Chapter 46- Wind and Rain (3)
The Ye City attendant sighed, “It’s impossible for the Sword Saint’s disciple to win… Unless he also has a godly weapon, like ‘Lin Yuan’.¹”
The important figures watching this round were all of the same opinion.
What weapon after the End of Dharma Era could face the roused might of the Feng Yu Sword itself?
Did Yin Biyue have Lin Yuan?
Of course not.
The Lin Yuan Sword had long ago been recast by the Sword Saint into ‘Chun Shan Xiao’ and ‘Qiu Feng Li²’; this was common knowledge.
In the midst of Besieging the City with Wind and Rain, Yin Biyue raised his head to look at the sky.
The dense clouds in the sky billowed ceaselessly, as if night had come early, driving out the evening.
The black clouds surrounded the city, threatening destruction.³
The storm blew ice-cold rain into his face, but he seemed to be unaware, because his heart was colder.
Was this the will of the heavens that cannot be disobeyed?
Clearly it was only a single moment, but countless images flashed by.
The many previous years of unfulfilled wishes in his villainous career, the Cang Ya Mountains in a vast sea of misty clouds, the Academy filled with locust trees and the Director in the office, the rippling blue Fukong Sea, the Ye City where golden lanterns stood in for the moon…
On the rooftop, the bright moonlight shining into Lake Qiu, the night winds slightly cold, mingling with the fragrance of wine.
That time he had just said he wanted to pass his days well.
This rain; did the heavens want me to die?
But I did not come to this world to bend to the will of the heavens.
Under the sharp point of the blade, Yin Biyue looked at the sky and softly laughed.
The Yi Hu Sword faintly vibrated, as if it were also laughing.
The blade chopped straight down!
This strike did not cut Zhong Shan, nor did it cut the wind and rain!
It sliced straight towards the sky!
Striking at the oppressive black clouds!
“Boom–”
The expressions of the people on the viewing platform changed.
The disciples below the stage were caught off guard, hurriedly closing their eyes, but the radiance was too dazzling, as if piercing through their eyelids, shining straight into their mental seas.
Endless lights all converged upon this one blade!
Just like forcibly pulling the sun back down to the earth!
Below ZhongMing Mountain, it shone like daylight!
The common people within Ye City could only see a strike of lightning in the midst of the rain, but the light was slow to scatter, and instead growing brighter and brighter.
They opened their windows or went out into the courtyards or held umbrellas and congregated on the streets as they gazed disbelievingly at ZhongMing Mountain.
The light grew more and more blinding. The stream of people on the street started scattering in all directions; some ran back home, some ran towards the city entrance, and housewives covered the eyes of their children wailing into their chests, running into the stores on the roadside.
The squadron of black-armored guards ran throughout the large streets and small alleys,
“Don’t panic! The Flower Picking Festival battles are proceeding normally! The city’s protective array is intact! Don’t panic! –”
The city’s people saw the black-armored guards in the rain, finally relaxing.
The light was still not going out.
Unexpectedly, golden rays of light peered through the small cracks between the black clouds!
Yin Biyue stood with his sword lifted among the thousands of light rays, and the entire sky of wind and rain was pushed back three feet!
A Bao Pu Zong elder recognized this move, screeching, “Sword of Midday Sun in a Clear Sky⁴! — “
In the next moment, an even more unfathomable event occurred.
The golden light behind the clouds grew brighter and brighter, suddenly penetrating the heavy rain falling on the stage.
Then the dense clouds flew and scattered in all directions, in the blink of an eye exposing the shadow of the setting sun.
The heavy rain stopped in the moment between breaths.
The powerful people across the world gazed, astonished, in the direction of the Central Continent’s YunYang City.
They were unable to understand the saints of today, what’s with all of them?
In the Academy, the Director brewed a new pot of tea. His fingers shook with an imperceptible tremor.
On the balcony at the city owner’s residence, Ye Zhiqiu walked down.
On the faraway Bao Pu Zong HengDuan Mountain summit, the old man that had flicked his sleeves glanced in the direction of the Central Continent, expression slightly cold. But he did nothing.
The wind and the rain and the light all scattered and disappeared.
Blood from the corner of Yin Biyue’s mouth dripped onto the stage.
Zhong Shan was half-kneeling on the floor, using his sword for support.
Blood dyed the puddle in front of his body red.
How could the wind and rain be dispelled?
Only with light.
Only the Sword of Midday Sun in a Clear Sky.
Six hundred years ago, the Sword Saint used this technique to defeat Bao Pu Zong’s grand elder.
Six hundred years later, Yin Biyue used this technique to break Zhong Shan’s Besieging the City with Wind and Rain.
The sky looked as if it had been cleaved open by the sword’s light, the two sides entirely parted⁵.
On one side was the magnificent red glow of the setting sun, like a dazzling flame, and one side was the rich azure after the rain, as dark as ink.
This kind of extraordinary sight, yet nobody appreciated it.
There was a deathly stillness in the arena.
Only after Luo Mingchuan vaulted onto the stage, did people become clear-headed.
No one knew who cried out first, but like cold water splashing onto a frying pan, the foot of ZhongMing Mountain began to shake!
Countless people started cheering; they didn’t know themselves what they were cheering for, only that the emotions in their hearts were stirred up and couldn’t be held back; moods were myriad, unable to be expressed. A burst of long whistles resonated in the arena, echoing into the clouds, their owners invigorated. Unexpectedly, after observing the fight, people were having faint signs of breakthroughs!
Cang Ya Sect and QingLu Sword Sect disciples flooded onstage; Xing Shan Temple and Jie Kong Temple had Buddhist cultivators proficient in medicine also hastening on the stage to check injuries; a few of the elders on the eastern viewing platform took out their own pills they had collected, but they discovered they were still not up to the quality of the the ones Duan Chongxuan fed to the two people.
In the middle of the turmoil and chaos⁶, in Yin Biyue’s eyes were only the faintly overlapping images. The noise in his ears was clamoring, but he couldn’t hear it clearly.
His mental sea was in chaos, a tearing pain crushing every inch of his bones and meridians. His body had long reached its limit, but he still held his eyes open, rigidly holding his sword, not willing to relax even one bit.
Until he fell into a warm embrace.
Felt a familiar warmth and breath.
His legs finally went limp and with his mind at ease, lost consciousness.
****************
Dark clouds completely passed, with clear light spreading far and wide.
If it weren’t for the puddles of water on the ground, it would be almost inconceivable that in half the time it took for a cup of tea, it had just finished raining.
From Ye City to the five continents across the world, the many powerful people of the world were silent as before.
This battle had been full of wild ups and downs, almost like a drama.
In the light were two young geniuses brandishing swords; in the shadows were two sages battling, with a flick of a sleeve or the shattering of a cup, completely changing the world.
Everyone had thought there was no way Yin Biyue could win.
Unless he had a godly weapon like ‘Lin Yuan,’ he couldn’t strive to compare with Feng Yu Sword.
It turned out he really did have a godly weapon.
After a good while, someone asked, “Yi Hu Sword, where in the world did it come from?”
QingLu Sword Sect’s elder slowly shook his head, muttering softly to himself, “That sword–is it really ‘Yi Hu?’”
Many people did not understand why the sage, Yu Shi, would make a move. After all his cultivation realm was too high; barely a tiny motion would probably be sensed by the heavens, and he had to take karma into account. It was only a Flower Picking Festival battle, in the eyes of indomitable saints, it ought to be an insignificant trifle.
Some people guessed that it was because Yin Biyue’s move ‘East Rising Sun’ really and truly resembled ‘Midday Sun in a Clear Sky.
It made him recall the past humiliation on the shores of Ba River, that one-sided battle’s complete obliteration, the five elders of Bao Pu Zong who died, and the one left alive but crippled.
Even if some people had guessed, they wouldn’t open their mouths to announce it, because the grudges between the saints were the business of the heavens, and they wouldn’t dare rashly comment.
But who would have thought, Yu Shi didn’t want to see ‘East Rising Sun,’ yet Yin Biyue had used the true ‘Midday Sun in a Clear Sky.’
By a strange combination of circumstances, this was an unexpected veiled strike to the saint’s face.
This was an inconceivable matter, a matter that no one would dare to think too much about.
And the Academy Director’s attitude was also worth considering.
Many people felt, his making a move without the slightest hesitation, challenging the mightiest sages in the world, was as expected of the Sword Saint’s best friend.
Regardless of how many new developments bubbled up in the shadows, the ones that were the most directly impacted by this fight were the two leads.
Before this match, when people mentioned Yin Biyue’s name, they would refer to him as ‘Sword Saint’s disciple Yin Biyue.’
But now, he finally had his own title- ‘Yi Hu Sword’ Yin Biyue.
This match was recorded in many books, left for future generations’ reference, to be called ‘Half the City Wind and Rain, Half the City a Lake.’
And although Zhong Shan had broken a rib, his meridians remained unharmed, and there also wasn’t any lingering danger that could influence his cultivation in the future. After a week-long coma, his cultivation realm didn’t drop but grew instead, actually breaking through to the Lesser Vessel Stage.
Regardless of the uproar of the outside world, none of it had anything to do with Luo Mingchuan.
He was right now keeping watch at Yin Biyue’s bedside, grasping his wrist, sending in a steady flow of core energy. His eyes were dark, like an abyss in the deep sea.
Yin Biyue was at times awake and at times asleep, always feeling like there was a warmth flowing within his meridians, his entire body comfortably warm all over. Too comfortable, he simply couldn’t sleep enough.
Every time he opened his eyes, he saw Luo Mingchuan beside his bed, and sometimes Duan Chongxuan was there too.
When he disdained himself for being too idle and wanted to get out of bed, Luo Mingchuan just smiled and said, “Rest a bit more, it’s okay.”
Seven days passed just like this.
1) 临渊: Lin Yuan. Lin for “facing/arriving/look over” and Yuan for “deep pool/deep/profound”. My best guess (from TP’s preexisting sword naming habits) would be something like Overlooking Depths or something.
2) 春山笑 and 秋风离: Seen in previous translations as Spring Mountain Smile and Departure of Autumn Breeze. In our decision to render all sword names in pinyin they’re now Chun Shan Xiao and Qiu Feng Li. My revised English translation of them are “Spring Mountain’s Smile” and “Autumn Wind’s Departure” to retain the mirroring style of the Chinese. I’m also tempted to use laugh instead of smile but it’s moot point currently.
3) 黑云压城，城欲摧: please refer to this translation.
4) 泥牛入海 (clay ox in the sea): [an idiom] disappear without hope of returning
5) 泾渭分明: As separate as the rivers of Jing and Wei. To be completely different/apart. The idiom was removed since it’s hard to elicit the meaning without the cultural understanding.
6) 兵荒马乱: Panicking soldiers and disordered horses. Chaotic situation.