Food Fairy Lord

Chapter 750 Unsheathing the Sword for My Lord (Part 2) (Bonus chapter for Alliance Leader [Fortunate to Know Danqing in the Mortal World]!)
“Master Crane, this sword puzzle has trapped me in a situation where I cannot defeat it. I have heard that the ‘Sword of Escape’ can break free from a prison without gaps. Now, we are facing the ‘Complete Self’, and playing swords with it is like being in a cage without doors or windows, airtight and impossible to break.” Deer Tail said, “Since Master Crane understands the Sword of Escape, perhaps it is the key to this puzzle. Even if it is not, I think we can still apply the same principle to other situations.”

Luwei's laughter carried a hint of joy, as if she had discovered a rather correct line of thought. As a result, the murmurs in the garden subsided, and everyone looked at the woman with some anticipation.

“…Oh,” He Yaoyao responded.

Then she stood up from her desk.

He took two steps forward, then turned back and picked up his sword from the table.

Pei Ye watched her frozen face from afar.

"Oh," she repeated, raising her hand to bow to the deer tail and the four directions. "Thank you for your high regard. I, the mountain crane, continue to pay my respects to the true disciple of the deer and all the heroes."

“Our sect does indeed speak of the ‘Sword of Escape,’ but this sword is not unique to our sect… it is merely a name.” He Yaoyao looked down into the empty space, her voice soft and pleasant, and the garden seemed to fall completely silent as she spoke. “I think this sword problem may not be solvable by the ‘Sword of Escape.’”

As she said this, she suddenly raised her eyes and glanced at Pei Ye from afar. Pei Ye's eyebrows slowly furrowed, and a bad premonition rose within him.

Shikao asked curiously, "Why did Tsuru Shinden say that the Sword of Edo couldn't solve this?"

“‘Escape’ refers to ‘myself’ in relation to the external world, and I think it may not be able to be used to transcend myself,” He Yaoyao said. “Of course, it may be worth a try… but the key is that I am not very good at using this sword, so it is hard to say for sure.”

"Hmm." Shikao was slightly taken aback. He had only heard of this kind of mention, but he had never actually seen this sword. "Then, would Tsuru no Makoto like to try it out in the pool?"

He Yaoyao smiled slightly and said in a clear voice, "Since I don't know how, going down into the pool would only disturb the water. I do know that there is another person here who uses the Escape Sword much better than me. Last time we discussed sword principles, his insights were also very profound... In short, he is far superior to me. I'll invite him to come up and give it a try."

"..."

"..."

Luwei looked slightly bewildered, and the entire garden fell silent for a moment.

He Yaoyao turned her head, like a crane looking back, and gazed at the group from the Sword Cultivation Academy on the other side.

Pei Ye took a deep breath and turned her head away.

The crowd in the garden looked at He Yaoyao in silence, curiosity, and bewilderment. The woman gave an apologetic smile, and then, with everyone's gaze on her, she walked step by step to the front of the Sword Cultivation Academy's group.

The sword students were sitting rather close together, so she whispered, "Excuse me, please make way," and stepped inside, coming to stand in front of Pei Ye.

Pei Ye looked up at her in shock.

"Young Master Pei Ye, please, please do me a favor..." she leaned down and whispered, her hand first tightly gripping the young man's sleeve.

"Is this a 'please'?" Pei Ye glared, speechless.

"I...I have no choice..." He Yaoyao was on the verge of tears, pleading, "Please, for the sake of our friendship of spending the night together at the inn..."

"Don't talk nonsense!!" Pei Ye's eyes widened like bells. The sword students who had been looking over all turned their heads away with respect. Many of them even covered their ears with proper manners.

"I beg you……"

"Alright, alright, alright, stop talking nonsense." Pei Ye had only ever been made flushed by women before, but this was the first time he had been made so flustered. He said, "It's nothing, I'll go with you."

"Thank you! Young Master Pei Ye!"

"Wait a moment, I'll get the sword." Pei Ye lifted Yu Hu up, tucked it behind his back, and turned it around, but He Yaoyao couldn't wait any longer and pulled him up from the table.

……

After the woman finished speaking, everyone in the garden watched as she turned and walked to the west. She was tall and slender, and even though she was slightly bowing her head for some reason, she looked like an elegant crane.

The girls on the terrace looked at her, Shaolong Yujian looked at her, Kongtong, Yunshan, the entire garden looked at her quietly and curiously.

She walked step by step across half of the small garden, finally stopping beside the seats in the Sword Cultivation Academy. She then went inside, bent down, and began talking to one of the people there.

The two seemed to be chatting and laughing. The woman even took his sleeve, and the boy, who was still adjusting his cuffs, was led to his feet with a smile.

To most, the figure was young and unfamiliar. He was tall and imposing, dressed in a sword-wielding robe, with a black cat perched on his shoulder. He Yaoyao led him back to the pond by the sleeve. "This is my friend. He truly knows how to use the Escape One Sword and is a very skilled swordsman. Please let him demonstrate it for you all." He Yaoyao gave an elegant bow, then stood aside with her hands clasped, as if it were none of her business.

The garden fell silent for a moment. The young man didn't have any particularly outstanding qualities, but he certainly didn't seem nervous.

This sword challenge had been on the field for a while, and this was the first swordsman to step into the group of six. Unlike Shang Yun Ning or Chen Quan, who seemed to be skilled with a sword at first glance, he first raised his hand in a salute and greeted the disciples upon entering the arena.

“I wasn’t really ready yet,” he laughed. “I was planning to think things through before I spoke—but then Tsurugi suddenly brought it up.”

Luwei returned the greeting, smiling as he looked him over: "So it's Young Hero Pei. He Zhen has heard that you can use the Sword of Escape. Do you have any insights into that?"

"That was the excuse she suggested, I actually have my doubts. She's never seen me draw my sword." The boy smiled as he took the kitten off his shoulder and looked at the pool. "But I do have some thoughts, Lu Zhenchuan, you just went into the pool, how could you possibly break your own sword?"

Luwei asked curiously, "If I can break my own sword, then I should know how to draw the sword better. Then this better version of myself is the real me now."

The boy nodded: "I think so too. Then what do you think, what if we break through after entering the pool?"

“After you go into the pool…” Luwei was stunned.

“That’s right. I just saw you all trying to solve it like a puzzle, as if you were trying to find a loophole to get through. But wasn’t this mirror originally Ning Tongxiu’s sword dao barrier?” the young man said. “Since it’s a bottleneck, a barrier, then of course the only way is to ‘break through’ it. I think there’s no shortcut, you just have to go down into the pool and surpass your entire self in front of it.”

"..." Luwei was speechless.

Many swordsmen are constantly improving.

But progress is progress, and breakthroughs are breakthroughs; a little progress is a little progress, and a higher level is a higher level.

Even if one achieves a breakthrough in the heat of battle, one might gain enlightenment about a certain aspect of oneself, but how could one completely transcend the entirety of oneself?

Qunfei lightly tapped the scabbard: "Young Master Pei, what you say is true, but it sounds a bit like a fantasy."

The young man smiled at her: "Tianshan is a land of immortals, so it's only right to believe in some fantastical tales."

Qunfei narrowed his handsome eyes, seemingly looking at him with a smile.

The boy glanced down at the kitten in his arms, handed it to He Yaoyao beside him, and smiled at everyone, saying, "Anyway, thank you for your kind offer. I'll go down and give it a try. If it doesn't work out, please don't laugh at me too much."

He Yaoyao took the kitten and looked at him with admiration.

The boy composed himself, lowered his head, and walked down into the pond.

With each step he took, he seemed to become calmer. As he walked step by step to the edge of the pond, he was as still as wood and stone, and birds and butterflies would linger on him.

Then his boots touched the water, he looked up, and stood quietly on the water.

His reflection rose up opposite.

It was only at this moment that people saw for the first time that the blazing, sharp, and unrestrained sword intent.

It struggled and burst forth from the shell made of clothing and body, like the long ribbon of an immortal, instantly seizing the entire realm of the Heart Sword.

If Luwei is a deep mountain and Shangyun Ning is a snowy field, then the young man is truly like a sword immortal descending to earth.

But it didn't come from the boy standing quietly on the pond, but from the figure slowly rising opposite him.

It actually raised its hand first and tore off the ribbon that bound its hair. Then its long hair, along with its cuffs and hem, danced wildly, like a gray, burning fire.

The boy himself remained quiet, gazing intently at it. A long sword floated on his waist without wind, making him look like a celestial youth riding a sword.

The people in the garden were stunned, and only then did the discussion gradually resurface.

"Who is this person?" some whispered questions among themselves.

“…Pei Ye.” Others answered in a daze.

(End of this chapter)