Translator: Transn Editor: Transn
Holy Qi flowed rapidly over the three-foot sword and it emitted a shocking opposing force that rushed toward Zhang Ruochen’s arm. A sharp pain surged up his arm and his legs shook so violently that the mountain path collapsed. He fell dozens of feet down before he found his footing.
“She’s formidable. A top superior of the Eighth Change in the Fish-dragon Realm indeed.”
Zhang Ruochen held the Valley-water Sword with both his hands and began running Genuine Qi throughout his body.
The shocking opposing force had caused Qi Feiyu to take a step back as well.
She got a rude shock as she never expected a novice Saint’s disciple could be so strong. Many monks who had reached the Ninth Change in the Fish-dragon Realm could not even withstand an attack with her sword.
“Not bad at all.” Qi Feiyu complimented him.
“Who are you, exactly?” Zhang Ruochen coldly asked.
Without replying, Qi Feiyu leaped onto the cliff wall as if it were level ground and wielded a powerful sword movement directed toward Zhang Ruochen’s heart.
“Have you reached the eighth realm in your cultivation of Sword One?”
Zhang Ruochen’s eyes narrowed, and his expression turned somber and thoughtful.
Her sword technique was of a higher order than his. It might look like she was only wielding one sword, however, that one sword had divided into hundreds and thousands of sword Qi. It would be extremely difficult for anyone to evade all of them.
“Bang! Bang!”
As the two continued to confront each other fiercely with dozens of moves, a network of sword marks was left on the cliff wall. Consequently, the wall broke off as falling rocks and tumbled down the mountain.
All of a sudden, Qi Feiyu changed her direction by kicking back on the steep wall. She condensed a ball of red Holy Qi and injected it into the three-foot-long thin sword before quickly striking out again.
“Bam!”
Zhang Ruochen put out his sword before him in an attempt to block the attack, however, he lost control of his body and fell a dozen feet down the side of the cliff.
In a flash, his body was swallowed by white clouds.
Qi Feiyu descended like a feather onto a rock that was jutting out. With her jet black hair flapping gently in the wind, she looked exceptionally beautiful.
She glanced down the side of the cliff and, seeing saw no sign of Lin Yue, she muttered. “It is impossible to perform Sword Defending Technique on the Second Level Mountain regardless of what realm he has attained in the Tao of the sword. Even if he is a monk who has reached the Fish-Dragon Realm, he can’t escape death falling from the cliff. Anyway, everyone will think that he was killed by Xu Changsheng.”
Slowly, she drew the three-foot-long thin sword back into her finger.
Her hand returned to its usual form. Who would have imagined such beautiful hands were the terrifying hands of a killer?
As she was about to leave, she felt a sudden fluctuation of Spiritual Qi. Exclaiming quietly to herself, she looked down the side of the cliff.
She saw a ball of golden brilliance that ascended quickly from the bottom of the cliff.
A chilling voice sounded from the golden light, saying, “Senior Sister Apprentice Qi, why did you try to kill me when there’s no grudge between us? Are you leaving just like this without explaining?”
She saw Lin Yue, with a pair of golden dragon wings on his back, breaking through the layers of cloud as he approached the mountain path. He landed above Qi Feiyu.
Qi Feiyu was stunned for just a moment. She quickly regained composure and said, “Do I need a reason to kill?”
Zhang Ruochen said, “I can guess the reason even if you don’t tell.”
“Is that right?”
“The Yin and Yang Sect has always taken a neutral stand. It rarely makes allies with the evil forces. Who made you go undercover in the Yin and Yang Sect? Although there’s an elegant aura about you, I could smell the blood on your body. Are you one of the Immortal Vampires?”
Zhang Ruochen’s vision sharpened as he scrutinized the changes in Qi Feiyu’s expressions.
First, Qi Feiyu caught up with the two men and chased Xu Changshen away.
Then, she attempted to cozy up to Zhang Ruochen. However, when she failed, she decisively tried to kill him.
If she was unable to cozy up to Lin Yue, the obvious response was to kill a genius like him. This was to make sure that any future threat was eradicated. It was her goal to assassinate all the geniuses in the Yin and Yang Sect who had the potential to become a saint.
Only enemies of the Yin and Yang Sect would do such a thing.
Eight hundred years ago, the Sacred Central Empire, over a period of ten years, gathered the power of great Suzerains and powerful families of Saints to banish the Immortal Vampires and seal them in Manji Island.
At that time, the Yin and Yang Sect was allied with the Sacred Central Empire and had contributed their part in manpower as well as material resources.
There were undercover Immortal Vampires within the Black Market and Eastern Region Saint Academy. It was not surprising to find spies within the Yin and Yang Sect.
“Immortal Vampires? Don’t you dare try to malign me, Junior fellow apprentice Lin. Everyone knows I am the Heiress of the Qis. How could I be related to the Immortal Vampires?” said Qi Feiyu.
Zhang Ruochen let out a cold laugh. “Then why did you try to kill me? Don’t tell me you were just trying to test my level of cultivation.”
“The reason I tried to kill you was to eliminate another competitor. It would save me strength during the sword contest,” said Qi Feiyu.
Zhang Ruochen was not taken in by her words. “Is that so? I think it would be wise for me to report this to the Patriarchal Saints, so they could check out your real identity.”
Her eyes turned cold and she quickly fixed her eyes on the pair of dragon wings on Zhang Ruochen’s back. Smiling, she said, “And are you really Lin Yue? Lin Yue could not have possessed a pair of dragon wings. How about me making a report to the Patriarchal Saints about this, and they can also verify your true identity?”
They were at a stalemate, standing on the cliff.
There was a faint shadow of someone approaching from below.
Apparently, someone had just managed to pass the first stage of the Second Level Mountain and was approaching Zhang Ruochen and Qi Feiyu.
Finally, they stopped fighting. Zhang Ruochen drew back his dragon wings into his body and Qi Feiyu withdrew her Holy Qi.
“Don’t let me find any evidence. If I find out that you are one of the Immortal Vampires, I will hand the evidence to the Law Enforcement Yard immediately.” Zhang Ruochen had absolutely no affection for the Immortal Vampires.
Part of the reason Zhang Ruochen chose to compromise was that his cultivation level was a little lower than Qi Feiyu’s.
More importantly, however, if he told the Patriarchal Saints Qi Feiyu’s secret, she would definitely expose his secret as well.
If that happened, they would both be finished.
Qi Feiyu certainly wished she could silence him once and for all, but she was certain that while it was easy to defeat Lin Yue, killing him was another matter.
Therefore, to keep each other at bay, they could only stop their fight simultaneously, lest they expose their identities.
“Could Qi Feiyu be part of the demonic sect or the Black Market?”
Although Zhang Ruochen’s words seemed to make a lot of sense, he was merely testing Qi Feiyu. There was really no way to confirm if Qi Feiyu belonged to the Immortal Vampires.
It was clear that Qi Feiyu was the Heiress of the Qis. Moreover, the Qi family was an Aristocratic Family in the Middle Age.
How could the heiress of an Aristocratic Family in the Middle Age be part of the Immortal Vampires?
On the other hand, the Qis could be the materialized power backed by the Black Market or the Demonic Sect. If Qi Feiyu was walking the evil and demonic path, it was possible for her to want to kill Zhang Ruochen.
“After breaking through the Ancient Gods Mountain, I shall send word to Mu Lingxi and Orange Star Emissary to investigate the Qis.”
Zhang Ruochen decided to put off this matter for now and clear his mind. He quickened his footsteps as he headed toward the side of the Second Level Mountain.
Can Dong had broken through the first stage at the foot of the mountain and pursued them. Taking in the sword marks on the cliff walls, he guessed that there had been a fierce fight moments before.
With a questioning expression in his eyes, he looked intently at Qi Feiyu and asked, “Did Xu Changsheng attack junior fellow apprentice Lin?”
Qi Feiyu, still trying to look elegant, gently nodded her head and said, “Don’t worry about junior fellow apprentice Lin. I defeated Xu Changsheng and sent him away.”
Qi Feiyu and Can Dong then set out together to the place halfway up the mountain.
The Second Level Mountain, like the First Level Mountain, was 9,000 meters high.
When Zhang Ruochen arrived halfway up the mountain at around 4000 meters in altitude, he was finally able to behold the row of silver palaces built upon the steep stone wall. There were 72 towers altogether, each exuding great Holy Aura and thus commanding fear in the hearts of people.
Of the 72 towers, only one of them had its gates shut. Needless to say, Xu Changsheng must have entered that tower to attempt his breakthrough.
Zhang Ruochen chose to enter the second palace tower.
Qi Feiyu chose the third palace tower and Can Dong, the fourth.
Directly in front of the second palace tower stood a statue carved out of jade. This was a statue of a middle-aged monk who was standing on a Black Eagle.
Both the monk and the Black Eagle appeared very lifelike.
As Zhang Ruochen approached the jade statue, he bowed and paid his respects to the middle-aged monk.
“Wow!”
The jade statue emanated a layer of white light and characters started to appear on its surface. As each character bobbed up and down about its fixed position, it changed into a new character.
A voice sounded out from within the palace, saying, “The carved statue of the Saint recorded nine chapters of the cultivation method of the sword manual. However, all of the characters were jumbled up in their order. The person trying to break through this stage has to rearrange these characters and create a new sword technique using the arranged cultivation method. All of these should be done within two hours.”
The second stage of the Second Level Mountain was to test the monks’ sight, comprehension, and creativity.
The level of difficulty far exceeded that of the second stage of the First Level Mountain.
The monk would fail if any of his sight, comprehension, or creativity fell short of the top standard.
Without wasting any time, Zhang Ruochen sat cross-legged below the jade carved statue, focused his attention, and fixed his eyes upon it.
Simultaneously, he mobilized his Spiritual Power to wrap around the jade carved statue.
He memorized every word on the surface of the carved statue instantly.
After one-third of the stipulated time frame had passed, Zhang Ruochen finally managed to organize the cultivation method of one chapter of the sword manual.
Just as he completed organizing the first chapter, light spots flew out from above the jade carved statue forming a blanket of light rain and fell on Zhang Ruochen.
In an instant, Zhang Ruochen felt the Heart of the Sword within his Qi Sea becoming more crystal clear and vibrant. He could feel that he was about to reach a critical breakthrough.
“One could actually rise to the next realm in the Tao of the sword by successfully organizing a chapter of cultivation method. Wouldn’t I be elevated to the next higher level in the Tao of the sword if I organized a second chapter of cultivation method?”
Zhang Ruochen’s face broke out in joy as if he had uncovered something interesting.
He had reached the critical point in his current realm of Tao of the sword, which was to say any elevation of cultivation would enable him to break through to the Advanced Stage of Heart Integrated into Sword.
Once he broke through this, he would improve by leaps and bounds in the Tao of the sword realm to reach a realm dreamed of by Half-Saints.
