Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
The great Dong Mountain was the strangest and most beautiful mountain. Facing the ocean with its back to the land, its front was a stone precipice as smooth as jade. To its back, there was a green forest nurtured by the fertile soil. In people’s rational thoughts, it was impossible for anyone to go up or down the smooth precipice. This record was broken by Fan Xian.
The rear of Dong Mountain was also dangerous. Other than a set of long and straight stone steps that climbed steeply into the clouds to the summit of the mountain, there was no other way up. If one wanted to forcefully attack, they could only proceed along this path. Particularly in the narrowest part, if one man held the pass, 10,000 enemies would not be able to pass. It was a location easy to guard but difficult to attack.
The reason the rebel soldiers chose to surround Dong Mountain was because they were considering it from a reverse perspective. Since it was difficult to ascend the mountain, if the army surrounded it, then it would also be difficult for the people to come down.
Up until now, the rebel soldiers had good control over the situation. The Qing Emperor’s people had broken through a number of times but had all been mercilessly beaten back. After being pushed back behind the mountain gate, the major crossroads at the foot of Dong Mountain were all controlled by the rebel soldiers.
The rebel soldiers did not think that although they had surrounded the mountain, they were not able to ascend even a single step.
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There were 100 Tiger Guards on Dong Mountain. If this was a simple mathematics question, then they needed 14 Haitangs to be able to openly defeat the Qing Emperor’s powerful guards. In reality, there was only one Haitang in the entire world.
At the Tiger Guards’ sides, there was that the man whose foolishness contained a portion of brave heroic spirit that no longer existed in this world: Thirteenth Wang.
With such powerful guards, in addition to Dong Mountain’s strange terrain, even if the elite of the rebel army succeeded in surrounding the mountain, to forcefully ascend the summit was still as difficult as reaching the heavens.
It was like the name of that long stone staircase, the staircase to heaven.
Although one desired to ascend to the blue sky, it was not possible for mortals to accomplish.
Thus, the black-clothed commander of the rebel army decisively gave the order to temporarily pause all assaults. However, he continuously reinforced the patrols around the foot of the mountain and blockade.
After giving this order, he turned around. Gently patting the horse’s back, he said calmly to Yun Zhilan beside him, “At such a grand moment in history, you and I only have the privilege of being a silent bystander.”
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Thirty years ago, there were no Great Grandmasters in the world. After the Great Grandmasters appeared, only then did people discover that a person’s strength could be so powerful. Since they were so powerful, these Great Grandmasters could influence the circumstances of the world.
It was because of this that the Great Grandmasters lived in reclusion and rarely came out. They were terrified that their speech or action would bring turmoil to the world and affect the lives and deaths of the people they wanted to protect.
However, this place was the mysterious and beautiful great Dong Mountain, and it was the Qing Emperor at the summit. It seemed that only a Great Grandmaster would have the right to act.
Once a Great Grandmaster took action, the powerful and courageous generals and great sword masters would retreat to the back. Their brilliance was completely subdued like a piece of coal that couldn’t glow. They could only hope to have the privilege of seeing history happening.
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The long stone steps seemed to be without end. At a very high location, one could faintly see mountain fog floating. A man wearing hemp clothing and a straw hat stood calmly at the first step stone of Dong Mountain’s gate.
The stone steps were completely covered with blood. Some were dried, and some were fresh. They gave off all kinds of disgusting smells. It was unclear how many Imperial Soldiers and rebel soldiers had paid with their lives for the loss or gain of an inch of soil.
He stood calmly, as if he was not standing on bloody steps but on fluffy white clouds. The mountain breeze picked up. The figure swayed, rising high like an immortal being. It seemed that he wished to ascend up 1,000 meters. He was not going to the heavenly palace. Instead, he was going to the temple at the summit of the mountain.
When this man appeared on the first step, the soldiers inside and outside of the mountain fell silent at the same time. There wasn’t even a single cry of surprise. They were terrified of treating this figure irreverently.
The black-clothed man and Yun Zhilan, who had been on horseback the entire time, quietly dismounted and slightly bowed their bodies to the back of the normal hemp clothes to express their respect.
They knew this man had already come to the foot of the mountain last night but they didn’t know how he had appeared in front of everyone. They didn’t need to be surprised. The appearance of such people in this world was already an unexplainable matter.
The rebel soldiers no longer made any more movements. After the Tiger Guards, Imperial Army, and people of the Overwatch Council in the woods were silent for a while, they seemed to fall into a panic. No matter how loyal they were to the monarch and how much they loved their country, they had never thought they would openly be enemies with this person. In particular, the people of Qing Kingdom still considered this extraordinary ace, who liked to ride boats and float on the ocean, as the kingdom’s guardian angel.
This god was about to ascend the mountain despite the Emperor’s edict. As to what his goal was, everyone knew.
The Tiger Guards became nervous. The Overwatch Council Sixth Bureau swordsmen’s mouths were a bit dry. The Imperial Army was so scared, they almost couldn’t hold their weapons steady in their hands. To do battle with a god, this already surpassed most people’s imaginations and mental fortitudes. They also knew that although the opponent was only one person, he was more terrifying than 1,000 soldiers and 10,000 horses, even if there wasn’t a sword in his hand.
Ye Liuyun had no sword in hand. They did not know whether or not he had a sword in his heart. Last night, his sword had pierced through the sometimes calm and sometimes raging ocean at the foot of the mountain. It had pierced through layers of white waves, sheared off a reef, injured Fan Xian’s heart meridian, and finally pierced into the solid stone of the precipice. The entire sword had disappeared, leaving only a slightly protruding sword hilt on the precipice.
Everyone knew that Great Grandmaster Ye Liuyun was even more terrifying when he had no sword in hand. The legends said that he had, for some reason that no one knew about, abruptly abandoned his sword. He came to appreciate the flowing clouds in the mountains and let go. From then, he entered the realm of a Great Grandmaster.
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By now, Ye Liuyun had stepped onto the second stone level. Finally, the Tiger Guards hidden behind the mountain gate came to their senses. The first things to welcome the Great Grandmaster’s ascent of this mountain was a rain of mournful and powerful crossbow arrows.
This was the great killing weapon the Overwatch Council had prepared. It was the repeatedly firing crossbow that had once made an appearance on the south plains of Cangzhou. Firing so many times at such a close distance, who would be able to dodge it?
On the plains far away from the mountain gate, the black-clothed man and Yun Zhilan watched this sight without blinking. They were not worried about Ye Liuyun’s life and death. No one thought that a mere rain of crossbow bolts would be able to stop a Great Grandmaster. They didn’t want to miss the sight of a Great Grandmaster, who usually appeared like a mythical dragon, taking action personally.
The black-clothed man thought to himself that if he were faced with such an urgent rain of crossbow bolts, he would certainly be injured.
Yun Zhilan was thinking about how his teacher would handle it.
When Ye Liuyun was faced with the arrows that were about to pierce his body, he only waved his hand.
This wave was like a mountain pine chasing away clouds, because it did not wish for the white fog to hide its beautiful appearance. This wave was like a drop of rain falling through the cloud, not wanting the dark clouds to prevent its chance to be close to the mud. The strangest feeling that this wave gave the watchers was natural and soft but also decisive and quick.
Two completely different natures melded perfectly and in great detail in this simple wave of the hand.
As his hand fell, the arrows lightly dropped to the ground. When the high-speed arrows met his hand, it was like a slowly flying cloud was being plucked piece by piece by it and then thrown onto the ground.
The heart of the black-clothed man chilled. He quietly said, “I can’t see his hand clearly.”
Yun Zhilan remained silent and did not speak. He had wanted to see whether this Qing Kingdom Great Grandmaster was at a higher or lower realm than his teacher. Unexpectedly, he didn’t understand anything he saw.
Given the power of his and mysterious black-clothed man’s eyesight, they only understood one thing. When the gentle Ye Liuyun released his hold, his speed was so fast that he could strike out gently but no one could capture the motion of his fingertip.
“Not only is he fast,” the black-clothed man muttered to himself, “clouds have the most shapes in existence. His hand is gentle and terrifying.”
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When Ye Liuyun was in Suzhou in Baoyue Brothel, he had once used a pair of chopsticks to strike away an arrow fired by Fan Xian’s side like he was chasing away a mosquito. However, this time at Dong Mountain’s gate, he waved his hand and showed his mastery.
He took another step up.
Knives flashed brilliantly. Snow seemed to fly through Dong Mountain in June. The snow charged directly toward the straw hat.
It was unclear how many Tiger Guards screwed up their courage and, without planning to do so, chose the same time to strike out because of the responsibility and fear in their hearts.
The long knives danced emptily. The power of the knife blades were enough to split the skin and envelop Ye Liuyun’s entire body within them. For so many powerful knife attacks to be stacked one on top of another at the same time, they were completely capable of chopping Fan Xian and Haitang into pieces.
However, it did not strike Ye Liuyun.
Only a twisted and ugly sound of metal dragging across was heard on the stone steps. Ye Liuyun’s straw hat remained on his head, but his person was like a billow of smoke, moving immediately through the layers of knives. Abruptly, he came to a place above the stone steps, leaving the Tiger Guards behind him.
He stretched out his two arms. The two balls of twisted metal fell to the stone steps. With a crisp clanging sound, they rolled down a dozen times and split open.
Only then did the people see that these twisted pieces of metal had originally been the long knives the Tiger Guards had attacked with.
He was powerful enough to bend gold and bundle rocks. After Ye Liuyun had perfectly demonstrated that his realm had far surpassed that of the mortal realm, he only stood calmly on the stone steps. Suddenly, his body swayed. A corner of his hemp clothing rose in the wind. Leaving his clothes behind, the pieces of hemp clothes rose with the mountain breeze and rolled around on top of the stone steps.
At an unknown time, a young man covered in dried blood appeared in front of him. His eyes were clear and spirited. He held a green banner in hand.
Thirteenth Wang.
A gust of wind blew past. It seemed that the cloud cover that hid the summit from the mountain revealed a corner of the temple.
A muffled huff came from the stairs.
Ye Liuyun took back his hand. With his head lowered, he looked at the green banner by his feet that had been split in half. A confused smile flashed through his emotionless eyes. He then coughed a few times.
At this moment, Thirteenth Wang was still flying in the sky as fresh blood sprayed out habitually. His person drew a long arc and landed extremely wretchedly in the woods, knocking down a very large tree very far away to the right of the stone steps.
Even a ninth-level ace was not a match at all for a Great Grandmaster.
Ye Liuyun coughed a little.
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A glimmer of worry flashed through the black-clothed man’s eyes. He knew that although Ye Liuyun did the impossible and defeated the rain of arrows, the Tiger Guards and young and powerful ninth-level ace, he was still affected. Given the Great Grandmaster’s realm, he shouldn’t be hurt. The three times that Ye Liuyun had struck out, he had purposely been lenient. However, there would always be some problems when facing the Qing Emperor’s subordinates and aces, who were red-eyed with terror and rage.
A Great Grandmaster was the one closest to a god. But, after all, they were not a god. They had their own country.
Ye Liuyun was carefree and without obstructions. Even though he was here to kill the monarch for his family, he was still so gentle that he would not harm the people of Qing Kingdom.
Then, he saw the Great Grandmaster’s hemp clothing gently float down and land in front of him. His steed became curious and sniffed it.
