Chapter 67 It Doesn’t Matter

The old master personally got involved in the matter that Li Fuyao climbed the mountain, which caught the three people in front of the shabby temple at the foot of the mountain off guard, and even the few swordsmen on the mountain didn’t know why. The old master didn’t take part in anything on Sword Mountain most of the time these ten years, but he walked out of the main hall when somebody climbed the mountain and intended to threw the teenage boy down the mountain personally. In fact, many disciples on the mountain felt pity for this result.

There was no new comer on this mountain for ten years.

It was dark, and the bright moon rose in the sky. When Li Fuyao almost reached the mountaintop, Light Snow under his arm was grabbed away, and then he surprisingly found that he couldn’t move a bit. He had to look at the mountaintop in front of him but could do nothing.

The old swordsman walked down from the mountaintop with his hands at his back and came to Li Fuyao, looking down at him.

Li Fuyao narrowed his eyes and looked at the old swordsman’s waist. He didn’t find a sword, so he was confused. Any of the swordsmen on the mountain and the other swordsmen travelling around the world would always have a sword on the waist. This old swordsman who had no sword surprised Li Fuyao.

The old swordsman looked at this teenage boy at a low stage silently and wanted to know what this boy was going to say as soon as he spoke.

After a long silence, Li Fuyao asked, “Why?”

This old swordsman who was in the highest position on the mountain didn’t have any emotional fluctuation after hearing this question. He just replied impassively, “There are rules on the mountain. You can’t reach the mountaintop before dark, so you lose the qualification to enter Sword Mountain. Although Xie Lu forgot to tell you about this matter, she let you bring her heirloom, the famous sword Light Snow, which can cancel out her mistake as she didn’t tell you about the rules on climbing the mountain. You didn’t reach the mountaintop before dark, so according to the rules, you can’t enter Sword Mountain, and you have to go down the mountain.”

Li Fuyao responded, “Oh.” Then he didn’t say more but just asked the old swordsman to remove the forbidden rule on him. Afterward, he pondered for a while before asking if he could borrow a lantern. It was dark, and the way down the mountain was difficult to walk on.

The old swordsman was startled by this boy’s behavior and asked, “You were stabbed by Chao Qingqiu’s sword Qi on Menchen Mountain as a start and endured the pain to climb the mountain, and then you were stabbed by the remaining soul of the Sword Immortal on this path to the mountaintop. Then those huge birds almost made you die here, but you still can’t enter the mountain to cultivate at last. What? Don’t you have a feeling of loss?”

After Li Fuyao found that he could move, he rubbed his shoulders and then replied with a frown, “I have a feeling of loss indeed. I started to walk from a remote place in the southwest of Yanling and suffered a lot of hardships on the way before I finally came to the foot of Sword Mountain. Then I killed a tortoise and was tortured by Chao Fengchen. Then I climbed the mountain, and in the end, you tell me to go down the mountain. If I don’t have a feeling of loss, I might be cold-hearted.”

“But I think that when I climb the mountain, you must have a reason for your action. Even if you speak out but I don’t think it reasonable, my power is not strong enough to make you change your reason. In this case, it’s pointless to pester you, and I will just go down the mountain freely. A girl wanted me to climb this mountain and learn something, but later she was afraid that I couldn’t reach the mountaintop, so she told me secretly one day that it doesn’t matter if I can’t reach the top. Can’t I practice swordsmanship if I can’t climb Sword Mountain successfully? It is the same and I will have a chance to become a Sword Immortal.”

The old swordsman smiled and patted this boy’s shoulder. “I can’t change the rules on Sword Mountain, but since you want a lantern, just follow me to have a look at the mountain. Go down the mountain after you watch it.”

Li Fuyao nodded and comforted himself. “Although I can’t reach the top, it’s fine if I can have a look.”

The old swordsman laughed and then led the boy to pass through the forest beside the mountain path. He said while walking, “These trees are named sword trees. In the past, when the people on the mountain made swords, this wood was a good material to make sword handles, but there are not so many swordsmen now, and the swords in the Sword Washing Pool are enough, so we don’t need to make new swords. In fact, you said that earlier because you are cool and you want me to change my mind, right?”

Li Fuyao stayed silent but didn’t deny it.

The old swordsman led Li Fuyao to pass through the forest and came to the real path of Sword Mountain. Then he continued peacefully, “It’s not bad for the teenagers to have some intentions, and it’s great to be spirited. The swordsmen are declining and there are few left, but fortunately, most of them are still spirited, so the situation is not too bad. But I don’t want to ignore the rules. Otherwise, the situation on Sword Mountain wouldn’t be like this now.”

They climbed up along the mountain path. Although it was at night, many stars and the bright moon hung in the sky. So they could see the path.

The old swordsman led Li Fuyao to the main hall. Many disciples on the mountain saw that, but most of them didn’t care. Only some of them felt it was a pity. What the old master decided couldn’t be changed even if Sword Immortal Chao showed up.

After they came to the main hall, the old swordsman pointed to the hall and stated calmly, “If you reach the top today, you can enter the hall to light incense. Not all of the Sword Immortals whose pictures are in the hall came from Sword Mountain, but now there is only one place to pass down swordsmanship, Sword Mountain, so we need to worship all of them. Moreover, each of these Sword Immortals died a worthy death, so they naturally should be worshiped. Those years, when a bloke entered this hall for the first time, he pointed at the pictures of the Sword Immortals and said that he would hang his picture beside theirs someday. His courage even made me hold him in high esteem.”

Li Fuyao raised his head and asked, “Is it Chao Qingqiu?”

The old swordsman shook his head. “It’s somebody else. That guy didn’t have Chao Qingqiu’s talent.”

Li Fuyao responded, “Oh.” Then he didn’t say more. He just looked at the buildings on the mountain. The old swordsman went to the side hall and brought a lantern before giving it to Li Fuyao. “In fact, what you said makes sense. Can’t you become a Sword Immortal if you are unable to reach the top of Sword Mountain? Nobody says that in the human world. After you go down the mountain, you don’t need to leave at once. Stay in front of the shabby temple for two years, and you will benefit.”

Li Fuyao’s eyes widened. “Master, why do you do that?”

The old swordsman stood with his hands behind his back. “You didn’t reach the mountaintop, so you can’t cultivate on the mountain. But if you go to the foot of the mountain, who can discipline you? Just stay there if you want to.”

“Since you didn’t reach the mountaintop, you can’t take a sword out of the Sword Washing Pool, but there are so many swords in the human world, and you won’t necessarily get one from the Sword Washing Pool. It doesn’t matter.”

Li Fuyao nodded and expressed gently, “I am going down the mountain.”

The old swordsman reminded him, “You don’t need to walk on the way that you have walked. Just go down from this mountain path, and it’s the same.”

Li Fuyao nodded again and turned around, going down the mountain with the lantern. The old swordsman looked at his back with gentleness in his eyes.

He had four disciples all his life, and three of them were in the shabby temple at the foot of Sword Mountain. And another one happened to be this boy’s master.

The swordsman Chen Sheng at the Dawning Stage.

Could he tell the boy to call him grandpa?

But the old swordsman didn’t tell Li Fuyao about this.

It was not helpful.

That boy walked on the mountain path with the lantern and felt sad. He never felt that he was sorry to anybody or owed anybody. He just had a feeling of loss.

He didn’t want to show his emotions to others on the mountain, but when he was alone, he couldn’t control himself.

He wiped his face and said with self-mockery, “Qing Huai, I didn’t reach the top of Sword Mountain.”

In an instant, he laughed. “But it doesn’t matter.”

It didn’t matter indeed.