In the distance, Zhao Layue once again sensed the change in the sword intent. She narrowed her eyes slightly, wondering, Could it have something to do with that young disciple just now?
A moment later, she shook her head.
She had spent a long time with these strands of sword intent and knew they had no spiritual awareness, only meaning.
If the meaning these strands of sword intent conveyed toward her was fondness and care, then what they conveyed now was... submission?
Sword intent would only submit to a sword, never to a person.
Could a new renowned sword be about to emerge among the peaks?
Amid the sword intent filling the mountain, Jing Jiu finally found the strand he wanted.
Hundreds of strands of sword intent sensed his will, gradually quieted, and returned to the mountain.
Jing Jiu walked up to the cliff face.
A sword slowly emerged from the rock wall. The sight was rather eerie.
The sword was black from end to end, with a dim sheen, and looked rather ordinary. In terms of the purity and concentration of its sword intent, it was not outstanding compared with the other swords, and was even slightly inferior.
This was the sword of Uncle-Master Mo, who had passed away half a year ago.
It was also the sword Jing Jiu needed.
Jing Jiu reached out and stroked the blade. Finding it was indeed very broad, he nodded in satisfaction.
Just as he was about to take the sword, he suddenly noticed something and looked up toward the east.
At the summit, the sword intent was at its strongest and the clouds were extremely thick. Not a trace of starlight could fall through. It was difficult to see, and impossible to investigate with Sword Sense.
The surroundings here could be called true darkness.
To see anything a hundred zhang away required at least the Wuzhang Realm. To see farther required an even higher realm.
For Jing Jiu, this was no problem. His cultivation realm was still very low, but the sword intent filling the mountain could not affect him. Instead, it could help him see everything clearly.
He saw the Iron Eagle land in front of the cliff face.
Iron Eagles were the only living creatures that could survive on Sword Peak.
The Iron Eagle's feathers were tougher than steel, its bones like Spirit Stones. Every part of its body was among the most precious materials for making arrows.
Had their numbers not been too small for use in military formations, and had they not been taken in as the Green Mountain Sect's guardian birds, these strange birds would probably have been hunted to extinction by the imperial court long ago.
It was an eaglet, gravely wounded. It struggled among the cliffs, unable to stand, blood flowing constantly from its abdomen.
There was no telling whether the eaglet had been wounded outside by an enemy's flying sword, or had been unlucky enough to be injured by a natural Sword Embryo emerging among the peaks.
Jing Jiu pondered this.
All things under heaven had their own paths of life and death. He had no intention of intervening; he only wanted to see what would happen next.
Zhao Layue sat within the cliff face.
Her Sword Intent Tempering Body cultivation had now reached its most critical moment, and she could not get up at will.
She quietly watched the struggling Iron Eagle, her eyes showing neither pity nor any other emotion.
Jing Jiu watched her quietly.
Zhao Layue moved.
She raised her hand, and a streak of green sword light burst from her sleeve, reaching the eaglet.
Jing Jiu raised his eyebrows slightly.
Judging by her Sword Control, she had actually entered the Mind-Bearing Realm.
She truly was an innate Dao Seed. He simply did not know why she had concealed this fact, so that even now no one in the Green Mountain Sect knew.
Zhao Layue did not kill the eaglet to put it out of its misery.
The green sword light cut back through the air, bringing the eaglet with it.
She tore off a piece of her clothing and carefully bandaged it.
Watching this scene, Jing Jiu shook his head, then looked up toward a spot in the distance.
A middle-aged man in gray had appeared at some unknown point among the cliffs a hundred zhang away.
Amid the sword intent and true darkness of the mountain, someone at Zhao Layue's realm should not have been able to see him.
She kept her head lowered as she continued bandaging the eaglet. Only after she had finished did she raise her head and look that way.
It turned out she had already discovered him.
"An innate Dao Seed and a genius of the Sword Dao indeed, to detect me from so far away."
The middle-aged man in gray looked at Zhao Layue and said expressionlessly, "No wonder those fellows at Twofold Forgetting Peak are going mad with wanting you."
Looking toward his position in the darkness, Zhao Layue asked, "Who are you?"
"My surname is Zuo," the middle-aged man in gray said.
Zhao Layue was silent for a while, then said, "So it is Uncle-Master Zuo of Jade Lake Peak."
This Uncle-Master Zuo carried no sword on his back. He should have been a powerful Sword Dao cultivator who had already entered the Wuzhang Realm.
Looking at the eaglet in Zhao Layue's hands, Uncle-Master Zuo said, "This little fellow failed to interrupt your cultivation, but it did sound out your depths. I never expected you to have concealed your true realm. To break through into Mind Bearing at such a young age is truly astonishing."
Zhao Layue placed the wounded eaglet behind her and did not respond.
Uncle-Master Zuo continued, "There are two things I would very much like to know now. First, which peak chose you as one of its Sword-Inheriting Disciples? Could it be the Sect Master again? And second, if you did not die silently tonight, what sort of chapter might you write in the history of cultivation? At the thought of it, I find myself somewhat reluctant."
He had actually come to kill Zhao Layue.
The Green Mountain Sect treasured Zhao Layue like a jewel, yet someone wanted to kill her?
Standing in the darkness, Jing Jiu watched the man in the distance and listened to their conversation, bewilderment rising within him.
Could this man be a spy from another sect? Or a killing move Chaoge City had hidden within Green Mountain?
There could actually be a spy somewhere Yuan Qijing kept watch over? It was truly hard to imagine.
Uncle-Master Zuo of Jade Lake Peak was merely voicing his own feelings. He had no intention of waiting for Zhao Layue's answer.
Along with his voice, a faint yet chilling killing intent crossed the distance of more than a hundred zhang and fell upon Zhao Layue.
He was a powerful cultivator of the Wuzhang Realm, yet even against a junior disciple far weaker than himself, he remained very cautious, because the person he intended to kill was Zhao Layue.
He had already determined that Zhao Layue's true realm was the Mind-Bearing Realm, so he would not come within a hundred zhang of her.
Even at the perfection of the Mind-Bearing Realm, a flying sword's killing range was no more than a hundred zhang.
However gifted Zhao Layue might be, she could not launch an attack from so far away.
At such a distance, however, he needed only to wave his hand to cut her down, being in the Wuzhang Realm.
This would be a battle without any suspense.
Jing Jiu glanced at the night sky and confirmed that sending a message by flying sword would likely be too late.
"I don't understand what you mean, Uncle-Master."
Zhao Layue still sat in the cliff cave. There was no telling whether she could not leave because her Sword Intent Tempering Body cultivation had reached its critical moment, or because she had already given up.
"We all arrive in confusion, but when we leave, we should at least know the reason."
Uncle-Master Zuo said, "The reason I want to kill you is that you have been investigating those matters."
"I don't know what matters you mean," Zhao Layue said.
"You should not have investigated those matters," Uncle-Master Zuo said. "They are not matters you are qualified to investigate."
Zhao Layue watched him quietly and said, "So... there really is something."
"Of course there is. Otherwise, why would the peak master go mad? Why would I risk coming here to kill you?"
Looking at her, Uncle-Master Zuo said with feeling, "In truth, I don't understand. Your future is bright, so why have you insisted on investigating this matter for the past three years? How did you learn of it? And why investigate it? Moreover... just what result are you trying to uncover? Had I not had an old connection among the Curtain Rollers, I would never have imagined you were the one investigating."
His tone was filled with regret and pity. It seemed he truly did not want to attack Zhao Layue.
Jing Jiu listened quietly, saying nothing, much less showing himself.
"Have you considered the consequences of killing me?"
Zhao Layue spoke as she looked into the darkness.
She was the Green Mountain Sect's deeply cherished future, and had an exceptionally deep connection to a certain peak.
Even if the man in gray was her uncle-master, as long as he dared to attack her, his end would certainly be miserable.
Uncle-Master Zuo sighed and said, "Some things have consequences ten thousand times worse than killing you, but haven't we done them all the same?"
Before you continue