Nine Obscurities, One Brightness

Cai Tingyue was greatly alarmed and stepped forward to dissuade him. "Old Lei, you're a famed sword fanatic. Today, you're so obsessed that you want to compete in swordsmanship with a junior. If word gets out..."

"It'll be fine if you win, but if you lose, where will you put that old face of yours?" Gong Haoyue laughed loudly. Lei Zhouyue did not blush in the slightest. "So what if I lose? Victory and defeat are common matters for those who wage war!"

Liu Yunshen greatly admired the old man's forthright nature. "This junior would be honored to comply, but our dan power..."

"We'll seal our dan power and use only physical strength... I'll seal my sword intent too. You can't say I'm bullying a junior then, can you?" Seeing the two men continually needling him, Lei Zhouyue was so angered that he blurted out those harsh terms!

Liu Yunshen smiled wryly. "With sword intent sealed, sword moves can no longer truly be called sword moves. Please instruct me, Senior. This junior will do his utmost to receive your moves!"

"Excellent! Look at him, then look at the two of you!" Lei Zhouyue gripped his seven-foot sword and still chopped downward with it!

"Good heavens, he's opening with the third move, Ten Directions Without End! Old Lei has truly gone mad today!" Gong Haoyue secretly shook his head. Cai Tingyue was truly breaking out in a cold sweat for Liu Yunshen!

Who would have thought that the youth merely leaned his body slightly aside and also brought down a sword in a head-on slash! Lei Zhouyue was overjoyed, and the fourth move, Seamless Cosmos, swept upward from below. Liu Yunshen dodged sideways again, raising his own sword in a sweeping arc!

The two seemed to be fighting separately, but in the eyes of Cai and Gong, deadly danger appeared again and again!

"Little one, this old man is getting serious now!" Lei Zhouyue shouted. Wherever his sword intent pointed, Sky-Blanketing Azure Shadows!

If I use dan power, I can certainly break this move. But if I do so, I'll be declaring defeat in this contest! No wonder Teacher taught me to hide my edge, and Brother Huang told me to conceal my clumsiness. Both were warning me of the calamity of a blade that shows all its sharpness. Besides, the senior is already so old—why not let him have this? Though Liu Yunshen looked startled, he remained calm and composed. He retreated several steps, gathering sword force without releasing it!

"Come again, little one!" Lei Zhouyue did not care whether Liu Yunshen could withstand it. He lifted his sword once more, and it was still Sky-Blanketing Azure Shadows!

Liu Yunshen's double pupils widened as realization dawned on him. When one stands within the mountain, one cannot see its true face; only with one's heart beyond the mountain can one behold its towering splendor! So this is one of the ultimate sword arts of the Nine Songs Sword Court—it drives intricate transformations to their absolute limit!

The old man laughed heartily, sword shadows blanketing an area several zhang wide! Liu Yunshen twisted aside to evade. "Yet even if I can see through it, I still cannot break it!"

With a thunderous clang, Gong Haoyue and Cai Tingyue drew their swords at the same time and blocked Lei Zhouyue's seven-foot blade. Both were jolted back a step!

"Old Zhou, you really struck without mercy! Can't you see Brother Liu can no longer hold you off?" Cai Tingyue rebuked him sternly. He stepped forward and took Liu Yunshen's pulse for a long while before asking, "Brother, do you feel anything unusual? Has your dan foundation been damaged?"

Liu Yunshen smiled and shook his head.

"Then why didn't you dodge? Why were you just standing there?" Cai Tingyue asked no further questions and turned as if to reprimand Old Zhou again.

Gong Haoyue laughed as he cursed, "You old fellow, your skill has actually improved by thirty percent compared to last month. Was that the result of your sudden enlightenment just now?"

Lei Zhouyue sheathed his long sword and cupped his fists toward Liu Yunshen. "Young hero! Forgive my offense!"

"Senior, your swordsmanship is divine. This junior has truly had his eyes opened!"

"We're the ones whose eyes have been opened!" Lei Zhouyue scratched his head awkwardly and looked upward. Ouyang Zhenyue had already risen to his feet. The praise in his gaze toward Liu Yunshen had grown even stronger, and there was even a trace of expectation.

"Well?"

The several men communicated through martial awareness transmission, then turned together and walked down from the platform.

"Young Hero Liu, we old fellows have an unreasonable request." Gong Haoyue smiled and took a token from Ouyang Zhenyue's hand, offering it to him!

Only when Liu Yunshen held it did he realize it was a Meteoric Iron Sword Seal. It felt extraordinary beneath his fingers, and he could not help looking up at the four sect masters.

"This is the Four Swords Sect's guest elder sword seal. Those who hold it are all people who have made great contributions to the sect. They may freely read every text stored within the sect, naturally including the secret scrolls of the Four Swords Sect's ultimate sword intents!"

Ouyang Zhenyue forced a friendly smile onto his stiff face.

"I say, Ouyang, if you can't smile, then don't. Everyone knows you only know how to keep a cold face!"

"That's right. You look worse smiling than crying!"

Liu Yunshen was deeply moved. "Sect Master Ouyang, the Four Swords Sect has shown this junior profound kindness and great righteousness, but isn't this too valuable?"

"Not valuable at all. Compared with the sword arts you demonstrated, Young Hero, the texts in the sect are worth nothing. As for the secret scrolls, time has worn them down. Without the inheritance of the elders of the sect, only the incantations remain to this day. They are already useless!"

Ouyang Zhenyue let out a long sigh.

"Ouyang and I are considered the outstanding disciples of our generation, yet we only restored the slightest scrap of the secret scrolls' ultimate sword arts. But with your help just now, little brother, we understood nearly twenty percent of them in one breath! You held nothing back. Faced with such immense kindness, how can we old fellows ever repay you? You must accept it!" Lei Zhouyue forcibly stuffed the sword seal into his arms.

Cai Tingyue gave a mysterious smile. "Brother, you may not know this, but this item has another benefit. When you use sword moves from any sect under heaven, so long as you possess this item, their power increases by twenty percent. When you use the sword arts of our Four Great Sword Sects, their power can increase by as much as double! The stronger the sword intent, the greater the power."

"It is just enough to make up for little brother's lack of dan power due to his youth!"

As they spoke, Gong Liefeng, Lei Zhaoye, Ouyang Qingcang, Cai Yuelin, and several dozen core disciples from various sects rushed in. "Masters, something terrible has happened!"

"Impudence!" Ouyang Zhenyue's face hardened, and everyone immediately fell silent as cicadas in winter.

"What happened?" Cai Tingyue stepped forward.

"The Qin Kingdom says the lease has expired and is ordering us to move out!"

"This..." Lei Zhouyue said angrily, "They can't expect us to move into the sky, can they?"

"And what if you move into the sky?"

Before the man arrived, his voice came first. That string-like tone held crudeness within its elegance, ferocity within its gloom, and force within its ruthlessness. The sound waves shook the disciples into clutching their heads and crouching down, their eardrums ringing.

Gong Liefeng, Lei Zhaoye, Ouyang Qingcang, and Cai Yuelin could barely withstand it.

Liu Yunshen's anger steadily rose. With a thought, sword intent enveloped an area of ten zhang!

Ouyang Zhenyue and Lei Zhouyue secretly nodded.

"If we're speaking of comprehension and talent, I know someone else who isn't much worse than Nephew Liu!"

"Who?"

"You have met him too—the Jade Mountain Sect's sect master, Qiu Cangyue."

"I've heard of that man. He has quite a reputation as a hero! Why not invite him here? It would also strengthen our position, wouldn't it?" Lei Zhouyue shook his head and sighed.

"That old friend is as poor as we are! Including him and his brother, there are only five people in his sect. What good would it do for them to come?" Ouyang Zhenyue smiled bitterly.

The sword whistle ceased, and a man entered the Sword Qi Hall. He looked no more than eighteen or nineteen, not yet of age, a handsome young man. He swept his gaze over the crowd before finally letting it settle on Liu Yunshen. With a sinister smile, he said, "You are Liu Yunshen of the Zhou Kingdom, the one who killed nearly a hundred Demon Sect disciples before and after? You do have three parts of a hero's spirit!"

"Who are you?"

"The Great Qin Ying Clan! Trash like you are unworthy of knowing my name or style name!" The man sneered, and everyone present flew into a rage.

Ouyang Zhenyue stepped forward. "Our Four Swords Gate has already paid the land rent. Why are you demanding payment again?"

The man tossed the banknotes onto the ground. "Someone has offered a higher price for this land. Pack your things and get lost immediately!"

"I'll buy this land!"

Liu Yunshen took out that bundle of gold from his robe and threw it to the ground. "Twenty thousand taels of gold! Is that enough?"

The man extended one hand. A current of force wrapped around the bundle of gold, and he weighed it in his palm. "The amount is correct—twenty thousand taels. But this land is worth more than that..."

"You!" Liu Yunshen was furious.

The man sneered and glanced at Benevolent Heart Ripples at Liu Yunshen's waist. "Unless you pawn that sword to me!"

Liu Yunshen was about to draw his sword, and everyone flew into a rage.

"Young hero, you must not!"

"Brother Liu, at worst, we'll leave the Qin Kingdom! Under the whole sky, could we not find even a patch of ground to plant an awl upon?"

Trembling, Cai Tingyue drew out a stack of banknotes from his robes and asked, "How much more is needed? We'll make up the difference!"

"Clear every task on this list, and this land will be yours!"

"Spare others where you can! The plot our Four Swords Sect chose is already extremely remote, far from any prefecture or county. Twenty thousand taels is outrageously expensive, yet you still demand so much labor to offset the price!" Lei Zhaoye forcibly suppressed his anger.

The youth sneered. "The land belongs to my Ying Clan. I'll sell it if I want to sell it, and refuse if I don't—" His expression suddenly changed. "Push me too far, and I'll have you all thrown out this instant!"

"Wait! We can do the tasks, but some on your list involve killing people. Our Four Swords Gate has had a rule since ancient times: we only slay demons and devils, never loyal and righteous people. Nor may we kill ordinary people whose crimes do not warrant death!" Ouyang Qingcang shouted.

The youth said coldly, "You have nerve. You're the second person who has dared speak to me so loudly—" He pointed at Liu Yunshen again, then calmly continued, "I can guarantee that not a single person on this list is undeserving of death! Every one of them is steeped in heinous crimes and deserves to die!"

"You're an arrogant and overbearing noble relative. What gives us reason to believe you?" Cao Langao stared at him.

The youth said coldly, "Because you have no room to choose!"

"You!"

The youth's laughter echoed beyond the sect gates as the sound of iron hooves gradually faded into the distance.