Chapter Forty-One: Thousand Mountain
These swords were very small compared to the wider world, but they were like the stars in the sky, feeling very majestic and mysterious.
Feeling like a star to others meant that they were powerful.
Zhangsun Qianxue looked up at the sword lights. The Nine Hell King Sword in her hand hummed.
“How come there are so many swords? Why is it like this?” She had not completely recovered from the shock of the Donghu monk, and now, she was immersed in great shock again.
“Because of familiarity.”
Ding Ning looked at her beautiful side profile, and then at the Nine Hell King Sword which was reacting in her hand. He took a deep breath and then said, “Because these swords are old acquaintances of the Nine Hell King Sword, perhaps comrades, perhaps enemies. Or maybe from a certain point of view, the Nine Hell King Sword was once one of them.”
“It is Ye Xiao.” Zhangsun Qianxue realized, and an uncomfortable feeling grew inside her. “These are all the famous swords from the previous dynasties and Changling.”
Ding Ning nodded.
Each era, each dynasty, there would be many accomplished craftsmen and top cultivators who would create many famed swords. There had been many famed swords from the former Han, Zhao and Wei. After the three dynasties were wiped out, the famed swords all belonged to the Qin Dynasty, and finally appeared in the sword valley of the Min Mountain Sword Trials.
The Ba Mountain Sword Field had many famed swords. After the Ba Mountain Sword Field was eliminated, the swords belonged to Yuanwu and Zheng Xiu.
There were also many famed swords which should not have been ignored but had been forgotten by people, the famed swords of the old nobility. The old nobility had ruled the Qin Dynasty in reality for many years. During this long time, these old nobility had the most powerful cultivators, and also created many famed swords.
Things that powerful cultivators picked to use as their swords were not ordinary, especially when most of them were treated as lifebond items. Even after the master of the swords were dead, these swords seemed to be imprinted with a soul, or had been refined to be more powerful. The energies of the masters of these swords merged with the sword, and became a part of the sword.
In the era of the old nobility of Changling, the Gongsun Family had been their leader, and the Nine Hell King Sword the strongest and the most vicious sword of the time. In the near hundred years, the cultivators of the Gongsun Family had used this sword to kill many cultivators, and fought together with many swords.
While no one had been able to turn the Nine Hell King Sword into their lifebond sword, but fighting and being in close contact with these swords caused a thread of the energies of these swords to remain in the Nine Hell King Sword. So the resonance of these energies was the familiarity that Ding Ning spoke of.
Undoubtedly, no matter if it was by Zheng Xiu’s help or Ye Xiao’s own actions, most of the famed swords left behind in the sword hoards of the old nobility had fallen into Ye Xiao’s hands. These swords had been nurtured by these sword servants with their life. When Ye Xiao activated them, they displayed great and mysterious power, forming a sword formation that even Zhangsun Qianxue could not understand.
The Donghu monk also frowned deeply. Three deep marks, looking like they were carved with a blade, appeared on his bark like skin.
These swords were nigh in order in the sky, forming a mountain shape, but in his perception, they seemed to layer up into a thousand mountains. Each of these swords was pulling hard at the primal energies of the universe to form these mountains. He could sense that this sword formation was not a killing formation, but a restraining formation.
Cultivators of any level had special senses for danger. Right now, the Donghu monk had reached realm eight. His communication with energy reached even the stars. He could sense the surroundings in great detail. From lingering traces of energy, he could see the tracks of life and death. In his sensory world, some things flowed faster than normal, other things were slower than normal. Regardless of the speed, they were different from usual, and this was like the limits of time were changed.
Ding Ning at the Donghu monk’s breakthrough said “see all beings”. This was not just seeing and sensing many things that he usually could not. His soul had left his body and roamed many places he had never been before, but the truest of the meaning was sensing the cycle of life and death of many beings.
As to “seeing gods,” it was referring to after realm eight, it was like reaching a divine state, a new world, and looking at the world in a different light. With his power, he could kill many realm seven grandmasters, flee while thousands of soldiers could not stop him, and roam the world without any restrictions.
But even so, he still felt great danger.
Bang!
He swung his staff with two hands, the staff turning bright and transparent. His lips did not move, but when his staff hit the air, it created a strange but clear boom, like the voice of a buddha.
Different cultivation methods would create different Heaven Opening scenes. When Emperor Yuanwu used his full power, there were enormous and dazzling pillars of light coming down. When the monk used his full power, there was no dazzling light, but subtle and small lights, like celestials scattering flowers down.
But the real sense of power came from his own body. An invisible but real power expanded out of his body, like his body was expanding outwards.
Crack, crack, crack …
The swords falling down encountered obstruction, not brushing against the air, but colliding directly like they were hitting metal, and gave off sharp hard sounds. A true metal wall that was transparent appeared in the sky.
This was a method the Donghu monk used for defense, but now, in the hands of the Donghu monk, it was no longer defense.
Under his determined gaze, this invisible but real metal wall pressed outwards at a terrifying speed. The swords shook. Because of the unique mental connection, the sword servants who had collapsed to the ground already bled, and were on the edge of death.
Blood beaded from every pore on Ye Xiao’s skin. He sensed the terrifying power of realm eight. Everything in his body was warning him he may die at any time.
But a faint strange scornful smile appeared at the corner of his mouth. His body could not endure, but his great resolve allowed him to lift his hand and grasp the empty air.
Many of the blood vessels on his forehead floated out of his skin, shining, and then burning with real flames, like gold and red seal scripts. The power he had embedded in the swords also started to burn.
The seal scripts of the famed swords struggling in the air lit up, burning with red and gold flames.
Pang, pang, pang, pang ….
All of the famed swords shattered in the air like paper, but all of the energies still held in the form of swords, and fell down with even more power.
In Ding Ning and Zhangsun Qianxue’s perception, it felt like the Donghu monk, enormous in the world to the point he almost filled it, was pierced through countless times by these swords.
The metal wall was penetrated, and many of the intangible swords that had lost their nucleus fell down. When each sword fell, it smashed on the ground with the weight of a true mountain, creating pillars of dust hundreds of meters tall.
The Donghu monk stuck his staff into the ground in front of him. The wind storm surrounded them, but could not enter.
The weak Fu Su, who had not spoken for a long time, felt like his consciousness was being torn apart by two powers. He vomited up another mouthful of blood and fainted.
The pillars of dust stayed in the air supported by the energy, and did not dissipate.
Ding Ning looked over. It was like there were a thousand mountains around them. The light of some energies flashed on the mountain peaks, turning the peaks yellow and then snowy while, like a thousand snow-capped mountains. This was what he was most worried about.
People who only lived for revenge were always the most terrifying.
