Qingshan

Chapter 61 : Chapter 61

Chapter 61: Nurturing the Sword

The stars in the sky were sometimes very close. They seemed to hang right overhead, embedded in the deep, dark firmament. When standing on a mountain, it felt as if one could reach out and touch them.

But in reality, the stars we saw might be light and shadow they cast tens of thousands of years ago.

I didn't know how long Xuanyuan's lifespan was, such that he could casually spend 434 years, and that was only laying the groundwork for cultivation.

I looked at Crow: "Uncle Crow, do you know the Mountain Chief of Jing Dynasty's Martial Temple, Lu Yang?"

Crow actually nodded.

I asked again: "Then do you know how old he is?"

As soon as the words fell, before Crow could respond, I saw Old Man Yao walk out with his hands behind his back: "Why are you asking about Lu Yang so early in the morning instead of sleeping?"

"Well," I thought and answered: "Didn't Liang Gou'er say I was suitable for learning the Sword Seed? I heard that the Mountain Chief Lu Yang at Jing Dynasty's Martial Temple cultivates the Sword Seed, so I'm asking about it."

Old Man Yao scoffed: "You think you can learn it just because you want to? Would anyone be willing to teach you? Didn't your fever already break? Why are you still talking nonsense?"

I: "...You should first tell me how old Lu Yang is."

Old Man Yao said lightly: "According to rumors, he should be one hundred thirty years old. His cultivation level is high, so naturally he lives longer."

"How old was he when he became famous?"

Old Man Yao glanced at me and said blandly: "Why should I tell you these things? Go ask someone else."

I pondered for a moment, then went inside to help Old Man Yao carry out his bamboo lounger and helped him lie down.

While beating his legs, I said sincerely: "Master, I could go ask others, but others aren't as knowledgeable as you. As the saying goes, having an elder in the house is like having a treasure. Since I'm guarding this treasure mountain that is you, why would I need to find others? How could they compare to you, Master? They can't!"

Old Man Yao glanced at me. After a long silence, he finally spoke slowly: "What were you just asking?"

"How old Lu Yang was when he became famous."

"How old when he became famous?" Old Man Yao fell into contemplation, his eyes full of memories: "He's truly a legendary figure—one of the rare living legends in the martial world."

"Lu Yang was born into a Jing Dynasty noble family. His father Lu Xiao was the Champion Marquis of Jing Dynasty. After being disabled in the Battle of Chongli Pass, he passed on the Sword Seed path inherited by the Lu family to Lu Yang early. Legend has it that Lu Yang entered the Innate Realm at twelve, the Path-Seeking Realm at sixteen, the Divine Path Realm at twenty-one, and took charge of the Martial Temple at twenty-two, becoming Jing Dynasty's youngest 'Mountain Chief.'"

"After Lu Yang took charge of the Martial Temple, he crossed south into Ning Dynasty twice. The first time he crossed south, he climbed Mount Jinghai's Linghua Temple, shattered the bronze bell in Linghua Temple's gate, and crippled the abbot's cultivation."

"The second time he crossed south, Lu Yang attacked Mount Linxu's Yuqing Temple, killed the Yuqing Temple's Daoist leader, and split the plaque in front of Jade Emperor Hall. Under siege by hundreds of Yuqing Temple disciples, he burned the Jade Emperor Hall plaque to warm wine. When leaving, he left behind a sentence: 'Nothing special.'"

I was shocked. Could Divine Path Realm experts really do whatever they wanted?

"Why did he attack these two sects?"

Old Man Yao smiled: "Because Lu Yang is obsessed with martial arts. After entering the Divine Path Realm, he always wanted to find an opponent in Jing Dynasty but couldn't find one, so he came to Ning Dynasty. That Linghua Temple abbot and Yuqing Temple Daoist leader were both known as Ning Dynasty's Divine Path Realm experts most likely to cross the threshold of heaven and man."

"Two Divine Path Realm experts were defeated so easily?" I didn't understand: "Aren't they all Divine Path Realm? Why was Lu Yang more formidable?"

"Bullshit Divine Path Realm! You think Divine Path Realm is cabbage growing everywhere?" Old Man Yao shook his head: "The atmosphere was different back then. Many people exaggerated their realms to recruit disciples. At that time, many people falsely reported their strength. You could randomly pull a stable hand from the martial world and they'd claim to be Path-Seeking Realm—the exaggeration was enormous. In reality, those two from Linghua Temple and Yuqing Temple were only Path-Seeking Realm at most."

"Huh? They dared to falsely report that?"

Old Man Yao lay on the bamboo chair, talking about past anecdotes: "When Lu Yang first entered Divine Path Realm, he was young and spirited. He heard someone from the Demon Sect was about to touch the threshold of heaven and man, so he wanted to challenge them. The Martial Temple elders advised him not to go—if he lost, it would damage Jing Dynasty's vitality. But Lu Yang only left a sentence 'If the enemy can go, so can I,' then went down the mountain and spent a full sixty years killing Jing Dynasty's Demon Sect."

"Did he find that Demon Sect expert?"

"He did."

"Was the person Divine Path Realm?"

Old Man Yao laughed out loud: "When Lu Yang returned to the Martial Temple after his sixty-year demon purge, someone at the Martial Temple asked him the same thing. He answered: 'The enemy lied.'"

I: "...If they hadn't put on such airs, they wouldn't have brought fatal disaster upon themselves."

Old Man Yao continued: "In those years, he didn't just kill Demon Sect members—he also challenged all experts who claimed to 'have hope of advancing to Divine Path Realm' or 'have hope of crossing the threshold of heaven and man.' So much so that in these thirty years, basically no one dares to falsely report their strength anymore. These two words 'Lu Yang' are like a great mountain pressing on the heads of all the world's experts—can't be moved, can't be shifted."

I looked up with respect. Wasn't this a professional fraud-buster?

I asked doubtfully: "Didn't Ning Dynasty have anyone who could counter him?"

"Supposedly that Daoist Master Shitouzi from Mount Huang could. The two fought for a full month outside Chongli Pass thirty years ago. After that, Shitouzi went back to recuperate and never descended Mount Huang again. Lu Yang went into seclusion for thirty years and never left the Martial Temple again."

"Lu Yang lost?"

"Didn't lose, but didn't win either." Old Man Yao sighed: "I heard Shitouzi descended the mountain some days ago. I suppose there will be another battle between them..."

"Master, do you know Lu Yang? How do you know so clearly?" I asked doubtfully.

Old Man Yao didn't answer, but instead asked again: "You want to learn the Sword Seed? I advise you to give up. The Lu family Sword Seed has no precedent of being passed to outsiders. With Lu Yang's Divine Path Realm cultivation, he can live at least another hundred years. This kind of person with hope of touching the threshold of heaven and man won't take disciples."

"He reached Divine Path Realm at twenty-one. Why hasn't he crossed the next threshold after over a hundred years? Is it because someone else is also cultivating the Sword Seed?" I asked.

"That's right," Old Man Yao answered clearly: "Lu Yang once said there should be another person in this mortal world cultivating the Sword Seed with him, which is why he's never been able to cross that final threshold. In the early decades, all of Jing Dynasty helped him search for the other person cultivating the Sword Seed, but they never found them. Who knows where they're hiding."

I pondered secretly. If Lu Yang entered the Innate Realm at twelve, how old was he when he started cultivating the Sword Seed? Just calculating with the nearest star to here, 'Proxima Centauri,' it would take over four years for divine consciousness to touch it.

How did Lu Yang nurture his sword?!

I looked at Old Man Yao and simply asked: "Do you know what Lu Yang uses to nurture his sword?"

Old Man Yao was surprised: "You even know about nurturing the sword? Did that kid in the cloth shop tell you?"

"...Yes!"

Old Man Yao thought: "This isn't really a secret. In Jing Dynasty's north is the North Sea, vast and boundless. Lu Yang nurtures one sword with the vast North Sea—this can be called the world's number one."

I: Huh?

Using the vast North Sea to nurture the sword?

Not using stars?

How was this different from the Sword Seed I was cultivating? Did Xuanyuan leave something out?

......

......

By the apricot tree.

Old Man Yao wore loose cloth clothes and black cloth shoes. He stroked his beard and glanced at me sideways: "Don't aim too high. The Mountain Lord path is no worse than cultivating the Sword Seed—it's just more difficult to cultivate. You'll understand later."

I understood. If I wanted to cultivate the Mountain Lord path to Divine Path Realm, probably half of Ning Dynasty's officials would have to die. The difficulty was indeed quite high...

But whether I could cultivate the Sword Seed—I had to try to know.

I quietly observed Old Man Yao. Should I secretly cultivate behind Master's back? It seemed unnecessary to hide it. If he wanted to harm me, I'd have died ten or eight times already.

I probed: "Master, if there's an opportunity... I mean if, if I could cultivate the Sword Seed path, would you be angry?"

Old Man Yao said playfully: "If, I mean if, if you can cultivate the Sword Seed, then cultivate it. It would be perfect—cultivate the Sword Seed to cut down officials and princes, and the Mountain Lord path will cultivate even faster!"

The next moment, ignoring Old Man Yao and Crow's surprised gazes, I used the method Xuanyuan taught me and lightly cut my brow with a short knife.

A drop of fresh blood seeped from my brow, slowly sliding down. I used my right thumb to smear the blood drop upward. With this smear, my brow gained a crimson mark.

As if a third eye had opened!

I sat cross-legged under the apricot tree, using my blood-stained right thumb and index finger to pinch the base of my left ring finger, while my left thumb pinched the tip of my middle finger.

Old Man Yao sprang up from the bamboo chair, inexplicably surprised: Wasn't this the Daoist Meridian Gesture?

The base of the ring finger was "Zi," the tip of the middle finger was "Wu." With both hands clasped before the body, this was indeed the Daoist hand gesture for respectful greeting—exactly the same.

Strange—where did this kid learn it from?

However, I paid no attention to Old Man Yao's shock. When the Meridian Gesture was formed, I felt as if I could see the "world" through that wound on my brow.

But this world was different from the normal world—there was only a vast sea of stars, boundless and infinite.

Sirius, Tianshu, Yuheng, Betelgeuse, Orion, Fomalhaut... The stars were brilliant!

But I didn't look at them. Instead, I locked my gaze tightly on the nearest sun.

The next moment, I floated up lightly, as if traveling in spirit, flying toward the sky.

Looking down, I saw in Taiping Clinic's small courtyard, 'myself' was sitting cross-legged under the apricot tree. Uncle Crow tilted his head curiously examining me, hopping back and forth on the branches, constantly changing angles to observe.

Old Man Yao paced around me, his eyes wide as copper bells.

In front of the breakfast shop across from the clinic, a helper was removing the door panels. On Anxi Street's bluestone road, an old man carrying firewood hurried along, his shoulder pole rhythmically bouncing up and down.

Looking further, I even saw Dark Cloud crouching on the cloth shop's roof with a tabby cat crouching across from her. The two seemed to be saying something—it seemed they were cursing quite dirtily.

The tabby cat pounced at Dark Cloud, but Dark Cloud pinned the tabby cat to the ground, curled up her paw, and delivered 'bang bang' critical hits on the tabby cat's head...

I had never had such an experience. It was as if I no longer belonged to this world, yet also as if the world already belonged to me.

For some reason, the melancholy accumulated from dealing with Yunyang, Jiaotu, Jinzhu, and the Division Officer was swept clean.

I couldn't help wanting to shout out joyfully, but no sound came out.

I wanted to fly to other places but couldn't control it at all. I could only be pulled bit by bit by the sun.

I suddenly turned around and flew at extreme speed toward that rising sun. It seemed like a long time passed, yet also seemed not long at all. I crossed the vast distance and arrived beside that blazing sun.

There was no burning sensation. The violently churning flames before me had no effect on my "divine consciousness." I couldn't feel any temperature change.

I gently extended a finger and touched the sun's rolling 'lava.'

In an instant, I began falling rapidly. The fingertip that touched the sun trailed a red fiery ribbon that returned through my brow back into my body!

Everything returned to normal. I felt the wind again, heard sounds again.

I sensed I had established a mysterious connection with the sun. Continuous heat was gathering into me from that ribbon I'd pulled back.

The sixteen furnace fires in my body burned fiercely, as if echoing the warm flow I'd drawn from the sun.

An invisible yet sharp energy roamed through my meridians and blood, like a small sword.

So this was the Sword Seed!

So this was the sword energy that could cut down the injustices in one's heart!

I opened my eyes and raised my hand to wipe away the wound on my brow. The wound healed instantly without leaving a trace.

Old Man Yao kept exclaiming beside me: "You? You? You!"