Beyond the Divine States

Chapter 71 Flying the Sword on the Cloud Tower

"A book?" Ning Changjiu was slightly confused.

Yan Zhou said with a nod, "The latter half of the Heavenly Oracle Sword Method is one of the most important legacies of the sovereign. I lost it back then."

Ning Changjiu said, "You shouldn't reveal such an important thing to an outer disciple."

Yan Zhou said casually, "The book can't be found anyway. What difference can it make if I tell you?"

Ning Changjiu thought it over and found he was right. So, he asked further, "Why can't the book be found? Does it have legs?"

Yan Zhou opened his eyes and stared at the high ceiling of the library, saying, "The content of the latter half of the Heavenly Oracle Sword Method is completely different from the former half. It is a truly ancient book endowed by God, which contains spirituality inherently. Once it gets away, it is hard to find it back. Hanchi has spent 60 years looking for the book too. Otherwise, he should have broken through the realm of Purple Court."

Ning Changjiu asked, "Hanchi? The sovereign of the Oracle Sword Heavenly Sect?"

Yan Zhou said with a nod, "Yeah, Master Hanchi. He is my junior fellow disciple. Now, he is also dispirited so he has gone to the secular world to seek another lucky chance. Before he left, I've read his fortune and the result turned out to be an evil omen rather than a good one."

Ning Changjiu sighed, "I'm sorry for the sovereign."

Yan Zhou took a look at him and said with a grin, "Hanchi is a grand cultivator at the peak of the realm of Purple Court anyway while you can hardly cross the threshold of cultivation. How can you have the mood to feel sorry for him?"

Ning Changjiu kept silent for a moment and then said, "You are right."

...

On the sword field of the Cloud Tower, Lu Jiajia stood there holding her sword, her clothes billowing in the cold wind. The sunshine in winter just set off her fair-complexioned skin.

Tens of disciples stood below the Cloud Tower. There were tens of crisscrossed lines under their feet. The lines were not drawn but chopped by the sword at one fling, which were used to measure the steps and positions of sword practicing.

Ning Xiaoling raised her head to look at the gorgeous woman wearing the silver cap and jade hairpin. She couldn't help recollecting the sword light she saw before the imperial hall that day and falling into a trance.

"Immortal Realm, what is an immoral? The immortal moves to the mountain and lives forever..."

"Those at the realm of Long Life can live well and long. Time cannot be reversed. It is like a cliff and waterfall. Even if you climb for an inch, you will be struggling with the universe..."

"There is Purple Court in the Heaven while a human has a Zifu (Purple Mansion). The Heaven and the human mingle together, causing the spirit and the self to integrate with each other, which is Taoism..."

The cliff tower was enshrouded by the cold mist. Lu Jiajia's cold voice went through the mist and clouds, which sounded like the clear chirp of the long sword.

"Jiajia said so well though I don't understand it at all... Yet, this must be what an immortal is like," Ning Xiaoling thought.

She felt a bit pitiful that her fellow disciple couldn't cultivate with her together.

After preaching, Lu Jiajia looked around and said, "Do you have any questions?"

"Master." A disciple took half a step forward and gave a sword salute.

Lu Jiajia asked, "Any questions?"

The disciple looked around. Many other disciples knew what he wanted to say and now, they all cast an approving gaze at him. He took a deep breath and said sincerely, "Master! We sincerely hope that you can cultivate without worry. You shouldn't be bothered by the trivial things like teaching us swordsmanship. We are so guilty..."

Lu Jiajia slightly sighed, "You are the future of Tianku Peak. How can I not show concern for you?"

The disciple still didn't want to give up. He said, "You are the future of Tianku Peak. These years, the disciples of the other peaks have bullied us a lot. If you cannot reach the realm of Purple Court, how can you stand up to the other peaks as an equal at the sovereign succession ceremony? No offense to Master, but would you please devote yourself to cultivating? We do benefit a lot from your teaching but we are still guilty."

Lu Jiajia chuckled and said slightly, "I'm glad that you can think so."

"Then, Master..."

"I'll think about it. When it is about time, I will go on a closed-door training. However, there are still a lot of things I haven't thought through and done yet," Lu Jiajia said lightly. "No need to talk about it anymore."

She had thought about letting others do the teaching. There were no cultivators at the realm of Purple Court on Tianku Peak but there were still several uncle-masters and elders at the middle stage and upper stage of the realm of Long Life. Before her master died, he let her be the peak master, which they greatly objected to. Lu Jiajia did respect them but she would not tolerate their testing and provoking again and again.

More than one year ago, an uncle-master worked with three elders to force Lu Jiajia to give up the position of the peak master, which had reached the end of her forbearance. She drew out her sword fiercely to injure the uncle-master seriously and the three elders were even evicted from the peak. Since then, the conflict between her and the last generation could be hardly solved.

Of course, it was not the real reason.

She wanted to let Yazhu teach for her before but... Now that her realm was reduced by half of a level and her two broken acupoints were not repaired, it was of little help for her to have a closed-door training. Moreover, she had a new disciple--Ning Xiaoling.

Thinking of that, she slightly rolled her eyes and then gazed at the young girl, asking, "Xiaoling, how do you feel after half a month's learning? Can you understand the lesson?"

Questioned in public, Ning Xiaoling was taken aback and subconsciously sat up straight, saying, "Master, I can understand roughly."

Lu Jiajia nodded and said, "Yeah, Xiaoling, you stay later. I must test your progress over the half month's cultivation."

Ning Xiaoling felt she was gazed at by a lot of people and lowered her head, saying nervously, "Yes, Master."

Lu Jiajia said, "Yeah, work hard on cultivation. You need to fly the sword on the sword field in half a month, just like your senior fellow disciples."

Flying the sword on the sword field was an exercise held every seven days. Lu Jiajia would draw out the sword and fly it in the sky, followed by the other disciples harnessing their own swords. Just like the long-distance running practice of the heralds, the sword flying practice was designed to test the disciples' controlling ability of aura and their adeptness at sword harnessing.

As Lu Jiajia brought it up, all the disciples on the sword field felt somewhat astounded.

They all started to practice flying the sword after being enrolled by the sect for half a year. However, now, this young girl called Ning Xiaoling who hadn't reached the Profound Realm prior to joining the sect could join them in flying the sword. How was it possible?

However, since it was proposed by their master, they didn't dare to object at all and only felt doubtful.

Ning Xiaoling felt extremely flattered and hastened to say, "Yes, Master."

Lu Jiajia stared at her and said, "I hope that you can go with Nancheng to the Sword Fighting Tournament of Four Peaks."

"Nancheng?" Ning Xiaoling repeated the name.

Nancheng was the eldest fellow disciple of Tianku Peak, who was said to have reached the upper stage of the Immortal Realm at the age of 19. He was probably only slightly inferior to Lu Jiajia in terms of aptitude. He was the talent of Tianku Peak, who was the only one who could surpass the eldest fellow disciple of Shouxiao Peak.

Nancheng had been in the closed-door training since half a year ago and hadn't finished it yet, but he was the legendary figure on Tianku Peak. Even if he was in the training, legends about him were still being circulated in the sect.

Now, Master was comparing this little girl who had just joined the sect with Nancheng?

Some disciples were surprised and shocked. More disciples were skeptical and even thought that their master misjudged this time.

Disciples with an innate spirit were scarce but they were not unusual in the heavenly sect. This little girl was 14 years old but she still hadn't reached the Profound Realm. Neither had she spent years consolidating her foundation on the outer peak. How could she be able to establish a building on the flat ground?

Lerou was quite curious about Ning Xiaoling. Now, hearing Lu Jiajia say so, she became hostile rather than curious.

Before Ning Xiaoling came here, Lerou was famous in the sect and the eminent disciple among the young generation of female disciples, who were always treated by others with respect. Now that this newbie coming from nowhere seemed to steal her thunder, she felt kind of unhappy.

"Humph, I must see whether you can fly the sword to the sky in a month..."

Lu Jiajia looked at the other disciples, saying, "As to today's sword flying training, I will speed up. Whether you can keep up with me or not, you must remain steady. No rushing is allowed. Understand?"

The disciples all said yes.

Lu Jiajia turned around and took a few steps forward, shouting, "Sword out!"

Her shout was like a clap of thunder striking the Cloud Tower. The permeating mist on the sword field of the Cloud Tower instantly faded away. Suddenly, it was clear now. Lu Jiajia's sword flew out like a streak of white light, breaking through the cold mist of the winter towards the sky.

On the sword field, all the disciples, who looked stern, unsheathed the swords and threw them upwards. Meanwhile, they put together the two fingers of both hands. Then, they bent one arm before their chests and placed the other arm above the elbow. The disciples all closed their eyes. With their aura as the strings, they harnessed their swords with their minds. Instantly, the swords flew to the sky like streaks of white light. The scene looked like wild geese flying to the north in autumn. Following the leading wild goose, the other wild geese flew behind.

Ning Xiaoling raised her head to look at the scene and clenched the sword. She took a deep breath and pressed her chest but she still couldn't suppress the faint sword chirp in her heart.

She looked around only to find that her seniors were all harnessing their swords with their eyes closed. Of course, no one looked at her.

Listening to the sword chirp that sounded like the chirps of cicadas, she felt there seemed to be waves surging from her sea of Qi, which caused her mind to be swayed.

Ning Xiaoling made up her mind secretly.

She slightly pulled out her sword, held her breath attentively and threw it to the sky. Then, she wrapped the sword with her spiritual power and controlled it to fly up.

Following the others' example, she made a sword gesture and stood in situ. With her eyes closed, she spread her sea of consciousness to feel the flying trajectory of Lu Jiajia's sword intent and harnessed the sword with her spiritual power to follow her sword.

Lu Jiajia sensed an extra streak of sword Qi and guessed something. She was slightly surprised but she didn't do anything else.

Led by the immortal sword Minglan, the swords circled the peak below the sword field, going through the clouds and mist turbulently and whistling back.

After one hour, Lu Jiajia opened her eyes.

With a clang, the immortal sword Minglan hung above the sword field, unmoved.

Behind it, the trajectories dragged by the sword intent still left an arch of white light.

During the process of sword flying, more and more swords were left far behind by Minglan. In the end, only four swords could keep up with it.

The disciples opened their eyes one after another and most of them were drenched in sweat with a tired look. Several disciples with a relatively high realm all looked unperturbed and confident while those with a low realm didn't open their eyes until much later.

Lerou hung her sword above the sword field. When she opened her eyes, she looked around quietly only to find that only five brother fellow disciples had opened their eyes.

She always came out in front in terms of talent but regarding spiritual power, she could be mediocre only. Today, she seemed to be stimulated by her master's words, thus improving her ranking in the sword flyers by two places.

When all the swords returned in place, Lu Jiajia flicked her fingers, making the swords that couldn't keep up go back to their owners' sheaths accurately. Only four swords were left.

"Weiran, you have made progress in controlling the aura. It is fair enough to say you are quite proficient. I guess you can make it to the upper stage of the Immortal Realm within three years."

Xu Weiran was 18 years old now. He was not as stunningly talented as Nancheng but she could be considered as an outstanding disciple among her peers. When he heard his master mention "three years", he was delighted beyond measure and hastened to say, "Thank you, Master."

Lu Jiajia slightly nodded her head and twisted her fingers. Instantly, the sword turned into light and returned to the sheath.

"Yunze, your sword did keep up but it lacked strength. If you are faced with the enemy, I'm afraid that it will be shot down directly. Yet, it is because I'm severe. Your current speed is already worth being proud of." Lu Jiajia flicked her fingers and then, another sword returned to its sheath.

Yunze held the sword and expressed her thanks.

Ning Xiaoling took a look at him quietly and snorted. How dare he call Ning Changjiu a pig! He was just so-so. She must teach him a lesson.

Lu Jiajia continued, "Hongyuan, you should be the most hard-working disciple. If you can persist, you should be able to pass the sword fighting mock held in the coming spring and then participate in the Sword Fighting Tournament among the four peaks on behalf of the Tianku Peak in the early spring later."

The man called Hongyuan was haughty and handsome. Now, as he heard Lu Jiajia say so, his eyes were ablaze with excitement and he only felt that his effort just paid off.

His sword returned to its sheath.

"The last sword..." Lu Jiajia slightly moved her fingers and controlled the sword to arrive before her. The sword light reflected her beautiful eyes and her skin that was even whiter than the frog and snow appeared even colder and more crystalline.

Although it was a bit unbelievable, Lu Jiajia still looked at Ning Xiaoling.

The disciples saw their master keep quiet and finally realized something. Then, they all looked aside following her gaze.

There were suddenly a few cries on the sword field.

A few sharp-eyed disciples had noticed that Ning Xiaoling's sheath at her waist was empty.

More people were still confused and didn't know what was going on.

"What's wrong?" Lerou tugged at the clothes of the disciple aside, asking and also looking away on tiptoe.

The disciples started to talk in a low voice.

Ning Xiaoling slightly opened her mouth to breathe out lightly. Then, she raised her chin slightly, took a step forward and gave a neat sword salute.

"Master, this is my sword."