Chapter 452: Receiving the sword
Translated by: La0o9
Proofreader: Arya
Tian Shan Ye gave him two jade tags.
One of them contained his entire lifeâs worth of sword and blade techniques.
The other was a jade tag he picked off the ground to record his understanding of the realm demon.
Gu Qing Shan caught the first one.
This jade tag was shining and glittering, obviously nurtured for countless years.
Jade tags are originally a milky pure white color, only the ones that contain particularly valuable information are kept by the cultivatorsâ side for them to check and use at their convenience.
During this process, the cultivatorâs spirit energy will unconsciously flow into the jade tag, slowly increasing its quality throughout the years.
This was a very common occurrence in the cultivation world.
That was also why most people would feel curious about what information a particularly high-quality jade tag contains.
Gu Qing Shan was holding the tag quite tightly in his hand.
A line of glowing text showed up on the War God UI.
[This is a cultivation scripture written by a combination of two people, split into two parts: Sword and Blade]
This message appeared very quickly and it was even blinking.
Almost as if it was urging Gu Qing Shan to look.
Glancing over it, Gu Qing Shan confirmed a theory he had.
Before Ascended realm, a cultivator can use as many weapons as they like and study multiple expertise.
But after the Ascended realm tribulation, a cultivator must choose a single weapon as their main Dao(path) to cultivate.
It was because of this that Gu Qing Shan gave up Lightning-elemental spells as well as Bow-and-arrow, to become a true single-minded sword cultivator.
And the Sword was the Dao with the strongest sense of monopoly.
Once they chose the path of the sword, they must discard all other paths.
The last time Gu Qing Shan returned to Reality, after helping Ye Fei Li cause a scene at the election, he went to the Masala desert to breakthrough.
At the time, Gu Qing Shan chose to be true to the Sword.
In the cultivation world, there would frequently be rumors of people who can cultivate two weapons at once, but that was only because they did not choose the path of the Sword.
A true sword cultivator knows better than anyone that the duo-cultivation of weapons wasnât possible when it came to the sword.
But Tian Shan Yeâs solid and sharp sword qi displayed that he was a true sword cultivator through and through.
Then how did he duo-cultivate the Blade as well?
Truthfully, it wasnât only Gu Qing Shan but the cultivators of this world 1000 years ago didnât understand this either.
But the records of 1000 years ago were very clear.
This included every battle Tian Shan Ye participated in, every time he attacked, and every move he used to win.
At the time, so many people didnât understand how Tian Shan Ye achieved the Sword and Blade double mastery either.
But no one managed to probe into his secrets in all those years.
Tian Shan Ye was the strongest cultivator.
As long as Tian Shan Ye didnât want to tell, no one could force him.
Gu Qing Shan muttered: âTwo people⊠fortunately I saw this, otherwise I wouldâve been fooled as wellâ
Gu Qing Shan turned to look at the other jade tag in midair.
Tian Shan Ye said that his view of the realm demon was recorded there.
Compared to the secret scripture jade tag that Gu Qing Shan had, this realm demon jade tag gave off a sense of being much simpler and relaxed.
Qing Rou reached out her hand to take it.
Gu Qing Shan immediate grabbed her hand.
âGongzi?â Qing Rou asked hesitantly.
Shannu suddenly disappeared right where she stood.
A split second later, she reappeared by the jade tag in the air.
For such a short distance, she actually used the Divine Skill, [Ground Shrink]!
Light a flash of lightning, Shannu grabbed and stored the jade tag into an Inventory Bag.
This happened in a single moment.
Before the two girls managed to react, the second jade tag had already been stored away.
The jade tag didnât have time to react either.
Shannu fluttered as she descended.
âWell doneâ Gu Qing Shan praised her.
Seeing how the two girls werenât too clear, Shannu explained: âGongzi sent his voice telling me to store the jade tag away as fast as possibleâ
The two girls were a bit stunned at that explanation.
It was as if he was being cautious against them, not wanting them to read the jade tag.
Gu Qing Shan doesnât trust me?
They both thought the same thing.
Wan Er stared straight at Gu Qing Shan, asking him carefully: âDonât you trust big sis Qing Rou? She wouldnât tell your secrets to any outsiderâ
Qing Rou pursed her lips, clearly dejected.
Our lives rest on his hand so I was honestly helping him as much as possible, but it turns out he didnât trust me at all.
Seeing that Gu Qing Shan felt a headache coming along.
He had to explain: âThis was really complicated, and I didnât want the two of you to get caught in the middleâ
As brilliant as Qing Rou was, she only needed to think about these words for a bit to understand: âBefore, gongzi said that between sword cultivator, there are only swordsâ
She muttered: âAnd when swords are drawn, life and death must be decidedâ
âWhich means, gongzi was receiving his swordâ
âYou really are smart, Qing Rouâ Gu Qing Shan praised her.
âA Heart Sword?â Qing Rou looked at him and asked.
âA Heard Swordâ
Gu Qing Shan explained: âSword and Blade dual mastery, such a grand name it is. This sort of scripture jade tag can easily incite a personâs greedâ
âAnd the second jade tag recorded information that I am in a hurry to find outâ
âSince the first jade tag didnât have any traps and actually contained a world-renowned scripture, once I confirm that there was nothing wrong with it, I would feel relaxed and let down my guard, even if only a little. This is human natureâ
âAt this time, I will then collect the second jade tag. Because of how much I wanted to know the information in it, I will probably not hesitate to pour my inner sight inside to check it and find out the secret of the realm demonâ
Gu Qing Shan inhaled.
âDuring this 1000 years, he certainly didnât slouch at all. Being capable of using the heart as a swordâ
âBut I wonât give him that chanceâ
Qing Rou understood, but now she was wondering about a different thing.
âWhy are you sure that the scripture jade tag wouldnât have a trap?â
âBecause it has to. If I become suspicious about it right away, none of Tian Shan Yeâs following plans would be possibleâ
âThen why did Shannu have to take the second jade tag away so quickly?â
âBecause he definitely had a lot of unknown tricks infused into it, but once inside a Inventory Bag, itâll be in a completely different space. Which means he wouldnât be able to do anything to me unless he can get out from Shannuâs Inventory Bagâ
The two girls looked back to see Shannu keeping her hand tightly on the opening of the tag.
âNo matter what techniques he uses, he wonât be able to get out of my handsâ Shannu declared without worry.
Wan Er also realized what was going on and looked at Gu Qing Shan: âWhich means, you never trusted him from the startâ
Qing Rou also asked: âJust now when you said there would be no schemes, that was on purpose for the jade tag to hear?â
âOf course, I canât rouse his suspicion in the final momentsâ
âSince when did you notice that he didnât mean well?â Qing Rouâs eyes were practically glittering as she asked.
âIt was because he was sealed inside a powerful attack formationâ
Gu Qing Shan looked at Shannu.
Shannu nodded: âBeside me, none of you wouldâve been able to get out aliveâ
âWith Wang Hong Daoâs personality, this was very normal, so Tian Shan Ye definitely didnât have a chance to meet anyone from the outsideâ
Gu Qing Shan explained: âBut when I announced myself as the Hallmaster of Zwei Wei Hall, he never asked who I or my master wasâ
âThat is certainly strangeâ Qing Rou agreed.
âFirst he mentioned Wang Hong Daoâs dark history of killing his master, then guessed that I wasnât Wang Hong Daoâs disciple, why is that?â Gu Qing Shan asked her back.
âMaybe⊠it was to have an excuse to teach you his Sword and Blade techniques?â Wan Er asked.
âExactly. As long as I felt the greed of wanting to learn his techniques, I have to declare that I wasnât Wang Hong Daoâs discipleâ
âJust like that, I wouldâve taken his baitâ
Wan Er shook her head: âBut his guess was accurate, you really werenât Wang Hong Daoâs discipleâ
âThen how did he guess?â Gu Qing Shan asked.
Wan Er recalled: âHe said that Wang Hong Dao doesnât know how to use the sword, only Blade techniques and corpse manipulation, so Wang Hong Dao couldnât have a sword cultivator disciple like yourselfâ
Gu Qing Shan continued: âZhao Wu Chui is a Virtualized realm Martial cultivator, would he also not be Wang Hong Daoâs disciple?â
Wan Er couldnât refute that.
Qing Rou sighed: âUsing the truth to incite a lie, as long as a cultivator wanted to get his scripture, regardless of who they really were, they would admit his âdeductionâ to be correct right away, how deviousâ
Gu Qing Shan followed up: âAfter that, he took advantage of this worldâs cultivatorsâ fear of the realm demon and created the second jade tag. Just like how Guang Yang sect sacrificed people of another world to probe the realm demonâs weaknesses, everything came from their desires to surviveâ
âOne jade tag to rile their greed, the second to rile their desires to survive, then he demanded a staggeringly high price as compensation for learning his scripture, giving me the illusion that I was the one asking him for the jade tag and not him giving it to meâ
âEven if I didnât swear the oath to kill Wang Hong Dao, he wouldâve thought of another condition to entice me to learn his technique, it wouldâve been a condition that wasnât too easy, but just enough within my capabilitiesâ
Wan Er held her head, muttering: âHow could a single person be so calculating, itâs so terrifyingâ
âBut even so, he wasnât calculating enough to win against Wang Hong Daoâ Qing Rou commented.
The two girls exchanged glances, seeing the fear in each otherâs eyes.
They were both knowledgeable great cultivators, but never have they met such an advanced mind battle (psychological warfare) before.
If it was either of them, they wouldâve fallen for it.
And there was still Wang Hong Dao who was even better at this waiting to be defeated.
What should they do now?
âDesperation can drive people madâ Gu Qing Shan muttered.
He looked down at the jade tag in his hand.
Written in here was the world-renowned secret of becoming a Sword and Blade dual master.
But this was the Suspended world, a place where desperation had already driven people to madness, a place where the peopleâs hearts are full of schemes and cruelty, where indifference is the key to survival.
Can I actually trust and practice the method written here?
Of course not.
Gu Qing Shan sighed regretfully.
At this time, lines of glowing text scrolled past the War God UI.
[Jade tag information transcription completed]
[Information analysis completed]
[98.7% of information provided in the jade tag is unusable]
[Discarding the majority of mistakes, false substitutes and omitted content, only 1.3% of the jade tagâs content is complete and without fault]
[Would you like to see this information?]
Gu Qing Shan just dejectedly confirmed: âYesâ
New lines of text showed up on the UI.
[Discovered a complete and correct sword saint technique of this world]
[This has been confirmed to be the only information in the jade tag that is accurate, practice with without worry]
[Sword saint Secret Art, Sword Array: Taiyi]