Stepping on the Demoness to become the strongest

Chapter 565: Chapter 60: The “Senior” of the Emei Sword Sect

Looking across the five thousand years of Lu Country’s history, one can see that “the great trends of the world, long divided, must unite; and long united, must divide.”

Historians from former lives learned from Mei Yingxue about the history of the Cultivation World, and they gathered that it also follows the pattern: “Great sects, at their weakest, will revive, and at their peak, must decline.”

According to Mei Yingxue, the earliest origin of the Emei Sword Sect was during the great wars between the Human and Demon Races, serving as a bastion for the Human Race’s counteroffensive in Nanjiang’s hundred thousand mountains, and after the Human Race’s victory, it became a sect based on the duty to defend against the Demon Race, continuously growing in power.

Ultimately, internal strife led to its disintegration, with nearly all its Sword Immortals fleeing.

Then came the period of conflict between Chan Teachings, where many Shushan Sword Immortals joined the Chan Teachings, becoming the Shushan branch of Chan, and began to flourish swiftly.

As a result of Chan Teachings themselves being torn apart into pieces, the Shushan branch began to face infighting, entering a period of severe fragmentation and turmoil.

Afterward came the “Three Kingdoms period” of the Cultivation World, where the legacy of Chan Teachings was divided among the Tai Qing, Shang Qing, and Yu Qing branches. Thus, the Shushan branch became the exclusive Shushan Shang Qing sect of the Sword Immortals.

By the end of the Three Kingdoms period, a remarkably talented individual emerged, who, with their offspring, took over the position of sect leaders of the three branches, thus removing the “Shushan” name to form the Shang Qing sect.

Decades later, the Shang Qing sect experienced severe internal strife with each peak forming its own sect, and the Emei lineage occupied four mountains and reclaimed the name “Emei Sword Sect.”

The subsequent history was rather chaotic, with alternating periods of rise and fall. The most severe incident was when the Red Lotus Zen from Iron City Mountain invaded, destroying two thirds of the Shushan sect, with the Emei Sword Sect losing its location. Its core elite disciples also ran off to Dabie Mountain to establish a sect, which was destroyed after several generations. Ironically, the descendants of a previously overlooked outer disciple, who became a rogue Sword Immortal and achieved the Great Dao, eventually returned to Shushan, destroyed the Red Lotus Zen temples, and rebuilt the Emei Sword Sect.

Thus, in the history of the Cultivation World, there have been three Emei Sword Sects: the “Ancient Emei Sword Sect” fighting against the Demon Race, the “Former Emei Sword Sect” after the fall of Shang Qing, and the “Later Emei Sword Sect” rebuilt by the rogue Sword Immortal.

The Ancient Emei Sword Sect was the most orthodox, comparable to the “Roman Republic”; the Former Emei Sword Sect as a direct lineage of the Ancient Emei Sword Sect, similar to the “Eastern Roman Empire” after the division of the Roman Empire; while the so-called “Later Emei Sword Sect,” whose orthodoxy stemmed from that rogue Sword Immortal powerhouse, was at best comparable to the “Third Rome, the Russian Tsar.”

Mei Yingxue, Mei Professor, came from the Later Emei Sword Sect. The swordsmanship textbooks she compiled are now the mainstay for most Sword Immortals in Lu Country, derived from the Later Emei Sword Sect’s teachings. The long-bearded old man who taught the two-handed Sword Control Technique was probably from the Shushan era, even earlier than the Former Emei Sword Sect. Hence, it can be deduced from what the lady in the sedan said about Yan Yu having “disordered sword techniques” but “ancient swordsmanship,” the disorderly techniques are from the Later Emei Sword Sect — after all, the founder was a rogue practitioner — while the ancient style is from Shushan’s two-handed Sword Control Technique.

That is to say, her background is most likely from the Former Emei Sword Sect.

“So that you know,” facing the woman’s question in the sedan asking “How is Emei,” Yan Yu slightly organized his thoughts and replied, “The Emei Sword Sect has been destroyed and reestablished several times, regrettably losing many traditions of swordsmanship in the process. My swordsmanship was passed down from a maestro of the sect, while the Dual Sword Control was accidentally learned, not taught by that maestro.”

“I see,” the woman pondered for a long time, with a sigh said, “Powerful as Shang Qing was, it still fell apart in the end. What sect is ever eternal? It’s lamentable that despite my one-sided hopes, in the end, it was like trying to stop a chariot with arms… Since both of you are also from the sect, why not come to my humble abode for a chat? I have some books on Emei Swordsmanship which you could take back and present to your sect to complete the orthodoxy.”

“Thank you, Senior,” Yan Yu promptly said.

Li Minghu watched from the side, suddenly transmitted his voice to Yan Yu, saying:

“Be careful.”

“Understood.”

As the two followed the sedan, they heard the woman inside saying:

“I am Yin Rou, daughter of Yin Han, the head of the Emei Sword Sect. From childhood, my talents were lacking, similar to yours,” she said looking at Li Minghu. “My father said I could hardly make a great sword immortal; I was unconvinced, and thus I practiced swordsmanship day and night without cess, determined to prove him wrong.”

“Later when Red Lotus Zen attacked from Iron City Mountain, the front lines were unfavorable, and the defeat was imminent, with the destruction of our sect inevitable. In such a desperate time, I proposed to seek the Sun True Dullness Sword, to save our sect from collapse and rescue the orthodoxy from the edge of doom,” she continued.

“Sun True Dullness Sword?” Yan Yu asked with surprise, “What is that?”

The name sounded impressive, but he had never heard of it in his previous life.

“In ancient times, the Emei Sword Sect defeated the Demon Race relying on two divine human swords; one was ‘Tai Yin Su Ming’ and the other was ‘Sun True Dullness,’ both supremely powerful,” the woman explained. “Tai Yin Su Ming had a capricious nature and had long since flown away on its own. Sun True Dullness, rigid in nature, had been passed down from one generation to the next within the Shang Qing sect.”

“Later when Shang Qing underwent severe internal strife, the leader Chen Yenwei fled with the Sun True Dullness Sword, disappearing without a trace. Due to some coincidental opportunities, I discovered that Chen Yenwei had fled to Nanjiang, so I wanted to follow his trail and retrieve the Sun True Dullness Sword,” she added.

At this point, the woman clearly paused, waiting for the two to ask further questions.

But Yan Yu and Li Minghu, not being the naive Yuanzhen and Ruoxi, thought if you truly found the Sun True Dullness Sword, why would you still be here? Therefore, they didn’t ask anything further.