Chapter 259: It's My Turn
Lu Changyuan glanced at Li Dashu and thought for a moment. “No. It was a passerby, someone who was bored and had nothing better to do.”
“Bored is good,” Li Dashu nodded. “The motto of my Qingcao Sword Sect is that only those with too much time on their hands can achieve great things.”
“Twist the motto like that, and your master might just climb out of his coffin.”
Li Dashu had a personality very similar to the Sect Leader who had taught Lu Changyuan the Guiyi sword move. But that Sect Leader’s disciple—Li Dashu’s own master—was nothing like him in the slightest.
Li Dashu’s master had been a rigid, by-the-book man who took everything with the utmost seriousness.
It was a mystery why he had taken Li Dashu as his disciple.
“Give me a break. That old coot’s been dead for years. If he actually crawled out of his coffin, I’d have to wonder if he’d reanimated.”
Li Dashu rubbed his head. ‘Lu Changyuan’s way of speaking is odd,’ he thought.
He didn’t ask who Lu Changyuan was.
The aura of the Daoist Sect about Lu Changyuan was too strong, identical to Leng Moyuan’s. He guessed Lu Changyuan was someone the Daoist Sect Master had sent to clean up the mess.
Lu Changyuan casually tossed the Heaven-Slaying Sword to Li Dashu. “I borrowed the champion’s prize for a moment. Here you go.”
Li Dashu asked, “With this sudden upheaval, what’s the Daoist Sect’s position?”
“You can go to the Daoist Sect and ask Jiayi when the time comes.”
Lu Changyuan said coolly, “As for the Demon Race, we’ll need to decide on a course of action.”
The Cultivation Realm hadn’t seen this kind of commotion in many years.
Lu Changyuan could already guess how the Daoist Sect would react to the Dream Demon’s actions.
It would just be a matter of purging the demons and exterminating their race. It wouldn’t be the first time. The Owl Race had met the same fate.
If they wouldn’t listen to reason, the Human Race knew how to speak with its fists.
Li Dashu gave him a knowing look. “My young friend, do you happen to know where the Daoist Sect Master is right now?”
Hearing this, Lu Changyuan’s heart skipped a beat.
“I don’t know.”
“I always get the feeling that woman is up to no good. You know, the Dao she cultivates is just so uncanny. It’s like she knows everything.”
“You should be careful she doesn’t use her Profound Dao to eavesdrop on us. It doesn’t matter for me, but if she hears you talking like this… Sect Leader Li, you might just get an invitation to the Daoist Sect for ‘tea’.”
Li Dashu was startled. “She can do that?”
‘So what if she can?’ he thought. ‘The tea at the Daoist Sect is surprisingly delicious. Besides, I’m just telling the truth. Shouldn’t the Daoist Sect Master do some self-reflection?’
“It’s hard to say.”
Lu Changyuan glanced at the sky. He was half-worried a figure would suddenly materialize beside him, smile, and say, ‘Master, come back with me. Let me serve by your side forever to repay the debt of your teachings.’
‘The thought alone is terrifying.’
‘It couldn’t possibly… could it?’
Li Dashu, oblivious to Lu Changyuan’s thoughts, simply sighed. “That sword move from before… it looked a bit like my grand-master’s ultimate technique, Guiyi. My master never learned it, so I never got the chance. Do you have any insight, my young friend?”
The Sword Manual for Guiyi had been left at the Qingcao Sword Sect, but it contained only a single line: “Fuse thirty-two swords to obtain the thirty-third.”
Lu Changyuan said, “You saw the sword move. If you couldn’t discern anything from it, then that technique is simply not meant for you.”
Li Dashu was already at the Seventh Realm of Yao Guang, and Guiyi itself originated from the Qingcao Sword Sect. If he were truly capable of learning it, he should have perceived something from the demonstration.
If he couldn’t, then so be it.
Some things can’t be learned just by trying.
You either can, or you can’t.
Just as there were things Lu Changyuan himself couldn’t do. For instance, he could never comprehend the Daoist Sect Master’s Profound Dao Techniques.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
「Celestial Mountain.」
Jiang Jiayi didn’t notice the flash of sword light until a bit later.
Her Wooden Sword began to hum, but it settled under the Red-clothed Sword Immortal’s calming touch.
‘That’s the will of the Chang’an Sect Master, but… whose sword technique is this?’
She recognized the essence on the sword—it belonged to the Chang’an Daoist—but the Sword Move itself was completely unfamiliar.
‘A sword that devours all… The Chang’an Sect Master knows a technique like this?’
Jiang Jiayi thought back. She had never seen the Chang’an Daoist use this technique, nor the Daoist Sect Master.
‘It seems he didn’t pass it down to either of us.’
‘That’s good.’
‘Otherwise, I would be one more step behind the Daoist Sect Master.’
Jiang Jiayi was Lu Changyuan’s disciple—a half-disciple, at best. She had lost her Demon Pattern, lacked the Supreme Pure Spirit Forget Immortal Technique, and couldn’t use the Four Seasons Sword Technique. All she knew was A Sword from the West.
It had always been a sore spot for her.
Lately, however, things had gotten better. While the Little Fairy in a White Skirt was teaching Qiu Yuehan, she had secretly learned a little of the Four Seasons Sword Technique.
‘My master’s wife was teaching someone else so openly, right in front of me. Wasn’t that a clear sign that I was allowed to learn, too?’
And so, Jiang Jiayi felt the only difference remaining between her and Leng Moyuan was that one Heart Method.
‘What’s mine, I’ll take back when I can.’
The Red-clothed Sword Immortal stroked her Wooden Sword. In truth, she wasn’t well-suited for Lu Changyuan’s Heart Method.
‘No matter.’
“Where on earth did he run off to?”
For some reason, Jiang Jiayi’s mind drifted back to the disciple competition many years ago.
It had coincided with the Daoist Sect’s disciple recruitment ceremony, and there were simply too many applicants. With not enough grotto-abodes to go around, they were split into pairs based on gender and age.
And so, she and Leng Moyuan had been assigned to the same grotto-abode.
In the beginning, it was she, Jiang Jiayi, who had looked after Leng Moyuan, teaching her how to navigate the world.
‘Who would have thought that little schemer would turn around, sweet-talk me, and then rob me blind?’
‘If not for my good temper and the fact that I can’t beat the Daoist Sect Master, I’d have strung her up and thrashed her.’
“Can’t you just come home and keep an eye on things?!”
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Qiu Yuehan surveyed the field of corpses. “There’s a monkey over there playing dead.”
A Silver Needle shot out, precisely striking the blood-soaked monkey on the ground.
Su Youwan said gently, “That ability of yours is quite convenient.”
For the Nether Monarch, it was remarkably easy to tell if the Monkey Demons were truly dead. If there was no Nether Qi, they weren’t dead. And if they weren’t dead, she would simply kill them.
Four Ape Demons had fallen to the eight True Masters, while the remaining Fifth Realm Monkey Demons and Dream Demons were quickly and cleanly dispatched by the two absurdly powerful Fifth Realm cultivators, Qiu Yuehan and Su Youwan.
Su Youwan asked, “Have you told Miss Xia?”
“Told her what?”
“About how you went behind Miss Xia’s back and slept in the same bed as her husband.”
The Black Skirt Fairy froze.
She whipped her head around and stared at Su Youwan as if she were seeing a ghost.
‘This Little Ancestor from the Compassionate Palace is way too blunt! How can she just say something like that out loud?’
‘Good thing no one else is around.’
The Silver-haired Maiden tilted her head, completely oblivious. “What’s wrong?”
She was still holding the fox.
After a long pause, Qiu Yuehan finally said, “My junior sister already knows. And she has given her tacit approval.”
Su Youwan nodded. “You’re quite something, then, to make Miss Xia swallow her pride like that.”
‘Could you try to phrase that a little more nicely?!’
Qiu Yuehan felt helpless. She was realizing she had no way of dealing with the Little Ancestor of the Compassionate Palace.
“So?”
Su Youwan sized up Qiu Yuehan. “It’s never easy to make the first opening. But once you create a crack, it’s easy to pull it wide open.”
Qiu Yuehan didn’t understand the hidden meaning in Su Youwan’s words.
“Perhaps you could speak more plainly?”
In a lilting voice, the Silver-haired Maiden said, “Isn’t it my turn now? Don’t forget, during the new year, I covered for you with Miss Xia. Now you should do the same for me.”
The Chi-colored fox in her arms seemed to react, nudging her arm and swishing its large tail in a circle.
“What are you two talking about?”
Lu Changyuan flew over from a short distance away. Both women turned their gazes to him simultaneously.
Qiu Yuehan said with an amused smile, “My dear master, we have a little nun here who wants to pull rank on me. She even says it’s ‘her turn.’ It seems even those who chant sutras can harbor worldly desires these days.”
“What is all this about?” Lu Changyuan was utterly confused.
A streak of azure sword light suddenly flashed across the sky.
“Those who sought to defile the Human Race have been put to death! The Celestial Dao Grand Competition will be postponed for ten days. All fellow Daoists may recuperate within my Sword Sect. In ten days, the competition will resume as scheduled!”
It was Li Dashu’s voice.
RUMBLE.
The Sword Testing Platform suddenly cracked open, and a colossal sword rose from beneath, soaring into the sky. A moment later, a giant head was impaled upon its tip.
Su Youwan said, “It seems the competition will continue.”
Qiu Yuehan wasn’t surprised in the slightest.
Of course it would continue. More than that, they would hang the head of the enemy who had caused the chaos, continuing the Human Race’s decennial grand ceremony under the shadow of their fallen foe’s blood.