Chapter 1895: Wine is in Full Swing

By Lingyu Mountain Lake, after three rounds of drinks.

Hua and Ba had just joined the discussion, which was far from over, when someone held up their handheld screen and shouted:

“Look! The Inverted Buddhist Pagoda has appeared!”

This immediately caused another stir.

By this point, everyone knew the Inverted Buddhist Pagoda was where the Demon Ancestor was sealed, a deed performed by a resentful Buddha decades ago.

Could its sudden appearance be related to Hua and Ba’s ongoing discussion?

Many people moved closer to see. On the screen, the ground at the center of Cross Street had collapsed, and golden light was gushing out from it.

In the void, a magnificent and towering eighteen-story golden phantom of a Buddhist pagoda materialized. Its base was at the top, and its spire at the bottom, appearing at times solemn and majestic, at others ominously evil. This striking contradiction was deeply unsettling.

“Is that Cross Street?”

“That’s the Inverted Buddhist Pagoda!”

Many had never set foot in the City of Dead Buddhas in their lives, let alone Cross Street at its center. Now, thanks to the handheld screen, they could observe it from afar.

After the ground at the center of Cross Street collapsed, it formed a massive spatial vortex that looked as if it could pull people in from a distance with just a glance.

The area was packed tightly with people and some grotesque, inhuman creatures, impossible to squeeze through.

They all shared a common characteristic: fierce faces and malevolent appearances, exuding a menacing aura. They clearly weren’t good people, but rather major criminals who had sought refuge in that lawless place.

“A Yama mask, an orange robe…”

“Everyone look! That’s the Five Signs of Heavenly Decline!”

The crowd on the east side parted, and a slightly hunched figure emerged.

The Five Signs of Heavenly Decline was quite famous across the Five Domains. Half a year ago, during the battle between Master Shou and Emperor Cangsheng, he had appeared openly, questioned Emperor Cangsheng, and even mentioned Holy Emperor Beihuai in his remarks.

Such fearless warriors were truly rare!

Following behind the orange-clad figure was a graceful, tall figure. Her eyes, one black and one white, slowly spun like yin-yang vortices, occasionally exuding mist, making her incredibly striking.

“Spirit-Demon Eyes! It’s Master Shou’s junior sister, that orphan from the Lei family, Lei Xi’er!”

“They all went… So they were at Cross Street! I knew Master Shou wouldn’t stay put; sure enough, his people have appeared.”

“Coming from the east side, are they from East Street?”

“Where are the Ten Venerables, Shen Yi and Aunt Xiang? I don’t see them. I’m so curious about that pair! Broadcaster, quickly show us the ‘Divine Fragrance Couple’…”

Under the phantom of the Inverted Buddhist Pagoda, to the north of the spatial vortex, another large group of powerful figures soon arrived.

Leading them was an ordinary-looking elder, accompanied by an old witch dressed in a Spirit Array Master’s robe, who appeared very wicked.

“People from North Street, I know them!”

“That’s the newly appointed Emperor Guifen, and her top subordinate, Witch Siniang.”

“Don’t let their human appearance fool you; their methods are extremely evil and cruel. I heard they even dare to eat children raw.”

“Look! People from South Street and West Street are here too!”

With all the leaders gathering, the broadcast view of Cross Street shifted repeatedly, showing exactly what the spectators across the Five Domains wanted to see.

The figures approaching from the south were all eerily lifeless.

The one at the front was completely wrapped in blood-stained white bandages, sealed airtight, resembling a dried corpse.

Nine others, similarly dressed, were lined up behind him in a single, straight formation, neat as if preparing for reincarnation.

“The leader of South Street, the Corpse Wrapper!”

“This is the withered old corpse who was already on the Three Incense Sticks’ highest black-gold bounty list a hundred years ago.”

“Yes, and I heard that the Corpse Wrapper once unwrapped his bandages, revealing his body to be that of an unknown Half-Saint—or perhaps even more than one?”

“Those nine similarly dressed figures behind him seem to be his avatars… Wait, weren’t there only six before?”

“Tsk, that sounds a bit terrifying. Could they be the bodies of ten Half-Saints? Cross Street truly is a gathering place for villains!”

Those from the south were merely eerie, not truly terrifying.

But when the view shifted to the other side, to the west, where people scattered like birds and beasts, everyone gasped in fright.

Only one figure approached from the west… Or rather, was it human? She was enormous!

She resembled a tree, about a *zhang* tall, and though extremely gaunt, two mounds at her chest indicated her gender. Yet, countless hands, numbering in the thousands, sprouted densely from her back.

Her arms varied in length and form, some resembling a baby’s tender, soft limb, others like a withered, ancient lotus root, exuding a decayed aura.

“Ugh! That’s disgusting!”

“The one from the west? This is the Lord of West Street, the Thousand-Handed Seamstress!”

“Damn, I only heard rumors before, but someone actually has a thousand hands? She looks like a ‘human-hand tree crown’… Ugh!”

The Lord of West Street, the Thousand-Handed Seamstress, held a slender silver embroidery needle in each hand, busily working behind her back.

Upon closer inspection, she was using threads of human skin to weave grotesque diagrams depicting the reproduction of strange beasts, which was even more sickening.

What’s more, after weaving the human skin diagrams, she didn’t keep them for herself but casually tossed them to ‘lucky’ bystanders on the roadside. Anyone hit by one was instantly corroded into a pool of blood, unable to even let out a gasp.

“Where’s Shen Yi?”

The Thousand-Handed Seamstress drew closer. “Such a spectacle at the Inverted Buddhist Pagoda, and he’s been waiting so long but still hasn’t joined? Could Aunt Xiang have drained him dry in bed?”

Her two large, bell-like black eyes gleamed as she stared at the people from East Street, her voice surprisingly clear, melodious, and pleasant to the ear.

“The Inverted Buddhist Pagoda has opened, and the ‘key’ has arrived…” A hoarse voice came from the Corpse Wrapper of South Street, as if he hadn’t spoken in a hundred years.

His face was completely wrapped in blood-colored bandages, sealed airtight.

Yet, everyone could distinctly feel that, with his words, the Corpse Wrapper’s eyes must have fixed on Lei Xi’er:

“Everything is ready, except for Shen Yi. He’s surprisingly calm at a time like this.”

Upon hearing this, the Thousand-Handed Seamstress covered her mouth, giggling softly, her body swaying slightly, her posture appearing remarkably demure.

“Perhaps he’s feeling quite… passionate right now.”

The spectators across the Five Domains felt like throwing up their dinner from the night before.

Was Cross Street truly this disgusting? Just these characters making an appearance looked hard to deal with.

In contrast, Liu Guifen and Witch Siniang from North Street, and the Five Signs of Heavenly Decline and Lei Xi’er from East Street, seemed remarkably normal.

After all, they were at least human!

“Don’t target my Xi’er!”

“Damn it, Thousand-Handed Demoness, and that Bandage Man, all of you get back, get back, get back!”

“Oh dear, I’m so worried! Lei Xi’er, quickly hide behind the Five Signs of Heavenly Decline! Let that orange-clad degenerate handle this; degenerates aren’t really human anyway.”

Their sentiments made sense.

At this moment, the stance of the Five Domains was remarkably unified.

Not a single person sided with the monsters from the four streets—everyone supported Lei Xi’er alone, for no particular reason.

The Five Signs of Heavenly Decline, indeed capable of handling matters, stepped forward without hesitation:

“Shen Yi has some matters to attend to. He said he would arrive in an hour.”

“During this time, I apologize to all fellow cultivators for any losses incurred due to this wait.”

As he spoke, he began to bow.

The screen instantly flickered and blurred, becoming completely indistinct.

The broadcaster at Cross Street, who had been filming the Five Signs of Heavenly Decline head-on, suddenly shifted to a side view, and the distance between them increased to about a hundred *zhang*.

As the handheld screen moved further away, the image naturally shrank.

Looking from a distance, within a hundred *zhang* of the spatial vortex, there was no one left; everyone had vanished.

Even the Thousand-Handed Seamstress, who had just been striking poses, and the Corpse Wrapper from the Southern Domain with his nine avatars, all flew high into the sky.

“Senior of Heavenly Decline, please don’t humble yourself before us…”

The Thousand-Handed Seamstress hovered in the void, her face filled with lingering fear.

Half-Saints could not enter Cross Street, but rules were rigid, and people were adaptable.

True Half-Saints couldn’t enter, but there were always those who found loopholes, like the Five Signs of Heavenly Decline, a pseudo-saint who had achieved sainthood through the Blood-World Bead.

She, the Thousand-Handed Seamstress, was a pseudo-saint, and so was the Corpse Wrapper, Lord of South Street; they merely used different methods.

But while they were all pseudo-saints, their combat power might be evenly matched. When it came to strangeness and terror, however, no one present believed they could surpass the Five Signs of Heavenly Decline.

Who would dare accept a bow from the Heavenly Decline?

The manifestations of decline would arrive unbidden!

“Heh heh heh…”

The Five Signs of Heavenly Decline chuckled eerily.

With a half-bow that cleared the area, he clasped his hands behind his back. He hadn't even revealed a trace of holy power, yet he cleared his throat and said:

“Since no one objects, then everyone may wait.”

“What is Shen Yi doing?”

Curiosity swelled in the hearts of everyone across the Five Domains.

Even Hua Changdeng, seated at the stone table by Ling Lake, couldn’t help but speculate. But given that fellow’s mind, he probably wasn't strategizing...

“Brother Hua, you’re distracted.”

The wind over the lake sharpened, causing a shiver.

Hua Changdeng snapped back to attention and looked. Ba Zun’an’s sideburns were slightly ruffled, his chest slightly exposed, and his face held a hazy drunkeness. Yet, between his half-closed eyes, a sharp glint of cold light shone, as if in his intoxication, he had rediscovered a hint of his youthful arrogance.

Cup after cup, goblet after goblet.

Innumerable pots had already gone down his throat. By this point, Ba Zun’an had abandoned the golden goblet, drinking directly from a jade pot in large gulps.

It wasn’t the wine that intoxicated him, but his own volition.

Hua Changdeng remained absolutely sober. He needed to calmly handle any unforeseen developments, as too many unknowns lay behind him.

In stark contrast, Ba Zun’an’s current behavior was bordering on extreme.

He truly seemed to be using himself as a pawn in someone’s game, heading in the most extreme direction, leaving no path for retreat.

The 'game' discussion was over.

The discussion on Ancient Sword Dao was complete.

Everything was clear, but for both of them at their current cultivation level, the improvement was negligible.

To become each other’s touchstones and advance further, there was one question that could not be avoided.

“Me!”

The wind intensified suddenly.

The jade pot in Ba Zun’an’s hand crashed heavily onto the stone table, splashing wine from both its opening and spout.

This sudden noise immediately pulled the attention of the Five Domains’ populace back from their wait at Cross Street.

They saw Ba Zun’an, clad in a white robe, flushed with drink, rise to his full height with a jolt, though his steps were somewhat unsteady.

After stumbling twice, he bent at the waist, propped himself on the Ling Lake stone table with both hands, and leaned forward.

Then, his drunken eyes half-closed, he stared at Hua Changdeng for a long time before letting out a sigh, his words fragmented:

“Brother Hua, I have been seeking the Dao for over thirty years…”

As soon as he spoke these words, spectators across the Five Domains burst into laughter.

“Ba Zun’an is completely drunk!”

“Indeed, he hasn’t stopped drinking from beginning to end. That must be over thirty pots! And he has no spiritual essence or spiritual power to sober him up, so getting drunk is normal.”

“But without spiritual essence or spiritual power, how could a mortal body withstand over thirty pots? I think Ba Zun’an is simply desperate to pee; he’s been holding it in for too long!”

“Just relieve yourself! Ling Lake is all water; it wouldn’t miss Ba Zun’an’s little contribution. Come on, let this big sister see *little* Ba Zun’an…”

Unlike the relaxed outsiders, those around Ling Lake could distinctly feel the change in atmosphere.

The same black-and-white world, the same endless discussion at the stone table, but now a chill permeated the air.

With Ba Zun’an’s intoxication, the ancient sword, long sealed away, seemed unable to be suppressed any longer; it was ready to be unsheathed.

“Over thirty years, Brother Hua!”

Ba Zun’an’s eyes suddenly widened, and white smoke billowed from the top of his head.

Suddenly, his body swayed, and he nearly collapsed. He steadied himself, the strange phenomena vanished, and his words became indistinct again:

“What did you just say… What was it again? Oh, right!”

“You said that Ancient Sword Dao is constrained by the sword, that the Sword Ancestor, having merged with the Dao, could only unlock its mysteries, but failed to fully unleash the creation behind the gate.”

“Thus, Ancient Sword Dao was divided into nine techniques, from which eighteen sword currents derived. Half of these eighteen sword currents are dross; cultivating them… cultivating them leads to breadth without depth, heh, haha!”

Whether it was Lei Shuangxing and Gu Qing, the finally awakened Xiao Wanfeng and Xiao Kongtong, or Gou Wuyue and Feng Tingchen, who had remained standing in the rear.

Everyone listened in silence.

Listening to Ba Zun’an laugh.

Those were the words Hua Changdeng had just spoken himself.

One could say they were ‘heretical,’ completely contrary to the Sword Ancestor’s path, devaluing almost half of the nine great sword techniques to worthlessness.

Huan Jiuwan, Mo Wuxin, Gui Zangqing.

In his words, within his Ancient Sword Dao:

Other sword techniques could still be cultivated, allowing for mutual exchange and improvement. However, only the ‘Hidden Sword Technique’ of the first realm stood apart, completely out of place.

The Hidden Sword Technique should not belong to Ancient Sword Dao!

Things like ‘Warming Sword,’ ‘Nourishing Sword,’ ‘Concealing Sword,’ and ‘Sword Awakening’ were all subordinate to the drawn sword of the first realm.

They derive from the original, yet fall short of its true depth.

Since they could not reach the heights of the second realm, at best, these could only be considered variations of ‘Ancient Sword Arts,’ not true advancements.

Ancient Sword Arts were akin to the spiritual skills of a Spirit Refiner, such as the ‘Fifty-Four Sword Steps of Slaughter’ once displayed by Liu Fuyu.

“Was Ancient Sword Dao, therefore, wrong?”

Ba Zun’an picked up the jade pot, turned around, and gazed at the surrounding Ancient Sword Cultivators.

No one responded.

Gou Wuyue knew that Ba Zun’an’s so-called ‘seeking the Dao’ for over thirty years had actually been the cultivation of the ‘Hidden Sword Technique.’

The true meaning of the Hidden Sword Technique was to seal the sword until old age, becoming a saint in one’s later years.

Hua Changdeng’s words were tantamount to denying his Dao.

This was the beginning of the battle for their respective Daos.

Naturally, Ba Zun’an should then have answered his own question with the words, “No, it was not.”

To everyone’s surprise, Ba Zun’an brought the jade pot to his lips, took a few more gulps, and chuckled:

“I don’t know either…”

Everyone found this amusing.

It truly seemed like someone acting insane after drinking.

One wondered how Ba Zun’an would feel when he sobered up and realized he had been acting like a drunken fool in front of the entire Five Domains.

However, his tone suddenly shifted, and he turned to the even more numerous Spirit Refiners around Ling Lake, his voice sharpening as he shouted:

“Or was it because Ancient Sword Dao erred, leading to the twilight of sword cultivation, and as eras evolved, only now do the Five Domains revere Spirit Refiners?”

The crowd paused, deep in thought.

“Is that truly the case?”

Ba Zun’an repeated his shout.

Only then did everyone begin to deeply consider the implications.

But how could ordinary people possibly comprehend the answer to such a matter?

Many gazes from across the Five Domains once again fixed on the Eighth Sword Immortal, who had begun spouting wild theories, awaiting his precise answer.

“I don’t know either…”

Ba Zun’an’s momentum faltered, and his voice softened. A wave of jeers immediately swept through the Five Domains.

Hua Changdeng could no longer bear it:

“Ba Zun’an, you’re drunk.”

With the discussion of the Dao seemingly concluded, he couldn’t be bothered to converse with a drunkard and reached out to grasp the Ghost Hunter.

The drunkard’s true intent was not in the wine.

Ba Zun’an struck like lightning, actually slapping the stone table with his palm.

With a crash, the stone table disintegrated, and the bronze lamp and Ghost Hunter that had been on it flew high into the air, one to the left and one to the right.

“Is it about to happen?”

Everyone in the Five Domains craned their necks in anticipation.

Hua Changdeng’s expression changed. Rising, he reached out with both hands, one to the left and one to the right, to retrieve the bronze lamp and Ghost Hunter.

Ba Zun’an surged forward, simultaneously pointing a conjoined finger towards Hua Changdeng’s glabella.

“Ten-Segment Sword Finger!”

Around Ling Lake, a Spirit Refiner exclaimed.

This was certainly no ordinary Ten-Segment Sword Finger. At that moment, even Hua Changdeng seemed to see Ba Zun’an’s so-called ‘Sword-Self’ finger from the illusion of the Ancient and Modern Forget-Sorrow Tower.

He quickly pulled back his sleeve, formed hand seals before his chest, almost ready to summon the Hundred Ghost Altar.

“Hic…”

Ba Zun’an, however, merely let out a drunken hiccup.

His finger limply stopped mid-air; it couldn't even be called a Ten-Segment Sword Finger, let alone the Sword-Self’s Ten-Segment Sword Finger.

The bronze lamp and Ghost Hunter fell from the sky.

He caught them both, one with each hand. Hua Changdeng’s pupils contracted, and he was on the verge of attacking.

But Ba Zun’an merely held up the bronze lamp, unharmed, and glanced at it.

Then he looked at the Ghost Hunter, lifted it high, holding it before Hua Changdeng as if to return it.

“I have a method that can use the sword to unlock mysteries, allowing me to verify, before you, whether the Ancient Sword Dao’s legacy to this day is right or wrong.”

Ba Zun’an looked at him, his eyes half-closed, appearing both dreamy and awake:

“Brother Hua, would you like to see?”