Novel Full Chapter 2802 - The Sword-Bearer
Chapter 2802 – The Sword-Bearer
The city walls were towering and grand, their surfaces covered with the vestiges of countless years.
Yang Lingxiao stared at them in a daze as he recalled his experiences in the Blue Peak Continent.
Only three years had passed, but his time in the Blue Peak Continent had been carved into his bones. Memories frequently rose to the surface.
And it was two men who’d left the deepest impression on him.
The first was Su Xuanjun, a young man in blue, ethereal and transcendent. He seemed unassuming at first glance, but in truth, he was an utterly terrifying existence.
The other was Pu Xuan. In his robes whiter than snow, he had an otherworldly air. He carried a longsword marred with rust, and he had a lofty cultivation base, yet he acted like an attendant and served Su Xuanjun loyally.
What made Yang Lingxiao’s heart palpitate even now was the battle outside the Huaihuang Empire. When Heavenly Sovereign Ku Xuan joined the fray, he, Heavenly Monarch Mu Qing, and Yu Guangjun of True Martial Sword Court all had their senses severed.
By the time their senses returned, they found themselves inexplicably outside the Blue Peak Continent!
All of this had left Yang Lingxiao with far too many questions.
Had Su Xuanjun and Pu Xuan survived that battle, or had they both perished?
How did he, Heavenly Monarch Mu Qing, and Yu Guangjun leave the Blue Peak Continent alive?
Just what had happened during that chaotic battle?
Even now, Yang Lingxiao had no answers.
It was only after he returned to the Heart-Tempering Sword House that he learned that Heavenly Sovereign Ku Xuan, the founder of the Taiwu Sect, had claimed that Heavenly Sovereign-level sword!
This incident shook all of the Five Great Continents, and everyone in the Heart-Tempering Sword House was talking about it.
Many of Yang Lingxiao’s seniors and sectmates had questioned him about it, because all of them knew that he’d been there.
But Yang Lingxiao didn’t know anything either. All he could do was tell them what little he knew.
Yang Lingxiao had thought all of this was in the past. Who’d have thought that now, three years later, Martial Uncle Wu Qing would bring up Su Xuanjun here in the Nine Luminaries Forbidden Zone?
“Martial Uncle, are you saying that I was given a spot in the Nine Luminaries Forbidden Zone because of my connection to Su Xuanjun?” Yang Lingxiao couldn’t help but ask.
It was only now that he realized that the moment his martial uncle spoke, he sealed off the entire area.
Yang Lingxiao’s heart clenched as he realized the seriousness of the situation.
“Mm.” Wu Qing said slowly, “This is top secret, but the sect most likely arranged for you to participate in order to target Su Xuanjun.”
Yang Lingxiao looked stunned. He laughed bitterly. “Don’t joke around, Martial Uncle. Su Xuanjun could trounce me with a single hand. How am I supposed to fight him?”
“Who said you’d be fighting him?” said Wu Qing. “If I’m not mistaken, the plan is to exploit your relationship and have you serve as a double agent to help trap and kill Su Xuanjun.”
Yang Lingxiao was at a loss for words. “But everyone in the sect knows that Su Xuanjun suppressed and imprisoned me. I was his captive!”
Wu Qing looked at him as if he were a fool. “You were just one of his defeated generals, but isn’t that a relationship in its own right? You managed to leave the Blue Peak Continent despite having your senses sealed. Do you really think that’s just because you’re hard to kill?”
Yang Lingxiao looked at him in disbelief. “You mean that Su Xuanjun saved me?”
“Maybe not, but whoever did was surely connected to him!” said Wu Qing. “It’s not much, but it’s enough of a relationship that you’ll come in handy if the sect wants to defeat Su Xuanjun!”
Yang Lingxiao’s expression shifted erratically; he still didn’t understand. “Martial Uncle, does the Heart-Tempering Sword House have a grudge against Su Xuanjun?”
Wu Qing fell silent.
After a while, he said, “All I can tell you is that the Heart-Tempering Sword Forces has joined forces with Sevendeaths Court, the Court of the Southern Heavens, and Limitless Palace to set a trap in the Nine Luminaries Forbidden Zone, and that Su Xuanjun is their target!”
Yang Lingxiao gasped. What did Su Xuanjun do? Why are they targeting him like this?
Wu Qing’s gaze was suddenly stern. “You aren’t qualified to know these secrets. I’m sharing them with you simply to confirm something.”
Yang Lingxiao’s heart clenched. “Please go ahead and ask, Martial Uncle.”
Wu Qing met his gaze and said slowly and clearly, “What will you do if the sect orders you to lead Su Xuanjun to his death?”
Yang Lingxiao froze, his expression suddenly full of uncertainty.
Whap!
Yang Lingxiao took a palm to the back of his head.
Wu Qing berated him. “You seriously dare to hesitate? It seems you aren’t truly loyal to the sect! Everyone knows that anything less than absolute loyalty isn’t loyalty at all!”
Yang Lingxiao laughed bitterly. “Martial Uncle, I wouldn’t dare to disobey the sect’s orders, but…”
Wu Qing waved dismissively. “Do you remember what you carved on the Heart-Tempering Cliff Sword Stele when you joined the sect?”
Whenever a new disciple joined the Heart-Tempering Sword Sect, they had to leave their mark on the Heart-Tempering Cliff Sword Stele.
What they wrote didn’t matter so long as it related to their pursuit of the Dao.
At the time, Yang Lingxiao didn’t hesitate to write, “I face heaven and earth, my sword heart free of regret!”
The words had taken root in his heart, and indeed, even after he was taken captive in the Blue Peak Continent, he was never once afraid to die.
And that, in turn, was why Senior Pu Xuan had started to see him in a different light!
Those words represented the Dao of the Sword he’d pursued since the early days of his youth.
If he went against his sword heart, he’d surely break it!
Suddenly, Yang Lingxiao seemed to realize something. “Martial Uncle, are you saying…”
But before he could finish the question, Wu Qing said expressionlessly, “Someone’s coming.”
He raised his hand and dissipated the seal over the area.
Practically simultaneously, a black-robed, stern-faced man approached from afar.
“Greetings, Mountain Lord Wu Qing.” The black-robed man clasped his fist.
“Do you have business with me?” Wu Qing said flatly.
The man in black said, “This humble one is here on orders. I’ve been commanded to bring disciple Yang Lingxiao to see Elder Fu!”
“Oh,” said Wu Qing.
Yang Lingxiao visibly tensed. Elder Fu’s full name was Fu Yong. He was the third elder of the Hall of Discipline, a cold, cruel, unsmiling man.
It wasn’t their leader that those of the Heart-Tempering Sword House feared most, nor was it their founder or any of the other long-secluded old monsters. Rather, it was the Hall of Discipline!
Fu Yong, its third elder, was absolutely infamous within the sect!
“Go on,” Wu Qing said with a wave. “Perhaps… Elder Fu plans to guide you to a grand stroke of good fortune.”
After a moment’s silence, Yang Lingxiao nodded, then followed the man in black away.
Wu Qing, meanwhile, gazed into the distance.
Heaven and earth were overcast. It seemed like a storm was brewing.
……
There were worn, run-down buildings on all sides of the Ancient Nine Luminaries City. All had stood since the Devastation.
The city was home to numerous ancient ruins, including the Starry Stele and the Nine Towering Lotus Platforms at its center.
There were numerous other famed fortuitous grounds, too. The Demon-Refining Cave in the eastern corner was one such example.
The Outsider Celestial Demons, once confined there, had died during the Devastation, but the cave still hid numerous secrets. Cultivators saw it as a prime location to temper their hearts.
Then there was Signal Fire Platform, the Gazebo of Buried Swords, the Sin-Severing Dungeon, and numerous others, each with its own secrets.
Way back during the Devastation, this ancient city had been a battlefield at the front lines of the war against the Outsider Celestial Demons. A group of first-rate experts had been stationed here.
It was here that they slew yao and hunted demons, fought year-round, and left behind an indelible legacy of glorious accomplishments.
But the march of time was ever relentless, and their glory was washed away by years of wind and rain.
One million years had passed since the Devastation. By now, all that remained were mottled vestiges of a bygone age. Its glories were visible only in the city’s ancient ruins, but even that was merely the tip of the iceberg.
Meanwhile, in a grand hall carved out of the corpse of the star, five people sat in an otherwise empty room.
They were the Kun Peng of Limitless Palace, Granny Snake from the Court of the Southern Heavens, Bi Yunzi of Sevendeaths Court, and Elder Fu Yong of the Heart-Tempering Sword House.
The fifth sat alone and cross-legged at the far end of the hall.
The wall at the far end was forged out of a black fallen star. It was as smooth as a mirror, and mist billowed from its surface.
It was indistinct, but countless shooting stars seemed to streak along the wall’s surface, flickering in and out of view.
Standing before it was like gazing into the endless starry sky.
Except that the starry skies were shrouded in fog.
That seated figure was bony and gaunt. He sat there, unmoving, facing the wall, his back to the others. His unkempt white hair draped over the ground, and there was no telling how many years had passed since he’d last cut it.
He was shrouded in dense death qi, like a long, unmoving boulder.
This was a Sword-Bearer.
It was an ancient title for a man so ancient that his origins were unknowable.
They said that when the founder of the Heart-Tempering Sword House discovered the Nine Luminaries Forbidden Zone, this Sword-Bearer had been seated here, unmoving and unresponsive, like a clay statue.
“How much longer?” Bi Yunzi asked softly, seemingly afraid of disturbing the Sword-Bearer.
He was dressed in black, and he wore an iron crown. His hands gripped a fly whisk, and he carried a jade ruler at an angle on his back.
Bi Yunzi’s position in Sevendeaths Court wasn’t particularly high, but his strength was utterly tyrannical. His true body was a Bifang Bird, and he was utterly ferocious by nature.
“Less than half a month!” Fu Yong said with certainty.
He was a decrepit-looking, stooped elder with turbid eyes. He was entirely unassuming, but he was indeed the third elder of the Heart-Tempering Sword House’s Hall of Discipline, as well as a ruthless torturer capable of making captives live lives worse than death.
“Half a month? Won’t that be too late?” Granny Snake sighed.
She was Lian Yue’s Dao Protector, an expert of the Court of the Southern Heavens, as well as a long-secluded Heavenly Monarch of the Yao Path.
“Are you saying that even after our target arrives, we just have to watch and do nothing?” The old Kun Peng furrowed his brow.
He cut an extraordinary figure, and he looked young. He was tall, with golden robes. Even just standing there with his hands behind his back, he seemed capable of swallowing the skies.
Those who truly understood him knew that he was an absolutely unparalleled, ferocious figure!
“That’s the timeframe Senior Sword-Bearer gave us. Seems to me that waiting two weeks won’t cause any problems,” said Fu Yong.
He looked at the Kun Peng with obvious trepidation, and his tone and mannerisms were polite.
The Kun Peng snorted coldly, then turned to look at the Sword-Bearer.
He said icily, as if issuing orders, “Hey, old-timer. I’ll give you ten days to seal the city completely. Can you do it?”
The Sword-Bearer just sat there, as if he hadn’t heard a thing.
But then, a streak of sword qi exploded into being.
A moment later, the Kun Peng went flying and slammed into a distant wall, hard.