Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
The Dark Phoenix was the Principal Guard of Green Mountain, a figure in the Heavenly Arrival State and the main operator of the Heavenly Slaying Formation; he was an outstanding being.
Yet, he turned into a skeleton after his death no matter how outstanding he had been.
Only if his skeleton could remain.
The dead Dark Phoenix was covered with ice and frost, resembling a wild rooster found in a heap of snow; the only exception was that his tail was much longer than the regular wild roosters.
In the eyes of the bistro customers, he was merely a food that could be boiled or fried.
The middle-aged man kept on walking forward, ignoring those diners. The resentful and irate voices behind him were still asking about the price.
Now the speakers began to talk about the current affairs, including the marriage arrangements between the family members of the state dukes in Zhaoge City, the new construction in Shangzhou and some rumors about the Cultivation circle.
“I’d like to find out some information about a person,” the middle-aged man asked the merchants. It was unclear when he came back to the entrance of the bistro.
A merchant pressed with a smile after glancing at the middle-aged man, “Will you exchange it with the wild rooster in your hand?”
“You can’t eat it; otherwise, you’ll die,” said the middle-aged man.
The merchant felt so frustrated that he laughed out, snapping, “The monks at the Fruit Formation Temple even eat the meat in secret; why can’t we eat it?”
Another merchant found that the middle-aged man had an extraordinary bearing and was evidently not a regular huntsman. “I’d like to know your name; and what do you wish to know?” he tried to ease up the atmosphere.
“My name is Xilai…”
Before the middle-aged man could finish introducing himself, the former speaker chimed in with a mocking tone, “It must be a fake name. Here is the Dongyi Dao, so all the newcomers come from the west.”
…
…
The middle-aged man was indeed Xilai (a.k.a. coming from west).
He was none other than the Godly Swordsman of West Ocean who had left Chaotian more than one hundred years ago.
He was the principal Sword King at the Church in the distant alien land.
Yet, he had never struck his sword for the Church; it was because they were not worth it.
It wasn’t until a few days ago that he had found the bulging sea suddenly drop down and knew that a significant event was happening in Chaotian, which is why he decided to return to the mainland.
On his way back over the ocean, he met the Dark Phoenix who had just died. He employed some sort of magic to seal off the Dark Phoenix to ensure he wouldn’t vanish from heaven and earth.
Unexpectedly, the merchants in the bistro didn’t die.
He went to a Cultivation sect in the Dongyi Dao, and easily found out what had happened in Chaotian lately.
He was not interested in the significant events that had taken place in the world, be it the ambitions of the Immortal Taiping and the Immortal Bai, the Fairy Lady who had been deceived to come down from the upper world, or the heroic deed performed by the Cultivation practitioners.
All he was concerned about was nobody but Jing Jiu and where he was right now.
The purpose for him to come back this time was to have a sword fight with Jing Jiu, but his opponent was nowhere to be found. It was truly frustrating.
He left the Dongyi Dao and began to search for Jing Jiu in Chaotian while heaving the Dark Phoenix in his hand. He looked like a lonely huntsman wandering about after his departure from his hometown.
…
…
The Godly Swordsman of West Ocean had been the most powerful Cultivation practitioner in Chaotian. He was actually on a par with his own Master, the Grandmaster of the Foggy Island Nan Qü.
If he hadn’t been severely wounded by Liu Ci with the All in One Sword, he wouldn’t have left Chaotian that easily.
It was unclear what Cultivation state he was in when he came back one hundred years later.
Zhao Layue had no idea that a strong swordsman was looking for Jing Jiu. She was busy searching for a method to awaken Jing Jiu.
After having left Juye City, Zhao Layue went to the Three-Thousand Nunnery outside Dayuan City.
The nuns of the Nunnery dismantled the formation hastily when they saw her, and they didn’t dare to glance at her.
She placed Jing Jiu by Bai Zao after she came to the corridor without the morning sunlight and entered the meditation room with a round window.
Bai Zao’s face was exposed, as the natural silk had mostly withered. She looked as pretty as ever.
Zhao Layue gazed at her face for a long time. She couldn’t even tell what kind of a feeling she had at the moment.
It had been more than one hundred years since the Battle of Zhaoge City, but it was probably a moment as far as Bai Zao was concerned.
She scratched her messy and short dusty hair and forced herself not to think about all this. Then, she tore the cloth off Jing Jiu, examined the wound on his waist for some moments, and pulled out some silk threads from the edge of Bai Zao’s face.
…
…
Zhao Layue finished her work by nightfall. She stepped over the round window and came to the lake. She reached her hands into the lake and washed them thoroughly.
The Green Girl landed on a tree branch by the lake while flapping her wings. “Are you sure it will work?” she asked Zhao Layue.
After a pause, Zhao Layue replied, “If the karma were the thread, his wound should be able to heal.”
“You know very well that it’s not the case,” said the Green Girl. “And shouldn’t you wash your hands before stitching his wound rather than now?”
Zhao Layue waved her hand irritably, “I don’t know that much about sewing to begin with. I can only sew it up roughly. You shouldn’t expect me to stitch it nicely.”
The Green Girl was fully aware that she was in a bad mood. She merely intended to humor her by saying something like “washing hands”. The Green Girl walked into the meditation room after sighing indignantly.
The Green Girl found that Jing Jiu’s condition was indeed different from when he slept unconsciously in Zhaoge City. She had no way to bring his spiritual soul to the Green Sky Mirror, and she couldn’t find any method to help him in the Green Sky Mirror either.
She suddenly heard a sound of something dropping into the water. The Green Girl spun her head around and saw Zhao Layue jump into the lake.
She was not committing suicide of course.
A swordsman in the upper limit of the Broken Sea State couldn’t drown themselves even if they wanted to, and even if it was the Blue Lake.
Zhao Layue had taken a thorough bath in the lake; she washed her hair very meticulously.
Afterwards, she sat on the stone bench by the lake all night while holding her bent knees.
Early the next day, she walked into the meditation room. After finding out that there was no sign that Jing Jiu would wake up, she said to the Green Girl, “Please inform Green Mountain that we will go back and send someone to pick us up.”
The Green Girl noticed that her eyes were red. It was evident that she had cried. Not daring to say anything, the Green Girl flew out of the window by flapping her wings forcefully.
…
…
The middle-aged man was calculating the whereabouts of Jing Jiu while walking about in Chaotian with the Dark Phoenix in his hands.
As he came to the outskirts of Zhaoge City, he saw the wildflowers in the field and then knew Jing Jiu’s condition.
Since the being in the snowland could solve his problem, he was on his way to the snowland. He happened to pass by Dayuan City.
He lifted his head and saw the trace of the Green Bird flying past, muttering to himself, “He is right here.”
He arrived at the end of the stream and walked into the nunnery hall. He couldn’t understand why a mortal was buried here when he saw the lonely grave.
The Great Formation of the Three-Thousand Nunnery responded immediately. The flowering trees by the lake and the green stone slabs in front of the bridge had all given off a large amount of energy.
The energies were all sliced into pieces before they could reach him.
Zhao Layue saw the middle-aged man on the other side of the bridge. With a slight change of expression, she tore a section of the sleeve and tied her hair into a ponytail with it as she headed toward the bridge.
“You came back.”
“Yes,” said the middle-aged man.
Sensing the powerful sword wills in heaven and earth and hearing the simple conversation between Zhao Layue and the man, the nuns of the nunnery guessed the identity of the middle-aged man. “The Godly Swordsman of West Ocean! He is still alive!” they yelled in surprise.
“Yes, I’m still alive. You people can call me ‘Jian Xilai’.”
The middle-aged man looked at the meditation room on the other side of the bridge.
Zhao Layue was somewhat surprised at his reaction. After glancing at him twice, Zhao Layue’s eyes beamed for some reason. “Is your Cultivation state higher than before?” she asked.
Looking into her mirror-like eyes, Jian Xilai said with furrowed brows, “Your talent is indeed very outstanding, but you’re far from my match. Under the circumstances, your fighting intent is a bit crude.”
“I don’t intend to fight with you.” Zhao Layue said to him expectantly, “Now that you have such a high Cultivation state, you might know a method to waken him up.”
Jian Xilai was speechless. Thinking of the merchants in the Dongyi Dao, he found that everybody appeared kind of crazy in Chaotian after one hundred years.
