Ze Tian Ji (Way of Choices)

Translated by: Hypersheep325

Edited by: Michyrr

There were no opening remarks, no conversation, no foreshadowing, no sudden flurry of wind and snow.

In such an ordinary and uninteresting manner, this battle that was the focus of thousands of gazes began.

Xu Yourong unsheathed the sword very slowly, as if the movement had been divided into countless actions and then put back together again.

As the temple sword emerged from the sheath, the true essence attached to the sword incessantly collided against the sheath, causing the sword to ring out countless times. Combined together, they created a long and timeless sword cry.

The sword had not completely emerged from the sheath, but the attack had already begun.

Her attack was this sword cry which rang out over the Bridge of Helplessness.

The sword cry fell on his ear and went straight into Chen Changsheng's sea of consciousness. Though it was invisible, he could clearly sense it.

Everyone on the two banks of the Luo River could hear this sword cry that surged like a wave. On the ship, a few students from the Ivy Academies who had slightly weaker cultivations were affected by the sword cry and paled.

"The South Sea Sword Cry." Linghai Zhiwang looked at Xu Yourong on the Bridge of Helplessness and commented, "Myriad stormy waves rise up with the sword. As expected, the Holy Maiden achieved some sort of enlightenment when she cultivated by the South Sea last year."

On the side, Mao Qiuyu said nothing, only wrinkled his brow.

Upon hearing this sword cry resounding from the Bridge of Helplessness, Tang Thirty-Six and Zhexiu's expressions flickered. Xu Yourong had not truly begun to attack, but she was already so imposing. Could Chen Changsheng cope with it?

Mo Yu raised her eyebrows. Very few people knew that Xu Yourong was most skilled in archery, but she knew. Thus, she had been perplexed as to why Xu Yourong had not utilized the Tong Bow, instead using the temple sword. Was it because she looked down on Chen Changsheng?

Suddenly, she thought of a possibility: Xu Yourong wished to defeat Chen Changsheng in the path of the sword which he was most skilled at? From this, was she seeking to shatter his philosophy of cultivation and destroy any possibility of his becoming Pope?

……

……

The sword cry resounded on the Bridge of Helplessness. Those snowflakes descending from the sky were not affected in the least, but the same could not be said for Chen Changsheng. Because of this sword cry, a ferocious storm seemed to have risen up in his sea of consciousness. Enormous waves reached up to the sky. It made his spiritual sense extremely unstable, and he could even faintly perceive signs that it was about to disintegrate.

It was just the pulling out of a sword, yet it possessed such might?

In the information that Chen Changsheng had looked over, there was nothing mentioning that Xu Yourong was skilled in these sorts of fighting techniques. In the few battles of hers that had been recorded, she displayed understanding of every sort of technique.

Only at this moment did he confirm that Xu Yourong’s cultivation in the path of the sword was actually so profound. She was still far from great masters such as Su Li, but in terms of her comprehension of the principles of the heavens and earth, she was not one bit inferior.

This sword cry was in accordance with the principles of the heavens and earth, a storm that had come from the South Sea.

Chen Changsheng looked at her sword, moving around his spiritual sense and forcefully suppressed the waves in his sea of consciousness.

In truth, the speed at which Xu Yourong pulled out her sword was not at all slow, but because each action was so clear, the scene seemed to move somewhat slowly.

The temple sword leaving its sheath seemed like a very long journey.

Finally, the temple sword reached the end of its journey.

The waves in the Luo River grew even fiercer.

Chen Changsheng's sea of consciousness was assailed by this sword cry and was on the verge of instability.

It was precisely at this moment that Chen Changsheng chose to make his move.

Clang!

The space above the Bridge of Helplessness was instantly silenced.

The Stainless Sword emerged from the sheath and stabbed towards a snowflake in the sky.

This attack had no material being, but was instead an illusory strike. The snowflake that was the target of the sword edge was not even affected, continuing its slow descent to the surface of the bridge.

But there was still the clang of a sword.

If it was said that Xu Yourong unsheathing her sword was a very slow process, Chen Changsheng unsheathing his sword was swift to the extreme.

The temple sword had calmly traversed tens of thousands of li while his sword had shot up straight from the earth to the heavens.

A silver vase burst.

(TN: This is part of a line from the poem "Pipa Song" by Bai Juyi, meaning a sudden cracking sound.)

A crisp cry.

A crisp sword cry abruptly appeared and then entered the sword cry of the temple sword.

The sword cry, distant and calm, yet holding the power of countless storms, momentarily paused.

The instant the temple sword departed from the sheath, the sword cry once more rang out, even brighter than before.

Chen Changsheng drew back his sword and lightly rotated his body, almost as if he was using his sleeve to shoo away that falling snowflake.

Another illusory strike descended from the sky and back to shore, dashing apart the waves.

Wind entered the mountain cave.

It howled.

With these two sword sounds ringing out, the sword cry finally came to a stop.

Silence once more fell over the Bridge of Helplessness.

……

.……

……

As Mao Qiuyu, Linghai Zhiwang, and the rest looked at the bridge one li away, gazed at the young woman atop the bridge, they felt rather complex emotions.

This battle had begun just moments ago—Chen Changsheng and Xu Yourong had only taken out their swords—but the mystery and danger within were not any less that of a battle between two ordinary initial level Star Condensation cultivators.

Everyone on the great ship honestly asked themselves, if the person standing there were themselves at that age, would they be an opponent for these two youths? The final verdict made them sigh with sorrow: perhaps they would have lost when Xu Yourong pulled out her sword. As for those cultivators of the path of the sword, when they saw this scene, their minds were agitated and they were filled with a boundless sense of defeat. They thought, when compared to Xu Yourong and Chen Changsheng, can my sword even deserve to be called a sword?

"What sort of sword technique is this?" someone asked from the crowd.

No person responded to his question.

Mao Qiuyu sighed, "Chen Changsheng's response was truly genius."

People such as they could naturally see that the sword style Chen Changsheng had used was South Stream Temple's Descent of Heavenly Music.

This sword style called the Descent of Heavenly Music was actually a sword dance used in Holy Maiden Peak in their ceremonies to the starry sky. It essentially had no power and was rarely used in actual combat situations.

But for Chen Changsheng to use it at this moment was truly the most ideal choice.

Because this sword style and Xu Yourong's South Sea Sword Cry were two techniques from the same source, and it was also the most capable style to calm a swordsman's mind.

The Heavenly Music descended, the sword sounds transformed into law, clashing with and conforming to Xu Yourong's South Sea Sword Cry. Even the greatest waves would naturally be calmed.

Daoist Siyuan sneered, "Everyone knows that to use the Descent of Heavenly Music to dispel the South Sea Sword Cry is the best choice. Just what's so genius about that?"

Mao Qiuyu calmly replied, "The problem is that not everyone can learn the sword styles of the South Stream Temple. Moreover, if one did get the opportunity to learn them, who would possibly think about going to learn this sword dance meant for use when sacrificing to the stars?"

Daoist Siyuan had no words to respond.

This member of the Six Prefects understood many of the sword styles of South Stream Temple. He had even learned two of the most powerful secret sword styles of South Stream Temple, but not even he had learned the Descent of Heavenly Music.

Just as Su Li and Chen Changsheng had discussed in the wilderness, to learn a sword style had never been an easy affair. One couldn't just see another display the sword forms and then just copy them by rote to learn another's sword style. One had to use the proper method of circulating true essence that corresponded to these sword techniques. Only when the two formed into one could one be considered as having learned a sword style.

Chen Changsheng did not possess the true essence circulation method for these sword styles from South Stream Temple, but he had other methods. Starting from last year when he began teaching Luoluo, then his treatment of Xuanyuan Po and Zhexiu, and then adding on his theories from the past few years, his substitute plan was now exceptionally ripe, such that even Su Li would gasp in admiration.

Through these substitute methods, all these sword styles he used would definitely be much more lacking in power, but in terms of sword intent, they would be almost exact duplicates.

His previous use of the Descent of Heavenly Music had originally been precisely for its sword intent.

……

……

One sword cry, two sword songs.

The wind and snow over the Bridge of Helplessness were as before.

Chen Changsheng and Xu Yourong quietly stood at their original positions.

It was like nothing had happened, nothing had changed.

In reality, a change had already occurred: they were wielding their swords.

Wielding swords naturally meant they intended to attack with them. Amidst the drifting snow, Chen Changsheng suddenly vanished. In the next second, he appeared before Xu Yourong at an extremely close distance.

Cries of shock could faintly be heard coming from the distant ship.

When confronting a powerful opponent like Xu Yourong, any sort of hidden cards or plans had no meaning. The only option he had was to fully display all the things he was most skilled at and then see whether he could defeat his opponent or not.

So he did not hesitate to use the Yeshi Step, and then he used the Heavenly Dao Academy's Sword of Hithering Light.

Of all the techniques he knew, this was the fastest.

Just like how his Yeshi Step was the fastest.

Xu Yourong's first attack had walked the profound path.

His first attack did not require much, only the word 'fast'.

Whoosh.

It seemed like even the air itself over the Bridge of Helplessness was pierced through.

A bright sword glow shone upon the falling snow and the gloomy sky, and it also shone upon the white gauze hanging from the brim of Xu Yourong's hat.

The point of the sword stabbed at Xu Yourong's left arm.

Cries of shock arose once more from the distant ship.

Chen Changsheng's attack was incomparably swift. The sword piercing through the air was even faster than sound.

And yet…it wasn't faster than Xu Yourong's sword.

At some point, the temple sword had appeared in the snowy air, accurately and calmly receiving the Stainless Sword.

Dong!

Worthy of the reincarnation of the true Phoenix, she possessed an unimaginable strength, and she naturally possessed a nigh-unattainable speed as well. The Heavenly Dao Academy's Sword of Hithering Light could be even faster, but how could it be faster than the Phoenix that could cover ten thousand li with a single flap of its wings?

What shocked Chen Changsheng even more was that when the two swords clashed, he realized that Xu Yourong had used the flat of the sword!

The flat of the sword had to confront the wind, so it naturally couldn't move faster than the point of the sword piercing through the air, but her sword had unexpectedly arrived before his.

If Xu Yourong had not blocked his sword and instead decided to compare speeds, would he be able to draw back his sword fast enough?

This was something that had not happened, so he could not know the answer. In addition, in his current situation, he simply didn't have the time to ponder these questions.

The Stainless Sword and temple sword met, and the surrounding snowflakes, seeming to have been caught up in some sort of turbulence, madly scattered away.

The two swords separated a little.

The Qi of the Bridge of Helplessness suddenly changed.

This was because Xu Yourong's Qi had changed.

She who had just been quietly standing there suddenly became tall and large.

She had not truly become tall and large, but instead exuded a sort of presence.

The presence of a god overlooking the people from the sky appeared on her body.

She slashed down at Chen Changsheng!

Different from how the ordinary people imagined the Holy Maiden, different from the impressions the common folk of the capital had of her.

This strike did not feel like it had departed from the mortal world, ethereal and unsullied.

It did not possess an elusive and drifting mystery.

Xu Yourong's strike was extremely simple.

Because it was simple, she could show her abilities to their full extent!

Her two hands gripped the hilt of the temple sword and raised it up to her head, drawing the hilt level with her forehead. She seemed to be offering a sacrifice to the sky.

Then, the temple sword fell through the sky, descending from her brow, pressing forward with all her vigor and spirit!

A seemingly infinite amount of true essence and an immovable spiritual sense spurred an incomparably fierce sword energy and drove it straight towards Chen Changsheng's head!

……