The Three Pinnacles of Flying Sword.
After leaving Xiang Qian's residence, Jiang Yan spoke thus in the Tongtian Palace.
When battling the Dragon Face, he had repeatedly requested to fight in Jiang Wang's place. Though he had appeared unwilling for Jiang Wang to die, he himself was probably well aware that he had once again aroused Jiang Wang's aversion and vigilance.
Having experienced so much, Jiang Wang would never entrust his life to another—especially not to an enigmatic existence like Jiang Yan.
Previously, he had not been one for idle chatter. That he was speaking now was likely out of a desire to ease their relationship. At the same time, it was not without the factor of demonstrating value—a broad knowledge base was itself a rare form of value.
"The Three Pinnacles of Flying Sword?"
Jiang Wang could not help but be curious about the flying sword technique that Xiang Qian had used to contend against an Inner Palace realm powerhouse.
"The cultivation world has undergone many transformations since its inception. I cannot pinpoint exactly which era it was, but it was in the Present Age—not as far back as the Near Antiquity," Jiang Yan sighed. "It was an era when the flying sword technique flourished."
Jiang Wang was clear on the concept of "eras," though he knew almost nothing of those sealed-off histories.
Before the Present Age, countless years had passed. The sages had broadly divided them into four eras: the Primordial Era, the High Antiquity, the Middle Antiquity, and the Near Antiquity.
And each of these four eras, which spanned immense stretches of time, could be further subdivided into smaller eras.
The division of eras was not solely based on time or events, nor confined to politics or culture, yet all had gained universal recognition.
For instance, the Near Antiquity that Jiang Yan spoke of included the "Age of the Saints" and the "Age of the One True," among others.
As for the Present Age, it had begun in the first year of the Dao Calendar and had lasted three thousand nine hundred and eighteen years.
Of course, this first year of the Dao Calendar marked the beginning of a new epoch, but it did not represent the history of the Dao lineage.
The histories of the Hundred Schools of the Saints had to be traced back to far more ancient times.
The so-called first year of the Dao Calendar was more accurately the restart of Dao Calendar chronology.
Returning to what Jiang Yan had said, his so-called "Three Pinnacles of Flying Sword" had appeared within this three-thousand-nine-hundred-and-eighteen-year history and had once belonged exclusively to one particular era.
Jiang Wang asked: "Are you saying the flying sword technique that Xiang Qian cultivates is one of the Three Pinnacles of Flying Sword?"
"In the era when the flying sword technique flourished, there were three great sword daos—the peerless sword daos that stood at the apex of the age. None in the world could rival them, hence the name 'Pinnacles,'" Jiang Yan said. "The Self-Only Sword Dao that this Xiang Qian cultivates is one of them. His origins are not simple. You must be cautious."
If it was truly a sword dao known as the pinnacle of an era, then Xiang Qian's ability to fight across realms against an Inner Palace powerhouse was not so difficult to understand. In fact, for a sword dao that had once stood at the apex of an era, Xiang Qian's performance could be considered somewhat underwhelming.
Perhaps there had been some mishap along the way, or perhaps something had been lost in transmission to the present, or perhaps...
Jiang Wang was noncommittal about his warning. Instead, he asked warily: "Is this also knowledge inherited from the White Bone Evil God?"
"Do not underestimate the White Bone Sovereign God," Jiang Yan said, his tone laden with meaning. "Even if there are temporary victories and defeats, always remember—It is a netherworld deity that is nearly indestructible."
This seemed less like a warning to Jiang Wang and more like a reminder to himself.
He said: "Although I am merely the result of a brief contamination by the White Bone Sovereign God, the information I have come into contact with is as vast as the ocean. You cannot imagine what kind of world that is."
"Are you saying that Du Ruhui's victory and the others' was insignificant?" Jiang Wang asked.
"In the short term, it can be considered magnificent. But when their lifespans have expired—if we are still alive then—you will know how insignificant this ripple is in the river of time."
Jiang Wang could not help but admit it. The mere phrase "Three Pinnacles of Flying Sword" had given him a sense of the vastness and grandeur of history.
To this day, there were still cultivators who practiced the flying sword technique, but the so-called Three Pinnacles—he had never heard of them.
The supreme sword daos that had once stood at the apex of an age had now faded into obscurity.
What a magnificent force time was!
……
……
In the royal palace of Zhaoheng City.
Yang Jiande rubbed the state letter in his hands again and again before finally tossing it onto the desk.
This was already the third one.
The imperial scribe Liu Huai stood to the side, softly saying: "Your Majesty..."
"Three times I have sent offers of surrender, and three times he has not come. Chongxuan Chuliang has made up his mind—he will not come." Yang Jiande rose and strode toward the exit.
At first, his vigor was still weak.
But.
After one step, his hands were already clasped behind his back.
After two steps, he raised his head.
After three steps, his spirit soared to the heavens.
"Issue the edict!" he commanded, hands behind his back. "That old man of the Jiang family has bullied me too far! The state teeters on the brink! The nation is in peril! I call upon the realm to rally to the defense!"
"Gather the armies of Yang! I shall hunt the Butcher within our borders!"
"Draft another edict, to be delivered to Chongxuan Chuliang. If he refuses my letter of surrender, then let him accept my letter of war!"
"Thirty years ago, we did not decide our fates. Thirty years later, we shall settle them!"
Rumble!
Thunder boomed outside the hall, and a torrential downpour began.
On the last day of the seventh month, the Lord of Yang finally abandoned all illusions and resolved to wage war with everything he had.
Even if... this was perhaps exactly what Chongxuan Chuliang had been waiting for.
……
……
Yang was, after all, a nation that had maintained its ancestral temples for dozens of generations. Even as its territory shrank day by day for various reasons, its borders could still be considered vast.
The Autumn Kill Army's blockade of Yang's border could not, of course, rely solely on soldiers.
Formations were the primary means of containment.
Along the entire border of Yang, small formations were placed every ten li, linked in chains of a hundred li. They were interlocking and mutually reinforcing. The core of the grand formation ultimately converged in the commander's tent, where Chongxuan Chuliang personally stood guard.
The other nations bordering Yang all maintained a tacit silence on this matter.
Everyone understood the principle that when the lips are gone, the teeth grow cold. But to say that an ant was trying to shake a great tree was by no means an exaggerated metaphor.
Take the State of Rong, for example. General Jingye, the garrison commander at Yinguang City, was already one of the few hardliners. He had been the first to expose the plague poison within Yang's borders across the entire Eastern Domain, utterly unafraid of any possible retaliation from Yang.
Yet when Qi unilaterally occupied the border lines of both Rong and Yang and deployed formations, besides quietly marshaling his troops in preparation for the worst, he did not utter a single word of protest.
This was not merely his personal attitude—it was the attitude of the entire Rong court.
Why was Qi the undisputed hegemon of the Eastern Domain? Why was it able to occupy the most fertile and resource-rich lands of the entire Eastern Domain?
This was not achieved through any democratic election.
It was a status won through battle after battle.
Looking across the entire Eastern Domain, which nation had not been subdued by Qi? The Xia State, which had once spanned both the southeastern domains and had been at the height of its power, still cowered within the Southern Domain to this day—not daring to look northeast for thirty years.
On this same day.
Inside Yinguang City, at an ordinary inn, a woman with an exquisite figure walked in.
The people in the inn stared wide-eyed.
Though she was dressed modestly for the autumn weather, she radiated an aura of endless allure.
A black veil concealed her face, but it could not hide her soul-captivating eyes.
……
……
PS: It seems a corner of the world has been lifted~