35: Chapter 35 Xuande Temple

At this moment, Lian Song was also astonished. He hadn't quite believed Lian Xiong when he heard him talk about it. However, the young man before him had actually already condensed Saber Intent.

One must know that martial arts cultivation could still be attributed to being extraordinarily gifted, but integrating martial will into saber techniques was a manifestation of an incredibly powerful will.

Even he, with countless Family resources piled upon him, had only barely managed to cultivate Sword Intent by the age of thirty. Despite that, he was still considered a Genius swordsman in Xuzhou City.

This showed just how terrifying the young man before him was, and Lian Song felt intent to kill rising within him.

Such an extraordinarily brilliant person could not be allowed to exist before him.

"Die!"

Instantly, the sky seemed to darken, as if an incomparably massive mountain peak was pressing down.

The irresistible mountain peak seemed as if it would crush Su Jiuchuan into mincemeat.

In the next instant, a simple and unadorned flash of saber light lit up in this darkness, slashing toward the mountain peak.

The blade qi expanded continuously, flying toward the mountain peak against the darkness, shattering it to pieces like dry weeds before the wind.

In the sky, the mountain peak vanished, revealing its true form: a pitch-black longsword.

Clang!

The blade qi slashed fiercely onto the sword's blade, producing a loud crash. Then, the longsword seemed to let out a wail as it was sent flying.

Lian Song reached out his hand, and the longsword automatically flew back into his grasp, still buzzing and trembling.

Pfft!

Lian Song spat out a mouthful of fresh blood, his entire body suddenly becoming weak and listless.

A clash of Sword Intent was inherently a contest of wills. While victory was overwhelmingly decisive, once defeated, the mental damage was not easily recovered. Some could even develop a Heart Demon, halting their martial arts Realm forever.

He knew his current state was too poor and he could not stay here. He immediately turned around, wanting to leave.

"You think you can come and go as you please? There's no such cheap thing in this world."

Su Jiuchuan turned into an Incarnation of saber light and slashed down with his entire body.

Lian Song could only turn back to face the attack.

Snap!

As if something had cracked open, blood began to seep from between Lian Song's brows. His face-covering cloth was split in two and blown away by the night wind, and then he collapsed to the ground.

Dead!

A flurry of panicked footsteps echoed from deep within the forest. Su Jiuchuan knew these belonged to those who had come with the masked man. Since he had to guard the carriage right now, he couldn't be bothered to give chase.

At this moment, he was still immersed in the Concept of that slash just now. Charging forward with absolute resolve, with no thought of survival—was this his Saber Intent?

On the other side, Lian Xiong fled, rolling and scrambling, a feeling of impending doom rising in his heart.

His second uncle was actually dead. Crucially, he was the one who had instigated his second uncle to kill Su Jiuchuan. How was he going to give an account to the Family now?

On the other side of the forest, two people were gazing over from afar.

"My Lord, what kind of saber technique is this? To think it is so strong!" The voice belonged to none other than Vice City Lord Cao Xinghe of Xuzhou City.

"Old Man Cai's 'Blade Qi Secret Record'," City Lord Guan Lin said, stroking his beard and frowning.

"He has the token of Xuande Temple and knows Old Man Cai's saber technique; he is definitely not from the Xuanxian Sect."

"For a Genius who could comprehend Saber Intent at such a young age, the Xuanxin Sect would absolutely never allow him to learn saber techniques from Old Man Cai."

City Lord Guan Lin smiled in the end and said, "Very well, let him clash with those noble families first, and we'll clean up the mess afterward."

Seeing the look of appreciation in the City Lord's eyes, Vice City Lord Cao Xinghe couldn't help but ask, "Then how should we handle Su Jiuchuan?"

"Since he is not from the Xuanxian Sect, our previous plan is no longer applicable. Now that he has clashed with those self-righteous noble families, just keep an eye on him. Only when those old fogeys are truly about to kill him should you make your move. That should make him willing to work for us."

"Yes."

With that, the two vanished into the night.

...

Su Jiuchuan searched the masked man's corpse and was annoyed to find that not a single tael of silver was on him. The longsword should have been worth some money, but now that it had been ruined by the Saber Intent, it was essentially useless.

"What a huge loss. After simulating so many times, I finally managed to kill this masked man, but I didn't earn a single penny. I lost at least six thousand taels this time."

However, there was nothing he could do, so he could only continue forward.

As the sky began to brighten slightly, Su Jiuchuan and the others finally arrived at Xuande Temple.

Zheng Xinyue looked at the temple before her with some confusion. This looked like a perfectly ordinary, even run-down temple. Why did City Lord Guan Lin seem so wary of it?

Su Jiuchuan had already been here many times in his simulations, and had even laid low here for decades a few times, so he found nothing unusual about it.

At the entrance, a lazy old Daoist priest yawned and said to them, "Our temple only receives pilgrims during the Hour of the Dragon! Please turn back, everyone."

In his eyes, since this group had female companions, they were definitely ordinary pilgrims.

Su Jiuchuan didn't waste words either. He threw the black token over directly and said casually, "Old Man Old Daoist Dao Yuan, take me to see Abbot Dao Qi."

Old Daoist Dao Yuan was stunned. He didn't know this person, so why did he seem so familiar?

"Who are you?"

Su Jiuchuan smiled. In his simulated lives, he had laid low in Xuande Temple several times and seemed to have become quite familiar with this old man, so he couldn't help but make a joke.

Although Old Daoist Dao Yuan was also very puzzled, the token was of great importance, so he didn't dare to delay and hurriedly led them inside.

Although Xuande Temple looked quite large from the outside, there were actually not many people inside. Even after crossing the main hall, they only saw three or four people.

Soon, they were led into a guest room, where they met the temple's Abbot Dao Qi.

Abbot Dao Qi had a long, flowing beard and was quite old, yet he possessed an otherworldly, Daoist air. He pinched the token between two fingers, weighed it, and said, "This is the token of Junior Sister Lin from our sect. How did you obtain this token?"

Although Su Jiuchuan had experienced several simulated lives, he still didn't quite understand the relationship between Xuande Temple and Xue Mingcai. This was the perfect time to ask and get a clear answer.

Thus, he recounted how Xue Mingcai had been taken away and how she had left the token behind.

Abbot Dao Qi nodded and said, "It seems that Miss Xue must have excellent Aptitude, otherwise Junior Sister Lin wouldn't have been willing to give this token to you. Hehe."

"That Senior said she is from the Xuanxian Sect, and as for your Xuande Temple..." Su Jiuchuan couldn't help but ask, as he had always been puzzled by this question.

Abbot Dao Qi smiled and said, "The Xuanxian Sect is where our mountain gate lies, while Xuande Temple is merely a temporary lodging place to facilitate our Disciples' training in the Mortal World."

Only then did Su Jiuchuan nod and say, "I heard that this token can make Xuande Temple do one thing?"

"Indeed, we will do whatever is within our power," Abbot Dao Qi said, still in an unhurried manner.

"How about just giving me one million taels of silver?"

Su Jiuchuan couldn't hold back. If he could truly get this much money, he could directly enter the Innate Realm. By then, arranging for Su Yunxia and Su Yuanjiang would not be a difficult task.

Abbot Dao Qi's face froze instantly. As an Innate expert dispatched by the sect to Xuzhou City, when others met him, they either begged to be accepted as his Disciple or pleaded for his guidance in martial arts. This was the first time he had ever seen someone come straight to his door asking for money.