Chapter 325 Illusion and RealityThe sun and the moon were rising and falling.
The black tide was raging.
There was a shower of rain falling late at night and shining with the sun and the moon above Lonely Mountain.
The rain was pouring down. The surging sword intent was dark and serene, but it appeared distinct and sharp in the light of the sun and the moon.
Extreme light and darkness interweaved.
Everything on Lonely Mountain was like an abnormal phenomenon of heaven and earth.
Lin Fengting did not move.
w.a.n.g Tianzong remained unmoved.
But two entirely different kinds of sword intent kept spreading, raging in every corner of Lonely Mountain.
It was the confrontation and entanglement between two superiors at the Peak of Martial Arts.
The Break of Reincarnation had utterly disappeared.
Be it the black tide or the sun and the moon, they were sword intent.
Not a single unique skill was involved. There was only the purest and fiercest sword intent.
The black tide, the rainstorm, the cold moon, and the scorching sun…
They were all swords.
The so-called light and darkness and the so-called abnormal phenomenon of heaven and earth were swords.
Li Tianlan stared intently at every change in the light in front of him.
His body shivered slightly, and a flush of excitement crept over his pale face.
His body unconsciously took a few steps forward, and there was even intoxication in his eyes.
He had lost sight of light and darkness.
There was nothing but sword intent in his eyes.
If the nature of the world was silent and the Peak of Martial Arts was illusory, in the silence and illusion, nothing could exist, including sword moves and Sword Energy.
In kendo, only the purest sword intent and sword momentum were real.
Li Tianlan’s world was quiet, and everything in his vision was illusory.
Therefore, the seemingly colorful but actually extremely pure sword intent became the most gorgeous and magnificent image in his eyes.
Li Tianlan sat down.
Since the Peak of Martial Arts was illusory, it was meaningless to look at it.
He closed his eyes.
In the blink of an eye, he went straight into the deepest state of meditation.
The gushing sword intent in his consciousness and perception became more and more apparent. At this moment, he seemed to touch the quintessence of the sword intent of the w.a.n.g family of Beihai and the Lin Clan.
The essence of sword intent.
The sword intent of the 24 Moves of Sword was far grander than that of the w.a.n.g family of Beihai, shining like the sun and the moon.
But the sun and the moon would be shadowed by the pure darkness.
Any light that would dissipate in the dark was false. Only darkness was real.
Therefore, although the Martial Arts of the w.a.n.g family of Beihai were not as grand as those of the 24 Moves of Sword, they were far more real than the latter.
Reality and illusion.
It was the highest level of the nature of Martial Arts, surpa.s.sing the level of the sword intent and the defensive power and all other basics.
It was the first time Li Tianlan had seen reality.
Illusion could enable him to reach the end of Martial Arts.
Reality worked as well.
At this moment, Li Tianlan suddenly recalled Deity, a person he saw in Heaven Capital.
He thought of his sword light, which was as grand as the sun and the moon. And then again, he thought of his reality, as the eternal darkness.
He touched the most potent road to Martial Arts, but he could never get to the end.
It was not until this moment that he had the faintest idea of Deity’s ambition.
w.a.n.g Tianzong… Lin Fengting… Deity…
Every man had the talent equal to that of the Chosen One.
The world did not exist for one person alone. Everyone had the potential to be the Chosen One.
Li Tianlan sat quietly. He seemed to fall into the deepest state of nirvana.
The entanglement between the black tide and the sun, together with the moon, seemed endless.
Li Tianlan’s figure began to disappear amongst the sword intent all over the mountain gradually.
In a trance, he seemed to have wholly escaped the lock of the sword intent from w.a.n.g Tianzong and Lin Fengting.
To have a big breakthrough through experiencing sufferings.
Three years.
Li Tianlan had not really demonstrated his strength after his return, but his Martial Arts advanced a half step.
The half step was small.
But it was of extraordinary significance.
At this moment, Li Tianlan was sitting there. His figure was as blurry as ever and yet as distinct as ever.
As if… as if he were the world!
The world was always the most real existence, but because it was so immense that it was often overlooked subconsciously.
w.a.n.g Tianzong was the first to discover the change of Li Tianlan.
Above the black tide, a sharp, cold snort was thunderous. All of a sudden, the black rain all over the sky directly remained static.
The rain-like shadows of swords stopped all around the light of the sun and the moon.
The sword shadows began to gather like crazy.
The sea of swords became a starry sky.
The stars turned into a storm.
The storm evolved into the sea of swords again.
All sounds on Lonely Mountain died away, and desperate silence began to spread. Only the sun and the moon remained the same.
From afar, the sea of swords seemed to be a dark halo, flowing around the sun and the moon and covering the whole Lonely Mountain.
Li Tianlan did not move.
Lin Fengting’s expression suddenly got incomparably serious.
“Tianzong, do you have to do that?” Lin Fengting asked in a deep voice.
“Past cause, present effect. I have no choice.”
w.a.n.g Tianzong’s voice was cold.
The cause and effect were already unimportant. It didn’t matter whether the Li family owed the w.a.n.g family of Beihai or not.
Li Honghe may feel guilty about the w.a.n.g family of Beihai.
But that didn’t change anything.
Since w.a.n.g Tianzong could not turn back, he could only go on. Right or wrong couldn’t decide everything. The enemy would only be the enemy.
The endless sea of swords stirred.
Countless sword shadows quivered. The sea of swords formed a wave around the sun and the moon.
Instead of spreading outward, the wave collapsed inward.
In a trance, accompanied by the loud sound of the wave, the world was ravaged by storms!
An indescribably terrible storm swept over everything with a tremendous bang. The darkness began to look more real than ever before, and the dense shadows of swords became extremely wild for a moment. The storm destroyed everything amongst the shadows of swords. Without hesitation, the raging black tide rushed to the swaying sun and moon in the center.
In a flash, all sword intent burst forth in the most violent and swift manner. The sea of swords was collapsing, but the sun and the moon were expanding.
The whole Lonely Mountain was shaking and cracking in a violent outburst of sword intent.
The rays of the sun and the moon spread out to the limit.
All the sounds died away in an instant. Only the storm and torrent remained unchanged.
Instantly, a dazzling white spot appeared in the center of the sun and the moon.
In the silent world, the sun and the moon seem to explode completely. The white spot suddenly changed into a dazzling ray full of flexibility.
The light swallowed up the darkness.
The darkness shattered the light.
A void appeared in the sky where light and dark were interwoven.
The void formed and shattered.
Light and dark intertwined. The whole sky was a mottled s.p.a.ce of black and white.
In sheer chaos, Lin Fengting seemed to move.
He took a step forward.
His feet, however, did not land on somewhere in front of him. Instead, he directly appeared in the air over one kilometer above the ground.
w.a.n.g Tianzong moved as well.
For the first time, there was a shrill sound of weapons crashing into each other in the air. The two long swords seemed to collide once, but no one could see them clearly.
The mottled sky of black and white seemed to explode.
A ring of dazzling white appeared in the sky, and all the sword intent was spreading out of it.
Mountains Fall and the Earth Splits!
It was the real Mountains Fall and the Earth Splits.
Nothing could be seen except for the light and darkness in the surging sword intent.
The fierce sword intent was finally beginning to dissipate.
A cloud of smoke enveloped people’s views after the sword intent dissipated.
The smoke gradually cleared away.
Li Tianlan was still sitting.
Lin Fengting stood in front of Li Honghe and Situ Cangyue.
Everyone seemed to have changed their positions, but that didn’t seem to be the case.
Only w.a.n.g Tianzong remained floating in the air, cold and majestic, like a G.o.d.
Lonely Mountain…
There was no Lonely Mountain.
The whole Lonely Mountain had been cut to the ground by the sword. Everything that had been there was gone.
Only the Li family’s cemetery remained after the sword light of Lin Fengting shone.
But the cemetery was the only thing that remained.
The whole Lonely Mountain seemed as if it had never existed.
Lonely Mountain, which had become flat, was still cracking, turning into one striking crack after another.
Wisps of white mist rose from the cracks.
The mist appeared very quickly.
But it never coalesced.
All the mist seemed to have a master. As soon as it appeared, it began to converge toward Li Tianlan.
Li Tianlan was shrouded in mist, and everything was blurred.
Three years ago, Great Master Wuwei planted a flower.
The flower named dragon vein.
That flower was the key to Li Tianlan’s resurrection.
When the flower was picked, the root disappeared in Mount Qingyun and became the lush vegetation on the entire Lonely Mountain.
Now Lonely Mountain had utterly disappeared, so the remaining fate had once again formed into white mist and begun to converge toward Li Tianlan.
w.a.n.g Tianzong watched all this quietly.
His eyes narrowed. For the first time, there was a hint of undisguised fear and killing intent in his eyes.
At present, Li Tianlan was still weak.
But his future was already worthy of everyone’s real attention.
In w.a.n.g Tianzong’s eyes, Li Tianlan was no longer a threat.
He was an opponent!
The real enemy.
w.a.n.g Tianzong took a step forward in the air.
This step of his covered a distance of a hundred meters. He arrived almost directly in front of Li Tianlan.
“Do you want to make a sword move again?”
Lin Fengting stopped w.a.n.g Tianzong on his way.
His face was somewhat pale, but his aura was still strong.
In the final collision, although Lonely Mountain completely disappeared, the Li family still existed.
The members and the cemetery of the Li family all survived under the protection of his sword intent.
It was the first time Lin Fengting had thoroughly taken a stand.
He wasn’t aware of it when the Li family was wiped out.
After the Li family’s extermination, it was too late.
More than 20 years later, Lin Fengting finally stood in front of the Li family, without asking right or wrong.
Neither did the Dark World need right or wrong, nor did it need understanding.
Cause and effect were the most real.
“Fengting, is that your att.i.tude?”
w.a.n.g Tianzong looked in Lin Fengting’s eyes.
“Yes,” Lin Fengting replied calmly.
“Is that the att.i.tude of the Lin Clan too?” w.a.n.g Tianzong asked again.
Lin Fengting narrowed his eyes.
He did not know what w.a.n.g Tianzong meant by asking him this question.
This could be interpreted as a threat.
It could also be interpreted as a simple inquiry.
Lin Fengting suddenly smiled. “That’s ok if you really want to understand it that way.”
The w.a.n.g family of Beihai was indeed powerful.
They deserved to be called the first forces of the Dark World.
Although the headquarters of the Lin Clan stood aloof from worldly affairs, with branches scattered around the world, it was also a behemoth.
Even if Lin Fengting managed to integrate the branches around, there would be a lot of internal problems.
But the w.a.n.g family of Beihai had internal problems as well.
w.a.n.g Tianzong asked in a deep voice, his pupils constricting, “Why?”
“I have no choice.”
Lin Fengting shook his head.
w.a.n.g Tianzong knew that he had asked a nonsense question.
Since Lin Fengting had no choice, what he said was nonsense.
The famous sword from the w.a.n.g family of Beihai—Listen to the Sea, shuddered behind w.a.n.g Tianzong.
A part of the sharp blade was instantly unsheathed.
Lin Fengting’s brows raised suddenly.
This superior at the Peak of the Invincible Realm, who had been playing around the world and living an unrestrained life, as if living outside the world of mortals, always looked free and easy in everyday life. But as he raised his eyebrows, a trace of indescribable sharpness suddenly appeared on him.
“You want to fight again?” Lin Fengting asked.
“You are no match for me.”
w.a.n.g Tianzong’s tone was straightforward and calm.
He was superior to Lin Fengting.
Whether he was a lot stronger or a little stronger than Lin Fengting, the fact would not change.
All the members of the Li family walked over, unperturbed.
They were probably nonent.i.ties in w.a.n.g Tianzong’s eyes.
But here, there was no room for them to retreat.
The earth-shaking sword move just now was enough to cast a shadow upon them.
But nonent.i.ties under the shadow could be warriors too.
Li Honghe, covered in blood, also came over.
Situ Cangyue followed him.
w.a.n.g Tianzong remained calm.
It was a kind of calm of absolute confidence.
He came to Lin’an today with the sole purpose of killing Li Honghe. In this way, he could settle his feud with the Li family and eliminate the possible future threat that the latter would pose to the w.a.n.g family of Beihai.
He was aware that Gu Xingyun had withdrawn from the battlefield.
But it didn’t matter.
Even if Lin Fengting stood in front of him right now, he could still kill Li Honghe.
Then why didn’t he kill him?
w.a.n.g Tianzong narrowed his eyes and glanced at Li Tianlan, who was still sitting on the ground.
The white mist thinned out.
Meanwhile, Li Tianlan opened his eyes.
His eyes were calm and deep. He and w.a.n.g Tianzong looked at each other quietly.
w.a.n.g Tianzong did not move, as if meditating.
Li Tianlan seemed to want to say something, but before he could finish, he spat out a mouthful of blood directly, staining the dry ground red.
w.a.n.g Tianzong’s pupils suddenly contracted.
Li Tianlan stretched out to wipe the blood from his mouth and said with a faint smile, “Comfortable.”
“I still underestimated you,” w.a.n.g Tianzong said in a low voice as he looked at Li Tianlan.
His voice was like a sigh.
His sword intent wounded Li Tianlan at the beginning.
But the reason why Li Tianlan spat out blood was that his mind was hurt when he studied the sword intent of Lin Fengting and w.a.n.g Tianzong.
It was not too grave a problem.
It was, at least, a minor injury compared to the insights he had gained.
A young man in his early twenties… could actually see the essence of the sword intent at the peak of kendo…
w.a.n.g Tianzong felt that he had underestimated Li Tianlan too much.
The address—the Chosen One of Zhongzhou State, certainly seemed to live up to its name.
w.a.n.g Tianzong watched Li Tianlan quietly.
Li Tianlan saw the essence of the supreme kendo.
He, too, dimly saw Li Tianlan’s future road.
“When did you start to recultivate the Four Realms of Martial Arts?” w.a.n.g Tianzong asked suddenly.
Li Tianlan’s pupils contracted slightly.
“Three years ago.”
“Only three years?”
w.a.n.g Tianzong raised his eyebrows.
“Actually, it’s two years,” Li Tianlan answered.
The corner of w.a.n.g Tianzong’s mouth twitched. “With so little time, your foundation is unstable.”
“I have plenty of time in the future.”
Li Tianlan’s tone was calm.
w.a.n.g Tianzong had nothing to say.
Li Tianlan spent two years recultivating the Four Realms of Martial Arts, so his foundation was indeed shaky.
However, regarding the Four Realms of Martial Arts as the most basic foundation and the starting point, Li Tianlan directly jumped out of the path of the Four Realms of Martial Arts and embarked on a new road.
The Four Realms of Martial Arts led everyone to the Invincible Realm but became the initial foundation in Li Tianlan’s practice.
Unstable foundation?
Even if his foundation was shaky, it was far more stable than those of others.
“Would you like to join the w.a.n.g family of Beihai?” w.a.n.g Tianzong asked, after a moment’s silence.
He raised the question without turning a hair.
“The w.a.n.g family of Beihai didn’t owe the Li family anything. As long as you are willing to join the w.a.n.g family of Beihai, all grudges can be written off. Furthermore, I can give you equal rights as Shengxiao.”
w.a.n.g Tianzong’s tone was cool and solemn.
Li Honghe’s face suddenly changed, and he said, without thinking, “The Li family will not be a va.s.sal of anyone!”
His voice was quick and hurried. He even lost his cool.
“The Li family?”
The corner of w.a.n.g Tianzong’s mouth twitched. With a faint smile, he looked at Li Tianlan instead of Li Honghe.
Li Tianlan was looking at his grandfather, who was covered in blood.
He walked to Li Honghe’s side slowly. “The blood cannot be shed in vain,” he whispered, holding the old man, who was trembling.
That was his answer.
There was a glint in w.a.n.g Tianzong’s eyes.
Lin Fengting, Li Honghe, and Situ Cangyue…
Coupled with over a dozen remaining elite of the Li family and Li Tianlan…
w.a.n.g Tianzong kept calculating in his mind.
He couldn’t kill Lin Fengting.
He didn’t want to kill him, either.
But if he wanted to kill anyone else…
If he was willing to pay the price, Lin Fengting might not be able to stop him.
The price may be substantial.
But compared to the Li family… Which was more important?
The temperature in w.a.n.g Tianzong’s eyes dropped, and he became determined.
“You turned me down again.”
w.a.n.g Tianzong looked at Li Tianlan.
“I’m just talking about a fact.”
Li Tianlan added, “Only now have I determined my future path, or rather, the path of the East Emperor Palace.”
He looked at w.a.n.g Tianzong and suddenly smiled, asking, “Your Majesty, after the maneuver is over, how about the East Emperor Palace go to Wuyue for further development?”
Wuyue Province!
It was a place second only to Beihai Province in terms of stability in the Southeast Group.
That was the absolute stronghold and the real back garden of Beihai Province.
The fact that the East Emperor Palace was going to Wuyue to seek development seemed to be committing suicide. But w.a.n.g Tianzong’s face, which had always been calm, was momentarily distorted.
It was a declaration of war!
Li Tianlan declared war on the w.a.n.g family of Beihai.
And the location he chose was so subtle.
“Are you going to Wuyue?” w.a.n.g Tianzong asked.
“Why not?”
Li Tianlan’s tone was calm.
“No!”
Before w.a.n.g Tianzong could open his mouth, a young, cold female voice suddenly sounded.
A white figure walked up Lonely Mountain, which was already plain.
Her figure was hurried, her voice urgent and even somewhat frightened. “You can’t go to Wuyue!”