zChapter 1000 - A sword cast from human bones
Chapter 1000: A sword cast from human bones
Seeing Long Feiye’s stunned expression, Han Yunxi realized that the ancient sword beneath the lake was a very precious thing.
So we found a treasure before ever tracking down the Qi Sha dagger?
“What could it be?” she asked urgently.
“The Moye sword spirit!” Long Feiye declared.
“Moye sword spirit?” Han Yunxi echoed blankly. She had heard of the Moye sword (莫邪宝剑). Mo Ye herself was the wife of the swordsmith Gan Jiang (干将). The couple had accepted the King of Wu’s orders to cast a sword, which Gan Jiang did by gathering iron essence from the five mountains, and metal essence from the six valleys. Unfortunately, they didn’t manage to succeed even after three months. The King of Wu would take Gan Jiang’s life if he was late, so for the sake of protecting her husband, Mo Ye threw herself into the furnace and broke the sword into pieces. The results yielded two separate blades, with the male named Ganjiang and the female Moye. [1]
Gan Jiang secretly hid the Gan Jiang sword for himself and only gave the King of Wu the Moye blade. Once the king discovered the lie, Gan Jiang was ordered to commit suicide. His soul thus attached itself to the Ganjiang sword. Moye and Ganjiang were both ancient treasure swords; what’s more, they were a pair. Han Yunxi only knew of the legend, but never heard of something like Mo Ye’s sword spirit.
“I heard my master said that the Moye sword had been destroyed hundreds of years ago. However, its sword spirit lived on. Moye was originally filled with killing intent, so that only intensified once it lost its sword body. If someone could quell its sword qi, then they’ll have to get rid of the killing intent first,” Long Feiye explained.
“And what about Ganjiang? Was it destroyed?” Han Yunxi asked curiously.
“Ganjiang is in Celestial Mountain’s forbidden grounds. The three Honored Elders are watching over it,” Long Feiye muttered. This was a top secret of the sect that no one besides him, his master, and the three Honored Elders knew.
“No one in Celestial Mountain Sword Sect’s been able to quell Ganjiang yet, right?” Han Yunxi asked quickly.
Long Feiye didn’t answer, but his helpless smile revealed it all. Could this woman be any smarter?
In truth, even the combined strength of the three Honored Elders wasn’t enough to subdue Ganjiang, so all they could do was hide it away. Long Feiye had witnessed Ganjiang’s sword qi in person. With Moye as the female and Ganjiang as the male, the latter’s killing intent was even more ferocious. However, the fact that Moye’s blade had been destroyed only increased its hatred and resentment over its killing intent. Thus, Moye’s current sword qi was no less inferior to her partner.
“Long Feiye, Moye only has a sword spirit left. How are we supposed to quell that?” Han Yunxi wondered.
“It needs to be sealed within a sword body first, then quelled,” Long Feiye replied.
“So we need to reforge a brand new treasure sword?” Han Yunxi couldn’t believe it. “Who can do that?”
Then she gave a start as she recalled something. “Long Feiye, quick! Go find that one-armed man! He’s very suspicious!”
“Why?” Long Feiye didn’t understand.
“Let’s go first, I’ll explain on the way!” Han Yunxi urged.
Baili Mingxiang didn’t dare to delay and instantly delivered them on shore. Long Feiye then took Han Yunxi to hurry their way to True Love.
“Long Feiye, the only reason Mo Ye succeeded in finishing the swords after she jumped into the furnace was because human bones bane be used to craft swords! The phosphorus and calcium found inside is enough to suck up impurities in molten iron and leave the metal purified,” Han Yunxi explained.
Long Feiye didn’t completely understand what phosphorus and calcium were, but he more or less got the general idea. He immediately recalled the one-armed man at True Love. Before, they couldn’t fathom why a swordsmith like him was working at a bone ornament shop, but now they were certain he had added human bones into the mix while forging his swords!
Since the murderer was a bone collector and knew the lake had a whirlpool, then it was likely she wanted to cast a sword out of human bones to house the Moye sword spirit! As for how that related to the Qi Sha dagger and the seven female victims, Han Yunxi wasn’t sure. Her present conjectures were only a guess, so she had no way to verify whether the one-armed man and the proprietress were the suspects. Still, it was better to be wrong than miss this chance! All Long Feiye had to do was test their fighting skills to see if they were guilty.
But by the time Long Feiye and Han Yunxi reached True Love, they saw that the shop was empty and nobody was in the back courtyard. Had their probing raised suspicions? If that was the case, then the one-armed man and proprietress were even more likely suspects! Long Feiye instructed the shadow guards to investigate all people with connections to the shop while he brought Han Yunxi back to Yinyang Lake. Unlike last night, they found a place to hide instead of waiting by the shore. As long as the Moye sword spirit was still here, the culprits would definitely drop by. There was no escaping them!
The duo finished their nightly dual cultivation before continuing to keep watch. That night, the murderer didn’t show up. Early next morning, Xu Donglin came to deliver a message.
“Your Highness, this subordinate has already found that the owners of that store never interact with outsiders. All of the jewelry inside the store was made by the shopkeeper, and they’ve never needed the services of bone collectors from the city.”
“What are their origins?” Long Feiye asked.
“This subordinate couldn’t find out, but the shop’s been open for 10 years. The proprietress is a foreigner from other parts and bought the property a decade ago before she started to run the place. No one’s ever seen the boss,” Xu Donglin replied.
Long Feiye didn’t ask any more questions, but only said, “Stop all investigations to avoid startling them.”
They ended up waiting for three more days. Within this time, True Love didn’t open for business again, nor did anyone else show up. If they weren’t suspicious before, they were definitely certain now: the proprietress and the one-armed man had to be related to the murder cases!
Once again, they continued to wait. Yet three more days passed without a hint of news. Nor did any more murders occur in the city. Investigations were still underway regarding the fire at the justice department but had yet to yield any conclusions. The yamen had no leads in the case because they didn’t know some of the victims had their bones stolen.
“Long Feiye, we can’t just keep waiting around! Gu Qishao’s in real danger!” Han Yunxi said.
Over the past six days, neither the culprits nor case had advanced. Long Feiye fell silent a spell before he said, “Alright.”
He immediately raised his sword and flipped into the air until he was flying above Yinyang Lake. With a slash of his sword, wind and waves rose in his wake. The still surface of the water parted in a circle like a curtain, the waters rising to the air. All of the people hiding in the ambush were surprised. They didn’t expect His Highness to possess such lofty martial arts already. A single strike was able to raise waves!
Even Han Yunxi was stunned. She had been dual cultivating with him every night, but couldn’t fathom his true power. If he had improved so much, then what about her? She had never truly fought besides their dual cultivation sessions, so she wasn’t clear on her strength. But now wasn’t the time for that. She immediately instructed Xu Donglin to make arrangements and prepare all the guards. Long Feiye’s move was akin to breaking the cauldrons and sinking the boats–cutting off all means of retreat.
This move told the culprits that they already knew about the secret at the bottom of the lake. Moreover, they were ready to fight for it. If the suspects had their eye on Yinyang Lake too, they should show up by now. As Long Feiye stirred up the waters, waves rose and fell in spells as if caught in a massive earthquake. Perhaps the lake would overspill at any second.
What a soul-stirring sight!
What surge with great momentum!
What magnificent splendor!
While everyone was fixated on the scene, Long Feiye suddenly raised his sword with both hands and lifted it into the air, emanating a ferocious sword qi. Both the shadow guards and Baili Mingxiang were unfamiliar with this power, but Han Yunxi recognized it as the Lustbite energy. Long Feiye hadn’t used it since he left Celestial Mountain. Driven by the force, countless droplets of water rose from the lake surface and grew in size to form a water columns towering to the skies on Long Feiye’s side. Han Yunxi’s hands clenched. Although she knew Long Feiye could control the column just fine, she still felt nervous.
As the columns of water approached Long Feiye’s sword, he stood handsome and solemn like a god. Han Yunxi couldn’t help but feel a sense of respect towards the man. Long Feiye’s eyes grew cold as he used the Profound Frost Sword and its gathered water columns to slash at the center of the lake!
At that moment, something unexpected occurred!
A water dragon suddenly rose from the center of the lake and bore down menacingly with Long Feiye’s own water column. The moment before they clashed, the two water entities seem to solidify, then break apart into countless droplets that fell upon Yinyang Lake like rain. Once the waves settled, there were two distinct forces left: Long Feiye’s sword qi and the Moye sword qi. Both of them resisted each other before Long Feiye looked on the urge of being forced back.
Moye was an ancient treasure sword with terrifying sword qi. Moreover, its killing intent was strong. Even if Long Feiye had the strength to subdue its strength, he couldn’t break through its killing aura. Instead, the killing intent would affect him and force him onto deviation. The only reason he was inciting it now was to lure out their suspects. Han Yunxi immediately decided to join in and help. However, she’d hardly stood up when a red figure suddenly flew horizontally through the air and into the center of the two sword qi.
What’s going on?
Everyone was surprised. No suspect would be stupid enough to seek their own death this way! The two sword qi were too powerful to measure. Running into them both would only lead to a fatal end.
“It looks like someone’s tossed that person over?” Xu Donglin muttered.
“That…that seems to be Gu Qishao,” Baili Mingxiang grew alarmed.
“Gu Qishao!” Han Yunxi shouted as she flew out. But before Gu Qishao hit the sword qi, a few vines suddenly rose from the edges of the lake to hold him fast. Only then did everyone get a clear view of him. Gu Qishao had been thoroughly tied up, and his body was covered in human bones. There were even seven of them hanging around his waist.
This…
This…what was going on?
Long Feiye kept his attention on the Moye sword qi while knitting his brows. He didn’t care a whit about Gu Qishao. He just wanted to know where the suspects were.