243: Chapter 25: The Grand Hunt!
243: Chapter 25: The Grand Hunt!
Time flew by in an instant, and as various forces completed their assembly in the Imperial City, the day of departure for the Northern Hunt arrived.
That day.
In front of the Chen residence, rare quietude reigned.
Duan Zhao opened the gate of the residence to a scene of tranquility.
On the surface, it seemed the inquiries about martial arts had ceased, but at its core, the necessity for such inquiries was no longer present.
Xie Xuanyi was packing his belongings.
In truth, there wasn’t much to pack.
A few days earlier, the master of the Snow Mountain had paid a visit and delivered all the rare materials he needed.
Xie Xuanyi had spent the subsequent days in seclusion, crafting talismans.
For this departure to the Northern Hunt, Xie Xuanyi intended to bring only one item with him.
That was the umbrella sword forged by Qin Baihuang.
Wild grass, the spring breeze.
“Little Master, can I come with you on the Northern Hunt this time?”
Duan Zhao found it hard to let go.
Having followed Xie Zhen to the Imperial City not long ago, he was now facing another separation so soon.
“The Northern Hunt is fraught with danger, it’s not suitable for you to follow.”
Xie Xuanyi did not hesitate and straightforwardly expressed his refusal.
Bringing Duan Zhao along would certainly save him a lot of trouble.
The kid’s Golden Body was remarkably durable, and he wouldn’t drag Xie Xuanyi down in the Snow Mountains, but this crowd heading to the Northern Hunt was clearly targeting him.
Taking Duan Zhao along, if anything untoward happened, he wouldn’t know how to explain it to the Island Master of Wangyou Island.
Even putting that context aside.
Xie Xuanyi also didn’t want this young kid to “suffer” by following in his steps.
Outside the Chen residence, the Black Scale Guards were already waiting.
“Guard Sang.”
Xie Xuanyi nodded slightly to the Black Scale Guard and said softly, “During this period, I’ll trouble you to take good care of him.
Should he stir up any trouble, feel free to throw him directly into the library tower.”
Sang Zheng smiled, clasped his fist in salute, and performed a courteous gesture to Duan Zhao, “Young Master Duan, please look after yourself.”
Duan Zhao sighed deeply, understanding that he couldn’t prevail over the inevitable, and no longer said anything further.
However, the look of dejection on his face lingered for a long while.
“Stay in the Imperial City, you can seek guidance from ‘Director Jiang’.”
Xie Xuanyi suddenly spoke again, “This Deputy Director of the Imperial City is an expert in Body Refinement and also has some understanding of swordsmanship.”
Duan Zhao was taken aback.
“In this period, you need a sparring partner to digest the ‘Heavy Sword’ swordsmanship I’ve taught you.”
Xie Xuanyi said softly, “If you can refine the embryonic form of the Sword Dao, once I return to the Imperial City, I will take you with me to the south to exorcise demons.”
To the south to exorcise demons!
As soon as these four words were uttered, the young kid’s eyes burst forth with golden light.
“Really?”
“Naturally.”
Xie Xuanyi smiled and said, “When have I ever deceived you?”
The gloom on Duan Zhao’s face was swept away, and the young kid cheered and leapt onto Guard Sang’s carriage, leaving in high spirits.
Young, far too young.
Xie Xuanyi watched Duan Zhao’s retreating figure and felt a sense of amusement.
The little one was too naive, quite unlike Jiang Qihu.
Duan Zhao’s heart was like a blank sheet of paper, his emotions, whether happiness or sadness, were not concealed.
The state of his happiness was immediately apparent.
When unhappy, the slightest sweetener could instantly mollify him.
Xie Xuanyi wondered…
Was this due to the excellent upbringing from the lady of Wangyou Island, or was it his innate innocent nature?
Upon this reflection.
His heart could not help but fill with bittersweet emotion.
He himself, standing before a copper mirror, saw reflected a youthful face of sixteen or seventeen years.
But in reality, he had been drifting and wandering for decades, survived countless battles to the death, knew too well the hardships of the world, and had experienced the cold and warmth of secular life…
Xie Zhen was no longer a youth.
Back then, during the Northern Hunt, he was ambitious, aspiring to compete with the heavens.
But now.
The city was filled with storms, with countless spears aimed at him.
Yet in his heart, there was only calmness.
“Heading to the Snow Mountain, I must quickly obtain the Divine Fruit to perfect my ‘Golden Body.’ After that, I can begin to shape the Divine Embryo,” Xie Xuanyi silently recited, “As long as both of the major paths reach perfection…
I can commence my advancement to the Yin God Realm.”
…
…
Today was the day of the Northern Hunt.
In the northern outskirts of the Great Chu Imperial City, several enormous ships were suspended.
These ships, known as ‘Cloud Ships,’ were as their name suggested, not waterborne vessels.
Carved with flight array patterns by the Array Pattern Masters of the Dachu Imperial Family themselves, the Cloud Ships had a silvery white appearance.
Once Primordial Energy was infused, they would rise in the air.
A single large ship required simultaneous control by ten Qi-controlling Realm cultivators, consuming a vast amount of Yuan stones to maintain their energy consumption.
Once activated, they could ascend above the clouds, hidden in the empyrean sky, covering thousands of miles in a day.
The endpoint of this Northern Hunt lay within the domain of Lanshan Mountain.
Beyond the Northern Border Great Wall, the climate would become extremely harsh, and even Cloud Ships would take three days and three nights to traverse.
“Rumble, rumble, rumble.”
In the northern outskirts, waves of air tumbled.
The dozen Cloud Ships, glinting with a silver radiance, floated about ten feet above the ground.
From a distance, even without their masts and sails unfurled, they already possessed the formidable presence of something that could swallow mountains and claim seas.
Each year’s Northern Hunt would attract geniuses from the four territories to participate.
Rather than calling it a grand hunt,
It was more appropriate to consider it a trial, an examination.
The Dachu Dynasty revered martial power.
The cultivators who hunted the mightiest prey in the Northern Hunt would naturally receive the most bountiful rewards and the highest respect.
Xie Xuanyi did not arrive too early.
By the time he reached the northern outskirts, several Cloud Ships had already been filled.
“This year, the spots for boarding the Cloud Ships are determined by drawing lots.”
As soon as he appeared, a Black Scale Guard came forward to receive him.
This Black Scale Guard did not lead Xie Xuanyi directly onto a Cloud Ship but instead handed him a tube of jade lots, speaking with respect, “Lord Xie Xuanyi…
please draw one.”
Drawing lots?
Xie Xuanyi narrowed his eyes, surveying the scene around him.
He noticed that on the cloud ships not far away, at the railing, countless gazes were all falling on him.
The vast majority were not worth his attention.
However…
there were indeed some “noteworthy” younger generations here.
A young man in a red robe, radiating intense heat and light, sat loftily on a cloud ship, his eyes sharp and piercing.
The West Territory Qiantian Palace was an ancient power listed among the top ten formidable ones.
Their cultivation techniques were of the purest Yang.
Clearly, that young man in the red robe was the Saint of the Qiantian Palace.
Besides, an entire cloud ship was enveloped in talisman array patterns, not allowing outsiders to probe with Divine Thought, yet from within the talismans, Divine Thought was curious, sizing him up.
Clearly.
This was a method of the Taoist sects.
“Interesting…”
Xie Xuanyi murmured softly in his heart, “How long has it been since the fortune of Beihai Ling crumbled, and these youths have already cultivated to such realms?”
He had not been interested in the Northern Hunt, his heart set only on hunting for the Divine Fruit.
But unexpectedly.
This grand era was much more intense than Xie Xuanyi had imagined!
The crumbling of Beihai Ling’s fortune should have been more than a hundred days ago, even if the fortune had already reflected on the various sects and schools, it couldn’t have taken effect so quickly.
The Saint of Qiantian Palace, the Taoist descendants, seemed to all possess Perfect Cave Heaven strength…
This generation of young people was far more formidable than he had imagined.
This indicated that the Jiangning Xie Family had been a bit too high-profile these years.
With Xie Sheng’s strength at Perfect Cave Heaven, a full-force confrontation with the Saint of Qiantian Palace might not ensure victory.
Aside from that, there were the Martial Sect and the Seven Huts of the Taoist sect…
Xie Xuanyi remembered that during the Northern Hunt he had participated in years ago, he had fought with Zhou Ceng from the Martial Sect, who was very strong, but was only at the Ninth Layer of the Golden Body, slightly stronger than Lin Yu.
If one reached the Perfect Cave Heaven Realm, they could dominate and sweep through the entire Northern Hunt.
Back then, apart from himself, only Tang Fengshu had reached that level.
Unfortunately.
Tang Fengshu hadn’t even come to participate in the Northern Hunt.
So…
that Northern Hunt naturally turned into Xie Xuanyi’s one-man show.
“Young Master Xie?”
Seeing that Xie Zhen had no reaction, the Black Scaled Guard reminded him softly once again.
“Drawing lots to decide the cloud ship?”
Xie Xuanyi came back to his senses and said in a deep voice, “This rule…
is quite interesting, I heard that the last Northern Hunt wasn’t like this.”
“The rules have been changed this time.”
The Black Scaled Guard smiled and said, “It’s mainly for the consideration of ‘loose cultivators’.
Traveling with those big shots puts too much pressure on them.
Some large sects bring many people and don’t need to draw lots, for they would book an entire cloud ship…
it’s not necessarily a good thing for other loose cultivators to be arranged to travel with them.”
That made sense, the Taoist cultivators had directly wrapped an entire cloud ship with talisman.
Clearly.
On that big ship, only the Taoists were present.
However, on the ship of the Saint of Qiantian Palace, it seemed there were others…
This holy land was very low-key, rarely hearing about it on ordinary days.
With the status of Da Sui Sword Palace, of course, they had the right to book an entire cloud ship.
But for this Northern Hunt, the Sword Palace had sent only one person.
Such a move was somewhat overbearing.
Xie Xuanyi didn’t mind traveling with loose cultivators, so he casually drew a lot.
“Jiageng.”
The Black Scaled Guard glanced at it and spoke respectfully, “Prince Xie, please follow me.”
This voice was not deliberately avoiding others.
All the cultivators watching Xie Zhen heard the call for “Jiageng.”
The vast majority of cultivators showed relief in their eyes.
In these days, rumors about “Xie Zhen” had been circulating in the Imperial City, saying that Xie Zhen was a relentless killer, who, for the death of Xie Xuanyi, had changed his identity and lain in wait for ten years, finally emerging when the Sword Palace came out of seclusion, going from the depths to the heights.
In this Northern Hunt, Xie Zhen was to avenge his master and completely settle accounts with the families of the Northern County!
These rumors had many holes, but that wasn’t important.
One to ten, ten to a hundred.
The false became true.
Apart from relief, a very few people showed signs of “pity” and “regret” in their eyes.
The Saint of Qiantian Palace sat in a pavilion on the second floor of the cloud ship, looking through the wooden window at the black-robed youth approaching the nearby Jiageng.
He shook his head with a hint of regret.
It was really a pity that Xie Zhen had not drawn the lot for his cloud ship.
Qiantian Palace did not monopolize a cloud ship like the Taoist sect but maintained an “open” status…
For the purpose of waiting for Xie Zhen to draw lots!
“Yuwen brother, there’s no need for regret…
the Northern Hunt has just begun, and even if we’re not traveling together, it won’t be long before we have the chance to meet,” said a deep voice with laughter inside the pavilion.
A tall and thin young man in splendid robes, who had never shown his face, stood in the pavilion holding a painting scroll, looking for a place to hang it.
After searching for a while, he settled on a spot and gently hung the painting in the pavilion.
It was an antique painting of Sword Qi striking a bell.
Upon closer inspection, it contained endless mysteries.
A mere glance with Divine Thought would immerse one into it.
“Your Highness, the Prince.”
Despite addressing him with this title.
The Saint of Qiantian Palace did not show much respect for Xie Sheng.
Raising an eyebrow, he asked earnestly, “Is this guy really as strong as you’ve said?”
Divine Thought swept over him.
This Xie Zhen seemed to be only at the early stage of Cave Heaven—was he employing a supremely subtle technique for concealing his realm?
“…”
Xie Sheng stood in silence.
Watching the painting of Sword Qi striking the bell, his gaze wavered, a fierce crimson light flickered between his eyebrows, but soon…
the light of the red dragon faded away.
Prince Jiangning smiled calmly and said, “Once we get to Snow Mountain, the Saint will know after a trial.”