The main sword of Tianguang Peak was the sword of the Green Mountain Sect.
However, this sword had been lost ago; the so-called Inherited Heaven Sword was merely a sheath.
Without any doubt, this was a big secret of the Green Mountain Sect, one that nobody knew about except for the nine peak masters.
Zhao Layue didn’t know this secret, as she had left in a hurry, that or she was intentionally left uninformed. She still didn’t know that much about the secrets of the Green Mountain yet.
The disciples of Green Mountain of course had no chance to know about this secret.
What the external disciples of the South Pine Pavilion and the North Crane Pavilion cared most abut was reaching the State of Spiritual Stability and becoming an inner sect disciple.
The sword-washing disciples by the stream were worried about which peak masters would pick them as their personal disciples in the upcoming Inherited Sword Competition.
The inherited sword disciples on the peaks were preoccupied with the Sword Trial that took place every a few years, what ranking they were going to have, and whether they would be qualified to participate in the Plum Meeting.
More than forty inner sect disciples would take part in the Inherited Sword Competition, and a dozen disciples from the South Pine Pavilion got the most attention.
Zhao Layue was from the South Pine Pavilion, and so was Liu Shisui.
In less than ten years, the South Pine Pavilion had produced two disciples with natural Dao quality; but how these two were evaluated and treated differed entirely.
When the name of Liu Shisui was mentioned among the disciples of Green Mountain, it didn’t spawn admiration like before, instead generating feelings of discontent and disappointment, sometimes a bit sympathy, and oftentimes anger.
When the name of Zhao Layue was mentioned, they felt more excited and an even stronger sense of admiration.
Yao Songshan and Lin Yinglang brought back the news about the Peak Master of Shenmo who had been traveling for two years.
Until now, people on the nine peaks of Green Mountain hadn’t known where Zhao Layue had been or what she had been doing.
She had been purging and killing demons and evildoers all the way!
She would kill anyone who had done evil with a swing of her sword, regardless of whether they were a disciple of a Cultivation sect, a benefactor, or even a royal empress.
Listening to these stories, the disciples of Green Mountain couldn’t help but feel proud as they shared in her glory.
The most thrilling event for these disciples of Green Mountain would be what had happened at the Four-Seas Banquet.
In recent years, the Western Ocean Sword Sect became arrogant and aggressive for having a Godly Swordsman, which made the disciples of Green Mountain quite upset.
The disciples of Green Mountain regarded Zhao Layue’s act as teaching the Western Ocean Sword Sect a lesson when she killed a man in the grand hall at the Four-Seas Banquet, and they felt very happy about it.
The news of Jing Jiu challenging the Middle State Sect at the Plum Meeting spread like wildfire, but even the colleagues of Green Mountain didn’t think he had a chance to win.
Since his opponent was Tong Yan of the Center Sect, the number one chess player recognized by the entire world.
Those disciples who didn’t know what had happened at that time even felt displeased, thinking if he lost to his opponent, the Central Sect would believe they were better than the Green Mountain Sect.
In a single afternoon, the sword-washing disciples finished their assignments and came to the stream bank for resting and at the same time gossiping and discussing under the warm spring sun.
As the Inherited Sword Competition would take place soon, the topic they talked about the most was when Zhao Layue was to come back and if she would take disciples at the competition.
A p
atch of white cloud suddenly drifted toward the space of blue sky over their heads, the atmosphere in heaven and on earth changing slightly as flashes of light and shadows intermingled on the peaks; the Green Mountain Formation opened up a passage.
A flying sword glided through the sky at a high speed, painting a red line as straight as a pencil in the sky.
It fell silent by the stream bank at first, and abruptly got noisy.
Having heard the noise, Mei Li, Lin Wuzhi, Gu Han, and others walked out from the Hall of Sword Washing, craning their heads skyward; their expressions were different.
Someone yelled excitedly, "Senior Sister Layue is back!"
"She is the Senior Master Layue!" another disciple corrected the former.
"The Thoughtless Sword looks even redder, like red blood."
"What are you afraid of? When the Green Mountain draws the sword, it must be stained by blood. Senior Master Layue has purged demons and killed evildoers along the way; her magic sword of course looks redder."
The bloody red sword light vanished on the peak top. The monkeys’ screams boomed out in the forests among the cliffs, and the cracking sounds in the forests indicated that the monkeys were on their way to greet them.
The monkeys displayed warm reception for their masters, and how much they had missed them.
Jing Jiu felt they were a bit too noisy, acting more like their relatives of Shiyue Peak.
Zhao Layue went inside, taking a bath and changing clothes.
The first thing Jing Jiu did was to drag the bamboo chair outside and lie on it.
Without this bamboo chair in the last two years, he slept even less than before.
Besides forgetting to bring the bamboo chair, he also forgot to bring the ceramic plate with him, and now he brought it out.
Zhao Layue walked out from the manor cave, drying her wet hair with a towel, and saw Jing Jiu lying on the chair and staring blandly at the ceramic plate while holding a grain of sand in his hand.
She hadn’t seen that in a long time.
A trace of a smile flashed in her eyes.
The sands in the ceramic plate had already occupied nearly half of the plate.
She remembered clearly that one-third of the plate was filled with sands when they were at the Stream of Sword Washing.
It looked like the game he was playing with became harder and harder.
Because of the ceramic plate and sands, she was certain that playing chess was the simplest thing in the world for Jing Jiu.
Even Tong Yan wasn’t a match for him.
While thinking of this, she heard the hurried footsteps from the cliff.
Gu Qing came to the peak top as quickly as he could, and without enough time for a bow, he asked Jing Jiu, "The Plum Meeting?"
Jing Jiu responded with a " yeah".
Gu Qing’s expression changed slightly, asking, "Tong Yan?"
"If he will go to the meeting," said Zhao Layue.
Standing by the cliff edge and thinking for a while, he said to Jing Jiu, "You must win."
Perhaps influenced by Jing Jiu, Gu Qing spoke fewer and fewer words now; but the monkeys in the peaks were still the same.
Jing Jiu turned his head to Zhao Layue, saying, "Well, his mind is really steady, better than you and Liu Shisui."
Gu Qing felt uncomfortable when he heard Jing Jiu praised him over Zhao Layue. Since Jing Jiu mentioned Liu Shisui, he said gravely, "Liu Shisui isn’t doing so well. I went to see him once, and he refused to see me after that. I’m afraid he has a serious attitude problem now. You should go see him."
Jing Jiu didn’t respond.
Zhao Layue asked, "Are you sure he will be okay?"
After putting down the sand grain in his fingers, Jing Jiu said, "I’m sure this is his own choice."
The Inherited Sword Competition began four days after their return.
The arrangements at the end of the Stream of Sword Washing were basically the same as three years ago. Perhaps the Cultivation sects were busy with preparing for the Plum Meeting, so the visiting guests were much less than last time; no representative was sent by the Fruit Formation Temple or the Great Marsh Sect, and that young girl of the Hanging-Bell Sect didn’t come either.
The strange thing was that another representative was sent by the Windy Broadsword Sect, though the Green Mountain Sect and the Windy Broadsword Sect were not so close.
The appearance of Zhao Layue and Jing Jiu attracted countless gazes.
They participated in the Inherited Sword Competition three years ago, but they had been by the stream then, and now they were on the cliff.
Three years ago, they were the disciples to inherit the sword; today they were the masters to select the inheriting sword disciples.
The speed of their promotion was so fast, that even in the history of Green Mountain over all its thousands of years, their case was rare.
Of course, their current status was directly related to the ascension of Immortal Jing Yang.
Watching Zhao Layue and Jing Jiu in their seats, many disciples, and even some masters of the second-generation, couldn’t help but feel admiration, even jealousy, but they believed that they didn’t have Zhao Layue’s courage and ability to climb up the Shenmo Peak, so their jealousy and resentment were aimed at Jing Jiu.
Except for a few people, nobody knew what had happened that night on the peak.
Jing Jiu didn’t have any contact with anyone, so he didn’t have opportunity to explain what happened that night, and he was content with the way things were.
Zhao Layue understood what was on his mind, so she didn’t explain things to anyone, and she didn’t see anybody by and large, just like Jing Jiu.
A disciple by the stream suddenly said, "Look, is he still carrying the iron sword on his back?"
"I’m not mistaken, that is the sword left by Senior Master Mo, the one that is wide and straight."
"What’s the matter? Does it mean he hasn’t entered the State of the Undefeated?" Inheriting Sword Again After Three Years