by <unknown>
This was a golden opportunity, Xiutian Chen and Yan Yunsheng were two of the three magnates in the Xian Kong City, if their lives were claimed, then the monster race would cease to be a source of consternation for the Swords Gate any longer!
But there were elders that held deep concern, if the two lords were unsuccessfully slain, they would then form an incorrigible enmity with the monster race, shattering the current tenuous stalemate between the two races. In addition, the third magnate, Lord of Xian Kong City, would definitely not fold his arms and watch as the two island lords were slain.
Moreover, although the two island lords were severely wounded, they were figures that held their position stalwartly for years, it would not be easy to actually kill them.
While the elders could not see eye to eye with each other, they argued among one another for the final decision.
“Fu Shan, let’s go.”
His white robe fluttered in the wind alongside the turtle sized like a mountain, the duo left the Swords Gate. Fang Jiange walked in the air as if he was walking on the ground while the giant turtle Fu Shan followed behind. The two of them followed the tracks and chased after Xiutian Chen and Yan Yunsheng.
“Fang Jiange, stand down!”
An elder rushed out from the Swords Gate and shouted, “The decision is yet to be made by the elders, you cannot act recklessly! Whether or not we will pursue the two island lords poses ramifications to the future of Swords Gate and Xian Kong City, it is not a matter you can unilaterally decide on!”
Fang Jiange did not even turn his head, his tone was calm and indifferent, “I will first slay them and then you can inform me when you old geezers have finally made a decision.”
The elder was enraged, he was about to speak but another young man suddenly flew past him from the Swords Gate, the young man laughed and said, “Senior Martial Brother Fang is right, opportunities are fleeting – there one minute, gone the next. The elders can continue to play their politics but this opportunity must not be missed. Senior Martial Brother Fang, I will come with you!”
“Count me in.”
Another young lady flew out from Swords Gate, she smiled, “To pursue and slay two magnates of the headmaster’s level, how can I miss such an interesting event?”
“Hahahaha, three senior martial siblings, wait for me!”
Bolts of lightning flashed, another young man with lightning beneath him appeared, he laughed and said, “The heads of the Sulphur Island Lord and Jinxiu Island Lord, I will take them down myself!”
The elder was livid, he watched as the four youngsters disappeared in his sights, his voice was quivering with extreme anger, “Presumptuous, presumptuous….”
“Let them be. The four young successors of Swords Gate needed a competition to determine the next in line to for headmaster’s position. In order to be the Swords Gate headmaster, one has to be strong enough to trample the world beneath their feet.”
The You Yu Clan grand elder came to his side and whispered, “Moreover, this is also the headmaster’s acquiescence. Let’s head back, we will continue the discussions.”
That day, the four young successor candidates of Swords Gate embarked on a pursuit of the Sulphur Island Lord Yan Yunsheng and Jinxiu Island Lord Xiutian Chen, in the land between the Great Wilderness and the Sulphur Island, were millions of miles of buffer zones, within which, enthralling battles of during their pursuit would ensue!
The two magnates of the monster race and the four young successor candidates of the Swords Gate ... between them, there would take place an astonishing and exceptional battle!
But these events were all no longer related to Zhong Yue.
Zhong Yue increased his speed and rushed back to Swords Gate, but it still took him half a day until he finally reached back. He did not have the extra energy to even inform the others that he was back and he went straight to bed.
These tens of days he had lived in torment, his body was exhausted and his mind suffered excruciating agony, he could only let his guard down once he had reached Swords Gate.
Encountering with monster race disciples in the Beast God Ridge, then the monster Qi Practitioner in the beast god seal, killing him and acquiring the beast god inner core, transforming into the Xiang Dragon, completing the three God-level slaughtering arrays, then surviving the pursuit of the Shui Tu Clan Qi Practitioners, as well as crossing the Wei River crossed the water ... all of these were events that would have never happened to any upper house disciples yet he had just experienced all of it. Countless times did he evade death by a hair’s margin, the pressure that he faced was unprecedentedly immense.
Only when he arrived back at the guardian sect of the Great Wilderness – the Swords Gate – was the pressure that was weighing on him finally alleviated, giving him the chance to freely catch a breath of air.
After a bout of sleep, Zhong Yue woke up yawning but the only sound that came out from his mouth were the sounds of dragon whistling, he was shocked and quickly looked at himself, he had turned back into the form of a Xiang Dragon lying on his bed!
Oh no, I’ve slept too hard I’ve forgotten to visualize the Sui Sovereign in my sleep, now the beast god essence is taking over my body again! Weird, why did Xin Huo not wake me up in time and urge me to continue my visualization?
Zhong Yue regained his composure, he could see in his psyche ocean on the shoulder of his soul body, a little flame was glowing serenely – Xin Huo was also asleep.
So Xin Huo is also sleeping.
Zhong Yue did not wake him up, he thought, These few days Xin Huo helped me escaped from death countless times, if it wasn’t for him I would be dead already, it’s best to let him sleep and have some rest. Thankfully my prowess has increased a lot, the amount of beast god essence leaked in a single night can’t transform me into Xiang Dragon forever.
His prowess was so much greater than when he first entered the Beast God Ridge, his psyche ocean had expanded to the size of three thousand mus, his speed was greater in refining the beast god essence, although he was now in the form of Xiang Dragon, but as long as he continued on visualizing, it would be easy to revert back to his human form.
Not long later, Zhong Yue was able to suppress the beast god essence and revert back to his normal human form.
“Junior Martial Brother Zhong, Junior Martial Brother Zhong!”
There were sounds of young ladies calling for him, Zhong Yue was puzzled, he opened the door and saw tens of young ladies gathering outside of his courtyard again, they were all surprised and overjoyed to see him alive, they came forward and said, “Junior Martial Brother Zhong is really alive!”
“I already said that he wouldn’t die right?”
“Someone said they saw you came back yesterday, we came once but you were resting and did not answer the door, so we left. Early in the morning we sisters all came to check again, you are really back safely!”
“Junior Martial Brother Zhong, did you really kill that buck? Have you met with the monster Qi Practitioner?”
“You didn’t know, something big happened in the Beast God Ridge! Hong, a loud sound then a colossal Xiang Dragon appeared out of nowhere!”
“I hear that the Shui Tu Clan Qi Practitioners saw a Xiang Dragon cub, they came back and asked all their Qi Practitioners over to capture it. That Xiang Dragon is so cute, I want to bring it back and raise it….”
Ting Lanyue, Tao Daier and the other young ladies along with the female disciples of the Li Shan Clan, a total of 30-50 people were chit-chatting and talking non-stop, Zhong Yue did not even know who he should answer first, after a while Zhong Yue smiled and said, “Senior martial sisters, why don’t we go in and talk?”
The young ladies then swarmed into his courtyard, Li Xiuniang and Yu Feiyan also walked in, with all the young ladies in his courtyard, Zhong Yue suddenly felt that his courtyard was getting small.
“The mating bull of Zhong Shan Clan is back, so many martial sisters came to him, doesn’t he feel tired at all?”
Someone said resentfully, “What did he do to deserve such nice things?”
The girls spent quite some time in his courtyard before they all dispersed, Zhong Yue watched as the young ladies left from the male house, Li Xiuniang smiled and said, “Junior Martial Brother Zhong, we will look for you the next time if we have any events. Also, I would like to have a battle between you and I, we will see who is the strongest of the upper house!”
Yu Feiyan said indifferently from the side, “Junior Martial Sister Li, Junior Martial Brother Zhong is now the strongest of the male house, but you are not the strongest of the female house yet. If you want to fight with him, you will have to go through me first!”
Li Xiuniang chuckled and answered, “Alright, alright, since Junior Martial Sister Yu wants to handover your title, senior martial sister I will fulfill your request.”
The two ladies were fired up while the other male disciples were dumbstruck by their conversations, they mumbled, “Sure enough, the two senior martial sisters of the female house is fighting over the mating bull of Zhong Shan Clan, is that bastard really that attractive?”
“How did he deserve such nice stuff?”
Zhong Yue went back into his little courtyard, he cast away the unrelated thoughts and said to himself, Xin Huo is still resting, I suppose he won’t be waking up in a day or two’s time, but my training cannot stop here. There is beast god essence now, I can continue refining my soul with the lightning! But I wonder if I can directly refine my soul without using the Dragon Scale Sword as a medium?
He was moved by the tantalizing prospect, but moments later he shook his head and decided to be on the safe side by using Dragon Scale Sword as the medium.
The Dragon Blood Sword Scabbard opened and a sword ray pierced through the clouds, in a split second it reached to the high altitude lightning zone.
“Senior Martial Brother Zhong, you are here!”
In the high altitude lightning zone, Qiu Jin’er was surprised to see him, her soul flew over in joy, she smiled and said, “It was quite some time before I managed to see you again, did senior martial brother go on a training trip?”
Being addressed as senior martial brother by a young maiden Qi Practitioner left Zhong Yue a little embarrassed, he smiled and replied, “Junior Martial Sister Jin’er is right, I was out for a training trip these few days, it was so dangerous I almost couldn’t make it back.”
The young maiden was deeply concerned, she said, “It is dangerous to leave the Swords Gate mountain, my mother always asked me not to leave the mountain, senior martial brother was not here for days, I was worried.”
The duo continued their training in the midst of lightning, they were unaware of how quick the time elapsed. During these tens of days, Qiu Jin’er was progressing quickly, she was no doubt the host of an innate spirit body, someone who was naturally born with their spirits manifested, her prowess increased greatly and her soul was environed in lightning.
“Senior Martial Brother Zhong seemed to have improved a lot after coming back from the training trip.”
Qiu Jin’er gazed at the Dragon Scale Sword, she could see Zhong Yue’s soul peeking out from the Dragon Scale Sword, his soul was initially the size of bean but now it was an inch tall, he stood on the Dragon Scale Sword and embraced the lightning while he visualized the Sui Sovereign and turned himself into the form of a dragon-headed human.
Qiu Jin’er’s soul was not too big either but still way bigger than Zhong Yue’s, she was half a feet tall, clearly stronger and more profound in the art of soul compared to Zhong Yue.
It was not a surprise at all as she was an innate spirit body, her soul was naturally much stronger than the others.
The duo trained until they couldn’t sustain anymore, they kept their soul and tacitly promised to continue their training again tomorrow.
“Mother, the senior martial brother is back.”
Qiu Jin’er’s soul returned back to her body, she said to the beautiful woman, “His prowess increases so quick, he can now directly refine his soul without the soul weapon already!”
“Enen….”
The beautiful woman was clearly perfunctory in answering her, she said, “The【Great Boundless Sword Qi】of the headmaster ... it’s not easy to get my hands on it, these few days and I’m already at my wit's end … It is the utmost secret art of the Swords gate, the headmaster would definitely leave a written record, but where could he have hidden it?”
Chapter 45: Sword Token |
Beads of cold sweat percolated on Qiu Jin’er’s forehead, her mother had really stepped it up, she even dared to set her sights on the secret art of the Swords Gate headmaster.
“The headmaster’s【Great Boundless Sword Qi】will definitely be passed down to his successor, while the headmaster is now old, he might die anytime now, therefore, he will definitely leave down a written record of it, a medium that contains the secret of his【Great Boundless Sword Qi】.”
The beautiful woman pondered and thought, “I’ve searched the whole golden summit and paid countless visits to the library, but I still couldn’t find where he hid the medium at, the only thing I’ve found is this sword token. But it’s utterly useless, it contains only an ordinary sword art that goes by the name of Geng Jin Sword Qi. I peeped at headmaster diligently sculpting this sword token and I thought it would be some good stuff, but who knew it was just an ordinary sword art like this Geng Jin Sword Qi….”
Qiu Jin’er took over the sword token and looked at it, it was really the Geng Jin Sword Qi.
Geng Jin Swords Qi was one of the most common sword art among the Swords Gate, Qiu Jin’er had once practiced it, it could not be considered as a profound art at all.
“Mother, even if I don’t practice the【Great Boundless Sword Qi】, I would still not be weaker than the others. There is no need for mother to worry about me, as long as I am outstanding enough, the headmaster would surely pass the【Great Boundless Sword Qi】to me” Qiu Jin’er smiled and reassured her mother.
The beautiful woman shook her head and said solemnly, “It may be true but things are different now. If the headmaster is still young and lively, he will have more than enough time to select the next in line, there will be time for you to grow and compete with the four young successor candidates. But now the headmaster is old, he will have to push forward the timeframe within which he decides the next headmaster by at least a few years. You entered the scene later than those four young and formidable opponents of yours, they are already strong and well-known Qi Practitioners, you will not have enough time to stand out. The only way to stand out and chase up to Fang Jiange and the like ... is to take a shortcut!”
“I don’t want to stand out either….” Qiu Jin’er mumbled.
“If you don’t stand out, how are you going to remedy your leg?”
The beautiful woman sighed, she carried Qiu Jin’er and placed her on the wooden wheelchair and pushed her out, she said, “You were born with the Wood Innate Spirit, the wood element in your body is too overpowering causing your legs to be impaired from birth. I’ve asked the You Yu Clan grand elder, he said that the Wood Innate Spirit is both a blessing and curse, you are born with a heavily concentrated wood element Qi that also took a toll on your body. Plus, you didn’t make it in time to cultivate at an early age, hence, the wood element Qi accumulated in greater quantities. As the Wood Innate Spirit is the God of Tree, when you were born, the tree god will have to find a way to take root. Your legs were the roots, your body the tree trunk and branches and your head comprise the tree crown. It is still fine if your legs are impaired, but a few more years later your body might just be wholly affected, then you will be a living dead, there’s nothing you can control other than your soul.”
Qiu Jin’er stayed silent, moments later she insisted, “Mother, you don’t have to push me, I am a Qi Practitioner, I can fly even without my legs.”
The beautiful woman shook her head and insisted on pushing the wheelchair as she sai
d, “Only with the increase of your prowess can you resolve the oppressive wood Qi in your body and wrest back full autonomy of your body. But the wood Qi is too heavily concentrated in your body ... accumulated too much. With your current cultivation speed, god knows how long it would take to resolve the wood Qi. If your body is solidified by the wood Qi, then you … If you can practice the headmaster’s【Great Boundless Sword Qi】, your cultivation speed will be crazily fast. Once you are cured, why would mother still stop you from leaving the palace?”
Qiu Jin’er gripped the sword token tightly in her hands, she maintained a contemplative silence.
“Let’s go and bathe in the sunlight, look at your face, all pale and white.”
The beautiful woman pushed her out of the palace, she crouched down and tapped on Qiu Jin’er’s legs, she asked, “Any feeling?”
Qiu Jin’er shook her head.
The woman then pinched her waist, “Pain?”
“Pain.” Qiu Jin’er answered.
The beautiful woman heaved a breath of relief and her face suffused a pensive smile, “Good, your waist is still not affected yet, if it is, then it will be very dangerous. The waist is not far away from the heart, if your heart is affected, then there would be no recourse anymore. When you are done resting, I will go to the golden summit again ... I refuse to believe that I can’t find where the 【Great Boundless Sword Qi】is hidden!”
The smile on Qiu Jin’er face was sweet and warm but beneath her clothes at her waist lied purplish and livid bruises that belied the serenity she showed on her face. The bruises weren’t pinched by her mother, but a result of her own desperate inflictions.
Her waist had long since been numbed – she could not feel any pain at all, no matter how hard she pinched.
The next day, Zhong Yue met with Qiu Jin’er again. The young maiden’s soul flew over, she danced in the midst of the lightning like a gracious fairy; she was practicing an art of the sword.
