Martial Cultivator

Chapter 960.1: Smoke Signals Visible - Part 1

A convoy departed from the Divine Capital, heading north.

The convoy was made up of the rare kind of carriages drawn by two horses, and the horses were tall and strong, far superior to ordinary pack horses. Even so, when the carriages passed along the official road, they still left behind deep tracks on the ground.

And such carriages stretched along the road as far as the eye could see, drawing curiosity from passing merchants and common folk. But when they noticed the guards accompanying the convoy, their curiosity faded.

There was a guard unit of about thirty men, riding slowly on horseback along both sides of the convoy.

All the guards wore black official robes, with official boots, their builds tall and their expressions solemn.

From this attire, it was easy to tell that this escort force consisted of military officers from the warden faction.

In present-day Great Liang, there was a certain unspoken trust toward the warden faction. So once people realized that it was this faction escorting the convoy, much of their concern disappeared, and there was no longer much reason to be curious.

After all, anything that Lord Warden Commander set out to do would be accomplished.

Of this, they did not had the slightest doubt.

At the rear of the convoy, atop a magnificent white horse, sat a relaxed young man in green robes. In front of him, in his arms, was a young girl, who was looking around curiously.What seemed most peculiar, however, was that beside that white horse, there was a sweat-drenched youth who was not riding, but instead jogging alongside the horse the entire way.

These three were naturally Yu Xiyi and his disciple Jiang Xiao'an, along with the unlucky Yu Qingfeng who had not wanted to go out but had been forced to..

When they first left the Divine Capital, Yu Qingfeng had indeed been given a horse. But after riding for just over twenty miles, that bored Great Sword Immortal Yu began sighing repeatedly, looking at Yu Qingfeng with great regret.

Yu Qingfeng had originally resolved that no matter what, he would ignore this nominal martial uncle. No matter what tricks he pulled, he planned not to say a single word to him.

But after another ten miles or so, he could not hold it in any longer and irritably asked what Great Sword Immortal Yu was sighing about.

Yu Xiyi had been waiting precisely for Yu Qingfeng to take the initiative to speak, so he immediately began saying that as Chen Chao’s eldest disciple, as the founding disciple of the strongest martial artist in the world, should he not bear the honor of this lineage? When people of the world spoke of him and his master, would they not say that Yu Qingfeng had inherited Chen Chao’s true teachings and was the strongest among his disciples?

Yu Qingfeng had never regarded He Liang as his opponent, and naturally felt that he should carry on his master’s martial path, so he could not help but nod.

As a result, Yu Xiyi slapped his palm and said: this was wrong, you, Yu Qingfeng, should be the most formidable disciple under Chen Chao. But earlier, He Liang had clearly been taken out by Chen Chao for special instruction. Even if it was not necessarily something taught to He Liang and not to you, Yu Qingfeng, a master’s favoritism would still tilt the balance. Though He Liang could not yet compare to you now, who knew when he might surpass you?

At the time, Yu Qingfeng frowned and said that he treated Little He as a younger brother. Even if one day he truly became stronger than him, he would not feel upset.

Yu Xiyi said that this was still wrong. It was not about the two of them having to fight to the death to decide superiority, but rather that you, Yu Qingfeng, should have the bearing of standing before all others. Whether it was your junior brother or even your master, you should carry the resolve to surpass them and stand at a higher point in the martial path.

These words from Yu Xiyi were half-truths, half-fabrications, yet they immediately struck Yu Qingfeng as very reasonable.

Following Yu Xiyi’s suggestion, Yu Qingfeng began actively seeking hardships for himself. First, he refused to ride a horse. Later, even during breaks, forcing himself to grind through several sets of punches.

He was utterly bordering on madness.

Originally, Jiang Xiao'an had been delighted to see Yu Qingfeng being tricked by his master, but now, seeing him in this frenzied state, she felt a bit concerned. She gently tugged at her master’s sleeve and whispered, “Master, if you push Brother Yu like this and something happens to him, won’t Martial Uncle Chen hold us responsible?”

Yu Xiyi felt slightly guilty, but in front of his disciple, he still put on a stern face and said, “I am only acting with good intentions, helping him teach his disciple in my own way. It’s all from the heart. Xiao'an, don’t speak recklessly, don’t speak recklessly.”

Jiang Xiao'an responded with an “Oh” and didn’t bother worrying about it further. Instead, she asked, “Master, how much longer until we reach that Great Wall?”

To the common people of Great Liang, there were probably two places they would only ever hear about but never see in their lifetime.

One was the Divine Capital, the mightiest city in the world, and the other was the Northern Frontier Great Wall.

If the Divine Capital had ties to the previous dynasty and wasn’t solely the achievement of Great Liang, then the Northern Frontier Great Wall was entirely the work of the Great Liang Dynasty. Over more than two hundred years, countless laborers had fallen one after another, and innumerable taxes from the national treasury had been sent north. Money, in the face of this Great Wall, seemed like nothing more than a constantly accumulating number.

And thus was born this wall stretching between the demon race and the human race, keeping humanity safe from the demon threat for a full two hundred years.

Yu Xiyi calculated roughly and said, “At our current speed, it should take about seven or eight days to reach it. Then you’ll see a Great Wall even taller than the walls of the Divine Capital.”

“Taller than the walls of the Divine Capital?”

Jiang Xiao'an was surprised; she had never imagined the Great Wall could be that high.

Yu Xiyi smiled. “If it weren’t that tall, the demons would easily climb over it, wouldn’t they?”

He had spoken casually, but after a moment, he added, “However tall the wall is, if it weren’t for the countless men who stood guard and fell one after another, the people wouldn’t be living in such stability today.”

Should be considered stable, right?

Yu Xiyi stroked the stubble on his chin and grinned. “Xiao'an, do you know that when I first came to the desolate north, I happened to witness a truly magnificent battle?”

At that time, he had used a sword sect great talisman to save that sword immortal, and then witnessed a scene he would never forget: His Majesty the Emperor, alone, crossing the desolate north, from south to north and back again.

If Yu Xiyi had ever had an idol in swordsmanship, the answer was no, on the path of the sword, there had been none.

Even the revered Sect Master of the Sword Sect, whom all sword cultivators saw as an idol, was in Yu Xiyi’s eyes merely a high mountain he would eventually surpass. But after witnessing His Majesty the Emperor traverse the desolate north, this man who had not yet become a sword immortal at the time, finally had a true idol in his heart.

Not a sword cultivator, a martial artist.

A martial artist with great breadth of spirit and a presence unmatched by nearly anyone.

In those following years, whenever Yu Xiyi faced any powerhouse of the present age, he could treat them with utter disdain, casually stepping forward to curse them a few times. Only when facing that His Majesty the Emperor would Yu Xiyi put away all his contempt and bring out the utmost respect he possessed.

Yu Xiyi muttered to himself, “If only His Majesty could cross the desolate north once more, and I could follow behind him, what a joyous thing that would be!”

Jiang Xiao'an did not understand his master's thoughts. He merely gazed into the distance, thinking of that Great Wall, and also of his father.

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