Enshrinement as a God

Xi Xichang, shocked by the Taoist Lingbao's words, staggered for a moment, unable to support herself.

Although she had thought that it might be so, hearing from the Taoist Lingbao that the Ten Thousand Sword Master was not of this world, the shock did not easily subside.

"Is it true?"

"Do you think I would joke with you about something like this?"

"Then... is there anything he left behind... or you can tell me about someone who was close to him."

The Taoist Lingbao waited for a moment for Xi Xichang's excitement to subside.

"You have the sword manual of the Ten Thousand Sword Master?"

"Did the young hero Agong... tell you that much?"

Seeing the light of caution in Xi Xichang's eyes, Lingbao let out a hollow laugh as if it were absurd.

"Do you think I am a person who would covet a junior's snot-stained half-martial art?"

"Then..."

"Since you have brought the sword manual, your problem has become my problem, so I am saying this."

"I don't quite understand what you mean, senior."

"I am the Taoist Lingbao. When I was traveling the martial world in the past, I also gained the empty name of Sword Immortal."

"Sword Immortal!"

Xi Xichang, realizing that the opponent was the Sword Immortal, one of the Two Immortals, corrected her posture and once again politely cupped her fists.

"Senior Sword Immortal."

"It seems we need to talk, so you brat, go and bring some tea."

The Taoist Lingbao sent Agong on an errand and followed Xi Xichang into her room.

Xi Xichang sat down politely and looked up at the Taoist Lingbao.

Although she had thought that he was an unusual old Taoist, she had not expected him to be the Sword Immortal at all.

If so, it meant that Agong was a disciple of the Sword Immortal, and seeing Agong, who acted so humbly even though his master was the Sword Immortal, she thought that the reputation of the Sword Immortal was not an empty name.

"Long ago, the Ten Thousand Sword Master divided the sword manual containing the ultimate of the Ten Thousand Sword Adjustment, leaving half to the Qingcheng Sect and taking the other half with him into seclusion."

"Yes, I know that well."

"The reason he left half of the sword manual to the Qingcheng Sect was for the sake of future generations, and also for the sake of a future generation to find him and carry on the lineage of the Ten Thousand Sword Adjustment."

"Yes."

"But the Ten Thousand Sword Master overlooked one fact. He did not expect that the Qingcheng Sect would suffer such hardships because of the sword manual he had left behind."

"..."

"Thanks to that, it became difficult for the sword manual of the Ten Thousand Sword Master to see the light of day. And I met such a Ten Thousand Sword Master and shared a friendship with him, discussing swordsmanship."

"Then, by any chance..."

"The Ten Thousand Sword Master entrusted the remaining sword manual to me."

"Then please return that sword manual to me now!"

Agong, who had come into the room with tea, felt a serious and unusual atmosphere between the Taoist Lingbao and Xi Xichang and quietly sat down in a corner.

"But you are not the owner of the sword manual, are you? The arrangement of the Ten Thousand Sword Master was originally made by the Ten Thousand Sword Master, not by me."

"Th-that's!"

"Of course. But that doesn't mean I'm going to be unreasonable with you. I want to postpone returning the sword manual to you for my own personal reasons. Is there no other way?"

"Then I have one request."

"A request...?"

"I would like to invite you, the Sword Immortal, to our Sichuan Alliance."

"Ahem! Ahem!"

The Taoist Lingbao immediately showed his displeasure at Xi Xichang's words.

To invite him to the Sichuan Alliance was no different from saying that she would unite the Sichuan Alliance with the Sword Immortal in preparation for the rise of the Black Contemplation Fortress.

If the Taoist Lingbao, who had chosen seclusion because he was tired of the martial world, were to stay there, he would eventually have no choice but to step forward to stop the Black Contemplation Fortress, and he would have no choice but to have a life-and-death battle against the Black Qilin or Mo Guangdi of the Black Contemplation Fortress.

'No, that's not going to happen.'

"That is a difficult matter."

"Why is that? If not you, the Sword Immortal, who can compete with Mo Guangdi of the Black Contemplation Fortress?"

"Of course, it's not that I'm not confident of winning. It's just that I have to be careful in all things because there might be a case where we both get injured. If I get injured with him, or in the worst case, if I am defeated, the repercussions will be beyond your imagination."

"Then please return the sword manual. Since it is an item originally left by the Ten Thousand Sword Master, I surely have the right to have it."

"Hoho! I told you that's difficult..."

The Taoist Lingbao was genuinely troubled.

Who would have known that the sword manual he had not even thought of would hold him back?

Although he had been asked by the Ten Thousand Sword Master to take care of half of the sword manual of the Ten Thousand Sword Adjustment, in reality, the Taoist Lingbao was not very interested in his sword manual.

The Taoist Lingbao was also a supreme master called the Sword Immortal in the martial world.

He did not have the time to perfectly practice his own unique martial art, the Nine Gates Harmonious Heart Art, so he did not have the leisure to study the sword manual of the Ten Thousand Sword Master.

But the problem was that the fire of a candle had spread to the sword manual of the Ten Thousand Sword Master, which he had been managing carelessly.

If the sword manual had not been singed by the candle, he would not have been so troubled.

"Then how about the Great Heaven River Sword Art instead of the sword manual of the Ten Thousand Sword Master? If you reach the seventh star, you can create sword qi, and you can cut iron like tofu with a single sword strike."

The Great Heaven River Sword Art was clearly referring to the sword art of the Galaxy Heaven River Divine Art, the ultimate of the Zhongnan Sect.

Although it was a mouth-watering offer, how could he know what kind of trouble the Zhongnan Sect would cause if he practiced the Great Heaven River Sword Art?

"I'm sorry. If it's not the sword manual, I only want you, the Sword Immortal."

"This is really..."

The Taoist Lingbao touched his lips as if he were in trouble.

But he was soon able to come up with a good idea.

No matter how much he thought about it, it was a plan that was good for both sides.

"Then how about this?"

"Yes...?"

"I have a disciple whom I took in in my later years. How about you borrow that disciple for a while, thinking of him as me?"

"What are you talking about! Cough!"

It was Agong who was surprised, sitting quietly and listening to the story.

But Agong's fierce reaction was also brief. As the Taoist Lingbao lightly waved his sleeve, Agong, whose acupoints had been suppressed, opened his eyes wide and fell down on the spot as if he had been nailed.

"How about it? Even if it's not me, you can still have the appearance, so isn't it good for both of us?"

Xi Xichang, with her eyes blinking, glanced at Agong, who was trying to express his will, and shook her head.

"My intention has not changed. It's either the sword manual or you, the Sword Immortal."

"What a stubborn ox! Hoho!"

The Taoist Lingbao clicked his tongue as if he were in trouble.

"Hey, what am I supposed to do if you're so stubborn?"

"You are the one who is being too much, Sword Immortal. If so, can't you just hand over the sword manual to me?"

"Hey, man... I told you it's difficult... then give me three days."

"Three days?"

"Don't I need time to find where I put my sword manual?"

"Really?"

Xi Xichang had a feeling that the Sword Immortal was stalling for some reason.

But it wasn't as if he was saying he wouldn't return the sword manual right away.

She, afraid that the worst-case scenario might happen, had no choice but to accept the Taoist Lingbao's proposal.

Since she had spent such a long time to complete the sword manual, could she not endure for just three days?

"Thank you, senior."

"Then I will be on my way now."

The Taoist Lingbao, who had come out of Xi Xichang's room, holding Agong in one hand, found an empty room, opened the door, went in, and quickly released Agong's acupoints.

"What is this all about!"

"You brat, I'm not deaf."

The Taoist Lingbao glared at the panting Agong.

"This is all your fault."

"What kind of nonsense is that?"

"Isn't it because you brought that young girl that I'm in this trouble?"

"What kind of unreasonable thing is this?"

Although it was fun to see the Taoist Lingbao in trouble, Agong could not stand him taking out his anger on him for no reason.

"Unreasonable? Who am I?"

"Yes...? Well, my master..."

"Yes, I am your master. Then what are my words?"

"They are your words, master."

"The words of a master are all teachings. Therefore, the words I speak are teaching the truth."

Agong could only open and close his mouth at this ridiculous unreasonableness.

"In any case, if you don't want to be in trouble, can't you just give her that sword manual or whatever? You said you have it."

"Do you think I would be doing this if I could?"

The Taoist Lingbao stood up from his seat, rummaged through a bookshelf somewhere, and then held out a thin book towards Agong and then half-burned it with the technique of the Samadhi True Fire.

"Take it."

"What's this?"

"It's the sword manual of the Ten Thousand Sword Master you just mentioned."

"What?"

The book was so blackened that the characters could not be recognized.

No, in the first place, to rummage through any bookshelf, take out a book, burn it, and then call it the sword manual of the Ten Thousand Sword Master was an act that had gone too far.

"This isn't a sword manual."

"It's all the same. The original is no different from this."

The truth was too clear. In the end, he had made someone's precious sword manual like this and had irresponsibly forgotten about it.

"What are you going to do?"

Anger was in Agong's voice.

Thinking that Xi Xichang had suffered so much for this, without even knowing that the sword manual had become like this, a rage against Lingbao's nonchalance arose.

"What do you mean?"

"You've damaged a borrowed item like this... so are you planning to go to the Sichuan Alliance?"

"You can go. Why should I?"

"How can I go there when I can't even go outside the Hermit's Valley? Besides, she says it has to be you, master."

The Taoist Lingbao scratched his head without any dignity.

"I have to go back into the Hermit's Valley."

"What?"

"You might get pestered, so you can go with me."

At the Taoist Lingbao's expression, which seemed to have made up his mind, Agong strongly opposed the plan.

"It doesn't make sense to run away! Absolutely not."

"Who said anything about running away? I'm just avoiding the trouble for a while."

Agong looked at the Taoist Lingbao without a word. That one glance contained much more meaning than a hundred words.

"You don't have a single fish scale's worth of respect. Do you think anything will change if you go to find the sword manual?"

"So since nothing will change, are you going to make it more difficult?"

"A person grows by experiencing trials, and so does martial arts."

"And you're even giving me a trial yourself."

"That's right. Martial arts are not completed by form, but by the heart that is put into the mold. That's why only by experiencing a lot of pain can a solid mold be made. That's why it is called the study of the heart."

"That's ridiculous..."

"Are you stronger than me?"

"No."

"When you surpass me, then you can say such a thing. Before that, my words are as high and right as the words of the Primordial Heavenly Lord."

Agong was dumbfounded, but he couldn't say anything back.

"What did I say when I was teaching you? Didn't I say 'paving a new road on a road'? The teaching of this master is to pave a new road if the original road is not right."

"Are you serious?"

"You brat, it's not that simple a problem. If I want to leave the Hermit's Valley, I will have to pay a great price. I haven't washed my hands in gold, but I'm completely retired. Do I have to pay such a price, go out into the martial world, and see a terrible sight again?"

"It's what you deserve. Since you damaged the young lady's sword manual, you have to pay the price."

"Hah... this brat is trying to drive his master into a corner."

"How can you be so irresponsible? I feel sorry for Miss Xi. Master Tongtian would never have done such a thing."

At Agong's words, the Taoist Lingbao was like a mute who had eaten honey and could not say anything.

No matter how much he had turned his back on the martial world, it was by no means an act that a senior of the martial world who had accumulated decades of training should do.

Moreover, since he was bringing up the Tongtian Cult Master, whom he hated the most, for the Taoist Lingbao, it was no different from being surrounded on all sides.

"Ugh..."

Seeing the groaning Taoist Lingbao, Agong quickly turned his head and raised his voice.

"Miss Xi! My master has something to say to you!"

"Th-this brat!"

(End of Chapter)