Book Synopsis
Book Tags
Donation Rankings
Comment
0 Comments
You May Also Like
墨書 Inktalez
The main peak of Mount Hua is steep and perilous, with serene trees, chirping birds, and flowing streams. Four or five large houses with pink walls are built on the slopes at varying heights. A fifteen or sixteen-year-old boy is practicing swordplay outside one of the houses with a seven or eight-year-old girl. The two appear to be very close, the main characters Linghu Chong and his junior sister.
Bai Tang feels a bit regretful about this pair; they grew up together and understand each other so well! Unfortunately, in the films and stories, the senior brother is merely a backup for the junior sister.
Changing his appearance, Bai Tang deliberately reveals his presence.
"Who goes there?" Linghu Chong shouted loudly, protecting his junior sister behind him while pointing a wooden long sword at the person who suddenly appeared, showing no real threat.
Bai Tang scoffed and turned to run towards the Cliff of Regrets.
The young man, emboldened by just having learned the profound sword techniques taught by his master, followed without fear. Of course, before leaving, he reminded Yue Ling Shan to find their master and mistress.
Linghu Chong's lightness skill was not commendable at this point. Bai Tang tried to slow down his pace as much as possible and finally led Linghu Chong to the Cliff of Regrets before successfully retreating.
When Yue Buqun and Ning Zhongze reached the summit, they saw Linghu Chong standing in front of a cave.
"Chong'er, where is that person?" Yue Buqun asked.
"Master, Mistress," Linghu Chong replied, "I didn't see anyone when I reached the top. I suspect that person entered the cave, so I waited outside. That person hasn't come out!"
"Good job!" Yue Buqun praised his eldest disciple and said to Ning Zhongze, "Sister, you guard the entrance while I take Chong'er inside to investigate!"
"Yes. Senior brother, be careful!" Ning Zhongze sighed inwardly; the next generation of disciples from Mount Hua had not yet matured, leaving only her and Yue Buqun to hold down the fort. A thief sneaking into Mount Hua caused them both to be unable to manage everything.
Yue Buqun nodded and took Linghu Chong into the cave, where they discovered a large hole that had suddenly appeared in the cave wall.
"Master?" Linghu Chong exclaimed in surprise, pointing at the hole. "That person is amazing! They actually made a big hole in the mountain wall!"
"It wasn't that person who made it; it should be a secret passage that our Mount Hua Sect originally had. Somehow that person found out about it and entered Mount Hua through this passage," Yue Buqun speculated while stroking his beard.
"Master, I will go in and chase after them!" Linghu Chong was about to rush into the cave.
"Wait!" Yue Buqun pulled his disciple back. "It might be dangerous inside; you follow me closely!"
"Oh!" Linghu Chong understood that his master wanted to protect him. Feeling warm in his heart, he followed closely behind Yue Buqun. However, young Linghu Chong was startled by a skeleton in the cave; after that, Master Yue's expression changed between green and white as he stared at the inscriptions and drawings on the stone wall before finally returning to normal after a long pause.
“Master, look!” The young man's eyes were the sharpest. He was the first to discover the Secret Manual buried by Bai Tang.
Holding four extraordinary martial arts Secret Manuals, Yue Buqun didn't know how to express his excitement.
“With the blessings of the founding ancestor, I, disciple Yue Buqun, will not disappoint the ancestor's expectations. I will promote the Huashan Sect!”
After obtaining the four Secret Manuals, Yue Buqun's ambitions swelled. He was planning to master the martial arts from the Secret Manuals and drive Zuo Lengchan down from the Leader of the Five Mountains' throne, merge the Five Mountains Sword Sect, and become the Grandmaster of the Five Mountains Sword Sect, suppressing Shaolin and Wudang beneath him...
However, a note was like a bucket of cold water that extinguished all his enthusiasm and ambitions. The note was written by Bai Tang impersonating Guang Ning Zi (Hao Datong, named Lin, courtesy name Taigu, also known as Tianranzi and Guang Ning Zi, self-proclaimed Primordial Daoist, with the Dharma name Great Wisdom and Great Understanding). The content merely stated that Hao Datong had achieved success in his Avenue and calculated that his self-established Huashan Sect would face a catastrophe, thus leaving behind four martial arts Secret Manuals for the Huashan leader to use wisely to help Huashan survive the disaster and thrive. However, at the end of the note, it reminded Huashan Sect that they must not merge with the other four mountains, and that the Huashan leader must not harm Huashan's reputation due to ambition; otherwise, it would be seen as betraying one's teacher and ancestors, leading to expulsion from Huashan Sect.
Yue Buqun wiped away a cold sweat; he almost stepped onto the evil path mentioned by his ancestor. At this moment, Yue Buqun was still an upright young man, not yet forced by Zuo Lengchan's pressure to resort to improper means.
“Master, the founding ancestor is truly remarkable; he can even predict events hundreds of years later. Is he a deity?” Linghu Chong asked curiously.
“Of course! The ancestor has achieved success in his Avenue; he must have ascended to heaven!”
As they spoke, they left the cave. Ning Zhongze had been anxiously waiting outside; upon seeing them come out, she immediately rushed forward to check if they were injured.
“Junior sister, we are unhurt!” Yue Buqun excitedly grabbed Ning Zhongze's hand and pulled her into the cave to share their discovery.
“Junior sister, let’s seal off this cave first; Thinking Cliff will be a forbidden area to prevent others from discovering it.”
“Senior brother, shouldn’t we tell the other four sects about the martial arts in this cave?”
“Junior sister, possessing treasures can lead to trouble. Until I figure out how to return the martial arts of other sects in this cave, we should keep this matter under wraps.” Yue Buqun's expression turned serious as he sternly said to Linghu Chong, “Chong'er, do you understand? Not a word about what happened today should be leaked. Even if Ling Shan asks you, you cannot tell her. Do you understand?”
“I understand!” Linghu Chong nodded vigorously. He understood the gravity of the situation and didn’t want to risk his junior sister inadvertently leaking information that could bring disaster to Huashan Sect.
“The Nine Yin Manual is more advanced than the Purple Cloud Skill. Junior sister, let’s cultivate together; you practice Jade Maiden Sword Technique while I practice Quanzhen Swordsmanship. With both sword techniques combined under our ancestor’s guidance, our power will increase tenfold. At that time, even if we face Shaolin's Fang Zheng Master together as husband and wife, we will stand a chance.”
“I will listen to senior brother.” Ning Zhongze replied, “However, since Chong'er has already mastered his basic internal skills, let him start practicing the Nine Yin Manual too! Dugu Nine Swords should also be practiced by Chong'er; our Huashan Sect cannot rely solely on us two.”
“Junior sister is right!”
The three core high-ranking members of Huashan Sect began cultivating profound Martial Arts; their skills improved rapidly day by day. A year later, Linghu Chong had made progress with the Nine Yin Manual equivalent to Yue Buqun's strength from a year ago, while Yue Buqun's strength had already reached parity with Zuo Lengchan.
Bai Tang received the mission reward from the system. The reward for revitalizing the Huashan Sect was more generous than saving the sect leader, providing three pieces of Time-Space Gate fragments. Was it because it concerned the protagonist?
With the help of the system, Bai Tang found the secluded valley where Dugu Qiubai lived. He arrived at Xiangyang ahead of Feng Qingyang, who had been searching for the right place but had not found it. The valley was deep, containing a large cave.
"This is where Dugu Qianbei once lived and his burial place," Bai Tang said to Feng Qingyang.
Feng Qingyang adjusted his clothing, respectfully knelt before the cave, bowed several times, and then stood up, saying, "Let's go in!"
From the outside, the cave appeared dark, but it was quite shallow, only about three zhang deep. Inside, there was nothing but a stone table and a stone bench; in one corner lay a pile of loose stones resembling a grave. In front of the stone grave stood a stone tablet inscribed with "Tomb of Sword Demon Dugu Qiubai," with Yang Guo's name inscribed below. Looking up, it seemed there were words written on the cave wall, but they were covered in dust and moss, making them hard to see in the darkness. Bai Tang took out a luminous pearl while Feng Qingyang wiped away the moss on the wall, revealing three lines of text. The characters were finely written and deeply engraved into the stone, clearly made with a very sharp weapon: "For over thirty years traversing the rivers and lakes, killing enemies and defeating heroes; now there are no rivals left. What can be done? Only to hide in this deep valley and make sculptures my friends. Alas! I have sought a worthy opponent all my life but could not find one; truly a lonely existence." Signed "Sword Demon Dugu Qiubai."
The inscription by Dugu Qiubai did not greatly affect Bai Tang, but Feng Qingyang became entranced, his eyes glued to the inscription as if he had turned into a puppet. Outsiders could not discern his state; at the moment his gaze touched the inscription, a powerful sword intent struck him. Feng Qingyang hurriedly summoned his own sword intent to resist. The two sword intents clashed in midair before ultimately canceling each other out. Although Feng Qingyang was exhausted and covered in sweat, he gained much from this profound realization, rapidly elevating his realm...
Not wanting to disturb Feng Qingyang, Bai Tang took out some incense paper money from his backpack and lit it in front of the stone grave, bowing four times. After paying respects to Dugu Qiubai, Bai Tang exited the cave and walked toward the back of it. Behind the cave, trees were lush and the mountain air was refreshing. After walking for a while, he arrived at a steep cliff. The cliff rose like an enormous screen; about twenty zhang above ground level was a large stone measuring three or four zhang square that resembled a platform with faint inscriptions on it. Looking closely, he saw that it read "Sword Mound," with two additional lines of text beside it: "Since Sword Demon Dugu Qiubai had no rivals below, he buried his sword here. Alas! Heroes are helpless; what use is their Longsword? How tragic!"
With a light touch of his toes, Bai Tang floated up to the Sword Mound. He moved aside some stones on top to reveal two parallel Longswords. Between them lay two long stone slabs resting on a large green stone. Instead of looking at the Longswords first, Bai Tang focused on the two long slabs. The first slab had two lines inscribed on the green stone beneath it: "Zi Wei Soft Sword, used before age thirty; accidentally harmed my righteous friend and thus abandoned it in this deep valley." The second slab also bore an inscription: "Heavy Sword Without Edge, great skill without craftsmanship; relied on it to roam freely before age forty." Unfortunately, this externally forged iron Heavy Sword had already been given by Yang Guo to Huang Rong, who had melted it down into the Leaning Sword and the Dragon-Slaying Saber.
Bai Tang felt that Yang Guo was wasteful; both the Leaning Sword and the Dragon-Slaying Saber could be forged from other materials. With such a large area as Xiangyang City, there surely must be good forging materials available. Why did he have to melt down the Heavy Sword? Was it because Yang Guo had reached a point where he believed that "after forty years old, one should not be limited by objects; grass, wood, bamboo, and stone can all become swords"? Did he no longer need the Heavy Sword, so he simply discarded it? (To be continued)
Comment 0 Comment Count