Those who bore the most profound impression of the Great Qi’s Marquis of Wu An’s divine might, besides the people of Southern Xia, were undoubtedly the people of Liang.

In those initial days, when his cavalry trampled the lands of several prefectures in Great Xia, facing six Divine Realm cultivators with only two of their own, slaying the Marquis of North Township, Shang Yanhui, and quelling the disaster waters – all of this unfolded directly before the eyes of the Liang people! Had it not been for the southward advance of the Qi forces, they would have had little hope of holding Jin An Prefecture without being routed by the Xia and having their king captured. They would have been offering thanks to the heavens just to survive. No matter how the common folk were swayed by propaganda, a scion of the Liang imperial lineage like Kang Wenhao knew the truth in his heart.

After the carriage had traveled a considerable distance, Chu Yao couldn’t help but ask, “Master, why were you unwilling to meet that general just now? He looked very displeased.”

“I have a thought to share with you, alright or not, you decide for yourself,” Jiang Wang’s voice drifted from within the carriage. “When it’s just us, as long as we don’t harm others, anything is acceptable. But when we venture out, representing the nation, every word and action must be mindful of our identity.”

He continued, “If Huang Deyi himself had come this time, I naturally would have received him. He is much older, and we should show respect to the elderly. As for others, be they vice-generals or auxiliary generals, there is no need to concern ourselves. If I were to meet every Tom, Dick, and Harry, I would lose my standing unnecessarily.”

Chu Yao nodded in confusion. “Master, I understand.”

For Jiang Wang, trivial rules like forbidding guards or allowing him to travel alone to Sword Pavilion, which the Liang people deliberately imposed to assert their authority, were something he could easily comply with. He simply did not take them to heart.

Although Ruan Qu had advised him to adopt a more youthful and ostentatious style for this journey, there was no need for him to flaunt it before the Liang people or these minor guards and soldiers. Actions like forcibly pushing through checkpoints, creating diplomatic incidents, and other such time-wasting behaviors were utterly pointless. It wasn’t as if he would fly into a rage and draw his sword to slaughter these low-ranking soldiers following orders.

The Liang people’s confidence rested primarily on the Sword Pavilion and the Blood River Sect. His intent was to display his prowess at the Sword Pavilion itself.

At that time, the Liang people would naturally understand the appropriate demeanor.

As for figures like the Liang Prince Kang Wenhao, they were merely minor interludes on the journey.

He was willing to cooperate with Liang regarding their existing governance in Jin An Prefecture, but that didn’t mean everyone had the right to waste his time. The Liang soldiers stationed in Jin An Prefecture were rare elites. Even the original Xia border army of Jin An, who had surrendered to Liang, possessed commendable combat strength. Yet, with Chu Yao, a boy nearing nine years old, thin and dark-skinned, driving the carriage alone along the main road, these soldiers could only watch from the sidelines, daring not to act rashly.

For Chu Yao, this was a rare and invaluable experience.

He knew his master was an extraordinary figure, having witnessed his might firsthand back in Wa Kiln Town, where everyone from the Pavilion Master to the Town Chief and even the City Lord became as meek as small cats in his presence. But he hadn’t realized that his master’s prestige was so formidable that he could command respect even in a foreign land! Only now did he begin to grasp the meaning of “world-renowned, military exploits illustrious.”

His grip on the reins tightened, and a surge of pride filled him.

Along the long official road, with the carriage wheels creaking, Jiang Wang simply closed his eyes and rested. Chu Yao, from time to time, conversed with the white ox, feeling no sense of loneliness. Until at a certain moment, he suddenly lifted his eyes, and a chain of towering mountains lay before them like a colossal beast. Looking up, the mountain shadows stretched endlessly.

Within the majestic peaks, a narrow canyon path, as if cleaved by a sword, allowed a sliver of sky to pierce through. Amidst the dense dark green and black, a single white line traversed. This was Ask Sword Gorge.

Compared to Broken Soul Gorge, it was not necessarily more perilous. But its sheer cliffs were like honed blades, and sword qi permeated the air. Over countless years, countless sword practitioners had passed through this place, leaving behind their sharp insights and their regrets.

The carriage, drawn by the young white ox, proceeded into the Ask Sword Gorge, where the hazy sky formed a slender line. The ox-drawn carriage had traveled for a long time, and there was no sign of human presence in the gorge. The wind of the gorge howled against the sword-scarred cliffs, its sound fierce.

Chu Yao slowly lost his relaxed demeanor and began to feel a little nervous. Several times he wanted to climb into the carriage compartment and sit with his master, but each time he gritted his teeth and endured. Fortunately, the white ox’s tail occasionally flicked lightly, offering him some comfort.

After an unknown amount of time, the gorge wind finally subsided, and a sword light suddenly appeared, transforming into a woman in green standing in the middle of the path. Green clothes on a fair complexion are not easy to wear well. True beauty is needed to carry such vibrant colors. But the woman before him had eyebrows like paintings, seemingly embodying all the tenderness of the Sword Pavilion mountains. All the ruggedness and danger of the gorge seemed to serve only to accentuate this beauty. Chu Yao clutched the reins, unable to utter a word, only staring blankly at her.

The sky in Wa Kiln Town was grey and dusty, and the people were also grey and dusty, with plenty of girls even darker than him.

When he entered Lin Yong, he saw the maid sisters in the mansion, and they seemed like fairies. The maid sisters said that there were even sisters in the mansion who could dance, and they were truly beautiful. He hadn’t seen them, as his master had brought him to Southern Xia.

But even the most beautiful dancing sisters couldn’t possibly be more beautiful than this sister before him, right? How could a person’s features grow any more exquisite?

“Little friend.” The woman who had descended with sword light, not offended by the young boy’s blank stare, looked at this thin and dark-skinned boy and politely said, “I am Ning Shuangrong of Sword Pavilion. Please ask your master, the Marquis, to come out for a conversation.”

This woman is truly beautiful! Chu Yao repeated this sentence in his heart.

But he firmly remembered his duty and shook his head vigorously. “Not meeting, not meeting! My master is a person of status. How can he meet just anyone?”

“Cough.” The curtain behind the carriage lifted, and his master coughed and emerged. “This one I can meet.”

Chu Yao turned his head back in confusion, his long, narrow eyes clearly saying, “Master, you didn’t say that before.”

Jiang Wang ignored his young disciple’s gaze and smiled slightly at Ning Shuangrong. “Dao friend, it has been several years since we last met.”

Neither of them wore their appearances from the Taixu Realm, but they both recognized each other. Countless duels had long since made them familiar.

Ning Shuangrong also smiled and looked him up and down. “We couldn’t meet on the Wangjiang Platform, but today I can finally fulfill an old wish. Your appearance is not as dignified as Brother Digu’s, but your temperament is even better.”

Jiang Wang was slightly embarrassed and bowed his hands. “My identity in the Taixu Realm, please help me keep it a secret, Daoist Ning.”

“Naturally.” Ning Shuangrong returned the smile and the courtesy, then stood poised. Holding her sword in one hand, held horizontally before her body, her eyes fixed on Jiang Wang, she simply said, “Please.”

Jiang Wang asked with his hands behind his back, “Does Daoist Ning know why I have come?”

Ning Shuangrong replied, “That is precisely why I have come to welcome you.”

Jiang Wang chuckled. “If it weren’t for this matter, perhaps Jiang would not be worth a welcome from you, Daoist.”

Ning Shuangrong simply said, “If you were visiting a friend, I should have welcomed you in Xiuping Prefecture. Since you have come to ask for a sword, I will stand with my sword here.”

“Oh. Is this Ask Sword Gorge?”

“Yes. This is Ask Sword Gorge.”

“When did Daoist achieve the Divine Realm?” Jiang Wang asked again.

“Just now,” Ning Shuangrong replied.

Jiang Wang’s expression became solemn. “What fortunate timing.” He waved his hand towards the back.

Chu Yao then drove the ox-drawn carriage backward, retreating several hundred steps. The intelligent white ox also pressed against the cliff face, standing as still and honest as a stone sculpture. At this moment, within Ask Sword Gorge, the sky was but a single line. The green-clothed figures faced each other.

Ning Shuangrong was proud, a pride stemming from her top-tier sword dao talent and her experience of being surrounded by promising young cultivators since childhood. But in the face of Jiang Wang, who had repeatedly defeated her, she harbored no trace of arrogance.

She appeared very cautious.

The gusty wind swept through the gorge, and the fierce light of late summer poured into the crack. In a subtle moment, Ning Shuangrong’s eyes flashed, and her famous sword, Autumn Water, was already unsheathed.

The sword sheath horizontally sliced out like lightning, directly penetrating several inches into the cliff face. And the sword edge, like water, had already followed her gaze and rushed out in a leap. Her expression was joyous and lighthearted, like an eighteen-year-old innocent girl skipping through a flower garden. Her sword light was dazzling and nimble, bright and moving!

Since their first meeting in the Taixu Realm, she could not recall how many times she had dueled with Jiang Wang. Both sides had a sufficient understanding of each other, and there was no longer a need for probing. Thus, her first move was a technique she had never used before, an absolute sword technique: Treading Sand and Parting Grass!

If, after so many duels, she still didn’t know Jiang Wang possessed the ability to quickly grasp insights, then she would not deserve to be called a genius. The opportunity of the Divine Realm is mysterious and profound.

For someone like her, Mei Wang, whom she had known for a long time in the Taixu Realm, had come to visit under the name of the Great Qi’s Marquis of Wu An. This was precisely that one step of opportunity. Among the Sword Pavilion disciples of this generation, she was the most outstanding.

Among the Sword Pavilion disciples of a similar age to Jiang Wang, only she had now reached the Divine Realm, and only she had the opportunity to stand with her sword blocking before Jiang Wang. And so, it was her.

Victory was not something she expected, but having specifically achieved the Divine Realm and holding Autumn Water to block the path in Ask Sword Gorge today, she wanted to do her best to blunt Jiang Wang’s sword edge! What was an absolute sword technique?

From ancient times there have been many interpretations, and even among those of the same school, views differ. But for Ning Shuangrong, besides pursuing the extreme of this path, it was about being “absolute”!

This single move, “Treading Sand and Parting Grass Across the Spring Stream,” unfolded the brilliance of the sword light to the extreme. The sword light was like water, gathering and rushing, also like a spring stream flowing horizontally. With just a thought, the sword light followed her gaze and attacked.

What people saw was a dazzling brilliance. What their bodies felt was a pervasive coolness.

Jiang Wang had already drawn out Longxiang Si with a backhand, and a vast amount of sword qi howled and surged, rising from below, rushing straight into the sky. It was like raising a vertical waterfall, directly filling the path of Ask Sword Gorge, blocking Ning Shuangrong’s sword light outside of it.

This sword was named Frost and Snow Bright, a combination of the sword qi condensed into silk and the killing intent obtained from Longxiang Si.

Jiang Wang used this sword both to block the sword light spring stream with a waterfall of sword qi and to convey his attitude to Ning Shuangrong with the words “Frost and Snow Bright” – this time he would counter sword moves with sword moves, meet sword qi with sword qi, and respond to the sword with his sword!

To give Ning Shuangrong, who had just stepped into the Divine Realm, the utmost respect, and to engage in the purest duel of sword practitioners with her. And what Ning Shuangrong felt was Jiang Wang’s calm assurance of victory.

Had it not been for this composure and lack of urgency, this battle against a “utility” type, a fiercely ambitious fighter like her from the Taixu Realm, would have been enough to tie down his hands and feet. The slightest possibility of victory escaping her grasp made her angry. How could the Sword Pavilion be looked down upon? How could Ning Shuangrong be neglected? But she also understood that with Jiang Wang’s current strength, he indeed had the right to be so composed.

The sword light clashed against the sword qi waterfall, producing an extremely sharp hissing sound. The two forces fiercely consumed each other.

Ning Shuangrong, in mid-air, directly merged her body and crashed into the waterfall!

The set of sword techniques, Treading Sand and Parting Grass, is about nimble steps and bright eagerness. A sense of leisure is naturally attained. Once the attack unfolds, it is like flowing clouds and water. It connects seamlessly without shrinking back. The killing intent is pervasive without any stagnation.

Ning Shuangrong, in her green clothes, moved with her sword. Her figure in the sword qi waterfall was nimble, graceful as a dance, all the way to the last style of Treading Sand and Parting Grass. The Autumn Water sword in her hand rippled with waves of light.

The sword was like a horizontal water wave, and one sword was like a jade belt wrapped around the waist! This was the killing style.

The stream of sword light actually produced “water ripples,” and these “water ripples” were incomparably sharp, driving straight in even within the silk-like sword qi waterfall, seemingly on the verge of splitting it! The “waterfall” was born to be split, collapsing into a sky full of flowing light. Jiang Wang’s vast amount of sword qi, at this moment, completely lost control!

The dignified and brilliant Ning Shuangrong truly displayed the might of the Sword Pavilion’s absolute sword techniques today!

Chu Yao had been following along and learning martial arts for a while, and although he hadn’t truly learned anything substantial, his eyesight had improved somewhat. He saw the green-clothed woman’s sword moves were like an artist’s brushstrokes, her sword light as bright as spring light, her sword intent brilliant, and her vitality vigorous.

For a time, he was both shocked and amazed.

And when he saw the master’s sword qi, which had been drawn up like a rising dragon and a waterfall, being split as if it were born to be, he couldn’t help but click his tongue. And after that, he saw a flash of bright light before his eyes, a flash that passed in an instant.

He saw nothing, but the fairy sister in green had already retreated more than ten zhang! The white ox made no sound and retreated again.

The carriage wheels creaked. Chu Yao also nervously clutched the white ox’s tail.

It is said that the sword Jiang Wang used to force Ning Shuangrong back was precisely A Line of Sky. Responding to the extremely sharp with extreme sharpness was just right.

Stepping one step would shatter the azure clouds; he urgently pursued Ning Shuangrong’s retreating shadow, and it was another sword of A Line of Sky! Broken Soul Gorge’s sky looked like a line when one looked up, and Ask Sword Gorge was the same.

The heavens and earth, shaped by ghost axe and divine work, naturally formed a line. And he, holding his sword, walked forth, decisively carving out a line. Vertically a line, horizontally a line. Heaven and earth a line. Life and death a line!

Ning Shuangrong retreated again and again, her embroidered cloth shoes rapidly tapping the air. One sword qi flower after another, following her steps, bloomed and then withered. Her eyes were like withered flowers, in an instant, the spring intent was exhausted. Thus, her sword also carried myriad kinds of sorrowful emotions, provoking pity. Stepping on sword flowers, the sword bloomed with sword flowers. The flowers had withered, and the person was about to collapse. An absolute sword technique, Chant Slave Delicate!

Jiang Wang’s current sword techniques were absolutely divine and brilliant. A Line of Sky was even the extreme of his sword intent and sword moves, not something to be casually viewed.

Forced to this point by Jiang Wang, Ning Shuangrong had nowhere left to avoid, and as her eyes met his retreating gaze, her momentum gradually waned and her intent gradually became exhausted, first dying and then being reborn! Layer upon layer of stacked sword qi, sword intent, and sword pads, gathered and then scattered, scattered and then gathered, truly like the endless repetition of blooming and withering flowers.

The two chased each other from one end of the gorge to the other, walking and killing, pursuing each other through the long Ask Sword Gorge for over three hundred *wen*. A Line of Sky finally reached its limit, its momentum already spent.

Ning Shuangrong shattered the sword flowers and the air beneath her feet, merging with her sword as she rushed out, brazenly counterattacking!

All the sword flowers that had withered along the way revived at this moment. They encircled Jiang Wang in their midst! Suddenly, a fierce wind arose. Sword flowers bloomed throughout Ask Sword Gorge.

This scene was too beautiful, so beautiful that the danger within was almost ignored by people. Chu Yao was momentarily captivated, and even the white ox leading the carriage couldn’t take its eyes away.

“Good sword technique!”

Jiang Wang couldn’t help but praise in admiration.

At this moment, his eyes were clear, seeming to reflect the countless nights spent practicing swordsmanship under the moon.

Unrelated to grudges, unrelated to responsibilities, unrelated to anything else, at this moment he only wanted to pursue the purest victory or defeat in sword combat.

His intent and fervor, in an instant, were pulled to the point of breaking. Longxiang Si supported the sky, once again erecting the Ren Character Sword! In this world, there were likely not many people at the same realm as Ning Shuangrong who would dare to possess such courage, especially when Ning Shuangrong detonated this entire Chant Slave Delicate sword style.

Every sword flower was an embodiment of the extreme of sword qi and sword intent, a carving by true genius sword practitioners throughout the Sword Pavilion’s many years. Every single one was filled with killing intent!

Sometimes lingering sorrow, sword qi stacking in layers. Sometimes brilliant blooms, sword qi scorching. Sometimes lingering flowers suffering in the rain, causing pain to the liver and intestines… Each sword flower required a different response method. One wrong step in response would instantly detonate a chain reaction.

And Jiang Wang came and went between them with only the Ren Character Sword, performing all the living beings he had ever seen. Sometimes proud, sometimes sad, sometimes sorrowful, sometimes joyful.

He strolled leisurely amidst the endless sword flowers, his green edge suddenly flicking left and right, skillfully and coincidently shattering one sword flower after another that rushed towards his face. Truly like a romantic youth, strolling through a garden of flowers! This was truly a god-like sword technique.

The shadow of the green-clothed figure passed by, and the sky full of sword flowers shattered one after another.

And in that kind of wilting, Ning Shuangrong truly released a smile. Whether Digu Wudi truly saw her as an opponent, how the Great Qi’s Marquis of Wu An felt in his heart, how slow his attitude was, at this point, what did it matter?

At this moment, it was truly responding to the sword with the sword.

And what she had always pursued was not just this most extreme collision of sword techniques, this purest aesthetic of sword techniques, wasn’t it?

“A good encounter today, fortunate to witness life and death!” She smiled thus, and also lightly drank.

At this moment, brilliant sword intent inexplicably erupted, making her green hair dance wildly. The next sword was her own solely created strongest sword technique. It had also already been listed among the Sword Pavilion’s absolute sword techniques… Meeting Joy!

PS: Tang Chenyu’s poem “Crossing the Liyang Mountain Stream” has the line “Amidst the fragrant colors of abundant grass and treading on sand, I step on sand and part grass across the spring stream.”