VAP - Chapter 89
Chapter 89: Flawless Cold Bone, The Peerless Sword Venerable (13)
The Lingtian Sword Sect was first established 230,000 years ago. Its founder was an exceptionally brilliant sword cultivator named Luo Zixu.
Due to the strength and charisma of this first Sect Master, many sword cultivators came upon hearing the news and became the first generation of disciples. There were also great masters of spiritual arts, talismans, and medicine who recommended themselves, willing to serve as sect elders.
The Lingtian Sword Sect thus became famous, flourishing for over a hundred thousand years as a sacred place in the hearts of all sword cultivators.
However, all things in the world rise and fall, prosper and decline, and it was impossible for a sect’s glory to be eternal.
It was a slow and unstoppable process.
The older generation of the sect either ascended or perished, while the younger generation could not fill the vacancies in time. In the centennial grand competitions and internal sect tournaments, the Lingtian Sword Sect’s ranking gradually slipped from first to second, then third.
As the ranking fell, fewer young geniuses joined the sect. With fewer young geniuses, the ranking naturally continued to fall.
Thus, a vicious cycle began.
The demonic path watched from the shadows, and the other top righteous immortal sects grew restless, some even secretly tripping them up. The Lingtian Sword Sect’s strength declined again and again, falling from a top-tier sect to a second-rate one, and eventually into obscurity.
—Just like the countless sects that had been lost to history over the millennia in the Qianhong Divine Province.
But if things had continued to develop that way, the Lingtian of today would not exist.
The one who broke this predicament was Situ Chu, the daughter of the seventy-ninth Sect Master.
Even as a young girl, Situ Chu was extraordinarily talented. After cultivating to the Tribulation Transcendence Stage, she was known as the Autumn Water Sword Venerable. She was the most gifted cultivator of her generation in the sect, and indeed, in the entire cultivation world.
If nothing unexpected happened, she would have smoothly ascended before her thousandth birthday.
But Situ Chu did not. Disregarding her father’s advice, she suppressed her own cultivation, keeping her realm at the peak of the Tribulation Transcendence Stage, and guarded the sect as its youngest and most powerful elder!
With Situ Chu present, the Lingtian Sword Sect slowly came back from the brink of death.
This was especially true in the seventh millennium after she became an elder. A great war broke out between immortals and demons, and several Demon Venerables launched a surprise attack on the Lingtian Sword Sect, intending to slaughter this once-colossal sect to thoroughly trample on the face of the righteous path.
Unexpectedly, Situ Chu had long since laid down a mountain-protecting grand formation. With her and all the sect’s elders empowering it, the formation’s might was terrifying, ensuring that the Demon Venerables would never return and sending shockwaves through the cultivation world.
This was the beginning of the Lingtian Sword Sect’s return to the top.
The sect has survived to this day, undoubtedly because Situ Chu turned the tide, becoming the one who stabilized the mountains and seas.
As for herself, she perished around her eight-thousandth year, never having ascended.
In the sect’s historical records, this period occupied a considerable amount of space. It was a moving and tragic story to read, always inspiring a sense of reverence for the ancestors and pride in the sect.
But as Yue Du held this book, her expression was unprecedentedly grave.
She had learned of this history before, but had only skimmed it without much thought.
Only now did Yue Du notice the suspicious points within.
First, it was not easy for a cultivator to suppress their cultivation. Suppressing it for a year or two was feasible, but for hundreds or thousands of years was pure fantasy.
If those at the peak of the Tribulation Transcendence Stage could delay their ascension date at will, the Lingtian Sword Sect before Situ Chu’s time would not have fallen into the awkward situation of having a talent gap.
So the question was:
Why was Situ Chu able to hold on until she was eight thousand years old?
Her journey was so similar to Yun Yijiu’s. Both were renowned and brilliant in their youth, both remained at the peak of the Tribulation Transcendence Stage for thousands of years, and both guarded the sect to maintain its lofty status.
The difference was that Situ Chu’s was voluntary; she should have known why she was able to remain. But Yun Yijiu knew nothing, and was simply too lazy to care or investigate.
A hundred thousand years had passed.
Why was the same thing happening again?
Despite having a body impervious to heat and cold, Yue Du shivered lightly.
A chill ran through her entire body.
It was as if a long-existing ghost was casting its inscrutable gaze from across a hundred thousand years, puppet strings dancing between its fingers as it directed a script unknown to anyone.
…Wait.
Yue Du suddenly closed the book and pressed her fingers to her temple, a helpless smile on her face.
The downside of having seen too many scripts was that her thoughts tended to wander. Sometimes, when her imagination ran wild, she would even scare herself.
Of course, she couldn’t draw so many conclusions from the known information. The fantasy about a hundred-thousand-year-old ghost, for instance, was complete nonsense.
But there were indeed many suspicious points surrounding Situ Chu.
Yue Du picked up the historical text and walked out of the library pavilion.
When she returned to the front of Wushuang Hall, Yun Yijiu was still watching the junior disciples practice their techniques.
When Yue Du was not by her side, Yun Yijiu was like an ice peak—unapproachable, cold, and severe, perfectly displaying the oppressive aura of the number one person below ascension.
The moment they saw Yue Du approach, the six elite disciples looked as if they had found their savior, their faces filled with pleas for help and relief.
They already thought Venerable Wushuang was terrifying enough, but they never imagined she could be even more terrifying!
Venerable Duyue, you’re finally back! We’ll never complain about you two showing off your affection again. Please, you must stay by Venerable Wushuang’s side!
—Of course, these simple “children,” who spent most of their time practicing the sword, had no idea their emotions were so transparent.
Yue Du didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. Even the heavy thoughts from moments ago had been lightened considerably.
She walked to Yun Yijiu’s side and sat down, saying softly, “I’m back.”
Yun Yijiu: “Mm.”
The temperature of the surrounding aura gradually rose.
Their hands naturally clasped together.
The disciples had been severely suppressed just a moment ago, each as quiet and docile as a quail. Now that the oppressive force had dissipated, they became lively again.
Two or three of them were even trying to covertly watch the two Venerables interact, with Mu Xingluo’s gaze being the most obvious.
Yue Du: “…”
Why did this feel like the time she caught Yue Hao staying up late, secretly peeking at her working from outside the study door?
Yue Du fell silent for a moment, then put on a standard Demon Venerable-style smile. “Let this Venerable see which junior isn’t practicing their sword properly, and is instead watching a pair of Dao Companions whisper secrets?”
Those few lines of sight vanished with a whoosh.
Yue Du shook her head and paid them no more mind.
Their “whispering” was naturally done via voice transmission, so no one else would hear a single word.
“Ah Jiu, I need to ask you something.” Yue Du’s face was still smiling, but her tone in the voice transmission was very serious. “Before you were a thousand… no, five hundred years old, did any major events happen in the sect?”
Yun Yijiu hadn’t expected her to ask this. She frowned, recalling for a moment before saying, “No.”
Before Yue Du could ponder this, she heard her continue, “Although nothing happened in the sect, there were some matters in the cultivation world.”
“What?”
“At that time, the demonic sects were powerful, with the Youming Sect being the strongest. Its sect master annihilated the entire Biyuan Sect.”
Over eight thousand years ago, the Biyuan Sect was one of the ten great righteous sects of the time. The immortal and demonic paths were still in a state of confrontation but not open war.
When that generation’s Youming Demon Venerable made his move, many cultivators thought the heavens of the Divine Province were about to change and that a war between immortals and demons was imminent. For a time, panic spread.
In reality, however, the Youming Demon Venerable’s annihilation of the Biyuan Sect didn’t signify anything. He ascended on the spot right after doing it, and the great war everyone had anticipated never came.
It wasn’t until much later that a rumor spread, saying the Demon Venerable had acted because the Biyuan Sect’s leader had killed the woman he loved. The destruction of the Biyuan Sect was merely a matter of karma between him and the sect leader, and had nothing to do with the grand scheme of the two paths.
After hearing this, Yue Du lowered her eyes, lost in a flurry of thoughts.
She had found another similarity.
Both when Yun Yijiu and Situ Chu reached the level of ascension but did not ascend, the Lingtian Sword Sect was facing a crisis—or rather, when someone believed the Lingtian Sword Sect was facing a crisis.
She explained her speculation to Yun Yijiu, her tone grave at the end. “During that time, did you ever feel anything abnormal with your body or your cultivation?”
Yun Yijiu shook her head.
Even knowing that her inability to ascend was very likely due to someone else’s scheme, she appeared perfectly calm. The emotional fluctuation from this matter itself was not even as great as the fluctuation from noticing Yue Du’s unhappiness.
Yue Du bit her lip. The spot pressed by her teeth turned pale from the force, a stark contrast to her rosy lips.
“Don’t bite,” Yun Yijiu said.
Yue Du came to her senses. Just as she relaxed her jaw, she saw Yun Yijiu’s long fingers rise and press against her lower lip, rubbing it gently.
And yet her expression was still so serious!
Yue Du grabbed her fair wrist. “Let’s talk about serious matters first.”
Yun Yijiu paused, letting Yue Du hold her, but said faintly, “If this matter is as you think, are the rings on my forehead and other places related?”
“If they are related, why does Mu Xingluo also have a ring in her body?”
If Situ Chu from a hundred thousand years ago and Yun Yijiu today both had to give up ascension, either willingly or unknowingly, because the sect was in danger, then what about Mu Xingluo?
The Lingtian Sword Sect was currently at the height of its power, the largest center of strength in the Qianhong Divine Province. It would have no problem maintaining its glory for another hundred thousand years.
No matter how one looked at it, it shouldn’t be Mu Xingluo’s turn to be involved in this matter.
The original plotline hadn’t mentioned a single word about it. Mu Xingluo’s ascension had been extremely smooth.
A myriad of thoughts surfaced in Yue Du’s mind, but she lacked the relevant evidence.
In fact, all her previous speculations were based on only two samples, which really wasn’t credible.
Yue Du fell silent.
Yun Yijiu, on the other hand, was unconcerned. The wrist that was being held shifted slightly, and her fingertips touched a lock of Yue Du’s hair hanging by her cheek.
“Don’t worry about this,” Yun Yijiu said. “I trust you. Since you’ve already found these connections, the next step is simply to follow the clues. We will eventually find the key.”
“We still have several hundred years. It’s enough.”
We don’t have several hundred years… I only have ten, Yue Du said in her heart.
But she couldn’t say it out loud.
On second thought, even if she failed her mission and was sent back to the System Space, Yun Yijiu was more than capable of continuing the investigation. This thought brought Yue Du a small measure of relief.
Regardless, having a lead was better than being aimless like before.
Just as Yun Yijiu had said, they would follow the clues.
What Yue Du was most certain of at the moment was that Yun Yijiu’s inability to ascend was definitely the result of someone else’s machinations.
The first suspect was Situ Que’s… father. After all, he was a descendant of Situ Chu and was the Sect Master during Yun Yijiu’s youth.
It was possible that Situ Que learned something from his father, which was why he then schemed against Mu Xingluo.
The second suspect was Situ Chu herself.
In the cultivation world, it wasn’t difficult to leave behind one’s consciousness, especially for a Tribulation Transcendence Venerable. Weren’t there countless secret realms where the realm’s master had left behind their consciousness, all for the sake of selecting a talented successor for their ultimate techniques?
Perhaps Situ Chu had also used some method to preserve her consciousness. For the sake of the sect she loved, she suppressed talented juniors, preventing them from ascending so they could guard the Lingtian Sword Sect.
This was not impossible.
Some other people in the sect were also included in the scope of suspicion, such as the several elders from that time.
Yun Yijiu had lived for nine thousand years. The old figures from back then were no longer in this world—a few had ascended, most had perished. Many clues were buried in the past.
Yue Du took a deep breath.
In any case, the workload ahead was going to be immense…
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