Volume 4, Chapter 180 – Detonation

As the calendar drew near the latter half of August, the Dao-Void Martial Tournament was reaching a fever pitch, and the attention it drew increased by the day. Among all the contestants, the three Dao lineages drawing the most traffic were Qingping Sword Dao, Suzhen Sword Dao, and Shenming Sword Dao.

The first two being popular was perfectly normal. After all, both had once produced Sword Lords, and they were what most Yu people placed their hopes in.

As for Shenming… naturally, that was because its Dao Master had performed so dazzlingly that people could not help but let their eyes follow that figure.

Huang Jue was twenty this year, a first-year student at Yujing University. Ever since childhood, he had been an extremely fervent swordsmanship enthusiast. The reason he had applied to Yujing University was simple: he wanted to enter the Yujing Sword Institute. In truth, his real goal had always been to become an outer disciple of Yuming Sword Dao.

After all, in Yujing, the idea that “Great Yu has countless Sword Dao schools; seek the true teachings in the Nine Prefectures” had long since sunk deep into people’s hearts.

Everyone understood that if you could not enter the Nine Prefectures, meaning one of the Mountains-and-Rivers-ranked dojos to train in martial arts and divine abilities, then for a sword student to achieve fame and success, and enjoy honor within a limited lifespan, they would have to put in ten times the effort… and even then, success was not guaranteed.

When Huang Jue had first been admitted to Yujing University, he had been overjoyed, believing his dream had finally come true. But reality had very quickly slapped him hard across the face. Soon afterward came the Baishan Incident. The Yuming headquarters that had remained in Yujing was quietly purged; some of its personnel were thrown into prison, others were reassigned. It could no longer be called the Nine Prefectures institution he had imagined in his heart.

The difference between the newly arrived swordsmanship instructors and the old ones was far too great. He was not stupid. How could he fail to see what lay behind it?

Yuming Sword Dao must have committed an act of rebellion and enraged Qianyu Palace in one stroke. That was the only reason it had ended up like this.

News circulated faster inside Yujing University than it did outside. Through a few classmates from prominent families, Huang Jue learned that behind all this, there was actually a newly ascended Mountains-and-Rivers power stirring the winds and clouds.

He did not care about the details. In Huang Jue’s eyes, Shenming Sword Dao, which had enticed Master Xiang Xian, Dao Master of Yuming, to betray imperial favor and defect to its side, was a vicious tiger standing across his path in the pursuit of truth.

He had originally been doing fine at the Sword Institute, and by the end of this semester he would have had a chance to pass the assessment and advance into Yuming’s inner sect. But then Shenming Sword Dao stirred things up, and now Yuming’s establishment existed in name only. Was that not ruining his future? Ruining his Dao path?

Because of that, Huang Jue loathed Shenming Sword Dao. Ever since the Dao-Void Martial Tournament had begun, he had hated seeing any news related to that Dao lineage.

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“These rebels are only so fearless because the current times are chaotic, and because they rely on their talent and potential.”

“If the Son of Heaven today were not benevolent and sagely, still mindful that these Dao lineages are needed to resist the Void People, then such arrogant and insolent conduct… should have gotten them arrested and thrown in prison long ago!”

Those were some of the comments Huang Jue had openly made when attending gatherings.

Yet as the tournament continued, Huang Jue discovered with great surprise that one Sword Dao lineage after another, lineages he had previously held in decent regard, were actually choosing to withdraw from the competition.

“Of course they have to withdraw… those monsters really do dare to eat people! If they don’t withdraw, are they supposed to stay and become dessert?”

Huang Jue did not understand the current situation, and his companions did not understand Huang Jue either.

“Brother Huang, don’t let yourself worry too much. Those demonfolk are indeed formidable, but they still have to obey the basic rules of the tournament. That proves the court still holds means of restraint. This realm shouldn’t descend into chaos.”

His classmates all tried to reassure him and did not take the changing situation seriously.

But Huang Jue did not think that way.

These people had only pulled him into their circle because of his stance. Every last one of them came from unusual backgrounds, nothing like his own family of commoners.

If true chaos broke out, these people would probably receive notice early and move their whole families away. But what about his family? They would probably not even be able to secure plane tickets, much less know where to flee when disaster truly came.

Huang Jue’s mindset shifted, and he placed more of his hopes on the peak powers of Great Yu Sword Dao, namely the nine Mountains-and-Rivers dojos.

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He paid no attention to Shenming, because in his heart he did not acknowledge Shenming’s status at all.

And from what he understood, because the campus papers had been constantly publishing commentary belittling Shenming’s Dao Master, there were quite a few people who thought the same way.

“Best case, Shenming Sword Dao gets slaughtered by those demonfolk, and the other Mountains-and-Rivers powers break through and come up, giving those demonfolk a brutal check to their arrogance!”

That was what Huang Jue hoped for.

Yet events developed in exactly the opposite direction from what he expected. As the news that “Suzhen withdraws” spread, it instantly set off a massive uproar in the city, and especially across the Yujing University campus.

“It’d be one thing if the other Nine Prefectures withdrew batch by batch… everyone could see they weren’t going to win, and there was no reason to throw away their lives.”

“But Suzhen Dao… how could old Dao Master Wu make such a muddleheaded decision?”

“Exactly! He hasn’t even really clashed with any major Dao lineage of the Void People, has he? Just last week he cut down one Split-Sky Sect, so why stop fighting now?”

“He’s obviously unwilling to take losses. The intent to preserve himself is way too clear.”

“It’s understandable. Old Dao Master Wu is advanced in years, after all. Wanting to preserve strength to deal with the Void People’s little moves is only human.”

“But this is just too ugly! He’s the foremost figure of Sword Dao! The leader! How can he act with cowardice before the fight even begins?”

“Don’t speak recklessly. We live in Yujing. In the future, we’ll still have to rely on old Dao Master Wu to keep us safe. Let’s not discuss this matter too much…”

“Eat, eat.”

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When Huang Jue returned from the dinner gathering, he felt awful.

The house was pitch-black and empty. He knew his parents had gone out for another night shift, so he turned on the lights and the television by himself. As it happened, an analysis program was playing.

“…Shenming Sword Dao and its Dao Master, Bai Xiang, can be said to be the greatest surprise we’ve discovered in this year’s competition.”

Huang Jue froze in mid-motion and could not help turning toward the screen.

If he remembered correctly, old Mr. Liu was a regular guest on this program. In his younger days he had also been highly accomplished in martial skill, and people had called him the Qiongxi Sword Sage. He was famous for his venomous critiques and utterly unsparing remarks.

And yet his evaluation of Shenming was this high?

Huang Jue was stunned.

Why?

He forgot all about going to the kitchen to cook. Instead, he simply stood there watching the screen, wanting to see what else Sword Sage Liu had to say.

“I used to have a rather strong dislike of Shenming.” On the screen, Sword Sage Liu nodded. “Because as everyone knows, I’m the sort of person who’s quite stubborn and quite conservative. I deeply value preserving certain traditional things, and in that regard, Shenming hasn’t done very well. Many of its actions can no longer be described as merely damaging tradition. One could go even further and say that it makes people feel it wants to step past the rules and take charge of a new order itself.”

“But! But I don’t think we can make that judgment one-sidedly. We have to look at the background of the times. We have to judge Shenming Sword Dao, and Bai Xiang of Shenming, objectively within that background.”

“Shenming is indeed rebellious. It forms factions. There are even rumors that it doesn’t obey orders, and that in Maozhou it wants to establish a new order.”

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“But look at today. Look at our tournament arena today. Against a backdrop where so many Dao lineages have chosen to withdraw, chosen to preserve themselves wisely and wait out the situation, it is precisely this Bai Xiang who keeps standing firm. When I saw that, I genuinely felt ashamed.”

“I used to think she was all appearance and nothing more, just using that appearance and a bit of talent to play little tricks. But now I would say that she understands the greater good.”

“Her rebelliousness and her temperament are like a sharp blade, its edge fully exposed. She dares to fight for things that people of my generation never even thought of, and never dared to do.”

“And she’s still so young. I think she is exactly the sort of figure we most need right now.”

At that point in the conversation, the broadcast shifted at exactly the right moment to give several close-up shots of Bai Xiang.

It was a live-action still, with dark storm clouds as the backdrop and only her standing upright on the high platform.

The violent wind sweeping through the venue lifted her skirt hem and long sleeves, accentuating her figure even as it stirred aside some of the white hair that had been veiling her, laying bare that face completely and utterly, a face without a flaw no matter the angle from which it was photographed.

The moment he saw that face, Huang Jue felt as though his heart had been slammed by a speeding freight truck.

He had never before had any real concept of just how beautiful a person could be. It was only today, for the first time, that he understood the descriptions in literature about being hit by beauty like a physical blow were actually true.

How had I never noticed before!?

Oh… right… I’ve been avoiding anything related to Shenming in the news…

Huang Jue looked again at the stunning close-up on the screen, then chose to pull his phone straight out of his trouser pocket and begin searching up related news.