Chapter 60: Nurturing the Sword

The stars in the sky are sometimes very close; they seem to hang directly overhead, inlaid in the profound dark firmament. Standing on the mountain, it feels as if you could reach out and touch them.

But in reality, the stars we see may already be light shadows cast from tens of thousands of years ago.

Chen Ji doesn't know Xuanyuan's lifespan, to the extent that the other party can casually spend 434 years as merely preparation for cultivation.

He looked towards the crow: "Uncle Crow, do you know the Mountain Master of Jingchao Wumiao, Lu Yang?"

Chen Ji asked again: "Then do you know how old he was?"

The words had just left his mouth, before waiting for the crow to respond, when old man Yao walked out with his hands behind his back: "You're not sleeping early in the morning, what are you asking about Lu Yang for?"

"Um." Chen Ji thought for a moment and replied: "Didn't Liang Gou'er say I'm suitable for cultivating sword seed? I heard the Mountain Master of Jingchao Wumiao, Lu Yang, cultivates sword seed, so I'm just asking around."

Old man Yao laughed: "You want to learn? You can learn! Is someone willing to teach you? Didn't you just get over your fever? Why are you still talking nonsense!"

Chen Ji: "You tell me how old Lu Yang was first!"

Old man Yao said casually: "According to rumors, he should have been around one hundred and thirty years old. His cultivation level was high, so naturally he lived longer."

"At what age did he become famous?"

Old man Yao glanced at him and said plainly: "Why should I tell you these things? Go ask someone else."

After thinking for a moment, Chen Ji helped old man Yao move the bamboo lounge chair out of the room and set it down.

While massaging old man Yao's legs, he sincerely said: "Master, I could go ask others, but others aren't as knowledgeable as you! As the saying goes, 'A family with an elder is like a treasure,' I'm guarding you, this treasure mountain, why do I need to go find others? Can they compare to you, Master? They cannot!"

Old man Yao looked at him, silent for a long time, then slowly opened his mouth: "What did you just ask?"

"Lu Yang, at what age did he become famous?"

"At what age did he become famous?" Old man Yao fell into thought, his eyes full of memories: "He was a legendary figure, a rare living legend in the jianghu."

"Lu Yang was born into a noble family in Jingchao. His father, Lu Xiao, was the Champion Marquis of Jingchao. He was disabled in the battle at Chongli Pass, so he passed the Lu family's inherited sword seed method to Lu Yang early on. Legend has it that Lu Yang entered the Xiantian realm at twelve, the Xundao realm at sixteen, the Shendao realm at twenty-one, and entered the main Wumiao at twenty-two, becoming the youngest Mountain Master in Jingchao!"

"After Lu Yang entered the main Wumiao, he crossed south into Ningchao twice. The first time he crossed south, he ascended Jinghai Mountain Linghua Temple, smashed the copper bell at the gate of Linghua Temple, and crippled the cultivation of Linghua Temple's abbot."

"The second time he crossed south, Lu Yang killed his way up Lingxu Mountain Yuqing Guan, killed the Dao master of Yuqing Guan, split the plaque in front of Yuqing Guan, and under the siege of several hundred Sanqing Guan disciples, he lacked a vessel to warm wine and drank from the Yuqing Guan plaque. When he left, he left a single sentence—'Just so-so!'"

Chen Ji was shocked; could an expert of the Shendao realm really do as he pleased?

"Why did he want to kill his way up those two mountain gates?"

Old man Yao smiled: "Because Lu Yang is a martial arts fanatic. After entering the Shendao realm, he always wanted to find an opponent for himself in Jingchao, but he just couldn't, so he came to Ningchao. The abbot of Linghua Temple and the Dao master of Yuqing Guan both claimed to be the most hopeful Shendao realm experts in Ningchao to cross the Tianren threshold."

"Two Shendao realm experts, easily defeated?" Chen Ji didn't understand: "Aren't they all Shendao realm? Why was Lu Yang just more formidable?"

"Shendao realm my foot! Do you really think Shendao realm is like big white cabbage, found everywhere?" Old man Yao shook his head: "The customs were different back then. Many people falsely reported their realms to recruit disciples. In the past, there were many people who falsely reported their strength realms. You could casually pull out a stableman in the jianghu and they'd be in the Xundao realm; there was a lot of exaggeration. In reality, those two from Linghua Temple and Yuqing Guan were just in the Xundao realm."

"Ah? They dared to falsely report even this?"

Old man Yao lay on the bamboo chair, talking about interesting stories from the past, "When Lu Yang first entered the Shendao realm, he was young and vigorous. He heard that someone in the Mozong was about to touch the Tianren threshold and just wanted to go challenge them. The elders of Wumiao advised him not to go, in case he was no match, it would damage Jingchao's vitality. But Lu Yang only left one sentence—'The enemy can go, I can also go'."

Then he went down the mountain and killed in Jingchao's Mozong for a full sixty years.

"Did he find that Mozong expert?"

"He found him!"

"Was the other person in the Shendao realm?"

Old man Yao burst into laughter: "When Lu Yang returned to Wumiao after sixty years of killing demons, someone in Wumiao also asked him that, and he answered: 'The enemy lied!'"

Chen Ji: "...If you don't brag like that, you won't invite disaster."

Yet he heard old man Yao continue: "Those years, he not only killed in the Mozong but also along the way challenged all experts who claimed to be hopeful of advancing to the Shendao realm, hopeful of crossing the Tianren threshold, to the extent that in these thirty years, basically no one dared to falsely report their strength realm. The two words Lu Yang were like a great mountain, pressing down on the heads of the world's experts, unable to be moved, unable to be shifted."

Chen Ji was solemnly respectful; wasn't this a professional fake-fighting warrior?

He was puzzled: "Couldn't anyone in Ningchao contend with him?"

"According to rumors, the Dao master Apostle Zi from Huangshan could. Thirty years ago, the two of them fought for a month outside Chongli Pass. After Apostle Zi went back to recuperate, he never came down from Huangshan again. Lu Yang then went into seclusion for thirty years and never came out of Wumiao again."

"Lu Yang lost?"

"He didn't lose, but he didn't win either!"

Old man Yao sighed: "I heard Apostle Zi came down the mountain a few days ago. I think there will still be another battle between the two of them."

"Master, you don't know Lu Yang, do you? How do you know so much?" Chen Ji was puzzled.

Old man Yao didn't answer, instead asking again: "You want to learn sword seed? I advise you to give up. The Lu family's sword seed has no precedent of external transmission. With Lu Yang's Shendao realm cultivation, he can live at least another hundred years. This kind of person, who is hopeful of touching the Tianren threshold, won't accept disciples!"

"He cultivated to the Shendao realm at twenty-one, why is he still haven't crossed the next threshold after more than a hundred years? Is it because there is someone else cultivating sword seed?" Chen Ji asked.

"Correct." Old man Yao answered clearly: "Lu Yang once said that there should still be one person in this world cultivating sword seed with him, so he has never been able to cross the last threshold."

"For several decades earlier, the entire Jingchao was helping him search for the other person cultivating sword seed, but they never found them. They don't know where they're hiding!"

Chen Ji secretly thought, if Lu Yang entered the Xiantian realm at twelve, then at what age did he start cultivating sword seed?

Just calculating based on the closest star here, Barnard's Star, it would still take the other party at least four more years to touch it with divine sense.

How did Lu Yang nourish the sword?

Chen Ji looked towards old man Yao, and simply asked: "Do you know what Lu Yang used to nourish the sword?"

Old man Yao was surprised: "You even know about nourishing the sword? Did that boy from the cloth shop tell you?"

"...Um..." Old man Yao thought for a moment: "This is not some great secret. There is Beihai to the north of Jingchao, vast and boundless. Lu Yang nourished a sword with that vast Beihai; it should be the first in the world!"

Chen Ji: Huh?

Used that vast Beihai to nourish the sword, not stars? How is this not quite the same as the sword seed he cultivated? Did Xuanyuan say something less?

Under the apricot tree!

Old man Yao, wearing a loose cloth gown and black cloth shoes, stroked his beard and squinted at Chen Ji: "Don't aim too high. The Mountain Lord method is not worse than cultivating sword seed; it's just difficult to cultivate. You'll understand later!"

Chen Ji understood. If he wanted to cultivate the Mountain Lord method to the Shendao realm, he feared that half of Ningchao's officials would have to die out before he could.

The difficulty was indeed quite great!!

But whether he could cultivate sword seed, he had to try to find out.

Chen Ji quietly sized up old man Yao, wondering if he should secretly cultivate it from his master. It didn't seem necessary to hide; if the other party wanted to harm him, he would have died ten or eight times already.

He tentatively asked: "Master, if there was an opportunity, I mean if, if I could cultivate the sword seed method, would you be angry?"

Old man Yao mocked: "If, I mean if, if you can cultivate sword seed, then cultivate it. Whether you cultivate sword seed to chop officials and princes, the Mountain Lord method cultivates faster."

The next moment, regardless of old man Yao and the crow's strange gazes, Chen Ji used the method taught by Xuanyuan, lightly cutting open the center of his eyebrow with a short knife.

A drop of fresh blood seeped out from the center of his eyebrow and slowly slid down.

Chen Ji used his right thumb to wipe the blood drop upwards.

This wipe left a streak of deep red at the center of his eyebrow, as if a third eye had been opened.

Chen Ji sat cross-legged under the apricot tree, using his blood-stained right thumb and index finger to pinch the root of his left ring finger, and his left thumb to pinch the tip of his middle finger.

Old man Yao stood up from the bamboo chair with a whoosh and said bewilderedly: "Isn't this the Daoist Zi Wu Jue? The root of the ring finger is 'Zi,' the tip of the middle finger is 'Wu,' and overlapping both hands in front of the body, this is indeed the Daoist people's cupped hands salute, the Zi Wu Jue, exactly the same. Strange, where did this boy Chen Ji learn this?"

However, Chen Ji didn't pay attention to old man Yao's surprise.

When the Zi Wu Jue was formed, he felt as if he saw the 'world' with the wound at the center of his eyebrow.

But this world was different from the normal world; it was only a vast sea of stars, boundless.

Tianlang, Tian Shu, Yu Heng, Shen Su, Hunter, Bei Luo Shi Men, the stars were brilliant.

But Chen Ji didn't look at them. Instead, his gaze was tightly locked on the nearest sun.

The next moment, he floated up lightly, as if his spirit was wandering, and flew towards the sky.

Looking down, Chen Ji saw himself sitting cross-legged under the apricot tree in the small siheyuan of Taiping Medical Hall. Uncle Crow was tilting his head, curiously sizing him up.

He was jumping back and forth in the tree branches, constantly changing angles to observe.

Old man Yao was pacing back and forth beside him, his eyes wide like copper bells.

In front of the breakfast shop opposite the medical hall, people were just removing the door panels.

On the green stone road of Anxi Street, an old man carrying dry firewood was hurrying along, the shoulder pole on his shoulder rhythmically swaying up and down.

Further away, Chen Ji even saw Wu Yun squatting on the roof of the cloth shop, with a raccoon flower cat squatting opposite him. They didn't know what they were saying, but it seemed they were scolding very filthily.

The raccoon flower cat pounced towards Wu Yun, and Wu Yun then pressed the raccoon flower cat to the ground, balled up his claws, and violently struck the raccoon flower cat's head!

Chen Ji had never had this kind of experience before, as if he no longer belonged to this world, yet as if the world already belonged to him.

He didn't know why, but the repressed qi that had accumulated because of the cloud sheep, the Jiao rabbit, the gold pig, and Si Cao, was actually swept clean.

Chen Ji couldn't help but want to shout loudly, yet no sound came out.

He wanted to fly to other places, but he couldn't control it; he was only slightly pulled by the sun.

Chen Ji suddenly turned around and flew towards the just-rising sun with extreme speed.

It seemed like a long time passed, but it also seemed like not long. He crossed the distant distance and came to the side of that blazing sun.

There was no burning sensation; the bursting, tumbling flames in front had not the slightest influence on his 'divine sense'. He couldn't feel any change in temperature.

Chen Ji lightly stretched out a finger and touched the sun's tumbling lava. In an instant, he began to fall rapidly downward. The finger that touched the sun then connected a red fire silk ribbon, which returned from the center of his eyebrow to his own body.

Everything returned to normal. Chen Ji felt the wind again and heard sounds!

He felt a wonderful connection had been established with the sun. There was a continuous heat, which gathered from the pulled-back silk ribbon to his body.

The fire in the sixteen lamps inside his body was blazing, seemingly echoing the warm flow that Chen Ji had guided from the sun.

A formless yet sharp qi wandered through his meridians and blood, like a small sword.

So this was sword seed.

So this was the sword qi that could chop away the unfair matters in his heart.

Chen Ji opened his eyes and lifted his hand to wipe away the wound at the center of his eyebrow. The wound instantly healed, leaving no trace.

Old man Yao kept exclaiming beside him: "You? You? You?..."