Chapter 268: Night Ends and Dawn Breaks, Harmonizing with the Light and Dust (Tomorrow is double)

"I once heard Wu Mei, Wu Feixiong of the Biyun Nunnery, say that a wandering practitioner from the East who excels in Li Fire sword techniques had recently come to Xikang. Could it be you, Daoist friend?"

Cheng Xinzhan broke the formation again to return and provide support, standing by Zhou Qingyun's side.

And this time, Zhou Qingyun did not say anything about sending Cheng Xinzhan to break through and leave first. Instead, surrounded by demons, she took light steps and actively walked two steps closer to Cheng Xinzhan, asking questions.

Cheng Xinzhan did not expect that after he came to Xikang, Wu Mei had met Zhou Qingyun and mentioned him. He drove his flying sword to force back a demon practitioner who was performing magic to sneak an attack from underwater, thinking of the Red Glow in Wu Mei's hand and the Green Glow in Zhou Qingyun's hand, and replied,

"I also heard from Daoist friend Shoumei that there is another person in Shu who is even three parts better than her in the Dao of Sword Glow. That must be the Green Cord Sword, right?"

Zhou Qingyun smiled, the glow in her hand clear and blue, and she shattered another demon treasure. She said,

"Shoumei is gifted with extraordinary talent; her sword glow was self-taught. I was instructed by my teacher from a young age, and only then did I achieve something. I dare not say I am better than her."

Cheng Xinzhan looked at the Green Cord Sword in Zhou Qingyun's hand, which sometimes transformed into a glow that scattered as if covering the sky like a cloth, and sometimes condensed into a beam like a long rainbow piercing the sun, retracted and released at will, size controlled by the heart. Clearly, this sword was already as obedient as an arm in her hands, which was a great improvement compared to what he had seen at Fuxia Lake, where she relied entirely on the sword's own divine power.

Heroes of the world are like crucian carp crossing the river.

He said sincerely,

"Daoist friend, you are too modest."

And Zhou Qingyun saw that when he first met her, he called her by her full name, and later he was unwilling to talk to her several times. Just now, she took the initiative to talk to him again and called him "Green Cord Sword," and until now, he was finally willing to call her "Daoist friend" again.

She was happy in her heart, and her courage grew a little, and she began to joke with Cheng Xinzhan,

"My sword glow comes from Mount Huangshan in Qingzhou. I heard from Shoumei that you are also from Qingzhou, Daoist friend?"

Cheng Xinzhan's face looked a bit unnatural. He coughed lightly and said,

"Yes, from Yicheng."

"Oh."

Zhou Qingyun nodded and said,

"Yicheng is pleasant and suitable for living, a land of outstanding people and spiritual mountains, with many traces of immortals. It has both the Daoist Heavenly Pillar Cave Heaven and the Zen Sect's Third Ancestor's precious temple. No wonder your cultivation is so exquisite, Daoist friend, having been born in Yicheng."

Cheng Xinzhan was used to telling lies. At this moment, he nodded, and no abnormality could be seen at all.

Zhou Qingyun saw him like this, and there was a smile on the corner of her mouth again. This time, her courage was even greater—she did not know why she was so bold today, and she directly used the "Heart-to-Heart" supernatural power to place her inner voice in his heart palace,

"Daoist brother, the origin of your alias can stand up to scrutiny. I have many people from Qingzhou in my Baihe Sword Pavilion, and there are also people from Yicheng among them. If you are not leaving Xikang immediately, I am afraid that you will inevitably meet them in the future and talk about your background and apprenticeship."

Cheng Xinzhan replied to her,

"I have my own sense of proportion."

Immediately, the two were quiet for a long time.

After a while, Zhou Qingyun said,

"I didn't expect Daoist brother to still use the Li Fire Sword Scripture."

In fact, since the sword fight at Baiyujing, Zhou Qingyun had never used the Kan Water Sword Scripture in front of outsiders again. She felt guilty; she thought Cheng Xinzhan would dislike it.

And Cheng Xinzhan did not react to what Zhou Qingyun meant by asking this at first. This is an immortal scripture; why would he not use it?

However, he quickly understood what Zhou Qingyun meant by saying this. He sighed, saying that it is true that female cultivators have many feelings in their Yin spirits and have too many floating thoughts. He said straightforwardly,

"Tools are the attachments of people."

Hearing this, Zhou Qingyun's heart was in chaos. She thought Cheng Xinzhan continued to cultivate the Li Fire Sword Scripture because he had already let go of the grudge of that Baiyujing sword fight, but she did not expect Cheng Xinzhan to just treat the immortal scripture as a tool. This sentence clearly meant "tools have no good or evil; the user has a heart."

Although she was panicked, she did not rush to refute, but thought about it, and then said,

"There are two great commandments in the world: one is fate, and the other is righteousness. A child's love for their parents is fate, which cannot be resolved in the heart; a disciple's service to their teacher is righteousness, and there is no place where one is not a teacher, and there is no escape between heaven and earth."

Cheng Xinzhan was very surprised to hear this. He turned his head to look at Zhou Qingyun and then said,

"You also read the 'Nanhua Scripture'?"

Zhou Qingyun nodded slightly, thinking that when they first met at Mount Huangshan, she discovered that he liked to quote classics when he spoke. However, at that time, she only knew how to cultivate and practice sword, and she didn't understand anything and couldn't answer. Now, she would not make the same mistake. Moreover, she heard that he is now the Wanfa Scripture Master of Mount Sanqing. If she quotes classics to tell him her inner feelings and hardships, he should be able to listen better.

And as the woman expected, Cheng Xinzhan's tone was indeed much better. While speaking, he even brought a bit of earnestness. He said slowly,

"Classics have profound meanings. One must read the whole scripture, and even more so, dialectically. Respecting the teacher is true, but one must value the Dao even more. You are reading the 'Human World Chapter,' but the 'Nanhua Scripture—Heaven and Earth Chapter' also says:

"'A filial son does not flatter his parents, and a good disciple does not flatter his teacher; this is the excellence of the child and the disciple. If what the parent says is right and what they do is good, then the secular world calls them an unfilial son; if what the teacher says is right and what they do is good, then the secular world calls them an unfilial disciple.'"

Zhou Qingyun followed the advice,

"Daoist brother is absolutely right. At that time, I was young, valued cultivation but neglected principles, and did wrong things. Afterward, I felt uneasy in my heart and read many classics, and only then did I repent."

This was also the first time in so many years that Zhou Qingyun had the opportunity to reveal her inner thoughts and admit her mistakes.

Cheng Xinzhan sighed in his heart upon hearing this. People are not sages; who can be without mistakes? Although this woman made a mistake, at that time, her position was not up to her. The principles of sages are clear, but it is very difficult to do them. Moreover, this woman came to help from a thousand miles away at Fuxia Lake, which was also to make up for the mistake of that day, and she is not a hopeless person.

So he also made this trip.

"'Only when the weather is cold do we know that the pine and cypress are the last to wither.'"

Cheng Xinzhan said.

Zhou Qingyun smiled, as bright as the morning glow.

At this time, the night ended and dawn broke, the east was at daybreak, and the Dao was bright.

"Harmonizing with the light and dust!"

At this moment, suddenly hearing Ye Yuanjing shout loudly above the clouds, Cheng Xinzhan looked up and saw that the flying sword manifested by Ye Yuanjing suddenly dissolved into thousands of sword threads.

However, at this time, the sword move was very different from the previous "Clouds Locking a Thousand Peaks." The sword threads of "Clouds Locking a Thousand Peaks" were like wind and fog, with the momentum of sweeping across the eight wildernesses and entering every hole. But at this time, the thousands of sword threads were emitting infinite light, merging with the bright light of the sunrise, making it impossible for people to distinguish and impossible to defend against.

Cheng Xinzhan only took one look and felt sword threads stabbing into his eyes, so he quickly retracted his gaze.

"Ah—"

Immediately following, he heard a painful cry from above the clouds.

Immediately, he saw blood clouds surging and retreating to the north bank of the great river. And he heard that Jade Enchantress say,

"Old Daoist nun, today you took the initiative. Let's see if you will have such good luck in the future! Retreat!"

As the blood clouds went north, the group of demons besieging the Sword Pavilion on the great river also flew into the blood clouds one after another and left.

The demons came fast and went fast. In the blink of an eye, the blood Qi dissipated, and the universe was clear. In the great river, the yellow and white water that had been mixed together due to the aftermath of the great battle separated again, as distinct as the Jing and Wei rivers.

Seeing the demons go far away, the people of the Baihe Sword Pavilion also let out a cheer.

Ye Yuanjing waved her sleeve at this time, and all the white clouds in the sky entered her sleeve, and the world was empty.

Cheng Xinzhan secretly said "as expected."

It was indeed the "Yangming Cloud Hall Gang."

Ye Yuanjing retracted the white clouds and the flying sword, and flew to the side of Zhou Qingyun and Cheng Xinzhan. Both of them had already put away their magic treasures at this moment.

At this moment, Ye Yuanjing dissipated the bright cloud light, and Cheng Xinzhan finally saw the true face of this Daoist nun.

Looking at her age, she was about forty, but she had a head of white hair like frost and snow, unstained by a speck of dust. She wore a cloud-patterned Dharma robe, pure white as snow, with wide robes and large sleeves, moving like flowing clouds and returning wind.

Her face was as bright as jade, her eyebrows like a new moon, sparse and relaxed, her eyes clear, like an autumn pool reflecting the sun, warm and shining on people.

"Daoist friend, greetings."

Ye Yuanjing took the lead in bowing to Cheng Xinzhan.

Cheng Xinzhan returned the salute,

"Daoist priest, greetings."

At this time, because Ye Yuanjing and Zhou Qingyun were both there, all the Sword Pavilion Xuan cultivators who had fought, as well as the wandering practitioner guests who were registered under the Sword Pavilion, also gathered around. Among them, there was no lack of righteous people who were passing by to provide support.

Ye Yuanjing looked at Zhou Qingyun. Zhou Qingyun was now the master of the Sword Pavilion, so she naturally knew what to do.

After looking around, she bowed to the four directions and said,

"The demon sect's attack was sudden. Relying on everyone's fellow disciples and the righteous people who came to provide support, we were able to repel the demon tide and preserve the Sword Pavilion. Qingyun bows and thanks you here. The pavilion also has magic treasures and scriptures prepared. Please enter the pavilion to rest for a while, and a small gift will be sent later."

The crowd of cultivators cheered. Although everyone understood that the people who decided the great battle were always the high cultivators above the clouds, this remark by Pavilion Master Zhou still made everyone very satisfied, not to mention that there was remuneration. Everyone knew that Emei's remuneration was never stingy.

At the same time, everyone's eyes lingered on Cheng Xinzhan. If one had to mention one more person besides "Flowing Light Flying Clouds" and "Green Cord Sword" who decided the great battle, it would definitely be this unfamiliar wandering practitioner.

This person not only escaped from the hands of the Jade Enchantress, but actually killed the three Tang sisters alone, and also scared away the monk Kongse, forcing him to sever his own arm. These were all famous demons. Who exactly was this person?

Seeing everyone looking at himself, Cheng Xinzhan found it difficult to hold on, so he arched his hands and said,

"Greetings, fellow Daoists. This poor Daoist is the Yunlai wandering practitioner. Please give me more advice in the future."

Everyone said they didn't dare. Among them were people who came to support from the Xichuan Sword Pavilion, who now recognized Cheng Xinzhan. They were telling the people around them about his demon-slaying achievements, as well as the praise and admiration for him from Tong Yuanqi of the Ten Thousand Mile Flying Rainbow, Yan Renying the Drunken Gentleman, and Wu Mei the Female Flying Bear.

Thus, everyone's eyes on Cheng Xinzhan became even more different.

After some polite words, everyone left in twos and threes to return to the Sword Pavilion. Some gathered to drink and review the battle just now; some sat quietly to heal their wounds and soothe the surging magic power in their bodies.

Others, with sorrow on their faces, did not even return to the Sword Pavilion, but went down the river to fish for the corpses of their friends. There were even people whose job was to clean up the battlefield, to finish off the wounded and pick up corpses, which need not be mentioned.

Cheng Xinzhan, at the invitation of Ye Yuanjing, came to the refined residence of this high cultivator together with Zhou Qingyun.

"The battle was urgent, and I haven't had a chance to exchange names with you, Daoist friend. This poor Daoist is Ye Yuanjing, from Chuxiong, Dianwen, apprenticed at Mount Emei. Greetings."

After the few sat down, Ye Yuanjing took the lead in reporting her background.

"Zhou Qingyun of Mount Emei, from Mount Huangshan, Qingzhou. Greetings, Daoist friend."

Zhou Qingyun followed and said.

Cheng Xinzhan arched his hands and said,

"Greetings, two Daoist friends. This poor Daoist is the Yunlai wandering practitioner, from Yicheng, Qingzhou. My master is a wandering Daoist, with no sect or faction. This poor Daoist also likes to travel through mountains and play in the water, with no fixed residence, and I haven't been in Xikang for long."

Ye Yuanjing was somewhat surprised and said,

"I see that your thunder magic is excellent, Daoist friend, and I thought you were from an Eastern great sect, but I didn't expect you to be a recluse. Then your master must have had an extraordinary immortal fate. May I ask if it is convenient to reveal your master's name? This poor Daoist also stayed in Qingzhou for a period of time, and perhaps I have heard of your master's great name."

Cheng Xinzhan smiled and said,

"My master likes to hide, calling himself the Nameless Daoist. There shouldn't be many people who have heard of him."

Ye Yuanjing knew that this meant it was inconvenient to reveal, so she tactfully stopped asking. Changing the subject, she said again,

"When you came, Daoist friend, you called Qingyun's name. Could it be that you have an old acquaintance?"

Cheng Xinzhan shook his head and explained,

"Who doesn't know the famous Green Cord Sword? Even if one doesn't know the person, one knows the sword. I saw a demon sneak an attack, so I just spoke up to remind her."

Zhou Qingyun also said at this time,

"Yunlai Daoist friend and I have never met, but I had heard Shoumei say before that Yunlai Daoist friend's Li Fire sword technique is extremely powerful."

"Oh?"

Ye Yuanjing looked over.

Cheng Xinzhan said,

"This poor Daoist traveled to Xikang, but I first got to know a few drinking friends from the Biyun Nunnery, and later followed them to the hinterland of Xikang. Now I am a guest practitioner in the Xichuan Sword Pavilion."

Ye Yuanjing nodded. After roughly exchanging names and getting to know each other, she straightened her posture and thanked him again,

"Today's battle, thanks to your timely help, Daoist friend."

Cheng Xinzhan waved his hand and said,

"The root of repelling the enemy today is that the Daoist priest's supernatural power surpassed that enchantress. What this poor Daoist did was just icing on the cake."

Ye Yuanjing smiled and shook her head, explaining,

"You may not know, Daoist friend, that the enchantress you speak of is an elder of the Blood God Sect, named Yu Wenjiao, nicknamed Jade Enchantress. Her cultivation has reached the Seventh Wash, which is higher than mine."

Seventh Wash, no wonder, no wonder she forced me to be somewhat unable to parry with just one move. If she was only one level higher, then this Daoist nun should be at the Sixth Wash.

Cheng Xinzhan thought.

Ye Yuanjing continued,

"The enchantress who was killed by you first using thunder magic is called Tang Caiwei, and she is the Jade Enchantress's disciple. This person was completely destroyed by you, so the Jade Enchantress was naturally furious. While confronting me, she attacked you, breaking her magic momentum, which allowed me to seize the initiative."

"She went for the kill. That 'Lieque Blood God Light' is a secret supernatural technique of the Blood God Sect, which cannot be performed by anyone who is not a Golden Core elder, and it is also very exhausting of magic power and essence, so this poor Daoist had the advantage again."

Cheng Xinzhan nodded slightly. So that was it.

"Later, your supernatural power was excellent, Daoist friend, and you resolved her blood light, which even caused a backlash for her, allowing me to seize the opportunity to injure her with a sword. Later, you killed her remaining two disciples, which completely disrupted her heart, and her attacks lost their method, which allowed me to take advantage of the timing to seriously injure her with one sword."

Ye Yuanjing looked at Cheng Xinzhan and smiled, saying,

"Actually, it should be said that you and I joined forces to deal with the Jade Enchantress, which drove her away."

Cheng Xinzhan smiled. This person in front of him was also a high cultivator of the Yuan generation of Emei. He didn't expect her words and behavior to be so humble and approachable, which was exactly the name of the sword move she used at the end to determine the victory,

Harmonizing with the light and dust.

Cheng Xinzhan replied,

"This poor Daoist's contribution is insignificant. On the contrary, the Daoist priest's sword is as quiet as a lonely cloud covering a mountain, and the deep water flows; it moves like clouds surging in the long sky, vast and mighty. Seeing it, this poor Daoist has gained a lot."

Cheng Xinzhan's words were not flattery, but rather hit the nail on the head, showing his extremely high vision. Ye Yuanjing's eyes lit up when she heard this, and she said to Zhou Qingyun,

"Qingyun, did you hear that? Yunlai Daoist friend is high-minded, and two sentences almost exhausted the true essence of the Sword Cloud Dao. You cultivate Sword Glow, and by analogy, you should have some insights."

Zhou Qingyun looked at Cheng Xinzhan and said,

"Yunlai Daoist friend's words are pearls of wisdom. Qingyun has noted them down. In the future, I would like to bother you for more advice, and I hope Yunlai Daoist friend will not be stingy with your teaching."

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 269 =====