Chapter 228: This Is A Serious Inquiry
Translator: Subudai11 Editor: Chrissy
On the Stellar Peak of Spirit Sword Mountain in the Blue River Region, Spirit Sword Sect Sect Leader Daoist Master Feng Yin and his disciple Zhu Shiyao were sitting opposite of each other in the bamboo room. The water vapor slowly rose from the two cups of tea that were placed between the two of them, in line with the tranquil atmosphere of bamboo room—were it not for the row of anxious Elders of Spirit Sword Hall who stood there.
Feeling uncomfortable after a long time being stared at by his Junior Brothers and Sisters, Feng Yin finally broke the silence, "Why don’t you explain to us in details about your experiential learning in the Southern Heaven Region."
"Yes."
The always difficult to talk Zhu Shiyao calmly accepted the instruction. Then, the woman suddenly arose and brandished her sword. Her movement was like the passing of clouds and the flowing of water. The room was suddenly lit up with pieces of stellar light. Numerous sharp sword qis swooped towards the Sect Leader; the sharp sword intent seemed to want to make mincemeat out of the target.
However, would a Deity Stage cultivator be easily hurt like that? When the stellar sword qis clashed against the Sect Leader’s body, they produced numerous brilliant sparks, yet they were unable to damage even the hem of the Sect Leader. The Sect Leader was motionless as he held up the cup and just slightly nodded.
"Mm, so that’s how it is. It was an unexpected result indeed."
With that, Feng Yin became lost in thought. As for Zhu Shiyao, after she retrieved her sword, she took a breath, calmed herself down and then calmly sat down, lightly holding her own cup.
Calm restored to the interior of the bamboo room. After a long time...
"What the hell! Can’t the two of you talk!"
The nearby Fifth Elder finally couldn’t stand it anymore. She stepped forward a few steps and fiercely pounded the wooden table. "You two want to show off how good your foreign language is!?"
Daoist Master Feng Yin was startled and immediately apologized, "I forgot you don’t understand the language of the sword."
For Feng Yin and Zhu Shiyao, this was the most convenient way to communicate. In fact, with the sword, a single sword strike could describe a thousand words, which was convenient and fast. And this was also in line with their identity as sword cultivators.
It was just that, to be able to communicate with the sword, one has to have enough keen sense of the sword; in other words, one’s talent in the way of the sword must be extremely high. However, not all Elders of the Heavenly Sword Hall could satisfy this condition.
"Well, I’ll just briefly talk about Yao’Er’s experience, as well as my analysis." Daoist Master Feng Yin put down the cup of tea and pondered for a moment. "Yao’Er’s experiential learning process was very simple. While other people entered through the main entrance of the tomb, working hard to pass through levels, Yao’Er found a path that directly brought her to the treasure room to take out the ancient sword and walk away."
"What in the hell is this?" Fifth Elder was inexplicably surprised. "After untold hardships from separation and parents, finally, the childhood sweetheart for twenty years managed to get married. However, when the groom enters the bridal chamber, he finds that the bride has actually been pregnant with someone else’s child?"
"If you must use vulgar language to explain it, then it’s like that…" Daoist Master Feng Yin didn’t know whether to laugh or cry; he shook his head and said, "After spending so much effort, the coalition force of Kunlun Immortal Sect and Ten Thousand Arts Sect finally managed to rush into the treasure room. But, when they tried to get rid of Yao’Er, unfortunately, Yao’Er has already marked the ancient sword, and her sword momentum has reached its peak. Therefore, although they were many, they were exhausted after trying to break through three levels of ancient sword tomb in succession. Moreover, they lost their calm because of their anger in seeing Yao’Er with the sword, therefore, under Yao’Er’s sword, they were all full of flaws."
"They failed to rob and got beaten instead. It’s really brutal." Fifth Elder was happy about other people’s misfortune.
The youngest one, Hua Yun, asked, "Wouldn’t there be a problem? After all, this is not a small loss."
Feng Yin said, "The sword tomb exploration depends on one’s own chance. Yao’Er didn’t use any despicable trick, so it can only be said that each has their own chance. The sword tomb on the Southern Heaven Region is an ancient tomb inherited from time immemorial. This time, it appeared because it was induced by the change in the world’s energy; from the void, it awoke to find a suitable successor. There are usually two ways to inherit this tomb, which is similar to our sect recruitment of disciples. The first is to meet the rigid standard: Age, malleability, Immortal Cultivation idea… it’s also to pass the test of many levels. As long as one can get pass the level checkpoints, one can take the corresponding treasure. The second is to have a fate with the tomb—one would gain direct approval to take the treasure without taking any of the tests. The first one is actually the necessary supplement of the second one. If the tomb couldn’t find a suitable successor, it could pass itself on to the others by opening up the test for other participants."
Fang He said, "Which is the difference between Immortal Gathering and Elders looking for their disciples themselves."
Wang Wu laughed. "It’s trying to find the perfect lover, but when unable to, open oneself to a blind date?"
"In short, the reason why Yao’Er can directly enter the treasure room without taking any test is that the Ancient Sword Tomb thought that Yao’Er has a predestined fate with it, therefore it opened a ‘back door’ for her. Otherwise, no matter how accomplished Yao’Er is with the Stellar Sword cultivation, she could not violate the rule of inheritance of the tomb."
Liu Xian approvingly nodded at Zhu Shiyao. "So that’s how it is. We really must congratulate you for your immortal chance."
However, Lu Li unexpectedly frowned. "Senior Brother, there’s a problem here. If Yao’Er has a predestined fate with the tomb, why must the tomb also open its front door to let other cultivators enter the tomb?"
The rest of the elders were stupefied.
Feng Yin’s complexion also sank down, and he seriously said, "This is the thing that I want to discuss next. The scale of the Ancient Sword Tomb is much larger than what we initially expected. This is an unprecedented ancient remains. More likely that this was left by a True Immortal before the Age of Chaos. The ancient sword that Yao’Er took is only a treasure on its outer layer, and could not be compared at all with the core treasures deep inside that place. Therefore, taking away the ancient sword will not, in any way, hinder the normal inheritance selection."
Several Heavenly Sword Hall Elders were shocked.
Liu Xian’s voice trembled as he said in disbelief, "Left behind by a True Immortal!? Does this age really have an inheritance from a True Immortal? Didn’t they all die at the Age of Chaos? This is an enormous academic discovery!"
Fifth Elder angrily spat. "Academic my ass! This is money!"
Lu Li uncharacteristically nodded in agreement with Fifth Senior Sister. "Yes, if top grade spiritual treasure is just a peripheral treasure, then unmistakably, this sword tomb is an inheritance from a True Immortal… Inside, there must be Immortal Tools, and most likely True Immortal Tools. To say that it’s a priceless treasure is not an exaggeration—moreover, it’s on par with the Shengjing City. This ancient tomb is comparable to one of the Five Uniques. But, Senior Brother, is this information true?"
Feng Yin said, "When Yao’Er communicated with the sword spirit of the ancient sword, it has at least confirmed the existence of the deeper levels. Unfortunately, the sword spirit has been in a deep sleep for countless of years, so it has lost many of its memory. Moreover, when it was born, it was soon sealed, so it really knew very little. Otherwise, alone with Yao’Er’s ancient sword, our Spirit Sword Sect will hold an incomparable advantage over other sects."
Wang Wu sneered. "But, other sects may know this already. I’m afraid Kunlun Immortal Sect and Ten Thousand Arts Sect are gnashing their teeth jealously."
Feng Yin, however, thought otherwise. "For an inheritance sword tomb on such a scale, no sect could eat it alone, even Shengjing Sect. Therefore, cooperation is inevitable. Moreover, once parts of the sword tomb have been harvested, our information advantage would be wiped out. Therefore, there’s no need to maintain strong hostility. I estimated that, before long, Ten Thousand Arts Sect and Kunlun Immortal Sect would send their official document for cooperation. At that time, we need to consider it carefully."
Each of the elders have their own ideas, however, the final decision of this matter would naturally be decided by the Sect Leader.
"Senior Brother, what are you going to do?"
Feng Yin said, "There are two plans. First is to use all our power to exploit the sword tomb. The rule of the sword tomb is to look for the young and malleable cultivator to be its inheritor. The surrounding spiritual energy on the ancient tomb is rich, so it has a much higher standard than the present. From our Spirit Sword Sect, perhaps only Zhu Shiyao, Wang Lu, as well as Liu Li have the qualification to participate. The three of them naturally would take this undertaking; if there are other appropriate candidates, they can also participate. At the same time, us old fogies can’t stay idle either. Although the sword tomb would not let us in, we can use everything we can to support Yao’Er and the others from the outside. As a last resort, we can even break through the sword tomb the hard way. The advantage of this plan is its relatively low risk. Regardless of the rules of the sword tomb, it is an inanimate object from thousands of years ago. With the teaming up of the elders from the three sects, the risk would always be lower than letting young generation disciples explore on their own. However, the problem with this plan is, once the elders make their move, this matter would inevitably shock the world, and no longer will we have the opportunity to conceal it. And once this alarmed the Shengjing Sect… Hehe, I believe the other two sects would not want Shengjing Sect alone to get bigger. Therefore, the second plan is more feasible…"
Feng Yin paused as his eyes swept around him, then, with a sinking voice, he said, "Fully trust our Successor Disciples and their actions alone. Us, old guys will not participate, but we also won’t allow fellow old guys from other sects to meddle. As long as our three sects insist that this is the immortal cultivation for the younger disciples, even Shengjing Sect could not force themselves to meddle. Regardless of how much the harvests, they would be divided equally among the three sects. I believe Kunlun Immortal Sect and Ten Thousand Arts Sect would be amenable to this plan."
Hua Yun was somewhat not assured. "Wouldn’t it be too risky if it’s just the few of them? After all, it’s a thousands of years old ancient inheritance tomb, which has also experienced the last Age of Chaos. Even if the original owner’s intention is to choose its successor, it shouldn’t too harsh. However, what if the arrays inside were accidentally changed? Their cultivation base is still low after all!"
Feng Yin said, "Therefore, there’s also the third option: We consider this matter as something that never happened."
Hua Yun was immediately speechless.
Among the present elders, only Hua Yun didn’t really experience the disaster incident one hundred years ago. Therefore, her feeling was the weakest. As for the other elders, no matter what they thought about this, they did not want to give up this opportunity, even if there was a big risk behind this opportunity.
If they sent the other disciples, it would not really matter. However, since it would be the Successor Disciples, which carried on the inheritance and future of the Spirit Sword Sect, even so much as shouldering the mission for the new age, they were doomed not to grow under the drizzle within the gentle breeze.
Indeed, risks were everywhere inside the ancient sword tomb, however, what was this ordeal compared to the growth process of the Heavenly Sword Hall Elders? Let alone opportunities were also everywhere inside the sword tomb, moreover...
Spirit Sword Sect has Wang Lu, this awesome quest completer.