Chapter 16 – The Martial World is Full of Idiots
The sword light struck.
The old City Diviner shouted, flipping his left hand to meet the attack with his curved saber. Most saber users who wielded dual blades favored a light and agile style, but the pair of curved sabers in the old City Diviner’s hands were over two feet long, dark and heavy. The handles were four inches long, and it was unknown what they were forged from. When swung, the wind they produced was powerful, as if they weighed ten thousand catties.
His left hand blocked the sword while his right hand swung his curved saber horizontally, slashing at Chou Bodeng’s waist.
Boom!
The raging fire, half a person’s height from the ground, was suddenly cut open by the saber’s light. The dark cyan saber light burst forth from a narrow line like the sea, instantly crossing dozens of meters and slicing into a tall pavilion that had not yet been consumed by the fire. The pavilion collapsed with a roar, and the bricks, stones, and wooden beams kicked up a wave of fire.
The moment he swung his saber, Chou Bodeng’s waist folded like a piece of paper. He was incredibly flexible, slipping under the fan-shaped arc of saber light. By the time he rose, he had already stepped behind the old City Diviner, whose defenses were wide open. Holding the Taiyi in a reverse grip, he stabbed down toward the old City Diviner’s heart.
The old City Diviner’s slash missed, and he lunged forward without hesitation. Though skeletal, he moved as swiftly as an old ape.
After the strike, Chou Bodeng didn’t look back. He immediately darted toward the high furnace. With a flick of his sword and a wave of his sleeve, he threw A Ren and Ye Cang, who were being roasted over the fire, out of the sea of flames like meteors, sending them tumbling far away. As he rescued the two, he heard the sound of a blade cutting through the air behind him.
Then, with a clang, a curved saber slammed heavily onto the high furnace. The furnace chamber shattered, and golden-red molten iron splattered in all directions.
Chou Bodeng landed not far away, his robes fluttering.
Although the old City Diviner had dodged quickly by lunging forward, Chou Bodeng’s sword thrust had been faster. He was confident that his strike had not missed.
Yet, the old City Diviner stood there, unharmed.
Chou Bodeng slowly lowered his sword, his eyes narrowed as he watched him coldly.
The old City Diviner, holding his dual sabers, slowly raised his head.
His face was now covered in old wood-like textures, and the knuckles of his hands holding the sabers began to look like cracked tree branches. A layer of silver light slid down his fingertips, quickly covering the backs of the sabers and bursting forth from the tips. Standing there, he had transformed from a person into a piece of wood. For a piece of wood, the concept of having one’s heart pierced simply didn’t exist. No matter how many holes you drilled in it, it would still be a piece of wood.
“Surprised?”
The old City Diviner laughed, and the annual-ring-like patterns on his face twisted. The silver light, which looked like snow or gauze on the Fu tree, now spread across his two sabers, looking like the glint of a spider’s poisonous fangs in the dark, nauseating and repulsive.
“Haven’t you heard? The one who takes possession of the City Blessing Seal will gain a portion of the City God’s divine powers.”
“Truly stupid.”
Chou Bodeng said.
A tree was truly stupid.
It gave its power to a spider without even knowing. No wonder people called someone stupid by saying they were block-headed.
Chou Bodeng shot forward, his sleeves pulled into a long line of watery red by the strong airflow, cutting diagonally through the black smoke.
The Divine Fu Tree was so stupid it made one want to grab its bark and curse it, asking if it was a fool.
But the spider lurking on the tree, measuring the ancient wood day after day with its poisonous fangs, scheming to devour such a stupid tree, was even more disgusting.
The old City Diviner roared, crossing his dual sabers to strike.
A storm of sabers and swords erupted in an instant. The ruined eaves and broken walls were pulverized, and the ground cracked with countless deep fissures like a spider’s web. The heavenly fire rolled into the cracks, was then swept up by the wind, and with a whoosh, surged dozens of meters high, only to shatter into countless meteor-like sparks that fell in all directions. Two figures, in the crimson flames and black smoke, moved back and forth.
***
“Young Master Chou is number one in the world!”
The Startled Swan Goose Boat flew downwards. Zuo Yuesheng and Lu Jing stretched their necks, catching a glimpse of the saber and sword lights in the sea of fire on East Third Street, and immediately cheered and shouted.
“What the hell is going on!”
Lou Jiang, piloting the Startled Swan Goose Boat, felt like his head was about to explode.
A moment ago, when Chou Bodeng jumped off the flying boat without a word, it had nearly scared the heart out of him. His mind was filled with only the two words “it’s over.” It was as if he could already see the entire Taiyi Sect, old and young, a group of coffin-faced people with swords in hand, descending upon the Mountain Sea Pavilion like a thunderstorm, igniting a war between the East and Qing Continents, with blood flowing for a thousand miles.
If not for a sliver of remaining sanity, knowing that if he let go of the rudder, the war between the East and Qing Continents would escalate into a three-continent free-for-all, Lou Jiang would have jumped off the flying boat himself to fish out Taiyi’s Little Martial Grand-Ancestor—though with his cultivation, jumping from a height of ten thousand meters would also mean death.
Fortunately, soon after, Zuo Yuesheng and Lu Jing, who had rushed to the side of the boat, started shouting excitedly, “Ah ah ah ah ah,” which brought Lou Jiang some relief.
Lou Jiang didn’t know how Chou Bodeng managed it, but judging from Zuo Yuesheng and Lu Jing’s reactions, at least this most important profligate hadn’t fallen to his death.
“Young Master Chou is invincible!”
Lu Jing’s pale face was flushed red as he yelled at the top of his lungs, his excitement causing him to tighten his grip.
“Can you two let go of my hands! I’m about to be strangled to death by you!”
Lou Jiang was about to roll his eyes back.
Not only did Zuo Yuesheng and Lu Jing refuse to take over for him, but they also pressed down on his shoulders, one on each side, holding his head in place so he couldn’t turn or lower it—in short, they were dead set on not letting him see what was happening on Chou Bodeng’s side.
If the Pavilion Master hadn’t been so kind to him, Lou Jiang really wanted to just fly the Startled Swan Goose Boat, with these two damn guys, straight into the ground and perish together in a blaze of glory!
Lou Jiang thought to himself, You think I can’t see if you don’t let me turn my head?
In a fit of anger, he abruptly tilted the Startled Swan Goose Boat, and the vessel leaned. His vision went black as his eyes were firmly covered by someone’s hands.
“Are you two sick?!”
Lou Jiang yelled in despair.
Lu Jing and Zuo Yuesheng exchanged a look, a tacit understanding passing between them.
Was this a question of being sick? This was a question of loyalty!
Zuo Yuesheng and Lu Jing might have been useless in terms of cultivation, but they still understood common sense.
In the Twelve Continents today, cultivators cultivated spiritual energy, emphasizing the cultivation of one’s true heart and upholding the righteous path, saying that this was the only way to walk in the miasma without losing one’s true self. But the great path of cultivation was too difficult! From time to time, people would abandon the light for the darkness and join the ranks of demons and monsters, thereafter being considered a part of the “evil spirits.”
Many cultivators who became evil spirits simply stopped cultivating spiritual energy and started cultivating “karmic obstruction” instead.
When they struck, it was either dark clouds obscuring the sky or a sea of blood surging forth.
Lou Jiang, flying the boat, hadn’t seen it, but Zuo Yuesheng and Lu Jing had witnessed with their own eyes the ink-black firework that exploded in mid-air when Chou Bodeng broke out of the cage after jumping off the boat.
For a moment, Zuo Yuesheng and Lu Jing were dumbfounded, thinking, Has Young Master Chou, after years of bullying others and fooling around, really become a scourge? Before they could figure it out, Lou Jiang asked what was happening and was about to look over. The two of them simultaneously pounced and held him down.
Who cares if that Chou fellow is a scourge or not, he jumped down to save the Divine Fu Tree!
Even if he is a scourge, right now he’s a scourge saving the common people!
And they had run through Fu City with this scourge, climbed the Fu tree together, and even rode the gray bird through the sky… Maybe, Chou Bodeng had jumped off the flying boat without hesitation because he trusted them.
Regardless of what Young Master Chou was thinking, Zuo Yuesheng and Lu Jing had already unilaterally declared:
They were brothers who had gone through life and death together!
Betraying a brother, is that something a human being would do?
“This is the martial world!”
Lu Jing murmured, watching.
Before Lu Jing’s eyes, he seemed to see that study with its plain window screens again. The woman with her hair in a bun, wearing a water-blue long dress, sat at the desk, holding his hand and teaching him to write characters, three dots, a horizontal stroke, a vertical stroke, another horizontal stroke… “Jianghu.”
“Mother, what is the martial world?”
“The martial world is a few people.”
“What kind of people?”
“A few people you meet by chance. You fight and argue, laugh and joke. You do some very silly things, and they accompany you. They do some very silly things, and you accompany them. That’s the martial world.”
Was it silly to cry while looking for a jade pendant? Silly.
Was it silly to jump from a height of ten thousand meters? Silly.
After Chou Bodeng and the old City Diviner started fighting, the grand ritual in Fu City was immediately interrupted.
Without the stimulation of the blessing song, the Divine Fu Tree no longer recklessly and actively slew the dead souls and ghosts in the miasma, but it still emitted a silver light stronger than usual, locked in a stalemate with the miasma surging into the city.
Lu Jing suddenly shouted, “Fatty Zuo! Let’s go close the city gates!”
“We’ll help save the Divine Fu Tree too!”
“Don’t call me Fatty Zuo!” Zuo Yuesheng pressed Lou Jiang’s shoulder and issued a command with great heroism, “Set sail, set sail, fly to the city gates! This is an order from the Young Pavilion Master!”
Lou Jiang cursed, turned the rudder, and flew toward the city gates.
Lu Jing yelled at the top of his lungs in the direction of East Third Street:
“Chou Bodeng—”
“We’re going to close the city gates—”
“You focus on slaying demons and eradicating devils—”
***
The old City Diviner’s curved sabers formed a dense, impenetrable iron net, chopping, slashing, and smashing like a hundred tigers roaring in unison, splashing out a vast sea of azure. He was determined to strike down Chou Bodeng’s long sword and shatter him into pieces. Chou Bodeng twisted his wrist, changing his sword grip as if his hand were weaving flowers. He sometimes used the thick smoke to conceal his sword, sometimes shifted his position, avoiding collision with the thick back and heavy edge of the curved sabers. The long sword in his hand moved back and forth suddenly, like a roaming dragon or a flying phoenix, always striking with its sharp edge.
Chou Bodeng moved diagonally, avoiding the old City Diviner’s mountain-heavy single-leaf slash.
He shook his sleeve, and the ink-like black qi on his robe pounced toward the old City Diviner like a ferocious beast. In that instant, it was as if billions of people were wailing in the air. The old City Diviner was stunned by the resentment and unwillingness rushing at him. He felt as if he were facing not a person, but countless vengeful souls, their resentment condensed into a skin, walking unwillingly in the mortal world. For a moment, his whole body stiffened, and his dual sabers froze.
Chou Bodeng’s long sword returned, like a falcon breaking through the clouds, striking directly at the location of his three heavenly souls.
Once the three souls were shattered, the divine power would naturally break.
“Rise!”
Seeing the sword’s edge break through the air toward him, the old City Diviner suddenly shouted.
The ground shattered like a spider’s web, and ferocious formation pillars burst from the earth. The Taiyi sword pierced the iron chains connecting the pillars. The chains were hung with countless Bronze Evil-Warding Suppression Bells. The large ones were six inches and nine fen high, the knob one inch and nine fen high, and one inch and two fen wide. The two dancing figures were four inches and nine fen apart, and two inches and nine fen across. The two prongs were five inches and four fen apart, and two inches and nine fen across. There were thirty-six pellets, and countless inscriptions were cast on them.
Hundreds of Bronze Evil-Warding Suppression Bells chimed in unison!
Rectifying the universe.
Chou Bodeng took a step back, gripping the hilt of his sword tightly, his face devoid of color.
The bronze bells clashed against the locks, and the wind blew back and forth. The earth fire suddenly dispersed, and a vast, clear light burst from the inscriptions on the bells. The ink-like black qi that had been spreading over Chou Bodeng’s sleeves, hem, and sword continuously dissolved in the clear light, only to continuously surge out again.
“This formation is called: the Myriad Phenomena Eight Cycles Subduing Clarity Formation,” the old City Diviner laughed from within the formation. “Elder Chou is from Taiyi. With Elder Chou’s eye, what do you think of this formation! Compared to your Immortal Sects, who is superior?”
“Is this what you were relying on to dare to open the city gates?”
Chou Bodeng lowered the tip of his sword and asked in return.
“After all, this old one couldn’t bear to see the people of a whole city be completely devoured by the demons and monsters in the miasma,” the old City Diviner said kindly.
“I will inform the Mountain Sea Pavilion to remember to re-forge a Fu City Blessing Seal,” Chou Bodeng said.
The old City Diviner asked in surprise, “Why?”
“Having been touched by someone like you,” Chou Bodeng said lightly, “it’s dirty.”
“What do you know!” the old City Diviner roared in fury. “Once you take the City Blessing Seal, you can never leave this city again!” He pointed at the distant Divine Fu Tree, a ferocious look on his face. “This old one is skilled in puppetry, refining, and formations. Back then, the Mansion Lord of the Heavenly Works Mansion himself praised my talent as outstanding and rare in the world, yet I was to be trapped in this tiny place! Facing a tree all day, if it were you, would you be willing?!”
Chou Bodeng pressed his left hand to his ear.
The old City Diviner’s words faltered. “What do you mean?”
“You’re polluting my ears.”
Chou Bodeng said slowly.
For a moment, the old City Diviner almost couldn’t hold back, lashing out to kill this little brat with his sabers. Fortunately, at the last moment, he caught a glimpse of Chou Bodeng’s fingertips, hidden under his robe, trembling imperceptibly.
“It’s not easy, is it?” the old City Diviner sneered. “Elder Chou, after fighting for so long, I know your secrets now. Your cultivation is so low, you’re just relying on some unknown karmic obstruction to fight. But in this Myriad Phenomena Eight Cycles Subduing Clarity Formation, your karmic obstruction is a burden.”
The wood-like patterns on his face gradually faded. He hid his sabers behind his back, and his robes fluttered in the wind of the formation, giving him a somewhat immortal-like air.
“This old one knows that young people like you are always hot-blooded,” the old City Diviner became kind and gentle, his tongue uncontrollably licking his teeth as he spoke. “But how long can you last? Even if you can hold on and kill me, what good will it do you? Your companions have seen you in this state of karmic obstruction, haven’t they? You saved a city of people, but what then? Afterwards, you’ll be hunted by all sorts of immortals and heroes! Is it worth it?”
“How about this,” the old City Diviner coaxed, “this old one will help you silence them, and you tell this old one how you managed to hide this karmic obstruction before. How about it?”
As he spoke, two hoarse shouts came from a distance:
“We’re going to close the city gates!”
“You focus on slaying demons and eradicating devils!”
“Focus—”
They were afraid Chou Bodeng wouldn’t understand the hint, so they madly repeated the word “focus.”
Finally, they roared from afar:
“Young Master Chou is number one in the world!”
The smile on the old City Diviner’s face suddenly froze.
“…Idiots.”
Chou Bodeng cursed softly, then suddenly leaped up. The Taiyi sword split the air with a streak of ink, and the Bronze Evil-Warding Suppression Bells chimed loudly.