Chapter 16 – Plum flowers bloom in the frost

(TLN: so early in the chapter, but this is a Chinese saying that means that in order to have better talent, you need to overcome hardships.)

“This is what I am currently worried about.” Wu Yun Liang said with a profound look in his eyes. “If the Beyond the Heavens Sect can quickly grow strong, then we can protect the female disciples from being bullied by others and help them find satisfactory marriages. But now… we can only try our best!”

Kong Jing Feng took a deep breath and said, “This event with Li Jian Yin, Second Elder Martial Brother will naturally not let this go. Eldest Martial Brother, can you give some thoughts on this?”

“Second Brother has always been hot-headed, he likes to covers his flaws; I am sure he will go after Purple Bamboo Garden.” Wu Yun Liang said casually, “But he also knows the personalities of his nine martial brothers, so he will only be angry for a bit. He will not do anything himself. As for his disciples, they will surely take action.”

“No matter who wins or loses, this time will be an opportunity for them to hone their skills, for both sides. It will be an exercise for advancement.” Wu Yun Liang said. “As long as it doesn’t go too far, we don’t need to manage it. If we can find new talents from this, it would not be a bad thing.”

The two became silent. They both raised their heads, looking intently at the 39 names and a question mark on the paper. For a major sect, it was like they were trying to find gold in sand. Whenever a disciple showed some ability, then they were chosen into this list.

Only these people! These people were the hope for the future of the Beyond the Heavens Sect. Regardless whether or not Beyond the Heavens Sect creating a foundation or becoming one of the Seven Great Sects or even advancing into the Middle Three Heavens to become a legend of the Lower Three Heavens, all will depend on them. 39 people and a question mark are the elite of the sect.

For a major sect like the Beyond the Heavens sect, this was really sad!

Kong Jing Feng looked at the names, but inwardly, was thinking of something else. Eldest Martial Brother obviously knew that Li Jian Yin was a petty person who had intentions towards Qian Qian. But still, he let Li Jian Yin go with Qian Qian to give the notice. With Qian Qian’s beauty, of course there would be disciples in the sect who admire her. Conflict would happen for sure, yet he still allows that… Good grief…

He did not arbitrarily tell a disciple from Gathering Clouds Peak to pass the news, but instead asked two disciples from the two peaks to go together. From the outside, this seemed like a matter of respect. Moreover, this gave Second Brother more face. But in fact, he was rekindling latent conflict amongst disciples.

What is Eldest Martial Brother deliberately doing? Or is this a tactic aimed at Second Martial Brother’s Locking Clouds Peak?

Kong Jing Feng stared at the back of Wu Yun Liang as his mind wandered. This obviously cannot be asked directly…

I only hope that this plan will work! Kong Jing Feng thought to himself.

Suddenly a series of noises rose up, a shadow almost without presence fly into the room through the window. It was a small bird; its whole body completely pale white. It quickly landed on the table, tilted its head and looked at the two.

Colorless Falcon!

The two people’s eyes lit up. Kong Jing Feng looked at the little falcon, laughingly he asked, “Eldest Martial Brother, this is not from Tie Yun…?”

Wu Yun Liang nodded, with calm eyes, he took a small bamboo tube from the Colorless Falcon; from it, he took out a piece of paper.

After looking at the content of the paper, his countenance became quite serious. Before long, his eyebrows rose. Apparently, he had come to a major decision.

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Chu Yang was unaware of this affair, nor did he know that the sect had fallen into danger. He was currently absorbed in his cultivation.

In fact, he only knew that the sect would be destroyed in four years time. But as for the reason, he was not clear. In his previous life, he was only a minor disciple without any friends during this period. Moreover with his eccentric personality, he did not bother going anywhere.

In three months, the Ranking Competition within the sect will begin. This competition will last about half a year. 800 disciples will be screened gradually until only ten remained. Then the ten will be sent away for three years of vigorous training. On the fourth year, the sect will choose one outstanding candidate amongst them to be Eldest Martial Brother. (TLN: Eldest of the whole sect. So more like the top disciple who will probably take over as Sect Master in the future.)

However, Chu Yang could not wait that long. He wanted to establish his position within half a year. Then, he would be allowed to enter the Seven Shades Congregation Grounds to get the first fragment of the Nine Tribulations Sword.

To do this, he will have try twice as hard! Even though he was now borne again, he was without any support. He will have to rely on his own efforts. With his cultivation as a Martial Pupil of the Fourth Grade, even with his full experience, he would be useless against the top disciples of the sect because they were above him by tens of levels.

Force is only effective in certain cases, just as ploy has its own limits. A group of kids can trap a rabbit, but cannot kill a tiger.

Currently, Chu Yang was training frantically.

Another day and night passed, Li Jian Yin has not made any moves. According to Tan Tan, after he returned Li Jian Yin, Second Elder Martial Uncle, Li Jinsong, was so angry his face turned purple. He angrily screamed and yelled…

However, Chu Yang never felt any pressure from the incident.

Even if the sky falls down, there was a mountain to hold it up. Shi Qian Shan was that mountain! (TLN: Shan means mountain)

Just let him fend for me!

In the glimmering Purple Bamboo Forest, Chu Yang’s form was strong like a mountain, two legs anchored firmly on a pile of sharp stones. His whole body remained motionless, maintaining balance.

“Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!” He kept repeating the same action, drawing his sword and sheathing it… drawing it and sheathing it…

Only a simple action, but he had practiced since dawn until now. Below his body, sweat had dripped down to form a puddle.

Chu Yang took half a step forward with his left foot. His toes slightly tilted outward while his right foot stayed in place. His eyes looked calmly ahead. His hands on the hilt of the sword. A very small noise sound. He lifted his hand, twisting his waist and focused all of his attention toward the front. One could only see the light of the sword appear in a flash as it went forward. His gaze was extremely calm. His arm was bent down, obviously with more power to spare.

“Shiiiiiinng!”

Then rays of light flashed, the sword returned to its sheath.

Chu Yang’s gaze remained unchanged. Looking at his face and his eyes, no one could tell if he was satisfied with this move. Chu Yang continued to repeat the motion!

Exactly the same movements, boring and tasteless. A normal person would only try a dozen times and be bored, while Chu Yang had repeated this action a thousand times since before sunrise.

On his body, a new wave of sweat began to pour. Just in the morning alone, his arms had already become sore and then numb, then regained feeling, then became numb again…

Regardless of normal pain or deathly pain or if the body had reached its limits, he had full control over his body. He still pulled the sword in a very precise manner.

The sword was just a normal metal sword. It’s black sheath even more so!

The quiet night of Purple Bamboo Forest was disturbed by that normal sword. Its aura raged!

The sound of the drawn sword seemed to have become softer and softer. In the beginning, it clanged. Now, it only made a very soft “swish,” so soft that one could hardly hear.

Chu Yang still did not rest.

What he didn’t know was that a little while after he started training, a few meters from him, there was a tall shadow quietly watching. Every morning that Chu Yang trained, that shadow would watch him. The morning mist had made his whole body drenched, but he seemed to not want to disturb Chu Yang. He just stood there quietly.

Finally, with sun rays shining from the east, Chu Yang slowly sheathed his sword and took a long breath. He stood there quietly. The killing aura in the air also slowly disappeared.

Closing his eyes, he collected his sword intent and killing intent back inside himself!

To train the Sword Arts, there must be killing intent! It was necessary for fostering a sharp sword aura. This point was not a difficulty for Chu Yang, because he only had to think about Shi Qian Shan and Mo Tian Ji then his sword aura would lose control and become filled with killing aura. This did not need to be improved.

When he opened his eyes, there was another person before him.

“Master?” said Chu Yang with a light exhale.

This person was, of course, Meng Chao Ran, who was supposed to be in closed door training.