Chapter 47: Great Ease
writer:
无罪 update:2022-07-21 15:26
“It’s Jing Liuli?”
“It can only be Jing Liuli?”
“But she appears to treat Ding Ning like a teacher.”
“One needs knowledge to learn in cultivation, not just their progress in vital energy cultivation and swordsmanship.”
On a corner turret not far from this street, Huang Zhenwei and the white-haired Mo Shoucheng finished watching the entire battle.
At Mo Shoucheng’s words, Huang Zhenwei felt a little ashamed. “Even in vital energy cultivation and swordsmanship, I cannot compare to Teacher at all.”
“I only walked earlier than you, but you walk faster than me.” Mo Shoucheng smiled.
“Will the empress allow him to continue like this?” Huang Zhenwei suddenly grew quiet and said slowly.
Mo Shoucheng glanced at him and said, “You know that Baili Suxue is protective. Even if the empress has thoughts, she will not make this matter unjust.”
Huang Zhenwei was silent.
Mo Shoucheng knew that he was not worried for Palace Attendant Rong and said after a small smile, “In reality, this has nothing to do with the empress and Min Mountain Sword Sect, only Ding Ning and Palace Attendant Rong. If Palace Attendant Rong does not agree to fight Ding Ning, no one can force her.”
“She is only a palace attendant, not some famed swordsman, not a general of the Qin. She does not have to care for her reputation.” Mo Shoucheng looked to the carriage Ding Ning was in and said coolly as he looked at Jing Liuli, “Also, she does not care about her reputation.”
“In fact, this is what I am worried about.” Huang Zhenwei lifted his head, his gaze worried. “The more difficult Palace Attendant Rong is to deal with, the more I worry that Ding Ning will do something over the line.”
Mo Shoucheng understood his thoughts and shook his head. “You cannot love talent too much, otherwise, you indulge them.”
Huang Zhenwei stilled. He suddenly realized that he had invisibly become too protective of the wineshop youth.
“We needed bravery when fighting the Han, Zhao and Wei dynasties. At the time, our country’s power did not greatly surpass multiple dynasties, so that person purposefully advocated for sword battles, and the stories of some swordsmen in order to stir reverence from ordinary people. This formed our present culture. But after the three dynasties were exterminated, that person actually wanted to restrict even sword fights.” Mo Shoucheng looked down and said softly with emotion, “But due to the sudden change, no one dared to mention that person’s intentions after his death.”
Huang Zhenwei looked in shock at this person. He had followed this old man for many years and never heard of him speak these words, or even express the intentions he was doing now.
“What should we do next?”
Jing Liuli did not even touch her sword in order to defeat an enemy powerful enough to look down on most Changling talents. But she had no pride in her expression as she drove the carriage.
Ding Ning’s answer was simple. “Return to Ink Garden.”
Amid the sound of hoofbeats and wheels on the road, Jing Liuli said, “Why are we returning to Ink Garden?”
Ding Ning let the curtain down so no one could see his figure. “The Xie Family’s first batch of Celestial Demon Vine and Wolf Poison Flower should have arrived.” He whispered.
Jing Liuli stopped asking. The carriage quickly turned left in the direction of Ink Garden.
**
Two carriages covered in heavy canvas were parked at the gates of Ink Garden. The pair of carriage drivers had dark faces and looked vicious. Yet, even under the scorching sun, they evinced respect. Under the sunlight, the sweat evaporated from their black robes, and gradually a layer of white salt formed.
When the carriage Jing Liuli drove appeared in their sight, the two drivers immediately had happy expressions when they learned Ding Ning was sitting inside. They jumped off their carriages. When Jing Liuli’s carriage was still about a hundred feet away, the two of them were bowing deeply.
As the two bowed, the horse in front of Jing Liuli suddenly felt a bone-chilling coldness. The terrifying feeling caused it to immediately freeze. The carriage immediately stopped.
“Even as a carriage driver, you are the best carriage driver in Changling,” Ding Ning lifted the curtain and said to Jing Liuli. Then he bowed seriously to the two carriage drivers as he got off the carriage.
Seeing Ding return the greeting so respectfully, the respect in the drivers’ eyes grew.
The slightly older driver bowed again and said respectfully, “Inside are what our young master has sent. After today, it will be slightly more difficult to gather these things, and it may take longer until the next delivery.”
“How do you prepare to use these things?” Jing Liuli asked Ding Ning after the two carriage drivers lifted the heavy canvas and picked some breathable bamboo boxes to carry into the courtyard.
Ding Ning said, “Simmer in warm water for an hour to reduce the poison before using them.”
“All that?” Jing Liuli frowned slightly and then said after a moment of silence, “This is the effect of the Heaven Replenishing Divine Art?”
Ding Ning nodded and then looked seriously at Jing Liuli. “You may have hard work now, you have to constantly help me make medicine.”
Jing Liuli frowned again and said in disbelief, “Constantly?”
Ding Ning nodded again. “You should be able to boil three jars at the same time.”
Jing Liuli’s body trembled minutely, disbelief flashing through her eyes. But as she turned her head, she saw Ding Ning’s calm and certain expression.
The two carriage drivers piled the items at the gate of the innermost courtyard before leaving.
When Ding Ning opened the topmost bamboo box, Jing Liuli’s pupils unconsciously contracted.
She saw three two-feet tall charcoal stoves, and more than a dozen crude porcelain medicine jars. The three stoves were placed in a row near the wall of the courtyard.The charcoal fire quickly started to burn and the flames licked at the medicine jars placed on top.
The three medicine jars were almost completely filled with the two kinds of herbs. Water was added. As the jar was cooked slightly, thick green and red miasma spread, and shrouded the jars.
Seeing this miasma, Jing Liuli still could not help herself even though she knew Ding Ning was prepared. She turned to look at Ding Ning and said, “You should have read extensively, and you know that almost all the records say if you rely too heavily on material items in early stages of cultivation, too much medicine, too much meat or even too much fat, your body will be too unclean. In the end, you cannot merge with the pure primal energies of the universe at realm eight and so cannot reach that realm.”
“I am not sure whether these records are correct.”
Ding Ning looked meaningfully at Jing Liuli and said, “I just know if I do not do what puts me at ease, I will first put shackles on my own comprehension.”
Hearing Ding Ning’s words, Jing Liuli’s body inexplicably shook and she blurted out. “Great Ease.You know I cultivate the Great Ease Sword?”
She unconsciously felt this was not possible. Ding Ning’s words caused her to sense the meaning of a level that she had not been able to figure out all the time. The words touched her mind so greatly that she had uttered the words.
Volume 3 118 - A Lusterless Black Sword
If one’s mind was notat ease, how could one’s sword be at ease?
Ding Ning did not look at Jing Liuli’s expression but down at the medicine jar.
This was the true meaning of the Great Ease Sword. When the cultivators of the world first started to cultivate, they would naturally receive the thoughts of countless ancestors who had come before them. Imperceptibly, they had deeply rooted beliefs about what they could or could not do.
From the start of cultivation, they would unconsciously restrain themselves. Thus they could not actually glean the true meaning and reach that level. Before they truly reached that level, they would not know where they were wrong.
Huang Zhenwei was not the only person who liked talent. Jing Liuli treated Ding Ning as her teacher during this period and Ding Ning was deliberately teaching. But it depended on Jing Liuli’s comprehension just what step she would reach.
Jing Liuli felt something and slowly lowered her head, calming her emotions as she looked thoughtfully at the fire.
The medicine constantly boiled in the jar, turning from a light green and red color into sticky black substance. After an hour, the miasma shrouding the jar had dissipated.
Ding Ning calmly poured the fluid from the three jars into a coarse teapot he usually used for cold tea, and blew at the steam before starting to drink it like tea.
As the medicinal fluid touched his flesh, it seemed to immediately turn black in his perception. The heterogeneous and powerful medicinal power spread outwards along his veins like poison, and the blood turned into black vines that spread through his body.
His fresh flesh and blood started to decay like bright flowers immediately withering. Black threads even appeared on his strongly beating heart. But in the next moment, countless invisible little silkworms appeared slowly out of his body.
With every sip of the medicine, numerous black threads would quickly spread through his body as the liquid passed between his throat. Then these countless little silkworms would carefully take a mouthful.
This was a strange rhythm that other people could not imagine.
These countless little silkworms would suck in unison, and consume the harmful parts of the medicinal power. They would perfectly devour the right part of the medicinal fluid Ding Ning was drinking.
The black lines were still spreading through his body, but they had already turned into pure medicinal power. His decaying flesh and blood soon were regenerating, emanating an even stronger vitality.
The energies in Ding Ning’s body started to surge, growing even stronger; his organs started swelling. The surging energies flowed wildly into his energy sea, and instantly compressed his vital energy until they gave off crystal-like light.
Jing Liuli suddenly looked up with shock at Ding Ning.
In her perception, five extra spirit veins seemed to appear inside Ding Ning’s body. Five spirit veins constantly sprayed spirit energy.
She took a deep breath and her gaze fell onto Ding Ning’s hair.
Ding Ning’s originally white hair roots were visibly turning black, possibly because of the changes in his vital energy or the medicinal power.
She looked quietly at this change and slowly exhaled. If she had not witnessed it with her own eyes, she certainly would not believe there could exist such cultivation speed in the world.
Even if the Nine Death Silkworm and the Heaven Replenishing Divine Art could perfectly tolerate the harmful parts of the two spirit medicines, the taste of each mouthful of medicine could not be eliminated. The medicine was extremely bitter.
Ding Ning’s gaze grew calmer.
Hardships in life were usually self-inflicted, but he hoped there was a chance that other people could pay for the sufferings they had bestowed upon him.
**
In the quiet Changling imperial palace, the spirit lotuses growing in the spirit veins swayed in the faint yet pure light.
Palace Attendant Rong stood respectfully below the lotus pond. She faced the mistress who almost all of Changling feared.
The empress’s face was still as perfect as usual, without any obvious expression, and like a god.
“Did you send that youth called Chen Fuchen?”
Her gaze was not on Palace Attendant Rong and focused on the white spirit lotuses as she spoke clearly.
Palace Attendant Rong said seriously, “I did not send him.”
The empress nodded. “Ignore him.”
Palace Attendant Rong acknowledged this and the empress stopped talking.
Palace Attendant Rong bid farewell and withdrew from the study. She knew the empress’ meaning, but because she knew too well, the “ignore him” caused her to feel inexplicably cold.
On the peak of Min Mountain.
The world did not know where the coldness of Min Mountain came from, much less that the coldness at the peak was controlled by a formation and gathered in one place to form ice crystals hundreds of feet wide.
A cold room had been crudely cut out with a sword among these ice crystals. This was Baili Suxue’s residence.
The world knew that Baili Suxue was introverted and always lived in the coldest place of Min Mountain. Most cultivators deduced that his cultivation method or his sword essence needed extreme cold, but only Baili Suxue knew this was not so. The world’s ignorance fooled all the people in the world.
So, in this room of ice, his lips were pursed in an expression of faint scorn and self-deprecation, even whiter against the ice and snow.
After slowly reading several scrolls, he casually threw them to the side. These files were quickly covered by icy energy and frozen. He lifted his head slightly and walked out.
Standing near his cold room was a tall young woman, the eldest daughter of the Guanzhong Xie Family, Xie Rou.
While most of the coldness at the peak of Min Mountain had been gathered in Baili Suxue’s cold room, even the remainder of the coldness was enough for Xie Rou to be frozen black in the face and tremble uncontrollably.
“Do you believe the world has so-called miracles?” Baili Suxue looked at Xie Rou and asked aloofly.
Xie Rou, who had been waiting many hours in this world of ice and snow, was shocked when she suddenly saw Baili Suxue and heard the question. Her mouth opened, her teeth clattered together, but she did not know what to say.
“In reality, there are no so-called miracles.”
Baili Suxue did not wait for Xie Rou’s answer. He glanced at Xie Rou and then looked at the clouds, saying coldly, “While you have enough perseverance and bravery, with your cultivation talent, I fear you will only reach realm seven at most in your lifetime.”
Xie Rou still did not understand Baili Suxue’s words.
But this time, Baili Suxue did not continue talking. He waited for a long time for her reply.
She still did not know how to respond, but due to her personality, she finally answered, “Realm seven is enough.”
“So this is your choice. You believe there are no miracles. You are not discontent. This is enough.”
Baili Suxue waved his hand simply, indicating she could leave.
Xie Rou was stunned and he said coolly, “The Min Mountain Sword Sect has more than one way of using wealth in exchange for cultivation. But the Qin only has one Xie Family. You did not disappoint me. Go find Qing Yaoyin. He will help you reach realm seven. Then you will only ever be realm seven in your life.”
Xie Rou’s breathing completely stopped. But she started to truly understand what Baili Suxue meant.
“It will not be very fast,” Baili Suxue’s cool and proud voice reached Xie Rou’s ears as he turned around, “you will be in seclusion in Min Mountain Sword Sect for a long time.”
At the same time that Baili Suxue was turning around, Palace Attendant Rong walked into the remote garden in the palace she lived in. She had already decided to live temporarily in the palace, but she was still one of the most informed people in Changling.
The news concerning Ding Ning were constantly passed to her hands as fast as possible.
She knew that Ding Ning’s cultivation had reached realm four second class. She knew that Jing Liuli was following Ding Ning right now, and appeared like Ding Ning’s student.
She knew that the medicines that Guanzhong warriors had gathered had been delivered to Ink Garden. While she did not know what the medicines were intended for, the purpose definitely had something to do with Ding Ning’s cultivation.
Adding on the empress’ attitude today, she truly felt enormous pressure.
As she walked into this unpopulated garden, she could not help but speak to herself. “Why will you not spare me?”
But in the next breath, Ding Ning’s face appeared in her mind, and the answer Ding Ning would give echoed within her, “You never spared Old Man Xue.”
It was the scorching summer. But she felt a chill.
Volume 3 119 - Poisoned Dragon Water
Repeatedly doing the same thing was boring to start with. If one did the same thing without rest or sleep, it would become torture over time.
Legend has it that in many prisons, many prison officers’ most effective method of extorting confessions was not allowing the prisoner to sleep for a long time until the prisoner broke down mentally……
Jing Liuli kept cooking medicine. Because no one was forcing her to do this, she was just fighting against her own will, and the tiredness accumulated grew heavier as time went on.
In the world, powerful cultivation could accomplish stunning things. Similarly, astounding wealth could also accomplish stunning things. For example, the two loads of herbs the wealthy of Guanzhong had gathered.
The Celestial Demon Vine and the Wolf Poison Flower were rare spirit medicines. For example, the Wolf Poison Flower grew as single plants on the tundra with its great temperature differences most suitable for immortality. They would only be one plant within every few miles. Yet in a few days, there were two full carriage-loads of herbs that had been delivered here.
It would naturally take a long time to turn this astounding amount of spirit medicine into liquid medicine. She had not closed her eyes for several days since she had started to make it. She did not stop to rest because she was fighting against her will but because Ding Ning had not rested at all.
When she finished the third jar, Ding Ning had finished drinking all three previous jars and maintained a perfect and fixed frequency.
Seeing Ding Ning start to calmly drink medicine like he had in previous days, Jing Liuli did not think of his cultivation speed which almost violated the natural order of cultivation. Instead, she thought, even if the young talents of Changling used this method to increase their cultivation, if they had to drink each jar of medicine without stopping, she feared those talents would not have the perseverance to last this long.
She felt it was difficult to just make the medicine, much less continuously drink such bitter medicine.
“I really admire you,” Jing Liuli said seriously when Ding Ning’s almost perfect rhythm changed and he stopped, indicating she did not have to continue. She turned to look at the remainder of the two herbs, which was not much, and then at Ding Ning’s hair roots which had turned black.
“Admire what of me?” Ding Ning grabbed some ripe loquat fruits from the tree and slowly ate them, savouring the taste of sweetness after bitterness. He smiled at Jing Liuli, “Admire me for not having gone to the bathroom after so long?”
Jing Liuli nodded without a smile, “This is one aspect.”
Ding Ning stilled at her expression and reaction. He grimaced. “You are too cold…… this is not very funny.”
Jing Liuli did not feel that she had said a bad joke. She looked at Ding Ning and said, “The herbs have not run out. You still have strength to continue, and your cultivation has not reached a breakthrough. Why stop?”
“We are going out.” Ding Ning did not deliberately conceal from her and said directly, “Our plan against Palace Attendant Rong from the start was to constantly put pressure on her. Maintaining continued pressure is much more effective than giving her pressure one time. Pressure is like exhaustion. It is most terrifying when it accumulates.”
After a pause, the bitterness in Ding Ning’s mouth was completely replaced by the fresh loquats. He started to walk out. “My cultivation right now is enough to deal with Doctor Ai.”
Jing Liuli followed him and said with a frown, “Who is Doctor Ai?”
Ding Ning said, “The owner of Spring Longevity Hall, and also one of the most famous doctors in Changling.”
Jing Liuli said, “What is his relationship to the palace attendant?”
Ding Ning glanced at her and said, “In her early years, Palace Attendant Rong once received his favor. In these years, Palace Attendant Rong has repaid him after gaining power. Spring Longevity Hall is in today’s situation mostly because of this.”
Jing Liuli looked in puzzlement at him, “Just because he is Palace Attendant Rong’s benefactor, you are going to fight him?”
“Of course not just because of this,” Ding Ning said calmly, “But i cannot tell you the reason right now.”
Jing Liuli stopped talking.
She had truly regarded Ding Ning as her teacher in this period of time. Since her teacher could not speak of the reason, then she would not press.
“West of the city, near the seventh, north turret.”
After stating the precise location, Ding Ning stepped into the carriage cabin and closed his eyes to rest.
A middle-aged man in casual clothes was standing by the window of a teahouse not far from Ink Garden. Seeing the carriage move out of Ink Garden, he had a scornful expression.
Yet at this time, he suddenly felt something odd as though something discomforting was coming close to him behind him. He suddenly turned around, and then frowned deeply.
There was nothing odd behind him.
The carriage coming out of Ink Garden affected an unknown number of people.
When the carriage Jing Liuli drove moved into the west of the city, and headed towards one of the turrets directly, Palace Attendant Rong already knew the destination from her place in the Changling imperial palace.
Palace Attendant Rong stood under the eaves, silently looking at the direction of the turret in the west of the city. Her face was still calm, but her breathing became heavy.
They were heading to Spring Longevity Hall. Was Ding Ning already confident he could defeat that person?
**
Doctor Ai was a very kind middle-aged man. He was one of the most famous doctors in Changling, and skilled in using vital energy to activate vitality. Some healing skills required vital energy, and his cultivation was not a secret.
In Changling, a middle-aged man who needed decades to just reach realm five did not possess good talent. Yet most cultivators knew the strength of a cultivator was never decided just by vital energy cultivation.
Doctor Ai, dressed in a light, silk robe, stood at the gates of a compound dozens of miles in diameter and watched the carriage approach.
Spring Longevity Hall was next to his compound.
This medicine clinic famous in Changling was not as majestic as his compound. Many people not from the city or who did not live nearby could not connect the owner of Spring Longevity Hall to this compound.
“You want me to fight or you will do so yourself?” Seeing the middle-aged man standing alone by the gates, Jing Liuli turned to ask Ding Ning in the carriage.
Ding Ning slowly opened his eyes and said simply, “I will.”
“All right.”
Jing Liuli nodded. A sword essence leapt out of her body and fell seven paces in front of her. Then she bowed her head, releasing all her fatigue, and fell into a deep sleep.
The carriage still advanced steadily. But at the seventh step, when the carriage reached where her sword essence had fallen, the horse pulling the carriage felt an inexplicable terror and froze on the spot.
Ding Ning ignored the motionless horse and Jing Liuli who was sleeping while sitting. He calmly got off the carriage.
Doctor Ai was a hundred feet in front of him.
He nodded simply to Doctor Ai in greeting and said, “I want to challenge you.”
Doctor Ai smiled simply and said, “Then let’s start.”
Volume 3 120 - Consecutive Wins, Random
When Doctor Ai was speaking, the primal energies of the universe around him suddenly changed and grew sharp.
Jing Liuli had just sunk into sleep in a few breaths, but at this time, her eyelashes fluttered and she opened her eyes. She had experienced many unimaginable hardships to accomplish something like sinking into a deep sleep instantly and using this brief moment of rest to eliminate some exhaustion. With her will, she could not sleep or rest for a long time. She wanted a brief sleep to keep her mind clear and not miss any part of Ding Ning and Doctor Ai’s battle.
But she had not expected this to be so short…… In her imagination, Ding Ning and Doctor Ai would converse, and Ding Ning may even have to do some things to force Doctor Ai to fight.
A deep sleep which was too brief was like passing through different levels of consciousness. Her head felt heavier and her thoughts were confused. But she still perceptively felt something was odd.
She had grown familiar with Ding Ning. She felt when Ding Ning was facing Doctor Ai, he was not as sharp as he was against Palace Attendant Rong and her old lover.
When she looked with narrowed eyes at Doctor Ai against the sunlight, she felt that Doctor Ai was not being forced, and was actually facilitating this battle.
Ding Ning did not give her enough time to clear her mind and think. As Doctor Ai finished talking, he nodded and held the Last Flower Sword across his chest, saying calmly, “Then let’s start.”
Doctor Ai gently shook his head as though he was lamenting.
His expression was extremely gentle. Since he was a famous doctor, he usually faced patients who had difficult and incurable illnesses. His expression and tonal habits were used to give patients comfort so people felt he was friendly as he spoke now.
But as he shook his head, his right sleeve already tore apart.
A black sword light, colored like the accumulated tea stains of an old teapot, tore apart his sleeve with a violent presence completely inconsistent with his expression. It fell towards the ground, but when it was a foot off the ground, it gave off a low hum and flashed like lightning towards Ding Ning’s feet.
Gasps sounded in the surrounding streets.
Ding Ning and Doctor Ai’s battle started so quickly the passersby around had not realized what was happening. Especially those people who knew Doctor Ai before. They had not thought that Doctor Ai would be a swordsman, and would attack first with a flying sword!
Only cultivators above realm five could control flying swords. The flying sword was separated from a cultivator’s body yet it could still express a cultivator’s will and sword essence. In the eyes of the world, swordsmen who could use flying swords were already above the level of an ordinary swordsman.
In battles between armies, there were many swordsmen who could use flying swords on the battlefield. But each of these swordsmen would be protected by many powerful soldiers.
Ding Ning had once won against an opponent with a flying sword during the Min Mountain Sword Trials. But in Changling, and even the entire world, most ordinary people and cultivators had never seen someone who could not control a flying sword challenge a swordsman who could.
Any movement, to a flying sword that moved like lightning, was too slow.
When the dark sword light was falling towards the ground, Ding Ning had started to move his feet. His left foot stomped heavily on the ground, and he accelerated forward.
He could not use a flying sword and had to get close. He could only pose a true threat in close range combat, and affect the other’s control of the flying sword.
Yet just as his left foot stepped on the ground, the dark sword light was less than three feet away!
A tearing sound occurred at this moment.
A sword light with thick fiendish energy fell in front of the dark flying sword.
The flying sword, controlled mentally, was not able to dodge in time, and hit the sword light directly.
There was no metallic clang. Only the sound of ice cracking softly.
Countless crystal pieces visible to the naked eye sprayed in front of Ding Ning’s feet. Ding Ning’s body had left the ground already. The pieces spread under his feet, and then produced countless blue-black flames like an evil flower.
Doctor Ai’s eyes trembled slightly. He knew Ding Ning was very strong, but not this strong.
His flying sword did not dare to attack any part of Ding Ning’s body and flew to the side to create a distance.
A thin layer of frost had formed on his flying sword. The starry fiendish energy, which repelled other primal energies of the universe, threw the energies in his sword’s seal scripts into instability.
A bloom of dust appeared under his toes. He retreated steadily.
Ding Ning advanced, he retreated.
But Ding Ning had not truly attacked with his sword. He had just used one of the small swords made from star fiendish energy accumulated in his body.
The Last Flower remnant sword held across his chest stabbed forward as his body rose and the black flower bloomed under his feet.
The sky was clear and sunny. But the moment he moved his sword, rain suddenly appeared in the sky above Doctor Ai.
The crystal rain fell, appearing soft, but immediately exposing their violent nature when they landed on the roof tiles behind Doctor Ai. A string of explosions occurred, and the tiles shattered.
Doctor Ai’s figure suddenly stopped.
Many of the people who had followed the carriage Jing Liuli drove did not dare to believe their eyes.
Right now, Ding Ning’s figure had gotten close to Doctor Ai and the tea-colored flying sword was behind Ding Ning. With one blow, he had forced away Doctor Ai’s flying sword and sent him into retreat.
Most of the spectators had not closely perceived Ding Ning’s cultivation advancement, but just the fact that a realm four cultivator could gain the upper hand on a realm five swordsman who could use the flying sword in one attack was shocking.
Just after one attack, the people present did not have an optimistic outlook on Doctor Ai.
At this time, the atmosphere suddenly changed. Uncontrolled gasps sounded.
Doctor Ai stopped and he glanced at Ding Ning.
The sleeve of his left hand split at this time. He held a dark gold round disk in his left hand which looked like a shallow bowl families in Changling would use to hold their vegetable dishes. But as Doctor Ai’s vital energy flowed without any constraint into this dark cold round disk, golden sparks started to fly out of the round disk.
These sparks seemed to be tangible dust that surrounded Doctor Ai. The sparks formed a bell-shaped shield around his body.
“Chaos Metal Shield!” Someone shouted the name of this item in shock from the street.
This was a famed seal weapon which came from a famous workshop of the former Han Dynasty. It had appeared multiple times in the battles of the Qin and Han dynasties. When the Han Dynasty armies were completely defeated, and the dynasty gone from history, this seal weapon which was equivalent to a loyal sword attendant now appeared in the hands of a famed Changling doctor. Even more importantly, this was a seal weapon cultivators below realm seven could control, and its strength would correspond to the vital energy strength of the user.
Doctor Ai was realm five. So the power of the Chao Metal Shield was akin to a realm five cultivator protecting Doctor Ai.
Ding Ning only had realm four strength. How could he break a realm five’s defense?
Based on the common sense of the cultivation world, Doctor Ai was in an invincible state.
Even Jing Liuli started to doubt now. Had her judgement been erroneous because she had gone into a deep sleep just now and then immediately woken up.
Even now, Ding Ning did not give her time to think.
As the golden sparks fell down, he had raised his left hand straight.
There was a string of terrifying explosions.
The explosions were ear-piercing. Blue-black cold fiendish little swords collided with the golden shield. All of the fiendish swords, one after another, all hit the same spot!
The energy inside the shield shook violently. Doctor Ai grunted, and his face paled.
Blue-black flames exploded and overlapped, creating countless transparent ripples. The shield shook innumerable times but still did not break.
Before people could even gasp, another sword stabbed the shield.
Ding Ning had reached the exploding flames. His Last Flower remnant sword was covered in fine white flowers as it was stabbed forcefully at the shield.
Doctor Ai knew this was the moment of victory. His pupils contracted and his eyes flickered. The flying sword fell like a meteor towards Ding Ning’s back.
Ding Ning ignored that flying sword.
He just stabbed forward with all of his strength. With a boom, the part of the shield at his sword tip suddenly became empty.
The Chaos Metal Shield was defeated.
Volume 3 121 - Unfamiliar Battle
The sword essence spraying from the tip of the Last Flower remnant sword carried only all the fragmented star fiendish energy and the golden sparks to hit Doctor Ai’s chest.
With a muffled bang, Doctor Ai’s chest quickly caved in, and he hit the gates behind him like a large bird with broken wings.
With another boom, the gates shattered into countless pieces.
Doctor Ai slumped to sit on the ground. He vomited blood, and the wooden debris in front of him was stained red.
The flying sword pointing at Ding Ning’s back suddenly grew weak and flew by Ding Ning’s ear. After flying a dozen more feet, it finally had no more power and fell to the ground with a clink.
Ding Ning looked at the fallen flying sword and stopped advancing.
All the spectating cultivators were stunned speechless.
From the first advance and attack to the last attack to defeat Doctor Ai, Ding Ning had done it in one go, all at his own rhythm.
If he managed to complete the attack in one go when facing an opponent of his level, it would be stunning. But Ding Ning and Doctor Ai were a whole cultivation realm apart. He was still able to control the rhythm and produce such a fierce attack. This was not stunning, but terrifying.
Ding Ning nodded minutely to Doctor Ai who was unable to stand and was still spewing blood. He turned to walk towards his carriage.
Many people only came out of their daze at this moment, and thought of the things they had not had time to react to.
“How can there be such cultivation speed!”
Many people grew more amazed and terrified after thinking carefully. Their emotions caused some to shout and yell, and these were those with the higher cultivation in the crowd.
They had realized Ding Ning’s cultivation.
When the Min Mountain Sword Trials finished, Ding Ning had just reached realm four. There definitely was no mistake there because numerous cultivation teachers who attended the Min Mountain Sword Trials had seen it with their own eyes. Ding Ning would not be able to conceal his cultivation.
Ding Ning had been seriously injured during the Min Mountain Sword Trials, and went back to Ink Garden to recover. Yet when he came out of Ink Garden to meet Palace Attendant Rong and killed the horse with one blow, he had realm four second class cultivation. Now, just a few days later, Ding Ning’s cultivation had taken a large step forward!
What did this mean?
Even in the history books and stories, there was never such a fast cultivation. This was absurd, but it had happened right in front of them. They were finding it difficult to control themselves.
**
Looking at Ding Ning walking calmly back to the carriage, Jing Liuli bowed her head slightly and did not make a sound.
When she drove the carriage away from this area, and the gasps sounded behind her in waves, she still kept her head low, her voice reached the ears of Ding Ning.
“Doctor Ai is one of ours?”
“How do you know?” Ding Ning also bowed his head and answered tiredly as he leaned against the walls of the cabin.
“Too fast, too few words,” Jing Liuli said. “I kept on feeling that he agreed to fight you too easily.”
Ding Ning’s posture did not change as he said, “He has no ability to refuse. He cannot afford to offend the people of Guanzhong, and also, he cannot hide like Palace Attendant Rong has in the imperial palace. He knows very well if he does not agree, he will encounter many embarrassing things.”
“It is not that.” Jing Liuli frowned and thought for a moment. She did not know how to describe it in words and said, “The feeling is not right.”
Ding Ning looked up slightly at her back and said seriously, “You have advanced.”
After receiving an affirmative answer, Jing Liuli grew inexplicably silent.
She thought in silence for a while before speaking. “You ignored his flying sword and attacked his seal weapon because he is one of ours? Or would you have done the same even if he was not one of ours, and you have the confidence to defeat his seal weapon and avoid harm from his flying sword as well?”
Ding Ning knew what she was thinking about and responded seriously. “If he was not one of ours, I would do the same.”
Jing Liuli’s eyebrows rose, she could not help turning her head.
But Ding Ning had already spoken and continued: “I know what you are thinking…… From your point of view, his flying sword seems to be faster than me, so you cannot understand why I dared to do so, and why in the end I was faster.”
“Because he thought about one thing more than me. Even if he was a real opponent, he would think about one thing more than me.”
After a pause, Ding Ning looked at her and said: “He will first think about whether he can block my blow, or whether I have other tactics in addition to this. Even if he just subconsciously considers whether he can block my blow or not, he will be slower than me. When I advance, I will not leave a way out. You have to understand that even if some people can use two swords, at the same moment, he cannot focus on both things. If he thinks about defense, his attacking sword will be slow.”
In matters concerning cultivation, Jing Liuli was much smarter than most cultivators in the world.
She nodded quickly, expressing that she wanted to understand Ding Ning’s statement, and then said “Doctor Ai is seriously injured, but will not die…… So this is a plan to kill two birds with one stone? You fight him, you can let Palace Attendant Rong see your astounding advancement which will give her pressure and also have her trust Doctor Ai more. After today, Doctor Ai may become an important pawn against her.”
Ding Ning nodded and said with unusual sincerity, “You have indeed improved a lot.”
Jing Liuli turned around, bowed slightly, and sincerely expressed her gratitude. “Thanks to you.”
Hearing her words, Ding Ning said with a laugh at himself, “It sounds like I am hurting you.”
**
This battle happened quickly, ended quickly, and the results spread even faster.
In a corner of Ye Celeng”s little courtyard, a jasmine tree was quietly blooming. A blue messenger pigeon flew in.
This pigeon flew in frequently, and was familiar with Bai Shanshui. So when Bai Shanshui reached towards it, it did not dodge and allowed Bai Shanshui to take the letter from the tube on its foot.
Seeing the content reported in the letter, Bai Shanshui looked at Ye Celeng who was standing solemnly at the side. She smiled emotionally, “As expected of his heir. It is no accident a realm four defeated a realm five.”
Ye Celeng did not respond and took the paper from her hand to carefully read it. Then she turned her head and smiled, revealing two pretty dimples. “He should have comprehended the Heaven Replenishing Divine Art.”
Bai Shanshui raised an eyebrow.
Ye Celeng put away her smile and hung her head slightly. She said coolly, “In the past, he always wanted to cultivate the Heaven Replenishing Divine Art, but was never able to do so. If he had been able to obtain the Heaven Replenishing Divine Art early, maybe Changling would have not been like this now.”
“I only look at the future, not the past,” Bai Shanshui said with faint pride. “If he is forcing that palace attendant, I only hope he will be faster.”
Almost at the same time, the results of the battle between Ding Ning and Doctor Ai spread into the depths of the imperial palace and reached the ears of Palace Attendant Rong.
Her expression did not change. Not because of calm, but because of fear.
Terror was a very foreign emotion to her. She had even forgotten this feeling. This was not because she was arrogant. But because she knew her own position well.
She was loyal to the empress, so she could settle down. Yet now, this feeling spread uncontrollably through her body.
After dozens of breaths, her body started to tremble.
“How is it possible, how can his cultivation rise so quickly?” Her voice sounded.
Her voice was strange and ear-piercing.
She did not even know she had spoken, and felt like it was not her own voice.
“Already past realm four second class ……”
At the same time, the empress raised her head slightly. She did not look towards the yellow-robed middle-aged man standing respectfully with a bowed head, but at the pure light falling through the ceiling opening above.
Heaven Replenishing Divine Art, she slowly thought mentally.
Volume 3 122 - The Beginning of the Show
The carriage could not move fast on the stone roads of Changling, the news travelled much faster than the carriage.
The people along the way who learned of the news, especially the cultivators, showed shock and even a hint of reverence and fanaticism when they saw the carriage appear in their sight.
On the second floor of a pawn shop, a fat middle-aged balding man looked with a complicated gaze at Jing Liuli who was driving and the cabin behind her. He could not help but shake his head.
He was Mo Qinggong.
He was one of the most experienced “evil hounds” of the Divinity Bureau, and also the first to be in contact with Ding Ning among all the Changling officials. He was the first official to admire Ding Ning greatly.
“Official, you have good eyes…… Now, everyone knows that this youth is extraordinary. Who does not know that you saw this youth last year in the rain and felt he was extraordinary.”
A Divinity Bureau official next to him had his eyes locked onto the carriage and did not see Mo Qinggong shake his head as he said in admiration.
“Pity that my opinion of this youth has changed.” Mo Qinggong turned to look at the other and responded coldly.
The Divinity Bureau official was shocked and did not know why Mo Qinggong said such words.
“This youth does not know what mistake he has committed.”
Mo Qinggong looked away from him and stared at the carriage Jing Liuli was driving with narrowed eyes. He said emotionlessly, “See how these people look at him. Other than that person in the past, when has Changling people ever looked so reverently and fanatically at anyone else?”
“In all these years, Changling has only ever looked at one person like this. Even the Holy One has not received such gazes. Even after the Deer Mountain Conference was finished.” Mo Qinggong paused, ignored the reaction of the official next to him, and said slowly, “Back then, the Holy One hid himself. As a result, this kind of look was never directed at him. The Holy One now…… even after the Deer Mountain Conference, the people of Changling still do not have such looks. Not because the Holy One is not strong enough, but for most people, a realm eight winning against realm seven, strong defeating weak, is something inevitable. For most people in Changling, they do not admire what is normal and inevitable, but people who constantly create miracles.”
After saying all this, Mo Qinggong was silent for a long moment. Then he concluded, “The Holy one will not hope for people like him to appear. The Holy One is the master of Changling and the world so this youth’s conduct is not desirable.”
“There was a realm six cultivator in the pawnshop on the second floor just now. There is also a realm five cultivator in the teashop at the entrance to the alley. Just now, the person riding past us is a realm five cultivator.”
Ding Ning appeared to be asleep in the carriage, but after passing the shop where Mo Qinggong was, he suddenly spoke to Jing Liuli without even opening his eyes.
Jing Liuli’s eyebrows rose. She did not know why Ding Ning suddenly said such things.
Ding Ning still kept his eyes closed, but his voice clearly reached her ears and caused her eyes to narrow. “A cultivator, when facing an enemy, needs to first guarantee their safety, and not how to defeat their opponent as fast as possible. Most powerful cultivators do not die in one-on-one battle, but in assassination and melee. So a cultivator has to pay attention to every person in the surroundings who poses a threat at every moment. Even if that person appears very weak to you. If there is any possibility they can kill you, you have to pay attention to them.”
Jing Liuli pondered this. While she did not understand why Ding Ning suddenly thought of and was speaking of these truths, she felt that what Ding Ning said was useful, and something she should pay attention to. So she said nothing and nodded to indicate she had memorized this.
“We will rest for six hours, and you will continue making medicine for me after that.” Ding Ning continued. “In five days, we will find Daoist Qian.”
Jing Liuli suddenly lifted her head. She had some questions to ask, but at this time, there was already a carriage very close to her from the other direction.
She had seen the person driving the carriage. He was the slightly older Guanzhong man among the two carriage drivers who had previously delivered medicine from the Xie Family.
“Something happened.”
Without any extra words, this middle-aged Guanzhong man bowed deeply to Ding Ning as she pulled the reins. He said softly, “One of our caravans was ambushed, and the second batch of medicines was all destroyed”
Jing Liuli’s gaze turned icy.
Ding Ning’s voice came calmly through the carriage. “The mistress of the palace must not hope for me to succeed. Tell Xie Changsheng to temporarily not purchase any medicines for me. Otherwise, they cannot reach my hands, and the losses will increase.”
Hearing this calm voice, the respect in the Guanzhong person’s eyes grew. He said nothing else, bowed solemnly and then drove the carriage away.
“You think it’s the empress?” Jing Liuli loosened the reins for the horse to continue moving and asked.
“Other than her, no one else dares to offend the wealthy families of Guanzhong.” Ding Ning took a deep breath, opened his eyes, and said with slight disdain, “I knew she would interfere, but I had not expected her to use such simple and crude tactics.”
Jing Liuli thought for a moment with a frown. She turned around slightly and asked Ding Ning, “Who is this Daoist Qian you speak of?”
“Palace Attendant Rong’s teacher, the one who led her into cultivation,” Ding Ning said, “the present master of Boxwood Temple.”
As though he knew what questions Jing Liuli had on her mind, Ding Ning said after a pause before Jing Liuli could ask, “In terms of increasing pressure on people, three to five days is a good interval. Originally, as per my predictions, the second batch of medicines the Xie Family delivered to me in these five days will be enough for me to advance greatly and get close to realm four first class.”
Jing Liuli thought for a breath and asked, “Do you just want people to see your great cultivation advancement, or do you need such cultivation in order to defeat Daoist Qian?”
Ding Ning looked at her and nodded. “Daoist Qian is more difficult to deal with.”
Jing Liuli thought for a moment. “Since the empress has expressed such an attitude, then the Xie Family will not be able to deliver any more medicines to Ink Garden.”
Ding Ning did not speak and nodded again.
A hint of coldness appeared in Jing Liuli’s eyes, and cold fire seemed to burn. Yet an indescribable expression appeared on Ding Ning’s face right now.
He had waited too long in Falling Parasol before this. Adding on that many things had happened many years ago and were very distant, they had even faded naturally from his memories. But accompanying the things he did recently, and when the surrounding passerby looked at him with reverence and fanaticism, he started to remember some things.
Zhangsun Qianxue disliked Empress Zheng Xiu among all the people in Changling. She did not want him to even mention the latter and he himself deliberately had avoided some memories concerning Zheng Xiu. But at this time, some memories had awakened. Adding on the report the Xie Family had of what Zheng Xiu had done, he thought of something regarding Zheng Xiu which had disappeared from his memory.
Volume 3 123 - Your Junior Sect Brother Is Very Strong
“Turn right at the alley ahead.” Ding Ning’s expression slowly calmed down as he said to Jing Liuli.
This was just a soft direction, yet Jing Liuli heard something unusual.
The icy anger in her eyes quickly faded. She nodded obediently like a true attendant and started to drive peacefully.
“Go ahead…… and then turn left……”
Jing Liuli did not know where Ding Ning was going next, but she was certain he was not going back to Ink Garden.
Soon, those concerned with the movements of this carriage found that it was not returning to Ink Garden.
Today, Ding Ning had stunned all of Changling by defeating a realm five as a realm four. What was he going to do next?
Because it had been so long, even though he recalled some memories, those memories were still fuzzy. So his directions were given slowly and Jing Liuli drove the carriage slowly.
Ding Ning was extremely familiar with the present streets of Changling. He could accurately judge how long the armies stationed around Changling would take to reach a spot after one of the turrets sent a message.
But today’s Changling was not the old Changling.
He paid attention to the present but rarely thought of what these streets were like many years ago and what each courtyard was used for.
Many courtyards had changed completely. Some farm lands had become busy markets, wine shops, dye shops and dye shops brothels……
“This seems to have become a private property.” As his thoughts spread along these changed streets and courtyards, his memories slowly overlapped with the present Changling and he could not help but say.
“What?” Jing Liuli heard his voice and could not help but turn to ask.
Ding Ning looked up ahead and did not answer. “We are almost there.”
Following Ding Ning’s gaze, Jing Liuli saw a patch of grey eaves.
These grey eaves were not as dignified as most other grey eaves in Changling. The edges of the roof curved upwards like a pair of birds in flight.
Her brow immediately furrowed. She knew that this kind of roofing style was from the Jiaodong Commandery.
As the carriage advanced, everyone paying attention could see that the courtyard was Ding Ning’s destination.
But even the master of the courtyard was confused by Ding Ning’s arrival.
Facing Jing Liuli, who was likely to be the next master of Min Mountain Sword Sect, and a genius like Ding Ning, no owner could be unaffected. No one would dare to use a proud and negligent attitude unless he did not know Jing Liuli and Ding Ning’s identities at all.
When Jing Liuli brought the carriage to a stop at the gates of this courtyard, its owner slowly walked out.
This owner was a middle-aged man with a short beard who wore a black silk robe.
Jing Liuli did not know the identity of the middle-aged man but even she could see he had an unpleasant expression. It could be said he did not welcome her and Ding Ning’s arrival.
Ding Ning’s brow furrowed slightly. He knew the identity of the middle-aged man but did not think that they had ever had a conflict between them. So he did not understand why the other would have such an expression.
He got off the carriage and bowed slightly to the middle-aged man, saying, “Junior Ding Ning greets Palace General Liu.”
Palace Commander was an official position. This man’s surname was Liu, and he was one of the commanders guarding the gates of the imperial palace.
Ding Ning had performed the bow of a junior. A palace gate commander was not much higher than him and Jing Liuli so his attitude towards this middle-aged man was very respectful. Yet this middle-aged man had a sneer on his face.
He nodded minutely and said indifferently, “I did not know the skilled disciples of Min Mountain Sword Sect would suddenly visit. What is the matter?”
“In Falling Parasol’s wine shop, I heard many years ago that Golden Osmanthus Distillery was the most famous in Changling. Now, the Golden Osmanthus Distillery is gone, but the osmanthus woods have remained.”
Ding Ning looked at the unfriendly Palace Commander Liu and said calmly, “I request to enter the woods…… and move an osmanthus tree to Ink Garden.”
“What do you mean?” Hearing his words, Palace Commander Liu stilled slightly and then asked with a frown.
Ding Ning looked at him and said, “Previously, when making wine, I always wanted to make some sweet osmanthus wine. I thought, since I left Ink Garden today and there is empty space there, I could come to the best osmanthus trees and ask for a tree to take back. If Palace Commander Liu is willing, I will do my best to repay you.”
Palace Commander Liu was shocked. Due to his great shock, the coldness on his face was reduced greatly.
Jing Liuli could not help but turn to look at Ding Ning. Even she felt Ding Ning’s words were absurd and unbelievable.
Ding Ning was not in a hurry and looked calmly at Palace Commander Liu, waiting for his answer.
It did not matter what kind of reason was given. The most important thing was that he had shown his attitude. He knew that Palace Commander Liu would know the weight of his promise to repay. Him stating these words right now were not much different from the Guanzhong Xie Family saying such a thing. Also, there was Min Mountain Sword Sect behind him.
“Apologies, I refuse.” Palace Commander Liu took a deep breath. His shocked expression faded, and his gaze turned cold again. He shook his head.
Ding Ning looked at him and said, “Even if you refuse, there must be a reason.”
“Reason?” Knowing that Ding Ning’s words also held weight, Palace Commander Liu sneered, and the scorn grew stronger. “The reason is actually very simple.”
This palace commander lowered his voice and slowly forced out in an icy tone between unmoving lips. “Not because I want to curry favour with that Palace Attendant Rong…… I actually dislike her, a fox borrowing a tiger’s might. But pity, I am an old subordinate of General Liang. You should know what you and Wang Taixu mean to General Liang.”
Ding Ning’s gaze turned cold. He was a little surprised.
General Liang had been in his plans, but later on. He had not expected them to appear here.
“It seems that he is not as useless as many people think.”
Ding Ning looked at this palace commander and a faint sneer appeared on his lips. “Have you really considered the consequences of such a decision?”
“Do not threaten me. Repaying a favor is a normal thing.” Palace Commander Liang narrowed his eyes and raised his head to avoid looking at Ding Ning. He said coldly, “Even a great general like General Liang has suffered so. It’s already good for people like me to be a palace commander in Changling. I do not hope that I can advance again. Us soldiers are simple in our conduct, and I also know what tactics you are most skilled in these days.”
After a pause, this palace commander looked at Ding Ning and said scornfully, “If you dare to challenge me, if you can win against me, not one osmanthus, you can even move the entire garden out of my property. How about that?”
This palace commander’s voice was not quiet. Many people heard his words and they could not help but shake their heads.
“I know, with my cultivation, saying such a thing is shameless.” This palace commander looked at Ding Ning and then said scornfully, “But during the Min Mountain Sword Trials, you were also very shameless, including what you do now to force that palace attendant.”
Jing Liuli raised her eyebrows. She turned to look at Ding Ning. She did not know what solution Ding Ning had to a realm six second class palace commander who said such things.
Ding Ning was silent. There would be solutions, but right now, he could not think of a way to enter the osmanthus woods.
Yet at this time, a quiet voice sounded in the alley behind him and Jing Liuli.
“Agree.”
This voice was simple.
Everyone looked and saw a long-haired youth in purple robes slowly walk over.
“Otherwise, I will challenge you.”
This youth had delicate features and long hair that fell freely down his back. He looked seriously at the paling Palace Commander Liu and said, “Then maybe we will die together.”
When the surrounding people saw this youth’s features, many people felt shocked and incredulous.
The Qin had thirteen marquises. This youth was a subject of one of the thirteen marquises. This marquis usually was not in Changling, and should be the one that had no connection to Ding Ning at all.
After many breaths, some people inhaled sharply.
They started to realize what had happened.
Volume 3 124 - Women Heroes
The Qin Dynasty had destroyed the Han, Zhao and Wei dynasties, and created thirteen marquises.
These thirteen marquises and their subordinates each guarded a region, like thirteen strong foundation stones supporting the unprecedentedly strong empire. These thirteen marquises had extraordinary status beyond court officials in the Qin Dynasty. Their status came from killing numerous enemy experts, their military accomplishments and the great power they possessed.
From a certain perspective, they had been the ones to conquer most of the lands the Qin Dynasty possesed now, so they naturally had extraordinary status.
For Changling, they were important people who could truly speak, and express their attitudes and opinions on certain matters.
This youth belonged to the command of one of the marquises. His appearance here naturally represented that marquis’ attitude. If he belonged to the Dugu Marquessate Establishment, maybe it would be because of Dugu Bai, but he belonged to the marquessate establishment that was most unlikely to have had a connection to Ding Ning.
Fang Xiumu had left before the Deer Mountain Conference. Fang Xiang’s meridians had been destroyed during the Deer Mountain Conference. The Fang Marquessate Establishment only existed in name now. The people present started to realize that this youth represented the attitude of all the marquessate establishments.
In the past many years, Empress Zheng had strictly controlled Changling but been extremely just, and never crossed an invisible line.
Now, all the marquises hoped that the empress could follow her previous doctrines. Even more importantly, they did not want to see the weapons hidden away after the birds were killed.
These marquises had not expressed any opinions in how Zheng Xiu treated White Goat Cave, yet after Xue Wangxu died right before the Min Mountain Sword Trials, these marquises started to express their opinions on the matter of Ding Ning and Palace Attendant Rong.
Palace Commander Liu was not a new cultivator, so he knew better than most spectators the meaning contained in this youth coming to stand on Ding Ning’s side. He could afford the risk of offending one marquessate establishment, but he definitely could not afford to offend all of them. Some of the marquises were extremely violent and cruel in their tactics.
His expression changed constantly and he did not speak.
The long-haired youth turned to Ding Ning and said softly, “He needs an excuse.”
Ding Ning bowed slightly in thanks and then turned to Palace Commander Liu. He bowed solemnly. “Please allow this.”
Palace Commander Liu was silent for a moment. He did not say anything and walked back to his own courtyard.
Everyone looked on silently as Jing Liuli and Ding Ning entered his courtyard. They did not understand what Ding Ning was going to do.
Jing Liuli did not understand what Ding Ning was going to do. In her opinion, if there was no young man who represented the attitude of all the marquessate establishments, Ding Ning would have suffered a great loss of spirit. She could not help but ask softly when she saw Ding Ning head directly towards the osmanthus in the backyard, “Do you really want to dig an osmanthus tree back?”
Ding Ning did not look back and said softly, “You will need to expend some effort when you dig up that osmanthus tree, and some of the soil as well.”
Jing Liuli slowly frowned. But she did not continue talking and followed Ding Ning with her head bowed like a true attendant.
Yet Ding Ning unexpectedly did not maintain his silence and asked again after a slight pause, “What did you learn after today’s events?”
Jing Liuli stilled and said, “What?”
“In all matters, one has to have reason.” Ding Ning said slowly without looking back, “Sometimes, people cannot be unreasonable just because they have the stronger sword. Most people will worry that this unreasonableness will land on them.”
The osmanthus woods in Palace Commander Liu’s residence were very large, and most of the trees were very old. Maybe because these trees were so old and rare, Palace Commander Liu had not changed the layout of the woods greatly. Even the small pond in the woods had not been changed.
But compared to many years ago, the trees had grown bigger. The lotus flowers were in bloom in the pond.
Ding Ning sat down on a stone next to the pond. He looked silently at the pond for a long time before standing up and kicking at the edge of the stone. He said softly to Jing Liuli who was waiting, “Cut up to here, six feet deep, do not damage what is inside, and raise the roots as well.”
Jing Liuli pondered Ding Ning’s words and then her gaze landed on the nearest osmanthus tree to the stone.
This osmanthus tree was very short but thick. It appeared this tree would have full blooms this fall.
“It is all right to damage the branches?” she looked seriously at Ding Ning and asked after a long moment.
Ding Ning glanced at her and said, “No problem.”
Jing Liuli’s gaze landed on the Last Flower remnant sword at Ding Ning’s waist. She said, “You did not tell me to carry a sword.”
“You do not need my sword.” Ding Ning’s gaze fell on the short osmanthus tree and said, “You can use it as a sword.”
Jing Liuli suddenly understood.
She was silent for many breaths and then she bowed gravely to Ding Ning. She turned around to face the osmanthus tree and then gripped a thin branch in front of her. Like pulling a sword, she pulled this thin branch upwards.
Several strange sounds came from underneath the soil like there were sharp tools cutting.
However, she frowned deeply. She sensed that she still could not control this kind of sword essence.
So she immediately made a change. She broke off this thin branch. It seemed to turn into a narrow sword in her hand. She swung it downwards, and vital energy gushed out from her body.
The thin branch only swung for a moment before turning to dust, unable to tolerate such terrifying power. Yet in this moment, the thin branch drew out an arc.
With a hiss, a sword light drew a perfect circle around the osmanthus tree and fell to the ground.
Jing Liuli took a step forward, and gripped a thin branch. She pulled upwards again.
The entire osmanthus tree was pulled out of the ground with the surrounding soil like a sword out of a scabbard.
Crack!
Jing Liuli snapped this thin branch again. Her right wrist moved slightly and she flicked up.
This thin branch easily cut through the roots at the bottom of the soil, and then the entire tree with a ball of soil was picked up.
The finger-thin branch supported the entire tree and the heavy soil without even bending. However, Jing Liuli’s feet were sunk slightly into the earth and her sleeves were flapping. Her expression was not at ease.
“Free in your mind, do as you please. Your sword essence can be at ease with any sword. If you are too confident in your sword, you will naturally have thoughts of relying on the sword to win against your enemy. But this kind of thinking may not suit your sword essence,” Ding Ning looked at Jing Liuli and said clearly and slowly before starting to walk out.
Jing Liuli was in discomfort. Her body appeared stiff as she maintained her powerful vital energy output. But when she heard Ding Ning’s words, her breathing paused slightly and she bowed slightly to Ding Ning before she started walking. She asked, “Just put it into the cabin?”
“Right into the cabin. I can sit outside.”
Ding Ning did not look back and said, “Do not damage the soil.”
Do not damage the soil. This was a strange saying, yet Jing Liuli seemed able to completely understand his meaning.
The people waiting outside Palace Commander Liu’s residence looked in shock when they saw Jing Liuli carry an entire osmanthus tree by a branch.
Boom!
They had not yet adjusted to such a scene when Jing Liuli walked in front of the carriage and the thin branch landed.
This thin branch easily shattered the cabin and then lightly supported the falling osmanthus tree. The ball of soil was still a ball of soil. It was lightly placed at the bottom of the cabin. Not even a piece of soil dropped.
“The most important part of using a sword is the result. Not all direct sword attacks represent being at ease. If each sword is at ease, then the result will be at ease.”
Ding Ning looked in satisfaction at Jing Liuli and sat down.
He sat in front of the tree. Because no soil had fallen off, his seat was still very clean.
Translator Ramblings: Sweet Osmanthus flowers look like this
Volume 3 125 - Two Swords
The carriage returned to Ink Garden.
While Jing Liuli had not rested in several days, she was situated in a wondrous state on the way. She seemed to have forgotten her tiredness. There was a faint glow of light emanating from like how a powerful sword gradually grew gentle after first showing its edges.
She and Ding Ning were influential people in Changling right now. Countless powerful cultivators would look at her and Ding Ning along the way. Those who could detect the minute change in her presence were shocked.
They did not understand what had happened in Palace Commander Liu’s osmanthus woods which could affect such a change in Jing Liuli.
They saw the osmanthus tree placed in the carriage, and the large ball of evenly cut soil at the bottom of the tree. Many people did not understand how Jing Liuli managed to do this. Yet they were certain the changes in Jing Liuli’s presence since she entered Changling up until now, and her present state of comprehension, were all because of Ding Ning.
“Sometimes, one has to accept.”
A youth stood in an alley and looked at the carriage returning to Ink Garden. His expression grew more respectful, and in the end, he bowed seriously towards the carriage.
This youth was also in the Book of Talents but not near the top. He had been eliminated before the final test of the Min Mountain Sword Trials. Jing Liuli and Ding Ning did not notice his existence but he bowed so seriously towards Ding Ning and Jing Liuli out of pure admiration and respect.
Youths of his age admired heroes more.
While they had been competitors in the Min Mountain Sword Trials, after the trials finished, Ding Ning who fought for his sect and was now avenging Xue Wangxu was like a hero in his eyes.
His attitude also represented most youths in Changling at this time.
**
On the way, Jing Liuli did not make a sound. The glow around her finally faded when the carriage entered Ink Garden with the osmanthus tree. She turned around and looked at Ding Ning who was sitting calmly. “What is in the soil under the tree?”
Other people did not understand Ding Ning’s thoughts, and thought that entering the osmanthus woods and digging out a tree had to do with Jing Liuli’s cultivation. Yet through the previous details, Jing Liuli was certain there was something very important to Ding Ning in the soil under the tree concerning his cultivation breakthroughs.
Ding Ning glanced up at her and before he spoke, Jing Liuli could read his thoughts from his eyes. She said on his behalf, “I will know in the future, correct?”
Ding Ning could not help but smile, then nodded, and said, “I think what you need to consider most is not my matters.”
Jing Liuli also glanced at him, and said, “Do you want me to make medicine for you?”
“Let’s talk in three days.” Ding Ning shook his head.
Jing Liuli hummed softly, and said, looking at the osmanthus tree behind Ding Ning, “You will take care of it yourself?”
Ding Ning nodded and said, “I will handle it myself.”
Jing Liuli said nothing else. When the carriage stopped at the gates to the deepest courtyard of Ink Garden, she walked away from the carriage towards her own rooms without even looking back.
Ding Ning knew her personality well. He did not look at Jing Liuli who had not entered the room yet. He got off the carriage and looked quietly at the osmanthus tree.
Many of the tree’s roots had been damaged, and all the roots which had reached deep into the earth had been cut through. It was difficult for it to even survive now, much less bloom. But many years ago, this osmanthus tree had been the one with the fullest bloom in the entire wood.
Many years ago, a certain person had met a certain woman from Jiaodong Commandery in these osmanthus woods. That person had been stunned by the woman’s beauty and talent, and the woman fell in love with the man at first glance.
That person thought he and that woman could be together for a lifetime. Later, that person met many cherished friends, and frequently drank the osmanthus wine made from these osmanthus trees together at the wine shop .
They drank fine wine and fought the world.
Everything appeared so perfect.
One day, that person had a whim and stole the best jar of newly-made wine from the shop. He placed some spirit medicines that would make the wine taste even better, and then buried the jar of wine under the fullest osmanthus tree.
Wine would ferment over time.
That person wanted to wait until the wedding banquet of him and that woman before secretly taking out the jar of wine, and give a surprise to the wine shop owner and all of his good friends.
Yet before the wine could ferment, the people were no longer there. That woman from Jiaodong Commandery had become the mistress of Changling, the empress of the Qin Dynasty. That person and many of his close friends died in battle in Changling. The wine shop had disappeared as well.
Many much more important things could not be stood to be remembered, much less this fine wine that was insignificant and the result of whim. This was a jar of wedding wine that had been completely forgotten.
Perhaps, if nothing had changed back then, the jar of wine would not have been remembered. And yet, for revenge, the jar of wine appeared once again.
Ding Ning attacked. The tip of the Last Flower remnant sword turned into threads that gently went deep into the soil under the osmanthus tree.
These sword threads silently wrapped around a sleeping gray wine jar in the soil, and then dragged the wine jar directly out of the soil. The sword energy emanating from the sword threads removed all obstacles, and in the fine soil, grew countless white flowers.
The jar of wine was not small. It had to be enough for several dozen people to each have a bowl. It had been sealed well, no hint of fragrance escaped.
No matter the matter, that person pursued the extreme, but never could think of the future.
Snap!
Ding Ning broke the mud seal with his hand. There was only half a jar left of the golden wine.
Ding Ning looked up.
Many matters and faces that had disappeared from memory flashed quickly through his mind.
“For you all,” he said softly. He put his sword away, raised the jar with one hand and poured the wine into his mouth.
He gulped down the wine. The taste of the wine was wondrous.
When the best osmanthus wine of the best melded with the magical fragrance of those spirit medicines, the wine felt sweet, clear and burned like fire down his throat. This was like the heavenly brew.
But Ding Ning’s mouth felt more bitter than when he was drinking medicine.
These spirit medicines had been just for fragrance and mouthfeel. For that person and his friends, the effects on cultivation were almost minimal. But to him at present, this was so important.
Powerful flows of energy spread along with the feeling of intoxication into his body, and charged into his energy sea.
**
Almost everyone liked the fragrance of osmanthus.
In the deep of the imperial palace, the woman who came from Jiaodong Commandery in the past sat on the phoenix chair. She listened to the report of the middle-aged yellow-robed cultivator and her perfect head slowly raised. Her almost emotionlessly gaze swept through a window towards the garden outside.
There were many tall osmanthus trees there. But her gaze was still cold and, except for a hint of surprise, held no extra emotions.
She did not understand why Ding Ning and Jing Liuli went to the osmanthus woods to dig up a tree. It was too far away.
Because many things from the distant past were insignificant, she had long forgotten where they had met. Time had erased this from her memories.
She had forgotten the osmanthus woods long ago.
Volume 3 126 - Still Random
In the early morning, hoofbeats rang across the silent streets.
In Changling, a carriage passing through the streets was a normal thing. But this sound came from Ink Garden.
Many cultivators, who usually were extremely composed, all looked up abruptly towards the source of the sound. Soon, the carriage appeared in their sight.
The driver was still Jing Liuli.
Three days ago, she had dug an osmanthus tree from Palace Commander Liu’s osmanthus wood and transported it back to Ink Garden. Now, this carriage did not have a cabin. Ding Ning sat on it like it was a wagon without any cover.
Yet no one found it funny, just felt shock and unease.
Each previous time this carriage came out of Ink Garden, something astounding would shock Changling.
**
There was a Daoist temple in the north of Changling, with many boxwoods planted in front of it.
People rarely came to this temple, but as the carriage from Ink Garden came closer, this temple suddenly entered many people’s sight.
When she came to a stop at the temple gates,Jing Liuli frowned immediately.
The painted black wooden doors of the temple were half-open but no one came out to greet them.
Jing Liuli did not frown because of herself but because she knew the Daoist in the temple should know her identity. In a certain way, she represented Min Mountain Sword Sect.
Many carriages and passersby followed the carriage. The surrounding gradually grew lively but the inside of the temple was completely silent.
Ding Ning sat in the carriage without getting off.
Everyone’s gaze fell on him. They speculated on his aims for coming here, and what he would do next.
Jing Liuli was still frowning as she turned back to look at Ding Ning sitting on the carriage.
She thought that she would speak in this situation, but if the person in the temple pretended to be dead and ignored her after she spoke, she would not know what to do. Not knowing what to do was an embarrassing matter to her.
When she turned to the man, Ding Ning was looking skywards.
He was looking at the tall boxwood trees overhead. He reached to his side and picked up a wine bag.
The wine bag contained actual wine. When Ding Ning let his head fall back to drink, Jing Liuli smelled the thick alcoholic fragrance. She felt this scent was comfortable and had a desire to drink the wine as well. Ding Ning spoke, “These boxwoods should have been here when the temple was built?”
His voice carried an invisible magic that caused Jing Liuli to unconsciously follow his gaze.
The morning sunlight sneaked in through the cracks in the foliage, she narrowed her eyes slightly.
This was an old and tall boxwood tree. Old things always have a unique beauty.
Yet she narrowed her eyes because she sensed Ding Ning’s murderousness.
“Cut down this tree,”
Ding Ning put down the wine pouch, licked his lips and laughed, giving a rare glimpse of his white teeth. He said softly, “If no one comes out, then cut down all these boxwoods.”
Jing Liuli’s eyes lit up slightly. She had learned how to deal with a situation like this in the future.
She nodded and got out of the carriage.
She gave off a strange faint glow. She reached out with her right hand as though to touch the boxwood, but the moment the light around her palm touched the tree, the trunk also had a faint halo of light.
In the next moment, this boxwood fell down like a drunken man towards the neighbouring boxwood. The branches and leaves rustled and made intimidating but not loud sounds.
Jing Liuli looked at the fallen boxwood and felt it was a pity. But inexplicably, smelling the scent of wine, she felt very pleased.
Without any pause, she walked straight towards the next boxwood under everyone’s shocked gazes.
“How have these trees offended you?” A long sigh came from the temple at this moment.
Jing Liuli’s eyebrows rose slightly. She paused in her footsteps but then Ding Ning’s voice reached her ears- “Cut it.”
Jing Liuli’s gaze flashed. She swung her hand without hesitation. The boxwood in front of her fell down with a crash.
After two boxwoods suddenly fell down in front of the temple, the space suddenly grew empty. The temple gate was pushed open from inside with a bang. An old Daoist stood there with a pale face.
“My ancestral master personally planted these boxwoods over three centuries ago.” The pale old Daoist’s beard trembled slightly. He looked at Jing Liuli and Ding Ning. “I do not know what your intentions are!”
Ding Ning looked calmly at him and his gaze fell towards the other’s waist. He shook his head and said coolly, “You carry a sword…… you should know very well what my intentions are.”
Jing Liuli immediately frowned. She saw that the pale white Daoist’s sleeve was wide and covered the scabbard at his waist until only a small section was exposed. This was a white jade scabbard, extremely thin and narrow. One could imagine the sword would be small as well.
This pale old Daoist was naturally Daoist Qian.
Hearing Ding Ning’s calm words, his gaze fell to the two fallen boxwoods. Seeing the fallen leaves strewn over the ground, his body started to tremble minutely. “You have stepped over the line. Do not use such poor tactics.”
Ding Ning smiled with slightly scorn and said, “If you really wanted to hide, you could have closed the temple and hid further away. Keeping the door open and waiting, coming out with your full sword essence…… this is all because you have long had thoughts of killing me for her. You are already so old, and should have seen through many things. Two boxwoods would not have caused you pain to this degree. You want people to feel that I have stepped over the line and you were forced to act…… Such poor tactics are so boring.”
Jing Liuli listened silently. Thinking of the details mentioned in Ding Ning’s words, her expression grew more disdainful. When Ding Ning finished, she snorted in scorn. “Shameless old thing.”
Daoist Qian’s face had been slightly stiff to start with. When he heard Jing Liuli’s snort, his expression grew ugly. In a breath, his body stopped trembling. A small cold yet cruel smile appeared at the corners of his mouth.
“You really……” he looked at Ding Ning and said softly, “want to force me to kill you?”
Ding Ning looked at his cruel smile and smiled as well. He did not answer directly and whispered. “You should have a senior sect brother. This temple originally belonged to him…… but now it belongs to you, just because that palace attendant is your student. So just this is enough reason for me to kill you.”
Daoist Qian took a deep breath. He looked up at Ding Ning and said, “I accept your challenge.”
His words were spoken loudly so that everyone within miles could hear him.
Jing Liuli turned around and asked Ding Ning softly as she walked past him, “You are really going to kill him?”
Ding Ning glanced at her and said, “There is a reason for his death. If he wants to kill me, then I will kill him.”
Daoist Qian did not hear their conversation but he could sense Ding Ning’s confidence.
“Truthfully, even without her as the reason, I would try to see if I can kill you just due to your present attitude.” He put away his cruel smile and said seriously to Ding Ning, “I have lived in Changling for so long, and never seen a cultivator like you with such cultivation who thinks that you can kill a cultivator like me. Just my curiosity is enough for me to try.”
“In other words, it is my student who limited my thoughts. She makes me hesitate. What kind of effect on her will occur if I lost to you and died at your hands?” Daoist Qian paused and then said, “As a Changling swordsman, this temptation is hard to resist…… Even if I die at your hands, this battle will be recorded in the history books.”
“Then I will make sure you are recorded in the history books.” Ding Ning smiled and said, “Your cultivation is much stronger than mine, so I will not be humble, I will attack first…… please!”
As he said the word “please,” Ding Ning already attacked. He gripped the hilt of the Last Flower remnant sword and stabbed forward.
Daoist Qian was not surprised. His flying sword was based on speed and he had originally predicted Ding Ning would attack first. Even if the other did attack first, he did not think that Ding Ning could get the advantage.
The moment Ding Ning just gripped the hilt of the Last Flower remnant sword, a hum had sounded from his waist. The small sword hidden in the white jade scabbard had flown out.
But at this time, to his disbelief, he felt a sword essence appear by his side, one completely different from Ding Ning’s sword essence.
Volume 3 127 - My Senior Sect Brother
The sword essence did not feel strong to him, but was exceptionally dangerous. In this brief moment, he learned why the sword essence felt so dangerous- It originated from Jing Liuli.
Jing Liuli was Baili Suxue’s direct disciple, and cultivated the highest and most mysterious sword of Min Mountain Sword Sect. Her sword essence was not something ordinary Changling swordsmen could compare to.
But in a duel of one-on-one like this in the public eye, could someone cheat and fight two-against-one?
Daoist Qian could not understand. He could not help but glance towards where the sword essence had headed, or rather, tried to sense it.
Yet there was nothing there.
There was just a tree stump. A boxwood stump that had just been cut, and was still seeping sap.
The sword essence came from the smooth cut surface. It was just a faint sword essence, and had no real energy.
“Borrowing sword essence! Screened Sky Secret Sword! Daoist Qian immediately realized why and exclaimed. As he gasped, he discovered he was already too late.
Zzt zzt zzt zzt……
The sound of air breaking obscured his exclamation.
Ding Ning had lifted the Last Flower remnant sword, but what truly posed a threat to Daoist Qian was the star fiendish sword energy accumulated in his body.
The terrifying thing about Daoist Qian was that his flying sword was faster than most other swordsmen in Changling. If he wanted to win against the monk, he had to pursue extreme speed.
When Daoist Qian’s perception was attracted by that sword essence, his right foot stepped heavily on the stone street, the slabs exploding apart. Taking advantage of the backlash, Ding Ning’s body shot out like an arrow. At the same time, all the accumulated fiendish sword energy in his body surged out in this moment like two long black swords that immediately reached Daoist Qian’s chest.
Since he was pursuing extreme speed, he had already thought of what to do at each moment. The cold fiendish sword energies charged out from the meridians of his arms. Even as his arm muscles were twitching and trembling, Ding Ning’s right hand was still able to perform a strong and straight thrust.
It was the same tactic as he had used for Doctor Ai. Yet Daoist Qian knew that compared to when Ding Ning had been fighting Doctor Ai, there was a crucial secret sword preceding this. He was much faster than Doctor Ai, but because of that thin sword essence which could create no tangible damage, he reacted much slower than Doctor Ai.
Even more importantly, he did not have a defensive method like Doctor Ai. Like all swordsmen skilled in flying swords, close combat was his weakness.
As he gasped, his expression changed. The thin flying sword that had flown a foot accurately swung between the two black sword lights and crushed the small fiend swords. At the same time, his flying sword still pointed forward towards Ding Ning’s right arm.
While he had been limited by talent and his cultivation had not advanced after his forties, he had spent great effort on his flying sword. Even though he was astounded by Ding Ning’s initial attack, he still had confidence he could defeat Ding Ning’s sword before it touched his body and kill Ding Ning.
Ding Ning’s eyes lit up. He swung his left hand, and slapped his flying sword without hesitation. The tip of the sword pierced his palm like it was tofu. Blood sprayed in a fine mist at the back of Ding Ning’s hand, and the sleeve of his left hand was soaked.
The blade sounded like it was scraping bone. All the cultivators in the surroundings who saw this scene paled immediately. Daoist Qian’s eyes narrowed slightly. Everything was within his expectations. In the next moment, the flying sword would penetrate through Ding Ning’s palm and cut towards Ding Ning’s sword-wielding right hand.
But in the next moment, he roared like a wild beast. His sword was not able to completely penetrate Ding Ning’s palm. Ding Ning’s Last Flower remnant sword stabbed hard into his chest, the spreading sword threads immediately blending the organs in his chest!
Shocked exclamations and screams sounded. The surrounding people had seen many battles before but none so bloody and cruel.
Screaming Daoist Qian slapped towards Ding Ning’s face with his two hands, his vital energy completely scattered. Some wildly moving vital energy flashed like lightning on his palms.
Ding Ning expressionlessly relaxed his right hand, and bent down to burrow into Daoist Qian’s arms. His left hand, that still had Daoist Qian’s flying sword stuck in it, backhanded towards Daoist Qian’s abdomen.
Pew!
Pew!
Pew!
**
Each muffled sound of flesh being pierced caused the hearts of every watching person to contract violently.
In a breath, Ding Ning patted Daoist Qian’s energy sea multiple times. The sword tip piercing Daoist Qian’s energy sea completely scattered his vital energy.
Daoist Qian’s body could not stand up. Under the recoil of vital energy coming out of his energy sea, his body stumbled and was going to fall backwards.
Ding Ning straighted. His eyes narrowed among the splash of blood as his left palm slapped towards Daoist Qian’s throat without hesitation.
Everyone heard a bursting sound.
Daoist Qian’s mad screaming suddenly stopped. There was only the sound of blood spitting and air leaking through.
His throat did not just have a hole. His entire neck had caved in.
Even now, Ding Ning’s movements did not seem to stop. His right hand moved towards his right. With a soft sound, he pulled out the flying sword stuck in his palm and threw it like a dagger towards the retreating Daoist Qian’s chest
While everyone knew that Daoist Qian could not survive based on the terrifying injuries he had received, when the flying sword accurately pierced his heart, every spectating heart uncontrollably trembled.
Ding Ning did not advance. He stopped, and when he raised his right hand again, there was a piece of gauze on his hand. Then he used the same astounding speed to bandage his wound and stop the bleeding.
In the many times the carriage left the Ink Garden previously, he had never been injured. But this time, even injured, the scene in the cruel summer heat was even more chilling than the last few times.
It was deathly silent. There was only the sound of blood bubbling and the strange hiss coming from Daoist Qian’s destroyed throat.
Daoist Qian gripped his throat in terror. He tried to open his mouth.
At this time, he did not just want to scream, he wanted to pass on a certain message.
He knew the truth. He knew why he was going to die!
In the eyes of those present, Ding Ning had done a cruel thing to him, and used the bones in his palm to trap his flying sword for a moment. Only he knew, in that moment, countless strange forces had destroyed the vital energies he put on the flying sword.
Those seemed to be…… countless little silkworms!
Then Ding Ning looked up. His calm yet deep gaze caused Daoist Qian to inexplicably still. He took a step forward to reach the monk.
“You should know the truth now. It is not unjust for you to die at my hands.”
“I do not just know your cultivation and sword moves, I even know your unconscious habits against enemies. You should know now that I am not just getting revenge for Old Man Xue.”
Hearing Ding Ning’s voice coming from his almost unmoving lips, Daoist Qian’s mouth opened wider. He wanted to shout out loud. Then he found, after that one pause, he was unable to make a sound.
He simply looked in terror at Ding Ning, and then crashed to the ground behind him.
Gasps and screams sounded. Shock and terror finally started to spread.
This was a true battle to death, and the winner was still Ding Ning.
“Why do you know the secret sword of Fang Marquessate Establishment?”
Jing Liuli did not show too much shock in her eyes. Since Ding Ning had the confidence to find this Daoist, she was certain that Ding Ning could win. At this time, her gaze only held confusion.
“That originally was not Fang Marquessate Establishment’s secret sword, but Ba Mountain Sword Field’s.”
When Ding Ning turned around, she had instinctively felt that Ding Ning would answer her with his most common answer of “You will know in the future.” So she stilled at his soft response.
“We are going to the tea garden.”
She was astounded by Ding Ning’s next words.
“To the tea garden?” She unconsciously repeated.
Ding Ning glanced at her as he walked past and whispered. “Compared to losing an important teacher and friend within a day, it is harder to endure losing a lover as well, or see the lover endure a pain greater than death.”
Volume 3 128 - The Other Sword
Listening to Ding Ning’s words, Jing Liuli did not say anything. She glanced at Daoist Qian who was lying on the ground. Then as she turned around, she said softly to Ding Ning, “Your attitude towards him may be too cruel. You killed a person in front of so many people…… you know that most people in Changling do not like the empress because she is too cold.”
“In the end, the majority of Changling’s people will not like me.” Ding Ning sat in the carriage, looked at his injured left hand and said seriously, “I am already very tired so I can no longer care about their thoughts.”
Jing Liuli frowned slightly. She thought of Ding Ning’s cultivation these past few days, and his decisiveness when he had used his hand to block the sword. She bowed her head and started to drive the carriage without speaking.
**
Palace Attendant Rong was standing under the eaves. The summer sun reflected off the golden rooftops.
She knew that Ding Ning had gone to the Boxwood Temple. When the carriage had left Ink Garden, she knew that something would happen today.
Usually, she did not value Daoist Qian greatly, and had even forgotten him. Like many young people who had left their homes long ago, when they grew older, they would slowly forget their parents and relatives.
But a person could not truly have no emotions.
Before Daoist Qian accepted her as a disciple, she had been an orphan on the streets. There were only two outcomes, dying on the street or becoming a tragic child prostitute in a brothel.
Daoist Qian had not just taught her, but raised her. He had then gradually forgotten her, but when he saw Ding Ning, he still immediately thought of wanting to kill the man for her.
When Ding Ning truly found Daoist Qian, the past favours, the guilt and kind thoughts started to fill her body. She did not hope for anything to happen to Daoist Qian.
The cicadas in the courtyard stopped. Someone was coming.
A middle-aged yellow-robed cultivator appeared at the gates of this courtyard and bowed slightly to her. “Daoist Qian is dead.”
Palace Attendant Rong’s heart suddenly dropped to somewhere unknown, like it had dropped into an invisible abyss below her.
The middle-aged cultivator slowly straightened. His eyes were brighter than usual. But Palace Attendant Rong’s attention was not on him so she did not detect the abnormality.
The unusual light in the middle-aged cultivator’s eyes quickly faded. He bowed his head and said, “The carriage is not returning to Ink Garden and is heading towards a tea garden.”
Palace Attendant Rong had frozen when she heard of Daoist Qian’s death. Yet, when she heard the middle-aged cultivator’s words, she looked up in disbelief and exclaimed. “How can it be like this?”
In the eyes of many who knew Palace Attendant Rong, she was a mud puppet with little emotion and as cold as the empress. It was unimaginable for her to gasp like this.
The middle-aged cultivator hung his head lower and said, “Her Majesty forbids you to leave the palace.”
Palace Attendant Rong’s body and face froze again. Her face was bloodless like she was a snowman in the winter.
In the tea garden in the south suburbs.
When Jing Liuli drove the carriage towards this tea garden, a man with a bamboo hat and black silk robes was walking towards this tea garden from a small path.
There was nearly a dozen miles between him and the tea garden, a bamboo forest, a small stream. On the small stream was a wooden bridge covered with green vines which even grew down into the water.
There was no one in this man’s sight. But he suddenly sensed something and stopped.
The moment he stopped, the bamboo hat on his head split apart and fell to the ground like it had been cut by a sharp weapon.
Below the bamboo hat was a pampered face. His unusually clean and black hair was tied up with a white jade ring. His features were delicate and his face looked ageless. Even his brows looked like they had been trimmed. He appeared perfect and unusually refined.
“Really like this?” This man’s refined brows rose slightly. As he spoke, a pure black longsword floated in front of him
The blade was extremely strong, but as it slowly flew around him, it felt both nimble and soft. Sometimes, this sword was in front of him, and sometimes behind. But from any angle, this pure black sword and this man made it feel like there was no opening to attack.
“It does not have to be like this.” Shao Sharen’s voice sounded.
Before he spoke, there had not been a figure on the vine-covered wooden bridge. But when he spoke, his figure appeared on the bridge.
“If you stop here, and wait for the matters at the tea garden to finish, then it will not be like this,” Shao Sharen looked at this man and said expressionlessly.
“You are very good at killing people.” The black-robed man narrowed his eyes at Shao Sharen and shook his head. “But you may not be my match.”
Shao Sharen looked coldly at him and said, “I do not think of who is a match for me…… I only know to kill and to be killed.”
After a pause, Shao Sharen looked at the pieces of bamboo hat at the man’s feet. A faint disdainful and challenging smile appeared on the corners of his lips. “Xu Fenqin, if you really have confidence, your bamboo hat would not have broken.”
The black robed man smiled with a hint of pride. He said, “Maybe I did it on purpose?”
Shao Sharen’s gaze darkened. He looked at the black robed man’s moving sword and said, “You know I do not like joking so you can try.”
The black robed man’s smile disappeared. His eyebrows rose up but he did not speak as his black sword remained roaming around without moving forward.
“Actually, us being here does not have much meaning,” A long time later, the black robed man shook his head and said.
Shao Sharen glanced at him and said, “There really is not much meaning because that carriage will enter the tea garden in the end. Because she is the only person who hopes the carriage will not enter the garden, but many in Changling hope that carriage will enter the tea garden.”
**
The carriage was nearing the tea garden.
For Jing Liuli, this carriage had a smooth journey from Boxwood Temple to here without any obstacles.
Just like the last trip to the tea garden, Ding Ning got off the carriage outside the garden, and walked along the fields towards the bamboo hut.
The master of the tea garden, the quiet middle-aged man, Zhang Luyang, was carrying water. Seeing Ding Ning and Jing Liuli walk in, he put down his baggage and nodded in greeting to Ding Ning and Jing Liuli.
Ding Ning nodded in return and then said, “You lied. Daoist Qian is dead. I killed him.”
“Now I challenge you.”
Volume 3 129 - Army
Zhang Luyang’s body froze slightly. He struggled to lift his head, his face turned pale.
When Ding Ning said Daoist Qian died, his expression had been as calm as usual as though he had done something trivial.
This expression caused him to feel that he was similarly trivial to Ding Ning as well, and even his objections were weak.
He paused for a long time before he looked at Ding Ning and said, “When did you feel I was lying?”
Ding Ning looked at him and said, “From the start.”
People usually did not come to the tea garden. As Jing Liuli and Ding Ning arrived, there were large crowds, and even ordinary Changling people who followed. While the crowd kept their voices quiet, for Zhang Luyang who was used to being in a quiet environment, the surroundings grew noisier, his head felt swollen.
He did not believe Ding Ning could kill Daoist Qian, but the expressions of the people surrounding this tea garden…… the buzzing noise filling his ears all told him this was the truth.
Daoist Qian was dead. If he were to also die on the same day, what would happen to her?
He suddenly understood Ding Ning’s thoughts.
“You are too evil.” His body started to tremble.
“It is the greatest of evil to not let a dying man have his last look,” Ding Ning slowly said as he looked at the distant mountains.
Hearing Ding Ning’s words, Zhang Luyang’s body stopped trembling but felt even colder. “I will not accept your challenge.”
“In Changling, when a swordsman, especially one with higher cultivation, does not dare to accept a challenge from someone weaker, they will be looked down upon. It seems that you can even sacrifice your reputation for her, and disregard how others think of you.” Ding Ning looked calmly at Zhang Luyang and shook his head in slight mockery. “But will she be the same to you?”
Zhang Luyang took a deep breath, looked at Ding Ning and said, “She will.”
“That is only your thought.” Ding Ning glanced at him and said, “I can wager with you.”
Zhang Luyang said, “What wager?”
Ding Ning looked coolly at him and said, “I wager, if I wait here until sunset, she will not come here. If she arrives here before sunset, I will give up on challenging you.”
Zhang Luyang was silent for a moment and said, “Not every person is very free.”
“I agree.” Ding Ning looked at the city walls of Changling in the distance and said, “No one is free but the key lies in what sacrifices they are willing to make.”
“You have no confidence in her.” Ding Ning paused, looked at his eyes and then said, “If you are as confident as I am, then you will dare to wager with me.”
Zhang Luyang paled even more. He looked up at Ding Ning and said, “If she comes before sunset…… not unless you give up on challenging her as well.”
His words were slightly disorderly but Ding Ning and Jing Liuli both understood his meaning.
Jing Liuli felt that Zhang Luyang’s words were powerful so she could not help but look at Ding Ning.
Unexpectedly, Ding Ning did not hesitate and said with a smile, “All right, if she comes before sunset, I will give up on challenging her.”
Zhang Luyang’s eyes lit up for a moment. But for some reason, looking at Ding Ning’s confident and calm expression, his heart suddenly sank. He fell silent for a long time. Then he knelt on the ground towards Ding Ning.
The crowds around the tea garden were in uproar. No one understood why the owner of this tea garden would suddenly kneel towards Ding Ning.
Jing Liuli was also shocked.
In her view, since the wager was made, then the two sides should just wait for the result. Ding Ning’s attitude was so determined even if Zhang Luyang knelt, he would not change his mind.
“He is just humiliating himself. He kneels in front of us in front of so many people. This is naturally a great humiliation.”
Ding Ning’s voice sounded.
He turned to look at Jing Liuli who was confused and said, “If we are only just drinking tea and eating a meal here like usual, Palace Attendant Rong will not come. But he must have Palace Attendant Rong come here.”
Jing Liuli immediately understood and said in a chilly voice, “So he must let Palace Attendant Rong know he is enduring the greatest of humiliations. He does not care what Changling’s people think of him in the future, or what Palace Attendant Rong thinks. He just wants Palace Attendant Rong to come here. He wants Palace Attendant Rong to win the wager, and not die in your hands in the future.”
Ding Ning was silent for a moment before whispering. “So pitiful.”
Jing Liuli frowned. She inexplicably understood Ding Ning’s words to mean that Palace Attendant Rong would not come. From start to end, Zhang Luyang was in love with someone not worthy of such deep emotion.
“I can help you.” Ding Ning walked in front of the kneeling Zhang Luyang and said calmly, “I can let you endure this kind of humiliation.”
Zhang Luyang hung his head. While this was his own choice, the noisy voices filled his ears, and his body trembled all over due to humiliation. He continued to kneel.
Ding Ning stood there in front of him like there was no end.
**
In the imperial palace.
Palace Attendant Rong continued to wait under the eaves. News about the carriage, after it was confirmed to travel to the tea house, constantly reached her ears.
Right now, she was very far away from the tea garden. Her gaze could not pass through the imperial palace and half of Changling to see the tea garden. Yet all the news made her feel like she was also outside of the tea garden.
She could almost see Zhang Luyang kneeling in front of Ding Ning. Her body constantly trembled as well.
Other than Jing Liuli, no one knew the wager between Zhang Luyang and Ding Ning.
But she knew very well why Zhang Luyang was enduring such a humiliation. She knew that if she appeared at the tea garden and accepted Ding Ning’s challenge, this matter would end. She had confidence she could kill Ding Ning.
But…… the empress did not want her to appear in front of Ding Ning and fight him.
Her body trembled. She hung her head.
The light on the flower garden in front of her turned from gold to dark.
Time silently passed. The cruel sun of summer slowly moved through the sky towards the west.
Many people became restless as they waited outside the tea garden.
In their sight, the middle-aged man inside the tea garden was still kneeling in front of Ding Ning. They did not know how long he had to kneel.
Was he begging for forgiveness?
What was he begging Ding Ning to forgive him for?
These people could not understand.
In the tea garden, Zhang Luyang’s face grew even paler. For a cultivator like him, there would not be any problems even if he knelt for a day and night.
Yet now, his sweat soaked his clothes and was dried by the heat. A thick layer of salt formed on his robe.
His stamina started to run out.
Volume 3 130 - Everyone
Ding Ning turned, so as to not look at him, towards the crowd that was growing impatient and the slowly setting sun until even his face slowly became dark.
“Still not here.” He did not turn around as he said to Zhang Luyang, “I told you that she would not come.”
Zhang Luyang looked up and opened his mouth like a fish about to die of thirst. He gazed up at the last sliver of sunlight in the sky. But even he knew the result. He knew she would not come.
“Why is it like this?”
The last wisp of light in his eyes completely disappeared.
Jing Liuli looked at this man. She felt a bit sad and sympathetic.
“Do not let him die.” Ding Ning’s low voice passed into her ears at this moment.
Jing Liuli raised her eyes slightly and still did not quite understand. Yet at this time, she felt a sword essence.
Zhang Luyang was still kneeling but his body leaned forward. A glowing sword light appeared in his hand like the color of morning dew on tea leaves. This sword light did not stab towards Ding Ning but his own chest.
Jing Liuli suddenly understood the feeling of grief greater than death. She stomped her foot. Blades of grass flew, gentle but with an elevated presence, to attack Zhang Luyang’s sword.
With a clear sound, Zhang Luyang’s glowing sword light was shot to the ground.
The surroundings were in an uproar. The people who were already tired and impatient immediately gasped when they saw this change.
“You lost, not because you do not understand, but because you are not willing to believe. Is it worth it to die like this?”
Ding Ning slowly turned around and looked calmly at Zhang Luyang. He said, “You are trapped in this tea garden. This tea garden is a prison to you. I do not believe you never had thoughts of leaving here.”
Zhang Luyang did not speak. His expression could not be seen in the darkness.
Ding Ning looked away from him and glanced at Jing Liuli. “Let’s go.”
Jing Liuli followed him obediently like a real attendant. Only when she drove the carriage slowly out of the tea garden did she whisper. “Why did you have me rescue Zhang Luyang?”
“So what if he dies, that is straightforward.” Ding Ning said softly, “But if he lives…… it is a kind of constant suffering.”
Jing Liuli thought for a moment and said, “So you feel if Zhang Luyang lives today, his effect on Palace Attendant Rong will be greater than if he dies?”
“Yes.” Ding Ning simply replied.
When the carriage was leaving the tea garden, Palace Attendant Rong was still standing under the eaves. The closing events of the tea garden reached her ears.
She knew Zhang Luyang had not died, and survived. But inexplicably, when she heard that Jing Liuli had stopped Zhang Luyang’s suicide attempt, she felt no joy. Her heart dropped into an even deeper abyss.
There seemed to be a demon king in the deeper abyss with the same face as Ding Ning. He grabbed onto her heart now and was devouring it in large bites. Her body was empty and powerless. Changling and the imperial palace, having just entered darkness, seemed to be empty. She seemed to have lost everything she had ever possessed in Changling.
“Honestly speaking, he surprised me, but if I were Baili Suxue, I definitely would have him return to Min Mountain Sword Sect, and not let him rampage through Changling,” The black-robed man looked at Shao Sharen on the bridge and said sincerely as he left in the darkness.
Shao Sharen knew his meaning but only looked coldly at him and said, “You do not qualify to discuss Baili Suxue.”
The black-robed man’s expression suddenly turned cold. Strange hissing sounds came from his black sword. Even so, he turned and left without a word in the end.
At a river port not far from where the black-robed man and Shao Sharen were standing, two women stood together. The thin water mist floating off the river draped the pair like silk.
“This is Xu Fenqin,” Ye Celeng looked at where the man had disappeared and said to Bai Shanshui next to her, “a former fisherman of the Jiaodong Commandery. Zheng Xiu taught him the Killing Sword of the Ba Mountain Sword Field.”
Bai Shanshui smiled proudly and said, “So Zheng Xiu’s top thug is like this.”
“Top killer, not top thug.” Ye Celeng corrected her.
“So he is the person who will protect Liang Lian while leaving Changling.” Bai Shanshui said coolly, “I will kill him.”
“I have more and more confidence in him.”
“I believe he can help me rescue the people from the Great Floating Water Prison. So I will agree to his matter, and help him kill Liang Lian.”
**
“What are you thinking about?”
As the carriage moved through the streets of Changling, Ding Ning did not say much, just like usual. But today, Jing Liuli felt that Ding Ning was exceptionally quiet.
“There is about a fortnight before I have the capability to win against Palace Attendant Rong. In this time, I do not hope she comes to find me,” Ding Ning said.
Jing Liuli frowned. “You can reach realm five in these days?”
Ding Ning ignored her words and whispered. “I’m thinking of Wang Taixu and my senior sect brother.”
“Wang Taixu is taking a detour and may have just arrived.” Jing Liuli turned to glance at him and said, “Zhang Yi should have arrived for a while.”
**
Celestial Seal Sect
The water in an ancient well clearly reflected the moon in the sky. Zhang Yi put down the water buckets he was carrying. He looked at the reflection of the moon, and his own reflection in the water. He gradually felt slightly abashed and entranced.
In Celestial Seal Sect’s test, his performance had been mediocre. Even he did not understand how he managed to pass the test and become a disciple here.
Also, after entering Celestial Seal Sect, his performance had been the most mediocre. Many times, he had been punished because he could not complete the homework that his teachers left him.
Like today, because he had made a mistake in the simplest of seal scripts and accidentally broke numerous water tanks, he had been punished to carry water for all of Celestial Seal Sect. Thinking of his little sect brother who had been so glorious in the Min Mountain Sword Trials, he felt comforted. He missed the other, and also felt slightly ashamed.
“The eldest sect brother of White Goat Cave, someone who entered the top ten of Min Mountain Sword Trials has fallen to such straits. Is it that you are not suited to the Yan lands, or this Celestial Seal Sect?”
A voice sounded.
Zhang Yi suddenly shook. He felt this voice was very familiar. He followed the voice and when he saw the speaker, he was stunned.
Then he saw the robes the person wore. After many breaths, he said in disbelief, “Su Qin…… you are also here?”
“This world is really too small. I came to Celestial Seal Sect, and did not expect you to come as well.”
In the darkness, that person smiled at Zhang Yi. “But I seem to be more suited to Celestial Seal Sect than you. I am already allowed to enter the True Seal Palace.”
VOlume 3 131 - A Simple and Interesting Victory
Zhang Yi found it unbelievable. He rubbed his eyes, but the scene in front of him remained unchanged.
Su Qin stood there wearing the robes of Celestial Seal Sect. But compared to his own robes, there were some seal scripts embroidered with black thread on his collar and sleeves.
“You must really want to know why I am in the Yan Lands and are definitely thinking how I could have become a disciple of Celestial Seal Sect with my crippled body.”
Seeing Zhang Yi’s incredulous gaze, Su Qin laughed in pleasure. He raised his crippled hand which looked especially ugly and incongruous with his face and body. He looked disdainfully at Zhang Yi and said, “I can tell you the reason…… because of the empress.”
“The empress, Zheng Xiu?”
Zhang Yi did not believe it. But he knew the empress Su Qin spoke of could not be the empress of the Yan. It could only be the cruel mistress of Changling.
Su Qin nodded and looked up at the sky above Zhang Yi’s head. As though the moon and star light in the sky were dazzling, he narrowed his eyes slightly.
“I can tell you, Li Lingjun was able to become emperor of Chu, and me leaving Chu to become a disciple of Celestial Seal Sect has all to do with her. I think it must be the arrangements of the old families in Changling that you were able to come here.”
After a pause, Su Qin looked scornfully at Zhang Yi and slowly said, “I tell you all this now because I want you to understand she is much stronger than you imagine. The cultivators in Changling say that she controls the rules of Changling but in reality, the farther you are from Changling, the more you will understand how terrifying she is. Do not assume that you are completely out of her control because you came here. Even if you come to a blessed land, do not think the old families of Changling helped you for no reason without asking for repayment.”
Zhang Yi looked dazedly at Su Qin. He started to sweat uncontrollably which soaked through his robes. His hands trembled involuntarily.
He did not dare to think……
“So even that person died at her hands.”
Su Qin looked at the pale Zhang Yi and said with slight scorn, “So I always thought the most terrifying person in Changling was Zheng Xiu and not that emperor who calls himself the Lonely One.”
“What do you mean?” Zhang Yi refocused and said, looking at Su Qin, “Why are you telling me all this?”
Su Qin’s scorn grew on his face. He laughed out loud.
His laughter grew somewhat shrill. His smile and even the scars on his hand grew hideous as he laughed.
“Because of hate, because of unwillingness and obsession, my eldest sect brother…… In White Goat Cave, I always felt that a stupid person like you do not qualify to surpass me and receive more affection from more sect uncles and other junior sect brothers. If not for Ding Ning, I would have thought you would never have been a match for me this lifetime. Now, Ding Ning is not here. This is Celestial Seal Sect. Finally, no one will disturb us.”
Hearing the shrill laughter and the words that reached his ears, Zhang Yi was stunned. Seeing Su Qin turn and walk into the darkness, he instinctively called. “But I never wanted to compete with you.”
“But I do.”
Su Qin did not turn but his voice reached Zhang Yi’s ears.
Palace Attendant Rong did not rest.
She stood under the eaves until the dark night over Changling faded and the eastern sky started to turn white. She had been waiting for the latest news from the tea garden. In the end, she waited until no news came.
That person in the tea garden had left Changling.
Her body had stopped trembling.
Zhang Luyang had not died.
But inexplicably, his lack of death made her feel sadder.
She knew that she had finally lost him completely. He no longer loved her. He would no longer forgive her. He would not accept himself finding excuses for her.
Daoist Qian had also died.
In this city, she no longer had any more relatives and friends.
The dawn was usually when one was the sleepiest.
Even Jing Liuli had sunken into a deep sleep.
Sitting cross-legged on the couch, Ding Ning opened his eyes. His bedroom door was half-open and could easily be pushed open from the outside.
His gaze was still calm, but his heart started to grow eager.
Even if there were no sound of footsteps, just the familiar scent would let him know this was Zhangsun Qianxue.
In this unfeeling mighty city, any encounter was worthy of being treasured.
“You may need to use it so I will temporarily lend it to you.”
A cool voice sounded.
A slight breeze accompanied a black shadow that fell in front of him, then Zhangsun Qianxue turned and left him room.
Ding Ning looked at the black shadow curled up in front of him.
This was the black ice worm he was familiar with. But unlike before, there were many diamond-light crystal lights flashing on its body in the darkness, and it had two horns on its head it did not have before.
In Changling, Ding Ning rarely was truly happy. But at this moment, he smiled in true happiness, not because of the changes in the black ice worm, but because of the fact Zhangsun Qianxue had lent this black ice worm to him.
This worm still feared him greatly and trembled constantly.
The sound of roosters crowing came from the streets. Changling was slowly waking up.
Jing Liuli also woke up.
She washed up in front of an old well in Ink Garden. She thought back to the things she had comprehended before sleep last night before walking towards Ding Ning who was just leaving the bedroom.
“What are we doing today?” she could not help but ask Ding Ning.
Every time she drove the carriage, she would always gain something. Consequently, she was filled with anticipation towards cultivating each day.
“Yesterday, when we returned at night, I saw someone who wore a pair of extraordinary shoes.” Ding Ning smiled at her and said, “I left two letters with him. We do not have to do anything these days. We only have to wait for about a fortnight.”
Jing Liuli frowned deeply. Yesterday, she had driven the carriage back. But she had not noticed anything.
“Who was it?”
“How did you leave a letter for him?”
She looked at Ding Ning and asked these two questions first.
Ding Ning looked at her and asked directly, “One of Wang Taixu’s people. I just saw him for a moment. When the carriage was turning, I threw the two letters to the grass on the left. No one could see my movements at that position.”
Jing Liuli was still frowning as she asked, “How are you sure that he will get your two letters?”
“Because Wang Taixu left him for me.” Ding Ning smiled slightly and said, “Since Wang Taixu left him for me, I first looked meaningfully at him, then looked to his left. He will naturally get the two letters.”
Jing Liuli thought and decided to accept Ding Ning’s explanation. Then she could not help but ask, “What shoes did he wear? I did not notice anything different?”
Ding Ning laughed, one of true amusement.
“Wang Taixu told me that he would leave someone for me. That person’s shoes would be different from others, and I always pondered how it was different. When I saw, I understood what was different.”
Ding Ning could not stop laughing. “He was wearing Wang Taixu’s shoes, the ones Wang Taixu wore the last time he saw me…… Even if the shoes fit, Wang Taixu did not fear giving him foot odor.”
Jing Liuli stilled. She felt the matter was amusing but she was someone who would not laugh because of a joke. So her expression grew more serious. “It was not a problem of my observation abilities, but because other than you, no one else could see what was special about his shoes.”
Ding Ning nodded and could stop himself. “That is an ordinary pair of shoes which may be very smelly.”
“Then who are the letters intended for?” Jing Liuli’s frown relaxed and she asked.
“One for her, telling him what he needs to help me do. Another to an important person in Changling. I have some things I need her to help me do,” Ding Ning looked at her and said.
Jing Liuli thought and said, “So you mean…… you have used your last resort against Palace Attendant Rong? Once you have your breakthrough in a fortnight, Palace Attendant Rong will not resist coming to find you?”
Ding Ning glanced at her and thought, not just so. But for the first time, he lied. “Exactly so.”
Volume 3 132 - Top Ten
A pair of black cowhide stepped on a caterpillar that had fallen down from a tree.
The owner of the shoes seemed to feel it dirty, his feet itched. Lifting his foot, he twisted it a bit on the stone pavement.
The pair of shoes looked ordinary, but quite soft and thin. They were definitely comfortable to wear.
In another alley, a middle-aged man was looking sharply in the direction of Ink Garden. Suddenly, he felt another inexplicable threat. This feeling was like when hiding in the bushes to spy on the enemy and a poisonous snake appeared behind him.
This feeling had occurred once before. So he felt this was no accident.
He turned around. He was on the second level of the tea house and there was a flight of stairs behind him.
There was no one on the stairs.
At this moment, his face suddenly paled. He clearly sensed that this feeling of danger originally came from in front of him, but was now in the teapot behind him.
He opened his mouth, wanting to shout. But faster than his vital energy could surge, the tea pot quietly positioned on the tea tray gently shook. A drop of water flew out of the pot, lengthening into a sword that easily penetrated the back of his head and entered his brain. His eyes widened and filled with blood. His body froze there.
No one in the tea house detected anything unusual on the second level. Among the guests at a table on the first floor were some of the middle-aged man’s subordinates, but even they did not detect anything.
Behind this tea house, in another alley, a tall woman carrying a basket and selling flowers was walking by.
This woman dressed plainly. Inexplicably, the people walking by her could not see her face clearly.
**
The news of this middle-aged man’s death immediately spread to the main tent of the Tiger-Wolf Army.
A young man dressed in casual clothes knelt on one knee. He faced Liang Lian, who was sitting cross-legged in the center, as he described all the details of the moment of the middle-aged man’s death, including his own speculations.
Liang Lian looked coldly at the young man. His eyes were truly apathetic.
He did not like subordinates who added too much emotion and their own speculation when they reported. He also knew that after he killed his advisor who had been with him for many years, this young man was eager to perform and become his new advisor. But even if he did not like this young man, he still had enough tolerance.
The other was loyal enough to him.
“It cannot be Bai Shanshui who killed General Zuo.”
He shook his head and looked at this young man whose expression froze at his denial. He said slowly, “Even at full power, I cannot silently kill General Zuo.”
The young man did not know that what Liang Lian thought was his childish judgement was actually correct. So when he heard Liang Lian’s words, he paled and thought he understood something.
“This wine shop youth is one of Min Mountain Sword Sect’s people right now. They are famously protective. Only those people from Min Mountain Sword Sect have such strength.”
Liang Lian stood up and slowly walked out of the tent. He coughed. As he looked at Changling’s city walls, he said coldly, “Many people want to force me to leave Changling sooner. I can ignore them, but I cannot ignore Min Mountain Sword Sect.”
**
In the tea garden in the south suburbs.
Most people wanted to know what happened to the middle-aged tea master who had knelt an entire day in the tea garden after Ding Ning left. These people had learned afterwards that the middle-aged tea master and Palace Attendant Rong, who forced Xue Wangxu’s death, had been secret lovers. But they could just speculate as Palace Attendant Rong and this matter itself was too high for most people in Changling.
So after Ding Ning left, no one dared to go into the tea garden to look.
Today, an unsuspecting farmer drove a cow cart into the tea garden. He was Zhang Luyang’s old acquaintance. He raised chickens and geese in Changling’s distant suburbs and each year, he would transport fertilizer to this tea garden. Because he was not in Changling City, he did not know what had happened.
When he entered the tea garden, the farmer suddenly found that no one was living in Zhang Luyang’s bamboo hut. The ashes in Zhang Luyang’s rock stove seemed to have been cold for a long time.
Puzzled, he looked around. When he turned to the water pond where Zhang Luyang usually washed his clothes and rice, he was stunned, and then involuntarily gasped.
He saw many white bones.
These white bones were ordinary geese bones. The meat remaining on them had been cleaned away by the ants, but these fine white bones were arranged into characters on the ground.
This row of white bones formed a date.
This farmer thought for a moment. This was a certain day three years before Emperor Yuanwu’s ascension.
He could clearly remember that three days after this date was the death day of the previous emperor.
This farmer was puzzled that he could not find Zhang Luyang. He left the garden and asked around about Zhang Luyang. When he heard what had happened a few days before, he was in disbelief. Then he naturally mentioned the date made out of bones which had confused him.
No one could help him.
Everyone who heard of this felt that Zhang Luyang may have left behind the white bone characters because he wanted to say something. But no one knew the meaning of such a date.
But Palace Attendant Rong knew. Or rather, in all of Changling, only she and the empress knew.
When the news of the tea garden once again reached her courtyard in the imperial palace, she was no longer standing under the eaves, but woodenly sitting at the window as she trembled uncontrollably.
She clearly remembered this date.
That day, this person had returned and spent the night with the empress in a courtyard in Changling. The empress’ trip had been secret. She had arranged it. Only she knew.
At that time, the empress had actually already been together with Emperor Yuanwu. They had prepared to start a military mutiny against that person and the Ba Mountain Sword Field.
That night, the empress had been extremely tender to that person. But Emperor Yuanwu did not know of that night.
That date represented that day. Maybe many other things had happened but she naturally related it to that night. Because she knew the empress would also easily think of that night.
That person had died.
Palace Attendant Rong’s body incessantly trembled. Her robes were soaked through with sweat.
She knew, rationally, she would not talk in her sleep, but now, she started to suspect if she really would talk in her sleep. She did not dare to believe that Zhang Luyang, even if he knew what happened that night, would use this method to retaliate against her.
Yet she was certain that the empress would feel that Zhang Luyang’s words represented that night.
**
“What does he mean?”
Ye Celeng tiredly returned to her courtyard and looked at the “flower girl” sitting casually on the bamboo chair.
“Deal with Liang Lian and Palace Attendant Rong at the same time,”
Bai Shanshui smiled at Ye Celeng and said, “Everything seems to have become interesting.”
Volume 3 133 - Pain Is A Kind of Experience
“Such an insane woman,” Ye Celeng looked at Bai Shanshui who was laughing arrogantly and could not help but say coldly.
Regardless of whether Ding Ning’s plan was perfect or not, in this plan, Bai Shanshui had to face Xu Fenqin alone. This was the strongest swordsman in Jiaodong Commandery other than the empress.
“You say it like you are not an insane woman.” Bai Shanshui laughed even brightly.
Ye Celeng sat down on the bamboo chair next to her. Her head hung, and a confused emotion flashed through her eyes.
Ding Ning’s methods increasingly reminded her of that person, she found him more familiar. That person’s plans were usually seamless and advanced step by step. His downfall had been because he had trusted the wrong people from the start.
Leaving behind a move in all matters, was a characteristic unique to Empress Zheng Xiu. That person’s was to hit two birds with an arrow in all matters. On each matter, he would scheme to involve many people, and often, they would be unable to connect them together.
Ye Celeng was pensive, she started to feel that her thoughts were insane. She was an insane woman indeed.
**
First, killing Daoist Qian, then making Palace Attendant Rong’s secret lover kneel in front of him for an entire day…… Now, everybody in Changling was waiting for the carriage to leave Ink Garden again.
The Deer Mountain Conference had finished. The Yangshan Commandery had been taken back. The Min Mountain Sword Trials had finished. There really was no other great event occurring in the Qin Dynasty at this time. Ding Ning’s revenge had become the greatest drama for the Qin this summer.
Unexpectedly, the carriage did not leave Ink Garden, on the contrary,a very important carriage came to Ink Garden. This one belonged to the Fang Marquessate Establishment.
Ding Ning did not ask questions before leaving the Ink Garden and boarding the carriage. Jing Liuli, like a true attendant, followed him and sat down next to him.
This time, even if Ding Ning did not explain, Jing Liuli knew why this carriage from the Fang Marquessate Establishment was here.
Because when Ding Ning had killed Daoist Qian, the secret sword “Borrowing Sword Essence” did not come from White Goat Cave or Min Mountain Sword Sect, but Fang Marquessate Establishment.
The Min Mountain Sword Sect would investigate every person who attended the Min Mountain Sword Trials and the bureaus would work together as well. In the information on Ding Ning, he had never been in contact with the Fang Marquessate Establishment before this so why did Ding Ning know the secret sword of the Fang Marquessate Establishment?
This carriage did not drive towards the Fang Marquessate Establishment, but a remote and slightly desolate courtyard.
Ding Ning’s emotions were calm because he knew better than anyone else the streets and alleys of Changling, and even who lived in most of the buildings. That remote and desolate courtyard had been where Fang Xiumu was in seclusion before.
When the gates opened, a strong and heavy smell of medicine caused Jing Liuli to instinctively stop breathing. She had brewed medicine for Ding Ning for a long time, but that could not compare to the strength of this medicinal smell. This smell contained at least five dozen kinds of powerful medicines.
This medicinal scent came from a man sitting on a wicker chair in front of the pond. Most of his body was covered in thick bandages. It appeared as though he only maintained human form through these bandages, and barely managed to sit up and look at Ding Ning and Jing Liuli.
Jing Liuli’s eyes unconsciously narrowed. Not because of the medicinal scent, but because of this person’s status and respect.
She knew this person was Fang Xiang. He had been of key importance during the Deer Mountain Conference, but his meridians had been destroyed.
“Please sit.”
This marquis who had once dominated the lands, but looked paler and more sickly than Wang Taixu at his weakest nodded slightly as he watched Ding and Jing Liuli walk in. His head was his only body part that he could move.
Ding Ning bowed solemnly to him and then sat down on the wicker chair in front of him.
There was another chair clearly prepared for Jing Liuli. But Jing Liuli did not sit and stood respectfully with a bowed head in front of Ding Ning.
Seeing this scene, the admiration in Fang Xiang’s eyes grew.
“Why do you know the Borrowing Sword Essence of the Fang Family?”
His words were direct. He asked the question without a transition.
Ding Ning looked at his eyes and said directly, “Fang Xiumu once came to Falling Parasol to see me.”
Jing Liuli immediately frowned. This may be a detail that Min Mountain Sword Sect had missed. She clearly remembered that this had not been mentioned in the record she had read.
Fang Xiang looked at Ding Ning and did not speak. He suddenly laughed. “So my younger brother taught it to you, even though you were not a cultivator at the time?”
Ding Ning looked calmly at his eyes and smiled without responding.
Fang Xiang then said, “So if I confirm this matter is true, maybe assume that your present cultivation advancement is related to my brother, perhaps it could be said that from the start, you are my brother’s direct disciple.”
Jing Liuli’s eyebrows slowly rose up. She felt that Fang Xiang’s words were a strong attack.
Yet Ding Ning still listened calmly without answer.
“Whether this matter is true or not can be known if my brother returns,” Fang Xiang looked at Ding Ning and slowly said.
Ding Ning glanced at him and said, “Maybe he will never return to Changling, or rather, when he returns, you will no longer be present.”
Hearing this answer, Fang Xiang put away his smile. He was not angry as he looked seriously at Ding Ning and said, “As long as you believe, from that day on, my brother was teaching you cultivation methods, then this matter will forever be true.”
Jing Liuli stilled. She had not thought that Fang Xiang would say such a thing.
Ding Ning did not immediately answer. He looked up at Fang Xiang who seemed to have shrunk a size and said seriously, “But the outcome may be tragic.”
Fang Xiang smiled self-deprecatingly, looking down upon himself. “How much worse can it be?”
Ding Ning looked at him, nodded, and said nothing.
“My gift to you will be in the carriage,” Fang Xiang seemed to have no more energy to waste as he said with a bowed head.
Ding Ning looked at him, his eyes narrowed. He had new thoughts in his mind but he did not speak. He stood up, bowed, and turned to leave.
The carriage was the same one they used to get here, but a black metal box appeared on the cushioned seat in the carriage. Ding Ning opened this unlocked box. Inside was a thin book.
“What did he give you?” Jing Liuli could not help but ask softly.
“Some of the Fang Marquessate Establishment’s other secret swords, and some of the experiences he and Fang Xiumu have concerning these methods and sword moves,” Ding Ning said without lifting his head.
Jing Liuli stilled. Then she finally understood the true meaning of their conversation.
A few breaths later, she understood more. She looked at Ding Ning. “When you challenged Daoist Qian, did you use that Borrowing Sword Essence to deliberately create this situation…… Was this in your original plans? Or rather, you have many ways of killing Daoist Qian, but you deliberately chose this Borrowing Sword Essence to start?”
“There are not many coincidences in the world.” Ding Ning looked at her and said slowly, “I only know that the Fang Marquessate Establishment is definitely regretting not choosing me in the past.”
Jing Liuli was silent for a moment and said, “The details of the plan are perfect.”
Ding Ning looked away from her and focused on the thin book in his hand. He said softly, “I must hurry and grasp the things contained here…… when I am facing Palace Attendant Rong, I have to use these contents to kill her. This book did not come to my hand today, but when Fang Xiumu came to visit me. So I have to appear very familiar with the contents.”
Volume 3 134 - World in Chest, Ignore Other’s Life and Death
In this great drama of the summer, more and more interesting developments occurred. That palace attendant, a close confidant of the empress, had an underground lover in an ordinary tea garden. The wine shop youth who everyone thought had no background seemed to be closely connected to the Fang Marquessate Establishment.
Some news, due to deliberate spreading, disseminated quickly.
Soon, over half of Changling knew of these truths. From the neighbours who lived with Ding Ning for a long time in Fang Xiumu, it was confirmed that Fang Xiumu and Ding Ning had been in contact before Ding Ning joined White Goat Cave. This was in spite of the fact that in the case files of the Divinity Bureau back then, Fang Xiumu was described to have only “looked at” Ding Ning at Falling Parasol.
But who knew if Fang Xiumu’s “look” was just superficial or he had done something in secret?
Ever since Emperor Yuanwu indicated for Fang Xiumu to accompany him to the Deer Mountain Conference to Fang Xiumu’s departure from Changling, many of Changling’s powerful cultivators started to feel the strongest of the Fang Marquessate Establishment was not Fang Xiang, but the cultivation manic Fang Xiumu.
“Did Fang Xiumu really teach him? I do not feel it is so. But if not, how can the fact he knows the Fang Marquessate Establishment’s Borrowing Sword Essence be explained?” Xie Changsheng stood by the window and mused. Then he could not help but look at the middle-aged cultivator in green robes standing behind him.
The middle-aged cultivator looked back speechlessly.
“He tells me to do something like this. It appears his battle with Palace Attendant Rong will soon occur.”
Having received no answer, Xie Changsheng sighed and stretched his right hand out the window. The torn pieces of the letter flew from his fingertips like snow.
“Pity, I am still injured seriously and cannot go in person to watch.”
Hearing Xie Changsheng’s first words, the middle-aged Min Mountain Sword Sect cultivator’s eyes had flashed with hope. But at those next words, even he could not help but gape despite his great experiences.
Thinking of how a certain sect uncle said that shamelessness to the point of admiration was a kind of ability, the middle-aged cultivator shook his head. Inside, he did not feel much anger. He frowned slightly, and became resigned to loving the house and its crow. “You are one of Ding Ning’s best friends. Since you feel his battle with Palace Attendant Rong is soon, you really do not want to leave Min Mountain Sword Sect to watch? With your……”
He originally wanted to say, with your shamelessness, even if you left Min Mountain Sword Sect, you could find an excuse to return. In any case, Sect Master Baili had tacitly agreed. But these words were not appropriate so he chose to keep mum.
Xie Changsheng and many of the Min Mountain Sword Sect teachers in this hall had been interacting for a long time and he was familiar with these people’s tempers. He guessed what the next words were. But he smiled and said without blushing, “I am not worried. In any case, this will end with Ding Ning’s victory. Something without any suspense is something I have no interest in even going to bet in the underground rings.”
This Min Mountain Sword Sect teacher who admired Ding Ning greatly was slightly worried and said, “The cultivation disparity is so great.”
Xie Changsheng glanced at him. “Is this harder than winning the Min Mountain Sword Trials? Harder than forcing that palace attendant to this degree? Harder than inexplicably almost reaching realm five after such a short while?”
Hearing Xie Changsheng’s rapid-fire questions, this Min Mountain Sword Sect teacher stilled and felt it was reasonable.
Xie Changsheng looked out the window at some of the Min Mountain Sword Sect cultivators practicing in the valley. He smiled proudly. “Also, this guy seems to have no obstruction when he had his previous breakthroughs. If you tell me now he could complete the breakthrough from realm four to five in the blink of an eye, I will not be stunned.”
Now, even the middle-aged Min Mountain Sword Sect teacher could not help but pale.
Following these words, he unconsciously thought,
For all cultivators, the time spent on a breakthrough was greater than the time they spent cultivating at the previous realm. The true difficulty always came from exploring the unknown and unseen world ahead, in feeling the rules of an unfamiliar world, and sensing an unknown energy world, and not the accumulation of vital energy.
Letting water wear through stone was something a stupid person would do. Some experts could reach realm seven, while others would forever be stuck at realm three. It was due to the ability to discover new worlds.
This Min Mountain Sword Sect teacher felt this was increasingly terrifying and incredible as he thought about it. His body started to tremble.
With a hum, a sword light appeared above his head and caused the room to turn green. Xie Changsheng’s reply had come to Changling.
When the Guanzhong Xie Family started to move again, many Changling people who detected this had tense nerves again. These people all felt this matter was almost coming to an end. Either Palace Attendant Rong died or Ding Ning.
But even though Ding Ning had done so many things and humiliated Palace Attendant Rong so, turning her into truly a lonely person, she was still residing deep in the imperial palace.
Even those things had not forced Palace Attendant Rong out. What did Ding Ning have as the last tactics to have Palace Attendant Rong leave the palace?
**
The most important thing Jing Liuli did in these days was to observe Ding Ning.
She knew better than Xie Changsheng that the end was near, especially this morning when Ding Ning did not cultivate in his little courtyard as usual. He walked towards the tallest hill in Ink Garden with an air she felt was unfamiliar. However, she could not glean as to where the straw to break the camel’s back came from.
Ding Ning came to the tallest hill of Ink Garden. There was a tower there where the patriarch of the Zhou Family and Xue Wangxu had drank tea.
Ding Ning looked towards the table where the tea set should have been placed. He was silent for a long time. Then he walked out of the tower to the platform ahead, and looked down at Ink Garden and then towards the distant imperial palace.
“Sometimes, things are never as complicated as imagined.”
He turned and looked at Jing Liuli who followed him, saying slowly, “If one figures it out, they will find it simple. If they cannot, they will feel there is no way at all. The straw to break the camel’s back comes from me.”
Saying so, he looked up at the distant sky.
Jing Liuli suddenly felt something. While she had long known something like this could occur, but in this moment, she still paled and stopped breathing.
A fresh presence spread from Ding Ning’s body and rolled down the hill like mercury. Primal energies of the universe joyfully raced from the sky and gathered in Ding Ning’s body.
Ding Ning’s body roared. His eyes seemed to be lit. A white cloud energy appeared above this small hill like the tail of a white fox demon.
Many people outside Ink Garden saw this abnormality, shock appeared in their eyes.
But this was just the start.
The Last Flower remnant sword at Ding Ning’s waist started to shine. Ding Ning’s hand did not move. He did not touch the hilt but the blade started to bloom with fine white flowers.
Then this remnant sword flew without obstruction into the air. Many fine white flowers fell from the sky.
Many people saw this sword light charge into the sky, filled with Ding Ning’s unbending sword essence.
This sword light pierced the clouds above with a soft pop, like a bubble bursting.
Unbidden, the word appeared in many people’s minds.
Then there was the roar of rocks tumbling down a tall mountain followed by thunder and drums.
Then white clouds turned black. The sky wreathed with wetness.
Jing Liuli’s breathing was still paused as she looked up into the sky.
An ink scroll seemed to have been opened across the sky, and rain descended.
Even the rain was black and white!
Many people looked in shock over at the painting above Ink Garden.
They saw the sword light still flashing as it flew through the rain. That was a flying sword.
Ding Ning’s flying sword.
“Realm five!”
“Ding Ning reached realm five!”
“Able to manipulate a flying sword just after reaching realm five!”
“How is it possible……”
The voices gathered into a flood and even reached Jing Liuli’s ears in Ink Garden.
Jing Liuli started to breathe with difficulty. She finally understood what the last straw was.
Ding Ning’s performance was the straw that crushed Palace Attendant Rong’s final defense.
Volume 3 135 - Lacking One Person
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