Holding the sword manual of Sword of Emperor Path belonging to the w.a.n.g family of Beihai, Li Tianlan kept w.a.n.g Xiaoyao waiting six or seven hours before handing him a half Shadow Formula.

It was not that Li Tianlan meant to slight him. For him, it was really a very energy-consuming thing.

Tribulation’s Buddhist Incantation of Nine Words was subtle and complex. Although this technique was unconventional, like a sword, it was sharp enough to crack heaven with its edge. Every move of it was extremely esoteric. For a person like Li Tianlan who just came into contact with the Buddhist Incantation of Nine Words, to sort out the half Shadow Formula not only tested his vision, but also his understanding and a.n.a.lytical ability.

Li Tianlan could not undermine his own credibility for such a deal. He would certainly keep his promise, but he didn’t want to give more than he promised. w.a.n.g Xiaoyao just needed a shadow. To achieve his goal without revealing the quintessence of the Shadow Formula was definitely a test for Li Tianlan, and it could deepen his understanding of the Shadow Formula.

So during the whole morning, Li Tianlan shut himself in the bedroom, sorting out the quintessence of the Shadow Formula little by little.

He didn’t have breakfast or lunch.

It was not until three o ‘clock in the afternoon that he came out of the bedroom with the carefully sorted Shadow Formula.

w.a.n.g Xiaoyao still sat where he was. It seemed that from the moment Li Tianlan entered the bedroom, he had not moved or shifted his position at all.

Watching Li Tianlan come out, he looked up and smiled. “Have you finished sorting it out?”

Li Tianlan nodded and handed w.a.n.g Xiaoyao a sheet of A4 paper. “Here you are.”

He sounded tired, but there was a trace of joy in his tone. After a few hours and a night of meditation, he had a general idea of what the Shadow Formula was. As the core of the Buddhist Incantation of Nine Words, the key of Shadow Formula was to form a shadow. Although this was extremely difficult, for the Shadow Formula, it was only the basis. To make the shadow move and even imitate the user’s movements was the quintessence and also the most difficult place.

Li Tianlan was so mean that he actually sorted out the half Shadow Formula for w.a.n.g Xiaoyao. Even if w.a.n.g Xiaoyao succeeded in practicing it, he could only form a shadow at best. What was worse, he could only switch places with the shadow once. As for trying to do anything else with it, it was almost impossible.

However, it was enough to meet w.a.n.g Xiaoyao’s need. He glanced briefly at the information in his hand, his eyes shining slightly. After keeping silent for a moment, he reached out to Li Tianlan and said with a smile, “I wish we can cooperate happily.”

Li Tianlan reached out and shook his hand with a cool expression.

w.a.n.g Xiaoyao took a deep look at him and carefully put away the material in his hand, continued smilingly, “We’ll talk about the enmity between us later. As for our deal, you can’t easily give the Sword of Emperor Path of the w.a.n.g family away…”

Li Tianlan felt that he had no grudge against him. It was the w.a.n.g family of Beihai whom he had a grudge against. As for w.a.n.g Xiaoyao, he just didn’t like him. However, he didn’t bother to say much. Knowing that w.a.n.g Xiaoyao’s last sentence acted as a reminder of his secrecy about the deal, he nodded curtly, looking perfunctory.

Without further ado, w.a.n.g Xiaoyao turned and walked straight away. When he was about to step out of the door, he suddenly turned around and looked at Li Tianlan in front of him, saying meaningfully, “Tianlan, do you know what’s the look of a rebel?”

“Mr. w.a.n.g, please speak up.”

Li Tianlan’s emotions surged inwardly, but he grew quieter on the surface.

w.a.n.g Xiaoyao laughed. Without saying much, he turned and went straight away.

Li Tianlan’s brow furrowed as he looked at his back. After thinking for a moment, he still could not get the point. He shook his head, took out his cell phone and sent w.a.n.g Yuetong a message. Then he went back to the living room and waited quietly.

After a full half hour, the dormitory door was opened from the outside. Li Baitian’s grinning voice sounded outside the door. “Move, move. Hey, Brother Drunbility, step aside. This is our treasure and it represents our face in the future. It’s expensive. Don’t touch it.”

Li Tianlan’s interest was at once kindled. Smiling, he stood up, and before he could move, Li Baitian was walking in with a huge plaque, nearly three meters long and a meter wide.

He was a bit too skinny, and he looked comical when anyone saw the huge plaque on his shoulder. The plaque blocked his view, but his voice sounded excited. He exclaimed, “Where is Tianlan? Tianlan, come and see my gift for you.”

“It’s pretty good.”

Less than half a meter from Li Baitian, Li Tianlan helped him put down the plaque on his shoulder and laughed. “Scented rosewood? This thing is pretty rare, right?”

“Well, sort of.”

Li Baitian grinned and said obscenely and complacently, “There are plenty of such plaques on Mount Shu. Every hall has one such plaque and this one is the largest. I went back to Mount Shu with my martial niece yesterday and stole…umm, took one over. It had words on it, but I removed them. How’s that? Is this thing grand enough?”

The corners of Li Tianlan’s mouth twitched. Even though Li Baitian only said half a sentence and then modify his previous remark, he was not deaf. How could he not know the origin of this plaque?

Scented rosewood was extremely precious. Such a large plaque made of it would cost at least tens of thousands of yuan per kilogram at market price. Its price could even double at auction. Apart from its economic value, its symbolic meaning was far greater than the actual meaning. Moreover, Li Baitian also said that this was the largest plaque on Mount Shu, so its preciousness was unimaginable.

“Stole?”

Li Tianlan whispered with a dry cough.

“Are you kidding me? I am one of the Four Sword Masters of Mount Shu. Is there anything in Mount Shu that I can’t take? I took it declaredly. How could I steal it?”

Li Baitian denied, with righteous words.

Li Tianlan nodded with a dry smile. He adopted another way and asked smilingly, “What’s the original inscription on this plaque?”

“Nirvana…”

Li Baitian was excited inside. He was careless in nature, so when he was happy, he spoke even less thoughtfully. After blurting out that word, he realized that something was wrong and stopped talking.

Nirvana…

At this moment, not only Li Tianlan, but also Ning Qiancheng and w.a.n.g Yuetong looked puzzled. They looked at Li Baitian as if he was a monster.

“Baitian, why didn’t you steal the entire Mount Shu?”

w.a.n.g Yuetong was silent for a moment, then chuckled, her smile playful.

Li Tianlan was no longer a b.u.mpkin who just arrived at Huating. At the very least, he had a clear understanding of the situation of Zhongzhou Special Warfare System and the various Martial Arts forces. After hearing a few words of Li Baitian, he knew the origin of the plaque.

Wei Kunlun—Nirvana Sword Master of Mount Shu, was also one of the top ten contemporary experts in Zhongzhou State, whose ranking was higher than Dongcheng Wudi—the Commander of the Border Control Corps. His strength was only inferior to that of the four Invincible Realm experts. He was the Head of Mount Shu of this generation and also Li Baitian’s First Senior Brother. He was not yet forty, but his sword intent was said to have reached the peak of perfection, and there were chances for him to enter the Invincible Realm. It was just that his seniority and t.i.tle were different from Li Baitian’s. Nirvana Sword Master Wei Kunlun was absolutely a master and a big shot in the entire Zhongzhou State.

Li Tianlan glanced at the plaque subconsciously. Sure enough, there was a long sword with an ancient shape carved on each side of the plaque. So the words on the plaque that Li Baitian erased were, of course, “Nirvana Sword Master”.

Li Tianlan’s mouth twitched. He felt absurd yet moved. Li Baitian carried Nirvana Sword Master’s plaque here from thousands of miles away, which meant he almost carried Mount Shu’s face to this small dormitory.

“Well done.”

Li Tianlan said with a dirty smile and gave Li Baitian a thumb up.

Li Baitian froze for a moment, then burst out laughing, his smile bright and cheerful.

“But didn’t your First Senior Brother bug you? He must have known what happened yesterday by now.”

Li Tianlan asked curiously.

“I told you I didn’t steal it. Otherwise, my First Senior Brother would have taken me back. I took it declaredly, okay? Take this as a gift from Mount Shu. We can name our agency, can’t we? At that time, you can engrave the name of the agency on it and hang it in front of the gate. How dignified will we be then?”

Li Baitian grinned and looked at the plaque, feeling more and more satisfied.

Seeing that Li Baitian said seriously, Li Tianlan was dubious of his words, but he asked no more questions.

w.a.n.g Yuetong had seen with her own eyes the Nirvana Sword Master with strong sword intent, so she would not easily be convinced by Li Baitian’s words. She rolled her eyes and calmly pulled a young girl who entered the door with them, asking in a low voice, “Huayu, is what your martial uncle said true?”

The young girl had fine features. Although she was not exceedingly beautiful, her features could easily give others a pleasant feeling. She was Ye Huayu—a freshman at the Sky Academy too and the first disciple of Nirvana Sword Master Wei Kunlun. The day before school started, she once had dinner with Li Tianlan and Ning Qiancheng.

When they had dinner together, Ye Huayu perceived that her youngest martial uncle’s enthusiasm for Li Tianlan was extraordinary. However, she didn’t expect that just a few days later, her youngest martial uncle actually stole the plaque that was hanging in front of the main hall of her Master for his brother.

Hearing w.a.n.g Yuetong’s question, Ye Huayu tried to resist the desire to roll her eyes. She nodded and shook her head, looking perplexed.

When she went back to Mount Shu with her youngest martial uncle yesterday, her Master was very happy. Just as they were eating dinner, her youngest martial uncle bragged to her Master that he had met two good brothers, who had the talent to enter the Invincible Realm and possessed infinite potential. Moreover, he said that maybe many years later, the three of them would enter the Invincible Realm and be unstoppable in the Dark World…

Her Master and another two martial uncles were exceptionally kind to her youngest martial uncle. Hence, hearing this, they had a good time enjoying the dinner. Her youngest martial uncle even took the opportunity to persuade them to drink more. While saying how the three of them was going to carry forward Mount Shu after they entered the Invincible Realm, he succeeded in persuading her Master to drink six bottles of spirit. The wine looked ordinary and seemed to be the Maotai of 53 degrees, in fact, inside the bottle was a kind of wine named Intoxicated Overlord that was 70 degrees. Her youngest martial uncle didn’t drink much by resorting to tricks. Therefore, six bottles of liquor almost all went into her Master’s stomach. As a result, her Master was unconscious before the meal was completely finished.

Unexpectedly, her youngest martial uncle took down the plaque in front of her Master’s hall, carried it and ran away. Although this happened one day earlier, her Master might still be asleep at this point due to the five or six bottles of spirit. How could he have the time to catch him?

Ye Huayu looked into w.a.n.g Yuetong’s increasingly questioning eyes and nodded against her will. “It’s true.”

As Ye Huayu said this, she felt as if her conscience had been eaten by a dog, and she looked at Li Baitian more and more resentfully.

Regardless of this, Li Baitian looked at Li Tianlan, who was in a daze, and said with a smile, “I’ve prepared pen and ink. Hurry up, Tianlan. Do you have a name in mind? Write it down at once.”

The tender corners of Ye Huayu’s mouth twitched again. She was probably the only one among the few people present who could see that her youngest martial uncle was with a guilty conscience. As long as Li Tianlan wrote some words on the plaque, even if her Master knew that, he could do nothing but hold his anger back. He couldn’t really send someone to erase the words and take the plaque back by adopting her youngest martial uncle’s method, could he?

There was no point in venting his anger by doing so.

“I have a name in mind, East Emperor Palace,” said Li Tianlan softly.

His eyes scanned everyone’s reaction. Seeing Ye Huayu, he paused for a while, then asked with a nod, “How do you think?”

“I have no problem with it.”

Ning Qiancheng said with a smile.

“The name is mighty and has momentum.”

Li Baitian laughed. There was a sudden pause before he frowned and said, “East Emperor? The name sounds a little bit familiar to me. A few days ago, someone seemed to tell me that there’s a man called…”

Li Tianlan was originally overjoyed, but he suddenly got a headache. He had thought that Li Baitian just heard about the legend of Dongcheng Huangtu from somewhere else, but with his soliloquy, Li Tianlan suddenly felt speechless. It was him who had told Li Baitian the name “Dongcheng Huangtu” a few days ago.

“So, are you okay with the agency name?” Li Tianlan asked softly.

He glanced at Ye Huayu again and said, “Baitian, your martial niece…”

“She?”

Li Baitian seemed to still ponder about who on earth told him the name a few days earlier, so he said casually when hearing it, “Of course she’ll join East Emperor Palace with me. She’s the direct disciple of my First Senior Brother and my good martial niece. What’s there to say?”

Ye Huayu’s little face turned red and she nodded to Li Tianlan.

“Welcome.”

Li Tianlan smiled at Ye Huayu. In the entrance maneuver, Ye Huayu’s score was among the top 50 and her ranking seemed to be fairly high. He warmly welcomed such talents.

Ye Huayu nodded. She looked at her youngest martial uncle, who was absorbed in thought, and wondered what he was thinking all day. She said helplessly, “‘East Emperor Palace’ is a nice name. Are we going to write it down now?”

She held up a plastic bag, which contained the pen and ink she had prepared.

“In such a hurry?”

Li Tianlan was surprised. He was not afraid of writing. Since childhood, he practiced calligraphy with his grandfather almost every day, rain or shine. After years of practice, although his calligraphy was not as impressive as the great masters’, every stroke of his writing was full of momentum and absolutely pleasing to the eye.

“The sooner the better,” said Ye Huayu softly.

She took the blame for what had belonged to Li Baitian on herself. “Today is the first day of the establishment of the East Emperor Palace, so it will be more meaningful if you write the name down earlier.”

“Fine.”

Li Tianlan gave her a deep look. Then he turned and placed the plaque on the table, ordering casually, “Yuetong, grind the ink.”

“Hmm,” w.a.n.g Yuetong answered obediently and took the ink from Ye Huayu’s hand.

Li Tianlan emptied his mind and stood in front of the large plaque with a calm expression.

“I see.”

Li Baitian gave a sudden shout.

w.a.n.g Yuetong, who was grinding the ink, could not stop her hand from shaking. The ink splashed on her white tights.

Li Baitian added with a smile, “No wonder it sounded so familiar to me. Tianlan, you mentioned a man to me the other day. What’s his name again?”

Li Tianlan, who was taken aback as well, took deep breaths. Finally, he failed to hold back his emotions and started swearing, “Go, go, go. Hurry up. Qiancheng, take him out and beat him to death.”

Ning Qiancheng held back the urge to smile and came over. He dragged Li Baitian, who was puzzled, straight out of the room.

Ye Huayu and Yu Qingyan followed.

Inside the sitting room, w.a.n.g Yuetong frowned as she looked at the ink on her pants. She shook her head and suddenly said smilingly, “They’re quite interesting.”

“Yeah, they are quite interesting.”

Li Tianlan said softly.

w.a.n.g Yuetong dipped the writing brush in the ink and gave it to Li Tianlan with a chuckle. “I’d like to appreciate your calligraphy, senior brother.”

After taking the writing brush, Li Tianlan looked at the plaque in front of him and could hardly write for a moment.

At this moment, he suddenly thought of a more precious red sandalwood plaque in the border campsite.

The plaque, with the words “Li family” on it, represented the glory and desolation of the Li family over the past hundreds of years.

The plaque, now in the border campsite, marked the end of the Li family.

The plaque in front of him, however, represented the beginning.

A beginning with infinite possibilities.

Li Tianlan had mixed feelings in his heart.

He had high morale, the spirit of pride, bewilderment, perturbation, unwillingness, and also resentment.

Now it was the tenth generation of Xuanyuantai of Kunlun.

The Li family existed since the fifth generation.

This family had produced nine Invincible Realm experts in total, and each one of them was the G.o.d of War of Zhongzhou State and the backbone of the country as well.

This single family succeeded in keeping the peace of a city and even a country.

Someone had no rival in this world, and when he pulled out his sword, everyone else was a nonent.i.ty.

Someone could come and go freely in the world, and through talking cheerfully and wittily, he made all enemies bow.

Someone swore to fight to the death, casting the brilliance of the G.o.d of War with his life and soul.

Someone solemnly swore to stay at the border and guarded it.

In different circ.u.mstances and eras, someone made vigorous efforts to turn the tide, someone died on the battlefield, someone was full of daring, and someone looked askance at everyone else in the world.

With a history of 500 years, this family had produced nine Invincible Realm experts. Why did the majesty and pride that twinkled in the past endless years scatter?

Why?

Its majesty and pride were gone.

The campsite on the frontier was getting smaller and smaller. The end of the Li family seemed to be in sight.

Twenty years ago, thousands of elite soldiers followed Li Tianlan’s grandpa to the border.

Twenty years later, there were no more than a hundred people on the whole frontier.

Where were the others?

They were all buried in the graveyard behind the campsite.

There were nearly a thousand graves and gravestones respectively.

How many people died a natural death among those who were buried in the graves?

Li Tianlan chuckled in a self-deprecating way. But more than that, there was also a kind of deep coldness and mockery in his chuckle.

Only at this moment did he realize that his memories about those uncles whom his grandfather had asked him to remember, about those uncles who held him in their arms when he was a child, and about those who were buried in the graves, had been blurred when he thought of them now, though he had thought he had a clear memory of them.

So many years.

It had been too long.

So long that he was about to forget the veterans who had died for the Li family.

So long that the outside world had forgotten about them.

Li Tianlan gently lifted his writing brush and it then landed on the plaque.

In the living room, a wisp of sword intent without any impurities erupted abruptly in a faint fragrance.

The sword intent was strangely dense.

It swept everything.

Li Tianlan wielded the writing brush more and more slowly, but the sword intent in the living room became thicker and thicker and gradually became perfect.

His expression was calm, with one of his eyes glistening and the other deep and silent, without any fluctuations.

w.a.n.g Yuetong stared at Li Tianlan with worried looks in her eyes.

This state, which was similar to meditation but was by no means meditation, was an opportunity for any martial artist, but it also had tremendous danger.

Li Tianlan stopped moving, but the tip of his writing brush was moving on the plaque, little by little.

In the living room, the sword intent whistled and whirled, emitting a great deal of pressure.

“Crash!”

Several gla.s.ses on the tea table broke in an instant.

Li Tianlan just wrote in silence unconsciously.

Time pa.s.sed very quickly yet very slowly.

w.a.n.g Yuetong stared at Li Tianlan fixedly, without blinking.

The word “East” was completed.

The dense sword intent filled every corner of the room.

After the sword intent swept across the living room, sword marks of different depth appeared on the sofa, table and chairs, as well as the floor. w.a.n.g Yuetong carefully protected herself. After hesitating, she finally stood up, slowly walked to the door, and then sat down at the door.

She was right here.

No one could disturb Li Tianlan.

The sword intent in the living room grew denser.

The first stroke of “Emperor” was completed.

There was a billowy edge leaping from the strokes, and the entire living room was a mess.

Li Tianlan was absorbed in his writing. He stared at the plaque, his mind, however, was wandering in the glorious history of Xuanyuantai of Kunlun over the past few hundred years.

The Invincible Realm experts who were able to move unhindered in the Dark World, the different sword moves, and the different Martial Arts.

Li Tianlan’s heart was stirring.

Blood flowed down from the corners of his mouth, but he wrote more determinedly.

The sword intent in the living room changed into killing intent.

Li Tianlan seemed to have gone crazy.

Time lapsed.

The word “Emperor” was finished.

It was dark outside the window.

Blood was dripping on the floor, but Li Tianlan looked more determined. Every stroke seemed to merge into his soul and pride, with an indomitable edge and killing intent.

The last stroke of the word “Palace” was finished.

The deep darkness outside the window faded.

A ray of resplendent light appeared on the horizon, so did the rising sun.

Li Tianlan finally put down the writing brush.

His focus gradually returned to normal. Looking at the three words “East Emperor Palace” in front of him, he subconsciously narrowed his eyes.

The smell of ink still lingered on the three words. The piercing killing intent and sword intent were released from every stroke, and the sharpness of them was fully revealed.

These were the best three words he had ever written.

And it was also in this night that he had the best mental state since he was born.

The killing intent spread without restraint.

His state of mind was perfect.

Vaguely, it seemed that he was able to destroy everything with a single sword move.

He turned his head in silence.

An identical shadow stood beside him, looking at the plaque in front of it just like him.

It was vivid and lifelike.

The shadow followed Li Tianlan and turned its head as well. They looked at each other and smiled.

Li Tianlan wiped the blood from the corners of the mouth and felt relaxed.

On this day, after taking the Immortality Potions, Li Tianlan, who had just stepped down from the Peak of the Qi-controlling Realm, reached the Peak again.