Chapter 608: The Way of Almsgiving

There is no single overwhelming power that can cover the sky with one hand in the Mountains and Seas Realm.

The cultivation world of this world is the same—there is no strongest sect, only a group of sects that are evenly matched and stand at the pinnacle of the world.

There are seven sects in total, forming the first echelon of sects in this world.

The Pure Yang Sword Sect is not one of these seven sects; it is slightly weaker and belongs to the second echelon.

This second echelon has many more sects—thirteen in total.

These thirteen sects were directly ignored by Tang Luo, whose gaze naturally locked onto the strongest seven: the Shu Mountain Sword Sect, the Hidden Sword Mountain Villa, the Heaven-Reaching Sword Gate, the Kunlun Sword Pool, the Listening-to-Rain Sword Pavilion, the Star Sword Sect, and the Myriad Swords Valley.

All seven sects bear the character "sword" in their names, which is also a feature of this world.

Most sects have the character "sword" in their names.

As for the fiercest swords, their criteria are not as clear-cut as those of the seven great sects, with various opinions emerging endlessly.

Of course, the most unified saying is: "There is no strongest sword, only the strongest sword cultivator."

The strongest sword cultivators are not as numerous as the seven sects—there are only three.

They are respectively Feng Xian Zhenren of the Shu Mountain Sword Sect, Jian Chi Yi Xin of the Hidden Sword Mountain Villa, and Shen Jun Yue Wu Shuang of the Heaven-Reaching Sword Gate.

Elder Lin explained the situation item by item, and Tang Luo and the others noted them down one by one.

Finally, they let the miserable Elder Lin leave.

Since they are all converts, they are not afraid he will leak Tang Luo and the others' information; even if, after time passes, Elder Lin returns to secular life and leaks something, it would not be a big deal.

After Elder Lin left, Chi Jing Dao Ren said: "It seems we need to disguise ourselves."

He is a bearer of the Chi Jing Ming Ge, a proper cultivator, and after so many years, his equipment naturally includes one or two flying swords among his magical treasures.

Disguising as a sword cultivator is no problem.

Jiang Shang Chuan Shuo is a bearer of the Jiang Zi Ya Ming Ge; his main equipment weapon is a whip. He asked Chi Jing Dao Ren for a sword and can wield it passably.

Zhu Ba Jie once split his nine-tooth rake into nine parts, refining nine divine weapons, among which were two swords: Qian Qiu Wan Zai and Li Hun. Now he can casually conjure one out of thin air, effortlessly.

Ao Yu Lie and Odin are comparatively troublesome.

One weapon is the Bai Long Lie Feng Fa Zhang, which looks nothing like a sword no matter how you look at it.

The other is a long spear, and its overall style is completely out of place in this world, making it look like someone from the demonic path.

Soon, the demonic path cultivator Odin left first.

Initially, to save his life, he needed to draw attention, but later Odin discovered that Tang Luo truly did not care about him at all, so how could he possibly choose to stay?

Serving a ruler is like serving a tiger—being by Tang Luo's side is too dangerous.

As a supreme being among those who walk as gods and demons, if he lacks even the courage to act alone and must cling to someone else's thigh, Odin might as well buy a block of tofu and kill himself by crashing into it.

After confirming he could leave, Odin departed cleanly and decisively.

In fact, Tang Luo's side has no grudge against Odin... if one must say there is, it is only Odin who bears a one-sided grudge against Tang Luo.

It was Tang Luo who single-handedly caused the downfall of the Divine Alliance.

Chi Jing Dao Ren and Jiang Shang, on the other hand, have long-standing grudges against Odin, but they also have their own pride and considerations.

The former would not go so far as to ask Tang Luo to act and kill Odin; the latter, after weighing pros and cons, decided to let Odin go first.

The two of them joining forces could kill Odin without problem, but the issue is that a life-or-death battle would come at a considerable cost.

This mission is not simple; through that Elder Lin, everyone has already learned much and foreseen the dangers ahead.

At this point, if they were to fight Odin to the death, paying a heavy price to kill him, how would the mission proceed?

"Too bad it's not an opposing mission." Chi Jing Dao Ren "saw off" Odin's departure, saying softly.

In an opposing mission, the enemy camp's god-and-demon walkers are stumbling blocks on the road ahead—there must be a battle.

No need to worry about anything else.

Unfortunately, this time everyone is a fellow traveler on the same mission, so they can only let Odin go for now.

Anyway, he's just a stray dog—no need to bother Tang Luo over him.

Chi Jing Dao Ren and Jiang Shang are not as strong as Tang Luo, but they also have no intention of becoming mere ornaments hanging from his thigh; they just take responsibility for shouting "666."

After Odin left, the group split into three teams, heading respectively to the Shu Mountain Sword Sect, the Hidden Sword Mountain Villa, and the Heaven-Reaching Sword Gate.

These three sects have the strongest sword cultivators, and it is unknown whether they possess the divine sword they seek.

If they discover anything, they will communicate via the Gray Mist Realm.

No deliberate effort was made to balance strength—Jiang Shang went to the Shu Mountain Sword Sect, Chi Jing Dao Ren to the Hidden Sword Mountain Villa, and Tang Luo and the others to the Heaven-Reaching Sword Gate.

Compared to Chi Jing Dao Ren and the others rushing about in a frenzy, Tang Luo and the others moved at a leisurely pace.

Walking and stopping along the way, it was like enjoying the beautiful landscapes.

The reason is naturally that the heavenly and earthly spiritual energy in this world is abundant, allowing them to take it slow.

Most importantly, once Tang Luo and the others truly act, there will surely be winds rising and clouds surging, heaven overturned and earth turned.

They can afford to keep a low profile for now.

Two months later, in a city entirely belonging to cultivators.

Ao Yu Lie stood on the martial stage, one sword blasting his opponent off the stage, slightly shaking his head and murmuring: "Too weak."

Outside the martial stage, a chorus of melodious cheers rang out.

Tang Luo and the others spent one and a half months traveling to the sphere of influence of the Heaven-Reaching Sword Gate, while Ao Yu Lie spent another half month making a name for himself in the vicinity.

To fit the theme, Ao Yu Lie directly entered the "Second Transformation" state, abandoning the mage Ao Yu Lie and becoming the cultivator Ao Yu Lie.

The sword in his hand was purchased.

One can buy various swords at any cultivator settlement.

Although everyone uses swords, swords still differ—there are long-short dual swords, short swords, and even relatively large great swords.

The most common and widespread is the sword Ao Yu Lie holds: not too long, not too short, the blade two to three fingers wide, four-square and stable, not favoring a biased edge.

The price is not high; as for the money to buy the sword, as a monastic, begging for alms is a basic operation.

Even if he concealed his identity, his former specialties wouldn't be deliberately hidden.

Anyway, Tang Luo and the others didn't really look like monastics.

Zhu Bajie was bald, true, but bald cultivators weren't nonexistent; and Tang Luo, with that eye-catching white hair and blood-red robes — you call that a monk? Who'd believe it.

On the tavern near the arena, Tang Luo and Zhu Bajie sat facing each other, Xiaotian Quan lying prone on the table.

Once cultivators reached a higher cultivation, they no longer needed to rely on eating to survive.

But places like taverns still had a huge market — whether simply satisfying a craving, or consuming tonic foods greatly beneficial to oneself, both were within cultivators' needs.

Zhu Bajie stuffed a chopstickful of food into his mouth and mumbled, "Master, why not buy a sword to play with?"

"Can't be bothered to buy one," Tang Luo said, uninterested.

Zhu Bajie made a token gesture — he had a short sword strapped to his back, forming a stark contrast with his tall frame, looking rather comical.

Tang Luo, by contrast, was empty-handed.

No one would think Tang Luo wasn't a sword cultivator because of that — first, non-sword cultivators were extremely few.

Second, not every sword cultivator liked or was accustomed to displaying their worn sword.

Many sword cultivators also used special sword pellets, invisible to outsiders.

For cultivators of somewhat higher power, stowing away their flying sword so outsiders couldn't see it was perfectly normal.