Chapter 85: Chapter 85: Life-taking Impermanence Sword
Lu Chengfeng and Li Mo, traveling day and night, sped toward the Central Capital on horseback.
In fact, the reason Lu Chengfeng headed to the Central Capital this time was not just for Su Wanqing.
Ever since the Lord of Youdu issued a challenge, the senior members of the sect engaged in intense debates. Each peak had its own interests and ideas, and the contradictions among the senior members intensified under external pressure.
With Zhu Yuxian’s cultivation and combat power, as well as the loyalty she exhibited in the last battle and the merits she achieved, even if she could not become Sect Leader, securing the position of First Seat of Profound Crane Peak should be a given.
However, some of the senior members believed she was from Youdu, and since she had only killed people from the three sects and not from Youdu during the previous battles, they did not trust her.
Therefore, someone suggested that the First Seat of Profound Crane Peak should be held concurrently by the Sect Leader. Even if someone else were to be chosen, it should wait until the Sect Leader emerged from seclusion, to delay the decision.
This actually represented a substantial segment of the sect’s leadership. Although the Hall Master of the Fighting Hall supported her, in the end, the matter was left unresolved.
Zhu Yuxian herself was not very concerned about this issue. If she had shown an active and positive attitude, even with opposition, no one could compete with her for the position of Peak Lord of Profound Crane Peak.
Apart from the position of Peak Lord of Profound Crane Peak, the most intense struggle within the sect during this period was regarding the future of the Yuncang Sword Sect.
Led by the First Seat of Cyan Cloud Peak, Profound Sun Taoist, along with the Chixiao and White Rainbow peaks, they believed they should ally with the Sunset Sect of Yan State to jointly resist the invasion of Youdu.
However, Zhu Yuxian believed that the Sunset Sect could not be relied upon. The Sunset Sect itself lacked any Celestial Human strong persons and had been stagnant for years.
Although there were strong persons at the Half-Step Celestial Human Realm who could threaten a Celestial Human with the sect’s supreme treasures, expecting them to offend Youdu for the Yuncang Sword Sect, even with the vulnerability of interdependence known, was extremely difficult to achieve.
The Lord of Youdu is a Celestial Human strong person, and his momentum in sweeping across the Northern Lands is unstoppable. Yuncang must have external support to gain respite under the pressure of Youdu.
And this external support is the Director of the Celestial Patrol Department of the Central Capital, a Celestial Human strong person with many titles such as Heaven-Suppressing King, Lord of the Divine Capital, Divine Lord, Celestial Patrol King, and Director—Mu Yunting.
Only with his intervention could they contend with the Lord of Youdu.
However, Zhu Yuxian’s idea was met with rebuttals from many Inner Peak Elders, who thought she intended to let Youdu easily capture the Northern Lands and Yuncang, and her intentions were reprehensible.
More importantly, once allied with the Celestial Patrol Department, they would be bound and governed by its rules, which was hard to accept for the Yuncang Sword Sect that enjoyed dominance and independence, controlling most of the resources of Liangzhou.
This was akin to forcing a chieftain to submit and become a vassal, and most would never agree until they were at their last resort.
Yet Zhu Yuxian’s idea was supported by the Withered Bamboo Elder of Yellow Dragon Peak. As one of Yuncang Sword Sect’s trump cards against Celestial Humans, the Withered Bamboo Elder held significant influence and could largely sway the sect’s direction.
After intense disputation, discussion, and interest negotiation among the senior members, the sect decided to pursue three strategies simultaneously.
Firstly, the First Seat of Cyan Cloud Peak, Profound Sun Taoist, would personally visit the Sunset Sect to discuss an alliance between the two sects.
Secondly, the sect would open its treasury and dispatch True Disciples to the various counties of Liangzhou to collect various Heavenly and Earthly Treasures, preparing to forge five Divine Swords. This would be wielded by the First Seats of the Five Peaks to set up the Great Five Elements Extinction Sword Array against the Lord of Youdu.
Thirdly, one of the sect’s Three Heroes, the female disciple Du Mengyan, known as Fairy Qionghua, along with Tan Xiong and Du Xiaoyue from the Seven Talents, would be sent to the Central Capital to represent the Yuncang Sword Sect in seeking external aid.
Simply by looking at the personnel and resources mobilized for these three routes, it was clear that the trip to the Central Capital was merely a tentative effort without much hope, and somewhat perfunctory.
Hoping for the intervention of the Central Capital’s ruler to fend off another Celestial Human, while sending only one True Disciple for negotiations, showed no sincerity at all.
Therefore, Zhu Yuxian privately gave Lu Chengfeng a task to disguise himself as someone from Youdu and to intercept and assassinate the geniuses listed on the Celestial Patrol Department’s Wind and Cloud List in the Central Capital, to aggravate conflicts between the two sides.
On the day, Zhu Yuxian gifted Lu Chengfeng a black box containing three items: a Primordial Five Elements Pill, a human skin mask, and a "Life-taking Impermanence Sword" technique.
The "Life-taking Impermanence Sword" is a secret skill of Youdu, with the main characteristic that the sword wounds have no obvious features, making it difficult for anyone not well-versed in Youdu cultivation techniques to discern that it is Youdu’s swordsmanship.
Youdu’s greatest source of wealth is its assassin guild, with 30% of the infamous assassins from the Martial World hailing from Youdu, whereas 90% of the less-known assassins claim lineage from Youdu.
Youdu assassins have the habit of coming without a trace and leaving without a trace, making it hard for anyone to find evidence. If one strike fails, they retreat thousands of miles away.
The "Profound Crane Thousand Shadows Ghostly Sword Technique" of Profound Crane Peak inherently has a similarity to Youdu’s cultivation techniques, following the fast sword path of questioning life and death with one stroke.
By obtaining the "Life-taking Impermanence Sword," Lu Chengfeng only needed to contemplate its movements and force-exerting methods to mimic it to ninety percent accuracy. Unless one had personally practiced this skill, it would be extremely difficult to spot any anomalies.
Lu Chengfeng couldn’t help but admire his master’s shrewdness in choosing the "Life-taking Impermanence Sword" technique over others that might more easily reveal Youdu’s traces. It was a precise exercise of timing and subtlety.
If it were immediately obvious that it was a Youdu technique, the people from the Celestial Patrol Department are not fools and would easily suspect an attempt to frame Youdu.
But when they painstakingly investigate, even inviting experts to check the wounds, and only after extensive verification discover traces of the "Life-taking Impermanence Sword," how could they still believe Youdu’s innocence?
Even if they confronted those from Youdu, they would flatly deny it, claiming the sword wounds were not from Youdu, highlighting discrepancies.
But unless one has personally practiced the "Life-taking Impermanence Sword," who could inflict such sword wounds, deliberately leaving slight differences, thereby seeming even more like an attempt to cover up?
It can be said that Zhu Yuxian’s move reached a peak of brilliance, the control of timing and nuance was perfect. As long as Lu Chengfeng executed the task well, it would inevitably lead to mutual suspicion.
With proper preparation and controlled escalation afterwards, there was no fear that a fight wouldn’t break out. After all, the Lord of Youdu’s ambition to devour the Northern Lands was already blatantly exposed, and sooner or later, there would be a battle with the Central Capital.
When the flames of war reach their doorstep, it won’t be possible for them not to be enraged.
Aside from the "Life-taking Impermanence Sword," that human skin mask was no ordinary item but a rare treasure. Once worn on the face, it adheres completely to the skin, undetectable even by touch unless removed with a special solution.
However, once the mask’s appearance is fixed, it requires at least a hundred days to soften before another face can be changed, meaning it can’t be altered at will.
The Primordial Five Elements Pill, though, is an exceedingly valuable pill even to the Elders. Just one can enhance Lu Chengfeng’s Inner Power Cultivation to the Eighteen Layers of Perfection.
Before descending the mountain, Lu Chengfeng had already consumed it, and only needed ten odd days to fully assimilate it, allowing his inner power to break through naturally.
By then, he would not be far from reaching Sword Intent!