Chapter 1081 - Chengzan Awakens, the Secret of Sword Collection
After a while of deep thought, he combined his various knowledge from his past life, unleashed his solid cultural foundation, and decided to change the name to… Force Field of the Earth!
Yeah, even though it’s just splitting a word into two, this makes the entire innate ability sound much grander. I really am a genius when it comes to names!
“Li Qingshan!” the Dauntless monk roared at the sky furiously.
As it turned out, while Li Qingshan had given Great Buddha mountain “a head”, the tremor just then collapsed countless more buildings. Compared to that, the halls he crushed under his foot were nothing.
By unleashing the Force Field of the Earth, he had made all the ruins fly into the sky, as well as several hundred monks in the mix. They flailed around in the air, crying out in shock.
“No need to thank me. It didn’t take much at all!” Li Qingshan waved his hand “generously”.
“Qingshan, release the ability immediately!” the Unraging monk called out.
“Hmm?” Only now did Li Qingshan notice the “specks of dust” drifting around him. He had basically experienced first-hand “all beings are like ants”. The difference between his strength and these monks that had not even undergone a single heavenly tribulation was basically even greater than the difference between ants and normal people.
“Apologies, I didn’t notice.” As a result, he stopped his ability.
“Ahh!” Among the cries, several hundred monks suddenly began to plummet. They experienced the omnipresent pull of the earth once again.
“Hah, now that’s not something you see everyday,” said Li Qingshan.
Gu Yanying unfurled her folding fan, and with a casual swing, a gust of wind rushed out, splitting up into several hundred streams and catching the monks.
However, before the monks could even catch their breaths, the countless pieces of rubble fell down from above.
Li Qingshan unfurled his wings of wind to several thousand meters across. With a gentle flap, he blew away the ruins.
“Alright. I’ve even saved you the trouble of cleaning up. Are you satisfied now?”
The Dauntless monk only saw that the Chan Monastery of Deva-Nāga originally littered with structures had become barren and bare. Only around a dozen structures still protected by formations stood there lonesomely, making it seem extremely bleak. He trembled all over in anger, but there was nothing he could do. This daemon was no longer something they could restrain.
He did not even want to say a single word to Li Qingshan anymore, so he simply turned around and looked at the recovered “buddha head”, but even that was unable to bring him any consolation. It seemed more like a monument that the daemon had left behind to flaunt his martial prowess, a mark of disgrace for the Chan Monastery of Deva-Nāga. He was basically tempted to get rid of it again, except moving mountains was not that easy of a feat, and it would come with the suspicion of desecrating a statue of the buddha. His priority right now was still to rebuild the Chan Monastery of Deva-Nāga. He could only leave this matter to the future.
“Whatever. I’ll just help you out till the end.”
Li Qingshan who had been busying himself with endless good deeds hummed a tune to himself happily as he extended his hands and moulded the top of the mountain. Before long, a face gradually took shape, but its twisted features seemed more like blasphemy to the buddha. He had not done that intentionally. He was already trying very hard. When he was done, even he found it to be rather strange, so he remoulded it a few times, but it never ended up being particularly successful. He sure was open-minded. At least it’s better than before! Great Buddha mountain in the past was just a silhouette. However, little did he know that the Chan Monastery of Deva-Nāga had never intended on turning Great Buddha mountain into an actual buddha statue, or the grand hall constructed at the very top and the countless monks wandering on the mountain would be sacrilege.
“Amitābha!” Li Qingshan brought his palms together and bowed towards Great Buddha mountain with a strange smile, but the entire incident seemed more like a child playing around in mud made from his own p.i.s.s and piling it up into a burial mound before bursting into tears before it.
The Dauntless monk shut his eyes. He did not even have the strength to get angry anymore.
The Unraging monk shook his head with a smile. He never took rules seriously and was aware that Li Qingshan had no ill intentions. He had just saved the Chan Monastery of Deva-Nāga, so how could he not have a heart of kindness? Demonfolk would never take pride in doing something good. That bow of his was closer to a joke than anything else, but it still was a first step towards paying respect to the buddha.
He moved Hua Chengzan to the back of Great Buddha mountain before asking the two other Monk Kings to help heal him.
The two Monk Kings utterly loathed Li Qingshan such that they did not even want anything to do with the Unraging monk. One of them declined indirectly, saying that he had to heal the monks, while the other downright turned him down.
The Unraging monk said seriously, “This has to do with the invasion of the Demon domain. Now is not the time to act based on your biases!”
The Monk Kings exchanged glances and let out a sigh. Only then did they help out.
Hua Chengzan was enveloped in the golden, buddhist glow. Buddhist cultivation methods were skilled at recovery, so before long, he woke up slowly. He looked around in confusion, only to see a few shining, bald heads. He thought in surprise, Why am I back in the Chan Monastery of Deva-Nāga?
“Chengzan, you’re awake!” Li Qingshan had turned back to human form and rushed to his side, helping Hua Chengzan up.
“Qingshan, you’re fine? That’s fantastic.” Hua Chengzan let out a feeble smile before asking, “This is… Great Buddha mountain?”
“That’s right. The masters have already learned about the Sword Collection palace’s scheme and understood that I’ve saved the Chan Monastery of Deva-Nāga. We’ve already buried the hatchet,” Li Qingshan said rather proudly.
The corner of the Dauntless monk’s eye twitched, but he did not refute him.
“Really? That’s wonderful!” Through his observations, Hua Chengzan knew the matter was nowhere near as simple as Li Qingshan had described it to be, but he did not point that out. He said in surprise, “You saved the Chan Monastery of Deva-Nāga?”
“Yeah!”
“Fellow Hua, you’ve spent many years in the Sword Collection palace. Do you know anything in detail about the Sword Collection palace’s collusion with the Demon domain?” the Unraging monk asked.
“The Sword Collection palace’s colluding with the Demon domain? Oh, I see. They probably came for the Demon Suppression hall this time!” Hua Chengzan was taken aback before guessing the reason. He said apologetically, “Sorry, Unraging master. A secret like that isn’t something a regular elder like me can come into contact with. However, after undergoing the second heavenly tribulation, wicked thoughts gradually sprang up in my mind, which I could not dismiss. Only then did I realise there was something wrong with the sword, but I was already too deep in. It’s all thanks to you, Qingshan, who forced me to make a decision.”
“Haha, I always do good deeds without noticing!” Li Qingshan said.
“Yeah, that would make sense.” The Unraging monk was rather disappointed, but this was expected. Probably only great sword cultivators that had undergone the third heavenly tribulation could learn about such a crucial secret, but by that stage, they probably would have fallen into the demonic path completely already, leaving them beyond salvation.
“However, the source of all problems might lie within the Sword Collection peak.” Hua Chengzan changed the topic.
“The Sword Collection peak! What do you mean?” the Unraging monk questioned closely.
The Unraging monk speculated that the Sword Collection palace had given into the temptations of the Demon domain. He even suspected them to possess a demon cavern specially for communication with the Demon domain, but he never suspected the Sword Collection peak. That was just a mountain after all, and it had already existed for several thousand years.
“I once looked into the historical annals of the Sword Collection palace. In the very beginning, the Sword Collection palace was not called Sword Collection palace, nor did they possess such great might and influence. They only began to rise when it was pa.s.sed into the hands of their seventh palace master, Sikong Cangjian…”
The Dauntless monk interrupted him. “That’s not a secret. Sikong Cangjian was known as the Sword of the Nine Provinces back then. Even in the current day, all the sword cultivators throughout the world worship him. He also changed the name of the Divine Sword palace to the Sword Collection palace, so he can even be described as the first palace master of the Sword Collection palace.”
Li Qingshan shook his head. This name change sure was tasteless.
TL: The “Cangjian” in Sikong Cangjian and the “Sword Collection” in Sword Collection palace are the same characters. In a sense, Sikong Cangjian basically named the Sword Collection palace after himself.
“The Sword Collection peak also appeared around then?” Gu Yanying said in thought.
“That’s right. Even many of the renowned and treasured swords appeared during that age, forming the foundation of the Sword Collection palace.”
“Are you saying Sikong Cangjian colluded with the Demon domain and planted the demonic seeds in the swords on the Sword Collection peak?” the Unraging monk asked.
“That’s the greatest source of doubt. This palace master Sikong ascended long ago, while many of the swords on the Sword Collection peak were gathered afterwards. My original sword is an example. It only entered the Sword Collection palace two thousand and seven hundred years ago, so who exactly planted the demonic seed in the sword?”
“Perhaps it was the past masters of the Sword Collection palace if they began colluding with the Demon domain right from the beginning,” the Dauntless monk suggested.
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The Unraging monk denied that possibility. “That’s impossible! Even they themselves have not completely converted to demonfolk. They don’t even have a hint of demon qi, so they can’t condense demonic seeds like this. The demonic nature within these demonic seeds are extremely pure too, something that even regular Demon Kings can’t achieve. It’s probably the handiwork of a Demon Emperor or Demon Sovereign from the Demon domain.”
Gu Yanying said, “But that would mean opening a demon cavern and sending the swords through. However, even if you ignore the cost of that and whether it’s worth it or not, Great Xia had already been established two thousand seven hundred years ago, and the nine cauldrons had been forged. It would be impossible to fool the King of Chu’s Green Province cauldron if they opened any demon caverns.”
“I didn’t consider that. However, as a sword cultivator, I understand just how difficult it is to meddle around with a sword cultivator’s lifebound sword. On top of that, demonic seeds are merely a condensation of demonic thoughts. They cannot exist forever. Also, every single sword was pulled out of the Sword Collection palace before being returned there.”
“Oh right, Yangying, don’t tell me the guy we encountered was the Sword Collection peak?” Li Qingshan recalled the despicable voice he heard in the Waterside Pavilion of Listening Wind.
At the same time, thousands of kilometers away, the Sword Collection peak cleaved through the cloud layer and hovered in the sea of clouds like a lone island, no different from how it had been for the past few millennia.