CHAPTER 43: CHAPTER 43 SECRET SWORD

After brewing the medicine and preparing the meal, Tie Dan settled the two handicapped senior brothers and ran around the mountain twice. With nothing else to do, he practiced the "Threading Needle Sword Technique" in the maple forest of Guangxia Mountain.

This swordsmanship is meant to practice the accuracy of Sword Control. At the highest level, one could throw a needle into the wind and manipulate a thread to pass through its eye. Once mastered, controlling the sword to hit any target becomes as easy as threading a needle.

However, as Tie Dan flipped casually through the technique, he discovered that it did not significantly enhance his skills. After all, it was more of a guide to advancing Sword Control Technique, teaching methods and key insights for training. Ultimately, it served as practice for ordinary disciples, relying on practice to achieve perfection.

Tie Dan was exceptionally gifted, naturally not lacking in the accuracy of his flying sword. Although hard work did lead to improvements, they were limited. He also found parts of the technique to be incorrect, with some training methods being overly extreme.

For instance, the secret to improving eye power required staring at a candle for three days and nights without blinking, even when pricked by needles—this was pure foolishness. No wonder his two senior brothers ended up with mismatched eyes and squinting eyes, all from training the Threading Needle Sword Technique...

In any case, Tie Dan hadn’t reached that level of cross-eyed mastery yet. He practiced casually, knocking down maple leaves from the treetops with Money Manipulation while stabbing them with sword energy.

Suddenly, a sword light descended; it was Chen Huzi returning to the mountain.

"Are you all well?"

Tie Dan sheathed his sword and saluted,

"Senior brother can channel Qi, Xiao Liu can walk, and all the rats inside and outside Guangxia Mountain are gone."

Chen Huzi glanced at the ten or so bare maple trees and the ground littered with split red leaves,

"Good, follow me."

Then Chen Huzi threw out a jade pendant, set up a great formation to seal the mountain, grabbed Tie Dan with one hand, pinched the formula with the other, and used Sword Control. The sword light enveloped the two figures, and they sword escaped into the sky, flying northward, swiftly traversing numerous mountains and rivers, skimming over the city wall of Liangzhou, covering an unknown hundreds of miles.

Tie Dan curiously observed the surrounding sword light, weaving through the interwoven light and shadow. After observing for a while,

Rather than feeling like they were ’flying,’ the sensation within this realm was quite peculiar. It was more like the sword light carved out a bubble from the heavens and earth, and the space outside the bubble rushed like turbulent water, propelling them in the opposite direction far away.

Unfortunately, the sword escape was too fast for him to understand it fully; they had already landed before he could comprehend, with Chen Huzi sweeping his sleeve, retracting the sword ball, and striding out from the storm of light and dust.

Tie Dan hurriedly followed behind his master. They walked only a few steps before encountering a mountain gate...

Oh, it’s this, well then, it seems that in this month, not only was he restless, but even his master couldn’t wait.

"Guangxia Mountain Yanzi Cave! Paying respects!"

"Bang!"

Chen Huzi raised his hand and unleashed a golden thunder, blasting apart the plaque engraved with ’Jiuning Cave True Void Heaven’ in mid-air.

Tie Dan, "..."

"Swish, swish, swish!"

A red, a white, and a purple cloud descended, revealing a child, an old man, and a Daoist.

When they saw the gate was destroyed, Bai Yun Elder became furious,

"Chen! Don’t push people too far!"

Chen Huzi blew his beard and glared, pointing with his hand, the sword flashed,

"Come! Fight!"

Ziyun Daoist frowned,

"Hold on, Immortal Tianku, what is the meaning of this..."

Chen Huzi glanced at Tie Dan,

"Is it him?"

Tie Dan nodded.

Chen Huzi glared at Ziyun,

"You won’t get away! Fight!"

Ziyun Daoist, "Ah? No, this..."

Bai Yun Elder raged, "Stop talking nonsense! He’s already at our door! Fight if it’s a fight! Arrange the formation!"

Red Cloud Child cleared his throat,

"Cough cough, Chen Tianku, if you wish to duel swords, my Dongzhen Palace can accompany you, but we need a reason, right?

As far as I can recall, hadn’t our issues been resolved?"

Chen Huzi sneered coldly,

"Dare to kill my disciple and not dare to admit it? Enough with the nonsense! Fight!"

"Immortal Tianku, you’re mistaken,"

Ziyun repeatedly shook his head,

"We took the Shi family’s commission and opened the Spirit Communication Secret Realm. That karma has ended. Why harm your disciple?

This is clearly a plot by ill-intentioned people to provoke us into mutual destruction. I urge you to think carefully."

Bai Yun Elder was furious, "Coward! We’re three against one! Afraid of him! Fight, fight, fight!"

Red Cloud Child still shook his head,

"Without a valid reason, fighting will create enmity with the Sword Sect, leading to endless days of turmoil."

"Ho ho ho ha ha ha!"

Chen Huzi laughed aloud, pointing at the three,

"Plot against my disciple when I’m gone, and want to leave unscathed! How could it be so easy!

No more words! This revenge is unrelated to the Sword Sect! It’s just between Guangxia Mountain and you! Do you accept?"

Ziyun Daoist shook his head and sighed, Bai Yun Elder, laughing angrily, Red Cloud Child still shook his head,

"The matter of sword fighting concerns sects’ fortunes. We can’t lightly provoke such a killing disaster without a legitimate reason..."

Tie Dan looked at them and suddenly spoke,

"Did you find that pot?"

The three clouds were stunned.

Tie Dan said coldly,

"Even if I took it, come, fight."

Chen Huzi smiled slightly, patted his disciple on the shoulder, and then coldly stared at the opposing party.

Seeing this master and disciple pair looking for death like madmen, the three clouds were speechless.

Red Cloud Child squinted at Tie Dan,

"Alright, since it has come to this, we’ll accept this karma!

This calamity will be set in seven days, when Jiuning Mountain’s Grotto Heaven opens, inviting Fellow Daoists to observe!

Yuqing Cave True Palace will spare no effort to compete with Guangxia Mountain!"

"Good! I’ll come to claim your head in a few days!"

Having set the death contract, Chen Huzi wasted no words, took Tie Dan, and left with the flying sword, not returning to Yanzi Cave, but instead heading west, traveling several hundred miles.

When the sword light landed, Tie Dan carefully observed and saw strange mountains, odd stones, and a Cold Pond amidst perilous peaks.

From a distance, the Cold Pond appeared ink-black and unfathomable, its depths invisible, and the surrounding area was void of birds or humans—a truly ominous place.

Chen Huzi took Tie Dan to the cliff, pointing at the Cold Pond,

"Hidden in this pond is an Evil Dragon, which has formed a Core for a hundred years. Go and slay it."

"Yes."

Tie Dan understood well; his master wanted to see how capable he was, so without hesitation, he gathered Qi and leaped off the cliff like an agile antelope, diving straight down the precipice.

Chen Huzi stood on the cliff, watching with hands behind his back, eyes glowing, neither happy nor angry. He watched from afar as his disciple engaged Inner Strength, leaping into the pond, holding a True Breath, and using the dog paddling style, clawing at the deep pond’s rock wall to dive deeper...

Chen Huzi, "...If you can’t manipulate water, you should have said..."

But Tie Dan couldn’t hear and continued dog paddling, diving into the Cold Pond.

The water in the Cold Pond was freezing like icy breath, the cold penetrating his body like needle stabs or knife scrapes, piercing his bones. Yet, this chill was no match for the struggle inside him between the Blood Jade Technique and sword energy in his lungs at the time—vastly inferior.

With the Blood Jade Technique absorbing the invading cold, Tie Dan not only wasn’t hampered by the icy current but fueled by the dense True Qi at the pond’s bottom, his Essence Blood boiled, and Inner Breath circulated even more intensely.

Diving deeper and further into the pond’s depths, he still didn’t reach the bottom; everywhere was pitch-black, hands unseen before eyes.

Indeed, in this bottomless deep pond, all senses were numbed, Tie Dan couldn’t see, hear, or perceive anything.

If the opponent relied on the advantage of the terrain, staying hidden or lurking far away, waiting for Tie Dan to run out of breath, then attacking, Tie Dan would certainly be doomed.

But the Evil Dragon didn’t bother wasting Tie Dan’s time. After all, it was just a beast. Sensing a disturbance from afar, it thought some prey had fallen into the pond or was invading its territory, so it came up to bite.

At this moment, Tie Dan felt a stir within his heart, a shudder in the sword in his belly, indicating the monster was eyeing him from the shadows!

Strike first!

Without hesitation, Tie Dan spat out a blaze of white light from his mouth!

It was the Divine Gang Sword Embryo Tie Dan was forging!

At this time, the tip of the sword, once less than three inches, was now a foot long, initially forming into a sword!

From afar, the sharp blade wrapped in Divine Gang Sword Qi blazed with white light! Instantly illuminating a vast area of water!

In this dimly lit, eerily glowing water,

Tie Dan followed a glimmer of intuition, clearly seeing the Divine Gang Sword Radiance, amidst the deep blackness, flashing briefly, reflecting two spots of twinkling starry light!

It was the Evil Dragon’s eyes!

Kill!

The sword tip escaped the sheath, like a silver fish! A flash of light across! Instantly piercing through that fleeting gleam!

A moment later, thick black blood surged like dense smoke from the depths of the pond.

Chen Huzi raised an eyebrow,

"Only one sword..."

"Ha—!"

After a while, Tie Dan clawed back up the rock wall, taking a long breath, wiped his face, and looked at Chen Huzi standing on the lake’s surface.

"It’s dead."

Chen Huzi looked down at his disciple, silent for a moment, then made a decision.

"Good, Tie Dan, you’re excellent. In seven days, for the sword fight, you’ll represent Guangxia Mountain in battle.

Now, I will teach you my sect’s secret sword skill.

But this move, absolutely mustn’t be known to outsiders!

Once you use it, regardless of age, all who witness it must be slain! Understand?"

Tie Dan nodded,

"Understood, Master."

Chen Huzi squinted his eyes,

"Good, this move is called ’Shadowless, Formless, Traceless, and Formless Sword Qi,’ it’s the foundation of my Beichen Killing Sword."