Chapter 2151: A Quick Sword

There wasn’t only Yushi Jianchou around, but also another stunning powerhouse at Clearsnow Estate—Xun You!

It appeared to others that Yushi Jianchou didn’t value the estate situated at the foot of Qingqiu Mountain. However, he’d assigned Xun You to the property.

Plainly, it was a very important estate to Aurora City.

Luo Hanye was yet to fully assess Xun You, so he had to wait for Yushi Moli to leave the estate before taking any action.

If the lands around Aurora City were so dangerous that even his nephew died in them, it wouldn’t be surprising that Yushi Jianchou’s son would meet his end when traveling through them. It would be the boy’s doomsday if he dared leave Clearsnow Estate again, even if he possessed an earth rank cultivation.

With Coldnight Estate’s strength, it was able to kill a celestial rank cultivator. If not, they would hire an assassin from the Sanguine Dusk Tavern!

……

Six days passed as Yushi Moli digested the remaining Boneforge Pills. His physical body was now so strong that it was unfathomable; it’d truly reached the level of a martial cultivator. Each of his strokes carried a force of more than five hundred kilograms—the limits of human rank.

Although his body reached the robustness of a martial cultivator, he wasn’t a true cultivator because he lacked true qi. Regardless, he was very confident in his capabilities. His current weakness was his best disguise. Having the enemy underestimate him was also a kind of strategy!

Yushi Moli lacked true qi and looked like he would blow away with the wind, but anyone who dared think lightly of him because of that would do so to their detriment.

However, there were all kinds of people in this world. Not everyone who met him would underestimate him, so he always had to be on guard. Some might pretend to take him lightly, but actually ise their full strength and reflexes against him.

……

Yushi Moli chose to focus on speed for his battle style. His blows needed to be so fast that they were unpredictable. If his moves were faster than what his enemy could react to, he would defeat them before they could bring their full strength to bear!

Thus, in addition to his usual daily practice, he concentrated on studying swift movements over the six days. He incorporated the meaning of wind into his methods, a starting point that already defined quickness.

Combined with the Galewind Step, it also enabled his body to move with alacrity.

At the same time, he researched how to meld his sword techniques with his body method. He wanted to deploy both at the same time so that he could attack while evading.

……

Yushi Moli flitted through the forests of Qingqiu Mountain like he was wind incarnate. He was one with the wintry gusts breezing around him as he sensed the rhythm of the wind and breathed its freedom.

Sword light flashed through the air in an interplay of sword and light. It shot out unerringly when some leaves drifted off of bare branches.

Whoosh whoosh whoosh!

Seven sword strokes stabbed forward within the span of a breath. Yushi Moli reappeared in the public eye when leaves fluttered to the ground.

“I did it!” He smiled when his eyes fixed on the seven leaves on the ground. There was a tiny sword mark in each of their centers.

Seven strokes in one breath! Each of them had pierced through an exceedingly fragile and withered leaf, yet the leaves suffered no other damage apart from the tiniest of marks in their center. They hadn’t fragmented from the impact or stuck to the sword.

Not only did this require unfathomable speed, but it also demanded intricate sword skills and superb observation skills.

“I’ve finally succeeded after six days of hard work.” Yushi Moli wiped off the sweat on his forehead. “There’s no more Boneforge Pills to use, so I have to head into the mountain tomorrow to hunt beasts.”

He’d decided on hunting beasts both to earn money for more pills and to hone his sword skills. For some reason, sword dao felt very unfamiliar to him. He had the nagging sensation that progress would be much swifter if he switched to another discipline, that he might even attain much higher accomplishments.

But he had to pursue sword dao because the Sword Chart of Heaven and Earth had manifested a sword form that suppressed something very important to him. Only when he reached great perfection in practicing sword dao could he break through that seal and retrieve whatever it was.

Yushi Moli didn’t know what the sword kept away, but it must be something very important to him. It was something more important than his own life!

Perhaps the past him had shouldered a mission that caused one to despair. As he grew and developed, his motivation for cultivating had changed. He no longer did so for Yushi Jianchou or to find favor in the eyes of others. He was searching for his past self, he wanted to help his past self break free of the sword shadow.

“My sword style comes from the autumn wind, but autumn is about to pass. It does not blow in the winter…” Yushi Moli blinked, then suddenly laughed. “How am I worrying about something so stupid? Wind in autumn and winter is both wind, just in a different form.”

He finally realized that he’d been so silly all along. The meaning of wind encompassed a myriad of things.

……

Yushi Moli didn’t head to the depths of Qingqiu Mountain the next day because Ouyang Du arrived instead. His uncle lectured him ferociously and brought him an allowance of one hundred gold coins.

The boy heaved a sigh of relief to see that his uncle was fine. However, Ouyang Du didn’t mention the matter of his trading company being robbed. Regardless, Yushi Moli committed the culprits to memory—the Blackwind Robbers. They’d stolen his uncle’s goods and injured him!

These robbers were the strongest group within one hundred and fifty kilometers. They were also Aurora City’s number one enemy.

Yushi Moli packed his belongings on the third day and left Clearsnow Estate before the sun rose. He took only a cloth bag with him. It held some rations, a fire starter, and a piece of clothing to withstand the cold. He gripped the Qingfeng Sword in his hand.

This was very light equipment for someone hunting beasts in Qingqiu Mountain.

“Oh? He’s out!” A human rank cultivator standing guard jerked awake.

Those of Coldnight Estate had set up shifts to keep an eye on the area in recent days. Their standing orders were to send the fastest horse possible back to the estate as soon as Yushi Moli walked out.

Although Yushi Moli practiced his sword in the forests on the outskirts of Qingqiu Mountain, that was essentially Clearsnow’s backyard. It was the equivalent of him staying in the estate.

“Notify the lord, I’ll keep an eye on him and make marks along the way!” a human rank cultivator called out to one of his peers.

“So the kid’s finally come out?” The other brightened. “I haven’t taken a shower or slept a good night’s sleep in six days in order to keep an eye on him. I’ll notify the lord, stay close to him.” He glared at Yushi Moli’s departing back with a hint of fury.

“Don’t worry, he won’t get away.” A sinister smile played on the lips of the cultivator who’d seen Yushi Moli walk out. “Much of the credit goes to us if we can kill him. We’ll have some fun in Aurora City then!”

……

Autumn was a short season in the northern expanses of the Qiulan Empire. It’d only been a short while, but leaves were all on the ground and a biting chill wafted through the air when the sun was down. A little flurry of snow occasionally swirled around.

Yushi Moli slowly entered Qingqiu Mountain, but something felt off to him, like something was following him. Yet when he took a look around, he discovered nothing out of the ordinary.

“I need to be careful. Although Qingqiu Mountain isn’t big, who knows if there are any incredibly strong beasts inside?” Yushi Moli appeared relaxed, but he was actually keeping a close eye on everything.

“It may not be beasts!” He suddenly recalled that he’d killed two cultivators. One of them was the noble Luo Qing, the other sought revenge for him.

Yushi Moli had also let one of them go… which meant that the person surveilling him now was most probably one of Luo Qing’s. The boy didn’t think much of Luo Qing because it’d been an insignificant matter. Since more of his men had come to avenge him, Yushi Moli didn’t mind helping himself to some more wealth that’d fallen into his lap.

“Ah, I’m not a saint. I’m a sophisticated subscriber to the ideals of self gain. So I’m going to… kill and loot others now?” Yushi Moli chuckled to himself.