Cheng Qian doesnât lack swords. Fuyao Sect has a wealthy sect leader who has nothing but money. They can use a sword once then throw it away. The only problem is that on Azure Dragon Island, the opponents he encounters are just at Zhang Dasenâs level. Therefore, he keeps using the wooden sword as a means to practice his swordplay.
A sword is nothing special to him. But with just a glance, Cheng Qian can see that this sword is special.
He already knows without thinking much that this sword isnât from Yan Zhengming. Firstly, the scabbard looks ordinary. Itâs even a bit too old. That isnât to the taste of their sect leader and senior brother. Secondly, with Sect Leader Yanâs personality, he wouldnât keep a deed like this secret. If he wants to give something to another person, he will loudly let everyone in the sect know, then heâll order them around. He wonât deliver the gift until he is satisfied.
Upon closer look, there are spells carved meticulously on the handle and blade of this sword. Those spells are incredibly complicated, forming rings that interlock with each other. Despite having read every book on Azure Dragon Island, Cheng Qian canât tell what spells they are.
He reaches out with a finger, wishing to investigate the blade. However, he stops before touching it. As there is less than half an inch between his finger and the blade, a strange feeling rises in Cheng Qianâs heart.
He feels that there is a cold aura with the stench of iron rust, which curls around the blade like an illusion. There is a sense that the sword is alive.
At first Cheng Qian is confused. Then his eyes widen as he thinks of a possibility: there is a hidden charm around this sword!
It has to be said that hidden charms are the highest point of the art of charms. Someone who doesnât possess great power and talent canât create such a charm. The only person Cheng Qian has met who can create a hidden charm is his disciple grandfather, the Beiming Lord of the Demonic Realm.
If one looks closely, even the hidden charm of the Beiming Lord wasnât that skillfully done, because it used a special medium, which was his own soul. Therefore, that charm was more a trick of demonic cultivators than an exceptional display of skill with spells.
Thereâre many people knowledgeable in spells. Powerful cultivators who have good skills with energy arenât rare either. However, how many people can create a hidden charm around the blade of a sword?
Cheng Qian can imagine that this is a sword that everyone covets once it appears in the world. However, no matter how closely he looks on the sword, he canât find its name.
At this moment, Cheng Qian discovers that there is a piece of paper peeking out from under the tea tray. Part of the paper is wet from something. He touches it with his finger and smells it, which makes him even more anxious. Itâs blood.
On the paper itâs written: Shuang Ren returns to its original owner. Remember, it canât be used rashly.
Whether itâs âShuang Renâ or âoriginal ownerâ, Cheng Qian doesnât understand anything. He carefully investigates his room inside out, and discovers that there is a trail of blood leading from the window.
Of course the person who delivered the sword got in from the back window. No wonder Puddle, who was playing in the front yard, didnât know anything.
Cheng Qian hesitates for a while, unsure if he should tell Yan Zhengming about this incident. He reaches out a few times for the door but then withdraws his hand, feeling that the mysterious person left behind this sword not necessarily out of good will. This doesnât seem to be a good thing.
Cheng Qianâs habit is that he only lets other people know about good news but not the bad. After some consideration, he decides not to disturb the others and silently pursues the trail of blood alone.
Cheng Qian touches his eyes slightly, concentrating his spiritual energy there. Immediately, the sceneries around become alive, and he can detect the blood hidden on the ground with just a glance.
Whoever this injured person is, it seems that the injury wasnât fatal, and they still had a lot of energy, enough for them to run across half of the island. Cheng Qian follows the trail to a rock submerged by the sea water, and realises that the blood trail is cut off there.
Cheng Qian thinks, âIt canât be that the person jumped into the sea?â
As he investigates along the beach, he suddenly feels danger out of nowhere.
Whether such intuition comes from his cultivation of qi or his regular fights, Cheng Qian has good faith in it. Therefore he hastily gathers and hides away his aura, then hides himself in a corner.
His action is in the nick of time. Just a second later, several figures with their faces hidden arrive from the sky. As soon as they land, they search everywhere.
As soon as Cheng Qian sees this, his eyes widen. The reason is no other than that these people rode their swords to come here.
He doesnât know if Yan Zhengming has reached the level of sword riding; he himself canât do it yet. Besides the fact that these opponents have higher cultivation level than he, the group has a dozen of members.
No need to guess which side these people belong to. From how they travel in the night with their faces hidden, one can be certain that theyâre up to nothing good.
Cheng Qian doesnât have much time to think. Just a second later, one of the masked figures makes a long whistles, then a large bird with unusual looks appears. That bird is taller than a human, its wings are even larger than Puddleâs, as if it lands on the ground while carrying the whole sky on its back.
A cold sweat breaks out on Cheng Qianâs back. With a disciple brother who is knowledgeable in all kinds of topics like Li Yun, he has heard of and seen not a few of unusual things. This bird is a âhuman detecting birdâ, which is trained to detect the breath of a living person. Because it can fly, itâs much more useful than a spiritual dog.
With its extremely sharp sense, the human detecting bird has likely already detected Cheng Qian. After receiving its order, the very first thing it does is looking at the direction of his hiding place and screeches loudly.
No matter how agile he is, he canât outrun those who can ride swords. In the emergency, Cheng Qian quickly takes out some small bottles from his side pocket. He hastily smells them, then pours the contents of one on his body. Those substances were all created by Li Yun for his disciple siblings to play with. Cheng Qian doesnât really know their specific purposes, he only vaguely remembers that one of them can be used to hide oneself.
âPray for luck,â he thinks. Immediately, Cheng Qian feels like he has been frozen. His entire body is immobilised such that he canât even move.
Groaning inside, he thinks that he will die here thanks to the grace of his Second Brother.
The human detecting bird and the masked figures quickly run towards Cheng Qian, who temporarily canât move. But right after that, they run past him as if they donât see him at all.
Maybe he really managed to pick a substance that helped him become invisible, but with the side effect that he canât move?
After a while when he manages to look around with difficulty, Cheng Qian discovers that he didnât become invisible. Instead he was turned into a rock.
Although this unknown substance for rock transformation of Li Yun has saved Cheng Qianâs life, it nails him to that spot all night. The group of masked figure donât leave the island until nearly sunrise.
Before leaving, the chief of the group sweeps his glance at all directions one last time. As Cheng Qian can finally see clearly his eyes, he immediately feels that the person looks vaguely family. At least he has seen these eyes somewhere before.
When Cheng Qian can move again, the sun is already high up in the sky.
Carrying the sea wind, he drags his body, which is stiff to the tips of his finger, back to their home. He runs into Li Yun who is walking out.
Li Yun looks exhausted. He must have been busy all night too, but his spirits are high. His face covered with a towel, he leaves the room that looks like it has just been through a fire. Thick cloud of smoke wafts out of the open door.
Li Yun tiredly tells Puddle who is climbing on the wall to catch caterpillars, âBaby sister, catch!â
As soon as he says that, he takes out a round pill and throws to Puddle on the wall with a flick of his finger.
Puddle always unconsciously displays certain avian characteristics. Her ears and eyes are much sharper than normal children, and she is especially good at catching fast things that fly by her. Hearing Li Yun, she doesnât use her hand, but cranes her neck and accurately catches the pill with her mouth.
She licks the pill. Tasting the sweetness on it, she chews it like a candy.
Cheng Qian: ââŚâ
He knows that what Li Yun throws to her is the medicine to suppress her yao energy, but he feels weird seeing this.
He has to respect how well-trained their baby disciple sister is. The problem is she is trained to be rather inhuman.
Seeing that she finished the pill, Li Yun looks visibly relieved. He smiles to Cheng Qian then yawns and returns to his room.
Suddenly remembering what happened, Cheng Qian calls him back. âWait, Second Brother, I want to ask you something.â
Li Yun asks, âWhat?â
Cheng Qian says, âDo you know the sword âShuang Renâ?â
Li Yun stops and asks with surprise in his voice, âShuang Ren? Why do you want to know about it?â
âI saw a story,â Cheng Qian replies vaguely without any sincerity, âDo you know anything about it?â
Li Yun frowns. âA bit. I heard that this sword originally had no name. Its blade is extremely cold, and as it freezes the blood falling on it, and it doesnât heat up even when cast into the True Flame, so itâs called âShuang Renâ1. Besides this name, it also has the joking nickname of âthe Sword of Terrible Deathâ.â
âŚWhat a great name.
Li Yun continues. âBack then, the Shuang Ren gained notice because it was used to behead three powerful demonic cultivators in a row. The wielder became famous overnight; the sword itself was also exaggerated to be a demon-vanquishing sword. As a result, both the wielder and the sword fell to another powerful demonic cultivator just a few years later. From then on, countless souls fell to this Shuang Ren sword. When that demonic cultivator won the title of Lord Beiming, the sword was considered the number one demonic sword in the world. Thirty years later, the Lord of all demonic cultivators of that generation was betrayed by their disciple and died under this sword. Shuang Ren then belonged to that traitorous demonic disciple. Ten more years, the ten great sects conducted a campaign against the demonic path, killing more than a hundred demonic cultivators. Consequently, the sword was won by a great cultivator from the righteous path, and transformed into a blessed treasure again. Everyone thought that was the end. Can you guess what happened next?â
Being stunned by the story, Cheng Qian asks, âWhat happened then?â
Li Yun smiles. âOne hundred and thirty four years later, because his cultivation partner suddenly passed away, that great cultivator was so lost in grief that he no longer wanted to live, so he killed himself with Shuang Ren. From then on, the sword disappeared without a trace. Where do you hear about this unlucky artifact from?â
Cheng Qian doesnât reply. He returns to his room with a troubled heart.
However, no matter how unlucky it is, to a sword user, the Shuang Ren is like a great beauty to a lecher, a priceless treasure to a greedy man, a rare antique book to a bookworm. Its seduction is seemingly irresistible.
Cheng Qian keeps picking the sword up and putting it down again. In the end, he uses all of his will to lock this mysterious sword in the wardrobe. As he turns the lock, he gets to experience what âhurt like the heart is pierced by a swordâ is like. He is filled with resentment that he canât immediately unlock the wardrobe and take the sword out to use.
However, there are too many unknowns around this incident. Cheng Qian canât think of anyone who might sneak into his room and leave behind such a notorious sword. It was reckless of him to try and pursue that person yesterday. Before everything is clarified, Cheng Qian has no intention to do anything with that sword.
Because of the great tournament, all of Azure Dragon Island become disquiet. Even Zhang Dasen and his goons no longer have time to cause trouble for Cheng Qian. Half a month later, a giant list is carved on a large rock at Lecture Hall, specifying the opponents for the first round.
That day, the island is full of people. The senior cultivators who are rarely seen normally stand in two rows, all wearing their uniforms.
Clothes make a person look good. Amidst these ethereal white robes, even Tang Wanqiu looks neater. However, between the Left and Right Guardians of Lecture Hall, there seems to be a deep abyss, as neither of them even looks at the other.
Perhaps because of the too-white robe, Tang Wanqiu looks a little green. Looking at her, Cheng Qian feels she is in an even worse mood than usual.
He looks at the other Guardian. Zhou Hanzheng doesnât look that happy either. The smile on him is like a mask. He doesnât open the fan but only taps it on his palm, his eyes sweeping the surrounding from time to time.
Cheng Qian suddenly remembers the vaguely familiar gaze of that masked man. So, it turns out to be Zhou Hanzhengâs!
However, before he can think more about it, the crowd suddenly go crazy. Then there is a loud cheer. Cheng Qian doesnât know why at first. When he looks more closely, all the senior cultivators on the platform all stand up. Someone yells. âThe Lord of the Island! He comes himself!â
Among them, only Yan Zhengming has met the lord of Azure Dragon Island. Caught in the moment, even Cheng Qian canât resist his curiosity. He stands up on his toes in the crowd for a better view. All he can see is a team of internal disciples proudly walk through the crowd, looking like servants of a deity. One by one, they go to the center of the platform then quietly split into two rows.
At the end of the formation, the lord of Azure Dragon Island appears.
The lord of the island is a tall man. By mortal standard, he seems to be just a little above thirty. He has fine features, and his long hair is completely loose on his back. He wears a blue robe and holds a dragon staff that is a bit taller than himself.
The lord walks with his head hanging, his steps arenât long either. There is an indescribable delicateness about him. It isnât until he reaches the centre of the platform that he looks up and slowly sweeps his eyes around the crowd, stopping a fraction longer at Yan Zhengming.
Despite being one of the Four Sages, this lord doesnât look powerful at all. On the contrary, his face seems depressed, as if he were a poor scholar. He glances at the group from Fuyao Sect then pays attention to the platform again. After blandly nodding to the Left and Right Guardians of the Lecture Hall, he walks to the place of honour reserved for him.
All these years, it seems that the lord of Azure Dragon Island doesnât exist. He never appears in public. Therefore, the crowd goes crazy immediately. Yan Zhengming on the other hand frowns. âStrange.â
Why does it seem that strange things keep happening?
Cheng Qian looks at Yan Zhengming, who speaks in a low voice, âIsnât the lord of the island still in seclusion? He didnât even appear at the opening of the celestial market. Why does he appear at a trivial tournament between rogue cultivators and his disciples?â
No one answers him. Their hunter for news Han Yuan has disappeared for some reason.
With the extraordinary excitement on Azure Dragon Island, Han Yuan of course canât ignore it. He has already come to the site to read that list carefully. It should be said that although asking him to read a book is like threatening to kill him, he can memorise these kind of things with just a glance. As he reads it, his ears all perk up to listen to the gossips of the talkative bunch around him.
From the gossips, it seems the that rogue cultivators think Zhang Dasen is the best among them. Han Yuan isnât happy about that, thinking, âItâs just that my Third Brother doesnât like to show off. That coal-faced Zhang asshole was obviously beaten into dust by him, such that the asshole dares not let anyone know. This bunch is really ignorant.â
Suddenly someone says, âZhang Dasen? Pardon my bluntness, he is nothing.â
Feeling like he has just found an ally, Han Yuan cranes his head to find out who has just said that.
Everyone hastens to ask, âWhy do you say that?â. However, this knowledgeable stranger keeps up the suspense for a while then says, âDonât you see that there are ten platforms? The tournament is to select the best ten competitors. Only then that these best among us rogue cultivators can enter the real tournament of Azure Dragon Island, to compete against the internal disciples.â
Han Yuan feels a little off balance.
That person continues. âThink about it, we have been here for five years already. Except for the servants, has anyone seen those internal disciples?â
Everyone shakes their head. Han Yuan slips to the front like an eel and raises his voice. âStop showing off, Bro!â
The person replies with a âhey,â then shakes his head. âThe capability of the internal disciples is way beyond our kind. Itâs said that some of them have special talents and go into seclusion for eight to ten years, improving themselves in extreme conditions. Our friend Zhang Dasen only looks good against us. If he meets the real thing, ahaha.â
At this point, donning a mysterious face, the person waves his hand and stops talking.
Withdrawing his gaze, Han Yuan turns and runs off.
*******
1. 'Shuang Ren' (éĺ) means Blade of Frost, or poetically 'blade as sharp as frost'.