Chapter 79: Lightning Cloud Blade
When Yul Han entered Sichuan, the very first thing he did was visit the Qingcheng Sect.
He had already heard from Gwiseon, who had passed through Qingcheng earlier, that they were in no condition to conduct any external activities.
Even so, the reason Yul Han deliberately sought out Qingcheng was because of Gwiseon’s explanation that it seed as though they had confined sothing within their own sect grounds.
He could not rule out the possibility that they were imprisoning a Blood Corpse created by the Man-Sa Calamity Emperor, or that Monk Eightfold Confusion, who might have run into so sort of problem, was being held there.
For that reason, the one who greeted Yul Han’s group when they arrived at Qingcheng without delay was once again the Qingyun Pavilion Lord.
The Qingyun Pavilion Lord, who looked noticeably gaunter than he had just days earlier when Gwiseon visited, wore an expression of clear agitation at the visit of Emperor Salyejin.
Yul Han asked him bluntly.
“What are you keeping confined?”
“This is an internal matter of our sect. It is not sothing I can disclose to outsiders—”
“Bloodshed is repeating itself among the civilian villages at the foot of the mountain. If there is anything suspicious, I intend to dig it out no matter where it is.”
At Yul Han’s words, which cut him off mid-sentence, the Qingyun Pavilion Lord’s voice imdiately rose.
“Are you saying you will forcibly search Qingcheng now?”
“If necessary, I will confirm it even if it is the Martial Alliance.”
Yul Han’s eyes glead with killing intent, as though he would force his way through even if it ant shedding blood should anyone block him.
As the Qingyun Pavilion Lord clenched his teeth while facing him, a hurried voice from a Qingcheng disciple reached his ears.
“Pavilion Lord! The formation is breaking through!”
No sooner had the words been spoken than the Qingyun Pavilion Lord ran toward the area where the other Qingcheng martial artists were deploying the formation.
The clouds and mist that seed to have settled over the Qingcheng grounds as if descending from the heavens were artificially created through the formation.
After all, clouds that emitted a bluish light and mist that gave off a red glow did not naturally exist.
The problem was that one side of the intermingled clouds and mist was swelling up as if a balloon were being inflated.
The mont he saw it, a shout burst from the Qingyun Pavilion Lord’s mouth.
“Tighten the Azure Clouds and pour in the Crimson River!”
Yul Han and the other outsiders watching from the side could not understand what he ant, but the Qingcheng disciples forming the formation clearly understood and moved in perfect unison.
Boom!
A sound rang out as if thunder had struck within the clouds and mist, and the swollen clouds gradually subsided.
The distorted formation regained its stability.
Only then did the Qingyun Pavilion Lord wipe the flustered expression from his face, and Gwiseon asked him carefully.
“Azure Cloud Crimson River Formation. Is that correct?”
After a brief mont of conflict, the Qingyun Pavilion Lord nodded.
“That is correct.”
At his answer, Gwiseon’s eyes widened.
Among the formations possessed by Qingcheng, the most powerful without question was the Seventy-Two Wave Sword Formation.
This sword formation, in which six swordsn surround a target and unleash twelve techniques in an instant, was famous for the fantastical harmony between swift swordplay and domineering swordplay.
There was even a precedent where six peak masters used this Seventy-Two Wave Sword Formation to slay an expert of the Transformation Realm.
In other words, it was an outstanding combined formation capable of killing soone not one, but two realms above.
Yet even more famous than that Seventy-Two Wave Sword Formation was the Azure Cloud Crimson River Formation.
When people spoke of Qingcheng’s formations, the Azure Cloud Crimson River Formation was the first thing to co out of their mouths.
Just as the Seventy-Two Wave Sword Formation was composed of those who had mastered the Seventy-Two Wave Sword Art, the Azure Cloud Crimson River Formation was composed of those who had mastered the Azure Cloud Sword Art and the Crimson River Sword Art.
Those who cultivated the Azure Cloud Sword Art possessed Yin-Cold internal energy, while those who trained the Crimson River Sword Art possessed Yang-Strong internal energy.
From internal energy to techniques, martial artists who had mastered two completely different martial arts gathered in groups of four each, forming the most basic unit of eight for the Azure Cloud Crimson River Formation.
From there it expanded to sixteen, then thirty-two, sixty-four, and finally one hundred twenty-eight.
The scale of the formation grew as the number of martial artists composing it doubled.
However, an Azure Cloud Crimson River Formation deployed by several hundred martial artists, like the one before them now, was sothing even Gwiseon had never seen before.
No—he had never even heard of it in stories.
As with most formations, the internal energy of those composing it was infused directly into the formation.
A formation made of eight contained the internal energy of eight; one completed by sixteen martial artists contained the internal energy of sixteen.
Thus, a formation deployed by several hundred martial artists ant that the internal energy of several hundred was infused into it.
If one hundred people each possessing one cycle of internal energy gathered together, that alone amounted to a hundred cycles.
And considering the caliber of the Qingcheng disciples assembled here, many of them possessed internal strength at least beyond that level.
Moreover, there were several hundred of them. Which ant—
“A formation infused with a thousand years of internal energy!”
Gwiseon cried out in shock, his face turning pale.
The Azure Cloud Crimson River Formation unfolding before their eyes was being operated with internal energy well exceeding a thousand years.
“What in the world are you confining?”
Even Gwiseon could not help but ask.
The Qingyun Pavilion Lord hesitated once more. After glancing at him, Yul Han stepped forward.
It looked as though he was about to leap straight into the formation.
The one who hurriedly grabbed him, however, was neither the Qingyun Pavilion Lord nor Gwiseon, but the Profound Demon.
Yul Han turned to look at the Profound Demon clutching his sleeve and asked,
“What are you doing?”
“You must not go in.”
“I know it’s dangerous. But—”
—It is not simply because it is dangerous.
At the sudden ntal Voice Transmission from the Profound Demon, Yul Han’s eyebrow twitched. He sensed that there were complicated circumstances at play.
—What is bothering you?
—An old legend has been passed down in Qingcheng.
—A legend?
—Sothing about a million people’s blood soaking the earth. I don’t rember it all, but it concerns a blade.
—A blade?
—Yes. A blade called the Lightning Cloud Blade. In the distant past, a heavenly god punished the evil of the land with a lightning blade and created the present world. It is said that the blade used at that ti was the Lightning Cloud Blade.
—A blade used by a heavenly god?
A strange light flickered through Yul Han’s eyes as he looked toward the Qingcheng grounds.
It was not because he believed in talk of heavenly gods. Rather, a blade carrying a tale of that magnitude would surely have been forged by an extraordinary craftsman.
What martial artist did not desire a fine weapon?
Sensing Yul Han’s growing interest, the Profound Demon hurriedly continued his ntal Voice Transmission.
—They say it is a bronze blade.
At that, Yul Han’s slightly widened eyes returned to the Profound Demon.
—Bronze… a blade?
—Yes. Didn’t I say it carried a legend from the distant past?
In the present age, blades are made of iron.
And not just any iron, but refined steel blades strengthened by folding and hamring hard steel hundreds of tis.
If one were to pit such a refined steel blade against a heavy and soft bronze blade…
It would be cut apart in a single stroke.
Thus, in today’s world, no matter how well-made it might be, a bronze blade—
—Is useless…
—Exactly. That is why I am saying there is no reason to risk such danger.
I fully agreed with the Profound Demon’s words. However, that was a conclusion limited solely to the weapon known as the Lightning Cloud Blade.
“I heard that the Sect Master of your sect is inside there.”
At Yul Han’s question, the Qingyun Pavilion Lord glanced sideways at Gwiseon with a darkened expression.
It was obvious who had passed along that information.
eting that look, Gwiseon spoke with an awkward expression.
“I was told you did not co out with the intention of making a move on Sichuan. The Bright Cult also said it was tracking the traces of the Ghost Cult, so…”
Gwiseon’s excuse quickly lost its strength and trailed off. In other words, he had suspected that the Ghost Cult might be connected to what was currently happening at Qingcheng.
In the end, unable to et anyone’s gaze and turning his eyes aside, Gwiseon fell silent. The Qingyun Pavilion Lord looked away from him and answered Yul Han.
“Yes. Our sect’s Sect Master and the elders are inside.”
They were not the only ones.
The forr masters who had been spending the twilight of their remaining years staying at the Sealed Sword Faction had all remained behind as well.
And dozens of disciples who could not bear to leave them behind had stayed together with them.
Right now, they were gathering the formation power of those operating the Azure Cloud Crimson River Formation outside and focusing it into the Lightning Cloud Blade.
Guiding internal energy exceeding a thousand years was by no ans an easy task. Soone had likely already lost their life, and those remaining were risking theirs.
“Are you truly trying to stop the manifestation of the Lightning Cloud Blade?”
At Yul Han’s question, the Qingyun Pavilion Lord hesitated briefly, then answered as if he had made up his mind.
“The Lightning Cloud Blade is a blade that must never go out into the world.”
“What do you an by that?”
“It is said that the Lightning Cloud Blade is a blade that contains the energy of clouds, with the power of lightning coursing through it.”
It sounded far too abstract, so Yul Han asked,
“Have you ever seen it?”
The Qingyun Pavilion Lord shook his head.
“At the highest peak of Mount Qingcheng stands the White Cloud Pavilion. It was built atop the place where the Thunderbolt Blade is said to be embedded.”
The White Cloud Pavilion was the beginning of Qingcheng.
The White Cloud Pavilion, a shrine enshrining the Primordial Heavenly Worthy, the foremost deity of Daoism, was said to have been established even earlier than the Quanzhen Sect, known as the first Daoist sect founded in the Central Plains.
As Daoists gathered there to cultivate, they naturally ford a group, and that group eventually developed into what is now Qingcheng.
At the ntion of the White Cloud Pavilion, Yul Han showed a startled expression.
“Then you’re saying it’s buried beneath the White Cloud Pavilion?”
“Contrary to the rumors circulating in the world, the Lightning Cloud Blade is the blade of a demon that once threw the mortal realm into chaos.”
At the story that followed from the Qingyun Pavilion Lord, it was said that a heavenly god, unable to tolerate the demon’s atrocities in the mortal realm, descended and fought it for seven days before barely managing to kill it, then sealed the blade containing the demon’s energy at the highest peak of Mount Qingcheng.
As if that alone was not enough, the heavenly god ordered the Primordial Heavenly Worthy, who followed him, to guard the sealed blade.
The residence of the Primordial Heavenly Worthy, who stayed at the highest peak of Mount Qingcheng to guard the Thunderbolt Blade under that command, was the White Cloud Pavilion.
Later, as the world stabilized and humans gained power, the gods eventually returned to the heavenly realm. The Primordial Heavenly Worthy also departed, and the duty was inherited by the human disciples he had taught.
Those were said to be the Daoists who first remained on Mount Qingcheng.
After hearing the entire story, Yul Han asked,
“Then is the reason you’re trying to keep that blade from erging because it is a demon’s blade?”
“That is part of the problem, but in truth, it is because of a legend about the future of the Lightning Cloud Blade that has been passed down in Qingcheng.”
“What kind of legend would make an entire sect commit all its strength?”
At Yul Han’s question, the Qingyun Pavilion Lord hesitated for a mont. Then, perhaps thinking he had already crossed the line, he spoke of the legend that was forbidden to be revealed to outsiders.
“When the blood of a million people soaks the earth, and the resentnt of a million people fills the world, one who overturns the will of the World-Honored One shall manifest, and in his hand will be the Lightning Cloud Blade. Because of him, the world will once again be filled with lightning and death, and it will groan in agony.”
Realizing that this was a secret legend passed down within Qingcheng, Yul Han asked with a sowhat incredulous expression,
“You’re doing all this simply because you believe that legend?”
“As you can see, internal energy exceeding a thousand years is being poured into this. Even so, after shattering the White Cloud Pavilion, the power of the Lightning Cloud Blade, which has risen halfway out, is trying to break through it. We could not dismiss it as re legend.”
“Risen up?”
“Yes. One day, the floor of the White Cloud Pavilion bulged upward, and a few days later, the blade hilt pierced through the floor. Only later did we realize that that day was the very day the first bloodshed occurred in Jiulong.”
“Then…?”
“Yes. The more the bloodshed repeated, the higher the Lightning Cloud Blade rose. The Sect Master, alard, piled heavy stones and iron atop it, but it could not be stopped.”
If that had been all, things would not have descended into such chaos.
From the mont the blade revealed itself halfway, lightning energy began to pour out.
At first, the lightning energy lingered only around the blade, but soon it filled the entire White Cloud Pavilion. As the bloodshed repeated and the blade rose higher, its range continued to expand.
In the end, they began suppressing it by deploying the formation according to their contingency asures for the worst-case scenario.
After hearing everything, Yul Han gazed at the Qingcheng grounds, now completely shrouded in blue clouds and red mist.
As he looked at it, words the Cult Leader had spoken not long ago while discussing Blood Demons and Blood Corpses surfaced in his mind.
Strangely, the two legends seed to overlap.
If those legends were not rely stories, but prophecies rooted in tangible truth—
Then—
‘I must stop it!’
Having steeled his resolve, Yul Han’s figure leapt into the Qingcheng grounds wrapped in blue clouds and red mist before anyone could stop him.
As people stared in shock, the Iron Demon rushed in with a face like soone who had bitten into filth, and in the end, even the Profound Demon launched himself forward.
Five squad leader–level martial artists who were about to follow them received a ntal Voice Transmission from the Profound Demon.
—Stop! You stay here and prepare for contingencies. If we do not co out within three days—no, within five days—inform the Cult Leader of what has happened here. This is an order.
At the Profound Demon’s ntal Voice Transmission, the figures of the five squad leader–level martial artists, who had just stepped forward, froze in place.
Standing there, their worried gazes turned toward the Qingcheng grounds, now completely concealed by blue clouds and red mist, where nothing could be seen.
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