Chapter 23: The Sword Saint Dugu

After parting ways with Qin Shuang and Nie Feng, Duan Fengyun found that he suddenly had nowhere to go.

Having stayed in the World Association for ten years, he had spent those ten years either on missions or rushing about, never making many friends, and he could not go to his only biological younger brother now.

He was well aware of his current situation; if he went to find Duan Lang now, he would inevitably lead the team hunting him toward Duan Lang. He did not want Duan Lang's peaceful life to be broken by him, so he did not intend to look for Duan Lang.

He was thinking that there were few people currently capable of contending with Xiongba; the experts of the early Wind and Cloud era were still in their developmental stages, and there were only a few famous figures in the martial arts world.

With Wuming in the south and Jiansheng in the north, since he had learned the Sword Twenty-Two, he should also find an opportunity to meet Jiansheng and see how miraculous this peerless sword genius was.

Since being defeated by the Martial Arts Myth Wuming more than twenty years ago, the sword saint Dugu Jian had been in seclusion in a mountain cave, pursuing the legendary Heavenly Sword realm.

Duan Fengyun arrived at the place where Jiansheng was in seclusion; the Fire Scale Sword in his hand kept clattering, as if there were something ahead that terrified it.

After Duan Fengyun had mastered the Eclipse Sun Sword Technique and the Sword Twenty-Two, he could be considered to have just stepped into the hall of swordsmanship. In his eyes, it was as if an earth-shattering, peerless precious sword was radiating Sword Qi at every moment here; the Sword Qi was pervasive.

He respectfully called out from outside: "Senior Jiansheng, your junior Duan Fengyun has come to challenge you. If you win, I will tell you the cultivation method for the Heavenly Sword."

A disdainful, angry shout came from inside the cave: "Hmph, ignorant junior, how could you possibly know about the Heavenly Sword? If you knew, wouldn't the decades I have spent in seclusion be in vain?"

Duan Fengyun replied: "Each generation of the martial arts world produces its own talents, each leading the way for hundreds of years. Although this junior is young, I have a way."

After hearing Duan Fengyun's reply, Jiansheng, who had not left the cave in twenty years, walked out.

One could see Dugu Jiansheng: his hair was white as snow, his facial features were sharp and angular, and his pair of unfathomable eyes revealed the aura of a powerhouse from top to bottom.

Dugu Jiansheng looked at the Duan Fengyun before him, then glanced at the Fire Scale Sword in his hand, and asked:

"You say your surname is Duan? To have the surname Duan and hold the Fire Scale Sword, are you a member of the Duan clan? What is your relationship to the Southern Unicorn Sword Chief, Duan Shuai?"

Duan Fengyun respectfully replied: "I will not hide it from you, Senior; this junior is indeed the son of Duan Shuai."

Upon hearing this, Dugu Jiansheng laughed heartily: "Time passes so quickly; in the blink of an eye, the child of an old friend has grown so big. Child, where is your father?"

Duan Fengyun answered: "Reporting to you, Senior, my father died in Lingyun Cave ten years ago."

Dugu Jiansheng sighed: "Life is impermanent; in the blink of an eye, twenty years have passed, and things are no longer what they were. You don't need to be so distant; your father and I were close friends, you can just call me Uncle. The nonsense you spoke earlier about the Heavenly Sword method must have been to deceive me. For the sake of your father, I will spare your life."

Seeing that Jiansheng told him not to be distant, Duan Fengyun's true nature was instantly exposed, and he said with a cheeky grin: "Uncle, how would I dare to deceive you? I observed that the place where you are in seclusion is filled with Sword Qi, so I guessed that you must have fallen into a Bottleneck."

Dugu Jiansheng asked: "Oh? You can even sense the Sword Qi in this air? This Sword Qi is caused by my unique technique; those who have not practiced my sword style cannot feel it."

Duan Fengyun explained: "By a stroke of luck, I obtained your Sword Twenty-Two technique, which is why I can feel this pervasive Sword Qi."

Upon hearing this, Dugu Jiansheng laughed heartily: "I never expected that an unintentional act back then would end up helping the child of an old friend; it truly is fate. Kid, since you have learned my Sword Twenty-Two, I will now teach you my other set of sword techniques—the Holy Spirit Sword Technique."

Duan Fengyun was overjoyed to hear this; he never expected that he would have the chance to learn this set of techniques, and he immediately knelt down to thank Jiansheng.

Jiansheng helped him up. In the dark, Jiansheng felt that his time was running out, and he wanted to find a successor for everything he had learned in his life. Since Duan Fengyun was the child of an old friend and had coincidentally learned his Sword Twenty-Two, perhaps he was the destined successor.

Jiansheng raised the index and middle fingers of his left hand, then kept chanting while his sword fingers continued to gesture.

After gesturing twice in succession, Jiansheng asked Duan Fengyun if he had learned it.

Duan Fengyun did not say much; he drew the Fire Scale Sword and demonstrated what he had just learned in front of Jiansheng.

Dugu Jiansheng clapped in satisfaction; he really hadn't misjudged him, this kid was a good seedling.

Seeing Jiansheng clapping, Duan Fengyun felt like he was floating on air.

He said directly to Jiansheng: "Uncle, that thing about the Heavenly Sword, I was indeed lying to you, but I do have a suggestion for you. I feel that you are too constrained by the sword itself; to be one with the sword, with the exterior restrained and the interior contained, that should be the Wushang Jiedao."

Duan Fengyun's simple words were like an enlightenment to Dugu Jiansheng. Duan Fengyun's words woke him, the dreamer, up; he was indeed too constrained by the sword itself. A sword is not necessarily a sword; as long as there is a sword in one's heart, all things in heaven and earth can be a sword.

Duan Fengyun felt the Sword Qi around him dissipating, and the heaven-piercing Sword Intent on Jiansheng was also slowly disappearing; at this moment, Jiansheng was like an ordinary person.

But Duan Fengyun knew that Jiansheng had crossed a major realm. The person involved is often confused, and in the end, it was he, the bystander, who broke the shackles that had deeply troubled Jiansheng.

Twenty years ago, he had narrowly lost to Wuming, and he had been in seclusion for twenty years just to defeat Wuming one day.

Now that he had achieved a Breakthrough, it was time to fight Wuming again, but before fighting Wuming, he wanted to go home first to see his younger brother, Dugu Yifang.

That's right, Dugu Jiansheng was the biological elder brother of Wushuang City Lord Dugu Yifang. At this moment, Jiansheng did not know that Dugu Yifang had long since been beheaded and that Wushuang City had already been wiped out by the World Association.

Jiansheng asked Duan Fengyun if he had time to accompany him to a place. Duan Fengyun didn't even think about it and agreed immediately; would a dignified Jiansheng harm him?

But when he heard the place Jiansheng wanted to go and the person he wanted to see, Duan Fengyun felt a great sense of foreboding, because Dugu Yifang had been killed by Nie Feng. He could not let Jiansheng know about this and add another terrifying enemy for Nie Feng.

He feigned surprise and asked Jiansheng: "Uncle, you have lived in the cave for a long time, far from the martial arts world; you might not know that Wushuang City has long been destroyed by Xiongba's World Association, and Dugu Yifang also died at the hands of Xiongba."

He pointed all the blame at Xiongba and the World Association, without mentioning Nie Feng. Now that there was already a great enemy like Xiongba, he couldn't let a Jiansheng emerge as well.

"What! Xiongba, you killed my younger brother and destroyed my Wushuang City. I will make you wish you were dead! I, Dugu Jian, swear to take your head to sacrifice to everyone in Wushuang City."

Jiansheng said with grief and indignation.

Jiansheng composed his sorrowful mood and then said to Duan Fengyun: "Let's go, accompany me to the former site of Wushuang City; let me revisit the old place."

Duan Fengyun agreed to this Jiansheng, who now felt like he had lost his home. The two arrived at the devastated Wushuang City, and Jiansheng wept bitterly; the home of his ancestors had become like this.

He shouted angrily at the sky: "Old scoundrel Xiongba, after I fight Wuming again, I will definitely come to destroy your World Association and take your life."

Jiansheng asked Duan Fengyun to find someone to spread the news that he would fight Xiongba to the death at the World Association in three days, and invited martial arts figures to watch the battle.

Immediately after, Jiansheng asked Duan Fengyun to find paper and a brush to write a letter of challenge, informing Xiongba that in three days, he would come to the World Association to seek justice for the one hundred and eighty people of Wushuang City and, under the observation of the martial arts world, take Xiongba's head.

After writing it, Jiansheng asked Duan Fengyun to go on his behalf and deliver the challenge to the World Association. This put Duan Fengyun in a difficult spot.

At this moment, Jiansheng was in a fit of rage; if he told him about his previous time at the World Association, Jiansheng might kill him on the spot. He could not tell him about his past at the World Association.

But if he went to the World Association to deliver the letter, wouldn't that be walking straight into the tiger's den?

He thought about it; for such a dangerous task, it was better to pay someone else to do it. He found a beggar on the side of the road, took out a one-hundred-tael silver note from his person, and handed it to the beggar, telling him to be sure to deliver the letter to the hands of the World Association's Master Xiong.

Seeing that the money was so easy to earn, the beggar didn't care what he was delivering and agreed immediately.

At this time, Xiongba in the World Association was still constantly having people investigate the news of Duan Fengyun and the others, when a servant came to report that a beggar had delivered a letter.

Xiongba took the letter and opened it to see: "Xiongba, you killed my younger brother and destroyed my Wushuang City. In three days, I will come to your World Association and, under the witness of the martial arts world, take your head to sacrifice to the spirits of the one hundred and eighty people of Wushuang City—Dugu Jiansheng."

This letter was the challenge Dugu Jiansheng had issued to him.

Xiongba ordered the servant to bring the beggar to the Lianwu Tang, as he wanted to interrogate him personally.

The innocent-looking beggar was tied up by the servants and brought to the Lianwu Tang; he never imagined that he was just delivering a letter, so how could it end up like this?

Xiongba looked at the beggar and asked: "Who are you?"

The beggar had already been scared into incontinence by the scene before him, and he cried as he replied: "Reporting to Master Xiong, it has nothing to do with this lowly one; a young master gave me one hundred taels to deliver a letter. I am only responsible for delivering the letter."

Xiongba continued to ask: "Who is the person that had you deliver the letter? Do you recognize him?"

The beggar continued to answer: "The one who had this lowly one deliver the letter was a young gentleman around twenty years of age; this lowly one does not know him." Following this, he gestured to Xiongba the appearance of Duan Fengyun, as well as the precious sword held in his hand.

Upon hearing this, was the person the beggar described not Duan Fengyun, whom he had been hunting down for a long time? How did this fellow get involved with Dugu Jiansheng again?

Xiongba instructed his subordinates to have the members of the World Association make arrangements, preparing to welcome a formidable enemy in three days' time.

As for this beggar, Xiongba had no mind to pay him any heed and had his subordinates take him away directly.

Xiongba raised his head to look at the distant sky, where dark clouds were gathering; truly, the mountain rain is about to come and the wind fills the pavilion.