Volume 4, Chapter 95 – A Token of Allegiance

Meanwhile, in the Qi lands, at Qizhou University, where Bai Xiang had once studied, several inner sect disciples had gathered in a pavilion, seething with anger.

“They actually said we should clear out and make room for them, and go find some other place near the mountain gate ourselves!”

“Exactly! This is too much!”

“Those Void Realm thieves are far too arrogant! They’re nothing but the losers of the past. What right do they have to ride roughshod over us?”

“Our Qida is home to more than ten thousand active students, not to mention the countless companies and industries under the university’s control. And who knows how many of our graduates are now holding high positions in society. Even if the Court refuses to help us, if it really comes to a fight, why would we be afraid of them?”

“We should fight them!”

“That’s right! We should show those Void Realm thieves what we’re made of!”

The group was discussing the matter heatedly, all of them fired up and looking as though they wanted to drag the culprit out of thin air and beat him on the spot. The whole scene left Xia Ran utterly speechless.

He had only been passing by. He had originally meant to ask his master, Wang Ran, what arrangements were being made for the Sword Meet in August, but instead he had overheard these disciples gathering here to indulge in empty outrage.

“What are you all doing here?” After thinking it over, Xia Ran stepped out from behind the bushes, his face dark as he looked at them. “The internal qualifying matches for the Sword Meet will begin in only a few days. Instead of practicing your swords, you’re all standing here arguing. Do you all think you’ve already secured your places?”

“Senior Brother!” The moment they saw Xia Ran, the group wilted at once. Still, one or two of them remained indignant. “Senior Brother! You know about those circulated letters too, don’t you? Are we really going to let outsiders threaten us like this? Are we not going to strike back at all?”

“Even if something is to be done, what does it have to do with a cultivator like you…” Xia Ran looked at him impassively. “A cultivator like you, who couldn’t even hear my footsteps when I deliberately didn’t conceal them?”

The disciple’s face instantly flushed red with shame. He raised his sleeve to cover his face and slipped out of the pavilion under the eyes of the others.

“Go back where you came from.” Xia Ran soothed them and drove them off. “This matter still isn’t something you need to worry about. Practice your swords properly… and also, study the little booklet distributed tonight in earnest.”

After taking leave of them, he continued on his way, climbing to the top of the Martial Hill summit platform. There he saw an elderly man in monk’s robes with a long beard standing tall, his robe snapping sharply in the mountain wind.

“Master.” Xia Ran bowed respectfully. “I have finished arranging the printing of the deluxe booklets of the Shenming Qi-Refining Formula. May I ask whether you have any further plans regarding the Sword Meet in August?”

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“Xia Ran.” Wang Ran turned around and asked in a low voice, “On your way up, did you see disciples gathered together discussing the matter of the external enemies?”

So Master is bringing it up himself…

Xia Ran frowned and admitted it directly. “That did happen.”

“Then aren’t you curious what I intend to do?” Wang Ran asked again. “Aren’t you curious how I plan to deal with those people?”

“Well…” Xia Ran answered stiffly, “Master surely has a response of his own.”

“And what if I told you I have no way to respond?”

What?

This time Xia Ran was genuinely shaken. His eyes widened as he looked toward the front edge of the summit platform, only to realize that Wang Ran had somehow crossed the distance and come right up to him. The old man’s large hands, lined with wrinkles and knotted joints, were like eagle claws on his arms, forcibly straightening his posture.

“You have successfully walked the Path of Qi.” Wang Ran looked at him, but his tone was one of certainty.

“Yes!” Xia Ran raised his chin firmly.

“Last time, I was absent… but if they come again this time, I’ll make them—”

“But what use is there in having only you?” Wang Ran shook his head and let go, lifting his eyes toward the sky.

“So many long years. More than eight hundred of them…”

“Xia Ran, tell me honestly. Do you think the Benling Sword still has any hope of continuing to stand guard amid these storms that change by the moment?”

Xia Ran’s brows furrowed more deeply. He opened his mouth, but for a time could not produce an answer.

If he had never gone to Maozhou as an “exchange student,” if he and Leng Qiu had not served as experimental cases for Benling Sword Dao and Shangqing Sword Dao in the study of the Path of Qi, then perhaps he would still have had the confidence and nerve to give a firm answer.

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But now? He was already someone who had cultivated the Path of Qi.

The advantage he gained from the Earth-Heart Stance had not been discarded because he switched to the new path. On the contrary, that earth-fire sha had fused into his qi-force characteristic, allowing him to release a high-temperature Qi-flame outside his body. Whether in terms of destructive power or close-range tactical flexibility, it far surpassed what he had once possessed.

At present, Xia Ran had the cultivation of the sixth layer of Qi Refining. Judging by the fact that the fifth layer corresponded to Purple Blood, that meant he had only advanced by one level compared with before.

And yet his own bodily sense told him that he had become far more than merely one level stronger.

If he had to fight Bolu again now, he was confident he could clash with him head-on, and might even be able to suppress him outright with his earth-fire Qi-flame.

And beyond that, there had been all sorts of other marvelous transformations, too many to explain in just a few words.

But there was one thing he knew for certain: the Path of Qi was practically a complete superior replacement for Sword Dao.

To say nothing of anything else, merely the fact that it did not rely on demonic power already made it superior to Sword Dao by an enormous margin.

Then Master is suddenly asking me this kind of question… could it be that he intends to…?

His heart skipped a beat. Suddenly he recalled the private conversation he had shared with Leng Qiu before this trip, just before they parted in their guest room.

Their conversation had touched on the future of both Dao lineages. Leng Qiu had sworn to him that her master, Abbess Li Sheng, was most likely intending to move all of Qingze University, and even the entire Shangqing Sword Dao, to Maozhou.

“How is that possible?” Xia Ran had been utterly dumbstruck at the time. “Such a massive undertaking. Besides, that is a legacy guarded by our predecessors for who knows how many generations. How could it be so easily… so easily…”

Because Xia Ran understood the implication behind those words.

Move to Maozhou?

Could that really be summed up with a simple phrase like “move to Maozhou”?

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What it actually meant was merging into Shenming Sword Dao, wasn’t it?

Just as Yuming Sword Dao had merged in and become one of its peaks?

“Of course I know inheritance is precious,” Leng Qiu had rolled her eyes at him. “But no matter how precious a legacy is, what use is it if it can’t be defended?”

“This is a great age of struggle now, Xia Ran. Think of what happened on the Jing River Plain. If not for Dao Master Bai, what would the Qi lands look like now?”

“And if a force like the Shenwu Immortal Dynasty moved against Qi-Ze, how much confidence would we have of holding them off just by relying on spirit and throwing people at them?”

“So that’s simply how things are. I think this is what Master has decided. Rather than letting the inheritance of Qingze University and Shangqing Sword Dao be severed completely in her hands, or even, to put it bluntly, stolen and redefined by those demonic people, it would be better for them to become Qingze Peak and Shangqing Peak under Shenming Sword Dao.”

“That same bitterness is probably weighing on your master’s heart too. After you go back, observe him carefully.”

“And if necessary, try to persuade him a little.”

It was hard to describe just how complicated Xia Ran’s mood had been at that moment.

He had wanted to argue back, to fall back on the Court as he always had, and say things like, “There is no way the Court would stand by and do nothing in such a matter.”

But so much time had already passed. Anyone could see how disdainfully the Court viewed the southern lands.

And he was no fool.

Why Abbess Li Sheng and Master Wang Ran had sent him and Leng Qiu and the others to study under Bai Xiang and seek out this path, what the most fundamental purpose behind it was, he had not truly failed to think about that.

It was only that a choice like this…

As Xia Ran relived that earlier conversation and stole glances at Wang Ran now, his master’s dejection and tone at last made a few things clear.

Leng Qiu told me to persuade Master… but I think he himself already has the same intention!

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“You already guessed, didn’t you?”

Wang Ran lowered his head suddenly, his sharp gaze fixed on him.

“Well…” Xia Ran stammered, “I only felt that the new path is stable… and can also drive away evil and pollution. I wouldn’t dare say it guarantees a long life, but at the very least it might allow Master to break free of his old ailments…”

“Heh.” Wang Ran laughed, then patted his shoulder again.

“Then why are you still standing here dazed?”

“If nothing goes wrong, Li Sheng and her side are probably already on the road. Why aren’t you hurrying to use your position as chief disciple to summon people, tell them to pack light, and prepare to set out?”

What?

Xia Ran’s eyes widened again.

No, wait.

Even if we’re going to seek refuge, isn’t this far too fast?

As Xia Ran saw it, Maozhou and the Qi lands were right next to each other anyway. One could barely count it as having a neighboring backer. They could have waited until things were truly beyond salvaging before seeking refuge. Why the frantic rush now?

“That’s why I say you’ve practiced swordsmanship until it’s gone to your head.”

Seeing his astonishment, Wang Ran guessed at once what he was thinking and barked at him with a stern face, “If we wait until things are beyond saving before going to cling to them, is the nature of the act still the same?”

“As for the excuse to the outside world, just say that our three houses are jointly organizing an internal sect competition.”

“Now go!”