Green Mountain

"Land of Hidden Swords?" Xuanyuan's gaze was deep: "You want to take the sword I've pinned in the earth's veins? You've already known that I killed you, yet you expect me to help you?"

"It was I who pushed you to the brink."

"It was I who killed your friends."

"It was I who pierced your skull with a single sword."

"Even so, you still think I would help you?"

Chen Ji thought for a moment: "You were also forced, weren't you?"

Xuanyuan was slightly stunned.

He came to the edge of Qingshan Cliff, silently watching the clouds roll and unfold outside the cliff, the black clouds in the sky and the white clouds outside the cliff seemed like heaven and earth, yin and yang, the clear air in between, like the primordial chaos just torn open by Pangu.

Xuanyuan suddenly said: "After two lifetimes, you are still the one who understands me the most."

Chen Ji came to the cliff edge and stood with him side by side, the mountain wind blew their hair: "Otherwise, this day would not have been repeated here, repeated for fifteen thousand years."

Xuanyuan pointed to the battlefield: "For fifteen thousand years, I've been repeating this day, pondering whether there's another possibility, whether there's a possibility to not thrust that sword. Yet, after fifteen thousand years, if I return to that day, I would still thrust that sword. It's as if what you said to me, a king does not need friends. No, a king will not have friends."

Chen Ji smiled: "So in this lifetime I will not be a king again, and if you have another life, you shouldn't be one either."

Xuanyuan was silent for a long time: "Alright."

Both stood quietly for a long time, Xuanyuan looked at Chen Ji: "The Dao has no shortcuts, my cultivation of the sword seed was stepped through by killing, but taking the sword from the earth's veins will necessarily lack the tempering of Sword Intent, remember, everything in this world is conserved, when you find a shortcut, you've already lost a lot in the shadows."

Chen Ji calmly said: "I know. But I don't have great ambitions or aspirations, I don't seek immortality."

Xuanyuan remained silent.

Chen Ji knew he was hesitating, but didn't know why he hesitated.

Until much later, Xuanyuan softly lamented: "Qing Niao's courage is still too great, how dare he send you out of the 'Forty-nine Heavens'? Back then, he should have been killed along with you."

Chen Ji was puzzled: "What?"

Xuanyuan looked back at him: "If Qing Niao is the person who most hopes you live, then I am the one who most hopes you die. In these fifteen thousand years, I spent half the time regretting killing you, and the other half regretting not killing you sooner. If you had died in the heavy snow of East Kunlun that year, maybe there wouldn't have been all those stories later."

Chen Ji curiously asked: "What happened in East Kunlun?"

Xuanyuan answered mismatched: "Let's make a deal, I'll give you the Land of Hidden Swords, but when you unite with the Dao, you cannot choose your Dao, you must choose mine."

Chen Ji felt Xuanyuan's words today carried too many riddles, hiding too many secrets: "What's the difference?"

Xuanyuan casually said: "Dao is incompatible, when you unite with the Dao, you naturally have to abandon one."

Chen Ji pondered for a moment: "In this lifetime, whether I can live to unite with the Dao is still uncertain, truly uniting with the Dao, who knows when that will be."

"If you cannot unite with the Dao in this world, then who can?" Xuanyuan laughed heartily: "I've waited fifteen thousand years, I can wait."

At this moment, the crowing of roosters reached Chen Ji's ears, the sky was about to brighten.

...

...

After more than ten rooster crows fell, Chen Ji opened his eyes on the bed, Xiao Man was unusually not napping next to the bed.

He turned and got up, walking barefoot to the desk, grinding ink, spreading Xuan paper, recording every detail he heard about the Land of Hidden Swords just now, fearing there might be omissions.

"From the Heavenly Son Capital forward along a line... Nine folds of the waterfall like a dragon, sword hidden in the spring's eye..."

"North of Chongwu Mountain, where Huangsha River winds, Copper Bull Sword..."

"Where mountains of red leaves fall, Stone Tortoise Swallows Sword..."

"At the peak of Fuyu Mountain, Tao River root vein..."

"Tiger mouth swallowing the sea, sword hidden at the tiger's tooth..."

The clues spanning tens of thousands of years are extremely vague, the only certain place currently is the Heavenly Son Capital... which is the Nine Dragon Waterfall of Huangshan Dao Court where a sword is hidden in the spring eye.

And this Land of Hidden Swords, some seem to be in Jing Dynasty.

Like "Tiger mouth swallowing the sea," it sounds like Bohai, and "Tiger tooth," either in Ning Dynasty Weihai or Jing Dynasty Lushun.

Thinking like this is useless, one has to go to the governor of the Yulin Army to see the map, comparing slowly with the map to find the place.

Chen Ji picked up the Xuan paper and blew dry the ink, yet heard Xiao Man's urging voice outside the door: "You little monk, what's the matter with you, can't shoulder anything, can't lift anything, I have to make separate vegetarian meals for you every day, can't you eat meat with us?"

The little monk panted as he spoke: "Miss Xiao Man, this monk is a monk and cannot touch meat. If the Bhikkhu Precepts are broken, the practice is half complete. My master said, the four Pārājika offenses, the thirteen Saṅghādisesas, the thirty sikkhāpadas..."

Xiao Man impatiently said: "What are you babbling about, get the shoulder pole right, the water is spilling!"

The little monk said with justified indignation: "In any case, the precepts cannot be broken."

Xiao Man scornfully said: "Yet haven't seen you achieve anything in your practice."

The little monk hesitated for a moment: "True."

Chen Ji folded the written paper and tucked it into his chest, went out and saw Xiao Man entering the courtyard with a food box in hand, the little monk following behind with a pole and bucket, lastly was the Little Black Cat hopping along.

Chen Ji found it amusing: "Why is the little monk fetching water early in the morning?"

Xiao Man quickly said: "He stays home every day not daring to do anything, he must be given something to do."

The little monk bent down to put down the pole, rubbed his shoulder, and looked at Chen Ji: "Patron, yesterday you went to the Ancestor Silkworm Altar, this monk first washed two clothes, two sets of bedding, then helped Miss Xiao Man wash, select, and chop vegetables, also had to sweep the floor, mop the floor, clear cobwebs. Amitabha Buddha, won't you send the monk back to Yuanjue Temple?"