Chapter 930: The Final Lesson
Those sword intents were very quiet, yet still exuded a chilling sharpness. Even using divine sense to perceive them could injure one's sea of consciousness. Shaken by the previous sword duel, a stone on the cliff wall above loosened and rolled down with a clatter, but it never reached the ground. Midway through the air, it was sliced into countless pieces by the invisible sword intents, eventually turning into the finest powder, blown by the mountain wind toward the emerald valley outside the exit, vanishing without a trace.
Chen Changsheng stared at this scene and remained silent for a very long time.
Then he lowered his head and thought seriously for a long while.
He was recalling the images of Su Li imparting swordsmanship to him on the wasteland back then, as well as some events that happened later.
Before Su Li left for the Holy Light Continent with the Southern Holy Maiden, he left several letters for this world.
One letter severed the final spirit of the Longevity Sect, and another broke Zhu Luo's arm.
These letters were, naturally, extremely precious and terrifying things.
Chen Changsheng had received two of them.
From this, it was clear that Su Li truly valued him, even treating him as a disciple inheriting his legacy.
Those two letters had saved Chen Changsheng's life twice, while also greatly enhancing his cultivation in the way of the sword.
Now, the passage was filled with sword intents, condensed but not yet unleashed—the sharpest existence in the world, capable of shattering anything.
This reminded him of the scene back in the National Academy's kitchen when he had opened Su Li's letter.
At that time, he had stood amidst those sword intents, not daring to move an inch.
Now, he still could only remain motionless.
Was this as far as he could go?
Chen Changsheng suddenly recalled that before leaving, Su Li had also left a letter for Qiu Shan Jun.
But Qiu Shan Jun had refused it.
Or perhaps, this was the gap between him and Qiu Shan Jun?
Back on the wasteland, when Su Li imparted swordsmanship to him, he had said Chen Changsheng was quite good, only slightly inferior to Qiu Shan.
In Xunyang City, when they parted, Wang Po had also told him he was quite good, only slightly inferior to Qiu Shan.
From Xining to the capital, he had heard similar words many times.
At the very beginning, in others' discussions, the gap between him and Qiu Shan Jun was like the distance between heaven and earth. Later, that gap gradually narrowed, but even now that he was the Pope, while Qiu Shan Jun remained an ordinary disciple of the Li Mountain Sword Sect and had vanished for five years, no one had ever said he had surpassed the other.
Chen Changsheng looked at those invisible sword intents as if gazing at Su Li himself, and said, "I still want to try."
He wanted to see if he could take another step forward, all the way out of this stone passage.
He wanted to try to prove to Su Li that choosing to impart swordsmanship to him back then was the right decision.
He wanted to try to prove to heaven and earth that he might not be stronger than Qiu Shan Jun, but he wouldn't be inferior either—at least in some aspects.
With his mind set, his aura naturally calmed.
His state of mind at this moment was utterly clear, like a sword that had been washed by water for countless years.
Countless swords silently left their sheaths, like fish leaping from a pond's surface, about to transform into dragons.
Countless beams of sword light illuminated the dark cliff walls, stealing all color from heaven and earth, and slashed toward those immensely powerful sword intents.
The crisp clashing of swords came thick and fast, gradually merging into a single line, like the line at the horizon where sea meets sky, and then suddenly fell into utter silence.
……
……
The people on the cliff terrace had been watching the commotion in the passage with tense attention.
Vines blocked their view, and sword intents disturbed the light of the sky, making it impossible to see the details clearly, but they could faintly make out those flashes of sword light.
Suddenly, the sword light blazed brilliantly, and they could see nothing at all.
The clashing of swords roared loudly, and they could hear nothing at all.
All they could see was the mountain wind howling, whipping up countless stone chips and dust, surging and struggling within the stone passage like a living dragon.
Watching this scene and feeling the tremors from the cliff, the ordinary disciples of the Li Mountain Sword Sect turned pale, thinking in shock that the Pope was indeed the true inheritor of Grandmaster Su Li's legacy, his sword cultivation as powerful as the rumors claimed—could he really make it through?
Bai Cai looked worried and asked, "Is he trying to destroy this stone path?"
After Chen Changsheng began breaking through with his swords, Qiu Shan Jun had remained silent, his expression unchanged, appearing very calm.
Only now did a grave look finally appear on his face for the first time. He said, "If he can destroy this stone path, then naturally it counts as success."
……
……
This stone path was the True Cliff of the Li Mountain main peak. Back then, Su Li had used unimaginable sword might to cleave open a hidden realm here. Over the following centuries, the sword marks on the cliff walls had been added to continuously, the sword intents seeping into the mountain rock, making it incredibly hard—even a national treasure of the state religion would find it difficult to destroy. Naturally, Chen Changsheng did not have that ability either.
But he walked out.
No one knew how much time had passed before he finally traversed this stone passage and arrived at the meadow outside the exit.
His clothes were full of tears, and his hairband had long since snapped. His black hair hung loose behind him, making him look somewhat disheveled.
Blood seeped from his clothes, gradually fading as the breeze brushed past. Fortunately, after the incident at the Mausoleum of Books, he had mastered certain techniques, so no strange mutations occurred.
He was born pure and spotless, his divine sense tranquil and immensely powerful, his meditation efficiency extremely high, his starlight reserves abundant. During his seated meditation, he had bathed in the true blood of the Xuan Frost Dragon, and when condensing his star domain, he had simultaneously lit up three hundred and sixty-five energy apertures. It could be said that he possessed the most perfect cultivation body in the world.
Yet today, he had suffered so many injuries.
Besides the sword scars all over his body, there were several tiny bloody cuts on his face, and his left eyebrow had been sliced off by nearly half. If it had been slightly off, it might have injured his eye. This showed just how dangerous the scene had been, and how terrifying the sword intents Su Li had left on the cliff walls truly were.
Standing outside the stone path, looking at the emerald valley and the cloudless blue sky, Chen Changsheng felt an immense exhilaration.
Today, facing the sword intents left by Su Li, he had unleashed everything he had learned in his life, holding nothing back, needing no concealment.
This was not the most perilous battle he had fought since beginning his cultivation, but it was the most satisfying.
Countless sword techniques were displayed freely, cleaving open the stone path and heaven and earth, and also broadening his heart.
He even felt like shouting a few times at the emerald valley and the blue sky.
But that didn't quite suit his temperament.
In the end, he didn't shout. Instead, he turned to look at the stone path.
Now that he had traversed it, he naturally understood that the sword intent techniques on the cliff walls were not all left by Su Li when he first broke open the hidden realm. Many were added later by Su Li himself, and some were left by the people of the Li Mountain Sword Sect.
He stared at the stone path in silence for a very long time.
He seemed to see some images.
Over the centuries, whenever Su Li occasionally returned to the mountain, he would come here and casually slash a sword strike on the cliff wall.
Those sword hall elders with profound cultivation would sit in the stone path, meditating deeply, striving to advance just one step further. When they occasionally gained insights, they too would slash a sword strike on the stone path.
Over the centuries, the essence of Su Li's sword path was all contained here, as was the spirit and will of the Li Mountain Sword Sect.
This stone path was where the disciples of the Li Mountain Sword Sect tempered their sword hearts.
By leaving his daughter in this emerald valley, Su Li would inevitably have anticipated that Chen Changsheng and Zhe Xiu would attempt to walk this stone path.
In other words, this was originally the final lesson Su Li had left for Chen Changsheng.