Chapter 143 - Dragon Vein
TL-Checked by Sassystrawberry; Edited by Animeart and NZRose
Qinglu went to diligently memorize the sword techniques, and two days later, their group arrived at the Great Dragon Court.
There were many places in the world that mortals didn’t want to set foot on, because there were immortals and demons in the world. Many places were full of dangers for ordinary people.
But for immortal cultivators, these dangerous places were worth taking the risk because there were often strange monsters living there, or miraculous flowers and plants were growing that helped them with their cultivation.
The Ten Thousand Ghost Abyss, which Lin Shu went to when he had just started in the academy, was one of them.
But there was another kind of place which was increasingly strange, with danger lurking at every turn, neither were there any correspondingly rare and exotic treasures, let alone mortals, even cultivators generally avoided them.
The Great Dragon Court was such a place.
It spanned across several hundred miles, all deserted with no traces of human existence, it was the sort of place that no one would venture to —not to mention that the record of its location had disappeared from history, it only was thanks to the many ancient archives in the Sword Pavilion, that they could locate it.
When they finally arrived, they saw that Great Dragon Court was surrounded by the mountain ranges, within was a deep lake amongst the high mountains and ridges.
But the unusual aspect was that the magnificent lofty mountains that surrounded it, were all pitch black, with no signs of vegetation or life.
And this great lake, which was more than a hundred feet deep, was dried out, and when one looked into it, felt as if it were an endless abyss.
The lake had a name, the “Hidden Dragon Abyss“.
Lin Shu walked along with Lingsu to the lakeside.
There was something lurking at the bottom of the lake.
In those murky, unseen depths, there was a skeleton that snaked horizontally across.
Elder He stroked his beard and wondered aloud, “Could this be... a dragon?”
If one were to say it was a dragon, it did look very similar.
This pile of white bones were hundreds of feet long, and it was so thick that more than a dozen people would be needed to encircle it. The structure seemed akin to the skeleton of a snake, meandering across the bottom of the lake. Due to the erosion of time, it was slightly gray, but within one could still make out the lustre of a precious stone or metal.
If it was merely this, then perhaps it could be explained off as a ‘Jiao’ or water dragon, but looking at what looked like the legendary dragon horns at the top of the skull, one could not but suspect that this would be one of the divine beasts, the true dragon that thus far only existed in legends.
If one took into account the name of this place’s name, “Great Dragon Court”... perhaps it truly was meaningful.
In order to locate the “Great Dragon Court”, Lin Shu had pored over many ancient books, one of which said that the Great Dragon Court was the place where the mortal kings were crowned.
The rulers of the mortal realm, were very enthusiastic about likening themselves to dragons.
The Great Wizard had said in the letter that, this year, he would look at the stars on April 27 and three days later, he would wait for Lin Shu in Great Dragon Court.
Today was the second day.
However, when Lin Shu looked around, on the other side of the deep lake, seemed to be a faint silhouette of what looked like a person.
He treaded lightly on the wind and flew over.
There was a stone platform on the opposite side of the lake.
On this stone platform, there were placed tables and chairs. On the table, there was a wine pot and two wine cups filled with wine. In front of the table sat a man dressed in green.
The man raised his head and said lightly, “You’ve arrived.”
His voice was very low and hoarse, it was indeed the voice of the Great Wizard.
This person, however, seemed unrecognizable to Lin Shu.
He looked like a weak scholar.
Even if one ignored the set of plain green clothes that he wore, his face did not bear any witchcraft markings, revealing pale skin, and good looking facial features.
The only thing that was out of place on that scholarly face, was the way his pupils moved around thoughtfully in the dark light. It made his whole persona slightly gloomy, and there was the shadow of the wizard who had unflinchingly massacred the thousands of people outside the Jubei City.
He said, you’ve arrived.
If it was someone else, Lin Shu would have replied, “I’ve arrived.”
But he really did not want to meet the Great Wizard.
He replied noncommittally, “En”.
The Great Wizard lifted the corners of his lips in a smile.
The next moment, he suddenly knocked over the wine cup on the table!
Water droplets burst out!
Thousands of water droplets turned into sharp clusters of arrows, wrapped in the momentum of wind and thunder, they all shot towards Lin Shu at once!
Almost at the same time, Lin Shu unsheathed his sword!
Since he was in the face of the Great Wizard who killed people without even blinking an eye, how could he not be on high alert!?
Amidst the roaring wind, there were Ding! Ding! sounds that rang out continuously. The water droplets were unstoppable like a dense volley of ten thousand arrows, and his sword energy shot across, meeting them head on!
Ding.
The last droplet of water hit the tip of the Folding Bamboo Sword and fell onto the stone table.
It quickly seeped into the table, first forming a dark pool, then disappearing without trace.
The Great Wizard, his manner calm and collected, righted the overturned cup and refilled it with wine. “The Pavilion Master’s swordsmanship is outstanding, this lowly one is inferior .”
Lin Shu sheathed his sword. “You praise me too highly.”
He took a seat.
The Great Wizard drank a mouthful of wine.
Perhaps due to the influence of the drink, his originally bloodless lips, faintly turned bright red, revealing an odd and ominous evil aura.
After drinking, he asked Lin Shu, “Pavilion Master...Why aren’t you drinking?”
The voice was very light and soothing, and more than half of the sound seemed to reverberate within his chest.
Lin Shu said lightly, “I don’t drink wine.”
The Great Wizard raised his eyebrows, and removed the wine cup that was present in front of Lin Shu, “Ah, it is this lowly one who forgot.”
Lin Shu did not speak.
He was waiting for the Great Wizard to get to the point.
The Great Wizard did not speak, just continued to drink his wine leisurely.
Finally, after draining a cup of wine, the Great Wizard asked “Does the Pavilion Master know what is special about the Great Dragon Court?”
Lin Shu replied, “It’s the coronation ground of emperors”
The Great Wizard looked towards a particular direction.
What he looked at was a very long road.
The road had long fallen into disrepair and was damaged, there were various statues on both sides.
“This road is called the Taoist Path. The one who unified the four seas would walk through the Taoist Path and come to the Hidden Dragon Abyss. Here if he was recognized by the Heavenly Dao, then he could be enthroned as the Emperor.”
What he said was consistent with what Lin Shu had read in the archives.
Lin Shu thought that this matter was just a vague legend. But listening to the tone of the Great Wizard, it seemed to be a legend that was indeed true.
The Great Wizard continued, “However, there are so many people in the world who want to be emperor.”
Lin Shu was thinking. Pondering whether the Great Wizard was one of them.
Then the Great Wizard said, “However, only one person can be recognized by the Heavenly Dao as the emperor.”
Hmmm...
Then what?
The Great Wizard seemed to know what he was thinking and continued, “Later, someone forcibly cut off the dragon vein and left the Dragon Court abandoned in ruins, breaking the connection between the mortal word and the Heavenly Dao. The people in the mortal world, with power and ambition, could then carve out a territory at will, and claim themselves as kings”
Lin Shu, “What happened later?”
The Great Wizard said, “Although the intention was to cut off the dragon vein, once the human world is no longer connected with the Heavenly Dao, the Immortal Dao will also be completely cut off. Pavilion Master... There were once many marvelous and intricate spell arts, and peerless sword manuals in the world, but they cannot be used anymore.”
Lin Shu wrinkled his brows lightly.
The Great Wizard’s words were not untrue.
He had seen two instances of fairyland.
One was a small jade plaque hanging around the cat’s neck, which contained the Floating Immortal Palace.
Another was the bronze dice on his body, the Qingming Cave which was made by Qingming Demon Lord.
After taking the cat back to the Academy, he and Ling Fengxiao studied the finger-sized white jade plaque for a long time to understand how the Immortal Floating Palace could be contained within that tiny plaque, to no avail.
Similarly, the treasures in the Floating Immortal Palace were all things that could not be made by the current Immortal Path.
Ignoring the rest of the treasures, even his Ice-stringed Zither was not something that could be made in the present world now.
The same was true of the treasures in Qingming Cave. The bronze mirror engraved with “Separation and Reunion, are predestined.” was said to have the power of causality, but Lin Shu never knew that causality in itself could be a form of power.
However, viewing the situation objectively, what was the Great Wizard’s purpose in telling him all these?
Did this news have anything to do with the celestial signs of the night before?
Maintaining his stoic composure, he asked indifferently, “And so what then?”
“Actually, nothing much.” The Great Wizard’s fingers tapped rhythmically. “I just want to inform the Pavilion Master, that the little Phoenix will die.”
Little Phoenix... will die?
Lin Shu could only associate the word Phoenix with Xiao Shao.
He looked at the Great Wizard and asked, “Why?”
The Great Wizard smiled as if without a care, and looked towards the bottom of the “Hidden Dragon Abyss” lake.
In the abyss, lay the dense skeleton of a True Dragon.
Lin Shu could understand the meaning implied by the Great Wizard.
The Dragon has died out, extinct over a thousand years ago.
I’m afraid that little Phoenix won’t be able to flutter for long.
Lin Shu asked, “Why will he die?”
“The heavenly Qi was already cut off, the Immortal Dao was now diminishing, and many magical beasts and immortals connected with the Heavens were all destroyed... But the line of Phoenix had an advantage, it can achieve nirvana.” The Great Wizard said, “The Phoenix Blood was integrated into the human world, passed down from generation to generation, and can gradually revived. But even if it was revived, without the nourishment of Heaven and Earth, how long can it survive?”
Lin Shu said, “Yesterday, the Suzaku blazed in crimson splendour. What does it mean?”
He remembered the divination words, The Suzaku blazes in crimson splendor, the Phoenix will soar.
“At this time, you can talk more with me...” The Great Wizard chuckled and said, “The Suzaku blazes in crimson splendor, and the Phoenix soars, which is the sign of the Phoenix’s blood gradually reviving. However, the shackles of fate cannot be broken. Once revived, it’s not far from death. With the Phoenix bleeding, heaven and earth are in grief, so the hexagram is a big evil
Lin Shu asked, “How do we solve this situation?”
The Great Wizard put three books in front of him.
The title of one book was “Wind and Thunder True Record”, another was “Vessel of Compassion” and the other was “Spring Mountain Sword”.
It was a peerless manual, and the name was very unexceptional.
But for the Immortal Dao, there were some well-known principles.
The more fanciful the name was, the more frivolous it was and was not beneficial to the pursuit of the Dao.
The truly peerless and ultimate manuals were all powerful but ostensibly unremarkable on the surface.
And what the Great Wizard placed in front of him were three unique peerless manuals!
“There are three thousand ways towards the Dao, there are countless martial arts skills in the world. Each one can show a glimpse of the Heavenly Dao, but the eight peerless martial arts, allow one a larger glimpse than the rest.” The Great Wizard said with a paradoxical smile, “Pavilion Master, your “Everlasting Yearning”, plus the four peerless manuals in the Southern Xia, and the three manuals here, are the cornerstones of Heavenly Dao. I’d like to trouble you to gather them together, and then go up to the Huandang Mountain and summon the Heavenly Dao again. At that time, the life of little Phoenix will be assured.”
His voice became softer and more indistinct, and his figure became more and more transparent. Finally, it turned into a wisp of smoke and dissipated between heaven and earth.
Lin Shu knew that the Great Wizard who had spoken with him was just another illusionary self, like the one outside Jubei City.
Although the illusory body dissipated, the three ultimate manuals still remained on the table in front of him.
When he put his hand on the manuals, he could feel the great spiritual power and the vast luck, confirming that they were indeed the original manuscripts.
So the things mentioned by the Great Wizard were true?
To determine its veracity, he must first see Xiao Shao.
Lin Shu thought about it blankly, and realized that he almost couldn’t recall Xiao Shao’s appearance.
And the Great Wizard kept saying “Little Phoenix” this and “Little Phoenix” that, causing him to form the image of a helpless little chick in his mind.
Lin Shu, “......”
He dispelled the image from his thoughts, told Elder He briefly about the matter, and left alone on the wind towards the South.
It was late at night when he arrived at the Southern Xia Imperial Capital.
He asked for directions and then entered the palace.
——For a person of his cultivation level, it was easy to avoid the guards and enter the Imperial Palace of the Southern Xia Dynasty.
Then, following the sound, he went all the way to the most bustling place. Then he hid behind the tall eaves of the nearby palace next to him stealthily and looked down.
It was a big banquet. The lights were lively red, with ladies dancing and the sound of silk and music was loud. He wasn’t sure what was the occasion for this banquet.
At the highest seat, he saw Ling Fengxiao.
Ling Fengxiao, dressed in luxuriant and formal red clothes, was still tall and domineering, like a gorgeous crimson peony. Half leaning on the gold high seat, he watched the singing and dancing below indifferently, occasionally sipping from a cup of wine. Occasionally responding to the person talking to him with a ”hmm” and alternately ignoring them.
At the end of the song, a middle-aged, pudgy man in a customary court dress with an nondescript face stood.
“Your Highness, after searching across the four seas, I found a treasure that I would like to present to Your Highness at this Peony Banquet.”
Ling Fengxiao raised his eyes slightly and said carelessly, “Oh?”
The middle-aged man in court clothes clapped his hands.
From behind the shadowed layers of peony screens, a beautiful young man in white clothes, holding a zither, came out.
Very beautiful, otherworldly, one in a million.
Especially ......
Lin Shu thought for a moment, and realized that the boy bore a faint resemblance to himself.
The middle-aged man looked at the boy with satisfaction and then at Ling Fengxiao. “Your Highness, this...”
He blathered on and on, but Lin Shu was so too lazy to listen, he only looked at the boy.
His appearance and demeanor seemed very genteel, like an agreeable hamster.
He looked towards Ling Fengxiao.
Ling Fengxiao looked at the boy.
Lin Shu looked on coldly.
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