Watching the Show Really Couldn't Be Done from Too Close

"As for whether he's from Sword Disciple Mountain, I can't be a hundred percent sure. But one thing I can be certain of is that this sword-bearing man's identity is far from ordinary." Dong Dong continued with an expressionless little face.

"You didn't need to tell me that. I could see it myself. Such a huge top-grade flying sword..."

Tan Shuchang raised a hand and pointed slightly.

"It was forged entirely from Kui Water Essence and Grand Unity Essence Gold. They really spared no expense!" The little girl still wore that stiff, wooden expression, as though her face were paralyzed. Yet her tone had suddenly changed in a subtle, almost imperceptible way.

"Why do I get the feeling from your words that you know who he is?" Tan Shuchang caught it sharply.

Although his primary cultivation art had now changed from the Blood-Refined Lotus Art to the Calamity-Crossing Immortal Scripture, Tan Shuchang could still retain some of the former's Lotus Mark characteristics.

After all, the ultimate realm of the Blood-Refined Lotus Art was to form a grand formation by oneself and refine living beings to death!

If one couldn't freely control even the surrounding area, how could one form a formation?

It was precisely because he couldn't plant Lotus Marks here that Tan Shuchang's perception of the surrounding area had become much blurrier.

For example, when he encountered that old man before, Tan Shuchang had been able to clearly sense the old man's appearance and the aura of his profound cultivation, down to every detail. But with his current perception, he could only sense that someone was hiding nearby.

As for any further information about the other party, he couldn't sense it at all.

Still, it was more than enough to detect the change in this little girl's tone.

"I don't know!"

Dong Dong kept her wooden little face as she tilted her head up slightly to look at Tan Shuchang. "Don't talk nonsense."

"Mm, you don't know..."

Tan Shuchang responded perfunctorily. It was obvious that she knew who the other party was, but it wasn't convenient for her to say so outright.

But in this world, how many people were there whom even Miss Dong found inconvenient to speak of directly?

She had even written out Sword Disciple Mountain's detailed hundred-year layout for the Righteous Path Grand Plan, point by point, for him.

"Mm?"

At that thought, Tan Shuchang's heart suddenly stirred.

Could it be that it wasn't inconvenient to say outright, but inconvenient to tell him?

"The Heaven's Chosen in Sword Disciple Mountain's Righteous Path Grand Plan?" Tan Shuchang asked softly.

Dong Dong glanced at Tan Shuchang upon hearing that, though she didn't say anything.

Yet that gesture of hers could basically be treated as an answer.

Tan Shuchang understood. Besides his surprise, he couldn't help but sigh inwardly. He was surprised because he hadn't expected this stepping stone of his to encounter the Heaven's Chosen so quickly. And he sighed because—Heaven's Chosen truly deserved the title of Heaven's Chosen! Look at that bearing. Bringing a magical artifact to the Peaceful Heart Charity Fair was one thing, but he had even attacked outright!

Only a Heaven's Chosen would dare show Luojia Mountain so little respect!

Truly worthy of being a figure Sword Disciple Mountain had planned for over a hundred years!

Look at that swagger, that spectacle, that majesty. A tiny Rogue Cultivator like him could only gaze up at it from afar!

"So if I killed this Heaven's Chosen, Sword Disciple Mountain would probably go mad, wouldn't it?" Tan Shuchang said calmly. His expression was relaxed, without the slightest trace of anger. He even seemed to be speaking in a gentle, soft tone.

However, Dong Dong, the only listener to those words, looked somewhat unnatural. She knew that although this demonic cultivator spoke gently, when it came time to act, he was more ruthless than anyone.

Back on Blackheart Mountain, there had once been a Second Senior Brother ranked ahead of this demonic cultivator. He had been famously vicious, killing his father, mother, relatives, and friends, abandoning love and severing affection, all to cultivate a demonic heart devoid of emotion and desire.

When she and several senior sisters heard of him at Jian Gorge Sect, they had all thought a second Blackheart Elder was about to emerge. Yet when facing this demonic cultivator, that Second Senior Brother often had no choice but to take a step back.

The one who spoke the gentlest words while delivering the cruelest blows was the damn demonic cultivator beside her. Though she hadn't seen it herself, she was certain that before Blackheart Elder died, this demonic cultivator must have called him "Esteemed Master" again and again, without showing the slightest murderous intent.

Thus, Dong Dong softly advised, "You'd better not. Unless you can fight a hundred Southern Sword Su Huan'ans by yourself."

"A hundred Southern Swords?"

Tan Shuchang was slightly startled. He couldn't help asking, "Does Sword Disciple Mountain have that many figures at that level?"

Although Southern Sword Su Huan'an hadn't yet cultivated for a hundred years, his formidable strength had already surpassed far too many Hundred-Year Cultivators. Many speculated that he had reached the level of the former Demon Sect Lord.

But if that were truly so, then why had Sword Disciple Mountain remained so listless ever since it suppressed the Demon Sect Lord?

"Cultivators generally spend a hundred years cultivating, and few live beyond two sixty-year cycles. A lifespan of one hundred and twenty years is already the limit for many practitioners, but Sword Disciple Mountain is different. They are a direct lineage of the Dao Ancestor." Dong Dong said with her wooden little face.

The Dao Ancestor was a figure from the myths of the Jia Five Realm.

It was said that one-third of the cultivation methods in the Jia Five Realm originated from this figure's indirect transmissions.

What did indirect transmission mean?

It meant that the inheritance left behind by his disciples was obtained by others, who cultivated it to success and passed it down in turn.

Who would've thought Sword Disciple Mountain was actually a direct lineage of the Dao Ancestor!

"If they are direct disciples, then it makes sense for them to possess an unbelievable method of extending their lifespan..." Tan Shuchang muttered, looking somewhat enlightened.

One hundred and twenty years was the lifespan limit for most cultivators in the Jia Five Realm, but it wasn't the limit for Sword Disciple Mountain's cultivators. As for why those figures had shown so little activity, they were most likely quietly recuperating.

After all, at that age, once they expended too much cultivation power, their bodies would suffer severe damage.

For a Hundred-Year Cultivator, they were at their peak at one hundred years old. The same was true at one hundred and one, and still true at one hundred and two. But by one hundred and three, that peak would begin to fade.

Their strength wouldn't plummet at once or suddenly be cut in half, but by the time they reached their hundred-and-teens, even if their strength remained, they wouldn't dare fight with their full power.

Even those in their hundred-and-teens were like this, let alone those who had exceeded the limit.

Just as Tan Shuchang was lost in thought, he suddenly felt his heart tighten.

At the same time, a cry of alarm rang out. "Careful! Get out of the way!"

Tan Shuchang had sensed it before that voice reached him, but even so, he had no time to dodge, because that was a fucking Sword Qi!

Sword cultivators were fast, and Sword Qi was naturally no exception.

In fact, it outshone the blue and surpassed the blue.

Because in this cultivation world, the only thing faster than a sword cultivator was a sword cultivator's Sword Qi!

Without hesitation, bloody afterimages surged around Tan Shuchang. Then, a blood-red sharp sword, jagged like interlocking canine teeth, stabbed out from the void.

Clang!

Like two flying swords colliding, the two struck each other. The strange blood-red sword didn't budge in the slightest, while the incoming Sword Qi, unable to sustain its force, instantly shattered. Countless tiny fragments of sword force scattered in all directions, and cultivators along the street groaned and cried out in pain.

They had all been struck.

Even Tan Shuchang hadn't been able to dodge it, much less these cultivators.

Yet Tan Shuchang himself wasn't greatly affected. His gaze had already locked onto the direction from which the Sword Qi had come, while the Vengeful Ghost Killing Rule within that jagged blood-red sword had begun to take effect.