Once Upon A Time, There Was A Spirit Sword Mountain

Within the Eastern Way Prefecture of the Great Ming Country of Blue River Region, there was a mysterious altar on a barren hilltop where the mist and cloud wound around all year long.

A few slightly restless elderly cultivators gathered there.

One of them dressed in a purple long robe with six scarlet stars embroidered at the front said in a sinking voice, “What exactly is going on in the Wang Family Village?”

Another six stars old man was also quite restless. “We have lost two four stars emissary one after the other; even the local Public Envoy was also killed. Could it be that we have provoked a powerful enemy?”

“I already told you; after that fiasco in the White Moon Country, we all have to be very careful, yet you guys still want to expand, and sure enough, aren’t we biting more than what we can chew now?”

“You said as if it’s easy. If we don’t expand, how will our sect’s several thousands of disciples going to eat?”

Several elders continued to argue and defend their opinions until their face started to flush. At this time, they suddenly heard a voice from the mid-air. “Stop bickering, all of you. The thing is indeed just like what Pan Cheng Feng detailed to me; they have indeed met a powerful opponent. Although young in age, his strength is unfathomable and he possessed many high-level magical tools, and he claimed to be a disciple of the Spirit Sword Sect.”

The several six stars elders looked at each other. “Spirit Sword Sect?”

“Have you ever heard of this sect?”

“The better question is, which Spirit Sword Sect was able to produce such a disciple? He even possessed many high-rank magical tools… Our Seven Stars Sect has been established for many years, but only six stars elders have this financial resources.”

A relatively calm elder slowly analyzed, “In the Blue River Region alone, there are at least five sects with the name Spirit Sword Sect. Of which, four are unremarkable insignificant sects, with leaders barely reaching the Foundation Establishment Stage, and the disciples are even more unbearable. Also, there is one in Single Arrangement Country. Its scale is actually comparable to our Seven Stars Sect. Their Sect Leader seems to be in the Xudan Stage. Although it’s incredible, it’s not impossible if a genius disciple comes out of that sect.”

“The Spirit Sword Sect in the Single Arrangement Country? Lucky for them to encounter a genius disciple… At present, all the good seedlings are basically monopolized by those sects in the Union of Ten Thousand Immortals, leaving sects like us even more difficult to survive. Alas, now we even have to go to the ‘barren mountains and wild hills’ [1] just to develop our influence.”

“Enough, what’s the use in complaining about this now? Those sects in the Union of Ten Thousand Immortals have their eyes look upward. They basically hold us, loose cultivators, in contempt. Even their man-made spirit roots are on a much higher grade than our Seven Stars Spirit Root. Let’s take our Six Stars Elders, for example. In their sects, at most, we can only spend our life as outer court disciples; we might even end up doing odd-jobs, so we might as well stand on our own.”

“Speaking of which, don’t you guys think that the name Spirit Sword Sect seems familiar?”

“What’s so strange about that? This is the name of several rotten sects, right?”

“No, I mean it seems like in the Union of Ten Thousand Immortals, there is this thing called Five Unique, which is the top five sects, wherein one of them is called Spirit Sword Sect. Don’t you guys think that that disciple is…”

Before he could finish, the several elders suddenly felt chill behind their backs.

At this time, the voice in midair slightly hesitated. “… That couldn’t be, right? How could that ‘high-above’ sect have an intersection with us? Moreover, if we really annoyed a disciple from that sect, then it should’ve been over for us. Either we’ve been refined into a Ten Thousand Spirit Blood Pearl, or we’d simply be baked into a sesame seed cake and eaten. Ugh, either one of them is truly horrible.”

“Sect Leader, it shouldn’t be that bad, right? We don’t have any blood enmity, so they shouldn’t go that far…”

The sound in mid-air hissed. “Do you think the Five Unique of the Union of Ten Thousand Immortals is going to be reasonable with you? If we really offended and angered their disciple, they will immediately dispatch their Elders to deal with us. In the previous years, when a disciple from the Royal Soldier Sect went out wandering, he took a fancy of a girl cultivator. In the end, the girl was robbed away by a disciple from a big high-rank sect. The Royal Soldier Sect’s disciple was still young and his cultivation shallow, so he couldn’t defeat the other man. After being injured, he returned to the sect in distressed. This is not the worst thing that can happen in the Immortal Cultivation World, but the Royal Soldier Sect dispatched three Yuanying Stage Elders to help their disciple get even. It is said that the big high-rank sect was nearly wiped out by the Royal Soldier Sect… We can imagine how that big high-rank sect would look like. Now since we’re still fine, that youth in the Wang Family Village should not be a disciple from a top illustrious sect.”

One of the elders cheerfully suggested, “Since that is the case, why don’t we send people to catch his loved ones and coerce him to do our bidding?”

The elder next to him hissed. “You want to die?”

“Didn’t Sect Leader just said that he might not have any background?”

“So what? He alone isn’t enough? Right now, that fifteen years old can cut our two four stars emissaries. In a few years, he might be able to destroy our sect in a breeze single-handedly!”

“How could it be that terrifying? Are you trying to scare all of us?”

“Hey, these years, how many gifted young cultivators could single-handedly exterminate a sect like us, Seven Stars Sect? Do you think there’re only a few of them? Many elite disciples from the top sects basically see us as target practice!”

Seeing that the elders began to quarrel again, the voice in mid air—filled with frustration—exclaimed, “Enough, stop it, all of you.”

“Then, Sect Leader, in your opinion, how should we proceed?”

“… We have to observe the situation first. Let’s withdraw our people from the Wang Family Village. It’s not a mistake to be cautious at this time.”

“Withdraw?”

“But we have been operating in the Wang Family Village for more than two years! That village possesses a rich and dense spiritual energy, which is very rare. The advantage to cultivate in there is so big!”

“That’s right! Although the Blue River Region is huge, all the sweet spots for cultivation are basically occupied by the Union of Ten Thousand Immortals. This Wang Family Village… is truly rare!”

“Enough, you think I don’t know all of that? I never said we should give up the Wang Family Village. What I said is we need to observe the situation first and wait for the opportunity. If all goes well, perhaps we don’t even need to move our hands because things would be solved naturally.”

“No need to move our hands? What does it mean?”

——

On the other side, after fiercely repelling two high-level Qi Cultivating Stage Seven Stars Sect cultivators, the low-level Qi Cultivating Stage cultivator also mutilated a certain glib tongue Publicity Envoy. Yet, Wang Lu could not turn the village to its previous auspicious state.

Of course, this result was unexpected. Destroying that sect’s apparatus in the village and sending the rest away… Those were facts.

Wang Lu had wanted to minimize the cost to solve the problem, unfortunately, the killing was still unavoidable.

Of the two four stars emissary, one was dead, and another one was wounded; as for the Publicity Envoy, his tongue was shredded; he died without an intact corpse… Soon, the Seven Stars Sect completely withdrew from the Wang Family Village, yet they left behind a mess.

After operating for more than two years, the Seven Stars Sect force was already deeply rooted in the Wang Family Village. The popular theory that said everyone could become immortals has struck the hearts of the villagers. Thus, when the Seven Stars Sect withdrew, people suddenly felt sad that their road to immortality was suddenly cut off.

But the main culprit was, without a doubt, the youth who had left the village to seek immortality more than two years ago, and had turned into a devil, Wang Lu. He didn’t know how many villagers had secretly cursed him.

“Oh, this is called good-heartedness has no recompense [2].”

Facing the morning sun, Wang Lu was leisurely lying down in the courtyard. He was lightly nibbling the egg-filled cake from one of his hand, relaxed and carefree.

On the other side of the courtyard, Master Wang clumsily performed a set of fist that was taught to him by Wang Lu. It was known as Immortal Forging Body Fist, which could prolong life.

Initially, Master Wang didn’t want to practice this fist. How could a prolonged life be more important than lazily sleeping in the morning? Unfortunately, he couldn’t resist the Madame who always urged him every morning, so everyday, he had to get up early; his feeling towards this was incredibly complex.

Upon hearing his son’s complain, Master Wang was also helpless. “The folks were deceived, don’t blame them.”

“Rest assured, us Immortal Cultivators won’t take a group of mortal villagers seriously… However, if they still continue down this path, soon no one would be able to save them from their own foolishness.”

As he said that, Wang Lu looked up at the several clouds floating on the clear blue sky; it was a rare good weather. However… in the eyes of a cultivator with a Void Spirit Root, the withered yellow color has actually grown in size.

This time, it wasn’t caused by an external factor, but the village itself has rotted.

Of the two Daoist Immortals of the Seven Stars Sect, one was dead, and another one was injured. The Publicity Envoy died without an intact corpse—his tongue had been minced. Properly speaking, this should intimidate those ignorant villagers.

However, as Wang Lu predicted, after those killings, in addition to fear, they also felt resentment and doubling down on their ignorance. The villagers cursed the devil who wreaked havoc on their village, seriously believing that Wang Lu had destroyed the future happiness of every one of them.

Then… they wished the heaven would open its eyes and send the divine tribulation lightning to strike him. Or a high-level Daoist Immortal from Seven Stars Sect to descend down to earth and take care of Wang Lu. Then they could continue to spread the immortal affinity to the whole village.

In short, though the Seven Stars Sect had disappeared, there was no improvement on the situation.

“This village is hopeless,” Wang Lu made a sarcastic conclusion.

“Try to find the solution.” Master Wang wiped away the sweat on his forehead. “Aren’t you a Successor Disciple of one of those Five Uniques? If even a small village problem can’t be solved by you, how could you call yourself a Successor Disciple?”

“Dad, you’re being prejudice. A Successor Disciple like me is not these ignorant villagers’ caring elder sister; if they’re dead set on their stupidity, why should I stop them? My sword is only to defeat a powerful enemy!”

“Come on, don’t give up on them just like that.” Master Wang peevishly said, “Didn’t you say your sect sent you all down the mountain for an experiential learning? Just regard this as your experiential learning then. Actually, it’s very easy to solve this problem; as long as you can force those swindlers back here and acknowledge their fraud, the villagers would have no choice but to believe, no matter how unwilling they are.”

Wang Lu was stunned for a moment. “Hah! This idea is feasible, but…”

“The next question is, where do I go to find those guys? They’ve long fled three thousand miles away scared of my illustrious prestige. Moreover, in any case, they are still a small scale gang, so their Sect Leader is, at the very least, at the Foundation Establishment Stage. I couldn’t possibly handle it alone.”

After firing off the last move, Master Wang pantingly replied, “On the specific on how you’re going to handle it, that’s your own thing. Your dad is just an ordinary mortal; if you ask me, where should I ask?”

Wang Lu, therefore, once again reclined on the lazy chair.

At this time, Sui Shi came out of the house carrying a sweat towel and a pot of tea. Seeing her husband had been practicing earnestly, she lightly chuckled.

Upon seeing her wife, Master Wang sighed with emotion and then remembered something. “By the way, you have been cultivating in the Spirit Sword Sect for so long, so you should have friends, right? Why can’t you ask your friends to help you?”

“… Friends?” Upon hearing that, Wang Lu deeply frowned.

——

“So that’s it. I’m going back to the mountain and find a few friends that can come with me to help me deal with this problem. Dad, mom, you guys have to take care of yourself.”

That evening, Wang Lu had made a decision to temporarily leave his parents and return to the mountain to enlist several recruits to come back here with him.

At the same time, in order to ensure the safety of his parents, he created a simple protection array from the Cloud Thread Silk; because he didn’t bother to study it, his creation was almost at the layman’s level. However, it was enough to deal with the common villagers.

As for the attack from the Seven Stars Sect…

“Autumn Beam, please take care of my family.”

“… I will do my best.”

“Mm, I know that asking a treasure spirit that has been burdened by nine heavy seals to fight is somewhat like forcing someone to do something against his will, therefore… at the time, if you want to vent your anger, then just do it, don’t let yourself get hurt.”

“I am the one who’ll get hurt, not you!”

“Women are used to pain…”

——

After saying goodbye to his parents, Wang Lu rushed back to Spirit Sword Sect faster than the previous time. In two days, after passing through the hardships of the journey, Wang Lu finally arrived at the foot of Spirit Sword Mountain; all the way here, he ran like a dead dog.

The Spirit Creek Town under the Spirit Sword Mountain still retained its desolate scene. Without the Immortal Gathering to push its economy, the town went back to its original form, however, the town residences apparently didn’t care whether the town was prosperous or not; they still lived their easy and comfortable orderly life.

As the resident of the town under the Spirit Sword Sect, these several hundred people were not cultivators yet not simple mortals either. Everyone has their own rich history; if unearthed carefully…

There was no time to unearth this unrelated side story! Wang Lu rushed in big strides toward the center of the town, Ru Family Inn to be exact.

“Lady Boss! Lady Boss, are you in there!?”

“Damn! Why are you yelling! It’s hard for me to get some sleep.”

From behind the counter, Lady Boss feebly threw the worn out cleaning rag. “Didn’t you go to the experiential learning? Why did you come back? Have your IQ suddenly drop?”

Seeing this familiar face, Wang Lu was pleasantly surprised. “Sister Ling!!!”

“Sh*t, don’t be so disgusting like that, who is your Sister Ling…” Lady Boss languidly lifted her eyelids, but when she saw Wang Lu, she couldn’t help but become shocked.

Travel worn, exhausted face, but also… This was the first time the Lady Boss saw the hesitation in Wang Lu’s face.

Obviously, the youth’s heart hid an enormously difficult problem. Because he couldn’t single-handedly solve it, he ran back to the mountain… to ask for help?

However, for more than two years, there was no problem that was difficult enough to stump this fellow! Not even once! She was sure of it! But this time, he only descended down the mountain for around a week, so what exactly was the problem that he encountered that gave him such a huge blow?

Little Ling’Er wrinkled her brows and invoked her more than thirty years of life experience…

“Little Wang Lu, could it be that you’re… brokenhearted?”

[1] Secluded places far away from the city.

[2] Idiom: To end up being resented by those you were trying to help.