Ze Tian Ji

Chapter 874 – I Remember Well Those Beautiful Sights

Translated by: Hypersheep325

Edited by: Michyrr

Xu Yourong was cultivating on the other side of the stone wall. She might have reached the critical moment, where any external disturbance might place her in extreme danger.

So Chen Changsheng could not do anything, but he also could not leave. He quietly stood in front of the stone wall for a very long time.

At the very start, it was because he was feeling yearning and a few extremely complex emotions, but later on, it was because he had a bad feeling.

In terms of calculation and deduction, there was the Demon Military Advisor Black Robe, the deceased Elder of Heavenly Secrets, his master Shang Xingzhou, and after them was Xu Yourong.

Chen Changsheng did not have a Fated Star Plate, nor had he ever learned to calculate and deduce, but he had learned the Intellectual Sword from Su Li.

From a certain perspective, the Intellectual Sword was a method of calculating and deducing.

He began to think back, all the way to that letter he had received at the Mount Song Army headquarters.

After that was Hanqiu City, Wenshui City, and then Fengyang City.

Just what had happened in South Stream Temple? Holy Maiden Peak was clearly still peaceful, just like she had described in her letters.

It was like nothing had happened, but Xiao Zhang had truly failed to enter Holy Maiden Peak.

He felt more and more that if she continued to remain secluded within this stone wall, she would encounter some problems.

He could not watch as this happened. He had to make clear just where these problems she would encounter would originate.

The problem was not on her side of the stone wall, but on his side.

He only needed to find this problem and resolve it to remove any possible threat to Xu Yourong.

Just what sort of problem would affect Xu Yourong on her side of the wall?

Whether it was the Tong Bow transformed into ivy or the formidable arrays on the stone wall, they would both ensure that she would not be harmed by anything from the outside world.

Chen Changsheng left the stone wall and walked to the edge of the cliff.

The Tong River flowed across the plains to the north. From his extremely high vantage point, it seemed extremely meandering.

In the light of the setting sun, it looked just like a golden thread carelessly thrown on the table by a girl after an afternoon of embroidery.

This sort of description had appeared some two years ago in a letter Xu Yourong had written to him.

The gray stone by the cliff had also been mentioned in her letters. She liked to sit there and see the sights.

Chen Changsheng sat on the edge of the cliff and gazed at these beautiful sights.

He remembered well these beautiful sights1.

……

……

The sights were very beautiful and were hard to get tired of, but Chen Changsheng only looked at them for a short while before withdrawing his gaze.

He took out a rather ancient book and began to read.

In his moment of composure, he had still failed to find the problem, or even a clue, so he decided to stop searching. He had not given up, but understood the principle that the more one focused on the problem, the easier it was to miss it.

He began to recollect everything that had happened since the Mount Song Army headquarters, starting from the most recent events. He first recalled the two girls of South Stream Temple that he had encountered at the mountain gate.

The Unity Sword Art of South Stream Temple used by those two girls had initially even managed to catch Tang Thirty-Six somewhat unprepared.

At the time, he had felt that their Unity Sword Art was subtly different from the Unity Sword Art that he knew of, which made him somewhat puzzled.

Could it be related to the matter that worried him?

The foundation of the Unity Sword Art was the temple sword.

The old book he was reading was called 'Harmonious Examination of the Temple Sword', and it had been written by a female professor of the Thirteen Divisions of Radiant Green who had studied in South Stream Temple for thirty years.

From a certain point of view, this senior of the Thirteen Divisions of Radiant Green had lived a life very similar to Xu Yourong.

This was Chen Changsheng's first time formally researching the Unity Sword Art, and the more he read about it, the more admiration he felt. It was clearly a very simple sword style, yet it had very high demands on the practitioner. It was no wonder that in the entire continent, only the disciples of South Stream Temple, who were relatively cut off from the world and had clear and bright Dao hearts, could cultivate this sword style to the pinnacle and ultimately create the world-shaking sword array of South Stream Temple.

Chen Changsheng was publicly acknowledged as a genius of the sword, and if one disregarded his age, he could even be called a grandmaster of the sword.

His knowledge and understanding of the sword were improving by the day, and in response, he was growing increasingly obsessed with it. Although he could not match up to Su Li and the people of the Mount Li Sword Sect, seeing such a fresh sword style like the Unity Sword Art naturally made him gradually fall into intoxication, gradually forget the passing of time.

The setting sun shone over the Tong River and over Holy Maiden Peak, growing increasingly red and warm.

Chen Changsheng was already on the third book related to the temple sword and the Unity Sword Art.

His left hand held a book while the forefinger and middle finger of his right hand were held together, imitating a sword and constantly gesturing in the air.

He himself was unaware that with his actions, an invisible sword intent emerged from his fingertips and sliced the warm light and chilly mountain winds into countless pieces.

The cliff's edge resounded with the howling of the air.

The drifting clouds dispersed and the spirit beasts in the forests fled into the distance. Only those jade birds nearby tilted their heads and watched him with interest.

One could roughly guess at what they were thinking: just who is this person? Why are his actions exactly identical to that fairy?

At this moment, the clear cry of a crane resounded in the air.

The jade birds took flight, searching the trees for the most appealing mushrooms to serve as their dinner.

The spirit beasts in the forest retreated even further away.

All the clouds suddenly scattered.

A White Crane broke through the clouds, circled down onto the ground, and then walked up to Chen Changsheng.

The crane's cry had awakened Chen Changsheng from his stupor, and he now stroked the White Crane's slender neck.

The White Crane lightly pecked his hand, then it looked down towards the plateau shrouded in clouds and gave a soft cry.

Chen Changsheng understood that it was telling him that something had happened down below.

Given the time that had passed, Tang Thirty-Six and the others should have already entered South Stream Temple. Did a misunderstanding really occur?

He stood, gazed at the stone wall in the rays of the setting sun, and said, "I'll come back again."

……

……

When Chen Changsheng was climbing the cliff, Tang Thirty-Six was admiring the sights on the mountain path.

After releasing the two South Stream Temple disciples, he and Hu Thirty-Two began to slowly walk while they waited for someone important from South Stream Temple to appear.

They had beaten the grass precisely so they could alarm the snake. Their straightforward intrusion of the mountain gate had precisely been intended to bring the attention away from Chen Changsheng, so they naturally couldn't travel silently.

The reason he was in the mood to leisurely stroll and appreciate his surroundings was that he thought the same as Chen Changsheng. Even if there were some misunderstandings with South Stream Temple, it wouldn't be too big of a deal.

In Tang Thirty-Six's view, Xu Yourong was the Holy Maiden, so South Stream Temple was hers. If there was some misunderstanding, it would just be like a couple's quarrel, easily mended, so there was no need to care about it too much.

As they walked through the sea of bamboo, Tang Thirty-Six praised, "An excellent view."

Suddenly, countless cracks could be heard.

The bamboo incessantly swayed, the sea frothing with violent waves.

Sword Qi erupted and countless slender bamboo leaves rustled down in a torrential rain, all of them on Tang Thirty-Six's body.

Hu Thirty-Two was some distance from the bamboo forest and had managed to avoid this rain of leaves.

Tang Thirty-Six was covered in bamboo leaves and looked rather miserable, but he didn't think so. On the contrary, he proudly said, "How elegant."

The bamboo leaves had finished falling, the sword Qi had receded, and ten-some girls appeared on the mountain path, preventing him and Hu Thirty-Two from retreating.

The two girls from the mountain gate were amongst them.

______________

1. This saying, '风景旧曾谙', originates from the poem 'Remembering Jiangnan' by Bai Juyi.