Chapter 42: Blade-like Moonlight

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation  Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

The gleam of the blade flashed through in an instance and disappeared, the victor had stood apart from the loser.

As anticipated Shen Lian did not lose to Jian Shisi, his sword had broken in half, even Jian Shisi’s partly formed sword will was destroyed.

To not be able to defeat the opponent’s sword will, there was no need to exist.

To destroy was to create something new.

Nonetheless, whether Jian Shisi was still able to produce a stronger sword will, nobody knew.

He knelt on the snowy ground, some of the snow had melted, but there was more snow that had not melted, it formed into ice.

The ice within the dirt made the ground as tough as refined iron.

Jian Shisi did not practice any kind of martial arts similar to the Iron Claw, both his hands were digging on the cold tough layer of dirt, very quickly a small bloody crater was dug, it was his blood. The nails had been turned inside out, there was dirt mixed into the bloody nail beds.

He then placed the sword into the earth, buried the short blade, then he picked up Jian Shisan, and retreated far away.

There was a ripped hole on Shen Lian’s clothes, which was near the position of the heart, the small hole was an inch long, it was not cut by the edge of the sword, but it was by the half-formed gleam of the sword.

“You have pulled your knife out, but you have not seen my sword, do you still want to continue to oppose me now?” If it was other people of Jianghu, like Jin Daowang, even the man in green at that time who have seen Shen Lian’s sword skills then, would unconsciously sigh at himself when acknowledging Shen Lian’s superiority, their confidence would be shaken.

However, Ye Liuyun did not have any fear because he was able to understand just how formidable the other was, the other would only seem half as formidable.

The one thing that truly frightened others was the unknown, and that unknown is Ye Liuyun’s sword.

There had never been a living person who had seen his sword, that day was no exception.

Shen Lian stared at Ye Liuyun, he was very calm.

His calmness was not just for display, but it came from within.

“How did you know that I only had one knife?” Shen Lian chuckled.

This time he threw the knife away completely, it was thrown towards Ye Liuyun, and it was caught between Ye Liuyun’s fingers.

The force used to throw the knife was not intense, the angle was not tricky either, there was no way Ye Liuyun could not have caught it.

Ye Liuyun placed the knife down, his gaze never leaving Shen Lian, because he would not give Shen Lian any chances, he himself would not be careless.

It was because that his gaze never left Shen Lian, he saw that Shen Lian did not only have one knife, or rather, this was his actual knife.

It was a peculiar looking fly cutter.

There was an afterglow after the sunset. The moon had taken over the role of the sunset, generously radiating its light.

Both Ye Liuyun and Shen Lian stared at each other for a good fifteen minutes. The atmosphere was heavy, which caused the people in the surrounding to not dare to breathe with their mouths open.

Ye Liuyun noticed Shen Lian’s hand, the hand that was gripping the fly cutter.

What Shen Lian noticed was, however, Ye Liuyun’s left sleeve.

Coincidentally, as the night breeze brushed pass, the left sleeve was more sluggish compared to the right sleeve.

“I know where your sword is.”

Shen Lian’s words were filled with confidence, this self-assurance should have been what only Ye Liuyun have.

“Yes.” Ye Liuyun could not help but acknowledge Shen Lian’s attentiveness, his vision was superb.

His swordsmanship was the Sleeve Sword, the hidden weapon was merely a mean for him. Sleeve Sword was the technique that he was devoted to. It was also the legacy of the Mingjian Peak.

He even applied the sword technique to the skill of controlling the force applied to other objects, which was used to launch the hidden golden needles.

He did not think it was worth to use the sword against Bai Yufei, or else Bai Yufei would not have lived until now.

“You cannot predict when I’m going to use my knife, yes?” Shen Lian smiled with satisfaction as he said this.

“Of course,” Ye Liuyun replied coolly.

“Does that mean you’ve lost?” Shen Lian’s eyes became vivid, it was brighter than the radiant stars.

“No,” Ye Liuyun answered slowly.

He could not predict Shen Lain’s knife, similarly, Shen Lian too could not predict his sword.

Jian Shisi’s gaze fell on the two, the frantic enthusiasm was unhidden.

No one else present understood better than he did about the delicacy between the two.

Shen Lian did not pull out his sword for a long time, it was because his psyche had not reached a critical point that could be a good opportunity to use it.

This chance could possibly turn up at any moment, or it would not present itself forever.

To strike or not was all within Shen Lian’s intention, but once he struck, the outcome was nothing Shen Lian could control.

Therefore, Shen Lian needed a very good opportunity.

As the fly cutter was not a hidden weapon, it was also a sustenance of his vitality spirit.

If it did not hit its target after striking, there was definitely not a second chance.

“You should know that it’s undeniable that you will lose because I have captured your weak point,” Shen Lian said indifferently.

The words struck Jian Shisi like lightning though, he suddenly thought of Ye Liuyun’s weak point.

Ye Liuyun’s weakness was that he was overconfident. He was confident that he could dodge Shen Lian’s fly cutter, he was confident that the Sleeve Sword could take care of Shen Lian.

However, there was one matter that he did not consider, which was whether Shen Lian really relied solely on the fly cutter.

Shen Lian flew off the ground, there were lanterns hanging on the flagpole in front of the entrance of the inn.

Shen Lian was on top of a lantern, the moon was very close to him.

There was one Shen Lian in the sky, there was also another Shen Lian on the ground.

Shen Lian’s spirit had left his physical body and was now in the air, it was also the end of the road. There was the mention “to occupy a commanding position” in the Art of War, Shen Lain had gotten a hold of the terrain.

Even Ye Liuyun could not have expected Shen Lian to cultivate until the point of astral projection, his Governor and Conception vessels did not even connect.

The difficulty of astral projection was ten times harder than connecting the Governor and Conception vessels.

Based on Shen Lian’s age, to be able to develop his inner Qi to this level was considered shocking, let alone the other matters.

…

At the south side of the Capital City, there was a run-down Taoist temple.

Ling Chongxiao stayed inside the temple, and now he was with Shen Lian under the same bright moon.

He was still bald, he was a true Daoist priest and a fake monk.

The man in front of him was a short-haired man, but he was a real monk.

“You must be too bored Ku Hui, to have come look for me for a duel,” Ling Chongxiao yawned with an exhausted expression on his face.

“I just thought of an incredible move for the palm method, I cannot contain my excitement, thus I purposely came to try it out with Shizhu Ling.”

Ling Chongxiao glanced at Ku Hui from the side of his eyes, and lazily replied, “Don’t think that just because you already know the Mystical Art of the Vajra Body Barrier, I cannot beat you to death.”

“It will be great if Shizhu Ling could beat me to death, who knows, I may be able to catch up with the destiny of the immortal during the next reincarnation, and I would not need to be some monk anymore,” Ku Hui cheerfully said.

“Buddhism is a wide and easy pathway, everyone can do this cultivation, it’s no better than the Celestialism, what is there to be commended?” Ling Chongxiao scorned.

“Then why don’t the Shizhu, you enter the pathway of Buddhism?”

“I am a willful person, is that any of your business,” Ling Chongxiao scolded, even though verbally he expresses disdain for Celestialism, his biggest wish was to be formally acknowledged into a branch of Superlunary Immortal. Unfortunately, even if he found it, he did not have any good luck, they will not bother with him. Even though through the pathway of Buddhism anyone could achieve to become Buddha, but there was hardly anyone who could truly become Buddha. Besides the matter of becoming a Buddha immediately or not, even those who became Arhat as a result of the Buddha way was a rare occurrence.

However within Celestialism, even though there were fewer people, but the amount of those who had obtained achievements were higher than those who were on the pathway of Buddhism.

In the end, even though the pathway of Buddhism did not require any texts and can be truly realized by the heart, but the required qualifications were actually even more demanding compared to joining the Superlunary Immortal.

Without the root of wisdom, having a hollow root was also impossible to become Buddha.