Chapter 955: Sword Techniques Converge
Located in the northernmost secret prefecture of the Green Lotus World, there stood a solitary mountain peak that rose high above the plain, known as Runyue Peak. At the foot of the mountain flowed a river called Weak Water.
The mountain was steep and perilous, piled with jade-like rocks and rows of green pines, yet spiritual qi was scarce, clearly not a blessed land suitable for establishing a cultivation dojo.
The mountain and water restrictions of Runyue Peak were maintained by Xinku's hard-earned fist force.
Like a lake at the mountain top, fist intent cascaded down the mountain like flowing water, yet remarkably, it did not harm any living creature within the mountain.
If a martial artist had not reached the Stopping Realm, or a cultivator had not reached the Ascension Realm, they could not hope to reach the summit.
No guests were entertained.
There were over a dozen pure martial artists from various prefectures, at different levels of martial cultivation, who had found spots by the Weak Water at the foot of the mountain to build thatched huts and cultivate, regarding the ascent of the mountain as the best way to practice their fists.
As the mountain lord of Runyue Peak, Xinku never drove them away.
Today, a visitor came to Runyue Peak—a scholar in green robes with sword-like eyebrows that extended into his temples, exuding an air of great learning.
When this person appeared, figures rose and fell like rabbits and falcons, all renowned martial arts masters, rushing to this place to catch a glimpse of the "Teacher Lin" who had made a name throughout the Green Lotus World.
However, when they were still dozens or even hundreds of feet away from the man, they could not advance another step, as if immobilized by immobilization talismans. No matter how they exerted themselves or even threw punches to clear a path, they could not move forward.
Soon, several people, exhausted, began to slide backward, as if rowing against the current on the path of martial arts—not advancing meant retreating. To stop their retreat, they stomped the ground heavily, the thuds like muffled thunder, but it was futile. Their legs plowed two cracks into the ground like furrows. Among them was a white-haired old man at the Mountain Peak Realm, who shouted his name and reputation, begging only for a face-to-face chat with this longest-lived pure martial artist in the history of the Green Lotus World.
Martial artist Lin Jiangxian.
One of the ten of the Green Lotus World.
Sixth, ranking after the immovable fifth, Sun Huaizhong of the Mystic Contemplation Abbey.
But whenever the old abbey master went out and talked about Lin Jiangxian with others in the martial world, he would always say with a sense of shame: "This poor Daoist is ashamed to be ranked fourth from last and even more ashamed to be placed before Teacher Lin."
Lin Jiangxian paid no attention to those martial artists from various prefectures who were all in the "Refining Spirit Three Realms." He climbed the mountain himself, not using the art of "covering ground and traveling far," but just strolling leisurely up Runyue Peak.
There were no steps in the mountain, not even stone paths—only a winding muddy trail leading to the summit, overgrown with weeds.
At the summit of Runyue Peak, someone lived alone in a thatched hut—a thin young man with a full beard, unkempt, with murky eyes.
The young man was sitting cross-legged on a large rock, stroking an old bamboo flute. Beside him were a jug of wine and a pile of pine nuts, roasted yams, and poria slices that seemed to serve as snacks.
When he saw Lin Jiangxian, Xinku did not speak, merely nodding in greeting.
Lin Jiangxian clasped his fists in return, not stating his purpose, then came to the side of the large rock, clasped his hands behind his back, and gazed at the murmuring Weak Water outside the mountain. Legend had it that in that Weak Water, ancient immortals had used refined iron chains to imprison a green ape and a white snake that nearly turned into a Kui. Afterward, these two imprisoned beasts became something like the mountain-guarding offerings of Runyue Peak. But such tales of immortals and wonders had never been verified by cultivators, and the stories of the green ape and white snake had been passed down with errors.
The mountain wind was fierce. The "Teacher Lin," in his green scholar robe, had his sleeves fluttering. For some reason, he gave even more of a transcendent impression than Xinku, who never descended the mountain.
There were no weeds in the mountain—every plant was recognized as a treasure. This place was full of misty, cloud-like delight.
Xinku said bluntly, "I can't beat you. No need to ask for a fist fight; I concede defeat."
Such surrender was utterly unlike a pure martial artist, yet he was the second-best under heaven.
Not long ago, he had punched Bai Ou, who was halfway up the mountain, back down to the base, sending her body plunging into the Weak Water.
Lin Jiangxian chuckled, "I didn't come for a spar. Just came to enjoy the scenery and relax."
This was the first time they had met.
On the summit, besides a few roughly built thatched huts, there was a pile of rocks of various sizes and strange shapes, especially near the cliff. One rock stood out—square and stable, about ten square feet in size, round at the bottom and flat on top, resting on another rock. Engraved on it were four large red characters: "Longevity Cultivation Site," with no signature. Lin Jiangxian took a closer look. If he was not mistaken, this was the "stepping stone" privately known as "The Dao Ancestor's Resting Place."
However, the fact that the Dao Ancestor had once rested here was not widely circulated in the Green Lotus World; it was only speculated upon within the major sects.
Before the Dao Ancestor's visit to Runyue Peak, the only notable features of the mountain were the ancient pines and the strange, auspicious clouds that gathered over this floating rock, lingering without dispersing. Hence, there were legends of immortals and hermits roaming here. The reason why no qi practitioner had ever established a dojo here was precisely that this phenomenon was merely a façade—a mountain peak without natural spiritual qi was barren land for qi practitioners, water without a source.
Lin Jiangxian stood on the summit, his thoughts drifting far away.
He paid no attention to the martial artist beside him who had reached the "Spirit Reaching One" layer of the Stopping Realm.
According to a landscape gazette, Zhaoge of the Two Capital Mountain and Xu Jun of the Great Tide Sect—this famous couple of greatly disparate ages—had just visited Runyue Peak. They had not stayed long on the summit and soon returned to Two Capital Mountain, as if to enter seclusion. Their protector was an outsider, Yaoxiang Yaoqing of the Green Spirit Dynasty. This showed that Zhaoge was determined to succeed in this seclusion.
Lin Jiangxian knew that this female Daoist, whose Dao title was Fukan, a flying-ascension realm cultivator, had originally come from the "Heavenly Woman" registry. As for her previous identity, there were some vague clues, because the Crow Mountain martial artists had spies all over the world, originating from a secret agency set up by Crow Mountain called the "Bureaucracy of Rumors," which specialized in collecting street gossip and historical anecdotes from various dynasties.
Xinku put away the bamboo flute, picked up a few pine nuts from beside his feet, tossed them into his mouth, and chewed slowly.
Lin Jiangxian took a wooden ink mold from his sleeve and lightly tossed it to Xinku. "Returning it to its rightful owner, and also apologizing to you on behalf of my disciple's disciple."
It turned out that a younger disciple of Lin Jiangxian had been pestered by a young martial arts maniac, who insisted on becoming his disciple. The young man had good aptitude but was too impulsive and had cultivated incorrectly, so the disciple refused to take him on. To make the nuisance back off, the disciple set him a difficult task: go to Runyue Peak, whether by theft or begging, and retrieve a brand-new ink stick as a gift for apprenticeship. If he succeeded, the disciple would drink the apprentice tea and formally take him on as a student.
The young man gave a pleasant surprise—he did not retrieve an ink stick, but instead brought down this wooden ink mold, which could better display Xinku's martial arts skill.
According to Lin Jiangxian's grand-disciple, while climbing the mountain, he exhausted his true qi and spirit, fainted, and was rescued by Xinku, who allowed him to recuperate halfway up. Over time, they became familiar, and Xinku gave him the ink mold as a farewell gift.
Xinku shook his head, and the ink mold hovered in the air between them. "Let him keep it as a memento. If I hadn't wanted to give it, he wouldn't have been able to steal it."
Lin Jiangxian couldn't help but smile. This newly initiated grand-disciple was actually a petty thief who took without asking—a promising talent.
Back at Crow Mountain, the young man had spun a fantastic tale. He claimed that Xinku saw him as a once-in-a-millennium martial arts prodigy, recognized his great perseverance, and how he had risked his life to reach the summit of Runyue Peak. Xinku, out of appreciation for talent, asked if he would stay at Runyue Peak as his first formal disciple. But the young man refused to change his mind, having already chosen his master. So Xinku personally escorted him down to the foot of Runyue Peak, where they parted reluctantly, forming a friendship across generations...
Beyond practicing martial arts and boxing, Xinku's only hobby was to use local materials—cutting pine branches and making pine-soot ink. From refining the soot, carving ink molds, melting glue, pounding, and tempering, to drying, polishing, and gilding, Xinku did everything himself. The mountain happened to have deer herds, and the pine-soot ink Xinku handcrafted was famous throughout the Green Lotus World, best suited for copying scriptures in small regular script and for fine brushwork, painting portraits, feathers, and more. The ink sticks were fine and easy to grind, not damaging the inkstone.
It was said that Master Su from the Bright World had once traveled here and did not come away empty-handed. He received a set of colored ink from Xinku, which gave rise to the phrase, "Xinku's ink, I dare not use." In fact, after returning home, Master Su had broken up the set and given the pieces to several of his favorite disciples he had reunited with after a long time, showing how much he treasured the ink.
Before visiting Runyue Peak, Lin Jiangxian had his disciples search for several ink sticks engraved with "Thirty Thousand Pestles" and "One Hundred Thousand Pestles." He had also recently obtained a wooden ink mold. Of course, Lin Jiangxian was not one to follow the trend of pretentious refinement. He could use the degree of refinement of the ink sticks and the carvings on the mold to gauge the approximate depth and progress of Xinku's fist techniques. It wasn't that Lin Jiangxian saw Xinku as a threat to his position as the number one under heaven; he was simply curious—how could a young martial artist who only practiced his fists in isolation, without sparring with others, without a teacher to instruct or feed him punches, and even without a decent boxing manual, manage to make his way to the peak of martial arts through his own blind groping? Moreover, Xinku's ascent was so fast.
Seeing Xinku's politeness, Lin Jiangxian put the ink mold back into his sleeve. As a gesture of reciprocity, he smiled and offered a reminder: "There might still be room for improvement at the 'Juque' acupoint. For the route between the 'Yutang' and 'Yingchuang' acupoints, four inches apart, the flow of pure true qi, in your case, should actually go against the norm. It's better to be heavy and turbid rather than light and agile. Also, the route of the Hand Three Yang Meridian, if you refine it further, whether in carving or delivering punches, it might be faster by a few parts."
Xinku thought it over seriously for a moment, then nodded. "Teacher Lin's insight is profound."
Lin Jiangxian asked with a smile, "Since there are 'Thirty Thousand Pestles' and 'One Hundred Thousand Pestles,' will there be a 'Million Pestles' for a new ink stick in the future?"
Xinku nodded. "I have that intention, but I haven't set a specific time to start. It depends on the weather."
Lin Jiangxian smiled.
The Xinku of Runyue Peak loved making ink. The female national preceptor of the Green Spirit Dynasty, Bai Ou, was obsessed with collecting rubbings and inscriptions.
As for the Bright World, the last Hidden Officer of the Sword Qi Great Wall apparently liked carving seals.
These young martial artists nowadays had such elegant hobbies.
Xinku hesitated for a moment, then asked, "Could I ask one question? That fist Teacher Lin delivered back then in Fanghu City?"
Lin Jiangxian looked ahead and said with a smile, "When the day comes that you ask me for a fist fight, then you'll know clearly."
Xinku didn't press further.
He understood some taboos of the martial arts world—asking a grandmaster about his signature boxing technique was almost like asking a sword cultivator about his flying sword's innate divine ability.
One person had stood alone at the pinnacle of the world's martial arts for nearly three hundred years.
In the Green Lotus World, a ranking of the ten martial artists was compiled every sixty years. Over six such evaluations, the grandmasters came and went, but Lin Jiangxian was always, without dispute, the number one under heaven.
Lin Jiangxian was already over 360 years old.
For a pure martial artist, that was an impressively advanced age—a startling miracle.
For ordinary martial arts grandmasters, even those of the Stopping Realm, living to two hundred was already extremely difficult.
Just on lifespan alone, compared to the earthly immortals among qi practitioners who could easily reside in the mortal world for centuries, it was a world of difference.
Before Pei Bei, the number one martial artist of the Bright World was Zhang Tiaoxia, nicknamed Dragon Earl. The reason he lived so long was that he had switched to cultivation.
Yet Lin Jiangxian, who by virtue of being a martial artist was sincerely revered as "Teacher Lin" by peak cultivators, was just a pure martial artist.
Thus, there had always been rumors that Lin Jiangxian had secretly ascended to the illusory Eleventh Realm of martial arts.
According to speculation from the mountains, the Eleventh Realm of martial arts could be roughly equated to the Fourteenth Realm of qi practitioners.
After Lin Jiangxian established his transcendent position as the number one martial artist under heaven, he founded a martial arts sect called "Crow Mountain." Over more than two hundred years of development, it had grown into a deeply rooted, sprawling organization—no less than the top sects on the mountains.
In Ruzhou, Crow Mountain dominated alone. Oddly enough, within the Red Gold Dynasty where Lin Jiangxian resided, apart from the legitimate Daoist officials holding official licenses, there were no immortals or monsters within the entire country.
No wild cultivators, no goblins or ghosts, and especially no demon cultivators—they were completely absent.
In a vast dynasty with a population of nearly eighty million, there were no ghosts or spirits at all. This was unimaginable in any world, let alone Ruzhou.
Thus, the people of the Red Gold Dynasty had not seen any "strange phenomenon" for over two hundred years.
Lin Jiangxian began formally accepting disciples about two cycles of sixty years ago. He gradually took on four formal disciples—four martial arts prodigies who studied under "Teacher Lin," all within a span of sixty years. After that, Lin Jiangxian stopped accepting new students, and there was still no talk of a "closed-door disciple."
His four personal disciples consisted of one Stopping Realm and three Mountain Peak Realms.
The only martial artist in several worlds, or indeed the entire mortal world, who could come close to this achievement was probably Pei Bei, the female martial god of the Bright World.
It was said that Ma Quxian, Pei Bei's senior disciple, had already reached the peak of the Mountain Peak Realm. Her two female disciples, Dou Fenxia and Liao Qing'ai, were pure martial artists at the bottleneck of the Traveling Realm.
Yet even so, that was only one Mountain Peak and two Traveling Realm, still far from Lin Jiangxian's direct disciples. So the credit still went to Pei Bei for accepting a formal disciple named Cao Ci.
As for the disciples of these four, there were about forty in total. With Crow Mountain branching out over two hundred years, the number of disciples and descendants on the lineage rolls was incalculable.
A martial arts sect with over a hundred thousand members was uncommon in any world.
The martial artists of Crow Mountain served as royal guardians for dynasties in various prefectures, helped suppress the nation's martial fortune, opened martial arts schools to teach, and promoted Crow Mountain's boxing techniques. Some established their own sects across several prefectures, and dozens of schools still revered Lin Jiangxian as their patriarch.
Lin Jiangxian had once set a rule: he only taught boxing. Once disciples achieved success, they left the sect and were responsible for their own lives, grievances, and outcomes.
Lin Jiangxian had only initiated fist fights a handful of times, but when he did act, it was always spectacular.
Among the qi practitioners killed under Lin Jiangxian's fists alone in the Upper Five Realms, there were one Ascension Realm and two Immortal Realms.
The reason there were no Jade Pu Realm cultivators was, of course, because they lacked the confidence and dared not provoke Lin Jiangxian and Crow Mountain.
Regarding Lin Jiangxian's life-and-death battle with that Ascension Realm cultivator back then, according to the Stopping Realm martial artists who watched, it was "too boring" because the thunder was far greater than the rain. In less than half an incense stick's time, Lin Jiangxian had killed him. That Ascension Realm cultivator had spent most of that half stick casting life-saving escape techniques, fleeing all the way to Ruzhou territory, where he tried to threaten Lin Jiangxian with the lives of hundreds of thousands of people in a small capital city. He forced Lin Jiangxian to swear not to trouble him for five hundred years, clearly aiming to make Lin Jiangxian hold back. But this desperate, low-minded great cultivator still failed to escape. He was killed on the streets of that small nation's capital by Lin Jiangxian on the spot. The most remarkable thing was that the death of an Ascension Realm cultivator happened without any sound, causing no disturbance at all.
This was because Lin Jiangxian's killing blow was too profound; he gave the Ascension Realm cultivator no chance to involve Lin Jiangxian by slaughtering innocents. Even the few Stopping Realm martial artists who had followed at a distance, and the handful of peak cultivators who watched the world from afar, could not determine exactly how Lin Jiangxian had delivered his punch.
Thus, Lu Chen said it was extremely interesting.
Generally, according to the rules of the White Jade Capital, when that Ascension Realm cultivator made that malicious decision in public, even if Lin Jiangxian withdrew without killing innocents, the cultivator would have had to personally go to the White Jade Capital to answer for it. He had played his cards well: if Lin Jiangxian misjudged and insisted on killing, not caring if the capital city was caught in the crossfire, then as long as there were casualties in any mortal dynasty, Lin Jiangxian would also be held responsible by the White Jade Capital, and not lightly. It was a gamble that Lin Jiangxian would not dare to go with him to a certain pavilion in the White Jade Capital to "turn over Daoist scriptures." A great cultivator who was relatively young among Ascension Realms could afford to spend centuries. Could Lin Jiangxian afford that? Would he be willing to die of old age in the White Jade Capital?
The only unexpected thing was that the great cultivator had underestimated the height of Lin Jiangxian's boxing.
Lin Jiangxian turned to look at the floating rock that seemed to invert heaven and earth, and asked, "Is this the Dao Ancestor's resting place, that stepping stone?"
Xinku did not hide anything and nodded lightly.
At first, Xinku hadn't recognized the Dao Ancestor's identity, but he knew that person was definitely a lofty presence, otherwise he couldn't have sat on that floating rock without being noticed.
At that time, Xinku had just recently reached the Stopping Realm. That figure, like a young Daoist boy, had simply watched Xinku slowly walk his postures on the summit in silence, neither of them disturbing the other.
Later, they exchanged a few casual words. Before leaving, the young Daoist boy only said, "Who dares not to be the first under heaven?"
From start to finish, Xinku didn't ask the other's origin, and the other didn't reveal his identity.
After that, Runyue Peak began to get lively. A young Daoist sneaked up Runyue Peak, pretending to be grand, shouting and punching with much puffing and panting. Halfway up, his face turned red then cyan, looking just like a genuine pure martial artist. Then he feigned serious injury—face pale, staggering, covering his mouth, eyes rolling back, and collapsed, playing dead halfway up the mountain. He actually fooled Xinku. When Xinku came down from the summit intending to move this "reckless young martial artist in the Golden Body Realm" to the foot of the mountain, the other did a carp leap and threw an arm around Xinku's shoulder, calling himself "Lu Renlong"—the dragon among men.
Only later did Xinku learn that this person was none other than Lu Chen, the Third Teaching Lord of the White Jade Capital, who had shamelessly stayed in the mountain-top hut for a while. Every day, he chased deer in the mountain or collected pine nuts to brew wine, busying himself happily. He could talk about anything—a real chatterbox. Finally, Lu Chen, imitating his master the Dao Ancestor, said a cryptic phrase before leaving, which Xinku didn't bother to ponder deeply. It was like throwing pearls before swine. The ancient saying: "One externalizes but does not internalize."
Sun Huaizhong of the Mystic Contemplation Abbey also came to Runyue Peak and got along relatively well. They even made ink together. Elder Sun said that the path of cultivation consisted of only two things: how to eat and how to sleep. If you can eat and sleep, that is cultivation.
The Secondary Sage also visited Runyue Peak, bringing along a young book boy named Yuan Pang. The old gentleman once said: "In learning, doubt where there is no doubt; in dealing with people, do not doubt where there is doubt."
Master Su brought a young book boy carrying a bamboo box and a young girl carrying a large bundle full of pots and pans and bowls—"Jade Carver" and "Softener of Noodles," both born from condensed literary fortune.
After Master Su, two came together: Liu Qi from the "Poetry Surplus Blessed Land," also known as "Ci-Pai Blessed Land," and his close friend Cao Zu.
Liu Qi entrusted Xinku to take care of a person—his only formal disciple left in the Green Lotus World, a young girl named Wei Ying, who later became one of the ten young candidates across several worlds.
Xinku only said that if Wei Ying encountered trouble, she could come to Runyue Peak to hide, but no more than that.
Not long ago, before Xu Jun and Zhaoge, another strange person came: a purple-robed monk who called himself Jiang Xiu.
Fortunately, Xinku was already used to strangeness.
The monk sat there for one night until dawn, then descended the mountain.
During that time, the barefoot monk only asked Xinku a bizarre question: "You farmer and commoner, do you plan to explode with divine power and achieve Buddhahood on the spot?"
Finally, this wandering purple-robed monk used his finger as a brush to carve an inscription. Jiang Xiu said it was a prophecy he gave himself, telling Xinku not to bother about it.
"I only regret that there is nothing to do in peace, idling away the mountain's old bald donkeys. If the Zen barrier should suddenly break, a thousand miles of falling flower winds in the world of men."
Lin Jiangxian turned to look at the cliffside prophecy carved on a rock. The sword intent was fierce, with a faint sign of charging past the Dipper and Ox stars, but the carver had set up a kind of textual barrier restriction, imprisoning that sword intent within the strokes. In short, these twenty-eight characters were a superior sword manual and also a clever formation like a sword-locking talisman. A fine swordsman who knew how to trap himself.
Pure sword cultivators in the Green Lotus World were not as numerous as in the Bright World.
Lin Jiangxian withdrew his gaze and asked with a smile, "One after another, climbing up and down, treating your Runyue Peak like a scenic spot for seeking immortals and exploring mysteries. Don't you find it absurd?"
Xinku said, "Get used to it and it's fine."
Lin Jiangxian nodded. "Indeed, habit becomes nature, and that applies to martial arts as well. The skill lies solely in the word 'memory.'"
A Stopping Realm martial artist nurtures that vast fist intent, like having a divine being protecting them.
For instance, Lin Jiangxian, even if he were to fall into a deep sleep at any time, would have no fear of any so-called sneak attack by a martial arts grandmaster or an Ascension Realm cultivator.
A pure martial artist, eyes open to see heaven and earth, eyes closed to sleep like a god. This is what is called "Spirit Reaching One" layer of the Stopping Realm.
Lin Jiangxian suddenly took out a bamboo slip container, shook it, and laughed. "How about we divine? Let me calculate when you'll descend the mountain?"
Xinku looked puzzled.
A pure martial artist, why bother with such things?
Lin Jiangxian explained with a smile, "With nothing better to do, I looked into some Daoist arts of going out of yang and hiding in yin, and avoiding misfortune. I learned a bit of the surface."
Xinku shook his head. "I don't really believe in that."
Lin Jiangxian found a nearby rock, sat cross-legged, placed the container in front of him, and said with a smile, "Just as the Stopping Realm has three layers, divination is similar. The first layer is like observing murky water. A person's fate lines are those subtle water patterns, condensing and hiding various water channels, allowing you to estimate the general trend. The next layer is seeing fish swimming in the murky water. All living beings have spirit, and so have so-called free will. The diviner must add variables, connecting a person's fate to heaven and earth's fortune. The key is that those groping for fish in murky water must succeed in peeling themselves away from it. The final layer is when the water recedes and the rocks emerge. This realm is hard to achieve—like on the border of Yongzhou, in the Yu Dynasty, the Lotus Root Goddess Temple built on the summit of an underwater mountain range. Empress Zhu Xuan intends to cut down camphor branches to test the fortune of four prefectures. Regardless of the result, when we look back in the future, how can we determine whether Zhu Xuan's action was divining fate or altering it? And how can we be sure whether she did it or not—are all sentient beings in the four prefectures still within the same river of time?"
Xinku was silent for a moment, then said, "When Teacher Lin tells me these things, at most I can pretend I'm listening."
Lin Jiangxian dismissed it with a laugh. "Assume life has a fate, yet why sigh and sit in worry?"
Xinku could be certain that Lin Jiangxian was an "outsider."
It was an intuition, because Xinku didn't like this person before him.
In fact, Lin Jiangxian had a fairly good reputation in the Green Lotus World.
High boxing skills, demeanor of a grandmaster, never killed indiscriminately, very courteous in dealings. When challenged to fist fights, he would stop at the appropriate point, more like teaching and feeding punches without a formal master-disciple relationship.
Moreover, Xinku almost never felt close to or disgusted by anyone. The deep-seated rejection of this "Teacher Lin" came solely from the identity of "outsider."
Previously, when the Secondary Sage of the Confucian Temple, Master Su, Liu Qi, and Cao Zu had visited Runyue Peak, Xinku had similar uncomfortable feelings, so he was certain it was not his imagination.
Presumably few people knew that Lin Jiangxian was not a native of the Green Lotus World. Even within the White Jade Capital, the number was negligible.
Lin Jiangxian looked toward the White Jade Capital in the center of the world.
Yu Dou ruled the world and had handled affairs over the past hundred years with too much brutality, leaving no leeway for others or himself.
Thus, he had earned the bad reputation of "tyrant," though no one dared to say it openly.
Strangely, even Sun Huaizhong of the Mystic Contemplation Abbey, who made it a habit to praise the White Jade Capital, never commented on this title for Yu Dou or fanned the flames.
It was said that once, after getting drunk with a few old friends, the old abbey master only gave a neutral, non-praising, non-blaming comment of just three words: "Not to that extent."
The Third Teaching Lord Lu Chen was too lazy. Their little junior brother, Shan Qing, had only recently emerged from seclusion as an Immortal Realm cultivator, far from being able to stand on his own.
Back then, three thousand Dao officials of the Green Lotus World had traveled together to the Five Colors World, occupying mountain peaks in the far east to continue their respective Dao traditions. The White Jade Capital had taken nearly half of the seats.
For the Dao Ancestor's youngest disciple, Dao name Shan Qing, it might be a trial: whether he could take charge, help the White Jade Capital gain a foothold, and overpower many traveling Dao officials from the Mystic Contemplation Abbey, the Year-End Palace, and others.
In the future, the White Jade Capital would be very busy.
Earlier, Wu Zhou had appeared in the Yu Dynasty, nominally to open an old dojo, seemingly legitimate. But in fact, it was just her blocking the White Jade Capital from stopping Zhu Xuan.
Lin Jiangxian smiled knowingly.
Obviously, this female Daoist with the Dao name "Taiyin" had failed to negotiate some deal with the White Jade Capital, or rather with that "Truly Invincible One." So, don't provoke anyone, especially women, and especially a Fourteenth Realm female cultivator.
Xinku hesitated, then raised his wine jug and asked, "Teacher Lin, would you like some wine?"
It was Xinku's homemade pine-wine, made with pine flowers and shelled pine nuts, mashed into a paste and stored. Drinking this pine-wine nourished the soul, fattened the five internal organs, and preserved youth.
Lin Jiangxian declined. "I don't like wine."
Besides, a great drunkenness of life doesn't require wine.
Having seen over three hundred autumns, his hair was already white.
Lin Jiangxian prepared to leave. He put away the slip container, stood up, and smiled, "In the future, if you travel down the mountain, you can visit Ruzhou."
Because a guest had arrived.
Xinku said, "As fate decides; no promises."
Just then, a group of people appeared abruptly. In the lead was a tall, elderly Daoist with three strands of beard, majestic in appearance. The richness of his Dao aura directly suppressed the fist intent of Runyue Peak, causing the entire Weak Water outside the mountain to surge with huge waves.
The ancient master of the Falling Treasure Grotto at Bixiao Cave, later the abbey master of the East Sea Observation Abbey.
Beside the old Daoist stood three people in a line, looking like a slope.
The shortest was a young Daoist boy, real name Xun Lanling, Dao name "Jinjing," who had always been a fire-tending boy beside the old abbey master.
Also there was Mi Zei Wang Yuanlu and the martial artist Qi Gu, both "Five Mausoleum Youths" of the Green Spirit Dynasty.
The old Daoist cut to the chase: "I brought my newly accepted disciples to pay respects to your mountain."
"Raising disciples is like raising daughters: the most important thing is to strictly control their comings and goings and be cautious with their friendships. In the last hundred years, Wang Yuanlu won't have many chances to go out wandering."
"As for this surname Qi, he's just a tagalong burden. He's admired you for a long time, shamelessly insisted on coming to see the glory of Runyue Peak's Xinku with his own eyes, to determine if you're a god or a ghost."
Xinku still didn't get up, actually ignoring the Bixiao Cave Master and turning a deaf ear to the old Daoist's words.
As for "paying respects to the mountain," such cryptic talk from peak cultivators Xinku just let pass like wind.
Lin Jiangxian stood on the rock, smiled faintly, and clasped his fists in salute. "Lin Jiangxian of Crow Mountain, greetings to the Bixiao Cave Master."
The old Daoist stroked his beard and chuckled, "First there was Pure Sun Daoist, then Lin Jiangxian—both love to walk backward like this?"
Lin Jiangxian smiled and said nothing.
Even if the Bixiao Cave Master had revealed a bit of celestial mechanism, it didn't matter; everyone would soon know it anyway.
Wang Yuanlu made a Daoist salutation to the host and guest of Runyue Peak.
Qi Gu, however, looked very embarrassed.
For martial arts grandmasters of the Green Lotus World, to test their quality, one method was to ask for a fist fight with someone of the same realm, and another was to climb Runyue Peak from the foot and see how many steps they could take.
After his embarrassment, Qi Gu felt that following the Bixiao Cave Master to Runyue Peak was a huge gain. He had gotten to see both Lin Jiangxian and Xinku in one go, unfortunately missing his unmarried wife Bai Ou.
It was universally acknowledged that the path of martial arts was a road to darkness. The most troublesome thing was a short life.
Qi Gu had a few long-term wishes.
First, of course, was to marry Bai Ou as his wife.
Of course, Empress Zhu Xuan of the Yu Dynasty would also do. Qi Gu had no qualms about marrying into her family.
Then he wouldn't have to envy that Xu Jun of the Great Tide Sect anymore.
Every time he thought of this, Qi Gu became full of fighting spirit, feeling that learning boxing was no hardship.
There were many schools of Daoism, each with its own lineage, and the Dao traditions were numerous and complex, far surpassing the Confucian and Buddhist teachings. Over ten thousand years, there had been the spectacular phenomenon of "three thousand side doors and eight hundred heterodox paths." In the Green Lotus World, heterodox and side doors were as tangled as hemp. Add to that the unorthodox paths outside the mainstream, and the scholarship in fields like the arts of sexual cultivation and bedroom arts alone was vast. Every time Qi Gu heard people talk about Xu Jun, he would think of Daoist bedroom arts, and then of men and women fighting matters...
Qi Gu's second wish was to learn the secret of longevity from Lin Jiangxian.
As for asking for a fist fight, forget it. No matter how arrogant Qi Gu was, he still knew his limits.
Bai Ou, who would kill with a single punch, made martial artists of the same realm dare not challenge her.
Lin Jiangxian, however, made martial artists all over the world completely unwilling to fight him at all.
This difference was actually huge.
Xinku of Runyue Peak was somewhere in between, mainly suffering from never leaving the mountain or actively seeking sparring.
Qi Gu used sound condensation into a thread to ask Lin Jiangxian in secret, "Teacher Lin, junior Qi Gu, may I ask you a question?"
Lin Jiangxian smiled. "Go ahead."
Qi Gu asked cautiously, "How can we pure martial artists live past three hundred?"
When he was a child, he used to read worn-out wuxia novels at street stalls, where heroes always had grand ambitions, and villains were ambitious. But for Qi Gu, it always boiled down to seeing high, going far, and living long.
The world's martial artists were assessed every sixty years. Lin Jiangxian was too invincible, rarely throwing punches. Especially after he killed a "young" Ascension Realm cultivator, he had even fewer opportunities to act, inevitably seeming like he was occupying a latrine without shitting.
But Jiang Zhaomo, the master of the Purple Qi Tower in the White Jade Capital, would probably have a fist fight once every sixty years, going to Crow Mountain in Ruzhou to temper his martial arts with Lin Jiangxian.
So Elder Sun gave this White Jade Capital celestial, whose Dao name was "Chuixiang," the nickname "Seeker of Defeat."
If you didn't know the truth of Jiang Zhaomo's fist fight with Lin Jiangxian every sixty years, just hearing that nickname might make him seem not far behind the "Truly Invincible One."
Lin Jiangxian smiled and gave the answer, "First reach the Stopping Realm, then go to the Spirit Reaching One layer. In the process, be careful when asking for fist fights; don't leave any hidden injuries. As for some celestial pills from the mountains, you can choose to supplement."
Qi Gu was speechless.
This Teacher Lin was playing with him—he had said nothing.
The old abbey master glanced at Jiang Xiu's cliff inscription and chuckled.
Lin Jiangxian took his leave. The old abbey master said via mind message, "If you're walking down the mountain, we can chat later."
Lin Jiangxian smiled and nodded.
Afterward, the old abbey master first sat down on the large rock where Xinku had been sitting, telling Wang Yuanlu and the others not to be too formal. He said they were all family with Xinku, and being too polite would make them distant. Xinku didn't mind the Bixiao Cave Master's lack of formality. He took out a few jugs of homemade pine-wine and more roasted pine nuts and roasted taro for guests.
The thin Daoist with a bamboo pole-like figure, dressed in cotton robe, pulled out a few pairs of bamboo chopsticks from his sleeve, wiped them under his armpit, and handed them to Qi Gu. Qi Gu, used to it, took the chopsticks without minding and began drinking wine. The young Daoist boy rolled his eyes and didn't take the chopsticks.
Wang Yuanlu took a sip of the wine, which was strong enough to make him shudder.
The old abbey master jeered, "You wine-lush, hitting the hemp nerve?"
Wang Yuanlu pretended to be deaf and mute. Even with a master-disciple relationship, Wang Yuanlu didn't act timid around the old abbey master.
Wang Yuanlu of the old Mi Zei lineage and that "Little Ghost" ghost cultivator Xu Jun both had great tenacity—both promising on the Great Path.
The old abbey master looked up at the sky through narrowed eyes. There was a faint, barely discernible trace—the travel trail of Xu Jun and his Daoist partner Zhaoge. With a casual glance, he could see this vein, but ordinary cultivators might not.
The old Daoist shifted his gaze to the White Jade Capital and sneered.
Everyone in the world cursed Yu Dou, but everyone wanted to be Yu Dou.
Poor "Truly Invincible."
The White Jade Capital had two buildings, always full of madmen. One was a classicist specializing in exegesis, and the other was an "astronomer" who observed stars at night. He was probably even crazier now. "Practicing astronomy, I sleep late; the bright moon and cloudy sky hate the sparse stars. Forcing old eyes powerless, I still try to recognize the Ziwei star on the horizon."
After drinking at Runyue Peak, the old abbey master took his group down the mountain and found Lin Jiangxian.
The old abbey master joked via mind message: "Wind startles the mountain birds, clouds hang over the Heavenly River. Letters home hard to send, the wild geese head south again."
In Ruzhou, the Red Gold Dynasty had a great river that was perpetually misty. Lin Jiangxian's Crow Mountain was built on its bank.
The old abbey master suddenly asked, "Earlier, you saw Jiang Xiu's sword intent. Any thoughts?"
Lin Jiangxian shook his head. "No thoughts."
"I have a few thoughts. 'Melancholy, ten thousand things go wrong in the world; three go together, one returns alone.'"
This probably referred to the battle ten thousand years ago when Chen Qingdu, along with Guan Zhao and Dragon Lord, jointly challenged Sword to Tuoshan.
Lin Jiangxian smiled. "Senior sees clearly, with keen perception. I only ask that senior keep this secret."
The old abbey master looked amused. "Are you so sure that the Dao Ancestor won't tell this to his two disciples?"
Lin Jiangxian retorted, "Even if he does, so what?"
The old abbey master nodded.
Looking at the winding mountain path as thin as hair, the old abbey master no longer spoke via mind message but said with a smile, "One day, when there are steps, the mountain is no longer a mountain."
He looked a little further to the Weak Water passing by Runyue Peak. "Without a bridge, the water is still water."
Wang Yuanlu sighed. Clearly, he had understood something from the words.
Qi Gu, however, always turned a deaf ear to such cryptic remarks that transcendently lofty people loved to say.
Lin Jiangxian asked, "Does Senior have any advice?"
The old abbey master smiled. "Take care, take great care."
Lin Jiangxian nodded. Though he was not a Dao cultivator, he performed the mountain-topping art of "stepping across mountains and rivers" with one step.
The old abbey master stopped, looking into the distance.
In ancient times, "Sword" in the world was once divided into four streams, a magnificent sight.
Underfoot, this Green Lotus World had the Mystic Contemplation Abbey's line of Daoist sword immortals, passed down in an orderly fashion and enduring.
Add to that the restless monk Jiang Xiu, with his unparalleled unique swordsmanship. It was said he once declared he would remove a demon for the world.
Now, the Mystic Contemplation Abbey had added Bai Ye, formerly of the Bright World.
The last Penal Officer of the Sword Qi Great Wall, Hao Su, was now in the Divine Sky City of the White Jade Capital.
It was as if, ten thousand years ago, the earliest sword veins passed down in the "world" were now converging in the Green Lotus World in some profound, mysterious way—returning to one?
If that young Chen Ping'an were to come to the Green Lotus World in the future, it would be lively.
In the current Green Lotus World, whether sword cultivators or pure martial artists, when they gathered to chat about worldly affairs, they could not avoid a young man from another world, surnamed Chen.
Especially among sword cultivators here—without exaggeration, nine out of ten young sword cultivators felt they were the Hidden Officer Chen, and one thought Chen Ping'an was nobody.
Lin Jiangxian returned to Crow Mountain in Ruzhou.
In the Divine Sky City of the White Jade Capital, Penal Officer Hao Su began secluding himself to refine his sword.
On the southern border of Ruzhou, in a remote small kingdom's Yingchuan Prefecture, in an obscure little Daoist temple, a youth who only remembered his name as Chen Cong wore a piece of broken porcelain as a pendant. He had not yet received a Daoist ordination and was beginning formal cultivation.