This voice…

Jian Chou could naturally recognize it as Qu Zhengfeng, but she was somewhat surprised to encounter him here. She turned around and indeed saw him walking toward her, so she said: “I merely happened to see this sword placed here, so I became curious and wanted to take a look. As for Ghost Axe…”

Ghost Axe was still in the Extreme Domain.

Although Jian Chou had tried to summon it back when she left, as the first of the Ten Yama Kings, Lord Qin Guang was no easy opponent to deal with.

She ultimately couldn’t bring Ghost Axe back.

Perhaps still carrying hidden injuries that couldn’t be completely healed within these past couple of hours, Qu Zhengfeng’s complexion still showed an unusual pallor.

However, his demeanor revealed no trace of depth or shallowness.

When he heard Jian Chou suddenly fall silent at the mention of Ghost Axe, he recalled his earlier confusion: “In the fierce battle with the evil monk Shanxing at Silver Tower and the wine master Liang Tingyu of the night sailing ship, I never saw you summon Ghost Axe. That was rather strange.”

Everyone knew that Jian Chou, the eldest senior sister of Yashan, was the first person at Yashan who didn’t use swords. Her commonly used magical artifact was that exaggeratedly large Ghost Axe, which was often talked about by outsiders.

It could be said that Ghost Axe was one of her strongest combat assets.

To fight others without using Ghost Axe was simply inconceivable to those familiar with Jian Chou.

Spiritual power circulated within Jian Chou’s body, and a faint white light covered the wound the sword gleam had carved on her ring finger. In moments, the wound rapidly healed, leaving no trace whatsoever.

She raised her eyes to look at Qu Zhengfeng, only saying: “Ghost Axe is temporarily in someone else’s custody. I’ll retrieve it when the time is right.”

Temporarily in custody.

These two words were used quite subtly. Someone like Qu Zhengfeng could easily detect the slight coldness hidden in her words.

This “someone else” probably had some special significance.

Over these sixty years, Jian Chou must have had countless extraordinary encounters. He was somewhat curious, but given their current identities and positions, it wasn’t convenient to ask much more.

Qu Zhengfeng simply stepped forward, bent down, and picked up the mundane sword from the grinding platform.

Unlike when Jian Chou had touched this sword earlier, when Qu Zhengfeng picked it up, this iron sword remained completely quiet, neither emitting any cold light nor revealing the slightest sword gleam.

As if, in his hands, this was just an utterly ordinary iron sword.

A three-chi long blade, half-sharpened, half-blunt.

Perhaps because it had been placed here for some time, its surface was covered with a thin layer of dust.

Qu Zhengfeng’s slightly calloused fingertips slowly brushed along the iron sword’s blade, gradually wiping away that thin layer of dust.

“This seems to be merely an iron sword.”

Not a “magical artifact” refined from various special materials by the cultivators of the Nineteen Continents.

Jian Chou had this much discernment, but being attacked by that sudden sword gleam earlier made her harbor some uncertainty.

Qu Zhengfeng turned the sword in his hand, and the snow-bright blade became like a mirror, immediately reflecting his pair of eyes that even he couldn’t see clearly.

“It is an iron sword, and also a mundane sword, with nothing special about it.”

Nothing special about it?

Jian Chou couldn’t agree with this statement. Though the wound on her hand had disappeared, she still vividly remembered the sharpness of that sword gleam.

“Though I don’t know how to use swords, I’ve heard that in ancient times there were great powers skilled with swords. When their sword skills reached perfection, every gesture became a sword. Their qi became sword qi, their intent became sword intent, their heart became sword heart. Even objects that accompanied them for long periods would, over time, be infected by their sword intent. Even if originally mundane objects, they would possess unfathomable power.”

Qu Zhengfeng was the master of Jiexing Mountain Manor.

This lake was within Jiexing Mountain Manor, with thousands of long swords standing in the lake, a sword-grinding platform on the shore, and an unsharpened iron sword. Everything couldn’t be more obvious.

Presumably, this grinding platform was used by Qu Zhengfeng, and this sword also came from his hand.

Not to mention, besides the new Sword Emperor who now shook the Star Sea, who else here possessed such extraordinary attainments in the way of the “sword”?

Powerful cultivators could influence external objects with their temperament.

This sword was originally a mundane sword, but during the sword-grinding process, it was probably influenced by Qu Zhengfeng. Through subtle influence, like becoming red when near vermillion, it possessed an unusual “sword gleam.”

However, what kind of mood must he have been in while grinding the sword to nurture such a sharp and pressing cold sword gleam?

Jian Chou’s thoughts were extremely clear.

Her gaze fell back on Qu Zhengfeng, and she couldn’t help but smile: “Speaking of which, though Your Majesty the Sword Emperor was also Yashan’s eldest senior brother back then, thinking carefully, whether in the past or now, I’ve never truly understood you.”

They hadn’t interacted much, nor communicated much.

Except for when she personally witnessed Qu Zhengfeng angrily draw his sword to battle Kunwu’s White Bone Dragon Sword Wuduan on the Western Sea, when she glimpsed a fraction of his true nature, at other times he seemed shrouded in a layer of mist.

This statement from Jian Chou was quite direct.

Qu Zhengfeng stood closer to the lakeside, with Jian Chou diagonally behind him. Through the blade of this mundane sword in his hand, he could see Jian Chou’s upright figure and her gaze fixed on him with an almost investigative quality.

“Junior Sister, I have already transformed into a demon—what exactly are you trying to ask?”

The first half of the sentence was merely reminding them that their identities were now different.

Just like yesterday when Jian Chou said “Yashan’s affairs need not concern the Sword Emperor,” however, since today’s Jian Chou had spoken these words, she naturally had something real to ask.

“I want to know, did you truly betray Yashan?”

Such a seemingly light and casual sentence, when it came from Jian Chou’s mouth, was like a wisp of light cloud drifting across the sky or a gentle breeze blowing over the lake surface. But when it fell into Qu Zhengfeng’s ears, it was swift and violent, like a shocking thunderbolt striking across the wilderness.

“…”

He slowly lowered the hand holding that mundane sword. Thus, Jian Chou could no longer glimpse any of his expressions or capture any of his emotions from that mirror-like blade.

With his back to Jian Chou, facing the sword lake.

Qu Zhengfeng’s gold-woven dark robe was somewhat billowed by the wind. Due to his tall and imposing stature, it momentarily gave Jian Chou the illusion that he was standing atop Yashan’s Huanqiao Peak.

She could only hear his voice, showing no abnormality: “Everyone says I betrayed them. It seems Fellow Daoist Jian Chou has a different view.”

“I dare not claim to have a view, only that my confusion is difficult to resolve.”

Jian Chou had never been the type to hide things. Since embarking on the cultivation path, she had always been entirely open and forthright. Words like “timid” and “hesitant” had never had any connection with her.

So at this moment, she spoke without any reservations.

“The Silver Tower affair started because of Zuoliu, drawing Yashan into the trap.”

“Yesterday, you bloodied Silver Tower, exterminated the night sailing ship, leaving no survivors. Outsiders say that since betraying Yashan, though your temperament has greatly changed, it hasn’t reached such a level of madness. Now, at the slightest disagreement, you made such a big move, actually because this matter involved Yashan, touching your bottom line.”

“They say that though you betrayed them, your ties with Yashan run deep and ultimately cannot be severed.”

Ties run deep and ultimately cannot be severed.

“Haha.” Qu Zhengfeng actually laughed aloud. With a light turn of the hand holding the long sword, that mundane sword slowly made a beautiful sword flower in the void. “What do you think?”

Most disciples under Yashan learned swordsmanship.

At first, they all practiced like ordinary people, starting from individual moves and stances, first learning the character for “form.” Later, combining various techniques, they transformed ordinary sword moves into true sword techniques with myriad magnificent variations.

Though Jian Chou hadn’t learned swordsmanship, she could tell at a glance that though Qu Zhengfeng’s seemingly unremarkable sword turn appeared casual, his hand was perfectly steady without the slightest tremor.

Extremely standard, without the slightest error.

Truly someone who could once dominate Yashan’s Beast Arena.

Jian Chou felt a strange sentiment in her heart, but continued her earlier words.

“But as far as I know, the night sailing ship had opposed you many times decades ago, repeatedly provoking you, yet you never paid them any attention. Others thought they were jumping clowns that the new Sword Emperor didn’t take to heart. But in fact…”

“I never thought you, Qu Zhengfeng, had any magnanimous nature.”

“Holding back for years, then striking with rivers of blood and mountains of corpses. So effortlessly removing thorns from your side—wouldn’t this have an even better effect of killing one to warn a hundred?”

After these words fell, Qu Zhengfeng remained silent for a long time.

Because he couldn’t deny it.

“Yashan’s eldest senior sister, with a heart of seven clever and exquisite chambers and eyes that worldly dust cannot obscure. This penetrating insight alone surpasses ninety-nine percent of the cultivators in these Nineteen Continents.”

Penetrating insight?

Jian Chou felt she was merely somewhat calmer in observation. When it came to scheming methods and grand strategies, even Xie Buchen from the former Human Isolated Island exceeded her by hundreds of thousands of li.

Regarding Qu Zhengfeng’s praise of unknown authenticity, her expression showed no movement whatsoever.

She still asked: “People say hearing is false, seeing is true. But now I believe that even seeing cannot be considered true—everything must question the heart. Senior Brother, do you truly feel you’ve betrayed Yashan?”

“Must question the heart, question the heart?”

These two words were not at all unfamiliar to Qu Zhengfeng. When he heard them, a strange feeling arose in his heart. He suddenly turned to look at Jian Chou, his voice carrying a hint of light sarcasm.

“This heart of mine was already thoroughly questioned sixty years ago when I broke through to Soul Separation.”

Thoroughly questioned.

Three simple words, yet Jian Chou immediately heard an indelible weight and vicissitude, along with a deeply hidden desperate gamble.

Qu Zhengfeng didn’t answer her question, but this was equivalent to giving an answer.

On Yashan’s path, half a song mourns heroic souls;

Atop Huanqiao Peak, a pot of turbid wine honors a thousand cultivators.

From the moment he chose to betray Yashan, he never thought of having any further intersection or connection with Yashan. Even if in the future he faced the pointing fingers of thousands and the curses of ten thousand—

In this life, he would never look back.