Long Xueji shook his head and said, “No need to be so formal. Little Ye had already gained quite the benefit, and our journey here wasn’t for naught. If it wasn’t for you, we wouldn’t have been able to take down that hall spirit. As for the result of this journey, it’s a completely different matter.”
History's Strongest Senior Brother Chapter 1275 - Sheathe Edge to Nurture Sword
Due to the interference of the Exalted Fire – Suo Mingzhang and the White Deer Demon, it would be very difficult for the Roving Jade Heavens to acquire anything.
It was a coincidence for the Lofty Sovereign – Zhang Buxu to have hopes for Yan Zhaoge. Since he was unable to oppress the Pill Hall’s hall spirit, he hoped to gain benefits from Yan Zhaoge and the others.
If Yan Zhaoge did not have a special attack under his sleeves, the victor of the final showdown would only be decided among Suo Mingzhang, the White Deer Demon, and the Pill Hall’s hall spirit.
As long as those of the Immortal Court didn’t reach here within a short amount of time, the final victor would most likely be Suo Mingzhang.
Long Xueji was more competitive in fights, especially if he was fighting someone that possesses an outstanding skill in using swords.
As for other matters like treasures, he didn’t seem to mind a lot.
“If that’s the case, thank you, senior apprentice-uncle Long.” Yan Zhaoge cupped his hands at Long Xueji.
Under his control, the Pill Hall was floating around the outskirts of the void. It was attempting to locate a path to return to the daoist universe.
On the way, everyone was chatting with each other. Yan Zhaoge, Nie Jingshen, and the others reported every matter that happened in the World beyond Worlds to the Sword Sovereign – Yue Zhenbei in a detailed manner.
Despite having communicated with each other before, the information exchanged with each other was very simplified. It was incomparable to a thorough discussion of the details face-to-face.
The most important information was naturally the Exalted Earth – Jiang Shen achieving the Five Qis Unification. He had successfully passed the Profound Origin Tribulation and had become a Heavenly Monarch [1] of the Grand Virtual Immortal.
On the contrary, the better news was that the Exalted Fire – Suo Mingzhang causing havoc within the Immortal Court had angered many Immortal Court experts. They were pursuing Suo Mingzhang with the intent to kill him.
With that, the old rivals of the Immortal Court, the Blessed Lands who were also heretics had also noticed the changes within the Immortal Court universe.
When they were still within the Original Nebula, some bigwigs from the Blessed Lands had already gone ahead to scout.
After confirming that the Immortal Court wasn’t setting up a trap, the Blessed Lands of Buddhism would naturally not let go of such a precious chance.
The war of Buddhism that was slowly calming down started to erupt once again.
If the Immortal Court could dispose of Suo Mingzhang within a short amount of time, they could reorganize their troops to fend off the threat coming from the Blessed Lands.
Although they would be forced to go into war, they wouldn’t lose their standing.
“However, they weren’t able to deal with the Exalted Fire. Instead, some were still killed by the Exalted Fire, and he managed to escape the besiegement.” Yan Zhaoge touched his chin, “It turned into an awkward situation.”
As a result, the attacks of the Blessed Lands of Buddhism might affect the entire Immortal Court.
“However, the heretic Buddhists’ actions weren’t as intense as what we expected.” said the Sword Sovereign peacefully, “There must be a deeper reason within.”
It was definitely not because of the Immortal Court surrendering to the Blessed Lands.
Even if they might tolerate Suo Mingzhang, the Immortal Court would never surrender to the Blessed Lands.
It became very intriguing why the Blessed Lands never took advantage of the situation.
“Does the Immortal Court heretics have any helpers or allies?” Yan Zhaoge frowned, “The Demon Race?”
Everyone thought about it, “It’s possible.”
There’s no doubt that the Demon Race was quietly observing the world for any changes.
The only thing to worry about was what kind of operations they might have, and what kind of plot they have.
Are they the allies of the Immortal Court? Are they plotting for something else?
Yan Zhaoge continuously thought about it, and many kinds of thoughts flashed across his mind. He could only feel that the situation was becoming more and more unpredictable.
Long Xueji brought Yu Ye together with him and bowed towards Yue Zhenbei, “Senior apprentice-brother Yue.”
“Senior apprentice-uncle Yue.” It was a rare occasion for Yu Ye to not be daydreaming. Instead, she looked at Yue Zhenbei with curiosity.
When the Sword Sovereign was fighting against the Lofty Sovereign, and the Jade Clear Heaven Opening Sword was fighting against the Prime Clear Apocalypse Sword, the profundities contained within were a feast for her eyes. It made her feel very satisfied.
The Sword Sovereign – Yue Zhenbei was always in a bad relationship with the Prime Clear Lineage’s martial arts practitioner.
However, he was still being very friendly towards the descendant of the Dragon Spring Emperor, “No need to be so formal. I’m also very happy for senior apprentice-uncle Long’s descendant to be such a talented person.”
“How is senior apprentice-uncle now?”
Long Xueji replied, “Before we left the Roving Jade Heavens, my father is still in seclusion.”
“The Profound Sovereign still hasn’t come out of seclusion?” asked Yue Zhenbei.
“That’s right.” Long Xueji nodded.
Yue Zhenbei said, “Li Ziteng should also still be in seclusion, right? Since Zhang Buxu had already left the Roving Jade Heavens, only the two of you from the Roving Jade Heavens came here?”
Yu Ye blinked her eyes when she heard what Yue Zhenbei said.
Li Ziteng was the Profound Sovereign and the Lofty Sovereign’s master, and also the old Grandmaster of the Roving Jade Heavens, the Vine Sovereign.
Her surname was Li, and her name was Ziteng.
However, people would only refer to her as Li Ziteng if they were of the same peers.
As a Profound Immortal Sovereign, there was no problem with Yue Zhenbei calling her that. However, their age difference was very huge. It was rare for Yue Zhenbei to be this rude, based on the way he usually acts.
However, his expression was calm, and he spoke it out very naturally. He didn’t feel that anything was weird.
Based on this alone, it could be seen how bad their relationship with each other was.
After Yue Zhenbei’s master, the Exalted Gold Luminary – Yan Xintang had perished, the Vine Sovereign started belittling Yan Xintang because of what had happened to Di Qinglian. She also held a deep resentment towards the Jade Capital Crag lineage.
Because of that, not only does the Vine Sovereign hold deep resentment towards Yue Zhenbei, Yue Zhenbei felt the same towards the Vine Sovereign as well.
“Other than us, Daoist Cloud Conquest and his disciple, Nine Heavens He is also here.” Long Xueji seemed to have no problems with it. He just answered peacefully.
“Daoist Cloud Conquest also came here?” said Yue Zhenbei as he raised his head, “However if he isn’t fully confident of taking control over this Pill Hall, he wouldn’t unsheathe his sword for today’s matter.”
Hearing the words “unsheathe his sword”, Yan Zhaoge’s eyes flickered, “As expected, the Cloud Conquest Emperor is still nurturing his sword?”
“You’ve fought against him?” Long Xueji looked at Yan Zhaoge with a slight hint of surprise.
“The Cloud Emperor did not use his Clear Accomplishment Sword. We just fought for a few rounds.” Yan Zhaoge smiled.
Although Yan Zhaoge never mentioned anything about the outcome of the battle, e
veryone knew that Yan Zhaoge did not suffer any defeat based on his relaxed expression. In fact, he probably had the upper hand.
Although the Cloud Conquest Emperor was nurturing his sword, there were very little opponents within the True Immortal Realm who could fight him considering how strong he was.
Nurturing his sword didn’t mean reserving his strength.
This was an ancient art of the Prime Clear Secret Technique. When a sword cultivator was about to break through his current realm, they would purposely suppress and nurture their sword intent and mentality.
As soon as he unsheaths, his realm of cultivation would improve drastically.
At the same time, it was much beneficial for going towards a higher realm, the more intense the nurturing process was.
At the moment they break through, the burst of accumulated power would make the first sword swing the strongest in the world.
However, even if they had yet to breakthrough, it didn’t affect them from using their full strength.
Because of that, Yue Zhenbei and the others were shocked when they heard that Yan Zhaoge had won the Cloud Conquest Emperor.
It was extremely hard to cultivate the Sheathe Edge and Nurture Sword. If one wasn’t careful, they might get stuck in the current realm they were in forever with no chance of advancement.
Since ancient times, the number of Prime Clear lineage’s experts that cultivated this martial art was very little.
“However, in the Roving Jade Heavens, the Cloud Emperor doesn’t seem to be the only one cultivating this martial art.” Yan Zhaoge asked with interest, “Are senior apprentice-granduncle Long and senior apprentice-uncle Gao also cultivating this art?”
[1] I didn’t quite agree with some terms from previous translations, so I’m here to clarify them.
Heavenly Lord – a title used to address others, not a cultivation realm. While not all top-notch experts are able to gain the title of “Heavenly Lord”, those that acquired this title were undoubtedly extremely outstanding. Usually used to address those of the Heavenly Immortal Realm.
Grand Heavenly Immortal – After a Virtual Immortal managed to produce the Three Flowers Converged Crown, and had passed the Origin Heavenly Tribulation, they can transform their Immortal Essence into Immortal Splendour. They can now be granted the title “Heavenly Lord”.
Heavenly Monarch – After a Profound Immortal had refined the fifth kind of Immortal qi, and passed the Profound Origin Tribulation, they can unify their qi as one and achieve the Five Qis Unification. Also known as a Grand Virtual Immortal/ Virtual Immortal.
History's Strongest Senior Brother Chapter 1276 - Difficulties in Cultivation
Although they were brothers, the age gap between Gao Xuebo and Long Xueji was quite huge.
Gao Xuebo could be classified as the oldest Exalt Martial Saint within the Roving Jade Heavens.
In terms of seniority, even if he was younger compared to Earth Exalt of the World beyond Worlds, Wang Zhengcheng, he was a very old senior compared to others.
Wang Zhengcheng had remained in the mortal realm because he had some old injuries on his body.
If he were to attempt to push open the Immortal Door in order to pass the Immortal Mortal Tribulation, it would only result in his death.
If it wasn’t for the various amounts of divine pills and medicines to prolong his life, he might have already perished.
As for Gao Xuebo, he had already been a Human Exalt for a very long time and had remained stagnant in that realm for many years as well.
Long Xueji who was much younger than him had already successfully pushed open the Immortal Door and had surpassed him.
Even the young juniors like He Mian and Yu Ye were standing at the pinnacle of a mortal alongside each other on the same level.
The last time Yan Zhaoge saw Gao Xuebo, he had already vaguely guessed that he was nurturing his sword, just like the Cloud Conquest Emperor.
The one under the same situation was the Dragon Spring Emperor, Long Xingquan.
However, a guess was still a guess. It might not be accurate. It might be possible that the potential of those three had already been depleted, and had no changes in their current cultivation realm solely because they were already at their own pinnacle.
However, after personally coming in contact with the Cloud Conquest Emperor and Gao Xuebo, Yan Zhaoge felt that that wasn’t the case.
“Senior apprentice-uncle Long and junior apprentice-brother Gao are cultivating the ancient art of the Prime Clear lineage, Sheathe Edge and Nurture Sword.” Sword Sovereign – Yue Zhenbei answered Yan Zhaoge’s question.
Yan Zhaoge nodded, “As expected.”
Even with the same martial art, the same environment, and under the same condition, different people would have different accomplishments.
In the cultivation of supreme art, the cultivating environment, availability of cultivation guidance, and availability of resources had to be accounted for. Even so, the individual difference in accomplishments would be very vast.
This was the exact reason that being alive for a long time didn’t signify them being strong.
It was because after many people had reached a certain height in their cultivation path, they might be unable to break through their bottleneck.
In the following years of their life, if there weren’t any huge changes, they would be fated to come to a halt at their current cultivation realm until their life force reached its end.
No matter if it was the prosperous era of martial arts before the Great Calamity, or the rebirth era after the Great Calamity, it was the same for everyone.
Of course, if one lived for a long time, they might have more hopes to acquire some chances or opportunities which they had never imagined of before, and ultimately allow them to break through their bottleneck miraculously.
However, that was a very rare encounter.
The problem most people face was that even if it was an Immortal Realm expert, they had different longevity.
The sooner they ascend to a higher realm, the more time they would have to continuously fight for the chance to breakthrough.
Because of that, people like Yan Zhaoge, Yan Di, Nie Jingshen, Chen Qianhua, Long Xueji, Yu Ye, He Mian, and the others were deemed as a heaven’s favored child. They were destined to be legends.
On one hand, it was because they were able to ascend to a high cultivation realm despite being so young. It meant that their talents were extraordinary, and they would not easily come to a halt in their path of cultivation.
On the other hand, they also had more time to work harder.
However, whatever happens in the future is unpredictable. It was normal for one to have drastic improvements at first, and get stuck in a certain realm for thousands of years, or even longer than that.
Because of that, no one dared to be careless in the path of martial arts. Everyone would give their all to venture the path of cultivation.
The Prime Clear lineage’s ancient art – the Sheathe Edge and Nurture Sword was created solely because of this reason.
Sword cultivators focus on training the art of killing. They were bad in taking care of their wellbeing. Even if they had a professional method of caring for their wellbeing, they were still disadvantageous in terms of longevity.
When fighting against someone, while they had strong combat powers and were very precise in killing, it also harbored negative effects, namely being harder to break through their cultivation realm.
Among the Three Clear Lineages, the Prime Clear Lineage was the hardest lineage to break through their realm of cultivation.
It was more optimistic for those that had yet to push open the Immortal Door. However, after becoming an Immortal, especially if they were a True Immortal or a Profound Immortal, it would be extremely difficult to breakthrough.
The reason was that the first Immortal Qi that the True Immortal Emperor sword cultivators refine would be either the Evil Qi or the Righteous Qi.
If other
conditions were the same, the martial practitioners that cultivated one of these two Immortal Qis had the strongest combat power.
However, these two kinds of Immortal qi were the hardest to fuse with other Immortal qis to form the Immortal Aura.
The most classic example of a sword cultivator’s difficulties in improving their cultivation would be Yan Zhaoge’s grandfather, Exalted Gold Luminary – Yan Xintang.
Yan Xintang had the reputation of being a Sword God. In the past, his strength was very outstanding when he was among the New Nine Luminaries of Kunlun. However, he was the last to pass the True Profound Tribulation and achieve the Profound Immortal Realm among the nine of them.
The Prime Clear lineage’s secret art, the art of Nurturing Sword might cause a martial art practitioner to remain stagnant within their current realm of cultivation, and even remain longer than their own peers. However, their cultivation after they successfully breakthrough would save a lot more time, and they would have higher hopes to break through a higher realm.
The help the secret art provided differs from each person and had its own limits as well.
However, improving their own cultivation was very hard. When one reaches a very high realm of cultivation, even a minor help of increasing their cultivation would be very precious.
However, this Sheathe Edge and Nurture Sword art had a very huge risk. In the past, there were many Prime Clear experts that were crippled after they failed to nurture their swords.
It was up to the martial art practitioners to decide whether they were up to it or not.
If they decided to not nurture their sword, and breakthrough a level in a normal way, even a thousand years might not allow them to breakthrough.
Nurturing their swords meant to temporarily restraint their cultivation, and halt at their current realm for a thousand years. After that, they would breakthrough, and be closer to breaking through again. However, they would have to handle a certain risk.
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