IS Chapter 99

Chapter 99

Resentment startled the sword, its branches and leaves withered.

Wei Sheng Xian looked at the sword and continued Ye Zhuo’s half-spoken words:

“The merit is not in you, but the sin is in you.”

“What does it matter how much merit, how much sin? Death cancels it all out. I don’t care,” Yin Ye said. “I’m just walking my own path.”

He sighed, “It’s a pity Palace Master Wei Sheng wasn’t born twenty years earlier, to play chess with me. They say, the will of Heaven is complete, the will of man is treacherous, the Way of Heaven is eternal, and the Way of Man is obscure. Brother Wei Sheng, how is my Way of Man cultivated?”

Wei Sheng Xian said, “It’s strayed.”

Yin Ye said, “It doesn’t matter.”

He took another step toward Ye Zhuo.

Li Yuan raised his hand slightly, wanting to protect Ye Zhuo, but Ye Zhuo didn’t need anyone to protect him. He reached out and brushed a stray lock of hair from his neck, then lowered his hand.

The rights and wrongs of the human world shouldn’t be judged by him.

He only saw people on the road to Heaven all walking their own paths. Greed, anger, and delusion rose and fell one after another; once embarked upon, there was no turning back, and even turning back, there was no shore.

Just three steps away from Ye Zhuo, Yin Ye’s blurred and scattered gaze finally seemed to focus, seeing his outline: “But I have something to say in my heart, Palace Master Ye, only to you.”

Ye Zhuo: “Please speak.”

In his blurred vision, Yin Ye could sense that beside and behind Ye Zhuo, there seemed to be many people.

As if anticipating what he was about to say, they stood by his side like this. Unable to do anything, just accompanying him.

Actually, it was unnecessary.

The person who had fully experienced the past stood here, completely intact. What good would it do to hear someone tell it again? Would it break the jade? The heart wasn’t made of glass; it hadn’t been broken by mountains of knives and seas of fire, so how could it waver at this moment?

Those who would care were the ones who felt guilty twenty years ago, those who hadn’t spoken up twenty years ago, and those who weren’t there twenty years ago.

Yin Ye remembered the day he divined for the world on the summit of Mount Qiongtong.

At that time, there were also many people standing before and behind him. Many, many sects, waiting for him to speak with the voice of Heaven, to pronounce the judgment they had long prepared.

But today, he was facing Ye Zhuo.

“Twenty-five years ago, the spiritual Aura Meridian of the human world withered. Everyone came to me, and I divined three hexagrams for the world. You know all about it,” Yin Ye said.

“The first hexagram: Heaven and Earth face a great calamity, without pardon. The second hexagram: Disaster arises in the southwest. The third hexagram: Southwest, Illusion Cloud Cliff.”

“So I said, a star of disaster has appeared in the Illusion Sword Manor, born alongside the calamity. I also said that the Illusion Sword Manor’s sword Aura Meridian steals the creation of Heaven, draining its spirit. Heaven’s Way cannot tolerate this, so it informs me.”

“They asked, what did I see? I said: The immortal path is broken, the human path collapses.”

“They asked again, how to resolve it? I said: Gentlemen, you have your own conclusions in your hearts.”

“From then on, I no longer spoke. They all went to the southwest, to uphold justice on behalf of Heaven, to answer the calamity for the human immortal path.”

Yin Ye’s tone was very calm, as if telling a story unrelated to everyone else. But those who heard it were silent. Twenty-odd years was just a few dawns and dusks for cultivators. The things they thought they had forgotten came surging back like a tide, the tide reflecting the shadows of each of them, and a quiet starry moon.

“The Illusion Sword Manor has always been powerful, and there was also Yun Xiang Xi. In fact, they couldn’t do anything to the Illusion Sword Manor. They went there and returned defeated. Moreover, the Supreme Purity Mountain did not discuss this matter.”

“There were also several sects that once approached the Dao Sect, wanting the Supreme Purity Mountain to take the lead and unite the hundred families of the immortal sects to exterminate the Illusion Sword Manor. The Supreme Purity Mountain said that the Illusion Sword Manor had not done anything harmful or unjust. It would be unreasonable to exterminate it based on a few hexagrams. This statement was spread, adding to the Supreme Purity Mountain’s reputation for compassion.”

Yin Ye coughed a few times as he spoke, blood seeping from his lips, his body even more shaky and precarious.

“That year, the Illusion Sword Manor closed its doors, no longer asking about the affairs of the martial world. I think that was the year you were born, right?” Yin Ye said.

Ye Zhuo did not speak.

Yin Ye suddenly laughed, “Actually, that hexagram was what Yu Lou wanted me to divine.”

“Actually, there was no need to really divine. The Supreme Purity Mountain just wanted me to say to everyone: the disaster originated from the Illusion Sword Manor. But I put on the full show. They wanted me to divine, so I divined. What I said was more than they wanted. With this hexagram, the Illusion Sword Manor was doomed, it had to die to appease the public resentment. My six senses were also lost. Everyone in the world knew that what I divined was the true will of Heaven.”

“Palace Master Ye, do you know what they wanted to do at that time? Do you know what I wanted to do at that time?”

“They didn’t want the evil reputation of suppressing dissent and subverting the orthodox great sect. They also knew that Yun Xiang Xi was there, and they weren’t 100% sure. Even if they could eventually destroy the Illusion Sword Manor, they would suffer great losses. That’s not what they wanted to do.”

“Do you know Tai Qing? … Ah, I almost forgot, you just killed him in the Mirage.” Yin Ye pursed his lips and smiled, as if embarrassed. “Tai Qing said that he had met Yun Xiang Xi. He said that Yun Xiang Xi only had the Sword Dao in his heart. Yun Xiang Xi might not care about the Illusion Sword Manor.”

“There were also others who had met Yun Xiang Xi. Many of them had exchanged blows with Yun Xiang Xi. They all said that Yun Xiang Xi’s Path of Detachment had reached its peak, and Yun Xiang Xi’s Sword Dao had also reached the highest realm in the human world. Therefore, Yun Xiang Xi only had a higher Sword Dao in his heart, only ascension.”

“What kind of person was Yun Xiang Xi after all? I don’t know. Do you know?” Yin Ye said.

—What kind of person was Yun Xiang Xi after all?

Ye Zhuo felt that he should have thought about it.

But he didn’t have anything to say.

Yin Ye’s voice rang out again: “So what they wanted to do at that time was actually to make a deal with Yun Xiang Xi.”

“They wanted Yun Xiang Xi to voluntarily give up the sword Aura Meridian and spiritual Aura Meridian on Illusion Cloud Cliff. Then, the Illusion Sword Manor would move out of Illusion Cloud Cliff. The price they offered was nine true solutions of the Sword Dao from the Upper Realm, and a token to protect Yun Xiang Xi, ensuring his ascension at the Cloud Soaring Ascension Ceremony.”

After the words fell, Yin Ye didn’t speak for a long time.

He looked at everyone with a smile. Everyone was a blurry outline, but people’s hearts were always easy to guess.

Some were thinking, if they were the head of a sect who could make decisions, would such a price tempt them?

Some were thinking, so ascension could be decided with a single word. Others were thinking, no wonder the True Men of the Supreme Purity Mountain ascend every ten years.

Shen Xin Ge glanced at Shen Jing Zhen’s profile. He saw his master’s fingers clench the Dao sword and slowly close his eyes.

Then Shen Xin Ge remembered that his master’s master, and his master’s martial uncle, the Human Immortals of their Hongmeng Sect, had fallen one after another during their ascension.

Was it for this reason that his master concealed his Human Immortal realm and didn’t ascend?

“Everyone says that my hexagram stirred up the great trends of the martial world, causing years of turmoil. In fact, it was just a bargaining chip for them to put pressure on Yun Xiang Xi. When the hexagram came out, the wind and clouds moved, and the Illusion Sword Manor closed its doors, wavering in the wind and rain. That was when they approached Yun Xiang Xi and offered him the price. At that time, it was Yu Ge, Yu Lou, and Yu Que, the three True Men of the main sect, who negotiated with Yun Xiang Xi.”

Li Yuan stood beside Ye Zhuo, watching Ye Zhuo’s calm profile, like a water moon statue untouched by wind and rain. He waited for Yin Ye’s next words.

The Red Dust Sword Immortal also waited for Yin Ye’s next words.

He also wanted to know what kind of person Yun Xiang Xi was.

Yin Ye said, “Yun Xiang Xi didn’t agree.”

He didn’t agree.

Otherwise, perhaps the Illusion Sword Manor would still exist.

Ye Zhuo said, “So?”

After saying so much, these were all well-known things. He thought that the words someone said before their death should at least have some weight.

“So I think, there are some things that maybe you want to know. And there are some things that I also want to know. Second Palace Master Ye, I know what Yun Xiang Xi said to the three True Men that day. He only said one sentence.”

Nine kinds of Sword Dao from the Upper Realm, and a promise of guaranteed ascension.

That day, when the three supreme Dharma-protecting True Men of the Supreme Purity Mountain put the price on the table—a price that would tempt everyone, and even more attractive to a sword cultivator who only sought the supreme Sword Dao in his entire life.

Yun Xiang Xi only looked at them, and then said four words.

“He said, ‘Nothing more than this.'”

“Then, he turned and left. From that day on, the Illusion Sword Manor no longer saw visitors.”

“Palace Master Ye, did you know about this?”

Ye Zhuo said, “I didn’t know.”

“Then do you know what this ‘nothing more than this’ was referring to?”

Was it the Supreme Purity Mountain being nothing more than this, or was it the price being nothing more than this?

“I know,” Ye Zhuo said.

Perhaps, he understood Yun Xiang Xi very well. He didn’t know Yun Xiang Xi had said these words, but when Yin Ye asked, Ye Zhuo found that he knew very well what Yun Xiang Xi wanted to say.

“He was saying that the human world and the Immortal Realm were both nothing more than this.”

The sword techniques of the Upper Realm could be placed before him through the hands of the Supreme Purity Mountain, and the qualifications for ascension could be used as a bargaining chip to exchange for other things. When such things were displayed before Yun Xiang Xi, he would discover that so-called ascension, so-called Upper Realm, so-called hundred families of immortal sects, and three thousand Great Daos, were all nothing more than this.

When a person had already walked the Path of the human world to the end, and had scattered the last trace of awe towards ascension, towards the Upper Realm, and towards the Great Dao.

He wouldn’t go to any “Cloud Soaring Ascension Ceremony”, nor would he need any so-called token. He wouldn’t even walk the ascension path that descended from the Immortal Realm to the human world anymore.

Because in this world, there was nothing that could stop him anymore.

“So, he ascended,” Ye Zhuo said.

“So, six years later, he bloodbathed the Illusion Sword Manor and ascended,” Yin Ye said.

Heaven and Earth were silent.

In Ye Zhuo’s eyes, a trace of mocking laughter.

“Nothing more than this,” Ye Zhuo said.