Chapter 69 - 61: Xu Ge Returns to the Capital
Chapter 69: Chapter 61: Xu Ge Returns to the Capital
The terrifying impression left by that Immortal Whale, freezing the world for three hundred, even thousands of miles, was something Su Chen still couldn’t forget.
And that...
...was just the result of the aura it unconsciously emanated in its current state.
It was hard to imagine.
What kind of cataclysm would be unleashed if a true Immortal Whale were enraged? Great Liang would probably be annihilated in an instant.
Mortals feared Immortals.
He wasn’t human, but he carried the secret of Longevity and feared powerful existences all the more for it.
In the wooden box.
Cyan Sparrow was murmuring.
"Master Xu, are you going to leave me too...?"
Su Chen didn’t answer.
After a long moment.
He stopped and gently stroked Cyan Sparrow’s hair. It was like a promise, and yet also like simple comfort.
"I won’t."
"Not until you can protect yourself..."
「Second year of the Great Zhou Xuanlong Dynasty.」
「The tenth day of the third month.」
「Heavy rain.」
「Still, heavy rain.」
Su Chen headed straight for the Capital City.
The girl in the box gradually recovered, once again becoming a chattering, noisy little Cyan Sparrow flitting around Su Chen.
But this time, it seemed a strange affection was blossoming in the young girl’s eyes.
"Today, I will teach you cultivation."
Seeing that the rain wouldn’t stop, Su Chen found a dilapidated temple in the wilderness. He brushed the rainwater from Cyan Sparrow’s grass clothes and spoke solemnly.
"Cultivation?"
"Master Xu, aren’t you just an ordinary Eunuch?"
Cyan Sparrow said.
"You should call me Master."
"Who says an ordinary Eunuch can’t teach someone cultivation?"
"I know a little bit about cultivation."
Su Chen made a gesture for "a little bit."
Then.
He picked up a dry branch from the ground.
"The method of my cultivation is not suitable for you, nor for anyone else. You should walk the Path of Qi. After the conditioning I’ve given you, once you start cultivating, your progress will be exponential. You’ll catch up to the top prodigies, reach the Peak, and stand shoulder to shoulder with those at the very Peak. This is not just an Illusory Dream..."
Su Chen explained patiently.
"Yeah, right."
"Conditioning?"
"You mean with that tree root water you boil for me every day?"
Cyan Sparrow didn’t believe him at all.
She didn’t know.
Those were the rootlets of a Thousand-year-old Ginseng King.
Even a First Grade master would go red-eyed with envy upon seeing them.
Water boiled with the rootlets of a Ginseng King.
It could turn someone of mediocre talent into a prodigy.
"Therefore."
"I will not teach you a method, only a skill!"
"This sword is called Burial Star. It is the strongest Sword Skill below the level of Grandmaster. If you can grasp even a sliver of its essence, you’ll be able to cut down a Peak expert while at First Grade. When you reach the Peak, you will make other Peak experts bow. Once you approach the absolute Peak, you could become the world’s number one First Grade..."
Su Chen continued his explanation. His posture was natural, his speech confident, and his back was ramrod straight, giving him an extraordinary and convincing aura.
This time, even though Cyan Sparrow was still skeptical, she couldn’t help but sit up straight and grow tense.
’Could it be that Master Xu isn’t an ordinary Eunuch?’
’Is he truly a master?’
’I can finally start my cultivation.’
In the next instant.
Su Chen, holding the dry branch, swung it forward. It seemed like a casual strike, but it contained the myriad transformations of the Sword Dao, all converged into a single slash.
It looked unremarkable, yet it was a level above First Grade, the path to Grandmaster—a Microscopic Sword Stance!
"Did you understand?"
Su Chen looked at Cyan Sparrow.
"Huh?"
"Did you just teach me?"
"Where are the Sword Formulas, the Heart Technique, and the Mantra?"
Cyan Sparrow’s face was full of suspicion. She felt like she’d been tricked.
Now it was Su Chen’s turn to be surprised.
’Do you need all that?’
’Shouldn’t you grasp the basics after seeing it once, have a vague understanding after the second time, and fully master it after the third?’
’That’s how it was for me.’
On the Tower Ship.
The Double Second Grade Black Armor Wun Sandao had performed a single slash, and Su Chen had fully mastered it—and even surpassed him—after seeing it just once. He hadn’t needed any Heart Method Mantra at all...
’Aren’t other people the same?’
’It seems...’
’...the Great Liang Martial Pavilion did have many auxiliary Secret Skills, like Heart Technique and Mantra for Blade and Sword Skills.’
"It seems your comprehension is a bit slow. How about I swing a few more times to see if you can grasp anything?"
Su Chen asked.
"Master Xu, I can’t believe I fell for your act. You’re so full of yourself! It’s like the Peak and the absolute Peak mean nothing to you."
"Next."
"Are you going to tell me that the Three Dukes of Great Liang—the three Peak experts, Lord Zhang, Lord Xu, and Lord Su—were all your disciples in the Imperial Palace?"
Cyan Sparrow said peevishly, her hands on her hips with the charming naivete of a fifteen or sixteen-year-old girl.
"The Three Dukes of Great Liang? So that’s what they’re called?"
"You’re not entirely wrong, though."
"Zhang Gui is my dearest friend and brother. Xu Han is both a disciple and a son to me. As for the last one..."
Su Chen trailed off, pondering.
"Argh! I can’t listen to this anymore." Cyan Sparrow rolled her eyes, refused to listen further, and crawled into the wooden box. She even closed the lid and started snoring loudly.
"So disrespectful."
"I’m your master, you know."
Su Chen received no response.
Instead, he felt something brush against his foot. Looking down, he saw the small, profound black turtle, translucent like black jade. Its eyes were shining as its front claw pointed at the branch on the ground.
’Turtle wants to learn!’
’Teach Turtle! Quick!’
’Just a couple more demonstrations and Turtle will get it.’
"Can a turtle learn the sword? You don’t have hands."
"Fine."
"I’ll teach you."
Seeing the expectant look in the Little Turtle’s eyes, Su Chen nodded, picked up the dry branch, and demonstrated again and again.
The Little Turtle watched, completely mesmerized.
Outside the dilapidated temple.
The fierce winds and heavy rain were sliced to pieces by the Microscopic Sword Stance, no longer able to fall upon the temple.
「After a long time.」
「Night.」
It was pitch-black.
The rain was still falling.
The dilapidated temple fell silent.
Su Chen, wrapped in his grass clothes, was feigning sleep while leaning against the wooden box.
THUD THUD THUD!
The ground trembled slightly.
A burst of urgent hoofbeats approached from the distance.
An Iron Armor Guard, seemingly ten feet tall with long arms and legs, strode in. He wore an Evil Ghost mask and had the air of a Fierce God. Seeing someone resting there, he immediately moved to drive them away.
"Get lost."
"If you disturb the noble, ten lives won’t be enough to pay for it."
This was a Second-Grade Internal Organ expert.
Su Chen could tell that this person had practiced external cultivation and suffered from Qi deviation, which had transformed him into this inhuman state and greatly shortened his lifespan.
"Alright."
"I’m leaving now."
Su Chen glanced at the heavy rain outside and the convoy of carriages. Not wanting any trouble, he decided to leave. The outskirts of the Imperial City were only another ten li away.
There would be plenty of inns there.
"Wait."
"What is it?"
"General Lei, are you deliberately humiliating this Little Eunuch because you see he’s wearing the Profound Black Robe of Great Liang, and assume he’s another one of the Great Liang Remnants?"
A sharp, thin voice spoke, the words chilling. A man in a Blue Robe walked into the dilapidated temple, supporting a white-haired youth. The man’s smile didn’t reach his eyes.
The youth had sharp, sword-like eyebrows. His eyes were covered by a black cloth, and he needed support to walk, but none of this could hide his noble air as a Prince.
"Since Eunuch Yum has spoken, you may stay."
"The rain outside is heavy."
"The temple is big enough for two."
"Besides."
"He’s just a Little Black-robed Eunuch."
"With the Second Grade General Lei by my side, who could possibly harm me?"
the white-haired Prince said.
The man in the Blue Robe was indeed Yum Zhong.
"The Military Supervision Bureau is fiercely protective of its own. Our old eunuchs from Great Liang are not to be humiliated so casually."
Yum Zhong walked over and said to Su Chen with a smile.
"By the way."
"What’s your name?"
In the darkness.
Su Chen raised his eyes, revealing the handsome face of Xu Ge, and spoke slowly.
"Xu Ge."
"So your name is Xu Ge... wait, who? Xu Ge!!"
Yum Zhong’s voice cracked as he shouted.
"Who?!"
The moment the name Xu Ge was spoken.
Not only did the Second Grade General Lei stare in horror, but even the blindfolded, white-haired Prince turned in the direction of the voice, as if he could still see.
Who in the world didn’t know?
Among the many factions left over from Great Liang, two were the most powerful—so powerful that even the Great Zhou Royal Family dared not ignore them and had to show them a measure of respect.
These two factions were behemoths, spread throughout the Nine Commanderies of the former Great Liang territory, with hundreds of thousands of disciples and old retainers.
One held a high position in the court, the Western Depot. The other lay coiled in the wildlands, the Eastern Depot. They were like fire and water, with a blood feud between them that would only end in death.
Both the East and West Depots revered Lord Su—the Wind Snow Little Grandmaster who had appeared like a fleeting phantom to cleave the Nujiang River with his sword—as their ultimate master, but each had its own Captain.
The Captain of the Eastern Depot, Zhu Xiao, had recently had an epiphany at the Nujiang River, broken through his Limit, and stepped into the Peak. His ascension was now a certainty.
But the Western Depot, this massive entity, had yet to be inherited. The successor designated by Lord Xu, one of the Three Dukes of Great Liang, had not appeared in the Current World for three years.
It could be said that...
...the moment he appeared in the Current World and took command of the Western Depot, he would stand at the pinnacle of power. Even the Emperor would have to court his favor and show him respect.
This heir to the Western Depot.
...was named Xu Ge!