"Kill the Si Cao?" Wu Hongbiao was startled.
"The two of us?"
"Yes, the two of us."
The small room in the fabric shop was empty.
Wu Hongbiao sat cross-legged on the floor, while Chen Ji leaned against the doorframe.
The two of them silently stared at each other.
At this moment, Wu Hongbiao glanced toward the door.
Chen Ji stood in the shadow of the moonlight, his expression unclear.
Wu Hongbiao patiently advised, "You haven't been in the Military Intelligence Division for long and haven't had much interaction with the Si Cao. Don't entertain such dangerous thoughts."
Chen Ji noticed that even someone as skilled as Wu Hongbiao, one of the most elite spies, hesitated at the idea of killing the Si Cao.
He couldn't help but ask, "How powerful is the Si Cao?"
Wu Hongbiao replied gravely, "You're not a martial artist, so you don't understand how formidable they can be. I'm just a martial artist at the 'Postnatal Realm.' The Si Cao has been in the military for a long time and is at least at the peak of the 'Innate Realm,' just one step away from the 'Seeking the Dao Realm.'"
Chen Ji looked puzzled.
Wu Hongbiao sighed, chewing on a coarse grain pancake as he explained, "Fine, you probably won't understand these realms, so I'll put it simply: Once, in Jinling, the Si Cao's whereabouts were exposed. Over a hundred soldiers from the Secret Intelligence Division couldn't capture him. He killed dozens of them and escaped into the Qinhuai River."
Chen Ji pressed further, "If the Innate Realm is already so powerful, how strong is the Seeking the Dao Realm? Is it difficult to reach?"
"Of course, it's difficult," Wu Hongbiao sighed.
"Look at me—I can't even figure out how to break through from the Postnatal to the Innate Realm, let alone from the Innate to the Seeking the Dao Realm. In the entire Luo City, there are probably only two Seeking the Dao Realm experts. One is Liang Gou'er, and the other is likely hidden within the Liu family's control in Yanshi."
Wu Hongbiao continued seriously, "Once you reach the Seeking the Dao Realm, unless you have an army of at least five hundred soldiers, you can't take down such a master. Liang Gou'er entered the Seeking the Dao Realm at the age of twenty-four. That year, he went to the border army of the Ning Dynasty and killed eight of our Jing Dynasty generals in a single battle, earning him great fame. Unfortunately, Liang Gou'er's cultivation path was cut off, or he would have been the most promising figure in the Ning Dynasty to advance further."
"Cut off?" Chen Ji asked.
Wu Hongbiao thought for a moment.
"I've always suspected it was the work of our Jing Dynasty, perhaps even your uncle's doing."
Chen Ji was stunned.
"Why do you say that?"
Wu Hongbiao explained, "After Liang Gou'er's cultivation path was cut off, a female swordsman appeared in our Jing Dynasty's border army. She assassinated a talented general from the Ning Dynasty's border army, and someone recognized her as using the Liang family's sword techniques. She was likely a figure specifically trained by someone in our Jing Dynasty, sent to the Ning Dynasty to marry Liang Gou'er and ruin his state of mind, cutting off his cultivation."
This female swordsman not only cut off Liang Gou'er's cultivation path but also stole the Liang family's ancestral sword techniques, achieving two goals with one move.
What a cunning scheme.
Chen Ji asked, "But why do you think it was my uncle's doing?"
Wu Hongbiao opened a bamboo tube and took a sip of water.
"Three years ago, when your uncle was assassinated, a female swordsman also appeared by his side."
Chen Ji: "..."
His uncle was a very complicated figure.
Even now, Chen Ji couldn't form a clear understanding of his uncle.
It always felt like his uncle was shrouded in mist, neither good nor evil, willing to do whatever it took to achieve his goals.
Chen Ji murmured, "Postnatal, Innate, Seeking the Dao... What comes after the Seeking the Dao Realm?"
"The Divine Dao Realm," Wu Hongbiao said.
"According to your uncle, there are only a handful of people in the entire world who have reached this realm. Lu Yang, the head of our Jing Dynasty's Martial Temple, is one of them. The leader of the Ning Dynasty's Huangshan Sect, 'Shituzi,' is another. Even the old masters of Luo City's Daoist Temple and the Ning Dynasty's 'Luo Tian' Sect don't have such figures."
"Someone like Lu Yang is already a grandmaster who has touched the threshold of the heavens. Also, the people of the Jing Dynasty often talk about his legendary 'Sixty Years of Demon Slaying.' Have you heard of it?"
"No, I haven't. Sixty Years of Demon Slaying? Are there demons in this world?"
"They are demonic sects scattered throughout the Jing Dynasty. They use human sacrifices as a means of cultivation, often abducting children and women, even massacring entire villages. They are extremely vile. Lu Yang led the Martial Temple to eradicate them, killing every last one."
"Because it happened in the year of Jiazi, it's called Jiazi Demon Slaying?"
Wu Hongbiao shook his head.
"No, it took sixty years to eradicate them."
Chen Ji was stunned.
Sixty years! No demonic sect could withstand a Divine Dao Realm grandmaster hunting them down for sixty years!
The Martial Temple.
Liang Gou'er had mentioned this place before.
He had said that Chen Ji shouldn't practice the sword but should go to the Jing Dynasty's Martial Temple to learn their 'Sword Seed.'
Only now did Chen Ji have a vague understanding of the martial artists in the world.
As for himself... he probably wasn't even a Postnatal martial artist yet.
Facing someone like the Si Cao, he wasn't even sure if gunpowder could kill him.
Getting him to stay in one place long enough to be blown up was a challenge in itself.
Wu Hongbiao said, "Do you still want to kill the Si Cao? Give up."
Chen Ji was silent for a long time.
"But if I don't kill him, he'll kill me."
Wu Hongbiao also fell silent.
His expression was conflicted, hesitant.
Unlike Chen Ji, he knew how powerful the Si Cao was, and he knew that the two of them alone couldn't do it.
But in the end, Wu Hongbiao said, "Then let's kill him... but how?"
"I'll think of a way... There must be a way."
Chen Ji pondered for a moment, then suddenly asked, "Why do you think my uncle doesn't want me to return to the Jing Dynasty?"
Wu Hongbiao thought for a moment.
"I can't fathom his thoughts, but he once said that all noble children should go to the front lines to gain experience. Otherwise, they'll just become spoiled brats, spending their days gambling and visiting brothels. Back then, he risked his life to come south to the Ning Dynasty. He assassinated the Chen family's Minister of War and returned to the Jing Dynasty with great merit, establishing the Military Intelligence Division. I think he might want you to become like him."
Wu Hongbiao said with admiration, "Many in the Jing Dynasty's military admire your uncle and want to be like him. I think you should aspire to follow in his footsteps."
Chen Ji was stunned.
So the Military Intelligence Division was established by his uncle? Every day brought new discoveries...
But if he had to assassinate a minister or elder to return, then maybe he didn't want to go back to the Jing Dynasty after all.
The Ning Dynasty was fine.
"I have another question. You're on the verge of death yourself, so why did you come to deliver a message to me?"
Wu Hongbiao grinned.
"I told you, we're brothers."
"I see," Chen Ji said as he turned to leave.
"I can't stay here long. I'll bring food and water every night. Rest well and recover."
...
...
Outside, Chen Ji stood in the moonlit backyard of the fabric shop and let out a long breath.
If he wanted to kill the Si Cao, he would need a solid plan.
At the very least, he needed to know what the Si Cao looked like and what identity he used in his daily life.
With difficulty, he climbed over the wall and returned to the apprentice dormitory.
The room was filled with the sound of snoring, but Chen Ji felt unusually calm.
The wounds on his chest and thigh began to ache again, a constant reminder that weakness was the original sin of this world.
Chen Ji lay on the communal bed, staring quietly at the ceiling.
His mind was still buzzing with the conversation about martial artists.
He slowly closed his eyes and began to channel the molten flow from the sixteen furnaces within his body, condensing half of it into his heart.
In an instant, the furnace flames weakened, flickering like a candle in the wind, on the verge of extinguishing.
The icy flow in Chen Ji's dantian, sensing the weakening of the force that restrained it, began to stir!
It seeped through the Tian Shu acupoint, spreading throughout Chen Ji's body.
A familiar coldness washed over him, and Chen Ji once again fell into that mysterious and unknown dark sea of clouds, returning to the ancient battlefield.
In the past, he had been forced into this place.
Before the age of twelve, he had been plagued by this nightmare more than once.
His parents had even thought he was seriously ill and taken him to see a psychologist.
But this time, Chen Ji had returned voluntarily.
As the little monk had said, Chen Ji had always been a gambler.
But while others gambled with money, he gambled with his life.
Feeling the mist of the sea of clouds flowing around him, he descended like a meteor from the heavens, landing on a green mountain with a trail of black clouds.
Strangely, this time the ancient battlefield was silent, as if everything had frozen.
Chen Ji saw a three-legged golden crow suspended in the sky, its tail feathers motionless.
He saw a golden arrow piercing through the battlefield, halted in mid-air by some unknown force, the archer frozen in place.
He saw a giant, like Kuafu chasing the sun, stopped mid-stride as he rushed toward the battlefield.
This battlefield was like a vast and lonely piece of amber, preserving everything for tens of thousands of years.
But the golden-armored emperor who had commanded the battlefield, holding the royal banner, was nowhere to be seen.
"You dare come here again?" A thunderous voice echoed behind Chen Ji.
Chen Ji turned abruptly and saw the towering figure of the golden-armored man standing behind him, looking down at him from the mountain peak.
Chen Ji felt no fear, only calm.
"What is your name?"
"My name is Xuanyuan."
The name Xuanyuan resonated like a bell, as if the heavens themselves responded.
Even the dark clouds above began to part.
Chen Ji asked again, "Then who am I?"
Xuanyuan laughed as if he had heard something amusing.
"You don't remember? You don't remember anything!"
But as he laughed, his tone grew melancholic.
"The peach blossoms of Guixu, the snow of East Kunlun Mountain, the sea beyond Penglai... You've forgotten it all..."
Chen Ji frowned.
"Who am I?"
Xuanyuan turned to look beyond the green mountain.
"This is the greatest joke I've heard in fifteen thousand years... If even you have forgotten who you are, then who am I? What does my fifteen thousand years of loneliness mean?"
Chen Ji quietly watched him.
He suddenly realized that this wasn't a real battlefield.
The armies, the mythical beasts, the people—they were all illusions.
The golden-armored emperor, Xuanyuan, was the only living being in this world.
Xuanyuan slowly calmed down, his voice solemn.
"Why have you come to my world? Aren't you afraid I'll use you to return to the mortal realm?"
"I am."
"Then why did you come?"
Chen Ji said seriously, "Teach me the Sword Seed."
He couldn't go to the Jing Dynasty's Martial Temple.
Maybe one day he would, but that was too far away.
He couldn't wait.
Xuanyuan was visibly stunned by Chen Ji's words, as if he had heard something unbelievable.
Then he burst into laughter again.
"Teach you the Sword Seed? Hahaha, this is the second greatest joke I've heard in fifteen thousand years!"
Chen Ji was silent for a moment. "... Is it that funny?"
Xuanyuan turned back, planting his royal banner on the mountain peak.
"Do you know that we were once enemies?"
"I didn't know, but perhaps we were also friends."
This time, it was Xuanyuan's turn to fall silent.
After a long pause, he said gravely, "Then do you know that the thing you once despised the most was the Sword Seed I cultivated?"
Chen Ji quickly replied, "I don't despise it now. I think it's amazing!"
Xuanyuan: "..."
The two of them stood on the green mountain, facing each other in awkward silence.
Xuanyuan studied Chen Ji carefully, as if seeing him for the first time.
"You've changed so much."
Chen Ji said earnestly, "What I mean is, I'm not the person you think I am. My name is Chen Ji, just a lowly apprentice at the Taiping Medical Hall. I don't despise the Sword Seed, and I don't have any grand ambitions. I just don't want to be easily killed by others. I don't know what恩怨情仇 (grievances and affections) you have with that person who doesn't exist, but I just want to make a bet with you."
"Oh?" Xuanyuan was intrigued.
"What kind of bet?"
"You want to use me to return to the mortal realm, right?"
"Correct."
"Teach me the Sword Seed. If one day you use me to return, then my cultivation will be for your benefit."
Xuanyuan pondered.
"You're betting that I'll never be able to return?"
Chen Ji looked up at the towering mountain.
"Do you want to bet?"
The golden-armored emperor laughed.
"Even you know how to use reverse psychology now... I'll teach you the Sword Seed, but not because of this ridiculous bet."
Chen Ji was puzzled.
"Then why?"
Xuanyuan spoke cryptically.
"For the ten miles of peach blossoms in Guixu."
Chen Ji didn't understand.
But if it was for peach blossoms, then so be it.
For pear blossoms, or camellias, it didn't matter.
"How do I cultivate the Sword Seed?" Chen Ji asked.
Xuanyuan spoke profoundly.
"To cultivate my sword path, you must nourish your sword intent with the stars and seize the sword intent of others to forge your Sword Seed. I chose the Ziwei Emperor Star. Among the myriad stars, you may choose one. Remember, once chosen, it cannot be changed."
"How do I nourish my sword with the stars?"
"I will teach you now. Nourishing the sword requires patience. The stars are distant and unreachable. It took me four hundred and thirty-four years to touch the Ziwei Emperor Star with my divine sense."
Chen Ji: "..."
...
...
Time passed, and the icy flow seeped into Chen Ji's heart, provoking a fierce counterattack from the molten flow, which suppressed the icy flow back into his dantian.
The rooster crowed at dawn.
Chen Ji slowly opened his eyes.
Enduring the pain in his thigh, he pushed aside the blanket and struggled to get up, limping into the courtyard.
He looked up at the starry sky and quickly located the Ziwei Emperor Star.
The Ziwei Emperor Star was actually Polaris, located about 434 light-years away from his position.
The Big Dipper revolved around it throughout the seasons.
If the sky were a funnel, the Ziwei Emperor Star would be the tip, sitting right at the center.
Chen Ji pondered Xuanyuan's words.
Once he chose a star to nourish his sword, he couldn't change it.
He had to be extremely careful.
But according to Xuanyuan, it had taken him four hundred and thirty-four years just to touch the Ziwei Emperor Star with his divine sense.
If Chen Ji wanted to follow this path, his lifespan would have to stretch from the palm of his hand to the heel of his foot.
He would die of old age before he could master it!
Chen Ji leaned against the apricot tree, wrapped in his clothes.
Besides the pain, he felt a touch of youthful melancholy.
A crow curiously watched him, wondering what was wrong.
Chen Ji asked, "Uncle Crow, how can I live to be four hundred and thirty-four years old?"
The crow opened its beak and silently mocked him.
But at that moment, the sun rose, and a golden ray of light shot across the horizon, painting the clouds.
Chen Ji suddenly froze...
As everyone knew, the sun was the closest star to him.
(End of Chapter)