Chapter 088 - A Path of Corpses
"He lost?" Ning Que and his colleagues stared, blinking in a synchronized blend of disbelief and confirmation. Defeat had not taken them aback, no. Rather, it was Yun Xiao's stubborn insistence on living that left them gobsmacked.
Lin Chen, the sword carrying youth leaning by the window in the secluded nook of the Jade Sun Tower, spoke to Ning Jing, the green-clad lady beside him, tenderly and with a modicum of subdued shock in his voice. "Your brother messed it up," he stated, an eyebrow arched upward in contemplation.
Ning Jing, soft features slightly illuminated by the filtered light that crept through the worn curtains, whispered back, “With the Sword Lord and Aunt Ning around, killing him wasn’t going to be easy, anyhow."
"Fine, I'll do it myself!" He twitched, beginning to rise, an indignant retort poised on his lips, but she quickly laid a gentle hand on his shoulder. "Let’s not rush. There are enough vultures circling him without you joining the fray. Besides, your father wouldn’t be pleased with your... direct approach."
Lin Chen expelled a short, frustrated breath. "Seeing him flit about daily is like a persistent gnat at a summer feast."
Ning Jing rubbed her temples, attempting to stave off the budding headache. "It's only been two days... And honestly, despite the atrocities he’s committed, the boy doesn’t look... entirely malevolent. And consider your father’s perspective—Sword Heaven traditionally has the right to accept any disciples we wish. Those Forbidden Tower folks... their respect for us dwindles by the day."
His eyes narrowed into icy slits. "What are you implying?"
She lowered her gaze, her voice soft, resigned. "Apologies. I spoke out of turn. I simply do not wish to witness estrangement between you and your father."
"Ning Jing! He may look benign, but that devil tore Ye Guying's family to pieces and torched their souls!" Lin Chen’s voice was a harsh whisper, his eyes ablaze with a potent mix of fear and anger.
"Mhm." She drew a slow, deliberate breath and chose silence.
Their whispers echoed faintly against the walls as, across the room, Ning Que and his cohort of Great Sword Venerables and elders scrutinized Yun Xiao with veiled menace.
"Who did he lose to? Lin Xiaolong?" Ning Que asked, nonchalantly lobbing the question toward his sister, Ning Yan, his shoulders offering an indifferent shrug.
Lin Lin, her voice dripping with sarcasm and barely contained glee, interjected, "Clearly!" Her eyes gleamed with unholy satisfaction upon seeing Yun Xiao's disgrace.
Ning Yan's eyes snapped towards the girl, her voice a stern lash, "Enough, Lin Lin! You've been poisoned by Holy Son Chu’s charisma, haven't you? Go home. Your intellect is sorely in need of nourishment."
"Aunt Ning, how could you..." Lin Lin’s eyes flickered with startled indignation.
"All that's good about him is his Sword Soul. His cultivation is mediocre at best. So, what are you scolding Lin Lin for?" Ning Que said, putting down his cup as he glanced at Ning Yan.
With a disdainful glance at them all, Ning Yan spoke, “I’ve no patience for this drivel. I was present during his battle with Holy Son Chu. The one undone by a sword strike was Holy Son Chu, not him.”
A pause stretched through the room, palpable and thick.
Ning Que released a dismissive chuckle. "Sister, surely, you wouldn’t concoct such tales merely to validate your discernment?"
Ning Yan remained silent, stoic against the skeptically arching brows around her.
Lin Chen’s voice, cool and distant, emanated from his shadowy corner, "So, you suggest Holy Son Chu, after his defeat, perverted the outcome to save face?"
"Do you believe me?" Ning Yan countered.
"I believe in Holy Son Chu." Lin Chen’s reply hung heavy in the dim light of the room.
Ning Yan scanned the assembled faces, reading the disbelief etched into their expressions.
Loyalty was a peculiar beast; it molded their beliefs, reshaping them to stand steadfastly with their chosen ally.
Lin Lin almost chuckled, "Why would Holy Son Chu resort to such depravity? The truly vile one is surely the one who'd spy on others whilst they bathe, no?"
Exasperated, Ning Yan waved a dismissive hand. "Enough. Yun Xiao, we depart."
But Ning Que rose, his voice a deliberate calm, "Wait. Where is Lil Bei?"
"He violated the rules. All three were punished by the Sword Lord, condemned to kneel in homage at the Ancestor Sword Hall for a month," Ning Yan pronounced with an air of impartiality, her words wafting through the room like a dispassionate breeze.
Lin Lin, agog, stiffened into a sort of paralytic disbelief. She had been so thoroughly engrossed in the spectacle at Jade Sun Tower, relishing the sight of Yun Xiao stumbling through one mishap after another, that the trio had slipped entirely from her mind.
Ning Que's voice turned glacial. "And how, pray tell, did Lil Bei contravene the rules?"
"Brother Bei's got a spine too sturdy for his own good, no doubt. Wouldn’t soften his stance and so angered my father," Lin Lin articulated with a self-assuredness that bordered on comical.
Yun Xiao merely remained silent, internally tipping his hat to the girl’s wildly inventive imagination.
"You can stand all this?" Blue Star's eyes bulged as he sputtered out the words.
"I bloody well need to get the Rank 10 Azure Kite in my grasp first," Yun Xiao murmured, scarcely audible.
If he had let his sword find its mark upon the girl's skull, the Azure Kite would certainly have slipped beyond his reach. A few more hours of this torment, that he could endure. He refused to drag this ordeal into the morrow. With 1,000,000 Spirit Stones and ten Heavenly Origin Pills now nestled safely in his possession, only the Rank 10 Azure Kite remained out of reach.
"The Sword Lord, he really..." When one’s own offspring harbor suspicions, what hope remains to command the faith of others? While lips remained tightly sealed, the epithet doddering fool was virtually emblazoned across every countenance.
"Because my son refuses to go easy, he forces my son to kneel for an entire month?" Ning Que’s palm met the table with a thunderous slap.
"Indeed! The Sword Lord has even stripped your son of his Sword Princeling title. Can you stomach that?" Ning Yan's voice was thick with venom, a cold smirk playing across her face. She was incensed too, so she hardly cared to explain the situation.
Ning Que's gaze flared with a tumultuous fury. "Ning Bei is no longer a Sword Princeling?"
A collective inhale filled the Jade Sun Tower as individuals rose, one after the other.
Lin Chen's rage seared hotter than most. That youth was his sworn brother, bound by blood not shared but chosen! "Father, you’re terminally ill of the mind," he silently cursed.
"Ning Yan!" Ning Que, aflame with his own anger, boomed, "Persist in this foolishness, and I shall seek Father this instant. We shall observe how he sees fit to discipline you!"
Ning Yan's father, a pillar within Sword Heaven, had witnessed epochs pass.
Ning Yan, her voice an arctic wind, replied, "As you wish. I intend to escort Yun Xiao to claim the Rank 10 Azure Kite."
"The Sword Lord seemingly bestowed the title of Young Sword Lord upon Yun Xiao through sheer force," someone whispered, their voice a tremulous murmur.
"Such injustice!"
Eyes, ablaze with indignation, converged upon Yun Xiao.
The room became a cauldron of barely-contained fury.
In many hands, Sword Souls began to manifest, flickering into existence with a spectral glow.
"Ning Yan, you’ve coursed through life, erring significantly but twice. First, when you drank with that uncouth Zhao Jianxing, and second, when you chose to shield this wretched cur! This one’s the disciple of Zhao Jianxing, isn’t he? I perceive your destiny is to fall, one way or another, to the name Zhao Jianxing!" Ning Que's voice was a low, furious growl.
"Go to hell!" Ning Yan was a storm, fury and offense clashing in a tumultuous tempest within her. She was utterly, unabashedly livid. For a brief moment prior, anxiety had flickered within her. Her eyes kindled with a flame of a ferocious, blood-red hue.
Zhao Jianxing. He, used once more as a weapon to disgrace her, was a name she had endured enough.
“Yun Xiao, we’re leaving,” she stated, a tremble of unyielding spirit lingering in her voice.
Every ounce of her lifelong resentment shifted onto Yun Xiao. Only by watching this child audaciously trample upon the pride of the very people before them, she reasoned, could she escape the shackles of their scorn.
Swiftly, she spun around, her fingers latching onto Yun Xiao’s arm, pressing with an intensity that spoke volumes of her despair.
“It's outrageous. He doesn't deserve the 1,000,000 Spirit Stones, nor the ten Heavenly Origin Pills, and certainly not the Rank 10 Azure Kite!” someone said in righteous indignation..
“Injustice! Ning Bei is wronged!” erupted another cry, as the interior of Sword Heaven boiled with a simmering mixture of anger and resentment, all now more tumultuous.
“We’re heading to the Sea of Swords as well,” Ning Que abruptly declared.
“What for?” Lin Chen queried with a brow arched curiously.
“Everyone wants Yun Xiao gone for the peace in the Sea of Swords. And Ning Yan thinks she can take him out of Sword Heaven? I wouldn't be surprised if he was killed on the way there.” Ning Que cast a sidelong glance towards Ning Jing, “Plus, our dear Ning Jing is also going to challenge the Rank Six Azure Kite today.”
“It’s contingent on how gruesomely he meets his end...” Lin Chen's voice trailed, his thoughts meandering to the recollection of his father’s hand striking his mother’s face.
After witnessing such a scene, he’d pledged an unwavering vow. Not until Yun Xiao’s demise would he permit himself the title of a man.
This young man in white robes had barged into the Sea of Swords, his mere presence distorting the peaceful tides into a surging tempest.
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“That’s the lad! Yun Xiao!”
“A Sword Soul of Star grade!”
The Sea of Swords, with its meticulous array of streets and towers reminiscent of a celestial sword city, buzzed with Sword Cultivators.
As Ning Yan and Yun Xiao traversed through the streets, they became the epicenter of a vast, enveloping sea of spectators.
KLANG! Every ten steps Yun Xiao took, a Flying Sword lunged at his forehead, eager to claim his life.
“Opposing the Forbidden Tower equals death!”
“I’m just trying to conduct decent business here. Who wants internal strife in the Sea of Swords?” a voice cried from the throng.
Yun Xiao, confronting these Flying Swords, exhibited not an ounce of mercy, extracting his Sword Soul, and slicing through the air with ferocious might.
The Flying Swords, now a cascade of fractured metal, fell to the ground.
“Aghhh!!!” A slew of assailants, those hidden within the concealed recesses of the crowd, collapsed, eyes vacant and wide, as they crumbled, howling in anguish.
“You seem to be quite the recipient of ire,” Blue Star chortled, his eyes gleaming with sly amusement.
“It's mere opportunism. If I stood stronger than Ye Guying, mightier than the Forbidden Tower, I’d be the saint of this Sea of Swords,” Yun Xiao uttered calmly. His demeanor, unclouded and composed, remained untouched by the chaos around him.
“That's true enough! Genuine souls, harboring true justice in their hearts, wouldn’t be in a rush to obliterate you here and now. Those acting are simply vying for some favor from the Forbidden Tower and Ye Guying,” Blue Star reflected before sighing, “This world, crafted by the Creator Immortal, it’s a perplexing concoction of beings and narratives. Bet the Creator didn’t foresee this entanglement.”
Yun Xiao offered a gentle, unassuming smile, a soft curve of lips that belied the tumultuous Sea of Swords he navigated. "One grows accustomed," he remarked with an air of nonchalance, his blade dancing through an ocean of adversaries.
His knowledge of the human heart, gleaned from an existence marred and moulded by the mortal world, became his compass amidst the tempest. Every step, a challenge; every sword, a testament—the colossal presence of the Sea of Swords left no room for hesitation. His solution was found not in avoidance, but in facing the tumult head-on.
"Let the swords fly a while longer," Yun Xiao declared, his voice a tranquil sea amidst the storm, just before his own sword cleaved through an airborne adversary, shattering a lethal projectile aimed for his skull. A distant scream told the tale of a foe felled, a testament to his unyielding advance.
Walking a path, simultaneously sowing and reaping death, his actions bore witness to a ruthlessness born of necessity, a murderer forged by circumstance.
Ning Yan, pausing to look back at the young man, her eyes a mirror of both bewilderment and faint reflection, inquired, “Do you not fear this spectacle?”
"Life and death are decreed by fate. What is there to fear?" His eyes, ablaze with an indomitable spirit that rolled and billowed like infinite, undulating clouds, betrayed not a single trace of dread. He moved forward, an unstoppable force.
With a mischievous twist, Ning Yan candidly ventured, "Ah, you must be quite charming! Have you and my daughter become... involved?”
Caught off-guard, Yun Xiao nearly choked, the imposing aura he’d so carefully cultivated shattered by her unexpected query.
Understanding painted her features in colorful strokes. Ning Yan, a traveler of life’s myriad paths, discerned his answer in the delicate hue that kissed his cheeks. With a knowing, almost wistful shake of her head, she prodded, “My daughter has a fine figure, doesn’t she? And her skills? How do they fare?”
“Let’s choose a different topic,” Yun Xiao, earnestly fixing his gaze ahead, sought to divert the conversation. “By the way, what exactly is the Azure Kite that you speak of?”
“You don’t know, yet you seek to challenge it?” Ning Yan stared, momentarily stunned.
“Was it not you who directed me there?” Responding, Yun Xiao shattered another Flying Sword, the death of its controller an unseen footnote in his path.
Ning Yan could only meet his actions with silence.
She had drawn her lips into a thin line before turning her focus towards Yun Xiao, imparting the lore of the mystic entity. "The Azure Kite, it’s a divine being, sent from what they call the Heavenly Realm. It’s a gift from the Immortal Empire to our Sea of Swords," she started, her voice carrying a trace of reverence. "Nobody really knows what it's made of or what its essence is. All we know is, it has two main effects. First, it's supposed to make your Sword Soul evolve. Second, it acts like a demon bone. It boosts the layers of your Sword Aura."
"The Heavenly Realm, what's that?" Yun Xiao asked, immediately after his sword found yet another victim.
Ning Yan, with an amused twinkle, pointed a dainty finger skyward. "Up there!"
"Like, where the Immortals reside?" Yun Xiao blinked in thought, dispatching yet another soul on his relentless path.
She shrugged, a subtle smirk curling. "Perhaps? All I know, it’s a place that scares the living daylight out of folks. Rumor has it that it's crawling with Dao Seed Talents."
Yun Xiao made a noncommittal noise, exchanging a clandestine, excited glance with the Blue Star nestled in his arms.
Ning Yan continued with an aura of casual storytelling, "There are four different ranks to the Azure Kite—One, Three, Six, and Ten!"
"And here I thought there were ten ranks!" Yun Xiao interjected.
She didn't lose stride, "Each rank of the Azure Kite offers a unique enhancement to the Sword Soul. The average person has to start from Rank One, absorbing its power bit by bit until he can move up. But you, a Young Sword Lord, can directly challenge Rank 10!" Here she paused, leaning in slightly, her voice a murmur of sincere counsel, "But, Rank 10 isn’t a cakewalk. I'd suggest starting from three, give your Sword Soul time to adapt."
He shrouded three more Flying Swords in destructive force, toppling three more lives, before posing, "How tough is Rank 10?"
"Well, let me paint you a picture," she said, clearing her throat slightly for dramatic effect. "Since the Azure Kites descended from the Heavenly Realm, only five of the Rank 10 ones have made an appearance. Across a sea of endless years, only Ye Guying has managed to inherit one. The other four? Still out there, waiting."
Silence drenched Yun Xiao, a brief homage to those before him who’d failed.
Ning Yan softly added, "You, with a Star grade Sword Soul—the first in the Sea of Swords' storied history—might just have a fighting chance against a Rank 10 Azure Kite. Maybe even absorb one. But, and it's a big but, if you fail, your Sword Soul’s gonna pay a hefty price. So, maybe ease into it? Start at three."
"Mhm." Yun Xiao offered a singular grunt of acknowledgment. He didn't need to worry about what rank to start at. What mattered was how many Azure Kites he could absorb, how much his Sword Soul could evolve, and how many more layers of Sword Aura he could add!
As the conversation dimmed into contemplative silence, Yun Xiao lifted his gaze. The Azure Kite Sea sprawled before them, endless and enigmatic.
Behind him, a solemn path, painted with the stillness of the fallen.
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