Chapter 56: "The Jiazi Cycle’s Jiangshui Blade Master" Duan Chenzhou, Crescent Celestial Saber, Purple Ribbon Immortal Robe
Chapter 56: Chapter 56: "The Jiazi Cycle’s Jiangshui Blade Master" Duan Chenzhou, Crescent Celestial Saber, Purple Ribbon Immortal Robe
Zhang Liechen was in disbelief. He leaned against the table, having just opened his mouth to speak.
Suddenly, Yang Daohan stood up again, his expression changing drastically.
"A good cut! A good cut!"
"Indeed, indeed. What gives you the right to drink the same wine as Mr. Duan?"
"Eat, eat! Hahaha..."
He stood up and, without being obvious, glanced at Duan Chenzhou’s Crescent Saber, which seemed to have never left its scabbard.
He then looked at Ji Xiu, his mind flashing through all the ’great joys’ of his life before he managed to force a smile.
"Everyone, please, let’s eat. Let’s eat."
"This banquet may not be the finest, but it’s a feast of blood and flesh often eaten by Martial Artists for nourishment. We have goat, Treasure Fish, bear paws, leopard legs... everything you could ask for!"
"Come, my boy, eat. You..."
He hadn’t finished his sentence.
Duan Chenzhou lowered his head, glanced around the table, and a smile touched his lips.
"The dishes are not bad. It seems you put in some effort."
Yang Daohan nodded eagerly.
"Right? The banquets at my Tiger and Leopard Hall aren’t bad at all..."
"But I don’t eat mutton."
"The gamey taste is too strong."
The purple-robed Swordsman, who had just been smiling, suddenly furrowed his brow, his expression turning cold.
Yang Daohan’s expression instantly froze.
Then, he slowly rose to his feet. An autumn wind brushed past, and faint wisps of swirling air seemed to envelop his body.
A hint of purple appeared in his eyes. He took a step and stomped lightly.
It seemed as light as a cloud, as gentle as the wind.
But Ji Xiu, who was sitting next to Duan Chenzhou...
...distinctly heard something like the roar of a dragon as it leaped and soared, thundering out from behind that mountain-like back!
It was as if his Spinal Dragon had taken physical form, a furious Great Flood Dragon surging in a raging river!
For a moment, his eyes filled with horror.
’Master Duan... What realm has he reached?!’
The Spinal Dragon roared like a dragon, howled like a tiger!
However, that wasn’t all.
When he vaguely saw the purple-robed Swordsman’s appearance, starting from that hint of purple in his eyes,
...he saw it slowly spread, slowly extending until it covered the surface of his body like a veil of purple Qi...
His mind buzzed, and only one thing remained: the ’Three Great Limits of the Power Barrier’ that Huang Xuan from the Medicine House had once casually mentioned during a chat.
The first gate: Golden Muscle and Jade Veins.
The second gate: Mercury Blood Silver Marrow.
The third gate... known as the Purple Ribbon Immortal Robe!
It was a supreme achievement that could only be attained by breaking the shackles of Skin Refining!
According to legend,
not even one in ten Qi Cultivation Grandmasters could achieve the Purple Ribbon Immortal Robe!
Duan Chenzhou gently placed his palm on the feast-laden table. His dark eyes glowed with a sinister purple as he stared silently at Yang Daohan, causing cold sweat to pour down the man’s body.
"I heard you wanted to take my apprentice, invite him to join your ranks, and give him a Heaven-Reaching Road?"
"Y-Yes."
"Then tell me."
"Is the Heaven-Reaching Road you offer wider..."
"...or..."
"...is my saber broader?"
Yang Daohan’s face was taut, not daring to show any other expression.
"Of course, it’s your..."
He met Duan Chenzhou’s gaze for a few breaths before speaking, but halfway through, his face turned red. His throat constricted, and under the pressure of that ’Sword Thought,’ he couldn’t utter another word.
"How boring. Can’t even keep a conversation going? Blockhead."
"At this rate, even killing you would be dull."
"Apprentice, let’s go."
At that, Duan Chenzhou clasped his hand behind his back, glanced down, and scoffed.
Ji Xiu scrambled to his feet, quick as a flash. His eyes shone as he looked at the Three Great Dragons, finding it hard to believe that his own Master’s realm was so high!
’Holy crap, I really do have a good eye for talent! In this backwater five hundred-li stretch of Mountain Dao, I actually managed to find a ’hidden boss’ to be my master!’
’With Manor Master Lu’s decline, I thought the sky was falling. But then came a sudden plot twist that nearly gave me whiplash!’
’The so-called Three Great Dragons?’
’They folded in a second!’
’I just wonder... what’s my Master’s background? How did he scare Yang Daohan so badly?’
Ji Xiu cheered inwardly. Although he kept his expression in check, he was so elated that he wanted to clap and shout for joy.
This was a backer who could hold up the heavens! Even with a missing arm, he could suppress these three ruthless men who had steamrolled the Wind and Cloud Association, forcing them to keep their heads down.
"None of you are even worthy of making me truly draw my blade."
Beneath the setting sun, his purple robes swayed as Duan Chenzhou walked back the way he came, step by step, his temples-length hair whipping wildly in the wind. He never looked back.
"If word of today’s blade work gets out..."
"...you all had best prepare your own coffins."
His words drifted further and further away, and along with them, the shadows of Duan Chenzhou and Ji Xiu vanished from the courtyard.
And once their figures were gone,
CRACK... SZZZZZ...
BANG!
Suddenly, with an explosive sound!
The oval wooden table, over a zhang in length and width, disintegrated along with all the dishes and bowls, turning into a cloud of dust that was swept up by the autumn wind, WHIRLING and scattering across the courtyard!
"PFFT!"
At the same time, Yang Daohan’s rigid body finally moved. He spat out a mouthful of black blood, and then with a CRACKLE-POP, his bones and tendons sounded off as blood seeped from his pores!
In an instant, he fell backward and collapsed to the ground.
"Damn it all, I’m gonna kill him! I’m gonna kill him!!"
Zhang Liechen, who had been kneeling on one knee, shot up like a maddened lion, his eyes bleeding.
"I’m going to find Big Brother! I’m going to request the ’Central Yellow Manifest Saint’! I’m going to..."
"Shut up!"
"Old Five... this is all your fault today!"
"Big Brother? Heh..."
A terribly weak voice came from the man collapsed on the ground. Yang Daohan, soaked in his own blood, still managed a difficult laugh.
"Do you know why Big Brother has a scar running from between his eyebrows to the back of his head?"
Zhang Liechen’s throat felt as if it had been clamped by a crab’s pincer, and he couldn’t make a sound.
"Jiangyin Prefecture is also known as the ’Jiangshui Mansion.’"
"And ten years ago,"
"...there was a name: Duan Chenzhou."
"’Crescent Celestial Saber’ Duan Chenzhou. He doesn’t have many other famous exploits."
"He just... killed until every blade-user of the same realm in all of Jiangshui bowed their heads to him."
"Do you know how he lost that arm?"
"I once heard Big Brother mention it."
Yang Daohan gave a weak smile. Lying flat on his back, he stared at the sky, his eyes as still as an old well. He couldn’t even muster the will for revenge.
"He killed a Qi Cultivation Grandmaster who had broken through the ’Second Great Limit’ of the Power Barrier."
"He didn’t die. He only lost an arm and vanished without a trace."
"So, you see..."
"He didn’t kill us simply because we weren’t worthy."
"If you want to seek death, I won’t stop you."
Zhang Liechen clenched his fists tightly, holding his saber.
After a long moment, he dejectedly lowered it and turned to leave without a word.
"Hold on."
"Pick up your ear. Take it with you, take it!"
"Next time... if your temper is still so explosive..."
A savage expression crept onto Yang Daohan’s refined face.
"Don’t blame me for not honoring our bond as sworn brothers!"
He didn’t dare to hate Duan Chenzhou.
He didn’t dare to speak of what happened today.
And he certainly didn’t dare to mention the apprentice of a ’Sword Demon’ like him!
He could only vent his anger... on the Dragon Head of the Lion Hall, a fellow member of the Three Great Gangs.
...
Tiger and Leopard Hall.
Ji Xiu followed behind Duan Chenzhou, looking at his Crescent Saber and the gang members who were keeping a wide berth...
Unconsciously, he held his head a little higher.
Duan Chenzhou sensed the change in his apprentice’s state of mind.
He chuckled softly.
"Now, do you understand what ’reason’ is?"
Ji Xiu nodded vigorously!
This feeling was just too satisfying.
"Master... your saber..."
He licked his lips, his eyes burning with intensity.
"My saber?"
"What, you want to learn it?"
He stopped walking and turned his head, a smile still playing on his lips.
Under the setting sun, the purple glow on Duan Chenzhou had not yet completely faded, and a sinister aura still clung to him.
"This is the Secret Martial Dao of my lineage that I told you about—"
"Secret Martial: Crescent Celestial Saber!"
His face was solemn and reverent.
"But,"
"a Secret Martial technique isn’t something you can practice just because you want to."
"You must cultivate Dharma Gates for your tendons, bones, and skin, ones capable of breaking the shackles of the Great Limits. Furthermore, your body must be tempered to its absolute peak. It’s best if your foundation is inherently compatible with the Secret Martial technique. Only then can it be taught."
"You have only cultivated your tendons and achieved Golden Muscle and Jade Veins. You are still far from ready."
"Otherwise... recklessly coming into contact with a True Martial art will only lead you to your death!"
’Are the requirements really that high?’
Ji Xiu clicked his tongue in amazement.
He scratched his head, then pointed at the Crescent Saber, looking puzzled.
"But Master Duan, after I reached Perfection in the Turtle and Snake Grand Foundation Stake, the ’Profound Blood Flood Dragon Tendons’ I comprehended helped me break through the shackles of Golden Muscle and Jade Veins."
"But..."
"...I don’t feel like this Pile Skill has any connection to the nature of your saber art."
’Could it be that this master feels he hasn’t tested me long enough, and that I’m too inexperienced, so he doesn’t want to pass on this Secret Martial technique yet?’
But in response to this, Duan Chenzhou gave a noncommittal smile.
"’Ideally,’ not ’definitely.’"
"Our ’School’ is a bit unorthodox. We don’t have a proper lineage. The Superior Pile Skill, the Gold Tempering Bone Technique, the Immortal Robe True Origin..."
"...your Ancestral Master stole all of them from different Schools, and even from a ’True Sect,’ using underhanded means."
"Take the Turtle and Snake Grand Foundation Stake, for example. Do you think the profound True Intent of the ’Black Tortoise’ has anything to do with our Evil Saber?"
He slowly turned, his eyes glinting.
"Just now, I—your master—didn’t kill those men because... they were not worthy."
"But,"
"...now I’m going to tell you something, kid."
Duan Chenzhou turned sideways, glanced back, and pointed toward the distant Tiger and Leopard Hall.
"Everyone you met today, including these so-called Dragon Heads, anyone who left a knot in your heart or became your enemy..."
"I want you to achieve ’Mercury Blood Silver Marrow’ within half a year, and when you do, take all of their heads."
"Do you dare?"
’Half a year?’
’To take the heads of the Dragon Heads of the Three Great Gangs!’
"Do you dare or not?"
Ji Xiu was stunned for a moment, then felt the blood rush to his head.
"Master Duan, when you’re out in the world, if you don’t cut the weeds and pull out the roots, it will come back to haunt you. That’s why your disciple usually tries to be amicable."
"But..."
"...they offended you, Master. They dared to drink from the same pot of wine as Master Duan and served you mutton. They broke your taboos, so they deserve to die!"
"Your disciple is willing to carry out the task!"
In that instant, a fierce light shone in the young man’s eyes.
’Killing is just a matter of a nod.’
He was already mentally prepared!
’It’s just that...’
’...so our Secret Techniques for tendons, bones, and skin were all stolen?’
Ji Xiu speculated internally:
’Then the School that uses the ’Turtle and Snake Grand Foundation Stake’ for Foundation Establishment... they must be formidable, right?’
’Will they come looking for us one day?’
’No matter how you look at it, my lineage’s methods are those of ’Demonic Cultivators’...’
’Am I, the majestic Master Ji, going to transform into the terrifying Elder Demon Ji?!’
’I was hoping to become ’Boss Ji’ or ’Ji the Great Blade Master,’ but it seems that’s not in the cards.’
’But, as long as I suppress everyone who would slander my name, who would dare to run their mouth?’
’There will be Great Scholars to argue the case for my ’Blade Sect True Inheritance’!’
Ji Xiu’s heart surged with excitement. He seemed to see the infinite light of his own future, and his fighting spirit soared.
Seeing this, Duan Chenzhou’s lips curled into a smile.
"Very good. Full of vigor."
"With my lineage in your hands, I suppose the enemies of your Master and Ancestral Master will no longer be a major threat."
"Since that’s the case, come early tomorrow."
"I will pass on the second Superior Technique to you, the Quenching Golden Bone Skill!"