Chapter 18: A Beautiful Feeling

Sword Dynasty

Volume 2

Chapter 18: A Beautiful Feeling

There were no words that could describe Xue Wangxu's simple sword strike.

With a single sword strike, he extinguished countless seven-colored sword lights.

Feng Qianzhuo covered his bleeding lower abdomen and leaned against the steps. A mixture of shock and anger as he shouted, “Why!”

Most people had yet to recover from the shock of what had just happened. They did not understand the meaning of Feng Qianzhuo’s question.

But Xue Wangxu knew.

He looked at Feng Qianzhuo with a hint of contempt and sympathy. He said calmly, “Even if someone like you uses a sword move that will kill both your opponent and yourself, you lack a certain charm, and you lack a certain true intent.”

A wave of shocked voices and gasps rang out.

Many nobles and important figures of Zhushan District began to understand what had just happened after hearing Xue Wangxu's words.

From the beginning, Xue Wangxu had not wanted to engage with Feng Qianzhuo for too long. The sword manuals of the Ba Mountain Sword Field had many mysterious variations unknown to outsiders. So he only used one sword strike.

This was an attack with his lifebond sword. It had been hidden for years, accumulating power.

None of Feng Qianzhuo's sword moves could stop this move, so he used the Seven Treasures Crystal Sword to unleash thousands of sword strikes to meet an attack with an attack.

But Xue Wangxu did not change his sword moves.

Feng Qianzhuo did not dare to die alongside Xue Wangxu. It could be said that from the moment they drew their swords, Xue Wangxu felt that Feng Qianzhuo's sword essence lacked that charm.

Feng Qianzhuo did not want to die, so he could only be defeated.

Feng Qianzhuo covered his abdomen, but blood continued to flow through his fingers. Feeling the intense pain in his abdomen and the terrifying sword essence, he laughed heartily as he thought about how his long-enjoyed peace and comfort had been destroyed by this single sword strike. “You win… but do you think you can safely leave Zhushan District?”

“That attack just now drained almost all your vital energy!”

“Kill him for me!”

 

“Kill them!”

“Don’t let them get away!”

As Feng Qianzhuo laughed, angry shouts rang out from the crowds that filled every street and alley.

Ding Ning’s expression still remained calm.

He looked up at the sky. He saw countless black crows circling beneath the white clouds and above the rooftops.

With a clang, a middle-aged man dressed in embroidered satin robes drew his sword and attacked.

His face resembled Feng Qianzhuo’s. He must have been one of his sons or nephews.

His crimson longsword emitted a searing flame that danced wildly in the air like fire snakes.

Facing such a sword, Xue Wangxu calmly slowly bowed. He took the long bamboo broom beside him. Then he stabbed with the bamboo broom as if the bamboo were a sword.

The tip of the bamboo broom started to burn.

The man in the embroidered satin robe who attacked rushed over and wanted to swing his sword to cut off the burning part of the broom. But for some inexplicable reason, he could not touch the broom, as there seemed to be a strange separation of time and space between them.

The burning tip of the bamboo broom pierced his chest.

With a loud poof! The flames went out.

Numerous small, half-burnt bamboo pieces pierced his flesh and were then pushed out by the blood and energy rushing from his body.

The luxuriously dressed man stood there in disbelief. The sword in his hand was still outstretched, inches from Xue Wangxu's body.

In the next moment, he looked down in a daze. He saw the long handle of the bamboo broom stuck in his chest. Then he lost all strength and collapsed limply to the ground.

Several more people rushed forward while shouting.

Xue Wangxu stood where he was and stabbed again.

Blood gushed from the chests of these people as they fell to the ground.

The handle of the bamboo broom was still a bamboo broom handle. It was made from a long, ordinary piece of bamboo. However, because the small branches at the end had been burnt and scattered, and the edge had become sharper due to the friction between flesh and bone, there was a layer of blood on the tip. At this moment, this ordinary, long bamboo stick was like an extremely long bamboo sword in Xue Wangxu's hands.

The surroundings quickly quieted down.

Seeing the countless cultivators fall bloodied under Xue Wangxu's simple sword thrusts, many of the nobles and important figures of Zhushan District who had been preparing to attack sat back down with pale faces.

Xue Wangxu had not used any vital energy in his attacks just now.

He used this method to tell everyone that, even without vital energy, there was still a vast difference in sword technique comprehension and sword power between realm seven cultivators and ordinary martial artists.

One would need a large army to kill a realm seven cultivator or above, or many realm five and six cultivators.

If the people of Zhushan District wanted to keep Xue Wangxu here, given the current situation, how many people would have to die?

“I might die. Everyone will die.” Xue Wangxu casually brushed the blood off the bamboo broom. He looked at Feng Qianzhuo, who was surrounded and tended by several people, and calmly said, “But I promise I will kill you before I die.”

Feng Qianzhuo’s entire body trembled, both from pain and fear.

He clearly realized that Xue Wangxu was telling the truth. Just from that sword strike, he knew his understanding of the sword was nothing compared to Xue Wangxu’s.

If he did not have the famous sword from the Ba Mountain Sword Field in his hands, he would have lost even more badly.

He did not know how to respond, so he shouted angrily. “You’ve gone too far!”

Xue Wangxu smiled coldly.

From the beginning, he had told Feng Qianzhuo that when words didn’t match, even half a sentence was too much; in the end, one still had to rely on the sword to speak.

If he had no't felt the joy of defeating the powerful wave with a single strike, leaving him feeling refreshed both physically and mentally, he would not have said a word after defeating Feng Qianzhuo.

At this moment, he did not want to say anything else. He turned around and gestured for Ding Ning to follow him.

Ding Ning turned around and followed him closely.

But at the same time, Ding Ning said calmly, “How have we gone too far? From the start, we only wanted to take back the Appearance Enhancing Pearl. You set all the rules. When you shouted and cursed, we didn't even say a word. In the entire Qin Dynasty, I don't know how many fair battles with predetermined rules occur in a day. But in this Zhushan District, you refuse to admit defeat after losing the fight and even want to kill both of us by mobilizing everyone here … The Qin Dynasty hardly has a place like this anymore. Don't you feel ashamed?”

“And your Feng Family.”

Ding Ning paused for a moment. He did not turn around and continued following Xue Wangxu through the crowd that parted like a tidal wave. “This is a matter that should have been resolved with a fair fight before the festival. But you used Her Majesty's painting to intimidate us. You lost the fight, and you want to incite everyone in Zhushan District to try to kill a realm seven cultivator. Even if your Feng Family doesn't admit this, when news spreads, what do you think the elites of Changling will think? Will they feel the Feng Family acted well?”

Listening to Ding Ning's calm and cool words and carefully pondering them, Feng Qianzhuo's body grew colder and colder. His fear grew. Eventually, his clothes were drenched in cold sweat. Seeing Ding Ning and Xue Wangxu disappear from his sight, he let out a desperate, animal-like roar.

The crowd continued to part in front of Xue Wangxu like a sea parting its path.

“How do you feel?” Ding Ning asked softly as he followed Xue Wangxu like a shadow and looked at the people of Zhushan District on both sides who had complicated expressions.

Xue Wangxu turned his head back to look at him and smiled like a child. He said, “I feel very good.” Then he asked Ding Ning, “How do you feel?”

Ding Ning replied seriously, “I feel very good too.”

Xue Wangxu said, “That's not what I meant… What I meant was, how do you feel after consuming the Appearance Enhancing Pearl?”

Feeling the pure medicinal power that the Appearance Enhancing Pearl was slowly releasing into his body, Ding Ning's expression became serious.

Aside from the legendary Emperor You, who left behind this cultivation method, no one else knew the secret of the Nine Death Silkworm. And even he, who had cultivated the Nine Death Silkworm, would only detect the method's special characteristics as his cultivation progressed.

The moment he swallowed the Appearance Enhancing Pearl, he realized he had overlooked a truth.

The pill medicines that affected physical energy and vital energy were not the only way to accelerate his cultivation.

Pure pill medicines that could nourish the body and its five organs could also accelerate his cultivation.

The Nine Death Silkworm's greatest weakness was that it drained too much of his physical energy.

The Nine Death Silkworm drained his physical energy too quickly, so he had to control his cultivation speed to prevent his five organs from rapidly aging and deteriorating.

The pill medicines that healed his internal organs and improved his health would allow him to have more physical energy for cultivation while the aging rate of his five organs remained constant.

Simply put, the Nine Death Silkworm's cultivation speed could be faster, but his five organs were not strong enough to withstand the faster pace. Therefore, he did not just need pill medicines that directly target his physical energy and vital energy. If he had supplementary pill medicines that could improve his health and strengthen his five organs, his future cultivation would be much faster.

The medicinal power of the Appearance Enhancing Pearl made him feel as if new life had flooded into him. More importantly, he had some enlightenment and new understandings about cultivation.

“I feel very good.” He looked at Xue Wangxu with unusual seriousness and said, “At the very least, this will buy me a few years.”

Xue Wangxu did not know Ding Ning’s true thoughts, but he could sense Ding Ning's sincere gratitude. This made him feel even more satisfied. He combed his long, thin white beard and smiled with satisfaction. “This is good.”

Seeing the satisfied smile on Xue Wangxu's face, Ding Ning's heart, which had been filled with intense resentment and murderous intent, was filled with warmth.

He immediately thought of Zhangsun Qianxue. He remembered the old woman at the Fish Market… He thought that he had not interacted with anyone in Changling other than those two people for so long.

Thinking about how this white-haired old man didn't have much time left, his heart softened. He gently suggested, “How about we go for a drink? Would you like a girl to accompany you?”

Xue Wangxu suddenly turned his head and stared at him in disbelief. He tugged at a few strands of his beard again. “What kind of joke are you making?”

 

Notes:

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

Previously

Next