World's No. 1 Swordsman-Chapter 505: Three Mens Confusion

I, a humble Daoist, cultivate in this place in seclusion. I'll spare you just this once. If you trespass again, you will be shown no mercy.

Shi Qianzhang muttered, "Was Earth originally the dwelling of some Grand Dao Golden Immortal? That makes no sense. We have so many—"

Unsure whether to laugh or cry, Huai Jing interjected with a somewhat scolding tone, "Fei Yu clearly left this. Feel the sword intent. It's the Heavenly Ziwei Sword Intent of the Heavenly Ziwei Sword Art, one of the Pure Yang Sword Faction's secret arts. Tsk, why did that sound so strange?"

Shi Qianzhang sighed. "That makes sense."

After discussing for a while, the three gradually concluded that Wang Sheng had left behind the carved message after coming across Ziyun and her companions intruders. At that time, the outer illusion array around Earth probably hadn't been exposed yet.

The three continued searching every corner in detail. After half a day, they finally found traces that the stone Buddha had once been reassembled.

Just as they concluded that Fei Yu hadn't come here while chasing the celestial insect, they found faint cracks at the Buddha statue's toe—marks of a small hole that had once been dug out.

Nameless manifested and used a rewinding technique, deducing that Wang Sheng had left this place nearly four hundred years ago and hadn't returned since.

Shi Qianzhang's eyes widened. "Four hundred years?! Good heavens... Does that mean Brother Sheng is basically as old as our grandfather's generation now?"

Liu Yunzhi and Huai Jing silently stepped forward and kicked Shi Qianzhang on his left and right buttocks. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

"Hahahaha." Nameless stroked his beard. "What should we do next? It's your call, 'seniors.'"

Huai Jing nodded like an experienced elder. "Since we're already here, it'd be a waste to head back without any news about Fei Yu. Besides, a hundred years here is just one year on Earth. We have plenty of time to work with."

Liu Yunzhi frowned. "Qianzhang and I aren't immortals yet. Even though Senior Nameless is protecting us, and you can instantly unleash immense power against strong opponents, we'll still be nothing but a burden out here."

"Don't put it that way," Shi Qianzhang floated back while rubbing his buttocks. He flipped once in the air and complained, "If we act properly, avoid staring, and don't run our mouths, there's no way the cultivators out here will rush up just to fuck us over."

Huai Jing smiled. "That's a crude way to put it, but Qianzhang's not wrong. The cultivation world isn't a place; it's the people. Without rules, it wouldn't be stable. As long as we avoid places that obviously look chaotic and go to large cities with many people and a calmer aura, we'll eventually learn something.

"Fei Yu's the child of heavenly fate from Eart—ahem, our homeland. Considering he's been wandering for four hundred years, he has probably made quite a name already."

Nameless stroked his beard and smiled. "He might have already reached the True Immortal Realm and become a famed sword cultivator."

"That would be ideal, " Liu Yunzhi replied seriously. "Just as Huai Jing had said, Fei Yu had no idea how to conceal his heavenly fate and could attract strong enemies. Our primary goal on this trip is to establish contact with him."

"I'm more worried that Fei Yu has already travelled way too far from this place."

Huai Jing shook his head and flew over to retrieve the Shadowless Shuttle. Nameless also followed the marks that Wang Sheng had previously cut, splitting open the Buddha statue's toe once more.

Soon after, the three suppressed their aura and slipped out from within the Buddha statue. Once outside, Shi Qianzhang and Liu Yunzhi froze. Neither could find the right words to describe the grandeur and depth of this ancient battlefield, which was over a hundred thousand years old.

Huai Jing sighed gently. "This is the outcome of the two battles that the Heavenly Court had fought when they entered and exited the Realm of Exiled Immortals. Though we can't really feel the passage of time in our homeland, it's pressing down on us heavily out here. It's definitely suffocating."

Shi Qianzhang replied, "Buddhist Master, that sounded a bit too poetic."

Huai Jing smiled faintly, then gazed at another shining star beside the ancient battlefield. "Unaffiliated practitioners probably try to profit off the dead in this kind of place. We should avoid it. See that star over there? A few qi planets revolving around it likely have primal qi.

"It's not too far from here, and it probably houses a large number of unaffiliated practitioners who rely on this ancient battlefield to survive. We should head there and ask around."

After a short discussion, they returned to the Shadowless Shuttle and sped toward the place that Huai Jing had pointed at.

His vast experience in the endless space was proving useful now. As he had guessed, the qi planet they were heading toward was one of the thirteen around the ancient battlefield that had been turned into a gathering place of unaffiliated practitioners.

As the saying went, a mountain that looked close could still tire out a horse. Even at the Shadowless Shuttle's top speed, it still took them over ten days to reach the star that they had deemed quite near.

In the shuttle, they discussed how to conceal their identities. They had to make thorough preparations. After all, details determined success.

Nameless's ancient sword was made of ordinary-grade material. It only developed a sword spirit because it had once belonged to the Wenqu Star. As long as he hid his aura, no one would pay attention to his vessel even if they carried it openly.

Buddhist cultivators were common throughout the cultivation world. Moreover, Huai Jing was only as strong as Tribulation Realm or Grand Immortal-Ascension Realm cultivators; he was far from being considered a powerhouse. Shi Qianzhang, a Nascent Soul Realm cultivator, looked plain and unremarkable. As long as he kept a low profile, no one would notice him.

The only problem was Liu Yunzhi's face.

Shi Qianzhang grinned and took out an ancient dress from his storage artifact. "How about we trouble you for a moment, Little Liu?"

Liu Yunzhi's mouth twitched. He casually pulled out a talisman specifically made for Shi Qianzhang, making the latter smile resentfully and put the ancient dress away.

Afterward, Liu Yunzhi took out a set of modern makeup and calmly said, "I came prepared. Just watch."

He put makeup on himself. It made him look a lot more ordinary, leaving Shi Qianzhang feeling a bit sentimental.

Huai Jing asked softly, "Little Liu, why do you have so much makeup around?"

Liu Yunzhi cleared his throat and answered with composure, "Let's focus on how to find Fei Yu. I doubt he'd travel under his real name."

They quickly formed a plan to search for Wang Sheng. After cultivating briefly along the way, they reached the outskirts of the qi planet, stored away the Shadowless Shuttle, and quietly descended on the planet, which was a bit smaller than Earth but had relatively dense primal qi.

As soon as they entered its atmosphere, they felt slightly surprised. It was filled with exotic flowers and fruits, and there were also strange beasts everywhere. However, all of its flora and fauna had certain similarities to those on Earth. Hence, though they found it strange at first, their surprise quickly subsided after thinking it over.

The growth and appearance of all things seemed to follow a general pattern. This could also have been some form of manifestation of the Great Dao.

On this planet, villages were built in regions with thin primal qi. Their population looked similar to Earth's humans. There were only small differences, such as the height of the nose bridge, the shape of the cheekbones, or the width of the jaw.

Cultivators occupied all areas with dense primal qi. They had even built a few massive cities within the sierras and forests, carved cave dwellings into the surrounding mountains, and moved even more mountains from afar, leaving unmistakable traces of Daoist arts.

No one stopped the trio or made them pay any sort of toll. They walked straight into one of the large cultivator cities. After discussing the situation, they decided to split up and gather information.

Half a day later, they met again in front of a large inn and paid the innkeeper three Immortal Stones to rent a courtyard with a qi-gathering and a few protective arrays carved into it. Upon closing the doors, they activated the arrays and sat on the stools around a stone table.

They sighed.

Shi Qianzhang said, "I mean, seriously—"

Huai Jing gestured for him to quiet down. He then closed his eyes, focused, raised a hand, and added a Buddhist array. Finally, he signaled the Daoist to continue. "Let's share all the intel we got."

"I used my specialty of being naturally sociable to ask the most informed people in this place." Shi Qianzhang spread his hands. "I got nothing."

Huai Jing looked puzzled. "Most informed? Who?"

Shi Qianzhang grinned. "Just some idle loafers. There are plenty of people here with poor aptitude wandering around, so I asked a few who were around my level. Cultivators like them are normally very sensitive to gossip, which makes them really well-informed.

"I even met an old drunk who had been crippled soon after becoming an immortal. He was practically a living fossil. I bought him a few jars of immortal wine and chatted with him for half a day. Unfortunately, he had never heard of any powerful immortal swordsman rising in the last few hundred years."

Liu Yunzhi asked, "Did you try—"

"I asked everything there was to ask." Shi Qianzhang took a sip of immortal spring water, then sighed. "I asked about 'Sword Immortal Pi Kachew,' Earth-Sword Immortal,' 'Sword of the Qi Stars,' and all the other titles I could think of. No one has heard of him.

"After that, I changed my approach and asked about the golden roc. Guess what? I actually found something! In all of the thirteen qi planets at the edge of this ancient battlefield, there's only one famous golden roc. It belonged to the subordinate of a certain unaffiliated practitioner called Fairy Ziyun. Obviously, Fairy Ziyun and her subordinate were the ones we... unalived.

"I also learned that they hadn't seen her for nearly two thousand years. According to the old drunk, she had likely already left this realm." Shi Qianzhang clicked his tongue. "Tsk. that bitch had plenty of scandals. She was rumored to be involved with many well-known experts of major factions."

"No need to mention useless information," Huai Jing interrupted, then turned to Liu Yunzhi.

In response, Liu Yunzhi reported, "I didn't find Fei Yu either, and I got far less intel. Apparently, this and the two other nearby planets all belong to the Celestial Wind Sect. They also own this inn and the shop outside that has a banner depicting an azure dragon and a fierce wolf.

"The sect was apparently founded tens of thousands of years ago and was now the strongest faction around the ancient battlefield. Moreover, they have quite a reputation in this area, which is why this qi planet is now called Tianfeng[1]."

"Alright, let's temporarily call this Tianfeng." Huai Jing scratched his head. "I went to the Buddhist temple here and asked around. I essentially learned the same as what you two have mentioned, but the abbot also told me about the temple's long history and the Celestial Wind Sect's dark past. They basically used force to seize whatever they wanted and expanded through bloodshed.

"We could end up being able to rely on the temple in the future. Anyway, let's take a vote. We can return home now, continue cultivating peacefully, and wait for Fei Yu to come back. Or we can stay here or at that temple and use the resources we brought to cultivate while searching for Fei Yu,"

Huai Jing then sighed.

"I prefer the latter. After all, we need to warn Fei Yu about concealing his heavenly fate."

Shi Qianzhang and Liu Yunzhi exchanged a glance. Shi Qianzhang then declared with heroic righteousness, "When I came out on this journey, I did not plan on returning alive!"

Liu Yunzhi immediately fell speechless. He slapped a talisman onto Shi Qianzhang, then said, "If we're staying, we should at least return to the entrance, cross the wormhole, and send home a message that contains all the intel we've gathered."

"Alright, we'll all go." Huai Jing glanced at the refined modern device inside his storage artifact. "We should also ask Bu Yu about the soul lamp. I'm actually worried about Fei Yu now. Spending more than four hundred years out here without making a name for himself doesn't sound like his destiny at all."

Nameless and the three nodded. They stayed two more days, confirmed no one was paying attention to them, then slipped away from the planet under the cover of night.

1. "Tianfeng" is the pinyin for "Celestial Wind Star." ☜