Chương 73: A Thousand Years, Sword-Forging, and the Secret of Lu County

"Very well." Yushen nodded and raised her hand with a casual sweep. She seized Su Zhe by the collar. Before Su Zhe could react, he felt heaven and earth spin about him. Though Su Zhe possessed strength of several hundred catties, before Yushen he was now as a child, left wholly to her handling. A sense of humiliation slowly arose within Su Zhe's heart.

"Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!" Su Zhe felt the wind shriek past his ears, and the gale blurred his eyes. The ruins of the Blacksmith Gang grew ever smaller. Until at last they seemed no larger than a pellet.

"Master… Master…"

"This disciple fears heights… fears heights… slower… slower…" From amid the firmament came Su Zhe's cries. …

"Martial Uncle Yushen, the Asura Child Matriarch—who knows how much blood hath stained her hands?"

"The disciples of Yushen Manor are each fierce as dragons and tigers. Yet who would have thought she would accept such a death-fearing fellow? This fate between them is truly… difficult to speak of, difficult to fathom…" Li Shanyun revealed a faint smile as she watched the two departing figures. Mm. This time she, too, had benefited from Su Zhe's favor; Martial Uncle Yushen's reward would surely be generous. Moreover, that lad's constitution, whose root-bones could transform and be remade, was rather wondrous.

In the days to come, within Sword-Forging Mountain Villa, she might also give him some care. … A seventh-rank Yang Spirit realm martial artist could soar through the heavens and burrow through the earth. This was Su Zhe's first time flying, and fear naturally filled his heart. Yushen carried him along. His two hands clutched tightly at Yushen's soft, boneless hand. He dared not loosen even the slightest bit, lest Yushen cast him down and he be dashed into a flattened ruin.

"Such a temperament of thine truly needs tempering."

"In future, when thou roamest the jianghu, should others learn that thou art the disciple of I, the Asura Child Matriarch, thou shalt disgrace this old lady's face!" Yushen looked upon her newly accepted disciple, shook her head, and felt helpless indeed.

"This disciple shall respectfully heed Master's teachings, and shall never bring shame upon the sect!" So Su Zhe said with his mouth. Yet his pair of hands remained like iron hoops, clamped fast upon Yushen's hand. However, as the time of flight lengthened, Su Zhe's state of mind gradually calmed. The scenery beneath him flashed by swiftly, dreamlike and illusory. Upon the earth, pedestrians hurried to and fro, each bound for his own road. Su Zhe could not help but feel somewhat moved.

He had practised martial arts for less than half a year. Yet already, things had changed and people had passed beyond what they once were. Back then, he had still helped his uncle fish, merely for a few taels of silver, unable to escape a life of toil. And now, he was in the heavens, looking down upon the rolling red dust of the mortal world. Around him white clouds curled and coiled, as though immortal, as though phantasmal. His first terror gradually faded, and his mind grew calm.

Gazing upon the vastness of heaven and earth, Su Zhe suddenly felt a sigh rise in him:"To face the blue sea at dawn and reach Cangwu by dusk; to behold the azure heavens and climb toward the white sun." A third-rank martial artist, borrowing the might of a seventh-rank Yang Spirit martial artist, crossed the void in midair. Only upon beholding such a scene and such a realm did he come to know the immensity of heaven and earth, and that his own ambition ought to be lofty and far-reaching.

"Enough of thy flowery phrasing. We have arrived!" Yushen gave a delicate shout, and then her body suddenly plunged downward. Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! A fierce wind came roaring upon them. Su Zhe was at once filled with a mouthful of gale. He dared say no more. … Yandang Mountain. The place where the Blood Refining Cult had entrenched itself. Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author. Within Lu County, it could be called a forbidden region.

It was said to possess an ancient history, already a thousand years long. Across all these years, it had in truth kept a low profile. The Lu County authorities had entered the mountain several times to exterminate the heretical cult, yet each time returned with broken blades and no success. Gradually, none cared to manage the Blood Refining Cult any longer, leaving it to live or perish on its own.

Who could have thought that in but two short months, the Blood Refining Cult would commit several murders within Lu County? In the end, it drew forth the combined encirclement and slaughter of the three great powers of Lu County. While flying, Yushen had not been idle; she began to recount to Su Zhe the origins of that wild god of Lu County.

"In former years, there was an unparalleled master of the artisan path who came to Sword-Forging Mountain of Tang Prefecture and resolved to establish a sect and found a lineage."

"This master took in disciples far and wide. Those who came in admiration of his name were beyond counting. At first, these disciples were harmonious indeed, elder and younger brothers respectful and kind."

"One day, that peerless artisan-path master summoned the two brothers Zhou Minggang and Zhou Juantie, intending to test them and impart the Blood Refining Method. In the end, the master saw that the younger brother, Zhou Juantie, possessed an improper heart and a cruel nature, and feared he would be unable to control the Blood Refining Method. Thus he imparted this method to the elder brother, Zhou Minggang."

"Zhou Juantie was enraged, believing his shifu partial. A heart-devil gradually grew within him. One day, he came to Lu County and was beguiled by a wild god, transforming into an evil deity. Because of his obsession with the Blood Refining Method, he styled himself Blood Refining Divine Venerable. The master of Sword-Forging Mountain resolved to cleanse his own house."

"But the elder brother, Zhou Minggang, felt that in this matter he, too, bore fault for failing in oversight. Thus he requested the mission and came to Lu County. Only after paying a tremendous price did he suppress the Blood Refining Divine Venerable beneath the earth of Lu County. From ancient times it hath been passed down that the core object of the seal was a golden lock: when the lock breaks, the wild god emerges." Yushen spoke slowly, as though narrating an ancient and mysterious past.

Her words were plain, yet still one could feel, between the lines, the breath of passing years flowing forth. Golden lock! Su Zhe's heart thumped.

"Didst thou see anything like a golden lock within the Blacksmith Gang?" Yushen asked casually.

"At that time heaven collapsed and earth split; this disciple could scarce preserve his own life, so how could he have attended to such things?" Su Zhe shrank his neck and spoke. At present, he had yet to fathom this Master's temper. Su Zhe thought it best to keep something in reserve. After the two of them had grown closer in feeling, he would then speak the truth. Once there was affection, perhaps he would not be struck dead by one palm in a fit of fury.

"Ai, Old Sun! Old Sun!"

"Thou hast truly brought no shallow harm upon others. Why didst thou not say earlier that melting the golden lock would release a wild god? The Blacksmith Gang hath been destroyed; this matter lies with thee, not with me." Su Zhe wailed inwardly. He hurriedly severed all relation in his heart. What had nothing to do with him, let it hang high beyond his concern. As for those who had died in this calamity, Su Zhe could only mourn for them in silence. Yet wrong hath its head, and debt its master.

The original culprit was Old Sun. Yandang Mountain towered in majesty, its terrain steep and perilous, its peaks and ridges rugged and lofty. Cliffs stood sheer like cuts of blade and axe, while clouds and mist twined about them, making their true appearance difficult to glimpse. The climbing paths were strewn with jagged stones, and thorns grew thick. Within this mountain, wild beasts abounded.

There were fierce tigers moving through the forest, their roars shaking the valleys; there were great pythons coiled upon ancient trees, their eyes gleaming with vicious light; and there were packs of wolves racing in pursuit, their fangs cold and grim. Yet in the mountain's heart there stood a blood-red altar. The altar was several zhang high, entirely crimson, as though steeped and dyed in fresh blood. Around it lay scattered bones, sinister and terrifying.

"This is the blood-red altar I saw within Wang Shan's memories!" Su Zhe thought inwardly. Yushen brought Su Zhe to the ground. In the distance, around the altar, martial experts filled the place. Among them, the Blood Refining Cult experts wore blood-red robes, encircling the Lu County martial artists layer upon layer.

"Crouch down!" Yushen sprang up, pressed Su Zhe's head downward, and thus the two of them hid among the shrubs. Su Zhe followed the sound and looked over. Then he saw— besides Sun Tiexin, Xiao Xunhuan, Guo Ju, and the other martial artists of Artisan Heart Hall, there were also experts of the Canal Gang, as well as the county deputy and county magistrate of the government office… Altogether, there were more than ten third-rank experts. Everyone stood back to back, each holding a weapon, forming an encircled ring.

Opposite them were the martial artists of the Blood Refining Cult, killing intent shrouding the air.

"Sun Tiexin, Gang Leader Zhang, Magistrate Zhao, Deputy Gongsun…"

"Honored sirs, it is best that you abandon resistance. The Divine Venerable hath already escaped his bonds. For all in Lu County to become part of the Divine Venerable is a supreme glory!" Upon the blood-red altar, a man wearing a ghost-face mask and clad in a red robe called loudly toward Sun Tiexin and the others. His voice was hoarse, like a steel blade.

"Fart! This old man would rather die than surrender to such heretical cultists as you!" Sun Tiexin gripped his heavy hammer, glaring in wrath, his inner force surging.

"Well said, Old Iron Ox!" Zhang Yunshun, leader of the Canal Gang, shook his single arm, and a fish-spear let out a humming cry. Magistrate Zhao and Deputy Gongsun spoke aloud together:"As officials of Great Qian, how could we submit ourselves to traitorous villains?" The dozen or so third-rank martial artists all looked utterly exhausted. Yet their eyes alone burned bright, their will to battle undiminished.

"Do you think that, in today's predicament, the reason you have lived until now…"

"is your own strength?" The ghost-masked man sneered.

"If not because the Divine Venerable had not yet escaped his bonds, how could I have let you live until this moment?!" No sooner had his words fallen than—"Boom!" The heavens changed violently. A mountain of corpses and sea of blood covered the wilds. Above the blood-red altar, a profound and mysterious power erupted forth, rushing straight into the clouds. The corpse mountain and blood sea absorbed the power of the blood-red altar and began to swell without cease.

"People of the Divine Venerable, kill!"

"With the essence-blood of their martial artists, aid the Divine Venerable in restoring his power!" At the ghost-masked man's command, a thunderclap seemed to explode from level ground.

"Kill! Kill the martial artists of Lu County!"

"Kill! Offer up essence-blood to the Divine Venerable!" Upon Yandang Mountain—among the trees, atop the peaks—torches swayed, and human voices rose in wave after wave. Blood-robed cultists came blotting heaven and covering earth, eyes wide with frenzy, charging toward the Lu County martial artists in the center.

"Bang! Bang!" Sun Tiexin swung his heavy hammer, sweeping forth like a hurricane. His strength was great and steady; he was at the peak of third rank, his Barbaric Ox Hammer at Great Perfection, and he had further been tempered by fifteen years within the Fire-Refining Furnace. With one hammer-blow, seven or eight cultists were smashed aside, all collapsing into ruin.

"Shizun!" When hidden arrows occasionally came flying, Guo Ju and Xiao Xunhuan each held a hammer, guarding Sun Tiexin's sides. Yushen, meanwhile, stared fixedly at the blood sea in the heavens and snorted coldly.

"So thou hast finally deigned to show thyself?"

"Come die for this old lady!"

"Roar!" A martial Yang Spirit appeared: a savage dragon. Yushen held a divine hammer in hand. Her face was tender and youthful, yet her strength could break the firmament; she was like a human-shaped tyrant dragon.

"Junior! In Lu County, this Venerable spared thy life, yet thou hast dared pursue me to this place!" A blood-sea giant appeared, and the Blood Refining Divine Venerable glared furiously at Yushen.

"Spared my life? Hmph! Thou didst revile me with such malice—how could this old lady let thee live?" Yushen rammed headlong into the blood sea, swept out with one hammer, and with broad, fierce strokes smashed the blood-sea giant apart.

"Nonsense! What insult did I speak against thee? When did such a thing occur?" The body of the Blood Refining Divine Venerable's blood-sea giant condensed once more as he roared.

"In Lu County, thou didst call this old lady a little girl!"

"This old lady shall make thy divine soul perish utterly, to dispel the hatred in my heart!" Yushen, without another word, struck again with ferocious force, looking as though she would not rest until one of them was dead. The Blood Refining Divine Venerable activated his wild god arts to meet her, bitterness filling his heart. Was this descendant of Sword-Forging Mountain Villa not precisely a little girl? This Venerable… Where was I wrong?