Chapter 1: The Survivors of the Sword Furnace

Sword Dynasty

Volume 1: Great Rebel

Chapter 1: The Survivors of the Sword Furnace

In the autumn of the eleventh year of Yuanwu in the Qin Dynasty, a rare rainstorm enveloped Changling. Black clouds, accompanied by terrifying rumblings of thunder, plunged the capital of the Qin Dynasty into a nightmare.

Outside the city at the harbor of the Wei River, numerous officials and soldiers dressed in black uniforms stood, allowing the wild wind and rain to fall and batter them. They stood motionless as if rooted to the ground.

Amidst the wild waves, an armored ship suddenly appeared!

Lightning flashed across the sky at this moment, illuminating the black metal ship with a snow-white light.

All the officials and soldiers standing on the edge of the harbor changed expressions.

The figurehead on the bow of this metal-clad ship was the head of a turtle dragon!

Even after death, the enormous beast’s head, larger than a horse-drawn carriage, bore terrifying, glowing red eyes, and its evil aura was even more terrifying than the wild waves.

Before the large ship could dock, three officials instantly shot dozens of meters across the water’s surface and landed heavily on the deck.

What shocked the three officials even more was the horrific holes and shattered objects scattered around the ship. It seemed like a major battle had taken place. However, what they saw was a figure who looked like a servant wearing a straw raincoat standing in a corner of the ship like a ghost. They did not see the person they had been waiting for.

“Official Han, is Bureau Chief Ye present?”

The three officials bowed in unison and asked, suppressing their shock.

“There’s no need for such courtesy. Bureau Chief Ye has already gone to the Sword Furnace survivors’ hideout.” The old man, who looked like a servant, bowed slightly in response as he spoke. They couldn’t see the old man’s facial features clearly in the rain, but his eyes were deep and cold, exuding an intimidating dominance.

“Bureau Chief Ye has already gone?” The three officials shuddered simultaneously and could not help but turn their heads towards the city.

All of Changling was shrouded in heavy rain and dusk, with only the faint shadows of tall pagodas visible.

At the same time, a black umbrella suddenly appeared over a river south of Changling.

The person holding the black umbrella walked over the rushing river toward an alley on the bank as if walking on solid ground.

Six other black-uniformed officials of varying heights, all holding umbrellas, waited by the riverbank for this person. Their faces were hidden behind the black umbrellas.

When this person stepped onto the shore, the six officers did not make any excessive movement or sound. They quietly scattered and followed.

An ordinary courtyard in this alley gradually became the center of these black umbrellas that began to radiate murderous intent.

The sound of dripping water mingled with the sound of chewing food.

A middle-aged man dressed in coarse cloth, his sleeves rolled up, was eating dinner under the eaves.

This man’s black robe was worn, and his messy hair was tied haphazardly with grass rope. The soles of his cloth shoes were nearly worn out, and his fingernails were dirty. His face was ordinary, and he looked like any other laborer around him.

His dinner was also very ordinary and simple: a bowl of rough rice, a plate of green vegetables, and a plate of dried beans. However, this middle-aged man savored his meal, chewing a dozen or more times with each mouthful before swallowing.

After swallowing the last mouthful of rice, the middle-aged man picked up a wooden spoon hanging from the eaves and dipped it into the water tank next to him. He drank the entire spoonful before letting out a satisfied burp.

As he burped, the first black umbrella coincidentally stopped at the doorway of his small courtyard.

A snow-white formal boot protruded from one of the black umbrellas, drawing attention against the black.

Behind the boot was a long, snow-white dress, flowing hair, thin lips, and thin eyebrows.

She walked out from the roaring river. She was a beautiful woman with a very attractive waist and a scholarly air.

She stepped out from under the black umbrella and let the rain fall on her hair. She walked lightly into the middle-aged man’s courtyard and bowed to him. She said softly, “Ye Celeng greets Seventh Mister Zhao.”

The middle-aged man raised his eyebrows slightly. However, with this movement, his face suddenly brightened, and his body exuded an indescribable charisma.

“I’ve been in Changling for three years, and this is my first time meeting Bureau Chief Ye.”

He did not returned the bow, only smiling faintly. His gaze swept past the woman and into the alley where the wind and rain fell.

“Changling has become boring after all this time. Like the Qin people, your swords and your manners are straightforward. Horizontal remains horizontal, vertical remains vertical, everything is at right angles and the same, even the streets and walls are either black or gray, devoid of any sense of beauty. But Bureau Chief Ye enlightens my vision, and seems to be at odds with this Changling.”

His words were soft, like the casual lamentation of someone chatting after a meal. However, when these words were spoken, the expressions of everyone outside under the black umbrellas turned cold.

“You dare! An evil element from Zhao Zhan’s Sword Furnace! Bureau Chief Ye has come in person. You won’t give up and dare to utter such words!”

A cold shout suddenly came from a black umbrella standing in the distance.

As if deliberately so that the middle-aged man and the woman in white could see his appearance clearly, the owner of the black umbrella who spoke raised his umbrella. The speaker was a very handsome young man, with white teeth, red lips, skin as white as jade, and eyes sparkling like lightning.

“Oh?” A surprised voice spoke.

The middle-aged man’s frown eased slightly, and his expression revealed a look of realization. “No wonder your presence is weaker than the others… so you’re not one of the six academicians of the Bureau of Astronomy. In other words, you should be an official of the Bureau of Divinity.”

The handsome young official’s hands, dressed in black robes, trembled imperceptibly. He had evidently mustered a great deal of courage in his previous actions. Hearing the middle-aged man say his presence was weaker than the umbrella holders behind him, anger burned in his eyes, but his breathing became more labored.

The middle-aged man’s gaze shifted from the young man to the woman in white. He smiled faintly at the woman in white and said, “To be halfway into the fourth realm at this age, he must be a rare talent in your dynasty.”

The woman in white smiled, revealing two faint dimples. “Mister is correct.”

“He admires you and wants to leave an impression on you.” The middle-aged man looked at the woman in white meaningfully. “Isn’t this a bit of a pity?”

“What… what do you mean?” The handsome young official’s face suddenly paled, his heavy robes drenched in cold sweat. He suddenly felt uneasy.

The woman in white turned to look at him and smiled faintly. She did not seem to harbor any negative feelings toward this handsome young man, but the raindrops falling on her body suddenly stopped.

Then the raindrops suddenly accelerated and lengthened into thin, small swords during this process.

“Pew.” A soft sound.

Blood sprayed from the underside of the umbrella. The handsome official’s head separated from his body and landed on the ground with the umbrella. His eyes widened as if he could not believe it was true.

“What a spirit!”

The middle-aged man clapped and cheered. “Bureau Chief Ye has extraordinary spirit, killing the members of the Bureau of Divinity who were monitoring your actions. However, Bureau Chief Ye doesn’t seem to have the broad-mindedness to kill a rare practitioner just because of a momentary emotion.”

The woman in white sneered, “Women don’t need broad-mindedness, they only need breasts.”

The middle-aged man was slightly speechless. He had not expected the woman in white to say something like this.

“That makes sense.”

He laughed self-mockingly. “Someone like Bureau Chief Ye, no matter what you do or say, you really don’t need to care too much about other people’s opinions.”

The woman in white’s eyelashes flickered. However, at this moment, she seemed to sense something. Her brows furrowed slightly and she stopped speaking.

The middle-aged man’s smile disappeared, and the small wrinkles at the corners of his eyes seemed to be smoothed by a strange light. His skin radiated a jade-like glow, and the heat wave caused the rain falling from the sky to turn into white steam. A terrifying ferocity filled the small courtyard.

“Although our cultivation focuses are different, cultivators in the world are divided into nine realms, and each realm has three levels. Your Emperor, which realm is he in now?” When the woman in white, who was clearly of high status, bowed to him, he did not bow back. But now, he bowed deeply and asked seriously.

“I don’t have the broad mind, so I won’t answer questions like yours in this situation that doesn’t benefit me.” The woman in white looked at him calmly and said in a tone that did not allow for negotiation. “One person, one question.”

The middle-aged man thought for a moment and then raised his head. “Very well.”

The woman in white asked directly without further discussion, “The disciples of the Sword Furnace cultivate the sword of death, and they don’t even care about their own lives. But in the three years you’ve been in hiding, you haven’t killed any of my dynasty’s cultivators, conspired in secret, or tried to steal my dynasty’s cultivation records. What do you intend to do?”

The middle-aged man looked at her and sighed, “No matter how powerful the secret weapons and techniques in your cultivation place are, are they more powerful than what that person left behind?”

His rhetorical question was brief, and he did not even mention the name ‘That Person’. However, those two words were taboo. The five officials under the black umbrella outside, who had not even been affected by the bloody beheading, upon hearing these words, waved their black umbrellas, water splashing.

The woman in white was immediately displeased. She said with a cold smile, “So many years have passed, yet you haven’t given up. You still want to see if that person left behind anything?”

The middle-aged man did not say anything else. He simply stared intently into her eyes and waited for her answer.

The woman in white looked at this middle-aged man, who seemed increasingly charismatic. She suddenly felt sympathy for him and said softly, “His Majesty reached realm seven first class five years ago. He hasn’t fought in many years since then. Are you satisfied with this answer?”

“Realm seven first class five years ago. Five years for a breakthrough should be enough. In other words, perhaps he has truly reached realm eight?” A hint of frustration and sadness appeared between the middle-aged man’s brows. But in the next moment, it disappeared completely and transformed into a sharp sword intent!

His entire body began to radiate light, as if a peerless sword that had been sheathed for countless years had suddenly been revealed!

The dry grass growing on the walls and roof of the small courtyard was cut apart by the sharp presence, flying into the air.

“Please!”

The middle-aged man took a deep breath. The woman in white seemed to be the only thing left in his eyes.

“The seventh disciple of the Sword Furnace, Zhao Zhan, seeks guidance from Bureau Chief Ye’s Autumn Water Sword!”

When he said this, the woman in white fell silent and did not seem to respond. However, the five black-clothed officials outside the courtyard groaned in unison. Their figures suddenly spread to the five corners of the courtyard, and their black umbrellas began to spin rapidly simultaneously.

The shield-like black umbrellas emitted countless dense ribbons of air instead of raindrops.

Boom!

The entire courtyard seemed to expand outward as if made of paper, then exploded into burning fragments.

Muffled sounds came from beneath the umbrellas. These burning fragments contained tremendous power, causing a deafening sound of friction to be heard between the shoes of the five officials holding the umbrellas and the smooth stone floor..

The ribbons of air formed an impenetrable wall of wind. Very few of the burning fragments managed to penetrate it. Waves of heat and fiery sparks were forced upward. From a distance, a giant furnace suddenly appeared between heaven and earth.

In the center of the furnace, a small, crimson sword appeared in the hands of a middle-aged man, Zhao Zhan.

This sword was only a little over two feet long. However, the flames radiating from the body and tip of the sword formed a fireball tens of meters wide!

The woman in white he called Bureau Chief Ye disappeared before his eyes. Only millions of threads of rain shot towards him like tiny swords.

As the five umbrella-bearing officials attacked, dozens of swordsmen wielding different swords flooded the alley.

These swordsmen exuded the same aura as the five umbrella-bearing officials. In this kind of storm, the raindrops that fell on them seemed to fly away as if frightened. A transparent bubble separated each person like a completely different world.

This showed that they were just like the five umbrella-bearing officials. They were cultivators, rare in the world and possessed skills unimaginable to many.

However, listening to the roar coming from the small courtyard, and the water droplets vibrating in the air from the surrounding puddles, those who could not even detect the general state of the battle inside turned pale, and their hands became sweaty.

They had previously known what the Sword Furnace of the Zhao Dynasty was like. But today, they finally understood that their opinion of the Sword Furnace had been too low.

The incident passed quickly. Even the nearby residents simply thought it was thunder and didn’t come to watch. A strange tearing sound came from the black umbrellas that formed the wall surrounding the small courtyard.

One black umbrella could not hold on any longer and flew back nearly a hundred meters.

The black-uniformed officials, who were wielding naked swords and scattered outside the small courtyard, simultaneously changed their expressions. The four black-robed swordsmen standing behind the numerous black umbrellas shouted in unison, drawing their swords and holding them in front of them.

Clang clang clang clang.

Four long swords of different colors curved backwards. The four black-robed swordsmen pushed with their feet, wanting to resist, but in the next moment, they all vomited mouthfuls of blood and flew backward like birds with their wings clipped.

A wave of air surged out from the gap in the black umbrella wall. It passed through the vegetable garden, shattered two walls, crossed the wide street, and headed toward the sesame oil shop across the street.

Boom.

Numerous door panels leaning against the door of the sesame oil shop exploded into countless pieces. Then, half the shop collapsed, its roof tiles scattering to the ground, creating a huge explosion of dust and noise.

“What damned person couldn’t see that a horse-drawn carriage was driving at night and at such speed! You destroyed my shop!” A scream rang out from the half-destroyed shop. A middle-aged woman holding a ladle rushed out of the shop angrily, intending to hit someone. But as soon as she saw the scene, the oily ladle in her hand fell to the ground, and she let out an even more shrill scream.

A black-robed swordsman who had been thrown onto the stone path in front of the shop forced himself to his feet when he heard the middle-aged woman’s scream.

“The Bureau of Astrology is investigating a case!”

He shouted, his sharp killing intent causing the middle-aged woman to tremble and stop screaming.

At this moment, what surprised this fierce-looking black-robed swordsman was a young man holding an oil bottle who walked out of the half-collapsed shop. This young man looked to be thirteen or fourteen years old, but his youthful, dusty face showed no fear.

He only showed curiosity, staring at the black-robed swordsman with clear eyes. Then, his gaze swept past the black-robed swordsman and beyond the two destroyed walls.

In his sight, a beautiful woman dressed in white walked out from the opening in the black umbrella wall.

The white-clothed woman’s dress was soaked. She looked very tired. As the black umbrellas gathered around her and helped her protect herself from the rain, she only gently said these four words.

“Bury him with honor.”

Notes:

This novel is not my work... I just translated it from a Chinese web novel written by Wu Zui

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