Ze Tian Ji (Way of Choices)
chapter-329

The sword Chen Changsheng wanted naturally was in the Garden of Zhou, or more accurately, in the Sword Pool. Although he did not know where the sword he wanted was even now, it was without question a sword of equal renown to the Mountain Sea Sword currently in his hand.

Actually, the sword he wanted had a ranking on the Tier of Legendary Weapons far below the Mountain Sea Sword, However, in some aspects, its fame eclipsed the Mountain Sea Sword because it was rarely seen and was a sword that had been brought into the Garden of Zhou by Zhou Dufu himself. What was even more important was that the sword was the temple sword of the South Stream Temple. In other words, it was the Holy Maiden Sword.

Chen Changsheng did not know that the girl behind him was Xu Yourong. Even until now, he still did not have any favorable impressions of that name. At this moment, he naturally did not want the sword to be used as the dowry for his fiancée. On the contrary, as is spoken in the legends, the temple sword of South Stream Temple possessed sacred light that could purge all poisons and had a natural ability of suppressing the blood arts of the demons.

This thought indeed was very absurd, but it turned into reality. Right when he thought of the idea, in a certain area in the plains directly south of the mausoleum, an extremely fresh and clean feeling appeared. The wild grasses that were bent in the rain and seemed extremely tired straightened up again. Droplets of rain slid down the veins of the blades of grass, and they seemed to be extremely exuberant.

An extremely soft sword intent appeared in the vitality of the countless grasses and subsequently suddenly disappeared without a trace.

In the next moment, the sword intent arrived at the stone platform in front of the mausoleum, and at the same time, a sword appeared. The sword seemed very simple and neat, without any additional decorations. It gave off a faint, sacred feeling, causing the gloominess that was cast upon the world by the rain to be illuminated by a lot.

This was the temple sword that Chen Changsheng wanted.

He extended his hand to grab the temple sword in the rain and proceeded to swing it at the incoming Peacock Plume.

Only an angry cry of a peacock could be heard from the violent flames. Afterwards, with a swish, the flames on the surface of the Peacock Plume turned into green smoke. The terrifying toxins in the blood flames were immediately and completely purified by the sacred light that was emitted by the temple sword.

Silence. Absolute Silence. Nanke’s small face grew even paler. Her two maids behind her gazed at it wide-eyed, their faces rife with disbelief. The zither-playing old man revealed a terrified expression in his gaze, and Teng Xiaoming’s expression turned exceedingly solemn.

Suddenly, the sound of rain stopped. Liu Wan’er, who had not yet acted, ran over at great speed along the divine path. The huge metal pot in her hand transformed into the whole night sky and fast approached the temple sword radiating sacred light from all sides.

Chen Changsheng let go of the hilt of the temple sword and grabbed the hilt of the Mountain Sea Sword in the rain once again. He flicked it upwards at the metal pot. With a metallic bang, Qi sprayed out violently and the black pot was flung directly into the air. A hole appeared in the night.

Behind the night was not the blue sky, but rather Liu Wan’er’s two hands.

She held a wire with her two hands. It was extremely soft and flexible and wrapped itself around the Mountain Sea Sword, actually immobilizing the heavy metal sword. Then, at that moment, Teng Xiaoming, who was mentally connected to her, grabbed the metal pole. It fell from the rainy sky once again, smashing towards his head.

Simultaneously with all that, there was another abnormal disturbance in the depths of the grassland. A sword that was thin like a ray of light traversed the several dozens of li of torrential rain and arrived in front of the main gate of the mausoleum. It was as if it shoved itself into Chen Changsheng’s right hand, which had just let go of the hilt of the Mountain Sea Sword.

The sword was so thin as to be graceful, making people feel that it was just like a needle.

Chen Changsheng grasped the sword and thrust it towards Liu Wan’er. The graceful body of the sword constantly shook as if it struggled to bear with the baptism of the torrential rain. The edge of the blade travelled like lightning, as if it was sewing something in the rain. He did not know what sword it was, so he did not know what sword style he used. He only felt that it was extremely soft, and the sword move was like all the colors of spring, a grand view that was very beautiful.

In the swishing sounds, the graceful sword did not sew a beautiful image in the rain, but instead cut the wire that trapped the Mountain Sea Sword. The graceful sword continued to pierce through the rain, arriving before Liu Wan’er in the end. It pierced her earlobe. If Teng Xiaoming’s deformed metal pole did not come smashing down, perhaps the graceful sword would have directly pierced Liu Wan’er’s neck.

The metal pole rushed through the air. Chen Changsheng released the graceful sword and grabbed the Mountain Sea Sword in the rain again, lifting it upwards. It was still flicking upwards, and there was only an earsplitting sound of collision. The metal pole whistled through the air, landing somewhere unknown. Teng Xiaoming unhesitantly grabbed Liu Wan’er’s shoulder and retreated violently. They dangerously avoided Chen Changsheng’s next strike.

No matter whether it was the graceful sword or the Mountain Sea Sword, for three consecutive strikes, Chen Changsheng used flicking motions, from picking the thread from the cloth to raising a lamp in the night. He picked very cleanly and nimbly, and he raised very unrestrainedly.

(TL: The text is using the Chinese word 挑 as a theme for the three attacks. Basically, that includes picking, as in picking out a thread, raising, as in raising a lamp and flicking, which is the motion of the sword.)

The three swords were suspended quietly in the surrounding rain, depicting a scene of halting beauty.

Looking at the temple sword that radiated soft sacred light, Nanke was no longer able to suppress the shock in her heart. She was not even willing to wonder why the legendary Holy Maiden Sword had appeared and said angrily, “Why do you also know the sword style of the South Stream Temple?”

“Perhaps that is the Yue Maiden Sword?” Liu Wan’er looked at the graceful sword that was beside him in the rain, feeling deeply shocked. She did not even realise that a drop of dark red blood oozed out of her earlobe.

In the south-eastern corner of the continent, there once was a great sword sect. Many of the disciples in the sect were female, and it was in the Land of Yue, so it was called the Yue Maiden Sect. It produced many experts in the path of the sword, and until several centuries ago, it was equal to the South Stream Temple before slowly dwindling into obscurity. As for the South Stream Temple, even less needed to be discussed. It was the holy land of the southern religion and received the faith and worship of countless civilians.

Nanke and Liu Wan’er were naturally shocked by the appearance of the two swords. What they did not understand even more was why Chen Changsheng even knew the sword styles of the South Stream Temple and the Yue Maiden Sect. It must be known that these two sword styles focused on sacred purification and very sensitive concepts. There were very few males who would practice it.

Chen Changsheng did not explain. He was without a doubt able to grasp the sword styles of the South Stream Temple and the Yue Maiden Sect, at least grasping most of the moves and sword forms of the styles. Other than, him having memorized the Daoist Canon, the most important reason was that he was hard-working. When he came to the capital from Xining Village, in that first year of his time in the Orthodox Academy the things he did the most were reading, cultivating and studying all of the ways to cultivate on the path to enlightenment. Other than the teenagers in the Divine State’s Seven Laws of the Mount Li Sword Sect, it was impossible to find another person who was as hard-working as him amongst his peers.

Looking at Chen Changsheng, who stood tall on the stone platform in the wind and rain, no matter if it was Nanke or Liu Wan’er, they all felt extremely uneasy.

Within the demon experts that had entered the Garden of Zhou, Teng Xiaoming was the quietest. Speaking of status, he was the twenty-fourth Demon General. Not to mention the fact that he was not even above Nanke, he was not even as great as his wife, but all of the aristocratic clans in Xuelao City knew that it was because he loved his wife. In terms of true battle prowess and insight, he was the strongest one present.

As a result, he did not let the shocking scene before his eyes disturb his own emotions. He extended his hand towards a certain area to recall his metal pole. Creating ripples on the divine path with his feet, he attacked Chen Changsheng once again with the whistling wind.

The other experts also came back to their senses. They knew they could not let the battle continue to develop like so. They had just seen Chen Changsheng, who was just about to enter desperate straits, suddenly gain the support of three divine swords! Just who knew what would happen next?

Loud sounds reverberated consecutively, and the wind on the divine path blew powerfully. The torrential rain was blown diagonally like a weak willow. An extremely clear sound of a zither attacked towards Chen Changsheng who was on the side of the stone platform along with the powerful gusts of wind, carrying with it an unconcealed killing intent.

Just at this moment, a clear sound resonated in the rainy sky. It was the resonance of a sword, which was extremely sharp, able to resound through the world. It was also abnormally deep, like the ancient roar of a dragon.

The shadow of the great peng in the faraway sky slowly drooped. Suddenly, it was paused by the dragon roar for a while.

The complexion of the zither-playing old man was pale. His fingers that stroked the zither string began to tremble violently, and with several snaps, the zither string broke. He spat out a mouthful of fresh blood, and the zither on his knees was immediately dyed red.

Just exactly what was it that gave off the roaring resonance, which was actually so mighty?

Just at this moment, a sword pierced through the rainy sky and arrived before Chen Changsheng.

The sword intent was extremely proud and overbearing without equal.

“Dragoncry Sword!” Liu Wan’er exclaimed in surprise.

Chen Changsheng grabbed the Dragoncry Sword from the rainy sky and swung it towards Teng Xiaoming.

The mausoleum suddenly began to glow, as if a phantom dragon had burst out of the sword. It heavily struck Teng Xiaoming’s abdomen, and leaving behind only a terrifying, muffled sound,, Teng Xiaoming was knocked flying for hundreds of zhang beneath the divine path. It was unknown in how many places his sternum had broken.

Nanke approached, and the true blood burned violently in her eyes.

Chen Changsheng looked into her eyes and suddenly released the hilt of the Dragoncry Sword. He extended his hand into the rainy air again.

Another extremely bright sword flew in from far away, landing in his hand.

He grabbed the sword and advanced forwards. The surface of the blade had the semblance of water, directly chopping at Nanke.

There was another exclamation of surprise on the Divine Path, “Autumn Water Sword!”

This was not the end.

This was only the beginning.

The sounds of swords piercing through the rain constantly resounded.

Shocked voices constantly exclaimed aloud.

“Jade Lake Sword!”

“Ten Feet Eight God Sword!”

“How is this possible, that is… the Demon Commander’s Banner Sword!”