Chapter Sixty: With a Sword in the Heart, All Things Become Blades

Before setting out, Zhang Daozhen handed Zhong Ming a pill.

The pill was a pale green, with a strong herbal aroma. Zhong Ming pinched his nose and swallowed it; according to Zhang Daozhen, it was called the Swift Pill, capable of boosting stamina and increasing running speed.

Following Zhang Daozhen's instructions, Zhong Ming focused his energy in his lower body. As he ran, he felt noticeably lighter, leaping more than a yard with ease.

Even Zhang Nianchen, whom he carried, seemed lighter. Zhong Ming moved with remarkable speed.

"Daoist Zhang, your pills are truly extraordinary. Next time, get me a few more," Zhong Ming chatted with Zhang Daozhen as they hurried back.

Zhang Daozhen grinned and scoffed, "Do you take my elixirs for ordinary candy? They're not so easy to come by. If it weren't an emergency, I wouldn't have used one myself."

Zhong Ming laughed wryly, thinking the old Daoist was stingy. He clearly recalled seeing Zhang Nianchen gobbling pills like candy at the Immortal Stone. Yet when it came to himself, the old man was reluctant to share.

They had just left the barren hills, when they saw the tide of corpses surging in the distance.

Zhong Ming’s face lost all trace of humor; Muddy Village was surrounded by the corpse tide.

Zhang Daozhen halted as well, sensing the distant waves of corpses battering the Divine Hidden Seven Stars Array around Muddy Village. He asked, "The corpse aura is thick here. It seems the tide remains near the village. Zhong Ming, has the corpse tide not moved toward the town?"

Unable to see, the old Daoist could only ask Zhong Ming.

Zhong Ming replied anxiously, "Daoist Zhang, your array seems not to be working. The corpse tide is piling up around the village, encircling it."

Around Muddy Village, the broken bodies formed a ring. Though not as terrifying as the initial surge of ten thousand corpses, several hundred remained, most lingering near the hillside behind Zhong Ming’s courtyard.

"How strange," Zhang Daozhen muttered. He uncorked his jade gourd; two mysterious pills—one gold and one green—reappeared. One orbited the old Daoist, while the other flew to Zhong Ming’s side, enveloping him protectively.

Zhang Daozhen calculated for a while before saying, "Zhong Ming, the Seven Stars Array has malfunctioned. We must hurry to the Yaoguang star position to investigate."

The Divine Hidden Seven Stars Array was built in accordance with the Big Dipper, the seven stars divided into Tianshu, Tianxuan, Tianji, Tianquan, Yuheng, Kaiyang, and Yaoguang. Li Guangling had stood at the head, the Tianshu position, while Liang Yu had been at the end, Yaoguang.

Liang Yu had been distracted, spilling the lamp oil in his copper lantern and refilling it with ordinary oil, making do as best he could, and thus his position had gone awry.

The old Daoist was skilled; though blind, he could divine the local energies and perceived that the Yaoguang position’s starlight was dim—a sign of trouble.

"Zhong Ming, I’ll use a Yin Pill to shield you. No evil force can draw near. Just go forward; if an evil corpse lunges at you, pay it no mind."

With the mysterious pill guarding him, Zhong Ming’s courage grew. He placed Zhang Nianchen into Zhang Daozhen’s arms and said, "Daoist Zhang, I’ll go ahead and take a look."

With that, Zhong Ming drew the Blade of Yama’s Silence and charged alone toward the hillside.

Zhang Daozhen sighed, slung his apprentice across his back, and hurried after Zhong Ming, worried for his safety.

After a few strides, Zhong Ming entered the midst of the corpse tide. The dark green pill spun around him; any corpse that attempted to approach was struck aside, as if Zhong Ming were untouchable.

Yet the tide was so dense that breaking through was difficult.

Before him stood a silent, snarling corpse—long buried, its flesh mostly rotted away, scraps of meat clinging to the bones, viscera trailing across the ground.

Compared to Liu Chengyin’s mountain of blood and corpses, this tide was far less imposing; at least Liu’s corpses had flesh, while these were mostly skeletal.

Suppressing his nausea, Zhong Ming hacked down the corpse before him, forcing his way forward with the pill’s protection.

When he reached the foot of the slope, he saw figures darting amidst the corpses.

Liang Yu wielded a broad blade, cursing as he hacked left and right, doing everything he could to block the tide at the foot of the hill.

These corpses were strange, attacking only where Liang Yu stood, ignoring other areas.

What shocked Zhong Ming even more was that Liang Yu’s colorful-feathered rooster had somehow joined him, fluttering about, its golden talons and sharp beak felling corpses with a few strikes.

Atop the hillside stood another figure.

This man wore a tiger-skin vest, holding a longbow wrapped in white cloth. From time to time, he raised his hand, and arrows of black wind shot forth, knocking down corpses that breached Liang Yu’s defense.

The wind became an arrow—one shot shattered a corpse.

After destroying the evil corpse, the arrow’s momentum continued, burrowing deep into the earth, piercing the ground to unfathomable depths.

He only acted when a corpse broke through Liang Yu’s guard.

Zhong Ming, sharp-eyed, instantly recognized the man as Hu the Hunter—Hu Su.

Seeing his uncanny bow, Zhong Ming was secretly amazed: he’d long heard that Hu the Hunter had an extraordinary background, but hadn’t expected such skill. That technique of conjuring arrows from nothing could only belong to a martial arts master.

He recalled Mr. Guo mentioning the Martial Heavens Rankings, where only legendary figures could turn a leaf into a sword.

The most famous was the old Sword Sage Su Tingyou, who had topped the list a century ago.

It was said that when Su Tingyou perfected his swordsmanship, he realized the ultimate realm of ‘the sword in one’s heart, anything may become a blade,’ and contended for the title of Sword Sage atop Azure Phoenix Mountain against the ancestor of the Southern Flower Sect.

The old ancestor, wielding the divine blade Jinghong, asked, "Su Tingyou, where is your sword?"

Su Tingyou smiled calmly, pinched a flower petal, and replied, "This is my sword."

How fierce that duel was, tales varied. But the outcome was the same.

Half a day later, Su Tingyou strolled down the mountain, smiling to the martial heroes below: "From today, there is only Sword Sage Su Tingyou in the world; the Sword Ancestor of Southern Flower is no more."

The old ancestor never descended again—alive or dead, none knew.

From then on, Su Tingyou’s fame shook the martial world, and turning a leaf into a sword became an unsurpassed peak in swordsmanship.

The principle was akin to Hu Su’s conjured arrows—a supreme martial truth of shaping energy into form. Only the thirty-six legends atop the Martial Heavens Rankings could achieve such feats.

Even Yang Yanlang, the top of the Earth Rankings, could not shape a spear from energy.

Staring at Hu Su, Zhong Ming was momentarily lost in thought. He had never imagined such a figure hidden among them.

Perhaps sensing Zhong Ming’s gaze, Hu Su looked back, then quietly put away his bow, leapt down the hillside, and vanished into the night.

While Zhong Ming was still stunned, Zhang Daozhen strode across corpse heads, moving with the grace of a swallow, hurrying up from behind.

"Zhong Ming, why have you stopped here—are you obstructed?

Let me open the way for you!"

The mysterious pill on Zhang Daozhen shone brilliantly, forcibly pushing aside the corpses and creating a path.

Daoist techniques were wondrous, but compared to Hu Su’s arrow that shattered a corpse, they were far less forceful.

Martial heroes might not match Daoist arts in strangeness, but in sheer power, the Daoist techniques Zhong Ming had seen paled beside Hu Su’s archery.

Prompted by the old Daoist’s shout, Zhong Ming snapped out of it and hurried after Zhang Daozhen to Liang Yu.

Liang Yu nearly broke down when he saw Zhong Ming, shouting, "Ming, you’re finally back! That old Daoist nearly got me killed!"

Zhong Ming had no time to respond; he kept swinging his blade, channeling the newly gathered true energy within, and unleashed the Sweeping Sand technique.

Zhong Ming now wielded the broad blade differently, adapting with greater flexibility.

Sweeping Sand with the broad blade sent a crescent-shaped force slashing forward, pushing back the corpses.

Seizing the moment, Zhang Daozhen anxiously asked Liang Yu, "Boy, where’s the copper lantern I gave you?"

"That useless lantern of yours was no help—what use is it?" Liang Yu was nearly in tears; who knew how he’d survived in a sea of corpses.

Even so, he hurriedly picked up the copper lantern at his feet and handed it to Zhang Daozhen.

Zhang Daozhen sniffed it and scolded, "You reckless brat! Who told you to change the lamp oil?

That oil is crucial for confusing the eyes of evil corpses. Without it, how could it work?"

"How was I to know your lamp oil was special? I saw it was nearly empty, so I topped it off," Liang Yu muttered, guilty but stubborn.

Zhang Daozhen had no time to argue; Zhong Ming was calling, "Daoist Zhang, quickly, do something—I can't hold out much longer!"

Zhang Daozhen sighed, refilled the lantern with the proper oil, and handed it to Liang Yu: "Take the lantern and stand at your original position—if we delay longer, the other nodes will fail as well."

Liang Yu dared not disobey, hurriedly lit the lantern and returned to his spot.

Zhang Daozhen took out powder packets and reconnected the red powder lines ruined by the evil corpses. The corpses instantly lost their target, wandering aimlessly outside the red line like headless flies.

With this, the Divine Hidden Seven Stars Array resumed operation, and everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

Zhong Ming sheathed his blade, surveying the scene; fortunately, all were safe. Liang Yu, though battered, was unhurt, crouching at the array’s edge, gasping for breath.

The colorful-feathered rooster was the worst off, having lost two of its seven long tail feathers, its backside nearly bare.

The old Daoist Zhang Daozhen was also winded; after resting, he asked, "Zhong Ming, I heard a rooster crowing nearby—was there a big rooster here?"

Zhong Ming replied, "There was."

"May I hold it for a moment?"

Zhong Ming, too, found the rooster unusually valiant tonight and somewhat strange. He picked up Iron General and handed it to Zhang Daozhen.

The rooster was especially docile tonight, perhaps exhausted from battle, letting Zhong Ming cradle him, shaking his head and clucking.

Zhang Daozhen felt the rooster carefully, from comb to beak to claws, examining every part.

He nodded repeatedly, "No mistake—this is a Golden-Eyed, Color-Feathered Rooster. No wonder that rascal could guard the array node. Without this divine creature, Muddy Village would have fallen long ago."

The old Daoist hadn't seen Hu Su’s archery, so naturally Zhong Ming said nothing. What intrigued him more was the rooster.

This bird, usually battered by Liang Yu or chased off by himself, had been called a divine creature by the old Daoist. What made it so special?

So Zhong Ming asked, "Daoist Zhang, what’s so remarkable about this rooster?"