Ze Tian Ji (Way of Choices)
chapter-586

Translated by: Hypersheep325

Edited by: Michyrr

Yes, the sword style Liang Banhu used was the most ordinary Mountain Gate Sword of the Mount Li Sword Sect.

Any disciple that entered the Mount Li Sword Sect would learn this sword style in their first year.

Chen Changsheng had learned this sword style before, so he naturally recognized it, but only today, after seeing this one attack of Liang Banhu's, did he understand that Mount Li truly was worthy of being called the sect of myriad swords. Even their introductory ordinary sword style had its own essence and soul and could not be lightly overlooked. He saw in Liang Banhu's one attack a little of the Stupid Sword's concept.

Liang Banhu's sword met with the Emotion-Severing Sect expert's sword.

A muffled boom.

The clashing of fierce sword intents. Which was stronger?

It was naturally the more stable sword intent that was stronger.

The hillside facing the sun was covered all over in ramrod-straight rows of crops, none of them slanted in the least bit.

Liang Banhu's sword and the expert's sword clashed and then parted, but the next attack followed soon after.

The hand holding the sword was far too stable, his sword far too stable, so much so that there was no delay between the sword techniques.

Ten-odd clashes of swords resounded through the peak of Mount Han. In only a moment, Liang Banhu and this expert from the Emotion-Severing Sect had already exchanged several techniques. Liang Banhu's sword was as stable as it was in the beginning and incessantly pressing forward.

It was just like walking along a row of crops, but it was even more similar to climbing amongst the precipitous crags of Mount Li. The speed was slow, but the feet were extremely stable. Thus, there would eventually come a day when one could walk to the highest point.

The stone platform was pervaded with dust, sword glows flashing intermittently within. With a sudden clear cry, Liang Banhu drew back his sword and returned, lightly retreating several zhang before his feet rested on the ground.

The hand holding his sword was still stable, his expression still calm. He was just like a peasant that had completed his farming for the day.

The expert from the Emotion-Severing Sect somewhat incredulously gazed at his abdomen. At some point, a wound had appeared there.

The wound was not deep, with not much blood flowing from it, but it was very straight, looking just as if it had been drawn on.

This battle had already been decided.

Many people thought that Liang Banhu might obtain victory. Although he was the least renowned of the Divine Kingdom's Seven Laws, in the end, he was still a part of the Divine Kingdom's Seven Laws.

But no one had expected him to easily…or to be more precise, to so stably obtain victory.

Only a person with complete control over the situation could deny their opponent any chance, could give off a sense of stability akin to walking along a row of crops or steadily climbing a mountain, a feeling that this was inevitable and right.

Even more shocking was that from beginning to end, he had only used the most ordinary sword style of Mount Li: the Mountain Gate Sword.

"Concede."

Liang Banhu sheathed his sword, clasped his hands and bowed towards the Emotion-Severing Sect expert, then returned to the Mount Li Sword Sect group, his expression still unchanging.

But Zhexiu's gaze was the most sensitive. He noticed that when sheathing the sword, Liang Banhu's sleeve had been trembling somewhat.

When confronting his opponent, the hand wielding the sword had been so stable. Now, after emerging victorious, why was his hand trembling?

It was naturally not tension or unease, but a concealed excitement, or happiness after some oppressive pressure in the chest was finally relieved.

The injured Emotion-Severing Sect expert was helped off the stage and received the treatment of the Pavilion of Heavenly Secrets. A wandering cultivator from the northwest, his face pale and his appearance dour, slightly creased his brow as he gazed in the direction of the people from the Mount Li Sword Sect. Tianliang County was in the northwest, and besides the Snow Mountain Sect, the sects and wandering cultivators of the tens of thousands of li in the northwest were linked in countless ways with the Emotion-Severing Sect and the Zhu clan.

To put it another way, they all revered Zhu Luo as a god.

It was very obvious that this wandering cultivator would issue a challenge to the Mount Li Sword Sect.

The Mount Li Sword Sect did not give him the chance.

Guan Feibai walked onto the stone platform and said expressionlessly to the wandering cultivator, "Come then."

Since I know that you plan to challenge, I might as well make it more straightforward and challenge you instead.

The Mount Li Sword Sect was not an inflexible sect that only had one style, but Guan Feibai's style was truly the most prominent in the Mount Li Sword Sect.

This sort of style was straightforward, fierce, unyielding, arrogant. It originated from Su Li and had persisted for several centuries now.

Upon hearing Guan Feibai's cold voice, the area around the stone platform grew even quieter.

The wandering cultivator from the northwest had a rather ugly complexion, but in the end, he could no longer remain where he was and slowly walked onto the stage.

Guan Feibai raised his left hand to hold his longsword horizontally in front of his eyes. His expression indifferent, he did not speak.

The wandering cultivator slowly pulled out his sword, his expression grave, his sleeves drifting about as he emitted his Qi outwards and gradually began to build up energy.

A clear whistle!

Guan Feibai rushed forward, his sword pulled from its sheath and slashing through the lake wind, heading towards the wandering cultivator.

The dust which was still slowly settling to the floor billowed into the air once more and the surface of the lake was jolted even more seriously.

Snicksnicksnicksnick! Four extremely clear sounds of the edge of a sword cutting through a body could be heard, and four sword glows directly slashed apart the lake wind and waters!

With a groan, the wandering cultivator continuously retreated, utterly incapable of blocking Guan Feibai's sword as wound after wound appeared on his abdomen.

"Enough," Gou Hanshi declared.

His voice was very soft, but everyone around the platform could hear it loud and clear.

Guan Feibai's sword energy was just at its peak, but upon hearing his senior brother's words, he forcefully halted his steps.

With a crack, a gray stone under his foot suddenly gained a few fine lines.

The wandering cultivator simply did not believe that he would stop when told to stop, and moreover…that he really could stop when told to.

His already prepared defensive technique could not be released, so his true essence began to flow backwards, making it impossible for him to stop his feet.

He fell back like an intoxicated man, his steps growing more and more disorderly. Ultimately, he was unable to stand firm and fell on his butt, a quite embarrassing appearance.

At this time, Guan Feibai had already sheathed his sword and turned around, heading back to the Mount Li Sword Sect's spot.

The wandering cultivator from the northwest gazed at Guan Feibai's back, his face pale to the extreme and brimming with shame and suffering. His agitated mind and the flaring up of his internal injuries were finally impossible to endure, and he vomited a mouthful of blood.

The stone platform by the lake was still silent, even more silent than previously, a deathly stillness.

Tang Thirty-Six said nothing. In a rare occurrence, he did not throw a few jeers at Guan Feibai.

The crowd, stunned by Guan Feibai's cultivation on the path of the sword and his killing power, were similarly speechless. However, no one had noticed a certain detail of that battle that had passed in the blink of an eye.

Zhexiu noticed, his expression a little chilly as he said, "He also used the Mountain Gate Sword."

It was just then that a rebuke brimming with rage came from the stone platform. "The bullying of your Mount Li Sword Sect is truly too unbearable!"

Everyone could already see clearly that the present situation was a battle between the Mount Li Sword Sect and Tianliang County.

The relationship between the cultivators of the Mount Li Sword Sect and Tianliang County was very complex because Su Li had once killed off half the Liang Household, because of the identities of Liang Xiaoxiao and Liang Banhu and the events concerning them, because of that night rain in Xunyang City last year, and because of that letter this year that had rendered the Myriad Willows Garden into scorched earth.

A deep hatred existed between the two sides with no solution in sight.

At this time, the person that had come to take revenge for injustice on behalf of the cultivators of Tianliang County was naturally also a person of Tianliang County.

Scholar Hu, an expert of Hanqiu City.

This person's talent in cultivation had been jointly acknowledged by the Great Zhou Imperial Court and the Pavilion of Heavenly Secrets many years ago.

Everyone was very sure that if this person could successfully break into Star Condensation, he would assuredly be able to enter the Proclamation of Liberation.

In the north, he was even lauded as being undefeated against anyone in the Ethereal Opening Realm and under.

Since Liang Banhu and Guan Feibai had already come out, the person he challenged was naturally Gou Hanshi.

The mood instantly grew rather tense.

Gou Hanshi had been well-versed in the Daoist Canon since he was a child. Whether in terms of intelligence, willpower, or comprehension, he was one of the best.

If Mount Li did not have Qiushan Jun and the world outside of Mount Li did not have Xu Yourong and Chen Changsheng, he would assuredly be the ideal choice amongst this generation of youths to lead the human world.

Although Scholar Hu's reputation was not as resounding, he had cultivated for many more years, so whether in terms of cultivation or experience, he was at least one level above.

For these two experts to soon exchange pointers in the Boiling Stone Summit, one could imagine how intense, how marvelous the battle to come would be.

Gou Hanshi walked onto the stone platform and nodded his head at Scholar Hu, but he remained silent.

Scholar Hu had said that the Mount Li Sword Sect's bullying was too unbearable.

He did not reply, did not argue, because although he was skilled in these things, he did not wish to.

But in the eyes of everyone else, was this composure and silence not a sort of humiliation out of disregard?

Scholar Hu expressionlessly said, "Could it be that you have nothing to say?"

Gou Hanshi shook his head.

He had nothing he wanted to say.

Starting from that storm in Xunyang City, when that expert of the Emotion-Severing Sect mentioned Liang Xiaoxiao's name, it was foreordained that this battle would occur.

Mount Li's mountain gate was an actual gate.

Upon opening this gate, one would be able to see Mount Li.

The temperaments of the Mount Li Sword Sect's disciples were all different, but they all enjoyed opening the gate to see the mountain.

(TN: 'Opening the gate/door to see the mountain' is a Chinese idiom that means 'very straightforward'.)

Gou Hanshi was a gentle person, but he was no exception.

He unsheathed his sword and thrust it forward.

It was only one attack.

Scholar Hu had been defeated.

A crushing defeat.

This technique was called: Open the Gate, See the Mountain.

The first move of the Mount Li Sword Sect's Mountain Gate Sword.

……

……

The lake shore was utterly silent.

The gazes of the crowd incessantly moved between the unconscious and injured Scholar Hu and Gou Hanshi, who had already sheathed his sword and was walking back. They were stunned speechless and gradually began to feel perplexed.

Chen Changsheng was also rather perplexed, but not because Gou Hanshi was able to so easily defeat his opponent.

He had always admired, even esteemed Gou Hanshi. He had always believed that he was able to defeat Gou Hanshi in their match during the Grand Examination not because he was stronger than Gou Hanshi, but because he had more reasons than Gou Hanshi to obtain first rank of the first banner, because he had nothing in this world that he was worried about.

This Scholar Hu was lauded as being undefeated by anyone at Ethereal Opening, but so what?

At the moment, Chen Changsheng could defeat initial level Star Condensation experts, so Gou Hanshi definitely could as well.

He was somewhat confused, and the primary reason for his uneasiness was that Liang Banhu, Guan Feibai, and Gou Hanshi had all used the Mountain Gate Sword of the Mount Li Sword Sect.

He could understand this as the self-confidence of the disciples of Mount Li, the pride of the Divine Kingdom's Seven Laws.

But he still felt that there was some other significance hidden behind this choice.

"Because of Liang Xiaoxiao."

Tang Thirty-Six looked at the location occupied by the Mount Li Sword Sect, his expression somewhat solemn, unlike his usual frivolousness.

Chen Changsheng was confused, asking, "Liang Xiaoxiao?"

Tang Thirty-Six drew back his gaze to look at him and said, "Many people forgot just who was the first rank of the first banner of the Grand Examination before yours."

Chen Changsheng recalled, and answered, "It was Liang Xiaoxiao."

"Correct, even amongst those seven guys, Liang Xiaoxiao's innate strength was outstanding. Some people only know of Guan Feibai's astonishing willpower when cultivating and studying swordplay, about how he practiced all the sword styles of the Mount Li Sword Sect until he became proficient in all of them, yet nobody knows that Liang Xiaoxiao was not at all weak. He even refined the introductory sword style of the Mount Li Sword Sect into a true killing art."

Tang Thirty-Six continued, "In the minds of the Mount Li Sword Sect's disciples, this introductory sword style…is Liang Xiaoxiao's sword. The meaning they want to express by using his sword style to fight is crystal clear."

Zhexiu turned to the place where the disciples of the Mount Li Sword Sect were seated, a tinge of blood red gradually appearing in the depths of his pupils.

Chen Changsheng pondered this, then said, "I don't think so."