Chapter 389: The Foolish Boy's Foolish Sword
Amidst the rubble of the inn, Su Li sat on a chair, his eyes closed, appearing asleep yet fully awake. His hand rested on the yellow paper umbrella, but he made no move to draw the sword from its handle.
The iron spear descending from the sky was now only a few dozen yards away, and his black hair had already begun to flutter. The once invincible supreme expert had finally been pushed to the brink. Who could come to his rescue?
Su Li had no friends. He had never trusted anyone except those from Mount Li. But Mount Li was too far away. In this Xunyang City, the only one here was Chen Changsheng.
The only one who could block this spear for him was Chen Changsheng.
Chen Changsheng had to block this spear for him.
And so, something happened that no one expected. The street outside the inn suddenly became scorching hot. The paper snow drifting from the sky danced even more fiercely, and some of the flakes landing on the carriage curled and blackened from the heat.
This heat came from Chen Changsheng's body.
He was burning his true essence in a nearly violent manner.
This was the second sword Su Li had taught him: the Burning Sword.
The sword intent surged wildly, filling the entire space within the carriage. This violent sword technique carried the soaring momentum of the Sky-Scorching Sword and the peerless secrets of the Golden Crow Sword. At the moment his true essence ignited, it also possessed the determination and courage of the final form of Mount Li's Dharma Sword: sacrificing oneself for righteousness.
This sword had been specifically created by Su Li for Chen Changsheng to cross realms and fight against stronger opponents.
Back at the tea stall by the official road, Chen Changsheng's Burning Sword had reduced Lin Pingyuan, the northern tyrant at the Star Gathering realm, to a cripple. Now, facing this sword, even Liang Wangsun, whose strength was unfathomable, showed a flicker of concern.
Liang Wangsun released his fingers, forming a sword seal, and the Vajra Club roared into motion.
But Chen Changsheng's Burning Sword did not truly thrust forward.
He twisted his wrist, withdrew the sword, and thrust again—not at Liang Wangsun's brow, but at an empty space to the right front of the carriage.
This strike seemed casual, yet it carried profound meaning. The direction of the sword tip held great wisdom.
This was the first sword Su Li had taught him: the Wisdom Sword.
The Wisdom Sword required immense calculation, a talent for deduction, a transparent sword heart, and... very good luck.
For a Star Gathering realm expert like Liang Wangsun, whose star domain was nearly perfect, even if Chen Changsheng's sword struck from within, breaking through was extremely difficult. That was why he was now fighting for his life.
Perhaps because his luck was bad, or perhaps because it was too good, whenever he fought for his life, fortune always favored him. With a soft *chi* sound, Liang Wangsun's star domain was pierced, forming a small hole.
Chen Changsheng's figure suddenly blurred, trailing heat and swirling paper scraps, as he returned to the inn's upper floor.
This was the Yashiki Step.
Inside the building was utter chaos. Su Li sat in his chair, eyes closed, as if waiting for death.
The iron spear broke through the snowy sky, aimed straight at his chest.
Chen Changsheng appeared before Su Li.
Everyone who saw him felt their eyes sting. This had nothing to do with the earlier sword intent; it was because his body was radiating terrifying heat. No real flames were visible on him, yet he gave the impression of burning.
Facing the descending iron spear, Chen Changsheng held his sword horizontally before him. The short sword did not brighten, nor did it reveal its dragon might. It looked ordinary, like stone, like sand.
Stone and sand mixed together could form a dike.
This iron spear from the snowy sky was terrifyingly powerful, like a raging flood.
As Chen Changsheng held his sword horizontally, it seemed a great dike appeared before the rampaging torrent.
This was the third sword Su Li had taught him.
This sword had a very foolish name: the Foolish Sword.
According to Su Li, this was a very foolish sword technique, so only the most foolish person could learn it. It was also the most fundamental sword technique, because it could not be used to attack—only to defend.
It was called the Foolish Sword also because there was no other way to learn it except through endless repetition, practicing until the seas dried and the rocks crumbled, until the stars shifted, until heaven and earth grew old—yet you could never be sure if you had truly mastered it.
When Chen Changsheng first heard this, he had no intention of learning it. It was only when Su Li said that this Foolish Sword was arguably the strongest defensive sword technique in the world that he changed his mind. The sword came from Mount Li, and Su Li's mastery of the sword was unparalleled, his knowledge vast. His judgment could not be wrong.
But once he began learning the Foolish Sword, he regretted it.
Because Su Li himself had never mastered it. No one on the entire Mount Li, no one on the entire continent, had ever mastered it. In fact, throughout all of history, no one had ever mastered it. In other words, this sword technique existed only in books, only in the realm of imagined swordsmanship. It had never truly appeared.
Su Li said he couldn't learn it because he was too much of a genius, his sword heart too free and unrestrained to accept such constraints. But Chen Changsheng truly had the potential to learn it. Because... in some ways, Chen Changsheng was really quite foolish.
Chen Changsheng naturally no longer believed his words, but he foolishly began learning the sword anyway, practicing day and night without pause. At one point, he even felt he might have truly mastered it.
But he couldn't be sure, because he had never tested it—until now.
That arrogant iron spear descended through the snowy sky.
The final resort of unleashing ten thousand swords was useless, because the strange man who had come by kite was clearly insane. To kill Su Li, he didn't care if his body was pierced with a thousand holes.
Chen Changsheng could only use this sword.
Since it was meant to block a spear, blocking was all he could do.
He held his sword horizontally before him, watching the iron spear and its fluttering red tassel draw closer. His heart was tense to the breaking point, his body stiff, yet his sword heart was utterly calm. His expression even seemed a bit dull.
At this moment, the boy truly looked foolish.
...
...
The red tassel danced, tearing through the paper snow.
The iron spear entered the building. Its bright, arrogant tip met the dim, steady sword blade.
In an instant, the spear's tip clashed with the short sword thousands of times.
The paper scraps floating in the inn shattered into powder. The snow grew heavier, more real.
With a thunderous roar, a shockwave burst outward from the inn. The paper snow scattered, shrouding the streets for hundreds of yards in all directions.
In the silence that followed, a harsh, grating sound rang out.
It was the sound of iron grinding against iron.
The iron spear slowly retreated.
Chen Changsheng still stood before Su Li.
His face was pale, his body trembling uncontrollably, especially his legs.
It seemed he might fall at any moment, but he did not.
He hadn't even taken a single step back.
He himself didn't realize this, because the iron spear was too powerful, too terrifying. In the final moment, he had even closed his eyes, and still hadn't opened them.
The aftermath of his violently burning true essence lingered. His body temperature was extremely high, scorching hot. Occasionally, a paper scrap landed on him and ignited, sending up wisps of white smoke, making him look strange.
People stared at Chen Changsheng, smoking and speechless.
Forcing his way through Liang Wangsun's star domain against all odds, returning to the inn, and then blocking that spear from the sky—how had this boy managed it? He was only sixteen, no matter how talented. Today, he wasn't facing peers from the Grand Examination, but true experts on the Carefree List!
"Impressive. To block my spear."
A voice devoid of any emotion echoed through the building.
Chen Changsheng opened his eyes and finally saw clearly the strange man who had come by kite.
This man was tall and lean, wearing a tattered short coat, revealing half his arms and calves. His face was covered with a piece of white paper, on which a nose and mouth were drawn, leaving only his eyes exposed.
Chen Changsheng was indeed remarkable—everyone present thought so.
Because he had blocked this man's iron spear. Because this man was Hua Jia Xiao Zhang.
Since the Alchemy Gathering nearly forty years ago, the cultivation world had entered an era of blooming wildflowers. Countless geniuses had emerged, but Hua Jia Xiao Zhang had always been the most dazzling name. He was ranked alongside Tian Liang Wang Po as a true powerhouse of the human world. But in many eyes, he was even more fearsome than Tian Liang Wang Po, because he was a madman.
After that Alchemy Gathering years ago, Wang Po took first place, with Xun Mei and Liang Wangsun following. Xiao Zhang was deeply dissatisfied. To surpass Wang Po, he forcibly practiced a flawed technique, suffered qi deviation, and failed. Just as everyone thought he would fall, who could have imagined he would scatter his entire cultivation and start over from scratch? In just a few short years, he had re-entered the upper Star Gathering realm! Such a will was terrifyingly fierce!
Because of that qi deviation, Xiao Zhang missed the Grand Examination the following year. At the same time, his face was severely injured, nearly disfigured. From then on, he covered his face with a white paper, never removing it. The world called him Hua Jia Xiao Zhang, partly because his sect was famous for painted armor, but mostly because of that white paper.
Legend has it that the Heavenly Mechanism Elder once asked him why he didn't use a mask. Xiao Zhang replied that he covered his face with paper only to avoid frightening children, not because he was ashamed to show himself. Why would he need a mask? But Xiao Zhang probably never imagined that in the thirty-plus years that followed, the white paper on his face would bring terror to countless opponents.
This was Hua Jia Xiao Zhang. He was mad, he was arrogant, and his iron spear could shatter anything! For Chen Changsheng, at his age and cultivation level, to block even one of his spears was truly extraordinary.
Liang Wangsun was also watching Chen Changsheng now, thinking about the sword Chen Changsheng had thrust at him earlier, and the sword that had pierced his star domain. He was puzzled. Why was the first sword so violent? And the second sword seemed almost capable of thought, as if it were alive. What kind of sword techniques were these? Why had he never seen them in the national teachings' scriptures?
Neither he nor Xiao Zhang had expected this boy to be stronger than the rumors suggested. When they first heard about what happened in the capital, like the Grand Examination, these true experts hadn't taken it seriously. After all, if they had participated in the Grand Examination thirty years ago, Xun Mei might not have taken first place. It was only when Chen Changsheng viewed all the monuments in the front mausoleum of Tian Shu Ling in a single day that they realized his talent was astonishing. But how could he be this strong?
But no matter how strong, there was a limit. And he had reached it.
A breeze rustled the white paper, making it flap.
Chen Changsheng collapsed, sitting on the dusty floor. He wasn't bleeding, but his wrist bones were shattered. He sat before the chair, too weak to lift his sword again.
Liang Wangsun turned his gaze to the chair behind Chen Changsheng. Xiao Zhang also looked at that chair. They wouldn't forget who sat in it, and they understood why Chen Changsheng's sword had been so powerful.
Su Li sat in the chair. At some point, he had opened his eyes.
He raised his right hand, patted Chen Changsheng's head, and said mockingly, "You really are quite foolish."
Chen Changsheng's voice was weak, but still stubborn. "Where am I foolish?"
Su Li said, "You could have just left. Why did you stay?"
Chen Changsheng asked, "If I left, what would happen to you?"
Su Li asked, "Is it really that simple?"
Chen Changsheng replied, puzzled, "Isn't it?"
Su Li was silent for a moment, then said with emotion, "No wonder Qiushan couldn't learn this sword. My girl couldn't learn it. Even I couldn't learn it. But you... you did."
...
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(I wrote this chapter very foolishly, slowly forcing it out. Good night, and I wish everyone a happy sixteenth day of the first lunar month.)