Chapter 780: The Number One Sword Technique in a Million Years
"My swordsmanship is merely so-so."
Qin Mu looked at the sword technique colliding with the blade light in the mist, a smile spreading across his face. "My swordsmanship only has two moves. I suppose it's not even worth mentioning."
His attention was drawn to Bai Qu'er's sword technique. Her sword technique was derived from his own—he had once exchanged sword techniques with the Bai siblings at Shanghuang Bailong City forty thousand years ago, but only for a brief hour or two.
The Bai siblings hadn't learned much. Afterward, the catastrophe erupted, Bailong City was breached, and they began their desperate flight through the darkness.
At sunrise, they embraced before a cliff face, then parted ways.
Bai Qu'er survived with the remnants of her people. Her sword technique, though born from Qin Mu's, did not continue along the path of Yankang's sword arts. Instead, she forged her own way.
Bai Qu'er's sword technique carried a spirit of carving out survival from the brink of death in an apocalyptic age—a product of her era. Those dark years had forced her to become strong, using her meager strength to secure a thread of hope for the survivors.
Luo Wushuang's blade technique excelled in calculation, his blade light upright and imposing, overwhelming through sheer momentum. Bai Qu'er's sword technique, by contrast, broke through surfaces with pinpoint precision, using terrifying penetration to shatter Luo Wushuang's grand momentum.
Both their blade and sword techniques bore the shadow of Qin Mu's swordplay. His sword technique contained grand momentum, exquisite calculation, and the spirit of an age that pierced through darkness.
Bai Qu'er had received Qin Mu's guidance, while Luo Wushuang's calculating blade technique was broken by Qin Mu's calculating sword technique. Clearly, both Bai Qu'er and Luo Wushuang had been influenced by Qin Mu.
Yet they had each carved their own paths, having already transcended the brilliance Qin Mu had shown them on that dark night forty thousand years ago. Their different circumstances and different temperaments led them to different achievements on their respective roads.
The scholar sat leisurely on his donkey's back, ambling along at an easy pace, and said, "You're being uncharacteristically modest. But there are far too many people in this world who cultivate sword techniques—far more than those who cultivate blade techniques. Those who achieve great success in swordsmanship are also numerous, and not a few have entered the Dao through the sword. Setting aside the distant past, take the recent examples of Yankang's National Preceptor and Sword God Su Muzhe—Yankang alone boasts two titans of the sword. And in the Kaihuang era, those with great achievements in swordsmanship were too many to count. Your sword technique truly struggles to rank among them."
Qin Mu sat atop Dragon Qilin's head, speaking leisurely: "My friend, I said my swordsmanship isn't worth mentioning. I didn't say my sword technique. If we're talking sword technique across this world, if I claim second place, no one would dare claim first."
He smiled slightly. "Looking across the past million years, countless have surpassed me in swordsmanship, but in sword technique, I stand at the absolute peak. Perhaps in the future someone will surpass me, but in the past million years—not a single one."
The scholar was surprised. The donkey beneath him brayed: "Hee-haw!"
The scholar set down his fishing rod and let the donkey take a bite of a carrot, chuckling: "Not even Kaihuang?"
The donkey bit into the carrot, and suddenly the carrot let out a scream of agony, then grew another section, its body still intact.
The carrot kept screaming, its voice shrill and piercing.
"This carrot has become a spirit!"
Water Qilin was startled and leaned in to examine it. Suddenly the carrot grew arms and threw a punch at Water Qilin's nose, sending blood streaming from it.
"The carrot is alive!" Water Qilin shouted.
"What are you looking at?"
The carrot said angrily: "If you got bitten, you'd be screaming in pain too! I'm not a carrot—I'm a ginseng!"
It struggled on the fishing rod, trying to get down, shouting: "Let me go! I want to beat this idiot who insulted me to death, show this fool what's what!"
Qin Mu looked at the carrot, astonished, and laughed: "Not even Kaihuang."
The scholar's eyes flickered. He said: "I also cultivate sword technique. Throughout the ages, only two or three have surpassed me. I entered the Dao through the sword, pushing my swordsmanship to the Thirteenth Chapter of Swordsmanship. In sword technique, I consider my attainments not weak. I would very much like to meet the number one sword technique in a million years."
He set down his feather fan and fishing rod. The carrot stood on the donkey's head, fishing line tangled around its head, hopping up and down on the donkey's skull, fists clenched as it shouted at Water Qilin: "Come on! Let's go a few rounds!"
The scholar's eyes flickered. He said: "You and I shall use primal energy as swords and exchange a few moves. Don't worry—I won't bully you with cultivation, nor suppress you with swordsmanship."
Qin Mu shook his head: "You can't move freely sitting on that donkey's back. I'm not too keen on bullying you."
"A scholar carries his sword across the world, singing with blade in hand. Killing from atop a donkey is common enough. Besides, you're also sitting on Dragon Qilin's head—equally restricted."
The scholar laughed: "When I unleash my first sword move, you'll jump down from Dragon Qilin's head. My second move will drive you ten li away. My third, a hundred li. My fourth, you'll be hiding a thousand li off."
Qin Mu smiled enigmatically: "Please!"
The scholar's primal energy surged, and in an instant it transformed into a sword formation—countless fine swords swirling like misty rain, mountain ranges faintly visible within the sword light.
His sword technique was exquisite, possessing a different charm compared to the Village Chief's sword diagram.
Qin Mu raised his hand and pointed with one finger. A beam of sword light pierced the air, stabbing into her misty rain and mountains.
That sword light was the second move of his Tribulation Sword—Lifting Tribulation. The sword light flickered unpredictably, in an instant breaking through the misty rain and mountains, causing all the scholar's countless sword lights to miss entirely, unable to block this single beam.
The scholar's heart jolted. Seeing the sword light arrive at his chest, he hastily leaped down from the donkey's back!
The sword light followed like a shadow, chasing him relentlessly!
He immediately executed his second sword move—sword light surging like tides, azure sea and clear sky, ten thousand li washed clean—yet still it failed to block this beam of sword light!
The scholar retreated at lightning speed, his body fluttering like a green butterfly, then like a rabbit darting wildly across the fields, his movements elusive and bewildering.
Yet that single beam of sword light still followed closely, leaving him no room to evade.
The scholar unleashed his third sword move, still failing to block the sword light. He looked up and found he had already fled a hundred li away.
He kept retreating, executing his fourth sword move, then the fifth, the sixth, the seventh—each move displaying the utmost exquisiteness, full of endless variations, dazzling to behold—yet still failing to block that single beam of sword light!
In the blink of an eye, he arrived a thousand li away, and his sword technique variations had been exhausted. He could no longer continue!
Qin Mu's sword light struck his chest like lightning, emitting a *ding* sound. A halo of light erupted at his chest, blocking the strike.
The scholar, his shock barely settled, wiped the cold sweat from his brow and hurried back. He saw Qin Mu still sitting on Dragon Qilin's forehead, explaining the mysteries of that move to Imperial Lord Yutian.
"This move of mine is called Lifting Tribulation, also known as Sword Nineteen—the nineteenth move of the basic sword techniques."
Qin Mu said unhurriedly: "Sword Nineteen is too complex. If a supernatural power practitioner could master it, they would directly enter the Dao through the sword. I once had contact with the Western Lands sword master Luo Yinyu. We deduced that the sword technique had a nineteenth move, so we wanted to compete to see who would comprehend it first. It seems I won."
The scholar sat on the donkey's back and said sincerely: "You won. You are the number one in sword technique. I have also seen Kaihuang's sword technique—it is not as brilliant as yours. So what is Lifting Tribulation?"
Qin Mu explained: "All beings in heaven and earth face tribulations everywhere. When people are within tribulation, facing it requires taking and letting go. Lifting Tribulation is letting go first, then taking. Every step my sword light advances is a form of letting go. You couldn't touch my sword light just now because I let go first and then gained. If you don't let go, you'll be killed by my Lifting Tribulation."
The scholar and Imperial Lord Yutian both fell into thought. Imperial Lord Yutian had also learned the basic sword techniques, personally taught by the Village Chief, but he hadn't yet settled his foundation—his roots were unstable, and he lacked such abundant magical power, so he couldn't yet learn Sword Eighteen or Sword Nineteen.
The scholar's eyes lit up. He laughed: "What if I let go? If I'm willing to take a wound, can I break your Sword Nineteen?"
"How much can you let go?"
Qin Mu's primal energy once again transformed into swords—thousands of sword lights flickering unpredictably as they stabbed toward him!
The scholar's hair stood on end, sweat pouring down his forehead. Just now Qin Mu had driven him back a thousand li with a single sword. Now over a thousand swords of Lifting Tribulation—that meant it wasn't merely a matter of taking a wound to break Lifting Tribulation. It would cost him his life!
Qin Mu dispersed the sword light and said: "Sword Nineteen is a sword technique that enters the Dao. What I just displayed was the Chain Tribulation within Lifting Tribulation Sword. Besides Chain Tribulation, there are dozens of other variations. Cultivating Sword Nineteen is extremely difficult, but once mastered, one can begin the path of the sword Dao."
The scholar picked up his fishing rod, lifting the carrot that was busy beating Water Qilin, and hung it back in front of the donkey. He nodded: "Sword Nineteen is indeed terrifying. But claiming to be number one in the world across a million years—that's a bit of an overstatement."
"To avenge someone I admire and respect, I once used this sword move to break a primordial god's suppression and gravely wound my enemy."
Qin Mu glanced at Imperial Lord Yutian and said: "Although that primordial god was merely a projection, its power was no small matter—comparable to a Lingxiao realm expert. Yet even it could not suppress the Lifting Tribulation Sword."
Imperial Lord Yutian, innocent and unaware, had no idea that the person Qin Mu admired and respected was himself.
The scholar dismissed it casually, laughing: "A primordial god's projection—how much power could it possibly have? As for being comparable to a Lingxiao realm expert, that's somewhat exaggerated. Your claim of being number one in sword technique for a million years still has some water in it."
Qin Mu smiled slightly and did not argue.
Because speaking of it would be too shocking to believe—hard for outsiders to accept. But Niu Sanduo and Kaihuang knew he was absolutely not lying.
They arrived at the place where Bai Qu'er and Luo Wushuang, the Sword God and Blade God, had clashed. Here lay an expanse of Yao Sea. Within the Yao Sea, sword lights stood like cascading silk, blade lights like jade bi discs, towering above the sea's surface.
A gentle breeze came, and suddenly blade light and sword shadow erupted—the sword technique and blade technique of these two powerhouses were still locked in battle!
But Bai Qu'er and Luo Wushuang were not here.
On the Yao Sea, many demon gods of the demon race and deities among the demigods were leading younger generations attempting to cross this area, everyone moving cautiously to avoid touching the sword light and blade light left behind by the two.
On the sea's surface, swords and blades formed barriers. Sometimes quiet, sometimes suddenly erupting with terrifying power.
"Luo Divine Blade and the Shanghuang Sword God are mortal enemies. The two have fought countless times."
The scholar rode his donkey into the Yao Sea and said to Qin Mu: "There was a period when Luo Wushuang relentlessly hunted the remnants of the Shanghuang forces—it was the Shanghuang Sword God who held him back. Even into the Kaihuang era, they continued their battles, though unknown to outsiders."
Imperial Lord Yutian asked curiously: "What about the Shanghuang Overlord Body? Why did the Shanghuang Overlord Body never appear again?"
The scholar looked bewildered and shook his head: "The Shanghuang Overlord Body was but a flash in the pan, disappearing afterward. Most likely they died in the catastrophe. Few know of the Shanghuang Overlord Body. I've only heard of it. It's said that later, the First Ancestor Human Emperor and Sword God Su also searched ancient ruins, trying to find traces of the Shanghuang Overlord Body, but found nothing—only an ancient stone stele. This is Yao Pool. Ahead should be the Execution God Platform. We'll need to be careful..."
Qin Mu's heart stirred. He asked: "My friend, you know a great deal. Then do you know which of the two heavenly courts of the Shanghuang era this celestial palace belonged to?"