Chapter 150 – One Sword, Old Heavy Mountains
“…Meaning, meaning.” Gu Qingshui’s withered, wood-like fingers clutched the letters, muttering, “Meaning… hahahahaha, meaning!”
He suddenly burst out laughing, laughing until tears streamed down his aged face, laughing until his shattered spine cracked and popped.
Amidst the cracking sounds.
Gu Qingshui rose from the ground, inch by inch.
The deep-blue-skinned sea demon, A He, rushed forward, his saber drawn. The girl reached out a hand, pressed down on his saber hilt, and pushed it back. She coldly watched as Gu Qingshui, whose spine had clearly been crushed to powder, stood once more on the ice floe. This withered, gaunt old man seemed to have become a skin bag riddled with a thousand holes.
Blood trickled down his hair, his old robe, his fingertips.
“…Mean.”
Gu Qingshui murmured.
He took a step forward, and the blood pooled into a large puddle on the snow.
“ing!”
He threw his head back and laughed, violently spreading his arms.
His tattered old robe suddenly billowed as a violent airflow collided within it, whipping up a swirling, snow-colored vortex around him. This old man, with his crushed spine and broken legs, stood in the snow like a blood-colored longsword. The sword qi shot straight into the clouds—hate, sorrow, love, resentment… a lifetime of joys and sorrows, a lifetime of broken dreams.
The snow on the ice floe was swept up, the momentum growing fiercer and fiercer.
In the dark blue sea, countless waiting giant whales emitted a muffled sound. The whale songs echoed and collided. The pupils of various sea demons holding bone spears and longbows suddenly narrowed into vertical slits. White bone spears were nocked on the strings of giant bows. One after another, taut strings were tightened, and the harsh wind was split by the strings, creating long, mournful sounds.
A He stepped forward with his saber, shielding the girl. “Lady Yin Man!”
The girl’s shoulder-length black hair flew in the wind. She looked coldly at the blood-colored old man through the vortex of wind and snow.
“Release!”
Ten thousand sea demons released their bowstrings at the same time. Ten thousand taut strings snapped back at the same time with ten thousand explosive sounds, and ten thousand bone spears whistled out amidst the explosions.
Gu Qingshui looked up, his pupils reflecting the dense mass of bone spears.
They blotted out the sky, like a slanting downpour.
…A downpour beat against a dilapidated hut in the mountains.
The firewood in the stove was still burning. A master and his disciple sat around the fire, waiting for the wine to warm and the meat to cook. The master asked the disciple, “What do you think a sword is?” The disciple said, “To cut down injustice, to cry out against unrighteousness, that is a sword. To advance without fear, to not be afraid of the mundane world, that is a sword.” The master asked again, “Then if one day, someone commits an injustice, but this person is your blood brother, will you kill him?”
The disciple said, “I will.”
“Another person defiles women and uses mortals to refine pills, but this person is your fellow disciple of many years who has saved you several times. Will you kill him?”
“I will.”
“Yet another person, obsessed with strengthening his forces, falls to the devil’s path, but this person is the one who passed on the Dao to you, who taught you your profession, who has shown you the grace of remaking you… that is, your master. Will you kill him?”
“…I will.”
The rain on the roof pattered, and the fire inside burned brighter and brighter.
It was surprisingly quiet.
The master laughed.
He laughed and said, “…Qingshui, you may become the number one Sword Saint, but your Dao, I’m afraid you won’t be able to cultivate it.”
Gu Qingshui closed his eyes. Thirty years of cultivating the Dao, his sword blade had tasted the blood of his kin. Three hundred years of cultivating the Dao, he had slain his master. Eight hundred years of cultivating the Dao, he had personally executed his only son… The astonished face of his blood brother, the calm face of his master, the terrified and disbelieving face of his only son… all the people who had died under his sword appeared before his eyes, like a vortex.
The new ghosts in the sky sang old songs.
The bone spears whistled as they fell, and the wind they brought with them was as sharp as needles, piercing to the bone.
“The northwest… sky is deficient!!!”
Gu Qingshui’s eyes snapped open, and a hoarse, crow-like mournful cry shot into the sky.
The northwest sky is deficient! In old age, one knows the cold of the heavens!
A bloody light shot into the sky, and ten thousand arrows passed through the air.
Ten thousand ferocious bone spears, each a full three meters long, simultaneously nailed themselves into a huge, smooth ice wall. The bone spears pierced through the withered, tall and thin human form, nailing a dark red, fleshy silhouette onto the ice wall. The neck, shoulders, arms, chest, ribs, thighs… the trunk and limbs were all shattered to pieces.
Only a head, between the bone spears, remained intact.
His hair was white.
His eyes would not close in death, his soul would not find peace.
Facing southeast.
***
The flying birds nesting in the trees on the cliffs of the peaks suddenly seemed to sense something. They flew up uneasily, circling in mid-air, their cries incessant. The Beast Taming Sect disciple meditating on the martial arts platform opened his eyes and looked in astonishment at the black jackdaws gathering in flocks, their wings flapping restlessly.
“Strange, these mute crows haven’t made a sound in a long time. Why are they so noisy today?” the mountain-patrol disciple in a long pale-green robe asked the senior brother next to him, scratching his head. “Senior Brother, don’t tell me you went and stole their gold again?”
“Pah! Am I that kind of person? To even covet the private stash of a few crows.” The senior brother’s face immediately fell.
“…Huh, you’re not?”
“I think you’re itching for a beating…” The senior brother rolled up his sleeves, cracking his knuckles.
The mountain-patrol disciple was just about to run when suddenly the flock of crows in the sky let out a collective cry, so mournful that both of them felt their scalps tingle. An ominous premonition arose, and it was at this moment that the solemn and vast sound of the bell once again submerged the entire main sect. The bell’s toll scattered the sea mist and water clouds between the peaks.
“The mountain bell is ringing again.” The pale-green-robed mountain-patrol disciple was astonished. “This is the second time… Th-this is ringing too frequently, isn’t it? Could it be that we’re really going to…”
His senior brother frowned and looked towards the main sect’s great hall. On the most majestic and magnificent main peak, a glimpse of an ancient, gray stone giant hall could be seen standing amidst the clouds and mist. When the mountain bell first rang a few days ago, all the elders in the main sect had rushed there, and they hadn’t been seen for several days.
Now the mountain bell was ringing again.
“…Have the elders come to a decision?” the older senior brother murmured, guessing.
As soon as his voice fell, they heard the familiar voices of the elders in charge of their peak from above:
“Inner sect disciples, assemble immediately!”
Not only their peak, but similar notices echoed above all the peaks within the Beast Taming Sect—a full sect emergency assembly!
“Let’s go.”
The green-robed disciple was still in a daze, but his senior brother had already grabbed him and was rushing towards the peak’s stone grand training ground. The two of them hurried across the rope bridge when they suddenly saw a few people coming down from the main peak. The green-robed disciple glanced at them casually, then suddenly stopped in his tracks, grabbing his senior brother. “Senior Brother! Look! That… that…!”
“What ‘that’…” his senior brother turned his head impatiently.
With that turn, he too was stunned on the spot.
They saw two deacons from the Law Enforcement Hall leading six or seven law enforcement disciples, escorting a person as they hurried towards the dungeon. The person being escorted was dressed in black tight-fitting clothes, with long, thick eyebrows—it was none other than the most popular among the younger generation of disciples, Zeng Qing, Senior Brother Zeng!
“Senior Brother Zeng?”
Not just the two of them, but all the disciples on the road who saw this scene cried out in surprise.
Ordinary sect disciples who made mistakes were usually only reprimanded and educated by the Disciplinary Hall. Only disciples who had committed serious crimes against the sect would be dealt with by the Law Enforcement Hall. But, how could that be? …Everyone knew that as the direct disciple of the first Sword Saint of the West Continent, Gu Qingshui, Zeng Qing had always been the one who adhered most strictly to the sect’s rules!
The only time they had seen Senior Brother Zeng violate the sect’s rules was a few days ago, when he flew on his sword within the sect.
But that wasn’t enough to land him in the Law Enforcement Hall!
Several female cultivators who secretly admired Senior Brother Zeng immediately rushed forward, wanting to ask the deacons what was going on. Before they could get close, the two Law Enforcement Hall deacons immediately produced the Sect Master’s order and sternly shouted at the crowd to leave.
“…S-Senior Brother Zeng Qing.” A round-faced junior sister stubbornly blocked the way.
The deacon’s eyes turned cold, and he was about to wave his sleeve to sweep her away.
Zeng Qing, who had been keeping his head down, suddenly looked up and grabbed the deacon’s wrist. When he looked up, the crowd was shocked again. They saw that the usually steady and gentle Senior Brother Zeng Qing now had a red line on his forehead, almost dripping with blood. His eyes were dark, and his aura was extremely violent—it was clearly a sign that he was about to fall into a demonic state.
“You!”
The deacon was startled.
“Get lost!”
Zeng Qing raised his eyes, the fringe of his hair swept aside by the wind, revealing a pair of bloodshot eyes. He squeezed the word out from between his teeth. A cold light flashed in his hand, and he forcefully broke through the restraint of the Spirit-Locking Chain, erupting with a cold and sharp sword qi. The sword qi swept past, and the deacon screamed, clutching his broken wrist, his face contorted in pain.
With a few shua sounds, the remaining deacon and the other six or seven law enforcement disciples drew their longswords and surrounded him with extreme vigilance.
“Zeng Qing!” the deacon shouted sternly. “You have disobeyed your elders, shown no etiquette, violated the sect’s rules, and attempted to assassinate the Sect Master. Your crimes are unforgivable. The sect, in consideration of your master’s past integrity and loyalty, has already spared your life, only ordering you to reflect in the dungeon! How dare you still harm a fellow disciple? Have you truly gone mad?! Do you really think the sect will not punish you?”
“Mad?” Zeng Qing spread his hands, and the Spirit-Locking Chain wrapped around his wrists suddenly went taut, emitting a grating sound that made one’s eardrums ache. Silver light danced, sinking deep into his flesh and drawing blood. Yet he seemed to feel no pain. “I’m mad? Hahaha, you actually say I’m mad!”
Zeng Qing threw his head back and laughed.
“Hahaha, you actually say I’m the one who’s mad!”
The deacon’s eyelid twitched. He thrust his longsword forward without hesitation.
Kacha.
The Spirit-Locking Chain and the longsword collided. Zeng Qing, with the red mark on his forehead, twisted his hands and let out a low roar. The deacon felt a huge force travel up his sword and crash into his chest. He couldn’t help but cry out, letting go of his sword and stumbling backward. In an instant, the longsword was in Zeng Qing’s hand. The sword light reversed, and a series of clashing sounds rang out as the law enforcement disciples staggered back one after another.
Cries of alarm rose from all around.
No one had ever seen Senior Brother Zeng Qing in such a frenzied state. For a moment, everyone was stunned, not knowing what had happened. Even the few female cultivators who admired him showed fear on their faces.
“Magnanimity?” Zeng Qing gripped the sword with both hands and swung it down at the deacon who was struggling to get up with a broken wrist. “Bullshit magnanimity! For over a thousand years, how much has my master contributed to the sect? How many times has he risked his life, only to be treated as a disposable pawn in the end! And you have the nerve to mention my master!”
He was filled with hatred, indignation, and anger. In his furious frenzy, his sword strike was filled with killing intent, holding nothing back.
Just as blood was about to be spilled, a cold shout came from the gray and white grand hall on the main peak.
“Insolence!”
The sword’s edge hovered in mid-air. The deacon with the broken wrist, who had been on the verge of being beheaded, scrambled away from under Zeng Qing’s sword in terror. The hand in the black tight-fitting sleeve trembled violently. Zeng Qing’s face suddenly turned pale, and his forehead was covered in cold sweat. An invisible pressure descended upon him, so heavy it could crush a person.
Kacha.
Cracks appeared on the ground.
“Kneel.”
The voice sounded again, cold and commanding.
With a muffled thud, the longsword clattered to the ground. Zeng Qing’s knees hit the ground hard, and the sound of cracking bone could be faintly heard.
“Zeng Qing,” the voice came from the main peak, “how could the sect bear to see your master go to his death? You are his eldest disciple and should know your master’s character better than anyone. Elder Gu sacrificed himself for the sect by going to the Ancient Sea. It was for a great cause, worthy of song and tears. Since you have inherited his legacy, you must not tarnish his heroic name.”
…Heroic name?
Sweat dripped into his eyes, stinging and raw.
Zeng Qing’s ten fingers dug deep into the ground. The heavy pressure weighed on his shoulders, his spiritual energy as heavy as a clay ox, his bones feeling as if they would shatter. Let alone speaking, even breathing was difficult.
“…Think about it carefully. Do not disappoint your master’s teachings.”
The voice sighed faintly, seeming to soften somewhat, tinged with a bit of regret and pity.
An invisible clear breeze swept past.
Zeng Qing couldn’t help but open his mouth and spit out a large mouthful of blood. The red line between his brows faded, and his entire being withered. His dantian’s seven apertures, his spiritual energy and spiritual sense, were instantly emptied, and from being a prodigy of the younger generation of the Beast Taming Sect, he fell to become a cripple worse than a mortal.
“Take him down.”
A few law enforcement disciples came over, trembling, grabbed his arms, and dragged him towards the dungeon.
His shattered knees dragged across the rough mountain road of sand and stone, leaving a long trail of blood. Along the way, wherever he passed, the disciples stood dumbfounded, silent.
Zeng Qing wanted to laugh, to laugh out loud.
He also wanted to cry out loud.
…Master.
You should really see… see the Beast Taming Sect like this! See the true faces of everyone in that great hall!
A muffled thunder sounded.
“Who’s there?!” The voice from the great hall on the main peak sounded again. Compared to when it had reprimanded Zeng Qing, it was now suddenly filled with a bit of shock and anger.
As soon as that voice fell, everyone in the Beast Taming Sect, from the elders to the most ordinary disciples, felt a sharp aura approaching from a distance. Zeng Qing, who was being half-supported and dragged along, suddenly raised his head… this sword qi…
The next moment,
The mountain wind trembled.
A blood-red long rainbow descended from the sky, falling vertically towards the main sect of the Beast Taming Sect.
The moment the sword light appeared, several figures immediately emerged from the main sect’s great hall. Shocked and angry, they either struck out with their palms or summoned their sabers and swords, working together to block it. Dazzling lights collided and exploded in the sky, and the blood-red light and various other colors merged into one. All the disciples instantly lost their vision, their eyes streaming with tears, their ears filled only with the incessant sound of a sword’s cry.
Like anger, like grief.
Like a long, mournful cry from an old man who had walked through a lifetime of frost.
The law enforcement disciples couldn’t help but let go and cover their ears, otherwise their spiritual sense would be injured by this mournful sword cry. Only Zeng Qing, who had been released, knelt in the dust, tears streaming down his face.
He couldn’t see, but he could feel it.
“…Master.”
The sword light dissipated, and everyone’s vision finally recovered somewhat. Not caring about their lingering dizziness, they all hurriedly looked towards the main sect’s great hall. They saw the Sect Master and several elders standing separately in mid-air, and amidst the slowly dispersing colorful light, the majestic hip-and-gable roof ridge of the grayish-white hall. Only then did they breathe a sigh of relief.
However, before they could exhale completely, they heard a faint, slight cracking sound.
The sound was like a stone cracking.
The next moment, everyone’s gaze froze.
In the sunlight, the main peak’s great hall suddenly collapsed into a cloud of gray dust. The dust swirled, falling from a high place and covering the entire mountain peak, like bone ash that had accumulated for who knows how many years. The main peak, which had been maintained in a state of spring by formations in the West Continent, became ancient and dilapidated in the blink of an eye. The dust gradually settled.
A sword was plunged into the ruins of the great hall.
“That’s… that’s…”
“The Wuyuan Sword!”
In the distant northwest corner.
A pale ice floe floated on the surface of the dark blue Ancient Sea. The harsh wind howled between the glaciers. A dense mass of bone spears was nailed into a hundred-meter-high smooth ice wall. The dark red stain of indistinguishable bone and flesh, for some reason, had not been frozen. It stretched longer and longer downwards, finally leaving a long, straight line on the side of the iceberg.
Like a sword.
—That was the final sword strike of the West Continent’s Sword Saint, Gu Qingshui, after a thousand years of cultivating the Dao.
One sword, old heavy mountains.
***
The harsh wind from the northwest corner fanned the great fire of Crane City.
In the firelight, the shadows of the crowd gathered before the barrier were stretched long. The long shadows cast across the ruins, across the streets. The faces of the ordinary carpenters, weavers, peddlers, and porters suddenly became very unfamiliar at this moment. They stared blankly at the corpses of the old crane and the mute boy outside the barrier, their silence unsettling.
“What do you think you’re doing?!”
In the silence,
the Beast Taming Sect elder suddenly roared in anger.
“Liu Tongwan! Jiang Kongyang! Ye Yinzhu! You… are you trying to violate the sect’s rules?!” The Beast Taming Sect elder’s beard trembled with anger.
Lu Xiaoxiao followed the Beast Taming Sect elder’s angry gaze and saw several cultivators in Beast Taming Sect robes with their heads down, cutting their own arms with their sabers. Blood dripped down. Amidst the Beast Taming Sect elder’s angry rebukes, they drew a strange formation pattern on the ground with their arms hanging down.
…No.
Not a formation pattern.
It was a contract.
A Blood Contract!
“They’re… they’re…” The junior brother’s voice trembled slightly, as if he couldn’t believe what he was seeing, and yet it was also what they had rushed here for, risking life and limb, what they most hoped to see. “Breaking the Blood Contract?”
The half-rotten strange bird in the black mist outside the barrier suddenly stopped laughing. It spread its wings and flew higher, suddenly realizing that things were vaguely exceeding the expected plan—pointing out the effect of the Profound Shadow Orchid was originally to drive a wedge between the Mountain Sea Pavilion, the Taiyi Sect, and the Beast Taming Sect. One Lou Jiang was troublesome enough, and who knew what trouble those two Taiyi Sect disciples might stir up!
A dark red blood light flickered in its eye sockets.
The strange bird was filled with suspicion and uncertainty.
Fortunately, the next moment, its anxiety was slightly relieved.
“All of you, stop!”
The Beast Taming Sect elder, no longer caring about pursuing the enemies outside the barrier, wanted to forcefully stop those few reckless disciples.
“Elder, please stop.”
Lou Jiang’s figure flickered, and his green blade swept across.
Clang—
The Beast Taming Sect elder’s golden palm collided with the green blade.
Lou Jiang staggered back a few steps, his already pale face growing even paler.
The Beast Taming Sect elder’s face was as dark as water. “Fellow Daoist Lou, this is an internal matter of the Beast Taming Sect. Does your Mountain Sea Pavilion want to interfere in this too?”
Before Lou Jiang could speak, Lu Xiaoxiao’s willow-like eyebrows shot up, and she was the first to curse, “When you were begging Uncle-Master Lou to help save Crane City, why didn’t you remember that this was your Beast Taming Sect’s own business?” She was furious and couldn’t help but spit heavily. “Shameless! I spit on you!”
Being so mercilessly spat on and cursed at by a junior in public, the Beast Taming Sect elder’s face instantly turned green, then white, then red.
“They’ve recovered! They’ve recovered!!!”
Just then, someone suddenly shouted loudly.
“The Crane Immortals have really recovered!”
In the sky, the feathers of a few blood cranes faded from scarlet. They withdrew from the crane tide and circled around Crane City, their cries mournful.
The crowd suddenly fell silent, then erupted in a commotion.
The few Beast Taming Sect disciples who had broken the blood contract shouted their names, their eyes red.
The Beast Taming Sect elder’s expression changed.
“Elder,” an Oracle Master in a pale green ritual robe stepped out from the crowd, knelt on both knees, and knocked his forehead heavily on the stone surface. “Please break the main blood oath contract between Crane City and the immortal cranes!”
“Please, Elder, break the main contract!”
“Please, Elder, break the contract!”
“…”
The Beast Taming Sect elder couldn’t help but take a few steps back.
“You… you all…”
After so many years in a high position, the Beast Taming Sect elder stationed in Crane City was facing this situation for the first time. With the City Blessing Seal in hand, he should have been the one with the highest cultivation and the strongest strength present. Even Lou Jiang, who was at the end of his rope, was no match for him. But at this moment, he actually felt fear.
An inexplicable fear.
One, two, three… Beast Taming Sect disciples, Oracle Masters and Oracle Maidens from the City Divination Department, ordinary men, women, and children of Crane City, knelt down one after another, knocking their heads heavily. The initially sparse and low voices became more and more uniform, louder and louder, finally converging into a tide-like wave of sound:
“Please, Elder, break the contract!”
“What do you think you’re doing?” The Beast Taming Sect elder forced himself to calm down and shouted angrily, “Do you really believe the nonsense of that demonic spirit?!”
“It’s not nonsense, Elder.” The Oracle Master looked up. “We all saw it. After the blood contract was broken, the Crane Immortals recovered.”
“Fools! How can the main blood oath contract be broken so casually?! Crane City is the largest wintering city for immortal cranes in our West Continent. Do you know how much manpower and resources the sect has spent to maintain a warm winter in Crane City during the Ice Season?” The Beast Taming Sect elder clutched the City Blessing Seal tightly, his voice stern but his heart wavering. “Once the main blood oath contract is broken and the crane flock scatters at will, do you know what a huge loss this will be to the sect! It’s a huge responsibility. Can you bear it!”
“Responsibility? Is responsibility more important than the lives of the crane flock?”
A clear female voice sounded.
Lu Xiaoxiao strode through the fierce fire, past the crowd, and walked towards the ashen-faced Beast Taming Sect elder.
“Yellow-haired little girl from the Taiyi Sect, you have no place to speak here!” the elder said coldly.
“Oh,” Lu Xiaoxiao nodded to herself. “I think I understand. To you, the life and death of the crane flock really isn’t important at all, not as important as your own future.”
“Xiaoxiao!”
The junior brother behind her shouted.
Lu Xiaoxiao looked up and gave the Beast Taming Sect elder a smile that revealed her sharp canine teeth. “Then…
“I’ll just have to ask you to die!”
With a flash of sword light, the young girl lunged forward, the firelight illuminating her still-youthful face.
Her eyes shone as brightly as the stars in the sky.