmen had already left on their flying swords one after another, heading for First Thread Peak.
They knew they would lose, maybe even die, but they still received tacit approval from their own founding ancestors, or were personally led by their peak master swordsmen, to go meet that young sword immortal, Liu Xianyang.
Over at the Sword Pavilion, Sect Master Zhu Huang had suddenly said earlier that he had business at the sword summit, but he didn't tell anyone what he was going to do or who he was going to see.
This greatly surprised the three old sword immortals, including Xia Yuancui (Xia Yuancui? The text says Xia Yun'cui earlier but then Xia Yuancui later—likely same person, but spelling varies. We'll use Xia Yuancui consistently. Actually Xia Yuancui is used later. Let's check: first Xia Yun'cui then Xia Yuancui. Maybe a typo. We'll use Xia Yuancui as the main name. But careful: Xia Yun'cui and Xia Yuancui are different? In context, seems same person. Let's use Xia Yuancui as per later. Transliterate: Xia Yuancui). Because the plan they had proposed with Zhu Huang had fallen through due to the abrupt death of the behind-the-scenes offering, the Oiler. Her soul had already merged with First Thread Peak's mountain-protecting grand formation. Originally, if the Sword Pavilion just gave her a signal, even if she fell behind in the sword challenge against Liu Xianyang, she only needed to activate the grand formation, disrupt the celestial phenomena, and help obscure people's eyes. Then the three founding ancestors at the Sword Pavilion, including Xia Yuancui, could coordinate and quietly deliver a sword strike, eliminating Liu Xianyang without anyone knowing.
At that time, the disciplinary elder Yan Chu had urgently sent a heart-message inquiry: since the situation had changed, how should they deliver that sword next?
Zhu Huang seemed somewhat distracted and simply told them to act according to circumstances.
Xia Yuancui was so angry that she almost quit on the spot. "How did you, this junior disciple, become sect master? A hands-off manager?!"
Over at the Sword Pavilion, even though Zhu Huang had smiled, apologized to the many observing guests, and then drifted away, there were still three old sword immortals—one Jade Pure and two Nascent Soul—sitting here. Among them, the founding ancestor Xia Yuancui possessed two natal flying swords. One was called Moon Halo, also known as Frost on the Ground.
The other natal flying sword was exceptionally lethal, capable of killing without a trace. It was named "Heartbreak."
Tao Yanbo, as Zhengyang Mountain's treasurer, had a personal sword named Jade Leak, which came from a relic of the ancient Shu Kingdom. His natal flying sword was called Autumn Waves.
The flying sword "Autumn Waves" had a rather charming name, but its sword path was extremely sinister natal divine ability. The sword qi was like the killing autumn wind. Once it entered the body, the sword qi was fierce, washing the intestines and liver. Any qi refiner who suffered the flying sword's injury would find that as soon as spiritual qi operated in the various qi mansions of their personal small world, cold air would gradually arise and turn cold, eventually causing the spiritual qi inside the body to condense like ice, bringing a piercing pain.
The disciplinary elder Yan Chu's natal flying sword was Mountain Moth.
Moreover, there was Wu Tijing, who would deliver a sword strike in secret. This disciple of Sect Master Zhu Huang had a natal flying sword called Mandarin Ducks, which could first injure the Dao companion in the cultivator's heart, and then in turn injure the cultivator's own spirit soul. It was even more capable of breaking hearts than Xia Yuancui's flying sword "Heartbreak." It was practically the most incomprehensible flying sword divine ability. So many sword immortals in Zhengyang Mountain's Ancestral Hall who knew about this had privately asked Zhu Huang in detail: what exactly was a "Dao companion in the heart"? Zhu Huang didn't hide anything and smiled, saying, "As long as you have truly liked someone on the path of cultivation, it counts."
As for his disciple Wu Tijing's other flying sword, Zhu Huang had never mentioned its name to anyone.
Therefore, as long as Situ Wenying didn't lose so unpredictably, Zhengyang Mountain could make Liu Xianyang die without knowing how.
The white-robed old ape crossed his arms, glanced sideways at Xia Yuancui, who looked utterly disappointed, and sneered, "Situ Wenying, this waste with cultivation but a rotten sword heart, has completely disgraced Full Moon Peak today. Good thing she didn't train at Rain Foot Peak, or she'd have proven the saying 'loud thunder, little rain.'"
Xia Yuancui actually hated this direct disciple even more than Yuan Zhenye did. She was truly a person who couldn't accomplish anything but could ruin everything. But Yuan Zhenye was rubbing salt in the wound and pouring oil on the fire, making Xia Yuancui so angry that she addressed this mountain-protecting offering by his full name: "Yuan Zhenye! Don't think that just because you have great merits, you can talk nonsense. In terms of seniority in the sect, you're not even my equal!"
The white-robed old ape curled his lip and said, "The merit book doesn't talk about seniority."
An old sword immortal who had spent his whole life hiding in the mountains, only practicing swords, practicing swords, and then practicing swords some more—what else was left besides his generation and realm? In Yuan Zhenye's view, he wasn't even as good as Nascent Soul sword immortals like Tao Yanbo and Yan Chu, who actually did real work.
After that, before Xia Yuancui and Yuan Zhenye could argue any further, Zhu Huang went to the sword summit. Then from the Ancestral Hall, flying swords scattered among the peaks like falling flowers. After that, one ferryboat after another left Zhengyang Mountain's territory.
Tao Yanbo was stunned. Xia Yuancui's face darkened even more. The disciplinary elder Yan Chu was especially embarrassed, because today, before the official start of the celebration, he had been the most visible among Zhengyang Mountain's several founding ancestors. He had been the one to announce several sword challenges to the continent. Now, although he couldn't figure out why things had come to this pass, Yan Chu was certain of one thing: countless outsiders were still watching through mirror flowers and water moons.
Tao Yanbo sent a heart-message inquiry: "What about the Divine Declaration Sect?"
Xia Yuancui said helplessly, "Qi Zhen only said he had something urgent."
Yan Chu couldn't help but curse, "Something urgent? Bullshit! Is this Heavenly Lord rushing to go to the Blue Jade Capital in the Azure Underworld to see his founding ancestor? Then damn it, why doesn't he break through to the Flying Ascension Realm!"
Xia Yuancui countered, "What about those from the True Realm Sect?"
Tao Yanbo sighed, looking exhausted, "Those fellows must have taken the wrong medicine. They all ignored the talisman-sword inquiries."
After Cao Ping left.
The three old sword immortals immediately looked at each other in dismay.
Even the mountain-protecting offering, whom Sect Master Zhu Huang had described as "focusing on the matter, not the person," no longer said any sarcastic words.
This allowed Liu Xianyang to walk all the way to the halfway point with no obstruction.
Until two groups of swordsmen from different peaks landed on the halfway point of First Thread Peak, one from Disperse Cloud Peak and the other from Flutter Peak.
They were among the few good traditions among Zhengyang Mountain's old and new peaks. The pure swordsmen before them had no need to follow the same corrupt path as Autumn Mountain and Full Moon Peak.
As the disciplinary elder of the mountain, Yan Chu thought for a moment and then issued a strict order from the Ancestral Hall to the swordsmen of the two peaks at the halfway point: no matter what, they must stop Liu Xianyang from climbing further, regardless of life or death!
But Liu Xianyang only spoke a single sentence in heart-message to the two leading swordsmen, and instantly the two Golden Core sword immortals from Zhengyang Mountain suffered minor injuries.
After that, the old Golden Core swordsman from Disperse Cloud Peak still refused to give way. He was the first to set up a sword formation with his disciples. But in an instant, the sword formation had barely been raised when it collapsed. More than a dozen swordsmen of varying ages swayed unsteadily.
Liu Xianyang glanced at this group of Disperse Cloud Peak swordsmen. Seeing that they still had no intention of moving aside, he didn't indulge them.
The next moment, including the old Golden Core who had once fought alongside the sword immortal Li Cai, they all fell to the ground, unconscious.
Over at Flutter Peak, the female founding ancestor, after witnessing the female ghost swordsman's form dissipate, knew some inside information and felt deep sorrow in her heart. Publicly, she still sent people from her lineage to Zhengyang Mountain to block Liu Xianyang's climb. Privately, she couldn't be bothered to go. So she merely reminded her leading disciple, a Dragon Gate realm swordsman, to do his best but not to fight to the death.
When Flutter Peak once again set up a sword formation, another large group fell to the ground.
Liu Xianyang stepped around the fallen swordsmen of the two groups, threw away his wine flask, and continued climbing alone.
After that, two groups of swordsmen from Autumn Mountain and Water Dragon Peak came to join the fun. But compared to the first two groups, who had firm expressions and accepted life or death without complaint—as if facing a mere Golden Core sword challenger—the newcomers seemed very guilty, as if facing a Flying Ascension swordsman. The most amusing part was that the Water Dragon Peak swordsmen, who arrived at First Thread Peak first, didn't land very close to Liu Xianyang. The Autumn Mountain swordsmen, who arrived later at the founding mountain, were even more deferential, landing on the more distant sacred steps. Probably if another peak's swordsmen came afterward, they would have to land directly at the Sword Pavilion.
Liu Xianyang's gaze swept over, and he suddenly raised his arm, startling the Water Dragon Peak swordsmen.
One young swordsman, who had been on a few trials outside the mountain and had even followed senior masters to the so-called Central Battlefield, panicked and was the first to offer up a natal flying sword. The sword light flashed, heading straight for Liu Xianyang. But the latter caught the flying sword between two fingers, threw it on the ground, and stepped on it. Liu Xianyang glared and said, "We haven't even said we're fighting, and you're already ambushing me? Don't you talk about martial honor?"
Liu Xianyang took a rough genealogy book from his sleeve and started flipping through it rapidly. Occasionally he would look up and ask if so-and-so was such-and-such. Some nodded and were extremely lucky, coming away unscathed. Others nodded but had chosen a bad day—they suddenly suffered from seven-orifice bleeding and severe injuries, then fell straight to the ground with a thud. One Dragon Gate swordsman even had his natal flying sword shatter on the spot, completely breaking his Bridge of Longevity. Among the many fallen swordsmen, some had their flying swords broken but barely managed to preserve a cultivation path that was destined to be extremely difficult in the future.
Liu Xianyang closed the book. Then all the standing Water Dragon Peak swordsmen were injured, but not too heavily, and they fell asleep on the ground.
Liu Xianyang continued climbing. When he saw the Autumn Mountain group, whose faces had all turned pale, he took out the book again and started calling names.
After all, he had watched Zhengyang Mountain's mirror flowers and water moons for so many years. Almost all the faces were familiar, but he couldn't match them with the names in the book, so he didn't know what they were called.
The Autumn Mountain swordsmen were all very clever. Those whose names were called showed no expression. But unfortunately, the clever ones around them always had some trace of a shifting gaze. So Liu Xianyang was not polite. All those who were named but pretended to be deaf and mute were severely injured, and he didn't let them faint on the spot. Several were rolling on the ground. Among them, an old Observation Realm swordsman with an excellent reputation on the mountain suffered a particularly miserable fate. First, his natal flying sword broke and then shattered. Then his Bridge of Longevity was severed. Finally, Liu Xianyang flicked his sleeve and threw the corpse out of First Thread Peak, landing heavily at the mountain gate next to Yu Lin to keep him company.
In the book, the record of this Observation Realm swordsman's exploits was not short—each item shocking.
Over at the Sword Pavilion, Yan Chu said in a deep voice, "We can't wait any longer! I'll take charge of the founding mountain's grand formation."
Xia Yuancui and Tao Yanbo nodded simultaneously.
Yan Chu looked at the various peaks beyond First Thread Peak, his mood extremely heavy.
He couldn't help but sigh, "How did it come to this?"
The white-robed old ape remained silent. Suddenly, his eyes widened, filled with intense killing intent and overwhelming murderous aura. His figure shot up from the ground, causing the entire Sword Pavilion to tremble. But this mountain-protecting offering wasn't heading toward the sword summit—he was heading straight for Back Sword Peak!
Either they simply didn't come to the ceremony, like the Dragon Spring Sword Sect, Snow Wind Temple, and True Martial Mountain, giving Zhengyang Mountain no face at all.
But since they had come and already lodged in the various peak residences, then left at the last moment—this violated major mountain and river taboos in the cultivation world. It was even more against the rules than the successive sword challenges from Huang He and Liu Xianyang.
The Heavenly Lord of the Divine Declaration Sect, Qi Zhen, was the nominal leader of cultivators on the continent. The Divine Declaration Sect, located on the border of the Southern Jian Kingdom, was the foremost among many immortal families in Vase Bottle Continent, always acting with caution, not taking sides in many mountain disputes and grudges. Not only did the Divine Declaration Sect exclusively occupy a single Clear Pond Blessed Land, but its sect master, Qi Zhen, also held the title of True Lord of four countries. So the ferryboat carrying this Daoist Heavenly Lord was the one that made the spectators most nervous, because given Qi Zhen's magical powers, it would not be difficult for him to leave silently, but he didn't do so.
One move affects the whole body. On Flutter Peak alone, the emperor, monarchs, generals, ministers, and nobles—plus the earlier reminder from the Central Mountain Lord Jin Qing—fully half of them left at once.
The congratulatory party from the True Realm Sect had all left entirely. The sect master of the Immortal realm, Liu Laocheng, and the old chief of the Invincible Divine Fist Sect, Gao Mian, two old friends, traveled away together.
The chief offering, River-Cutting True Lord Liu Zhimao, and the second offering, Li Fuqu, also did not hide their tracks. They each slowly walked on the wind, leaving Zhengyang Mountain.
In the realm of mountain and river spirit registries, the greatly esteemed Great Mountain Lord Jin Qing directly tore up all pretense with Zhengyang Mountain, actively poaching talents. In full view of everyone, he actually took away the swordsman Yuan Bai, who immediately announced his departure from Zhengyang Mountain. Additionally, the Southern Marchmount's reserve mountain, the Cai Cao Mountain God, and the Yong River Water God led a large group of mountain and river spirits under their jurisdictions, shrinking the land and disappearing. There was also the old flood dragon from the Qiantang River's feng shui cave, who boarded a ferryboat from the Great Sui Dynasty and left together with Cheng Longzhou, who had been promoted from the vice-mountain head of the Linlu Academy on Pi Yun Mountain to the mountain head of the Dafu Academy.
The man named Cao Jun, who claimed his ancestral home was in Mud Vase Lane and was a fellow townsman of Liu Xianyang, had delivered three sword strikes toward Qiongzhi Peak. Probably feeling unsatisfied, he sneaked back to Zhengyang Mountain's territory and arrived at the Immortal's Back Sword Peak. There, he offered up a natal flying sword he had been refining and repairing for many years. In an instant, lotus flowers bloomed all around the base of Back Sword Peak. Then Cao Jun drew his personal sword, and from top to bottom, a sword light struck down, splitting the unguarded Back Sword Peak in two. "Damn your mountain-moving ancestor for stepping on the roof of Grandpa Cao's ancestral house in Mud Vase Lane back then!"
After Cao Jun sliced open the peak with one sword, he got back on his flying sword, swaggered away, and left behind a parting shot: "The one who opened this peak is Grandpa Cao!"
At Cloud Sun Mountain, which had a very good relationship with Zhengyang Mountain, a master and disciple were arguing endlessly. The mountain lord, an old immortal master, felt that his direct disciple must be bewitched. She wouldn't explain why, only urged him to leave Zhengyang Mountain and stop attending the ceremony and offering congratulations. The old immortal master laughed in anger and asked Cai Jinjian if she knew that by acting this way, she would be severing all ties with Zhengyang Mountain. Just because a direct disciple of the Dragon Spring Sword Sect had challenged the mountain, and a few more obscure flying sword messages had arrived, was Cloud Sun Mountain supposed to throw everything away and oppose Zhengyang Mountain from now on?
The youngest Nascent Soul female founding ancestor among Cloud Sun Mountain's twelve peaks said that her disciple knew, but precisely because of that, they had to leave this place.
The old mountain lord, steady and prudent, said to wait and see, since Cloud Forest Jiang Clan's academy gentleman Jiang Shan was still "sitting tight" on Full Moon Peak.
Cai Jinjian failed to persuade her master and had to leave alone.
But moments later, the old immortal master caught up with Cai Jinjian, because he had just received a secret message: the Great Li Patrol Envoy Cao Ping had left, leaving only the Ministry of Rites Vice Minister from the capital.
On Full Moon Peak, Jiang Shan walked out of his residence and arrived at a pavilion. He found that Jiang Yun, Wei Liang, and Fu Nanhua had all left, leaving only his "plump" younger sister.
Jiang Sheng asked, "Big brother, did you receive a flying sword message too?"
Jiang Shan shook his head.
Jiang Sheng asked curiously, "Wei Liang said he came here to consult someone about a certain 'dismantling.' He spoke mysteriously. Do you know what he meant?"
Jiang Shan pointed at the various ferryboats leaving Zhengyang Mountain and said helplessly, "Isn't it obvious?"
Jiang Sheng looked bewildered. "Huh? I thought we were going to dismantle Zhengyang Mountain's Ancestral Hall. I thought we might get a flower out of it."
Speaking of this, she laughed to herself, "Earlier, the flying swords were thickly clustered, like flowers blooming on the mountain top. The scenery was indeed beautiful."
After all, Vase Bottle Continent wasn't North Juzhou. Dismantling an Ancestral Hall wasn't a common occurrence.
Jiang Shan rubbed his brow with his finger and said, "Yes and no."
Wei Liang—he didn