World's No. 1 Swordsman-Chapter 517: The Sword Immortals Name

In an unremarkable little courtyard on the third qi planet of the Celestial Wind Sect.

"Qianzhang, Yunzhi! Wake up, stop cultivating! Something huge just happened!" Huai Jing shouted while activating the layered arrays that he had set up earlier. He looked full of excitement.

In the qi-gathering formations at the two corners of the yard, Shi Qianzhang and Liu Yunzhi broke out of their meditation almost simultaneously.

"Is there news about Fei Yu?"

"Damn it, Huai Jing! Why are you yelling? I just comprehended a supreme technique. If you don't give me some of your golden bones to mess around with as payment, I will never let this go!"

A sharp swish of sword cry cut through the air as Nameless swept past them. With practiced ease, the old sword spirit slapped a talisman on Shi Qianzhang's mouth. The courtyard instantly quieted down.

Huai Jing gestured for them to gather at the small stone table they used for discussions. "The last two days, I had been at the Jinglin Temple, playing chess with the abbot. On my way back earlier, a little novice passed me some information."

He paused, glanced left and right, then lowered his voice.

"The Celestial Wind Sect is in chaos!"

Shi Qianzhang peeled the talisman off his mouth and muttered, "What does that have to do with us?"

Huai Jing raised an eyebrow. "Just stay quiet and listen for now. You'll see how it involves us."

He chose not to keep them guessing. After clearing his throat, he launched into a lively exposition.

"The unaffiliated practitioners of the thirteen nearby qi planets survive by making a living out of the ancient battlefield. That's why they formed sects like the Celestial Wind Sect, the Pineapple Sect, and the Wantong Sect.

"Those great sects maintain respectable images on the surface, but behind closed doors, they control the planets in the region. They run the marketplaces and inns, monopolize pills and artifact crafting, and squeeze every unaffiliated practitioner dry. And those aren't even their most shameless ventures.

"Countless experts died on this battlefield during the two ancient battles of the Ancient Era. When long-lived immortals fall, the resentment in their hearts can turn into fiendish devils. Some places even become restricted lands.

"Recently, trouble brewed in one of those areas: a blood mine under the Celestial Wind Sect's control. Though that place was filled with fiend-blood energy, it was also rich in blood essences and bloodshade grass.

"Mining those resources requires experts above the True Immortal Realm. Since the Celestial Wind Sect didn't want to send its own True Immortals to mine, they secretly captured unaffiliated practitioners on the ancient battlefield. Ascended Immortals to Primordial Immortals were dragged over to dig for them!"

Huai Jing paused.

"No way!" Li Yunzhi exclaimed.

Shi Qianzhang also simultaneously exploded into curses. "Did they capture Brother Sheng? Those fuckign bastards! I'm going to flatten them!"

Liu Yunzhi and Huai Jing gestured for him to calm down at once, and Nameless pulled out another talisman. Shi Qianzhang immediately shrank his neck and grinned in guilt.

Huai Jing laughed. "You guessed right. Based on all the information I've gotten so far, the Celestial Wind Sect did capture Fei Yu."

Liu Yunzhi lowered his voice. "Can you calm down for once, Qianzhang? Fei Yu's not even here."

"As soon as Brother Sheng is mentioned, I get excited. Very excited."

"Let me continue." Huai Jing intoned Buddha's name. In high spirits, he continued, "That blood mine had been running for several thousand years. It was one of the Celestial Wind Sect's foundations, and they always had a Heavenly Immortal, twenty True Immortals, and two hundred celestial soldiers guarding and making sure it was operating smoothly.

"But guess what happened? Half a year ago, that mine suddenly exploded! A group of miners escaped and sought refuge under the Fengli Sect. A few days ago, the Celestial Wind Sect and the Fengli Sect started hurling insults at each other, pushing the Fengli Sect to expose the truth. News spread across all thirteen qi planets!"

Huai Jing went on to describe everything that he had heard about the day the blood mine collapsed.

Much of the information had already become distorted. Still, two figures had been greatly exaggerated.

One was the source of the fiend-blood energy in the mine—the imposing fiendish devil skeleton in immortal armor. Wielding a giant greatsword, it killed the vice sect master of the Celestial Wind Sect and then dealt a heavy blow to Long Aotian, their oldest elder.

The other was an unidentified sword immortal.

There were numerous accounts about the fiendish devil skeleton, but everyone knew it was simply the spiritual consciousness residue of a mighty warrior from the ancient war. Apart from sighing at the Celestial Wind Sect's bad luck, there was little else to say.

The sword immortal, however, was a much more interesting matter. According to the Fengli Sect, their sect master's disciple—an immortal maiden named Caiwei—had infiltrated the blood mine to rescue the unaffiliated practitioners. She had only seen the sword immortal a few times and hadn't interacted much with him, but they were once imprisoned in the same cage.

When the sword immortal was first thrown into the cage, he was only at the Ascended Immortal Realm and looked nothing out of the ordinary. He was even assigned to simply chip at a stone cliff for two hundred years because he wasn't strong enough to enter the mine. However, in the suffocating environment filled with fiend-blood energy, he cultivated his way to the late-stage Ascended Immortal Realm.

He worked in the mine for six more years after that, then vanished. Finally, half a year ago, he reappeared just as the blood mine erupted. The sword immortal seemed to have awakened the fiendish devil skeleton and dealt a heavy blow to the Celestial Wind Sect.

When the skeleton emerged and cut down Ji Li, dozens of True Immortals and hundreds of celestial soldiers encircled the sword immortal. In response, the sword immortal carved a path through them again and again. With nothing but one sword, he unleashed a flawless sword technique that obliterated more than ten True Immortals and over a hundred celestial soldiers.

"That has to be Brother Sheng! There's no doubt about it! With the Heavenly Ziwei Sword, he always fearlessly faces multiple opponents!"

Shi Qianzhang flushed red as he jumped to the side, clenching and shaking his fists. Looking as if madness had struck him senseless, he shouted one praise after another.

Nearby, Nameless clapped and laughed. "Hahaha! After hiding for centuries, he has finally unleashed his wrath and revealed his absolute strength. Fei Yu is truly impressive!"

Liu Yunzhi quickly asked, "What happened after that?"

"I'm not sure either. Apparently, all the Fengli Sect knows is that the fiendish devil skeleton first carried off the sword immortal, who is suspected to be Fei Yu." Huai Jing smiled. "After that, it turned back to face the Celestial Wind Sect's pursuit. They say it fought five Heavenly Immortals.

"No one knows how it ended. The Celestial Wind Sect allegedly lost another Heavenly Immortal, and two more were heavily injured, but some reports claim that all their Heavenly Immortals are alive and that they only lost a few treasures.

"What's even more interesting is that the skeleton's greatsword and immortal armor, which the Celestial Wind Sect coveted, vanished the moment it self-destructed. They then searched the ancient battlefield for half a year, probably looking for the sword immortal who escaped.

"Meanwhile, the Fengli Sect has publicly invited the sword immortal to join them. Rumor has it that if he joins, he may choose one of their thirteen renowned fairies as his Daoist partner. That's all the information I managed to gather."

Shi Qianzhang immediately remarked, "I doubt the Fengli Sect is righteous! Thirteen 'fairies'? Bah! I bet they're nowhere near as beautiful as Senior Sister Bu Yu! Bah! Flaunting that kind of nonsense between men and women is such disgraceful conduct!"

Liu Yunzhi laughed. "What if the Fengli Sect offered you the same conditions?"

Shi Qianzhang clasped his hands behind his back. Calmly, he answered, "It wouldn't be a bad idea for me to consider it. After all, I'm still single, and we could use the Fengli Sect's influence to secure a foothold in this region."

Huai Jing sternly instructed, "Alright, enough jokes. Senior Nameless is going to laugh at us. We have to discuss how to proceed."

Nameless said, "We have to first confirm whether the rumored sword immortal is actually Fei Yu. How many years has he been cultivating? Considering he fought dozens of True Immortals alone, I can't help but feel that something's still off."

Liu Yunzhi thought about it for a moment. "The Fengli Sect has to have exaggerated the news. All factors considered, the sword immortal is most likely Fei Yu. And the Celestial Wind Sect is probably hunting him down relentlessly right now. Since he doesn't know that we've come out, he's definitely still too worried about what lies sealed in a certain statue to leave on his own."

"Let's go gather information first." Huai Jing sighed softly and smiled. "After so many years, we've finally found traces of Fei Yu."

At the side, Shi Qianzhang chuckled. "Should we go to the Fengli Sect to investigate? Maybe have some fun with their fairies while we're at it?"

"Absolutely not," Liu Yunzhi answered. "We shouldn't make contact with any faction or reveal our presence until we've reunited with Fei Yu. If we get confirmation that the sword immortal went to the Fengli Sect, then we can go. It won't be too late for us to find him then."

Huai Jing's gaze deepened slightly. "Yunzhi is right. Considering its influence, the Fengli Sect probably isn't any cleaner than the Celestial Wind Sect."

Nameless and the trio nodded in agreement. They then split up to gather intel once more.

Over the following days, rumors spread across the thirteen qi planets. The Fengli Sect and the Celestial Wind Sect began to clash, sparks ready to ignite a full-scale war.

One moment, the news claimed that the Celestial Wind Sect had captured the sword immortal. The next, rumors spread that the Fengli Sect had formed an alliance with the sword immortal and intended to summon a powerful being's spiritual consciousness residue from a hundred thousand years ago to drag the Celestial Wind Sect into the abyss.

Rumors of every kind spread all over the region, leaving the group restless. Still, they managed to gather some useful details regarding the events of that day. The descriptions of the sword technique that the sword immortal had used seemed to almost perfectly match the Heavenly Ziwei Sword. After some discussion, they hurried to an exit point and used a device to transmit the information back to the Hua Republic.

Radio signals traveled far faster than Wang Sheng's fastest flight speed. Hence, when the Hua Republic had received the news that a sword immortal suspected to be Wang Sheng had begun seizing territory around the ancient battlefield for Earth's cultivation world, Spiritless was still a month away from Earth.

After sending the message, Huai Jing and the others continued gathering information on Tianfeng. Meanwhile, the Celestial Wind Sect, the Fengli Sect, and two other sizable factions were already facing off on Fengmo, one of the thirteen qi planets near the ancient battlefield.

Their conflict was close to erupting into a full-blown war that could reduce the battlefield to ruins. Hence, to allow them to go all out, they had chosen one of the unclaimed qi planets as their battleground.

Over the past few days, Wang Sheng had been observing from the shadows. He had also read the proclamations that the Fengli Sect had posted, though it didn't really make him feel anything except perhaps a faint urge to laugh.

Lan Huilin had escaped as well, and the report she had given the Fengli Sect preserved many details about him.

"Not bad. She finally used her head."

In a small courtyard, Wang Sheng sat on a meditation mat, quietly considering what he should do next. Although he had promised Yaoyun that he would keep a low profile until she returned, it felt wrong to ignore such a perfect chance to jab a sword into the Celestial Wind Sect.