11 Sword Qi for Thousands of Meters

Wu Shaobai was a top genius and the Head Disciple of Yuhua Sect 40 years ago.

When he first joined the sect, he had withstood all obstacles and was undefeated in all aspects. He had broken a series of records and had reached the Great Venerable Plane within 30 short years.

"Fish ascending in the sea, flowers blooming on the distant shore. The most venerable of them all would be known as the Great Venerable."

This phrase represented the next four great planes after achieving the Grandmaster Plane—Ascension, Distant Shore, Venerable, and Great Venerable.

Once an individual had reached the Great Venerable Plane, he would be one step closer to catching a glimpse of the Path of the Saint, which was believed to have already disappeared.

Wu Shaobai had become a Great Venerable at 30 years old. And after spending 10 years travelling the world to reach the peak of the Great Venerable Plane, eventually, he fell in love with a woman from the Monster Clan.

Since he was a Great Venerable, no one dared to say anything when he brought the monster woman back to the Yuhua Sect.

No one from the Yuhua Sect said anything, but those from the Heavenly Path Sect did.

As the leading sect for 3,000 years, the Heavenly Path Sect always talked about upholding the righteous way. By uniting some sects, they had formed the Righteous Union. In this Union, the Heavenly Path Sect was the leader, and they suppressed all forces that went against them and their beliefs.

The rise of Wu Shaobai had been too fast and powerful. He had so far been undefeated in his journeys and had no losses. Naturally, the Heavenly Path Sect was worried that he would break through the shackles of society and reach the Saint Plane.

Thus, his desire to marry a monster woman was the perfect excuse. The Heavenly Path Sect united the other sects, and on the day of the wedding, they declared that Wu Shaobai had violated the taboo of the righteous sects. A dozen Great Venerables attacked the Yuhua Sect, forcing the Yuhua Sect to take up arms in order to defend themselves.

Wu Shaobai's wife was forcefully taken away by the Heavenly Path Sect.

From then, Wu Shaobai was driven mad and went on a killing spree. He killed a dozen Great Venerables in a row, severely shaking up the Heavenly Path Sect. A few of the Elders arrived and united a dozen major sects. They wanted to destroy both Wu Shaobai and the Yuhua Sect.

Finally, the Yuhua Sect gathered some sects for a quick negotiation. Wu Shaobai also understood the situation and knew that his death was inevitable, so he "voluntarily" sealed himself in the stele.

And that was how the genius of the Yuhua Sect died.

The Heavenly Path Sect did not want the news of the deaths of a dozen Great Venerables to spread, so they sealed it. Hence, most people did not even know that such a thing happened 40 years ago.

For example, Li Qingshan, who had trained hard, did not know about this.

He only found out after reading about it from the book.

"This Heavenly Path Sect sure is trouble. My predecessor had ended up having both his cultivation and root bone destroyed because of the pressure that came from them. Otherwise, the Yuhua Sect would have been able to save him." Li Qingshan frowned. He could still remember clearly how, after he had destroyed the matrix and had set the Demonic Divine Concubine free, the other sects had immediately proclaimed their desire to punish and kill him.

Li Qingshan's life was spared only because of the protection from the Yuhua Sect. But eventually, even the Yuhua Sect could not win against the pressure brought down upon them. Soon after, they had no choice but to disable his root bone cultivation as well.

The Heavenly Path Sect would never allow the Yuhua Sect to have another Wu Shaobai.

About 40 years ago, Wu Shaobai had committed so much bloodshed that until now, the Heavenly Path Sect still had not been able to replace the dozen Great Venerables that were killed.

And they definitely do not want to see Li Qingshan rise up in power.

After reading the book, Li Qingshan did not know what to say.

Wu Shaobai and his monster wife had not done anything wrong. They simply wanted to live their lives peacefully, but even this was not allowed.

And now, one was dead, while the other was still imprisoned in the Monster Refining Tower of the Heavenly Path Sect.

Perhaps, this was the burden of the original sin they have carried since birth.

Li Qingshan picked up the flagon of wine that Little Nine had brought him and walked over to the stele.

It was a simple and plain stele. No one would have guessed that the person sealed inside of it had done such groundbreaking things before.

"Senior, I have benefited from your Great River Sword Qi, so I drink to you now." Li Qingshan raised the cup of wine and poured it down.

After all, Wu Shaobai was truly Li Qingshan's senior. 40 years ago, the Yuhua Sect had taught Wu Shaobai. And 40 years later, the Yuhua Sect taught Li Qingshan as well.

Not only did the two of them have similar talents, but also their ends were similar.

Wu Shaobai had been sealed into the stele and died without a trace, all because of a monster woman.

Meanwhile Li Qingshan's root bone had been disabled, and he had been exiled to the Repentance Cliff, all because of the Demonic Divine Concubine.

One must admit that the Yuhua Sect had not been lucky. Two of their geniuses had been disabled one after the other.

After Li Qingshan had poured the wine, he bowed to the stele and intended to leave.

Suddenly, a line of words appeared before his eyes.

[You paid your tribute to the stele devotedly and have activated some memories. Do you wish to see them?]

Li Qingshan frowned. This never happened before.

"Yes!" Li Qingshan decided right away. He wanted to see what else was in store.

"Boom!"

All of a sudden, countless images flashed before Li Qingshan's eyes. The images passed so quickly until finally his eyes landed on a young man.

The young man had sharp features and wore a groom's outfit that was in a festive red color.

The young man was holding hands with a young girl, who was gazing deeply yet gently back at him. The girl was very beautiful, but her ears were not the same as a regular person's. They were fox ears.

This was Wu Shaobai and the woman from the monster clan on their wedding day.

And yet they were surrounded by enemies in all directions, both on the ground and in the sky.

"Wu Shaobai, the righteous sects and the monsters have always been on opposing sides. A human will have no future with monsters! You are a disciple of the Yuhua Sect, and yet you are marrying a monster. This is unforgivable! You must now answer to your crimes"

"Monster woman, you have wreaked havoc in the human world. Hurry off to the Monster Refining Tower now to repent!"

"Wu Shaobai, you will not get married today!"

As Wu Shaobai raised his head, he felt blinded by these people, who stood on the name of righteousness, jabbing these accusations at him.

These only served to annoy him.

Without warning, he unsheathed his sword. Then with a loud boom, a great river poured from the sky. The Great River Sword Qi roared powerfully and came crashing down, blocking these people.

"My dear, no one will be able to keep us from getting married today, regardless of who they are." Wu Shaobai smiled and looked gently at his wife.

And so, under the angry uproar from a group of Great Venerables, under the troubled looks from the Yuhua Sect figures, under the indifferent expression of the Heavenly Path Sect Leader, Wu Shaobai and his wife finally completed their wedding ceremony.

Then, the image stopped abruptly.

Li Qingshan was left in a daze. The image of a dozen Great Venerables' frightening auras and the determined expressions on Wu Shaobai and his wife's faces turned Li Qingshan speechless.

"Whoosh!"

Suddenly, it began to rain.

Li Qingshan looked at the stele with the Great River Sword Qi carved into it.

"The stele... looks different." Li Qingshan was taken aback. Now that his primordial spirit was very strong, he noticed a difference right away.

The stele seemed to have come to life.

The Great River Sword Qi carved on the stele began to charge. The Sword Qi was like rain, affecting the weather. And at that moment, what was originally a clear day was suddenly met with rain.

"The... The Great River Sword Qi... is alive!" Li Qingshan said in surprise. He had been doubtful earlier, but he knew that this was not a mere hallucination. It really was alive.

The Great River Sword Qi was rushing within the stele. Then there was a loud boom, and the raging Great River Sword Qi brought about a heavy downpour.

"Whoosh!"

Every drop of rain was like a sword blade. It dropped from the sky and splashed in every direction.

The rain slid across the flower petals.

The rain slid across the bamboo bridge.

The rain dripped into the soil.

The rain fell onto Li Qingshan's body.

Gradually, Li Qingshan felt that the Great River Sword Qi within his body was tempted to move as well.

Li Qingshan was still focused on the Great River Sword Qi on the stele when he heard a loud boom. From behind him, a burst of sharp Sword Qi came and hacked down on his side, sending countless raindrops flying.

This sharp Sword Qi intermingled with the Great River Sword Qi inside of Li Qingshan's body.

Then, Li Qingshan saw the Sword Qi slowly transform into a phantom figure right before his own eyes.

It was a young man in his thirties with sharp features. He stood in the rain yet was radiating light. The rain passed through him and landed on the ground.

"Whoosh!"

The rain continued to pour.

Li Qingshan looked at him, while he looked back at Li Qingshan.

"Wu Shaobai!" How could Li Qingshan not recognize the groom from the vision earlier?

"I did not expect that you would have actually learned my Great River Sword Qi." Wu Shaobai looked at Li Qingshan with admiration.

"It was just by chance," Li Qingshan said.

"It is good news," Wu Shaobai said, nodding. "I did not think that at the last moments of my life, I managed to pass down the Great River Sword Qi. This is my closure."

"Senior, does this mean you are not dead?" Li Qingshan asked in confusion.

"I died long ago, but at the very critical moment between life and death, I comprehended a shred of the Path of the Saint," Wu Shaobai explained. "Thus, I left behind a bit of my soul that was unwilling to accept its fate and saved it in the stele with my last bit of stubbornness and determination, until today."

Then, Wu Shaobai tempted him, "Would you like to witness the true power of the Great River Sword Qi?"

"What do you plan to do?" Li Qingshan asked with a raspy voice.

"I want to borrow your body and use it to cut down the most powerful force in this world in a single stroke!" Wu Shaobai lifted his head. His eyes shone bright, like dazzling lights in the night sky.

"Just one?" Li Qingshan looked at Wu Shaobai in confusion.

"Yes, just one! But in this single stroke, the Sword Qi will be 45,000 kilometers long."