Prelude to the Sword Trial Conference 4

In our cultivation world, there has always been a saying about the Two Mountains. The foremost, of course, is the Shushan Sect, and the other is the Maoshan Sect. Although its name doesn't sound as tall, grand, handsome, and classy as the Shushan Sect, the Maoshan Sect's Daoist arts are completely different from those of the Shushan Sect. Shushan Sect cultivation emphasizes physical vitality before mental nature, distancing oneself from the mortal world and residing high on mountain peaks; whereas the Maoshan Sect takes the opposite approach, emphasizing mental nature before physical vitality, focusing on entering the world to cultivate. Their Daoist priests do not possess the transcendent, immortal-like demeanor of the Shushan Sect, but instead, they all look like wandering fortune-tellers in the martial world. However, their Daoist arts are profound, bizarre, and unpredictable, making people of the world hold them in great awe.

Perhaps because they are often compared with each other, the Shushan Sect and the Maoshan Sect often harbor a certain competitive mindset, liking to compete with each other in whatever they do. Today, the Shushan Sect refines a Complete Restorative Pill, and tomorrow, the Maoshan Sect produces a Great Perfect Restoration Pill; today, the Maoshan Sect practices a Demon-Slaying Sword Formation, and tomorrow, the Shushan Sect creates a Demon-Subduing Sword Formation. Privately, the disciples of both sides despise each other. The Maoshan Sect says the Shushan Sect is a bunch of hypocrites who only know how to seek pleasure and don't understand the true Dao, while the Shushan Sect says the Maoshan Sect is a bunch of wretched, filthy wandering swindlers. Ordinarily, if the two factions unfortunately run into each other on the street, a battle of words is inevitable.

Therefore, when the Shushan Sect's Zhenming Pagoda had an incident this time, the Maoshan Sect was the most excited.

I took a look and saw that the atmosphere in the inn's lobby was already somewhat tense with drawn swords and bent bows. Two Maoshan Sect disciples wearing gray Daoist robes were in a standoff with Guisheng, Duan Yaxu, and others. Behind those two Maoshan Sect disciples sat another Maoshan Sect disciple who seemed to have suffered a minor injury, clutching his chest. The two Maoshan Sect disciples in the front looked agitated, while the Shushan Sect's Eldest Senior Brother, Lantian, was negotiating with them. He looked quite calm, but no matter what he said, the two Maoshan Sect disciples just kept shouting.

"You Shushan Sect bully people too much! Two people ganged up to injure our junior brother! Using numbers to bully the few, despicable and shameless!" The taller Daoist with a long face had a loud voice, shouting so loudly that even I on the second floor could hear him clearly.

Whoa! What a huge label to slap on us. I then asked Longyuan, "What happened just now?"

Longyuan said, "Just now, the Maoshan Sect disciple sitting over there loudly claimed, acting as if no one else was around, that Master Jixuan is a good-for-nothing. He said that despite being hailed as having the number one swordplay in the world, Master Jixuan couldn't even keep a Guiche in check, and is fundamentally no match for their Daoist Tianliang. Duan Yaxu got very angry upon hearing this, so he threw a cup and smashed it on that person. That person then drew his sword to slash Duan Yaxu, and Guisheng intervened and hit him with a palm strike. Then it became like this."

I didn't hear clearly what followed; I only heard the sentence where they cursed my Master as a good-for-nothing.

Thus, I let out a cold sneer. "These Maoshan Sect bastards have gone too far," and then, with a light tap of my foot on the railing, I floated down and landed in the lobby.

Isn't it just a battle of words? Looking at trash-talkers of their caliber, they aren't even enough to fill the gaps between my teeth.

At this time, the tall one and the burly one, those two Maoshan Sect disciples, were still spitting everywhere, shouting, "Tell Master Jixuan to come out and give us an explanation," "Make those two bullies kneel and apologize to my junior brother!" and "Don't think you can be arrogant and domineering just because you have the Xuanwu Token in your hands!"

"The two of you are chiming in with each other, are you performing a crosstalk?" I quietly interjected.

Those two Daoists immediately looked over fiercely. Heh, glaring angrily, their expressions were very on point.

"And who are you?!" The tall and burly Daoist had a voice like a booming bell, a curly beard, and thick eyebrows, looking quite fierce. But of course, he couldn't scare this divine sword.

When Lantian saw it was me, sweat immediately beaded on his forehead. He walked over quickly and whispered, "Senior Brother Ya Jiu... please don't come out and cause trouble, okay? The Sword Trial Conference is imminent; this matter should be minimized, not blown out of proportion."

I smacked my lips in dissatisfaction. "Lantian, I know you are steady, but you're swallowing your anger too much. The Maoshan Sect has already bullied their way onto our heads, yet we're still constantly appeasing them with nice words. Do you think they'll let it go just like that?"

After saying that, I shoved him aside. Crossing my arms, I slowly walked over and looked those three Maoshan Sect brats up and down.

"You ask who I am? My features are so obvious and you don't even recognize me? You're glaring those big eyes in vain."

"This is a matter between our Maoshan Sect and the Shushan Sect. It's best if idlers like you quickly step aside, and don't meddle in other people's business." The tall and thin one spoke with a threatening tone, his gaze actually quite sharp.

I clicked my tongue with great pity and said unhurriedly, "It seems you people of the Maoshan Sect are not only sorry in the looks department, but also sorry in the IQ department. Where's your master? How can he see his own three disciples making fools of themselves in public and not come out to control you? Is he your real master?"

The tall and burly Daoist then began to act ruthless. "You pretty boy, are you courting death?!"

"Aiyoyo! I'm so scared~~" I patted my chest and yelled in a pinched voice. "Everyone, please judge for yourselves! I just spoke a few words of truth, and this big Daoist is going to beat me to death~~ Tell me, is this not using numbers to bully the few, being despicable and shameless, bullying others by flaunting power, and being arrogant and domineering?"

Behind me, Guisheng couldn't hold back his laughter, while Duan Yaxu exaggeratedly pulled me back. "Senior Brother Ya Jiu, you must be careful, these two Maoshan brothers will demand you kneel and apologize!"

The tall and thin one trembled with anger. "You... how can you people of the Shushan Sect have such foul mouths!!! Aren't you afraid of getting sores on your lips!!!"

I blinked innocently. "Where did I say anything wrong? Don't tell me you think your own looks are high? No way, brother... Even if a person is narcissistic, there should be a bottom line, right? Look at your face, it's even longer than my dick. In the future, if you go to the Underworld to work as Horse-Face or something, you wouldn't look out of place at all. I can understand if you feel unbalanced inside looking at so many handsome guys from our Shushan Sect. But it's one thing to have low looks, your emotional intelligence is also low. Since you wanted to curse people, you should have been prepared to get beaten up, brother! Cursing people and then not letting them hit you, who exactly is being more unreasonable, arrogant, and domineering?"

Hearing me speak with such reason and evidence, the surrounding crowd of onlookers also cheered. The tall and burly Daoist's face turned red with anger, looking as if his head was about to explode. The Horse-Face Daoist also stammered, "You, you, you, you!" for a long time but couldn't utter half a constructive sentence. Seeing that they couldn't win the battle of words, the Daoist feigning illness in the back suddenly let out two mournful cries full of vigor, and slumped onto the table, unconscious. The Horse-Face hurriedly ran up to hug him, shouting hoarsely, "Junior Brother Bo Qi! Junior Brother Bo Qi! What's wrong with you?! You Shushan Sect people injured my junior brother; you must give us an explanation!"

Their acting skills were so poor. That Junior Brother Boner cried out so lewdly; those who knew would say he was injured, but those who didn't would think his ass was busted. Horse-Face didn't even shed the most basic tears; compared to Danzhu, he was inferior by ten thousand Pojuns.

I had just taken a deep breath, planning to blast them with a few more verbal attacks, when suddenly a rather weather-beaten and deep voice interjected, "Haomiao, what is the cause of all this clamor and noise?!"

The crowd seemed to be gripped by some invisible force and automatically cleared a path. At the end of the path stood an old man with a white beard and indigo robes. Although he didn't look unnaturally young and ethereal like the Sect Master of the Shushan Sect, his gaze was sharp and vigorous. His face was weathered and deeply etched with wrinkles, and an unfathomable aura flowed around him.

The Horse-Face and the tall, burly Daoist immediately lowered their eyes and restrained their gazes, bowing in greeting with some awe and nervousness. "Master."

Presumably, this person was the Daoist Tianliang they mentioned earlier. As expected of a Maoshan Sect elder, his demeanor was entirely different from those three little brats. But thinking about it carefully, with his cultivation base, if he had been in this inn all along, it was impossible for him not to hear his three disciples strutting around and showing off in the lobby. Yet he specifically chose to make an appearance right when they were about to lose the battle of words; he was clearly here to back up his three disciples.

This was unfair. If he wanted a fair duel with me, he should have the guts to release the sword spirit of the Juque Sword in his hand so we could spar a bit.

I glanced at Lantian, Guisheng, and Duan Yaxu, signaling them to stay calm. Come to think of it, when it came to a battle of words in the Shushan Sect, only Danzhu could spar with me for a few rounds, and not even the Sect Master was my match. So even if this Daoist Tianliang took the field personally, this divine sword wasn't afraid.

That Horse-Face immediately came up, crying with snot and tears. He lightly glossed over the part where his Junior Brother Boner cursed people and was the first to draw his sword, vigorously exaggerating the incident of Guisheng injuring Boner, as well as how I completely crushed them in terms of eloquence and IQ. After hearing this, the Daoist looked at me and smiled slightly.

"This must be Master Jixuan's beloved sword, the sword spirit mister of the divine sword Ya Jiu, right?"

Aiyo? Here comes someone who knows his stuff.

I wasn't a sword that didn't understand etiquette either, so I cupped my fists and bowed. "Ya Jiu has long looked forward to meeting Daoist Tianliang."

"The divine sword is too polite. However, I wonder if what my incompetent disciple just said is true?"

I replied, "Aside from your disciple adding embellishments, and slightly downplaying the part where they insulted our Shushan Sect and Master Jixuan, it is basically true."

Master Tianliang's gaze suddenly shot out an awe-inspiring aura. "Since that's the case, shouldn't the Shushan Sect give my Maoshan Sect an explanation?"

I just chuckled. "So it's perfectly justified for your disciples to curse our Shushan Sect, and our Shushan Sect should just not hit back when hit, and not curse back when cursed at? Aren't you overestimating our level of cultivation?"

Daoist Tianliang turned sideways slightly, revealing the Juque in his hand. "My incompetent disciple speaking arrogant words indeed deserves punishment. Bo Qi, you are punished to face the wall for three days. You are not allowed to eat, and you are not allowed to speak."

Bo Qi, who had been pretending to be unconscious earlier, had obediently climbed up the moment he saw his master. Although he felt wronged at this moment, he couldn't say anything, and kowtowed to accept his punishment.

Daoist Tianliang looked at me again at this time. "My incompetent disciple has already been punished. However, punishment should be proportionate. My incompetent disciple uttered curses, but the Shushan Sect openly resorted to violence. Can this be considered a measured response? As the sword spirit of a Shushan Sect High Immortal, you rashly stepped forward and wantonly insulted my Maoshan Sect. What is your explanation for this?"

His voice was awe-inspiring and resonant, and it actually made quite a bit of sense. For a moment, I was unexpectedly unable to refute him.

However, at this moment, a voice intervened from the second floor. I looked up and saw that it was that crazy Palace Master, looking down from above with a wicked and charming appearance that looked down upon all heroes.

He said, "So what if we hit you? Let alone the fact that you guys are so ugly, even if you were great beauties, whoever dares to curse Little Xiuxiu and Little Yaya, this Palace Master would make their tongues tie in knots and knock their teeth all over the floor. Do you believe me?"

The moment Daoist Tianliang saw the Bixie Palace Master, he appeared somewhat surprised. He probably didn't know when our Shushan Sect had hooked up with the Bixie Palace, which was both righteous and evil, and acted in bizarre and unpredictable ways. But he remained quite calm. The true qi around his body faintly fluctuated. Although it didn't darken the sky and whip up flying sand and rolling stones like when my Master and the Bixie Palace Master circulated their martial arts, it was like the water of a deep pool—unruffled, freely controlled, and making people not dare to underestimate him.

Daoist Tianliang's tranquil eyes swept over us, deterrence secretly spreading. "This poor Daoist would actually like to see who can make this poor Daoist's tongue tie in knots."

At this time, Master finally arrived late from outside the inn. As soon as he entered, everyone immediately turned their heads to stare at him. Seeing the tense atmosphere both upstairs and downstairs in the lobby, he was stunned for a moment, seeming a bit confused about the situation.

I quickly jogged over and gave him a brief rundown of what had happened. He frowned slightly, revealing a somewhat troublesome expression for a split second. Only then did I see that he was carrying a small wine jar in his hand. He placed the wine jar on a table aside, slowly turned around, and looked at Daoist Tianliang. Using his usual light and breezy tone, he said, "Master Tianliang, for such a small matter, is there a need to make such a big fuss? Look at your disciple; his face is glowing red, and he doesn't have any serious injuries. It's just children being ignorant and bickering. There's no need to be so unforgiving even if you're in the right, is there?"

Huh? I originally thought that with Master's personality of hating trouble, he might just have Guisheng and Duan Yaxu apologize to end the matter. I didn't expect him to actually be planning to protect his own people?

Master is so handsome...

Seeing that both the Bixie Palace Master and my Master had shown up, even if Daoist Tianliang had three heads and six arms, it would probably be impossible for him to defeat us. The old Daoist chuckled, his gaze shifted, and the aura on his body became vastly different. That faint murderous intent had faded away. He turned around, facing Master with a kindly smile. "Very well, this poor Daoist will temporarily keep note of today's score. I hope that at the Sword Trial Conference, Master Jixuan will look out for himself."

After speaking, he smiled again, but for some reason, this smile made my body turn cold.

However, Master still looked at him calmly, with a "I don't care" look on his face. He just watched as Master Tianliang led his three disciples away in a mighty procession.

I suddenly felt a bit worried.

This time, the feud with the Maoshan Sect has been forged. Who knows what kind of tricks they will play during the Sword Trial Conference?