Chapter 163: 156 The Sword of Kungang

Kungang, the ancestor of the world's dragon veins, the source of the great rivers, and the summit of ten thousand mountains.

Tang Zhao had long heard the name of the Great Snow Mountain of Kungang, imagining it to be a vast expanse of white, snowy peaks; only upon arriving did he realize that only the towering Golden Ding was covered in snow year-round, while below the snow line lay dense forests, yellowish-green meadows, and various types of mountain rock.

Below the snow line, Kungang was unexpectedly colorful; though there were no bright, gaudy flowers, the surface rocks were vibrant in color—red, purple, cyan, and even a green more tender than the meadows, a blue more limpid than the sky, and a white more pure than ice and snow. Heaven and earth formed a scene, magnificent and spectacular.

"That mountain looks a bit like Jiugao Mountain." Standing on a mountain peak, Jiang Shenyi pointed to a straight, snowy mountain in the distance.

"It is, though it's taller than Jiugao Mountain."

"That mountain looks like the Yong Quan Shan of our One Hundred and Eight Springs."

"That one looks like Tian Mu Shan from my hometown, though it's higher than Tian Mu Shan."

Tang Zhao said, "The world's dragon veins originate from Kungang. Perhaps every mountain can find a similar one here." He had just found a mountain similar to the He Yang Shan peak.

However, one cannot say the mountains here look like the mountains outside; it should be said that the mountains outside look like the mountains here.

After all, who would say the father looks like the son?

Entering Kungang, one then reaches Jianzhou.

Jianzhou is not a province, but a sword.

A Sword Immortal's sword.

When a Sword Guest reaches the realm of a Sword Immortal, their sword must have reached the "Momentum" realm, meaning it can influence the surrounding environment. When a Sword Immortal releases their sword momentum, it can form their own domain. At this point, the sword and the Sword Guest have reached the stage of unity between person and sword; if the Sword Immortal falls, although the sword will dim, it will still release sword momentum, subtly influencing the surrounding environment and creating an extraordinary region. Such a place is called a "Mysterious Yellow Land."

Actually, thinking about it, it has the same effect as a Demon Cave, only without the heavenly demons.

There are not many Mysterious Yellow Lands in the world, because a Sword Immortal's sword can also choose the next Sword Guest; once chosen, the sword leaves, and the Mysterious Yellow Land becomes a rootless tree, gradually withering and disappearing.

Whoever discovers a new Mysterious Yellow Land can be considered to have struck it rich; not to mention the Treasures inside, if one can find the sword left behind by the Sword Immortal of that year, it is truly overnight wealth.

Jianzhou is a Mysterious Yellow Land, but this land is very special; not only has it existed for many years, but it also moves frequently, though its range does not exceed Kungang. Furthermore, one only sees Jianzhou, never its sword. Many people have searched for that lost Sword Immortal's sword within Jianzhou, hoping to take it and fully master Jianzhou, but they have never had results, though they have harvested quite a few legacies left behind by the Sword Immortal of that time.

To this day, Jianzhou remains free.

The Sword Immortal of Jianzhou back then was a highly skilled Sword Smith; his legacy contains little about Sword Dao and much about Sword Casting, especially the secret manuals and materials he collected, which can be called a treasure house for Sword Smiths. Over time, this Mysterious Yellow Land became a holy land for Sword Smiths and Talisman Sword Masters.

It is rumored that Jianzhou moves extremely fast, sometimes changing locations several times a day; only during the Mid-Spring every four years does Jianzhou stay in one place for a month, and the environment of that place undergoes earth-shaking changes, even causing cities to rise on the spot. At that time, senior Sword Smiths who have long been waiting for the opportunity will arrive—first to scour for the Sword Immortal's legacy, and second to use this precious land to meticulously arrange and open the quadrennial Spring Talisman Assembly.

It is said that every year when the assembly ends and Jianzhou moves away, although the local environment no longer possesses its original mystery, it will have changed to some extent, and the cities built beforehand will not collapse, but instead remain permanently. More than half of the cities in these vast mountains were built this way.

Over so many years, Kungang has gained many cities because of this. But Kungang is sparsely populated and the environment is harsh, so it does not need so many cities. Most of the cities have been abandoned, and after being eroded by wind and frost, they have even become the legendary Devil Cities. Only a portion have been preserved, with people moving into them to become real cities.

The Tian Chi Bai Cheng they are going to this time is such a city.

Yes, the meeting place on their invitation is not the real Jianzhou, but a gathering point. These young Talisman Sword Masters also do not know where Jianzhou is this year.

"It is possible that Jianzhou is deep in Kungang, where human footprints are rare, making it inconvenient for everyone to go separately. So they are asking everyone to arrive at White City on the outskirts of Kungang first, then the main force will proceed together."

Tang Zhao pondered, "It could also be a screening test. Upon arriving at White City, some clues will be given to see if the Talisman Sword Masters can reach Jianzhou within the specified time based on them. If they cannot reach it, I fear they will miss the quadrennial assembly."

It is said that the graduation exam of the Jiandisi Xunying is like this; they do not take students directly to the exam site, but only give some clues, comprehensively assessing the students' information collection and analysis abilities. Anyone who cannot even find the exam site is directly disqualified from the exam.

Che Sha and Wusun Tong immediately became nervous; they did not think they were good at information analysis. Even the sharper Che Sha was no exception, inevitably feeling anxious.

Jiang Shenyi shook his head and said, "Don't listen to Junior Brother's assertions. There has been no such thing before. Although the Mid-Spring Gathering has some competition, it is mainly a gathering for the younger generation, focusing on exchange and discussion; why make it so tense? If you talk about screening, it shouldn't be aimed at us, but at those Martial Artists."

"The Spring Talisman Assembly is a grand event for us Talisman Sword Masters, yet many Martial Artists sneak in, running over to find Talisman Sword Master seedlings, building connections and making friends, treating them as rare commodities. Among these people, some are powerful and have extraordinary status, making it hard for the Host to refuse, while others have used unknown means to sneak in, even engaging in theft and abduction, making things foul and chaotic. It is indeed necessary to set a threshold to screen them."

Tang Zhao still insisted, "There was no such thing in previous years, but this year the Host and Libationer have changed, so perhaps there will be differences? Although there was no threshold for attending in previous years, there were many messy things at the banquet; perhaps the new Host wants to rectify the atmosphere and set the threshold outside the banquet, so the formal banquet can be pure."

The so-called Host is the Sword Smith faction that pays the money and puts in the effort to arrange Jianzhou. This faction must bear all expenses and provide souvenirs for the young Disciples, but in return, they can be the first to enter Jianzhou to search for the Sword Immortal's legacy that appears with the Mysterious Yellow Land, and other factions are not allowed to compete for a period of time. The Host is generally a famous and historical major faction; a place like Zhuoyu Villa certainly wouldn't be enough.

The Libationer is a powerful Sword Smith hired from outside by the Host; not to mention strength, at least in terms of theory and Talisman Art, they have the ability to establish schools of thought. They have the highest status at the assembly and are respected by everyone, but they have an important responsibility, which is to impart some of their unique knowledge and insights to the young people, acting as a teacher to all.

The Hosts for the previous three sessions were all Mogan Peak, one of the Seven Great Sword Smithing Factions. Mogan Peak has a long history of Sword Casting and has produced many famous swords, so its foundation as a Host is sufficient. However, Mogan Peak's style is that Sword Casting is all that matters, and everything else is secondary; the banquet's standards were very high, and the souvenirs were very valuable. But regarding the infighting and factionalism at the banquet, it cannot be said they encouraged it, but they certainly indulged it. Thus, each session was more turbulent than the last. It is said that at the last session, everyone almost tore off their masks in the end, and it was very unpleasant. Except for some major factions that were above the struggle and small nobodies who were not qualified to fight, everyone was unhappy, so they united to drive Mogan Peak from the position of Host and replaced it with a new one.

Starting from this session, the Host of the assembly has been changed to Long Yuan. Long Yuan is also one of the Seven Great Sword Smithing Factions; its history is not as long as Mogan Peak's, but it is more complex. It is said that it was the official Sword Casting institution of the former Wei Dynasty; although the previous dynasty was the era of the Spirit Official, there was one and only one official Sword Casting furnace, named Seven Star Long Yuan, and its power was not small. It was just that before the change of dynasty, the entire faction suddenly withdrew from the Imperial Court and retreated into the Jianghu, managing to survive the turmoil unscathed.

After the new dynasty was established, Long Yuan was very low-key; although it retained the name of one of the Seven Great Factions, it rarely showed its face, almost never participating in any major events in the court or even the Sword Smithing world, and its influence declined year by year, almost being forgotten. In recent years, perhaps seeing that the Jin Dynasty's fate is also about to end, they have gradually begun to show their heads again, wanting to Juan Tu Chong Lai.

Since Long Yuan intends to revive, they must certainly act with the momentum of thunder and do something big. Hosting the assembly is a signal. That they are determined to innovate, change the atmosphere of the assembly, and show off their own prestige is also foreseeable. The various factions also want to see, after many years, whether Long Yuan's style is better than before, or if a lean camel is bigger than a horse, or if it is already just an empty name? If they handle it in a mess, even worse than Mogan Peak, then Long Yuan should not re-emerge in the Jianghu and should just go back to where it's cool and stay there.

"I just don't know who the Libationer is?"

Compared to a major faction like the Host, the candidates for Libationer are too numerous. Everyone cannot guess it; everyone knows that Long Yuan will definitely invite a top Grandmaster this time, and they hope more that the Libationer's research happens to coincide with their own learning direction, so they can learn more things.

Tang Zhao, however, had some good feelings toward Long Yuan, because he had seen Long Yuan's Talisman Formula textbook at Xue Xianyun's place.

Talisman Formula is different from martial arts; it is a "liberal arts" subject, not only having secret manuals but also textbooks. When Xue Yeyu first met Tang Zhao, she gave him the book "Enlightenment Chapter of Talisman Formula," which is the current standard enlightenment textbook for Sword Talisman Masters in the Great Jin.

The current enlightenment textbook was compiled by the Four Great Overseers of the Imperial Court's Sword Casting, and it is still quite useful. But Tang Zhao had seen the version from the previous dynasty and only then realized that the current version basically follows the framework of the previous dynasty, only updating some knowledge. And that version from the previous dynasty was indeed the first version of a general textbook, compiled from scratch by gathering the strengths of all families, and the chief compiler was Long Yuan.

In other words, Long Yuan has merit to the current Talisman Sword Master world. It is just that because of the change of dynasty, this merit was buried.

Moreover, Tang Zhao also discovered that Long Yuan had the consciousness of creating exercises. Since the Primary Chapter, every chapter was accompanied by exercises, just not as many types as the Exercise Collection he produced later.

Hundreds of years ago, Long Yuan knew how to create exercises; what about now? Will this assembly have a "written test"? Like a hundred questions on the spot for the first round.

Better not.

Tang Zhao is fine with creating questions for others, but he doesn't like doing other people's test questions; that's right, he is just that double-standard.

Just as he was thinking, White City had already appeared on the horizon.

Several youths looked up together, looking toward the sky.

"That is... a cloud... dragon?!"