The Heavenly Wandering Sword
Chapter 18
Keeping his promise to the lady of the Purple Pavilion, he walked towards the Purple Pavilion when he received a message in his head. “Master, I am healed and ready to fulfil my duty.” He smiled, noticing that indeed Xiao Hu seemed stronger than he had previously been. “Wait for me outside of Baiyang City, Xiao Hu. We will have a tomb to explore.”
“Brother Li, are you connected to the Purple Pavilion?” Li Jian shrugged at her question. “It depends on what you call connected I suppose. You also just reminded me.” He paused and looked over at her. “Do you know who paid the Assassins Guild to assassinate the 1st Prince and the 3rd Princess of the Jing family?” She tilted her head at him questioningly. “How did you find out?” Li Jian just smiled. “Because I killed the assassins of course.” Ling Xi smiled lightly on the outside but on the inside, she was very much aware of how large the gap actually is between the two of them. “It was Jing Xie, the Thousand Sword Sect Elder.”
Li Jian snorted to himself. Every sect was filled with Elders who liked to act righteous in public but in private were venomous in their actions. “Why am I not surprised. Very well, do not reveal who you were to the people we meet today. You will understand why.”
Outside of the Purple Pavilion, there was a full platoon of Imperial Guards who glanced at him curiously. “Sir, you cannot just walk in. The Purple Pavilion is restricted.” One of the Imperial Guardsmen said to him, standing in front of the door. Li Jian sighed and contemplated how to deal with this. On one hand, they were simply doing their jobs without arrogance. On the other hand, they did not know that he was requested here. “If the Purple Pavilion is restricted, please let the members of the Pavilion tell me. This is not the Imperial Palace.” He said simply.
The Imperial Guardsman bowed slightly. “My apologies sir, but we have restricted access as per the wishes of the Purple Pavilion. Li Jian contemplated what to do next and was about to just leave to go wait at a teahouse before a familiar voice called out. “Let the master in, he is our honoured guest.” Li Jian looked up and saw that a younger looking Yin Chu was standing there. “Senior Yin, you’ve broken through.” As the Imperial Guards moved aside to give them access, Yin Chu bowed deeply. “It is thanks to the senior master for providing me with the treasure. Not only have I broken through but my body feels twenty years younger.”
Li Jian was inwardly glad that the pill wasn’t too powerful, and might have sent old man Yin Chu to the age of 15 or something ridiculous. He bowed politely before being ushered in by the Purple Pavilion manager. Ling Xin followed behind him closely, glancing around suspiciously at the Imperial Guard that stood there. They were shown to a room where Lady Bai was already seated with Jing Hong and Jing Wu Die. Li Jian felt a sharp emote of surprise from Ling Xin. “I told you earlier didn’t I? Don’t be surprised.” He sent a mental message to her.
“Brother Li, I am glad to see you here fulfilling your promise.” Lady Bai curtsied slightly. Li Jian looked at her up and down and saw that she no longer covered her face. There was no point now to hide her identity when the Imperial Guard was camped outside of the Pavilion, he supposed. “Of course junior sister.” He turned to the two members of the Imperial family and bowed as well. “1st Prince, 3rd Princess. My humble greetings.”
“Ah senior is too kind, it is you doing us a favour after all.” Jing Wu Die waved his hand and gestured for Li Jian to be seated. The Princess Jing however, curtsied towards him and after he sat down, poured a cup of tea for him, offering it to him with a slight bow. Jing Wu Die saw the slight flash of displeasure on the face of Lady Bai. “Is this master going to start a civil war?” He wondered to himself nervously. Ling Xin stood quietly behind the seated Li Jian.
“Let me introduce to you Ling Xin, she is my first servant.” Jing Hong walked up to her and examined her carefully up and down. “Brother Li has good taste.” Li Jian cringed at the connotation and waved a hand. “Princess, you joke. I cannot afford to have a servant in that manner. Sister Ling Xin is an expert martial artist as well, and will accompany us.” Ling Xin bowed slightly towards the others. “This junior sister greets your Royal Highnesses.” She had already figured out that the head of the Purple Pavilion was a member of the Imperial family as well.
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“Brother Li, at this time the tomb has opened but there exists a protective barrier around it. I have heard that there are many members of various sects already there trying to pierce the barrier. I hope to not offend but I think we must head there immediately.” Lady Bai said as Jing Wu Die took out a map of the area around it. It was a solid few hours trip away by carriage it seemed. “The carriage will take too long. Leave the Imperial Guard behind, their marching speed will be too slow. We do not have a few hours then it would seem with all the other people who are already there. Let me know when you are ready to leave.”
The other three looked at him curiously. “Brother Li is truly a man of abilities. I think we are all ready to go.” Lady Bai said, glancing over at her siblings who both nodded in affirmation. Li Jian gestured outside and a large sword made up of spiritual energy was created just outside the window. With a toss of his hand, the three others were transferred from their seats to be sitting on top of the sword. “Ling Xi, on you go.” The former assassin nodded and daintily jumped on it. Li Jian himself floated out the window and curled a finger at the spiritual sword before flying out quickly.
“Does Brother Li’s powers have any limits?” Lady Bai wondered out loud. Jing Hong simply nodded. “This is as expected of Brother Li.” Lady Bai glanced over at her brother who just looked around them in awe as the spiritual sword was flying high above. “Xiao Hu, follow the sword but stay behind a bit.” The white tiger king growled an affirmative at Li Jian’s mental message, appearing out of the undergrowth beside a large path. The farmer sitting on his cart pulled by an ox almost fell off in shock at the sudden appearance of such a massive tiger.
It took less than half an hour for them to arrive near the tomb, and Prince Jing was quite correct. Many sects were already there, each trying to break through the large barrier that covered the entrance to the tomb. The tomb itself was deep inside a mountain and there was a rich spiritual force exiting the entrance. Li Jian gently landed them down before stepping onto the ground. It seemed there was no shortage of powerful cultivators here, including someone in the Ancient Immortal Realm. It seemed that this was the Hidden Elder of the Thousand Sword Sect.
“Clear the way, the Thousand Sword Sect is indeed the most powerful sect here so we will lead this expedition inside. If anyone has any disagreements with that, then you can deal with the Thousand Sword Sect’s hidden Elder.” Another Elder of the Thousand Sword Sect called out, standing there with more than 100 members of the Thousand Sword Sect. The other sects there all grumbled at such an act. “Isn’t this just a larger sect bullying smaller sects?” Someone called out. “What are you leading us to do? Leading us to sit at a barrier that you can’t break?” Someone else called out.
“Then if anyone can break the barrier, please go ahead and do so.” The Thousand Sword Elder said, arrogantly. The Thousand Sword’s hidden Elder Wan Yu stood beside the barrier, channeling his formidable sword force into the red sword he held before slashing his blade across the barrier. The barrier stopped the attack cold in its tracks, the backlash sending Wan Yu stumbling back onto, coughing slightly as the backlash dealt him some internal damage. “See? They can’t even break the damn barrier and they want to take charge.” Someone from another sect called out. The Thousand Sword Sect Elder fumed at this. “Elder have everyone attack at once.” Wan Yu ordered.
“Obey the Hidden Elder; all Thousand Sword disciples attack at once!” The order was given down and the Thousand Sword sect, true to their name, drew their swords and all of them launched a fierce attack all at once, the barrier finally cracking. In truth, Li Jian could have dispelled the barrier with a single gesture but he dared not do such a powerful move in front of other people. “When they break the barrier, hang back. Don’t charge in.” He said via a mental message to everyone.
“All of us here need to attack at once, other wise it will take way too long.” The Thousand Sword Sect Elder ordered. The other Sects looked at each other hesitantly. “If we do not break the barrier then no one will get any of the treasure.” With those words, the others gathered there finally agreed and launched an attack. A series of cracks began to appear over the barrier before it finally shattered after the sixth strike. Li Jian had held up a hand to the others with him, motioning for them to not attack. Now that the barrier had opened, the Thousand Sword Sect held back. The other Sects all rushed forward.
Li Jian could see even a few members of the Spiritblade Sect, but he didn’t recognize them so he made no efforts to stop them either. Cultivation was risk, and only with risk can you receive power. For the sake of Lady Bai’s sister, he did not see it necessary to take too much risks. From inside of the Tomb Entrance suddenly came screams as those who had rushed in met their quick end. This was after all the tomb of the First Sword Emperor. Wan Yu stepped in and with a wave his hand, sent a surge of sword force down the entrance, a few hisses as the sword force obliterated whatever was there waiting for them before stepping in. The other Thousand Sword sect members followed him in. Li Jian just smirked slightly. Did he truly believe that the First Sword Emperor would be so simple?