Chapter 710: What kind of feeling is it? (1/2)
Original and most updated translations are from volare. If read elsewhere, this chapter has been stolen. Please stop supporting theft.
Han Yunxi was flabbergasted by the sight. She only had a mysterious impression of Celestial Mountain, but standing at the summit of its first of five mountains gave her a perfect view of the rest. Admiration bloomed in her height at their sheer heights. These five mountains peaks were like a staircase to heaven, each taller than the last. It felt like one could ascend them to the Southern Heavenly Gates leading to the nine divine realms above.
Besides the first peak, the rest were all covered in snow. In the distance, the white snow and blue skies formed a clean, almost holy contrast. It took a long time for her to recover from the sight. Despite the pure and spotless sight, how many dark and dirty deeds lurked within Celestial Sword Sect? Wherever you went in this world, it was the same: ugliness hid itself beneath beauty. If you were weak, you could be sucked into that filth. If you weren’t strong enough, you could only float amongst its grime. Only by growing powerful could one have the strength to break free of the mud untarnished.
Han Yunxi looked closely and saw that the distance between each peak was quite vast. If they traveled on foot, they’d have to flip past four entire summits just to reach the bottom of Celestial Mountain. In other words, that meant climbing and descending four peaks in the row. Even without counting the distance between peaks, or the dangers that lurked within them, just walking past all that snow looked like a challenge. Thus, simply climbing wouldn’t do. Even Long Feiye’s high level lightness techniques wasn’t enough to fly directly from peak to peak.
Mountains are dangerous, mountains are tall; even the yellow crane finds it hard to pass, even apes and monkeys fret at the climb.
To get to Celestial Mountain, one had to use the single path made by the people for the commoners. Han Yunxi quickly noticed the bamboo suspension bridge dangling between the peak of the first mountain and the central body of the second. It stretched over an expanse of empty space. She looked back at Long Feiye and asked, “Is that the only way?”
“It’s the fastest,” Long Feiye remarked. If he didn’t mind the exhaustion, they could simply circle around each peak until they reached the last. But it was hard to judge the dangers then. Moreover, mountain roads were hard to traverse, so it’d take them over a month that way to ever reach their destination.
“Then let’s take a look at that bridge.” There was still some distance from it yet, so Han Yunxi could only see sections of the suspension rather than the entire thing. Long Feiye took her to circle around the mountain’s other side until they could see the entrance to the bamboo suspension bridge currently sealed up by a row of iron chains. Two guards dressed in white stood on either side of the entrance, while a small building styled like a temple stood nearby like a sentry box.
Although it was difficult to ascend Celestial Mountain, they still had strict security. Han Yunxi approached and examined the bamboo bridge, only to realize the structure dangling between both mountains was absolutely…a sham!
You can’t call this a bridge. It’s more like sticks of bamboo tied together with rope!
Two ropes tied in an upside down triangle pattern held up the bamboo between them and acted as guardrails for its passengers. However, the bamboo slats were quite thin–only wide enough for one person to walk on instead of two shoulder-to-shoulder. To cross the bridge, one had to work one’s way over the bamboo while holding onto the ropes on both sides. There wasn’t a bit of safety to the ordeal at all.
Abruptly, a breeze blew past and sent the bamboo bridge swaying in the wind. It was such a long bridge and such a strong wind that anyone on it was sure to swing along with the structure. A complicated gaze settled onto Han Yunxi’s face as she stared at the thing.
The guards at the entrance didn’t seem to recognize Long Feiye, because they stepped forward to block their passage right away. But before they could speak, Long Feiye revealed a white jade command tablet written with a single, blood red character: Sect (宗 or Zong).
Seeing this, the two guards immediately backed off and paid their respects. “Greetings to Senior Brother Ye!”
It had been years since Long Feiye came to Celestial Mountain. Of course the new guards wouldn’t know what he looked like, but the white jade command tablet was definitely recognizable. There were many rules to the jade command tablets of the mountain. Different colors represented different ranks. Besides the colorless jade tablets in the hands of the sword sect grandmaster and his four elders, white was the highest rank. Only disciples of those five masters possessed them. Moreover, the words written on each tablet corresponded to different sects and factions as well. Sect (宗) referred to the sword sect master, a direct connection to their sect head.
Thus, Long Feiye’s white jade command tablet meant that he was the sword sect master’s direct disciple, and everyone in the mountain knew he only taught two students, Duanmu Yao and Long Feiye.
Besides Sect, the tablet was also adorned with th characters of Heart (心 or Xin), Scripture (经 or Jing), Sword (剑 or Jian) and Abstinence (戒 or Jie). Each word represented the symbols of the Lockheart Compound, Scripture Depository, Sword Depository, and the Commandment Courtyard. These were the four organizations controlled by Celestial Mountain’s four elders. Head Elder Cang Qiuzi looked after the Lockheart Courtyard, which was responsible for all of Celestial Mountain’s internal cultivation technique, the Nirvana Heart Arts.
There were many different swordplay styles on Celestial Mountain, but it only had one type of internal cultivation technique. Anyone who wanted to learn Celestial Mountain swordsmanship had to cultivate Nirvana Heart Arts. All practitioners of the art had to undergo a seal to forever lock away unrighteous qi that would interfere with their internal cultivation and energies. Thus, Cang Qiuzi’s Lockheart Courtyard not only controlled the Nirvana Heart Arts, but the Lockheart Seal.