by Mao Ni
* * *
Luoluo raised the Falling Rain Whip, but the one to start was not her. Instead, it was Chen Changsheng, standing far behind her.
Any other proud young man or woman, such as Tang Thirty-Six or Guan Feibai, might feel rather unhappy, or at least somewhat conflicted, but Luoluo did not. The several months she had lived in the Orthodox Academy had planted a sort of understanding deep within her heart: everything Teacher does is correct, everything Teacher does is for my benefit.
So when she heard Chen Changsheng's voice, she raised her whip like a sword and, without hesitation, stabbed at Guan Feibai ten-odd zhang away.
"Rising Flurry."
This was the first stance of the Wind and Rain Sword of Mount Zhong, and also its opening move.
To open the battle with this sword technique surpassed everyone's expectations, because it was far too surprising.
Everyone believed that the first technique Chen Changsheng would have Luoluo use would be some extremely esoteric or extremely powerful technique of shocking wind and sobbing rain.
No one expected him to come out with such an ordinary technique.
The Rising Flurry of the Wind and Rain Sword of Mount Zhong only stirred a storm. There was nothing shocking about it, and no sobbing sounds could be heard.
It was just like he was playing chess and he placed his first piece on the three-three position.[9] It was unremarkable, so commonplace that it was remarkable.
Some people were even disappointed.
* * *
The Falling Rain Whip flicked through the air, howling with a frightening might. In truth, Luoluo had not used her true essence, so this sword technique had all the form, but none of the spirit. From a distance of ten-odd zhang, it was naturally unable to wound Guan Feibai, but since this was a competition, he naturally had to receive the technique. The many seniors and experts in front of the palace all viewed the match, thoughts of victory and defeat in their eyes.
Normally, if confronted by such a commonplace and ordinary sword technique, Guan Feibai would assuredly just casually respond. However, tonight, it was not people that were fighting, but the Orthodox Academy and the Mount Li Sword Sect. For the Mount Li Sword Sect which had seemed able to control even the forces of nature to directly challenge the Orthodox Academy, which had already wasted away for ten-odd years, was already quite enough to shame the disciples of Mount Li Sword Sect. This was not even taking into account the fact that the junior brother that they had the most trust in had lost to a student of the Orthodox Academy, which had placed an enormous pressure upon them. Thus, he needed to be very prudent. He waited for his senior brother's opinion.
As expected, Gou Hanshi's voice rose from the darkness.
"Donglin Seven Star Sword, third move."
* * *
Silence.
The crowd watched the long sword in Guan Feibai's hand produce image after image in the night sky, yet they had no idea what to say.
Chen Changsheng slightly frowned. He confirmed that he had never seen this sword style before.
The Daoist Canon was like the ocean, and those sword styles recorded or mentioned in it were similarly vast. The sword styles containing the word 'star' were difficult to count, and there were ten-odd styles containing the phrase 'Seven Star'.
But he truly had not seen or heard of this Seven Star sword style before.
He said, "The final move."
Saying 'the final move' without mentioning the sword style meant that this was naturally the final move of the Wind and Rain Sword of Mount Zhong.
The final move was called 'Embrace the Rain into the Bosom'.
It was meant to both restrict and defend, the most rigorously defensive technique in the entirety of the Wind and Rain Sword of Mount Zhong.
Chen Changsheng had not heard of the Donglin Seven Star Sword, so he could only seek to minimize mistakes.
* * *
"Ingenious."
Mao Qiuyu, Principal of the Heavenly Dao Academy, lightly stroked his long beard and sighed.
As an expert of the capital, his assessment naturally held the gazes of many others.
Xu Shiji asked, "Has Principal seen this sword style before?"
"I have not."
Mao Qiuyu shook his head and concluded, "So it is ingenious."
A voice suddenly rose from the crowd. "It's the sword style of Donglin County's Clear River Sect."
The crowd searched for the voice and saw that its owner was an inconspicuous young student belonging to the southern diplomatic mission.
A person asked, "The Clear River Sect? How have none of us heard of it before?"
The young student became rather nervous at all these gazes. He muttered out an explanation, "It's a very small sect. This student is a member of the Clear River Sect, so I know of it."
Mao Qiuyu sighed, "It really is ingenious."
Chapter 79 – From the Wilderness to the Temple
The crowd finally confirmed that the person Mao Qiuyu was praising was Gou Hanshi, not Chen Changsheng.
Chen Changsheng's having Luoluo use a very commonplace technique was actually the best choice of an opening move. The first to move would wait while the second to move would break, therefore the first to move should act defensively so as to present no technique for their opponent to break.
In Mao Qiuyu's view, this was an excellent choice, but anyone could think of it, so it could not be considered ingenious.
As for the technique Gou Hanshi had responded with, anyone could tell that there was nothing exquisite about it—just how could some small and obscure sect of Donglin County possess some exquisite sword style? However, at this moment it was ingenious because Chen Changsheng was just like everyone else present: he had not seen this sword style before.
To speak in a refined manner, Gou Hanshi's response was like an antelope hanging its horns, leaving no trace to be found.[10] To speak in a coarse manner, he was casually spreading rice seeds over the fields and ceasing to care. As for what this rice paddy would grow come next year, even if it might grow into a field of millet, he had no idea.
Then how could Chen Changsheng know?
* * *
Embrace the Rain into the Bosom was Chen Changsheng's response.
Although she was just acting out the technique, Luoluo still had a focused expression, her mind completely focused on her whip. This technique was displayed to her satisfaction, to an almost perfect level.
Gou Hanshi said another technique.
Just as before, no one in the crowd knew the origins of this sword technique. Only when some student from the countryside who had passed the Grand Examination's pre-examination called out in shock did the crowd come to know that this sword technique had been developed in some run-down temple in a mountain on the outskirts of Wenshui. In that part of the countryside, it was actually rather famous.
Tang Thirty-Six's complexion was rather unsightly as he thought to himself, I grew up in Wenshui and I've never even heard of this sword technique. Gou Hanshi lives in Mount Li year-round, so just how did he come to know of it?
"Exquisite," the woman veiled in white from Holy Maiden Peak sighed.
Chen Changsheng had Luoluo use the seventh move of the Wind and Rain Sword of Mount Zhong to respond.
Gou Hanshi immediately responded with another technique, once more a sword technique from some remote and tiny sect that no one knew of.
Chen Changsheng once more responded.
* * *
In the blink of an eye, Luoluo and Guan Feibai, separated by ten-odd zhang, had used ten-odd techniques. The crowd on the steps did not turn silent. On the contrary, their discussion only grew louder.
The crowd aimed gazes brimming with admiration at Gou Hanshi. To actually know so many obscure sword techniques, he was truly too extraordinary.
Xu Shiji slightly nodded and the Qiushan clan head was pacified once more, both very content with the current situation.
Some people looked at Chen Changsheng
and found this youth also quite extraordinary. This was because under his instruction, Luoluo had only used the Wind and Rain Sword of Mount Zhong yet was able to receive all the extremely obscure sword techniques of Gou Hanshi. There were even two occasions where the same technique was used twice, yet two different results were achieved.
And in the eyes of those people, there was still one more extraordinary person: the Fourth Law of the Divine Kingdom, Guan Feibai.
For Gou Hanshi to know so many obscure sword techniques could be attributed to his profound knowledge. The whole world knew that he was well-versed in the Daoist Canon, had extensively read many books, and the Mount Li Sword Sect held countless sword manuals. Although admirable, it was not beyond expectations. However, what did it mean that Guan Feibai was able to display each technique he spoke without hesitation?
This meant that Guan Feibai knew all these obscure sword techniques and that he even had a complete grasp of them!
There were innumerable Daoist techniques in the world, and the sword styles were beyond reckoning. There were some obscure sword styles that no one present had heard before, but he knew them all!
Just how much time had he expended? Just how much perseverance and patience were required?
"The Mount Li Sword Sect truly deserves its reputation. No wonder so many excellent youths have been appearing from it in these past few years…"
Mao Qiuyu gazed at Guan Feibai, his expression complex as he sighed.
Hearing this, the spectating crowd came to their senses. The students of the Ivy Academies, especially the students of the Heavenly Dao Academy, felt thoroughly ashamed.
Just then, there was a sudden change in the match.
With Gou Hanshi's voice, Guan Feibai's sword techniques suddenly shifted from those obscure sword techniques to the most commonly seen sword style of the profound orthodox method.
This sword style was the Mountain Gate Sword of the southern sects, frank and upright, brilliant beyond compare.
This was also the sword style Guan Feibai was most skilled at. In the continent's current generation of youths, when solely considering mastery in this sword style, Qiushan Jun was undoubtedly ranked first, and he was second.
Seeing those suddenly majestic sword techniques on the plaza, seeing the longsword firmly proceeding through the darkness, the crowd finally turned silent.
Many people knew of this sword style, and quite a few had learned this sword style, but to be able to practice this sword style to this level, to perfectly display its sword intent without using true essence? Not a single one of them could do it.
Tonight, Guan Feibai had done this, at the same time giving those young students on the stone steps in front of the palace hall a good lesson.
According to Gou Hanshi's voice, Guan Feibai proceeded with the Mountain Gate Sword, instantly increasing the pressure on Luoluo. For the first time, her still-childish face revealed a hint of graveness. There was nothing strange about her opponent's sword style, but following after those obscure sword techniques, a very peculiar tempo had been created.
She had been using the Wind and Rain Sword of Mount Zhong, the Rising Flurry to Descending Mount Dong, preserving her own tempo, but with her opponent's change, her tempo was disrupted and she vaguely felt herself being pulled into her opponent's tempo.
She had to make a corresponding change to escape her opponent's tempo.
How should this change be made?
Guan Feibai's sword seemed to hold the power to set fire to the plains, striking at the night, as he gazed expressionlessly at her.
It was her turn to use a technique.
* * *
Luoluo felt the pressure, and Chen Changsheng felt an even greater pressure. He had not expected Gou Hanshi to suddenly go from the remote counties and forests straight back to his sect's mountain gate. For a moment, he was caught somewhat unprepared.
Gazing across the plaza at the calm Gou Hanshi, he was forced to admit that this person truly was extraordinary.
In battles between cultivators, what was important was real power. The 'real' was true essence, while power was a more complex concept. It could be sword techniques, cultivation method, magical treasures, and it could also be one's psychological state. It was like playing chess: regardless of how thick the pieces were, in the end, what mattered were the changes in the state of the board.
To change straight from the Seven Star Sword of a remote province to the Mountain Gate Sword, to return from remote lands to the temple, this sort of change of tempo was extremely tough and sudden. Even more frightening was that this sort of sudden change had greatly intensified the sword intent of the Mountain Gate Sword, all the way until it seemed to condense into real power. Just what sword technique could be used to break it?
It was an extremely simple change, yet it contained Gou Hanshi's unfathomable intellect and experience.
Chen Changsheng knew that he was on the verge of losing. He had also become well-versed in the Daoist Canon as a child, and in the Orthodox Academy's library, he had read relentlessly, yet the time he had to formally touch upon cultivation was not more than a few months. In terms of both knowledge of various cultivation methods and fighting experience, he was still far from Gou Hanshi.
He did not want to lose, and wanted even less for Luoluo to lose because of him.
Perhaps it would be difficult tonight to win over Gou Hanshi, this genius who seemed to have a grasp over all the world's cultivation techniques, but he at least did not want to lose.
At this moment, he could preserve his confidence not because of that Dao which he had cultivated since he was a child—following his heart—but because he believed that Luoluo was stronger than Guan Feibai.
So first of all, he could not lose to Gou Hanshi in terms of techniques.
Countless Daoist scriptures appeared, the books on cultivation from the Orthodox Academy's library and those sword style manuals constantly appearing before his eyes, ruffled by the ever harsher and more imposing sword wind. The sword techniques used by the past experts and their experiences transformed into pictures and flashed past.
Which technique should he use?
Chapter 80 – A Battle That Will Immediately Go Down in History?
The vagrants in the wilderness rarely walked the official roads, and the Wind and Rain Sword of Mount Zhong just so happened to have an officious air about it. People of a temple might feel afraid that climbing a mountain could be laborious, but they would still be able to find means for dealing with sword techniques. This being the case, when Gou Hanshi lightly spoke and Guan Feibai's sword seemed to have a mind of its own, instantly going from the wilderness to the temple, the longsword straightforward and upright, noble and stately, how could it be broken?
In an instant, countless possibilities flashed through Chen Changsheng's mind, yet he could not find a single way of breaking it. A powerful sword technique like the Three Forms of Wenshui, which brought blazing death, would probably be able to deal with it, but he had never taught it to Luoluo, and those strange and dangerous sword techniques he knew were above Luoluo's current level of strength.
Now, he finally felt a feeling that he had never experienced before, recalled those words that he had never thought would apply to him: 'It is when you are using what you have learned in books that you wish you had read more books than you have.'
He had read countless Daoist scriptures, but there was truly a massive gap with regards to his knowledge on cultivation. Of course, the three thousand scriptures of the Great Dao encompassed all knowledge in the world. As long as he was given two years, he was absolutely confident in his ability to convert the contents of the Daoist Canon into knowledge of cultivation, even daring to speak of victory against Gou Hanshi, but right now, he still could not do it.
He had read too few books, and in the end, there had just been too little time.
If he had enough time, he could know even more, and could also teach Luoluo even more.
But right
now, he could not find a sword technique that could help Luoluo break Guan Feibai's Mountain Gate Sword.
Seeing Luoluo's childish face, seeing the focus on her brow, seeing the absolute confidence in her eyes, Chen Changsheng felt rather ashamed.
He did not attribute this predicament to Luoluo's not knowing all the sword techniques he knew, because this was the equivalent of pushing the responsibility onto her. On that night in the Orthodox Academy, he and that girl met for the first time. After that night, she placed all her trust on him, so he had to bear all the responsibility.
If possible, he was willing to act just as he had on that night, standing in front of her to confront the net, or sword, falling from the heavens.
But tonight, he could only stand behind, to help her confront her foe.
At this moment, Chen Changsheng's eyes suddenly glowed for an instant.
He thought of that night in the Orthodox Academy, thought of that demon expert, and thus, thought of a way.
If he could not break the sword, then he could momentarily avoid it, just as Gou Hanshi had taught Qi Jian earlier. As long as he could avoid the transition from wilderness to temple's first strike, his opponent's sword energy would be exhausted in the following attacks. It would no longer be so powerful without equal, its sword intent no longer boundless without the slightest gap.
How to avoid this strike was naturally also a rather difficult question.
If a sword technique could not be found to break it, then they should use a movement technique to break it!
"Xue Qing!