novelraw Chapter 2 : Chapter 2
Chapter 2 : Chapter 2
Chapter 2
A vast upheaval does not necessarily begin with equal grandeur, just as before a torrential rain there is often only a trace of damp softness in the wind.
Beneath the eaves of green tiles, rain fell in fine threads like strings of pearls, striking the shallow hollows worn into the stone slabs by time and splashing into tiny droplets.
A slender hand extended from beneath the eaves, and the falling raindrops landed in his palm. Deprived of the droplets’ impact, the puddle gradually stilled, reflecting a tall, upright figure.
The rain grew heavier, slowly blurring heaven and earth.
Shuang Wenlü did not think these “Golden Fingers” would seek him out first.
A “Golden Finger” was a fragment of rules.
Rule fragments were the seeds of worlds.
Yet they were still far from maturing into even a minor world.
In order to become complete worlds, some rule fragments would travel through different realms, recording their laws as references for themselves.
They needed to record the Dao of this heaven and earth as accumulation, and this heaven and earth likewise needed the laws of other worlds they recorded as reference.
It was a mutually beneficial exchange.
Shuang Wenlü had already instructed Luo Pinglan to pass down an order for the disciples of the Sword Pavilion to pay attention to any existence in the world suspected to be a “Golden Finger.” Before finding them, he had intended to guide the younger generation.
But now it seemed he had underestimated the tricks and capabilities of these things.
Shuang Wenlü looked beyond the curtain of rain.
Two figures approached through the misty downpour.
One had white hair and beard, his bearing straight and resolute—Peak Master Bai Ya of Junji Peak among the seventy-two peaks. Behind him followed an exceptionally outstanding young man, with sharp brows and bright eyes, his keen edge restrained but ready.
When Bai Ya saw Shuang Wenlü beneath the corridor, the stern lines of his brows softened.
The two stepped forward along the rain-dappled bluestone path.
The raindrops were parted by the Sword Qi around them, forming a hazy white veil.
Cen Rui followed behind Bai Ya, staring at the figure beneath the green eaves and rain curtain ahead, his heart burning.
That was the Sword Sovereign.
The world revered him, admired him, longed for him—but why had no one thought of possessing him?
Perhaps someone had, but that person stood too high, and they were all too far away.
They could only imagine reaching him, yet never quite stretch their hands far enough.
But he could. He already stood closer to this man than anyone else.
He held the identity of the most outstanding disciple of the current generation of the Sword Pavilion. Since the Sword Sovereign intended to instruct the younger generation, who could be more qualified than he?
Moreover, he had obtained that thing—that “Golden Finger”! It could conceal his demonic thoughts so none could perceive them, perfectly hide his identity, and cause others to fall into unconscious slumber at his manipulation.
They would only believe it to be a dream without memory, or a blank passage of time in deep meditation, and then, without realizing it, sink step by step.
He wanted to see the Sword Sovereign’s ever-straight spine bend for him.
He wanted to see that indifferent face stained with blush because of him.
If those hands that wielded the sword could only weakly clutch his sleeve, if those calm, composed eyes could only reflect his image in anger and helplessness—
That would surely be the most dazzling sight in this world.
The rain curtain blurred the world, and only the approaching figures grew clearer.
Shuang Wenlü’s eyes were deep and inscrutable.
“He is the disciple you recommended to me?”
His tone was too calm; Bai Ya did not sense anything amiss.
This usually stern Peak Master smiled with rare pride.
“He is the Pavilion’s chief disciple. His cultivation has already reached the seventh realm, the Tianji Realm.”
The Dao was divided into nine realms.
The Tianji Realm was the seventh.
Cen Rui had entered the Sword Pavilion less than a thousand years ago.
His talent could be called extraordinary.
From Bai Ya’s pride, Shuang Wenlü sensed a restrained concern and asked, “He is your disciple?”
Bai Ya nodded seriously.
“His temperament is steadfast, his talent peerless. I fear I may delay him. If you are willing, you may take him as your disciple.”
Shuang Wenlü looked at Cen Rui.
The young man stood upright, respectfully lowering his head behind Bai Ya.
Only when Bai Ya proposed that Shuang Wenlü take him as a disciple did he raise his head in surprise.
There was no joy in his eyes; instead, when he looked at Bai Ya, there was closeness and bewilderment.
He opened his mouth as if to speak, but Bai Ya restrained him.
Bai Ya truly cherished this disciple and thus wished him to transfer to Shuang Wenlü’s tutelage.
He seemed, indeed, to be an excellent young man.
Yet Shuang Wenlü saw surging demonic thoughts within him.
Those demonic thoughts were wrapped in a layer of strange power.
Even a cultivator at the Tianshu Realm could be deceived by it, which was why Bai Ya had failed to perceive anything wrong.
The power of a “Golden Finger". This seemed to be his reliance.
After speaking that single sentence to Shuang Wenlü, Bai Ya said no more, though in the depths of his eyes lay an earnest hope visible only to those familiar with him.
He was not a man of many words, nor one to force his will upon others.
The rain continued to fall.
The droplets were small but dense, like a heavy, damp fog.
After a moment of silence, Shuang Wenlü sighed softly.
Regret flickered across Bai Ya’s face.
He felt Cen Rui had missed a rare opportunity.
Turning to his disciple, he saw him standing with his head half lowered, his gaze seemingly fixed upon something. What was he looking at? Cen Rui’s heart churned with demonic thoughts.
Sword Sovereign, Sword Sovereign! He did not dare raise his head. Instead, he captured that reflection from the ripples of the puddle.
Upright as bamboo, straight as a pine; fingers defined, eyes luminous.
He wanted to possess this man. He had already planned everything! Why would he be rejected? How could he be rejected?!
But it did not matter… Sooner or later, he would find another opportunity.
Sooner or later, he would possess the Sword Sovereign! When that time came, he would shatter the Sword Sovereign’s Dao heart for him! He would make him—
Cen Rui suddenly started.
From the puddle that had abruptly stilled, he saw the chill sharpness in those eyes, like a keen blade, slicing through his disguise and laying bare all his filthy thoughts.
Cen Rui abruptly lifted his head, but it was already too late.
That hand caught a drop of rain.
A drop of rain was a sword.
With a flick of his fingertip, that droplet became the most indestructible sword in the world.
The sword passed through the misty rain like a wisp of drifting smoke.
Cen Rui could clearly see every fraction of its advance.
It was as if heaven and earth had frozen at that moment. All the falling raindrops hung suspended in midair.
The sound of rain ceased, the wind stilled, the rustling leaves fell silent.
He tried to evade, but found that he too seemed to have stopped.
He tried to resist, yet the circulation of his divine sense and spiritual power had likewise halted.
He could only watch as the drop of rain fell upon his forehead.
The barrier formed by that mysterious “Golden Finger” shattered like fragile thin ice at its touch.
The concealed demonic Qi was instantly exposed without cover. The sword met no further obstruction as it struck him.
He fell backward. In the instant before dispersing, he saw the astonishment on Bai Ya’s face.
He saw the rain pouring down. He heard again the sound of rain, of wind, of leaves.
So nothing had truly stopped. It was only that the sword had been too fast. From the moment the Sword Sovereign had drawn his sword, he had already been enveloped in Sword Intent, without the slightest power to resist.
So the “closest” he had imagined had only been a deluded dream.
Now that the dream had ended, everything of his would end with it.
Cen Rui’s body struck the rain-soaked grass with a heavy thud and was quickly drenched through.
Bai Ya instinctively stepped forward and bent down to reach out.
Before his hand could touch Cen Rui’s body, the sharp-browed youth suddenly dispersed into a cloud of dark demonic Qi, gradually transforming into another form.
“A demon.” Bai Ya’s outstretched hand slowly clenched.
“He was not your disciple,” Shuang Wenlü said.
He had merely been a demon disguised as Cen Rui.
But how had a demon passed the screening of the Cleansing Pool and the grand formation of the seventy-two peaks to enter the Sword Pavilion? How had it deceived old friends and teachers, such that even Bai Ya had failed to notice?
Shuang Wenlü lowered his gaze to the demon’s corpse and suddenly extended two fingers in a slight pinch.
A dark-red phantom riddled with cracks shot out from the demon’s body, attempting to flee into the distance, but was forcibly seized and dragged back, struggling and trembling all the way.
“What is this thing?” Bai Ya asked.
Shuang Wenlü looked indifferently at the dark-red phantom between his fingers.
“Will you speak yourself, or shall I examine you?”
Trapped within Sword Qi, the dark-red phantom was wounded with every movement.
It dared not move further and hurriedly cried out, “I will speak! I will speak!”
“It has nothing to do with me! I am only an auxiliary system. Whatever was done was decided by the host! It was that demon! It was not my doing!”
“Where is Cen Rui?” Shuang Wenlü asked.
Since the demon had dared to impersonate Cen Rui and enter the Sword Pavilion, it must have been certain that the real Cen Rui would not return.
Bai Ya said nothing, his gaze sharp as it pierced the system.
“He is still alive!” the system said urgently.
“That demon wanted to steal his identity, so I swapped them! I know where he is. Do not kill me! If you kill me, you will never find him again!”
Shuang Wenlü’s gaze was cold.
He suddenly smiled faintly.
“So among rule fragments, there are such lowly things as you.”
The system felt a great foreboding. In the next instant, a powerful divine sense plunged directly into its core.
Illusory constructs such as the "Shop", "Level", “Affection Level", and “Corruption Value” shattered at a touch under Shuang Wenlü’s divine sense, revealing their true essence.
The system shrieked, “Impossible! You are merely a being within the rules. How could you enter here?! You—”
But Shuang Wenlü’s divine sense effortlessly pierced every flaw within it, seeing through all it concealed.
The sharp Sword Intent did not even deliberately tear it apart; merely passing through its vulnerabilities was enough for it to begin collapsing.
All hidden data was laid bare, filled with foul and sordid content.
The system’s so-called “innocence” was nothing but a lie.
It had been this system that had incited the demon to directly target the Sword Sovereign.
“You are…” In the midst of its collapse, the system suddenly understood, but the increasingly severe internal disintegration dragged its remaining words into a long, chaotic wail.
At the brink of destruction, it finally realized that one who could so easily see through its essence and tear apart its rules could only be the—
Guardian of the Dao.
So this was the Guardian of the Dao the other systems had warned it to beware of.
This was the one who, from a mortal body, had walked toward the rules themselves and become the guardian of a world.
For the first time, it felt deep regret.
Had it known before entering this world that it possessed a Guardian of the Dao, it would never have acted so brazenly.
Had it known its target was the Guardian of the Dao, it would never have coveted the benefits upon the Sword Sovereign.
If only…
“No… I… wait…” The system struggled desperately to speak. It did not want to dissipate like this. It still knew much. It still had value. It—
But regret came too late.
All its so-called secrets lay fully exposed beneath Shuang Wenlü’s divine sense.
Rule fragments were immensely powerful within the scope of their own rules.
For example, the hypnotic system could swap the identities of the demon and Cen Rui, causing the Sword Pavilion’s detection formations to fail and even deceiving Bai Ya when he was unguarded.
Yet they were riddled with flaws. With preparation, not only Bai Ya at the ninth realm, the Tianshu Realm, but even the real Cen Rui could have dealt with them without difficulty.
A mere rule fragment daring to target Shuang Wenlü at the very moment of entering this heaven and earth was because someone behind it had instigated it.
It seemed many sought to take a bite while the barrier of this heaven and earth stood open.
The advancement of this world would not be peaceful.
Shuang Wenlü rubbed his two fingers together and ground the system into dust.
Whoever dared to reach toward this heaven and earth, he would chop off their claws.
“Cen Rui is still within the Demon Abyss,” Shuang Wenlü said.
Bai Ya remained silent, Sword Intent sharp upon him.
It had been twelve hundred years.
From within the Demon Abyss, a demon had broken through the Sword Pavilion’s blockade and brazenly infiltrated the Pavilion.
Shuang Wenlü lifted his eyes slightly and looked at the rainclouds covering the sky.
“Twelve hundred years is already too long.”
Long enough that some had forgotten his sword.