The Legend of Futian

Emperor Li’s Realm was ruled personally by Emperor Li himself, establishing the Dali Dynasty and ruled both the Upper and Lower Worlds.

The Upper Worlds were naturally ruled directly by Emperor Li himself, while the Lower Worlds were ruled by the members of Emperor Li’s royal family. Furthermore, suitable talents were selected from the Lower Worlds and sent to the Upper Worlds for further training.

The Dali Dynasty’s Lower Worlds were divided into Nine Counties, which somewhat resembled the Nine States in Emperor Xia’s Realm.

What differed was that all Nine Counties were ruled by sheriffs with absolute power within the country they were in charge of. Conventionally-speaking, they were usually the most powerful person to be found in the county.

The County of Yan ranked at top three among the powers of the Nine Counties of the Lower Worlds of Dali Dynasty.

The County of Yan had been famous for years for producing swordsmen.

There was a saying in Dali Dynasty that went, The swordsmen of Dali were divided between the swordsmen of the Country of Yan, and the swordsmen of other counties.

As such, swordsmen of Dali would have all trained in the County of Yan.

There were five holy lands of the sword in the County of Yan and there were 18 Sword Saint level figures in them. It served as the testament of the power of the swordsmen of that county.

Swordsmen were usually a preferred choice of many cultivators, and there were many stories of swordsmen.

There was a story in Liuyue City of the County of Yan at the moment.

There was a young swordsman rising to fame in Liuyue City, which was said to have hailed from the Mountain of Hidden Swords in the east, who developed his powers in a single day, embarking on a journey to help the downtrodden and cut down the wicked. Blood would have spilled as soon as his sword was drawn.

Among the stories, there was one where there had been robbers throwing their weight around outside of the Mountain of Hidden Swords, robbing everywhere they went and enslaved the weak. Said swordsman traveled a thousand miles on a single sword, going into the lair of the robbers alone, and causing a bloodbath in that mountain all on his own.

There was also one telling of a clan of swordsmen who performed wicked deeds in secret and even trained in evil arts, using young women to further their training. Said swordsman went up to the clan and cut down the head of the lord.

But of course, the most renowned one told was one that happened recently in Liuyue City.

There was a son of the younger sister of the City Lord of Liuyue City, who was known for being lecherous. He took a liking to a woman he saw in the city, however, said woman rebuffed his advances, and so he manipulated things behind and backed her family to a corner. That swordsman caught wind of the news and cut that man down.

The beloved son of the sister of the City Lord of Liuyue City was killed, and the authorities sent men to arrest the swordsman, who were all ended up killed. The City Lord was enraged and led the army of the City Lord office to take him down, ordering that he be killed on sight.

However, all of the elites from the City Lord office perished in that battle. The City Lord was killed as well.

It was worth noting that the City Lord of Liuyue City was at the pinnacle of Sage Plane. However, it was rumored that said swordsman only took one attack to take him down.

In actuality, such stories were filled with conventional tropes, and there were happening everywhere all the same. Bullies, perverts, and robbers, those people were found in abundance and there was never any shortage of those kind of people. No one could have ever cut every single one of them down. But, it was just a coincidence that the swordsman kept running into those people, and proved mighty enough to slay them without delay.

None of those matters would have been all that much of a story in the vast Dali Dynasty otherwise.

It was rumored that that swordsman went by a very simple name. It was anything but overbearing and very memorable.

He was known as the Seventh Swordsman, and some speculated that he had the name due to having carried seven swords with him.

None of them would have naturally expected that the man had only took such a man due solely to laziness. There had once been a swordsman he knew named Yan Jiu, whose name meant loosely ‘Yan the Ninth’, so he just called himself the Seventh Swordsman instead.

The death of the City Lord of Liuyue City kicked up quite a ruckus. It was worth noting that other than being City Lord, the man had another identity—a student of the Sword Clan of the Gale, a holy land of the sword. The holy land was established by a sword saint named Jian Kuangren, whose swordplay was known for its overbearing and ferocious nature, with many of its moves consisting of strong blows and wide sweeps.

Liuyue City was under rule of the Sword Clan of the Gale.

There was no way said holy land would have simply let the death of the City Lord slide just like that. It was said that there were already mighty ones heading towards Liuyue City.

Within a villa found inside Liuyue City at that moment, there was a woman who was playing the guqin. The woman had soft features and looked quite stunning. She was alluring enough to pique the interests of any lecherous fellow.

A man was lying on the ground near the woman, who had a sword placed at his side, while carrying a gourd on his right hand, drinking from it.

The young man had stunning looks and those eyes of his had a mystical charm to them. At that moment, he looked like he was enjoying himself, drinking and listening to music.

The man was none other than the talk of Liuyue City at the moment—the Seventh Swordsman.

The man was also one who hailed from the Nine States of Emperor Xia’s Realm, who came to Dali Dynasty on pilgrimage, Ye Futian.

He trained as he traveled, venturing into the Lower Worlds of Dali Dynasty from the Nine States, instead of entering Emperor Li’s Realm from the Upper Worlds directly.

Ye Futian had two goals for making the trip, with one of them being truly to train on his pilgrimage, tempering his mind. As such, it was not an odd choice for him to travel through the Lower Worlds instead.

His second goal was to avoid any troubles or suspicions, which might have happened if he were to enter Dali Dynasty right away from Emperor Xia’s Realm.

Emperor Li’s Realm had a way of investigating a swordsman from the Lower Worlds.

It was especially so for a swordsman who ventured out from the Mountain of Hidden Swords, a holy land of the sword, in the County of Yan. His journey was an extremely risky one, so he naturally needed to be very careful and had to cover his tracks all the time.

The woman gradually stopped for the tune was over, turning her eyes at the handsome man who lying about drinking. She then said, “Mr. Seventh, it’s best for you to leave. The Sword Clan of the Gale is a holy land of the sword. Even if there were to find out the truth, they might not come looking for trouble with us. But since you’ve killed the City Lord of Liuyue City, they will sure come for you.”

“Having a pretty woman by my side, drinking fine booze, and having superb music being played, this is just heaven for me. Why should I leave then?” Ye Futian smiled and asked. The woman lowered her head for a bit and looked rather embarrassed. She then turned her eyes again at Ye Futian, who was lying about and thought that it was quite lucky for her to even get to meet one such dashing figure.

While they have yet to get to know each other for long, yet the extremely dashing young man left a deep, lasting impression on her. The man was carefree and abrasive. It seemed that it was always how he had been carrying himself.

However, what made him so unforgettable to her was how stunning and extraordinary he looked when he worked with a sword. It seemed as if he was able to put anyone under the heavens in their place with little more than a sword in his hand. Blood would have been spilled as soon as the sword was drawn.

“Furthermore, is the Sword Clan of the Gale really that powerful?” The young man put his gourd down. Those extremely charming eyes of his met hers with a smile. The woman felt dazed for a second, seemingly attracted by those eyes.

She turned her eyes away and dared not look at them any further. She lowered her head and said, “I know that your training is superb, Mr. Seventh, yet the Sword Clan of the Gale was still a holy land nonetheless. There were quite a number of extremely powerful genius swordsmen in the place. The ones who are coming would definitely be anything but weak, and there would be quite a number of them as well. You might be very powerful, but there is simply no need to stay behind and risk your neck for me.”

“Don’t think too deeply into it. I’m not doing this for you,” Ye Futian smiled and said. The woman felt her cheeks burning as soon as she heard that.

“It’s a good opportunity for me to get to know just how powerful the swordsmen of the Sword Clan of the Gale are. I wonder if the genius swordsmen of said holy land would be able to make me use a second attack on them.” Ye Futian sounded lazy when he was saying all of that. There was no way he would have left. He was already in Dali Dynasty and he was compelled to attract some attention somehow.

He needed to attract not only the attention of holy lands of the Lower Worlds, but also cultivators of Dali Dynasty of the Upper Worlds.

As such, he needed to take quite a bit of shortcuts, but then again, he still had to be careful not to overdo it.

The woman felt rather exasperated, but she seemed to have gotten used to Ye Futian bragging. She heard quite a bit over the time she spent around him.

“Mr. Seventh.” An anxious voice was heard at that moment. A middle-aged man walked towards him in a hurry and took one look at his daughter, before saying to Ye Futian, who was casually lying about, “Mr. Seventh, Nie Yun of the Sword Clan of the Gale brought his men personally to Liuyue City. It was said that they were already at the City Lord’s office. I thank you for your kindness, but it’s best that you leave. If I were to drag you into my mess and end up getting you killed, I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself.”

“Is this Nie Yun that powerful?” Ye Futian did not seem fazed at all, as he asked in a lazy manner.

“He is the number one in the Sword Clan of the Gale. The powers of Nie Yun would have ranked him in the top ten in all of the County of Yan,” the middle-aged man said.

“Top ten in the entire County of Yan huh?” Ye Futian then continued nonchalantly, “Even if the number one below Saint Plane in all of County of Yan were to show up, I can tell you that they wouldn’t even be able to make me dish out a second attack.”

“Is that so?” A voice was heard from afar. There were swords whooshing from faraway as the question was asked. One figure after another was seen arriving on their swords.

Furthermore, there were more and more mighty ones closing in on the villa, peering inside as they moved.

“The number one figure below Saint Plane in all of County of Yan unable to make you dish more than one attack, you say?” A cold voice was heard. Everyone was baffled. The Seventh Swordsman was no doubt very powerful, but they nonetheless deemed him to have been too pompous and reckless for boasting like that.

The County of Yan was vast and there were plenty of genius cultivators about. Talented swordsmen were in untold numbers, and one could have imagined how powerful the number one below Saint Plane had to be.

The middle-aged man and the woman turned pale, knowing that it was too late for them to do anything further.

The middle-aged man steeled him at the moment and walked forward, saying, “Senior, you need to know that it is indeed the City Lord’s people going too far in this matter. The Seventh Swordsman here was simply helping us out. If you insist on taking someone, then take us instead.”

“This has nothing to do with the two of you,” Nie Yun said plainly. Many gasped as he said that. They were indeed people from a holy land, seeing how they had done their investigations beforehand. Claiming that the matter had nothing to do with them meant that they did not intend to pursue the matter further with them both.

However, it remained a fact that the City Lord died by the hands of that swordsman. There was no way the Sword Clan of the Gale would have simply let things slide like that.

Many took to the air and looked into the compound, seeing that swordsman remained lying about lazily. He was totally unfazed even after seeing Nie Yun showing up.

“Seeing as how you people could still tell right from wrong, I’d just spare you people then. Just go home,” Ye Futian said plainly.

“How insolent,” Nie Yun berated angrily. He stepped out, bursting with towering sword will and ferocious winds whipped about, then diving below at Ye Futian.

He was not the only one who had gotten angry, as all swordsmen from the Sword Clan of the Gale shared the same sentiment, as they burst with their sword will.

“Why do you have to make me do this?” Ye Futian said lazily and slowly got up, taking to the air and set his eyes at Nie Yun.

“Draw your sword.” Ye Futian gazed at Nie Yun, whose expression turned somewhat severe seeing Ye Futian’s eyes. Violent aura burst around him and coalesced into swords.

Swords were conjured around Nie Yun, all imbued with the sword will of storms. He looked extremely overbearing at the moment.

Everyone around them turned their attention to Nie Yun, who whipped up a terrifying storm of sword aura around him, as he stood tall in midair. Many gasped as they witnessed the number one below Saint Plane in the Sword Clan of the Galen in action.

Voom. Gale blew and Nie Yun streaked forward. His storm getting increasingly powerful as it whipped at Ye Futian.

The place was filled with sword aura in an instant.

Ye Futian sensed that storm coming at him and conjured a heavy sword right before him.

He took one step forward as Nie Yun came. The space around them shuddered as the heavy sword was brought down like a bolt of lightning. Many witnessed the sword cutting through the storm right there and then like hot knife through butter, tearing the storm apart.

Boom! Nie Yun’s body halted with a rumble, before falling below right there and then.