Chapter 122: The Sword of Truth
Translator: Subudai11 Editor: Chrissy
“What kind of sword do you want me to give you?” with a solemn complexion, Liu Xian asked in a sinking voice.
Wang Lu replied, “Sword of Truth.”
Liu Xian slightly frowned, sternly gazed at Wang Lu for a long time, and finally nodded slowly. “You want to use this to prove your innocence? Okay, I’ll grant you that.”
Just as soon as Liu Xian nodded, Fang He somewhat hesitatingly said, “Senior Brother, this is rather not in accordance with the rules.”
Liu Xian grunted. “I know. A Qi Cultivating Stage disciple asking a Yuanying Stage Elder to bestow him the Sword of Truth is indeed shocking. However, since he asks it himself, the Sect’s rules stipulate that I can’t refuse it.”
“But Sword of Truth uses the Misty Immortal Heart; even if it’s only a shred, no Qi Cultivating Stage disciple would be able to withstand it.”
In many sects, when a person was unable to debate his innocence, that person might ask the sect’s Elder to bestow him the Sword of Truth. The Elder, using the imperial sword of the Immortal Heart, would then examine the heart of that person. If that person were able to withstand that sword probe, it would be the proof of that person’s innocence.
Of course, this sword was so effective that it was very difficult to withstand it. The effectiveness of this Sword of Truth didn’t lie in the powerful force of the imperial sword or even its sharpness, but rather the Immortal Heart’s force that was accumulated within the sword, which directly interrogated the Primordial Spirit.
It asked a very simple question: does your heart feel guilty or not?
If so, then this sword would directly pierce through your heart and rip one’s Primordial Spirit so that they would die with an intact corpse. If one’s conscience was clear, no matter when the sword interrogated their heart, the heaven and earth greatly changed or all the mountains collapsed, all of them would just feel like a blowing breeze. However, keeping one’s conscience clear was easier said than done. Even if one were innocent, there would always be a little bit of guilt in that person’s life—for example, a little bit of laziness when cultivating or talking about someone behind that person’s back. Even if it were an unrelated matter, if one’s heart felt a little bit of guilt, that person wouldn’t be able to hide it from the Sword of Truth and instead became a huge flaw.
Of course, the Sword of Truth would still leave people with some leeway, causing the disciple to be able to offset several points of the power of that sword; even if there were some slight guilt in that person’s heart, he would still survive. Thus, despite the fact that the Sword of Truth was not one hundred percent accurate, the existence of this method had avoided a lot of wrongful accusation, and consequently, many sects still retained the use of this Sword of Truth. It was just that, in the entire Union of Ten Thousand Immortals, only a few Qi Cultivating Stage disciples dared to ask this Sword of Truth.
Because to the Qi Cultivating Stage disciples, they simply weren’t able to offset the might of this method! In the Qi Cultivating Stage, the disciples mainly cultivated the surrounding spiritual energy and one’s own magical power. Cultivating one’s Primordial Spirit was mainly done at the next stage, the Foundation Establishment Stage. Of course, it didn’t mean that in the Qi Cultivating Stage, a disciple couldn’t cultivate their Primordial Spirit. However, even for someone whose Primordial Spirit cultivation advanced quickly like Yue Xinyao, it didn’t have too many uses unless, in the actual combat, it was used in conjunction with arrays—certainly, Yue Xinyao didn’t pursue the actual combat ability—her cultivation plan was tailor-made for a purpose.
As a Qi Cultivating Stage disciple, Wang Lu asking for the Sword of Truth, to Fang He, was simply asking for trouble.
Fang He asked, “Do you think since your Non-Phase Method renowned for its defense ability you can resist this Sword of Truth?”
Wang Lu replied, “Disciple dared not be so arrogant, so please Uncle bestow the sword three days later.”
“Three days later?”
“Yes. Disciple needs to prepare for three days before disciple can take this sword.”
Liu Xian sneered. “You want to stall time to play tricks?”
Wang Lu said, “Disciple does not dare. Disciple will arrange everything at the Wisdom Sect’s Headquarter and Uncle can see it for yourself.”
“Wisdom Sect’s Headquarter, Wang Family Village? Okay, we’ll go there.”
Liu Xian was half impatient, half curious.
Wang Lu’s display of composure right now was not fake. Liu Xian had a lifetime of experience in reading other people, so how could he not see whether Wang Lu was really confident in himself or just bluffing? A mere Qi Cultivating Stage Disciple, yet daring to ask to be examined with his Sword of Truth? What could possibly a young sect like Wisdom Sect with mortal followers and Six Harmonies Spirit Root cultivators arrange in three days? Let alone three days, even if he gave him three years time, unless Wang Lu could cultivate his Jade Mansion and advanced through the Qi Cultivating Stage to arrive at the Foundation Establishment Stage, otherwise, no matter what kind of arrangement that he had, the Sword of Truth would be like a sky high moat!
In fact, for the majority of the cultivators in the Immortal Cultivation World, even a Xudan Stage Cultivators found that it was very difficult to deal with this Sword of Truth—even if that person was really innocent. Yet Wang Lu, while still in the Qi Cultivating, tried to overcome something that was even difficult for a Xudan Stage Cultivator… Hah! Did he think he cultivated the Brilliant Sword Heart?
After that sneer, Liu Xian waved his hand to pick Wang Lu up and changed into a golden sword light as he flew towards the Wang Family Village.
Fang He shook his head and then, like his Senior Brother, changed into a sword light to fly together with him.
Wen Bao and Yue Xinyao, who were left in the room, looked at each other in dismay, both felt helpless. The fatty couldn’t even deal with his anxiety in front of Junior Sister Yue; he asked, “Junior Sister, what did Senior Brother do in the last few days?”
Yue Xinyao smiled. “You’re asking the wrong person here. In that previous two days, I didn’t follow Senior Brother around. When we left town, he handed me over to his men to bustle about with them. During which, I signed many documents, and saw a lot of people. However, frankly, I was confused on what exactly the specific of what we did. As for Senior Brother himself, that’s needless to say.”
“It’s that mysterious?” Wen Bao was taken aback. It seemed like Senior Brother really did carefully arrange many things. However, against Second Elder and Third Elder, even if he arranged more, could it really save his life?”
“Rather than asking me, I think it’s better if you ask Fifth Elder. She should understand Wang Lu more than anyone.”
Just when Wen Bao stepped down to the first floor of the inn and saw the Fifth Elder drinking and eating, the woman just smiled. “Rest assured, it will be fine.”
Hearing that remark from the Fifth Elder, Wen Bao immediately felt relieved. But then he heard...
“Even if Old Man Fang captured Wang Lu and turn him into a cow or a horse, or put him in solitary confinement for ten thousand years, as long as I claim that this has nothing to do with me, then it’s fine, I will not be implicated.”
Wen Bao was startled. “Fifth Aunt, you said it would be fine, could it be…”
“Of course, I’m the one who will be fine! What do Wang Lu’s life and death have anything to do with me! He had undertaken independent big entrepreneurial profiteering in the Great Ming Country, yet he had never sent me even one spirit stone!”
…
——
Using the flying sword technique, a Daoist Master of Yuanying Stage only needed around ten to fifteen minutes to arrive at the remote Wang Family Village on the Dog Ear Mountain from the Capital of the Great Ming Country.
However, when they flew over the Wang Family Village, Liu Xian couldn’t help but be startled.
The things that were reflected in his field of vision was not some barren mountain village, nor a palace as the symbol of a decadent cult, like what he suspected. Centered on the Wang Family Village, the surrounding area of several hundreds of miles were full of spirit field, where all kinds of spirit grass and elixirs grew. Although their grade was not high, they were obviously well-tended, and their growth was gratifying.
Even rarer was that, though the spiritual energy in this area wasn’t particularly strong, it was efficiently used; nearly every point wasn’t wasted. It was evenly and methodically distributed throughout the various places on the mountains. Moreover, in the middle of the Wang Family Village, there was a strange spherical altar that triggered the spiritual energy tide, which provided an endless supply of spiritual energy to the surrounding spirit field.
“Not bad.”
After observing from the air for a moment, despite Liu Xian still very much disapproved of Wang Lu wasting his energy to operate this cult, he had to admit that the operation of the headquarter of this cult was really good. Although it was in no way comparable to those large sects, it wasn’t that much different than those ninth rank sects.
Wang Lu smiled and then explained, “Although Wisdom Sect began in the Wang Family Village, its condition was not particularly good, so the scale of development is rather limited… However, after my adjustment, the Feng Shui pattern here has changed. In less than fifty years, the spiritual energy along the Feng Shui line would be more and more concentrated here, turning this place into a real paradise of Immortals.”
Liu Xian continued to observe for a while before nodding his head to acknowledge Wang Lu’s statement.
The surrounding spiritual energy in the Nine Regions was not constant everywhere, but its total amount was. The spiritual energy along the Feng Shui line was the same, but it wasn’t as simple as “you have more so I have less, or you have less and I have more”. As long it was properly arranged, the surrounding spiritual energy in an area could be improved, from an ordinary place to a rich area. Thousands of years ago, the Shengjing area in the Central Region where the Shengjing Sect resided was just a simple plain that could be seen everywhere in the Nine Regions.
Of course, in this world, everything couldn’t be perfect like that. Most of the time, even Immortal Cultivators, who were supposed to be aloof, were more accustomed to predatory exploitation rather than nurturing. In any case, with how big the Nine Regions were, even lives couldn’t be exhaustively plundered.
Therefore, in Liu Xian’s view, Wisdom Sect was nothing but a cult. Yet, with just one year of experiential learning, Wang Lu was willing to do this long term plan… It was hard to believe that he was really in this for the power and money.
Thinking to this, Liu Xian asked, “You want me to come here just to show off your achievement?” Having said that, his eyes remained locked at the Wang Family Village; it was clear that he had a good impression of what he saw.
Wang Lu said with a smile, “In addition to the altar at the center of the village, which happened by lucky coincidence, there is nothing else worth showing off in this Wang Family Village. Wisdom Sect has at least more than ten of such villages. The natural condition of this place is poor, and its layout is limited.”
Liu Xian grunted; he didn’t let Wang Lu continue showing off. “I give you three days to arrange whatever it is you want to arrange. Third Junior Brother and I will be watching from here. You can do anything as you will, as long as you’re still within fifty kilometers from here.”
Wang Lu didn’t say much; he soon found the Wisdom Sect’s higher ups in the Wang Family Village and quickly began his arrangement.
——
Like what Liu Xian thought, in theory, it was just a fantasy for a Qi Cultivating Stage cultivator to ask for the Sword of Truth, even for the combination of Non-Phase Method and Void Spirit Root.
Therefore, the key to overcoming this impossibility was naturally in these three days of arrangement. Wang Lu’s arrangement was extraordinary; it was simply a large scale operation.
If Wang Lu had not informed the higher ups of the Wisdom Sect and made the appropriate manpower arrangement for as early as several days ago, it would be too late for him if he wanted to achieve his plan.
Despite all of that, however, with the current strength of the Wisdom Sect, meeting Wang Lu’s requirements were very difficult. The higher ups of the Wisdom Sect were summoned to the village one day ago and began to frantically prepare the initial arrangement. When Wang Lu personally came, he finally revealed the whole plan; upon hearing that, those who were accustomed to the rapid development of the Wisdom Sect like the Vice Sect Leaders and the Elders simply widened their eyes in disbelief.
The one who could be said as Wang Lu’s most able assistant, Ye Chuchen, softly murmured, “Sect Leader, this… the amount of engineering project is too much. Technical difficulties aside, the amount of resources needed…”
“Hehehe, Brother Ye, you want to say you’re incompetent, unable to complete Sect Leader’s assignment?”
The one who spoke was another Vice Sect Leader, Daoist Ming Yun. This Daoist was a quite famous loose immortal in the Immortal Cultivation World in Blue River Region. His cultivation stage was low-level Xudan. His character was somewhat erratic, his conduct was sometimes good and sometimes evil, which caused a headache for a lot of people. Five months ago, Daoist Ming Yun came to the Wang Family Village uninvited. At that time, Ye Chuchen thought that he would cause a disturbance, but to his surprise, he actually discovered that that person admired someone and wanted to join the sect! As for the identity of the person that he admired, of course, it was the Sect Leader Wang Lu! Nobody knew what kind of demonic cultivation method that this Daoist Ming Yun cultivated which caused his Primordial Spirit to get twisted. He was clearly a Xudan Stage expert, yet he admired Wang Lu, a Qi Cultivating Stage cultivator. Soon, he became Wang Lu’s most loyal lackey, but Wang Lu was also impolite; he directly promoted that Daoist into a Vice Sect Leader, in charge of fighting and related matters. Daoist Ming Yun’s cultivation level was slightly lower than that of Ye Chuchen, however, his actual combat ability was several times higher; he was the sect’s genuine gold medal thug!
Thus, upon listening to Daoist Ming Yun’s remark, Ye Chuchen immediately felt a headache. The guy was like a madman; he never listened to anyone except Wang Lu—he was basically unreasonable. He would also often spout out abusive words, and within the sect, he was a class-A asshole.
Thus, Ye Chuchen wasn’t going to be polite to him. “You, this boorish fellow, who only knows how to kill, it’s all very well to talk, but getting things done is another matter entirely. In any case, it’s still not your time yet to contribute!”
Wang Lu smiled. “Vice Sect Leader, your words are incorrect, Ming Yun just wants to contribute. As long as you have cultivation, everyone present here will have to contribute no matter what their original department is.”
Ye Chuchen was somewhat surprised. “Ming Yun is just going to cause trouble!”
Ming Yun glowered at him. Being stared at by this madman, Ye Chuchen was somewhat terrified.
Wang Lu laughed. “Hahaha, of course, this work will suit Ming Yun’s character.” With that, Wang Lu threw a paper toward Ming Yun. When Ming Yun cast a glance at it, it immediately attracted his attention. While attentively looking at it, from time to time, he issued a sharp laugh.
After sending Ming Yun to do his assignment, Wang Lu addressed the rest of them, “This time’s project is unusually large, and the resources invested for it almost broke the sect. However, this project is necessary, even if we have to painstakingly exhaust ourselves, we still have to complete it, understand?”
Seeing that it was rare for their Sect Leader to earnestly arrange this project, the people present also realized that things were actually serious. Though they didn’t see the two Elders hovering in mid-air high above them, they vaguely felt that the Wisdom Sect was facing a great test of survival.
If they were still in their capacity as loose Immortals, they would’ve long scattered like birds and beasts in the face of a crisis like this. However, at this moment, as the higher ups of the Wisdom Sect, a vigorous high-spirited fighting spirit welled up in their hearts.
——
Three days passed by in a flash.
These three days were probably the busiest three days for the Wisdom Sect. Especially the main force of construction, Ye Chuchen and the Seven Stars Department under him, they were so busy that they nearly died of exhaustion. Among them, the dirty old man He Yun was the most tragic; because of continuous overtime, when he wanted to restore his magical power by doing the double cultivation, he found out that he was so tired that he couldn’t get it up! The dirty old man passed out crying on the spot.
In these three days, Ye Chuchen held a double post as the head of the Infrastructure Department and his own department. He led his Seven Stars Department to carry out this extensive project; they frantically set up arrays on the mountains surrounding the Wang Family Village to prepare for the Sword of Truth. The drawing of the arrays came from Wang Lu himself, which was filled with jaw-dropping crazy ideas from this Spirit Sword Sect’s top student. When Ye Chuchen first received the drawing, his chin nearly fell on his foot! In that drawing, there were more than three hundreds interlocking Ninth Rank Gathering Spirit Arrays, which formed the framework. Among which, more than sixty Eighth Rank Transmutation Arrays were also linked through. Together, they formed the bulk of the array.
In addition, there were also Calming Lamp, Purifying Pagoda, Enlightening Palace… Hundreds of different constructions located within the arrays, and each one formed a fantastic connection. Although the rank was not high, they were ingeniously designed and could display incredible effects.
At the same time, during these three days, Liu Xian and Fang He quietly hid themselves up high in the sky, silently watching Wang Lu’s arrangement. They witnessed the Wisdom Sect’s followers built constructions equal to a city in just three days!
Of course, it was not that big of a city; the open space between mountains was not vast. However, the amount of work needed to build these hundreds of buildings, as well as the densely packed arrays, was actually bigger than that of a city!
To complete all of these in three days, Wisdom Sect used over thirty thousand people—these were all the manpower that the sect gathered from the nearby places, among which, there were more than one thousand Qi Cultivating Stage cultivators! At the same time, Wisdom Sect also hired over a hundred expensive skilled workers of Foundation Establishment Stage from the Mysterious Sky Mansion, which greatly enhanced their strength. Of course, the most important element was the Vice Sect Leader Ye Chuchen and his team, who did the most difficult, the most tiring, and the hardest work, which inspired the moral and unearthed the amazing efficiency of the rest of the workers.
The other Vice Sect Leader Daoist Ming Yun didn’t get it easy. For three days, he led his team of thugs to cut into the mountains and dig the river, releasing their insane desire for destruction! Wang Lu closely followed this group of people, leaving his own footprints on each trace of destruction.
Three days later, Wang Lu dismissed all the followers, leaving him alone in the “new town” in the mountains; he stood on the high altar that was built for him. Over his head, Liu Xian, with an indifferent expression, disdainfully looked at everything around Wang Lu out of the corner of his eyes.
“Are you ready?” Liu Xian asked.
Wang Lu was silent for a while, opened his eyes, and then slowly opened his mouth.
However, before his voice even came out, thunder clapped over the mountains, and the weather suddenly changed. In a flash, thousands of miles clear sky suddenly turned black as ink! Day changed into the night! A purple-blue lightning dropped from the sky like that of a divine tribulation!
Wang Lu had actually launched the first strike!