Chapter 47

Chapter 46>

The chaos of the first day of the Grand Battle of the Kai Sect, filled with madness, finally subsided as the hour of the tiger (3-5 AM) was almost over.

Zha Hui looked at the muscular men sprawled around, snoring, and couldn't help but burst into laughter.

Some might criticize the martial world, entangled in all sorts of debts, as a cruel world, but it is also a place where ordinary men and people live.

No matter how much they compete in martial arts and fame, how different is it from our daily lives?

Zha Hui felt a sense of detachment and set off for the rear garden of the Zha Family Compound.

After drinking all the congratulatory toasts offered by the martial world's elders without refusal, a slight sentimental mood arose in his heart.

Upon arriving at the rear garden, Zha Hui stood under the bright moonlight and slowly drew out the Zha Family Iron Sword.

Zha Hui couldn't help but laugh again.

"Such an incredible genuine sword..."

Modern people might live their entire lives without ever seeing such a sharp long sword, as one might only see in movies.

After falling into the world of martial arts and enduring nearly ten years of twists and turns, he had finally inherited the sword spirit and the divine spirit's legacy.

Yet, even this common iron sword still felt unfamiliar to him.

With such a complex state of mind, Zha Hui looked up at the night sky.

It was incomparable to the night sky seen from a modern city.

No matter how hard one tried to observe the stars under the city's bright lights, the vast Milky Way could never be seen.

But here, in the Central Plains, the stars seemed to pour down upon him.

Under the vast universe and the great nature, a person is but a tiny speck.

No matter how much one struggles, one is still just a person, like those who are drunk and tangled in their sleep.

- "Why are you being so sentimental? It doesn't suit you."

The voice of the stern sword spirit was filled with concern.

Zha Hui smiled and looked up at the night sky again.

"Is it that good?"

- "Stop talking nonsense and go to sleep."

The heart demon does not always arise from a wicked mind or a deep desire to kill.

More often, it starts from a light self-contradiction or a simple sense of futility, which can be even more destructive.

Therefore, for a martial artist, especially a swordsman, maintaining a clear mind and a steady composure is of utmost importance.

Such a hollow heart is a shortcut to wasting one's mental strength.

If he had a physical body, the sword spirit would have gently pressed the sleep point to help him, but the reality of not being able to do so was regrettable.

At that moment, someone's presence was detected.

Swoosh.

The graceful footwork, like a sliding sound, was the Dark Fragrance Drift of the Huashan Sect.

Only Zixia, the Sword Saint, could possess such profound subtlety in this footwork, imbued with the power of intent.

Approaching like a plum blossom floating in the wind, Danchongyang looked at Zha Hui with half-open eyes.

"Grandmaster."

Zha Hui almost burst into laughter.

Grandmaster? I'm just a seven-year failed public servant.

"Hmm, I must have had too much to drink. I want to be alone right now."

Danchongyang's face showed confusion as he spoke in a low voice.

"Boundless Buddha, I have already used my intent to examine a two-hundred-meter radius and found no presence. Surely you must know this, so why are you making me so anxious?"

Danchongyang still couldn't forget the teachings of the Grandmaster, which seemed to purify his soul.

His teachings were like a stream of jade water, and if he could only meet the true face of the Grandmaster again, he would be willing to give his life.

"Boundless Buddha, no matter how secular your actions, I have never dared to measure or question them. However, I have observed that the Grandmaster's Zha Family Grand Assembly has the power to greatly influence the martial world, even the world at large."

Danchongyang bowed respectfully.

"Grandmaster, you have regarded me, this unworthy one, as a fellow practitioner and bestowed teachings upon me. I beg you to enlighten me this time as well."

His sincere and admirable heart, his selfless actions, moved the sword spirit, who had been watching.

"Ah, no! Sword Spirit Elder..."

Whoosh!

The sword spirit, now manifested in Zha Hui's body, looked at Danchongyang with a noble smile.

At that moment, Danchongyang trembled and fell to his knees, recognizing the change in his aura.

"Ah, Grandmaster!"

The sword spirit's expression turned wistful as he approached and sat opposite Danchongyang.

"..."

With those loving words from the sword spirit, Danchongyang's heart was filled with a passionate surge, as if touched by fire.

The weight of a lifetime, hidden deep within the leader of Huashan, now revealed the frailty of a human being.

This desire for comfort flowed from his cheeks to his neck, and soon soaked his front.

"Karma in the universe is ceaseless, ultimately returning to its origin. Why are you so anxious?"

"Boundless Buddha... I... I..."

The sword spirit saw a wistful emotion, a sense of longing, in Danchongyang's face.

"You are a man of deep feelings. Did you miss the Four Elders of Huashan?"

Zixia, known as the First Sword of the World or the First Person of the World, received the utmost respect of all martial artists. However, in reality, he was just a Taoist who had devoted his life to cultivation in the broad embrace of Huashan.

If not for the title of the leader of the Huashan Sword Sect, he would have been just a disciple of Huashan, endlessly longing for his master.

"Hehe! You sense the past in me. So, do you want to be a pampered cultivator again, the leader of the world-renowned Huashan Sword Sect?"

"Such a thing..."

Danchongyang tried to deny it but couldn't.

At the age of fifty, he had become the greatest plum blossom swordsman of Huashan.

At that time, his master was still alive but offered no further teachings.

This was because the disciple's realm had already surpassed the master, leaving nothing more to teach.

After that, Danchongyang practiced alone for decades, advancing on a lonely path.

In the midst of such intense loneliness, the Grandmaster appeared.

With his aura alone, he neutralized Danchongyang's entire inner strength and erased Huashan with a single sword stroke.

He then scolded Danchongyang to abandon his decades of accumulated achievements and enlightened him to the true Dark Fragrance Plum Blossom with a single stroke of supreme illusion.

Danchongyang bit his lips hard.

"I will not deny it."

"Hehe..."

The sword spirit laughed, seemingly finding it absurd.

The current First Person of the World, the great Zixia, was humbly seeking teachings.

The sword spirit, sitting casually on the ground with half-open eyes, spoke.

"Go ahead and demonstrate. I want to see your sword as well."

At these words, Danchongyang's face lit up.

Swoosh—

The sound of Zixia's sword being drawn echoed through the silent rear garden.

It was not a formal sword technique but a simple draw, yet it was enough to reveal his profound realm.

Swoosh—

His sword began to move slowly.

It was a pure sword path, devoid of any inner strength or intent.

Strangely, the sword technique Danchongyang was displaying was not the Huashan Sect's renowned Twenty-Four Plum Blossom Sword Technique but the Six Directions Sword.

The Six Directions Sword was a bit more advanced than the Three Elements Sword but was a common sword technique in the martial world.

As the name suggests, it was a technique to understand and dominate space, taking the initiative.

Moving slowly, it disrupts the front, then turns to defend the back with precision.

With a bold trajectory, it penetrates the left and simultaneously strikes the right, firmly establishing itself under heaven and earth.

This is the Six Directions.

If one can perfectly dominate these six directions, no attack in the world would be feared.

Dividing these six directions into thirty-six and imbuing them with even more profound subtleties, the sword technique becomes the Southern Peak's Thirty-Six Swords of the World.

Although the Six Directions Sword is a common technique, the essence it contains cannot be easily dismissed.

However, this was not the sword technique of the Huashan Sword Sect.

"Enough. Stop."

Before he could finish all the techniques, Danchongyang looked at the sword spirit with a puzzled face.

But the sword spirit kept his eyes closed and remained silent.

Finally, Danchongyang sheathed his sword and approached the sword spirit respectfully, sitting opposite him.

After a long while, the sword spirit finally spoke.

"...Why is the sword of the Huashan Sword Sect imitating my sword or trying to mimic it?"

"..."

Danchongyang felt as if he had been stabbed in the heart by these words from the sword spirit.

But how could he simply explain his resolve?

"Boundless Buddha, regardless of my status as the leader of the Huashan Sword Sect, I am a swordsman. Pursuing the divine in swordsmanship is natural. How can you call this will of a swordsman wrong?"

"Roar!"

The sword spirit opened his eyes wide and shouted.

"You are a representative swordsman of the Central Plains Sword Sect! How can you pursue the techniques of a foreigner? Even if you reach such a realm, can you truly be proud of yourself?"

Danchongyang was bewildered.

"Boundless Buddha, a foreigner's sword?"

The sword spirit revealed the futile feelings that had long oppressed him.

"Please, I beg you, do not follow the futile path of the Three Spirits and instead help flourish the martial arts of the Central Plains."

Isn't it laughable for the world to mock the martial arts of the Three Spirits as futile!

"My emptiness does not harmonize with the Huashan Sword Sect's."

Danchongyang already knew.

Beyond the six directions and the thirty-six directions, the highest realm of true spatial sword techniques is emptiness.

This was the sword technique of the sword spirit, which he had experienced firsthand.

A single sword stroke that erased Huashan, an absolute natural sword.

"The sword of Huashan is like a plum blossom that blooms first after enduring the winter, symbolizing the spring of all things. It is also the sword of life, reviving all things and the universe."

Danchongyang's eyes were half-open.

"You, this unworthy one, should cultivate the sword of life and vitality, not the emptiness of my sword. Have you not yet realized this simple truth?"

"..."

It was a scathing rebuke, like a large nail piercing his mind.

Whoosh—

The aura of life from the Foyang Lake rapidly gathered around Danchongyang.

The fragrance of the Dark Fragrance Plum Blossom bloomed even more, enveloping the entire rear garden.

The sword spirit, whose face finally brightened, slowly stood up.

"I still do not know. What destiny lies in this child's fate?"

The sword spirit gazed at the bright moon.

"How can a single person bear all the calamities alone?"

No matter how talented Zha Hui is,