Chapter 638: The Setting Sun is Beautiful
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
It didn’t take long before the flashes of lightning in the Empty Realm stopped. The flowing clouds that had been outside Tianguang Peak didn’t even reach Shangde Peak yet.
A patch of bright glows suddenly appeared in the distant sky, resembling a mirror the size of one hundred square miles.
It was the boundary of the Empty Realm and the real sky.
There were two dark specks in the mirror that gradually grew larger.
Fang Jingtian and the Immortal Guangyuan landed on the top of Tianguang Peak one after the other. Their expressions were normal, their bodies devoid of any wound.
Back when the Immortal Taiping contended for the position of the sect master, a bloodbath occurred, and all the people on Mochen Peak were slaughtered, but that was an exception.
The fight between these two swordsmen was not decided by a struggle for life and death, so long as the two of them acknowledged the result.
Who was the winner then?
The Immortal Guangyuan walked back to the group of s.h.i.+yue Peak.
Fang Jingtian stayed on the same spot.
A slight commotion occurred on the peak. The elders of s.h.i.+yue Peak let out some regretful sighs.
The Immortal Guangyuan had reached the Heavenly Arrival State thirty years later than Fang Jingtian. Though they were both in the Heavenly Arrival State, the difference was evident.
Fang Jingtian walked toward the hut.
His silvery eyebrows were tousled slightly in the wind.
The chair was in the hut.
As he pa.s.sed the stone monument, he halted his steps and bowed to the Round Turtle.
The Round Turtle didn’t make a response, keeping his eyes closed.
Fang Jingtian arrived in the hut, and was about to sit on the chair.
A gust of gentle wind suddenly blew over, knocking down the chair, turning the chair into a pile of wood.
It was deathly quiet on the top of Tianguang Peak.
The chair represented the position of the sect master of Green Mountain. It broke into pieces before Fang Jingtian sat on it.
Anybody would feel angry or annoyed when such an incident occurred to them.
An elder of Xilai Peak yelled sternly, “Who did it? You’re so brazen!”
Standing behind Zhao Layue, Yuan Qü remarked in a low voice, “It would be more mortifying if the chair broke when he sat on it.”
Since it was absolutely quiet on the peak top at the moment, what he said could be heard clearly by everyone though his voice was very low.
The disciples of Green Mountain were exceedingly nervous and in shock, so they didn’t give a response. But a female disciple of the Mirror Sect couldn’t help but giggle.
The elder of Xilai Peak turned to her brusquely and demanded while staring at the female disciple, “Why are you laughing?”
Stared at by a pair of formidable eyes, the female disciple was startled, her face turning pale.
Que Niang pulled the female disciple behind her, and said to the elder of Xilai Peak calmly, “My disciple can laugh if she wants to; it has nothing to do with you.”
The elder of Xilai Peak knew her relations.h.i.+p with Jing Jiu and that she was the next sect master of the Mirror Sect, which is why he suppressed the anger forcefully and yelled at the disciples of Green Mountain, “Who did it? Get out!”
It was still very quiet. The disciples of Green Mountain looked like a still forest.
All of a sudden, a tree branch rose up in the forest.
Someone had raised a hand.
A commotion occurred among the crowd. Countless gazes were trained in that direction.
Zhuo Rusui’s were drooping, but his raised right hand was rather straight, looking like a flag pole.
The elder of Xilai Peak demanded angrily, “Junior Master Zhuo, why did you destroy the sacred item of our sect?”
“It’s only a chair. My Master had never considered it a sacred item,” said Zhuo Rusui after he lifted up his head. “I destroyed this chair by accident the day when I came out from behind closed doors. Many people witnessed the incident. What’s the matter with it?”
The elder of Xilai Peak didn’t know how to respond to it. Zhuo Rusui was not just a regular disciple of Green Mountain. To say nothing of his Cultivation state and talent, he was the personal disciple of the former sect master, so it was hard to deal with him.
Fang Jingtian said lightly, “He is right. This is merely a chair, not at all important.”
The Immortal Guangyuan had been defeated by him, and n.o.body among the nine peaks could contend with him for the position of the sect master that day. As such, Fang Jingtian believed that no one could stop him from becoming the sect master even though the chair was destroyed.
“You think you can become the sect master without the chair; but you don’t even have the Inherited Heaven Sword. How can you become the sect master?!”
A calm and nonchalant voice rang out on the peak top.
An uproar went up among the Green Mountain disciples. They all turned their heads toward the source of the voice.
Some young disciples, after being told, learned that the speaker was the peak master of Shenmo Peak, Zhao Layue.
Though these young disciples had heard of the stories about Shenmo Peak, they had no idea how formidable she had been in the past. So they felt stunned, wondering how she behaved so brazenly.
The elders of the peaks and the representatives of various sects appeared rather calm. They believed that the game had just begun.
It was impossible for the people of Shenmo Peak to let Fang Jingtian become the sect master of Green Mountain.
Fang Jingtian’s silvery eyebrows were fluttering slightly. He asked with a seeming smile, “Is Young Sister unconvinced?”
“Of course,” Zhao Layue replied.
Fang Jingtian asked unhurriedly after sweeping his gaze over the elders and disciples of the peaks, “Who else is unconvinced?”
“Senior Master…my raised hand is still up,” Zhuo Rusui said indignantly.
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Zhao Layue was the peak master of Shenmo Peak, and the personal disciple of the Immortal Jing Yang…Well, her relations.h.i.+p with the Immortal Jing Yang was kind of complicated.
Zhuo Rusui was the personal and most favorable disciple of the former sect master, the Immortal Liu Ci.
The two of them had special status on Green Mountain, and they were even more special after having reached the upper limit of the Broken Sea State.
More importantly, they were still young.
In the history of the Green Mountain Sect, these two could be ranked in the top three as far as the pace of their breaking through the states was concerned.
The other person was the Immortal Jing Yang.
They were the future of the Green Mountain Sect, and they were important to the current sect as well.
They came out at the same time to oppose Fang Jingtian, and their act would affect the att.i.tude of many disciples of Green Mountain. And their strength was already powerful enough.
It was quiet on the top of Tianguang Peak.
The Immortal Guangyuan didn’t want the conflict of Green Mountain to be witnessed by outsiders. He said to Zhao Layue and Zhuo Rusui earnestly, “The Green Mountain Sect is indeed in need of a sect master.”
“He is not dead yet,” snapped Zhao Layue expressionlessly.
“Why the rush?” Zhuo Rusui rejoined.
Everybody was aware that the two of them referred to Jing Jiu.
But, Jing Jiu had been sleeping in Zhaoge City for one hundred years, and n.o.body knew how long he would keep on sleeping.
The elder of Xilai Peak said tersely, “This is the agenda decided on in the Green Mountain Meeting last year. Why do you two suddenly oppose it?”
Zhao Layue said expressionlessly, “I was behind closed doors at the time.”
“Me too,” Zhuo Rusui chimed in.
Zhao Layue said, “I’m not going to accept the agenda decided by you people.”
“Me neither,” Zhuo Rusui chimed in.
The elder of Xilai Peak couldn’t bear it anymore, and yelled, “Junior Master, since you can’t represent Tianguang Peak, your opinion is unimportant.”
Zhuo Rusui said with drooped eyelids, “I know that you people have bought the support of many disciples on Tianguang Peak…but I believe I can still get some support.”
Hearing this, many gazes fell on the crowd of Tianguang Peak.
Guo Nanshan sighed, “It’s up to you.”
The Elder Mo Chi stuttered, “You…you…you make…the decision…for…us.”
Zhuo Rusui said indignantly while staring at the elder of Xilai Peak, “Look, there is nothing I can do. My reputation on Tianguang Peak is undeniable.”
It was then that Que Niang took a few measured steps forward. She said softly after bowing to Fang Jingtian, “Normally, we, the outsiders, shouldn’t give comment on the matter relating to the Green Mountain Sect. However, as known by the whole Cultivation world, the Immortal Jing Yang is my Teacher. As his student, I have no choice but to get involved. My Teacher had risked his life for the Green Mountain Sect and fought the Fairy Lady all by himself. Now he is recuperating in Zhaoge City, and Green Mountain wants to replace him with a new sect master. It’s an insult to my Teacher!”
It was difficult to respond to her accusation. Yuan Qü complimented Que Niang in his mind, thinking she was indeed a highly achieved chess player.
State Duke Lu spoke without hesitation, his aged voice ringing out, “What she said is right. The imperial court had always respected the Green Mountain Sect. But the whole world is aware that the Immortal Sect Master is the granduncle of the Emperor; according to the Will of the former Emperor, he should be called the ‘Supreme Emperor’. Has the Green Mountain Sect ever considered the dignity of the imperial court when you decided to select a new sect master? To tell you bluntly, the Emperor is very displeased with it. He asked me to find out what you people are thinking.
This accusation was more damaging. Yuan Qü thought that the people in the royal palace were more underhanded.
Soon after, the Fruit Formation Temple and the Hanging-Bell Sect raised their objections. The Great Marsh and the other few sects remained silent.
Fang Jingtian, his silvery eyebrows fluttering slightly, looked in the direction of Zhaoge City, thinking that something must have gone wrong on the part of Gu Qing. He hoped that his Master was safe.
He pulled back his gaze and looked at Que Niang, State Duke Lu and the others. “This is the matter of the Green Mountain Sect. Regardless of what your ident.i.ties are and what reasons you have, your opinion doesn’t count,” he said calmly.
Then he turned to the small green curtain sedan, “I’d say the same thing to the Chief Nun, simply because this is the matter concerning Green Mountain.”
As soon as he said this, a formidable sword will came out from his body, spreading like a branch of plum tree in heaven and earth. It didn’t bend when encountering the Chaotic Wind.
This was the prowess of a figure in the Heavenly Arrival State; and this was the determination of a swordsman of Green Mountain.
This was a matter concerning Green Mountain.
Here was Green Mountain.
Only the people of Green Mountain could decide the matter concerning Green Mountain.
The Immortal Guangyuan didn’t say anything.
Chen Youtian remained silent.
On the top of distant Bihu Peak, Ada climbed slowly to the top of the tallest tree. He looked at Tianguang Peak with narrowed eyes. It was unclear if he was troubled or if the sunlight was too bright.
Suddenly, he meowed once at Tianguang Peak.
The sword wills filling the sky with the seeming plum branches arrived in the high sky, slas.h.i.+ng the sunlight into pieces.
The meowing acted like a flame, igniting the broken pieces of the sunlight to turn them into countless patches of twilight.
The fake twilight landed on the top of Tianguang Peak.
“It’s really beautiful,” said Zhuo Rusui sentimentally.
The gray Swallowing Boat Sword hovered in front of him.
The sword was drifting slowly amid the setting sun, like an autumn leaf falling down in the air, as if it would be ablaze at any moment.
“Yeah,” Zhao Layue agreed.
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