The Blood of Youth – CH 043

Chapter 43: Mountains and Rivers Sword Realms

“Shifu, people often say that among the martial arts under Heaven, there are four realms of martial arts above the ordinary martial artist: the Vajra Mortal Realm, the Unrestrained Earthly Realm, the Unfettered Heavenly Realm, and the Spirit Wandering Profound Realm. Each realm is higher than the last. Which realm are you in, Shifu?” A youth wielding a sword carved with patterns of flames stood on the snow-covered ground swinging his sword. He had been practicing hard and was already sweating profusely, yet he did not forget to chat with his master nearby.

Dressed in a gray robe, the middle-aged Confucian scholar ignored him while he continued flipping his book, page by page.

The youth was persistent, however. “Shifu, if the mastery of top-class martial arts can be divided into four realms, what about sword arts? How many realms can sword arts be divided into?”

The grey-robed scholar put down the book in his hand and replied slowly, “My Murderous Dread sword cannot be considered conventional sword arts; it has no realms. But, I once encountered a sword immortal, and his sword was divided into three realms.”

“Shifu, why have you become so humble? How could anyone else’s sword be more profound than yours?” The youth chatted away, but his hands never stopped practicing his sword.

“There is one. His sword is divided into three realms. The first stage: seeing a mountain as a mountain, seeing a river as a river. The second stage: seeing a mountain not as a mountain, seeing a river not as a river. The third stage: seeing a mountain was still a mountain, seeing a river was still a river.”

The youth responded with a wry laugh. “That is really too profound. I don’t get it.”

The grey-robed scholar closed his eyes, as if recalling the person’s swordsmanship. After a while, he suddenly reached out with his hand. “Sword, rise!”

The youth felt as if the sword in his hand was no longer in his control, and he lost his grip. The sword flew out of his hand and dropped into the grey-robed scholar’s. The scholar opened his eyes and flicked the sword lightly. “I once learned one of his sword moves. The name of the sword is Vivid Colors of Flora. Watch carefully.”

The youth felt a warmth surrounding his body, and there was a flash of movement right in front of his eyes. Before he could make out what he was seeing, the scholar had already withdrawn the sword.

“Shifu, I didn’t see it clearly,” the youth said anxiously.

The scholar chuckled, tossed the sword back to him, and turned around to leave.

The youth caught the sword, bewilderment on his face, and was about to walk forward when he felt a sudden itch on his face. He reached up to scratch and touched a peach blossom petal. He was so shocked he spun around.

It was currently the dead of winter, but the peach tree behind him had fully bloomed. The warmth from that sword move had been so immense that it caused all the peach blossoms on that tree to bloom instantly!

Lei Wujie opened his eyes at this moment and woke up from the dream.

He finally realised who the sword immortal was, whose mountains and rivers sword was divided into three realms. He once saw his master use the sword immortal’s Vivid Colors of Flora, and this time he personally witnessed the sword move, Moonlit Night and Flowering Dawn. And this sword immortal…

Lei Wujie rubbed his aching head and muttered, “He’s now my shifu?”

Lei Wujie looked around and realized that he was lying in a house he’d never seen before. It must be a room in some house inside Snow Moon City, but there was not a soul in sight. He got out of bed, opened the door, and walked into the courtyard. He found that familiar-looking innkeeper dressed in his blue robes with a perpetual laziness about him lying on a bench and sunning himself.

“You’re awake.” Xiao Se did not turn his head.

Lei Wujie nodded and sat down on a stone step beside Xiao Se.

“You’ve slept for three days,” Xiao Se said flatly.

Lei Wujie scratched his head. “I thought you’d be gone.”

Xiao Se snorted coldly. “You want me to leave that badly? You know you can’t afford those eight hundred taels and want to renege on your debt?”

Lei Wujie laughed awkwardly. “I’ll go ask da-shixiong for it. You wait.”

“Ask me for what? Third shizun already gave him the money. Don’t be fooled by him.” A voice sounded behind them, and Lei Wujie turned his head to see that Tang Lian was also lying on the rooftop sunning himself.

“Da-shixiong.” Lei Wujie could finally call him rightfully.

“Hah, this call of Da-shixiong is finally right. By the way, the one next to you is your third shidi.” Tang Lian grinned.

Lei Wujie blinked in surprise. “What do you mean?”

Xiao Se simply turned over and ignored them.

Tang Lian continued to explain, “After you recognised Second Shizun as your master, Xiao Se was also accepted by Third Shizun as his disciple. Although everyone in Snow Moon City are fellow martial brothers, among the three city masters, the three of us are their only disciples. Whether it’s in order of entering the sect or the rank order of our shifu, this is the proper rank order. Don’t you agree, Third Shidi?”

Xiao Se kicked out his feet viciously and flung his shoes backwards.

“Using a hidden weapon in front of a Tang Sect?” Tang Lian didn’t even look, and with a light wave of his hand, he deflected the pair of shoes.

Rather, it was Lei Wujie who immediately went to pick up the shoes and brought them back to Xiao Se, beaming happily at him. “Unexpected, so unexpected. Just like that, Xiao-xiongdi and I are now in the same sect. Actually, we’ve been on this whole journey together, and I was getting reluctant to part ways. Now it’s great. We can be together from now on.”

Xiao Se started and lifted his foot to kick the other. “Who wants to be together with you?”

On the roof, Tang Lian laughed out loud. “Lei-shidi really has the heart of a youth.”

Lei Wujie was still in a good mood. “In the future, we three brothers will explore the martial world together, just like the three city masters in their youth. How about that? We can also fight our way to rank at the top of all under Heaven, right?”

“Not bad.” Tang Lian nodded and smiled.

Xiao Se yawned and said nothing.

“By the way, you’ve slept for three days. Would you like to hear about a few major events over the past few days?” Tang Lian suddenly remembered.

“What major events?” Lei Wujie leaned forward with interest.

“Lei Yunhe, who should be your shishu, left the Tower of Ascension and immediately rode on his crane to Qingcheng Mountain. Again, he used a single finger to break Qingshan, two fingers to lift the roof of Qian Kun Hall, and three fingers to snatch the Azure Empyrean sword from the head Daoist master of Qingcheng Mountain, Zhao Yuzhen. Rumours say that the two of them fought through the night and during their battle, the sky above Qingcheng Mountain shook with heavenly thunder and cried with a violent thunderstorm. All the Daoist priests on Qingcheng Mountain left the mountain and took refuge three miles away. Only the six Daoist masters stayed behind to observe the battle while the rest could only escape from the knife’s edge. After that night, Lei Yunhe rode on his crane again and left. However, Zhao Yuzhen personally admitted that Lei Yunhe did not lose this battle. In other words, Lei Yunhe has re-emerged in the martial world and fought to a draw with Zhao Yuzhen, who could be ranked in the top ten. Many people are speculating that Lei Yunhe will go to Jiangnan Thunderbolt Hall next and fight Lei Qianhu for the position of Clan Leader. But, according to the news gathered by Snow Moon City’s disciples, Lei Yunhe left in the opposite direction to Lei Clan Fort,” Tang Lian told the story slowly. “Third Shizun said that Lei Yunhe will definitely return to the Lei Clan, but not now.”

Lei Wujie nodded. “He did tell me that he will go back with me to visit Shifu. Now that I think about it, I really overestimated myself thinking that I could challenge the fifteenth floor. How embarrassing. If Senior Lei had really brought down his Summon Thunder from Ninth Heaven, I’m afraid I wouldn’t be standing here now.”

Tang Lian chuckled and said, “Third Shizun said that when Lei Yunhe came to Snow Moon City, his martial arts realm had plummeted, and he was only in the Vajra Mortal Realm. Indeed, amongst all the elders, he was the weakest. It’s just that he spent so many years in seclusion in the tower to cultivate his qi and happened to meet a young hero like Lei-shidi coming to challenge the tower. With all these coincidences, Lei Yunhe managed to re-enter the Unfettered Heavenly Realm. He should be grateful to you. Why would he kill you?”

“The Unfettered Heavenly Realm has such an earth-shattering divine power, so wouldn’t a person who enters the Spirit Wandering Profound Realm be almost a divine immortal? Has Third Shizun entered this realm? What about my shifu?” Lei Wujie asked.

Xiao Se scoffed coldly. “Someone who has entered the Spirit Wandering Profound Realm can sit in place, close their eyes, and let their mind travel over tens of thousands of miles away. When it comes to a realm like this, there may not even be one every few hundred years. You think too highly of Snow Moon City.”

“If you think so lowly of Snow Moon City, then don’t loiter around here just for eight hundred taels of silver,” Tang Lian said with disdain.

Xiao Se stretched his back and stated indifferently, “It’s not eight hundred taels; it’s eight million taels.”

“By the way, shixiong, just now you said there were a few events to tell me. Besides this one, what else?” Lei Wujie suddenly remembered.

Tang Lian smiled. “Oh, there is one more thing. Second Shizun wanted you to go see him on Cangshan the next day, but three days have already passed. Second Shizun has a really bad temper, so if you don’t go now, I’m afraid you may never step onto Cangshan again in this life.”

Lei Wujie jumped to his feet as if struck by lightning, and he yelled, “Crap, Shixiong. I’ll go right now.” He immediately rushed off, but he didn’t get far before he seemed to remember something and turned back again. He looked at his martial brother and asked, “Shixiong, do you have anything else to tell me?”

“Lastly, Third Shizun reminded me to give you a word of advice.”

“What advice?”

“He said, Li Hanyi has a bad temper. You better not die on Cangshan.”