IS Chapter 62
by Volare“But that sect on Illusion Cloud Cliff wasn’t a small, insignificant one.”
“They had Sword Immortals, Sword Saints, countless brilliant disciples, and the most unparalleled and peerless Sword Cultivator under Heaven.” The Red Dust Sword Immortal gazed at the distant horizon as dusk fell, a few scattered stars surrounding the Western Morning Star.
“They possessed the purest and most Spirit Energy-rich ultra-grade Aura Meridian in the entire Immortal Dao at that time. Over hundreds of years, the Sword Intent permeated, nurturing a Sword Meridian containing the ultimate principles of the Sword Dao at the heart of that Aura Meridian. The Sword Meridian was named ‘Immeasurable Emptiness,’ a sacred ground in the hearts of all Sword Cultivators.”
“What happens when such a sect becomes the target of everyone’s animosity? At that time, I was insignificant, the most unremarkable person among all the Sword Cultivators in the world. Because I admired and followed that Number One under Heaven, I always watched Illusion Cloud Cliff and that sect from afar.”
At this point, an ignorant listener should inquire about the sect’s name. However, the Red Dust Sword Immortal was met only with silence.
The seemingly omniscient Palace Master Wei Sheng Xian seemed to know many things; it wasn’t strange that he didn’t ask.
But why was Brother Li Yuan, who had occasionally asked questions last time, also silent this time?
Ye Zhuo, who was also a Sword Cultivator, even a Sword Cultivator of the Path of Emotionlessness, showed no interest in questioning upon hearing about such a sacred ground for Sword Cultivators.
His gaze was like water in the chilling spring, still carrying floating ice, so calm, so clear and cold to the bottom.
The Red Dust Sword Immortal subconsciously felt strange. But once those events and names were recalled, they all surfaced before his eyes, like an unstoppable spring flood.
“That sect,” the Red Dust Sword Immortal said, “was called Illusion Sword Manor.”
“Those three divinations from Guan Zhu of Yin Night couldn’t directly destroy it, but many things that happened later stemmed from them. I kept watching as rumors surged, and both open and hidden attacks rained down on the manor.” The Red Dust Sword Immortal suddenly smiled. “Do you know what they said? They said that Illusion Sword Manor’s Aura Meridian was stealing the fortune of all the Aura Meridians in the world. They said that the Dao of Heaven suppresses the high—this was only the beginning.”
“I don’t remember how long those dark days lasted, maybe six years, maybe seven.”
“Until that day—I remember it was the fifteenth of August.”
“That night, Illusion Sword Manor was a sea of blood, the entire sect destroyed overnight, leaving not a single survivor. By the time everyone knew the news, those events had already become a foregone conclusion.”
“That’s why I’m telling you to stay away from that Yin Night. You are all peerless geniuses, and there are Aura Meridians in your mountains too. Living in seclusion still invites trouble; how can you protect yourselves if you become enemies of the world like that?”
Ye Zhuo slowly wiped his Reverse Scale Sword, thoroughly removing the bloodstains from it.
“After saying so much,” his voice was faint, “why haven’t I heard you say exactly how Illusion Sword Manor was destroyed overnight?”
“Because I don’t know,” the Red Dust Sword Immortal said. “So, I can’t say.”
“Can’t say, or don’t want to say?”
The Second Palace Master Ye’s words were as sharp as his sword, aggressive and relentless.
“Perhaps both,” the Red Dust Sword Immortal’s tone was like a sigh.
“There are some things I don’t want to think about anymore, nor am I willing to believe, so, twenty years later, I can’t remember clearly what exactly happened.”
After saying that, he met Ye Zhuo’s gaze, a gaze that seemed to see through all the confusion and fear in his heart.
“Then what do you remember?” Ye Zhuo asked.
Before the Red Dust Sword Immortal’s eyes, there seemed to be a deep fog.
His lips moved slightly. After a long time, words finally came out of his mouth, like a spring about to run dry.
“I only remember that on the fifteenth of August, when the sky was about to dawn, everyone heard a thunderous sound in the sky, and then saw a blaze of glory in the southwest, the colorful clouds that only appear when someone ascends.”
“At that time, Illusion Sword Manor had been closed to guests for a long time, but I knew that it must be the person I admired who had ascended. He was the Number One Sword under Heaven, born with a Golden Core, passed the tribulation at twenty, and had no equal in the world. I believed that even if no one else in the world could ascend, he would certainly be able to. His name was Yun Xiangxi, and everyone knew his name.”
“So I, and some others who also admired and followed him, went to Illusion Cloud Cliff, wanting to congratulate Illusion Sword Manor. Other sects in the Immortal Dao also sent people, because none of them had ever seen anyone ascend like that.”
“What we saw when we arrived was that the entire Illusion Cloud Cliff was a sea of blood. Everyone was dead, and then a fire burned everything. I searched from the mountain gate to the back mountain, every palace and every hall, but couldn’t find a single person alive.”
“And the only thing we didn’t find was the Xiangxi Sword, so everyone knew that it had ascended with Yun Xiangxi.”
“As for the Illusion Sword Manor’s Aura Meridian, naturally, all the Immortal Sects rushed to seize it.”
Ye Zhuo returned his Reverse Scale Sword to its sheath, his gaze still calm and clear.
And Li Yuan was among them, quietly watching the Red Dust Sword Immortal being forced by a sword again and again to the brink of despair, to face the weakest point in his state of mind.
In fact, Li Yuan had heard the second half of the story.
The first time he heard it was on that fifteenth of August when he first came to the human world, on Illusion Cloud Cliff, told by Su Yizhen.
At that time, Su Yizhen asked him, if a sect was said by everyone to be ominous, a source of disaster, should it be destroyed, should it pay with its life?
Later, he heard the Red Dust Sword Immortal tell another ending to the story.
Saying that the sect was completely gone, and the peerless Number One Sword under Heaven—he had ascended.
Later still, he also heard Su Yizhen tell Ye Zhuo that he had half a Sword Meridian in his heart, a Sword Meridian named “Immeasurable Emptiness.”
And when he was about to leave Ye Zhuo, that Sword Meridian ached faintly in his heart.
In fact, all these things were one thing.
And this story had already been judged by someone: the Swordsmith.
The Swordsmith said that metal and stone are heartless, and swords are innocent, but within people’s hearts, the storm rages.
—Whose heart is filled with storms?
The swords are innocent, but who is guilty?
On the night of the fifteenth of August, whose sword was the Huai Xiu that echoed on Illusion Cloud Cliff, and who was Ye Zhuo?
In fact, Li Yuan wanted to know.
In fact, he had also, at times, tried to piece together these stories from their mouths, bit by bit.
But he wouldn’t ask Ye Zhuo.
Because he thought that Ye Zhuo might not want to mention it.
The people of Micro-Snow Palace liked unspoken understanding, liked tacit agreement without words, and he felt that he had gained the true essence.
So, he still didn’t ask, and still didn’t speak.
The Red Dust Sword Immortal half-closed his eyes wearily: “All I remember is this.”
“So, you are weighed down in your heart.” Ye Zhuo looked at him calmly. “Is this why you are stuck in this realm, unable to reach the peak of Tribulation Transcendence?”
Red Dust Sword Immortal: “Yes.”
“You remember some things, but you are unwilling to think clearly about what happened. You look down on the actions of the Immortal Dao, but you are in it, forced to go along with it.” Ye Zhuo said, “Since you have changed to cultivate the Red Dust Sword Dao, why not cultivate it to the end?”
“What do you mean by that,” the Red Dust Sword Immortal looked at him, “is my Sword Dao, in your eyes, not cultivated to the end?”
“You like the goodness of the red dust, but you are unwilling to think about the evil of the red dust. How can that be considered cultivated to the end?” Ye Zhuo said, “Besides, people’s hearts are inherently chaotic, and red dust has no inherent good or evil. You are simply troubling yourself.”
“But, what exactly did that person do, what exactly did the entire Immortal Dao do—if those things are truly understood, wouldn’t one feel that a lifetime of Immortal Dao cultivation is just a joke?”
“Do you have any grudges against the Immortal Sects?”
“No.”
“Does your current Sword Dao have any connection to Yun Xiangxi’s Sword Dao?”
“No.”
Ye Zhuo’s voice was indifferent: “So what does any of that have to do with you?”
The Red Dust Sword Immortal was stunned upon hearing this.
“…It has nothing to do with me?”
“It has nothing to do with you.” Ye Zhuo said calmly, “What if it’s a joke, what if it’s not? You already have your Dao, so just follow your Dao.”
“But those things linger in my heart, how can I forget them?”
Ye Zhuo thought for a moment.
“Tell your disciples ten times a day. After three days, you will probably forget.”
“?”
There was actually such a person in the world. The Red Dust Sword Immortal really wanted to close his eyes and simply switch to cultivating this person’s Dao.