The Blood of Youth – CH 045

Chapter 45: A Sword That Recognizes Its Owner

It’s not that Lei Wujie had never drawn his sword against Li Hanyi. The day he challenged the Tower of Ascension, Lei Wujie used everything he had ever learned to wield that one sword move of Raging Inferno Roaring Thunder. But that day, Lei Wujie did all of that simply for the opportunity to meet Li Hanyi, but now, he didn’t seem to have any reason to draw his sword.

“Come on, draw the sword!” Li Hanyi’s brows tightened a little more, and around him, the wave of sword power raged on. All the trees on the mountain started swaying, and great swaths of leaves fell from the trees and scattered about.

Lei Wujie could feel the tremendous intimidation. His body teetered, almost falling over, and involuntarily, he almost exerted his Blazing Arts, but whenever he tried to channel his qi, he would be suppressed by the ice-cold sword aura.

“I said, draw your sword,” Li Hanyi said coldly.

Lei Wujie could only place his hand on the hilt, but he still did not draw the sword.

“Sword, rise!” Li Hanyi waved his hand lightly, and the earth-shattering Armored Glacier sword unsheathed itself and flew into his hand.

Finally, Lei Wujie had no choice, and he tightened his grip firmly on the hilt. “Shifu, forgive me for causing offense!”

Li Hanyi didn’t respond, but he swung the long sword hard. For a moment, the winds between the mountains stagnated, and the falling leaves also stilled in midair. The birds that had been startled from the forest also froze in the midst of flapping their wings. Then, a burst of sword aura cut across the sky, splitting the overhead clouds in half.

Lei Wujie’s back was soaked. He put the sword down and took a deep breath. He still didn’t manage to draw his sword. It was as if something had condensed between the Rainfall sword’s blade and the scabbard. Even using all of his strength, he couldn’t pull the sword out. Fortunately, Li Hanyi deflected his move at the last moment when he wielded his sword. Otherwise, Lei Wujie would probably be a dead man right now.

“Shifu…” Lei Wujie wiped away his sweat and looked at Li Hanyi in confusion.

“The Rainfall sword was forged by the Sword Spirit Tomb. It’s a sword that recognizes its owner. If you don’t possess the will to draw the sword, you won’t be able to draw it. You need to find the reason for drawing your sword.” Li Hanyi clasped his hands behind his back, and the Armoured Glacier sword returned to its scabbard.

Lei Wujie was full of admiration for Li Hanyi’s godly skills at manipulating his sword. “Shifu, how long will I have to train before I can manipulate my sword like you?”

“Sword manipulation? You haven’t even drawn your sword, and you’re thinking about sword manipulation. Looking at your abilities, I think it’ll take at least ten years.” Li Hanyi spoke without sparing the other.

“Ten years? But in the Khotan Kingdom, I met a youth from the Unrivaled City who can already manipulate five flying swords by himself.” Lei Wujie looked a little dejected.

“Flying swords?” Li Hanyi frowned slightly. “Did he have a sword casket on his back?”

“Yes, he did.” Lei Wujie recalled his memory. “That guy had a sword casket on his back, and inside the casket, there were twelve thin flying swords and a fiery red long sword. The flying swords had names like Cloudshuttle, Gentlefrost, Entwined Fingers, or something.”

“That is Ouyang Wushuang’s Thirteen Sword Casket. Unexpectedly, after a hundred years, Unrivaled City finally found another person who could open the sword casket.” Li Hanyi’s expression twitched.

Lei Wujie hurried to return the smile. “Then, Shifu, how about we change to another sword and start my sword practice?”

“Sword practice?” Li Hanyi said coldly, “We have already started. From now on, I will test one sword against you once a day. The day you’re able to draw your sword before me is when I’ll start teaching you sword arts.”

“Huh?” Lei Wujie was shocked.

Li Hanyi had already turned around and walked into the straw hut.

“Draw the sword! Okay, I’ll draw the sword!” Lei Wujie took a deep breath and exerted his Blazing Arts straight into the Garuda Realm. He used all the qi in his body to draw the sword. But the sword did not budge at all, and finally, he gave up too. He sighed, thinking that the Snow Moon Sword Immortal had a really odd temper.

Was the reason for drawing his sword really that important?

Within the seemingly quiet hut, there was actually another person.

He was dressed in black and had a small smile on his face. Snow Moon City’s Third Citymaster, Sikong Changfeng. He sat quietly in a corner of the dark room, sipping slowly from a cup of tea. Next to his foot was an incense burner emitting a purple smoke.

“You gave him the Rainfall sword? That was the first sword you used when you entered the martial world. You’re quite indulgent with this disciple of yours.” Sikong Changfeng grinned.

Li Hanyi didn’t speak and sat down beside Sikong Changfeng.

“Actually, at that moment, you really wished he could have drawn the sword, right? At the moment between life and death, drawing a sword of rage should have been the best method. What we’re most afraid of are people who don’t draw the sword for themselves but for others.” Sikong Changfeng’s words seemed to contain an ambiguous warning.

Li Hanyi didn’t continue this topic and asked back, “How about your disciple?”

“His lightness skill is unsurpassed. I think if he trains a few more years, he won’t be far off from the number one bandit, Mo Ruosheng. His accounting skills are not bad either. It only took him a few days to settle some of the accounts that had been in a rotten state for months.” Sikong Changfeng smiled. “It’s just…”

“Just?” Li Hanyi raised an eyebrow.

“It’s just that his latent meridians are damaged. I’m afraid he will never be able to learn high-level martial arts for the rest of his life. At first, I saw he had the Wuji staff and thought he was lying about not knowing any martial arts.” Sikong Changfeng sighed.

“Damaged latent meridians!” Even Li Hanyi, who was always calm and composed, was badly shocked by this news. “How’s that possible?”

“I didn’t believe it at first, but I took his pulse. His latent meridians were broken, and although it’s possible for him to exert his internal energy forcefully, his qi and blood will surge out of control. All his meridians can snap any time, and he’ll definitely die. I’m guessing when he was in Heavenly Revelations back then, someone attacked him ruthlessly. But he refused to talk about it, so I didn’t ask further,” Sikong Changfeng said.

“Is there medicine that can heal the damaged latent meridians?” Li Hanyi frowned slightly.

“Yes,” Sikong Changfeng replied simply.

“What is it?” Li Hanyi knew that this younger martial brother was proficient in medical skills. If he said yes, it wouldn’t be a baseless claim.

“Penglai Immortal Island, the immortal beyond the sea, soul replenishment technique,” Sikong Changfeng said each word slowly and clearly.

Li Hanyi muttered to himself for a long while before he shook his head slowly.

Sikong Changfeng chuckled. “It’s a good thing he can’t practice martial arts. As long as your disciple becomes powerful, that’s good enough.”

Li Hanyi suddenly thought of something, and he asked, “This time when you were in the Khotan Kingdom, did you see the youth from Unrivaled City?”

“Are you talking about the youth who opened the Thirteen Sword Casket of Unrivaled City? I saw him.” Sikong Changfeng nodded.

“He has already learned the flying sword arts?” Li Hanyi asked.

“He can control at least six flying swords, but his skills were still inadequate at the time. I made use of the circulation divine skill and controlled all twelve of his flying swords. All twelve swords tried to resist me. Within the next three years, the sword nucleus of all twelve swords will be formed. Only the thirteenth sword, the Bright Vermilion Phoenix, will take some time,” Sikong Changfeng said.

Li Hanyi snorted coldly.

“What they’re going to face in the future will be such talents that appear only once in a century. Hanyi, you have a heavy responsibility.” Sikong Changfeng grinned happily, finding delight in the other’s misfortune.