Everyone was inevitably shocked. Even Li Poxiao and Liyushuang, who had still been arguing, stopped. The master of the small courtyard had not even come out to receive them—this was simply too arrogant.
Taihua Jun walked with broad, sweeping strides, swinging his wide sleeves and holding his head high, looking utterly unrestrained. When he opened the stone door of a stone chamber nearby, swords came clattering down all over the floor. There were good swords and bad swords, made from all sorts of strange materials: wooden swords, stone swords, iron swords, and crystal swords. Each of those categories was further divided into many types. The passage seemed to extend deep into the distance like a tunnel. This stone chamber apparently had an underground passage as well, and when Taihua Jun beckoned, everyone followed him inside.
But Mengxue Jun did not continue in. He even raised a hand to stop the women who wanted to follow them into the stone chamber. "He must be sleeping drunk in there. It would be inconvenient for the women, so you'd better not go in."
The women all stood there dumbfounded, while Li Poxiao, the others, and I followed Taihua Jun through the passage into this stone chamber that contained a world of its own.
Swords were displayed everywhere here, of every grade and material, and the path seemed to have no end. It was clear that Sword-Tasting Jun had truly tasted every sword under heaven. I was also able to feast my eyes, because in the Sun clan's sword-forging method, the more famous swords one saw and the more swords one recognized, the stronger one became at forging finished weapons, and the fewer weaknesses those weapons would have. After walking this whole stretch, I could almost conclude that I now recognized the vast majority