Chapter 86 Jingxing

"Swoosh!"

"Ha!"

"Ding ding ding!"

The treasure sword unsheathed with a green gleam, its cold edge leaping in the night, flipping thrice in Tie Dan’s grasp like lightning.

In an instant, it deflected the silent short sword of a flying blade, resembling a silver fish darting towards his throat from the dense forest.

"Kill!"

Suddenly attacked, without a hint of fear or hesitation, Tie Dan spewed out the Divine Gang Sword, the blade shimmering coldly like a meteor, slicing through the breezy shadows of trees, silently slipping into the forest.

The next moment, a muffled "thud" was heard, as something fell from the treetop.

"Who is it!"

Hearing the commotion, a Bright Pearl suddenly illuminated, brightly lighting up the campsite in the forest.

In an instant, shadows flickered; Manager Qiao and his staff drew knives and swords, flipping out of the caravan ready for battle.

Then they saw Tie Dan holding a sword, staring expressionlessly towards the outside of the camp.

"It’s nothing, a mountain goblin."

Mountain goblin?

Then came a rustling in the woods. Everyone quickly became alert, seeing a disciple of the Sword Sect come out of the forest, carrying a corpse covered with a green robe and red-eyed glaring at Tie Dan, gritting his teeth,

"...It’s nothing, it’s a mountain goblin."

Mountain goblin...

Manager Qiao felt a headache, had to hold his forehead and sigh,

"It’s nothing, it’s nothing, just a mountain goblin, everyone go back to rest."

The employees of Qianshengtong looked at each other in dismay.

Alright, you say it’s a mountain goblin, so it is a mountain goblin...

When everyone returned to rest, Manager Qiao was also troubled and said,

"Fellow Daoist, we’ve only been traveling for three days and haven’t even passed Weize Pass yet, it’s not good to have trouble with mountain goblins every night..."

Tie Dan turned his head, looking at the fellow senior brothers gathered outside the merchant camp, also expressionless, staring this way.

"Tell them."

The manager sighed inwardly, got dressed, took out two jade pendants, prepared some silver money, and went to console those Sword Sect disciples harmed by ’mountain goblins.’

Tie Dan hugged his sword, leaned against the carriage, and looked expressionlessly at the dark mountains.

What else can he say? These people from Honzan really want his life, and who cares about any Mountain Realm sect rules, taking every opportunity to make a move.

There’s simply no chance for him to breathe, rest, or nap; the moment his head nods, the flying sword arrives. Fortunately, Tie Dan used to be a scout, long accustomed to staying awake for days and nights, so three days without sleep is still bearable.

But you couldn’t say they completely disregard the rules either.

At least in these three days, fighting three times at night, they didn’t gang up on him.

Although in pairs, each time only one person strikes with a sword, the other just stands aside watching, helping to collect corpses.

Hey, not speaking of Sword Sect, relying on numbers to bully you, it’s just dueling, it’s just sword fighting.

Tie Dan acknowledged the pride of these Mystic Sect disciples.

Yet he also thought, this is simply foolish.

Killing, what’s there to be reserved about, what’s there to be proud of? Isn’t the fundamental goal to chop the opponent to death?

It’s just now it’s one against eight, no, one against five, Tie Dan hasn’t such a big winning chance, having to temporarily defend passively, otherwise, he would have already attacked ruthlessly.

Of course, it also must be admitted that those possessing the Honzan Secret Sword inheritance, though still in Foundation Establishment, are very formidable.

Three days of clashes, each ’mountain goblin’ can control three flying swords at once, perhaps all learning the Secret Sword from that Coach Du.

It’s just that their styles in fighting and sword control are different, some launching fierce assaults upfront with three swords pouncing, some intertwining dual swords in backstab and dark sword attacks. Others sneak in quietly and then suddenly assassinate. These people’s skills in sword control are not much worse than Coach Du, their accuracy at least practiced in precise threading.

It’s just unfortunate that all Foundation Establishment disciples outside the Sword Sect’s Mountain Gate and without a sword inheritance encounter a similar bottleneck.

That is, they lack a decent treasure sword divine weapon to truly display their skills.

Yes, those attacks just now can’t be considered flying swords, at most blades made with Gold Essence Iron Seed, inferior to Eight Services Green Frost, inferior to Sword Child Sword Embryo. In sword speed or sharpness, none could withstand, easily chopped by Tie Dan.

So in the end, their years of cultivation are limited by having no sword, unable to fully showcase their capabilities, posing little threat one-on-one to Tie Dan. Not to mention their Divine Sense range and True Qi depth can’t compare with Tie Dan, now having developed both upper and lower Elixir Storages. Even in three-to-one, Tie Dan dares to fight them.

But in one against eight, or one against five, Tie Dan can’t afford to be cocky.

No matter how it’s calculated, no matter how skilled he is, he can only kill three swords, leaving two people and conservatively six swords no matter what, he can’t handle.

So if the opponent swarmed at once, then Tie Dan would either be dismembered or beheaded, with no chance of survival.

But they disdain swarming, choosing to duel instead, what can Tie Dan say...

Truly a bunch of fools.

So that group of fools cleaned up the corpses simply and continued sharpening their swords, glaring viciously at Tie Dan, no matter how much the manager talked. It didn’t help.

The manager had to come back again.

"Fellow Daoist Tie, it’s not that I don’t trust in your skills, it’s just that we still have at least eight days of journey left, and if you exhaust yourselves so quickly, should we truly encounter a mountain goblin on the way, only relying on us merchants, these goods..."

Tie Dan just looked at him.

The manager smiled helplessly,

"I’m not asking you to not fight back, I’m suggesting, just a suggestion, can you not be so ruthless, breaking their swords is enough, leave them alive."

Tie Dan rolled his eyes.

The manager offered a Storage Jade Pendant,

"A small token, not a sign of respect, once past Weize Pass, I’ll hire someone else after Weize Pass."

Tie Dan thought for a moment and nodded.

After all, threading a needle with flying swords isn’t anything hard, sparing a life isn’t either, he just didn’t want to hold back himself.

Seeing the Storage Jade contains many Elixir Pills, though mainly Qi Refilling and Blood Replenishing, healing and curing items, which Tie Dan couldn’t use, trading them for favors might be alright.

Fine, cripple them, and kill them after Weize Pass.

So by day, the caravan continued its journey, now with three Sword Sect in front clearing the way, two at the back as rearguard, Tie Dan still escorting in the middle of the convoy.

More than twenty ox carts traveled east along the forest mountain path.

They traveled the Jingxing Pass, one of the Xuan Nu Eight Passes, a choke point linking Qian and Gen. Because the Xuan Nu Mountain Range stretches for thousands of miles, with countless ridges and peaks, and deep valleys, only these eight passes allow cart travel and horseback riding. If the Demon Palace wanted to send troops to Qian, they could only use these eight passes. Back when Mystic Sect rebelled, they relied on Qianzhou’s high mountains and dense forests, the strategic positions of the eight passes to guerrilla fight against the Demon Palace’s army.

Until the Demon Palace couldn’t bear it anymore and directly flew Cloud Platform Peak over to suppress, only to be assassinated by Xuan Nu, even seizing the throne...

"What? What did you say," Tie Dan frowned, "Wait, go back a bit."

"Go back?"

Manager Qiao was casually chatting, suddenly interrupted by Tie Dan, but understood after thinking,

"Oh, you’re asking about Cloud Platform Peak, right, that originally belonged to the Immortal Palace, the flying mountains of the clouds, the original Emperor’s Throne in Ziwei Constellation.

It’s said to have been seized from the Ancestral Court of the Demon Clan by Immortal Venerable back then. The Guardian Immortal Army of the time, relied on the Immortal Mountain for transport, expanding territories and expeditions, conquering the Twelve Countries’ lands. Calling it the iron war chariot of the Immortal Palace wouldn’t be an overstatement.

So when Mystic Sect rebelled, due to the endless mountains and difficult supply transport, the Demon Palace naturally also used the Immortal Mountain to transport armies, flying over from the Capital to suppress. Who would’ve thought Xuan Nu would assassinate the king and seize the Ziwei Star Constellation, turning into our Mystic Sect’s Nine Yin Mountain.

Now the Ziwei Constellation in the Kingdom is the newly built one, but let me tell you, the Demon Palace is really wealthy, throwing away a flying Immortal Mountain like that and then building another one..."

"Cloud Platform Peak... flew over... Ziwei Constellation... and can be newly built as well..."

Tie Dan was speechless.

What, did the Demon Palace turn out to be this powerful?

Yes, it’s precisely that powerful.

"The Demon Palace inherited the technology of the Ancient Demon Clan, deeply rooted and unfathomable. Each time on the brink of destruction, countless renowned ministers and valiant generals emerge to turn the tide, always able to rejuvenate. Maybe this is what they call being favored by Heavenly Destiny."

As an experienced businessman, Manager Qiao who traveled far and wide to the Capital had seen the real world and naturally knew the foundation of the Demon Palace.

But of course, such an impressive thing as an Immortal Mountain capable of flying in the sky isn’t easily built just on a whim, throwing one away and making another. It’s said that the reconstruction project of the Emperor’s Throne started as soon as Xuan Nu took Cloud Platform Peak away, and until today it remains incomplete.

Moreover, it seems due to the loss of the Ancient Demon Clan’s technology, and the construction of an Immortal Mountain consuming astronomical amounts of Heavenly Materials and Treasures, even the mighty Demon Palace couldn’t sustain it. So the newly built one isn’t as large as Cloud Platform Peak, and many functions are said to be missing.

However, the harem where the Immortal Emperor and concubines reside, was prioritized and completed to fly to the sky, still called Ziwei.

Other government branches, critical facilities, the court, and offices handling state affairs gradually took off, called Taiwei.

The remaining less critical facilities or those more convenient to stay on the ground, like the Imperial Bureau’s factories and warehouses for alchemy and artifact refining, remained in the Royal Capital, called Heavenly Market.

And having learned from the front mountain, the Demon Palace no longer dared to fly these flying mountain sky walls to the frontline, directly using them as capital facilities now.

Yes,

This is the origin of what is known as the Three Constellations.

"I see..."

Tie Dan was greatly shocked.

Clearly being unreliable at times, yet surprisingly powerful in unexpected places, the Demon Palace, truly a mysterious force...