985 A Miraculous Jianghu (2/2)

Gao Fuchen took a deep breath and chose to ignore the things he heard. He turned around and wanted to leave.

Then, at that time, the voice of his associate reached his ears, ”Virtuous Brother Gao, the amount of praise one can withstand should be the equivalent of the ridicule one can take.”

Gao Fuchen looked at this associate of his sideways, nodded, and walked forward once more. He then sat beside a table.

This person was one who liked dances, literature, and art among the people from Jianghu, and he specifically liked some phrases in the Wulin Express, often quoting them, though some of them really made sense.

”Don't be angry, the enemy would laugh at you,” this associate said once again, using a famous phrase that he found.

Gao Fuchen sat quietly as his mind was filled with events from the newspaper. This new thing was like bamboo shoots after a spring rain. It was everywhere, and it involved all levels of people from the Jianghu, unlike before when the Wulin Express had limited publishing pages and could only publish news related to Wulin's best, and most of the warriors back then could not experience a change in their identities. Now, however, as long as one had a little bit of fame and did something somewhat influential, then it was incredibly hard to avoid being reported on and have one's name spread far and wide.

”I heard that the master of the Flying Fox Village bribed the editor of their local newspaper and the Wulin Express, so that they could hide the fact that their disciples lost during a spar…” Gao Fuchen thought, feeling jealous. It was a pity that the one he challenged last time was the Sad Godly Palm which caused quite a stir, the editors simply had no way of containing the news spreading.

Pa!

Mr. Storyteller suddenly slammed the wooden block down. Everyone in the hall came back to their senses, and the place became eerily quiet.

”Today, the headline of the Wulin Express is the continuation of the events of the Jianghu. It is about the incident with the Awakening Celestial Sword. The title is, `Wandering The Land Relying on a Sword,`” Mr. Storyteller said with simple words, yet implying a profound meaning.

Gao Fuchen looked alive, ”The Wulin Express actually used their headline to serialize a historical incident?”

And the Awakening Celestial Sword was one of the few seniors he respected and admired as he thought the Awakening Celestial Sword was the best swordsman in history.

As for Qian Ping'an, his gaze showed that he was ignorant and did not understand the what from the why. He only began to know about things about Jianghu in the past few months, knowing the names of some of the experts were already considered quite good, so how could he know about previous masters?

Most of the other tea shop guests were just like him.

Mr. Storyteller's expression became very serious as he started reading the prologue, ”From ancient times, the number of people who reach the peak of the martial arts world and crush the void is so few that it can be counted with the fingers of one hand, and the ones closest to our time is the Sword Emperor and the Awakening Celestial Sword.”

”The Awakening Celestial Sword learned martial arts from a young age and achieved success at a young age. As such, he was naturally perceptive and had a peek of the Heavenly Way. He stepped into the world of Jianghu as he escorted Lu Guan into the capital. Killing and poison were all impermanent to him, he guarded temples on mountains at night, his longsword stunned the capital, and then he sat down with the Sword Emperor to debate theories. He came to a realization and knew that one could not rely on someone else when it came to martial arts. He gradually left behind his fame, glory, and wealth before leaving far away. After many years, he advanced on the path of Supreme martial arts and reappeared in Jianghu. No one could stop him. He fought against the Sword Emperor at Sunset Peak as the both of them left in tatters.”

The short introduction already blew Qian Ping'an and the others away. This seemed like a real martial arts grandmaster. Compared to the Awakening Celestial Sword, the other top-class experts that he knew about earlier were all like commoners, they did not have the imposing aura of a grandmaster.

Mr. Storyteller then started talking about the main body of his story, ”The Awakening Celestial Sword did not have a specific name, he was only called Xiao Meng. But after he stepped into the world of Jianghu, what he was called was no longer important because the people of the world will only remember the title, the `Awakening Celestial Sword.'”

”To practice swords, he suffered a lot of hardships and endured through loneliness. That was why he really cherished his body and patiently waited for the time to unsheathe his sword. The day to make a name for himself in an instant he unleashed his swordsmanship.”

”At that time, he and his sword were both nameless. Nobody knew what style hid within his sword sheath. When he completely accumulated his energy, the opportunity he was waiting for came. The moment he grabbed his sword and walked out of the quiet ancient temple in the depths of the mountain, the world was stunned. Just who is he? Where did he come from? How did he possess such frightening sword skills?”

”Before long, he became one of the two most famous swords in the entire Jianghu.”

”From nameless to famous, it only took one unsheathing. From then on, no one dared to look directly at him ever again.”

...

Qian Ping'an had never heard of a story like this before and never knew the existence of such a character. After one month, as long as he had money and was not busy after the rice shop closed, he would go and listen to stories at the tea shop. If it were not possible, then he would look for other tea shop guests that he was familiar with, and listen to them retell the stories. From ”Relying on the sword to escort Master Lu; Overcoming five levels and cutting down six generals; Guarding the Mountain River Temple at night; Not worthy of my sword” and other stories to ”The battle at Sunset Peak.” The stories captivated him as he admired and looked forward to the graceful bearing of those predecessors.

”If only I had known about the stories of the Awakening Celestial Sword long ago, I'm sure I would have thought of something to practice martial arts…” Qian Ping'an sighed.

This Awakening Celestial Sword's Biography was much more detailed than the previous ones. The image of the Awakening Celestial Sword also became richer. Although it was somewhat different from the previous depiction of a Cold Swordsman, it was more human and much closer to one's understanding and imagination of a swordsman. Not only did Gao Fuchen and the others who highly praised the Awakening Celestial Sword not resist it, but they quickly accepted the new image and slightly changed their perception.

This was what people called a more human Awakening Celestial Sword!

Inside the Celestial Sword Puppet placed within Shang Jiuming's study room, Meng Qi's divine sense, relying on this kind of changes and the medium that was the Celestial Sword Puppet, experienced the feedback of the Heaven and Earth as well as the changes in connection.

”... I should stay here and adjust a bit,” Meng Qi gained something.

The second day, when Qian Ping'an stepped once again into the tea shop, the headline of the Wulin Express in front of the storyteller had changed. It became, ”Though the sword is ruthless the man is not, the secret history of the dissolute life of the Awakening Celestial Sword.”