Martial Cultivator

Facing the Great Liang Emperor’s answer, which was clearly somewhat relentless, Daoist Muqiu was a little surprised. He likely had not expected that things had already reached this point, yet this martial artist still refused to let the matter rest.

One had to know that this time he had already killed countless people, long since making Mount Qiuling lose all face.

But even now, was it still not enough?

At this moment, the same feeling as that of those Lonely Moon Peak cultivators arose in Daoist Muqiu’s heart.

After thinking for a moment, Daoist Muqiu spoke softly, “As far as this penniless daoist knows, when Lonely Moon Peak acted on its own initiative earlier, they did not manage to kill that young martial artist. Could it be that they left behind some irreparable injuries?”

The Great Liang Emperor shook his head and said, “If there were such injuries, you would not even have the chance to speak with Us right now.”

“Since there were no such injuries, why does Your Majesty still refuse to stop after nearly severing Lonely Moon Peak’s dao lineage? Could it be that Mount Qiuling must take out some heavenly materials and earthly treasures to satisfy you?”

Daoist Muqiu’s expression was rather ugly. Since they had neither killed the young martial artist you were protecting, nor left him with irreversible Great Dao injuries, why go so far? Do you still need us to compensate you further?

“A mere martial artist is not like you daoist cultivators. Heavenly materials and earthly treasures are of no use to us. If you like them, you can keep them and place them in your coffin. We can leave you an intact corpse, so you may be buried in peace.” ᴛhis chapter is ᴜpdated by novel·fıre·net

The Great Liang Emperor spoke calmly, as if he were talking about something utterly trivial. Daoist Muqiu frowned slightly. Though there was some irritation in his heart, after cultivating for many years, he was not someone whose dao heart would be disturbed by just a few words. Suppressing his patience, he asked, “What exactly does Your Majesty still want?”

The Great Liang Emperor glanced at Daoist Muqiu and said calmly, “In your view, since Our nephew did not die, this matter is not serious, and even if We killed those few people and did nothing further, the matter could be smoothed over? That may be your logic, but it is not Our's. If you want Us to listen to your logic and abide by it, then beat Us into submission. Even killing Us would do.”

“Our logic is very simple. Lonely Moon Peak belongs to Mount Qiuling. As the mountain lord, you bear the responsibility of discipline. You failed to manage it properly, so We helped you clean up Lonely Moon Peak, and while We are at it, We will also kill you, the mountain lord. Then this matter can be considered settled. If after your death the remaining cultivators still want to trouble Us, then We will remain right here, and We will see in the end whether you kill Us, or whether We truly manage to slaughter your entire Mount Qiuling until not a single one of you can even breathe."

"But in Our view, you lack that kind of resolve, so this likely will not happen. To be honest, We are somewhat disappointed, because We truly want to destroy your Mount Qiuling. Yet all things require a reason. Our nephew did not die, and he suffered no major injuries, so We really cannot find a reason.”

Daoist Muqiu sighed. “Your Majesty is rather unreasonable.”

“Reason? You people are truly strange. When you cannot win, you are willing to bring up that word. When you can win, it seems you can never remember it.”

The Great Liang Emperor narrowed his eyes and asked calmly, “Do you want to trade blows with Us one on one, or are you going to gather a whole group and come at Us together? We do not care either way. The former ends with you; the latter means Mount Qiuling and We will fight to the death.”

Daoist Muqiu thought for a moment, then smiled and said, “Your Majesty is already injured. If this penniless daoist were shameless enough to try to surround and kill Your Majesty, it would not sound good if word spread. But according to Your Majesty’s words, will this matter end with just Your Majesty and this penniless daoist?”

The Great Liang Emperor nodded and said calmly, “Fine.”

“Does Your Majesty need a moment to recover?”

Daoist Muqiu took a deep breath. The peachwood sword in the scabbard on his back began to tremble slightly, and streams of sword qi were already spilling out from the scabbard.

Daoist Muqiu was not a pure sword cultivator, but in his early years, after his cultivation reached the end of Nepenthe and he found himself unable to advance any further, he turned his thoughts to studying the sword. At that time, Daoist Muqiu had discussed Sword Dap with several great sword immortals of considerable renown in the world. Although he ultimately did not truly step onto the sword path and become a sword cultivator, Daoist Muqiu gained insight on Sword Dao. From this he drew parallels from inference and broke through his realm, and even after that breakthrough, in the years since, Daoist Muqiu had never set Sword Dao aside.

By today, it would not be wrong to say that Daoist Muqiu was half a sword cultivator.

Judging purely by swordsmanship, if he were to return to the world now, he would likely rank among the top three great sword immortals of the age, though he certainly could not be mentioned in the same breath as the Sword Sect’s sect master.

Among cultivators here, most came from the Three Schools. Fewer were sword cultivators, and rarer still were martial artists.

When Sun Fu broke through his realm as a martial artist back then, it actually caused quite a stir. Only later, after investigation, did they discover that Sun Fu had not forcibly crossed the dead end of the martial path by his own ability, but had merely borrowed on destiny to barely break through.

In the end, it was still an unorthodox path.

As for martial artists who reached the end of Nepenthe, how they could truly cross that threshold by their own strength and carve out a new road was something cultivators were in fact very curious about.

After all, martial artists could not cultivate daoist techniques and had almost no connection with heaven and earth. How they could step into Fuyun had always been a major question.

Did the one before them count as someone who had forcibly extended that dead road forward?

Daoist Muqiu took another deep breath. He could already feel the qi within the martial artist opposite him surging, blood vitality rising, and an immense pressure pressing down on him in an instant.

He no longer hesitated. With a thought, the peachwood sword on his back instantly left its scabbard, carrying with it a swath of sword qi.

A great battle was at this moment unveiled.

......

......

On Lonely Moon Peak, sword qi began to crisscross. Intersecting sword qi formed something like a chessboard across the peak, as though waiting for someone to place a piece.

Although Daoist Muqiu had not come from any great sect when he first began cultivating, and the Earth Dragon Temple over in Great Liang had long since lost its lineage, before he left that world, he had still advanced step by step to the very pinnacle of the age. Back then, if not for his own unwillingness to appear in the world, the position of daoist leader of that generation would not have gone to some so-called great temple's daoist, but to Muqiu himself.

Sword qi filled the air. Standing within it, Daoist Muqiu had dense dao qi before him. Knowing that these sword qi alone would not be enough to overcome the Great Liang Emperor, he had long prepared other methods.

Sure enough, that chessboard of sword qi, seemingly overwhelming in momentum, began to collapse inch by inch after only a short while. A violently charging aura smashed through in an instant, grinding those sword qi to pieces.

Daoist Muqiu released his grip, and the peachwood sword shot out, bringing with it a torrent of sword qi.

At the same time, he formed seals with both hands. Behind him, a dharma idol gradually emerged, an ancient, unadorned daoist seated between heaven and earth, holding a whisk.

In appearance, it was in fact quite similar to the Dao Ancestor of Daoist legends.

In fact, it was not only the daoist cultivators on the Great Liang side who felt that the Dao Ancestor was extraordinary. Even someone like Daoist Muqiu, who had broken through Nepenthe many years ago and walked the Fuyun Realm for many years, still felt that the Dao Ancestor was extraordinary.

The Dao Ancestor’s extraordinariness was not necessarily only in the techniques he passed down.

Daoist Muqiu firmly believed that the Dao Ancestor’s realm back then was not limited to the Fuyun realm at all, but should have been even higher.

Even now, he could not glimpse the so-called Dao Ancestor’s back.

At this moment, the Dao Ancestor dharma idol behind him, though it only possessed the form and not the essence, still carried an overwhelming sense of pressure. That kind of suppression was felt across the entire Mount Qiuling as well.

The cultivators on the plaza over at Vermilion Sky Peak saw this scene and all felt dazed for a moment.

It was not that Daoist Muqiu had not taken action in recent years, but he had never displayed methods like these before. Now it seemed that this Mount Qiuling mountain lord had never truly taken these so-called peak masters seriously.

He had never gone all out.

“The Mountain Lord’s divine might is truly extraordinary, hahaha…”

A daoist spoke up with loud laughter, though what the smile really meant was unclear.

“After all, he is the mountain lord. If he did not have such ability, how could he be the mountain lord?”

“What you say makes sense, Fellow Daoist!”

......

......

The crowd laughed, but the laughter quickly stopped, because at this very moment they saw another towering dharma idol appear. The moment it appeared, it shook the entire Mount Qiuling until it trembled. It was likely several thousand feet tall.

The appearance of that dharma idol was none other than the martial artist himself.

A towering dharma idol, emperor robe billowing, vast pressure pouring down with the movement of the robe, covering the entirety of Mount Qiuling.

"What is going on? Why do I feel an impulse to bow in worship?"

Someone cried out in shock.

That pressure was too heavy, carrying dense imperial might, enough to shake the minds of even these accomplished cultivators.

They had seen mortal emperors before. Some of them had even entered the imperial capital in the past. When they went there, no matter what the reigning monarch was doing, would he not rise to greet them? Treating them with courtesy, even with deference?

The martial artist before them was indeed of imperial origin, and his cultivation was indeed terrifying. But who said that with such a realm, they would be afraid?

“I do not know why, but I always feel that this person is far stronger than that martial artist who barged into the mountain back then, whether now or in the future.”

“Hmph, no matter how strong a martial artist is, how far can he go? Does he have any hope of eternal life?”

Discussion broke out across the plaza. Many spoke against their true feelings, trying to ease the unease in their hearts by speaking out loud.

But very quickly, everyone fell silent again.

The two dharma idols in the sky had already clashed.

The Dao Ancestor dharma idol swung its whisk, and an incomparably vast pressure surged forward, like a violent wind sweeping across the heavens.

Lightning and thunder had already begun to flash across the sky.

A battle of this level was something ordinary Fuyun Realm cultivators like them could hardly take part in.

“The mountain lord is indeed extremely strong...”

Before the words could finish, that towering dharma idol over there, that imperial sovereign destined to stir monstrous waves, somehow seized a sword. With the giant sword in hand, he actually cut off the Dao Ancestor’s whisk with a single strike!

Majestic qi churned through the sea of clouds, triggering unceasing thunder.

Bolts of lightning kept striking that towering dharma idol, illuminating it until it looked even more like a divine sovereign who had descended from the heavens.

Even a figure as great as the Dao Ancestor would likely have to bow his head upon seeing such a divine sovereign!