Chapter 33 — Down the Mountain
劍問蒼天 · Page 3 of 7
In the month he had spent healing, Su Wan had apparently foreseen that nothing would come of him, and had taught him some secrets of the Canglan Sect's Dao, and along the way the method of driving a treasure to fly through the air. In truth it was simple enough: so long as one's cultivation ran deep and one's treasure was not too poor, one need only use the Qingyun Dao methods aided by the power of thought to drive the treasure. But Zhang Qingyue's cultivation was shallow, and though his treasure was certainly not poor, it was decidedly odd, and the Canglan Sect's Dao methods, newly learned, were quite unfamiliar to him; put to use, they made great trouble.
Su Wan had never imagined that the moment he set foot on Jietian Peak he would be sent down the mountain; she had thought to have him memorize the formulae first and practice them more after he returned to Dazhu Peak. Nor did the heads of the other peaks know the true measure of this odd boy; from his showing in the Seven Peaks Martial Trial they simply assumed he knew the most basic art of sword-flight. They did not know that Zhang Qingyue had stolen his learning of the Dao, and had muddled his way to the "driving objects" stage without ever learning anything of sword-flight at all.
He watched the others summon their immortal swords: Qi Hao's white "Cold Ice," Lu Xueqi's blue "Celestial Pivot," Zeng Shuyan's "Xuanyuan," which carried a faint purple aura. Zhang Qingyue's heart raced; straining, he summoned the "Dark Iron Staff," yet somehow it felt wrong, lacking the effortless mastery he had known on the day of the Seven Peaks Martial Trial.
Piercing clouds and crossing mountains, a journey that should have taken half a day took the four until sunset to reach Heyin City. When Zhang Qingyue and the other three landed to avoid notice in a quiet spot outside the city, he was soaked through and pale as paper; by the look of him, he had fared worse than on the day of the contest.
All along the way through the sky he had several times lost control of the Dark Iron Staff. Had Qi Hao and the others not seen something amiss and dared not stray far from him, lending a hand in time, this newly minted "outstanding disciple" of the Canglan Sect would likely have fallen from the heights and been dashed to pieces, bringing everlasting shame upon himself before he had won any glory for his sect and covering the Canglan Sect in utter disgrace. Qi Hao and the others decided to stop outside the city and walk in—partly to avoid notice, but also for fear that if Zhang Qingyue plunged from the sky in some crowded street before all those eyes, the lofty prestige the Canglan Sect had painstakingly built here over two thousand years would be ruined in a single moment. Alas and alack!
After a brief rest, when Zhang Qingyue had caught his breath, the four set off through the setting sun toward the towering city of Heyin. Zhang Qingyue walked last, and felt the puzzled glances Qi Hao and Lu Xueqi cast back at him from time to time; plainly they could not understand how a man who had shone so brilliantly at the Seven Peaks Martial Trial could not even manage ordinary sword-flight. Zeng Shuyan, though, walked along with Zhang Qingyue as cheerful as ever, never once mentioning what had just happened, and chattering without pause to introduce him to Heyin City:
"Within a hundred li around, this is the biggest and busiest place there is. The common folk who live here number at least two or three hundred thousand, and the location is fine besides—merchants and travelers come and go in great numbers, so it's all the livelier."
Zhang Qingyue listened and listened, and felt genuine admiration for Zeng: "?"
Zeng: "What's so strange about that? Watch." A sly grin came over his face; he leaned close to Zhang Qingyue's ear and whispered: "Truth is, I've been here many times—always slipping down the mountain on the sly."
Zhang Qingyue was greatly startled. "You—you—"