535 An Old Daoist Nun Arrives in the Capital

Chen Changsheng had already prepared himself for the sword intent Su Li hadconcealed in the letter. His cultivation had improved much after his return tothe capital, so at the very beginning, he planned to see how long he couldresist it. Yet he had not imagined that the sword intents within the letterwould be so sharp and terrifying. Let alone resisting, he didn't even dareprovoke them. Of course, Su Li had no hostility, much less killing intent, towards him.Those sword intents that had flown out of the letter noiselessly cut many itemsin the kitchen into pieces and had even cut off a floating piece of his belt,but not a single sword intent fell on his body. They only danced around him inthe air. Those sword intents danced around him like falling leaves, like snowflakes,like drops of water. It was like Chen Changsheng was standing under an autumn tree, a snowy sky, ora waterfall. He faintly understood some things and gradually relaxed, sending his spiritualsense into the world formed by these sword intents. These sword intents were precisely the letter that Su Li had written him, oneof the gifts that had been left behind for him. So just what was written withinthis letter? On one side, Chen Changsheng comprehended the sword intents Su Li left behindafter breaking through, while on the other side, he quietly read the letter inhis hands. Su Li's handwriting was just like his sword and like his person, flowing andlucid, joyful and sharp. The brush was raised with incredible speed and broughtdown with incredible accuracy. "You were actually able to beat Yourong. This is truly some surprising news." Upon seeing the first sentence of this letter, Chen Changsheng understood thatSu Li giving him this letter had a condition: that he defeat Xu Yourong. If hehad failed to do this, Su Li would definitely have been disappointed in him,then these two letters might have been left to Xu Yourong, or perhaps…QiushanJun. "But when I think about how you learned the sword from me, then for you toscrape out a victory against Yourong is understandable." The words in Su Li's letter still perfectly displayed his self-confidence, orperhaps his self-love. Soon after, though, his words became much calmer and indifferent. "In my life, I have only taught three people: Qiushan, you, and Qi Jian.Qiushan is stronger than you; Qi Jian, weaker. Moreover, she's my daughter, soafter I leave, if something happens at Mount Li, help me by taking care of it.As for why I left? After you live several hundred years and realize thatsomeone has been waiting for you for several hundred years, perhaps you'llunderstand. "I am the Junior Martial Uncle of Mount Li, so there's no need for me toexplain a single thing to its disciples. I am Su Li, so there is nothing I needto tell to Old Man Yin and Tianhai. But I still want to explain some things,tell some things, so I wrote this sort of letter to you. "In the future, if someone asks, you can relay these words to them. I have notconceded to this world, but she spoke true. I am Su Li—what need is there forme to be a second Zhou Dufu? Most importantly, you also spoke true. I've killedcountless people and have no love for this world, but perhaps there is still abit of kindness?" As he read this sentence, Chen Changsheng's heart was filled with manyemotions. In the view of many, especially those southerners who opposed the confluenceof north and south, Su Li and the Holy Maiden swiftly departing was an escapeto shirk responsibility. None of them understood that for a person like Su Li, only by wielding a trulywise and courageous sword could he truly cut open a path of departure. But when he read the end of the letter, he suddenly felt that his praise andadmiration of Senior Su Li had been mistaken. Su Li had written something like this at the end of the letter. "Have that wolf cub give it up. If he dares to pester my daughter again, evenif I'm on the other side of the sea of stars, I'll ride a raft of stars back.My first strike will behead him, my second will behead you, and my final strikewill annihilate your Orthodox Academy and that wolf tribe in the north. Don'tsay I didn't warn you!" After Chen Changsheng read these words, he helplessly thought, why does a freeand easy person like Senior Su Li take this matter so seriously? As he thought this, the area around suddenly rang out with a dense andterrifying clattering of swords. Countless sword intents returned from everydirection and fell back on the paper. Those extremely sharp sword intents of nigh incomprehensible level cut thehandwriting on the letter into complete disorder, transforming it intoinnumerable splatters of ink and making it impossible to make out the words. Finally, those splatters of ink formed four big words. "Burn promptly after reading." Chen Changsheng could only vacantly gaze at these words. Wasn't it too much ofa pity to just burn it like this? It must be known that the sword intent inthis letter was an incredibly precious gift for cultivating the sword. He hadoriginally planned to have Tang Thirty-Six and Zhexiu comprehend it tomorrow. But since it was Su Li's order, he could not oppose it. He obediently threwthe latter into the remaining embers in the kitchen oven, personally witnessingthe letter transform into ash. As he gazed at the ash in the oven and thought about the sword intent that wascontained in that paper, he suddenly recalled that painter from the Pavilion ofHeavenly Secrets who painted the scenes from when he challenged those initiallevel Star Condensation experts during the All-School Martial Exhibition. Thatpainter most likely used a similar method, but comparing him to Su Li was likethe difference between the mud and the clouds. He then recalled that scribe he had seen on the street: the Heavenly DaoAcademy's Guan Bai. At the time, he had glanced at that man through the carriage window and felt asharpness stab into his eyes and deliver an excruciating pain, almost causinghim to cry. Now that he thought about it, had this person cultivated on the path of thesword until his sword intent had become part of his body? In next year's Boiling Stone Summit, he had to face such a powerful sword.Would he be able to win? …… …… A little earlier, Guan Bai was in a study in the south of the city, reading abook. Suddenly, he sensed something. After a moment of silence, he quietly closedthe book and walked out of the study. After twilight, the snow had gradually come to a stop, but the weather wasstill chilly. It was difficult to walk on the snow-covered streets, so therewere very few pedestrians. He stood in the center of the street. Confronting an old Daoist nun that was walking forward. In truth, this Daoist nun's face could not be considered young. At the veryleast, a specific age could not be assigned to her. Her appearance was suffusedwith a cold and austere air, mixed with a strand of staleness. Guan Bai watched as the old Daoist nun got closer and closer, not speaking asingle word. He did not know the origins of the nun, but he knew that her cultivation levelwas far above his, even above his esteemed teacher Zhuang Zhihuan. Before the Boiling Stone Summit, he didn't want to cause too much trouble, norshould he be fighting an expert of such masterly cultivation. But he had heard very clearly that in a distant alley, a wild dog had died. It was just when this old Daoist nun was walking past. This old Daoist nun was very powerful and assuredly had an extraordinarybackground. Compared to her, a wild dog blocking the road truly wasn't worthmuch. Guan Bai also thought this way. If a wild dog died, so what? Was he reallytaking revenge for a single wild dog? The problem was that the dog should have died faster. The old Daoist nun would only need a glance to decapitate the wild dog. But that dog had yelled out thirty-some times in the alley, each moremiserable and weaker than the last, until it finally reached his ears. He found it impossible to understand why such a powerful figure as the oldDaoist nun wanted to use thirty-some attacks to kill a single dog. He also found it impossible to imagine whether or not this old Daoist nunacted this way when she normally killed people. So he walked out from the study onto the street to ask this old Daoist nun. The old Daoist nun halted her steps and expressionlessly gazed back at him. Guan Bai wanted to say something, but upon seeing the old Daoist nun's eyes,he realized it was already impossible for him to speak. His hand gripped the hilt of his sword, but he found it impossible to pull itout. The old Daoist nun's eyes contained a sea of blue-green, filled with decay andruthless emotion. It was like a tide filled with green seaweed charging forward. Boundless and endless blue-green killing intent surged forward from her end ofthe street, enveloping his body. (TN: This is a play on a name. Wuqiong (无穷) means ‘boundless’. 碧 is a colorthat might be green, blue, or blue-green.) Squelch! A spray of blood shot out from his mouth and fell upon the snow. …… …… He was the pride of the Heavenly Dao Academy, an expert of the sword on theProclamation of Liberation, Famous Name Guan Bai. Yet in front of this old Daoist nun, he couldn't even say a single word oreven pull out his sword before suffering heavy injuries. "State your teacher," the old Daoist nun expressionlessly commanded. Guan Bai's eyes were filled with shock. Only now did he confirm that this oldDaoist nun's cultivation not only far surpassed his teachers, but had evenfaintly surpassed the scope of the mortal world and entered the Divine Domain.When he thought about the blue-green color in her eyes, he instantly guessed ather identity. Wuqiong Bi of the Storms of the Eight Directions! This was a peak expert of the human world. Why would she suddenly appeartonight in the capital? "Heavenly Dao Academy's Guan Bai. My teacher is Zhuang Zhihuan." Guan Bai was shocked beyond compare by this old Daoist nun's identity, but hedid not fear in the slightest, staring at her as he spoke. "For the sake of Mao Qiuyu, I will leave you with your life tonight." The old Daoist nun slowly walked past and her figure gradually faded into thedarkness. After not much time had passed, Guan Bai finally realized that he could move.The right hand gripping the hilt trembled, and with a clang, half of his swordemerged from its sheath. Then, his right arm severed at the shoulder and fell on the snow, staining alarge portion of it dark-red with blood. Tonight, in the capital, a wild dog in an alley had been cruelly chopped topieces. Guan Bai, the pride and hope of the Heavenly Dao Academy, the young expert ofthe sword with limitless prospects, had lost the right arm that he used towield the sword. The old Daoist nun that had done both these things felt nothing for any ofthis. Her expression was still indifferent, her eyes still ruthless. In her eyes, a young man like Guan Bai and that wild dog in the alley were nottoo different. Even she had to respect the Pope and she did not wish to provokethe Divine Empress, but if this were not the capital of the Great Zhou, perhapsGuan Bai would already be dead. In her view, leaving Guan Bai his life was enough to give face to Mao Qiuyu.To be more precise, she was giving face to the Orthodoxy. This world contained people that were extremely strong, so much so that theirworldviews became somewhat twisted. They believed that if they did not stealall the food out of the beggar's bowl, they were giving the beggar face, and tonot kill all the people that they found displeasing to the eye was to give lifeface. As a result, they believed that the other party should also give themface. The old Daoist nun had come to the capital tonight because she believed thatthe Pope had not given her sufficient face, so she had come to personally takesome face back. When she was very young, she married another member of the Eight Storms. Fromthat point on, she believed that her husband was her most important face. Lateron, after much suffering, she bore a son and believed that her son was actuallyher most important face. The old Daoist nun stood at the back wall of the Orthodox Academy,emotionlessly looking up at those several snowy trees that peeked over the wall. Several weeks ago, her son had been humiliated by a person. That person was called Chen Changsheng. ……