Chapter 767 - 407: Knowing
Gazing at the stone wall in front of him, Tie Dan reached out his hand, touching the faintly warm imprint on his brow.
He turned around suddenly, looking at the empty mountain chamber behind him. After a moment of contemplation, he stood up and brushed the dust off his green robe.
Stepping out, he took a step onto the mountain path and looked up.
The weather was pleasant, the sky clear. The pine trees remained unchanged, and the mountains as ever.
Yin Mountain is still Yin Mountain... Well, although one peak was split, making it noticeably shorter, a severed peak is still a peak...
"Hey, senior brother? You’re out of seclusion?"
Then the girl clutching a sword leaped down from the treetop. Dressed lightly, her face was still filled with leaves, with a peach in her mouth and her braids tangled—clearly showing she had traveled a long way in haste.
Her youthful beauty was there as always, and she was as she ever was.
Tie Dan furrowed his brows,
"Why did you come here?"
Jian Jia wiped her mouth and handed over a half-eaten peach,
"I came to help... help you protect the law. Want a bite? It’s very sweet."
"Hmph, do I need your protection?"
Tie Dan snorted disdainfully, intending to leave, but suddenly stopped, turned around, and for safety’s sake, circled her, looking her up and down, front and back.
Even though Tie Dan’s gaze had always been sharp and penetrating, Jian Jia was used to it.
But being scrutinized so openly and straightforwardly, even she felt a bit overwhelmed,
"Why are you looking at me like that..."
Tie Dan squinted his eyes, leaned closer, and pinched her wrist,
"Have you been here the whole time?"
"Mm, mm..."
Jian Jia, unable to free herself from his grasp, looked down awkwardly, her ears burning.
"How long was I in seclusion?"
As Tie Dan drew nearer, Jian Jia’s panic increased, afraid to meet his eyes,
"Sixty, sixty days. I heard you defeated the Honzan and went into seclusion, so it’s been exactly sixty days."
Sixty days...
Tie Dan’s expression changed, and he flung her hand away,
"Sixty days and you haven’t progressed at all! Laziness and idleness! Wasting time! I’m sentencing you to sixty years of seclusion! Not allowed to leave until you reach Nascent Soul!"
Shen Jianjia sighed, unsure whether she felt relieved or disappointed, showing a "so typical of you" expression,
"Yes... Master, Sect Leader..."
Tie Dan, unwilling to entangle with her, performed a sword technique, wrapped himself in sword light, and transformed into a rainbow, flying into the Nine Luminaries Sword Pavilion.
The Giant Watchtower planted atop the tower for sharpening and protecting the array suddenly awakened, quickly spiraling towards him, joyfully chirping alongside!
Indicating, Sect Leader, Sect Leader, let’s face our tribulation!
Tie Dan waved dismissively, chasing it away like a stray dog,
"Guard the Sword Array! If you’re truly bored, go train those useless people! Don’t let the Sword Sect be disgraced by being cut down!"
The Giant Watchtower acquiesced, whirring as it split the clouds, descending into the mountain stream.
Thus, the grand Nine Luminaries Sword Pavilion fell silent, leaving only the lone Sword Immortal, standing like a solitary pine.
Standing in front of that empty position, lifting his gaze to the soaring celestial, with half-closed eyes, appearing both awake and as if ready to pierce through the void at any moment, Tie Dan again fell silent.
Was it a dream just now...
Or, have I comprehended the Dao.
If I continue to retreat below the mountain, delving deep into the Secret Sword of Nine Luminaries Unification, will I indeed become possessed by a demon, harmonize with the Dao, and transform into Taiji?
In sixty years, will a young man truly come from the North Pole of Yin Mountain, traversing mountains and rivers, crossing vast distances to enter the mountain and guide me to enlightenment?
Or are all these visions just possibilities of the future, a dream that could shatter into pieces like a shadow, serving no purpose other than to disturb a foolish person?
Or, perhaps all this imagery is merely some Primordial Spirit Secret Technique, a Heavenly Demon trying to intrude upon my mind.
Is someone secretly plotting, cursing from the shadows, intending to confuse my mind and disrupt my spiritual clarity, interfering with my cultivation progress, aiming at the Beichen Sword Sect...
Tie Dan couldn’t figure it out, unable to calculate.
After all, this time in seclusion, being awakened by someone, he made little progress in reality.
This time, before entering seclusion, he had opened the Sword Pavilion’s treasure vault, consumed some Divinity Transformation Great Treasures, prepared to refine the child sword, Nine Luminaries Sword, and Ruyi Sword, consolidating essences and integrating them under the Sect Leader’s Secret Transmission of Tian Gang, to hone the edge and quench the sword over time.
Who knew that it would be like a dream of the yellow millet, sleeping for sixty days only to be interrupted and fail to accomplish everything.
Calculating roughly, over sixty days and nights, clanking as the thousand-year sword power was tempered, the Infant Sword was refined, Nine Luminaries were unified, and the Heavenly Ruin Sword Qi was refined into the unparalleled Beichen Sword Radiance, completing one cycle of the heavens.
But for this sword to reach Harmonization with immortality is still far off.
At least sixty more years of painstaking effort are needed...
Of course, Tie Dan also knew that continuing to forge swords in seclusion in the mountain, heedless of everything like in the dream could indeed achieve the Supreme Sword Dao.
But the foolish woman who followed him from the mountain pass would likely meet no better fate than in the dream, buried in the mountain stream.
Moreover, even if he cared not for that woman’s life or death, he didn’t wish to owe anyone a favor...
Thinking of this, Tie Dan flicked his green robe and took his place on the Sect Leader’s seat, then, waving his hand, drew a jade talisman from the shrine behind to his fingertips.
His gaze swept over it, seeing golden glimmers on the jade talisman, inscribed seal script reads,
Unfortunate, at Hai Palace
Which means,
A lit candle sways in the open, forming fleeting willow flowers. Birds flock into a net, how many meetings remain.