Chapter 330: A Meeting That Surpassed Countless Others
Translator: Ninetales Editor: DarkGem
The middle-aged man on the city tower had a pale white face, and it was obvious he had injuries which were yet to heal. This middle-aged man was none other than Eternal Peace Imperial Preceptor who had been injured in a battle with a god. Even though Qin Mu and Little Poison King Fu Yuanqing had worked together to cure him, he had still been wounded by a god, so he was yet to recover.
Barbarian Di Empire had taken this chance to invade Eternal Peace. The situation at Qingmen Pass was of utmost importance. Eternal Peace Imperial Preceptor knew that Eternal Peace Empire had suffered great losses in strength after two huge calamities, and in addition to that, he and Emperor Yanfeng had yet to recover to their peak strength. Emperor Yanfeng's injuries were even heavier than his.
He was afraid of Barbarian Di Empire barging straight in, so he had mobilized the troops to guard Qingmen Pass to the death.
He even didn't hesitate to personally come to the battlefield to command the army.
When Village Chief unleashed his swords, the shocking sight of one sword suppressing the struggles on the whole battlefield caught his eye.
Actually, this wasn't a simple shocking sight. Instead, it was having the ability to turn the entire battlefield into a sea of blood, intimidating the soldiers and cavalry on both sides.
The lives of everyone on the battlefield laid in his hands.
This kind of sword skill was no longer part of sword skills, but closer to a profound path. This let Eternal Peace Imperial Preceptor see an even higher level, the level of the sword path.
The sword lights unleashed Village Chief's move were uncountable, but the truly terrifying thing was that the movement of each and every sword light was different, restraining every martial and divine art practitioner. This was something that was nearly impossible.
There were tens of thousands of people on the battlefield, and the cultivation of each and every person was different. The martial and divine arts they learned also had differences. Furthermore, with the battle formations having a myriad of changes, if he wanted to restrain everyone, he had to restrain all of their divine arts, martial arts, spirit weapons as well as formations. The number of things to be calculated was at an unimaginable level!
To be able to reach such a level, one could be called god, the god of the sword!
'Sword of Founding Emperor Sea of Blood, I've seen this kind of sword skill before. It was in the painting of Art Saint.'
Eternal Peace Imperial Preceptor focused his gaze toward the dragon qilin and saw Qin Mu and the rest standing on the creature's back. Even though these people were all very strong, they didn't catch his attention.
'I could see the extremes of sword skill from that painting, and I had studied the sword technique of the man in the painting for the past two hundred years. I would have new gains whenever I observed this painting for a long time. When I no longer could see anything new, I thought I had already reached his level.'
Eternal Peace Imperial Preceptor reminisced about the painting and tried to look for the man in the painting, but he couldn't find him. His gaze then landed on Qin Mu's back.
The youth was carrying a herb basket within which he could see a white-haired old man that had no limbs.
This old man didn't look like the man in the painting. That person was a sword god in his heyday. His acute spirit burst forth like a sword that had just drunk blood.
The old man in the herb basket, however, was in the last of his days. He looked as if his light could be extinguished at any moment. There was no sight on him of the high spirits of the sword god in the painting.
However, Eternal Peace Imperial Preceptor was certain that this handicapped old man was the sword god from back then!
After all, the enlightenment for his sword skills came from the sword god in the painting.
Eternal Peace Imperial Preceptor's body trembled slightly, and he let out a shaky breath before instructing the people around him, "Welcome the guests!"
The city gates opened, and the soldiers in the city lined up on both sides. The dragon qilin walked in with his head held high. At that moment, all the sword lights in the battlefield poured over like a flood at Qin Mu, going into the herb basket behind his back.
Village Chief popped his head out and saw a middle-aged person coming over to welcome him. He was the man who was said to be the saint that appears once every five hundred years, the man that was said to be the number one practitioner under the gods, the man that was acclaimed to be the current generation's sword god!
The gaze of the two people met, and ripples billowed in their hearts.
The sword god of the previous generation and the sword god of the current generation had finally met!
Next to the battlefield, the beating of a bronze gong came from the city towers on both mountain passes. It was the sound of retreat, sending orders to the soldiers on the battlefield to withdraw.
The tens of thousands of soldiers felt as if a huge burden had been lifted off their shoulders. Everyone instantly felt their bodies drenched in sweat.
In Qingmen Pass, Village Chief, who had been in the herb basket, flew out. As if he had grown arms and legs, he walked toward Eternal Peace Imperial Preceptor, and the two strongest men of their respective generations met!
"You have learned sword?" Village Chief asked.
Eternal Peace Imperial Preceptor did a disciple greeting and said respectfully, "Disciple has learned sword in his early years, but haven't done that since reaching one hundred and sixty years old."
"You understood sword at one hundred and sixty years old?" Village Chief asked.
"I had read extensively through all the techniques and ultimate arts in the world and comprehended boundless divine arts, thus I understood sword and started to create my own sword skills," Eternal Peace Imperial Preceptor answered solemnly.
Village Chief smiled. "Display your sword skills for me."
Eternal Peace Imperial Preceptor drew his sword, and sword light filled the heaven, lighting up the world. His sword skills had countless changes, were as complicated as the numerous stars in the sky, yet simple like the counting rods. Some were straight, some were winding, as if they could transform into all the skills in the world, giving others an indescribable feeling.
There was a kind of bearing that pressed forward in his sword skills, a spirit that was like a blazing fire tearing through the bright flowers coming from the reform. It seemed to want to set all the things in the world ablaze, changing the inherent heaven and earth, the never changing great Dao, to reform everything that is trite, tear open and reveal the ugly faces of the degenerates of the old generation!
This man wanted to use his sword to change the empty and trite paths of this world, to open up new paths and let the world enter a new age!
His sword skills had already surpassed technique and become skills which incorporated his philosophy. Just one step, and he could reach the realm of the path!
With philosophy, life was given to sword skills, so his sword skills already had life. Since the path was in front of philosophy, only by surpassing it could he see the path.
With only a step forward, he would be able to see the path.
Eternal Peace Imperial Preceptor pulled his sword back and gasped for breath. His injuries were still not yet healed, so his cultivation wasn't like it was before. However, before the previous generation's sword god, he was like a student wishing to show his most perfect sword skill and looking forward to hearing his evaluation.
"Superb sword skills," Village Chief praised. "No doubt you're the number one man under the gods, the saint that appears once every five hundred years. Before death, I have finally met someone who I can interact with. I've come out this time just to meet you, to let you witness the path."
Eternal Peace Imperial Preceptor then said solemnly, "Today at Qingmen Pass, there are a million soldiers stationed, many of whom are my students; however, I'm your student. There are also numerous scholars from Imperial College who had come here to lend their strength in the face of the empire's disaster, so may teacher please expound his wisdom and dispel our doubts!"
Village Chief smiled. "I dare not, it's just an interaction."
The two of them walked side by side with Qin Mu following behind them. Xiong Xiyu raised her head to look at a man approaching old age and a man at his robust years with a bizarre gaze while saying under her breath, "In my West Earth's True Heaven Palace, there are no such outstanding men. With the women of our West Earth in charge, the men are all yes-men, doing whatever they are told to do. If the men of West Earth were as bold and as capable as them, why would us women need to be in charge?"
They walked into the city, and Qin Mu saw numerous scholars from Imperial College. All of them were sitting cross-legged and waiting quietly. They were unable to hide the excitement that was on their faces.
Now that Barbarian Di Empire was launching a full-scale invasion on Eternal Peace Empire after it had just gone through a massive rebellion and snow disaster, there was no way for people to make a living. The population was declining, and the people were mostly destitute and homeless. Before the empire could settle down, the rations were also in short supply. Even in the army, the rations were lacking, so many scholars from Imperial College could only save on food after coming here, not daring to eat till they were full.
Qin Mu saw Wei Yong, Qin Yu, and the rest. Wei Yong was originally a big fatty, but now he had slimmed down quite a bit from starvation.
Only when they reached fall's harvest could this hard-pressed situation turn slightly better.
Village Chief and Eternal Peace Imperial Preceptor sat down, and Village Chief said in a pace that was neither too fast nor too slow, "The purpose of my visit is not to talk about sword skills. I shall only talk about the path. The sword path. As for how much you can take from my speech, it will depend on your comprehension. There was no such thing as a sword path in this world before, but ever since weapons such as a sword were created, a sword path came to be."
Numerous soldiers that had come back from the frontlines walked over. Some of them took off their armor to sit on the ground while some just stood and listened.
Many people revealed puzzled expressions when they heard the lecture of this elder. Someone said in a low voice, "Could the great Dao of heaven and earth be created? Aren't we divine arts practitioners cultivating the natural great Dao of heaven and earth?"
Qin Mu's heart stirred slightly. He recalled his conversation with Heavenly King Yu, about how the great Dao of heaven and earth had changed.
The creativity of humans had born numerous great Dao of heaven and earth that didn't exist in the world at the start. It was also that same creativity that had changed the old Daos into something new.
When a great Dao is changed, the skills would also change, thus it was known as a reform.
Heavenly King Yu felt that reforms could touch the benefits of gods and devils.
However, what Village Chief said was much more profound.
Everyone was puzzled because they were all people who had cultivated qi and their inherent knowledge was to learn the paths, skills, and divine arts that were passed down to them. Furthermore, divine arts relied on a path and skills, so if they changed their inherent understanding, one could well imagine how big of a blow it would be to their hearts!
"How is a great Dao created?" asked Eternal Peace Imperial Preceptor.
"Walk to the extreme and it will be created. Imperial Preceptor, have your sword skills reached their extremes?"
Eternal Peace Imperial Preceptor was slightly stunned and said, "Just a little more."
Village Chief revealed a smile. "Let me help you."
He stabbed at Eternal Peace Imperial Preceptor, and the scenery around them changed. Thousands of mountains and rivers came flooding in his face, and in a split second, their surroundings no longer looked like Qingmen Pass or a battlefield with blood flowing in a red river. Instead, it looked like a whole new world that had fresh green mountain ranges overflowing with greenery, rivers rolling into the distance. Each and every wave looked extremely clear and real, while the veins of each and every leaf on the trees and bushes were complicated, without any two being alike.
Everyone stood up, and there were even some people that climbed the mountains while some jumped into the river. There were even some that plucked the flowers formed by sword lights while Qin Mu stretched out his hand to catch a drop of dew trickling down from a leaf.
Sword Treading Mountains and Rivers.
This was the Sword Treading Mountains and Rivers that Village Chief had executed. It was clearly a move that had supreme power, but in Village Chief's hand, it was completely harmless. Instead of dealing damage, it brought everyone into a bizarre world.
It was as if this place was a real world, one formed by a sword path.
Even though this situation had a huge impact on them, it was the strongest on Eternal Peace Imperial Preceptor. His body trembled, and his soul palpitated. He squatted and caressed the ground, then raised his head to look up at the starry sky. Village Chief had shown him the true face of the path, allowing him to touch the sword path.
Suddenly, he felt that a door had been blown open, and he stood there motionlessly with a blank gaze.
Village Chief saw this sight and exclaimed to himself, 'The saint that appears once every five hundred years indeed has much better aptitude than Mu'er, comprehending the path in such a short time.'