Refining the Mountains and Rivers

Chapter 1704 – Sword Prison

Hu Zhiming was calm and composed as he said, “I can answer your question now, Sect Master.”

Qin Yu said, “Brother Hu, please go on.”

“Me and Hu Fu are cousins.” His first sentence was the key point, “In fact, many grudges that sit in deep in your bones turn out to be cliche stories when told to others.”

Hu Fu was the older cousin while Hu Zhiming was the younger cousin.

The two of them were born in Swallow Mountain as ordinary children of a village along a narrow river. Since they were young, they knew that the things that flew above their heads were not meteors or shooting stars. They were the immortal swordsmen.

It became their biggest dream to become swordsmen.

When they were twelve and thirteen year old teens, the chance to become swordsmen finally arrived. They were lucky and they had good aptitudes. Hence, they stood out during the aptitude test.

The first time they flew on a sword, seniors of the sect were leading them back to the sword sect.

That night, the two teens were so excited and they could not fall asleep. They swore to each other that they would train hard so that they could become true immortals who could fly on their own swords.

A beautiful, gentle senior sister was the one who taught new disciples sword skills. She was very pretty and she felt like the spring wind. No matter how weak and tired the two cousins were, they felt like they were reenergized by the senior sister.

With good aptitude, coupled with their hard work, the two of them raised their cultivation quickly and they slowly became well-regarded by the sect.

The incident happened when the Sect Master announced that he would take in a new disciple to impart his teachings to. The candidate would one of the two cousins.

Hu Fu schemed against Hu Zhiming and overnight, Hu Fu became the favored disciple of the sect while Hu Zhiming was accused of being a traitor.

“I survived because I was lucky. After senior sister informed me in advance. I escaped into a river and hid there. Secondly…I have to thank Hu Fu. If he did not destroy the Opening Heavens Sword Sect thirty years later, I would not have lived till this day.”

There was a deep meaning to his words. Hu Zhiming was actually a true disciple of the Opening Heavens Sword Sect!

Qin Yu thought about his words, “Your grudge truly runs deep.”

Hu Zhiming said, “Sect Master, you must think that I am merciless by being so determined to destroy the Circling Heavens Sword Sect. But in fact if that was the case, I would be satisfied with killing Hu Fu alone.”

His expression was heavy and his tone was cold, “Hu Fu killed my senior sister personally when she got pregnant with his child!”

Qin Yu frowned.

Hu Zhiming continued, “Hu Fu is already dead and the Circling Heavens Sword Sect is destroyed. The secret back then does not need to be kept anymore. With the power of Sect Master, it is very easy to investigate this.”

Qin Yu asked, “Why did he do this?”

“For power and status, he wanted to marry another woman to secure his position. My senior sister had to die and the unborn baby had to die with her too.” His expression was stoic, “As such, I wanted to completely destroy everything that he used senior sister and his unborn child to exchange for.”

Boom –

A massive explosion occurred. A seal that was barely holding on above the ancestral hall of the Circling Heavens Sword Sect suddenly exploded.

The dozen swordsmen surrounding it could not escape the shock waves as they were dragged in. They lost their lives instantly.

“The Circling Heavens Sword Sect is finished.” Hu Zhiming glanced at the bellows of smoke and spoke with a straight face.

The rogue cultivators that had retreated when the explosion occurred looked like hungry wolves and their eyes burned red hot.

“Kill them!”

“Don’t let anyone off!”

“Brothers, go!”

Hu Zhiming turned, “Sect Master, let’s go.”

Qin Yu nodded, “As per our previous agreement, from today onwards, Brother Hu, you will be the protector of the Opening Heavens Sword Sect.” He paused, “Everything in the sect was built according to the old standards. If you do not like it, you can change it.”

Hu Zhiming shook his head, “My grudge has been settled and my heart is at ease now. If I continue to be anchored down because of the past, I will not be able to progress in my cultivation anymore.”

He looked at Qin Yu, “Also, although the fame that comes with being the protector of the Opening Heavens Sword Sect is huge; we have too few people in the sect now. There is no point being an official of an empty post.”

The corners of Qin Yu’s lips curled up slightly, “Protector Hu, I am going to give you a task right now. Please choose eleven swordsmen with a clean background and have them become disciples of the Opening Heavens Sword Sect.”

Hu Zhiming thought for a while, “Sect Master, are you preparing for the upcoming Sword Sect Contest?” As expected, even for rogue cultivators, those who were strong enough had the resources to gather information.

Qin Yu nodded, “That’s right.” Since he raised it up, there was no longer a need to hide it.

Hu Zhiming shook his head, “Sect Master, your way of thinking is right, but I believe you must have underestimated the great sword sects in Swallow Mountain. We might…mm, we might be having too many expectations of the rogue cultivators.

“Someone wants to use the Sword Sect Contest to prevent the Opening Heavens Sword Sect from returning to the top ten sword sects and joining the Main Sword Masters. If you want to spoil their plans, you would need to be ranked in the top ten in the Sword Sect Contest.”

He looked at Qin Yu with a serious expression, “It is hard, very hard, and the probability of it is close to zero. The great sword sects are good at training their disciples.”

Qin Yu said, “Protector Hu, all you need to do is find eleven trustworthy swordsmen. The rest…I and Grand Elder have our arrangements for them.”

Hu Zhiming nodded, “If that is the case, it isn’t too hard. I will return to the sect in two days.” He turned and left, but before long, he stopped. There was an awkward expression on his face and he cupped his hands and bowed, “Your subordinate will take his leave now.” 𝑓ree𝑤𝘦𝚋𝐧𝘰ve𝑙. co𝒎

Shoosh –

A figure flashed past and shot towards the sky.

Done!

Qin Yu smiled. Then, he turned around, “You have watched us for a long time. Are you not going to show yourself?”

There was a brief moment of silence before the space shifted and someone walked out. The long sword he held in his hand had a powerful aura.

“Xu Jing of the South Sea Sword Sect greets Sect Master Qin.”

Qin Yu raised his eyebrows, “I never knew that there was conflict between the South Sea Sword Sect and the Opening Heavens Sword Sect.”

Xu Jing shook his head, “Sect Master, you have misunderstood. I was simply surprised to find you here and I do not have any other intentions.”

Qin Yu replied, “I see, so has your curiosity been fulfilled? If not, you can continue peeking. I will just pretend not to know.”

This time, Xu Jing frowned and his tone changed, “It is alright. I don’t have much time to waste on meaningless things.

“Goodbye.”

He turned and walked away.

Qin Yu suddenly said, “Elder Xu Jing, Hu Zhiming is now the protector of the Opening Heavens Sword Sect and you are the only one who knows of this. If something happens to him, I will place the responsibility on you even if there isn’t any evidence. I will also ensure that I will seek justice for Protector Hu at any cost.”

Xu Jing’s body froze but he did not turn back. Eventually, he gritted his teeth and left.

Looking at his back, Qin Yu’s eyes were indifferent.

In fact, Qin Yu was famous in Swallow Mountain now. He was strong too, and hence, he had succeeded in scaring him off.

Two days, later, Hu Zhiming led eleven swordsmen to the entrance of the Opening Heavens Sword Sect. He was alive and well.

Zhang Xiashan went out to greet him. He scanned the people and frowned slightly but he did not say much.

They were ordinary!

It was even an exaggeration to use these words to describe the people who Hu Zhiming brought back.

Old Hu’s face was red from embarrassment when he faced Qin Yu and Rourou in the grand hall. He said, “I am not sure why, but when I went to seek out the rogue cultivators I knew in the past, most of them were scared off like they saw a tiger. Hardly anyone agreed to join me.” The eleven people here were half forced and half persuaded to come here. It was hard to even hit the numbers, not to mention cultivation.

Qin Yu could guess the reason. He looked at Rourou and saw how she did not respond. His heart relaxed slightly and he smiled, “No worries. I will remember your hard work for bringing these eleven men back.”

Finally, Hu Zhiming’s expression seemed much more at ease. Even though he claimed not to know the reason why people turned him down, he could guess the truth from the way they acted.

In the end, the Opening Heavens Sword Sect was not strong enough. Otherwise, these rogue cultivators would desperately want to join the sect. He would not need to drag them back either.

“Good work, Protector Hu, you should go and rest.”

Hu Zhiming stood up and left.

There was only Qin Yu and Rourou left in the grand hall.

Coughing lightly, Qin Yu said, “Rourou, I have already settled the problem with the numbers.”

Rourou wanted to roll her eyes at him. Obviously, she thought.

Qin Yu raised his hand, “Time is tight and we can only use what we have. Also, don’t we have you too? My Rourou is ten men alone. If you are willing, you can even turn dog shit into outstanding soldiers.”

“Are you done sucking up? Lord Qin, you say it like it is as easy as talking. Why don’t you handle it instead?”

Qin Yu pretended to be dumb.

What could he do?

Aside from being mocked, there was nothing else he could do.

Rourou was also just complaining. If she really could not do it, she would not be acting this way.

However, it would need some effort from her, and that was why she was in a bad mood.

She snapped a few more sentences and Qin Yu continued to be deaf again. Eventually, Rourou gritted her teeth and got up. She did not forget to add one more snide remark.

“You listen well, you owe me another time!” So be it.

Anyway, Qin Yu could no longer keep track of how much he owed her.

The more one accumulated of something, the more meaningless it became.

Three days later, the Main Sword Masters finally reached an agreement. The announcement came that the Sword Prison would be opened five days later. The disciples of various sword sects would be involved and the rankings would be decided based on how many Sword Demons they killed, as well as the depth of their exploration.

It was the Sword Sect Contest!

The winners of the contest would gain a lot of benefits. The surprising point was that the top ten ranked sword sects would automatically become the new members of the Main Sword Masters.

This had never before happened in the past.

Of course, this was a rough outline of the rules. The exact details and rules were set strictly and analyzed deeply.

For instance, who would count as a ‘disciple’ of a sword sect? Only new members of the sect who had joined in the last twenty years were eligible to join.

In order to prevent deaths and injuries for the sword sect teams, every sect could send an elder to serve as a guardian of the sect. They could interfere in critical moments to save the disciples.

However, once the guardian interfered, it meant that the team was to be eliminated and they would not qualify in the contest again.

Aside from that, there were many nitty gritty details and they roughly prevented sects from cheating to obtain higher rankings.

“Sword Prison…”

In the grand hall, Rourou muttered to herself. Her eyes brightened when she thought of this name.

She had thought of an idea!

……

News from the Main Sword Masters spread out to the public and it confirmed that the opening of the Sword Prison would last no longer than ten days. Compared to the past, this was much more hasty and there was a weird aura that spread through Swallow Mountain.

That was because everyone knew the reason why this Sword Sect Contest was so rushed.

The Opening Heavens Sword Sect was strong, as shown by how Sect Master Qin Yu killed Hu Fu with a single blow. The sect was newly opened now and it was rumored that the mountain gate had just finished construction. It was not an exaggeration to say that there were a hundred things to do.

With their fame now, it would be a problem if they participated in the Sword Sect Contest a few years later.

However…hehe, the requirement of having twelve participating disciples would make things tough for them.

Who had not heard of the rumors flying around in Swallow Mountain currently? Even if the Opening Heavens Sword Sect did manage to assemble a team, what results could they get?

Once they fell to rock bottom, how would they be able to place among the top ten and gain a seat in the Main Sword Masters?

This was a scheme!