Pure flying-sword art, with life and death joined in a single sword.
Where the sword remains, the man remains; when the sword breaks, the man dies.
It was an ancient cultivation path rarely seen anymore, astonishing in its killing power. Yet because its path was rugged and the Great Dao difficult to pursue, it had gradually declined in the transcendent world.
The decline of flying-sword art did not mean it was not powerful.
In fact, the cultivation world was a hundred schools contending. Having developed to its present state, it gave birth to new cultivation methods and innovations every day.
History itself was a process of sifting gold from the sands.
Pure flying-sword art was too extreme, but the cultivation world had never truly abandoned it.
The Daoist sword art of the Dao sect, for example, had developed from flying-sword art.
While retaining most of flying-sword art's killing power, it also incorporated the versatility and breadth of Dao arts, while reducing the influence of the "artifact" on one's "life."
Even now, although there were more cultivation choices that enjoyed broader recognition, pure flying-sword art still had its steadfast practitioners.
Just like the ancient military cultivators' Qi-Blood pulse-charging path.
Military cultivators of the present age generally followed the cultivation paths common throughout the modern cultivation world, differing only in their cultivation philosophy and certain details. Such military cultivators were safer and had a better chance of growing strong. This change was also an important reason the military school had become one of the mainstream forces of the present age.
Yet some people still held fast to the path of ancient military cultivators, walking the perilous Qi-Blood pulse-charging road. Du Hu was one of them.
You could say that these people who remained loyal to tradition were stuck in the past, pedantic and old-fashioned. Or you could say they were inheritors of an ancient age, using their feeble strength to keep alive the light of an era that might already have vanished.
They themselves did not care.
There were countless paths to the Dao. They had merely chosen the road they wanted to walk. That was all.
"I've struck gold."
Jiang Chen thought.
A practitioner of pure flying-sword art, no matter what the future held, could unleash killing power far beyond Zhang Hai's even now.
If someone of this caliber truly pledged allegiance, he would be worth far more than his price.
...
Of all the women Jiang Chen had known so far, Ye Qingyu and Zhu Biqiong were the two who had been protected best.
They had experienced little of the world's storms, and their understanding of the world's dangers was vague as well.
The difference was that Ye Qingyu's father was far more powerful than Zhu Biqiong's elder sister.
Thus, he could treat the entire State of Yun and the lands around it as his backyard, letting his daughter wander wherever she pleased while giving her only a few treasures to save her life. Those without sense could not hurt his daughter, while those with sense would not offend him.
As a result, Ye Qingyu had broader horizons, a wider outlook, and a more generous way of handling matters. She lacked only experience between life and death. But that was no problem for the Master of the Lingxiao Pavilion. Designing trials tailored to her was hardly difficult.
Judging from his earlier correspondence with Ye Qingyu, the Master of the Lingxiao Pavilion should already have begun addressing this matter.
Zhu Suyao, however, had done everything in her power and could protect only a small patch of land, allowing her younger sister to see little of the ways of the world. As a result, Zhu Biqiong was as innocent as a blank sheet of paper in some respects.
Fortunately, the Fishing Sea Tower had served as her support, allowing Zhu Biqiong to grow to where she was today.
But a sect was not a charitable institution, and the competition within it was fierce. As a transcendent cultivator herself, Zhu Biqiong needed more than the sort of living allowance a charity home could provide.
As Jiang Chen saw it, after Zhu Suyao became blocked before the Gate of Heaven and Earth, the reason her temperament changed so drastically was partly Hu Shaomeng's faithlessness and callousness, but also, perhaps, that protecting her younger sister had become increasingly beyond her ability, leaving her despairing of the future. All these things had led to the journey to the Celestial Residence Secret Realm.
After Zhu Suyao's death, with Zhu Biqiong's innocence, her days in the Fishing Sea Tower must not have been easy either.
It was difficult to say whether such protection was right or wrong. At least, as far as Jiang Chen was concerned, if he had the chance, he too would choose to keep Jiang An'an from ever seeing the darkness of the world.
But he had failed to do so.
Zhu Biqiong was carrying a package and preparing to leave. When she had slipped out of the sect, she had been empty-handed and brought nothing with her.
But after living with Xiaoxiao for so long, she had gradually accumulated a few little things: small embroidered pouches, hair ribbons, and the like. Xiaoxiao had even sewn her a green padded jacket, because she had heard Zhu Biqiong lived by the sea and thought that living beside so much water must make a person cold.
"It's actually quite hot by the sea," Jiang Chen said.
He felt a headache coming on. Dugu Xiao had probably never left a single commandery in all her life, so it was understandable that she did not know what the seaside was like. But what was Zhu Biqiong's excuse? Cultivators did not fear cold or heat, true, but among a crowd dressed in single layers, wouldn't one person alone in a green padded jacket stand out too much?
"Oh." Xiaoxiao looked surprised and embarrassed. She naturally believed Jiang Chen without question.
"Whether it's hot or cold, what's the difference?" Zhu Biqiong said carelessly. "As long as it looks good!"
She adored this little green jacket. The style was attractive, and the workmanship exquisite.
No one could deny Xiaoxiao's talent for tailoring.
"This is for you!" Zhu Biqiong took out the Fortune-Calamity Ball and held it out to Jiang Chen. "It's the only valuable thing I have on me."
Jiang Chen did not take it. "Why give it to me?"
"You avenged me. I owe you a huge favor. One Fortune-Calamity Ball obviously isn't enough, but I'll find a way to make it up to you in the future." She blinked. "I, Zhu Biqiong, always keep my word."
Just then, Xiaoxiao peeked at her and said timidly, "Sister Zhu... you said you would teach me martial arts."
Zhu Biqiong: "..."
Looking at Xiaoxiao's innocent, yearning eyes, she truly could not bring herself to say no.
"How about... I stay for another month?" she asked.
Jiang Chen gave Xiaoxiao a satisfied look.
This maidservant was indeed very sensible, and very easy to deal with.
The moment she saw him come over, she had understood that he wanted Zhu Biqiong to stay and immediately seized the opening to help persuade her.
Zhu Biqiong's feelings toward Xiaoxiao were a mixture of sympathy and tenderness; she regarded her as a little sister. But Xiaoxiao was not as simple and innocent as Zhu Biqiong believed.
From the first time her parents sold her, Xiaoxiao could no longer be a child. Not to mention all the things she had gone through afterward.
Ever since she began following Jiang Chen, she had worked constantly to show her value. Only now had she found the right way to do it.
As for why he wanted Zhu Biqiong to stay, it certainly was not because he had any designs on her. He simply lacked manpower. An extra pair of hands was still an extra pair of hands. Zhu Biqiong excelled at illusion arts, which were very useful and could deal with many situations.
Jiang Chen said to Zhu Biqiong, "The Fortune-Calamity Ball was something your sister left you. I can't take it. As I see it, killing Hu Shaomeng fulfilled my promise to you. Neither of us owes the other anything, so you don't need to feel indebted to me."
"If you insist on doing something so you can feel at ease... it's simple. I'm very short-handed right now. Stay and work for me for half a year. I'll pay you twice the rate I pay Zhang Hai and Xiang Qian. After half a year, we'll be even."
When his words touched on her sister, Zhu Biqiong could no longer let go of the Fortune-Calamity Ball.
Her path had always been arranged carefully by her sister.
Now that she was returning to the Fishing Sea Tower, she actually felt rather lost.
"Zhu Biqiong, you need to grow up."
She said it to herself inwardly. Then she raised her head and looked at Jiang Chen, making a stubborn promise in the way only a young girl could. "All right."
...
Jiang Chen had never been someone who floated above the clouds.
He believed that every effort should bring a corresponding harvest.
The Hu clan's mine, and even Green Sheep Town, was his first field.
After clearing out the pests, he recruited farmers as well.
He was trying to scatter seeds here and see what kind of harvest the following autumn would bring.
Yue Wen