Chapter 171: Three Songs of the Fisherman's Sword
The two bowed to each other in greeting.
The upcoming battle would be the final match, the one to decide the top champion of the Grand Examination. Compared to the previous bouts, the atmosphere was naturally different.
The windows on the second floor were open. The important figures had come to the windowsill, and the priests of the Departure Palace responsible for overseeing the exams had also gathered by the railing—not to watch the excitement, but to show respect to the two examinees participating in this match.
Chen Changsheng and Gou Hanshi bowed once more to the people on the second floor.
Just then, a faint creaking sound came from within the building. The priests of the Departure Palace immediately bowed and made way, while the important figures' expressions shifted slightly as they moved to greet the source of the sound.
The leader of the old faction of the national religion—the Cardinal of the Doctrine Pivot, Merisa—had arrived in person.
Because of his age and seniority, and even more so because of his half-year-long confrontation with the Pope, the Cardinal's status within the national religion had only grown. Prince Chenliu and Xue Xingchuan were the first to pay their respects, followed by Xu Shiji. Even the two Grand Archbishops of the Holy Chapel, who belonged to different factions, inclined their bodies in greeting.
The Cardinal looked at Mo Yu and nodded.
Mo Yu understood the meaning behind this elder's personal appearance. Her face grew even colder, but she said nothing.
The second floor was bustling. The important figures exchanged greetings, rearranged seating, and ordered tea and snacks. For a moment, the two main protagonists, Gou Hanshi and Chen Changsheng, seemed almost forgotten.
Since the fight wouldn't start immediately, the two began to talk.
Gou Hanshi said, "You've surprised many people."
Chen Changsheng replied, "My luck with the draws has been good."
This was an honest statement, not modesty, and certainly not a boast disguised as humility.
Gou Hanshi looked at him steadily and said, "Given your abilities, you've been far too quiet during your half-year in the capital. You shouldn't have been so silent. You have the right to live more freely."
Chen Changsheng said, "I didn't expect you to be the one advising me."
Gou Hanshi smiled slightly and said, "We're both people who love reading, and we don't really like going out much. But this was something my senior brother once said to me, and I found it very reasonable, so I'm passing it on to you."
His senior brother was naturally the Autumn Mountain Lord.
Chen Changsheng thought for a moment, didn't respond to that, but instead answered Gou Hanshi's initial suggestion. "I have to live cautiously and carefully, so I've grown accustomed to living cautiously and carefully."
Gou Hanshi disagreed. "Rigorousness and cautiousness are two different words."
Chen Changsheng shook his head, holding his ground. "It's cautiousness."
Gou Hanshi was silent for a moment, then asked in confusion, "Why?"
"This is something people don't understand, and something I can't explain," Chen Changsheng said.
Gou Hanshi said, "Living cautiously and carefully definitely doesn't include aiming for the top champion of the Grand Examination."
Chen Changsheng glanced at the second floor and said, "You were there that day. You know that wasn't my words."
Gou Hanshi stared into his eyes and asked, "It wasn't your words, but is it what you intend to do?"
Chen Changsheng remained silent, acknowledging it.
Gou Hanshi said, "That's why I find it contradictory."
Chen Changsheng said, "I told you, this is something people don't understand, and something I can't explain. But it's not contradictory, because no one likes living cautiously and carefully."
Just then, a priest from the Departure Palace on the second floor called out.
It was the same question that had been repeated countless times today.
"You... are you ready?"
Before the battle began, Chen Changsheng apologized to Gou Hanshi.
"I have to win the top champion. For that goal, I'm willing to do anything. Zhexiu... took money from the National Academy. I made a deal with him. He promised to do his best to defeat you, or at least exhaust you. If he met me, he would directly forfeit."
Gou Hanshi was startled. After a moment of silence, he said, "No wonder he fought so desperately."
After saying this, he coughed, his brow furrowing slightly as if in pain. Then he looked at Chen Changsheng and asked, "You're not someone who cares about empty fame. Why do you value the Grand Examination so much?"
Chen Changsheng said, "As I said, many things can't be explained."
Gou Hanshi said nothing more.
But Chen Changsheng wasn't finished. He looked at the sword at Gou Hanshi's waist and said hesitantly, "The General Formula of the Sword Techniques... could it be traded for something?"
The General Formula of the Li Mountain Sword Techniques could be traded for many things, especially for disciples of the Li Mountain Sword Sect. Even if it meant giving up the top champion of the Grand Examination or something even more important, they would be willing to part with it.
Gou Hanshi knew that the General Formula of the Li Mountain Sword Techniques had once been in White Emperor City and was now in the National Academy. He never expected Chen Changsheng to make such an offer. He was silent for a long time, then shook his head and said, "I am a disciple of Li Mountain, so I cannot accept this. Since it is our Li Mountain sword techniques, we disciples will one day reclaim them with our own strength. They cannot be used as bargaining chips."
Hearing him reject Luoluo's proposal, Chen Changsheng wasn't disappointed. Instead, he felt somewhat relieved.
"Then let's begin."
Chen Changsheng picked up the Rainfall Whip with his right hand. With a slight infusion of true essence, the tip of the whip rose and swayed gently in the wind.
This was the final and most important battle of this year's Grand Examination.
It began calmly, yet abruptly.
Gou Hanshi drew his sword from its sheath. With a casual flick of his arm, the sword trembled in the air, emitting a humming sound.
He walked toward Chen Changsheng, his steps steady and slow, yet carrying an inescapable presence.
Gou Hanshi struck with his sword. The sword intent was peaceful and gentle. Within the Dust-Washing Pavilion, there was no sword cry, but from beneath the distant clear sky outside the building, an extremely crisp sound rang out, as if someone were singing at the top of their lungs there.
Fishermen's songs answered each other; the melody arrived as it entered the ear.
The sword came too fast, and too calmly, even carrying a faint joy at meeting a worthy opponent. Faced with this seemingly ordinary strike, Chen Changsheng felt he had no way to evade. Neither the Yashiki Step nor his speed could take effect in such a short time.
He poured all his true essence into the Rainfall Whip, using the whip as a sword and crossing it in front of him.
A crisp clashing sound rang out. The Rainfall Whip trembled violently.
A golden luster appeared on the Rainfall Whip, generating a majestic force that forcefully blocked Gou Hanshi's sword intent. However, it couldn't stop the sword intent from traveling along the whip's handle and invading Chen Changsheng's wrist.
His hand began to tremble, followed by his forearm. A clear pain surged upward to his shoulder. He could no longer hold the whip's handle. With a whooshing sound, the Rainfall Whip flew out of his hand with a mournful cry.
At that moment, Gou Hanshi's second strike followed.
With the appearance of this sword, another song rang out from beneath the distant sky outside the Dust-Washing Pavilion. The evening glow suddenly filled the heavens.
The Rainfall Whip had flown away, but Chen Changsheng still had the Wenshui Sword. He gripped the hilt and pulled it outward. With a sharp clang, the Wenshui Sword left its sheath. Its bright blade reflected the evening glow outside the building, while also generating more evening glow, painting all the windows and doors of the Dust-Washing Pavilion in warm red hues.
It was the "Evening Clouds Gather" from the Three Styles of Wenshui.
Two patches of evening glow met within the Dust-Washing Pavilion. The black roof tiles turned to gold.
An extremely pure aura, following the sword intent within the evening glow, broke through Chen Changsheng's defense and struck toward his chest and abdomen. If not for the Wenshui Sword suddenly crying out at the last moment and using its own powerful aura to block most of the attack, he would have been severely injured.
The Wenshui Sword saved him, but it was also knocked high into the air by Gou Hanshi's sword. It whistled and spun, flying far out of the Dust-Washing Pavilion, landing who knows where.
Chen Changsheng didn't hesitate. He immediately retreated swiftly, intending to use the Yashiki Step, while his right hand had already grasped the hilt of his short sword, and his left hand held a small object that had fallen from his sleeve.
As expected, Gou Hanshi's third strike arrived.
Three consecutive strikes, with no interval between them, leaving Chen Changsheng no chance to catch his breath. The song came from the edge of the sky, the evening glow was born in the air, and then a fishing boat emerged from the evening glow.
Three songs of the fisherman meant three sword strikes.
This was the sword technique Gou Hanshi used, and also his most powerful one.
His first strike knocked away Chen Changsheng's Rainfall Whip, the second sent the Wenshui Sword flying, and the third came as dazzling as the light of the setting sun. How could Chen Changsheng respond?
The three strikes flowed seamlessly, perfectly executed. He didn't even have the chance to use the Yashiki Step.
A soft snap sounded within the Dust-Washing Pavilion.
Before Gou Hanshi's sword, Chen Changsheng's figure had vanished.
He appeared by the wall more than twenty zhang behind Gou Hanshi. Because of these seemingly joyful and peaceful but actually breathtaking Three Songs of the Fisherman's Sword, his face was pale, and even his body trembled slightly.
A wisp of white smoke slowly seeped from between the fingers of his clenched left fist.
Gou Hanshi sheathed his sword and stood still, looking at him with slight surprise. "Thousand-Mile Button?"
Yes, the method Chen Changsheng used to evade the final strike of the Three Songs of the Fisherman's Sword was the Thousand-Mile Button. Only the Thousand-Mile Button could help him avoid these three strikes that Gou Hanshi had long prepared and was determined to land.
When Chen Changsheng and the others were thinking by the forest about how to fight this match, how could Gou Hanshi not have been thinking as well?
The Dust-Washing Pavilion fell into dead silence. After a moment, suppressed exclamations of amazement came from the second floor.
To avoid a single sword strike, Chen Changsheng had actually used the incredibly precious Thousand-Mile Button, which was as valuable as life itself to cultivators. This shocked everyone and once again confirmed how much respect and care Princess Luoluo had for this young teacher. But what shocked the people in the building the most was still Gou Hanshi's three sword strikes.
Those three strikes seemed ordinary, with no wind or rain accompanying them, and the evening glow remained tranquil. Yet, as expected of Gou Hanshi's three strongest sword strikes, they gave people a feeling of not wanting to resist.
If Chen Changsheng hadn't had the Rainfall Whip, the Wenshui Sword, and the Thousand-Mile Button, he would have surely lost.
Gou Hanshi was truly strong.
People were somewhat surprised. Even in the previous round against Zhexiu, Gou Hanshi hadn't used such secret sword techniques from the start. So why, when facing Chen Changsheng, was he holding nothing back?
Chen Changsheng looked at the Rainfall Whip lying on the ground, thought of the Wenshui Sword that had fallen somewhere unknown, and considered the Thousand-Mile Button that had turned to nothing in his palm. He remained silent, knowing that he was still far behind Gou Hanshi, with a gap much larger than that between Zhexiu and his opponent.
If Gou Hanshi had a fourth strike, how could he block it?