The Assembly Began

The Sword Inheritance Assembly began.

The first to step forward was a Sword-Washing Disciple named Chen Lin.

Chen Lin had entered the inner sect seven years ago and successfully claimed a sword five years ago, but only this year had he finally reached perfection in the Shouyi Realm, qualifying him to participate in the Sword Inheritance Assembly.

Years of cultivation and waiting had given him a composure beyond his age. Ignoring the gazes around him and the pressure of appearing first, he focused on beginning his demonstration.

A cold, clear gleam of sword light left his sleeve, cut a distinct mark into the rock face where clear water flowed, then turned back.

Before the flying sword reached him, he leaped lightly onto it and began Sword Flight, traveling back and forth between the cliffs with considerable proficiency.

The cliffs along the creek were silent.

Clouds and mist wreathed the stone platform high on the cliff. The Hanging Bell Sect envoy, the visitors from Great Marsh, the representatives from Chaoge City, the head of the Discipline Hall of Fruitful Accomplishment Temple, and representatives of Water-Moon Convent, which had always been on friendly terms with the Green Mountain Sect, and several sword sects sat in their respective places, remaining silent.

This year marked the first time the Mirror Sect had sent a representative to observe the Green Mountain Sect's Sword Inheritance Assembly. Inexperienced and oblivious to the silence among the cliffs, the envoy watched the disciple named Chen Lin wield his flying sword with fierce precision and ride it skillfully, moving freely between the peaks. Admiration rose in him, and he applauded and offered a few words of praise.

Chen Lin landed back on a rock in Streamside.

Elder He of Shiyue Peak, who presided over the Sword Inheritance Assembly, looked at him expressionlessly and asked, "On which peak do you wish to inherit a sword?"

Chen Lin finally grew nervous. His voice slightly dry, he said, "What virtue or ability does this disciple possess? I would not dare choose."

As he spoke, he looked toward the places among the cliffs where the elders of the various peaks had gathered, hope and unease in his eyes.

At the Sword Inheritance Assembly, each elder from the Nine Peaks could select only one Sword-Inheriting Disciple. With so few places, they were all extremely cautious.

Chen Lin knew his cultivation did not stand out among his fellow disciples. He dared not hope the peaks would compete over him; he only hoped one would choose him.

No voice rose from the cliffs. All remained quiet.

As time passed, the silence became awkward.

The disciples beside the creek who were not qualified to participate in the Sword Inheritance Assembly watched him with pained expressions.

Junior Sister Yushan even turned her face away, too nervous to watch.

Amid the deathly silence, Chen Lin maintained his outward calm, keeping his head raised with unimaginable resolve, like a criminal awaiting his final sentence.

He knew that if he lowered his head now, or showed even a little dejection, the elders might judge his sword heart unsteady.

Then he would truly have to wait another three years.

The Mirror Sect envoy also felt embarrassed. Looking at the gazes of the guests around him, he felt he had nowhere to put the hands that had just applauded. He truly could not understand it. Someone of this disciple's outstanding caliber would have been singled out for training in the Mirror Sect, yet in the Green Mountain Sect... no one wanted him?

At last, a voice rang out among the cliffs.

After some discussion, those from Cloud-Traveling Peak decided to take Chen Lin, perhaps thinking they could not outcompete the other peaks for the few key candidates who would follow.

"Are you willing to study the Azure Bird Sword Technique under Elder Cheng?"

Overjoyed, Chen Lin said in a trembling voice, "This disciple is willing!"

With that, he hurriedly rode his sword up to a spot among the cliffs and joined his fellow disciples from Cloud-Traveling Peak.

Disciples stepped forward one after another to demonstrate their cultivation realms and sword techniques.

These inner sect disciples, who had cultivated diligently beside Sword-Washing Creek for years, had all reached perfection in the Shouyi Realm. Two or three had even gained an initial glimpse of the Mind Bearing realm. They rode their swords freely, flying like birds among the peaks, and their Sword Arts were even more practiced. Their flying swords wheeled about, weaving curtains of light through which not even a plunging waterfall could penetrate within ten paces.

Qi Yuanliang, Sikong Yimin, Qi Feiying-these names that had appeared repeatedly in the various peaks' notes were each selected after some contention.

The clifftop was quiet. Having learned his lesson earlier, the Mirror Sect envoy no longer offered opinions lightly. Occasionally, he glanced at the stone platform deep within the clouds and mist, wondering whether the Green Mountain Sect's sect master had come in person, or whether, as rumor had it, he was practicing that supremely mysterious Daoist art just like his master, True Person Taiping.

The head of Fruitful Accomplishment Temple's Discipline Hall, who had come to observe, kept his eyes closed, prayer beads moving slowly through his hand.

The female disciples of Water-Moon Convent had gathered with the female disciples of Qingrong Peak. Already familiar with one another, they conversed in low voices, laughter like silver bells ringing out now and then.

"This is so boring."

The guests from the Hanging Bell Sect sat on a stone platform on the western cliff.

A girl of thirteen or fourteen stared at the water flowing through a crack in the stone beneath her feet, her eyes feeling a little sore.

She rubbed her eyes and yawned. The little bells attached to her translucent, lovely earlobes gave a clear chime.

Those two little bells were silver in color. Could this young girl actually be a Silver Bell Envoy of considerable standing?

"What do you know?"

A young married woman affectionately rubbed her head and said, "The Green Mountain Sect is a great Sword Dao sect. Their sword demonstrations may look dull, but they are anything but simple."

"The problem is that it's far too tedious. A sword goes over there, a sword comes back. What's there to watch?"

The little girl from the Hanging Bell Sect pouted. "If I'd known it would be this dull, I wouldn't have come."

Suddenly, sounds rose from below the cliff. She stood and took a look, discovering a slight stir in the crowd. Her interest piqued, she looked at the thin, frail boy who had walked to Streamside and said, "Martial Aunt, look! Isn't that the innate Dao Seed you pointed out to me earlier?"

Liu S sui came to Streamside.

Soft exclamations rose from both banks.

There were faint stirrings among the cliffs as well, and countless gazes turned toward him.

High on the cliff, the head of Fruitful Accomplishment Temple's Discipline Hall opened his eyes, the visitors from Great Marsh rose, and the Mirror Sect envoy had already gone to the cliff's edge to look down.

The guests attending the ceremony showed tremendous interest in Liu S sui-or rather, curiosity.

The cultivation world knew that Liu S sui was an innate Dao Seed, and the Green Mountain Sect's third innate Dao Seed in ten years at that.

An innate Dao Seed was a cultivation genius found in fewer than one in ten thousand. An ordinary sect would count itself fortunate to encounter one in a century. The Green Mountain Sect's luck truly inspired the utmost envy.

Zhuo Rusui and Zhao Layue came from the Western Sea and Chaoge City respectively. Both had extraordinary family backgrounds and many connections with the cultivation world, making them relatively easy to discover. But this Liu S sui had supposedly lived in Small Mountain Village since childhood and had never encountered cultivation before joining the sect. How, then, had the Green Mountain Sect found him?

Looking at the boy standing on the creek, the members of the various sects felt somewhat conflicted.

Liu S sui remained entirely unaffected. Standing on a rock in the creek, he simply sent out his sword.

The flying sword pierced the air, leaving no afterimage, not even a gleam of sword light, and seemingly reached the rock face ten yards away in an instant.

Without a sound, without so much as a ripple in the flowing clear water, a slender, perfectly round hole appeared in the rock face.

The seemingly unremarkable sight drew several soft exclamations of surprise from among the cliffs.

Liu S sui brought two fingers of his left hand together and performed the most common Sword Arts in the Sword Scripture. The flying sword returned from the rock face.

He took a seemingly casual step toward Streamside, landing precisely on the sword, and rose with it. Trailing an afterimage, the flying sword abruptly accelerated into a streak of clear light. Within a few breaths, he had flown beyond the cliffs and peaks, breaking through the clouds with a slightly piercing sword whistle.

Everyone looked up to see that he had already become a black speck high in the sky, far above the Nine Peaks.

A moment later, Liu S sui returned on his sword, his face unflushed, his heart unhurried, his breathing calm. He bowed silently, as though he had done nothing at all.

Silence filled the cliffs, then cheers suddenly erupted.

"Excellent! Excellent! Excellent!"

Liu S sui's flying sword had seemed simple, but in truth it was utterly steady, without a single superfluous movement, embodying precisely the Sword Dao bearing the Green Mountain Sect pursued.

Though his cultivation realm was still very low, how could a fourteen-year-old boy performing so brilliantly, even showing faint signs of a great master's bearing, fail to inspire admiration?

"So that's an innate Dao Seed?"

The little girl from the Hanging Bell Sect muttered.

To be a Silver Bell Envoy at such a young age, she naturally had an extraordinary background, and neither her talent nor her discernment was lacking. She knew Liu S sui's seemingly simple demonstration had been anything but simple, yet for someone who loved a lively spectacle, it still had not been lively enough.

The next moment, her eyes lit up, and her spirits lifted.

A young disciple with a composed expression walked onto a rock in Streamside and stood facing Liu S sui.

"Junior Brother Liu, please instruct me."