Chapter Thirty-Seven: A Single Slash

After the Dragon Emperor of Longdu died, his inner realm transformed into this Longdu Grotto-Heaven.

“But what does that have to do with taking over my body?” Xu Zhong, having finally regained his composure, asked.

“After the Dragon Emperor’s death, Zhou Jing inherited his will.” The Old Mother of the Hu River’s eyes were tinged with reminiscence. “He and the Dragon Emperor were old friends, companions despite the difference in their years.”

“When the Dragon Emperor perished, Zhou Jing drew his sword in fury, severed one of the incarnate fingers of the Heavenly Dao, and tore open a corner of the Heavenly Dao’s world. That place teemed with primordial qi and presented a reality utterly unlike this one.”

“The Heavenly Dao manifested and battled Zhou Jing. In the end, Zhou Jing followed in the Dragon Emperor’s footsteps and was slain in this world.”

Then the Old Mother of the Hu River shifted her tone: “You’ve met Yi Xuanji, haven’t you? He is Zhou Jing.”

Xu Zhong looked toward the Yuanyang Sword.

At last, he understood why Canglong had fallen silent when Yi Xuanji was mentioned earlier.

“After Zhou Jing’s death, the will of the Heavenly Dao left a thread of its divine consciousness behind. It possessed Zhou Jing’s body, adopted the name Yi Xuanji, fused with the severed finger of the Heavenly Dao, and became this World Tree.”

And thus the World Tree came to be.

“Yi Xuanji sensed Zhou Jing’s sword path. That’s why the Heavenly Dao manifested to kill you. The fact that you survived is already the greatest stroke of fortune.”

The Old Mother of the Hu River poured herself a cup of tea. “But next time, you may not be so lucky.”

“I don’t understand—why does Yi Xuanji want to kill me?”

“Zhou Jing’s sword path wounded the Heavenly Dao and opened a way into the Heavenly Dao’s world. To this day, within the Longdu Grotto-Heaven, there remains a gate leading to that world. The key to open this gate is Zhou Jing’s sword path.”

“You, bearing his legacy, are the perfect key.” The Old Mother pointed at the Yuanyang Sword. “Why do you think it brought you to this place?”

“It too wishes to escape this illusory world.”

Xu Zhong found this almost absurd.

“And how can you be sure the Heavenly Dao’s world is the true reality, and not just another projection, another so-called outer realm like the one you spoke of?”

“How can you be certain our world is false?”

The Old Mother smiled gently. “Primordial qi.”

“In the Heavenly Dao’s world, primordial qi is nearly fused into pure essence—qi.”

“A world where qi flows freely—can that be false?” she countered.

“Perhaps it’s only an immortal’s outer realm as well,” Xu Zhong replied quietly. “Cultivators of the Outer Realm refine their power into primordial qi, storing it within their own created realms. What you see may be nothing but an immortal’s conjured world.”

The Old Mother fell silent.

“To hear the Way in the morning, and die content at night!” So the saying went.

But Xu Zhong felt no such enlightenment.

Truth and falsehood were woven together, shrouding his heart in confusion and doubt.

When the heart is unsettled, the mind’s mirror is clouded.

Xu Zhong was deeply troubled by the Old Mother’s words.

He thought of the Wuji Sword Sect and the human world within the Heavenly Sword Grotto-Heaven, of the outer realm the Dragon Emperor of Longdu had forged.

Those realms, too, possessed sun, moon, and stars, spiritual energy and the Way, cultivators and mortals—all identical to his life’s reality.

Given this, how could he be sure that the Yu Kingdom, where he was born, was real?

Perhaps the Yu Kingdom, too, was merely some cultivator’s outer realm.

Did he unknowingly live in a false world? Or was he truly in the real one?

These questions surged endlessly within his mind.

The veil clouding his heart grew denser and heavier, even staining his sword heart with dust.

At that moment, rust began to appear on the Yuanyang Sword.

He had refined the sword; he was now its master.

And yet Canglong seemed utterly unaffected.

“See? You’re doubting the truth of your world as well.” The Old Mother had observed all these changes.

“So, in search of the real, why not try stepping into the Heavenly Dao’s world?” She smiled at Xu Zhong.

“Wherever I stand, that is what is real!” he blurted out.

The confusion began to lift from his heart, and the rust on the Yuanyang Sword fell away.

His sword heart grew anew.

Sword intent soared, the light and power of his blade sweeping over the land for dozens of miles around.

“Where you stand is reality?” The Old Mother turned to look at Xu Zhong, intrigued by his words.

“How interesting an answer!” She glanced at the Ghost Mother behind her. “I’m tired now. Find him a place to rest.”

The Old Mother descended the corridor.

Below it, the great river surged and covered the whole of the Threefold Heaven.

“Come with me,” the Ghost Mother said, casting Xu Zhong a glance.

Xu Zhong settled into a thatched cottage.

“Do you believe the Old Mother’s words?” As soon as she left, Canglong’s vigor returned.

“I don’t know.” Xu Zhong looked at Canglong. “Perhaps I believe neither her nor you.”

Canglong fell silent.

“You’ve already forged soul from spirit, haven’t you?” Xu Zhong asked. “I heard a swordsman’s blade changes with his sword heart, and so, too, does the sword spirit.”

He recalled the recent transformation of the Yuanyang Sword.

Canglong’s very existence now seemed to transcend the sword itself, becoming a true living being.

Recalling how Shi Yao had refined his soul from spirit before, Xu Zhong ventured his guess.

“The Old Mother truly is troublesome!” Canglong made no effort to hide his irritation. “I was born a free spirit. It was Zhou Jing who slew me and refined my soul as a sword spirit. When he died, I was naturally released.” Canglong suddenly transformed into a youth identical to Yi Xuanji.

“That sword Zhou Jing wielded once split open the Heavenly Dao’s world.” Canglong gazed upward, slowly reaching out as though to grasp the void—a gesture that caught nothing and yet seemed to seize everything. “I am his sword—the first being to touch the Heavenly Dao’s world.”

“I saw that world!” He opened his palm.

Magical power formed a vision of a world.

Primordial qi surged within, and the Great Way manifested as a mighty river, flowing unceasingly. On its waters, someone fished for the heavens themselves.

Behind him were mountains, rivers, sun, moon, and stars—a complete world.

That, perhaps, was the so-called Heavenly Dao’s world that Canglong had seen.

“Nothing in the Heavenly Dao’s world could ever be conjured by my magic alone,” Canglong said. “What you saw was not even a ten-thousandth of what I witnessed.”

“So, you wish to possess my body as well?” Xu Zhong asked.

“That’s right,” Canglong replied bluntly.

“You don’t know—once the will of the Heavenly Dao slew Zhou Jing, it erased his sword path from this world entirely.”

“This world no longer contains Zhou Jing’s sword path. Except for you.”

“I don’t know how you mastered this sword, but it certainly surprised me.” Canglong continued, “I want to use your body to cleave open that gate again, to enter the Heavenly Dao’s world.”

He made no attempt to hide his intentions.

“But now, it seems I have no such opportunity.”

“The Old Mother of the Hu River has set her sights on you,” Canglong added. “And perhaps not only her.”

“From the moment Yi Xuanji appeared, you were already being watched by the Three Corpses God of Longdu and the Two Ancestors of Soul and Spirit.”

“Now, it is merely that the Old Mother acted first.”

As he finished speaking, all of the Threefold Heaven began to change.

“Old Mother of the Hu River, you are too selfish.” The words seemed to come from nowhere.

But as the voice resounded throughout the Threefold Heaven, it became rolling thunder, a sign of its owner’s fury.

“If it’s so precious, why not share with us?”

Xu Zhong gently pushed open the door of the thatched cottage.

He saw two deities appear above the Threefold Heaven. To his left and right stood Wu Zhiqi and a strange man with a human body and a dragon’s head.

“They are the two rain gods of the ancient Yue Kingdom,” Canglong said behind him. “Now, they rule the Fourth and Fifth Heavens.”

The Ninefold Heaven is ranked by strength.

The uppermost four levels are each dominated by the Three Corpses God, and the Two Ancestors of Soul and Spirit, all of the Longdu lineage.

“Your reach is too long,” the Old Mother’s voice echoed from beneath the corridor. “It’s time you were taught a lesson.”

Her will shattered the thunderous sound.

At once, the Old Mother reappeared.

She held a blade in her hand.

This blade was the very embodiment of the Hu River, which spanned the Threefold Heaven.

Had Xu Zhong stood on the corridor and looked down, he would have seen that all the rivers in the Threefold Heaven had vanished.

“Old Mother of the Hu River, you are too arrogant,” Wu Zhiqi said, conjuring a great iron staff from nothing—a divine weapon forged of eighteen segments of true dragon bone.

Beside him, the Dragon God produced two banners, one black and one white.

With a wave of the white banner, gales blew forth from the void, their power enough to calm mountains and seas.

With a wave of the black, torrents of rain descended, capable of flooding the world.

These were the Dragon God’s sacred instruments for summoning rain.

Now, Wu Zhiqi and the Dragon God attacked the Old Mother together.

They sought to seize Xu Zhong as quickly as possible, before the Three Corpses God and the Two Ancestors of Soul and Spirit could intervene, and possess his body.

Their divine weapons unleashed chaos throughout the Threefold Heaven—the wind erased the corridor into nothingness, and the iron staff cleaved the sky in two.

But the Old Mother merely swung her blade.

From that strike, sword-light burst forth, filling the entire Threefold Heaven. Sword qi permeated every corner, and an overwhelming sword intent radiated from her, suppressing both Wu Zhiqi and the Dragon God.

Their expressions changed.

They suddenly realized that even together, they were no match for the Old Mother.

In tacit understanding, they tried to retreat.

The black banner summoned torrential rain to swallow the blade-light.

The iron staff smashed down, shattering the sword-light.

They turned, intent on fleeing the realm.

“I said your reach is too long—it’s time for a reckoning.”

The entirety of the Threefold Heaven seemed to vanish.

Wu Zhiqi and the Dragon God now floated in a void.

They looked about in every direction.

Only the thatched cottage where Xu Zhong stayed drifted quietly in the emptiness.

“She’s refined the entire Threefold Heaven into her blade-light,” the two gods realized, and with that thought came overwhelming terror.

The whole realm was but a manifestation of her sword’s light.

Her power was far beyond theirs.

By the time they understood, it was too late.

They didn’t even have time to utter a threat before a streak of blade-light fell from the heavens and struck them.

Their bodies were smashed to pieces within the Threefold Heaven.

Only a shred of undying divine light escaped.

In the Fourth and Fifth Heavens—

Wu Zhiqi and the Dragon God had just emerged anew from their own outer worlds.

But before they could rejoice, blade-light erupted from the depths of their undying spirits.

This blade-light, born from their divine essence, first severed even that immortal light; next, their souls were split apart.

The gods died again.

They sought to revive themselves.

But the blade-light pressed on, cleaving through their entire outer worlds.

In an instant, their realms collapsed, splitting asunder.

The undying light was split in two, then four, then eight…

Their worlds and their spirits were endlessly divided, until even the immortal light dissipated, the realms crumbled, and the gods perished utterly.

The Old Mother of the Hu River had slain two ancient gods with but a single stroke.

Her power was unfathomable.

“Have you seen enough?” She looked upward from the Threefold Heaven. “This strike was meant for you all.”

“One blade is far from enough if you wish to deal with us.”

From above the Threefold Heaven, more gods began to descend.