Chapter 67: A True Great Rebel

Sword Dynasty

Volume 1: Great Rebel

Chapter 67: A True Great Rebel

When Ding Ning swung the remnant sword, with a motion as unattractive as if chopping wood, both sides of the armored lizard's neck split open. Its body and forelegs slowed, and eventually, the entire head stopped moving and nearly fell off.

Ding Ning panted heavily. Limited by cultivation, his arms began to ache. With the expenditure of his physical energy, he began to feel exhausted.

However, he realized he did not have time to linger. Looking at the bloodied armored lizard, he bent down and used the Last Flower Sword in his hand like a crowbar to pry open the scales on the armored lizard's back before carefully cutting into its flesh.

Killing a beast like this and cutting into its flesh was something he was far from accustomed to. So he could not help but feel a little disgusted. More importantly, the armored lizard's organs, especially its digestive sac, contained toxins that could make cultivators sick, along with other disgusting things. As a result, he had to control the penetration of his sword to avoid hitting its internal organs while cutting through the flesh.

A disciple of the White Cloud Monastery like Xie Changsheng, recovered from his shock as he watched Ding Ning carefully cut the meat. He could not help but whisper, “He seems to understand quite a lot.”

Xu Heshan took a deep breath and slowly said, “There are many books in the alleys.”

Gu Xichun's eyebrows raised again, and his eyes narrowed. He clearly knew that Xu Heshan was using these words to attack him.

This was an old saying from the Qin Dynasty with a double meaning.

The first was that people born in ordinary streets and alleys rarely had the opportunity to become cultivators. Therefore, most of them could only study and try to make a living by becoming advisors.

The second was that those born in streets and alleys had a greater difficulty becoming cultivators than those of the nobility. Therefore, those who wanted to become cultivators would desperately desire cultivation knowledge. They desired it so much that they would read any book they could find on cultivation.

Many cultivators who come from the streets and alleys often possess superior knowledge. Once they become cultivators, they cherish every opportunity more than others, work harder, and usually achieve greater results.

“He started too late.” Gu Xichun thought for a moment, then felt that arguing about Ding Ning's far superior status was actually lowering his own status. So, he finally calmed down.

His words were quite apt, and all the surrounding disciples agreed with him and fell silent.

With the talent that Ding Ning displayed now, if he had been born into an ordinary aristocratic family, he would have started on the path of cultivation seven or eight years ago. Moreover, his family would have done their best to provide him with everything that could aid his cultivation.

However, he had only experienced cultivation for a month at this age. So, even if he possessed extraordinary cultivation talent, he was far behind He Zhaoxi, Gu Xichun, and even Nangong Caishu. Perhaps, this seven-year gap would cause him to fall behind in all future competitions, and he would never be able to catch up.

Xu Heshan knew this was reality and could not argue. He fell silent. However, he felt this was unfair, making him feel even more depressed and his face darkened.

“He started late, but when ordinary people like us walk, he runs with all his might.” A clear female voice, imbued with indescribable power, rang out at that moment.

It was Xie Rou who spoke. Her gaze never left Ding Ning.

Ding Ning had finished slicing the meat from the armored lizard's back by then. The meat on the armored lizard's back was the thickest, coarsest, and most disgusting to eat. However, it was the cleanest and safest.

After handling the two pieces of meat he had cut off and squeezing out some of the blood, Ding Ning used cloth and vines to carry the meat on his back. As time was running out for Ding Ning, he began to run with large strides toward the area with four columns of smoke rising. The two pieces of meat weighed a little over five pounds. However, Ding Ning was weaker than some of the other cultivators and had just experienced two intense battles. He had just killed this armored lizard and cut off its flesh, and his breathing had yet to stabilize, making running extremely difficult.

Even the people on the observation platform could clearly see that Ding Ning's hands and feet were trembling slightly. They could see his chest heaving violently, as if it were about to explode. His burning breath and the hot air exuding from his body formed layers of white mist around him.

At this time, all the disciples of the White Goat Cave and the Green Vine Sword School who had not been eliminated at the entrance area were already far ahead of Ding Ning. Some of those who had had a smooth journey were already near the edge of the smoke area and were about to enter.

Ding Ning was almost alone and lagging behind.

Everyone on the observation platform could easily see that with his running speed, if there were no obstacles, he would barely reach the designated area within the column of smoke before noon.

Nevertheless, his incredibly strenuous yet persistent and calm running pace moved others. They could sense that he possessed a strength and determination that not many possessed.

A radiance spread across Xie Rou's face. Her eyes radiated a brilliance almost as bright as the midday sun. She, too, was among the few moved by Ding Ning. However, the radiance in her eyes moved even more the other spectators on the observation platform.

Ding Ning was running with difficulty. He was racing against time, catching up to the young talents from the White Goat Cave and the Green Vine Sword School who had almost reached their designated area. His body was nearing its limit. As he breathed, it felt as if a fire was burning in his chest. He felt an indescribable sadness.

Despite this, his gaze remained calm and cold as he gazed into the distance.

Unknown to Xie Rou and many on the observation platform was that his pursuit had a deeper meaning… He was chasing his life, the powerful and formidable cultivators of Changling, the marquises, the empress, and the two ministers. And also, the mighty Emperor of the Qin Dynasty who had reached realm eight, who had the rivers and mountains of the entire dynasty at his feet.

 

As Ding Ning was running with difficulty, a man in a yellow robe with a python pattern stood with his hands behind his back on the military camp's training grounds, staring coldly at the distant streets of Changling.

Because Changling was so vast and its end could not be seen, the city seemed boundless.

This man had radiant skin that radiated a topaz-like luster. His forehead was broad, and his eyes contained an extraordinary majesty, as if he could hold the entire military camp in the palm of his hand at any moment.

He was the general of the North Tiger-Wolf Army, Liang Lian.

At that moment, a black-robed advisor in his forties stood by his side.

Like the cultivators who proclaim that a single achievement is built upon ten thousand lives, this advisor 's face was covered in traces of wind and frost, and his hair had turned white.

“Do you really feel I must do this?” Liang Lian looked into the endless distance as he asked the advisor standing respectfully beside him.

Nodding, the black-robed advisor said softly, “General, you must do this.”

Liang Lian turned to him and said, “Using public resources for personal gain and using various methods to seize resources to support ourselves from the Changling gangsters. Even if we fail, we will at most incur the dissatisfaction of the empress and Holy One. However, letting someone like Bai Shanshui escape, being unable to obtain the Lonely Mountain Sword Hoard, and trying to collude with Bai Shanshui; this is actually rebellion. His Majesty will be furious. I don't know how many people will lose their heads.”

The black-robed advisor’s demeanor remained unchanged. Respectfully and gently, he said, “General, you know better than I do about your efforts to establish yourself in Changling… You and Bureau Chief Ye are no different. The reason you have been able to live well and prosper all this time is because the sword in your hand is powerful enough, you possess value, and are also very powerful.”

Liang Lian shook his head. “I am not like Ye Celeng.”

The black-robed advisor shook his head in response. “You once had a relationship with that person, and because you betrayed him, His Majesty feels that you might betray him as well. Therefore, he will never trust you as he trusts the two ministers and the thirteen marquises. Furthermore, you shouldn't be free from worry, as you work for the empress. If we were to obey the wishes of the empress and the nobles and allow Bureau Chief Ye to die on the battlefield with dignity, and if you could obtain the Lonely Mountain Sword Hoard for the empress and His Majesty, then the path that Bureau Chief Ye is currently taking will, in the end, be your path.”

Liang Lian’s expression did not change. He remained silent.

“When people like Bureau Chief Ye and and Bai Shanshui become fewer, Changling will be safer; but you will be even less safe. So you can't just let people like that die. Your position will always come from your own strength. If you are strong enough, even if you can't become a marquis, you can always guard a territory outside the passes.”

The black-robed advisor slowly raised his head and said, quietly but determinedly, “We climbed out of the pile of corpses outside the passes… when only the two of us were left alive in this city, we felt no fear. We managed to reach this position. So many people have died. General, are you afraid now? Everything we did in the past was so we could control our own path. This is something you have always taught me.”

Liang Lian was silent for a long time.

The autumn wind carried the yellow sand from the sparring field, which blew onto him and the black-robed advisor.

His expression grew warmer. He nodded and said, “Yes!”

 

Notes:

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

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