Chapter 676
Stealing the House
Old Ears, clutching the dark cloud, ran wildly through the thick fog. The dark cloud struggled desperately, trying to jump off the cliff and follow the trail into the water.
But Old Ears held it tightly, running and comforting it as he went: “Good cat, what’s the rush? The five swords at the bottom of the lake are all divine weapons that came with the appearance of the God of War. They are all treasures that have been nurtured with spirituality. Any one of them would cause a bloodbath in the martial world if released. He can take them all. He should be happy.”
Wuyun ignored him completely and continued to struggle: "Let go of me! He fell from such a height, what if he faints?"
The old man listened to its meows and calmly said, "Are you trying to say that I lied to him? Tsk, if I hadn't lied to him, he would never have dared to come to the Martial Temple gate. How long would it take him to find the sword outside? Just tell me, aren't there five swords at the bottom of the lake?"
Seeing that she couldn't reason with Old Ears, Wuyun simply bit the back of his hand.
But Old Ears didn't get angry. He patiently explained, "Don't worry, the fog on this mountain won't dissipate anytime soon. Nobody can see anyone in the lake. Everyone will come after us and won't care about him. You should be worried about us."
The cloud meowed, "Who cares about a cat? They're chasing you. Put me down, I'll run away myself!"
Old Ears heard it meow and said gently, "Are you worried about this old man? Hey, don't worry about this old man. I have experience dealing with these people from the Martial Temple. I'll be fine."
"If you don't understand what I'm saying, then don't talk back!" The dark cloud drooped its little head helplessly, letting its old ears lead it wildly through the thick fog, not knowing where it had gone.
Not long after the man and the cat left the cliff, a long sword came whistling from the thick fog and landed directly on the spot where Old Ears had just been standing.
The next moment, Wu Kezhi's figure slowly emerged from the thick fog, and "Silent Mountain" rose from the ground and flew back to hover beside him.
Wu Kezhi stood quietly at the edge of the cliff. Changbai Mountain Tianchi Lake is shrouded in fog all year round, and it is covered by fog for 265 out of 365 days a year.
In the past, he only thought that the thick fog would prevent outsiders from spying on him, but now the thick fog blocked all his vision, and he had no idea where the trespasser had gone.
Just as I was pondering this, I heard footsteps behind me again.
Wu Kezhi's ears twitched, and the Silent Mountain Blade suddenly flew in front of him. Before he could make a move, Uncle Changsheng's voice came from the thick fog: "It's me! It's me!"
Uncle Changsheng and Aunt Qiubai, carrying kitchen knives, emerged from the thick fog. They looked around and asked, "Where is everyone?"
Wu Kezhi shook his head: "I didn't see him, he ran away."
Uncle Changsheng, looking a bit disheveled, scratched his head: "Aren't you supposed to be guarding the back mountain? How could someone have broken in? Were you slacking off?"
The woman, who was asking for trouble, pinched his ear and said, "When have you ever seen Xiao Wu slack off?"
Uncle Changsheng, leaning to one side and grimacing, cried out, "Ouch, ouch, ouch! Let go!"
Wu Kezhi also showed a hint of doubt: "I have been guarding the mountain gate and have not noticed anyone coming up the mountain. The talismans on the mountain road have not been disturbed."
Uncle Changsheng stroked his stubble: "Even the talisman array wasn't disturbed. Could it be that a stone from the mountain fell into the lake?"
Wu Kezhi said with certainty, "No, it's clearly the sound of someone falling into the lake."
Uncle Changsheng pondered, "Could it be that kid Wu Hongbiao jumped into the lake from a high place? He goes to the bottom of the lake every day to seek the master's sword. Maybe he couldn't get it and went mad, wanting to commit suicide..."
Before he could finish speaking, Uncle Changsheng looked at Wu Kezhi and Aunt Qiubai and shut his mouth.
Aunt Qiu Bai pondered, "Who exactly is it that can avoid both Xiao Wu and the talisman array on the mountain? Such meticulous planning must make them a formidable enemy of our Martial Temple."
Uncle Changsheng asked in confusion, "But what are they sneaking up the mountain for? Our Martial Temple is dilapidated. Could it be that they're trying to steal our thatched huts, or perhaps they're after me... Hiss!"
After wiping Uncle Changsheng, Aunt Qiubai turned to look at the lake: "Everyone knows that Tianchi is the place where the God of War manifests his divine power. Could it be for the God of War's sword intent and the divine weapon at the bottom of the lake?"
Upon hearing this, Wu Kezhi subconsciously looked at the Jishan Blade hanging beside him, which also came from the bottom of the lake.
Uncle Changsheng gloated, "They're in big trouble if they try to steal the divine weapons. The sword intent and the divine weapon choose their master; we don't even need to lift a finger, they'll all perish at the bottom of the lake. The sword intent of the weapon master swimming at the bottom of the lake can kill them all. That sword intent of the weapon master is extremely domineering; not even a large fish can survive in the Heavenly Pool. If it lives more than a foot or two, it will kill it. It's just that Biaozi is lucky; for some reason, the sword intent of the weapon master didn't kill him."
After a moment's thought, Wu Kezhi instructed, "We still can't be careless. You two go and wake everyone up. Go into the mountains in pairs to search. Make sure that anyone who tries to break into the mountain gate never comes back."
Aunt Qiubai clasped her hands in a fist and said, "Yes."
After saying that, he pulled Changsheng into the thick fog.
Wu Kezhi arrived at the edge of the cliff and looked down at Tianchi Lake, but Tianchi Lake was completely covered by thick fog.
……
……
Beneath the thick fog, Chen Ji fell unconscious into the water from a height of a hundred meters, continuing to sink deeper and deeper into the dark lake. The lake water was initially icy cold, but it grew warmer the further he fell.
Beneath the lake's surface, a colossal furnace seems to be brewing, steaming the entire Changbai Mountain Tianchi Lake and sending the water vapor into the air, transforming it into a perpetual fog that rises and swirls.
Chen Ji closed his eyes and plunged straight into the lake. When he landed in the pitch-black lake, he stirred up the soft mud that had settled at the bottom of the lake, which completely covered his figure.
As the mud settled again, Chen Ji sat cross-legged in the center, head bowed, hands resting on his knees, fingers forming a sword shape. Something enormous seemed to be swimming in the dark lake, menacing and drawing ever closer. A golden light, over ten feet long, arrived like a dragon, illuminating the lakebed. It was a powerful, pure, and unyielding sword intent.
The blade seemed to be guarding this Heavenly Pool, and upon seeing an outsider, it slashed down at Chen Ji.
Just as the blade was about to strike Chen Ji, it suddenly stopped an inch above Chen Ji's head. The golden dragon circled around Chen Ji, moving away and then closer several times, as if confirming something.
But it couldn't confirm it, so it could only keep circling around the traces. The domineering sword intent was like a dog, sniffing left and right.
After a long time, five more swords swam over. Not only swords, but also armor, spears, halberds, and crossbows that had been hidden at the bottom of the lake for countless years, all circling around the ruins.
But Chen Ji kept his eyes tightly closed, completely unaware.
Scenes flashed through my mind: the peach blossoms of Guixu, the snow on the East Kunlun Mountains, the sea outside Penglai, the moon in the sky, and the oath of the Emperor.
Scene after scene flashed by: Anxi Street in Luocheng, the simple Taiping Medical Hall, the ruins of Guyuan, and the red cloth strips fluttering in the through wind, a chestnut horse passing through crowds and heavy snow, and a girl in red on the back of the chestnut horse.
Past lives and present lives are constantly intertwined, constantly arising and ceasing.
These scenes suddenly flashed back rapidly, finally stopping at the moment of their birth at the bottom of the lake, a moment when flames and lava were still gushing forth...
In an instant, warm currents surged at the bottom of the lake, and the seven hundred and twenty furnaces within Chen Ji's body suddenly lit up. First, the furnaces on the Du meridian were lit, then the furnaces on the Ren meridian, and so on, until all the furnaces were bright.
The light from the 720 furnaces shone through the body, like a bright sun in the dark lake bottom, illuminating an area of dozens of feet in radius, as bright as day.
The sword master's intent and the divine weapons at the bottom of the lake all stopped, and then cheered and jumped for joy.
A faint, indistinct sound came from the bottom of the lake.
Fighting...
Wan Sheng...
Chen Ji suddenly opened his eyes. The soft mud that had accumulated at the bottom of the lake around him swayed away, and the light from the furnace illuminated the words carved on the bottom of the lake in front of him.
Heaven and earth and I were born together; all things and I are one.
The characters are bold and sweeping, as if someone awoke from the bottom of the lake ten thousand years ago and carved them with the intent of a knife. Golden knife intent flows over the characters, then detaches and comes before the relics, as if saying, "It is me."
Chen Ji looked at the sword intent and weapons before him, and smiled as his lips moved silently: Long time no see.
He reached out, and weapons drew near. A crystal sword, its surface translucent, was the first to reach his palm. It then transformed into a beam of light that flowed into the veins of his palm, and then along the meridians into the markings on his waist, becoming the sword seed.
The next moment, a sword intent soared into the sky, breaking through the lake water and thick fog and rising straight up!
……
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Uncle Changsheng and Aunt Qiubai walked listlessly along the ridge, searching the vicinity while muttering under their breath: "I wonder who was so blind as to dare to force their way into the Martial Temple. What's so great about this shabby Martial Temple that they could steal from it? I wonder where the headmaster is having a good time. He promised to take me down the mountain last time, but he broke his promise again. I shouldn't have believed his nonsense."
Aunt Qiu Bai glared at him: "The headmaster went to do serious business, to find the successor of that sword technique."
Uncle Changsheng scoffed: "You believe him? You might as well believe I am the reincarnation of Emperor Yao."
Aunt Qiu Bai pondered for a moment: "The timing doesn't match."
Uncle Changsheng said helplessly, "I was just joking."
Just then, they heard light footsteps ahead. The two of them stopped at the same time, and the footsteps opposite them also stopped.
Uncle Changsheng immediately stepped back, but Aunt Qiubai grabbed him tightly: "Why are you running? You're spineless, you're disgracing your name!"
Uncle Changsheng, his neck stiff with arrogance, said, "Anyone who dares to trespass on my Martial Temple's gates must have come prepared. I need to go back and get reinforcements. Also, don't bring up my name. My name is Changsheng. As long as I don't cause trouble for those stronger than me, I can remain victorious forever. It's much safer than your so-called 'Seeking Defeat.' Seeking Defeat, seeking defeat—your name sounds like you won't live long..."
Aunt Qiubai grabbed Uncle Changsheng by the ear and walked towards the sound of footsteps: "You son of a bitch, you really need to be taught a lesson..."
Before he could finish speaking, a clanging sound of a sword being drawn echoed from the sky above the thick fog, causing even the still fog to become disordered and slowly flow.
Uncle Changsheng and Aunt Qiubai exchanged a glance subconsciously: "Martial Dao Resonance?"
Uncle Changsheng cried out, "Oh no! Someone's using the divine weapon from the bottom of the lake to nurture their sword! The headmaster went out to find them, but instead of finding them, someone sneaked in and broke into our house!"
……
There will be another update tonight, but it will be very late. Read it tomorrow morning. (End of this chapter)