Translator: Kazeyuki_ Editor: Jimmy_
It was a supreme honor to go on a pilgrimage to see the Martial Saint.
In the Bai Yue Country, not many people had the chance to experience this glory.
Naturally, it made the one hundred and twenty martial arts student feel incredibly excited. In the early morning, all the martial arts students who received the announcement had already assembled at the gathering place and was waiting to depart.
In a moment, one hundred and twenty martial arts students were accounted for. Under the Great Honored Warrior’s leadership, they departed toward the Martial Saint Mountain. Along the way, martial arts students carried a pilgrimage mentality, and finally, they arrived at the foot of the Martial Saint Mountain.
At the foot of the mountain, the Martial Saint Mountain appeared majestic and magnificent as if it had been there since the ancient times.
The Great Honored Warrior said: “Remember, this is the Martial Saint Mountain. It is a place that is different than anywhere else in the secular world. The habits you had during your life as young masters, you must put all of them away here.”
“You must especially remember, you cannot wander around unless I let you. Or else, if something happened, the Zhen Wu Holy Place will not be responsible. Clear?”
“Yes.” It was not necessary for these things to be explained because these martial arts students understood all too well what the Martial Saint Mountain meant.
“Ok, let’s go!”
The Great Honored Warrior took the lead and brought these martial arts students towards the mountain pass.
The mountain road was craggy. If these martial arts had not received strict training, they would most likely not be able to climb this almost vertical mountain road.
On both sides of the mountain road, there was a steep cliff. In the depth of the overhanging cliff, smoke and mist curled around bottomless abyss. With only the whooshing sound of the mountain winds, these martial arts students had to be extra careful. They did not dare to get distracted, let alone wander around.
Finally, after they passing through the mountain roads, the road situation became slightly better.
At the waist of the mountain, a deep canyon was pressed between the two mountains. After passing through it, they arrived at a lush forest.
“Everyone, look up.” The Great Honored Warrior pointed up, “Do you see that towering palace?”
“Pass through this forest, and you will arrive at the door of the Martial Saint Palace.” The Great Honored Warrior explained, “But this is not an ordinary forest. It contains tactical formations. Don’t worry; the biggest formation is not activated. Only some basic formations are used. As long as you are willing to think, and with enough observation, you can pass through it. If you cannot, or did not pass by the required time, then you would lose the chance to visit the Martial Saint. Do you all hear?”
“Yes!” In martial arts students’ eyes, it was full of eagerness.
Great Honored Warrior nodded: “Ok, go!”
A group of the martial arts student walked into the forest in a line. However, Qin Wushuang was not in a hurry. He visually estimated that this place was at least a dozen miles from the Martial Saint Palace. This forest was undeniably vast, and there was no need to hurry.
He wanted to observe on the outer boundary.
The Great Honored Warrior saw that all the martial arts students had entered, except Qin Wushuang.
“Why are you not going in?”
“Please go first. There is the so-called sharpening the axes so that it won’t interfere with the cutting of the firewood. I want to observe a little first. When I have sharpened the axes, it will be more efficient.”
The Great Honored Warrior was stunned again and respect flowed from his eyes. Indeed, this was a victor who deserved this title. This young man had such a meticulous mind, and at such young age, he showed off the temperament of a grandmaster. Certainly, he did not win first place by a fluke.
Thus, he did not disturb him and nodded: “Ok, then I will not interrupt.”
After he had finished, with a laugh, he scrambled off and disappeared into the forest.
Of course, Qin Wushuang could not be bothered to follow the Great Honored Warrior. He knew very well that the strength of the Honored Warrior still surpassed his. Plus, this was his territory. To him, it would be too easy to break away from his tracking. And following the Honored Warrior also seemed disrespectful. Regarding martial arts training, Qin Wushuang held high respect for those elders having both integrity and talent.
This Great Honored Warrior was a person of virtue and prestige; he had also guided Qin Wushuang. Of course, he was grateful and would not offend the Great Honored Warrior.
He jumped on top of the tall tree on the side and looked afar. However, he only saw a vast and boundless sea of flourishing trees. He could not even see where the forest ended.
And each of the trees here was very large where one could not even hug it with both arms.
“From the outside, I can’t figure out anything.” As Qin Wushuang thought, he also went into the forest.
After he had walked for a while in the woods, soon, Qin Wushuang discovered the wonderful parts of this forest. It was as if no matter how you walked, all the scenes were similar. You would feel puzzled no matter how far you walked; you would make no headway.
Fortunately, Qin Wushuang’s observation ability allowed him to notice things down to the smallest details. Whenever he reached each place, he could still see that these trees were only similar in shape. Thus, he knew he was not walking in the same location, but it had been deliberately arranged as if they were all the same places to confuse people.
Qin Wushuang made a few markings along the way to prevent himself from walking pass the same area.
“It’s not right, how come I returned to the place where I marked?” Qin Wushuang walked around and realized that he walked back to his original place.
“It seems the tactical formation in this forest is unyielding as to make people confused. It could even cause people to walk in circles.” Qin Wushuang became much more attentive.
This time, he became even more careful. After he had taken each step, he paid attention to the grass and trees next to him and did not even let go of one-foot print.
But—
Unexpectedly, although he had been extremely careful, he returned once again to the place where he made the markings.
Qin Wushuang was slightly surprised. In his former world, he had also witnessed some ancient tactical formations. However, most of the formation were for army use where soldiers would line up.
It was rare to see a formation used by trees.
However, he did have a little knowledge on this formation. Qin Wushuang remembered that the best way to breakthrough this formation was to observe directions.
And in the midst of a lush forest, how to judge directions?
There was one way. It was to use the sunlight and judge the exact direction.
Qin Wushuang observed the sunlight that penetrated into the lush forest and was lost in thought.
Suddenly, he stopped at that northwest direction. After looking at it for a while, he thought: “This formation did not lay its trap everywhere. And this place should be one of the traps since it has kept me lost. To walk out from this formation, I must head in that direction.”
Then, Qin Wushuang started going towards the west north direction. This time, he did not bother to pay attention to anything but kept going. He was following the direction and would not worry about diverging his paths.
“Indeed, I did not return to that original place after walking so long to the northwest direction. It seemed I am on the right path.” Qin Wushuang thought to himself. This formation appeared to have secretly incorporated the Eight Gates from the ancient Chinese divination tradition from his former world.
The Magical Eight Gates were the Resting Gate, Life Gate, Wound Gate, Closed Gate, Scenery Gate, Death Gate, Fear Gate, and the Open Gate.
Among these, the Open, Resting and the Life were the three gates of fortune.
If it were like the Magic Gates, then he would only need to walk right towards the three gates of fortune to get out of this forest. Then, it should no longer pose any problem.
After all, the Great Honored Warrior had said that this formation was not fully activated. Only some small formations had been put into use. Qin Wushuang had figured that his words meant, those Death Gates had definitely not been activated. If one took a wrong path, he would undoubtedly be unable to get out. However, it would not be life threatening.
Yet, if he walked to the right Life Gate, it would be easy to walk out of the lush forest.
Since he had understood these points, Qin Wushuang was even more determined to walk towards the corner of the northwest side.
From the records of the Eight Gates in the ancient divination tradition, the Life Gate reside in the northwest Trigram Palace. In the five phases of the Chinese philosophy, it belonged to gold. Surely the northwest should be where the Life Gate was.
The divinatory diagram was the head of the Eight Trigrams. In his former world, the ancient people named the gate that faces the Trigram Palace the Life Gate which meant the beginning of all living things. It was an incredibly fortunate gate.
Thus, many ancient rulers of the ancient world loved to live at the northwest Chang’an. His heading toward the northwest was also in accordance with this principle.
Since the Martial Saint Palace was called by this name, if it also combined with this point, then in the unseen world of spirits, it all made sense. Regardless of former or the present life, principles were all interrelated.
When he thought there, suddenly, Qin Wushuang had an idea and remembered that “Dao” mentioned by the Great Honored Warrior. Regarding it, it seemed hard to explain what the Dao was.
However, in the little details, it seemed the “Dao” was everywhere.
For instance, this lush forest also combined with an unexplained “Dao.”
Indeed, Qin Wushuang’s judgment soon bore result. It went smoothly when he walked toward the northwest. Without any more stopping on the away, soon he arrived at the border of the forest.
Just when he was about to walk out, Qin Wushuang suddenly stopped. It was as if he experienced a breath-taking feeling. He felt as if his entire body had become disengaged from his former world, and suddenly thrown into another little new world.
Suddenly, the forest and the grasses surrounding Qin Wushuang seemed as if they had all been given lives. The exhibited luxuriant growth and gave one the feeling of unlimited growth.
Such subtle sense only lingered for a moment. Abruptly, a “buzz” sound came from the inside of Qin Wushuang’s brain. Then, a feeling of warning emerged from deep within his heart and pulled him back into reality.
He looked all around him and found that he had returned to his initial place. And he only stood on the edge of the forest.
“What is going on?” Qin Wushuang was quite confused. However, he was confident that scene a moment ago was not an illusion nor it was a dream. How come, in the blink of an eye, the subtle feeling he experienced had disappeared like the moon reflected in the lake?
While he still felt confused, he saw that a cyan figure had unknowingly appeared under a tree not far from him.
That guy had a tall body. Showing only his back, he seemed to have an oddly excellent bones and gave people a feeling of outstanding superiority. What was even more astonishing was, one could not feel any sense of alarm when he had suddenly appeared under the tree. It was as if he was standing there in the first place and as if he was part of the scenery.
And the place he stood appeared like a poetic landscape painting which was harmonious and natural.
Great Martial Saint?
Suddenly, the idea flashed across Qin Wushuang’s mind as he looked over without any distinction.
That cyan-robed person slowly turned around and gazed at Qin Wushuang. Suddenly, he smiled: “You are the first martial arts student who arrived here. Tell me, what is your name?”
Qin Wushuang did not dare to neglect: “I am Qin Wushuang, it’s my honor to meet you, Martial Saint!”
That cyan-robed person touched his whiskers and smiled: “Qin Wushuang, indeed, it is Qin Wushuang. Unrivaled nationwide. Excellent, come with me!”
After he had finished, he walked out of the forest in large steps.
Without a moment of hesitation, Qin Wushuang followed up.
