Volume 4, Chapter 182 – Strife Begins

That was… the Qingping Sword Lord… Chu Weiping.

As Bai Xiang stepped onto the platform and offered her greetings, the others found their places in the tiered arena. Among them, Liu Yong stared fixedly at the old man on the stage, his brows drawn tightly together.

The term Qingping Sword Lord actually circulated on three different levels.

The first level was among the general public. There was not much to say there. Laborers and the poor had few channels through which to learn any real intelligence. There was no lack of discussion among them, but most of it amounted to imagination and conjecture, with more than a little tendency to mythologize the man.

The second level was among the Dao lineages, meaning the Seventy-Two Daos and the smaller dojos beneath them. These people had more specific information. Besides the four words Qingping Sword Lord, they also knew one definite name: Qin Wuyang.

That was also why such an uproar had spread in secret after Bai Xiang’s battle with Qin Wuyang on the mountaintop. Many people had fixed on the belief that Qin Wuyang was the Qingping Sword Lord, treating him as a legend, and they simply did not believe the news that Bai Xiang had defeated him.

The third level belonged to the major Dao lineages and major powers, beginning with the Nine Prefectures. These people knew the real inside story. They knew that Qin Wuyang was nothing more than a front, an avatar. The true Qingping Sword Lord had not left his dojo for many years.

He had remained hidden among the mountains and forests, contemplating Heaven and Earth. Only when Great Yu truly faced danger did these people ever get a chance to glimpse the terrifying power hidden beneath that aged body.

“He has grown old.”

Xiang Xian suddenly gave that assessment.

It was true.

The remark was clearly directed at Abbess Li Sheng and Wang Ran, her contemporaries, and the two of them also nodded inwardly, because in their memories Chu Weiping had looked younger than this.

Now that they had stepped through the mysterious gate of the Path of Qi and received from Bai Xiang the secret of gathering the medicine, they all understood why their former selves had remained trapped in the Divine Fetus Realm, unable to break through to the Innate. But that insight did not make them look down on those who were still trapped in the old methods, that is, those still walking the path of Sword Dao.

Especially not Chu Weiping, the extraordinary figure once praised as the greatest genius Qingping had ever produced.

It was precisely because they now understood the secret of the Great Medicine of the Human Body that they were able to grasp even more deeply just how vast the gap had once been between themselves and Chu Weiping.

Back then, he had not had any qi methods to draw on for reference.

He had reached that realm entirely through practice and insight alone. Even Wu Mengzi, a Sword Lord like himself, had regarded him with intense wariness. To call him a martial legend of the old era was no exaggeration at all.

Such talent. Such gifts.

Any change, no matter how slight, in a person like that was enough to draw tremendous attention.

Enough to make people instinctively wary, to make them wonder whether there was some deeper meaning behind it.

“His outward appearance was said to have always remained at the stage of advanced middle age, with a well-proportioned frame and only a trace of coldness beneath a mild bearing,” Abbess Li Sheng said in a low voice. “But looking at him now, he has the body of a man in deep old age, the visage of white brows, as though he had suddenly aged another fifty years…”

“And Qin Wuyang is nowhere to be seen on this trip. Most likely, he has already recalled that avatar, and along with it gained the full set of insights regarding the Dao Master’s new methods.”

Xiang Xian and Wang Ran fell silent.

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They too could guess the key to it. They knew that a Chu Weiping like this had to be stronger than before. He might even have used the principles of the Path of Qi as a reference and pushed the Sword Dao, which in theory had already reached a dead end, another step farther forward.

That was the most dangerous kind of person.

Yang Chen, Chang Hongyuan… those so-called geniuses of the Upper Realm had enjoyed every resource in an environment without limits, yet their might was only that much.

But Chu Weiping was different.

The reason the perfect paper he handed in within the old world stopped at full marks was only because the score ceiling ended there.

Beside them, affected by that atmosphere, Bai Zhuqing and the others also looked into the arena with grave expressions.

“Dao Master Bai.”

The white-browed elder wore a plain white robe, one hand behind his back, his black eyes meeting Bai Xiang head-on as she approached.

Not bad.

That was the judgment he made inwardly.

Whether in outward form or inner substance, she deserved to be described as one who had gathered the finest essence of Heaven and Earth and collected the spiritual grace of creation. Among all the people he had ever seen, not one could compare to Bai Xiang.

Especially those golden pupils.

He did not care whether they came from bloodline inheritance or not, but they truly were the finishing touch, adding another measure of divinity to that face and faintly giving it the pressure of some grand and righteous Great Dao.

To look directly into those eyes felt almost like standing before an ancient immortal or Buddha.

Very good.

The spirit was hidden within the sword, and the sword in turn held spirit within it.

With a presence like this, her sword would not disappoint him.

“Master Chu.”

Bai Xiang also looked at Chu Weiping.

In a formal setting, she no longer addressed him as fellow Daoist. She simply sensed the force surging from him and lifted her brows slightly in surprise.

“Master Chu intends… to decide it in a single bout?”

“Correct.”

Chu Weiping continued to look straight at Bai Xiang.

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“I can hardly wait to experience your new sword.”

His black eyes remained fixed on her, utterly unaffected by the Golden-Pupil Illusory God. Instead, as Bai Xiang looked into that black abyss, she could sense the coldness within it… and the resolve.

A single-bout decider?

Senior Sister Qin, standing nearby with the sword case on her back, could not help lifting her head in surprise.

What?

Hadn’t it been agreed that I would fight that Bai Zhuqing first, and only after that would the two of you duel?

She had been thinking that so long as she won, then even if the old man lost, it would still count as a draw, enough at least not to disgrace Qingping’s name. How had the arrangement changed again at the very last moment?

“It seems Master Chu has made up his mind.”

Bai Xiang glanced at Senior Sister Qin, then gave a slight nod.

“Very well.”

“Then we decide it in a single bout.”

The moment the words fell, an indescribably profound force burst from the white-browed elder before them. It was as though a wave of vibration had risen and, out of nowhere, swept Senior Sister Qin, the Association official recording the conversation… and even Bai Zhuqing, who had been in the middle of walking onto the stage, flying away.

On the arena platform.

Within a hundred meters.

At once, only he and Bai Xiang remained.

What?

Bai Zhuqing looked up in surprise.

She had not expected that the “instinct” she had practiced for a whole week would end up with no chance to be used.

This scene also caught the attention of countless viewers.

Although this match had long since been judged extremely dangerous and had therefore been specially placed in a wilderness dojo closed to spectators, at this very moment there were probably more than a hundred million pairs of eyes across the Nine Provinces, and indeed the whole world, fixed on their screens, eager to witness a peak duel from the transcendent realm.

Everyone was surprised, but at the same time, intensely excited.

People had predicted this long ago. Since Qingping Sword Dao had only two people, and given the temperament Bai Xiang had shown the public, she would certainly not be willing to take advantage of an opponent. She would surely agree that each side would send up one fighter, and the outcome would be decided by two separate duels.

At first glance, it seemed a pity to lose one match from the program, but compared with the main course to come, who would care about an appetizer like that?

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After all, of these two, one bore titles like the Apex Under Heaven and martial legend, and before the invasion of the Void People he had been the undisputed number one under heaven.

The other had, at the tender age of eighteen, already accomplished so many great feats, sweeping everything before her, undefeated wherever she went. She had even taken up the mantle of the Sword Dao and created new methods, making her the foremost figure among the younger generation and the new generation alike.

A collision of old and new.

A clash between age and youth.

In both ferocity and sheer power to stir discussion, it was everything one could ask for.

It was not only those countless viewers who were watching this match, nor only the many Dao lineages of the Void People. Even in Qianyu Palace at that moment, Yao Xing was also watching it.

“Master Wu.”

For once, he sat properly upright in his chair, staring closely at the screen as he asked Wu Mengzi beside him,

“In your view, which of the two will win?”

After pondering for a while, Wu Mengzi said, “If we judge by the strength they have displayed so far, Bai Zhixing holds the advantage.”

“Oh?”

Yao Xing was surprised. “Is that really so?”

“After all, she already stands within the Venerable ranks,” Wu Mengzi explained. “Once a demon-void Venerable achieves the Three Flowers, one of those attainments is bound to stand above a Sword Lord. Add to that the field-path divine pool she commands, and if Chu Weiping has made no further progress, then his chances of winning are indeed not high.”

“But from what Master Wu says, the outcome is still undecided?” Yao Xing became interested. “You suspect Chu Weiping has broken through again?”

“Hard to say.” Wu Mengzi frowned.

“My suggestion is that Your Majesty keep watching first.”

In truth, Wu Mengzi felt deeply conflicted.

He did not like Chu Weiping. Before the demonfolk of the Void Realm descended, he had wished that man dead as soon as possible.

But speaking fairly, he also admired the man’s madness.

Madness meant purity. It meant the firmest possible heart in seeking the Dao.

Chu Weiping had dared to cast everything aside and walk the Emotion-Forsaking Dao. Wu Mengzi did not possess that kind of resolve.

With the demon-void invasion underway, Yao Yu’s great cause looking all but lost, and the old Buddha and the demon clan behind her having both decided to withdraw for the time being, Chu Weiping still insisted on facing the pressure head-on, treating every enemy as a whetstone with which to temper the sword of his own being.

Wu Mengzi did not possess that kind of awareness either.

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So is this why I feel this sense of lament…

Chu Weiping.

So I did once admire you, after all.

“Come.”

At the center of the arena, Chu Weiping extended a hand to the left. At once, the sword case on Senior Sister Qin’s back gave a humming cry, and with a rush, a snow-bright sword shot out, landing in his grasp.

“Qingping, Chu Weiping.”

Holding the long sword upright, he offered Bai Xiang a sword salute.

Ring…

Bai Xiang removed the scabbard at her waist. Holding the scabbard in her left hand across her face, she gripped the hilt of the Dao sword with her right and slowly, inch by inch, drew it free.

Then she cast the scabbard aside and, holding the sword in both hands, returned the sword salute.

In that instant, countless jagged fragments of memory surfaced before her eyes.

Warfire.

Demonic disaster.

The twisted Zhou Jingan in the middle of a rainstorm.

The black blood Master Xiang Xian had coughed up.

Scene after scene crossed and reflected through her heart, until at last they converged into face after face whose features she could no longer make out clearly.

And then, all at once, an impulse rose in her.

An impulse to lift her chin slightly, fix Chu Weiping with those golden pupils, and yet more than that, to look through him, past him, toward the road that lay behind him.

And to say words enough to make the wind and clouds change color:

“Shenming, Bai Xiang.”

“Here.”

“Invites the Sword Dao to meet its death.”