Yan Ran was startled, but it was too late to withdraw his hand, and his fingertips touched the delicate petals of the ink-coloured water lily!
The teenagers rebuked in unison, “Don’t touch it!”
“What are you doing?” The young man in the lead became furious and swept his long, shiny sword across the ground, the wind of the sword aimed silently and directly at Yan Ran’s lower back!
Yan Ran was dumbfounded. He was a veteran of the jianghu world, but he didn’t know how to fight this simple sword movement!
The young man’s technique was the fifth stroke in North Snow City’s “Night Snow Sword” – “Vestiges of the Past”, which looked simple but was so subtle that it couldn’t be avoided. Although the young man’s sword was not mature, it was still a bit of a masterpiece, and Yan Ran’s trivial martial art skills naturally left him defenseless!
It looked like his legs were about to be cut off at the knees!
There was no time to say anything, so Qiu Yutong picked up a reed at his feet and lifted it off the ground! Then the long, thin reed pole was right in the path of the young man’s sword!
The crowd cried out in shock. Using a weak reed to resist a steel sword was just like throwing an egg against a rock!
The moment the soft reed pole met the blade of the sword, Qiu Yutong didn’t wait for any retaliation, but slightly tilted his wrist and swept the reed pole flat against the body of the sword, swiftly sweeping it against the five fingers of the young man holding the sword, and then exerted spiritual power!
The young man let out a shriek, his grip loosened, and his sword dropped!
Qiu Yutong couldn’t bear to disgrace his young martial nephew in public, so with a casual flick of the reed, he returned the hilt of the longsword to the boy’s hand and then smiled slightly, “Looking at your technique, you must be a new disciple of City Lord Xie right? Where is City Lord Xie…”
Before he could finish his sentence, the teenager had already crossed his sword to his chest, and said with surprise and anger, “Set up the Purple Star Sword Formation!”
The teenagers all said in unison, “Yes, Senior Brother Yang!”
The bodies of the boys of North Snow City flashed and then they unsheathed their twelve snowy long swords, pointing them at Qiu Yutong!
“Eh, I’m not a bad guy, I just want to see City Lord Xie…” Qiu Yutong tried to explain hurriedly.
He didn’t know any of these little carrot heads, and if he said that he was their fourth senior uncle who had already ascended, he would probably be taken as a charlatan, but where the hell had Eldest Senior Brother? Where was Second Senior Brother and Third Senior Brother?
“You think you can just meet Master because you say so? Brothers, let’s go!” The young man surnamed Yang snorted coldly, and at the same time, he made a move with his hand. In a flash, twelve sword lights flashed, and a shining sword net surrounded Qiu Yutong on all sides!
“You really want to use the Purple Star Sword Formation to deal with me, huh?” Qiu Yutong was simply angry and amused at the same time. This ‘Purple Star Sword Formation’ was something he had thought up back then when he was repenting on the Wenjian Cliff, and these little kids who didn’t know what they were doing wanted to use his sword formation against him?
Lu Xiao frowned and said, “Shizun, they…”
“No problem.” Qiu Yutong waved his hand at Lu Xiao and casually swatted away two of the swords coming at him. He then said to the young man surnamed Yang who was leading the group, “You are not standing in the right position in the Purple Star Position and I see that you are very impatient, so you aren’t really suitable to stand in the center of the Purple Star position…”
The young man surnamed Yang rebuked him angrily, “Stop talking nonsense! Brothers, change the formation! There is no fixed position in this formation, shift to the Heavenly City formation!”
With his clear rebuke, the twelve teenagers wielded their long swords. Nine of them retreated back to defend and three of them came forward to attack. One of them took charge of attacking Qiu Yutong’s upper body, one of them took charge of attacking Qiu Yutong’s lower body, and the other went straight for his Dantian.
In Qiu Yutong’s eyes, the teenagers’ sword formation was just like a child playing house. He couldn’t help but sigh and take a half step backwards, gently spinning around!
“Clang clang clang!” With three soft sounds, all three of the teenagers’ swift and fierce swords fell short; the three long swords clashed with each other and then twisted together violently!
The three teenagers froze, unable to move as they were stuck together, the expressions on their faces one of astonishment.
Lu Xiao frowned tightly as he stared at the sword formation, his expression gradually becoming agitated.
Qiu Yutong sensed something and gave Lu Xiao a reassuring glance, making another gesture of calm.
The young man surnamed Yang stared fiercely at Qiu Yutong as if he could not believe it, then once again said sternly, “Change formation again! From the Chief Judge Position, shift two stars to the left to Yinde; the one in the North Star Position shift to the North Pole Position!“*
“Yes, Senior Brother Yang!”
But no matter how hard they tried to change the formation, Qiu Yutong didn’t even bother to make a move. He would only take a step or two backwards and forwards, causing all the sword strokes to fall short. What’s more their attacks almost always fell on their own people. It was simply a mess.
How was this possible? What the hell was going on here? The teenagers went from anger, to panic, to vague fear, mustering all they could as the light from the twelve spirit swords poured down like a rainstorm!
“You guys this… ugh, this is not right at all.” Qiu Yutong was simply a little speechless. “How in the world did Senior Brother teach this? No, such a lousy sword formation, I’m sure it was mostly taught by Third Senior Brother.”
Sighing, he simply raised his reed and gently tapped the elbow of a teenager on his left, “Drop your elbow!”
Then he took two more steps back, and the reed lifted the long sword in the hands of a teenager, “Stab!”
“Stand back!” “A diagonal sweep!” “Swipe forward!” “Straight slash!”
“Your wrist is too stiff, the movement too slow! It’s as soft as a willow, but as fast as the wind!”
“Don’t advance too quickly! It’s as slow as a cloud, but its retreat is like a tide!”
“Sigh, how did you move into your position? You’re not standing in the main Purple Star position, but you should at least remember the mantra! In the centre of the North Pole and Purple Star Positions, are the five stars of the Ursa Minor!”**
The twelve teenagers were carried by this thin reed, their swords going up and down, left and right. The Purple Star sword formation tumbled and rolled and only silver light was visible; it was almost impossible to tell who was who!
“Hmm, that’s barely enough, withdraw your hand!” After an unknown period of time, Qiu Yutong gave a clear rebuke and the reed swept away!
Only to hear “clank clank clank clank–“, the boys involuntarily let go of their hands, and the twelve long swords were thrown straight up into the sky!
The crowd looked up and saw that the swords had flown dozens of feet upwards before falling down in unison. A few soft sounds were heard, and they were thrust into the front and back of Qiu Yutong, exactly where the twelve houses of the zodiac should be.
Lu Xiao breathed a sigh of relief and walked to Qiu Yutong’s side, “Is everything alright?”
“It’s fine, just a bunch of little brats.” Qiu Yutong laughed and then paused to look at the teenagers of North Snow City, “How is it? Have you learnt all that you were taught?”
It was as if the teenagers were waking up from a dream, you look at me, I look at you. They only knew that their sword skill cultivation had improved greatly. Immediately, they all looked at Qiu Yutong, only their gazes had changed from vigilance, caution and fear to extreme surprise, admiration and doubt…
The leading young man surnamed Yang was gasping for air while staring at Qiu Yutong with a deadly stare, “Your Excellency… How is it that your Excellency is so familiar with my North Snow City’s sword techniques? Who the hell are you?!”
Qiu Yutong smiled faintly, “This, even if I told you, you wouldn’t believe me. By the way, where is City Lord Xie?”
One teenager hesitated for a moment then said, “Actually, when we went into the secret realm, we got separated from our Master… just now, I was even trying to set off the summoning fireworks to look for him.”
The young man surnamed Yang gave him a fierce glare, “Hu Hao, don’t talk to him!”
“Ruoyu, but ……”
Yang Ruoyu glared at him, and Hu Hao stopped talking.
“Got separated?” Qiu Yutong raised an eyebrow, already understanding. He dared to say that this group of little brats had gotten separated from his senior brothers and were here scratching their heads about what to do.
He glanced at the Azure Dragon Black Lily by the river and said, “Are you guys afraid of being scolded later, so you want to use these Azure Dragon Black Lilies to trap a few demon beasts to claim credit before City Lord Xie comes looking for you?”
Yang Ruoyu froze and said in confusion, “You know the Azure Dragon Black Lily?”
Know? When he and his second and third brothers were punished to go to the Wenjian Cliff to reflect on their mistakes, they had an important task to pick the Azure Dragon Black Lily, which had a strange fragrance and could attract demon beasts, from the hundred-foot wall of the Wenjian Cliff.
He and Second Senior Brother were a bit better, but Third Senior Brother was so fussy that he fell many times trying to pick the Azure Dragon Black Lily.
Yang Ruoyu took advantage of his mind wandering and struck out his long, cold, glittering sword straight out fiercely, “Who the hell are you?! Speak!!!”
It was only when the longsword was still two minutes away from Qiu Yutong’s neck that it stopped abruptly. With three fingers, Lu Xiao squeezed the tip of the sword flatly and said morosely, “Are you looking for death?”
“Xiao-er, forget it,” Qiu Yutong said hurriedly.
Children nowadays were really newborn calves that weren’t afraid of tigers. If this continued, sooner or later they would suffer a huge loss… he would wait a little more until they were grown up, then ask his senior brothers to punish them to kneel at the Wenjian Cliff for two years, maybe they would be a little better then. Qiu Yutong had not finished sighing when he suddenly sensed something and his heart shivered slightly, “Something is coming over… it’s a demon!”
Before his words fell, the ground shook abruptly!
The crowd looked up, only to see a black behemoth more than ten feet tall, covered in purple lightning flashes, charging towards this side!
“What the hell is that?!”
“It’s… the Thunder Swallowing Elephant! It was attracted here by the scent of this Azure Dragon Black Lily! Not right, there are people behind it!”
“What should we do?”
“Everyone, get out of the way first!” Before Qiu Yutong’s words fell, there were two soft sounds and two extremely bright sword lights fell down from the sky like meteors, nailing the behemoth to the river bank, killing it!
And then, two figures slowly descended from the sky.
“Who are you?!” Yang Ruoyu said in a stern voice.
When Qiu Yutong saw them, he couldn’t help but feel a slight shock in his heart and was unable to help but turn back to look at Lu Xiao. After the two of them looked at each other, they then looked at Xu Dongqing in unison, whose face was pale, his whole body trembling slightly.
The two cultivators who descended from the sky, one with a pale, expressionless face and the other as thin as a bamboo pole with a face like golden paper, were none other than Chen Wuyou and Tu Wuyou of the Northern Sea Sword Sect!
Chen Wuyou casually waved his hand, and the long sword flew back from the Thunder Swallowing Elephant’s body.
“There are quite a lot of people here…” He scanned the people around slowly, then suddenly shook violently and an expression of delirious joy appeared on his face afterwards, “Xu Dongqing?”
Tu Wuyou also reacted and immediately said, “So you’ve been hiding in the Secret Realm? No wonder I couldn’t find you anywhere!”
Xu Dongqing’s face turned pale, “You guys, you guys ……”
The crowd of teenagers from North Snow City faintly froze, then whispered.
“Who’s Xu Dongqing?”
“It’s the Second Master of the Medicine Monarch Manor. You should have heard about what happened at the Medicine Monarch Manor the other day, right?”
“Oh, I heard of it. Didn’t the Second Master of the Medicine Monarch Manor disappear?”
“I heard that his brother married a demon, so he was forced to kill himself because of Chen Wuyou and the Medicine Monarch Manor was burned down…”
“Demons are hateful, but his brother is already dead, how come the North Sea Sword Sect won’t even spare the younger brother?”
“I heard that the North Sea Sword Sect wanted to seize some treasures from the Medicine Monarch Manor?”
“That’s right, I also heard that…”
The crowd of teenagers muttered while looking towards Xu Dongqing. It was obvious that the matter of the Medicine Monarch Manor had spread all over the world.
Qiu Yutong and Lu Xiao looked at each other and Lu Xiao shook his head slightly. Qiu Yutong nodded gently. His young disciple was advising him not to be impulsive and to look at the situation first.
Tu Wuyou said hesitantly, “Second senior brother, isn’t it a bit inconvenient that so many of the people here are from North Snow City…?”
“What are you afraid of, they are just a bunch of little brats.” Chen Wuyou’s lips curled expressionlessly, “It’s simply the heavens helping me; since Xie Wanting and the others aren’t here, let’s just kill all these little brats and pick up the treasure for free.”
As he spoke, he looked up and down at the Azure Dragon Black Lily.
“Second Senior Brother is right,” Tu Wuyou nodded his head.
The two did not lower their voices as they spoke, clearly having treated the many people in front of them as dead people.
Chen Wuyou smiled and slowly drew out his long sword, “Children, sorry about that.”
The teenagers only felt a chill run down their backs, and Lu Xiao stared at Chen Wuyou with a deadly stare, unable to restrain himself as he gently curled his fingers, and then barely held them down.
No, he couldn’t do it in front of his master… Why did he have this impulse… he actually wanted to do it with his bare hands…
Qiu Yutong didn’t pay attention to Lu Xiao. His eyes were only fixed on Chen Wuyou’s right hand that was holding the sword. In his heart, he knew very well that Chen Wuyou’s strike was bound to be a killing move!
What should he do? What should he do? If it came to a hard fight, with his current cultivation level, could he beat Chen Wuyou and Tu Wuyou? There were too many children here, he couldn’t take any chances…
As his mind wandered, Qiu Yutong’s eyes suddenly lit up slightly and he said urgently, “Xiao-er, you fill in the Supreme Enclosure position! Yan Ran, take the Heavenly City position! Dongqing, stand behind me! Yang Ruoyu, command your disciples as I taught you earlier, seven of you return to defense, and five of you should meet the attack!”
Yang Ruoyu pursed his lips tightly and didn’t say anything.
Hu Hao hesitantly looked at Yang Ruoyu, “Senior Brother Yang?”
Another teenager said urgently, “Senior Brother Yang? Say something!”
Yang Ruoyu gritted his teeth, “Listen to him!”
“Looking for death!” Chen Wuyou sneered and Tu Wuyou’s face was expressionless as the two of them drifted down to the ground, and two sword lights poured down like a fierce storm!
Almost at the same instant, the crowd also wove a dazzling sword net!
The sword light and the net collided and retreated. Chen Wuyou covered his shoulder and retreated three steps in a row, while Tu Wuyou flew back several feet in quick succession.
The two men stared at the strange sword formation in front of them with a mixture of shock, anger and hesitation.
Tu Wuyou said hesitantly, “The little brats’ skills are very solid. Senior brother is still waiting, should we retreat first?”
Chen Wuyou covered his shoulder tightly. For a moment he couldn’t even see the half-way point of the sword formation, so he could only grit his teeth, “…Withdraw!”
Qiu Yutong secretly sighed in relief.
Lu Xiao’s expression also relaxed slightly and he gently curled his fingers. He was really afraid that if he continued like this, he wouldn’t be able to control the bloodthirsty impulse…
At this moment, there was a sudden sound from the sky, “Clang! Clang!!!” Two sharp sounds! These two sharp sounds were so high and mournful, with a rhythm that was so haunting that everyone’s heart jumped heavily!
Chen Wuyou and Tu Wuyou glanced at each other and could not help but look joyful, “Senior Brother is here!”
Qiu Yutong’s heart shook slightly as he slowly raised his eyes to look up.
He didn’t know when, but a man in black was already hovering silently above the river in the distance. He was sitting cross-legged in the air, wearing a mottled ancient silver mask, with a long black iron zither in front of him and his long, narrow eyes were as emotionless as stone, looking coldly at the crowd.
The Master of the North Sea Sword Sect, the Lord of Ascension Island, Gui Wuyou.
Gui Wuyou looked at the crowd expressionlessly, while gently plucking the iron zither under him.
With the sound of the zither, the sky gradually darkened. There was a soft snap, and a slight pain on Qiu Yutong’s face.
He suddenly remembered something and said in a stern voice spoke, “Spread the sword net! Gui Wuyou’s poisoned sword is dual cultivation, this is the poisonous rain he summons, it’s capable of corroding flesh bone! Lay the sword net! Lay the sword net!”
But it was already too late, the sound of the zither became more and more mournful, the blood-colored dark clouds quickly gathering in depth and with a ‘boom!!!’, an explosive thunderclap rang out, and a rain of blood poured down from the sky!
At the same time, a snow-white sword net also covered the crowd, blocking the rain for a moment!
“You step forward and fill the Supreme Enclosure Position! You stay back and fill in the Heavenly City Position! Don’t touch that side, go over and fill in!”
Qiu Yutong commanded the crowd in a stern voice, but in his heart, he was extremely anxious. This kind of physical exertion against the blood rain was fine for a while, but it wasn’t a long-term solution at all.
The rain of blood was getting heavier and heavier, and gradually it was pouring down, the sky and the earth were scarlet, and you couldn’t see a few feet away! Suddenly, a young man cried out in pain and couldn’t help but throw down his sword! The back of his hand was a bloody mess, already corroded to the bone by the rain of blood!
As soon as his sword fell, the net opened up and several other teenagers were drenched in blood, each crying out in pain!
Qiu Yutong’s heart was burning. If this went on, the whole sword net would collapse soon! Perhaps, he could just go out and fight Gui Wuyou to the death? But what if… he himself was the only one who could do it, but what about those people behind him? Besides, there were still Chen Wuyou and Tu Wuyou watching him!
At this moment, a faint and indistinct sound of a xiao came from far away from the river.
The sound was low and soft, not high-pitched nor overbearing, but at this moment, the loud thunderstorm and the mournful guzheng sound could not cover up its presence in the slightest!
Qiu Yutong froze, and then a burst of wild joy!
Eldest Senior Brother had arrived!
The crowd of teenagers also couldn’t help but cheer in unison, “Master is here!”
“Master is here!”
Gui Wuyou’s zither sounded a little then it was plucked three times in a row, and became more intense!
As the sound of the zither grew louder and louder, the sound of the xiao also changed from soft and low, to open and vast, like the sun shining high, like the sea of snow, like the blue sky, like the wind passing through the pine forest… while the sound of the zither was mournful and sorrowful, like the wind and rain, like the darkness, like the cries of the evil spirits…
The two were at a stalemate!
Suddenly, the sound of the zither rose several notches, almost piercing the sky and reaching the clouds!
The zither sounded, and then “Pa! Pa! Pa! Pa! Pa! Pop! Snap!” A continuous series of soft sounds, all nineteen strings of the zither broke!
Then, the sound of the xiao gradually softened, like spring rain, like the night tide lapping at the shore. …Gradually, the bloody dark clouds in the sky dispersed, the golden sunlight sprinkled along the sparkling river surface, the moist river breeze gently brushed against their facea, the tide lapping and the breeze whispering.
The teenagers of North Snow City cheered in unison!
“Master, Master!!!”
“Master has won!”
“So what if the zither is iron, isn’t it still broken and silent!”
Qiu Yutong rubbed his nose in dismay and felt very remorseful in his heart. If he had known that the songs of the xiao were so useful, he would have learnt to play the xiao in addition to his sword studies back then. Although he had already thought that this time, no matter what, he had to identify himself to his brothers, but this situation now was really humiliating.
But then again, there have been many times when Third Senior Brother had been humiliated… compared to him, this humiliation of his was nothing. It didn’t seem to count for much.
Qiu Yutong tried very hard to comfort himself for a long time, then suddenly remembering something else, glanced at Lu Xiao beside him and said softly, “Don’t worry. Later, when I have identified myself to Eldest Senior Brother, I will let him check your ancestry.”
Lu Xiao lowered his eyes and pursed his lips gently, “There’s no rush.”
Above the river, Gui Wuyou slowly stroked the remnants of his zither, not looking too annoyed and out of sorts, “After many years of absence, City Lord Xie’s “Warm Sun of the First Snow”*** has become more and more refined. I wonder if City Lord Xie’s leg has gotten better?”
A faint voice came from afar, “I dare not bother Lord Gui with my ailing body.”
[T/N]:
For * and **, they are all names of stars from the San Yuan Constellation.
***First Snow uses the same words as “North Snow” from “North Snow City”, so it can also be translated to “Warm Sun of North Snow (City)”
