This Sword Cultivator is Somewhat Dependable

Chapter 416: Chapter 43: You Did Better Than Me

Lu Qingshan walked toward Mount Tai, as Gu Yiyi watched his retreating figure yearningly.

“It seems Young Master is quite popular with little girls,” Qin Yitian’s voice, teasing yet not quite smiling, resounded in Lu Qingshan’s mind.

Lu Qingshan suddenly stopped, pondered for a while, and explained, “Gu Yiyi gives me a peculiar feeling that makes me let down my guard around her significantly.”

Qin Yitian hinted subtly, “This feeling, Young Master, isn’t it not the first time?”

“Not the first time?” Lu Qingshan knew there were implications in Yitian’s words.

But ten days had already passed, two days of the given time; Ji Chuan’s whereabouts remained unknown, and the boundary of the realm had yet to be found; he had no leisure to think further.

The urgent priority was to meet the Netherworld Prison Master first.

Lu Qingshan, no longer hesitating, stared at the dusky, mist-shrouded Mount Tai and called out, “Sword Cultivator Lu Qingshan of the Human Realm, who has strayed into the Reincarnation Lands, hereby seeks an audience with His Excellency the Prison Master.”

The voice was loud and clear, but Mount Tai was so high it seemed as though it could hardly be reached.

Yet Lu Qingshan was certain the lord of Mount Tai would hear him.

Lu Qingshan stood at the foot of the mountain, waiting for the lord of Mount Tai’s response.

A moment later, the dusky clouds around Mount Tai roiled, and a narrow winding path appeared before Lu Qingshan.

“I am at the summit. If you can make it up here, I will grant you an audience,” a deep and ethereal voice came from nowhere, echoing between Heaven and Earth.

Lu Qingshan looked at the long path, winding and twisting with no end in sight.

He took a deep breath, with no hesitation or retreat, and stepped into the mountain path.

Sword Cultivator, why fear the challenge of climbing?

As Lu Qingshan took a step forward, the tumbling dusky clouds rapidly closed in.

A slight force materialized out of thin air, found the right moment, and pushed Gu Yiyi, who attempted to sneak along with Lu Qingshan up the mountain, out.

Gu Yiyi’s attempt to stow away failed, and she could only grind her teeth in frustration.

The moment he entered the path, Lu Qingshan felt his entire soul suddenly begin to roar.

In that roar, Lu Qingshan seemed to see a vague figure of a Confucian Scholar, lightly touching his forehead with a finger.

Following that, Lu Qingshan’s consciousness roared, then turned into a blank, knowing nothing further.

At the summit of Mount Tai, the middle-aged Confucian Scholar’s eyes shone with boundless wisdom and depth.

He watched Lu Qingshan, confused but still advancing step by step on the mountain path, and murmured, “This is the path of conscience left by the most talented swordsmen who entered my Netherworld. I wonder whether you can make it to the end…”

…..

Lu Qingshan felt his head was splitting, his memory slightly jumbled.

After a long time, he regained consciousness, his mind clear again.

He was Lu Qingshan, climbing Mount Tai.

He looked around, and here too was a mountain path, only lined with blooming Peach Blossoms, overwhelmingly beautiful.

It was entirely different from the narrow path on Mount Tai.

An illusion?

Lu Qingshan muttered to himself.

This seemed to be an illusion.

Under normal circumstances, what he needed to do now was to find the flaws in the illusion and escape it.

Suddenly, Lu Qingshan paused.

Because before his eyes, various scenes flashed by.

…..

In the Kaiyuan era, the nation prospered under good governance, reviving from previous turmoil.

This nation, named Yue, entered an unprecedented era of peace under the diligent efforts of the reigning Emperor.

As the saying goes, turmoil breeds heroes.

When the nation’s fortune declines, the martial world thrives; when the nation’s fortune prospers, the martial world weakens. @@novelbin@@

Under such circumstances, the disruption of public order by armed forces was nearly eliminated, and the heroes who once dominated the martial world gradually retreated into seclusion.

His name was Li Zhao, and he lived with his Master in a rundown hut on a decayed hill outside a small town.

His Master was a master of swordsmanship, having wished to pass down his skills to him since he was a child.

Li Zhao didn’t want to learn.

He enjoyed the romantic and poetic life, liked to indulge in fine foods and entertainments, and loved everything the world had to offer—except for the cold, unfeeling sword.

His Master tirelessly told him stories of swordsmen dominating the martial world, hoping to change his mind.

Eventually, Li Zhao grew tired of it.

“Are there really such heroic swordsmen in the world?” he asked.

The Master hastened to say, “Of course, in the past, the foremost swordsman, Li Sword Deity, with a single sword dominated the battlefield, suppressed the armies, and, within the Imperial Palace, beneath the Emperor’s nose, saved an innocent prince from the former dynasty still in his swaddling clothes…”

Li Zhao rolled his eyes, “What innocence does a former dynasty’s prince have? Under the rule of the former dynasty, the people were starving and freezing. It was this Emperor who overthrew the former dynasty and gave the people better days.

To me, this Sword Deity was just meddling. Wouldn’t it have been better if this prince had died? Otherwise, in twenty years or so, when the prince grew up and harbored thoughts of restoration, wouldn’t that ruin the people’s peaceful days once again?”

The dynasty before was named Zhao.

Seeing Li Zhao speak in such a manner, the Master remained silent for a long while, sighed deeply, and said, “Then let’s not learn it…”

From then on, the Master never forced Li Zhao to learn swordsmanship again.

That was exactly what Li Zhao had hoped for.

However, once his Master truly stopped pressing him, surprisingly, Li Zhao felt somewhat vexed.

“Let’s learn swordsmanship then, you are the Master, how could I possibly refuse if you ask me to learn? You needn’t discuss it with me.” Li Zhao approached the Master somewhat petulantly.

With the sword in his arms, a light gleamed over the Master’s face that had never been there before, “Really want to learn?”

Li Zhao nodded, “Learn.”

“You are my only disciple. If you don’t learn, won’t your swordsmanship be lost?” Li Zhao retorted sarcastically.

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