Chapter 69 - 66: Lu Changyuan’s Principles
"Young Master!"
Xia Lianxue’s eyes flew open. She found herself on a long, red Wooden Sword, with her familiar senior martial sister, Qiu Yuehan, sitting beside her.
"No, I have to find the Young Master! No... no, I can’t go looking for him."
The Wooden Sword was moving at incredible speed, making it seem as if the heavens, earth, mountains, and rivers were all flowing backward. The young woman’s voice dissolved into the wind.
She calmed down with astonishing speed. Unlike some foolish women, she knew that going to Lu Changyuan now would only render all his efforts moot.
But for that very reason, the conflict of knowing she shouldn’t go yet desperately wanting to was all the more agonizing. It felt like ants gnawing at her heart, bringing with it a throbbing ache.
Calm, and therefore in pain.
Xia Lianxue shut her eyes in agony.
Jiang Jiayi bit her finger, and a drop of scarlet blood fell onto the Wooden Sword. "He told you to trust him. Do you?"
The Wooden Sword’s speed increased once more.
Fueled by the blood from her fingertip, the sharpest sword in the world accelerated even further.
Xia Lianxue nodded silently. "I trust him. He’s never lied to me. Not once."
The Little Fairy repeated it several times, as if constant repetition would grant Lu Changyuan the heaven-defying power to reverse the Celestial Dao.
"Junior Sister," Qiu Yuehan said, hugging her own shoulders. "Don’t worry too much."
Although this senior sister already knew her junior sister’s identity was anything but simple, she still reached out a delicate hand and gently took hers. "He’ll be alright."
Xia Lianxue only felt a tightness in her chest, a lump lodged in her throat that was intensely uncomfortable.
In the distance, a heart-stopping peal of thunder suddenly exploded, as if the lightning had taken the form of a serpent intent on devouring everyone.
Beneath the magnificent might of the heavens, even Cultivators could only fall silent, their hearts in their throats.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
The sky here would no longer brighten.
The hundred-thousand-mile mountain range was buried under oppressive black clouds, devoid of a single ray of light. As long as Xia Lianxue did not die, the sun would not rise.
It was as if the next day would never arrive, with time frozen forever in the moment before dawn.
Lu Changyuan simply stared at the Tribulation Thunder, just as he had many years ago.
Miao Yu Palace had sealed its mountain. Its Grand Array barred him from entry. He had been sitting cross-legged here for two days, his momentum now fully gathered.
A mournful wind blew. The desolation of autumn, wrapped in sorrow, washed over him—a symbol of passing that made it difficult to breathe.
Someone approached holding an umbrella. It was the silver-haired Third Princess. "Two and a half of the three days have passed. In half a day at most, Feng Xianlong’s legacy Magic will fail."
Lu Changyuan didn’t turn around, only giving a soft "mm" in acknowledgment.
"Third Princess, you’d best not linger here. When the Celestial Tribulation descends later, you’ll inevitably be injured as well."
Su Youwan nodded, her skin, as fair and smooth as the finest white jade, seeming to glow in the darkness.
Her expression remained blank.
"Before my grandmother passed, she told you to take care of me. But now, it seems I’ll be the one taking care of you. If you die, I’ll collect your body."
Lu Changyuan found this somewhat amusing. "And how do you know for certain that I’ll die?"
Su Youwan cultivated the Destined Celestial Dao, making her a semi-expert in evading Celestial Tribulations. She could sense that the tribulation in the sky had been gathering for a long time and was growing more furious. It now possessed power at least equivalent to the Yao Guang realm.
The man before her, Lu Changyuan, hadn’t even reached the Fifth Realm of Entering the Dao. How long could he possibly last?
The silver-haired maiden shook her head. "It would be for the best if you could survive, of course. That way, no one would be made a widow... I’m referring to Miss Xia."
Lu Changyuan looked at the sky and said softly, "Third Princess, I find the Celestial Dao to be truly unreasonable, even arrogant. It’s always been like this, recklessly handing down tribulations without any regard for circumstance."
"Mm, the Celestial Dao has always been this way."
Su Youwan said, "Mortals suffer their entire lives. They toil day in and day out just to fill their stomachs, yet never find a peaceful home. The Celestial Dao shows no pity for this, which might be excusable. But the moment someone goes against its will, the Celestial Dao flies into a rage and inflicts an excessively heavy punishment. It’s not supposed to have any emotions or favoritism."
"So, if you insist on doing this, I will pick out a fine coffin for you. Carved from redwood, wrapped in gold thread. Then I’ll find you an auspicious burial plot."
The Third Princess smiled. That flash of elegance made even the Blood Thunder in the sky lose its color. "This way, you won’t reanimate as a corpse."
Lu Changyuan muttered, "What an ill omen."
BOOM!!!
The Thunder Tribulation had arrived abruptly.
Lu Changyuan said, "Go!"
The Third Princess said no more and drifted away. She found a spot, opened her umbrella, and watched Lu Changyuan face the tribulation.
The Thunder Tribulation had come half a day early.
Feng Xianlong’s legacy had only lasted for two and a half days. This meant Lu Changyuan had to stall for an extra half day.
’It’s all the same, I suppose,’ Lu Changyuan thought.
The young man then rose to his feet, holding a three-foot-long sword, and addressed the Celestial Dao. "From the moment I began cultivating, I deliberately avoided the world. The more people I knew, the greater the Karma. But even so, the few friends I had left have all Fallen into Demonhood, leaving me completely alone."
Shallow karmic ties can be managed, but deep bonds dictate one’s every move.
Lu Changyuan thought of many people: Su Wuxiang, the Palace Master of the Sun and Moon Palace, the former Sect Leader of the Qingcao Sword Sect. But the last person who came to mind was the little girl from all those years ago.
Broken Thought floated by his side, then let out a clear, ringing hum.
The sword could hear its master’s thoughts.
Lu Changyuan’s aura began to climb rapidly, and another star lit up in the sky.
The star belonging to the Emotionless Dao, which had been dormant for a long time, now shone with a light that illuminated the world. But in the next moment, that very star exploded.
Lu Changyuan had never felt such a surge of emotion.
No, to be more precise, he hadn’t felt this way in at least a thousand years. Savoring it carefully, he identified the emotion: it was called anger.
Rage at the unfair and excessive punishment filled his mind, finally transforming into a towering inferno. An inextinguishable energy surged from his chest, like a scorching sun.
"When Wuxiang Fell into Demonhood, you sent a Celestial Tribulation, and I didn’t stop you. When I broke the rules by Entering Yao Guang, you sent a Celestial Tribulation for me, and I accepted my fate. But on what grounds do you send a Blood Thunder tribulation for her?"
Xia Lianxue’s crime did not deserve this.
Even a purple thunder tribulation would have been one thing, but you just had to send the fatal Blood Thunder.
Lu Changyuan spoke with a calmness, as if he were merely describing what he had for dinner last night.
"During times of turmoil, she maintained the peace of the Mortal World. As a Seventh Realm Yao Guang, she never brought chaos to the world. She only reversed the river of time because she wanted to find me. She didn’t harm a single person."
Xia Lianxue felt she was at fault, and so she deserved to die under the Celestial Tribulation.
But Lu Changyuan didn’t think so.
"She disrupted time for my sake. Therefore, I will be the one to bear this Karma."
Every injustice has its perpetrator, and every debt has its debtor.
He, Lu Changyuan, was the one who should bear this Karma.
"Today, I am going to have a proper discussion with you!"
At that moment, the Supreme Pure Spirit Forget Immortal Technique completely shattered. His already fractured state of mind crumbled entirely.
Lu Changyuan’s aura was completely sublimated. The power of a Seventh Realm Yao Guang swept over everything, threatening the desolate autumn.
He still had one sword left, after all.
Soon, a mask appeared in Lu Changyuan’s hand. It was pure white, adorned with flowing, crescent-shaped golden patterns.
"I ended an era where men preyed on men in the Mortal World. I suppressed the Desire Demon for a thousand years. I cultivated for the sake of the world for a thousand years. If, in the end, I can’t even protect my own person... that would be laughable."
Lu Changyuan slowly put on the mask, revealing only a pair of eyes that looked upon the Celestial Dao with contempt.
And so, the Cultivators who had been trembling in fear suddenly no longer feared the Celestial Dao.
"Tang’Er didn’t harm a single soul, yet you send a death tribulation. Ha! I refuse to accept it."
"You were like this five hundred years ago, sending all sorts of excessive tribulations down on the Human Race. You’re still the same now. In that case, I will simply act as I did five hundred years ago."
The bloody Tribulation Thunder seemed about to disperse to pursue Xia Lianxue. Lu Changyuan shot into the sky, Yin Yang Qi forming a massive Yin Yang Fish behind him.
The Celestial Tribulation was forcibly stopped in its tracks.
Unless it killed Lu Changyuan, it could not leave this place.
And so, the roiling Thunder Tribulation, carrying with it the weight of the Red Dust, came crashing down.
Lu Changyuan smiled, a wide grin spreading across his face. If Xia Lianxue were here, she would undoubtedly be shocked that he could show such intense emotion.
A clear, resonant cry of epiphany spread throughout the heavens and earth.
"To hell with the Emotionless Dao!"
"Today, I will teach you my principle!"
There is a song in the Mortal World that goes: Platinum Face, Three-foot Sword, a thousand years of peace in the Mortal World.
The Chang’an Daoist has reappeared in the world!
Then came the Imperial Decree.
"Spring and Autumn, Summer and Winter!"
The Four Seasons of heaven and earth began to shift with extreme speed. In the blink of an eye, spring, summer, autumn, and winter had all passed. A flower would bloom and wither in the space of a few breaths. This cycle repeated, and with each season, a longsword rapidly condensed and fell before Lu Changyuan.
I seize the Celestial Dao’s authority over the changing of the Four Seasons and forge it into my sword!
The Spring Sword was Qingyang, the Summer Sword was Vermilion, the Autumn Sword was Bai Cang, and the Winter Sword was Profound Yin.
Lu Changyuan spoke again. "Pure Yang, Supreme Yin."
Spring and Autumn, Summer and Winter, merged in pairs. The cycle of the Four Seasons became Yin Yang Qi, forming the Pure Yang Sword and the Supreme Yin Sword.
The immense Yin Yang Qi met the Blood Thunder tribulation head-on. The massive shockwave uprooted trees for thousands of miles around, and churning water rose to fall as rain.
Only a tiny silhouette remained in the sky, facing the man-eating thunder and drawing its sword.
The wind paused for an instant. Sound waves, impossible to see with the naked eye, exploded in bursts.
The Pure Yang and Supreme Yin swords shaved off half the tribulation’s cloud layer, causing the Blood Thunder itself to grow indistinct.
BOOM!
The Celestial Dao grew even more furious. The frenzied lightning nearly turned the hundred-thousand-mile mountains into a field of thunder.
Lu Changyuan wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth. "Today, I’d like to see just how much you’ve improved since I struck you with that sword five hundred years ago."
The Yin Yang Qi flowed and circulated, finally merging once more to become the final sword.
"Yin and Yang give birth to all things."
"The clear is the source of the turbid; motion is the foundation of stillness."
The two forces of Yin and Yang combined. Black and white transformed into the purest, most primordial origin—the "One" from which heaven and earth began.
Hence, this sword is named:
Taiyi!
A sun in the clear blue sky; a single sword to pierce the mysteries of heaven and earth.
The energy of the stars, magnificent and towering, to cleave the heavenly thunder.
This is Lu Changyuan’s principle!