Chapter 341: Chapter 253: King Yan Duo, Invincible Under the Heavens! [A new month, asking for monthly votes!]_2
"Transform into a sword?"
Yan Chuan frowned, what kind of bizarre martial art is this?
Could it be the secret skill of ’Man and Sword as One’?
But even if it is ’Man and Sword as One’, no matter how strong a secret skill or martial art it is, it ultimately cannot escape the realms of Inner Strength and inner power. And that palm strike from Wang Zhengyi was not a simple palm; it contained bizarre strength. Before the big palm print even landed, combined with the ’Mirage Pearl’, it was already compressing space, wearing down the enemy’s inner power, strength, Gang Qi, and all sorts of resistances.
The clash happens before the palm lands.
By the time the palm print actually strikes, the dust has already settled.
But—
"How was it blocked?"
Wang Zhengyi couldn’t understand.
Yan Chuan couldn’t understand either.
Thinking about it, when he previously used the ’White Horn Trumpet’ and ’Lion Roar’, they were equally ineffective against these swordsmen: "Perhaps, the martial arts they practiced were specifically resistant to my ’Lion Roar’ and your ’Big Handprint’?"
The two couldn’t understand.
But they ran fast.
Even if this time they couldn’t defeat the Four Swordsmen, or kill anyone, the ’Mirage Pearl’ stirred up the fog, making the Four Swordsmen and Yang Yingxue inside dizzy.
Creating a time gap.
Taking advantage of the fog not yet dispersed, while those inside were still covered, Yan Chuan and Wang Zhengyi hurriedly escaped.
The fog enveloped an area over a hundred zhang, and Yan Chuan and Wang Zhengyi randomly chose a direction to flee, moving lightly without leaving any traces. By the time the fog cleared, the Four Swordsmen had no idea which direction they ran, making it impossible to pursue.
...
Wind, wind, wind!
Quick, quick, quick!
Yan Chuan and Wang Zhengyi sprinted wildly, one relying on boundless Qi power, striding like a meteor. The other zigzagged, advancing one step, retreating three, gracefully and effortlessly, not a bit slower.
The two ran seven or eight li before stopping.
"Tonight is strange!" Wang Zhengyi stopped, combing through the events and finally realizing something was off: "The Purple Beard Sect would either ignore us completely or would aim to eliminate us to leave no future troubles. Yet, they shouldn’t have sent only Yang Yingxue. With my ’Mirage Pearl’ and considering Brother Yan’s strength, Yang Yingxue alone is evidently not enough to kill us. For the Purple Beard Sect to do this, wouldn’t it be foolish?"
Yan Chuan also understood: "Yang Yingxue seemed to take the initiative, coming alone to intercept."
However, Yang Yingxue’s ’intercept’ didn’t seem like she truly wanted to kill Yan Chuan and the others. Or rather, from her performance tonight, it seemed like ’kill if possible, run if not’, a nonchalant attitude, open and unconcealed, not afraid of exposing her identity.
This action!
This behavior!
Seems like—
"Framing!" Wang Zhengyi’s brow lifted.
He also noticed that ’Yang Yingxue’ seemed like a ’counterfeit’, possibly impersonating, deliberately stirring up hatred between Yan Chuan, or Jiang Bianliu behind Yan Chuan, and the Purple Beard Sect, framing the Purple Beard Sect.
"But Brother Fu has met Yang Yingxue before, with deep memories, he couldn’t possibly be mistaken." Yan Chuan knew very well the deep hatred Fu Yunzhan had for Yang Yingxue, so it’s impossible for him to misidentify her.
Then—
"If Yang Yingxue is indeed Yang Yingxue, what is her intention in doing this?"
"Could there have been a conflict with the Purple Beard Sect in recent years?"
Yan Chuan couldn’t understand for the moment.
And also—
"Who were the Four Swordsmen that appeared later?"
"Members of the Purple Beard Sect?"
"Or another group behind Yang Yingxue?"
The Four Swordsmen saved Yang Yingxue, but she turned on them in an act of betrayal, intending to kill, striking with lethal intent, showing no mercy.
This kind of ’love-hate relationship’ is another layer of mystery, leaving people puzzled.
"No need to overthink."
Wang Zhengyi, feeling the headache, waved his hand and said: "After the ’Cang Mountain Sword Discussion’ ends, on our return, we can visit the Purple Beard Mountain to clear things up, everything will be clear then."
"Indeed!"
Yan Chuan also nodded.
No matter if it’s the Four Swordsmen or the Purple Beard Sect, with their current strength it’s difficult to contend, unless they bring in Jiang Bianliu. But this Innate Grandmaster is like a ’nuclear bomb’, often having the greatest deterrence and strategic value before being launched. Once truly brought out, it might not yield the imagined results.
If it can be resolved by themselves, they shouldn’t rely on others.
Since that’s the case, there’s no benefit in thinking too much now. Yan Chuan and Wang Zhengyi glanced towards the northwest, then exchanged a look to reach a mutual understanding—
"Let’s go!"
They traveled through the night, heading straight for Cang Mountain!
...
’Chess Stone Peak’ is located in the south of Cang Mountain, connecting Yunling Mountain to the south, neighboring Shimen Peak to the southwest, and bordering White Goose Peak to the east. It is one of the thirty-six great peaks of Cang Mountain, with an elevation of seven hundred and seventy-seven zhang.
The peak is steep and the realm is mysterious.
The views on all four sides of the peak have their own characteristics: the north is strange and steep, the south is sturdy, the east is deep and quiet, and the west is hidden and graceful.
At the top of ’Chess Stone Peak’, there is a colossal rock as flat as a platform, named ’Immortal Chess Stone’, with small stones on the platform that resemble chess pieces. Legend has it that during the Chen Dynasty, in the Tianbao era, someone came upon a stone chessboard with pieces in a situation of equal balance and no victor, then moved one of the pieces. But upon looking back, the chess pieces returned to their original arrangement, and later generations found it puzzling. Another legend says that the ’Immortal Chess Stone’ was the site of a game between the ancient immortal ’Fu Qiu’ and the eternal monarch ’Emperor Xia’.
Chess Stone Peak was named after this.
At this moment.
On the fourth day of May.
Chess Stone Peak had already become lively, with various heavenly prides from the Fifteen States of Great Yan gathering—
The Top Eight from the Lower State!
Twenty from the Central State!
Thirty from the Upper State!
The Fifteen States of Great Yan, four hundred eighty-two prefectures in total, including the eleven newly established academies from the last half of the previous year to February this year, totaling four hundred thirty-one Martial Arts Academies.
For this ’Cang Mountain Sword Discussion’, the quotas for each state differ.
Among the Fifteen States of Great Yan—
There are three in the Upper State.
Five in the Central State.
Seven in the Lower State.
A total of 246 teams from the Fifteen States gathered at Chess Stone Peak to participate in this worldwide event of ’Cang Mountain Sword Discussion’.
"246 teams, so many masters!"
Ni Mengtong wandered around Chess Stone Peak every day, meeting a few friends and focusing on gathering information on various state teams’ backgrounds. But the more she inquired, the less confident she felt: "Jian Province is remote, with team members mostly from the lower three grades, most of whom have just broken through. Meanwhile, those from Upper and Central States have too many mid-grade breakthroughs, not to mention high-grade breakthroughs, they are on a completely different level."
She figured out that this Cang Mountain Sword Discussion was like ’low grade is not as good as a dog, mid grade is everywhere, high grade is the real talent’.
With so many heavenly prides gathered, it’s truly uncertain how the Traveler Department decided on the ’Hidden Dragon List’ and ’Heavenly Pride List’, even listing someone like Yan Chuan and Wang Zhengyi from Jian Province on these lists. No wonder the heavenly prides on Chess Stone Peak are disgruntled whenever discussing the ’Human List’.
"Could the ’Weapon List’ also have policy biases?"
As one of the three chariots of Jian Province, Ni Mengtong thoroughly understood the court’s policies and could see things from a higher perspective.
For example, she was initially only an eighth-grade limit breaker, Postnatal Eighth Layer, seemingly strong, but in reality, there were many in Great Yan stronger than her. A position like the military governor of a state usually required someone with a Ninth Grade, Ninth Layer. Even in a border state like Jian Province, or a lower state, it was no exception.
But why was she able to secure it?
Because she had a good master, an Innate Grandmaster Realm, ranked thirty-fifth on the ’Weapon List·Heavenly List’, known in Jianghu as the ’Thousand Snake Swordsman’ Huang Wuniang as her protector.
The court, to win over Innate Grandmasters and bond with Huang Wuniang, thus allowed Ni Mengtong to defeat countless opponents and achieve the position of a sealing border official of a state.
In this position—
"Strength is secondary."
"Background is primary."
Winning over Innate Grandmasters, uniting the top-tier supreme experts, this is one of the court’s major strategies.
In addition, balancing the political, resource, and other objective differences between large and small states is something the Great Yan Court continuously engages in.
For instance, this time ’Cang Mountain Sword Discussion’, the court strictly prohibited the Martial Arts Academy disciples from major states from going to smaller states, absolutely disallowing the situation where large state academy disciples would run to small state competitions to take up the ’Sword Discussion’ spots.
...