The strife ended, the chaotic battle ceased. The powerhouses of the world were filled with trepidation.
Beneath the Divine Moon Pool,
A giant beast whimpered.
Beneath the lands of Fanzhou, the Emperor was furious.
“You’ve won again.”
“Xu Xian, is your luck really that good?”
The refugees fleeing toward the Central Plains stopped in their tracks, for the thunderous roars in the distant sky had not sounded for a long time...
The disciples of the Wendao Sword Sect were cleaning the battlefield outside the mountains in an orderly fashion.
They were tallying the casualties.
In the Immortal Pavilion, one lamp after another was taken down.
On Burial Sword Peak, one mound after another was raised.
They had won.
But the casualties were heavy.
In war, casualties are unavoidable. If given a choice, no one looks forward to it.
The mortal realm fell silent.
Leaving behind three vast stretches of ruins:
The shattered ice plains of the far north, the desolate wasteland of the East Desolation, and the thousand miles of mountains and rivers outside the Wendao Sword Sect where smoke still drifted...
Ten years,
A hundred years,
A thousand years,
Perhaps even longer.
Only then would these scars slowly fade.
However,
The historiographer had already taken up his pen to record everything.
It was a disgrace for the losers.
It was glory for the victors.
It was also a warning for posterity.
Xu Xian,
Age thirty, in the ninth stage, challenged the world with his sword.
Victory!
From this point forward,
He was invincible in the world, unparalleled in the mortal realm.
Li Taibai was dead,
The far shore of the Sword Dao had sunk.
Xu Xian had emerged.
He became the new far shore of the Sword Dao.
More than that,
He stood at the peak of the Great Dao.
The end of the path.
In the past,
The title of 'Number One in the World' was a subject of much debate.
The Lord of the North Sea.
The Emperor of the East Desolation.
The Three Sects of the Central Plains.
The spirits and monsters in eternal slumber.
Or the Sword Ancestor who had long ago traveled far and no longer concerned himself with the world.
Now,
The first person in the mortal realm,
Xu Xian,
Fully deserved the title.
Presumably, no one would question it.
Was it a sudden rise to fame in a single battle?
No, his reputation had already been established far and wide.
Those who did not know the truth would still bring up Bai Mang to discuss and debate.
But those who knew the truth were well aware.
Where was this Bai Mang?
In this world, there was only Xu Xian!
After the victory, Xu Xian did not return to the sect. Instead, he sat atop a green mountain peak that had not yet completely withered, gazing at the horizon...
For a long, long time,
Until the sun dipped into the west and the sky was filled with a melancholy yellow,
He did not once stand up.
No one knew what he was thinking, just as no one knew how he had ascended to the ninth stage in such a short time, or how he had defeated the entire world with the power of the ninth stage.
Jin Qing and Chi Ming hesitated for a long time before finally stepping out from the shadows to the forefront, arriving uninvited.
“Greetings, Young Lord!”
“Greetings, Young Lord!”
Xu Xian did not stand, nor did he even turn his head. He simply drank strong liquor in the evening breeze under the setting sun.
“You’ve come?”
Chi Ming looked at Jin Qing.
Jin Qing replied respectfully, “Yes, we’ve been here for a while.”
This time,
Their respect was no longer empty flattery, but genuine, heartfelt reverence.
He was, after all, the number one in the world.
Xu Xian took a sip of wine and said leisurely, “Go back. What I said before still stands.”
Jin Qing hesitated to speak, exchanging a look with Chi Ming.
She bowed respectfully.
“We follow your will!”
“We follow your will!”
The two of them left just as they had come, silently and without a trace.
They knew,
Xu Xian knew they had come.
They were also certain,
That Xu Xian could surely see through their thoughts.
Therefore,
They had shown themselves.
To seek peace of mind.
Xu Xian said,
That what he had said before still stood. They had obtained what they sought.
So they left tactfully.
On the way back, despite having achieved their goal, the two of them could not bring themselves to be happy. The look in their eyes remained complex.
Their thoughts were as chaotic as ever.
Jin Qing couldn't help but look back repeatedly. She said, “He... has truly changed.”
He had become stronger.
Stranger.
More mature.
More composed.
And increasingly impossible to see through.
Before,
He had pretended to be a king, but now, his entire being radiated the aura of a king.
A month?
It had only been a month since they last saw him.
But on him, it felt as though a thousand years had passed.
Chi Ming replied plainly, “I told you, people change...”
...
The sun set behind the mountains, and a thousand jars of wine were emptied. The river of stars rose, and the bright moon shone clear. The youth sat still through the dusk; the youth sat still until dawn.
Wen Qingxue arrived under orders to invite Xu Xian back to the sect.
“Little Grand-Uncle, the Sixth Grand-Ancestor asked me to invite you back to the sect. There are matters to discuss.”
Xu Xian’s ears twitched, and his long hair fluttered slightly in the morning breeze...
He tossed aside the wine jar in his hand, stood up, casually brushed the dust off his seat, and turned around.
Upon that face filled with exhaustion, his eyes were tinged with sorrow.
Yet he still forced out a faint smile.
“Let’s go.”
Wen Qingxue’s eyes flickered as she gave a soft affirmation.
“Mhm...”
They traveled on the wind toward the mountain gate. Under the blue sky and white clouds, there was only a stretch of desolate ruins.
It was a depressing sight.
Wen Qingxue followed silently behind Xu Xian, her head lowered, not saying a word the entire time.
She had wanted to tell Xu Xian to go ahead and not wait for her, but after thinking about it, she couldn't bring herself to say it.
She thought,
After today, it would likely be extremely difficult to travel together like this in the future.
Xu Xian’s voice rang out, taking the initiative to break the silence.
“Does Xiao Ning... have any unfinished business?”
The sudden question pulled Wen Qingxue back from her own private thoughts.
She suddenly looked up and glanced sideways at him.
“Um... You knew?”
Xu Xian controlled the Sword Mound and had seen the Ningshuang Sword in the past. Now that the sword had returned to the Tianjian Pool, how could he not know?
Wen Qingxue was somewhat surprised and said in a low voice, “I didn’t expect the Little Grand-Uncle would still be thinking of her...”
Xu Xian looked back and said warmly, “I once fought alongside her, depending on each other in life and death. How could I forget?”
The light in Wen Qingxue’s eyes flickered between bright and dim.
Xu Xian continued, “Of course, you are the same. I won’t forget you either.”
Deep in her heart, Wen Qingxue felt a small spark of joy, but then her expression turned lonely and sad as she said:
“Xiao Ning died in battle at the Sword Qi Great Wall. It was too chaotic then. By the time I found out, she had already drawn her last breath. Unfinished business? I don’t know...”
Xu Xian nodded thoughtfully, then pretended to be at peace, consoling himself, “Dying on the wall is a fitting end. This is for the best. It’s easier than living a lifetime burdened with self-reproach, isn't it?”
Wen Qingxue said nothing.
But she understood the meaning behind the Little Grand-Uncle’s words.
Indeed.
Ever since the Yecheng incident, Nangong Ning had rarely smiled.
As the strongest among the group back then, she always attributed the deaths of those disciples to her own uselessness.
In her drunken frenzies, she would always ask herself,
Why wasn't she the one who died?
It was too exhausting.
However,
Wen Qingxue also knew that the Little Grand-Uncle’s words were just a brave front, a way to console himself.
Xu Xian did not ask further. The dead were gone, while the living remained.
Heartbreak?
Agony?
One night was enough time.
He still had many things to do and an unfinished mission.
He didn't have time for sorrow.
“Let’s go. Don’t let Senior Sister and the others wait too long.”
Wen Qingxue nodded heavily.
“Mhm.”
...
During the days of post-war reconstruction, the entire world was in a state of anxiety, and the Wendao Sword Sect was even busier.
The mountain gate needed to be rebuilt, the Longevity Bridge needed to be restored,
The affairs of those who died in battle needed to be settled.
The thousand miles of ruins also needed to be restored.
The destruction from the three-day battle would take far more than three months or even three years to repair.
Fortunately,
After Xu Xian returned and held a discussion, the high-level members of the Wendao Sword Sect unanimously decided that the East Desolation would no longer be fortified.
Those collapsed cities,
Did not need to be rebuilt.
This saved a considerable amount of effort.
Rate on N.U.
