325 Return Part One

The Sword Pool was in the Garden of Zhou. This was the legend and had at thesame time been the speculation of many people over the years. From one thousand years ago when Zhou Dufu first appeared and shocked theworld up until several hundred years ago when he silently disappeared, thewarlike and peerless expert had issued numerous challenges to the experts ofthe entire continent. His outrageous strength and cultivation had beencontinuously honed through these myriad battles. On his path to obtaining thetitle of supreme expert under the starry sky, countless people fell under hisHalving Blade. In Luoyang, he faced off against the hero of the realm and countless expertsof the Great Zhou and defeated Emperor Taizong. Outside Xuelao City, he facedoff against innumerable demon experts and defeated the Demon Lord. In theMausoleum of Books, he defeated the Pope. At the source of the Red River, hedefeated the White Emperor. And there were still many more… it could even besaid that if one looked over those several hundred years of history and lookedup all the true experts, one would see that they had all once been defeated athis hands. In reality, besides those legendary battles mentioned above, many of theseso-called earthshaking battles did not occur in the human world but in theGarden of Zhou. The Garden of Zhou was Zhou Dufu's miniature world. In thesebattles, he could have access to many conveniences and even rig the battles.This seemed very unfair, but his opponent had no objection to this, because hewas Zhou Dufu. He disdained these types of actions, much less required them. Hejust did not want any mediocre people to see his battle. His opponents werenaturally even more unwilling to have the common people see them lose. Thus,those battles that occurred in the Garden of Zhou had no spectators, and alsono recorders. As for the specific details of the battle, besides those present,no one else knew. The only thing the people on the outside knew was theunsurprising outcome. Countless experts fell under his blade. Some died, some lived, but theirswords were all left behind in the Garden of Zhou, forced by that divineHalving Blade, which was ranked second on the Tier of Legendary Weapons, to beleft behind. The swords were absolutely not ordinary. Many were even divine weapons rankedon the Tier of Legendary Weapons. These included the Dragoncry Sword that hadbeen worn on the waist of some prince of the Imperial clan, and the swordcalled Heaven Shrouding owned by that generation's Mount Li Sword Sect sectmaster, which was even in the top ten of the Tier of Legendary Weapons. It wassaid that these famous swords abandoned in the Garden of Zhou had all beenthrown into a mountain pool by Zhou Dufu. That mountain pool was the legendarySword Pool. If the Sword Pool really did exist, it was a monument that ZhouDufu had set up for himself. Those exceptional swords in the pool were hisachievements and glory. The one thing that all the cultivators who could enter the Garden of Zhouwanted to do was find the Sword Pool. Zhou Dufu's legacy might possibly be verydifficult to find, but those swords in the Sword Pool, any one of them was adivine weapon capable of significantly increasing the battle power of anycultivator. Let alone that, if one could inherit the legacy of those experts ofthe past through their sword, just what kind of significance would that have?How could it not cause people to go mad? And yet, no one had ever found theSword Pool. No one had even found a sword in the Garden of Zhou. Contrarily,this fact was an affirmation of the rumors of the Sword Pool. Those famousswords that had faded away must be hidden somewhere in the Garden of Zhou. As time passed, the Sword Pool grew more and more enigmatic, and its placewithin the hearts of cultivators grew increasingly majestic. It had evensurpassed the Garden of Zhou itself, turning into the true legend of thecultivation world. But was it true that no one had ever found a sword in theGarden of Zhou? Then why was it that Qi Jian and Liang Xiaoxiao, once they hadentered the Garden of Zhou, had proceeded without hesitation up that river? Whydid Zhuang Huanyu go there? Why was Chen Changsheng able to sense that strandof sword intent in the cold pool, and why were the demons waiting toassassinate them on the other side? Whether it was within the human world or the demon realm, there were alreadymany powers that had faintly discovered some news pertaining to the Sword Pool.Perhaps it was because someone had picked up an ancient sword sheath in aforest by that river many years ago? No, the real reason was that a peerlessgenius of the Mount Li Sword Sect had once gone up to the cold pool at the endof that river and picked up a sword several hundred years ago. That peerless genius of the Mount Li Sword Sect was called Su Li. However, just where was the Sword Pool then? The cold pool passed through thecliff to the large lake on the other side. That lake was connected to the smalllake in the plains in front of Sunset Valley. However, between the pool and thelake, there were no swords. If one were simply and crudely to gather up all theclues and draw a line between these points, they would be able to see that thisline pointed towards the depths of the plains. Then did this indicate that thelegendary Sword Pool was in the plains? In reality, this was the conclusion of the vast majority of cultivators. Humancultivators and demons had tracked their footsteps all across the Garden ofZhou, and yet after the passage of several hundred years, they still had notmanaged to find the Sword Pool. Then the most likely possibility was that itwas hidden within the plains, because only they had not been investigated. Itwas a pity that these conclusions could never be confirmed. Everyone whoentered the Plains of the Unsetting Sun had never returned. Those people whohad never entered the Plains of the Unsetting Sun would never be able to seethe true scene inside. Luckily, or perhaps unluckily, Chen Changsheng and Xu Yourong had enteredthese plains, and they could see the truth, although they could not relay thesetrue facts to the human world outside the Garden of Zhou. That strand of swordintent had guided them deeper into the plains, as though it wanted to guidethem towards finding the truth. Yet when they saw Zhou Dufu's mausoleum, theystill did not see any trace of the Sword Pool. Now that the sword intent was within his body, he was sure that it had itsorigins from the Sword Pool. He just did not know which famous sword fromseveral hundred years ago this sword intent belonged to, and which famousperson owned that sword. The rain began to pour down harder and harder, causing the wind around themausoleum to gradually grow more violent. A few leaves from Xu Yourong's wutongtree had previously been shaken down to the ground by Qi and then stucktogether by the rain and snow. Now they were rolled up by the massive winds.The leaves were rolled up by the wind and dragged along the floor. They driftedto Chen Changsheng's feet and then floated up and touched a corner of hisclothes. Ching. There was a sharp sound in that instant that even covered up the soundof the wind and rain. Those leaves had been sliced into countless tiny strands by the shapelesssword intent. Just as they began to dance in the air, they were beaten down bythe wind and rain. Several hundred li out on the divine path, Nanke's small face, which wasdrenched by the rainwater, seemed to grow paler. This scene made her even more wary and uneasy because she had never seen suchpowerful sword intent before. Yes, she silently thought of the word 'never'.Her teacher Black Robe did not use a sword. Her royal father the Demon Lord didnot use a sword. The demon advisor also did not use a sword. Still, the demonexperts that could use a sword were too many too count, but she still hadnot...ever...seen such a powerful sword intent. This was just a strand of swordintent showing off its abilities. If the actual sword was still here, just howterrifying would it be? Several hundred years ago, just which peerless expertwas the owner of that sword intent to have cultivated the sword to such astage!? The rain fell upon the dagger, splashing against the blade and wiping it cleanof blood. It shined brightly like a mirror. As Chen Changsheng gazed at the dagger, his eyes were also bright like amirror. In the three thousand scriptures of the Dao, there were many explanations onwhat sword intent was, but only one explanation was accepted by the Orthodoxyas the traditional definition—sword intent was a sword insight. A sword insight was not a sword's spiritual sense, nor was it a sword'swisdom, and it was even less so a living soul. Rather, it was the remnants of amessage that consisted of a swordsman's combat sense and experience which,after a long time, amassed and became attached to the sword. To use a moreunderstandable but less accurate explanation: a sword insight was a sword'sknowledge and experience. The sword insight was the remnants of a message, andit could also be described as the essence of that message. It was thecrystallization of combat sense, but it was not something that had a concreteand objective existence. It was impossible to calculate, and even moreimpossible to imitate. The sensation transmitted back to the spiritual world ofa human being was only a feeling. At the moment, he was feeling exactly this type of feeling. From this sword intent, he sensed an absolute self-confidence, a supremeability, and a contempt for heaven and earth. He sensed this sword intent'sconflict and even loathing for these plains. He sensed its intense desire forfreedom. Of course, the most intense feeling was joy, jumping for joy. At the very beginning, the person who used the sword was no more, but thesword was still there. Later on, the sword was no more, leaving behind only thesword intent. This strand of sword intent was incapable of leaving theseplains. It was trapped, or even imprisoned, within these plains for ages. Forseveral hundred years, it had never thought about escaping. However, it nowrealized that there was a chance to escape, thus when it met Chen Changsheng,it was like a bird about to leave its cage. It was just that he did not know that this sword intent's ecstasy did not justcome from the possibility of leaving, but also had to do with the joy of seeingan old friend. That massive and dreadful shadow took up half the sky. The other half of thesky was filled with dark rain clouds. It was already night, and that disc oflight at the edge of the plains was dim and lightless. In the midst of thetorrential rain, the Mausoleum of Zhou grew even more pitch-black, like amassive black mountain. If Chen Changsheng was not on top of this blackmountain at the moment, he would definitely have associated it with the hugeobsidian coffin in the mausoleum. Let's leave together then. Chen Changsheng turned back to glance at Xu Yourong, then said these words tothe sword intent. She gazed at the rain-soaked divine path, gazed at Nanke. Nanke was looking at the Southern Cross Sword in her hands. There was a veryclear nick on the edge of the sword, a result of their two swords crossing.This sword was certainly not ordinary, as it was a famous sword from thisgeneration's Tier of Legendary Weapons, and yet it was not as good as thatunremarkable and ordinary dagger in Chen Changsheng's hands. Did every sword have an environment in which it was strongest? She woke upfrom the stupor brought about by the sword intent and the new informationrelated to the Sword Pool with an understanding of many more things. She liftedher head towards the end of the divine path where Chen Changsheng was, herexpression once more callous and indifferent. "So what? That sword intent really is very strong, but in the end, it stillended up the loser against the Halving Blade. You think that you can rely onthis sword intent to defeat me? Or do you have some absurd hope that this swordintent can help you leave the Garden of Zhou?" She said these words to Chen Changsheng and then spread out her arms. A clearlight illuminated the rain-soaked mausoleum, and her two wings transformed intostreams of light. Her two maids, Hua Cui and Ning Qiu, kneeled down behind herin the rain, not daring to say a word as they lowered their heads. One couldfaintly see that their faces were pale. The injuries inflicted by that swordintent previously had most likely not been light. "The sword that this sword intent belongs to has probably already become apiece of scrap metal or even mere dust. This is the only reason why it was ableto leave the Sword Pool. As a sword intent with no host, incapable ofreplenishing itself, just how long could it hold on? Not to mention the factthat sword intent is equivalent to sword insight, and with your cultivation,there's simply no way for you comprehend the sword insight. Without anunderstanding of swordplay, I'm afraid you won't be able to display evenone-thousandth of the full power of that sword intent. Since this is the case,just what makes you believe you can defeat me?" In the downpour, along with the continuous sound of her still childish voice,Nanke's sword energy slowly but steadily increased, and her Qi gradually grewmore berserk. Chen Changsheng knew that she was not bluffing. If the swordsman's cultivationwas strong enough, whether they were meditating in cultivation or fighting,they would be refining their sword intent at every moment. However, if thelevel of the sword intent was higher than that of the swordsman, then battlingwould constantly use up the sword intent with no way of replenishing it. "The most important part is that since I'm no match for you in terms of swordintent, then why do I need to keep competing with you in sword intent?" Sayingthese words, Nanke lifted up the Southern Cross Sword. She still stood a hundred zhang away, very far away from Chen Changsheng. Shehad already put away her two wings, and it seemed that she did not intend toclose the distance between the two of them. The most important change was thatshe lifted her sword with both hands. Her figure was very petite, even slim,while the Southern Cross Sword was broad and long. When she lifted it up withher two hands into the air, it produced a very strange scene. It was just likea small child preparing to play with a giant iron hammer. They struck a clearcontrast. Seeing this scene, Chen Changsheng instantly guessed at how she was going toattack and understood that he had committed a huge oversight. Since his greatest advantage was the powerful sword intent at his disposal, heshould not have let her get too far away. Different swords had different strengths. One sword had many different sides.Sword intent was only a part of the sword. Besides this, there was also swordenergy as well as the amount of true essence attached to the sword. They wereboth components of the sword that were no less important than sword intent.Nanke's attack intended to take advantage of the influence that distance had onsword intent and force him to fight with sword energy and strength. A sword glow illuminated the gloomy sky and the rain-soaked mausoleum.  A dark blue sword ray shot out from the Southern Cross Sword. Like ameteorite, it trailed a tail of fire as it slashed towards the end of thedivine path at Chen Changsheng. Chen Changsheng gripped the hilt of his dagger; his fingers were a littlewhite and his lips a little pale, perhaps because of his injuries or becausethe rain was too cold. A weak, yet abnormally firm voice came from behind him. "Use the umbrella." This voice did not come from the sword intent, as sword intents do not speak.The voice came from Xu Yourong. He did not know why she said this, but over thecourse of their journey, he had realized that her cultivation and especiallyher foresight far surpassed his. He trusted her invariably. So without anyhesitation, not even pausing for thought, he lifted up the Yellow PaperUmbrella. With his actions, the sword intent entered the Yellow Paper Umbrella. It was not entering. It was returning.