Chapter 45 – Wind and Rain (II)
The edge of the sword glowed bright and cold, like an entire galaxy scattered onto an autumn river.
The evening winds rose; the chilly waters formed; the bright moon shrouded in haze. The dark and rapid river tide surged towards Zhong Shan.
In the instant that Yin Biyue drew his sword, Zhong Shan slashed out and simultaneously flew back in a swift retreat, all the way to the edge of the platform! Nevertheless, the river tide carried on, and a thin line of blood formed on the right side of his chest.
Red-hot blood gushed out. Before it had the chance to soak through, it had already solidified into frost on his robes of ink-splashed mountains and lakes.
The Frigid Water Sword’s sword intent was already flowing through his bone marrows.
Yet, just as Yin Biyue had avoided the greatest damage from Zhong Shan’s sword energy at the last second previously, Zhong Shan also avoided sixty percent of this attack’s power. He held his sword horizontally in front of his body like a huge dam, blocking the surging frigid river.
The variables changed too fast within a breath’s moment.
Yin Biyue’s white robe was dyed red. The burning, frantic sword energy of his opponent remained within his bones, mutually clashing with the Frigid Water Sword’s cold intent. White smoke faintly drifted out from the wound on his left shoulder; it was a ghastly sight.
Zhong Shan’s face was pale. Although his wounds were covered with frost, the sword energy rampaged up through his meridians, spreading the sharp pain all the way to his heart. However, they had no time to care at this moment. They must compete for the initiative, to slash with their swords first!
The middle-aged woman from Lian Jian Zong frowned,
“ Is the array on the stage in good condition?”
A Cang Ya elder said in a deep voice, “We can’t let two cultivating geniuses of the younger generation be damaged just for a round of Flower Picking Festival.”
The QingLu Sword Sect’s elder who held the array’s pivot, cautiously nodded his head. The instant a dangerous, irreversible situation arose, the platform’s array would immediately activate, allowing the array to bear the sword energy.
Cang Ya and QingLu Sword Sect disciples didn’t have the calm composure of the powerful figures. Their faces were deathly white, and their core energy covered their eyes. They stared intensely at the arena, nervous.
Cheng Tianyu’s eyes were already red with worry.
Song Tang’s eyes revealed concern. Yin Biyue was stronger than they had previously thought; not only his cultivation, but the tacit harmony between him and his sword was extremely high, as if created with the assistance of the heavens.
Luo Mingchuan’s expression didn’t change. Yet under the wide sleeves, his two hands were tightly clenched into fists. His palms dripped blood.
The two figures almost simultaneously leapt up; the two swords clashed in midair!
“Clang ——”
The boundless core energies formed an invisible dome-shaped barrier, colliding with each other where the sword edges clashed!
There was no rain, yet there was the sound of falling rain.
There was no lake, yet there were bursts of coldness.
The disciples who were somewhat closer to the stage, unable to bear the pain, retreated backwards. It was as if the sounds of wind and rain washed over their mental sea and also drifted within the deep, freezing waters at night.
Time, on the platform, was nearly frozen.
The swords rivaled for splendor. The blades reflected blue skies bright with a luminous sun and strands of floating clouds; reflecting their composed expressions and glittering eyes.
With the soreness and numbness transmitting from his sword hilt, Yin Biyue seemingly understood the sword intent of his opponent.
Bleak winds and bitter rain.
Ye City attendant’s own cultivation realm high enough, thus, he also understood.
He sighed with admiration, “Extraordinary.”
This wasn’t Feng Yu Sword’s most powerful move, yet it was the hardest to cultivate. For many disciples who cultivated the Sword of Wind and Rain, this technique was the bottleneck that was hard to overcome.
The might of the wind invaded the bone; the gales of rain choked the anxious1.
How miserable was the sword intent!
During the All Saints Era, when the saint that established the Sword of Wind and Rain was still young, his family was poor. Experiencing the bitterness and the coldness, he entered the path of cultivation during his middle-age period. This technique was the summary and conclusion he gave to himself for the past forty years of his harsh life.
Yet Zhong Shan made his name when he was young, and his road to cultivation was smooth and easy. In spite of that, he could still comprehend the bleak and solitary intent of this technique.
It really was amazing.
But Song Tang was not surprised.
While shidi was still young and his cultivation realm low, his core energy was not enough to protect his body. Every time he would swing his sword thousands of times until his hands were covered with bloody blisters and would push his body to the limit. He didn’t leave the mountain, didn’t chat nor joke, and didn’t cavort with the crowd. Practicing throughout the hottest days of summer and the coldest times of winter, day after day, never slacking once.
The price of becoming famous as a youth was to endure more hardships, be more solitary.
An indescribable desolation spread from the sword’s edge, forcing one to feel a myriad of melancholy.
Even though Yin Biyue’s sword energy had yet to end, he suddenly withdrew with his sword aiming straight down. Yet, his body was like a white crane fluttering its wings, floating even higher.
The Yi Hu Sword carved straight down!
Boundless luster flowed from the body of the sword, like the clear waters of a lake reflecting the crystalline waves in the sunlight.
Now, it was already afternoon, and the sun was gradually dimming; the light was far from the luminosity at noon. However, this strike was magnificently brilliant, as if causing the daylight to brighten a little.
If Zhong Shan’s sword move was the bleak winds and bitter rain, then Yin Biyue’s strike was like facing the sun and leaping into the clouds; a flood of golden light!
It had the confidence and pride of ‘not fearing the thousand feet of waves of dark clouds’.
Cang Ya Sword Arts’ final move, the ‘East Rising Sun’.
Many Cang Ya disciples stared with wide eyes in disbelief. Was this great momentum really the East Rising Sun?
Zhong Shan gracefully landed on the ground, lifting his sword above his head. The sword barrier returned, with glimmering speckles of light like the disorderly galaxies, and horizontally received the sword blade that came down from above.
Clear dew exposed to the sun, the violet heavenly ring 2.
*********
It wasn’t only the Southern Continent but the entire world that was paying attention to this battle. The cultivators in Ye City nervously watched the battle in the distance. Those who couldn’t be at Ye City raised their heads in expectation, awaiting their sect members to bring news.
But there were always those who didn’t have to wait.
The snow accumulating year round on HengDuan Mountain never melts. The highest summit was covered in hoarfrost, icicles hanging like a forest. The bitter cold was so extreme that even a Lesser Vessel cultivator could not stand there for long.
At this moment, atop the summit stood an elderly man. His sleeves billowed with the mountain wind. He had a wide forehead and a long beard, his expression indifferent. There seemed to be a terrifying glint in his eyes.
He was not tall. Yet by standing there, it was as if he had transcended all living things in the world. It inexplicably gave a grand feeling where thousands of mountains were all bowing their heads.
Rightly so. How could he not transcend? How could they not bow down? If the Sword Saint was gone, how could there be a taller mountain than him?
He was also observing this fight.
Even from tens of thousands of miles away, he could clearly see the radiance on the two people’s blades.
He watched unhappily. Thus with a faint frown, he lightly flicked his sleeve.
Tens of thousands of miles away on ZhongMing Mountain, Luo Mingchuan’s expression suddenly changed. He looked up at the sky in disbelief.
Lian Jian Zong’s elder and Ye City’s attendent were deathly pale, each looking at the sky.
Inside the city owner’s residence, Ye Zhiqiu carried his sword and climbed to the highest balcony. He had on a grave expression that he never had before.
Dense billowing clouds moved from the west to the south, arriving from ten thousand miles in a flash. They were enough to cover one side of ZhongMing Mountain’s sky, dimming the sun’s illuminance. Seemingly in the blink of an eye, without thunder, without lightning, an endless flurry of rain came crashing down!
The disciples under the platform were caught off guard by the drops and hurriedly erected their core energy barriers, “How come it suddenly started raining?”
Bean-sized droplets filled the sky and covered the earth.
After the ‘Violet Heavenly Ring’, the two each attacked with over ten strikes. This battle had already lasted from dawn to dusk. Both sides’ core energy, divine sense, and conscious willpower were all at their limits.
Because of the difference between sword cultivation and cultivation realm, Yin Biyue still could not defeat Zhong Shan. However, he didn’t lose either.
Consequently, when the rainfall came down, the two didn’t have any more energy to care.
After a moment, Yin Biyue’s thick robe was drenched with the rain, making it even heavier. It was similar to his labored breathing and his overwhelmed heart and meridians. The bloodstains that had frozen on the robe dispersed in the rain. At a glance, the left side of his body looked like it was doused in blood.
The wind and rain were cold and dismal, splashing up a bleary fog. It reminded him of the rain when he was secluded to break through his cultivation realm.
It was also this sort of autumn bleakness, penetrating murderous intent.
Zhong Shan’s robe with ink-splashed mountains and lakes was also drenched with blood and rain. Water flowed along the peak of his brows, pitter-pattering down from the sword tip, dripping onto the arena. The water ripple bloomed out.
His eyes became brighter and brighter, as if to burn through this immense curtain of rain.
“Such a coincidence. At this critical point of the fight, to have this rainstorm come, Zhong shixiong’s Sword of Wind and Rain can easily take advantage!”
“Ai. The heavens want to rain, womenfolks want to marry5, what can you do?!”
Almost everyone thought like this, this rain was the will of the heavens.
Only very few people, including Luo Mingchuan, saw the supreme dao way that indistinctly slipped out from the dark clouds. Cultivators who were half-steps into Greater Vessel knew of it due to their cultivation realms, yet Luo Mingchuan knew it, because he a cultivated Jia Lan Spiritual Pupil Arts. However, even if everyone knew, many would not dare to say a word. In the hearts of the people, the six sages were similar to deities.
Whether thunder or morning dew, all were sacred graces4.
If a saint wanted to change the heavens, who dared to say no?
Ye Zhiqiu stood on the balcony, with ten thousand lights from Ye City’s homes below his feet.
He watched the western skies.
This immense rain cloud was currently at ZhongMing Mountain, but if it moved two miles and arrived above Ye City, he would not hesitate to act.
The old housekeeper stood at his side, his voice trembling, “My lord, I beg of you, do not grab your sword. It is a great disrespect towards the saints.”
Ye Zhiqiu did not speak, and the sword in his hand did not lower.
The Central Continent.
In YunYang City, the Academy Director was currently in the courtyard drinking tea and looking at the sky. It seemed that the bad weather made people annoyed. Thus, he threw the tea cup in his hands down onto the ground.
Crack.
A crisp sound rang out. The tea mixed with the shattered porcelain was splattered all over the ground.
But before this, Zhong Shan had already raised his sword in the wind and the rain.
He took a step forward. The shallow water splashed underneath his feet, lingering in the air.
Wherever the sword passed, the fluttering drizzle began to warp in a bizarre way. It gathered together and followed the sword towards him!
Thereupon, the entire sky of wind and rain all became his sword.
Besieging the city with wind and rain!
Some people thought that after Zhong Shan borrowed the power of wind and rain, he would be stronger. However, they didn’t expect he would be stronger to this degree.
The sword move already surpassed the Breakthrough Stage’s limit, touching the threshold of the Lesser Vessel.
It seemed like he unexpectedly was going to breakthrough!
There were people who further saw that this move was not only the power of Zhong Shan’s cultivation realm, but it was even more so the divine weapon ‘Feng Yu Sword’s’ own power that had been completely set off!
It was just a storm, yet it astonishingly made it more stimulated!
No one believed Yin Biyue could take this inconceivable sword move.
What could he hold to take this move?
On what basis could he take this move?
Seizing the opportunity to use Frigid Water Sword? But the wind and rain were already concentrated within Zhong Shan’s sword. From where to seize?
Evade this move?
How could he evade the skyful of wind and rain?
Yin Biyue stood in the rain. His dao robe was soaked through, like a lonely city without support.
…
1) 风威侵病骨，雨气咽愁肠: It is the second verse of a poem by Li Yu. The poem’s title is 《病中感怀》, roughly translated as《Sentiments During Sickness》– so you know it’s going to be miserable.
2) 露湛朝阳，星环紫极: Second verse of a poem by an anonymous writer.
3) 天要下雨，娘要嫁人: An old saying that basically describes if it’s going to happen, you can’t do anything about it. Or let nature take its course.
4) 雷霆玉露，皆是圣恩: As Avo bro suggested, TP seemed to be playing on the saying 雷霆雨露,皆是圣恩 which means the emperor’s reward or punishment to you, are all bestowed gifts.