Chapter 197 - The Teenage Chief
At the east side of the sea beyond Qing Xuan, the waves surged as a youth sat on the rock with his sword horizontally slashed across him. He was dressed in a pale green Dao robe, he had crystal clear eyes and refined features. Anyone who saw him would say, "Wow, what a soulful aura."
The vibes and the atmosphere of the surroundings did not have a single effect on him at all.
This youngster"s name was Zuo Shaoqing. He was adopted by the Qingjiang Sword Sect"s Sword King of Three Defeat, Meng Xunzhen, when he was seven years old. He has never parted with his sword ever since. By the age of fourteen, he has mastered the "Cloud Light Water Sword", and he was the first in the Qingjiang Sword Sect to have mastered it in such rapid speed.
The reason why he was able to cultivate so swiftly was because he was born tactful to swords.
He was ordered by his honored master to make a trip out of the mountains to slay Qing Xuan"s disciples who were outbound. His honored master and Daoist Huanzhen were best of friends, but there was still no reason for them to be involved in fights like this. After all Qing Xuan was one of the largest Dao sects around although they may not be as superior as Guangqing. They were definitely not someone the Qingjiang Sect could match with.
However, Daoist Huanzhen personally paid them a trip recently; he did not state his purpose of visiting and instead took out the codex of the sword which shook the honored master to his core.
Meng Xunzhen pa.s.sed on this codex of sword to Zuo Shaoqing too. It was just that he had yet to reach the level to fully utilize it and could only feel the vastness of it.
The codex was t.i.tled "The Milky Way Swordsmans.h.i.+p" technique, and according to Meng Xunzhen, this method was somewhat similar to the Cloud Light Water Sword. However, this method was more refined and was one of the top three sword technique in the world. Just like the milky way that spans across the sky, there were no limits and boundaries once the swordsman charisma was formed. If one mastered this method, a milky way sword seed will be planted in his body and that seed was comparable to a Daoist"s Huandan.
When Meng Xunzhen received the codex from Daoist Huanzhen, he ordered Zuo Shaoqing to inflict injuries to any Qing Xuan disciples below the level of Huandan who walk past him and someone else will send the injured disciple back to Qing Xuan.
His primary nature was like a sword. If something comes at him, he handles it fearlessly.
The road of Dao was a th.o.r.n.y one and to people like him who sincerely wants to cultivate his swordsmans.h.i.+p, the journey was all about pulling out swords. He was told to not be bothered but to slay them all.
Nonetheless, Zuo Shaoqing was not satisfied by just that. He came across two highly skilled Qing Xuan disciples recently and unfortunately there were not able to react when he pulled out his Cloud Light Water Sword. In a split second, he took the opportunity and dismembered their limbs just before they could cast on the self-protection spell.
Actually, his mana was not stronger than the two disciples. But as he was a cultivator of the sword, he was extremely swift with his shots and a split second was a matter of live and dead to him.
If he faced his opponents head-on and give time for them to prepare, he might not be able to accomplish his task so neatly.
He was actually disappointed as Qing Xuan was an accomplished sect with over million years of history and yet their disciples were not amazing at all.
In the vast sea, the tide rose and subsided.The flow of the sea water was unpredictable and constantly changing but at the same time, a permanent pattern hides within it.
Zuo Shaoqin"s mind was absorbed by the sea water. He comprehends sword crafts by sensing the changes of aura in the air.
In a sudden, he sensed that the flow of the sea water was a little odd and he noticed the pattern of the flow was somewhat different from what he was experiencing.
His spiritual sense was surprisingly sharp and his heart of sword was one with his mind. The moment he noticed something was off, he immediately moved his focus to that area. His gaze was intense and yet he found nothing foreign. He felt something was not right and took action outrageously.
The moment he drew his sword, he noticed a scrawny youth. He fixed his gaze on this extremely calm youth and it felt like he was staring at a piece of rock.
All of a sudden, his opponent"s hand lighted up in five colors. Before his sword gleam could explode away, the five-colored divine lights pierce through his body. It happened so quickly that he was already down at the very moment he noticed the opponent.
A loud sword howling could be heard from the sky as the clouds disperse. A greenish-white sword gleam over a hundred feet long spanned across the sky. It then struck on the sea water and the force hits the surface of the sea, separating the water as the underwater corals came to sight.
The sword gleam did not stop right there. Like an enormous sea snake, it hastily chased towards a direction. But before it could travel far, it seemed like it hit on an invisible screen and vanished.
In the surging ocean, a relaxed-looking teenage Daoist appeared out of nowhere.
A flock of clouds wrapped Zuo Shaoqi up and paused halfway up in the void. The clouds were suddenly separated and a middle-aged swordsman appeared. The man looked at Shen Lian with a solemn face.
Shen Lian smiled, "Meng swordsman, why didn"t you inform me about your arrival in advance? I would have the honor of hosting."
The middle-aged swordsman was Meng Xunzhen of the Qingjiang Sword Sect. He has been cultivating for over hundreds of years.
Just by looking at the force of sword gleam, one could tell that this person"s mana was out of the world.
Meng Xunzhen coldly replied, "So you"re the new chief of Qing Xuan, Shen Zhenren?"
"It hasn"t been more than a hundred days since I"ve succeeded as the chief and it seems that you"ve caught the news. Looks like you follow us Qing Xuan pretty closely." Shen Lian looks relaxed as his words came out in a nice pace like a spring breeze.
Meng Xunzhen has heard that the new chief of Qing Xuan was extremely young and has only achieved Huan Dan not too long ago. He was not too concerned about it at first but after meeting Shen Lian, he knew that he was absolutely wrong.
The Cloud Light Water Sword that he used earlier came out in rage with a mix of the Milky Way Swordsmans.h.i.+p. What made it lethal was not the intensity of the force but the continuous after-shock that was ten times the intensity of the first blow. It hits like everlasting strong waves, billowing endlessly.
But Shen Lian was able to scatter the sword gleam effortlessly during the split second interval between the first and second after-shock.
In the heat of the moment, he could not determine Shen Lian"s mana and instead he was overwhelmed by such masterly skills.
The truth was that he did not understand the essence of the Taixu Strategy"s "Interpromotion and Interrestraint". If he truly mastered the "Milky Way Swordsmans.h.i.+p", Shen Lian would not have noticed the opportunity.
Unfortunately, he was only mixing other things with one small fraction of the Milky Way Swordsmans.h.i.+p. He was not able to be at one with the Cloud Light Water Sword and that flaw gave him away.
With his finesse, he could have made things a lot more difficult for Shen Lian should he have used the Cloud Light Water Sword totally.
The reason behind it was not something Meng Xunzhen could really fathom in a short time span.
It was Grandmaster Yuanqing"s sword will that helped Shen Lian realized the flaw in Meng Xunzhen"s sword technique. This sword will be supremely regarded in the world of swordcraft. It was able to instantly help Shen Lian experience the true meaning of vast endlessness and it was not something the Cloud Light Water Sword was capable of.
Looks like the Guangqing Sect is high rollers. First, it was Daoist s.h.i.+ and now Meng Xunzhen. Who knew that who was going to pop out next.
Shen Lian was distracted by other matters and it was reflected in his expression. From Meng Xunzhen"s perspective, he seemed a little unfocused.
And that angered Meng Xunzhen. Even if Shen Lian was the highly prestigious Chief of Qing Xuan, he should not be so ignorant towards others.