Translator: Larbre Studio Editor: Larbre Studio
Shang Jiuming experienced a disruption of Subduing Demon and Awakening Celestial and their Sect going down, therefore he had a thirst for rejuvenating his Sect. During all these recent years, he had been fighting so hard for a place in other sects and suffering all those prejudices. Now their sect had only five or six disciples left and he now had only one child Shang Lingxi. They could not even be called a sect.
Now he suddenly obtained the Celestial Sword Puppet, one of the Four Great Extraordinary Books, one that was closely related with sect inheritance. Shang Jiuming felt like he was in a dream, a very happy dream that made him go back to youth full of pa.s.sion and hope.
Reality was like a dream. He had a very strange feeling as if he was in a dream and saw a white figure carrying the sword.
Then he saw the white figure turn around and disclose a beautiful manly face and the sword gave out a sound like a dragon and went out of the sheath.
A streak of white light rose up like lightning at a very fast speed. Shang Jiuming felt a wave inside his stomach, and a Vital Energy came out and turned around at three pa.s.ses, going through seven apertures, activating each other.
Sword power came out from his finger point like thunder.
What… before he could understand what happened, the white figure waved his sword in vague lights. And again Vital Energy came out rushed out from Shang Jiuming's body and went through the same apertures.
One wave after another, Awakening Celestial Sword Style that Shang Jiuming was familiar unfolded and it seemed to be the key part of all different kinds of sword style. Shang Jiuming felt that his own apertures were activated accordingly and Vital Energy went all over his body.
After a period of time, the swordsman's long sword went back into the sheath and shook Shang Jiuming's breath. He felt that his body was energized by the sword power going back and forth between his apertures as if he had been practicing Qi Xie for a whole night.
The swordsman in white cast a cold glance at Shang Jiuming and his body dimmed down and then disappeared in the mist in Shang Jiuming's dream.
Shang Jiuming woke up and got up in bed. He looked at Celestial Sword Puppet by his pillow with a surprised and confused look.
The puppet's smile was funny and his body was deeply wounded with an air of magic swordsmans.h.i.+p. It lay there quietly without the slightest clue of any strange condition.
He thought over what just happened and realized it was not a dream after all. He indeed saw a swordsman in white and got the hang of Vital Energy practice about Awakening Celestial Sword Style.
It seemed to be even more mysterious and a better fit for him than what the Sword Emperor left.
What happened?
Shang Jiuming got up and walked back and forth, feeling excited, confused, and a bit scared.
Meng Qi spent a lot of energy to complete what he just did inside the Celestial Sword Puppet. Now he felt extremely tired but in a good mood:
Your real purpose to practice Sword Emperor's swordsmans.h.i.+p is to gain the Vital Energy Circulation Method. I'll just then directly transfer a strong inner power to you!
This is not only a puppet of two swordsmans.h.i.+ps, but also a puppet of Awakening Celestial Sword's tough sword spirit.
After resting for a while, Meng Qi woke up from the rest and found himself placed on a table. Then he saw Shang Jiuming brought a bowl of rice with three ignited incense in it.
The smoke rose and went towards Meng Qi. Shang Jiuming bowed solemnly for three times and murmured:
"No debts without creditors, no hatred without cause. Please go find the one that killed you…"
He was treated as some devil spirit with obsession!
Meng Qi was stunned and felt pitiful towards Shang Jiuming for being so bookish with no imagination at all.
It was a good thing after all to read novels. At least one could learn a lot by reading and then would link the facts of sword spirit, old grandpa, blood ritual, mediums.h.i.+p.
It would have been so much better if Xu Cheng got the Celestial Sword Puppet. A young man with an imagination and who was always ready to learn new ideas.
Then Shang Jiuming took out a jewelry box decorated with gold and jade and put the puppet into the box. And then he pasted a few randomly written seal scripts that did not really work.
The Celestial Sword Puppet was one of the most valuable items in the world. Shang Jiuming wanted to take it with him all the time just in case. But it was left with obsession so he decided to put it in a sacred box.
It turned dark and Meng Qi's divine sense could not go through the heavy metal wall of the box. He was speechless.
Life is so hard for a puppet!
Shang Jiuming led his daughter and disciples on their journey back to the mountain. They did not walk in a hurry in case anyone might find them strange.
They had to be cautious as many martial arts players were still looking for the Celestial Sword Puppet and willing to fight for it.
At noon, Shang Jiuming and others arrived near a river and were looking for a boat to cross it. Suddenly a boat sailed out from a dark place. A middle-aged man in councilor's clothes stood at the front of it. He was a bit chubby but had sharp eyes, as sharp as the sword in his hand.
His sword bathed in suns.h.i.+ne and shone so brightly that Shang Lingxi and Xu Cheng could not even open their eyes.
"It's you…" Shang Jiuming dimmed his voice with caution.
He chose to end their journey and go back all because he found the trace of this man, head of the Zhen Shen Sect, Qiu Ye.
Yue Jiang Men, which Shang Jiuming belonged to originated from Shang ancestors. As they did not have enough disciples, twenty years ago Yue Jiang Men was torn apart. Some disciples obtained a swordsmans.h.i.+p rubbing and then disappeared. Some went to follow other powerful sects, some traded their swordsmans.h.i.+p, some changed their names and built their own sect. And Qiu Ye was one of them.
Qiu Ye said with a smile, "You are old enough to know the manners. Don't you know how to call your sect uncle?"
"Yue Jiang Men do not have deceiving disciple like you!" Shang Jiuming felt hurt by hearing him mentioning it. He lifted his left hand and made a hint to Xu Cheng and Shang Lingxi to retreat.
If he could not defeat him, they could still escape.
Qiu Ye activated his seven orifices twenty years ago and had his inner heaven and earth form recently. Now even if he grew old with less energy, he still had the same power at his youth since his vital energy was now almost perfect.
Qiu Ye put on a false smile and said coldly, "Shang family has been leading the sect for a long time and you hide many swordsmans.h.i.+p secrets. I come here today for justice."
"Jiuming, I remember clearly that your father took away the biggest rubbing. If you give it to me, I promise not to kill you guys."
"Draw your sword out. Take it from my corpse then," Shang Jiuming replied.
"Master!" Xu Cheng shouted and tried to stop him. He thought that since they already got the puppet, rubbing was no longer that important.
Shang Jiuming looked at him and said, "Qiu Ye's real name is Qiu Shenglou, a very sinister and cunning man. Do not count on him to keep his promise."
"You ask for it. Do not blame me then!" Qiu Ye suddenly moved and the light of his sword went out as if the sword was hidden somewhere.
When getting closer, the sword light suddenly appeared again like a fragrance in the wind without any color or shape. But when you smell it, it already went inside your lungs.
Shang Lingxin stared at it with a stunned look. How powerful the art of Lingering Scent in Wind was! The art they still had not been able to master.
Could it be that they lost that rubbing and therefore not be able to master it?
Shang Jiuming had a strange feeling as if he saw all the secrets of this attack. He even already understood how Qiu Ye was going to respond in the next movement. It seemed that he was already very familiar with this art and grabbed its nature.
Since when did I begin to be so familiar with this art? Shang Jiuming soon had an idea. He drew out the sword and pointed to the empty place on left side. Meanwhile his body followed the sword's movement and curled a bit.
Two swords stopped at the same time. One sword pointed over one's shoulder almost touching his body. Another sword thrust into the person's throat and blood flowed out like river.
Qiu Ye looked at him with surprise and horror and gave out a dying sound, as if he was questioning, "How did you make it happen? Why?"
Could it be that you gathered other swordsmans.h.i.+p rubbings?
"This is the real Awakening Celestial Sword Style," Shang Mingjiu felt confused at the very beginning but after he realized what had happened. He became excited and happy.
If he could master it completely, he would become the top figure in Jiang Hu.
And that white figure he saw in his dream did not seem to be an illusion nor a devil spirit but a strong spirit left by the Awakening Celestial Sword.
He could experience samsara for several rounds with a Living Buddha and defeat them. It would not be hard for him to leave behind his willpower.
Qiu Ye slumped down on the ground with a confused look. Shang Jiuming found scrubbing from his body and then threw him in the river.
At night Shang Jiuming took out the Celestial Sword Puppet and put it on the table. He bowed to it several times.
Only this time he performed three kneelings and nine kowtows in the same manner of wors.h.i.+pping ancestors!
"Dear Awakening Celestial Sword, I will do everything I can to develop your power."
Suddenly Meng Qi's Divine Sense suddenly moved and felt a subtle change in this world.
Just like practicing Sambhogakaya, what he did to this world would cause a reaction. Practicing Sambhogakaya took advantage of this reaction to feel the reality. As one's Divine Sense became more powerful, one would be able to feel subtle changes and understand one's own projection. By adjusting bit by bit, the projection would become more and more real and eventually became the real projection.
Projection could be different depending on different universes. Just like looking into the mirror, the same person standing in different positions would see different images of oneself. Therefore it was important to find out the feature of one's projection.
Meng Qi's Divine Sense turned to a Dao Yi Glaze Lamp and lit up karma threads, which linked himself and the responses from this world. He compared them and then adjusted a bit.
After a while he stopped adjusting and had a vague idea about leaving a stamp:
There is my legend left in this world, therefore many knew about the existence of the Awakening Celestial Sword and had their own image of it, an illusory additional self. What I should do now is to adjust its image to the feature of projection. And when they two correspond to each other, I might be able to leave a stamp!
