Chapter 84: Green Bamboo Returns, Sword Master Does Not

At the peak of Kunlun Mountain, the True Gate shattered.

The thousand-zhang gateway split open from the middle; golden fragments fell like meteors, only to be ground into flying ash by the Human Realm barrier in mid-air.

The Upper Realm palaces, the Golden Sea, and the roaring Heavenly Patrol were all swallowed by the rapidly closing rift.

Sword Cultivators fell to the ground one after another.

Xie Wuya spat out a mouthful of blood, nearly fainting to death.

The Green Blade Camp suffered heavy losses.

Xiao Cheng'an lay unconscious, his palm a blur of blood and flesh.

Lin Xiaoman clutched the History Box tightly, his face covered in tears and snowmelt.

Xie Tingxue stood where the True Gate had vanished.

She held the Green Bamboo Sword in her hand.

The sword had returned.

The person had not.

Wind and snow fell upon her shoulders.

She did not move.

Xie Wuya struggled to rise, his voice hoarse:

"Tingxue..."

Xie Tingxue did not respond.

She only stared at that empty sky, as if Jiang Che would walk out of it with a smile in the next moment, saying, "I'm back."

But there was none.

The sky was very clean.

Clean to the point of cruelty.

Lin Xiaoman ran over stumbling, his voice trembling:

"Miss Xie, where is the Young Master?"

Xie Tingxue's fingers gripping the sword tightened.

The Green Bamboo Sword trembled and roared violently.

On the blade remained Jiang Che's blood.

Xie Wuya closed his eyes briefly.

"He may be trapped in the Upper Realm."

Lin Xiaoman's face turned deathly pale: "Can he be saved?"

No one answered.

The Kunlun True Gate was already shattered.

The stable passage between the Human Realm and the Upper Realm was severed.

This was originally a victory.

Yet it was like a blade, cutting open everyone's heart.

When the news reached Capital City, the Human Assembly Hall was in session.

After reading the urgent report, Gu Chongming dropped the bamboo slips from his hand.

Qin Su stood up abruptly.

Shen Wanjin turned pale, muttering, "Impossible... the Young Master still owes me so much debt..."

After receiving the news at White Bone Pass, Chen Shanhe smashed a city brick with a single punch.

The old general donned his armor, mounted his horse, and was about to head for Kunlun Mountain.

His subordinates held him back desperately.

"General, even if you go, there is no gate to enter!"

Chen Shanhe roared, "Then find a gate!"

The entire Human Realm was thrown into chaos for a moment.

Some did not believe it.

Some wept bitterly.

Some rushed to the Jiang Che Chronicle Stele, wanting to kneel, then remembering that kneeling was forbidden, and finally could only lean against the stele and cry out loud.

An old man in Luo'an sat before the altered clay statue, silent for a long time.

After hearing the news, Xiao Chengping of the Western Desert cried, asking if his brother would return.

Xiao Cheng'an remained unconscious; no one answered him.

The storyteller in Jinling stopped lecturing for three days.

On the fourth day, he opened his mouth again, telling the story of "The Gate Opens a Line".

When he spoke of the Green Bamboo Sword returning while the person did not, the entire hall wept.

But the Council Hall could not only weep.

Gu Chongming forced himself to preside over the emergency meeting.

"First, seal the details of the Sword Master's disappearance to prevent unrest across the regions."

Qin Su said coldly, "It cannot be sealed."

Gu Chongming fell silent.

Indeed, it could not be sealed.

Too many accompanied the Kunlun battle, and the History Camp was among them.

The New System's greatest taboo is concealment.

Gu Chongming corrected himself:

"Then make it public."

"Make it public truthfully."

"Second, the Anti-Heaven Bureau shall be temporarily jointly administered by Xie Wuya and Xie Tingxue."

"Third, seek a passage to the Upper Realm."

"Fourth..."

He stopped.

What was the fourth point?

Preparing for the New System's operation after Jiang Che's death?

That statement was too heavy; no one wished to say it.

Finally, the widow from Han Zhou who sold soup stood up.

Her eyes were red and swollen, yet her voice was steady:

"Fourth, the Human Realm continues as normal."

Everyone looked at her.

The widow said:

"If the Young Master returns and sees us crying and throwing the place into chaos, he will surely laugh."

"He forbade us from kneeling, not so that we would be unable to go on without him."

Gu Chongming's eyes grew hot.

"Correct."

"The Human Realm continues as normal."

Thus, the Council Hall released the Edict to the World.

"The Kunlun True Gate has been shattered."

"The Guardian of the Nation Sword Master, Jiang Che, entered the Gate to strike down the core and has not yet returned."

"The Human Realm will not hide his merit, nor shun its dangers, nor spread news of his death."

"The Anti-Heaven Bureau continues to operate, the Council Hall continues to convene, and the New Laws continue to be enforced."

"Though Jiang Che has not returned, the Human Realm must still refuse to kneel."

This edict spread throughout the world.

Many people wept.

But there was no chaos.

Because the thing Jiang Che had done most over these years was to teach the Human Realm to learn to rely on more than just Jiang Che.

At the peak of Kunlun Mountain.

Xie Tingxue sat beside the True Gate Ruins, guarding for seven days and seven nights.

On the morning of the eighth day, the Green Bamboo Sword suddenly gave a faint chime.

Xie Tingxue's eyes snapped open.

A line of extremely faint blood characters appeared on the blade.

They were not Human Realm script.

Yet the Sword Intent translated them into a meaning she could understand.

"Alive."

Only two characters.

Xie Tingxue's eyes instantly turned red.

She gripped the Green Bamboo Sword tightly, her voice so light she feared shattering those two characters.

"I will wait for you."