Once Upon A Time, There Was A Spirit Sword Mountain

Chapter 69: Still Jindan vs Yuanying

Translator: Subudai11 Editor: Chrissy

“Daoist Master Zhifeng, you’re a man, so be a man. Show me what you got. Don’t leave a bad impression on us, your juniors, that a Yuanying Stage is just XX~I’m waiting for your burning passion, muach~”

In the presence of hundreds of Spirit Sword Sect disciples, her statement towards the foreign Elder turned countless of disciples’ face scarlet, including a certain Disciplinary Elder’s face whose countenance suddenly changed, showing his displeasure. Wang Wu, this female rogue, once again showed the world how low she could be. Quite naturally, the opposite party was also enraged. He swung the Sword of Mount Kun with a flourish, and immediately after, the sandstorm thoroughly blocked the field.

However, after a few moments, a green light lit up in between the sandstorm; although it appeared insignificant, like duckweed, but instead of getting swallowed by the sandstorm, it got brighter and brighter.

Regardless of whatever other people evaluated her, Wang Wu’s mastery of defensive swordsmanship could actually be called as reaching the pinnacle. To be able to easily fend off the spell attack from a Yuanying Stage cultivator… it was something that the few present Jindan Stage disciples admitted to be beyond their capability.

The roaring sandstorm could not contain Wang Wu’s laughter. “Daoist Master Zhifeng, is this your passion burning? It’s like you’re pushing me down [1] with just one of your hand…”

Before she could continue, Daoist Master Zhifeng body suddenly disappeared within the sandstorm. At the same time, the sand behind Wang Wu vaguely condensed into a human form; a sword flickering with golden light appeared from the void and went straight at the vital point of her chest.

The opportunity that Daoist Master Zhifeng had been waiting for—when Wang Wu was taunting him—finally arrived. He thought, “From the Five Elements theory, Earth would give birth to Wood, so you use your green bamboo sword to borrow my Earth Element spiritual energy to double your power. Thus, a Jindan could withstand a Yuanying with ease. What a pity, you forget one point.”

“Although my spirit root is of soil base and I’m not skilled in fighting nor has an exquisite swordsmanship, but the Sword of Mount Kun in my hand can’t just be regarded as a treasure. More importantly, when the user has a Yuanying like me, then I can do the Five Elements transmutation. Not only can I transmute into dust, naturally, I can also…”

“Do the midas touch!”

“Take my Hepta Golden Sword!”

Filled with confidence, Daoist Master Zhifeng finally unleashed his deadly strike. “Gold subdues the tree, I will definitely defeat your wooden Jindan!”

On that Treading Cloud Rooftop, there was a Deity Stage expert who was observing the fight, and the duelists were also constrained by their Great Heart Devil Oath. Thus, although he aimed at the critical point, it wasn’t a killing move; this could also be considered as him having a bit of conscience.

However, the next moment, the heart of this Daoist Master of Yuanying Stage suddenly turned cold.

A crisp sound of two objects colliding was heard; a bamboo sword had mysteriously appeared behind Wang Wu and parried Daoist Master Zhifeng’s golden sword a mere inch from reaching its target. The green light flickered, and the bamboo sword finally broke into pieces according to the Five Elements principle of gold subdues the tree. However, Daoist Immortal Zhifeng’s explosive strike was also stopped.

“Mysteriously appear and disappear, not bad.”

With a face showing the least bit of surprise, Wang Wu shrugged and spread her arms. “And then?”

Having reached this point, an ordinary Yuanying stage cultivator wouldn’t press the fight anymore; after all, he still couldn’t win even after using a sneak attack when he has a higher level of cultivation. If he wanted to continue again, even if he’d ended up winning, the joke would still be on him.

However, at this time, Daoist Master Zhifeng had been saddled with such a heavy burden, so how could he just throw in the towel? At this moment, he steeled himself and hardened his heart; he sneered. “And then? You’ve lost your weapon, so if you don’t give up, do you want me to injure you!?”

These words were half real half fake; from Daoist Master Zhifeng point of view, more often than not, that emerald green bamboo sword that was able to block his Hepta Golden Sword probably possessed something amazing within it—although the opposite party seemed destitute, as a dignified Jindan Stage Elder, it was not unusual if she possessed one or two pieces of spiritual treasures, or possibly first rate magical treasures. Thus, based on the premise that the sword had been broken, a Jindan Stage cultivator would know that this was because of their own incompetence.

Nevertheless, Wang Wu actually laughed. “You’re actually happy that you were able to shatter my green emerald bamboo sword? My little friend Zhifeng, how long has it been since the last time you had a fight with another person?”

While speaking, Wang Wu reached out from her bag and took out a node of bamboo—Daoist Master Zhifeng noticed that it was just an ordinary bamboo node, and there was nothing special about it. But all of a sudden, using her magical power, that ordinary bamboo node gradually turned it into an emerald green bamboo sword.

“A weapon that can truly be used in a fight is not based on function, feature, or outstanding handicraft, but rather the one that can meet these several fundamental requirements: wide applicability, low cost, and strong resistance—like my bamboo sword… Come on, let’s fight another one hundred rounds!”

Under her peerlessly arrogant laughter, countless audiences could only dumbfoundedly stare at her.

These few successive rounds of attack and defense was an eye opener to many Spirit Sword Sect disciples, and the impregnable Fifth Elder, who could withstand the attack of a Daoist Master of Yuanying Stage, greatly improved her image on a lot of them.

Even though she has no moral integrity and possessed a rotten character, but… the title of Defense Master was not an exaggeration. Furthermore, her viewpoint on what constituted a good weapon was also refreshing.

However, among many disciples, there were a few who didn’t buy it. “What a load of crap, obviously, she’s a poor ghost who can’t afford a high-end equipment, yet she’s still spouting about low-cost crap…”

At the same time, Daoist Master Zhifeng has completely sunk.

“How could this be possible!?”

Wang Wu’s weapon wasn’t high rank at all; in fact, it was just a superficially refined tool—something that even a Qi Cultivating Stage cultivator could do. Of course, they couldn’t refine it as easily as her, however, no matter how easy it was for her, in the end, the outcome was still the same— it was still incomparable to a magical tool. At most, her weapon could be rated as a low-rank magical tool; if it were offered in Mysterious Sky Mansion, that kind of place, it would be already be lucky if it was sold for half of a spirit stone. However, that weapon was destroyed only after he gave out such a massive effort… which was similar to her losing only half a spirit stone!

The lost was meaningless.

However, besides these moves, Daoist Master Zhifeng had basically used up all of his cards. He was only adept at the art of spell casting, and has never been good at fighting. In his four hundred years of cultivation, he only participated in a fight not more than fifty times. Since he entered Jindan Stage, he participated in less and less battles. With his identity as a Jindan Stage cultivator and background of Shengjing Sect, he basically could run rampant almost anywhere! And when it was time for a real fight, there were still other members of his sect more worthy to take the fight.

Initially, he thought that with his fourth rate Yuanying Stage cultivation, coupled with the seventh rank spiritual treasure and several tactical moves that he had pondered for hundreds of years, he could easily subdue a Jindan Stage cultivator. But he had never expected that… he was actually the one who had underestimated the other cultivators too much.

This Fifth Elder was obviously one of those cultivators highly skilled in fighting. With a solid base and exquisite swordsmanship, her skill was basically on the peak level. Even in his own Shengjing Sect’s headquarter, a person like this would still be considered as a master. Thus, it was reasonable that a non-fighter Yuanying cultivator like him struggled to overcome her.

However, this word “reasonable” could not solve his problem. Since Daoist Master Zhifeng had staked it all, he had no way to retreat, let alone he has yet to be backed at the corner. Apart from anything else, a Yuanying Stage cultivator had a far lasting endurance compared to a Jindan Stage cultivator. When the “Dan” broke and the Yuanying born, it meant that the Jade Mansion had been completed! He could absorb the surrounding spiritual energy and turn it into magical power as easily as breathing the air. Thus, the efficiency for a Yuanying Stage cultivator to gather the magical power was obviously far better than that of a Jindan Stage.

Therefore, Daoist Master Zhifeng wasn’t discouraged by this successive failed attempts to win the fight. He reduced the magical power output of the Sword of Mount Kun so that the sandstorm on the stage became somewhat less. Apparently, he wanted to apply the war of attrition idea. Of course, since he employed it in a fight between Jindan vs Yuanying, Daoist Master Zhifeng’s face had already could not be saved. However, as long as he could win… why would he need to bother with his face? With a loud shout, Daoist Master Zhifeng drove the sandstorm to wrap around Wang Wu once again.

However, no matter how Daoist Master Zhifeng flaunted his power, he could not cover Wang Wu’s arrogant laughter. “You idiot! You actually dared to fight a war of attrition with me? Haven’t you ever heard of the old saying ‘there’s no bad field, only exhausted cow’ [2], hahaha!”

Meanwhile, the several Spirit Sword Sect Elders at the audience winced, revealing a painful expression. Standing on the side of the Fourth Elder, a female disciple dressed in a colorful gown naively asked, “Master, Master, what does ‘there’s no bad field, only exhausted cow’ means?”

Zhou Ming gritted his teeth, “You don’t need to know so much!”

“Why!? Master, you obviously told me to ask whenever I don’t understand something, I am not being smarty pants here!”

“If you ask again, I am going to punish you to copy a book a hundred times!”

“What!? Why!?”

The female disciple’s studious spirit has been forcefully suppressed, however, the Elders thought that this was not the place to explain it. The other disciples were equally confused; each has a different opinion regarding this cow and field topic.

Although this discussion was done furtively, nothing happened in the Spirit Sword Sect without the Sect Leader, Daoist Master Feng Yin, knowing about it. After muttering irresolutely to himself for a moment, Feng Yin asked the nearby Liu Xian, “Junior Brother, do you think we should add a sex-ed course at the Teng Cloud Hall?”

“Puff! Senior Brother, you…”

When the audiences were being preoccupied with a certain topic, the fight on the stage had completely heated up… at the same time, it also reached its climax.

Daoist Master Zhifeng had launched violent and terrifying attacks several times, and this moment, the stage on the Cloud Tread Rooftop was no longer clouds that condensed into rock, but a mass of roaring flames. This fourth rate Yuanying cultivator used his high proficiency of Five Elements Transmutation to constantly change the workings of the surrounding spiritual energy in order for him to strengthen his magical power and suppress that of his opponent’s.

At this moment, Daoist Master Zhifeng had used over fifty types of magical treasures or above. Even included among them was the Immortal Shadow Method, however, the opponent, the Fifth Elder, only sacrificed countless of bamboo swords in succession to withstand all of his spells. Moreover, she didn’t seem exhausted at all; she was never even out of breath.

After two hours have passed, Daoist Master Zhifeng felt that the three-colored Yuanying inside his Jade Mansion was beginning to turn pale; this was the sign of a collapsing magical power transformation cycle—despite his effort to stifle its output to prolong the fight, faced against an opponent that could easily fend off all of his attacks, Daoist Master Zhifeng couldn’t help but be tempted to increase its output in an attempt to exhaust her.

However, not only did he miserably fail in his every attempt, his own magical power transformation cycle had even collapsed, which ruined his war of attrition tactic.

“Is this all you’ve got? You don’t seem to last long.” The Fifth Elder held her bamboo sword across her shoulder; she appeared somewhat bored to death. “You really are useless. You might as well fight Ninth Junior Sister.”

Someone in the audience was suddenly upset. “Damn! Fifth Senior Sister, are you sick? Why are you spreading negative things about me!? Even if I am the youngest, I am still on the Peak Yuanying Stage with seven-colored Yuanyings, much stronger than this waste with three-colored Yuanyings! But since you talk like that about me, later on, my Carefree Peak cafeteria will not accept you anymore!”

Fifth Elder was suddenly alarmed. “Sheet! Don’t do that, we have deep sisterly love okay!”

While speaking, the sky above them changed and the arena transformed into a sea of clouds again. Dark clouds covered the sun and lightning snakes scattered in all directions. Several blue lightnings dropped from the sky on a certain spot like a majestic dragon.

However, the Fifth Elder refused to even give them a look; she just smiled at the Ninth Elder on the audience. At the same time, she brandished her emerald green bamboo sword and “welcomed” those lightnings. After the explosive sound when the lightnings met the sword echoed out, instantly, all the clouds on the stage in a radius of five kilometers were swept away.

In the aftermath of this powerful, divine-tribulation-like lightning strike stood Fifth Elder in the middle of it. Obviously, she survived that attack, but more importantly, the emerald green bamboo sword in her hand was still intact, and her complexion didn’t change at all.

“Why…”

The now purple-colored Sword of Mount Kun in Daoist Master Zhifeng’s hand continued to tremble. The several divine-tribulation-like lightnings that he unleashed just now has begun to overdraft his source of true qi, yet it still couldn’t shake the opponent’s defense! Even several Yuanying Stage cultivators from his Sect wouldn’t be able to withstand what he just did! No matter how he thought about it, he could not understand how a mere Jindan Stage cultivator was able to survive that.

“How could you be this strong… do, do you really just rely on your own strength?” Daoist Master Zhifeng clenched his teeth as he questioned her. If not for cheating, how could she block a full power strike from a Yuanying stage cultivator!?

However, Wang Wu just shrugged. “It’s not that I’m strong, it’s you who are too weak. Of course, you’re better compared to ordinary Yuanying Stage cultivator from inferior sects. At least, you could dazzle them with your flashy spell. Unfortunately, you’ve come to the wrong place. You see those gangs of Yuanying Stage Elders below the stage? Even the weakest among them, um, the particularly beautiful young girl, is ten times stronger than you. Although my cultivation is lowest among my peers, in the end, we are still the same product that came out from the same place. So you, who achieved your current Yuanying Stage through garbage Heaven Burning Method, better save it.”

Being accused of using the Heaven Burning Blood Technique, Daoist Master Zhifeng immediately became furious. “What does this have to do with that technique! I’m just not used to fighting and rarely practiced my skill, otherwise, how could I let a mere Jindan Stage like you to run rampant!?”

Wang Wu mockingly smiled at him. “Not used to fighting? What a high-sounding reason you got there, yet in White Moon Country when you trash talk my Jindan Stage level, how come you never mentioned that you’re not good at fighting? If you’re victorious, you’d claim that your divine skill is peerless, but when you can’t beat me, you said you’re not used to fighting, aren’t you ashamed of yourself? Actually, a cultivator who pump up their level through trash methods like you still won’t have a chance against me even if you can hone your fighting skills! In White Moon Country, I destroyed your puppet sect just so that this nonsense method won’t spread to the world and bring disaster to those young cultivators who initially had a bright future ahead of them.”

“Utter nonsense! What does a rude and uncouth woman like you know? When I complete my research, this Heaven Burning Blood Technique will lead the revolution of the entire Immortal Cultivation World, and will not be the least bit inferior in its impact than when Patriarch Liu He gave the world its first man-made spirit root! Any cultivator that lacks the talent and stunted in their progress would have the possibility to achieve a breakthrough and reach a higher stage. What’s more, it is highly likely that the Nine Regions would recapture their past magnificent glorious era. Unfortunately, it was all destroyed in your hands! You would become the entire Immortal Cultivation World’s sinner!”

Wang Wu coldly sneered. “You want to put the blame on me? This is not the first time I’ve sinned, you know? Yet you think your whimsical delusion is outrageous enough to lead a revolution? Based on a shortening lifespan trick?”

Daoist Master Zhifeng loudly said, “Otherwise, what else could people do? If someone who lacks in talent, perception, affinity, and resources come to the end of their Immortal Cultivation path, if not using an extraordinary method, how could they continue to move forward? In the Immortal Cultivation World, outside of a handful of gifted chosen one who haven’t encountered a bottleneck in their cultivation and became ‘badly bruised’ in their repeated attempts to overcome it, who could? Rather than stupidly wasting their time to overcome the barrier, why not just swap their worthless lifespan for power, and in one fell swoop, reach a new stage and see the infinite wonderful scene ahead of them!?”

Wang Wu put away her bamboo sword and applauded him. “Well said. But I just want to ask, if someone doesn’t have the talent, perception, affinity, resources, or anything, why are you cultivating to immortality in the first place? Why not just be content with your mortal status!? Do you really think everyone is equal on the Immortal Cultivation Path? That it is a flat piece of land that one could gallop straight across? Dream on! Don’t expect to succeed if you don’t have the skill! This is the unchanging truth in the Immortal Cultivation World since time immemorial! If you wholeheartedly want to succeed, you actually can. However, you must understand this: if you walk on the Immortal Cultivation Path with the mentality of a spectator, using an extraordinary method to circumvent the barrier that is intended for you to temper yourself, then no matter what things appear in this immortal cultivation path, it’s all just a scenery. You can only look from a distance but can’t play with it. To put it bluntly, it has nothing to do with you! It’s so funny! you cultivate until the fourth rate Yuanying, but you don’t even know this fundamental principle; you have lost your way and threw away your heart. Just now when you fought with me, it exposed all your flaws; it’s like I’m seeing you running around naked in front of me, it’s so ridiculously funny! A dignified fourth rate Yuanying, with exquisite spells from Shengjing Sect, yet you can’t even shake my bamboo sword. Have you ever thought how empty your Yuanying is!? And yet you still tried in vain to lead a revolution? You’re just leading people straight to the cesspit, hahaha, what a delusion!”

Being harshly criticized by the Fifth Elder to her heart’s content, Daoist Master Zhifeng’s mind buzzed as it was thrown into confusion; a stab of pain that was hard to endure attacked his stomach, and immediately after, a fishy and sweet taste bubbled up in his throat.

His mind was shaken, his Jade Mansion trembled, and all of his numerous techniques were crippled!

It was hard to imagine a Daoist Master of Yuanying Stage would end up in such a state just because of mere words. However, Daoist Master Zhifeng put his hand on the pit of his stomach, yet he couldn’t keep the magical power that violently left him under control.

When the mind shook, everything was off… Wang Wu’s words directly pierced Daoist Master Zhifeng’s hundred of years of stubbornness and arrogance, and mercilessly took off his ugly mask of self-deception.

That’s right, to put it bluntly, the Heavenly Burning Blood Technique was nothing more than a slightly clever opportunistic method. He thought that by virtue of this method, he could bypass the barriers of talent, perception, and so on. However, he didn’t know that this was against how one should approach the Immortal Path. The moment he took this path, he was doomed to be abandoned by the Immortal Path.

In this world, was there any Jindan cultivator that could really withstand an all out attack from a Yuanying cultivator? Perhaps there was… For example, within the Shengjing Sect, it was those god of war type cultivators inside the Asura Hall. However, this was in no way the reason why he suffered a defeat in the hands of Wang Wu.

To put it bluntly, it was not because the opponent was too strong, but rather he was too weak. Not because his cultivation was weak nor was his spell broken, but it was all because of his inferior heart’s dao.

The concept of heart’s dao seemed like a mystery within a mystery for many low level cultivators—when one suffered a defeat because of a weak heart’s dao, it was even more hard for them to understand. Just now when Daoist Master Zhifeng fought against Wang Wu, he used the dust transmutation, the midas touch, and spells to control the surrounding spiritual energy; he was absolutely worthy of the title of Yuanying Cultivator of Shengjing Sect. Moreover, he also won unanimous positive evaluation from the other Spirit Sword Sect’s Elders, so how could he be weak?

The answer was simple, it was the mystery within a mystery that was the heart’s dao yet wondrous with infinite use, and more importantly… when there were two cultivators fighting each other, the weak or strong of the heart’s dao directly affected the victory or defeat. For example, if one has Samadhi True Fire with five thousand attack power and the opponent’s Diamond Stars only has three thousand, from the outset, the opponent was undoubtedly doomed to lose. However, if the opponent’s heart’s dao was many times stronger, then the winner would be that opponent.

The Spirit Sword Sect Elders only praised Daoist Master Zhifeng for his attainment in spells. From the start, they never thought that he had a chance to win; they already knew that the gap in the combatant’s heart’s dao was too great.

Daoist Master Zhifeng’s supreme heart’s dao wasn’t weak at all, but… his opponent, though only Jindan Stage, and has a cultivation method that was completely self-made, has, after all, the…

Non-Phase Immortal Heart.

Note:

[1] In Chinese, pushing a (girl) person down has the connotation of doing the act of intercourse.

[2] This has a sexual connotation, as the field refer to women and cow refer to men; thus the saying means, in bed, there’s no ruined women, only exhausted men.