Chapter 74

Lü Qiantang dismounted, drew the Chixia Sword, and walked toward the Yuxiao Sword Formation composed of eighteen people. Heavy swords are mostly considered overbearing in the sword path, aiming to sweep through thousands of enemies and break ten thousand armors, just like the Wu family's sword tomb. Regardless of whether the Wu family's nine swords truly slaughtered ten thousand Northern Liang ghost-riding heavy cavalry two hundred years ago, this legend could make every heavy sword practitioner feel their blood boil. Lü Qiantang had spent ten years observing the great tides of the Guangling River to understand the sword path. Every year on the eighteenth day of the eighth month, he would float a boat against the surging river, slashing at the waves until he was exhausted and fell into the water, nearly drowning several times. Fortunately, someone was watching by the riverbank and saved him, bringing him back to a thatched cottage. Each time he practiced with the great sword against the tide, his sword skills, techniques, and physical strength improved, so today he faced the eighteen Yuxiao swords with no fear.

Wu Shizhen frowned. Was he really going to break the formation? Where did this frivolous and arrogant young man get his courage? The four characters "Dismount and Enter" were written by the emperor himself, equivalent to a silent imperial edict for the Qingyang Palace. His father, Wu Lingsu, was even enfeoffed as a king, and even the governor of Yongzhou did not dare to rely on his status on the mountain. With the two famous sword formations, were these people shortsighted or overconfident? Was it really going to involve his father, the Qingcheng King, today? Wu Shizhen stood at the threshold of the hall, making it easier to observe the battle clearly. He had grown up on the mountain, but his mind was not small. He had good relations with the wealthy and influential young men of Yongzhou. When he went down the mountain into the city, he was treated with great respect as a descendant of immortals and a noble. He had heard that the young men of Beiliang were all arrogant, rude, and lawless, and today's encounter confirmed it. Wu Shizhen pinched a silk sword belt between his fingers and muttered to himself, "It seems I must find an opportunity to meet the eldest son of the Beiliang King."

Little Shan Zha had already returned the Xiudong Dao to Xu Fengnian and looked up with a worried expression, "Xu Fengnian, are you really going to fight the immortals?"

Xu Fengnian smiled, "Just for fun. It's best if I win, but if I don't, I'll run. Didn't Old Meng teach you that?"

Little Shan Zha sighed, "He did, but Liu Luweigan said that we, as bandits, are different from our companions. It's better to let the wrong ones go than to rob the wrong ones. Otherwise, if we can't win and get caught, it would be so embarrassing, and we'd be dragged to the market to be beheaded. Old Meng and the others can say they'll be heroes in eighteen years, but I haven't even lived to eighteen yet. How can I know about the next life? I just want to take Que to see the outside world. You always said the scenery below the mountain is beautiful, almost convincing me and Que. I don't want to be a bandit for life. I want to find a job that doesn't get me beheaded. Although I always tease her for being dark, she's like my little sister. I have to help her find a good husband in the future. I can't tie a scholar to her as a husband, can I? Besides, Que doesn't like that. Sigh, she likes you, Xu Fengnian. How could she like you? Back then, it was fine, but now you have so many immortal sisters around you. How could it be her turn?"

Xu Fengnian lightly tapped Little Shan Zha's head with the Xiudong Dao and smiled, "You've really grown up. How about going to Beiliang, not to the border, to be a stable soldier? At least you can earn some dowry for Que. Being a soldier is better than being a bandit; you don't have to live in fear."

Little Shan Zha bent down to stroke the horse's mane. Old Meng couldn't even raise a horse, let alone be a bandit. He was infatuated with Xu Fengnian's horse. He sighed, "I want to, but what about Old Meng, Kong Bizi, and Liu Luweigan? If I leave, they'll starve to death in a few years. Old Meng, the leader, is stubborn. He says life outside the mountain is not pleasant, worse than being a dog, and refuses to go down the mountain to do proper work. I'm worried to death."

Xu Fengnian murmured, "Worried."

Yu Youwei, holding Wu Meiniang's Que, stared at the terrifying formation of the immortals. Xu Fengnian had let the strong uncle with the large sword fight. She was as worried as Little Shan Zha. She turned to the sister who was even prettier than the immortal ladies on the mountain and asked pitifully, "Sister Yu, can you make Xu Fengnian not fight?"

Yu Youwei glanced at Xu Fengnian's arrogant back and gently touched Que's nose, saying softly, "He won't listen to me. Your Xu brother is especially good to you and Little Shan Zha, but he's not nice to anyone else. Little Que, there are very few girls he would carry on his back. I'm far inferior to you."

The little girl was surprised and couldn't understand. The immortal sister was so beautiful, wouldn't Xu Fengnian like her a lot?

Xu Fengnian saw that the battle was about to begin and squeezed his horse's sides. He handed Little Shan Zha to Wei Shuyang and gently called to Yu Youwei, "Take Que to the steps below. The square will be bloody, and it's not a scene you like. Stay far away, by the carriage, and wait for me to call you."

Yu Youwei and Wei Shuyang each led a child out of the square on horseback.

A lone warrior breaking a formation must strike decisively and kill first, avoiding any delay, which could be fatal. When Lü Qiantang entered the square, he was surrounded by eighteen Qinggang swords. His first strike with the Chixia Sword was without any reserve.

The sword's momentum was like a rainbow piercing the sun.

To the uninitiated, the sword's momentum was just intimidating, but unless it frightened them to death, it was just a beautiful display. The sword techniques beneath the momentum were what could kill. Lü Qiantang's Chixia Sword collided with a Qinggang Sword meticulously crafted by the Qingyang Palace, and the sword array Daoist was thrown back. However, before he landed, three swords pressed against his back, bending into a beautiful arc to stabilize him. The three swords withdrew, and the Daoist landed gracefully, his face calm.

Lü Qiantang's mind was as still as water. The essence of the heavy sword's overbearing nature was to defeat the enemy with one strike, but how many swordsmen in the world could reach the realm of a terrestrial sword immortal? Since he had not yet reached that level, he needed a resilient sword heart to face the dangers. Lü Qiantang moved like a dragon, aiming for a Daoist's head. The Daoist did not need to draw his sword; he just kept retreating, and nearby sword array companions came to his aid. The beauty of the sword array was that it integrated each swordsman into one, with the swords' sounds like the long cries of cranes. Instantly, three swords emerged, one blocking the Chixia, one striking Lü Qiantang's sword arm, and the third piercing his back. Several Daoists leaped into the air, like cranes circling, attacking Lü Qiantang, creating a beautiful scene.

Xu Fengnian squinted, admiring the eighteen Daoists' agile movements and the dazzling sword light. He sincerely envied, "The sword array is a good thing. I should get one too. I'll gather the sword experts in the mansion. I wonder if Li Chuncang will teach them, or if I should learn from Wu Lingsu and steal the three major sword arrays. The Longhu Mountain's 108 swords forming an army sounds impressive, but it's too exaggerated. The Wu family's sword tomb has few people, but where can I find nine sword masters at once? The Wudang Mountain's Taiji Sword Array with 81 people seems the closest. I'll ask the ox-rider if it can be simplified to 20 or 30 people."

Lü Qiantang's sword techniques were fierce, but the Yuxiao Sword Array was soft and agile, making it difficult for him to kill or even seriously injure anyone without exhausting his strength.

Xu Fengnian muttered, "This sword array is invincible below the First Rank. That Wu Daniu didn't lie this time."

Lü Qiantang alone could not defeat the sword array, but it was fine. Xu Fengnian wasn't a stubborn fool. He immediately shouted, "Shu Xiu, Yang Qingfeng, go help."

Wu Shizhen saw that Lü Qiantang alone could not break the array and sighed in relief. This was reasonable; otherwise, if one person easily broke the Yuxiao Sword Array, it would tarnish the Qingyang Palace's imperial-endorsed golden sign. If one person couldn't break it, adding two more? Wu Shizhen wasn't afraid. The Yuxiao Sword Array of eighteen swords couldn't achieve the "thousands of swords emerging" realm, which was the specialty of the Longhu and Wudang Mountain sword arrays. The bad had its good; adding two more people would split the array into three, each enhancing the other, with six swords against one person, maximizing the Yuxiao Sword Array's power.

The Qingyang Palace couldn't perform the ritual of burning talismans and summoning rain, but trapping and killing enemies with the sword array was their forte.

Wu Shizhen pinched the sword belt by his ear and gently rubbed the waist of a young female Daoist, his eyes fixed on Shu Xiu in the array. Her stunningly full chest and slender waist were incredibly alluring! The young female Daoist's waist felt good to touch, but touching Shu Xiu's waist would be even more exciting. Especially when Wu Shizhen saw Shu Xiu use her abundant true qi to bend a Qinggang Sword aimed at her chest, almost breaking it, he was even more amazed, his throat moving as he swallowed, teasing, "Wow, this alluring woman has such remarkable inner strength, matching her impressive chest. It's a perfect match. In bed, she would be a perfect match for me! An ancient saying goes that a moment of passion is worth a thousand pieces of gold. A day has a hundred moments, so I could earn ten thousand pieces of gold in a day! So what if that arrogant young man says a thousand pieces of gold? It's nothing!"

Wu Shizhen's patience was cultivated by the Qingcheng King, who had only one son. Xu Fengnian, however, lacked this patience and said sternly, "Shu Xiu, if you don't break the array, do you believe I'll let others break it and send you out to be played with?"

Shu Xiu's body trembled, her chest following, creating a captivating scene that even the sword array Daoists couldn't help but stare.

Before Shu Xiu could exert herself, Lü Qiantang, who had entered the array first and understood it best, began to increase his sword intent and power, sending two swords flying out of the array's trajectory. Seizing this moment, Lü Qiantang did not try to injure the enemy but broke through the eight-person small array and moved toward Shu Xiu, creating an opening. At the same time, Shu Xiu and Yang Qingfeng, who had developed some默契 in the battle with the spirit generals, understood each other and unleashed their killing intent. Lü Qiantang ignored the twelve swords flying toward him and heavily slashed at a Daoist, slightly disrupting two small arrays and drawing most of the attention. Yang Qingfeng's attacks were fierce, disrupting the last stable array, seemingly to rescue Lü Qiantang, who had abandoned his back. This gave Shu Xiu a significant opportunity. She bent her knees, leaped into the air, grabbed a Qinggang Sword, and threw the Daoist and the sword to the ground. She then rushed to another airborne Daoist, slapped his hurried sword away with one hand, and pressed his forehead with the other, crushing his skull with a dull thud, splattering blood all over her.

One fell to the ground, one died, and the Yuxiao Sword Array, which was not as tight as the Shenxiao Sword Array, immediately collapsed. Lü Qiantang's Chixia Sword was no longer restrained, severing a Daoist's sword arm in one strike. Yang Qingfeng took advantage of the chaos, using his frost and snow techniques to strike two Daoists in the chest, causing them to collapse like mud.

The defeat was swift. The three Beiliang retainers, carefully selected by the Grand Marshal for the young prince, were not armchair strategists. They knew the importance of finishing off a defeated enemy. They entered the array, formed a small array back-to-back, and mercilessly killed, taking four more lives in a short time.

Xu Fengnian held the Xiudong and Chunlei dual knives and laughed loudly, "It's a skillful job. Reward them!"

He added, "Kill them all!"

Killing the emperor's appointed Qingcheng King would require careful consideration, but killing a dozen Daoists was nothing.

Wu Shizhen, cold-hearted, was not saddened by the deaths in the sword array but regretted the sudden collapse of the Yuxiao Sword Array. He gritted his teeth and said softly, "Form the Shenxiao Sword Array."

The Shenxiao, meaning the high and divine, refers to the highest true land of Daoism, a million miles above the earth. Clouds gather to form the sky, supported by the power of the righteous, capable of holding ten thousand pounds. Immortals use the nine heavenly thunders as swords, raining down a million miles, unstoppable by mortals!

This was the Shenxiao Sword Array, the Qingyang Palace's pride, which had once performed in the imperial palace with a grand display.

When the Shenxiao Sword Array was completed, all eighteen members of the sword array were already dead on the ground, the square covered in blood.

The female Daoists were pale.

There was no trace of the leisurely and relaxed atmosphere they had when they first came out of the hall.

Suddenly, the sound of hooves thundered from the mountain top, growing louder and more terrifying.

Numerous archers and swordsmen rode up the stone steps, forming a line on the square, like the tide of the Guangling River.

Was it really going to be a cavalry charge to break the sword array?

These one hundred elite light cavalry, one hundred white horses, each carrying a Beiliang Dao.

The leading heavily armored general held a large halberd, its tip pointing at the Qingyang Palace's main hall.

The light cavalry behind the halberd belonged to one of the top three most valiant and skilled camps in Beiliang's 64 camps, the Phoenix Camp!

There were a total of 800 cavalry.

Also known as the 800 White Horse Righteous Followers of the Xu family!