Ze Tian Ji (Way of Choices)

The torrential rain continued to fall. Teng Xiaoming stood up with great difficulty and wiped away the blood from the corner of his lips. He looked at the metal sword in Chen Changsheng’s hand and was shocked speechless. He thought, just what sword is that to actually possess such terrifying weight, such thunder-like power, and such an unimaginably thick sword intent? Where did the metal sword come from? Why did it appear before the mausoleum?

Chen Changsheng knew the metal sword came from the Sword Pool, but he did not know of its exact location despite having known of its existence inside the grassland of pouring, torrential rain. At the same time, he came to know of the metal sword’s history the moment he grabbed ahold of it.

In the history of the path of the sword, this metal sword had widespread renown. It was called the Mountain Sea Sword.

Countless years ago, the Heavenly Tomes transformed into countless meteors and descended in rolling flames, falling into the centre of the continent, and formed the current-day Mausoleum of Books. Other than the stone monoliths, there were also countless pieces of meteorite shrapnel. People of the past collected the meteorite shrapnel and used all methods at their disposal to smelt it. In the end, they smelted meteorite metal, which was also known as the True Metal of Meteorites. The meteorite metal was different from the metals on the continent. It was extremely heavy, extremely dense, extremely strong, and extremely tough; it could be said to be the best material for forging swords. Actually, most of the meteorite metal of the continent was used to make a single sword.

This was also the black and heavy metal sword currently in Chen Changsheng’s hand.

It was heavy like a mountain and mighty like the sea, so it was given the name Mountain Sea Sword.

The metal pole in Teng Xiaoming’s hand only contained two taels of the True Metal of Meteorites, and already it was as heavy as a mountain. Besides, the entire sword was made out of meteorite metal, so just how heavy and just how terrifying was it?

The Mountain Sea Sword was very well known in history. No matter in the battlefield or outside the Tong Palace, the sword and its appointed successors acted out scenes of partings and reunions as magnificent as life and death. Before the metal sword, it was not known how many experts and famous people had been crushed. However, the person who really made the Mountain Sea Sword seem the most splendid was its last recorded owner.

Thousands of years ago, an expert called Xike appeared. He carried the bloodline of the White Emperor and was said to cultivate the methods of the long extinct Buddhism. Coupled with his innate divine strength, just by power and bearing, he could be ranked within the top three in all of history. When he lifted the heavy metal sword, he could even fight armies numbering in the tens of thousands.

Only such an expert had the qualifications to use the Mountain Sea Sword and to display the entirety of its power. Furthermore, only the Mountain Sea Sword could match up to such a peerless expert. No one knew whether it was Xike who had allowed the Mountain Sea Sword to gain its ageless fame of fighting prowess or if it was the Mountain Sea Sword that had allowed him to create countless storms on the continent in his time. In short, the metal sword and a matching expert in unison gave rise to a legend of countless victories.

Xike carried the Mountain Sea Sword and consecutively defeated the experts of the continent. The Head Instructor of the Scholartree Manor and the Grand Elder of the Longevity Sect of that time were all people vanquished by him. He was tyrannical without equal, and some people even believed he had already entered the Saint Realm. In the end… just like many peerless experts before him, he entered the Garden of Zhou full of arrogance and ultimately left it in a downhearted state as though he had lost his soul. The Mountain Sea Sword never appeared by his side again. Afterwards, after three years, in a very random conflict in the Yunyang City, he died at the hands of a junior who had just begun to rise in fame…

This question seemed to have finally reached an answer. Without the Mountain Sea Sword, he was just an ordinary expert. However, the Pope had a completely different perspective on this. He believed above all that the most important thing Xike had lost, after being bested in melee against Zhou Dufu, was not the sword but his proud and overbearing heart of the sword.

This was the Mountain Sea Sword. If it was placed among a pile of the ten most famous swords in the world, regardless of who it was, they would all definitely choose this metal sword. The Mountain Sea Sword was made out of the most valuable meteorite metal and had required the longest time to forge, so it was the most valuable. No matter who was in possession of this metal sword, they would all become so excited that they were unable to control themselves, unable to believe their own luck. Chen Changsheng was also beside himself with joy. He thought that if he could bring this metal sword out of the Garden of Zhou, it was the most suitable in Xuanyuan Po’s hands. Also, Zhexiu had always said that he wanted a sword, so shouldn’t he also get a sword for him?

Only at this moment did he realise that, originally, the upper part of the metal sword was not naturally straight. The rumor that the Mountain Sea Sword was definitely edgeless was wrong. Speaking of which, such a divine weapon definitely had an edge hidden to its bluntness, but it was chopped off… just what blade chopped it off? To actually be able to chop off a part of the Mountain Sea Sword, just how powerful was the blade? And just how powerful was the person?

The Mountain Sea Sword had already disappeared from the world for almost a thousand years, leaving behind nothing but hearsay and myths. That was also why Teng Xiaoming was unable to recognise it from the onset. However, after looking at it a few times, and thinking about the huge power that was like a mountain and boundless as the sea exuding from the metal sword, he very naturally guessed the origin of the metal sword. As a result, he was even more shocked. He did not say anything and only slightly furrowed his brows. It was unknown what he was thinking about.

Nanke also recognised the origin of the metal sword. Her clear voice pierced through the curtain of rain, and she spoke with a voice that was filled with anger and confusion, “This is impossible, why would the Mountain Sea Sword appear for you?!”

Chen Changsheng did not say anything. He lifted the metal sword and pointed it at her from far away, through the wind and rain. Actions were much more powerful than words. If the Mountain Sea blade did not appear for him, why was it currently in his hands?

“Also, you don’t understand the Mountain Sea Sword’s sword style at all! Just why are you able to use it to such a great extent?” Nanke asked a very important question. Just as how it was before, even if the Mountain Sea Blade had retained its sword intent, without the matching sword style and considering Chen Changsheng’s cultivation level of upper level Ethereal Opening, just how could he defeat a Demon General so easily and effortlessly?

Chen Changsheng did not hide anything and said to her, “I have read relatively many books.”

This was what Gou Hanshi had said to him at the Ivy Festival the year before, and also what he had said to Gou Hanshi. Also, only he and Gou Hanshi had the right to say that to each other. Anyone else could not, because nobody had read more books than he and Gou Hanshi.

In the three thousand scriptures of the Daoist Canon, stars were connected to everything. There were beautiful colors like jade, as well as thousands of methods. These methods were the gate to enlightenment.

After saying that, Chen Changsheng suddenly began to feel that he rather missed the Ivy Festival, missed the capital, and missed the Orthodox Academy. The disputes during those times were all disputes over will and spirit. It was not related to life and death. It did not separate humans and demons. It did not have shameless assassinations, ambushes, and betrayal. Thinking of it now, he could not help but find the disputes to be ridiculous, but they were also cute. Compared to the bloody scenes in the Garden of Zhou, how could he not miss those times?

The surroundings of the mausoleum fell silent again. It was because the legendary Mountain Sea Sword had appeared, because Chen Changsheng actually knew how to use the Mountain Sea Sword, and most importantly, because it was not sword intent but a real sword. Not many people knew that a sword had also appeared in the Garden of Zhou once before, which was then taken away by Su Li. To Nanke and the other demon experts, the metal sword that Chen Changsheng held was the first sword to appear in the Garden of Zhou. What did this mean? This was unprecedented, and the unprecedented often came along with the sound of thunder and great changes.

Just where did this heavy, black, metal sword appear from? Did its appearance out of nowhere mean the Sword Pool was also about to appear? Would those legendary famous swords also appear soon after? What made Nanke most confused, or even angry, was that she did not understand why the Sword Pool wanted to help Chen Changsheng. She looked at the dusky plains that surrounded the mausoleum. She let the rain wash down her pale small face and looked on for a very long time with her eyes squinted. However, she still could not find any clues to the Sword Pool. This caused her to grow more and more silent.

“Will there still be more swords that appear? Will those swords continue to help you? Just like the peerless sword intent and overbearing metal sword? Even if they do, do you know all the sword styles? I don’t believe it.”

Nanke thought about these matters and then extended her two hands towards the torrential rain.

With her action, the complexion of the two maids that always stood behind her in the rain suddenly turned pale. Especially in Hua Cui’s charming eyes was revealed an extreme pain, which was followed by blood spraying from her mouth.

Nanke’s petite body trembled slightly, as if she was about to keel over in the rain, but in the end, she did not. An extremely cold Qi exuded from her body and mixed with the trail of blood that Hua Cui had spat out.

Hua Cui’s blood was green.

The trail of green blood was not diluted by the torrential rain. After it mixed with Nanke’s cold Qi, it instead became more concentrated. It was extremely demonic. When it was about to be concentrated, the edges vaguely moved up and down.

That was a Peacock Plume.

With a whoosh, the Peacock Plume that at the same time seemed fake and real pierced through countless curtains of heavy rain and shot towards him.

The Peacock Plume contained Nanke’s true blood and burnt with flame as it came into contact with the rain. It burnt fiercely along the way, and even the heavy rain could not weaken the flames by a little. Instead, it caused the flames to become more and more berserk.

Since escaping into the grassland, Chen Changsheng had treated Xu Yourong along the way, so he understood extremely well the terrifying aspects of the Peacock Plume. He did not know whether the Yellow Paper Umbrella could receive the burning of the peacock true blood, and as for the poisons in the peacock true blood, it caused even him to be fully alert.

He could not help but admit that Nanke’s will in battle and resolution were formidable to a terrifying degree, far exceeding the maturity and grimness of those of the same age. She did not hesitate to waste her most valuable true blood to counter Chen Changsheng’s sword and umbrella. The strength of the heavy, black metal sword was without equal, and it was overbearing like a mountain and the sea. However, it lost its flexibility in some situations, especially in Chen Changsheng’s hands. The Yellow Paper Umbrella became even swifter and more powerful with the sword intent, but it was unable to chop things like poisons and true blood into fragments. Chen Changsheng did not really care if he was poisoned, but he did not want to come in contact with even a sliver of the poisonous blood. In the blink of an eye, he thought through countless methods on how he could use the sword, the dagger, and the umbrella in response to the Peacock Plume, but he discovered that there were no methods that were perfect. However, if he had that sword, perhaps he could overcome this hurdle.

When he thought of that idea, even he felt that it was very absurd, because it was too unbelievable, too extravagant, and too unreasonable. Just why could he get whatever he thought of? He also did not know where the sword was. Even if it was in the Garden of Zhou, why… just why? Previously, when he needed a sword intent, the sword intent arrived in his body. Just when he needed a heavy sword, the world’s heaviest Mountain Sea Sword arrived before him in the rain, waiting for him to extend his hand to grab it. Now, when he needed that one sword the most, then perhaps… would it appear?