Chapter 338: My Cultivation To This Point Took A Full Two Months! Miyamoto Musashi Crawls Out From The Yellow Springs?!
Nothing could be seen, nothing was clear.
Except for that streak of gold standing in the heavens belonging to 【Cloud Pavilion】, Shangshan Che couldn’t even make out the color or material of the “floor” under his feet.
Everything was shrouded in that mist that seemed shallow and thin but actually obscured and confused all sight and perception.
“Right, Miss Gen…”
Shangshan Che wanted to turn back and ask about the specifics, but when he did, he found that the MPV that had been right behind him had inexplicably vanished.
Only the Spider Cutter and Kaga Kiyomitsu at his waist accompanied him.
Even the heartstring connecting him to Two-Foot Adult had become faint, making communication impossible…
This was a problem that had only occurred before when the two were separated between the Mortal Realm and the Eternal World.
When Shangshan Che refocused his attention, he discovered a straight path of endless steps leading to the heavens ahead, with no end in sight, as if endlessly copied and pasted.
He kicked the tip of his foot and found that the steps were indeed solid.
Did this mean he had to “sincerely” climb from the very bottom to show the dignity and nobility of a Sword Saint, or was it the classic stair-climbing test?
Shangshan Che didn’t think much and stepped onto the steps with one foot.
—It was nothing more than meeting soldiers with generals and earth with water.
But as soon as this step landed solidly on the first level of the steps, Shangshan Che felt his entire body, his whole person, suddenly become light and floating.
Immediately after, everything around him turned into colorless white.
An extreme speed that Shangshan Che had never experienced was unceremoniously imposed on him; even riding the clouds and driving lightning couldn’t describe this speed that even his thoughts and consciousness couldn’t keep up with.
—Perhaps only the shifting of stars and moon could compare to his current state.
The phrase “travel eighty thousand li in a day while sitting on the ground” floated in Shangshan Che’s mind, but it seemed too slow, so he changed it to “eighty thousand li per second.”
Patta.
Just as his thoughts caught up to his body, everything came to a standstill.
Whether it was Shangshan Che himself or everything around him, all stopped because of his second step on the steps.
Because they had reached the end.
Shangshan Che stared at the Nine-Layered Heavenly Keep that had risen from the ground before him, standing majestically tall, and was momentarily dazed before realizing he had somehow passed the stairway.
But… how much time had passed?
He turned back and saw the stone slab steps extending endlessly to the limit of his vision; if measured by length, they were absolutely much longer than the horizon his eyesight could reach.
But that was impossible.
Shangshan Che immediately understood that this was not a physically “endless stairway” but something like a Barrier.
Now standing here, his perception distance had also been compressed to infinitesimal.
The perception circle that originally extended hundreds of meters even without Incarnation, and at its limit could cover a kilometer, now only existed within his body and on its surface.
If he tried to probe further out, it was like slamming into a copper wall and iron bastion formed by millions of atmospheric pressures.
Fundamentally, immovable.
Speaking of which, there was no one around; did the Sword Saint want him to walk inside…
Shangshan Che hadn’t taken a few steps when his gaze suddenly sharpened.
Because at the unavoidable spot ahead of him, at some unknown time, a disheveled burly man with a leopard head and ringed eyes, wearing only straw sandals and rough blue cloth clothes from hundreds of years ago, had appeared.
The burly man, who also wore dual blades at his waist, seemed to have been dozing off, but the instant Shangshan Che stopped, he opened his sleepy eyes and yawned.
Snap!
In an instant, Shangshan Che’s originally fluffy hair became distinctly rooted, straight and immobile like steel needles.
His expression unchanged, he placed his hands on the dual blades at his waist, locking eyes with the burly man who slowly raised his head to look at him.
Their gazes met.
Crackle!
Like electricity born from the void, a piercing crackling sound suddenly erupted in the middle of their line of sight, making the burly man drop his careless expression.
Revealing a greed like seeing a rare delicacy.
Shangshan Che frowned slightly, about to speak, when a faint tearing sensation suddenly came from his chest and abdomen.
Consciousness Slash?
He retreated half a step precisely, perfectly letting the slash land on empty air.
The burly man’s smile widened, his mouth curling up as he just took half a step forward in pursuit.
Clang—
Clang—
Clang—
A vast bell toll came from the higher clouds, forcing him to halt his steps abruptly, purse his lips displeasedly, and revert to that sleepy demeanor.
No more fighting?
Shangshan Che, who had prepared to respond, was stunned and also looked up.
It seemed this bell toll was related to the Sword Saint…
The burly man stared at Shangshan Che with a chilling gaze for a while, then raised his thick-knuckled palm and pointed toward the depths of the Nine-Layered Heavenly Keep.
He kicked away the scattered gravel by his feet, and then a hoarse voice came,
“Kid, follow me up.”
Shangshan Che hesitated for a moment, removed his hands from the hilt, and followed about five steps behind the burly man’s side.
From the current situation, this burly man whose strength made his instincts nearly explode was likely the “guide” for this visit.
At the same time, Shangshan Che didn’t forget to pluck the heartstring and ask Qing: “Little Qing, this guy is dressed in traditional style; do you know him?”
The blood pupil on the Spider Cutter’s hilt narrowed for a good while, and after dozens of steps in silence, Qing replied uncertainly,
“Lord Shangshan, you should have heard of…”
“Heard of who?”
“Miyamoto Musashi.”
The four thunderous words exploded in Shangshan Che’s mind, making his strides a bit larger.
Qing rarely spoke in an indescribable, extremely complex tone: “You’re not wrong, and it’s not a namesake—
—it’s that Sword Saint who, after Kamiizumi Ise-no-Kami Nobutsuna died, used Niten Ichi-ryū to subdue Under Heaven, but never came here once in his lifetime.”
Shangshan Che gazed at the burly man’s back—not upright, yet with a heavy rootedness like the earth—and couldn’t help but fill his mind with a hundred thousand question marks.
Miyamoto Musashi?
And “in his lifetime”???
No way, did Little Qing think this was the set of some unscientific comedy manga?
Shangshan Che immediately pressed: “Then why is Miyamoto Musashi staying inside the Nine-Layered Heavenly Keep now, and still alive?!”
“Is this his phantom? Or an illusion?”
Qing: “No, he’s genuinely real… but he should have died of old age long ago…”
Qing was completely baffled too.
Baffled why that Sword Saint, whom he had personally watched die alone in the wilderness hundreds of years ago, would appear in this era, and even come to… Cloud Pavilion!
Moreover, his vitality was so powerful; even without leaking a single bit of Qi and Blood, the man walking ahead felt like a massive furnace to Qing, radiating boundless heat.
Simply at the peak of his prime.
For a moment, Shangshan Che and Qing fell silent, just quietly following behind Miyamoto Musashi, continuing through the majestic, vast, and desolate empty Nine-Layered Heavenly Keep.
After pondering on his own for a bit, Shangshan Che knowingly asked,
“Where are we going?”
Miyamoto Musashi ahead laughed and replied matter-of-factly,
“To see the contemporary Sword Saint.”
Hearing this, Qing’s heart shook violently.
From ancient times to now, no matter how many Sword Masters, Great Swordsmen, so-called grandmasters, or schools of sword gods there were…
But 【Sword Saint】 could only exist one in the entire Mortal Realm.
Even defying common sense, putting all Sword Saints from the past millennium together, in the end only one 【Sword Saint】 could emerge.
That Miyamoto Musashi could say this meant that he, once a 【Sword Saint】… had admitted his inferiority to the contemporary Sword Saint?!
Shangshan Che just responded without saying much.
He completely didn’t understand this unspoken rule.
Next, even though Shangshan Che played the curious baby and asked several more topics, trying to chat with this Sword Saint from the end of the Sengoku Period.
Miyamoto didn’t reply a single word, directly killing the conversation.
Soon, Miyamoto Musashi ahead stopped walking.
He leaned against a nearby massive wooden pillar, arms crossed, and nodded his chin toward the exceptionally plain threshold,
“Go in.”
This… was the Sword Saint’s residence?
Shangshan Che looked at this doorway indistinguishable from the thousands of wooden doors he’d passed earlier, feeling somewhat stunned.
Clearly the Nine-Layered Heavenly Keep was as majestic as a mountain, surely with countless more grand rooms available inside, yet the Sword Saint chose such an unremarkable place to stay…
Unexpected.
Shangshan Che was genuinely surprised.
He didn’t say much, wanting to enter directly.
But as he passed in front of Miyamoto Musashi, with his peripheral vision, he caught the other’s uncontrollably upturned mouth and rough expectant words,
“Looking forward to… seeing you grow up quickly.”
That smile was like an old farmer awaiting the harvest.
Shangshan Che entered the Sword Saint’s residence.
Crossing the threshold, Shangshan Che felt no abnormality, even finding the interior decor style very much like traditional Japanese architecture.
Only the layout was different.
Turning his head, he could see a translucent curtain straight to the end of the path, and the vague silhouette of a figure behind it.
Intuition told Shangshan Che that the Sword Saint was behind that curtain.
Absolutely no mistake.
After waiting a bit without the Sword Saint speaking, Shangshan Che walked toward the curtain.
When nine steps from the curtain, Shangshan Che abruptly stopped, standing in place.
Motionless.
Because an extremely intense premonition of death rose without reason, telling him that anywhere ahead meant mortal danger.
Only right under his feet was safe.
This Sword Saint wanted him to stop, without even needing to speak…
Shangshan Che raised his gaze to the seemingly thin curtain that he fundamentally couldn’t see through.
Strange.
He could clearly see the figure behind the curtain, confirm it was the legendary Sword Saint, and even see it moving…
But in his perception, which he could fully release, there was nothing!
This massive discrepancy between eyes and spirit made Shangshan Che’s gaze darken, feeling an indescribable nausea.
As if reality had ceased to exist.
“Perception is barely adequate…”
Suddenly, a voice rang in Shangshan Che’s ear.
Like clouds and lightning, ethereal and elusive.
Feeling far away in the sky, yet actually right before his eyes.
Forget gender; Shangshan Che couldn’t even distinguish young from old.
The next instant, a beam of gaze pierced the curtain, wantonly sweeping over Shangshan Che.
Normally the interval was too short for Shangshan Che to feel the gaze passing over him.
But in that indescribable instant just now, Shangshan Che felt everything about him thoroughly spied upon.
Whether the Qi Circulation on his body’s surface, the skin, nerves, blood vessels, and bones inside his body, the Qi and Blood gathered in Embracing the Core, the five-color Qi Barrier, Spiritual Power.
Or deeper, the Void Qi Sea, Myriad Spirit Furnace Core and the Heavenly Cycle Flame Armor and Five Thunder Technique placed within it, all exposed completely.
Shangshan Che’s breathing stopped.
With just one glance, all his secrets and experiences to date had been laid bare.
Great terror spread in Shangshan Che’s heart for a moment, then quickly receded.
It seemed… the Incarnation Cards in the Void Qi Sea hadn’t been discovered…
Realizing this, Shangshan Che’s numb thoughts resumed normal operation.
Lucky.
Even a Sword Saint couldn’t see everything at a glance.
“Strange…”
The Sword Saint’s voice remained elusive: “Are you as amazing as on TV? You look completely unremarkable.”
“Letting wild god power and blood rampage in your body, your power chaotic and disorderly, and even a little firework toy crashed in your right chest…
Nonsense.”
The Sword Saint commented.
Immediately after, Shangshan Che felt the Sword Saint’s gaze sweep over Qing, but the words spoken had nothing to do with it,
“Just this Five Elements Qi Sea developed from the Void Qi Sea shows some imagination.
Hm… Onmyoji aren’t entirely useless.”
The blood pupil’s pupils on the Spider Cutter’s hilt shrank to pinpricks, and Qing’s admiring and grave voice rang in the heartstring,
“Lord Shangshan… this Sword Saint has likely long surpassed realms comprehensible to ordinary people, reaching some profound level.”
“Compared to Lili Zi’s Sword Heart that has reached the Other Shore, how much stronger?”
“Sword Heart?” Qing sighed, “If it’s just Sword Heart, no matter how many kinds, any number is meaningless.”
“This really is…”
“And this.”
The sudden ethereal voice intruding into the heartstring startled both Shangshan Che and Qing.
Both stopped talking and fell silent.
The Sword Saint’s voice rang in the heartstring,
“This… being able to whisper secrets is a somewhat useful little ingenuity.”
Shangshan Che’s heart shook greatly.
This was totally unreasonable!
Even the heartstring could be discovered, and directly intrude the channel!
Next, the Sword Saint said a few more words in the heartstring, even plucking the heartstrings of Two-Foot Adult and Kaga Kiyomitsu twice, then boredly withdrew without any reply.
“You, how long have you cultivated so far?”
Perhaps because none of those heartstring channels had responded to him earlier, the Sword Saint’s voice was even more indifferent.
“A little over two months.” Shangshan Che calculated briefly and replied.
This answer plunged the air into silent stillness.
After a long time, a voice with faint affirmation sounded,
“Not bad.”
Several seconds later, the Sword Saint continued,
“What Sword Technique is your main practice? Demonstrate the Secret Technique.”
Shangshan Che gripped the hilts of the blades one left and one right at his waist and replied,
“Natural Reason School, Darkness Sword.”
Before the words finished, two near-invisible sword lights suddenly flashed a few millimeters before the curtain, wanting to tear apart this ordinary material curtain that hid the Sword Saint’s figure.
“This sword is barely passable.”
The curtain was unscathed, and the Sword Saint’s voice reappeared,
“Since that’s the case, I won’t let you come in vain.”
Before Shangshan Che could say anything, he suddenly felt himself falling into a void composed of “emptiness” and “nothingness.”
“How much you achieve depends purely on your prior accumulation.”
“—Also let me see if your words are true.”
Consciousness sank into darkness, then saw light again.
It felt like just a blink, yet also like personally experiencing thousands of years of long ages.
Endless arduous training.
Endless fierce battles.
Traveling mountains and rivers for exchanges.
Arduous training, fierce battles, meditation, accumulation, discourse, repeated.
Repeated, repeated, repeated…
When Shangshan Che opened his eyes again, he just dazedly stared at Miyamoto Musashi standing before him, bringing his stubble-filled big face close like a large cat curiously inspecting him.
And the massive flood of prompts that had refreshed and already submerged him entirely.
Last day of September, begging for monthly votes orZ!!!
