Chapter 54 A Sword to Express the Feelings

The teenage boy in a bad mood walked to Sword Mountain with that broken machete on his back. He left the ferry but didn’t find an official road. The post roads in the Dayu Empire were worse than those in Yanling and Liangxi, and it was much worse at the border, so it was normal that he couldn’t see it.

But after he walked along a mountain path for half a day, he saw another great river. This river flew in a different direction from the river at the border. Fortunately, it happened to flow to Sword Mountain’s direction. Li Fuyao stood at the ferry and pondered for a while. Then he went into a medium boat directly, which was not big, so only one boatman rowed. The middle-aged boatman was strong. He smiled and invited Li Fuyao into the boat after receiving his money. There were not many passengers in the boat, only seven or eight. With Li Fuyao added, there were less than ten people. The boatman didn’t tell these people to wait at the ferry till the boat was full. He rowed away after shouting only twice.

He looked unrestrained and casual.

The boat drifted down the stream, so it was easy to row and the boatman had time to stand on the bow and talk with the passengers. Most of them were not disgusted with this boatman and were willing to talk with him. Only Li Fuyao, the boy who was still depressed looked at the river water alone in silence.

At the stern, a woman was boiling a pot of fish soup since Li Fuyao went board. After the boat moved for one hour, the fish soup was almost done. The woman took out ten big bowls and gave every passenger a full bowl of ivory fish soup. For a moment, the boat bow was full of aroma.

The boatman finished drinking the fish soup quickly and wiped his mouth while laughing. “We make a living on the river and are unwilling to give up the freshwater food.”

As soon as he finished his words, laughter came from the bow and it was loud enough to spread far away.

The woman gave the last bowl of fish soup to Li Fuyao, who received it and then took a sip. Afterward, he put it on the deck and continued to look at the river surface.

The woman tightened her hair bun and didn’t hurry to return to the stern. Instead, she squatted next to Li Fuyao and asked with a smile while looking at this boy’s disconsolate face, “Little man, are you thinking of your beloved?”

Li Fuyao blushed slightly without nodding or shaking his head and didn’t speak.

Seeing Li Fuyao’s expression, the woman just smiled and continued, “You are so young and must be at school now. Which school are you at? Even if you don’t study at school, it’s no big deal, and it’s fine to learn from a private tutor. Our Dayu is not like Yanling, where there are schools everywhere, so it’s awesome to study at school here. Even if you don’t receive an education, nobody would laugh at you.”

Li Fuyao responded in a low voice, “I am not from Dayu.”

In fact, when Li Fuyao started speaking, the woman knew that he was not from Dayu. Although the official language in Yanling was almost the same as that in Dayu, they were more or less different. So after he spoke, anybody from Dayu could tell the difference between Li Fuyao’s official language of Yanling and the language of Dayu. However, because of the two kinds of official languages, the historical officials from Yanling and Dayu had even investigated the two empires’ history carefully and wanted to know if Dayu was from Yanling or whereas. But as they didn’t have solid evidence, the historical officials of the two sides didn’t dare to rush to conclusions.

The woman looked up at the cloths on Li Fuyao’s back and asked with a smile, “Have you practiced swordsmanship?”

Li Fuyao turned around. “I have learnt a bit.”

The woman asked, “You came from afar, and you want to go to Sword Mountain, too?”

Li Fuyao looked at the woman in astonishment.

The woman didn’t care and continued, “There is Sword Mountain in Dayu, and it is not a secret. I have heard that all the swordsmen in the world want to climb this Sword Mountain and learn the unique swordsmanship, but there are many rumors and nobody has climbed this mountain successfully. All the old people have said that the ones who live on Sword Mountain are the kind of Sword Immortals who can step on the sword to fly in the sky, and the ordinary swordsmen can’t reach the mountaintop. It’s fine if you want to widen your vision, and don’t insist on climbing the mountain. I hear that on the mountain path there are swordsmen everywhere who became mad because they couldn’t reach the top, and some of them were martial arts masters famous in Dayu. You are so young, and don’t be stubborn.”

Li Fuyao didn’t retort but smiled. “Since all the swordsmen in the world want to see that Sword Mountain, and I have learnt swordsmanship, I naturally want to have a look, but I know my strength and won’t insist.”

That woman didn’t talk more about this subject but suddenly laughed. “You know what? Many swordsmen would cross this great river on their own every day. It seems that if they don’t cross the river once, they would be laughed at when they reach Sword Mountain. In fact, if they are capable, they can try to split the river water with the sword and I can broaden my view.”

Li Fuyao lowered his head and glanced at the river water whose depth was unknown, responding with a smile, “I am afraid that few people can split the river water at one blow, right?”

The woman stated, as if lost in thought, “There are more swordsmen in Dayu than anywhere else in the human world. There are eight thousand or ten thousand. I have never seen anybody who has this ability.

“Not to mention splitting the river water, I have never seen that they make this great river have roaring waves.”

Li Fuyao got excited while hearing that, but soon he sighed. “I just don’t have a suitable sword, or else I really want to have a try.”

Looking at Li Fuyao’s back, the woman thought this boy just said that casually, so she didn’t take it seriously. She just laughed and then wondered why this boy was so slippery at such a young age.

It shouldn’t be like this. This boy left her with an impression which should not be so bad.

After the boat left the ferry for a long time, the next ferry was in the front, so the woman stopped chatting with Li Fuyao. She took back those big bowls first and cleaned them with the river water. Then she walked to the bow and wiped sweat for her husband. At last, she sat on the stern and made straw sandals.

The boat moved to the bank slowly, and the passengers inside said goodbye. Only Li Fuyao was left standing on the bow. He looked at this great river with a complicated expression.

The boatman came to Li Fuyao and looked at him, asking, “What’s wrong? Did anything fall in the river? What is it? I will go down and fish it up for you.”

Li Fuyao shook his head and answered, “No.”

The boatman asked more rarely, “What’s the matter?”

Li Fuyao giggled. “My hand is itchy.”

What? The boatman looked confused.

Li Fuyao standing on the bow seemed to make a big decision. He took the broken machete off his back and then looked at the great river, grasping the machete.

The vital energy in Li Fuyao’s heart poured out through his meridians, like a river entering the sea.

He took the machete as a sword.

He waved the sword and the waves surged.

His vital energy could only do so.

Fortunately, not many people, only the couple except Li Fuyao saw this scene.

Li Fuyao who turned pale stood on the bow and felt satisfied.

He looked at the woman.

The woman was open-mouthed.

The boatman gave him a thumbs-up sign.

Li Fuyao left the boat with satisfaction.

When Li Fuyao disappeared, there were only two people in the boat.

The man and woman sat on the bow, and the man sighed with emotion. “I thought that even though you lured him in this way, he wouldn’t start this move. After all, a swordsman brings a machete, which is unpresentable and embarrassing.”

The woman praised. “He still waved his sword. It’s awesome that a swordsman at the first stage has such power. No wonder the masters at high stages on the demonic land are not afraid of the sages from the three religious sects but fear Chao Qingqiu alone.”

The man mumbled, “He is a Sword Immortal.”

The woman nodded and said something with a smile.

The cultivators from the three religious sects tried to avoid mentioning that Sword Immortal, but when the demonic cultivators from the demonic land talked about him, they didn’t simply hate him.

After a moment, the two raised their heads almost at the same time. An old guy “from afar” in the distance had come to the bow in a flash.

The man stood up and saluted. “Master, nice to see you.”

The woman also said that.

This old guy was the Confucian scholar in the tavern who came out of his body once more.

This guest from Yanling faraway said with a smile, “That bloke must have used his sword at last. Otherwise I will worry if I have misjudged.”

Hearing that, the man asked in confusion, “Master, you are a Confucian cultivator. Why do you care about this matter?”

The old Confucian scholar forced a smile. “I don’t know, either. How about you explain to me?”

The man lowered his head in a hurry and remained silent, with no courage to ask more.

The old Confucian scholar shook his head. “Both of you are on this river, and it happens to be the most lucky place. It’s not that this great river is a treasure place, but you happen to be right for each other, so you need to cherish each other. Don’t do anything excessive. Otherwise, it is uncertain whether this would be a lucky place or not in the future.”

The middle-aged man saluted. “I will keep your instruction in mind, Master.”

While the woman remained quiet. There were more demonic cultivators in Dayu than those in both Yanling and Liangxi, but there were few swordsmen who liked to kill demons wherever there were demons. Compared with the cultivators from the two empires, it was proper to say that the swordsmen were very rare.

The old Confucian scholar laughed and left alone, without leaving any words.

After the old scholar was out of sight, the man raised his head and looked at the river surface, with a puzzled expression.

The woman chucked and didn’t say more. She jumped into the water like a fish.

Then the man followed her and jumped down.

They were two big fish.

Somebody had written a travelling diary, “There are many river demons in the rivers in Dayu. The river demons are big fish!”