The Blood of Youth – CH 051

Chapter 51: The One and Only Daoist Sword

About fourteen years ago, many young talents suddenly emerged in the martial world. Among them were the five disciples sent into the martial world by the then Heavenly Revelations Grand Eunuch, which included the Snowstorm Sword, Shen Jingzhou, the Junior Confucian Sage Mo Yichen, and others. There was also Zhao Yuzhen from Qingcheng Mountain, who was rumored to have inherited both the fate and martial fortunes and who later became known as the Daoist Sword Immortal. There were also the three people who successfully promoted Snow Moon City to the supreme of the martial world—Wine Immortal Baili Dongjun, Sword Immortal Li Hanyi, and Spear Immortal Sikong Changfeng. The Lei Clan also had two very famous youths. One was a disciple from the branch family, Lei Hong, who rediscovered the long-lost Lei Clan Blazing Arts. The other was the young master of the main family, Lei Yunhe. Not only did he practice Lei Clan martial arts, but he also once encountered a mysterious yellow-robed Daoist priest on Longhu Mountain and learned Daoism from him. He then combined the two and developed the ability to open his palm and summon thunder from the Ninth Heaven.

These heroes and powerful leaders, who would become famous in the future, also loved to travel around in their youth and had quite a few duels amongst themselves. As for the two elite talents from the Lei Clan, though one was from the main family and the other from the branch family, the two of them were similarly carefree and easy-going by nature. Hence, they were very close and held no grudges against each other, even travelling the martial world together. Later, the two separated to go their own ways and agreed to reunite at Lei Clan in a year. Lei Yunhe went to Longhu Mountain and met the yellow-robed old Daoist priest. The old priest barely uttered a word before he accepted Lei Yunhe as his disciple. Lei Yunhe was amused and struck three fist moves at the old priest. Although the three fist moves had no killing intent, they were not to be underestimated. However, the old priest met the three fist moves head-on and merely lost a hair on his beard, even smiling while he said that he had underestimated Lei Yunhe. Lei Yunhe knew that he had met an expert and did not avoid him. He immediately paid his respects to this master and followed the yellow-robed Daoist to begin cultivating Daoism.

Meanwhile, Lei Hong went to Qingcheng Mountain. Zhao Yuzhen was the first to become famous among his generation. He was born in a village at the foot of Qingcheng Mountain, and on the day of his birth, a ray of multicolored sunlight shone into the house. While his parents were still trying to figure out if the omen was a blessing or a curse, they saw six celestial masters from Qingcheng Mountain coming down the mountain. By the time they arrived, the mother had just begun to hold Zhao Yuzhen in her arms. The child was neither crying nor stillborn. Everyone knew that when a baby was born, if it did not cry loudly, it was most likely a stillborn. But, this child had a face of indifference, and a rainbow light flickered between his brows. Zhao Yuzhen’s mother was shocked when she saw the six celestial masters, thinking that her child was probably the reincarnation of demons and that was why his birth had brought the arrival of these immortal-like figures. But the Sectmaster of Qingcheng Mountain, Lü Suzhen, who was in his sixties and had the aura of an immortal, had his face covered with tears. He took the child, who still didn’t cry, from the arms of the sluggish woman and sighed. “Qingcheng Mountain has waited for a hundred years, and our wait has finally paid off for this piece of perfect jade.” The child was given the Daoist name Zhao Yuzhen, and was adopted by the six celestial masters and brought to Qingcheng Mountain. He became the first disciple in the history of Qingcheng Mountain to cultivate both the Daoist arts of Great Dragon and Elephant Strength and the Boundless Swordplay at the same time. Naturally, he did not disappoint the Sectmaster Lü Suzhen, whose tears were shed only once in his lifetime. At the age of 16, he became one of the celestial masters of Qingcheng Mountain. Lei Hong went up the mountain to challenge Zhao Yuzhen to a duel. Unfortunately, on the day he went up the mountain, Zhao Yuzhen was dueling swords with another.

During that time, Snow Moon City’s second disciple, Li Hanyi, had just obtained the famous sword Armored Glacier, and he had also gone up the mountain to challenge Zhao Yuzhen.

The result of that duel was a draw. As soon as Zhao Yuzhen’s Daoist sword came out, it alarmed all the birds and beasts on Qingcheng Mountain. When Lei Hong was going up the mountain, he witnessed all the pheasants, monkeys, leopards, and even the bears and pythons, which had been in winter hibernation, escaping the mountain in a frenzy. Even though the sword was not aimed at them, they felt the danger instinctively. Lei Hong climbed further, and he realized that although the season was spring, there was a hint of snow and frost in the wind. That was because Li Hanyi’s River Impeding Swordplay had just reached the second stage and, when combined with Armored Glacier, could freeze water into ice.

When Lei Hong reached the top of the mountain, Zhao Yuzhen’s peach wood sword was flying in midair and suddenly transformed into thousands and tens of thousands of swords, all coming down on Li Hanyi. And Li Hanyi had also gathered the whole mountain’s worth of peach blossoms with his one sword, and he broke apart the millions of peach wood swords. The two withdrew their swords at the same time, neither declaring victory.

Lei Hong turned around and left the mountain. Based on his cultivation at the time, he was nowhere close to a match for Zhao Yuzhen or Li Hanyi. But it was not the difference in their martial ability that had shocked his heart, but the beauty of the sword when the two swordsmen exchanged moves. He returned to the Lei Clan ahead of time, locked himself in his courtyard, and contemplated deeply for three days and three nights. Just when the elders of the Lei Clan gave up on figuring him out, Lei Hong finally opened the door. The first thing he did when he opened the door was to forge a sword.

He combined this sword with the Lei Clan’s gunpowder and named it “Murderous Dread Sword.” But this had violated the ancestral decree, and the elders held several meetings through the night, intending to stop Lei Hong. At this time, Lei Yunhe came back. By then, Lei Hong had been completely engrossed in his sword, so when Lei Yunhe saw him, he asked, “Why did you suddenly practice the sword?”

Lei Hong replied, “Because I once saw the beauty of a sword.”

Lei Yunhe turned around, rode his crane, and flew off. Li Hanyi was difficult to locate, as he was always travelling and his whereabouts were hard to pin down, so Lei Yunhe went directly to Qingcheng Mountain to look for Zhao Yuzhen, who had never gone down the mountain in his entire life. Unlike Lei Hong, who came to the mountain respectfully, Lei Yunhe made it clear that he had gone to pick a fight. As he was nearing the mountain while riding on his crane, he shouted, “Zhao Yuzhen, get your ass out here!” As a result, hundreds of Daoist priests came forth to block his way. He used one finger to break apart the path up the mountain. Then, he used two fingers and lifted the entire roof off Qian Kun Hall and saw Zhao Yuzhen inside, who was cultivating his sword in seclusion.

“I have a brother who saw your sword and said that the most beautiful martial art in the world is still the sword. I want to see it too.” Lei Yunhe held up three fingers and aimed them at the young spiritual master who had his eyes closed.

If this was the Zhao Yuzhen whom Lei Hong saw last time, he may not have been able to defeat Lei Yunhe. But Zhao Yuzhen was truly in the midst of his seclusion. When Lei Yunhe used two fingers to break open Qian Kun Hall, Zhao Yuzhen was forced out of seclusion, and in that moment, he suffered qi deviation. His martial arts became much more terrifying than usual. The two started a grand duel. Zhao Yuzhen severed one of Lei Yunhe’s arms, then he vomited black-colored blood, and his qi vented erratically. At this time, Snow Moon City’s head disciple, Baili Dongjun, suddenly arrived. He combined forces with the Sectmaster Lu Suzhen to suppress the demonized Zhao Yuzhen, and afterwards, he brought the seriously injured Lei Yunhe away.

Thus, Lei Yunhe disappeared from the martial world. And Lei Hong, armed with his Murderous Dread sword, which he had mastered, walked out of the Lei Clan again. This time, he still went up to Qingcheng Mountain. But Zhao Yuzhen’s vital qi was severely injured by his qi deviation, and he was cultivating in recovery. When Lei Hong set foot on Qingcheng Mountain, the one who stood on the top of the mountain to greet him was the Snow Moon Sword Immortal, Li Hanyi.

Nobody knew the final outcome of that meeting. They only knew that Lei Hong left the mountain unscathed, and Li Hanyi claimed to be undefeated. Lei Hong returned to the Lei Clan, and since then, he never stepped out of the Lei Clan again, and now, over ten years had passed.

“You don’t know the outcome of that duel either?” Lei Wujie said anxiously.

Tang Lian took a sip of wine and said quietly, “Yes, I don’t know. Because when he got to this part of the story, Shifu was already drunk. You can ask Second Shizun directly.”

“I don’t really dare.” Lei Wujie scratched his head and suddenly remembered something else. “That’s right. I’ve been in Snow Moon City for some time now. Why haven’t I met First Citymaster Baili Dongjun?”

Tang Lian smiled and shook his head. “No, you’ve met him.”