Chapter 86: The Path of the Dao is Nameless
Sword’s name, Dao is Hidden and Nameless!
At the camp of the Cloud Sword Pavilion.
Miao Hongxiang was squatting on the half-built arena, explaining the life story of the Sword Venerable to her new junior sister.
She was holding a palm-sized cloth doll and imitating the tone of a storyteller.
“This is the Sword Venerable Ning Ruoque, peerless in her generation, her swordsmanship unmatched in the world. She can fight a demon god above and beat up petty thieves below.”
Although the workmanship of the cloth doll was rough, it was drawn quite well, especially the inverted triangular eyes, which looked fierce.
Then Miao Hongxiang manipulated the Sword Venerable cloth doll to pounce on another dark and ugly cloth doll.
The ugly cloth doll let out a strange “awoo” and fell from Miao Hongxiang’s hand.
It was a trick to coax a child, but the little girl in front of her was very happy to watch.
Like a lively little sparrow, she couldn’t wait to ask, “What about the Sword Venerable’s sword? Is her sword also very powerful?”
As a sword cultivator, it was very normal to be concerned about another sword cultivator’s life-bound sword.
Miao Hongxiang smiled and rubbed her junior sister’s head.
“Of course! That is a divine sword that is unique in the heavens and on earth. It is made of Nebula Dark Gold as the main material, with the bones of a green dragon as a supplement, and refined with the blood of a legendary god.”
“Its sword’s name—”
“Dao is Hidden and Nameless!”
As soon as her voice fell, the hum of the sword suddenly disappeared, and for a moment, only the whistling wind was left between heaven and earth.
Miao Hongxiang seemed to have sensed something and turned her head, just in time to see a broken sword slowly emerge from the falling light screen.
The broken sword only had its hilt and about a foot of its body left. It was completely black, and only a streak of red as bright as blood was on the spine of the sword, which was extremely eye-catching.
Before Miao Hongxiang could see clearly, the broken sword turned into a stream of light and flew towards the northwest.
And the light screen behind it seemed to be attracted by it, chasing after the broken sword like a flying bird.
For a moment, the streams of light covered the sky, as vast as the evening clouds.
The little girl’s eyes lit up, and she clapped her hands hard. “Oh, oh, oh! Is this also a prop that Senior Sister prepared? So amazing!”
Miao Hongxiang stared at the sky in a daze. “No, that is the real Dao is Hidden and Nameless sword. Could it be…”
A hundred years after its master’s fall, the broken sword was actually activated again. Countless people, like Miao Hongxiang, were looking up, not yet realizing what had happened.
However, very soon, Miao Hongxiang drew her sword, her gaze locking onto the thick poisonous mist that was too thick to see through.
She reminded in a loud voice, “There is something wrong with the barrier. Be on alert!”
*
In front of a certain sentry post in the northwest, Ning Ruoque frowned and let out a long sigh.
The thick spiritual energy even gently lifted her up, and the wind and clouds in the sky changed, and a thick tribulation cloud began to gather.
A sword cultivator and her sword complemented each other. Having a life-bound sword and not having one were two different things.
And Ning Ruoque’s life-bound sword was called Dao is Hidden and Nameless, a gift from her master.
The sword was three feet and nine inches long, and weighed sixteen jin.
It had accompanied her to the position of Sword Venerable, and had gone through life and death with her, cutting off the heads of countless demonic beasts. In the end, the sword had broken on the ancient battlefield, and its fragments were scattered everywhere.
To be able to find a part of it, Ning Ruoque was already content.
She didn’t expect that she had been too nervous just now and had subconsciously wanted to summon the Dao is Hidden and Nameless sword, and had fallen into the nine-tailed fox’s trick.
Most of the people were shocked by the scene before them. Only when a broken sword, carrying countless streams of light, fell into Ning Ruoque’s hand, illuminating the place by thirty percent.
The trapping formation shattered with a sound. Si Mingyue quickly ran to Yin Buran’s side and helped her up.
“Ranran, are you alright?”
Yin Buran shook her head, staring at Ning Ruoque without blinking.
At this time, Ning Ruoque was still frowning. She had discovered something was not right.
Her cultivation had improved too quickly. There should be something else hidden in her life-bound sword.
The nine-tailed fox had been knocked to the ground by Yin Buran’s artifact earlier. Now it had struggled to get up, the corners of its mouth turned up.
It sneered without any mercy, “Ha, a weakness! You also have a weakness. Ning Ruoque, when my emperor is revived, it will be the day of your death!”
Chu Xuan clicked her tongue a few times and snapped her fingers.
Immediately, a flame ignited on the fox’s tail. The fox turned its head and bit, and at the same time as it extinguished the flame, its eyes suddenly widened.
The wind, the wind that was coming for its neck.
The fur on its whole body stood on end, and it timely took half a step back, but a sharp pain still came from its throat.
Ning Ruoque had at some point come in front of it, and a drop of bright red blood rolled down the blade of her sword.
Even the aura around her had changed. Her eyes were as dark as the night, no different from the broken sword.
Without waiting for the nine-tailed fox to react, Ning Ruoque swung her sword again.
When she was holding the Sudden Rain sword, she could still judge the direction of the sword’s momentum, but when she switched to this shabby-looking broken sword, she could no longer see clearly.
The sword moves were as smooth as flowing clouds, moving with her heart, and the person and the sword were as one.
And Chu Xuan’s attack followed closely behind, cooperating with Ning Ruoque in tacit understanding.
The nine-tailed fox dodged in a hurry, broke one of its illusory tails, and its figure nimbly ran towards the middle of the sentry post.
A noisy sound of crying and shouting was vaguely heard from the surroundings. The broken sword let out a light hum, as if to remind everyone that this was the fox demon’s illusion.
Ning Ruoque directly chased after it with her sword, the sword light as fast as lightning, going for the fox demon’s neck.
But the formation under her feet suddenly flickered rapidly.
Having been tricked once before, Chu Xuan stepped on the formation patterns, and with a chop towards the place where the spiritual energy was flowing, she timely interrupted the formation.
Then her peripheral vision swept over, and seeing that Ning Ruoque was about to deliver a fatal blow, she quickly said, “Don’t kill it! We need to capture it for interrogation!”
Ning Ruoque did not stop, but her blade just deviated slightly and directly cut off the fox’s last tail.
The broken sword trembled in her hand, and that streak of red became even more vivid, as if it were cheering for another drink of demon blood.
Even after a hundred years, its blade had not rusted and was still as sharp as ever. A line of sword light on the blade reflected Ning Ruoque’s equally sharp features.
Compared to being the formation eye that hung high in the sky, it was still more willing to fight alongside Ning Ruoque.
Chu Xuan quickly followed, and with a swing of her giant axe, she cut off the fox demon’s path, not forgetting to tease, “Now it’s really a tailless fox.”
Then she threw out a bag, wanting to forcefully stuff the fox inside.
The fox’s fur stood on end on the spot, and it bared its teeth and screamed, “For my emperor—”
Si Mingyue was so anxious that she stomped her foot. “It wants to self-destruct!”
After speaking, she formed a seal, and a few strands of purple silk flew out, quickly wrapping around the fox demon’s snout and limbs, making it unable to move.
Chu Xuan took a large step, lifted the fox demon by the scruff of its neck, threw it into the bag, and then tied a dead knot.
After doing all this, Si Mingyue patted her chest and let out a long sigh of relief.
They had been really scared just now. When the fox demon had rushed towards Ning Ruoque, everyone had seen it clearly. How did it suddenly appear in front of Yin Buran?
They all knew that most of the nine-tailed fox’s nine tails were illusory, which meant that this power was borrowed and did not count.
Si Mingyue tilted her head and asked, “Was that the effect of the formation just now?”
Chu Xuan stroked her chin and carefully sized up the formation patterns under her feet, and finally shook her head.
“This formation is very cleverly designed. I don’t believe a monster has this kind of brain. It’s clear that there’s a traitor among us humans.”
If they checked the sentry post again, they might find more useful clues.
But Ning Ruoque looked up at the tribulation cloud in the sky, a rare anxiety on her face.
The tribulation cloud was even thicker than before, but her anxiety did not come from this, but more like she was affected by the killing intent attached to her life-bound sword.
She said to Chu Xuan and Si Mingyue, “I’m going to undergo my tribulation. I’ll leave Ranran to you.”
Then Ning Ruoque’s steps paused, and she walked to Yin Buran, who had been standing quietly, and stuffed her storage bag and the Sudden Rain sword to her.
Yin Buran looked at the things in her arms with a blank expression, her tone icy. “Do you think you’re not coming back again?”
Ning Ruoque’s heart skipped a beat, and she hurriedly explained, “No. I’m returning the Sudden Rain sword to you. Thank you. Also, there are sweet pastries inside. Eating some can calm you down.”
She awkwardly stroked Yin Buran’s head. The latter squinted her eyes, but in the end, she did not say anything.
Ning Ruoque felt as if she had been rubbed by something fluffy. Her mood was only calm for a few breaths, and she quickly became annoyed again.
She didn’t want Yin Buran to discover her abnormality, so she hurriedly turned and left, disappearing into the dark forest.
As soon as Ning Ruoque left, Chu Xuan rolled up her sleeves and was about to thoroughly check the sentry post when she saw a white light riding a sword.
A familiar figure jumped off the flying sword, and after looking around for a moment, she walked quickly towards the group.
Her usually neat clothes were now in a mess, and it was clear that she was in a great hurry and could not care about her grace.
Chu Xuan raised her chin at the person, her attitude not very good. “Fellow Daoist Jiang, you’re quite fast.”
It was not her fault for being so vigilant. It was just that she had just discovered that there might be a traitor among the human race, and the person who had sent her on a mission had come.
This made it hard for her not to suspect this person’s true purpose.
Jiang Ai bowed with a calm expression. “It’s a matter of great urgency. I had to be fast.”
“I came here because I sensed a fluctuation of spiritual energy,” she explained, “The barrier has been damaged for some reason, and the poisonous mist inside has escaped.”
“The Sword Discussion Ceremony is imminent, and most of the people from the Sword Pavilion are gathered here. Those with high cultivation can still hold on, but some with low cultivation are in urgent need of a medical cultivator’s treatment.”
After speaking, Jiang Ai looked directly at Yin Buran, her purpose already very clear.
An ordinary medical cultivator would not come to the front line of the ancient battlefield for no reason. The only one she could find the fastest was Yin Buran.
It was a matter of life and death, and it was better to believe it than not.
Yin Buran nodded slightly, looking as if she had no objections.
Chu Xuan just frowned. “Mingyue, you escort Yin Buran back. I’ll stay here with Fellow Daoist Jiang and see if there are any clues in the sentry post.”
By separating Jiang Ai and Yin Buran like this, she could also be more at ease.
She stuffed a large handful of messy little artifacts to Yin Buran and Si Mingyue, not forgetting to remind them, “Be careful on the road.”
“Alright. You two be careful too.”
Si Mingyue struggled to put these things into her storage bracelet while waving her hand and taking Yin Buran onto the flying boat.
The flying boat slowly lifted off the ground, and Yin Buran finally looked at the tribulation cloud in the distance, her pair of eyes as bright as autumn water, not even blinking.
As if she could see through the layers of dark clouds and the inches of lightning, and see that tall and slender figure.
The Sudden Rain sword in her hand seemed to still carry Ning Ruoque’s body temperature. It was warm to the touch, not cold.
Thinking of Ning Ruoque’s abnormal expression before, Yin Buran lowered her eyelids.
Ning Ruoque’s memory, is it about to be fully restored?
