| Author: Zhou Nan Wood | Original Source: 8kana |
| Translator: CatatoPatch | English Source: Re:Library |
Like the brush of summer winds, the hustle and bustle of the season waned.
Three months passed in the blink of an eye, and the most beautiful season of Snow Moon City, spring, departed from the city. In its place came a cooling summer breeze. Tang Lian was once again out on several missions. As the Head Disciple of the Snow Moon City, the weight on his shoulders were heavy. He often had to partake in missions outside of the city year round. Yet similar to his status as disciples of Snow Moon City’s Citymasters, Xiao Se and Sikong Qianluo were decidedly more free. Each day was spent in a game of cat and mouse. Having exhausted himself in that, Xiao Se would then lay on the roof for a quick baking, or perhaps a moon viewing, or perhaps a round of chess with Sikong Changfeng. At times, he would flip through the nameless book given to him by the Confucian Sword Immortal, Xie Xuan. Today, it so happened that Sikong Qianluo was out of the city, which meant a gleeful Xiao Se could now spend the entire day sunbaking on the rooftop, staring in the direction of Cangshan.
Speaking of Cangshan, it has been a long while since that person descended from the mountains. Since the farewell at the Hundred Flowers Banquet, not once have I stepped into Cangshan. Yet today, Xiao Se had this feeling that something was about to happen. He lowered his book and looked in the direction of Cangshan. A breeze blew past him. A second later, Tang Lian was already standing right beside him.
“You’re back?” Xiao Se looked at the new arrival.
Tang Lian nodded his head. “We’re both disciples of a Citymaster, so why is it you get to suntan everyday while I have to run around the world. I nearly lost my life this time too.”
“And who are you exactly? Our Eldest Martial Brother, that’s who. A person who might just become the Citymaster in the future, I’m sure a little bit of hard work is only to be expected.” Xiao Se gleefully gloated at his misfortune.
Tang Lian tapped his foot against the ground lightly. Immediately, a fragment of the roof tile went flying towards Xiao Se. Xiao Se smiled. With a slight roll of his body, he moved aside an entire inch.
“Seems like Qianluo has been treating you well all this while, that movement skill of yours just seems to get more and more sublime.” Tang Lian chuckled.
Xiao Se stood up, patted off the dust on his body. “Oh spare me, if you really wanted me dead, Eldest Martial Brother, you would have just shattered all the roof tiles, then toss a Flying Flowers, Ten Thousand Trees at me. Oh right, you said you almost lost your life, who did you meet?”1
“A couple of old acquaintances, ‘the Lunar Maiden bids with a smile, the Nether Duke kills in fury’. Still remember them?” Tang Lian asked.
“We were almost killed by them, why wouldn’t I?”
“The Nether Duke was originally the eldest son of the master of Seekers Cloth Pavilion. Years ago, when the Seekers Cloth Pavilion was massacred, he was knocked out cold, waking up only after the fact with memory loss. After searching many years for a clue, he finally found an answer in Wuxin. The killer of Seekers Cloth Pavilion was the Nether Duke’s very own teacher, the Old Man of Heavenly Springs. The Nether Duke was planning a visit to the Heavenly Springs Hall to seek vengeance, proclaiming his desire to massacre everyone.”
“What happened then?” Xiao Se wasn’t all too surprised by what he heard.
“What happened was that the Heavenly Springs Hall was destroyed. The Old Man of Heavenly Springs escaped; the Nether Duke was severely injured but rescued by the Lunar Maiden.”
“Pity, a wretch like that old man would have been better off dead in a blade stroke.” Xiao Se sighed once more.
Tang Lian didn’t carry on from that. He turned towards Cangshan and suddenly asked, “What about that silly kid, anything happened recently?”
“No idea.” Xiao Se shook his head.
“You have no idea?” Tang Lian’s brows furrowed.
“It has been three whole months since the last time he left the mountains. Most likely he was locked up after that day at the Hundred Flowers Banquet. I don’t have any martial arts, so I don’t dare to pay him a visit either, else that Sword Immortal up might just slice me up.” Xiao Se replied after some thought.
“That silly kid even said that the three of us would go gallivanting about the martial world, just like the Three Heroes of Snow Moon when they were young. But by the time he’s done learning, who knows when that would be.” Tang Lian murmured.
Mt. Cangshan, atop the Peak of Ten Thousand Flowers…
The Sword Immortal Li Hanyi was seated there in meditation, the sword, Armored Glacier, resting quietly beside him.
Today was the date of their three months agreement. According to it, his disciple would duel with him. If he was satisfied with the result, he would let him leave the mountain for a final meeting with Lei Hong at the Lei Clan. As for Li Hanyi himself, it had been four years since the last time he left the city.
The Daoist Sword Immortal, Zhao Yuzhen, the Confucian Sword Immortal, Xie Xuan, and the Murderous Dread Sword, Lei Hong: these were all well-known names, yet they seemed to have popped up once more in recent times. Li Hanyi sighed to himself. It has been so many years, but it seems like the time has come.
Rainfall in hand, Lei Wujie slowly made his way up the mountain. These past three months, Li Hanyi had still trained him on a daily basis, yet it was only done through words, never demonstration. He knew that the next time he and his master exchanged blows would be at the conclusion of these three months. Yet just a month ago, Li Hanyi suddenly left his grass hut for one of the nineteen peaks of Cangshan in order to train, leaving behind Lei Wujie to practise on his own. At least that was so up till a week ago when Lei Wujie suddenly stowed his sword and began mediating like his teacher.
Hidden Sword of Wind and Thunder: Eight-sided Draw! A technique of the Sword Immortal, Li Hanyi’s!
“But as I am right now, am I even qualified to duel with the Snow Moon Sword Immortal?” Looking down at his sword, his eyes glazed over a little.
Barring that mythical, almost immortal-like realm of Divine Mysteries, a top tier martial artist could be divided into three realms, the Mortal Vajra Realm, the Unrestrained Earth Realm, and finally the Unfettered Heavens Realm. The Snow Moon Sword Immortal was said to have entered the Unfettered Heavens Realm at the tender age of nineteen. Today, he was at the peak of that realm.
As for himself, he wasn’t even at the edge of being considered a top tier martial artist. Amongst all the disciples of Snow Moon City, only Tang Lian could officially be counted as having entered that prestigious realm of Mortal Vajra -Sikong Qianluo was still a smidge short of it. As a swordsman below even the realm of Mortal Vajra, yet still daring to face a Sword Immortal in the realm of Unfettered Heavens, would he end up like that day at the Tower of Ascension: defeated in just one strike? After all, could his current self compare to the combined might of his previous self and Li Fansong?
But I still have to fight either way. Lei Wujie grimaced as he scratched his head.
It was said that the mountains held four seasons. As Lei Wujie slowly climbed up the mountain, he wasn’t all that in a hurry to be honest. He climbed up the slightly warm mountain base, then to the still forested but slightly cool mountain range where he took a quick break before continuing upwards, all the way to the frigid mountain peak. Upon seeing the Snow Moon Sword Immortal, Li Hanyi, dressed in his white robes, seated up atop the peak like an immortal, Lei Wujie straightened his back and bowed.
“You’re here.” Li Hanyi slowly stated, eyes still closed.
“Teacher, I’ve come to fulfill our agreement.”
Eyes still closed, Li Hanyi said no more.
Suddenly, Lei Wujie grasped down on his sword hilt, the sword beneath vaguely crackling with qi. Just moments ago, he was the picture of a carefree teen, now his eyes held a dangerous glint as he said in a deep voice, “I have three swords, I hereby submit to the master!”
Originally dormant at the side, Armored Glacier roared to life -Li Hanyi finally opened his eyes. “Good!”
