The World Called Him Great Xia's Foremost Sword Cultivator

"Let my younger brother send you down."

The scholar sitting cross-legged on the ground spoke softly.

The bearded brute standing nearby did not hesitate in the slightest. He strode straight to the crack in the ground before them and took a step forward. A moment later, a heavy bang sounded out.

The bearded man—the scholar's younger brother—was not actually tall.

He was only around six feet.

He could even be described as short, but his body was simply too burly. Combined with the beast-hide armor embellishing his hemp clothes, his face full of beard, and his exceptionally thick body hair—

One could not help but call him a brute.

Immediately after, the scholar seated cross-legged at the cliff's edge waved for Chen Qiu and Fat Dragon to approach. He reached out and caught the corners of their clothes, and in the blink of an eye, he had brought them to the bottom of the cliff.

"..."

Chen Qiu stood where he was and scanned his surroundings. The bottom of this gorge lay several hundred zhang below the ground above. The earth around them was covered in withered grass and gray stones, while the exposed rock walls on either side bore streak after streak carved by rainwater.

When he looked up, the sky had become exceedingly narrow.

This gorge stretched endlessly in both directions, long and narrow without end, yet it was not wide. At most, it could accommodate eight people standing shoulder to shoulder, making it rather cramped. The rock walls on both sides were riddled with stone caves like honeycombs.

From time to time, cries like wailing infants drifted with the wind through the depths of the gorge.

"We're here."

"My brother will come down to pick you up in one hour."

"Listen carefully and look up. Don't get crushed to death."

The scholar formed that familiar hand seal once more and said softly, "Knock."

The Three-Foot Azure Edge shot out from his sleeve toward the sky. Then the scholar seated cross-legged on the rock vanished. In the next blink, the bearded brute beside him vanished as well.

After the two had left—

Chen Qiu drew a deep breath, his expression somewhat wary as he gripped Huang Shikai's resentful spirit in his left hand and surveyed the surroundings. "Prepare for battle."

His plan was simple.

Since killing demon beasts in the Qi Refining Realm could grant a decent amount of cultivation progress, why should he waste so much time in the Qi Refining Realm? He did not have many Spirit Stones to buy heavily injured demon beasts, but killing them himself would work just as well. The risk was merely higher.

What was more, once he broke through to the Foundation Establishment Realm, that pink Trait of his could finally fully display its effects.

Raising his cultivation as much as possible and reaching Foundation Establishment early was the true path.

"Not bad."

Fat Dragon let out a long breath of relief. He too took a spirit treasure longsword named "Dragon Slayer" from his robes, gripping it tightly as he stood behind Chen Qiu, ready to face the enemy alongside him.

He had only known Chen Qiu for a single day.

Yet the events of this day had been more thrilling than the five months since he had transmigrated here!

Meanwhile, beside the cliff above the gorge—

The young man dressed as a scholar sat cross-legged in place, looking somewhat dazed as he raised his head toward the clouds on the horizon. He was neither reading picture books nor cracking melon seeds, seeming distracted yet also lost in thought.

"Brother."

At that moment—

The bearded brute, who had been quietly standing at the side, suddenly said in a muffled voice, "He was the first person to squat down and speak to you."

"Why not follow him?"

"Him?"

Only then did the scholar come back to himself. After a long while, he shook his head and chuckled. "He won't do. He's too weak, and he has no power behind him. He is of no use to us."

A long time ago, he had begun searching for a worthy master.

But he had not succeeded even once.

The reason he gave his younger brother was that he needed his master to respect him. At the very least, when recruiting him, they should squat down and speak to him instead of making him raise his head to look up at them.

His younger brother had been slow-witted since childhood and trusted him completely, so naturally, he believed him.

But among every faction that had come to recruit him, not one had squatted down to speak with him. Indeed, not a single one had sent its family head or sect master to recruit him. They had all sent subordinates.

Those family heads and even grand elders had not even been willing to make the trip themselves, as though personally coming for the two brothers would somehow lower their status.

"But..."

The bearded brute's voice weakened. "Brother, you do not have much longer to live. You were once Great Xia's foremost sword cultivator, yet your cultivation has now fallen to the third layer of Foundation Establishment. If you do not find a worthy master soon, you will die."

"Mm."

The scholar seated cross-legged on the ground summoned a miniature Three-Foot Azure Edge. His expression was complicated as he looked at this natal spirit treasure, which trembled incessantly before him in eager delight, as though it had gained sentience. He remained silent.

He had begun cultivating at thirteen, achieved Heavenly Dao Perfect Foundation Establishment at fifteen, and stepped into the Golden Core Realm at twenty-four.

His initial Trait, as well as the Traits he gained after later major realm breakthroughs, were all exceptionally suited to a sword cultivator.

And within several secret realms and grotto-heavens, he had obtained all manner of Traits and cultivation techniques suited to him!

At twenty-seven, he had fought alone against the top three on Great Xia's "Prodigy Rankings." He had not fallen behind in the slightest, and after battling them bitterly for three hours, he cut all three down and sealed their throats with a single sword, becoming famous throughout the world!

The world called him Great Xia's foremost sword cultivator.

They called him young and accomplished.

Young success naturally made him feel as lofty as the heavens. From then on, he acted ever more recklessly, even believing for a time that sword cultivators ought to do as they pleased. Those who cowered and held back did not deserve to call themselves sword cultivators!

He righted injustices that displeased him and killed people he hated.

He believed there was nothing under heaven he could not set right, and no one he could not kill.

He offended countless people, yet not one of them could keep him. The world knew only that White Robe was Great Xia's foremost sword cultivator, but no one knew that he had a younger brother, nor that he and his brother possessed a Bloodline Trait.

No matter where he went, his younger brother was always waiting within ten thousand li of him.

Should he encounter any mishap, he could immediately teleport away.

Yes, the teleportation range of their Bloodline Trait was not one hundred li, but ten thousand li. So long as he wished to leave, no one under heaven could stop him.

His younger brother was somewhat slow-witted. Whenever he returned home and told his brother of his grandeur outside, his brother would always find it incomprehensible and dull, merely telling him to be more careful.

He did not know what caution was.

He only knew that when the world discussed him, when the world called him Great Xia's foremost sword cultivator, he was happy.

He would even deliberately linger to secretly listen to those people speak of him with admiration.

Later...

Later, he finally stumbled. There were no eternal legends in the martial world. His name had once been known to half the people of Great Xia, if not every household, yet now no one spoke of him.

It was as if Great Xia had never had a foremost sword cultivator.

Or perhaps it already had a new foremost sword cultivator.

In merely four years, he had died. He had died in the martial world.

No one spoke of him anymore.

No storyteller recounted his deeds with rising and falling cadence anymore.

In that battle, he had been gravely injured at the hands of three Late Golden Core Realm experts. He relied on a Trait to feign death and escape, his cultivation declining drastically. The Bone-Eroding Poison had also been planted within his body, leaving him no path but to await death. All he could do was change his appearance and name, then hide with his younger brother in this remote corner of Windward City, Great Xia.

There was only one condition for recruiting him: give him one piece of Heavenly Dao Treasure Jade.

Its price was 3,000 Spirit Stones.

With the Heavenly Dao Treasure Jade, though he could not return to the Golden Core Realm, he could resolve the Bone-Eroding Poison within him. He would no longer suffer so much each day, would no longer face the threat of death, and could live several more decades.

And in those decades, he could once again protect his younger brother.

Though he no longer possessed his former glory.

At least they would have food and clothes without worry.

But at that price... not a single faction could offer it, nor was any faction willing to offer it. And he could not possibly say that he had once been Great Xia's foremost sword cultivator, that he was worth that price.