Chapter 865: Bringing Up Again
In the Yeluo River territory, it was as if a brand new Hall of Heroes had been carved out. Torrents of water poured wildly into it, then were stirred by the majestic sword aura, instantly causing clouds and mist to rise.
The water levels of several nearby tributaries of the Yeluo River dropped sharply in an instant, exposing the riverbeds once again—this was the second time. Countless water-descendant spirits and monsters fled to the banks, migrating frantically, seeking only to escape that enormous, sword-aura-filled pit. Innumerable cyan sword auras spilled out, like towering waves surging in all directions. In the vast waters of one main channel of the Yeluo River and over a dozen nearby tributaries, water-descendant beings died one after another, either from the earthquake or the torrent of sword aura. Corpses lay scattered across the fields, too many to count.
With the power of one sword stroke, the sky collapsed and the earth shattered.
Chen Qingdu stood at the edge of the pit's top, frowning. "What's going on?"
Logically, Bai Ze shouldn't be this... weak.
Of course, "weak" here was only relative to the Tuoyue Mountain Grand Ancestor at his peak.
If Bai Ze were too weak, why would Chen Qingdu have chosen Bai Ze for this full-power sword strike? That wouldn't just be an insult to Bai Ze; it would be a waste of his own effort.
As for Bai Ze not dodging or evading, deliberately choosing to withstand half of the sword strike head-on...
That was probably a kind of reunion after ten thousand years, Bai Ze's final act of respect toward the Sword Qi Great Wall and Chen Qingdu.
What Chen Qingdu truly wanted from this sword strike was to, to some extent, obstruct and delay Bai Ze's ascension to the Fifteenth Realm—by a few decades or a hundred years.
It was like now: within Bai Ze's personal human world, there was still a sword-qi chasm that seemed to cut the earth in two. If Bai Ze wanted to ascend to the Fifteenth Realm, he would have to slowly fill it in.
The problem was, Bai Ze didn't seem to have that intention at all. Was he not planning to take the Fifteenth Realm?
Had he repeatedly acted with a purpose—first making way for the Tuoyue Mountain Grand Ancestor, and now making way for Chu Sheng once again?
Or, with a longer view, was he making an early space for the nominal new overlord of the barbarian lands, the sword cultivator Fei Ran?
Chen Qingdu rubbed his chin. If he had known this, wouldn't it have been better to direct his sword strike at Chu Sheng instead?
A streak of white rainbow light shot out from the bottom of the pit, and eventually Bai Ze stood facing Chen Qingdu. His first words were, "Care for a jug of wine?"
Chen Qingdu shook his head. "There's no good wine in the Haoran World."
Bai Ze looked around at the devastation all around. Poor Yeluo River—the Hidden Officer and the Oldest Sword Immortal had each made a move, and both times the river had suffered collateral damage.
Chen Qingdu smiled faintly. "At least until I leave, don't even think about repairing it. The Yeluo River has been a cesspool for many years."
For ten thousand years, the barbarian world had attacked the Sword Qi Great Wall, and places like the Yeluo River and Xianzan City had been very enthusiastic, never missing an opportunity. Even if Yang Zhi stayed away, there were always some minor shrimp soldiers and crab generals with a bit of cultivation who went to the Sword Qi Great Wall to show off.
Otherwise, there wouldn't have been that mud eel "Qingqiu" in Old Deafy's cage. That upper-fifth-realm demon was once one of the Four Fiends of the Yeluo River.
Bai Ze looked at the Oldest Sword Immortal on the opposite bank, a hint of melancholy in his eyes.
In the past, they had been comrades fighting side by side. Over ten thousand years, old friends had gradually passed away.
Chen Qingdu smiled freely. "No need to be so sentimental. But then again, back then you, Bai Ze, were the most sentimental of all—more human than humans."
Bai Ze asked, "Why didn't you follow that one to the Western Buddhist Kingdom, to leave yourself a glimmer of life?"
The middle-aged monk who had appeared on the city wall earlier was the Buddha.
After death, a person's three souls—Celestial, Earthly, and Human—each had a place of refuge.
On their travels with the talisman, Lu Chen had once leaked heavenly secrets: the destination of the Celestial Soul was called the Celestial Prison. The Earthly Soul's destination was Fengdu Ghost City in the underworld.
Heaven and Earth gave birth to and nurtured all things. How could one repay Heaven and Earth? The Celestial and Earthly souls were like a kind of repayment. Only the Human Soul, carrying the seven corporeal spirits, lingered in the human world. When this soul flew away, the seven corporeal spirits vanished. Hence, in mortal markets, there was the saying of the "return of the soul on the seventh night," from which ancestral blessings also came. What Daoist practitioners called "trapping souls and seizing spirits" was actually extremely difficult to capture all three souls and seven spirits, especially the Celestial and Earthly souls. They were more like a false image that cultivators found hard to discern—a flower in a mirror, a moon on the water.
Sinking in the sea of suffering, amidst the boundless mortal world. Why was the pursuit of Dao considered a rebellious act carried out under the guise of thievery?
Daoist practitioners sought longevity, cultivating various methods for eternal life. Moreover, there were many secret transmissions of reincarnation through "soldier's dissolution," and ancestral halls that lit a lamp to prolong life. Each and every one of these was something suppressed by the invisible Heavenly Dao.
At that time, the Buddha appeared at the Sword Qi Great Wall for one purpose: to see the last wisp of Chen Qingdu's Earthly Soul.
In Bai Ze's view, if Chen Qingdu were willing, it was highly possible that he could reincarnate into the Western Buddhist Kingdom through this.
Chen Qingdu sneered. "Afraid of death and greedy for life—what kind of sword cultivator would that be?"
The petty man sacrifices himself for profit; the hero sacrifices himself for righteousness; the sage sacrifices himself for the Dao.
A sword cultivator should sacrifice himself for the sword. Wrapped in white mourning for the world, riding war boats to decide life and death!
Since his wishes were fulfilled, and the Flying Rising City had already firmly established itself in the brand new world, he would leave the future's rights and wrongs to the young.
Chen Qingdu laughed. "Throwing down the burden ten thousand years ago and then coming back to fix it ten thousand years later—isn't that like taking off your pants to fart?"
Bai Ze said, "You wanted to protect the sword cultivators' legacy from being cut off. I, too, cannot bear to see the barbarian world perish."
The implication was: if the Haoran World wanted to invade the barbarian world, they would have to get past Bai Ze.
No matter how much Bai Ze disliked war, he would never stand by and watch the barbarian world be destroyed.
Chen Qingdu smiled. "You don't pursue the Fifteenth Realm, yet you're so confident. I remember the Bai Ze I knew wasn't one for boasting. So, your fourteenth realm of merging with the Dao ten thousand years ago—does it hold great significance?"
Bai Ze smiled but said nothing.
The two sides weren't familiar enough to speak so openly.
Back then, countless high gods fell from the sky. The remains of the old Heavenly Court became unowned land that could neither be destroyed nor easily occupied. The other worlds had barely taken shape, but their lords had long been decided. For example, the Three Founders—there was nothing to dispute. Only the barbarian world had some variables: Bai Ze and Chu Sheng. One possessed absolute prestige and strength; the other had ambition and realm—both could go toe-to-toe with the later Tuoyue Mountain Grand Ancestor.
But Bai Ze followed the Grand Ancestor up the mountain, helped name it Tuoyue Mountain, and even gave the child his true name. This meant Bai Ze recognized the Grand Ancestor as the world's overlord.
Ancestor Chu Sheng couldn't very well take on both of them. Moreover, the barbarian world had just been stabilized. Chu Sheng didn't want internal strife that would give other worlds an opportunity, so he completely gave up that idea. Still, unwilling to live under someone else's roof, he went to establish a Hall of Heroes, standing in distant opposition to Tuoyue Mountain.
A small cluster of peak great demons injured in the great war gradually entered hibernation to heal.
Those who later awakened from hibernation on their own, relying on their powerful physical bodies and high Daoist realms, all became old throne great demons without exception, occupying seats in the Hall of Heroes.
For example, the Mountain Moving Ancestor Zhu Yan, and the Lotus Temple Master, who seized the central bright moon "Golden Mirror" and refined it into a cultivation site.
Huang Luan began collecting remnants of various cave paradises, immortal palaces, and mansions. When Yang Zhi woke up, she took a fancy to the Yeluo River, which had been split open by a sword cultivator's single gaze.
Among the old throne demons, Liu Cha and Fei Fei were actually juniors compared to these ancient great demons.
Especially the extremely young sword cultivator Liu Cha, who was somewhat like the chosen vessel of the barbarian world's sword Dao fortune.
After Liu Cha was imprisoned in a landscape secret realm at the Merit Forest, the flow of fortune, including sword Dao, shifted imperceptibly onto Fei Ran.
Before leaving the Haoran World, Bai Ze made a special trip to the Merit Forest to see Liu Cha.
The Confucian Temple even sent only Mao Xiaodong as a symbolic escort, showing just how utterly at ease they were with Bai Ze.
The bearded swordsman, who spent his days fishing there, said only one thing when Senior Bai Ze lamented that his sword Dao progress had halted in a foreign land:
"What's the big deal if the Haoran World lost a surefire fourteenth realm? I didn't lose much."
This showed that Liu Cha firmly believed that if Chen Chun'an, the pillar of the Yasheng lineage, hadn't died by his sword, he would definitely have reached the Fourteenth Realm, and very quickly—probably no slower than Yu Xuan's river-of-stars talisman merger.
If Chen Chun'an, shouldering the sun and moon, had successfully merged with the Dao to reach the Fourteenth Realm, the consequences for the barbarian world would have been unimaginable.
Not only was Chen Chun'an an indisputable candidate for merging with the Dao through harmony with people, but he also had the advantage of cosmic timing and geographic excellence. Coupled with his own Confucian sage divine abilities, such a Fourteenth Realm would have been terrifyingly powerful.
Remember, back then on the Sword Qi Great Wall, before Dong San'geng, Chen Chun'an had once dragged down the Lotus Temple Master's bright moon.
Chen Qingdu laughed. "If I were that Little Confucian Master, I'd convince the Ultmost Sage to join forces and eliminate you, leaving no future trouble."
Just like Dong San'geng's grandson, the sword cultivator Dong Guanpu—Chen Qingdu actually liked him very much and had high hopes for his sword path.
Liking someone was one thing; killing them when necessary was another.
"Then he wouldn't be the Ritual Sage," Bai Ze said, shaking his head. "Besides, I'm not that easy to kill."
The reason Bai Ze had made way for the Tuoyue Mountain Grand Ancestor back then wasn't that he thought himself incapable of attaining the Fifteenth Realm, which was within reach. Rather, if Bai Ze had broken through at that time, the impact on the entire barbarian world would have been too great, and the eventual situation would have deviated from Bai Ze's own Great Dao.
Bai Ze had once hoped that the Ritual Sage's rules would allow humanity in the Haoran World and the demons in the barbarian world to work together to create a peaceful era where both sides could coexist.
This touched upon the ancient era when countless spells rained down upon the human world. The fundamental Daoist path of demon cultivation required an additional, crucial step of "form refinement," which created a threshold between demons and cultivators, preventing countless demons on the earth from opening their spiritual wisdom. This was an innate disadvantage. However, once a demon cultivator succeeded in form refinement, the toughness of their true body gave them an acquired advantage.
Ancestor Chu Sheng, the founder of the Hall of Heroes, originally aimed to spread countless spells throughout the world through teaching, allowing demon cultivators to spring up like bamboo shoots after rain, hoping that every ant in the barbarian world could become a dragon in the wild, ultimately creating wave after wave of "Earth Immortal" Qi refiners from ancient times.
Thus, the Dao Ancestor rode his ox through the pass specifically to seek out Chu Sheng and discuss Daoist methods.
Once the mountain-climbing cultivators in the barbarian world had no distinction between schools and no threshold for cultivation, form refinement would become easy, and they could study all kinds of spells. Chu Sheng's grand vision might just be realized: "Only demon cultivators have innate physical sanctity and acquired divine-like spells."
If it were just a surge in the number of demon Qi refiners, that would be one thing. The real problem was that the demons of the barbarian world were the most likely among all worlds to have the strength, ambition, and innate killing nature—killing, annexing, invading, plundering... an endless pursuit of individual, limitless power, unwilling to accept any restraint.
If it came to paired combat among Flying Ascension realms, not only the Haoran World, which had suffered greatly, but the Azure Underworld and Western Buddhist Kingdom as well, were all outmatched by the barbarian world.
In the eyes of barbarian world demons, the Haoran Nine Provinces had Zheng Juzhong, the Dragon Tiger Mountain's Zhao Tianlai, Fiery Dragon True Man, and other peak cultivators. These were considered anomalies—whenever mentioned, they usually added "actually."
Similarly, the Executioner Hao Su, upon hearing Lu Chen describe the battle at Xianzan City where City Lord Xuanpu died within an incense stick's time, also found it surprising.
He couldn't believe the barbarian world actually had such a Flying Ascension great demon with such terrible Daoist skills.
In contrast, the Haoran Flying Ascension cultivator Nan Guangzhao was beheaded by Hao Su at the mountain gate of his own sect with almost no resistance. The Executioner found that not at all unusual.
Outside the barbarian world, mountain-top cultivators did not deliberately avoid combat or spell duels, but their pursuit of the Great Dao was ultimately to coexist with heaven and earth in eternity.
The barbarian world had completely different customs. It seemed that from birth, demons existed solely for their own survival, willing to bring destruction to everything outside themselves. Cultivation, form refinement, climbing realms—all were for pure slaughter and endless plunder. Simply put: survival requires eating; cultivation is for greater satiety; every ascent allows consuming more of the world's sentient beings.
If powerful demons deliberately carved out a shortcut to mountain-climbing and led other demons along that path...
Then the various worlds would be swept up in it: war would spread, and the living would suffer. Ancestor Chu Sheng's original intention in establishing the Hall of Heroes was to have a Fifteenth Realm—like Bai Ze—lead over a dozen Fourteenth Realms and a large number of Upper Fifth Realm cultivators to attempt to merge the entire human world into one unified world.
Once Bai Ze became that Fifteenth Realm, even the most unruly Fourteenth Realm cultivators would have to obey Bai Ze's orders.
Under Bai Ze's leadership, they could open any door connecting two worlds, travel together, and cut through any world, then slowly devour it piece by piece.
So Chu Sheng actually sought out Bai Ze privately and offered to honor Bai Ze as the demon race's leader, hoping he would lead the demons to the summit.
Because Bai Ze possessed a heaven-bestowed divine ability: he knew the true names of all demons in the world! No true name? Simple—Bai Ze would give you one on the spot.
Unfortunately, Bai Ze refused.
Later came Chen Qingdu's inquiry at Tuoyue Mountain.
Later still, Chu Sheng was forced to travel beyond the heavens to escape the Dao Ancestor.
Because if they couldn't reach an agreement, the countless cultivators of the Azure Underworld would surely descend like torrential rain upon the barbarian earth.
Among the Three Founders, it was generally acknowledged that the Dao Ancestor had the worst temper and was the best fighter.
In that unrecorded battle, it was that young-looking Daoist, whose Dharma form stood towering between heaven and earth, who grabbed the massive body of the First Military Ancestor and hurled it repeatedly at that sword cultivator.
Bai Ze said, "I deliberately let the Drunken Spring Sect and the Great Yue Green Mountain off. I didn't massacre them like at Baihua City, Xianzan City, the Yeluo River, and Tuoyue Mountain. Qi Tingji and the others followed suit all the way. Aside from a group of cultivators who got lustful ideas about Lu Zhi while she was drinking at the Drunken Spring Sect and got killed by her, there were no disturbances in either place."
Chen Qingdu laughed. "That last Hidden Officer still has a soft heart."
The young sword cultivator Fei Ran once spoke from the heart: the mountains and valleys of the Haoran World had always been well protected by silent strongmen.
Cultivators who had traveled beyond the heavens invariably had a similar feeling: every world was like a ferryboat traveling through the void.
All sentient beings boarded and disembarked, coming and going.
Bai Ze seemed to remember something and suddenly said, "Earlier during the council at the Confucian Temple, I overheard that outlander sword cultivator from the Summer Retreat Palace, Lin Junbi, chatting with a few friends at the door. One of their questions was quite interesting. I have to test the Oldest Sword Immortal with it."
Chen Qingdu sneered. "Spare me."
Bai Ze continued on his own, "Lin Junbi said that in his early days at the Summer Retreat Palace, Chen Ping'an once asked him a question: why had the Sword Qi Great Wall stood for ten thousand years without falling? Lin Junbi then used this question to ask his friends."
Chen Qingdu frowned. "Isn't it because the sword cultivators are the best at fighting—unmatched?"
Bai Ze smiled faintly. "It seems even the Oldest Sword Immortal can't get into the Summer Retreat Palace."
Chen Qingdu laughed heartily.
Bai Ze gave the answer.
"Not Haoran."
Chen Qingdu clasped his hands behind his back and nodded lightly.
These three words, indeed, could comfort an old man's heart better than any nice-sounding praise.
Bai Ze sighed. "Just like that?"
Chen Qingdu laughed. "Otherwise? Do you want me to bang gongs and beat drums?"
Besides, a Sword Qi Great Wall that had stood tall for ten thousand years was the best tomb for a sword cultivator. To lie here in eternal sleep would not be lonely.
In the future, every time a young sword cultivator from Flying Rising City unleashed his sword in the human world, it would be a distant toast without need for a grave visit.
---
At Qing Ji, the sunlight of a barbarian realm suddenly converged into a single line, like a sword of light falling to the earth. It surrounded the entire Qing Ji, continuously contracting and shrinking the territory. Wherever the pillar of light passed, whether living or dead, everything turned to dust and flying ash.
Apart from the martial goddess Pei Bei of the Great Duan, Huai Yin, one of the Central Earth Ten, Guo Outing of Iron Tree Mountain, Liu Tui, the sect master of Tianyao Township in Fuyang Prefecture, and the female immortal Cong Qian of Liuxia Prefecture, each stood in their own positions, making moves to block that pillar of light.
Only Zheng Juzhong neither appeared nor acted, as if he stood aloof.
Fortunately, the golden pillar of light was eventually stopped. The Qing Ji cultivators suffered little loss, but Cong Qian, who had exhausted many magical treasures and techniques, sighed. Whoever had caused this had scared her to death.
The female immortal from Liuxia Prefecture smiled bitterly, retracting the red-yellow morning glow aura around her. She raised her hand and spread her palm—it was bare bone. Her two arms weren't much better, either; flesh and blood were a blurry mess, as if scraped with a dull knife. Thankfully, she had many Dharma robes on, or else she would have been exposed—a huge loss.
Cong Qian was the junior martial sister of Sect Master Qin Zao. She also owned a Pine Haze Paradise, and her status in the sect was somewhat similar to Jiang Shangzhen's in the Jade Gui Sect. Although her senior brother, Qin Zao, was also a Celestial Immortal realm cultivator, in terms of paired combat skills and reputation in the Haoran World, he was far inferior to Cong Qian.
She took a porcelain bottle from her waist pouch that overflowed with iridescent light, applied a rare ointment that could grow flesh from bone, and as seven-colored rosy clouds swirled in her palm, the injuries healed at a visible rate.
A beautifully featured woman flew over on the wind, looking worried. "Senior Sister, are you alright?"
This junior martial sister of Cong Qian was named Yu Ruyi. She was now considered an outsider to the sect, having married the cave lord of the Tianyu Cave Heaven long ago.
Yu Ruyi's realm wasn't high—she was only a Jade Pu realm achieved by spending money. Anyway, her husband had plenty of money.
She was a well-known mountain beauty, always wearing a crown of emerald flowers. As for her Dharma robes, it was said she changed them every single day without ever repeating one.
Hence, she had the reputation of being the ultimate collector of female cultivators' Dharma robes. Even the wife of the Cai Caizhou Liu Money God admitted that in this matter, she wasn't as dedicated as Yu Ruyi.
Someone once went to the Tianyu Cave Heaven to steal wine and was caught red-handed. When the thief saw Yu Ruyi, he started beating his chest and stomping his feet, first saying, "Sister Ruyi changed her outfit—I almost didn't recognize you." Then, with great anguish: "I don't know which damned person said that for a woman, cultivation is not as good as a good marriage, and a good marriage is not as good as being born well. It drives me crazy! Luckily, Sister Ruyi married well, gave birth to a good son, and her own cultivation is even better—and she's the most beautiful of all!" Finally: "Sister Ruyi's dress today seems a bit thicker..."
The outcome was predictable: the mountain gate formation was activated, the Tianyu Cave Heaven was closed, and they beat the dog shut in.
Yu Ruyi's son was one of the young ten candidates, Shu Zhongshu, who had long since traveled alone to the Multicolored World and built a Transcendent Pavilion there—clearly an admirer of Suzi.
Just as Wu Shuangjiang revered Liu Qi's graceful verses, his Dao partner Tianran was fond of Suzi's poems.
In addition, Xu Jun specially took his Dao partner Zhaoge down the mountain to find Yuan Ying in Huainan Prefecture, asking when they could meet Liu Qi.
Yuan Tianfeng, of the Grand Li capital's Imperial Observatory, read Suzi's poems while burning incense.
As for the one hailed as "Only after Bai Ye was there the moon," the proudest in the human world, his followers on and off the mountains were countless.
Cong Qian smiled. "It's fine. At least I'm in better shape than that woman Li Cai."
She and Li Cai of the Floating Duckweed Sword Lake, and Li Yu, the Grand Radiance Primordial Sovereign of the Bei Ju Lu Prefecture's Prostrate Peak lineage, were all good friends.
But Li Cai and Cong Qian, who had similar tempers, couldn't stand each other.
Yu Ruyi only dared to complain with her heart voice: "If that Mr. Zheng had made a move, Senior Sister wouldn't have been injured like this."
Cong Qian glared. "Don't drag me into this!"
On a remote mountain peak very far from Qing Ji, Han Qiaose hurriedly withdrew her escape technique and stopped flying. Surprised, she said, "Senior Brother, why are you here?"
It was Zheng Juzhong, who appeared on the cliff edge, gazing at a vast sea of golden clouds illuminated by sunlight.
Han Qiaose descended, standing beside her senior brother, and smiled radiantly. "Are you worried about Gu Can's safety?"
Zheng Juzhong said calmly, "If I were worried, I would have shown myself back at the bamboo grove."
Han Qiaose wasn't surprised at all.
You get used to it.
It would be strange if her senior brother didn't cause people to wonder.
Han Qiaose asked, "Then why is Senior Brother here?"
He was absolutely not one to enjoy crowds, let alone do unnecessary things.
Zheng Juzhong looked toward Tuoyue Mountain. "Because I once made a promise to someone. But it seems no help is needed now."
Han Qiaose said, "Oh," since she didn't understand what he was talking about anyway. If her two junior disciple nephews, Gu Can and Fu Jin, were here, they'd probably figure out the answer—like who the promise was made to, and who it was meant to help.
Since she'd met her senior brother halfway, there was nothing more for her to do regarding Gu Can.
With both the first and last disciples heading to that strange battlefield, and her senior brother still stopping here, there was certainly no great danger.
Han Qiaose casually uprooted an ancient pine on the cliff and threw it into the sea of clouds, teasing, "I heard that on the barbarian side, they're willing to exchange three Flying Ascension realms for you, Senior Brother."
Zheng Juzhong smiled. "That many?"
Han Qiaose asked, "What's happening over at the Sword Qi Great Wall?"
She sensed a strange phenomenon there, but it was too far away.
Zheng Juzhong gave the answer: "The Oldest Sword Immortal made a move. With one sword, he killed the Executioner, one of the ancient high-ranking gods."
Though the latter seemed more like a voluntary return home to escape his cage.
Han Qiaose kept raising her sleeves, peeling huge chunks of rock from the cliff face and tossing them into the cloud sea for fun. She said casually, "Since Chen Qingdu is so invincible, if he couldn't kill the Tuoyue Mountain Grand Ancestor back then, he could have killed at least a few old throne demons."
Zheng Juzhong said expressionlessly, "If you have no brains, don't talk too much—you might really lose your brains."
Han Qiaose certainly had some innate aptitude for cultivation; otherwise, she wouldn't have made a great vow early on to cultivate all ten of Baidi City's great Dao arts.
But in the eyes of her senior brother Zheng Juzhong, who had been accepted as a disciple by proxy, Han Qiaose was just an inferior copycat. She couldn't internalize many Daoist methods, simply dabbling in a hundred schools without tracing back to their origins, because she didn't understand that "though knowledge differs, it always converges," nor did she know how to innovate upon the old ruts left by predecessors. That was why even mastering just ten Dao arts took her so long.
Han Qiaose said cautiously, "Senior Brother, can I ask a very irreverent question?"
Zheng Juzhong said, "Lu Chen."
The cultivation path of the Third Sect Leader of the White Jade Capital was nearly one with the Great Dao, leaving no trace.
Moreover, cultivators like the Ritual Sage, the First Sect Leader of the White Jade Capital, Yu Dou, and Wu Shuangjiang of the Sui Chu Palace, still had rules to follow and methods to rely on.
Not Lu Chen.
Between heaven and earth, everything has its owner. Merging with the Dao in the Fourteenth Realm via cosmic timing, earthly advantage, and human harmony was to obtain a certain incomplete "One"—just a fragment of the Great Dao that could barely sustain an orderly internal cycle. But the illusion that "things and I are both infinite" was still too small in scope and not real enough.
Daoist cultivators seeking immortality and attempting to live as long as heaven and earth was itself a rebellious act. Qi refiners were like thieves climbing over walls and crossing borders, then turning into bandits and occupying a spot, becoming robbers who took by force from heaven and earth, eventually turning into gluttonous beings that Dao-ified endlessly but never gave back.
It was extremely difficult to break out of this mold.
In contrast, Lu Chen, from the very beginning, had been pursuing the true Great Dao.
Han Qiaose said seriously, "Then from now on, whenever I see him, I'll stay far away. I won't provoke him."
After getting the answer, she was indeed greatly surprised.
She never imagined that Lu Chen held such a high estimation in her senior brother's mind.
Zheng Juzhong said, "Are you capable of provoking Lu Chen?"
Han Qiaose was silent.
Zheng Juzhong's meaning wasn't just about the disparity in their realms. The real point was: even if Han Qiaose provoked Lu Chen to death, it would be meaningless. Lu Chen wouldn't even deign to acknowledge her.
Han Qiaose said timidly, "Senior Brother, there are two more Dao arts that I truly can't get the hang of."
Making a great vow wasn't some trivial matter of just speaking casually. If Han Qiaose couldn't fulfill her wish, she would be stuck at the Celestial Immortal realm for life, unable to break through to Flying Ascension. It would be an unshakable bottleneck and a destined outcome of soldier's dissolution.
Zheng Juzhong remained silent.
Han Qiaose sat on the cliff edge, helpless. "Senior Brother, I've never asked you for anything, right? Only this matter—please help me out. I've been stuck at Celestial Immortal for too long. My lifespan is limited. I really don't want to die, nor do I want to dissolve and reincarnate, starting cultivation all over again. Like Fu Jin—on the surface, he looks glorious, but in truth, how pitiable he is. I don't want to become Baidi City's second Fu Jin in others' eyes."
Zheng Juzhong suddenly spoke a cryptic phrase: "Learning without thinking leads to confusion."
It wasn't that you, Han Qiaose, had read many books, so you must know a lot. You've merely become a bookshop that temporarily stores words.
Gaining knowledge through reading doesn't equal gaining wisdom.
Han Qiaose stunned for a moment, then clutched her head and wailed, screaming and throwing a tantrum.
Her senior brother had said nothing at all.
Zheng Juzhong looked down at Han Qiaose.
Han Qiaose immediately stopped her undignified shouting, sniffled, and looked a bit aggrieved.
Zheng Juzhong smiled. "The solution lies in those commentary and exegetical books in Baidi City's library."
Han Qiaose's eyes lit up.
Zheng Juzhong said, "Not many books—just over three hundred thousand. Read them slowly."
Han Qiaose fell backward, starting to kick her legs and throw another tantrum.
Zheng Juzhong suddenly said, "You immediately return to Baidi City and focus on reading a few military strategy books. If you're lucky enough to gain some insights, you'll soon receive an unexpected joy."
Han Qiaose said, "Oh." When her senior brother spoke, she didn't need to ask why. Just do it.
Zheng Juzhong sat down beside her, placed his fists gently on his knees, and looked into the distance. As far as his gaze reached, the cloud sea slowly parted, as if split by a sword.
Han Qiaose didn't dare disturb her senior brother while he observed the Dao. She obediently sat up and turned to look at him.
She couldn't tell whether he was a Fourteenth Realm celestial being or a legendary god.
Zheng Juzhong smiled faintly. "Zhou Mi's final chess piece hidden in the human world—so many threads, it's a bit hard to find."
---
At the Sword Qi Great Wall.
Wei Jin began to refine the few strands of pure sword intent inherited from Zong Yuan.
Cao Jun, however, didn't particularly envy the opportunity of Wei Jin, the Great Sword Immortal of the Snow Wind Temple.
Anyway, compared to Zuo You, Wei Jin, and Chen Ping'an, he at least had one advantage: he was older.
So he had come to terms with it. The older ones should yield to the younger ones.
Cao Jun pulled himself together. As a senior by a few years, he might as well protect Wei Jin during his Daohu.
For those outsider immortals who happened to be traveling through the ruins of the Sword Qi Great Wall, the scene earlier had been an eye-opener, thrilling. They felt that the cost of their ferry immortal coins was utterly insignificant.
First, a god as tall as a mountain had emerged abruptly from the earth, holding a sharp blade, approaching the city wall with an invincible aura.
Then, an old man had appeared, gathered the pure sword intent between heaven and earth, and killed the god with a single sword stroke.
Not long after, the old man had transformed into a beam of sword light, seemingly traveling to the barbarian world, vanishing in an instant.
After some discussion, they learned that the old man was none other than the pillar of the Sword Qi Great Wall, the oldest and most accomplished swordsman in the human world: Chen Qingdu.
One group of traveling cultivators, deliberately keeping their distance from Wei Jin, came from a sect on the Cai Caizhou coast, near the western shore. The sect only accepted talisman cultivators. Recently, they had compiled a ranking of Haoran World sects—obviously to boost their own status. After all, three prefectures of Haoran had been sunk, and the other two, Southern Potala Prefecture and Vase Prefecture, had also suffered heavy losses. One cancels out the other; logically, sects in Cai Caizhou, which had suffered almost no loss of heritage, naturally rose in status.
Now, over a dozen of them were lounging at one end of the city wall, taking out wine, fruits, and melons, eating and chatting.
Someone murmured, "Since Chen Qingdu's swordsmanship is so high, and he's not dead yet—clearly he can still draw his sword—why did the Sword Qi Great Wall fall so quickly? Could they have deliberately let the flood of calamity flow toward the Haoran World?"
Another nodded in agreement. "Possible."
The former Hidden Officer, Xiao Xun, had defected to the barbarian world with the two sword immortals Luo Shan and Zhu An. The gatekeeper of the Inverted Hanging Mountain, Great Sword Immortal Zhang Lu, had allowed the barbarian world to flood into the Inverted Hanging Mountain freely—these were not secrets.
And the mutual dislike between the Sword Qi Great Wall and the Haoran World was public knowledge.
Could it be that the Sword Qi Great Wall had deliberately done this to make the Haoran World suffer more casualties?
An old Nascent Soul's bodyguard glanced into the distance and warned, "There are outsiders. Be careful in your speech."
So they used heart voice to discuss further.
More than a dozen lineage immortals continued to discuss this matter.
But they weren't yet aware that to two cultivators among them, heart voice was as loud as shouting.
The mountain peaks closest to the gods in the world were the Military Ancestral Halls of the Haoran World.
And the ancient gods were all too familiar with the heart voice of later-generation Qi refiners.
Apart from the Central Earth Military Ancestral Hall, there were four other similar sub-sect peaks: Martial Forest in Liuxia Prefecture, Armor Horse Platform in Southern Potala Prefecture, the Snow Wind Temple in Vase Prefecture, and the True Martial Mountain.
Collectively known as "Forest, Platform, Mountain, Temple," with Martial Forest being the most famous—so much so that unaffiliated martial artists were called "people of the Martial Forest."
The five people in the distance were from Vase Prefecture's True Martial Mountain.
Ma Kuxuan, his senior uncle Yu Shiwu.
The maid Shu Dian, the first disciple Wang Zu—both Qi refiners and pure martial artists.
And a recently accepted final disciple of Ma Kuxuan, a boy with a firewood knife at his waist named Gao Ming.
Earlier, to pick up scraps, Ma Kuxuan had chosen a tavern in a small county north of Zhengyang Mountain that didn't have any mirror-flower-water-moon entertainments. He drank alone because Yu Shiwu said it was Ma Kuxuan's only chance—Chen Ping'an might lose his sword cultivator status at Zhengyang Mountain.
Earlier still, at the entrance of the Great River Temple near the Grand Li's secondary capital, when they encountered Chen Ping'an, Yu Shiwu had also dissuaded Ma Kuxuan from fighting.
Neither time yielded any result.
When Ma Kuxuan first went to True Martial Mountain, he had to call Yu Shiwu "Senior Uncle Grandmaster"—the guy's seniority was incredibly high. For some reason, he was even the senior uncle of the True Martial Mountain's sect master. Consequently, when Yu Shiwu met the two ancestral masters Jiang and Wei of the Central Earth Military Ancestral Hall, he only needed to call them "Senior Uncle" and "Junior Uncle" respectively.
Later, Ma Kuxuan broke through quickly to the Jade Pu realm, so his seniority rose. He now called Yu Shiwu "Senior Uncle." But because Ma Kuxuan had many Daoist transmitters at True Martial Mountain, several of whom were high-ranking ancient gods, whether he called Yu Shiwu "Senior Uncle" or "Junior Uncle" depended on his mood. Anyway, Ma Kuxuan had a considerable reputation in Vase Prefecture as being notoriously unreasonable.
A madman, doing whatever he pleased with no regard for propriety.
Also one of the candidates for the Young Ten across the worlds, Xu Bai and Chun Qing from the Central Earth had both traveled to Vase Prefecture and been provoked by him. Xu Bai conceded immediately, earning Ma Kuxuan's verdict of "trash." Chun Qing fought back, but Ma Kuxuan didn't hold back, and Chun Qing was seriously injured back then.
As for Vase Prefecture's own Young Ten, Ma Kuxuan was undeniably the top. Others included Xie Ling, Liu Hongqiao, Jiang Yun, Zhou Ju, Sui Youbian, and so on.
And Yu Shiwu, hailed as "Third after Li Tuanjing," was only ranked among the prefecture's candidates due to his low realm at the time and few battle appearances.
So Vase Prefecture had mixed feelings about Ma Kuxuan. They disliked his arrogance but had to admit that having a Ma Kuxuan did help Vase Prefecture save face.
Ma Kuxuan glanced at the group of spectators in the distance and could barely be bothered to look again. He turned to Yu Shiwu and teased, "You, the 'Third after Li Tuanjing,' aren't you going to have a word with the 'Second after Li Tuanjing'?"
Thirty years ago, the "Second after Li Tuanjing" referred to the Snow Wind Temple sword cultivator Wei Jin. But that was before Wei Jin's advancement to the Upper Fifth Realm. After Wei Jin broke through twice and became Vase Prefecture's first native Celestial Immortal realm sword cultivator, naturally no one mentioned it anymore.
Having cultivated at True Martial Mountain since childhood, Yu Shiwu's Dao lineage was naturally of the military cultivator school. However, he was also a sword cultivator, and more secretly, Yu Shiwu bore martial fortune—a secret classified as the highest-level taboo in the True Martial Mountain's ancestral hall.
Ma Kuxuan had also called Yu Shiwu "half a friend" within that half. Yu Shiwu now carried three strands of martial fortune. Two of them, when the world situation was precarious earlier, had been granted by the Central Earth Military Ancestral Hall with the Confucian Temple's nod—gifts from the Central Earth military founders Jiang and Wei.
A shared cutting, divided into five parts.
Yu Shiwu still lacked two parts.
Unfortunately, the final two parts were no longer something Yu Shiwu, only a Nascent Soul realm cultivator, could seek for himself.
Ma Kuxuan clicked his tongue in wonder. "'Fell so quickly'—well said."
How many years had the Sword Qi Great Wall held?
With limited territory, one city fighting a whole world.
Such a small place, smaller than a vassal state of the Haoran Nine Provinces.
Yet, after that, the three prefectures of the Haoran World—how quickly were they lost?
Ma Kuxuan had no attachment to the Sword Qi Great Wall, no fondness for that fellow townsman, the young Hidden Officer. But even he didn't have the face to say such a thing.
The firewood-knife-wielding boy turned to look at his master, Ma Kuxuan, clearly puzzled.
Since that Chen Qingdu's swordsmanship was so invincible, why didn't he strike more often? According to the landscape gazettes, Chen Qingdu only seemed to make a symbolic sword strike, then never struck again, finally opening a path with one sword to escort Flying Rising City to the current Multicolored World.
Ma Kuxuan pressed the boy's head and twisted it toward Yu Shiwu. "Master doesn't have time. Let Yu Long-Winded explain to you."
Yu Shiwu patiently explained using heart voice.
Before the final great war officially began, Chen Qingdu, respectfully called the Oldest Sword Immortal, had indeed delivered one sword strike to the Tuoyue Mountain Grand Ancestor.
Though the battlefield between the swordsmen and the barbarian demons seemed calm, the mountains and rivers in a certain part of the barbarian world had been utterly shattered.
That was the nuisance of the Tuoyue Mountain Grand Ancestor merging with the Dao of the entire heaven and earth.
Standing on the city wall, Yu Shiwu sighed. "A profession—like a fisherman fishing, a woodcutter chopping wood, a merchant making money. The sword cultivators of the Sword Qi Great Wall were very pure: they drew their swords to kill demons."
Ma Kuxuan interjected, "Also, a coroner examining corpses, an executioner beheading heads, a coffin shop waiting for the dead."
Yu Shiwu looked at Ma Kuxuan, who immediately raised his hands, indicating "you go on, Yu Long-Winded."
"Furthermore, in that role, one does that task. For example, Chen Xi and Qi Tingji, besides being old sword immortals who inscribed characters, were also the heads of two families. Each had to plan a retreat for their family. The Hidden Officer Chen Ping'an had to deploy soldiers in the Summer Retreat Palace, trading minimal losses for maximum battlefield merit. The Oldest Sword Immortal had to ensure the Sword Qi Great Wall's legacy did not die out. Under the premise that the Sword Qi Great Wall was destined to fall, besides each doing their duty, the sword immortals sacrificed themselves fearlessly, striking at the barbarian world, to protect as many sword Dao seeds as possible, allowing them to take root in the Multicolored World. In doing so, they bought time for the Haoran World."
Yu Shiwu did not mention some deeper inside stories and truths.
Some secrets, like Wen Hai Zhou Mi and Ruan Xiu's ascent to the heavens, were known only to Yu Shiwu and Ma Kuxuan at True Martial Mountain. Even the sect master was still in the dark.
In Yu Shiwu's view, Chen Qingdu, the Barbarian Grand Ancestor, and Zhou Mi—each sought something different: preserving Flying Rising City, attacking the Haoran World, and pursuing personal supremacy.
The strong were those who could turn hope into action and make it reality.
The boy Gao Ming squinted at those lineage immortals who had popped up from nowhere. "Old Ma, Senior Uncle Grandmaster Yu, aren't these mountain gods a bunch of idiots?"
He didn't like calling him Master; he preferred calling Ma Kuxuan "Old Ma."
His senior brother, Wang Zu, would never dare to be so insolent.
Yu Shiwu smiled but made no comment.
Ma Kuxuan squatted on the city wall, gnawing on something. "Why insult idiots?"
Back in his hometown in the small town, if Chen Ping'an of Mud Vase Alley was an unlucky jinx, then Ma Kuxuan of Apricot Flower Alley was the village idiot in his peers' eyes.
One was disliked and annoying; the other was considered entertainment.
Ma Kuxuan grinned. "Uncle Yu, go have a chat with that bunch. If talks break down, I'll have a reason to beat them up. It's been boring on the road. Let's find some fun."
Yu Shiwu was unresponsive.
Ma Kuxuan, still squatting, patted the city wall. "If you don't even go talk to them, are you worthy of this city wall we're standing on?"
Yu Shiwu thought about it and actually went to reason with them. Since he had nothing better to do.
Not caring about how many people in the Haoran World died, and deliberately making more people in the Haoran World die—these were two completely different things.
Apart from Old Sword Immortal Qi, who was an exception, after fighting on the battlefield, he later obstructed the advance of barbarian demon armies step by step in Fuyang Prefecture and Gold Armor Prefecture.
Moreover, no Upper Fifth Realm sword immortals left. In particular, many Earth Immortal realm sword cultivators—they could have left but chose to stay on the battlefield.
Among the old sword immortals: Dong San'geng, Chen Xi, Nalan Shaowei. Among the great sword immortals: Zhou Tuimi, Mi Hu, Jin Qing. And those who died in battle among the sword immortals were even more numerous.
At that time, the highest realm in Flying Rising City was Ning Yao and others at the Nascent Soul level. So, was there ever such "deliberate letting go" in the world?
Yu Shiwu patiently explained a lot.
But no matter how Yu Shiwu explained, they only latched onto one thing: why didn't Chen Qingdu strike one more sword?
Yu Shiwu was somewhat helpless.
They only stared at one person, one thing, not letting go.
To mention a few but miss many—wasn't that a self-deprecating phrase?
Ma Kuxuan was thoroughly amused. Rubbing his hands together, he led his group to Yu Shiwu's side. The firewood-knife-wielding boy complained, "Uncle Yu, why explain anything to idiots?"
Ma Kuxuan chuckled. "An idiot tells you you're wrong; he always has his reasons."
Then Ma Kuxuan added, "Let's not stop Yu Long-Winded. With his goody-two-shoes temper, he always has some twisted logic like, 'They don't understand; it's still because I didn't explain clearly.'"
Young people from the Luminous Pearl Cave Heaven small town—none of them were bad at talking.
Besides, Ma Kuxuan's "family learning" was not ordinary.
Ma Kuxuan, Li Huai, Gu Can. In this regard, the three had an innate advantage.
Yu Shiwu sighed. "I'll leave them to you. Remember not to hit too hard. The Confucian Temple is strict now."
Yu Shiwu left alone, leaving that group to Ma Kuxuan.
Life was a book without words. Many hardships were like being beaten with a sack over the head—if you didn't understand, you had no chance to flip back and find a "why."
Of course, that group of Cai Caizhou immortals was not in this category.
Ma Kuxuan suddenly heard an unexpected heart voice: "Don't break the Immortal Bridge. For the rest, do as you please."
It was He Shou, the Confucian accompanying sage sitting in the heavenly curtain.
---
At the golden arch bridge, the three supreme gods of the new Heavenly Court: Zhou Mi stood by the railing, Ruan Xiu stood on the railing, and only Li Zhen was lying down, still pondering the two questions.
That "One"—how had it thought back then?
How had the conflict between water and fire, which had triggered the collapse of the old Heavenly Court, come about?
Zhou Mi laughed. "Back then, to increase the incense offerings in the human world and to temper the divine bodies, the Water God, after traveling beyond the heavens for a time, returned to the old Heavenly Court and finally realized something was wrong with the human world. Because on the earth, lights clustered together, and the fires of human hearts gathered endlessly like a sea of flames. The River of Time governed by the Water God seemed to have a large territory cut away, and the fire grew fiercer. You can think of it as the most ancient... 'water disaster' of the Fire God."
Li Zhen stared wide-eyed into the human world. "It's fine if I can't see it, but why can't Yu Si see it either?"
Looking down at the human world, all he could see were clusters of spiritual energy on the earth, some bright, some dim. Each light was a Daoist practitioner of different realms, along with flows of fortune.
Humanity looked to the sky, where the stars shone brightly.
In fact, when gods looked down at the human world, it was a similar picture.
Yu Si was at least a newly appointed Water God; there was no reason he couldn't see this flow inherent to his own destined Great Dao.
Ruan Xiu said, "Because I won't let you see it."