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Cheng Qian had no need for a sword — the Fuyao Sect had an outrageously wealthy sect leader, so even if they had nothing else, they still had money. They could even toss aside used swords after they were done with them and there would still be no problem. But Cheng Qian had always been on the Azure Dragon Island and usually only came across people of Zhang Dasen's type. He wanted to polish his own swordplay, so he kept using his wooden sword.

A simple sword wouldn't be noteworthy, but this one was different. Cheng Qian could tell with just one look.

He didn't even need to think carefully to know that this wasn't from Yan Zhengming. First of all, this sword's scabbard was very unremarkable and a bit old, which didn't match up with their sect leader's preferences. Second of all, according to Sect Leader Yan's personality, he wouldn't commit any generous act in secret like this. Whenever Yan Zhengming wanted to gift anyone anything, he would make a great show to all of his martial brothers beforehand. Then he would hold a hair-brus.h.i.+ng compet.i.tion or something to mess with everyone until he was satisfied, and bestow the gift to anyone who had pleased His Lords.h.i.+p.

Looking closely, the sword's hilt and body was covered in fine carvings of charms, the patterns shockingly complicated, layers upon layers overlapping. Even Cheng Qian, with his experience of seeing numerous books on the Azure Dragon Island, couldn't immediately figure out what charms they were.

He raised his finger and reached for the sword, but stopped in his tracks before even touching it — when there was barely any distance left between his fingers and the sword, a strange, indescribable feeling had suddenly appeared in Cheng Qian's heart.

It was a cold sensation with the impression of metallic rust, almost unnoticeably hovering around the sword body, as if the sword was alive.

Cheng Qian was confused at first, but then he thought about a possibility. His eyes abruptly widened — there were invisible charms around this sword!

One must keep in mind that invisible charms were the very essence of charms, which can only be accomplished by legendary formidable masters. The only person who could create invisible charms in Cheng Qian's knowledge was his s.h.i.+zu, the Progenitor of Demonic Arts, Lord Beiming.

But if they were to discuss this in detail, even Lord Beiming's invisible charm wasn't quite genuine, because the medium for it was very unique: his own soul. Rather than saying that this was his great mastery of charms, it was more like demonic cultivation of the Soulist path. It wasn't an honest practice.

There were plenty of people in the world who understood charms. People who could smith weapons were certainly not rare either. But how many of them had the skill to leave invisible charms around a sword's body?

Cheng Qian could practically picture it, how a sword like this must have been intensely fought over the moment it came into existence. But after a thorough search on the sword's body, he couldn't find its name.

Right then, Cheng Qian noticed a piece of paper peeking out from under the tea tray. One side of the note had been stained with some kind of fluid. He touched a bit of it and brought it to his nose to figure out its scent, and became even more confused — it was blood.

Written on the bloodstained note were the words: “‘Shuangren' returns to its rightful owner. Never use it recklessly, bear this in mind.”

Be it ‘Shuangren' or ‘returns to its rightful owner', Cheng Qian didn't understand a word of this. He carefully examined his own room in detail and finally found another trail of blood near a window in the corner.

The person who'd left the sword must've exited from the back window. Shuikeng had been playing in the front courtyard all this time, so it made sense for her to not notice.

Cheng Qian hesitated for a moment, considering whether he should inform Yan Zhengming about this. But after reaching for the door repeatedly, he retracted his hand each time — the person who had left the sword might not have done it out of kindness. This issue didn't seem like good news.

Cheng Qian had always been the type who chooses to give good news and never bad news. After thinking for a moment, he decided not to alarm the others. He pushed the window open and leapt out, stealthily following the trail of blood.

He lightly brushed his fingers over his eyelids, transferring his energy to his eyes. In an instant, the landscape before him burst to life. The bloodstains hidden in various spots instantly became visible to Cheng Qian.

He had no idea who the injured person was, but their injury didn't seem serious, because that person was still very lively and had practically gone halfway around the Azure Dragon Island. When Cheng Qian followed the trail to a reef near the sh.o.r.e, he realized that the trail had broken.

Cheng Qian thought, Could it be, they've jumped into the sea?

While he was looking down from the sh.o.r.e, a sense of danger suddenly took form in his heart.

Cheng Qian wasn't sure whether this instinct had been trained through his cultivation or his frequent fights, but he trusted it very much. He immediately concealed his own presence and hid in a place that would face the back of any newcomers.

His timing was extremely close. At the very next moment, a few masked men descended from the sky and began searching around.

When Cheng Qian saw this, his pupils shrunk. The reason was simple: these people had come down from their flying swords.

He had no idea if Yan Zhengming could already fly on his sword, but he himself was still unable to. Moreover, even if he were to disregard their superior cultivation, there were still more than ten of them.

He didn't even need to guess what these people were up to. Seeing the way they moved in the middle of the night while covering their faces, it was clear that they weren't doing anything reputable.

Before Cheng Qian could consider things carefully, one of the masked men had produced a long, high-pitched whistle. A bird with a strange form immediately descended in response. The bird was as tall as a man, its spread wings quite a bit larger than Shuikeng's great wings. As if carrying the weight of the sky, it glided downward.

Cheng Qian could feel cold sweat beginning to form on his back — He had a s.h.i.+xiong like Li Yun, who knew his share of random trivia, so Cheng Qian had heard a fair deal of information about strange things. He knew that this bird was called the ‘Bird of Living Men', which was specifically used to detect the presence of living people. Because it could fly, it was much more useful than a spiritual dog.

The Birds of Living Men were highly sensitive, so it must have noticed Cheng Qian long ago. After receiving its order, the first thing the bird did was cry out loudly in the direction where Cheng Qian was hiding.

No matter how agile he was, he wouldn't be able to escape flying swords. Under the urgent situation, Cheng Qian hurriedly felt around his waist and found a few small bottles. He took a quick sniff and carelessly poured one over his body. These were Li Yun's creations for them to mess around with. Cheng Qian wasn't very clear on what they actually did, but he vaguely remembered that one of them could hide one's body.

“Let's try my luck.” As he thought this, Cheng Qian felt himself freeze, his entire body turning so stiff that he couldn't move an inch.

Bitterness rose in chest. It seems that thanks to his Second s.h.i.+xiong, he would have to bid his farewells here.

The bird and the masked men went straight for the temporarily paralyzed Cheng Qian, but the next moment, they went right past him, as if they hadn't seen him.

Could it be, he actually had used the liquid that hid one's body, but its side effect immobilized its user?

When he could finally struggle to move his eyes, Cheng Qian realized that his body hadn't actually disappeared, he'd just turned into a rock.

Even though Li Yun's unnamed rock-transformation liquid had saved his life, it had also kept Cheng Qian in place for an entire night. Those masked men came and went, and only left near daybreak.

Before they departed, their leader cast his gaze around the area. Cheng Qian had a clear look of his eyes and instantly felt that this person seemed a bit familiar. At the very least, he must've seen those eyes before.

By the time Cheng Qian could move again, it was close to midday.

With the wind of the sea on him, he dragged his stiff body back to their dwellings and happened to come across Li Yun leaving his own room.

Li Yun's face looked haggard, so he clearly had been busy for the whole night too, but his spirits seemed alright. A veil hung over his face, thick fumes of burning smoke bursting out of the open door behind him, as if the room had recently caught on fire.

Li Yun weakly raised his head and said to Shuikeng, who was sitting on the edge of the wall to play with some bugs, “Little s.h.i.+mei, catch.”

He took out a pill and tossed it to Shuikeng.

Shuikeng often displayed some inhuman birdly qualities without her own knowledge — for example, her senses were far superior to normal children, so she was very good at catching things moving at high speeds. Hearing those words, she didn't even reach out with her hands. She unhurriedly stretched out her neck, opened her mouth, and accurately caught the pill in between her teeth.

She licked the pill, tasted the sweetness in it, and began crunching on it like candy.

Cheng Qian, “…”

Even though he knew that Li Yun had given her a pill to suppress her yao aura, he still couldn't help the strange feeling in his heart upon seeing this sight.

They had trained their s.h.i.+mei so well that he couldn't help his amazement… except she wasn't trained too much like a human.

After seeing her eat the pill, Li Yun smiled at Cheng Qian, as if a burden had been lifted off his chest. He yawned and turned back to his own room.

A thought suddenly occurred to Cheng Qian, so he called out, “Wait, Second s.h.i.+xiong, I have something to ask you.”

Li Yun, “What?”

Cheng Qian, “Do you know a sword named ‘Shuangren'?”

Li Yun's footsteps halted. He asked in puzzlement, “Shuangren? Why are you asking about it?”

“I happened to come across a tale,” Cheng Qian casually said, “So you know about it?”

Li Yun frowned, “I've heard of it — It is said that this sword doesn't have an actual name. The sword is extremely cold, such that it could freeze blood and wouldn't heat even when thrown into the purifying flames of Samadhi, so it was called ‘Shuangren'. I heard that other than this name, it also has another nickname, ‘Sword of Miserable Death'.”

… What a wonderful name.

Li Yun continued, “It is said that Shuangren came into this world to slay three great demons. The sword-wielder gained fame instantly, and the sword was also known to be a G.o.dly sword to vanquish demons. But within three to five years, the sword and its wielder both fell into the clutches of a great demon. From then on, countless lives were lost to Shuangren. By the time that great demonic cultivator gained the name of Beiming, the sword had become renowned as the greatest demonic sword under the heavens. Thirty years later, the Progenitor of Demonic Arts of that time was betrayed by his own disciple and was killed with this sword, so Shuangren fell into the hands of that demonic cultivator's disciple. Another ten years pa.s.sed, the Ten Great Sects laid a siege and slaughtered hundreds of demonic cultivators from various walks of life. The sword then fell into the hands of a righteous formidable master, and once again became a weapon of justice. Everyone thought that the dust would have settled after this, but guess what?”

Stunned by the story, Cheng Qian pressed on, “What?”

Li Yun smiled, “After a hundred and thirty-four years, that formidable master's cultivation partner met an untimely death. After going through great suffering, that master committed suicide with Shuangren. Since then, this famous sword's whereabouts became unknown — who told you about this ominous thing?”

Cheng Qian gave no reply and returned to his own room with a heavy heart.

Yet, ominous as it was, Shuangren to a sword-wielder was like a peerless beauty to a lecher, a rare treasure to a miser, an ancient scroll with no other copy to a scholar. Its charm was irresistible.

Cheng Qian picked it up a few times and put it down again. At last, he mustered up all of his willpower and locked the mysterious famed sword in his closet. When the lock clicked into place, he truly understood the phrase ‘to feel as if a knife was twisted in one's heart'. He wished he could free the sword right then and keep it by his side at all times.

But there were lots of shady points regarding this issue. Cheng Qian couldn't figure out who would infiltrate his room and leave this world-famous sword behind. It was already careless of him to directly go out in pursuit the day before, so before everything has been figured out, Cheng Qian had no plans to make any reckless decision.

Because of the Grand Compet.i.tion, the entirety of Azure Dragon Island was in an uproar. Even Zhang Dasen and his people didn't care to stir up trouble with Cheng Qian. Half a month later, a huge list of names was carved onto a large rock on the mountain slope of the Lecture Hall. The match-ups for the first round had been decided.

That day, the island was so crowded it was practically a sea of people. The mysterious, rarely-seen formidable masters stood in two lines, all of them wearing the same clothes.

It is said that the image of a person depends on their clothes. Wearing these white, flowing robes, even Tang Wanqiu seemed a bit more presentable. The Right and Left Protectors of the Lecture Hall stood on opposite sides of each other, but it seemed as if the river that divides Chu and Han flowed in between those two, none of them acknowledging each other.

The clothes might have been too white, because Tang Wanqiu's pallor seemed quite grim. After quickly looking her over, Cheng Qian felt that she seemed even more unhappy than she usually was.

He swept another look and saw that Zhou Hanzheng didn't seem too happy either. A mask-like smile hung on his face as he tapped his folded Sansi Fan against his palm, eyes wandering occasionally.

It suddenly occurred to Cheng Qian — he realized that the masked man's eyes seemed familiar, because they were just like Zhou Hanzheng's!

But before he could pursue this train of thought, the crowd suddenly stirred, followed by a deafening cheer. Cheng Qian didn't understand what was happening at first, but when he looked again, the formidable masters on the elevated platform had all risen to their feet. Someone exclaimed, “The Island Lord! The Island Lord has come in person!”

Among their group, only Yan Zhengming had ever met the Lord of Azure Dragon Island, so for a moment, even Cheng Qian couldn't help his curiosity. He stood on his tiptoes to follow the crowd's line of sight and saw the inner disciples proudly making their way through the crowd. Each of them looked like a celestial child, entering in a single line, and came to the elevated platform's center before soundlessly splitting in two lines.

After the band had reached its destination, the Lord of Azure Dragon Island's true form was revealed.

The Island Lord was a man with a tall built. According to the standards of common people, he couldn't have been much older than thirty, his facial features delicate and pretty. He wore a sky blue long robe, his long hair left untied on his back and not pulled into a guan [1]. In his hand was an azure dragon staff, which was slightly taller than his person.

The Island Lord didn't really raise his face as he walked and his stride wasn't long, so there was the impression of a delicate scholar about him. Only when he had reached the center of the platform did he raise his head slightly. He swept his gaze over the entire area, eyes pausing for a moment on Yan Zhengming.

As one of the Four Saints, not only was the Island Lord not imposing in any way, there was also an unspeakable gloomy air about him, like a fine scholar who was so poor that he had become famished. After looking over the Fuyao Group, he retracted his gaze, nodded slightly to the Right and Left Protectors of the Lecture Hall, and took the seat of the host.

All these years, the Lord of Azure Dragon Island had been an almost nonexistent figure who never showed his face in public, so the crowd under the platform instantly became excited. But Yan Zhengming was frowning to himself. “Strange.”

Of course, this wasn't the only strange thing.

Cheng Qian gave him a quick glance and heard Yan Zhengming say in a barely audible voice, “Hasn't the Island Lord always been in seclusion, that he didn't even show his face when the Celestial Market was opened? Why would he show up now, for a mere compet.i.tion between the rogue cultivators and the disciples?”

n.o.body answered him — Han Yuan, who was responsible for information gathering, had run off to G.o.d knows where.

The Azure Dragon Island was so crowded that it was a bit anxiety-inducing, so of course Han Yuan wouldn't miss out on this. He had studied the list of match-ups carefully very early on. Speaking of which, this kid really deserved a beating, because whenever he was asked to memorize a bit of scriptures, he would always act like he was dying. But when it came to these useless things, he could remember them all with a quick glance. While he was looking, he also had to pay attention to the conversations around him and listen to all sorts of comments pa.s.sed around everyone.

Judging from these people's conversation, the rogue cultivators seemed to regard Zhang Dasen as a superior of sorts. Han Yuan was truly dissatisfied by this, thinking, It's just that my Little s.h.i.+xiong dislikes showing off. That Zhang Dasen has been thoroughly beaten in private, he just didn't have the face to admit it. These useless things, can't even acknowledge the great mountain before them.

Suddenly, he heard someone say, “Zhang Dasen? Eh… I'll put this bluntly, he's actually not that great.”

Han Yuan instantly felt like he'd found someone of a similar mindset and stretched his neck to see the speaker.

The crowd instantly asked for an explanation. The speaker, sensing that he'd grabbed the people's interest, spoke unhurriedly, “Look, aren't there ten platforms? Ten victors are going to be decided separately. Only then would we, as the victors among the Lecture Hall's rogue cultivators, gain the right to enter the true Grand Compet.i.tion of Azure Dragon Island and compete with the inner disciples.”

Han Yuan was stunned.

That person continued, “Everyone, think about it. We've been on this island for more than five years, but other than those who were running errands, have you ever seen the inner disciples?”

Everyone shook their heads. Han Yuan squeezed to the forefront like an eel and yelled, “Big Brother, don't keep us guessing!”

That person made a ‘heh' and shook his head, “The inner disciples' resources aren't something we can compare to. Moreover, I heard that the disciples who had superior qualities would go into seclusion in the mountains for eighteen years without ever coming out, spending each day going through grueling trials, unceasingly training themselves. That fellow Zhang Dasen is at most only the best among us, but if he were to go up against the real ones… Hehe.”

After he spoke this far, he purposefully put up a mysterious act, shook his head while waving his hand, and said no more.

Han Yuan rolled his eyes and turned to run off.

[1] 'guan' The word used here is 「冠」. It's the headpiece commonly used in ancient China. Some people translate this into 'hat' or 'crown', but they aren't quite right so I decided to use the original Chinese word.

Some terms that you might be interested in:

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