Supreme Swordsman of the Nine Heavens

Chapter 48

Green Pine Sect

Green Pine Sect was located atop a mountain in the north of Moyun Mountains. Because they ticked every box that made up what was considered everything a top sect needed, ordinary folks considered their place to be a sacred ground many aspiring cultivators wanted to call home.

Mu Yu had never been to Green Pine Sect. When he visited for the first time, it spoke for itself and explained why nobody considered Dustfallen Sect a sect; Dustfallen Sect was essentially a farmer’s destitute courtyard in comparison.

Green Pine Sect had a nephrite door nine metres tall and five metres wide for an entrance. “Green Pine Sect” was carved in the centre of said unbelievable door. The strokes were remarkably confident to represent the world of cultivation’s greatest glory. An ancient and enormous pine tree stood to a side in the plaza. The lush leaves were a dramatic and aesthetic contrast to the tree bark swirling similarly to water flowing from the deep earth. Stories said it was the tree Daoist Qing Song grasped dao from and went out of his way to replant it there when he established Green Pine Sect. Because of how much he valued it, the disciples looked after it as if it was their own precious treasure. Green Pine Sect was visibly a place that depicted a breathtakingly ethereal world. Cranes sung. Mist was ubiquitous. Disciples flying on swords crowded the air space.

There were numerous disciples of Green Pine Sect at the plaza to receive guests coming in from the sky.

“Daoist Qiu Yu, it has been a long time. How have you been?”

“Daoist Bei Ming, how do you do?”

Patriarchs arrived in resplendent clothing and greeted each other politely with smiles. Dustfallen Sect’s trio looked out of place there from their appearance to their auras. As Feng Haochen greeted other patriarchs, Cheng Yan stood beside him with a smile. Cheng Yan’s good looks didn’t pale in comparison to the disciples in luxurious clothing. Mu Yu could sense the condescending attitudes hidden behind the pleasantries coming out of the various patriarchs’ mouths when they greeted his shifu.

Patriarchs kept their prized disciples by their side as they greeted the others so that other sects got to recognise their successor.  Obviously, there was the bragging component. Dustfallen Sect’s successor was Cheng Yan. Mu Yu couldn’t put any names to any faces since he rarely went to many places. Mu Yu and Cheng Yan hid their true cultivation levels under Feng Haochen’s orders to avoid attracting attention. Mu Yu suppressed his to a beginner cultivator’s Qi Refinement Realm. Cheng Yan suppressed his to Foundation Establishment Realm.

One of the skills that separated Dustfallen Mental Cultivation from others was the ability to suppress their spiritual energy’s activity. It was powerful enough to hide their levels from even Golden Core Realm cultivators.

Soon, greetings surged through the plaza. Mu Yu bounced up and down behind Cheng Yan to take a look. Why didn’t he get on his flying sword? Because Cheng Yan told him it was impolite. The individual who arrived was an elder wearing a golden daoist crown. His white beard was groomed to perfection. His daoist robe made from golden and white threads was embellished with red patterns. He was none other than Jiuhua Sect’s Patriarch, Patriarch Jiuhua, the cultivator second only to Daoist Qing Song.

It was odd to not see Ju Wenxing given he was on par with Bai Lang.

“Daoist Jiuhua, may I ask where Ju Wenxing is?”

“He will be here later once he wraps up some business,” answered Daoist Jiuhua. He suddenly zipped through the crowd and approached Dustfallen Sect. Smiling cynically, he said, “Greetings Patriarch Feng. I hope you are doing well.”

Feng Haochen responded in the same tone he responded to other patriarchs: “How have you been, Daoist Jiuhua?”

“Thanks to you teaching your disciples well and your special methods, your disciples have reached Foundation Establishment Realm at the tender age of fifteen.”

It was unlikely many were aware of Mu Yu’s dispute with Jiuhua Sect.

“What do you mean, Daoist Jiuhua?” queried Feng Haochen, aware Daoist Jiuhua was insinuating something but genuinely confused as to what.

“Why play the fool, Patriarch Feng? Three months ago, a male and female disciple, aged around fifteen to sixteen, of yours displayed their incredible skills at Pine City. Did the two talented youths not join you today? What a pity. I was hoping to see your disciples’ talents.”

Daoist Jiuhua looked in Mu Yu’s direction. Mu Yu fit the age description, but his cultivation didn’t. Cheng Yan was a Foundation Establishment but was older than this target. Hence, Daoist Jiuhua thought his two targets didn’t come to the assembly.

Daoist Jiuhua was skilled enough to identify details of his disciple’s’ death, so he didn’t make a huge deal out of it with Dustfallen Sect. Still, Mu Yu crippling Sha Yan was unacceptable, especially because of how the outcome came to be. He wanted to make sure the embarrassing incident was under the rug. He showed exceptional magnanimity, not personally knocking on their doors, but it wasn’t a pill he was going to swallow. He wanted to humiliate Dustfallen Sect for using unscrupulous means to help their two disciples reach as high as Foundation Establishment’s Ninth Realm in a span of two to three years. It was supposed to be impossible.

“I have not heard anything about that. Would you care to enlighten me, Daoist Jiuhua?”

Mu Yu began to panic. He wasn’t ready to let his shifu know about it. To make matters worse, it was going to come from the patriarch of the sect he had the dispute with. Those who knew what happened were bound to assume his shifu was playing the fool.

Daoist Jiuhua snorted. He wasn’t going to personally tell the world how his disciple embarrassed himself. He, instead, resorted to recruiting listeners in to lynch Feng Haochen: “What a wise man you are, Patriarch Feng – amazing. I would like to learn how you managed to train a fifteen year old child to Foundation Establishment Realm’s Ninth Ream.”

As expected, those who were listening in began to gossip and look at the trio as if they were people nobody upright would want to associate themselves with. Killing others to progress one’s cultivation was shunned and unaccepted. At the same time, it was a jab to suggest Dustfallen Sect was in over their head, resorting to unorthodox tricks.

“Feng Haochen, I have heard of methods including absorbing people’s qi and essence to progress their cultivation. You did not have your students do that, did you,” interrogated Wu Wen Sect’s elder.

Wordless Sect was the fourth most influential sect in Moyun Mountains. Elder Wu Yan was a famous figure and reputed for being an advocate of honesty and justice. After hearing of the rumours days ago, he was set on setting the record straight. When he began his questioning, everyone else piped down to await Feng Haochen’s answer.

“How do you train your elite disciples? Your disciples reach Foundation Establishment Realm before disciples of other sects do. Is there some sort of corrupt method involved?” Mu Yu chimed in, intent on taking the responsibility for his actions.

“Feng Haochen, do you not teach your disciples manners?” thundered Elder, insulted someone would question his character.

Feng Haochen pressed his hand onto Mu Yu’s shoulder and calmly replied, “What does how I educate my disciples have to do with you? I can stand with my chest up. How I teach my disciples is my business. If Daoist Jiuhua or Daoist Wu Yan is willing to reveal their teaching methods, I shall share mine. How about it? If you do not have evidence to support your claims, you are better off not making wild conjectures.”

Dustfallen Sect couldn’t and weren’t qualified to know what Jiuhua or Wu Yan Sect’s teaching methods were, was what they thought. Feng Haochen rendered them livid, but they didn’t have a counter. They didn’t have any evidence to support their claims, and they couldn’t force Feng Haochen to reveal all of his teachings. It wouldn’t fly with any sect.

Daoist Jiuhua grumbled, “Brother Wu Yan, we should not stoop down to their levels. They are not worth our time.”

Mu Yu was about to fire off again, but Bai Lang beat him to the punch: “Elders, Daoists, please calm down. Let us drop the uninvited accusations. Shifu has been waiting for you all. Let us drop this for his sake, shall we?”

Nobody dared to rebut Bai Lang, and nobody would dare to ignore Daoist Qing Song. Daoist Wu Yun snorted and let it be a bygone.

Bai Lang stole a glance of Dustfallen Sect’s trio before smiling: “Please follow me.”