In truth, she herself hadn’t even realized it—when she spoke those words, what appeared in her mind was actually that scene from not long ago at Mingri Xinghai.
Those words spoken by Qu Zhengfeng, who had already become the Sword Emperor…
Without a heart to kill, do not draw the sword;
Without a heart to die, do not draw the sword;
Without a heart of supremacy, do not draw the sword.
Hide your talents like a fool, seize the moment when it comes; when the sword is drawn, the heart is settled, intent precedes the sword. Kill one person in ten steps, leave no trace across a thousand li—this is sword drawing!
When had these words become so deeply carved into her heart?
Jian Chou’s expression couldn’t help but become slightly dazed for a moment.
But it was only for a moment.
Qu Zhengfeng’s understanding of the sword far exceeded that of ordinary people.
Although they were no longer fellow disciples and stood on different sides, his “guidance” had truly benefited her greatly.
It was only after the Sword Emperor demonstrated “sword drawing” that she was able to comprehend “blade drawing.”
As for Fang Xiaoxie…
Jian Chou looked at him like this—the stubborn little troublemaker’s lips were tightly pressed together, still wearing a face full of resentment, as if unwilling to accept defeat just like that.
“I heard you still don’t have your own magical artifact. Go back and rest today. Tomorrow we’ll open the armory—don’t delay.”
“…”
Fang Xiaoxie said nothing, finally enduring the pain that felt like his whole body was about to fall apart. He climbed up from the ground, still glaring at Jian Chou with bulging eyes.
Jian Chou didn’t mind—after all, this was Yashan’s “fine tradition”!
If anyone was to blame, it should be Qu Zhengfeng for setting this good example.
Thinking this, she felt even more relaxed in her heart. Without saying much more, she simply waved her hand at Fang Xiaoxie, and then her figure became ethereal.
“I will definitely defeat you!”
Seeing this, Fang Xiaoxie knew she was about to leave. In his panic, he immediately shouted out loud.
But unfortunately, Jian Chou’s teleportation was already extremely practiced, without the slightest pause. In the blink of an eye, she had already disappeared.
When she reappeared, she was already before the mountain wall.
She took out the Yashan token and pressed it against the wooden plaque by the door that bore the characters “Jian Chou.” Light flickered slightly, and the character “Scripture” appeared on the token.
Now, pushing the door open, it was no longer her small room.
The smooth ground was paved with polished cloud stone, and the domed ceiling above scattered starlight like thousands of points.
Countless tall bookshelves were arranged in the eight trigrams formation, stretching as far as the eye could see, dense and seemingly endless. Among them, precious ancient books were as vast as the ocean, and jade slips of various colors and styles were beyond counting.
In various corners, there were also some Yashan disciples, completely absorbed in browsing through the scriptures on the shelves.
The Scripture Repository—a treasure trove that could rank alongside Yashan’s armory.
Jian Chou still remembered when she had first broken through to Foundation Establishment, it was here in this place. Due to the initial formation of the Heaven-Flipping Seal, she had caused quite a commotion.
However, looking now, that human-leg-shaped large hole had long been repaired.
The entire Scripture Repository looked ancient and magnificent.
At the very center stood a snow-white jade pillar.
She walked up to it and sent her spiritual consciousness into it. Instantly, the classifications and catalogs of all the scriptures in the Scripture Repository flooded into her mind.
Following this guide, she easily knew where to find what she needed.
After withdrawing her spiritual consciousness, she walked toward the leftmost side.
On the bookshelf in the corner sat a broken jade slip, with two extremely ancient characters carved on the outside—Armory.
Although Zheng Yao had asked Jian Chou to open the armory, aside from the one time years ago when she had selected Ghost Axe, she knew nothing about the armory.
Now that it was her turn to lead people there, she certainly couldn’t remain ignorant about everything.
Zheng Yao had only given her a tiger-head token and said nothing else. She could only come find out for herself.
Fortunately, Yashan’s Scripture Repository truly encompassed all things. Except for some secrets that really couldn’t be shared, everything you wanted to know could be found here.
When she took out this jade slip, Jian Chou was thinking that it was time to spend more time in the Scripture Repository.
Incidentally, she had seen quite a few things in that old residence in Jiyu Wangsi City back then. If she could find time to compare and verify them, she would surely gain great insights.
So she stayed there, and directly spent the entire night.
Besides the jade slip about the armory, she also read “Records of Ancient Wonders,” “Examination of Eight Buddhist Sects,” “Subtle Knowledge of the Sword Way,” and so on. Combined with what she had previously seen and heard, she gained much deeper understanding of many things.
It wasn’t until the next morning that she left the Scripture Repository.
At this hour, the sky hadn’t even fully brightened yet. The thick autumn fog invaded the mountains, and looking around, everything was dimly shrouded in heavy frost.
But on Lingzhao Peak, more than ten Yashan disciples had already gathered.
Looking around, they were all young faces.
The youngest was only around ten years old, while the slightly older ones were in their teens or early twenties. They all looked full of vitality, and carried a barely contained excitement.
Fang Xiaoxie, who had been “trained” by Jian Chou yesterday, was also among them, though his complexion didn’t look very good.
When Jian Chou walked over, she spotted him with the first glance.
Of course, Fang Xiaoxie also saw her, but remembering yesterday’s events, his face became even more unsightly. He snorted and deliberately turned his head away.
This reaction…
Jian Chou couldn’t help but smile.
A little troublemaker was still a little troublemaker after all—his temperament would need to be slowly refined. However, the fact that he hadn’t become discouraged after yesterday’s battle showed some unusual potential.
She was quite satisfied in her heart, secretly thinking that Zheng Yao had indeed chosen his disciple well. But she didn’t show it on her face. After walking over and greeting everyone, she asked, “Is everyone here?”
“Senior Grand-Uncle, everyone is here. Eighteen people are going to the armory today—we’ve checked the roster.” A disciple who looked more mature and steady stepped forward, answering with a smile.
Jian Chou glanced at him and noticed he had just passed Foundation Establishment cultivation. This should be his first time entering the armory.
No wonder he looked so happy.
She also smiled and waved her hand, saying, “Since everyone is here, follow me. We’ll travel by air—be careful on the way, don’t stay too far from the group. If there are any problems, just call out to me.”
“Yes.”
Hearing they were about to depart, everyone’s eyes lit up, and they responded in unison.
Then, with Jian Chou leading the way, they took flight from Lingzhao Peak and left Yashan.
She still remembered the direction and route Qu Zhengfeng had taken them to the armory years ago. Combined with reading many records about Yashan’s armory in the Scripture Repository, she was confident about the location.
Since her cultivation was now very high while the disciples were mostly at Foundation Establishment stage, she also kept her flying speed very slow to ensure everyone could keep up.
The armory was located east-northeast of Yashan.
After leaving Yashan, they followed the tributary of the Nine-Head River at the foot of the mountain, flying over a stretch of towering mountains and peaks. About an hour later, they saw that basin.
Located in the embrace of surrounding mountains, the ground was covered with lush trees and clear, shallow streams. Under the still-dim sky, it appeared tranquil and mysterious.
The high mountain on the western side still stood tall, with a slanted platform carved out by Yashan’s predecessors halfway up the mountainside.
Jian Chou led everyone to land on this platform.
Today’s group, including Fang Xiaoxie, were all visiting the armory for the first time. Now landing on this platform and looking around, they couldn’t see even a trace of the armory, and couldn’t help but become puzzled.
Someone boldly whispered, “This is the armory?”
Jian Chou heard this and smiled.
She stood at the very front of the platform, overlooking the vast basin below, letting the cold wind blow across her face and wash over her body, yet remaining unmoved like a mountain.
She still remembered that when she first came to the armory, it was Qu Zhengfeng who had split open the armory with a single sword strike.
That kind of magnificent bearing of “one sword falls, the armory opens” was truly soul-stirring to the extreme. So she had thought that if one day she could reach Nascent Soul stage, she would also come to split open the armory—what an exhilarating feeling that would be?
But at this moment, standing here, her heart was like still water.
Sixty years—everything had changed while the scenery remained the same.
“This place is our Yashan’s armory.”
She finally didn’t waste too much time on memories, but quickly pulled herself out of them.
Extending her hand, the Deer-Cutting Blade was already in her grasp.
With a thought, the three-zhang battle disc immediately lit up beneath her feet.
Its range was so vast that it even extended to the entire platform, extending to the feet of those young disciples!
Instantly, starlight enveloped everything!
All the Kunxian lines covering the entire battle disc lit up at once, and the profound spiritual power of heaven and earth came from the disc’s edges, gathering at Jian Chou’s forehead!
In that moment, her ancestral aperture was bright like a lamp, her spiritual platform clean without a speck of dust, her arm moved with her heart, her blade moved with her intent!
In the silent world, the sound of blade singing suddenly filled everything!
Everyone saw her figure soar high, and endless blade light had already enveloped her entire form.
When one blade struck down, they saw thousands of blade lights converge into one, like a full moon, spinning as it thunderously crashed down!
With a tremendous “rumbling” sound, the earth shook and mountains trembled!
Where the blade light struck, the basin split open!
From the earth’s crevice, a gray-white high platform slowly rose, supporting thirty-six massive stone pillars that stood tall in the basin!
Then Jian Chou sheathed her blade, took out the tiger-head token needed to open the armory, and pressed it into the void before her.
Golden light immediately appeared piece by piece, connecting between the stone pillars.
In the blink of an eye, a magnificent and grand palace had appeared before everyone’s eyes. Directly facing them were two dark golden doors over ten zhang high, carved with countless ancient totems.
Jian Chou turned the token that fit perfectly into the door’s crevice, and the two great doors rumbled open. From within came a sheet of snow-white light, accompanied by a wave of cold air that rushed toward them.
“Yashan’s armory holds endless swords.”
“Famous swords have spirits and choose their masters to follow. All disciples of Yashan who select swords in the armory rely only on the two words ‘karmic affinity.'”
“So after entering, what kind of magical artifact you can select depends entirely on yourselves.”
These were the “rules” of Yashan’s armory.
She explained this to everyone first, then let them enter.
Unlike when Qu Zhengfeng had gone in first years ago, she stood at the great door for a long time. Only after everyone had entered did she slowly withdraw her gaze, take a deep breath as if making some kind of preparation, and then step inside.
The gray, overcast sky was a sheet of deathly white.
The frozen ice plains stretched endlessly without obstruction, and countless long swords lay silent beneath the ice, leaving only refracted shadows on the ice surface.
The surrounding peaks rose high and low, seemingly stretching endlessly like saw teeth.
The young disciples who had just entered the armory were all amazed by the novelty.
A few sharp-eyed ones discovered the sword shadows hidden beneath the ice surface and quickly called others to look, causing exclamations of wonder.
The clever and active ones began exploring other areas, even examining the surrounding mountains.
Jian Chou landed on the ice plains and watched them for a while, but seemed somewhat distracted.
The armory was still the same as in years past, unchanged.
A cold and desolate expanse, where layers of ice accumulated over the years covered the stories of the past, and no one could hear the voices beneath the ice surface.
She slowly turned in a circle like this, looking in all directions, and finally, inevitably, she saw it.
Due east, at the extreme distance.
That was the most prominent and precipitous ice peak, like a sharp sword that seemed to reach the heavens, astoundingly tall.
Because of the great distance, when it fell into her eyes, it was only a vague gray shadow.
But Jian Chou could see it clearly:
At the highest point of the cold, desolate peak, a sword shadow was sealed in crystal-clear solid ice.
Hilt upward, point downward.
The slender sword body was an astounding six feet long; the sharp blade bore wave-like patterns; a line of deep red, like fine silk, rose from the sword tip, flowing upward and gradually disappearing into the mottled, rust-stained sword body, adding three parts of lonely, cold beauty!
Silent as always, overlooking all swords as always, standing at the end of the sky as always, and as always, making her heart surrender at first sight—
The six-foot sword, One Line Sky!