Night fell. Beneath a rock wall, there was just enough ground untouched by snow, while bare woods stood on either side.
The two of them lit a fire in the wilderness and roasted the Wolf Demon's flesh to share between them.
Over the campfire in the snowy woods, the wolf meat sizzled as grease dripped from it. Lu Canghai had brought wine with him. After a few small drinks and bites of the wolf meat that had so recently looked so fierce and vicious, the atmosphere finally became less stiff.
"Immortal master, you are the true expert who hides your greatness without showing it."
"Still as a Mount Tai stone, moving like a Flying Immortal Beyond the Heavens."
"I showed off my paltry skills before you earlier. It was like wielding an axe before Lu Ban's door. Please forgive the laughter."
The swordsman removed his bamboo hat. He was no longer young, seemingly past forty, with graying temples on both sides.
More importantly, his eyes were blind. Gao Xian had never expected that.
"I am Lu Canghai. In the martial world, they call me Heart Sword. Among those who use swords on the Heavenly Secrets Ranking, I can only rank third." Lu Canghai announced his name, his tone carrying considerable disappointment, as though the empty title of third in the world was not worth mentioning.
Yet Gao Xian felt that he brought it up whenever he met someone.
This was a show-off.
"This poor Daoist is Kongchenzi, merely one seeking the Dao amidst the mortal world." Gao Xian had never admitted defeat when it came to showing off.
"Immortal master truly possesses the bearing of a great expert!" Lu Canghai raised his wine gourd.
"I dare not, I dare not! To witness the bearing of the Peerless Swordsman of the present age today, I must drain a great cup." Gao Xian returned the gesture with his wine gourd.
"Come!"
"Please!"
The two exchanged another round of ceremonial mutual flattery.
Lu Canghai was blind, and there were no cultivation arts in this world. Yet as he traveled through rugged snowy mountain paths, he did not stray in the slightest. He walked even more steadily than ordinary people, and his movements showed no difference from theirs.
Gao Xian was curious and asked why.
"A swordsman only needs a heart. Without eyes, one sees even more clearly."
"Flowers are not flowers, mist is not mist."
"The people of the world have eyes but no hearts, and so the splendor of the mortal world blinds them."
Lu Canghai once again spoke words that were hard to understand, yet somehow sounded profoundly profound.
Gao Xian still did not quite understand, so he asked Lu Canghai to explain.
Lu Canghai stroked his beard. Because of the embarrassing scene earlier, his spine had not been entirely straight before Gao Xian, but now it seemed inclined to straighten up at once.
Sure enough, old ginger was spicier. Who knew where this youth had come from? At such a young age, even Lu Canghai could not see through his realm. And the donkey beneath him was even more extraordinary. Before that donkey, Lu Canghai felt he would not even have the chance to draw his sword.
But the boy was young and immature after all, with shallow experience. It was time for the third greatest swordsman in the martial world, a man who had roamed it for many years, to give him a proper lesson.
Lu Canghai removed the treasured sword from his back. Though it had yet to leave its sheath, the moment he gripped it, a powerful majesty pressed down upon the night.
It was like a fierce tiger walking through the darkness. Even without seeing its form, the intense sense of danger was enough to make one's heart tremble in fear. This was power projected from the will.
"The heart of a swordsman may also be called Sword Momentum, Sword Intent."
"It is also the strongest power pursued when a swordsman cultivates to a profound level. Thus, though I cannot see, so long as there is a sword in my heart, every movement within the reach of my Sword Momentum—the falling leaves, drifting snow, wind stirring grass—is all within my control."
A cold wind swept past, and the last few withered leaves on the tree behind Lu Canghai could no longer hold on. They fell.
The sword held level in Lu Canghai's hand slid from its sheath.
Very slowly. Very gradually.
Yet this slowness seemed to drag heaven and earth into slowing with it. The howling of the cold wind, the dancing shadows of firelight, the speed of falling leaves—all seemed to come under its control. The blade left its sheath, turned, and leisurely caught a drifting withered leaf.
The leaf spun atop the sword tip as though it were dancing.
"A swordsman without heart is not worth a single blow, even with a divine weapon in hand."
"A swordsman with heart can wound others with even a leaf or flying flower."
He sheathed his sword, and the withered leaf fell into Lu Canghai's hand, caught between two fingers.
That brittle leaf, which would crumble at a pinch, became one with Lu Canghai. As he waved his hand and his wide sleeve billowed, it was like a sharp blade flashing with cold light as it sliced through the night sky.
Snap!
A section of branch from the tree behind Gao Xian fell, plunging into the snow beside him.
The cut on the branch was smooth. No one would dare imagine that it had been severed in midair by a single withered leaf.
It was clear that Lu Canghai's swordsmanship had truly reached a transcendent realm. He could be considered one of the strange and monstrous figures of the world the old Daoist had spoken of.
Though there was some boasting in his words, there was not the slightest falsehood in that strength.
At last, Lu Canghai sat down and lifted his wine cup, as though recalling something he had witnessed in the past.
"In the old days, Sword Saint Sima Han mastered the Spiritual Heart Sword and fought against a thousand troops by the riverbank. With only a section of dead wood in hand, his Sword Momentum sent the army sprawling in chaos. When his sword emerged, ten thousand swords rang in unison, and over a thousand men bowed their heads and stretched out their necks to await slaughter."
"This is Sword Intent."
Lu Canghai spoke those final words slowly, one word at a time.
Then he drained the wine in his gourd in one gulp, as though he drank not wine, but the bold grandeur of the Sword Saint facing thousands upon thousands of soldiers alone.
Gao Xian seemed to gain some understanding. His body, which had been half leaning against the mountain rock and resting on his book case, straightened.
He casually pulled out the branch that Lu Canghai had just cut down with a leaf from the snow. Mimicking Lu Canghai's opening stance, he seemed to regard it as a treasured sword.
"What does Brother Lu think of this sword strike of mine?"
Lu Canghai saw what Gao Xian intended to do and could not help laughing.
"Hahaha! There are countless swordsmen in the world who practice the sword, but those who cultivate Sword Intent are as rare as phoenix feathers and qilin horns. Which one did not temper his will and break through amidst desperate straits? It cannot be achieved in a mere moment..."
Before his voice had faded, Gao Xian moved.
As his sword rose, heaven and earth changed abruptly in Lu Canghai's perception.
The whole world turned blazing white. Beneath the nine heavens, an immortal descended in a streak of light.
That branch became a true immortal sword. The immortal's sword came from the horizon and arrived in an instant. Lu Canghai was like a mortal ant gazing up at the vault of heaven, unable to move, swallowed by that radiance in a moment.
At that moment, Gao Xian's consciousness merged as one with the Azure Dragon Guardian. He imitated Lu Canghai's strike. The Azure Dragon Guardian itself was a sword, so learning this move took no effort at all.
When the sword strike ended and Lu Canghai came back to his senses, the Daoist had already sat down and tossed the dead branch in his hand into the firewood.
The winter snow within several dozen meters had melted away. Not a patch of white remained, and there was even a hint of warm spring in the air.
Especially the several trees beside them—fresh buds had sprouted from them in mere moments.
The branch that had been cut from the tree behind Gao Xian sprouted anew, blooming with a small white flower that stood proudly amid the ice and snow.
Lu Canghai's body was stiff, and his laughter had long since stopped abruptly.
This was swordsmanship nearly approaching the Dao, divine beyond measure, something no mortal could possibly wield.
Only after a long while did he ask in a daze, "Have you also studied the sword?"
"Never. I merely listened to what you said, thought of your previous sword strike, and gained a slight insight."
Lu Canghai had nothing left to say. He only felt that after studying the sword his entire life and priding himself as one of the world's foremost experts, he had always been like a frog at the bottom of a well, unable to see the vastness of heaven and earth.
In the end, Lu Canghai could not help asking for the name of that sword strike.
"What is this sword called?"
"Brother Lu just said that when I am still, I am like a Mount Tai stone; when I move, I am like a Flying Immortal Beyond the Heavens."
"Then let us call it Flying Immortal Beyond the Heavens!"
"Flying Immortal Beyond the Heavens..."
When Lu Canghai spoke those words, his heart was somewhat complicated.
Though Lu Canghai's earlier words had been praise, they had also contained a trace of resentment.
What he meant was: since you, a young man, are already so formidable, why not reveal it earlier? Why hide it away and wait to laugh at this old man? That was truly far too unkind.
"I am somewhat tired, so I shall rest first."
As though Gao Xian's blow had struck him hard, Lu Canghai had no desire to continue talking. The night was deep as well. He lay down, covered himself with a garment, placed his bamboo hat over his face, and rested.
Yet beneath the bamboo hat, Lu Canghai did not sleep. He was recalling and comprehending Gao Xian's sword strike.
If he could truly understand it fully, perhaps he would no longer be the third greatest swordsman in the world.
He would be the greatest swordsman in the world.
As for Gao Xian, did he even count as a swordsman?
Lu Canghai had completely lost the spirit to compare himself with him.
Lu Canghai had also realized that this Daoist was likely no mortal, much less a Martial Artist. Could he be one of the immortals of legend?
"This journey has truly been like running into ghosts. First I encountered a Wolf Demon, then a cultivator. Things ordinary people could never encounter in a lifetime—I ran into them all in a single day."
Gao Xian leaned beneath the tree that bloomed in winter, breathed in the fragrance of its flowers, rested his head on his book case, and drifted into sleep.
The donkey beside him snorted several times, guarding Gao Xian closely. Its ears flicked from time to time as it kept watch over the surroundings.
Before you continue