Chapter 272 - 139: Unquenchable Spirit, 3 Things to Do! What is a Legend? The Martial Saint in His Youth

Chapter 272: Chapter 139: Unquenchable Spirit, 3 Things to Do! What is a Legend? The Martial Saint in His Youth

’The entire prefecture is my enemy, without a doubt.’

The seat of the Daoist School Master, the Dragon Elephant True Sect, the contention for the title of Daoist...

As he listened to Luo Daocheng recount secrets he had never known, laying them out in exhaustive detail, Ji Xiu hung on every word, his mind reeling.

The Dragon Elephant True Sect.

’Isn’t that the Sect backing Senior Ye Wenjiang, the one who passed on the Grandmaster-level Secret Martial Art, Ye Longxiang’s Head?’

’I never expected that a legendary event from sixty years ago would actually be connected to me.’

’No wonder Master Duan was always so wary for my sake, even giving me that silk pouch. And Master-Uncle Chen He, the Sect Leader, went so far as to take down his family’s Titled Blade Plaque and tell me to take it...’

’So they never wanted me to come to Jiangyin Prefecture in the first place...’

Only now did Ji Xiu finally understand what this trip to the prefecture truly meant.

They were all looking out for him.

That included the Garrison Commander before him, who claimed to be repaying a debt of gratitude from long ago to his Ancestral Master, Wang Xuanyang. He was also acting for Ji Xiu’s own good.

Otherwise, a man of his high station and immense power would have had no need to explain all this, let alone take the risk of offering to accept him as a disciple.

However, none of this had been his own choice.

"Do you understand now?"

Seeing the pensive look in Ji Xiu’s eyes as his head hung low, Luo Daocheng continued,

"Before, you didn’t understand the real situation. You thought that with enough passion, you could eventually stand against those Grand Lineages and Daoist Schools."

"But the situation is far more complex than just one or two families. If you get involved, you’ll be willingly entangling yourself in an even older, bygone affair."

"If you have regrets, my offer to take you as my disciple still stands. Then, when you become a Grandmaster, or even decades from now, you might one day attain a Title of your own..."

"With the status you would have then, you could still pick up these burdens you’ve cast aside. Fortunes change over time; why be so fixated on this single moment?"

Hearing Luo Daocheng’s words, Ji Xiu pursed his lips in thought. After a moment, he bowed deeply but still politely declined.

"Thank you for your guidance, Commander."

With just those few words, Luo Daocheng understood completely.

He then sighed.

"Why must you be like this?"

"Sigh..."

However, the look of admiration in his eyes only grew stronger.

"Then once you attend your Master’s funeral and act as his pallbearer, the mark on you will be impossible to remove."

"What do you plan to do then?"

Below the command platform, great waves surged. Warships, linked by iron chains, scraped against one another, their collisions echoing with an incessant CLANG.

Ji Xiu fell silent for a long, long time, sorting through the causes and consequences, the pros and cons.

Finally, he raised three fingers.

"I am going to do three things."

Luo Daocheng nodded.

"I’m listening."

"First."

Ji Xiu held up one finger.

"The Great Xuan has held dominion over the world for nine hundred years. Even with the internal influence of Celestial Pillar Mansions and the external corruption of the Outer Dao, it still stands tall and unyielding. It established Vassal Towns and a system of Prefectures and Counties to rule over hundreds of millions of people. And within a prefecture, a Prefecture Official of the Great Xuan holds the most honored position."

"I... want to enter the Mansion Courtyard and earn the Merit and Fame of a Prefecture Official!"

Luo Daocheng nodded.

"A good plan, with real substance. If you enter the Mansion Courtyard, you will become a student of the Dean. That in itself is a kind of Protective Talisman."

"The Mansion Courtyard is not the Garrison Mansion. Its connections to those in power... run much deeper than mine. This path must have been your Master’s idea."

"If you can earn the title of Prefecture Official, then even under pressure from the True Sect, they won’t be able to openly move against you within the prefecture. At the very least, your own safety will be guaranteed."

"Second."

"I will shoulder the plaque my Master fought to establish."

"I cannot let what he built be lost."

"Whether it’s the Hall Master’s seat at No. 1, or the pride that comes with being the Leader of Jiangyin Martial Arts..."

"Against any of my peers, with my blade, my fists, and my bow—I will face them all and put them to the test!"

Luo Daocheng frowned.

"That is..."

"Third."

But before he could finish, Ji Xiu faced the sea breeze, the white mourning band on his forehead fluttering, and raised his third finger.

"This last one is a bit more distant."

"But..."

"Regardless of what happens to the Celestial Blade School, or whether its name is about to be erased..."

"If I can accomplish the first two..."

"Then after I become a Grandmaster, I will shoulder the name and the foundation left behind by my Ancestral Master!"

"My Master once said that in our lineage, there is no rule that successors must bear the debts of their predecessors."

"But he spent his entire life, right up until the moment he fell, repaying the debt of our Ancestral Master."

"By that same token,"

"If he could walk that path, then so can I!"

BANG!

Ji Xiu straightened his frame, his tone ringing like steel. His sleeves billowed with a wave of Qi, and his solemn, bold words seemed to stir endless ripples in the very sea breeze.

’So what if the path is harder?’

’It could never be harder than when I sold myself as a Horse Slave just for a chance to turn my life around.’

The road ahead may be as hard as iron, but today, I take the first step to conquer it.

’Who would have ever thought a Groom could become the Leader of a County? But I did it!’

Now,

’So what if I, a poor boy from a rural county, now say that I’m going to become a Daoist School Master, a Great Lineage Master, and in time, a towering mountain of a School that dominates an entire prefecture...’

’It’s not impossible!’

Luo Daocheng listened to the young man’s words. The beginning of his plan was logical enough, but the further he spoke, the more his speech became filled with a wild, almost mad, ambition.

Anyone else might have laughed themselves silly.

But as Luo Daocheng watched Ji Xiu straighten his posture, it was as if his frame supported the entire expanse of the Canglang Sea, bathed in the twilight’s glow.

For some reason, the mountain-like Garrison Commander suddenly recalled a maxim from his youth, spoken by a great military figure who guarded the Realm Gates in the Vassal Town of Cangdu and had truly achieved the rank of a Titled Martial Saint—

"If you wish to seek a Title, you must do what ordinary people cannot. Otherwise, how could you ever be worthy of a name that is, by definition, legendary?"

"And if you wish to become a Martial Saint, but you lack the fervent, sincere Martial Dao conviction that says, ’If not me, then who?’ and gives you the will to forge ahead against all odds..."

"...then in this lifetime, you can never even hope to follow in their footsteps!"

Having achieved the Dragon and Tiger realm, the closer Luo Daocheng got to that visible yet untouchable threshold, the more he understood its true weight.

Sometimes, in the dead of night, he would feel a sense of defeat, believing that even if he spent his entire life trying, he could never earn the glorious title of ’Titled Martial Saint’.

But today, in this young man from a rural county...

...he saw...

...the makings of a true Martial Saint.

It was as if all the great powers of the prefecture could not break his spine.

’What gives him the right?’

Luo Daocheng did not understand; he was deeply perplexed.

But that didn’t stop...

...a faint trace of admiration from stirring in his heart.

’Perhaps... only someone like this is truly qualified to earn a Title.’