第 1076页
The river there was blue, and as wide as the sea.
Perhaps that’s how it was.
From a distant past that no one could remember, the nameless freshwater lake had grown in size over time, until one day it was called the Qinghai Lake.
And now, at this very moment, there was a shadow across its blue waters.
Chaaaah.
Dozens of oars pushing the river in unison, yet gently.
With their gentle rippling motion, the dense mist of the water dispersed, revealing the shadow’s true form.
A streamlined, sleek curve.
A body, not very large, but reinforced with solid wood and steel.
And a sail, billowing in the wind, and an old man reclining peacefully on its cramped mast, barely big enough to stand on.
“A gentle breeze, nothing more.”
To the gravelly voice overhead, the middle-aged man standing at the bow, peering out over the fog, replied.
“And so it will be in the days to come.”
“Even though the main mountain has already been taken away?”
“It was not taken away, but given up to protect the precious lives.”
The middle-aged man spoke up, his voice stately.
“Someone I respect once told me that it’s not the house that matters, but the people. A house without people in it is an abandoned ruin, but with people in it, you can build a palace out of an empty lot.”
“I don’t know who it was who told you that, but it must have been an old man, a man of no substance.”
“Su, Master. How dare you say such a thing. I would never mean anything like that…….”
“Hehe, I know. I know.”
Seeing the flustered apprentice, the old man who called himself an impractical old man smiled wryly and said.
“I’d like to think that the future will be a breeze…… if it were, but the headwinds that have blown before are too strong.”
The middle-aged man, who had shaken his head in disbelief at his teacher’s joke, replied in a strong voice.
“No matter how strong the wind is, it can’t turn over a mountain, not a ship.”
“You’re right. But what if there are embers mixed in with that gale?”
“……!”
“It is not the wind we must fear. It’s the tiny embers that lurk somewhere deep in the foothills, where no one knows, that could soon reduce everything to ashes.”
The middle-aged man pondered the meaning of the old man’s words for a moment, then stiffened.
– Master, could that be…….
A single string of notes slipped through his trembling lips.
But before the middle-aged man could answer the question, the old man slowly rose to his feet and suddenly muttered.
“Still, we’ll have a chance to settle the score.”
At that moment.
Hua Ack.
Beyond the scattering water mist, the old man’s grayish-white eyes focused on the hundreds of bonfires lining the shores of Qinghai Lake.
Those embers, scattered by the wind, were the embers of hope against disaster.
* * *
The moment a sleekly shaped vessel emerged from the fog, I immediately realized their identity.
An old man, to be precise, watching the river from the top of a tall mast.
Swoosh.
A flutter of paint, split from side to side like wings.
The sight of the old man’s new model, soaring like a bird of paradise, falling across dozens of sheets of paper, drew gasps from all around.
“That, that.”
“Void Step ……!”
The Void Dappling Technique is a top-notch kung fu technique that requires a great deal of skill and profound realization.
They had fought unheard of monsters just two days ago, but that didn’t diminish their amazement at the Ascended Martial Arts.
Apart from that, my thoughts were a little different from theirs.
“Hmph, that’s quite the level of vacuousness. Isn’t that what you think?”
I clicked my tongue slightly in response to Red River’s question.
“No, do I look like a fool to you?”
“You’re talking like a bunch of cheap rice.”
“You already know what I’m talking about.”
“……Hmm. You’re not stupid.”
Muttering something, I couldn’t tell if he was annoyed at me for not agreeing with him, or if he was pleased with my accomplishment.
“Either way, you’re still quite good at the art.”
I sighed inwardly.
Considering Red Sky River’s usual way of speaking, that was quite a compliment, but even that was still insufficient compared to the old man’s cultivation that was slowly descending towards the ground at this moment.
”If you can see the Void Emptiness Dao, all of you cultivators should bite your tongues and die.
There is another sky above the sky.
Those who are shallow in martial arts, or who have not practiced in the martial arts, may excel at the Void Virtue, but there is a heaven above them.
It is the highest state where one can move naturally, not by stepping or spurring, but by gliding.
That’s what it is. I could see the difference in the old man’s toes, a difference that only a few supreme masters, including myself, could recognize.
“And there are only two people in the entire past hundred years who have attained the level of the Void Void.
I had heard this from the mouth of the Red River when I was training in the Nine Volcanoes.
One of them ended up being called a god, and the other returned to where he belonged.
To a land far beyond the west, to the foot of a great mountain that touched the sky there.
Sigh.
Their toes finally touching the ground without a sound, and the slowly sinking patch of paint.
At the same time, an old man with a kindly countenance addressed everyone.
“Greetings to you, Qinghe of Kunlun, and to the various daoists.”
“……!”
“……!”
Invisible waves of emotion swept through the surroundings.
The shock stemmed from the realization that the old man who had suddenly appeared with such a marvelous skill was none other than the head of the Kunlun Sect, Zhang Wenyin.
“Meet Master Zhang!”
Cries of excitement and greetings from all sides.
But as usual, there were exceptions.
“What a fool, you think you can compete with the old man now that you’re older?”
The blunt greeting from the Murimpan master and head of the prestigious sect was just the beginning.
“It’s been a while, Qinghe. You’ve gained a lot of gray hair since I last saw you. You still looked quite young when I last saw you.”
Over the shoulder of the archer’s sister, who at least respected him for coming from a learned family, the human butcher, who had become a highly sought-after master with his skill with people, appeared from nowhere.
“Someone’s been doing this for a while, huh? Did you end up becoming a master?”
“…….”
“…….”
The noisy atmosphere quickly quieted down with the arrival of Zhang Wenyin from the Kunlun Sect.
The city, the palace, and the Huangwang Red River.
It’s a crazy lineup that takes your breath away.
Each of them looks like a middle-aged man, an old man, and a young boy, but they could only perform the miracle of the Five Elements with the mushroom soup they ate.
But that wasn’t the end of Qinghe’s troubles.
“Mm. I’m late to greet you. How have you been…….”
After a moment’s hesitation at the arrival of the zam kings, the elder of the joint sect, Shen Tianjin, finally spoke up.
“Hello, Grandfather Qinghe, I’m Qingfeng, we’re from the same family, so I hope you’ll take care of me in the future!”
“My name is Suo Jia. We are not the same Qing family, but we have one character overlap at the end, so let’s get along.”
“Taishan, I’m hungry. Did you catch any fish on your way here?”
Crazy lineups in a different sense.
Real madness.
I felt my eyes glaze over at the appearance of the three Ganodab brothers, who are the equivalent of Samsung, but Cheong Heo-ja chuckled in surprise.
“There are seniors I respect and juniors I’ve never met before. I’m glad to see everyone once again.”
At that moment, I thought.
Maybe the number one sect in the world is the Kunlun Sect.
“…… Wow, you’re holding it together.”
A reflexive sigh escaped my lips, and Qinghe’s gaze shifted toward me.
“I’ve never seen you this close before. Nice to meet you, Jin Dow.”
Now, as Qinghe said, I had only seen him from afar.
To say the least, it’s a bit more than just a casual acquaintance.
At the time of the Great Feast of Sheng La, a classmate of his, Kun Lun Yunlong, who had been traveling with the palace guards for a while, was also a student of Qing He.
“I’m here to see Mr. Zhang Wenyin.”
After a belatedly polite bow, Qinghe nodded with a friendly smile.
“It’s been a long time. I’ve heard a lot about Dow since then. Your classmate, that kid was especially fond of him.”
“Is that…….”
As if he could see through my clouded mind, Qinghe spoke in a gentle tone.
“You don’t need to worry, she’s doing fine.”
“I’m glad to hear that.”
Although I hadn’t known my classmate for very long, the guy I knew was decent enough.
Both as a Martial Artist and as a human being.
So I was pleasantly surprised by Qinghe’s next words.
“You’ll meet him soon enough. After we get out of here.”
“I see.”
He had already realized that Qinghai Lake was not an allied base.
The palace guards and the open martial artists had merely greeted them earlier, and the threat of the Dark Sky hadn’t completely disappeared yet.
However, there was one question that came to mind after hearing Qinghe’s words…….
“For such a thing, your stomach is, um, small. It seems a bit small.”
I glanced with trepidation at the vessel that had almost reached the river’s edge.
The vessel, which could hold a hundred people at most, seemed barely big enough to carry three thousand allies.
“Is that what you see, Dawe?”
“I’m afraid so, sir.”
“Heh.”
Qinghe, who had laughed out loud at my frank answer, spoke up again.
“You might think so, from what I can see.”
“What?”
“Ah, there you go.”
Turning my head to follow Qinghe’s gaze, I, and everyone else, could see it.
Chaaaah.
Dozens of ships, finally breaking through the thick fog.
