Chapter 77 - A Battle of Pure Swordsmanship
writer:
无罪 update:2022-07-21 15:26
This chapter has been brought to you by me, and larkspur.
The lifebond sword was something akin to one’s life, especially for lifebond swords like Fourth Mister Zhao’s. Just the sword nucleus was an extraordinary item. Unknown amounts of effort and hard work had gone into reaching such a level before being destroyed today. While her energy sea and mental power were severely damaged, her wounds were extremely severe. Naturally, she was extremely furious.
"While you destroyed my lifebond sword, you cannot kill me today, and I have managed to peek at realm eight. It will be even harder to kill me in the future!"
Yet, this kind of fury immediately turned into a resilient and sharp look in her eyes. Seemingly, this kind of dire straits stimulated her desire to pursue the path of the Sword Furnace.
"Why is it like this!"
At this time, a furious thick-browed young person appeared on this mountain peak. It was Zhao Yi.
"The Starfire Comet Tail Sword of the Ba Mountain Sword Field. It is Zheng Xiu."
Zhao Miao coughed out a mouthful of strange bloody gore and sneered. "But she borrowed some power from Emperor Yuanwu …… today, I received her blow; in the future, I will return this blow!"
Zhao Yi took a deep breath and nodded. For him who also came from the Sword Furnace, this was a matter of fact.
Yet at this time, Zhao Miao’s gaze flashed and she said coldly, "Go find Bai Shanshui."
Zhao Yi stilled.
In his view, while Bai Shanshui had fought in succession and her energies damaged, he may not be a match for Bai Shanshui. Also, once Bai Shanshui entered the Wei River, she was like a serpent in water. He could not find Bai Shanshui. Zhao Miao was wounded and in a dangerous state right now. The most important matter, naturally, was to protect her to leave.
"Bai Shanshui would not have gone far. I am not asking you to kill her."
Zhao Miao glanced at him and her expression grew frostier. "The person who set up such a great trap today, will not let us leave easily. My lifebond sword is destroyed. Naturally, I am not as important to those people in Changling as Bai Shanshui, who has the secrets of the Lonely Mountain Sword Hoard. Even if I cannot obtain the Lonely Mountain Sword Hoard, I will not allow it to land in the hands of today’s mastermind."
Zhao Yi glanced at her, his expression still hesitant.
Zhao Miao looked down, her face filled with indescribable murderousness. "While I am seriously wounded, it will not be that easy for those people in Changling to kill me."
Zhao Yi was stunned. He could sense an indescribable presence coming off Zhao Miao. In his memories, this kind of aura had also appeared before, on the teacher that everyone had respected.
"Be careful."
He took a deep breath and nodded.
—
After Zhao Si and Bai Shanshui disappeared in succession, Ye Celeng felt tired. She sat down on the rock that Mister Zhao Miao had been sitting on. It was only then that she sensed the changes in energies from the direction of the imperial palace before feeling the violent vibrations high in the sky.
She understood Emperor Yuanwu and Zheng Xiu better than almost all cultivators in the world. In the campaigns of the past, to destroy the three dynasties, she had seen Zheng Xiu’s Starfire Comet Tail Sword sweeping down from the sky like a true comet multiple times.
Zheng Xiu’s sword essence of sword and star being one with the star killing the fire, was similar to Zhao Miao’s sword essence that was tempered by starfire and the sword acting as a comet. While Zheng Xiu’s lifebond sword was not as sharp and straight as Zhao Miao, her sword had hidden in an unknown place among the stars. But with the sword killing the fire, Zheng Xiu’s cultivation being slightly higher than Zhao Miao and clearly the help of Emperor Yuanwu, she could imagine the outcome of Zhao Miao’s lifebond sword.
Of the three people in the situation, only she knew who had really killed Fan Zhuo, and only she knew that while she had ordered Han Sanshi to conceal the news of the Nine Hell King Sword, the presence that had lured Bai Shanshui to Fish Market was not her doing.
A person who could arrange such things should know that she had concealed the news of Fan Zhuo and the Nine Hell King Sword.
"Women are usually stubborn."
Thinking back to Zhao Miao’s words, and how she herself had chosen to remain in Changling, Ye Celeng laughed at herself as she spoke out loud.
Water flowed through the center of the river. Bai Shanshui stood quietly and flowed along like an immortal in the water. With some unknown art, her breathing was not hindered in this current. All of the blood had been washed off her body. Her presence was like the purest of water currents, but her face was too pale.
She had no understanding of the powerful secret arts of Ba Mountain Sword Field, but when Zhao Miao’s lifebond sword was destroyed, she had also sensed the powerful energy conflict in the sky. She knew that only a few people in the Changling imperial palace could achieve such a thing.
At this time, she increasingly realized that the person who had arranged this situation was not as simple as to be one of the marquises or kings.
The secret arts of the Cloud Water Palace could let her stay for days in the water, and cause her presence to merge completely with ordinary water currents. Even if the realm eight Emperor Yuanwu came to the river surface right now, she had confidence she would not be discovered.
But the destruction of Fourth Mister Zhao’s lifebond sword caused her anxiety. She sensed that this situation was just the beginning.
When this kind of anxiousness rose, she no longer hesitated. She took out a crystal pill bottle from her sleeve, poured out the only blood red pill and placed it in her mouth.
A sickly red flush appeared on her face. The water current around her did not change but her figure within doubled in speed and became a white flow.
In less than half an hour, she was situated in a deeper region of water. An enormous white shadow appeared in the dark water and quickly came towards her.
This was an enormous white carp whose eyes flashed with intelligence. This was a friend that Bai Shanshui had met many years ago when she cultivated in the water. If she was meeting this white carp, she would ordinarily be extremely happy, but the moment she saw this white carp, she suddenly realized where her strong anxiety stemmed from.
"No!"
She let out a harsh scream in the water, a string of bubbles and sound exploding in front of her.
In this moment, the enormous white shadow froze abruptly in the water.
A circle of red spread along its head, dying the world before Bai Shanshui’s eyes and her eyes red.
"My generation likes learning the sword, reside by the cold pool for a decade …… Kill the serpent, the blue water crimson for three months …… Today, we fight Changling, tomorrow, we kill the Qin King? Haha, Bai Shanshui, you rampaged and sang in Changling but did not expect that you are just a homeless dog in the eyes of my dynasty and my king!"
A wild laugh exploded in this deep region of water. A figure dressed in ordinary grey robes held a long whisker of the white carp in one hand as he pulled the white carp’s head into his hand.
At the same time, a terrifying sword essence shot out of his right hand, the inky green sword light like an enormous seagrass that surged in front of Bai Shanshui.
The calm surface of the river suddenly exploded into an enormous water pillar more than thirty meters wide. Bai Shanshui was pushed out of the water by this blow.
"Lian Bo!"
Bai Shanshui was furious. With a scream, she held her green sword in her hand.
The grey figure also floated to the water surface. This was a middle-aged man holding an enormous inky green sword, clad in the most ordinary grey cloth robes. However, he also wore straight sword scar and the brand of a prisoner on his forehead.
The man threw the white carp’s head aside. He looked at Bai Shanshui and said emotionally, "After nineteen years, we finally meet again."
Bai Shanshui laughed in rage. "As a person of the Wei, you became a marquis of the Qin, enjoying glory and riches. You actually remember former grudges, and your former sect?"
This powerful cultivator with a sword scar and a prisoner’s brand on his forehead was naturally one of the thirteen marquises of the Qin, Marquis Lian. While he had lands in Changling and also an establishment, he was usually stationed around the Xiong-Qiang area. He had great power among the vassal countries in that area, and was called a demi-king of the Qiang. But he had been secretly summoned back to Changling to appear in front of Bai Shanshui. From Bai Shanshui’s words, this Marquis Lian was from the Wei!
Lian Bo touched the scar on his forehead and laughed with grief. "If not for your Cloud Water Palace being so dominant and powerful in the past, and eliminating all the sects that opposed you, why would the Wei be unable to recover? Even if Wei could not avoid destruction, it would not have been destroyed this quickly. If we were to really argue about this, I do not know who the greatest culprit in the destruction of the Wei actually is. It has been many years since the destruction, and you still want to avenge the country. Why do you not think? Due to people like you, the Qin are not good towards the people of Wei. You want the people of Wei to live well, but you do not know that they do not live well, possibly, because of people like you."
Bai Shanshui sneered disdainfully. "After being a dog for so many years, you think like a dog."
Lian Bo narrowed his eyes and laughed. He said, "I fear the Wei King’s bones have rotted. There is no meaning in talking about this. I only remember that my sect was destroyed, my teachers and fellow disciples all dying under your sword."
Bai Shanshui did not look at him. She only looked coldly at the sword in her hand and the carp blood spreading through the water. She said, "Your former relatives are all dead, but your present relatives in your marquessate establishment are many more than in the past."
Lian Bo understood Bai Shanshui’s words. He took a deep breath and said, "So even if I die today, I will make you die here as well."
Translator Ramblings: Volume two’s climax is now done. I’d say volume one and two were building up to this first part which ties together several important women and factions together in one battle.
Volume 4 78 - Shocked Anger
Everyone’s attention gathered on Ding Ning. It should have been Zhan Moke in charge of the situation yet inexplicably, everyone felt the key was Ding Ning’s choice.
Ding Ning glanced at Wu Lianzi behind Zhan Moke and did not speak.
Zhan Moke looked coldly and confidently at him, saying, “You aren’t able to kill him.”
Ding Ning shook his head, kept looking at Wu Lianzi and said, “I did not mean that, I mean, he should know what he should do.”
Wu Lianzi understood the meaning of Ding Ning’s words. He felt that Ding Ning was right, so he did not hesitate. His vital energy immediately turned in a storm and rampaged through his body.
“Blood Kill!”
“Break City!”
“Heaven Light!”
Ding Ning kept on looking at Wu Lianzi but his left hand reached out like before as he stated three sword moves.
“You think you can kill him like this?”
Zhan Moke laughed coldly. The crescent blade once again appeared in front of him. Yet as the blade gave of powerful sword essence, the Peerless Wind and Rain Sword that had disappeared from the valley appeared again.
Fine raindrops spun furiously around him and Wu Lianzi. The terrifying power restrained all the vital energy inside of Wu Lianzi and it started to flow along the path that Zhan Moke wanted. Layers of rain form a curtained world and the power supporting these curtains came from Zhan Moke himself. This was likely the most powerful defensive sword essence in the world, like using countless worlds to separate oneself from this world.
When Li Xixing sensed this sword essence, he felt it was not possible to break through this sword essence to kill Wu Lianzi, yet as he unconsciously attacked following Ding Ning, he felt something was wrong. When the attacks from him, Hu Jingjing and Shen Xuan merged, their sword essences were not for killing but to protect.
With a boom, the completely rotten giant tree was first torn to pieces by the energy. Before the sword essence fully formed, Ding Ning’s both start to fly and fall towards the breaking giant tree.
Only now did Zhan Moke detect something was wrong and that Ding Ning’s goal was not Wu Lianzi.
He roared.
From the curtain made from layers of wind and rain, a line of rain fell towards Ding Ning with killing intent.
“Go!” Seeing this line of rain, Ding Ning spoke simply. He was talking to Li Xixing, Shen Xuan and Hu Jingjing.
He ignored the line of rain. In the next moment, his figure passed through the pieces of the giant tree and disappeared into the well below.
Thud!
The line of rain flying at him seemed to hit an invisible and giant bell. As the bell rang out, the line of rain was shattered into thousands of fine lines, like a strange icy flower was blooming on a straight and transparent mirror.
Li Xixing, Shen Xuan and Hu were also falling towards the mouth of the well.
Zhan Moke’s face twisted slightly. His curved blade was about to fly out when he sensed a sword essence that had disappeared long ago and looked up into the sky. An enormous shadow was falling down.
The Sword Mountain Sword, embedded in the slope, was falling down. There was faint starlight flowing on this sword.
The Sword Mountain Sword carried Gu Huai’s true sword essence, and gave off terrifying presence and power. Yet the starlight carried some warmth that did not come from Zheng Xiu.
An enormous boom once again sounded in the world.
The downward moving curved blade suddenly turned up and met the Sword Mountain Sword. Like there were countless hot springs exploding inside the mountain wall, there were hundreds of explosions.
The heavy Sword Mountain Sword was pushed aside by his slash, and the shadow left him and Wu Lianzi. Zhan Moke grunted.
Wu Lianzi’s eyes flashed again with resolve. His vital energy started to flow again. Yet at the same time, Zhan Moke’s body reached him, and the other pointed at him.
Pang, pang, pang, pang ……
The vital energy that had just started to flow inside of Wu Lianzi’s body was forced out by Zhan Moke, and he even forced open many of the joints and sinews. Gasping in pain, Wu Lianzi’s eyes were furious but he was unable to fight back at all.
Zhan Moke shook slightly, and blood seeped from the corners of his mouth. He looked at the well opening where Ding Ning and the others had disappeared, and his anger was no less than Wu Lianzi’s.
He had forcibly twisted sword essence, and when his energy was already agitated, he had stopped Wu Lianzi from committing suicide. As a result, he received some internal injury.
In that brief moment of time, Ding Ning seemed to have just said one thing to Wu Lianzi yet he misunderstood Ding Ning was injured instead.
To direct three swords to fend off his attack and then use the Sword Mountain Sword …… including the faint starlight on the sword, all of this contained many heart-stopping possibilities. Even more importantly, all this, including his injury, seemed to have been within Ding Ning’s calculations from the start.
The stairs down the well were not long. After just a dozen breaths, the stone stairs disappeared in front of Ding Ning and the others who had leapt after him.
They were not Tianliang descendants like Zhan Moke, so they only had speculations about everything here. But in their imagination, especially for something like Li Xixing who had participated in the Min Mountain Sword Trials, underneath here might be a secret world like the Min Mountain Sword Trials, a vast and large world.
Unexpectedly, what appeared in front of them was a crypt that they could see the walls of with their eyes. This seemed like an underground training field that sects dug out for their members, and was just hundreds of feet in diameter.
The things they saw were extremely simple. A simple black stele, a flowing spring, and behind the spring, a gold tower. The black stele looked like it was made from stone, a kind of black agate. It was about the height of a person, and covered in characters. The spring behind the black stele was milky-white. To their shock, the spring gave off dense spirit energy. In Li Xixing and Hu Jingjing’s senses, it was the same as the Fountain of Eternal Life at the base of the Mountain of Ancestors!
The gold tower behind the spring was the most visible, about three times a man was tall. It did not look bright. Yet while there was no other light source in this underground room, there was no difference in brightness.
All of the light seemed to come from this seemingly ordinary gold tower made from pure gold.
**
The simple scene and the unusualness of these items formed an indescribable conflict.
Hu Jingjing took several moments to recover her regular breathing. Her gaze fell onto the milky white spring and she could not help but say, “Is that the Fountain of Eternal Life?”
No one answered her.
Li Xixing turned to glance behind him. “If he wanted to come down, he would have already done so.”
Ding Ning shook his head and asked, “Do you know these characters?”
In front of them, only that black stele had writing, so Ding Ning was naturally asking whether Li Xixing knew the characters on the stele.
Li Xixing took a deep breath and focused on the stele closest to him. He nodded after a moment of silence and said, “This looks like the writing of the present Wuzhi, except there are more strokes. But I can figure out most of the meanings.”
“Then it is about the same as I thought. This must be the words of the past Tianliang, and the Tianliang language must be the precursor to the Wuzhi writing.” Ding Ning nodded calmly. “What is written here?”
Ding Ning stood motionlessly on his spot so Li Xixing, Hu Jingjing and Shen Xuan naturally stood unmoving at their spots.
The simpler the things in here were, the most danger they could contain, especially when Zhan Moke did not immediately follow.
So Li Xixing did not immediately answer. He carefully read all the characters on the black stele again and then said slowly, “This records the true history of the Tianliang disaster and the Tianliang ancestral lands …… The basics are about the same as Zhan Moke said, but the one who put up this stele is the leader of the rebels, the Peerless Wind and Rain Sword. He writes here that this elixir of life is something evil from space. It came down with a demon star. Anyone who touches the elixir will be invaded by evil beings, their minds taken over, and they will become walking corpses. That evil thing from space can absorb all primal energies of the universe. Metal, water, fire and other things cannot damage it. So he could only try to seal it up in the gold tower. He turned into a tree to be the guard, and begs everyone who passed by him to never open the tower after reading this. Otherwise, there will be a great disaster.”
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