Chapter 1295: Good News (II)
Chapter 1295: Good News (II)
In an unnamed small city, an army had just stormed in, driving out the Sin Abyss cultivators and was now resting.
At the city lord’s residence, Li Yufu held a command token as he hurried into the most secluded courtyard within the residence.
After his last seclusion, Li Yufu had successfully broken through to the middle stage of the Golden Core Realm.
Despite continuous battles, he felt no fatigue. In fact, during meditation, a faint smile often lingered at the corners of his lips.
He recalled his grandmaster's evaluation of his senior uncle, and he could not help but admire him deeply. Even when both had only been at the Foundation Building Realm, his grandmaster had already seen his senior uncle’s potential.
After this war, the spoils gained by the Two-Domain Alliance would certainly include a share for Qin Sang. Just a few resource-rich mines from the plains would be enough to support the development of a sect.
Under Qin Sang’s instructions, he and Mei Gu had also been recruiting disciples for Qingyang Temple among rogue cultivators. With Qin Sang’s name alone, few could resist. They had indeed found several promising talents.
It was easy to imagine that once Qin Sang declared the establishment of a sect, Qingyang Temple would rise into a force no one could ignore! All of this had been built by his senior uncle alone!
"I didn’t expect that Grandmaster’s final wish would be fulfilled so soon..." With his long-held wish accomplished, Li Yufu no longer felt anxious or burdened. He focused fully on cultivation.
He understood clearly that all of this was temporary. In the endless river of time, countless sects had risen and fallen like fleeting flowers.
Qingyang Temple’s foundation was still shallow. But such a foundation could not be built overnight. Even with his senior uncle’s extraordinary abilities, it could not be achieved instantly. The responsibility lay on the shoulders of the younger generation!
Li Yufu tightened his grip on the command token, his expression resolute. Arriving before the courtyard, he gently activated the barrier and said softly, "Senior Uncle, the old acquaintance you mentioned is now outside the city lord’s residence. He wishes to see you."
From within came Qin Sang’s voice, "Oh? He’s finally here. Bring him in."
"Yes!"
Qin Sang stepped out of the quiet chamber, condensed earth into stone, and formed a table and two chairs.
Since their last meeting, this was the first time Shangguan Lifeng had come to visit.
Qin Sang had not sent anyone to look for him, as if he had forgotten about him entirely. However, he had secretly ordered people to investigate him, and he had already gained some understanding of Shangguan Lifeng’s character.
A moment later, Li Yufu led Shangguan Lifeng inside. After giving a salute, he quietly withdrew.
"Qi—Senior." Shangguan Lifeng hesitated for a moment and bent down to bow, but a gentle force lifted him up before he could complete it.
"We met when we were both insignificant. Why be so distant? From now on, just call me Daoist Master Qingfeng. It sounds more natural..." Qin Sang smiled and pointed at the stone stool opposite him. "Have a seat!"
"Thank you, Daoist Master." Shangguan Lifeng sat down as instructed, though his expression remained stiff and reserved.
Qin Sang sighed inwardly. The gap in cultivation stood there plainly. Their relationship could never return to what it once had been. Even if he wished to treat him with courtesy, Shangguan Lifeng would not dare accept it.
He examined this old acquaintance. Shangguan Lifeng sat upright. His attire did not resemble that of a Golden Core cultivator, but rather that of a mortal saber warrior.
He wore tight-fitting clothes, and his treasured saber had not been stored within his body. Instead, it was slung diagonally across his back. Though sheathed, one could vaguely sense an extremely sharp saber will emanating from it, as if it would thirst for blood the moment it left its scabbard.
This was Shangguan Lifeng’s unique secret technique of nurturing saber will.
"Daoist, have you encountered some trouble?" Qin Sang noticed the hesitation in Shangguan Lifeng’s eyes and asked.
Shangguan Lifeng stiffened, as if his thoughts had been exposed, clearly caught off guard.
Since deciding to visit Qin Sang, he had been wavering, uncertain how to speak once they met. Though they were old acquaintances, they had only fought together once. Two hundred years had passed without contact. How different was that from strangers?
Shangguan Lifeng did not believe that such a shallow connection would make a Spiritual Infant grandmaster view him differently, especially since he had been saved by him not long ago.
If the other party were temperamental, overstepping his bounds could only lead to dire consequences.
Strengthening his resolve, Shangguan Lifeng suddenly stood up. "Please forgive my rudeness, Daoist Master. I wish to ask you to guide me once more."
Qin Sang appeared thoughtful. He had long seen through Shangguan Lifeng’s intentions.
Before Qin Sang could ask, Shangguan Lifeng took the initiative to recount his experience. "When we parted last time, you personally demonstrated it to me. The Dao of Slaughter contained within your sword art captivated me completely. Since then, I have engraved it in my heart and could not forget it. Later, I happened to encounter great battles, so I voluntarily entered the battlefield, fighting and struggling for a hundred years. I finally grasped a trace of it. If not for this, I likely would not have encountered so many hardships or taken so long to form my Golden Core. But I have no regrets! However, after breaking through to the Golden Core Realm, I can no longer see the path ahead..."
Shangguan Lifeng summoned his treasured saber into his palm and gently stroked it. A trace of confusion surfaced in his eyes.
After listening, Qin Sang nodded slightly. He looked at Shangguan Lifeng, then at the saber in his hand, and suddenly asked, "You said you pursued this for a hundred years. Were you truly devoted to the Dao of Slaughter, or were you in love with the saber itself?"
At this question, Shangguan Lifeng’s expression froze. He opened his mouth but could not speak. Sweat instantly poured down his face, his lips trembling. "I—"
Clang! Without warning, a sword cry rang out.
Shangguan Lifeng was startled. Suddenly, everything, including Qin Sang, vanished. In his vision, only a single flying sword remained!
The flying sword was perfect. Every curve was just right, light and translucent like glazed crystal. That was his first thought.
Then, to his horror, he realized the flying sword had appeared before him at some unknown moment, mere inches away. He had not even seen its trajectory before its tip pressed against the center of his brow.
This time, the experience was entirely different from before. There was no sword qi sweeping across the eight directions, nor any trace of killing intent. It had returned to simplicity.
Yet Shangguan Lifeng felt as though he had been severed from everything in the world. No matter how hard he struggled, he could not escape this sword. Of course, he did not have the ability to escape either.
His bones cracked violently. His arms felt as heavy as mountains. His eyes were bloodshot, his face flushed red, completely unable to move.
At the brink of death, the terrifying pressure did not shatter his Dao Heart. Instead, he roared inwardly, staring wide-eyed at the flying sword before him.
"Ah!" Veins bulged across Shangguan Lifeng’s body. His expression twisted as he finally let out a hoarse roar.
With all his strength, he poured his true essence into the saber and slashed forward with all his might!
Slash! Amid his roar, the saber light tore through the air like a streaking rainbow, striking the flying sword with perfect precision.
In the next instant, both the saber light and the flying sword vanished soundlessly. At the same time, the pressure on Shangguan Lifeng disappeared.
"Huff, huff..."He supported himself with his saber against the ground, gasping for breath. His entire body felt drained, as though all his true essence had been consumed by that single strike.
Chirp, chirp... Birdsong came from the sky.
A few birds flew overhead, chirping cheerfully, completely unaware of the abnormality in the courtyard.
Shangguan Lifeng snapped back to reality as if waking from a dream. He sheathed his saber and bowed respectfully. "Daoist Master, thank you for your guidance."
That strike had not completely dispelled his confusion, but it had cleaved open a crack in the endless fog, allowing him to glimpse a different kind of scenery.
However, this experience felt somewhat different from the last one. He could not clearly articulate where the difference lay.
He attributed it to the changes in their cultivation levels. Still, Shangguan Lifeng liked this feeling very much. It seemed to be exactly what he had been searching for.
"A former acquaintance of mine cultivated the same art as I did. Based on that art, he created a sword scripture. What you saw just now was the first form of that scripture," Qin Sang said calmly.
Shangguan Lifeng was stunned.
Qin Sang stood up and walked toward the quiet chamber. "When you figure out the answer to that question, come find me again."
Understanding that he was being dismissed, Shangguan Lifeng did a fist-and-palm salute and withdrew from the courtyard.
Li Yufu was waiting outside. Seeing him come out, he gestured and said, "Senior Uncle has instructed me to prepare a quiet chamber for you. Please follow me."
"Thank you, Daoist." Shangguan Lifeng thanked him absentmindedly.
Li Yufu noticed something unusual and felt a bit curious about what his senior uncle had done to him.
Will this man join Qingyang Temple in the future? If so, Qingyang Temple will have three Golden Core cultivators. Besides, this man has some reputation, and Senior Uncle seems to value him highly. He may even have the potential to reach the Spiritual Infant Realm. He thought.
After that day, Shangguan Lifeng did not go to seek out Qin Sang again. Qin Sang did not urge him either, giving him time.
Since ancient times, saber and sword had been spoken of together. Among low-tier cultivators, there was little difference between the two, as both were weapons of killing. But the higher one’s realm became, the more the difference between them widened until it was as great as the distance between heaven and earth.
If Shangguan Lifeng was unwilling to abandon the saber and cultivate the sword, then even if Qin Sang passed the Qingzhu Sword Scripture on to him, it would be hard for him to achieve much, unless he possessed Senior Qingzhu’s astonishing talent and could study the sword scripture while comprehending saber arts from it.
But Qin Sang felt the chances were slim, because Shangguan Lifeng did not have much time left. In just a little over two hundred years, he had to undergo bitter cultivation, prepare to form his Spiritual Infant, and also create his own saber art. The difficulty of that was obvious!
Shangguan Lifeng’s strength lay in his absolute focus, and that in itself was a kind of talent.
If he could continue along the Sword Dao pioneered by Senior Qingzhu, he might still achieve something, and for that reason Qin Sang was willing to give him a chance.
But of all things in the world, the hardest was choosing, especially when it concerned one’s own path of cultivation.