Amidst the rain of descending sword flowers, Jiang Wang at last stood face-to-face with Ning Shuang Rong.

Even he, utterly absorbed in the world of swordsmanship, had to concede that the smile before him held true beauty. Joy brimmed in her eyes, flowed upon her lips, and graced her brow. She was genuinely happy, for the unseen friend of old, for the kindred spirit encountered within the realm of swords.

You would naturally feel illuminated by this smile, and just as naturally, be moved by the spontaneous sword stroke that followed. The canyon wind trembled through Ning Shuang Rong’s hair. At this moment, her flying locks, the fluttering edges of her robe – every detail seemed to expound upon the profound mysteries of the sword.

And the Autumn Water Sword, within this deep and intricate world of swordsmanship, amidst myriad possibilities, shone with unparalleled brilliance, its tip pointing westward.

This stance, “Ascending the West Tower Alone!”

In the world, mountains may rise in perilous and strange peaks, yet none possess the undulations of the human heart. Regrets of years past perpetually render one unwilling to look back. Sorrows of years to come always arrive abruptly, soaring from beyond the sky, unnoticed by man.

This sword was too dangerous, too strange, too sudden.

Jiang Wang had slain countless foes, fought on numerous battlefields, from nameless mountain bandits to dukes and marquises of great nations. He knew not how many adversaries he had faced, yet he had never witnessed such a sword.

It was clearly within the scope of one’s gaze, yet it had somehow escaped it. It should have aimed for the throat, but its position was off by a hair’s breadth. Yet, across all thirty-six vital points of the body, a chill arose!

If one were to compare, this stance bore some resemblance to Yi Sheng Feng’s sword that lay hidden beyond the senses. But Yi Sheng Feng’s strike evaded the five senses, while Ning Shuang Rong’s sword seemed to first pierce the heart. The sword had already entered the heart before manifesting externally. Both body and spirit were wounded, the heart afflicted by emotion!

When this sword was thrust forth, it actually possessed a flavor of the decay of both body and spirit found in the Seven Styles of Battle. Ning Shuang Rong’s talent in swordsmanship was truly unparalleled in the world.

Jiang Wang’s heart held immortality, his body was like glass; originally, he feared not such sword styles. But at this moment, having ceased using divine powers and forbidden other methods, he suddenly found himself in peril. The sword flowers had not yet fully withered, yet heart-scars had already begun to show, his vital points all marked by the sword’s edge.

In such a critical moment, he shifted his body with a single move, like a dragon raising its head. Terrifying pressure spread forth! That surging sword momentum condensed into a peak supporting the heavens; this was a sword of extreme momentum. This stance, “Peak Leans,” chopped out a supreme peak, yet did not lean.

Jiang Wang, wrapped in surging sword momentum, flew upwards, shattering the scattered sword flowers. His body became a towering peak supporting the sky, thus escaping the coverage of Ning Shuang Rong’s “Ascending the West Tower Alone” stance.

An utterly brilliant response! Not a peak genius of combat, it would be impossible to possess such a divinely inspired response.

Ning Shuang Rong’s sword style had reached its apex, yet ended in vain. However, she felt no disappointment. Instead, she was surprised, and from this encounter, an utterly beautiful inspiration was born. Such world-rare opponents were precisely what was needed to ignite world-rare sparks of swordsmanship.

One sword falling empty, another sword rising. The silent ascent of the West Tower alone, seeing nothing but emptiness. The scene was empty, the heart was empty.

Her tricky, strange, and treacherous sword suddenly sprang upwards! The sword tip was like a flying eave hooking upwards. Then the entire sword was like a spirit snake soaring into the sky. The person followed the sword, rushing into the sky. The sword momentum thus surged high, like a sapling suddenly leaping over a thousand years of time, in an instant becoming a giant tree reaching the sky!

Ning Shuang Rong’s sword and Jiang Wang’s sword simultaneously rushed towards the heavens. But her sword did not display surging momentum. Instead, it carried a vague and indistinct sorrow, leaving nowhere to hide.

This stance, “Lonely Parasol Tree!”

Jiang Wang’s “Peak” sword was about supporting the sky and grounding the earth. Ning Shuang Rong’s “Lonely Parasol Tree” was like a bone-deep ulcer, like a shadow following form. Sword momentum twisted with sword momentum, sword light collided with sword light, sword edge pursued sword edge!

She and Jiang Wang engaged in a slaughter over every definition concerning the sword. Without unparalleled confidence in the sword path, it would be impossible to develop such a sword style.

Green shirts and green robes clashed in one place, sword light pouring forth like a flying waterfall. They fought higher and higher, higher and higher, almost to the point of rushing out of Wen Jian Gorge.

The shadow of the parasol tree covered the small courtyard, intensifying the sense of loneliness. But what made one lonely? Was it ever the shadow of the parasol tree, or the full moon over the West Tower? It was the unattainable within your heart!

Ning Shuang Rong’s sword was like a suffocating net. It spread silently, yet offered no escape. “Man” is inescapable from loneliness. The stance “Lonely Parasol Tree,” in this specific situation, suppressed all possibilities of the “Ren” character sword. Cannot come, cannot go, cannot stop. At this moment, Jiang Wang felt constrained, even in pain.

His killing style was also an escaping style, already like an antelope hanging its horns, leaving no trace. Ning Shuang Rong’s connection was even more uniquely ingenious, wonderfully beyond words. It made his sword rise to a peak, only to fall into a dusty net.

His body and mind were indeed affected by such a sword style, and he once again recognized Ning Shuang Rong’s extraordinary talent in the sword path. Within his mind, countless response methods flashed like fleeting light. Within swordsmanship alone, how many possibilities were there?

Bang! Bang! Bang!

His heart beat violently. A painful beat. At this moment, inspiration suddenly struck!

In that ancient starry sky, there was a red seven-story, four-cornered flying-eaved small building, and a grand seven-story purple building. At this time, both subtly shifted. In the distant starry world, a form of resonance occurred.

Jiang Wang’s heart suddenly stilled. In Ning Shuang Rong’s visual, auditory, olfactory, gustatory, and tactile senses, that renowned Long Xiang Si disappeared!

And at the same time.

She felt extreme fear, a crisis of death approaching! The “Lonely Parasol Tree” sword style was like scattering clouds. All the sword shadows across the sky suddenly vanished. She had to withdraw her sword and retreat first.

At this moment, what Jiang Wang used was Yi Sheng Feng’s sword, hidden beyond the senses! His Greedy Wolf Star Tower and Breaking Army Star Tower had both absorbed Yi Sheng Feng’s Star Tower of the same domain for their own use. But it seemed that besides strengthening the Star Towers themselves, there were no other effects. Perhaps today was an accident.

Deep within his daily cultivation, engraving the Star Tower, and now, touching upon inspiration from the clash with Ning Shuang Rong. Jiang Wang had repeatedly tried to imitate this sword but could not achieve it. Now, it reappeared in Wen Jian Gorge!

Compared to Yi Sheng Feng’s initial sword, this one lacked the element of killing while the enemy was unaware. However, in the hands of the now almost divine Jiang Wang, it even made the enemy’s spiritual awareness leap out together. It was truly a sword that killed the enemy without their knowledge or awareness.

The long night with no moon made it difficult to open one’s eyes; one knew not into what door life and death would fall! The Autumn Water Sword passed and rose again, rose and fell again. Ning Shuang Rong’s figure fell with extreme speed. She could not see Jiang Wang’s sword, yet she clearly felt that sword pursuing her. It had form and substance, yet no shadow or trace.

At this moment, her eyes held complex emotions, difficult to describe. Her Autumn Water Sword also became very complex. Wearing green clothes, her posture floated lightly and agilely in the air, like a dripping emerald leaf that should not float. But her Autumn Water Sword seemed to possess autonomous spiritual awareness, flying and turning around her body.

One could only see vague sword shadows, indistinct sword edges, brilliant sword light. Her sword momentum, sword intent, and sword qi instantly wove a massive prison, encircling all things in heaven and earth.

“Locking the Joy of a Thousand Autumns!”

Locking the bright moon, so that the human world has no longing. Locking a thousand autumns, so that there is no sorrow of parting.

The Autumn Water Sword chopped upon Long Xiang Si. Sword edges crossed, drawing out a long string of dazzling sparks. A pool of autumn water opening to the bright moon. With this sword, she forcibly chopped out Jiang Wang’s sword hidden beyond the senses!

Jiang Wang, person and sword, was chopped back into the high sky!

Jiang Wang, flying inverted in the high sky, shrank his body into a ball, his sword becoming round. His sword frame remained, his sword momentum was still there. If he had believed more in the power of that sword hidden beyond the senses, he would not be like this at this moment; he should have already been defeated. It was precisely because he always held back some strength that he could temporarily escape under Ning Shuang Rong’s “Thousand Autumns Lock” stance.

This momentary clash of edges, each with their own stratagems. Ning Shuang Rong had confronted Yi Sheng Feng and had already thought of how to respond to Yi Sheng Feng’s sword. Although surprised that Jiang Wang could actually replicate it, she planned to use the momentum of this sword to decide the victory. And Jiang Wang knew that Ning Shuang Rong had fought Yi Sheng Feng, hence he had reservations in this sword.

At this moment, Jiang Wang’s figure flew inverted. Ning Shuang Rong had already leaped up with the momentum of “Thousand Autumns Lock,” unwilling to let go of this rare advantage.

Suddenly, starlight fell like a waterfall, covering the entire Wen Jian Gorge. Four brilliant, strong stars reflected the sky. The path of the stars turned, in an instant piercing through the Big Dipper. Jiang Wang’s figure, shrunk into a ball, suddenly opened up, like a fully drawn and released bowstring. At this critical moment, he unleashed the path-killing sword, but with the Big Dipper illuminating the Sword Pavilion!

Ning Shuang Rong sighed lightly, her white wrist turning only slightly. The Autumn Water Sword then left her hand and flew back to its sheath. “Marquis Wu An’s skill is more than just a cut above. I, Ning, admit defeat!”

Boundless sword momentum and sword intent scattered. In the flying sword qi, she gracefully descended. The Autumn Water Sword trembled unwillingly a few times on the cliff wall, then, with both sword and sheath, flew back into her hand.

Ning Shuang Rong and Dou Zhao were similar in that they both saw through Jiang Wang’s ability to absorb knowledge. They both chose to use novelty and strangeness to suppress Jiang Wang’s awareness and neutralize his advantage in battlefield response. Dou Zhao constantly changed his knife techniques during the fight, while Ning Shuang Rong’s absolute sword techniques followed one after another.

But she was also different from Dou Zhao. Dou Zhao’s Seven Styles of Battle was the foremost killing technique in the world and he was not particularly worried about it being targeted. Dou Zhao saved it for key moments, not wanting to give Jiang Wang more opportunities to adapt, and also for a clean and decisive kill. For most of the time he confronted Jiang Wang, he was not at his strongest.

While Ning Shuang Rong was always in her strongest state. Besides these several sets of absolute sword techniques, she had no other options. She could only be weaker, not stronger. So, if the “Meeting Joy” set of absolute sword techniques could not defeat Jiang Wang, she had already lost. The final leap in the air pursuit was just a last unwilling attempt. When Jiang Wang’s path-killing sword lit up, she had no more opportunity, and could only sheath her sword and admit defeat.

Ning Shuang Rong sheathed her sword very straightforwardly. Jiang Wang returned his sword also very lightly and casually. He reached out and wiped away all the starlight in the sky, wiped away the lone illumination of the Big Dipper. His feet trod on green clouds, and he strolled back to the ground, bowing to Ning Shuang Rong: “The Sword Pavilion is worthy of the ancient and modern sword leaders, and Fellow Daoist Ning also deserves to be unmatched in sword arts. In this battle, I, Jiang, have gained greatly!”

Of course, this time the two did not use divine powers, Dao techniques, or spirit domains. In these three aspects, he indeed held an absolute advantage. But solely in terms of sword art confrontation, in the fight of moves, intent, and momentum, he did not suppress Ning Shuang Rong in any way. The final move, the path-killing sword, was also intended to break through by force. Ning Shuang Rong said she was more than just a cut below, but he found it difficult to admit.

This sword fight, from all perspectives, could be called a brilliant battle. Especially for the two combatants. They were close friends who had repeatedly confronted each other in the Tai Xu Illusion Realm. They were the opponents with whom each had discussed swords the most. Although they had missed meeting in reality, they were already familiar with each other and could be considered good friends. Of course, today they each had their allegiances and had to cross swords. But from a personal perspective, there was no malice between them.

Jiang Wang’s first sword, “Frost Snow Bright,” expressed the purity of his heart in holding the sword and questioning Ning Shuang Rong clearly. Ning Shuang Rong’s final response was “Meeting Joy,” a meeting of sword guests, a cherishing of heroes. Sword guest Ning and Solitary Undefeated met and found joy. It could be called a hearty encounter, each without regret.

Until this moment, Chu Yao urged the white ox forward, driving the ox cart hastily. His fine, long eyes revealed shrewdness, and he earnestly said: “Master, Immortal Sister, get on the cart, I will drive for you!”

Ning Shuang Rong smiled: “Your master and I are of the same generation. If you call me sister, aren’t you making me a generation younger?”

“Then… Master’s wife!” Chu Yao’s shocking cry broke the silence.

Jiang Wang’s head thumped, knocking him on the spot so he held his head and shut his mouth. Chu Yao pouted with grievance, tears welling up in pain. He truly had no other thoughts, simply felt that this sister was too beautiful. He thought, how wonderful it would be to see her every day? And only such a beautiful woman could be worthy of his master. At this moment, having received a lesson, he thought hatefully in his heart, if you don’t grasp such beauty tightly, may you find a sow-like wife later! That was a pig-feeding expert in Wa Kiln Town, her waist and chest equally thick. Her voice, once opened, could be heard from the east end of town to the west end. Her skin was pitch black, several shades darker than his, Chu Yao’s.

Thinking so fiercely, the pain on his forehead also eased considerably, and he couldn’t help but laugh foolishly.

Ning Shuang Rong looked at the boy’s crying and laughing, his not-so-bright expression, and didn’t take his unintentional words too much to heart. She simply turned sideways and made a gesture of invitation to the master and disciple: “Please follow me.”

Jiang Wang, his sword at his side, walked alongside Ning Shuang Rong. The white ox obediently pulled the cart, following behind the two. The long Wen Jian Gorge, as the sunlight shifted, gradually reached its destination.

Here was likely the very end of Wen Jian Gorge. On the high cliffs on both sides, they had dug through the mountainside and built solid fortresses. As for how solid the materials, how strong the array patterns, and how clever the structures, there was no need to elaborate. What was worth mentioning was that the two fortresses both had names. The one to the northwest was called “Zang Feng” (Hiding the Peak), and the one to the southeast was called “Wang Ji” (Looking at the Extremes).

Within both fortresses, there were clearly strong individuals residing. The Zang Feng Fortress was silent as if nothing was there. The Wang Ji Fortress, however, had sword qi rushing into the sky. Looking up, from southeast to northwest, between the two fortresses, only a single plank road connected them. This was also the only plank road in Wen Jian Gorge. It lay across here, as if, together with the cliffs on both sides, it formed a natural gate.

“It is called the Tian Men Plank Road,” Ning Shuang Rong introduced. “Since ancient times, one visits the Sword Pavilion only by this road.”

Chu Yao struggled to raise his head, looking left and right. His face fell as he said: “Then how do I and the white ox get up?” He, of course, was thinking of his master carrying him up, but the white ox was large, and this Immortal Sister should find it very difficult to move, right?

Ning Shuang Rong smiled: “The cart can be temporarily unloaded here; no one will move it. As for you and the white ox… you can walk up yourselves.”

She used her index and middle fingers as a sword, simply circling lightly, then pointed into the air. Suddenly, sharp sounds whistled forth. One long sword after another flew across the sky, momentarily almost filling the line of sight. Amidst the dazzling flight, there was a natural and wonderful order. Finally, they aligned neatly beneath the Tian Men Plank Road, lining up to form a path of precious swords built into stairs!

Chu Yao, at the age of nine, came to Wen Jian Gorge. Immortals pointed swords as stairs, by which to ascend the Sword Pavilion.