Chapter 1 (1/2)

Chapter 1 – Sword Fighting in Cold Pool

Night had arrived.

A full moon rose over the horizon.

On the backside of the outer mountain of the Heavenly Sword Sect, two teenagers around 13 or 14 years old were practicing sword arts.

The older of the two was fire-eyed and elegant in practicing, while the younger one was slightly panting and off balance.

The older boy’s name was Xuan Tian, and the younger one’s was Huang s.h.i.+. They were both outer disciples of the Heavenly Sword Sect.

They were practicing the same sword technique—Wind Trail Sword, a middle-cla.s.s sword skill at Huang rank.

After a while, they both finished practicing.

Huang s.h.i.+ panted softly while regulating his breathing, and said “Brother Tian, I feel like I learn a lot when I practice Wind Trail Sword with you. Your sword is more powerful and flexible than mine.”

Xuan Tian stopped practicing, he balanced his breathing, and said “You are still young and inexperienced, and I am senior than you by one year. In fact, I think you will reach my realm next year, perhaps you may even surpa.s.s me.”

Huang s.h.i.+ laughed, saying, “Brother Tian, you are at the Fourth Warrior Layer, but you are already as masterful as Zhang Hu who is at the Fifth Warrior Layer. I wish I could practice as hard as you do. It is getting dark, let’s go back.”

Xuan Tian’s face turned into a slight scowl, “You go back first. I was only able to take  ten moves when practicing with Zhang Hu. I still have a long way to go. I want to practice a bit more.”

“Alright! Brother Tian, don’t be too late. I am going to bed now.” Huang s.h.i.+ waved his hand and descended the mountain .

“Lift sword as wind…”

“Sword goes with the wind…”

……

……

“A sword trailing the wind…”

After Huang s.h.i.+ left, Xuan Tian continued to practice.

Once, twice, three times…five times…ten times…

Xuan Tian did not stop practicing until beads of sweat poured off his forehead  and his sword felt as if it weighed a ton.

At this moment, when the full moon climbed up the sky, millions of stars lightened the night.

Xuan Tian wore his sword, lay down on the gra.s.sland, and gazed at the starry night sky. His eyes entailed a mix of emotions of this mortal world.

Self pity, frustration, vicissitude, resentment, happiness, depression…

Eyes that should not belong to a fourteen-year-old boy.

“I have been in this world for fourteen years. It feels longer than a lifetime. I have suffered more bitterness and experienced more hards.h.i.+p than I did in my entire previous life.

Looking at the stars, like he had done many times before, Xuan Tian once again thought of his past fourteen years.

Xuan Tian had never expected that he could travel in time. When his previous life came to an end, he had been reborn in this divine land.

Fourteen years ago, Xuan Tian was born in the Xuan Family, one of the top five powerful families of the divine land. Since he was born, he had become a central figure in this land.

His father, Xuan Hong, was the oldest son of Xuan Xiong, the lord of the Xuan family. Xuan Hong was also the top genius of the second Xuan generation, the most powerful cultivator, and the successor of the Xuan family.

“My grandson must reign over the divine land someday. He will become the hero of the land, overseeing all regions. His name should be ‘Xuan Tian’.” After Xuan Tian was born, his grandfather Xuan Xiong named him ‘Xuan Tian’.

As the first grandson of the Xuan family, Xuan Tian was much-loved, much-admired, and much-respected since he was born.

As an orphan in his previous life, Xuan Tian had never enjoyed any love from his family. Now, he thought that the heavens finally saw his sorrow, and gave him a chance to taste the sweetness after pain, in this life.

However, the happiness was fleeting.

When Xuan Tian was three years old, a woman named ‘Yin Ji’ came to his home. She mocked his father saying his swordsmans.h.i.+p was like a little boy lifting a lantern. Xuan Hong was angry. He fought with ‘Yin Ji’, but was beaten by her after a single strike. That was his first failure.

After the fight, ‘Yin Ji’ had a long and secret conversation with Xuan Hong. But they did not reach a compromise. ‘Yin Ji’ left the Xuan house in rage.

Things seemed to have been settled. But in reality that wasn’t the case.

When Xuan Tian was five, his second uncle Xuan Ji proposed a fight with Xuan Hong in the family cultivation tournament. He also wanted to be the successor.

Xuan Ji’s cultivation used to be much poorer than Xuan Hong’s. However, Xuan Ji had caught up with Xuan Hong unknowingly. What’s more, he heavily injured Xuan Hong with a new sword skill.

At that time, Lord Xuan Xiong was furious  with what Xuan Ji had done. He said Xuan Ji was cruel, emotionless and lacked brotherhood. He would never pa.s.s the power to Xuan Ji, even though he defeated Xuan Hong.

He also took out the best medicinal pill he had to heal Xuan Hong.

However, things were not settled. A few days later, the lord Xuan Xiong suddenly announced he was going to dispose of Xuan Hong and pa.s.sed the position of successor to his second son Xuan Ji. He criticized that Xuan Hong disobeyed his order, and decided to kick him out of the family.

Xuan Tian had to suffer the same disaster together with his father. His life suddenly changed, and he fell down from up high in the clouds to the lowest bottom.

That should have been the end. However, it was just the beginning of their misfortune.

After being driven out from Xuan Family, Xuan Tian had to reside in his maternal

grandfather’s home with his father Xuan Hong and mother Huang Yue for a while.

However, that was not all, because what followed was years of being hunted.

Huang family was only a medium sized family. It was not powerful enough to fight against the powerful enemies who were chasing them. Even Xuan Hong was injured heavily, and the Huang family suddenly broke down. Nine out of ten people were killed. Few survived.

Xuan Tian was only five at the time, he was weak and unable to defend himself. One day, his grandfather Huang Yuancheng blocked a sword for him at a critical moment and was badly injured.

Xuan Hong, with a serious injury, brought Huang Yue, Xuan Tian and the rest of the Huang family to fight their way out and escape.

They had been escaping for five years from the Xuan family’s sphere of influence in the West to the North, which was controlled by the Tyrant Sword Sect. They had run through ten thousand li, a distance which Xuan Tian could only cover by circling the Earth several times in his previous life.

They stopped escaping when they reached the northernmost place, far away from their enemies and the Xuan family’s sphere of influence, and then settled in a county named Beimo.

The Huang family restarted their lives in the Beimo county.

There were only less than twenty people that had arrived in Beimo County, including Xuan Hong, Xuan Tian and Huang Yue. However, the Huang family had more than one thousand people before.

Even worse was that although the Lord Huang Yuancheng had survived, he was badly injured and his cultivation had plummeted to the Third Innate Layer.

Additionally, Xuan Hong was injured by Xuan Ji several times while escaping. He had fought the whole way while bleeding, even when he was close to his last breath. After settling down, all of his meridians were broken due to the grievous injuries. He lost his cultivation, becoming a waste.

No one in the family had escaped unharmed. They had all suffered unrecoverable damage and their cultivations had dropped.

Although the Huang family was medium-sized, their cultivation could not even be compared with a few small-sized families in the Beimo county.

Since settling, the Huang family was crowded out by three tyrant families of the Beimo county— Niu family, Cheng Family, and Zhang family.

Impaired during the escape, threatened by the super power Xuan family, and bearing provocations from three local families, the Huang family had to send their younger generation to a few powerful sects of Divine Blade Dynasty.

Xuan Tian was born in a family of swordsmen; thus he was sent to the one and only sword sect— the Heavenly Sword Sect.

Xuan Hong did not teach Xuan Tian how to practice the Xuan family’s sword skills, in case their whereabouts were disclosed. He also gave Xuan Tian a pseudonym of Huang Tian in the Heavenly Sword Sect.

Xuan Tian joined the Heavenly Sword Sect at ten and a half years old. Now, three and a half years had gone by.

Xuan Tian was fourteen, an ordinary outer disciple of the Heavenly Sword Sect at the Fourth Warrior Layer.

Xuan Tian was the first grandson of Xuan Xiong and the son of Xuan Hong. Both his father and grandfather were rare geniuses in the divine land. Thus, he was born to be a genius.

Unfortunately, he was injured when escaping at the early age. His meridians were impaired. Although it was not serious, the wound did drag down his cultivation. He was no longer a genius, but an ordinary cultivator.

Fortunately, Xuan Tian had been through two lives. He had a powerful soul and comprehension. When cultivating with a sword, he was much faster than others. Therefore, while he was at the Fourth Warrior Layer, his cultivation was comparable to that of a Fifth Warrior Layer.

Few disciples at the Fifth Warrior Layer could be his opponents. Zhang Hu was from the Zhang family in the Beimo county. Supported by his family, he dared to bully Xuan Tian and Huang s.h.i.+. His cultivation was at the peak of the Fifth Warrior Layer. That was why Xuan Tian was defeated by him.

“Xuan Ji…you are a dirty dog. You threatened my grandfather, ruined my family, damaged my father, broke his meridians, and even wasted his cultivation. You chased me for a long distance and damaged my meridians. Without my maternal grandfather, I would have been killed. You are my eternal enemy. I will keep in mind what you have done to us and pay back 10 times as much!”

“One day, I will cut your head off with my sword. I will kill the b.i.t.c.h ‘Yin Ji’, the source of this disaster. Wherever you come from, whoever you are, I will kill you and clean up whoever is behind you!”

Every time Xuan Tian thought of his resentment at Xuan Ji and Yin Ji, he hated them more. He pointed at the sky, swearing to kill them all.

Although Xuan Tian was not quite sure about the truth, he was certain that his grandfather Xuan Xiong was threatened by Xuan Ji. Otherwise how could it be possible that Xuan Xiong wanted to kill his proud son and dearest grandson?

What’s more, there was only one person who could upgrade Xuan Ji’s cultivation. The person must be the mysterious Yin Ji who defeated Xuan Hong with only one sword move. No one was able to do this except her.

Ding…

A short period of melodious bell sounds came from the bottom of the mountain.

Xuan Tian looked at the sky, the moon had risen right above his head.

It was 12 am. It was the last bell to remind disciples to sleep. After one hour, an outer custodian would come for a night patrol around the disciples’ dormitory.

Xuan Tian wiped his forehead. He had worked up a sweat during cultivation. Whenever he thought of the past fourteen years, he was consumed with a great fury. His sweat started to pour even more.

“There is a pool in the east, one hundred meters away. I should clean myself off and go descend the mountain to sleep. I can continue to cultivate tomorrow night, and try to exceed Zhang Hu as soon as possible.”

Xuan Tian went ahead to the east. He soon found the pool through a small brush.

The moon was hanging above the pool. Its big and round reflection hung in the middle of the pool.

“Why—?”

Xuan Tian frowned, shocked, “Why is there something inside the moon?”

He looked up. The full moon was flawlessly white in the sky.