Chapter 73 I’m Annoyed not by the Peach Blossom

As spring and summer passed, it was the end of autumn now.

So far, Li Fuyao had practiced swordsmanship at the foot of Sword Mountain for half a year. At first, he mainly learnt about sword intent, swordsmanship and sword Qi from the three masters. Afterwards, he mostly went to the mountain path and competed with the remaining souls of the two sword immortals. Unfortunately, he was always directly stunned by one slash of the sword immortal with the family name of Lu. The female sword immortal Xie Chen hadn’t slashed at Li Fuyao since she learnt that he was the martial nephew of Xie Lu. Every time Li Fuyao was miserably tormented by Lu Changyan’s fierce sword Qi, Xie Chen, dressed in red, only looked afar on a distant mountain, saying nothing.

After being slashed once, he went to combat with the big birds every day and he wouldn’t go down the mountain along the path until he got exhausted. Then he would practice swordsmanship with Xie Lu in front of the shabby temple at the foot of Sword Mountain. At first, Xie Lu confronted him with the first stage of Swordsman, and then the second stage of Swordsman, which made Li Fuyao suffer unspeakably. However, Xie Lu found this way of swordsmanship teaching pretty good, so Li Fuyao didn’t dare to comment. He was thinking when he could slash at Xie Lu for once, but given his current progress, his wish was unlikely to come true.

Liu Yibai was even more obsessed with wine than swordsmanship. As he knew that Li Fuyao could drink a lot, he asked this junior to drink a bit with him at dusk every day. However, according to Liu Yibai, he didn’t enjoy himself at all. It was like drawing the sword halfway. It was stuck there. Yet, he didn’t dare to whine before Xie Lu. In fact, he was the one who caused the current situation. If he didn’t insist on getting Li Fuyao drunk and thus hindered him from cultivating the next day, he wouldn’t only be allowed to drink with Li Fuyao for a few cups of wine every time.

Xian Chunan talked a lot and only left a few words regarding sword intent, which confounded Li Fuyao at first. However, as he walked on the mountain path several times, he gradually comprehended the connotation. He finally understood why Master Xian could go furthest among the three masters. However, in this way, among the three masters who taught Li Fuyao swordsmanship, Xian Chunan was the most relaxed one.

Despite that, Li Fuyao was still stuck in the second stage—Mind Calming Stage with no sign of breaking through. Back then, Chen Sheng reached the Sword Qi Stage within one year but his disciple was far inferior to himself. Even after more than a year, Li Fuyao still couldn’t go beyond the second stage, making him feel depressed and even admire his master more.

The old master on the mountain had never gone off the mountain since the last time. It was said that the old master had started the closed-door training for making progress on the swordsmanship. With hindsight, Li Fuyao realized that the old man who didn’t look very severe turned out to be the old master of the swordsmen on the mountain. He felt a bit surprised but soon, he calmed down and understood it was due to his identity that no one dared to object when the old master proposed sending him down the mountain.

In the early winter, it snowed on Sword Mountain. It was not heavy but the snow was enough to make the mountain within the sight coated with fog. A lot of snow was piled up on the roof of the shabby temple at the foot of Sword Mountain. Li Fuyao wanted to get a broom and sweep the snow off the ground in front of the temple but he was stopped by Xie Lu, who claimed that it was great to practice swordsmanship in the snowfield. Completely confused, Li Fuyao practiced swordsmanship with Xie Lu for a whole day. By the time when it ended at dusk, Li Fuyao had bruises all over his body.

Xie Lu jumped onto a big blue rock and sat down, gesturing for Li Fuyao to sit next to her. After he sat down, Xie Lu pointed to the distant mountain and said grinningly, “I would rather you learn it slowly. It is boring to stay on the mountain. I give all my heart to swordsmanship, but I may occasionally feel bored. The days have livened up since you came.”

Li Fuyao had known that once he reached the Sword Qi Stage and had the ability to expose his sword Qi, he would go downhill and travel around the human world. Then if he couldn’t make further progress on swordsmanship, he wouldn’t return to Sword Mountain; if he could continue the pursuit of swordsmanship, he would return to Sword Mountain for further cultivation. However, not many swordsmen chose to go back to Sword Mountain. Most of them died in the demonic land or just perished at the point of breaking through the stage during their closed-door training. It was in order to continue the bloodline of swordsmen that they chose to spend the rest of their life on the mountain. Otherwise, they would go around the world with their swords in a natural and unrestrained way.

As Li Fuyao didn’t respond, Xie Lu didn’t feel anything wrong with it and only said with a smile, “Fuyao, you are about the age of the gifted Dao cultivator and the other young men in this human world. When you go down the mountain, you will represent Sword Mountain, no, the swordsmen. You will be qualified to compete with them. Actually, it is not appropriate to put in this way. As long as you don’t disgrace the swordsman, it will be fine. Over the past days, there has been no new blood on Sword Mountain, so we’ve never planned about it. Now that you are here, this issue can’t be avoided then. You are the first new person who has cultivated himself on Sword Mountain over the past ten years. One thing leads to another. You will be the one to shoulder the responsibility, which you can’t decline.”

Li Fuyao grinned. This was the first time that he felt the burden on him got heavier after he practiced swordsmanship here.

Xie Lu said calmly, “Prior to the war, out of the bloodline of swordsmen, several sword immortals garrisoned the human world and plenty of them achieved a lot in the swordsmanship. In the human world, we swordsmen were distinct from the three religious sects and none of their cultivators dared to overlook us. Moreover, the disciples of numerous sword sects and schools in the human world were all proud as a swordsman. Now the bloodline of swordsmen is not as thriving as before, but have you ever met any swordsman who is dispirited and full of remorse?”

Li Fuyao said in a soft voice, “A swordsman is proud not of their status in the human world but the sword hung at his waist.”

Xie Lu looked at Li Fuyao approvingly. “One can’t be proud of his skills. The pride always lies in the sword at the waist. Xian told me that sword is straight in your eyes, which I think is a great opinion. Being straight all the time. This is what a sword is about.”

Li Fuyao smiled and didn’t express his opinion. Xie Lu didn’t continue the topic. Instead, she said smilingly, “In fact, there is a bloke who can go down the mountain but the old master is loath to see him court death.”

Li Fuyao twitched the corner of his mouth. “Master Xie, you don’t need to be so straightforward, do you?”

Xie Lu said calmly, “This is what being straight is about.”

Li Fuyao was speechless.

Before leaving, Xie Lu told Li Fuyao not to practice swordsmanship the next day because she would take one day off. Li Fuyao said okay only and then massaged his shoulders behind Xie Lu’s back.

Then he grimaced in pain.

Xie Lu burst out laughing in a place where Li Fuyao couldn’t see her. Now she was finally being herself.

The snow on the peak of Sword Mountain was far more than that at the foot of the mountain.

When Wu Shanhe released from the sword grave went down the mountain for the first time, he met Xie Lu and felt disappointed about not seeing Li Fuyao. However, when he went downhill again, he still met Xie Lu only and failed to see Li Fuyao again and again. Worse still, Wu Shanhe was almost slashed by Xie Lu. As Xie Lu waved the sword, the sword Qi surged. She didn’t seem to take him as a junior. If Wu Shanhe didn’t run fast enough, he would be slashed for sure. As such, Wu Shanhe didn’t dare to go downhill anymore. Sometimes, he would whine that Li Fuyao might have become a treasured disciple of the three masters at the foot of the mountain. Nevertheless, over the past years, they always disliked the swordsmen on Sword Mountain. Why did they pick Li Fuyao? Was it because he failed to reach the mountaintop?

Wu Shanhe couldn’t figure it out so he gave up. Yet, he only wanted to meet Li Fuyao. After all, there were no peers on the mountain. And Li Fuyao was the only one peer at the foot of the mountain.

With no expectations, Wu Shanhe walked to the peak alone. He was thinking about seeing the scenery at Sword Asking Lawn. Unexpectedly, the moment he stepped on the lawn, he found that the old master was sitting in the middle of Sword Asking Lawn. On his knees there was his ancient sword Reminiscence that the old master didn’t bring with him for years. He remained silent with his eyes closed. His hair, which was supposed to be mostly black with a few flecks of grey, had turned grey. As he sat in the snow, Wu Shanhe almost thought that he was dead and then rushed to him out of worry. However, he found that the old master was staring at him while he himself was nearly weeping and sniffling. Wu Shanhe snuffled and said with grievance, “I thought you were dead. If you pass away, all the matters on the mountain will be unattended.”

The old master laughed out of anger, saying, “If I really die one day, Sword Mountain will collapse with me?”

Wu Shanhe wiped his face and said sulkily, “Old master, you’ve got me wrong.”

The old master shook his head and shrugged off the snow on his hair. Something occurred to him. Then he said peacefully, “You went downhill to meet the young man but your three masters just wouldn’t let you meet him?”

Wu Shanhe sat next to the old master, tilting his head with a long face. “Among the three masters, Xian Chunan and Liu Yibai didn’t have any comment, but somehow, Xie Lu kept forcing me to go back every time I went downhill. I haven’t done anything wrong. I only wanted to meet that guy.”

The old master smiled and said nothing.

Wu Shanhe appeared even more depressed.

The old master said calmly, “Wu Shanhe, if you are still idling around at the Sword Qi Stage, I must throw you into the sword grave again and also put a wisp of sword Qi inside to show you why the sword grave is known as ‘Self-formed Atmosphere with Myriads of Sword Qi’.”

Wu Shanhe retracted his head and heaved a sigh. “Old master, you know I want to go downhill, but why do you always stop me?”

The old master snorted. “Don’t ever think about it. You had better work hard at practicing swordsmanship while I’m still alive. When I pass away one day, you should take over my position and garrison Sword Mountain.”

Wu Shanhe shouted, “There are so many seniors on the mountain. Why do you have to insist on choosing me?”

The old master took a glance at Wu Shanhe and didn’t explain.

Wu Shanhe said carefully, “The three masters at the foot of Sword Mountain are rarely gifted and outstanding. It doesn’t make sense that you pick me.”

The old master replied with a question, “If I’m being unreasonable, what do you want to do?”

Wu Shanhe was speechless for the moment and had no idea what to say. The old master was the indisputable top one on the mountain in terms of the cultivation level of swordsmanship, who held a prestigious position. No one dared to contradict him. When the old master wanted to reason, the other people on the mountain could only reason with him; if he didn’t want to reason, they could only suck it up. Moreover, as a disciple of the third generation, Wu Shanhe couldn’t do anything about the old master at all.

Wu Shanhe heaved a sigh and went away. He trod on Sword Asking Lawn, leaving a series of footprints, who looked a bit resigned.

The old master sat there quietly. You couldn’t get your way all the time. Instead, the higher stage you reached, the heavier burden you would undertake. Wu Shanhe was only required to garrison Sword Mountain in the future while the Sword Immortal Chao Qingqiu had to shoulder the continuance of the bloodline of swordsmen. No one could live easily.

As to Li Fuyao, for now the old master didn’t think of what he could do. Maybe he was also the hope of the generation just like Wu Shanhe, but regardless, it depended on how far they could go. If they were not capable enough to reach a high enough stage, how could they gain a foothold in the human world?

In terms of talent, Wu Shanhe was the better one, who had been practicing swordsmanship on the mountain all the time. Moreover, his parents were both excellent swordsmen, so he wouldn’t be weak by birth. On the contrary, Li Fuyao’s parents were ordinary people. Hence, he was inferior to Wu Shanhe by birth. However, maybe because of Li Fuyao’s disposition, the old master attached more importance to him and would rather let him go around the world than allow Wu Shanhe to go downhill for once.

Confucianism advocated that students should be taught in accordance with their aptitude, but it was not unique to Confucianism. Thousands of years ago, the cultivation of swordsmen was divided into three fields–sword intent, sword Qi and swordsmanship. However, they were gradually merged into one later. Yet, they were never confused. Someone still reached the peak of perfection in one of the fields on the way of swordsmanship.

Yet, regarding Li Fuyao’s going downhill and Wu Shanhe’s going uphill for cultivation, the old master and his three disciples kind of reached a tacit understanding though they didn’t talk about that face to face.

If Li Fuyao could reach the Sword Qi Stage, he could go around the human world and harden each other with the talented cultivators of the three religious sects on behalf of Sword Mountain; if he couldn’t, they could take it that Sword Mountain didn’t take in new blood and come into the world anymore.

As to Wu Shanhe, he must stay on the mountain anyway. Regardless, he couldn’t go downhill recklessly.

The situation on the mountain was not that simple as the outsiders expected.

In the end, the old master lowered his head to look at his ancient sword Reminiscence, saying with a grin, “I wanted to send you to that kid. After all, as the grandmaster, I should send a gift to him for our first meeting. On second thought, he should be allowed to choose his own sword freely. How can he act full of high spirits if he holds my old thing?”

Before the twelfth lunar month, it snowed heavily several times within the territory of Dayu, seemingly putting on a new white dress for the mountains, which looked quite enjoyable. However, it was hard to travel in snow. Putting aside the human cultivators, no ordinary people would choose to travel far at this time of year.

The longest river within Dayu, the Cangyun River didn’t freeze because it was deep and long. However, despite that, at some place in the lower reaches of the Cangyun River, quite some people were fishing beside the river near a small village, who consisted of more than ten middle-aged men and strangely, a woman in white. Dressed in a straw rain cape and a bamboo hat, she was carrying a junket and holding a green bamboo fishing rod. She had been sitting on a big rock for a whole day, who turned out to be more patient than ordinary old fishermen, appearing not afraid of coldness at all. This visitor from afar was actually quite welcome to the villagers probably because she bought an expensive extra earth house and purchased a lot of goods from the villagers at a price higher than the market price after she decided to settle in this village. Afterwards, one day, she found the men of the village fishing by the river so she also bought all the tools for fishing and started to go fishing there too. At first, she harvested nothing for several days. The men in the village were simple and kind, so they would send one fish or two to her. She accepted the gift directly and continued fishing by the river the next day.

Several days later, the woman in white’s efforts finally paid off. She started to get some small fishes from the Cangyun River but after she pulled them up, she just threw them into the river. It seemed that she only aimed at the big fish?

It was said that there was a kind of fish called “peach blossom” in the Cangyun River. It looked the same as peach blossom in terms of color and tasted great with a flavor of peach blossom. Back then, since the fish appeared, it had attracted a lot of fishermen. For the time being, the number of the fish was gradually reduced. Its market price stayed at a high level. One could only come across it by luck.

While the woman in white was reading a Daoist scroll in the Sky Building on Chenxie Mountain, a senior of the Daoism School once wrote down some words about the appearance of the fish. Yet, she hadn’t seen it with her own eyes before so she wanted to take a look.

So she came here.

But she hadn’t got a “peach blossom” by today.

The woman in white was a bit disappointed.

It started to snow again. The woman in white looked at the river in a daze. She was not sure about where to go, but she could just stop as she wished, which was not reluctant at all.

In the end, the woman in white who was no longer interested was ready to withdraw the fishing rod when she suddenly felt the weight. The hook was bitten!

The woman in white lifted the rod. A fish whose tail was as pink as the peach blossom was pulled off the river but very soon, it got rid of the hook and fell into the river.

The woman in white put down the rod, amazingly calm.

Things really didn’t always work out as one wished.

Then the woman in white stood up and looked afar only to find a man standing in the distance with an umbrella and watching her quietly.

The woman in white suddenly spoke, “I’m Ye Shengge.”

The man said grinningly, “I know.”

Ye Shengge walked for a few steps, took off the straw rain cape and the bamboo hat and then said slowly, “I’m kind of unhappy today.”

The man said laughingly, “I’m happy.”