Aoyama

Inside a cave in Changbai Mountain, Chen Ji quietly gazed at the cave ceiling.

Old Ears peeked out of his sight, his wrinkled old face staring at him: "What are you thinking about? You've opened your eyes but aren't saying a word. Are you possessed?"

Chen Ji remained silent.

Old Ears waved again at Chen Ji's cheek, but Chen Ji didn't even blink.

Just then, the dark clouds suddenly perked up their ears. A moment later, footsteps, the rustling of armor, and the angry roar of the Goryeo Chungmu Guards came from outside the cave: "Donggur'ane!"

Old Ears frowned: "The Loyal Guards caught up so quickly. Could it be that the woman has already been killed by Wu Kezhi? Hurry up, or it will be too late."

Chen Ji remained silent, feeling the molten flow within his body like the Yellow River cascading down, with hundreds of millions of rivers rushing into the ten-mile-long Dragon Gorge.

He has been slow to enter the Dao Seeking Realm, and he has accumulated too much molten energy.

The molten flow could not be contained by the 720 furnaces, and could only be allowed to rush out of the acupoints and travel through the limbs, bones, and all meridians.

Chen Ji was shocked to realize that not only was the furnace fire burning, but the blood and meridians in his body were also burning. Each meridian turned into a line as bright as day, connecting the furnace fire together, and even the meridians became part of the furnace fire.

The molten flow passed through the heart, lungs, liver, kidneys, and spleen, then moved to the arms, until it ignited all the meridians in the upper body before disappearing completely.

Half of Chenji's body had been pierced by the molten flow, resembling a dense constellation in the night sky, with each star connected to the others.

He had never seen such a sight before. The fact that the Mountain Lord had undergone such a transformation because he had been unable to enter the Dao Seeking Realm for so long was unprecedented in history.

At this moment, the Zhongwu Guards had already reached the entrance of the cave and blocked the light, plunging the cave into darkness.

Just as Wu Yun was about to make a move, he saw Chen Ji lying on the bed casually wave his hand, and a silver-white sword seed whistled out from his sleeve, flying past Lao Erduo and Wu Yun.

Old Ears' gaze followed the movement of the sword, watching it dart past like a shuttle, flying across the neck of the loyal guard.

The loyal guard at the cave entrance was drawing his bow and arrow, but before he could even pull back the string, a splatter of blood appeared on the snow. The guard dropped his bow and arrow, clutched his neck, and slowly knelt down.

Old Ears said in confusion, "Huh, why is it silver-white... This isn't right! Taking away five swords and triggering five martial arts sounds, how could it be silver-white? Who taught you the sword technique? Did you cultivate it wrong?"

Before he could ponder this further, another sword seed flew out of Chen Ji's sleeve, along with the previous one, and flew out of the cave. Immediately, the cries of the Loyal Guards echoed outside the cave.

Old Ears' eyes widened: "Two sword seeds?! How can there be two sword seeds..."

Before he finished speaking, a third sword seed flew out from Chen Ji's sleeve.

Old Ears, tugging at his hair, completely disregarded concealing his identity: "Three sword seeds? This is even more damning! How can one cultivate three sword seeds? Did I cultivate them incorrectly?!"

He completely forgot about the Loyal Guards outside the cave and suddenly turned to Chen Ji: "Boy, how did you manage to cultivate three sword seeds? Where did you learn the secrets of sword seeds?"

Amidst the wails, Chen Ji sat up, crackling sounds emanating from his entire body.

Old Ear hurriedly asked, "Since you have cultivated the sword seed, why does it seem like you have also cultivated another path? How can you cultivate two paths at the same time?"

My ears and brain aren't doing so well anymore.

Chen Ji remained silent. He sat up from the tattered bed and casually looked around, as if the swordsmen fighting outside the cave were not his.

Outside the cave, the sword silently pierced through the snow at the entrance. A loyal guard knelt in the snow, holding a horn bow with an arrow nocked and pointing at the cave entrance.

Before he could let go, the sword seed pierced his neck from the right side and emerged from the left. He saw that the bowstring in his hand had come loose, and the arrow had flown off somewhere. He tried to breathe, but found that air was leaking from his throat.

Another sword slashed across the waist of another loyal guard, cutting through the Goryeo man's bean-shaped armor like paper. The loyal guard looked down and saw blood seeping from his abdomen. Then his belly split open, and his intestines spilled out, staining the snow red.

Old Ears arrived at the cave entrance, leaned against the stone wall, and squinted as he examined the three sword seeds.

The first sword seed was placed on the left flare. With each flash of the sword light, a loyal guard would fall down clutching his throat, forever sealing his throat with a single strike, drawing everyone's attention away from the enemy.

The second sword seed is on the right, even more treacherous than the first. Hidden in the snow, it resembles a venomous snake, slicing through the ankles of the loyal guards. The wounded guards are initially stunned, then fall one after another into the snow.

At this moment, the third sword seed suddenly appeared. It flew past the fallen Zhongwu Guards and harvested them one by one, as if mowing grass.

Old Ears gasped: "How could the magnificent sword seeds be so insidious in your hands... With so many sword seeds, if you could cultivate them to the Divine Realm, wouldn't you be unafraid even of the Central Imperial Guard's encirclement and suppression?"

In a short while, all thirty-seven Loyal Guard vanguards were killed, leaving only a slightly overweight interpreter.

Chen Ji walked through the red-stained snow and came to the interpreter: "I ask, you answer."

The interpreter knelt down, trembling, and said, "My lord, spare my life! I am a Ning Dynasty citizen, one of our own."

Chen Ji calmly asked, "How is the woman you were chasing earlier doing?"

The interpreter, fearing he would take his anger out on him, quickly said, "She's still alive. She disappeared without a trace, that's why we came to find you. Please don't kill me, she's perfectly fine."

Chen Ji slowly breathed a sigh of relief.

The next moment, a sword seed grazed the interpreter's neck, then flew through the air with three other sword seeds, shaking off the blood before returning to Chen Ji's sleeve. ...

……

The snow-covered landscape fell silent once more, with only the mountain wind whipping up heavy snowflakes that lashed against our faces.

The old man leaned closer and pressed, "Boy, how did you manage to elicit five martial arts resonances? What's the deal with your sword seed?"

Chen Ji embraced the dark clouds in the snow and whispered a thank you.

Old Ears scratched his head anxiously: "Why do you have three sword seeds? Wait, five martial arts resonances, could it be five sword seeds? No, no, there should have been one before taking the sword, so there are six?"

Old Ears calculated and calculated, almost confusing himself.

Seeing that Chen Ji still didn't answer, he said with great distress, "My goodness, you brat, at least answer me! I'm so anxious!"

Chen Ji turned to look at him: "You said you would take me to Wuji Mountain, but why did you lead me to the gate of the Martial Temple? Why did you harm me?"

Old Ears' expression froze, and he turned around and silently returned to the cave. He bent down to pick up the bundle that had previously contained ginseng, folding it neatly: "You mean this? This old man took the wrong way."

Chen Ji sneered and followed him back into the cave: "When people are embarrassed, they always pretend to be busy. Even if you fold that rag a hundred times, you can't escape this problem."

Old Ears threw the neatly folded bundle on the ground in a huff, throwing caution to the wind: "Boy, don't act innocent after getting a good deal. Without this old man leading the way to avoid the Martial Temple's protective formation, you wouldn't even be able to climb the mountain gate. Where would you have found those five swords? Just tell me if you took the five swords or not?"

Chen Ji remained calm: "So, are there five swords in the lake atop the mountain in the Heartless Sword Path?"

The old man, with his neck stiffened, said, "No."

Chen Ji sighed: "So you planned to scheme against me from the very beginning... Who exactly are you?"

The atmosphere in the cave suddenly became heavy.

Dark Cloud held its breath, its round eyes fixed intently on Old Ears.

Old Ears sat cross-legged by the fire pit, his gaze flickering in the firelight. He suddenly sighed, "This old man is the successor of the sword lineage that Headmaster Lu Yang has been searching for."

"Huh?" Chen Ji and Wu Yun were both taken aback.

Old Ears nudged the firewood with a twig: "I am a native of the capital of the Jing Dynasty. I have been taught the sword technique since childhood. When my father taught me, he said that I must keep it a secret, or I would be killed. I never expected that I would encounter the headmaster at the Lantern Festival sixty-two years ago. He looked at me with fear and immediately drew his sword to kill me. At that time, I was still young. In my haste, I used the sword technique, but it was cleaved in two by the headmaster's sword. Fortunately, my father intervened in time to block it, which saved my life."

Old Ears looked at the firelight with a solemn expression: "My father stayed behind to face the mountain chief and cover my escape. He was already at the half-step Divine Realm at the time, but he was still defeated by the mountain chief in just a few moves and died under the mountain chief's sword. I was terrified and didn't dare to look back. I mingled with the crowd of people enjoying the lanterns and escaped in the chaos... Now I feel ashamed. I didn't even have the courage to see my father one last time, and I don't even know where my father's body is buried."

Seeing that Old Ears was showing his true feelings, Chen Ji looked down and exchanged a glance with Wu Yun, unsure of what to do.

He pondered for a moment and then asked, "And then?"

Old Ears murmured, "Later, my father's close friend secretly sent me to Ningchao to eke out a living. I could only keep changing identities and hiding, afraid of being found by the headmaster. Otherwise, why do you think I wandered the world and drifted at sea? It was just because my situation was similar to yours, and I had no choice but to leave my hometown. My greatest wish in this life was to go home and see my family, but I never had the chance again."

The dark cloud meowed and said mournfully, "How pitiful."

Chen Ji remained unmoved: "Then why did you lead me to the Martial Temple to retrieve the sword? Why didn't you retrieve it yourself?"

Old Ears chuckled: "My sword seed was broken by the headmaster and has become uncontrollable. It was left behind at the Lantern Festival, and I will never be able to cultivate again in this life. But I hate it, I hate the Martial Temple, I hate the headmaster, so I will lead you there to take away the divine weapons left by the Lord of Weapons that the Martial Temple values ​​most, and cut off their hopes! I and Lu Yang are sworn enemies!"

After saying that, he actually stood up, turned up his sleeves and clothes, and shook out all the peanuts in his sleeves: "Look, this old man has no sword seed on him."

Still not entirely at ease, Chen Ji went forward to search the old man and discovered that he really didn't have any sword seeds on him.

Old Ears added, "Kid, who do you think I am?"

Chen Ji remained expressionless: "Headmaster Lu Yang."

Old Ears was taken aback at first, then seemed to hear a joke: "If I were Lu Yang, why wouldn't I kill you with one sword? If I were Lu Yang, why would I take you away with my treasure? If I were Lu Yang, why would I be chased by Wu Kezhi?"

Dark Cloud whispered, "That makes sense..."

Chen Ji lowered his head in deep thought. He had to admit that Old Ears' last sentence was the key. He couldn't figure out why Lu Yang did this.

Seeing that Chen Ji's body was gradually relaxing, Old Ears immediately bent down, picked up the peanuts, and stuffed them back into his sleeve: "Kid, why is the sword type you cultivate different from mine? How come you can cultivate so many sword types..."

Chen Ji glanced at him: "Have you forgotten the rules?"

The old man asked, puzzled, "What rules?"

Chen Ji calmly said, "Ten secrets for one secret."

Old Ears' expression changed: "Isn't this my rule?"

Chen Ji casually said, "Now it's mine." (End of Chapter)