novelraw Chapter 1 : Chapter 1
Chapter 1 : Chapter 1
Chapter 1
“In this world, whether it is storytellers, sword practitioners, or cultivators, there is no one who does not know of the Sword Pavilion. The Sword Pavilion stands lofty and imposing; for three thousand li it guards the Demon Abyss. Its seventy-two sword peaks pierce the heavens and anchor the earth, and its twelve Sword Immortals are renowned across the world!”
The old man sat cross-legged beneath a tree.
With a sweep of his pipe, he somehow managed to conjure a stirring, heroic aura from his words.
A child sat opposite him, propping his cheeks in his hands, his face filled with longing.
“When speaking of the Sword Pavilion, one cannot fail to mention a single person.”
The old man drew out his voice in a long chant.
“With one sword, he cleaved the drifting clouds; in the Nine Heavens, even the stars trembled. Upon Qiyun Peak, the Sword Sovereign—”
Zheng!
Before the words “Sword Sovereign” had fully left his lips, the clear cry of a sword rang out from nowhere.
A streak of white light flashed into the old man’s eyes and struck the tree just above his head!
The old man froze in place.
The child screamed, “A snake! A snake!”
A slender sword had pinned a brown, mottled serpent less than an inch behind the old man’s head.
Its triangular skull was terrifying to behold.
“Elder, when telling stories, do not forget to mind your surroundings,” Luo Pinglan said.
The old man turned around.
A young woman stood there in fitted attire, her hair bound high.
She grasped the sword hilt, flicked her wrist, and tossed the already dead viper aside.
The blade remained spotless as it slipped deftly back into its sheath.
Still shaken, the old man rose to offer his thanks, but Luo Pinglan lifted a hand to stop him, and he could no longer bow.
The child’s eyes shone brightly as he stared at her.
“Big Sister, you are amazing! Do you know the Sword Sovereign?”
“How could one who practices the sword not know the Sword Sovereign?” Luo Pinglan smiled lightly and drifted away.
“So amazing! I want to become a Sword Immortal too!” the child said wistfully.
The old storyteller, however, gazed in the direction she had left, lost in thought.
“Grandpa, what are you looking at?” the child asked, tilting his face up.
“Big Sister is already gone.”
Recalling the patterns on her robes, the old man suddenly slapped his thigh and exclaimed in realization, “Oh my! She is a disciple of the Sword Pavilion!”
…
Riding the wind between heaven and earth, a hundred li of clouded sky vanished in an instant.
Like a swift swallow, Luo Pinglan sped toward the Sword Pavilion.
Saving the old man had been nothing more than a minor interlude.
Luo Pinglan should not have returned at this time, but the Master of Sitting-Forgetting Island had suddenly sent word that a great upheaval was about to befall heaven and earth.
Naturally, the Pavilion Master of the Sword Pavilion could not continue wandering freely outside.
Though Luo Pinglan hastened on her return, she felt no anxiety. Along the way, she even took the opportunity to eliminate quite a few evil fiends who sought to fish in troubled waters.
Even if a great upheaval was imminent, the Pavilion still had its twelve Sword Immortals standing guard.
If the Sword Pavilion could lose itself within a mere few days under such protection, then there would be no need for her to remain Pavilion Master.
Moreover, the Sword Sovereign still resided upon Qiyun Peak.
Among the cultivators of the world, there was none who did not know the Sword Sovereign; among the disciples of the Sword Pavilion, none failed to take pride in him.
Twelve hundred years ago, the Demon Abyss invaded, and heaven and earth were thrown into turmoil. Surging demonic flames stained the southeastern skies red.
Alone, with a single sword, the Sword Sovereign charged into the Demon Abyss.
Sword Qi tore through the void; demonic flames shattered like blood; even the stars of the Nine Heavens trembled.
From that day onward, the demons retreated into the Demon Abyss, while the Sword Pavilion guarded the far southeastern reaches.
The Sword Sovereign dwelt upon Qiyun Peak, and none dared challenge his edge.
However, the last time the Sword Sovereign had emerged from seclusion was nine hundred years ago.
No one knew what form the coming upheaval would take, nor whether it would cause the Sword Sovereign—who had been in closed-door cultivation atop Qiyun Peak for nearly a thousand years—to emerge once more.
…
Atop Qiyun Peak, a slab of green stone stood at the summit.
Embedded within it was a sword that had endured wind and sun for nearly a thousand years without ever being drawn.
Shuang Wenlü sat on a bamboo chair beside the stone.
With two fingers held together like a blade, he leisurely split bamboo strips.
A faint fragrance of fresh bamboo drifted outward, clinging to his robes.
Nine hundred years had passed, yet the sword bamboo upon Qiyun Peak still stood straight and tall. From the summit down to the mountainside, clouds and mist coiled and drifted.
The morning sun had just risen; its light melted into the mist, rising and falling slowly like pale golden waves.
A flash of sword light, swift as a swallow, plunged headlong into the pale golden sea of clouds.
Luo Pinglan ascended to the peak.
She had expected to knock and request an audience, yet she saw Shuang Wenlü in the courtyard, splitting bamboo strips.
Who would have imagined that these very hands, now trimming bamboo, had once wielded a sword to shatter the Demon Abyss?
“Grand Martial Uncle, are you preparing to emerge from seclusion?” Luo Pinglan asked.
“Yes. A great upheaval is about to occur within heaven and earth.”
Shuang Wenlü lifted the long bamboo strip before him, examined it, and set it aside in satisfaction.
“The Heavenly Dao has opened a portion of the world’s barrier and allowed many ‘Golden Fingers’ to enter.”
“What are ‘Golden Fingers’?” Luo Pinglan asked.
“They are fragments of growing rules. As for the specifics, I do not know.” Shuang Wenlü trimmed another length of bamboo and pinned his full head of black hair at the back. “When the time comes, we will see.”
“In any case…” He brought two carved bamboo pieces together, forming a sword sheath, and gave it a light shake.
The long sword that had rested within the green stone for nearly a thousand years suddenly released a resonant cry, shaking the forests across the mountain.
In an instant, it leapt free from the stone and slid into the sheath.
“They will not throw heaven and earth into chaos.”