Chapter 25 — The Unexpected
劍問蒼天 · Page 1 of 7
Several members of the Long Peak faction at once rushed onto the platform and helped Fang to his feet. Gazing at the immortal sword, snapped clean in two upon the ground, their faces were dark with fury; they glared at Lu Xueqi as though they would gladly devour that beautiful woman whole.
Below the platform, Cangyan Daoren clenched his fists and said coldly: "Junior Sister Shuiyue, that disciple of yours has a truly vicious heart. Winning was plainly not enough for her—she had to lean on some divine artifact and break another's immortal sword outright. What sort of conduct is that?"
Shuiyue Zhenren looked utterly indifferent and said coldly: "Xueqi's cultivation is shallow, her attainments are not deep; she cannot control a divine thing like 'Tianxuan.' It is nothing worth making a fuss over."
Cangyan Daoren's anger surged; he was about to lose his temper when a hand suddenly came to rest on his shoulder. It was Daoyan Zhenren, who had at some point come to stand beside him and now patted his shoulder. Cangyan Daoren looked at him, finally forced his wrath down with a heavy snort through his nose, and strode away.
Daoyan Zhenren watched Cangyan Daoren's tall back recede, shook his head, and gave a bitter smile. He turned to speak, only to see that Shuiyue Zhenren had actually walked away as well. By then Lu Xueqi had come down from the platform and stood before Shuiyue. Shuiyue looked at her, a faint smile rising on her face, and nodded. Lu Xueqi said nothing either; she made a slight bow, then took her place behind Shuiyue and followed her off.
Zhang Qingyue, standing to one side, had only now recovered from that breathtaking contest of magic. Watching Shuiyue and Lu Xueqi, master and disciple, recede into the distance, he suddenly realized how alike the two were—the same coldness like frost and snow, as though they had been cast from a single mold.
He was staring, absorbed, when someone beside him suddenly said: "Who would have thought a divine thing like Tianxuan would appear in the world!"
Zhang Qingyue was baffled. "What is Tianxuan?"
By now the watching Qingyun disciples were gradually dispersing. Zeng Shuyan called out a greeting to his fellow disciples of the Fenghui Peak, then walked off with Zhang Qingyue, saying: "Tianxuan is the immortal sword you just saw Lu Xueqi use. I once read of it in the Ten Records of Rare Treasures. Tianxuan first appeared a thousand years ago in the hands of a wandering immortal called Kuxin Shangren. Legend has it the treasure was a piece of exotic iron from the nine heavens that fell into the mortal world; Kuxin Shangren happened upon it by chance on the northern ice plains and forged it through long cultivation. In the great war between the righteous and the demonic, the righteous path was of course led by our Canglan Sect's founder Qingye, but this Kuxin Shangren was greatly renowned as well—above all because, with this divine sword Tianxuan, he fought the demonic villain Heixin Laoren for three days and three nights, and in the end dealt him a grievous wound, ridding our righteous path of a mortal foe. They say that at the time only this divine sword Tianxuan could check the demonic sect's most baleful object, the Blood-devouring Bead. From then on the name 'Tianxuan' rang throughout the world, and it became the treasure of every cultivator's dreams. But I hear that after Kuxin Shangren passed into nirvana, Tianxuan vanished without a trace. Who would have thought it would end up in the hands of Xiaozhu Peak."
At this point Zeng Shuyan said: "Junior Brother Xiaofan, with Lu Xueqi holding a treasure like that, I fear there's no hope for us in this great trial."