Chapter 1338: Two Killed in Succession (Third Update)
In the Academy of the Dao, talents gathered in abundance—Earth Virtue Primordial Lord Gongsun Yan, Cloud Luo Emperor Wei Suifeng, Village Chief Su Muzhe, as well as Yun Juanshu, Yu Chenzi, and others—all were geniuses rarely found in the world.
At this moment, the Village Chief was playing a game of Go with the Nether Ming Crown Prince, while also discussing sword techniques and divine abilities. Yu Chenzi sat nearby watching the match. When Xiao Chujue entered, the Village Chief rose, scattering the chess pieces, and laughed: "Everyone, this is Xiao Chujue, a peerless genius I discovered recently—his swordsmanship has reached the divine!"
The Nether Ming Crown Prince was quite displeased, speaking in a muffled voice: "You old fox, you just can't stand losing at chess and resort to tricks. Yu Chenzi, you tell us—who won this game?"
Yu Chenzi said modestly: "My chess skill is shallow; I cannot tell. Xiao Chujue is indeed a prodigy of swordsmanship. He once went to pay respects to Dao Master Lin Xuan, and he comprehended the Dao Sword of our Dao Sect up to the seventeenth chapter in half a year. Lin Xuan Dao Master also praised him highly."
The Nether Ming Crown Prince looked Xiao Chujue up and down: "That impressive?"
"Quite comparable to Jiang Baigui's performance back in the day."
The Village Chief was also very satisfied with Xiao Chujue. Taking the stack of books from Xiao Chujue's hands, he said: "Chujue's aptitude and comprehension are both exceptional. Back then, Jiang Baigui learned the Dao Sword and Buddhist teachings with equal ease, grasping things by analogy—that was how he became the Sword God of his era."
The Nether Ming Crown Prince thought of Qin Mu and asked curiously: "Comparable to Jiang Baigui—that would be the aptitude of a sage born once every five hundred years. Then how does Chujue's aptitude and comprehension compare to Mu Heavenly Venerable? Mu Heavenly Venerable is also a swordsmanship genius. I've seen his sword techniques—formidable indeed. I've heard that Sword Eighteen and Sword Nineteen were both created by him!"
"Mu'er's aptitude and comprehension aren't top-tier; he's somewhat inferior to both Jiang Baigui and Chujue."
The Village Chief said: "What makes him strong is his insatiable curiosity—he has to investigate anything unknown."
He flipped through these texts, finding that they were all his own works, written precisely on his insights regarding Sword Twenty and the domain of the sword dao.
Although Xiao Chujue was a top-tier genius among the younger generation of Yankang, he had after all only been born recently, and Yankang's sword techniques and sword dao advanced with each passing day. By the time one learned the old, new ones had already emerged—even he found it difficult to learn everything in a short time.
Especially the sword dao.
Yankang's sword techniques and divine abilities numbered in the hundreds of millions! The attainments in the sword dao were also astonishingly profound, and the most formidable among them was none other than Su Muzhe, the Dean of the Academy of the Dao—the enlightenment teacher of Mu Heavenly Venerable's swordsmanship back in the day.
After Kai Huang traveled through Yankang and fed Sword Twenty back into Yankang, Village Chief Su Muzhe's sword dao reached an unprecedented height. Especially after the Dao Realm spread to Yankang, it brought him tremendous improvement.
He was able to become the Dean of the Academy of the Dao because he wrote books and transmitted the Dao—his "Complete Explanation of Basic Sword Forms" explained Sword One through Sword Twenty with perfect clarity.
Beyond that, he also authored the "Sword Canon" and "Sword Domain," as well as the "Dao Realm" and "Dao Domain" co-written with the Butcher and the Deaf Man. These books, placed a few decades ago, would have been secret manuals capable of throwing the world into chaos!
Even if taken to the Heavenly Court of today, they would be enough to stir up bloody storms!
If they spread to the myriad worlds, who knows what terrifying slaughter they would cause!
Yet they were freely circulated by the Village Chief and the others, with no prohibition against others reading them. In Yankang, as long as one went to the academies and schools to study, and once one's abilities reached the required level, one could enter the scripture pavilions to read and learn.
As for whether one could learn them, whether one could enter the Dao and reach the Dao Realm, whether one could enter the Dao through the sword, or cultivate a Dao Domain or Sword Domain—that depended on one's own ability.
This young deity named Xiao Chujue had already been at the Academy of the Dao for over a year. His talent in the sword dao was terrifyingly high, but even so, he had not yet learned Sword Twenty, nor had he comprehended the Sword Domain. That was why he came to seek guidance from the Village Chief.
The Village Chief opened the texts, found Sword Twenty, and said: "Sword Twenty was created by Kai Huang Qin Ye, who comprehended it from Sword Eighteen and Sword Nineteen. When you learned Sword Nineteen, you should have understood that once you master Sword Nineteen, you can achieve entering the Dao through the sword. In the entire world, among over a hundred million divine ability users, only a hundred or so can learn Sword Nineteen. But Sword Twenty has even higher requirements—it demands that you first cultivate the Sword Domain, achieving the sword dao domain, before you can forge Sword Twenty to completion."
When he said this, Yu Chenzi, the Nether Ming Crown Prince, and the others were also bewildered. The Nether Ming Crown Prince murmured: "Brother Su, isn't this 'Complete Explanation of Sword Forms' your most basic book? Why does it require cultivating the Sword Domain first before one can master this basic explanation?"
"Wrong!"
The Village Chief laughed: "To learn the Complete Explanation of Basic Sword Forms, you first need to practice the book 'Sword Domain.' And to learn 'Sword Domain,' you first need to study the 'Sword Canon.' And to learn the 'Sword Canon,' you still need to first study one thousand two hundred and eighty-two volumes of sword dao classics."
The several of them were shocked.
The Village Chief laughed: "However, Chujue has already achieved entering the Dao through the sword. His foundation is solidly laid. What he lacks is not foundation, but deeper comprehension of the sword dao. And for that, he needs a top-tier grandmaster of the sword."
He drew his sword and said calmly: "Xiao Chujue, let me be your whetstone, to help you take another step forward in the sword dao. Draw your sword!"
Xiao Chujue bowed, took a step back, and fiercely drew his sword!
The sword light shot straight into the clouds. His sword dao was grand and majestic, bearing an extraordinary bearing—as if he were about to reign over the world, wielding the supreme blade of authority!
The Nether Ming Crown Prince and Yu Chenzi both cheered in unison, praising: "What magnificent bearing!"
At that very moment, an arrow of light flew in. Before the three mighty experts could even react, the arrow of light had already shattered Xiao Chujue's sword and pierced into his brow!
Boom—
Xiao Chujue's body exploded. Freed from the constraints of flesh, his primordial spirit suddenly expanded—like a great emperor commanding the heavens descending in person!
The second, third, fourth, and fifth arrows of light came in rapid succession, their speed so fast that one could hardly react!
The Nether Ming Crown Prince, being after all one of the earliest beings at the Imperial Throne realm, manifested his Black Tortoise primordial spirit without a second thought and was about to block the subsequent arrows. But when he saw the primordial spirit erupting from Xiao Chujue's body, he froze, and blurted out: "Heavenly Emperor—"
The Village Chief's sword was already rising to deflect the second arrow of light, but upon hearing this, he forcibly stopped himself, his heart pounding with shock: "The Heavenly Emperor's primordial spirit? This Xiao Chujue is..."
Boom boom boom—
The other four arrows of light struck the forehead of the Heavenly Emperor's primordial spirit. Four consecutive explosions rang out in the sky, each one farther away than the last. Suddenly, an incomparably terrifying tremor came from outside the Earth Virtue Heavenly Palace. The five arrows of light had blasted Xiao Chujue out of the Earth Virtue Heavenly Palace, their power fully unleashed, the dazzling light illuminating the Earth Virtue Heavenly Palace so brightly that there was almost no shadow anywhere!
One after another, the mighty experts of Yankang within the Earth Virtue Heavenly Palace soared into the air, staring in shock and confusion at the dazzling light erupting in the distance, their hearts filled with astonishment.
Earth Virtue Primordial Lord Gongsun Yan pressed her palm downward, and green leaves stretched across the sky, shielding the Earth Virtue Heavenly Palace and the common people living on the earth below.
Her mind stirred slightly as she looked toward the farther reaches of Yankang's Upper Capital and Lower Capital, where another terrifying power was erupting.
Gongsun Yan activated her true body, the branches of the Primordial Tree swaying, shielding both the Upper and Lower Capitals as well. She spoke: "What has happened? Who is attacking Yankang's Upper Capital and the Earth Virtue Heavenly Palace?"
No one could answer her.
Suddenly, Yu Chenzi flew up, landed before Gongsun Yan, and bowed: "Reporting to the Primordial Lord—this matter should be that the Heavenly Emperor's divided soul reincarnated into Yankang, stealing the fruits of reform. The Heavenly Venerable of the Heavenly Court detected this, and that Heavenly Venerable shot and killed the Heavenly Emperor's reincarnated body. It has nothing to do with Yankang."
Gongsun Yan breathed a sigh of relief and said: "Since it has nothing to do with Yankang, then there's no need to pursue the matter. You may all continue with your own affairs."
Everyone acknowledged the order, but this scene was truly shocking, leaving them unable to calm down for a long time.