Chapter 621: I Have a Better Idea

"Don't act rashly!"

Lei Zhengyang immediately shouted; breaking through from Nascent Soul to Spirit Severing is no simple matter — the difficulties and perils are immense, and perishing body and soul is a common occurrence.

From that aura alone one could tell Tang Xuanzang was at a critical juncture right now.

Speaking while distracted had already made Lei Zhengyang a bit panicked; he still remembered that when he himself broke through, he had specially asked his master to stand guard, lest any mishap occur.

And here Tang Xuanzang, you brat, were saying you could break through next time?

To reassure Tang Luo, Lei Zhengyang immediately added, "Achieving Spirit Severing is fine too; both Spirit Severing and Nascent Soul are vital combat assets for the Grand Competition."

As long as you don't act rashly and don't get injured, and can fight when the Grand Competition comes, everything is negotiable.

If you get injured and miss the Grand Competition, that would be a disaster.

"Oh, so that's what you mean, Sect Master — you're saying it doesn't matter whether it's Nascent Soul or Spirit Severing?"

"Yes, yes," Lei Zhengyang said. "Stop talking, quickly steady your mind; I'll go invite my master to come!"

"No need."

The mansion gates opened; the previously rampaging aura instantly converged, and Tang Luo walked out. "Since both Nascent Soul and Spirit Severing are important, I have an idea."

"... You, you stopped the breakthrough?"

"Mm." Tang Luo nodded.

"No injuries?"

"None, perfectly fine." Tang Luo extended a thumb, indicating he had absolutely no problems.

"My mistake, treating you as an ordinary genius." Lei Zhengyang took a deep breath and said seriously, "Regarding the Seven Gates Grand Competition, there are some things I want to tell you."

"Good." The two entered the mansion's garden pavilion and sat down; soon a maidservant brought tea and snacks.

Lei Zhengyang wasn't in a rush to discuss business either, smiling: "You certainly know how to enjoy yourself."

He needed to compose himself.

"Nothing to do with me," Tang Luo said.

"Heh. Young Master Yu Long has been in the sect for only a few months and already bears the title of 'Romantic Sword Cultivator.'" Lei Zhengyang said.

Tang Luo picked up his tea and took a sip: "Doesn't matter; if he's an eyesore just beat him up — as long as you don't kill him. He runs around all day long."

Lei Zhengyang also picked up his cup and drank: "That's not what I meant; just a reminder — some people in the sect are uneasy about Elder Xuanzang and his disciple."

"Not being envied is the mark of a mediocrity." Tang Luo was very calm.

Lei Zhengyang smiled: "Many outsiders say Elder Xuanzang will be a second Jian Chi Yixin; I think they're wrong — wildly wrong."

"Oh? Speaking of which, what kind of person is Jian Chi Yixin?" Tang Luo was a bit curious.

Of the three strongest sword cultivators, Divine Lord Yue Wushuang is the "Orthodox Sword" — upright and peaceful, temperament steady, stable as a mountain.

True Man Feng Xian is the "Ruthless One" of "Heaven and Earth are not benevolent; they treat the myriad things as straw dogs."

Jian Chi Yixin is described by a single word: "Chi" (obsession). Exactly how he is obsessed — anyway, Tang Luo, as a newcomer, doesn't know.

"He..." Lei Zhengyang weighed his words. "Is a very difficult person to communicate with; sometimes I even suspect whether he isn't a sword himself."

"A sword?"

"Right. Jian Chi Yixin is interested only in the sword." Lei Zhengyang said. "He is indifferent to everything else; in his eyes there is nothing but the sword."

"Silent, wooden, taciturn — no, one should say: does Elder Xuanzang know the mundane Buddhist sect's 'Silent Meditation'?"

Tang Luo said: "Mm, I used to be a monk, later returned to secular life."

"I see; Xuanzang does sound somewhat like a Dharma name." Lei Zhengyang said. "Jian Chi Yixin often seems like he has cultivated Silent Meditation — he doesn't speak."

The cultivation world has no monks, but the mortal world does.

Jian Chi is obsessed with the sword, like a sword; what about Tang Xuanzang?

Lei Zhengyang did not sense that the white-haired man before him was "obsessed" like Jian Chi; on the contrary, a kind of domineering air faintly seeped from the other's character.

However, this domineering air, covered by his rather indifferent exterior, turned into something resembling Jian Chi's "ignorance of worldly affairs."

Jian Chi truly doesn't understand — completely doesn't comprehend.

But Tang Xuanzang — he knows, he just doesn't care.

As if he feels he can, so when he can break through to Nascent Soul he breaks through, utterly unconcerned with the world's opinion.

Nor does he care what chain reactions might arise on such an occasion.

Come to think of it, such a genius — why should he overly mind others' views?

Not to mention a thousand years hence; even now, it is others who must ponder and guess his thoughts.

And between Jian Chi and Tang Xuanzang there is also a commonality: neither actually needs to understand "worldly affairs."

The cultivation world — the strong are revered!

The sword in hand, one's own cultivation base is the words to be spoken.

After chatting a few more sentences, turning the topic back to the Seven Gates Grand Competition, Lei Zhengyang first spoke of the Grand Competition's origins, emphasizing its importance, then said: "Besides the distribution of benefits for the next hundred-odd years, there is one even more important matter — the Grand Competition's final ranking determines the ownership of certain things."

"Ownership of certain things?"

This doesn't quite match what Ao Yulie found out; one can see the Grand Competition's deeper purpose is kept relatively secret.

It's normal for Ao Yulie's intelligence to be off.

But since it's "certain things," could it still be related to the Divine Sword?

"Mm, they are keys." Lei Zhengyang said. "The three keys that open the Heavenly Sword Land."

He chose to lay everything bare — if you want the horse to run, you must let the horse eat grass.

Wanting Tang Xuanzang to exert himself for the sect yet keeping him in the dark — the Soaring Heaven Sword Gate wouldn't be that petty.

Divine Lord Yue Wushuang acts with magnanimity; the entire Sword Gate, influenced by him, shares this style.

Tang Luo has been in the sect for a short time.

Otherwise, normally speaking, having advanced all the way to Nascent Soul and attained the elder position, he would certainly know the Grand Competition's deeper purpose, and Lei Zhengyang wouldn't need to come personally to inform him.

"The Land of the Heavenly Sword?" Tang Luo raised a brow slightly; this sounded like it had a very high relevance to the Divine Sword.

"Correct. It is a secret realm. Cultivating inside this secret realm is of great benefit to us sword cultivators," Lei Zhengyang said. "Only a key can open the secret realm and allow entry."

"All three keys together?"

"No, any single key can open the secret realm."

"Then after getting a key, why not just move the whole sect into the secret realm?" Tang Luo's imagination ran wild.

"... That is naturally impossible." Lei Zhengyang shook his head. "Inside the Land of the Heavenly Sword is a stretch of chaos; within it, not even time and space are distinguished. There is only a powerful Sword Intent, which we sword cultivators can use to temper ourselves."

"Then we don't move the sect, we move the people in." Tang Luo proposed.

Lei Zhengyang blinked, feeling that Tang Xuanzang might not have been a monk before cultivating immortality, but a bandit.

"That won't work either. Only the key holder can enter the Land of the Heavenly Sword, and afterward they will stay inside for a period of time. The shortest stay was less than a month before coming out, and they even came out heavily injured, yet their strength advanced instead of retreating. The one who stayed the longest, Sword Maniac Yixin, remained inside for a full fifty-plus years, and his strength increased greatly upon emerging."

Pausing a moment, Lei Zhengyang continued: "There are also some people who, after entering, never came out again; only their keys reappeared."

"No one went to look for them?"

"Naturally attempts were made. But the feeling inside is like being in a boundless ocean, floating, able to swim, but after a long time you even doubt whether you were moving at all, gradually losing your sense of direction." Lei Zhengyang briefly described the sensation inside the Land of the Heavenly Sword; he had been inside himself.

He stayed a total of ten years, belonging to the batch whose strength improved considerably after coming out.

The time spent in the Land of the Heavenly Sword is not necessarily directly proportional to the increase in one's own strength.

"I see." Tang Luo said. "Then the keys are in our hands now?"

Lei Zhengyang quite liked the word "we" Tang Luo used. He smiled: "Correct. This time the three keys are respectively in the hands of the Listening Rain Sword Pavilion, the Shu Mountain Sword Sect, and us."

The top three of the last Grand Competition were these three sects.

"I thought they would be in the Cangjian Mountain Villa's hands." Tang Luo said.

Lei Zhengyang said solemnly: "Although the Patriarch and the other two described as the strongest three exist, apart from them, the strength of the seven major sects is about the same. At the Nascent Soul and Spirit Severing levels, we have never held an advantage."

"On the contrary, the Listening Rain Sword Pavilion and the Kunlun Sword Pool are slightly stronger."

"Then, why doesn't that Kunlun Sword Pool have a key in hand?" Tang Luo asked.

Lei Zhengyang's face was pale: "Because they were unlucky. Before the last Grand Competition, their strongest Spirit Severing sword cultivator went missing in the Land of the Heavenly Sword."

"... The immortal path is fraught with peril." Tang Luo said.

"Who says it isn't?" Lei Zhengyang's tone was firm. "But even so, we are determined to obtain the key!"

"Right! Whoever dares reach out a hand, we'll chop it off!" Tang Luo was even more determined than Lei Zhengyang. "By the way, Sect Master, let me go into that whatever Land of the Heavenly Sword and have a feel first!"

"... Cough cough cough!"

As a Spirit Severing sword cultivator, for the first time in thousands of years, Lei Zhengyang was choked by his own saliva. You're really too impolite!

Wanting to enter the Land of the Heavenly Sword is only natural, but Lei Zhengyang had never encountered someone this impolite.

Other elders only put forward such requests after establishing sufficient merit.

Tang Luo was impolite, but Lei Zhengyang couldn't refuse directly; he could only decline tactfully: "The matter isn't that simple. If nothing unexpected happens, the Land of the Heavenly Sword can only be entered once per person."

"No exceptions ever?"

"None." Lei Zhengyang said. "So only after we confirm we still hold the key can we let someone enter the Land of the Heavenly Sword again."

When the Grand Competition approaches, the key will no longer be activated.

This is a consensus reached over many years.

"I think I am that exception." Tang Luo was brimming with confidence.

"Let's see at this Grand Competition." Lei Zhengyang said. "To become an exception requires a performance that convinces the masses, and merit."

Tang Luo barely has the performance; merit naturally depends on the Grand Competition.

"Don't worry." Tang Luo said. "Didn't I start by saying I had an idea."

Lei Zhengyang recalled: "What idea."

"I'll first, at the Nascent Soul stage, beat down the other six major sects' Nascent Souls, then upgrade on the spot to Spirit Severing and beat down the six major sects' Spirit Severings. Wait! I have an even better idea!"

Halfway through speaking, Tang Luo came up with a better idea. "No, I'll start directly from the Golden Core stage!"

"What are you doing!" Lei Zhengyang felt something was wrong.

"I plan to disperse my cultivation and start over." Tang Luo spoke, already standing up, his aura becoming unstable, a complete mess.

"Calm down a bit!"

Lei Zhengyang flipped the stone table in front of him in one motion; the round tabletop smashed through the pavilion roof above. He pressed both hands on Tang Luo's shoulders. "I'm going to call the Patriarch!"

Disperse cultivation and start over?

Impossible. There was once a Golden Core genius sword cultivator whose Golden Core was crippled by someone; he luckily survived, reduced to a mortal, and with great perseverance and great fortune re-cultivated.

Even so, he stopped at the late Foundation Establishment stage.