Chapter 17: Have You Heard Of Earthly Immortals
“Senior Brother Lu, I remember that you have a Sword Spirit Root?” Tao Yaoye glanced at the ancient-looking sword hung at Lu Yang’s waist and the old calluses on his palms. Achieving all this in just a year is enough to show how diligent he has been in practicing his sword.
Lu Yang nodded, humbly admitting, “I’m barely considered a sword cultivator.”
Cultivators were divided into various categories according to what they specialized in. Some included pill cultivators, talisman cultivators, array cultivators, physique cultivators, and sword cultivators. Among them, sword cultivators had the strongest attack power. At the same cultivation stage, no one would want to have a sword cultivator as their opponent.
Sword cultivators were most renowned for “One Sword Breaks All Spells”—no matter how powerful the opponent’s powers were, the sword cultivator could slice through it with a single strike.
Opposite of sword cultivators were Daoist cultivators—no matter how powerful the opponent’s sword technique was, the Daoist cultivator could counter them with “All Spells Break One Sword.”
Apart from “One Sword Breaks All Spells,” there were other famous moves such as “Sword Opens Heaven’s Gate” and “Flying Sword.”
One could imagine how heroic they would appear as they stepped on their flying swords and braved the wind and waves while clad in snow-white.
What did cultivators seek?
Strength and style.
Sword cultivators fit these two criteria perfectly. Countless cultivators aspired to become a sword cultivator, but they were unfortunately limited by their lack of sword cultivation talent.
“So, Senior Brother Lu, what are you going to do after learning how to fly with swords?”
Tao Yaoye had never heard of a sword cultivator with a fear of heights. Others cultivate to soar through the skies and become carefree, but I’m afraid Senior Brother Lu won’t be able to enjoy that.
Lu Yang answered in a proper manner, “Sword immortals don’t have to be synonymous with soaring through the skies. Have you heard of ‘earthly sword immortal,’ Junior Sister Tao Yaoye?”
Tao Yaoye was taken aback. Seeing how serious Lu Yang was and finding the term “earthly immortal”[1] very familiar, she went along and nodded.
“Who said that immortals must be high up? The word immortal contains the word ‘mortal.’ Immortals are in the sky while mortals are on land. Together, immortals traverse both the sky and land freely, as high up as the moon and stars and as deep as the abyss.
“The term ‘earthly sword immortal’ illustrates that sword immortals are not only in the skies. They can also walk the earth. When their sword flies out, they can slay demons and devils from a thousand li away.
“My goal is to become an earthly sword immortal!”
Tao Yaoye was just about to follow along and nod when the cool-headedness she had trained over the years stopped her and let her realize the crux of the problem. “Hold on, I’ve only heard of earthly sword gods. Where did the term ‘earthly sword immortals’ come from?”
Lu Yang stared at Tao Yaoye for three seconds, as if ancient secrets lay hidden within him.
Then, he slowly let out, “I made that up.”
His attitude was so sincere that Tao Yaoye was rendered speechless.
She chose to not dwell on his topic any longer. With only three days of interaction, her image of Senior Brother Lu had completely crumbled.
During the first round of the trials, she had personally witnessed the announcement of Lu Yang’s Sword Spirit Root. At that time, her image of Lu Yang was that of an unyielding and upright sword capable of splitting the heavens. Despite not being a man of many words, he was staunch and unwavering no matter the obstacles.
After the second round ended and she heard of Lu Yang’s unique method of passing, she felt that sword cultivators were quick and flexible with their minds, and she believed that Lu Yang would likely achieve even greater heights in the future.
By the third round of the trials, she had been so exhausted on Heart-Seeking Mountain that she could barely open her eyes. Just when she thought that it was impossible for anyone to reach the fiftieth step, she saw Lu Yang accomplishing just that. Lu Yang’s success had given her a tremendous boost in morale, motivating her to continue climbing up the mountain until she finally passed.
Now, a year had passed, and the Senior Brother Lu she met again had a fear of heights and was extremely talkative.
She finally understood the concept of “distance creates beauty.”
“Based on the timing, we should be disembarking from the boat soon.” Lu Yang laid out a large map. Its drawings were very detailed, marking out places like the Dao-Seeking Sect, the Great Xia Dynasty’s capital, well-known mountains and rivers, important cities, and even cave paradises.
This was a map depicting one-eighth of the Central Continent. There was even a small red dot moving very slowly. If one didn’t pay attention, they would have thought that the small red dot was stationary. This small red dot marked their current location.
The map was not an ordinary one but an essential magical treasure for travel. Although the map was of superior quality, Taiping Village was still too small to be marked on the map. It was hard to have even Quhe Commandery marked out.
This flying vessel had set off from the Dao-Seeking Sect, then traveled to the Great Xia Dynasty’s capital, journeying for tens and thousands of li. Considering the distance they had covered, Quhe Commandery was insignificant in comparison and barely marked out with a name on the map.
The flying vessel wouldn’t stop at small places like Quhe Commandery. If it were to stop at every single place, its speed would drastically reduce, and its effectiveness wouldn’t be much better than a horse carriage. As such, it would only stop at major transportation hubs like the Dao-Seeking Sect, Qingyun City, Sky-Reaching Valley, Crouching Dragon Mountain, and the capital.
Lu Yang had heard from Yun Zhi that they could directly jump off the boat should they wish to alight. That got his eyes twitching non-stop.
The flying vessel was similar to airplanes from his past life, possessing high speeds and prioritizing efficiency. The greatest difference was that in his past life, passengers simply had to wait for the plane to touch down before disembarking. On the contrary, passengers in the cultivation world could leap off whenever they wanted—the epitome of freedom and openness.
It was Lu Yang’s first time jumping off, and he was overwhelmed with emotions—evident from his trembling legs.
We are ten thousand meters in the air.
“Senior Brother Lu, do you know how to disembark?”
“Of course.” Lu Yang puffed out his chest, slightly proud.
At this altitude, if one doesn’t use proper techniques and falls straight down, even Advanced Foundation Establishment cultivators would turn into a pile of minced meat.
Lu Yang had asked Yun Zhi how exactly he could disembark, but the latter had avoided his question, telling him that he should check the books or ask other people; he should figure out a way by himself and develop the good habit of independent thinking.
After that, Lu Yang had successfully come up with a way to disembark, and he was prepared to do so. However, they weren’t the only ones disembarking. There were around seven to eight other strangers.
The pair stood at the edge of the deck with the other strangers in a line.
The other strangers took out standard paper umbrellas.
Tao Yaoye took out a meticulously crafted red paper umbrella.
Lu Yang took out a parachute[2].
“Hmm?” Lu Yang felt that he didn’t seem to fit in. Why is everyone else taking out something different from me?”
While Lu Yang was puzzled as to what they planned to do, an impatient middle-aged person in black leaped out of the flying vessel. The middle-aged person in black fell like a cannonball and didn’t stop accelerating. He unhurriedly injected spirit energy into the paper umbrella. The light, thread-like spirit energy was like a nimble green snake that climbed up the handle of the umbrella and wrapped itself around the rib.
It seemed as if the paper umbrella had come to life, awakening from its winter hibernation and stretching its body. The middle-aged person’s descent slowed down, swaying gently as he landed safely.
Letting go, the paper umbrella closed and turned into a ray of light. It darted through the sea of clouds before returning to the flying vessel. The paper umbrella didn’t belong to the man. It was meant to be loaned to passengers of the flying vessel.
The remaining strangers and Tao Yaoye turned to look at Lu Yang in succession, their eyes filled with bewilderment. We are all holding umbrellas to prepare for jumping off the boat. But why are you carrying a bag?
Lu Yang appeared unflustered. Despite the confused gazes, he returned a brilliant smile, as if he wasn’t the one out of place.
In reality, it was a scene of violent storms and raging seas in his heart. He didn’t even know where to start cursing.
All his words condensed into one sentence: "Big Senior Sister, you misled me!”
1. The term used for “earthly” or rather “land” in this case is “ludi,” where the “lu” uses the same character as the “lu” in Lu Yang’s name. ☜
2. The original term in Chinese consists of the character for “umbrella.” ☜
Rakumon's ThoughtsAs long as you don't feel awkward, others will be the ones feeling awkward :S
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