Emperor of the Human Way

Chapter 10 – Sword Sect’s Demon Ruins

When they heard the old Qi Refining Warrior, the hundred or so disciples inside the cultivation room looked at each other: “Only one person obtained the true inheritance, who obtained the old sir’s true teachings in the end?”

Although everyone was fellow disciples in the same sect, the desire to surpass others was present in everyone’s heart. The old Qi Refining Warrior said that only one person obtained his true legacy but he didn’t explain who it was, which naturally caused much speculation. Everyone believed they were the one.

“Isn’t it easy to know who obtained the true inheritance?”

A valiant-looking female disciple suddenly proposed: “Let’s have a competition using the Secrets of the Surging Thunder Sword, the one who can crush everyone else with his or her Surging Thunder Sword is naturally the one who receive the true legacy.”

“That’s a good idea!”

Inside the cultivation room, numerous upper yard disciples were eager to give it a try, and some disciples immediately started dueling in groups of twos. No one used any other technique nor did they use totem poles or soul weapons; they only battled with the Secrets of the Surging Thunder Sword.

The cultivation room was suddenly filled with flashes of lighting and the rumble of thunder, and many a ray of surging thunder sword qi exploded, carrying with them the might of thunder. Among those disciples there were indeed some with uncommon qualifications, using the Secrets of the Surging Thunder Sword unarmed, their mind visualizing thunder, and quickly knocking their opponents down accompanied. Fortunately the power they used wasn’t too great and no one sustained great harm!

Competing with disciples of the same sect, they naturally would restrain themselves instead of going all out.

The competition and fighting was fiery on that side, but in his corner Zhong Yue was quietly exercising his own Secrets of the Surging Thunder Sword. He wasn’t participating.

His Surging Thunder Sword looked more and more clumsy. The surging thunder visualized through his mind power wriggled in distorted zigzags, but among the clumsiness a certain kind of ancient intent was gradually emerging. This simple and ancient atmosphere resembled the thunder striking down on a green pine, a sudden thunderclap on an empty mountain!

At a high level the mind power could condensate and take shape via visualization. If you visualized a Jiao dragon it could transform into a Jiao dragon, if you visualized thunder you could display the might of thunder.

It was only that the thunder Zhong Yue had visualized really couldn’t match the beauty of the other upper yard disciples’. It absolutely didn’t have the dazzling colorfulness of the Surging Thunder Sword and naturally didn’t attract their attention.

Victory and defeat were decided among the numerous upper yard disciples after a long while, and only that valiant-looking female disciple and another male disciple were left as they fought each other. The mind power of those two reached the transformation realm, and one thought of theirs could cause a burst of lightning and thunder. Their mind power could create lightning out of nothing!

The two silhouettes moved at flying speed inside the cultivation room, fast as galloping thunder. The various styles and moves of the Secrets of the Surging Thunder Sword were all displayed. “Zi La La”

Lightning flashed and thunder rolled, thunderbolts shaped into swords as they attacked the opponent, presenting an amazing scene!

A short time later, rays of thunder light appeared under the female disciple’s feet and unexpectedly propped her up four feet. She traveled in the air as she lifted a thunder sword light in her hand and stabbed it in the male disciple’s chest.

That male disciple never expected her to be lifted up by the thunder light and fly through the air. He was caught by surprised and his chest was stuck jet black. His hair stood erect on his head before he fell on the ground.

“Apprentice sister Ting, I lost!”

That male disciple was also straightforward. He coughed out black smoke and patted his chest, then said with a convinced expression: “Apprentice sister’s skill is indeed a level above mine. You can actually manage to ride thunder light and fly in the air, no wonder old sir Pu said only one person obtained his true inheritance.”

“Apprentice brother isn’t hurt right?”

That female disciple fell back on the ground and smiled. “I can only ride the thunder light for a short time and I will drop back down after flying for a distance of a hundred feet. The thunder surges for a thousand li, it can even reach a hundred and eight thousand li[1].”

The many upper yard disciples surrounded them, everyone all smile: “Sister apprentice Ting obtained Pu elder’s true legacy, this fact can’t be disputed. In the future it naturally won’t be difficult for sister apprentice Ting to become a Qi Refining Warrior who can ride lightning and fly a thousand li like surging thunder!”

Sister apprentice Ting also expressed joy. Suddenly she looked at the corner where Zhong Yue stood and saw that Zhong Yue was still exercising the Secrets of the Surging Thunder Sword. His Secrets of the Surging Thunder Sword was becoming increasingly more unusual, it was already beyond recognition compared to Pu elder’s Surging Thunder Sword. She couldn’t help frowning, thinking in her heart: “Such a strange Surging Thunder Sword can’t be the true heritage. It looks like the one Pu Elder mentioned was indeed me.”

“Zhong Mountain clan’s junior brother apprentice Zhong Yue!”

Senior sister apprentice Ting went forward magnanimously and straightforwardly. She said smiling: “I am from the Great Ting clan[2], Ting Lanyue. I entered the upper yard one year before you. Brother apprentice Zhong Yue, do you want to compare notes with me? Maybe it’s brother apprentice who obtained the true inheritance from Pu Elder!”

Zhong Yue shook his head and smiled: “Senior sister apprentice Ting, I only came to the upper yard for four or five days, how can I be your match?”

“I guess that’s true.”

Ting Lanyue didn’t force him and smiled: “Us fellow apprentices are planning on entering the Sword Sect’s demon ruins to fight with the demon races and gain experience. We can enhance the Surging Thunder Sword’s might this way, does junior brother apprentice have interest in joining us?”

“Sword Sect’s demon ruins?”

“Brother apprentice doesn’t know about the Sword Sect’s demon ruins?”

Ting Lanyue finally realized: “That’s right, you just came to the upper yard and you still don’t know some secrets of our Sword Sect.”

“Back then, the ancestors of our Sword Sect protected the human tribes of the Desolate Lands all the way through their migration to the Great Wilderness. The Great Wilderness back then was the domain of demons, many kinds of demons and monsters lived there and danced in the chaos. The Sword Sect’s ancestors took upon them the hardships of pioneering this land and establish the Great Wilderness as a place for our human tribes to settle down and live. They confined the demon races of the Great Wilderness inside the demon ruins. The aberration demon you met during the Blue Sky Hall’s assessment is the weakest of the demons inside the Sword Sect’s demon ruins.”

Another upper yard disciple smiled: “There are a great many amount of demons inside the demon ruins, most are aberration demons, spider demons, this kind of weak demons. Us upper yard disciples can go in and gain experience, aberration demons and spider demons are suitable as practice targets. We just obtained the Secrets of the Surging Thunder Sword and need to go through the tempering of real battles to enhance the might of these sword secrets. In a real battle we might also sense the Surging Thunder Sword’s genuine profoundness.”

“Brother apprentice He is right!”

The many upper yard disciples were filled with exuberant energy. They laughed and said: “But there’s something brother apprentice He didn’t mention. We can gain rewards from the sect when we kill the demons inside the demon ruins. We can get Feather Spirit Dan, totem poles, soul weapons, this kind of treasures!”

“Feather Spirit Dan? Totem pole? Soul weapon?”

Zhong Yue was greatly tempted. Totems poles had great uses on cultivation and battles both, while soul weapons were weapons of war and could enhance his fighting strength to an extreme. And Feather Spirit Dan pills were even more important for him!

He cultivated the Fire Era Palace Sovereign Sui Picture, but the consumption was too big and he had to rely on even more Feather Spirit Dan to continue cultivating!

He had already exhausted his stock of Feather Spirit Dan and had to obtain more of those spirit pills, otherwise if he tried to forcefully cultivate, his body would cave out empty. It would do more harm than good!

Zhong Yue hesitantly said: “I’m not Pu elder’s disciple, can I still enter the Sword Sect’s demon ruins?”

A female disciple said: “As long as you can enter the upper yard you’re allowed inside the Sword Sect’s demon ruins, but you can only enter once every month. There are many many demons inside the demon ruins. Demon tribes can be found everywhere, so it’s best to move in numbers to be safe. This time we have sister apprentice Ting and brother apprentice He with us, sister apprentice Ting obtained Pu elder’s true teachings and brother apprentice He is also only lacking by a little. It will be absolutely safe!”

Ting Langyue smiled faintly as she heard and said: “Fighting against demons will be greatly beneficial for you all in gaining true understanding of the Surging Thunder Sword.”

Zhong Yue nodded and said smilingly: “Then I’ll have to trouble sister apprentice Ting and brother apprentice He.”

That brother apprentice He was the upper yard disciple who fought against Ting Lanyue and lost in the end. He was born from the Blue River tribe, and was named He (River), full name He Chengchuan. His qualifications were very high, and among the hundred disciples of Pu elder he was one of the very best. His nature was carefree and talkative.

Zhong Yue climbed up the mountain together with those hundred or so disciples. The mountain became more and more steep and clouds floated around him. It looked as if he was walking on the clouds.

Zhong Yue felt a little dizzy when he tried to look down. The mountains beneath seemed to have become much smaller, and the upper yard was only the size of a palm.

After a short while the mountain wasn’t so steep anymore and the road became progressively wider. Soon they reached the mountain’s waist at half the mountain’s height. Countless palaces and grand halls adorned this mystical mountain, like Lingzhi mushrooms growing on a tree stump!

Zhong Yue had gathered mountain Lingzhi mushrooms in the past. The Lingzhi mushrooms grew on tree stumps, and the cluster of mushroom crowns on the stump resembled a round terrace, while those great halls on the Sword Sect mountain were built on circular terraces shaped in the form of mushroom crowns. Underneath the terraces was a bottomless abyss, while cloud and mist curled around them.

“Those country bumpkins of the Sword Sect managed to build something pretty spectacular here.”

Little Xin Huo looked all around through Zhong Yue’s eyes and couldn’t help repeatedly exclaim in praise: “Back then, the Qi Refining Warriors who built this place probably had strength close to god demons!”

The numerous disciples stepped on a round terrace shaped like a mushroom crown, and saw a white-haired and white-clothed old man sit in front of a great hall. At his side was an iron chain thick as a thigh tied to a pillar nearby. On another side there was also another white-clothed and white-haired man standing near a similar pillar with a similar chain.

The two chains were hanging in mid air at the other end. Zhong Yue watched carefully but he could only see nothing there but empty air. However the two chains were hanging there as if they were tied to something.

He Chengchuan went forward and bowed: “Greeting to the two elders, we plan on entering the demon ruins to eliminate demons and gain experience. Two elders please accommodate us.”

One white-haired and white-clothed old man nodded and said: “You people go to the mirror in front of the hall and let your reflection flash inside.”

The crowd of disciples walked one by one to the bronze mirror in front of the great hall. That mirror was extremely big, forty to fifty feet high. Zhong Yue felt extremely curious about it. He Chengchuan whispered to him at one side: “Junior apprentice Zhong, this bronze mirror is a rare treasure of top quality among soul weapons! As long as you are reflected in the mirror, you can leave your shadow image inside. If you kill demons inside the demon ruins, the mirror will mark down the number and the contribution. The higher your contribution the better reward you can obtain from the sect!”

Zhong Yue stepped forward and saw his own image reflected inside the mirror. There were characters on top of the images of the other disciples that recorded when they entered the demon ruins, the amount of demons killed and their contribution. There was nothing but a blank on top of his own name though.

“The treatment is indeed different between the upper yard and the lower yard in the Sword Sect. Cultivation in the lower yard is arid and boring, but it’s full of diversity and colors in the upper yard.”

Zhong Yue couldn’t help but sigh in his heart. He had lived in the lower yard for six years and every day was filled with hardship and challenges. Cultivation was also incomparably dull. His days only gradually became more exciting when he came to the upper yard.

The two white-robed old men lifted their hand and both grasped the chains tied to the pillars. They used their strength as they pulled, and the creaking sounds of a door opening came forth. Along with the pull of the iron chains, a sword portal slowly appeared in the air!

That portal seemed as if it was formed by a sword blade cut into two halves right in the middle. The chains were precisely attached to that portal. The sword blade’s body was colorless, hence it was difficult to see if you didn’t know it was there.

At this moment this portal had been pulled open by the two old men. Rays of light spill from inside the door. The space in front of the portal had previously seemed empty, but those rays of light revealed a flight of steps going from within the portal all the way down to the round terrace.

Faint black demon qi overflowed from within the sword gate, and inside could be heard the strange sounds of howling wolves and crying ghosts, making people shiver with fear.

Ting Lanyue and He Chengchuan were the first to walk into this sword gate, then the rest including Zhong Yue entered in a single file, going inside the demon ruins.

Zhong Yue looked everywhere around him. The demon ruins’ sky was gloomy and covered with dense dark clouds. It looked as if the clouds themselves were extremely heavy. Everywhere was very dark.

The mountains in the distance also seemed very sinister like the torturous crisscrosses of a dog’s teeth, sitting tightly together in a forest of rocks.

The black demon qi became a great wind that brought with it rubble the size of grindstones. It was extremely dangerous.

“There are small cows from the human race!”

Suddenly strange laughs came from far away. A black wave of demons wildly headed towards their position. Unexpectedly an aberration demon tribe had discovered that Zhong Yue and his fellow upper yards entered the demon ruins!

The aberration demons flocked forth and clamored in strange shouts: “Kill the males, we’ll pickle and dry their meat before we eat them! Capture the females, we’ll use them for breeding, we’ll give them a big belly and give birth to our race’s next generation!”

Translator notes:

[1] A possible reference to the novel Journey to the West. (You know, the story about the Monkey King and sundry npcs.)

[2] There’s traces in the legends of a Great Ting clan that served the Fuxi Emperor. They were lord deities that looked over agriculture.