Chapter 67: Chapter 67: God-Startling
"First Master, are you here to see me?"
Jiang Ran walked over to the table and glanced at the booklet in the First Master’s hand.
Before he could see what was written, the First Master quickly covered it.
"No, no... It’s not finished yet, nor has it been revised. Young Hero Jiang, you mustn’t look."
"..."
Jiang Ran gave a wry smile.
"It was presumptuous of me."
"Not at all, not at all."
The First Master said with a smile,
"Please, sit, Young Hero Jiang. I did indeed come here looking for you."
"Mm."
Unconcerned, Jiang Ran sat down properly. "Did you need me for something, First Master?"
"Oh, it’s nothing major. I just wanted to ask you about something, Young Hero Jiang."
The First Master glanced at Jiang Ran and chuckled.
"I wonder if it’s a convenient time for you?"
"And if I said it wasn’t, would you really not ask, First Master?"
Jiang Ran smiled, casually untying the wine gourd from his waist and taking a drink.
The First Master gave a dry laugh.
"You’re joking, Young Hero Jiang... In that case, I’ll just ask."
"May I ask, Young Hero Jiang, from whom did you learn your martial arts?"
Jiang Ran simply smiled without a word.
"..."
The First Master was at a loss for a moment. After some thought, he said,
"It’s just your martial lineage. Surely there’s no harm in telling me."
"...My apologies. Before I left, my master gave me strict orders not to reveal my lineage. I hope you can forgive me, First Master."
’This is just like a scene from one of those wuxia novels I used to read,’ Jiang Ran recalled.
"I see."
The First Master nodded thoughtfully. "I can see your Inner Energy is profound, Young Hero Jiang. Your master must be an extraordinary figure."
"If you’re not allowed to say, there must be a good reason for it. In that case, I won’t press the matter."
Jiang Ran gave the First Master a thoughtful look.
"Are you here because of my saber technique, First Master?"
The First Master had been about to take a sip of tea, but at these words, his hand trembled, and he nearly spilled it all over his robes.
After a moment of hesitation, he gave an awkward smile.
"You figured it out, Young Hero Jiang?"
"When I used it today, you seemed to recognize something, First Master..."
Jiang Ran said with a smile,
"Actually, if you hadn’t come looking for me, I would have sought you out."
"Is there something wrong with my saber technique?"
"Did your master never tell you what saber technique you’re using?"
The First Master looked at Jiang Ran.
"My master said the technique is called the Nine Sabers."
Jiang Ran said, "It’s a technique he created himself."
"He created it himself?"
The First Master gave a wry smile.
"I see... Your master truly is an extraordinary person."
"However, this technique vanished without a trace for a hundred years. How could someone from this era have created it from scratch?"
Jiang Ran was taken aback.
"I don’t understand what you mean, First Master. If it disappeared for a hundred years, how do you recognize it?"
"Time passes, history grows distant, and many past events become difficult to trace. That’s precisely why we write things down, to keep records."
"Official histories are written by court historians, but unofficial accounts and gossip rarely amount to much. Most of it is fabricated."
The First Master chuckled.
"My lineage is called the Ink Pavilion. We listen with our ears and watch with our eyes, and we record all that we see and hear in ink."
"That is the legacy of my sect."
"The written records within our sect are countless. If you’re interested in the future, Young Hero Jiang, I can invite you to come and see them."
"However, our records mostly don’t involve the secrets of the present day. The past is long gone with the wind, so it doesn’t matter as much."
Jiang Ran said thoughtfully, "Afraid of causing trouble?"
"You’re a perceptive man, Young Hero Jiang."
The First Master smiled.
"Indeed, we are afraid of trouble. The martial world is full of secrets, and people’s hearts are treacherous, each with their own agenda."
"We often learn a great deal by asking around indirectly, and a single misstep can lead to discovering someone’s earth-shattering secret."
"And compiling these reports—some true, some false—into books is a business that’s bound to make enemies."
"One or two is fine, but if we made too many, even the Ink Pavilion couldn’t bear the consequences."
"That is why, when the Ink Pavilion was founded, the First Patriarch laid down a strict rule."
"A century in the martial world serves as a dividing line."
"For anything before a hundred years ago, we have no reservations. For anything within the last century, we record major events and rumors, but we must not expose anyone’s personal secrets."
"This is the key to how the Ink Pavilion has survived to this day."
"That makes a lot of sense."
Jiang Ran nodded lightly.
"As for your saber technique... I once saw a description of a move that was identical to it."
"What was the description?"
The First Master picked up his wine cup and began to recite softly,
"Qi refines to a single thread, the saber moves in silence, startling gods and demons across a thousand miles!"
Jiang Ran looked up, stunned. He had never heard these words before, yet listening to them now, he felt they were a perfect match for the technique he had just used.
He couldn’t say if his technique was grand enough to "startle gods and demons across a thousand miles," but "Qi refines to a single thread, the saber moves in silence" struck right at its core.
After a moment of contemplation, he spoke up and asked,
"Then, First Master, can you enlighten me? What exactly is the mystery behind this saber technique?"
"Young Hero Jiang, you said the technique is called the Nine Sabers, but that’s only half the name."
"Because before ’Nine Sabers,’ there are two more words... ’Shocking God’!"
"The Nine Shocking God Sabers?"
Jiang Ran was a little surprised. The name sounded rather exaggerated.
But the First Master simply smiled.
"Precisely! The Nine Shocking God Sabers!"
"This technique was created several hundred years ago by an unparalleled master."
"It was passed down through the ages, and every person who mastered this technique became a top expert of their time."
"And the most famous among them was none other than the ’World’s Number One Saber,’ Wenren Tianzong, who fought seventy-two battles against Chu Nanfeng over fifteen years, ultimately losing by a single move!"
"Chu Nanfeng?"
Jiang Ran had heard that name from Li Tianxin.
A century ago, this man had led a host of martial arts experts and annihilated the Demon Sect.
He was practically the leader of the martial world at the time.
"The very same."
The First Master nodded.
"But to be precise, Chu Nanfeng was a full twenty years younger than Wenren Tianzong back then."
"It started when Chu Nanfeng was thirty-five and lasted for a full fifteen years."
"They fought until Chu Nanfeng was fifty and Wenren Tianzong was seventy..."
"Of those seventy-two battles, seventy-one of them ended in a draw, with no clear winner."
"To be honest, even today, it’s hard to say whether that one-move defeat was due to a difference in skill or some other factor."
"But such is the nature of duels in the martial world."
"Favorable timing, geography, and personal condition—the slightest deviation can lead to a completely different outcome. A miss is as good as a mile."
"Wenren Tianzong should have been a peerless prodigy of his generation, but at the height of his power, he met Chu Nanfeng."
"In the end, it’s hard to say whether there was more regret in it, or more heroic passion."
Jiang Ran didn’t think much of the other details.
But when the First Master spoke of regret or heroic passion, he couldn’t help but feel a little moved.
’To be undefeated your entire life, unmatched in the mortal realm.’
’You’re on the verge of claiming supremacy over the world, and suddenly a master appears out of nowhere to challenge you for fifteen years.’
’At first, you might have underestimated him. Later, you might have even hated him.’
’But what would it be like in the end?’
Jiang Ran pondered this for a moment, but felt he couldn’t quite imagine it.
Finally, he could only let out a soft sigh.
"The predecessors of the martial world... truly awe-inspiring."
The First Master chuckled.
"The Nine Shocking God Sabers is one of the world’s premier saber arts. Of course, that’s not to say that having it automatically makes you the world’s number one saber wielder."
"But you are still young, Young Hero Jiang, and you have already grasped its essence. I expect it won’t be long before you make a name for yourself in this world."
"When that time comes, if you become the number one under heaven, don’t shut the door on me when I come looking for you."
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