Nine Yang Sword Saint

“We haven’t arrived yet!” the girl in red replied in a low voice.

“Then, why did he get off?” Yang Dingtian asked.

“Once we arrive at the Yin Yang Sect, there will be a lot of people around. He is afraid that people will see him riding this public carriage, causing him to lose face. That’s why he got off earlier,” one of the warriors answered.

Yang Dingtian said, “Fair enough. Since he is from the Northwest Qin family, he cannot bring shame to his family.”

“That’s just bullshit,” one of the warriors said with a disdainful smile. “He is just the son of a servant from the Northwest Qin family and probably doesn’t even have the right to use the family name. How dare he call himself Qin Huaiyu. Everyone in the martial arts community knows that he’s just a bragging expert. Why the hell would someone from a famous family take a public carriage?”

Yang Dingtian was slightly surprised by the truth. No wonder Qin Huaiyu didn’t give him his name. This dude loved to brag and was lascivious, but he didn’t look like a bad guy. Nobody knew how much suffering was hidden behind his smiling face. Suddenly, Yang Dingtian felt sympathy for him and didn’t ridicule him like the others.

After a while, the four remaining warriors left the carriage one after another. Of course, they hadn’t arrived at the Yin Yang Sect but got off earlier to not lose face. Suddenly, the only people left in the carriage were the old man, the red-clothed girl, and Yang Dingtian.

After the others left, the girl in red who had felt somewhat restrained, let out a long sigh of relief. Her attitude and posture became naturally relaxed. Her beautiful eyes became a bit bolder as she stared at Yang Dingtian.

Her eyes were filled with an intelligence that matched her pretty face. Yang Dingtian only then discovered that her big eyes not only looked shy but also contained a sort of wildness. However, it wasn’t the same kind of wildness that Ximen Yanyan had. Rather, it was just the unique type of boldness expressed by a girl who lived in the mountains.

“The warriors’ eyes were extremely annoying. If we were in my hometown, I could have dug their eyes out,” the girl in red said.

“Everyone loves beautiful things. They aren’t bad people,” Yang Dingtian said. “They only look at you that way because you’re beautiful.”

The red-clothed girl’s face turned red. “You didn’t look me at that way.”

Yang Dingtian replied, “I wanted to, but I was too embarrassed.”

The red-clothed girl’s face became redder, and her wild eyes turned bolder despite the fact that her father was just sitting right next to her.

Yang Dingtian quickly changed the topic. “They were all strong. Would you have been able to dig out their eyes?”

“They are just straw bags. They can’t beat me,” the red-clothed girl stated proudly with her cherry lips raised.

Yang Dingtian was quite surprised and questioned, “You are that strong?”

The girl in red shyly replied, “I’m not that strong, but I’m not too weak. It depends on who the opponent is.”

“By the way, don’t fully believe what the guy told you before. Everyone knows he loves to brag,” the girl in red warned.

Yang Dingtian asked, “So everything he said was a lie?”

The red-clothed girl replied, “Not really. While they weren’t lies, he just likes to exaggerate and overstate everything. Furthermore, everyone knows about the matter he mentioned. It wasn’t a secret at all.”

“By the way, what’s your name?” the girl in red boldly asked.

“My name is Yang Dingtian.”

The girl in red asked shyly, “Why is your name like that?”

It seemed like she was not that innocent after all.

“I’m Shui Hongshao. My dad is Li Guinong, but I use my mom’s family name.”

The old man beside her couldn’t help but reveal a warm smile when he heard his daughter impatiently introduce them.

Yang Dingtian said, “You have a sweet name.”

“You’ve never heard of my father?” Shui Hongshao asked doubtfully.

Yang Dingtian was stunned and wondered if the old man was someone very famous. He shook his head and said, “I’m quite ignorant of many things. I come from a place with no people. It was even my first time hearing about Zhu Qingzhu.”

“It’s not a big deal. My father is quite famous, but it isn’t the awe-inspiring kind of fame, but rather a tragic sort of fame,” Shui Hongshao said sadly. “Why are you going to the Yin Yang Sect?”

Yang Dingtian replied, “I’m here to deliver something.”

“Delivering a gift? We also came here to deliver a gift. We traveled from far away just to send this gift. In order to pay for the gift and the travel expenses, we even had to sell much of our paddy fields. Yin Yang Sect is so proud that they wouldn’t like our gift,” Shui Hongshao said with annoyance. “But, I appreciate this opportunity and assume that this is a travel trip for me to see the world as I’ve never left home ever since I was born.”

Afterwards, Shui Hongshao kept talking to Yang Dingtian. He slowly discovered that the old man and the girl had come from Wooden Sword Castle from the Ping Liang Province. Li Guinong was unexpectedly the Master of Wooden Sword Castle. What surprised Yang Dingtian the most was that this Wooden Sword Castle was actually one of the twenty-seven factions, one of the World’s Famous Factions. However, this glory was all in the past. The faction has since fallen into poverty, to the point where it’s about to be removed from the list.

The purpose of their journey from far away to deliver these gifts was to get the Yin Yang Sect to help Wooden Sword Castle stay on that list.

The more they talked, the more Yang Dingtian understood Shui Hongshao. Even though she was a girl from a rural place, she was still not only incredibly smart, pure, and innocent but also bold with her brand of wildness.

As they traveled, time seemed to pass quickly, and after around half an hour, they arrived at the Yin Yang Sect.

Yang Dingtian exited the carriage and told Li Guinong and his daughter, “Master Lee, Ms. Shui, see you around! I hope you can resolve your matter smoothly!”

He had already secretly decided that, once he joined the Yin Yang Sect, he find a chance to say good things about Wooden Sword Castle to his Master’s wife and help them recover the ranking earned by their ancestors.

Li Guinong replied, “I wish Mr. Yang a bright future.”

Shui Hongshao was somewhat reluctant to say goodbye and said in her low voice, “When you’re free in the future, you must come to Wooden Sword Castle to visit us.”

“Sure!” Yang Dingtian smiled, turned, and left.

Shui Hongshao stood still in one place. Even after she could no longer see Yang Dingtian’s back, she was still unwilling to leave. Her father, Li Guinong, who was standing beside her, smiled and said, “Little girl, you have good taste, but it’s regrettable that he holds lofty ambitions and won’t see us as anything special.”

Immediately, Shui Hongshao’s face turned red. She looked at her dad and said, “Dad, what the hell are you talking about? Who would fancy him?”

*****************

The Yin Yang Sect was located on Vast Immeasurable Mountain, and its front gate was located halfway up the mountain. After leaving the carriage at the foot of the mountain, there were still a dozen kilometers to walk before one reached the mountain gate. Yang Dingtian estimated that the gate was located at an altitude of three thousand meters above sea level. The weather in Eastern Cloud Province wasn’t cold, and it was instead warm at the foot of the mountain. However, halfway up the mountain, everything was coated in silvery-white snow.

Vast Immeasurable Mountain was so big that the vertical distance from the foot of the mountain to the midpoint was already 3000 meters. However, the blue stone road leading to the top stretched for dozens of kilometers. Along the way, there were countless people walking side by side. Most of them were factionless warriors or disciples of small factions who were only eligible to send their gifts to the front gate.

Having arrived at the front gate of the Ying Yang Sect, Yang Dingtian once again felt intense shock.

At the end of the winding stone path was the front gate of the Yin Yang Sect. This mountain gate surprisingly turned out to be a crack in the mountain that measured many meters wide. The mountain wall was around forty to fifty meters high and made Yang Ding Tian feel incredibly small as he stood under the huge mountain gate.

What was more surprising was that the crack that was dozens of meters wide and over forty meters high was actually created by a sword. This fact was proven by the sword marks left over from the gate’s creation.

In front of the mountain gate, there was a gigantic stone field that was currently filled with several hundred tables surrounded by people and laden with food and drink. Once a group around one table left, the table would immediately be cleaned, and another group would replace them.

Moreover, there were nine long lines stretching back from the entrance filled with people holding different kind of gifts.

These people were just factionless nobodies without any status. They didn’t even have the qualification to enter the Yin Yang Sect. Therefore, they could only leave their gift at the entrance and join the banquet. Afterwards, they quickly descended the mountain. Even though they received such bad treatment, it didn’t dissuade more people from coming.

Sighing, Yang Dingtian found a shorter queue and went to the back, waiting to present his gift.

After waiting for exactly an hour, it was finally Yang Dingtian’s turn. He took out the Li Fire Nine Loop Pendant that Ximen Wuya had given him to gain access to the Yin Yang Sect and see Master’s wife. The Li Fire Nine Loop Pendant was so precious and it was definitely going to be the most valuable gift of the day.

The one receiving the gifts was unexpectedly not a disciple from the Yin Yang Sect but rather just an ordinary servant. After receiving the gift, the servant asked expressionlessly, “Name, faction, type of gift?”

“Yang Dingtian, no faction, Li Fire Nine Loop Pendant.”

The servant’s complexion changed immediately. He looked up at Yang Dingtian and announced coldly, “Li Fire Nine Loop Pendant? Get him out of here. Whip him 30 times before expelling him from the mountain. Announce to the world that no faction is allowed to let him join.”

Instantly, four bulky warriors stepped forward, intending to escort Yang Dingtian away.

Yang Dingtian shouted angrily, “What is the meaning of this? Is this how you treat people bringing gifts?”

The servant replied coldly, “Even if you only gifted us a goose feather, we would ask you to join the banquet. But, you’re trying to lie, which is an insult towards the Yin Yang Sect. Whipping and banning you can already be considered a light punishment.”

Ying Yang Tian said, “How did I lie?”

The servant replied, “You’re the 99th person to gift us the Li Fire Nine Loop Pendants today.”

A servant nearby opened a box that was filled with Li Fire Nine Loop Pendants. They all looked exactly the same as the one Yang Dingtian gifted.

Seeing this, Yang Dingtian couldn’t help and feel funny. The Yin Yang Sect had been searching for the Li Fire Nine Loop Pendant for a long time. As a result, many warriors grasped this opportunity to try to gift a fake one, which got Yang Dingtian in trouble.

“Mine is real,” Yang Dingtian said.

“55 other people also said the same thing,” the servant rebutted expressionlessly. “Escort him out and whip him.”

Immediately, the four warriors grabbed Yang Dingtian’s arms and forcefully pushed him to the ground.

“How dare you?” Yang Dingtian roared angrily and prepared to fight.

“Hold on…” Suddenly, a cold voice sounded out. A snow-white shadow drifted in front of them like the wind. Immediately, everyone present kneeled. This person was a real disciple of the Yin Yang Sect.

The Yin Yang Sect disciple took Yang Dingtian’s Li Fire Nine Loop Pendant and inspected it under the sunlight. His complexion immediately changed, and he looked startled.