IS Chapter 167

Chapter 167

Green Mountains, emerald waters, a land remote and sky high.

On this sixteenth day of the eighth month, even before the first rays of dawn, Li Yuan was already standing on the water pavilion of the Cold Pool. The stars in the sky had yet to fade, and the mountain was filled with cool, autumnal air. Behind Li Yuan, not far away, was a half-finished game of chess, one he had played idly with Wei Sheng Xian some days ago, never reaching its conclusion.

He had played many games of chess with Wei Sheng Xian, with wins and losses for both. Wei Sheng Xian said his chess style was light yet weighty, methodical and cautious, and he knew well that Wei Sheng Xian liked to lay down subtle schemes that stretched for miles, meticulously crafted and inescapable.

Li Yuan held a sword case in his hands. He placed it beside the chessboard, opened it, and inside was Late Clearing. On the night of the fifteenth of August two years ago, he had brought Late Clearing to Illusion Cloud Cliff, and at that time, Late Clearing had emitted a long, sorrowful cry. Today, however, it simply lay quietly in the case, as if observing everything in this world.

In his hand was a shard of glazed lotus petal. Li Yuan held it gently, silently gazing towards the eastern horizon.

There stood the highest peak in the Green Mountains, the peak to which he had once invited Ye Zhuo, taking him flying to the Northern Ocean, showing him the Kun fish that bore the blue sky on its back, and the moon rising at the edge of the world. Today, that person stood there once more.

Wearing the robes he had chosen for him, not overly ornate, but very beautiful, even more refined, like a drop of blood on his heart, a smear of red on his sword. A beauty like a famous sword, needing no excessive adornment. His sword was the most intense mark of his life.

On this day, Li Yuan was not by his side.

Yet he had always been by his side. Reverse Scale Sword was quietly sealed in its black scabbard of Saraca wood, held in that person’s hand.

How high was the swordsmith’s realm? Li Yuan did not know, but even the highest realm was still human, how could they possibly forge a true dragon’s heart scale? Then, it must have been that it, too, was willing.

Victory and defeat were always decided by a single sword strike, could it have been destined from that moment?

As if sensing some kind of gaze, Ye Zhuo picked up the sword, his fingers slowly caressing the scabbard.

The Life-Bound Sword emitted a faint hum from within its sheath, as if in response.

For no particular reason, Ye Zhuo thought of Li Yuan.

At this time, he should no longer be thinking of anything, his state of mind was originally so empty and clear. But as a Sword Cultivator, thinking of his Life-Bound Sword did not seem to need correcting or interrupting.

This sword had been with him for eleven years, almost twelve. Many times, it was the only one by Ye Zhuo’s side.

It was a quiet sword, unlike Mutual Grief, whose almost visible chill would fiercely emanate through the blade, nor like Late Clearing, where all the colors of the world gently unfurled on the sword’s surface.

This long sword forged from a reverse scale was like a silent abyss, where even the earth splitting, mountains crumbling, and the self being burned by intense fire, all violent changes would recede into the sea from time immemorial after the ultimate eruption, as if nothing had happened. It had always been in Ye Zhuo’s hand, but more often, that sea seemed to be behind Ye Zhuo.

Perhaps, in the beginning, he simply wanted the best sword in the world.

Perhaps, at their first meeting in life, opening his eyes amidst the unified expanse of sea and sky, he had suddenly met a pair of bright, golden dragon eyes, a joyful expression as if waiting for him for a long time, such a beautiful, such a powerful ink-colored creature—

Perhaps he liked it very much.

His fingers stroked the inscription on the sword for the last time, Ye Zhuo calmly looked towards the eastern horizon, waiting for the sunrise, the first distant light of day.

At the Hongmeng Sect’s residence, Shen Xin’ge popped out from behind Shen Jingzhen: “Master, you’re not drawing the kill character anymore?”

“I’m not drawing it anymore. This is a peace charm, to dispel disasters and resolve calamities, turning misfortune into good fortune.”

“Who are you drawing it for?”

“For everyone in the world.”

“Teach me, I want to draw one too.”

Guests came to visit the Sword Casting Shed, and the Swordsmith’s Young Disciple yawned as he came out to greet them. His gaze finally settled on the visitor’s crystal clear Great Mystery sword at his waist: “Oh, it’s you. Such a good sword, can I touch it?”

Outside the capital city of Yong, with hundreds of officials on either side, tens of thousands of citizens gathered. The magnificent high platform had already been built. The Yong Clan used the black bird as their totem, retaining some traditions of gods, spirits, and shamans from ancient times.

The great cold of the world had just dissipated, and after a short, bitter summer, the next winter was about to arrive. The Emperor confessed his sins to Heaven in a grand ceremony.

In fact, the Yong Emperor’s achievements were known to all, what sins could a ruler possibly have? It was only that human power was limited, it was only that the mandate of Heaven had an end. To receive the ill omens of a nation was to be a king of the world.

At the Supreme Purity Mountain, immortal guests had gathered as well, lively and extraordinary. Twelve Immortals from the various sects of the Supreme Purity Mountain guarded the central altar, friendly sects had all come, led by the elders in charge of each sect, people of high moral standing, Immortal masters only a step away from ascension.

The Ascension Ceremony occurred once every ten years, the lifelong wish of all cultivators. Therefore, as the number one sect connected to the Ascension Road, the Supreme Purity Mountain could still maintain its dignity. It was only that the Sword Sect remained closed off, a slight blemish that needed to be covered up.

In the sky, the first rays of rosy clouds surged forth, brilliantly.

At the moment the solemn music of the Ascension Ceremony sounded, Ye Zhuo, tens of thousands of miles away, calmly raised his eyes, watching the five-colored Immortal clouds that were about to fill the sky in the center of the firmament, so that the entire human world could see them. It was a sign of interaction between heaven and man, an extraordinary scene that no human treasure or earthly Immortal could create.

With such a miraculous power, mortals revered immortals, and the lower realm supported the upper realm. Ye Zhuo watched those brilliant clouds surge, as if a magnificent heavenly gate was gradually opening, the road to the heavens would slowly descend like a rope ladder lowered by people in the sky, unfolding layer by layer, people on the ground climbed upwards along it, finally being led from this human world with its depleted Spiritual Energy and cut-off Dao tradition, to the glorious Immortal Realm.

Ye Zhuo’s fingers grasped the sword hilt.

A voice rang in his ears.

“Slashing open the road to heaven and killing your way up to the Immortal Realm is not difficult for you.” It was the Free and Unfettered Old Daoist from Peach Blossom Mountain who spoke.

“But I don’t want to go up,” he said, “I want the people above to come down.”

That day, the green lamp flickered in the Bu Du Temple, and the expression of the Free and Unfettered One was deep and unpredictable.

“Going up is not difficult. What is difficult is coming down,” the Free and Unfettered One said, “If you truly do so, you will inevitably suffer the condemnation of the Great Dao. What is the point of all this?”

Ye Zhuo couldn’t say when such a thought had appeared in his mind. He only knew that there had been a few moments when he had clearly seen it.

That day, a black dragon pinned him to the Cold Pool’s bank, retreating to advance, step by step, asking him the sentence in his heart.

He said he didn’t want to go to the Immortal Realm. He said he didn’t like it.

Perhaps that bit of dislike was not very noticeable, but dislike was dislike.

So he didn’t choose it. He wasn’t going. Someone taught him what it meant to be angry, and he learned it.

After that, a monstrous fire burned in his heart. The raging flames pointed out the road for him, and at that moment he understood that this was the only road he would take in this life. He wanted to end everything in the human world.

It would only be more dangerous, and the ending was already doomed. Moreover, he didn’t even know if there was a road to take. He only had the sword in his hand.

So he pushed away Dragon Li Yuan and went to Bu Du Temple.

It seemed to have already begun, the light in the center of the sky was at its peak, illuminating the entire human world.

“There has never been a path from the upper realm to the lower realm,” said the Free and Unfettered One.

“But there may really be a path from the Immortal Realm to the human world. The Spiritual Energy and Aura Meridian of the human world can be sent up, and the orders and reliance of the Immortal Realm can be sent down. The order of the human world and the Immortal Realm has long been riddled with holes by them. The Great Dao already has flaws. But you must find where that crack in the sky is. Only when you find it can you cut it open.”

“At that time, what you will be cutting open is not your own road to heaven, nor is it the road for that person to come down. You are slashing at the ancient rules between the human world and the Immortal Realm that have remained unchanged for millions of years. After that, nothing can be predicted.”

“Perhaps the Immortal Realm will be furious, perhaps the Heavenly Dao will be horrified, perhaps all Daos will collapse, perhaps that crack cannot be found at all, perhaps you simply cannot cut it open.” The Free and Unfettered Old Daoist closed his eyes with an old-god-like air, “But the road is there, you forced the old Daoist to tell you, it has nothing to do with anyone, don’t say it was the old Daoist who said it, and don’t let—Heaven know.”

Ye Zhuo slowly drew his sword.

The sound of bells and chimes rang out, and the Dao Ancestor of the main sect held three incense sticks, bowing reverently to Heaven.

On Quiet Grass Cliff, the young Daoist in white robes and a red belt also lit three thin incense sticks, holding them in his hands.

—But Wei Sheng Xian suddenly didn’t know who to offer this incense to.

To the ancestral masters of the past? To heaven, earth, Xuan, Huang, and the primordial?

To the highest Heavenly Dao in this human world? To the Great Dao that nurtured these three thousand worlds above the Heavenly Dao?

“Forget it,” Wei Sheng Xian said.

There were many wild flowers and weeds growing randomly on Quiet Grass Cliff. Bathed in the rosy light, they could not feel the grace and blessing between heaven and man, but simply swayed in the wind.

“I think you’re very good, pleasing to the eye,” Wei Sheng Xian looked at one of the clumps of small grass and smiled, “I’ll offer it to you.”

Facing that ordinary weed, Wei Sheng Xian knelt down halfway, inserting the three incense sticks into the soil in front of the weed, then rose to his feet.

The wind picked up, and the curling smoke rose upwards.

“Brother weed,” Wei Sheng Xian said, “I’m counting on you.”

The long wind between heaven and earth picked up, this three incense sticks did not offer to the Heavenly Dao, will the Heavenly Dao get angry? Wei Sheng Xian suddenly smiled, the long wind lifted his sleeves, in the wind there were grass and trees, there were clouds and water, there were human voices, he closed his eyes, feeling this moment of being one with all things, naturally.

Man follows the earth, the earth follows heaven, heaven follows the Dao.

The Dao follows nature.

At the summit of Green Mountain, Ye Zhuo saw that wisp of curling blue smoke rising straight into the high sky, the sounds of all things in the world seemed to be ringing in his ears, he heard the sound of the sea tide, he heard the soft cry of Late Clearing. The smoke suddenly dissipated before his eyes, he clearly saw that in the endless sky above, in the brilliance of the cloud-born clouds, there were countless, spider-silk-like cracks in the sky everywhere.

The sword left its sheath.

The clear, cold voice and the sound of the sword came together, between heaven and man.

“Cloud Mutual Grief. Get down here.”