The old man in black stopped and turned to look at Jing Jiu, surprise appearing on his face. "I haven't used it in a long time. I'm not certain either."
Jing Jiu said, "Why don't I give it a try?"
At these words, Lin Wuzhi's expression changed slightly, and the deacon disciples of Cloud-Traveling Peak all looked toward him.
The old man in black watched him in silence for a long time, then said, "All right. Let's see what you can do."
Then he continued toward Sword Peak.
Lin Wuzhi glanced at Jing Jiu. The disciples also found it very strange.
-When that senior uncle asked you a question just now, you didn't answer. Now that he's leaving, you suddenly say something like that. What exactly do you mean?
The old man in black looked up at Sword Peak amid the clouds and mist.
A sword rang out.
Swordlight illuminated the cliffs beneath the peak.
The old man in black rose with Sword Control, drifting upward with the wind. His figure was no longer stooped but perfectly straight, as though he were once again the youth who had just entered the Green Mountain Sect.
A moment later, his figure vanished into the clouds and mist, no longer visible.
Countless swords rang out among the peaks.
The disciples did not know what had happened and were too shocked to speak.
The deacons of Cloud-Traveling Peak intoned, "Senior Uncle Mo's sword returns to Green Mountain!"
All Nine Peaks answered, the voices of Green Mountain disciples rising: "We respectfully congratulate Elder Mo on his sword's return to Green Mountain!"
A long sword cry sounded from Heavenly Light Peak.
The ancient bell on Shangde Peak hummed.
Pale clouds veiled Qingrong Peak's face.
"Uncle-Master Mo spent over a hundred years arranging the ancient texts on Shiyue Peak. Today..."
Looking at Sword Peak, Lin Wuzhi left the sentence unfinished, his eyes slightly damp.
People said cultivators must sever their affections and extinguish their feelings, but how many could do it? Besides, what the Green Mountain Sect cultivated was not the Dao, but the sword.
The sword meant seeing; when they could never see one another again, how could they not grieve?
Only then did the disciples understand what had happened. Senior Uncle Mo, who had just spoken to them so gently, had actually... passed away.
He had come to Sword Peak only to return his sword to Green Mountain.
He hoped that among the disciples of later generations, someone could inherit his sword.
Looking at Sword Peak, the disciples felt an added weight in their hearts, insights and emotions they could neither explain nor put into words.
Perhaps this was the first lesson of Great Green Mountain.
They looked toward Jing Jiu again.
What had Jing Jiu meant when he told Senior Uncle Mo he would use his sword? Had he meant exactly that?
Lin Wuzhi looked at Jing Jiu and said, "I don't know how you guessed Uncle-Master Mo was preparing to return his sword to Green Mountain. Nor do I know whether you said that to comfort him or to please him so he would leave his sword somewhere lower down. I only want to tell you that you stirred Senior Brother Mo's final pride. That sword lies very close to the summit."
Jing Jiu said, "So?"
Staring into his eyes, Lin Wuzhi said, "Since you promised, you must do it. Otherwise, no matter which peak has chosen you as its disciple, I won't let you attend the Sword Inheritance Assembly."
The disciples were greatly surprised by these words, and their gazes toward Jing Jiu filled with sympathy.
Terrifying sword intent lay everywhere on Sword Peak, growing denser the higher one went. The summit lay far within the clouds. With their cultivation realms, how could they reach it?
"Too many words, too much feeling, too much meddling-none of these is good."
With that, Lin Wuzhi departed using Sword Control.
These words, of course, were also directed at Jing Jiu, aimed at his behavior before Senior Uncle Mo of Shiyue Peak died.
Only then did the disciples understand that Lin Wuzhi did not truly dislike Jing Jiu. Rather, he thought highly of him.
A deacon of Cloud-Traveling Peak handed sword tokens to the dozen or so disciples and instructed them, "Sword Peak holds swords left by masters and elders of past generations, so mind your conduct while searching. Do not shout or run. Of course, there are also many ownerless swords here. Whatever sword you find, as long as you can make it answer your summons, you have succeeded. If you get lost, fall and injure yourself, or suffer any other mishap, simply crush this sword token, and someone will deal with it."
One disciple looked toward the cliffs and said, "It's that simple?"
After cultivating and tempering their bodies in the outer sect, these inner sect disciples were far stronger than ordinary people. They could easily leap several dozen feet and had exceptional endurance.
He thought that however steep Sword Peak was, it could still be climbed; however powerful the sword intent, willpower could still hold against it. As long as he did not enter the cloud-covered area, he was confident he could go up and down freely.
The Cloud-Traveling Peak deacon said nothing. Looking at that disciple, he lifted the corners of his lips in an inscrutable smile.
Disciples who could enter the inner sect to cultivate were all extremely intelligent young people. How could they fail to understand upon seeing that smile?
The disciple paled slightly and bowed. "Please advise us, Senior Brother."
The Green Mountain Sect's outer sect deacons were all disciples who had failed to break through the Spirit Embracing Realm, while the inner sect deacons among the Nine Peaks were disciples who could not be chosen at the Sword Inheritance Assembly. Addressing him as senior brother was only proper.
"You're still in the Spirit Embracing Realm. You have no hope of finding a sword. Reach Zhitong first."
The Cloud-Walking Peak deacon said, "Even if you find a sword, will it follow you? Why else are there so many lovelorn men and resentful women in the mortal world?"
A disciple asked, "Roughly how long will it take before we can successfully obtain a sword?"
"Ordinary disciples need an average of three years to possess a flying sword of their own. Disciples with talent, understanding, and good luck may be faster."
The Cloud-Walking Peak deacon pointed at Sword Peak in the clouds. "Junior Sister Zhao took three months. Work out for yourselves how long you'll need."
With that, he returned to the small building at the foot of the peak, leaving the dozen or so young disciples there.
The young disciples looked at one another in speechless silence, wondering what they should do next.
Zhao Layue was the greatest genius among the third-generation disciples, and the idol of new disciples like them. If even she had needed three months, they could forget about it.
Moreover, the deacon had made it very clear that entering Sword Peak at their current Embracing Spirit Realm was meaningless.
"Since this is the first lesson the sect has given us, we can hardly leave it unfinished."
A disciple surnamed Zhu looked at everyone with a resolute expression and said gravely, "Even if we can't sense where the swords are, we can still enter Sword Peak and familiarize ourselves with the surroundings to prepare for the future."
"Exactly. That must be why the Cloud-Walking Peak deacon gave us sword tokens."
A female disciple nodded. "Teacher Lin said Sword Peak can temper our minds and resolve. He or some other teacher may be watching us in secret. How can we not go?"
Persuaded by these two statements, the disciples excitedly called out that they would all go together.
Jing Jiu said nothing and stood quietly, which made him somewhat conspicuous.
Many gazes fell on him at once.
The disciples knew he was famously lazy, but thought that since he had entered the inner sect, perhaps he had changed.
Those few words Teacher Lin had spoken to him were the sternest of demands, but were they not also profound expectations?
Jing Jiu nodded to everyone, turned, and walked away from the peak.
Only then did the disciples realize he was actually preparing to leave.
The disciple surnamed Zhu said in astonishment, "Didn't you say you would fetch Senior Uncle Mo's sword?"
The other disciples froze as well, wondering whether this person really was just as the rumors described.
Just then, a group emerged from the woods on the western side of Sword Peak.
The young man leading them wore plain-colored sword robes. He was handsome, his brows swept upward like swords, his expression indifferent as ice and snow, his bearing extraordinary.
More startling still, he carried no sword on his back-could he have already perfected his Sword Pellet and entered the Wuzhang Realm at such a young age?
The Cloud-Traveling Peak deacons went forward and exchanged a few words with him. Only then did everyone learn that he was Gu Han, one of the immortal instructors at the Sword-Washing Pavilion.
Gu Han had another, more important identity.
He was the third senior brother of Twofold Forgetting Peak.
Twofold Forgetting Peak could be said to gather the Green Mountain Sect's most gifted young disciples. That Gu Han ranked third made the strength of his Sword Dao cultivation easy to imagine.
As they looked at Gu Han, admiration and awe appeared on the disciples' faces.
Jing Jiu did not spare Gu Han a glance, only looking quietly beside him.
A youth stood beside Gu Han.
Three years had passed since their meeting at the village entrance. The ten-year-old was now thirteen.
He was now a youth, his brows still as straight, his eyes still as true, his face still as dark.
After a year of cultivation among the Nine Peaks, Liu S sui had become more mature, his bearing composed and his expression calm.
He looked toward a certain spot, his eyes showing some confusion, which quickly turned to delighted surprise.
"Ah!"
Liu S sui cried out and ran toward Jing Jiu.
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