Traveling the Heavens in Thunderbolt

Chapter 1015 Chess

The result of the battle outside Feihu City quickly spread throughout the martial arts world.

This news was like a bolt from the blue for both Beimang and Liyang.

Countless people were burnt on the outside and tender on the inside by this thunderous sound.

Sui Xiegu, the "Sword Swallowing Master", has rarely taken action in recent years and may not be well-known among the younger generation of people in the martial arts world, but everyone who is older will remember him.

He is a sword god who is almost as famous as Li Chungang, a true land sword immortal.

And Jianzi Xianji is the pinnacle of Taoism who has just been selected by the martial arts evaluation list.

Unexpectedly, the two would encounter a battle outside Feihu City in Beimang.

What was even more unexpected was that it was Jianzi Xianji who won.

You know, although the path of martial arts has different paths but leads to the same destination, it can be roughly divided into three types.

One is Huang Man'er, who has a strange appearance and a physique different from that of ordinary people. He was born with a strong body, which can be said to be a blessing from heaven.

Although a physique is relatively ordinary, it can sense the heavens and humans. Once it is realized, it can directly enter the first level. The previous generation of Wudang's headmaster Hong Xixiang and the best of the three religions belong to this category.
The third type is slightly inferior to the first two, which is to prove the Dao with martial arts. For example, Li Chungang entered the Dao with the sword, Wang Xianzhi proved the Dao with strength, and Deng Tai'a became a god with swordsmanship. In the martial arts, the higher the realm, the more you go against the current and the heaven. The world is both a home and a cage, but a martial artist must form his own system. It's like a naughty boy who wants to establish his own school, so when he enters the celestial phenomenon, the heavenly calamity comes.

This battle not only allowed the people in the martial arts world to recognize the strength of Jianzi Xianji, the Taoist swordsman.

It also allows people to see another possibility, that there is more than one method and both can be practiced at the same time.

In a small teahouse in Beimang, Sui Xiegu was talking with Huang Sanjia.

Although Sui Xiegu was wounded, he did not show any sign of defeat. He was chewing a piece of sword tip in his mouth, which was as crispy and chewy as soybeans.

He just smiled and said, "Huang Longshi, oh Huang Longshi, there are people and things in this world that you cannot predict!"

Huang Sanjia said calmly, "There is no one in this world who can plan everything. How well crops grow depends on both human effort and the right time. I, Huang Longshi, am not so conceited as to think that others are superior to me. Whether or not we can bring Wen Hua back will not affect the overall situation. The biggest gain this time is knowing the strength of this Taoist peak master. I think even if the other two peak masters who are also close friends are not as good as him, they are not far behind."

After eating another piece of the broken sword, Sui Xiegu said, "I was wondering why you wanted me to go, old man. It turns out you wanted to use me to find out about Jianzi Xianji. How do you settle this account? Just this sword can't satisfy my appetite~"

Having known each other for many years, Huang Longshi knew the temper of this sword-eating old man best. He was nearly a hundred years old and had been obsessed with swords all his life, and the thing he cared least about was false reputation.

Otherwise, he would not have exchanged an arm and a sword with Li Chungang.

Now, what Sui Xiegu wants most is to heal his wounds, replenish the lost sword energy in his stomach, and then go for a battle with Jianzi Xianji.

Huang Longshi smiled and said, "Don't even think about Gu Chenjian. I can fill your stomach. Let's go to Wudi City. Do you dare?"

Sui Xiegu said proudly: "There are so many appetizers there, why not. Wang Laoer has been claiming to be the second best in the world for sixty years, and I have long disliked him. What a bullshit second best in the world, third best is about right."

Obviously, he wanted to use the famous sword in Wudi City to make up for the loss after the battle with Jianzi Xianji. Sui Xiegu changed the subject and said regretfully: "It's a pity that Wen Hua is not coming. Where can I find a good seedling to inherit my sword?"

Huang Longshi chuckled and said, "If Wen Hua doesn't come, there are others who can replace him. For example, the third son of the King of Beiliang is famous for his mediocre talent. He takes countless elixirs sent by Wudang every year, and his cultivation level is only worthy of the Dharma. He is not taken seriously in the palace. You might want to give it a try."

Sui Xiegu accepted disciples without considering their talent or qualifications.

This is true for Jian Jiuhuang and the Sword Emperor of Western Shu.

It is because talent is not entirely equal to physique. After thousands of years of development in the martial arts world, the sword art that is close to the way of heaven no longer practices the practice of achieving success by simply having extraordinary talent.

When he teaches people swordsmanship, the worse your apparent aptitude is, the less he will teach you. The Sword King of Western Shu was taught four swords and learned a hundred swords on his own, but he ended up devoting his entire life to swordsmanship, yet not a single sword caught his eye.

The apprentice behind him only taught three sword skills, but there was one sword that made him praise it endlessly.

That's why Huang Longshi asked Sui Xiegu to accept Xu Tianjiao as his disciple.

In this way, he could continue his plan and also allow Sui Xiegu to find a suitable successor.

Sui Xiegu saw through Huang Longshi's plan, "Are you planning to let Xu Tianjiao kill Xu Fengnian, the prince of Beiliang, in the subsequent plan for the capital? Only you can come up with such a sinister plan to let brothers kill brothers. If so, wouldn't it be a waste of my efforts to recruit Xu Tianjiao?"

Huang Longshi smiled calmly and said, "Whether Xu Fengnian can survive the battle I set up to fight the White-robed Mantis Dragon Slayer is still unknown. Maybe he will die in Beimang. Then, there won't be so much trouble."

Sui Xiegu scoffed at Huang Longshi's statement, "When I was tracking the sword fairy's trail, I saw Xu Fengnian from afar. Although I only had a brief encounter with this Beiliang prince, I think he is not a short-lived person. What if he survives the trip to Beimang?"

Huang Longshi chuckled and said, "If Cao Changqing doesn't keep his promise and Deng Tai'a doesn't take action, Xu Fengnian will have no chance of survival."

"But what if both of them take action?"

"Then Xu Tianjiao will have to make a choice: a dream or a swordsman on land." Huang Longshi looked at the sky outside the teahouse, as if he wanted to use the world as a chessboard and all living beings as chess pieces. "Most of the romantic men in this world are trapped by love and friendship. Wang Xianzhi trapped himself in a city, Xuanyuan Jingcheng trapped himself in a mountain, Cao Changqing trapped himself in a country, Li Yishan trapped himself in a building, and Li Dangxin trapped himself in a meditation. You, Yuan Benxi who is looking for revenge on me now, and Deng Tai'a who went to sea are not truly detached from the world. If we count them on our fingers, there are only Hong Xixiang who rode a crane to Wudang and Li Chungang after his arm was cut off."
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Dividing line -
After seeing the prosperous Feihu City, which was no less beautiful than the one in the south, Xu Fengnian was filled with worries.

Li Yang has fought with Beimang Kingdom five times. It would be a lie to say that there is no chance to truly unify the world.

In the past, Li Yang had the momentum to unify the Spring and Autumn Period, and he took advantage of the turmoil in Beimang when the throne was usurped by the female emperor.

The old emperor led the army in person, took the initiative, and won on three fronts, all the way to the present-day capital of the Southern Dynasty. It was a pity that he failed to achieve success in one battle, and continued his northern expedition, leaving Beimang with a chance to catch his breath.

People only said that the Northern Liang King Xu Xiao was greedy for power and did not want to destroy the Northern Mang, which would result in him having no soldiers to lead, so he withdrew his troops privately. In fact, both sides were preparing to sign an alliance at that time.

Only Xu Xiao was willing to risk his life as a guarantee and went to see the emperor in private, declaring that as long as the emperor gave him a secret decree, he would lead only the Northern Liang army to the north, and would destroy Beimang even if it meant sacrificing 200,000 soldiers.

On the second day, Xu Xiao was ordered to withdraw his troops to Beiliang first to show the sincerity of the Liyang Dynasty. This could be regarded as another time that Xu Xiao took the blame after the Spring and Autumn War and Ma Ta Jianghu. Many veteran soldiers withdrew from the Beiliang Army without saying a word at this time.

After all, if Xu Xiao, who had made great military achievements and ended the Spring and Autumn War single-handedly, could take over the eight states of Beimang, that would be a serious threat to the Liyang Dynasty.

(End of this chapter)