Chapter 465 — The Pinnacle of the Sword Dao

If a nineteenth form were opened up, would it not squander the entire cultivation of a sword-arts practitioner? And by the twentieth form, no one would be able to perform it at all? " Shen Mu was deeply shaken; he felt as though he had found a kindred spirit, and his gaze could not help but grow fervent. "You can sense that there is a nineteenth sword form? " Luo Yinyu said joyfully, "You have sensed it too? " The two looked at each other and smiled in mutual understanding. "After I created the eighteenth sword form, I felt that something was left unsaid. " Shen Mu's spirit wandered; he poured out his thoughts.

"At that time I sensed it very likely that there was a nineteenth sword form. But I was exchanging blows with Sister Yiyi then, and dared not divide my attention, so I did not probe the source of that feeling.

Yet the nineteenth sword form must exist.

That you have sensed it too shows my feeling was not mistaken.

" Luo Yinyu nodded.

"The nineteenth sword form may well be the key that lets us enter the sword dao directly! " Both were somewhat elated. "By the way, the Kingdom of Jingping lies close to the sea—why then do you call Jingping the Central Plains? " Shen Mu asked.

Luo Yinyu shook her head.

"I know little of outside affairs; most of my time is spent in quiet contemplation of the sword.

" Beside them, Fang Caidie, matriarch of the Fang clan, laughed.

"Cult Leader Shen, the name Central Plains has always existed; it is what the Desolate Ruins and the lands to the east are called.

It is your Eastern Sea of Jingping that is called the Eastern Lands. " The two of them studying sword techniques and exchanging views here drew no small crowd of onlookers. Shen Mu and Luo Yinyu were both grandmasters of the sword; even those whose cultivation realms far surpassed theirs could only marvel.

Shen Mu was all the more perplexed. "The Eastern Sea has no land—why is it called the Eastern Lands? " Fang Caidie had never explored the mystery of it either, and shook her head.

"That I do not know.

" "The Eastern Sea was once land, and so it is called the Eastern Lands.

" Fu Yunxi, matriarch of the Fu clan, said, "The Cloud Records of my Fu clan contain certain matters concerning the Eastern Lands and the Central Plains.

It is said that the Central Plains and the Eastern Lands were not divided according to present geography, but according to the geography of long ago. " Shen Mu's heart stirred slightly. He suddenly thought of the Qushan Shrine—a shrine that should have stood atop a mighty mountain, sunk to the bottom of the Eastern Sea, more than sixteen hundred zhang below the surface.

And the mountain's base lay even farther below the sea. This showed that the present Eastern Sea had once been a continent—the place called the Eastern Lands!

Yet Fu Yunxi said the Eastern Lands and the Central Plains were divided according to the geography of long ago; then that "long ago" could not be the Kaihuang Era, but the Supreme Sovereign Era, earlier still than Kaihuang!

"The Supreme Sovereign Era must be where the Eastern Lands lay—that is, the present Eastern Sea.

The third move of the Sword Diagram, the Supreme Sovereign's Tribulation—this Supreme Sovereign must be connected with the Supreme Sovereign Era. " Shen Mu fell into deep thought. The Sword Diagram was a move created by Li Zheng; the Supreme Sovereign's Tribulation was its third move.

So then, Li Zheng must know a part of the history of the Supreme Sovereign Era. "Li Zheng, I will surely go to Fengdu and rescue you!

" the youth vowed silently. Suddenly He Yiyi called out in a loud voice, "The True Heaven Palace is almost upon us!

Everyone, be on guard!

" Luo Yinyu the Sword Master hurriedly rose and made for the Luo clan; Fu Yunxi, Fang Caidie, Mu Yingxue, Liu Ruyin, and the others likewise returned to the armies of their own clans.

Shen Mu stood on the city tower and looked ahead, and his heart quaked. Before him rose a forest of mountains; each splendid peak stood like a silent giant a thousand zhang tall between heaven and earth.

These mountains were much like the mountain giant he had seen at Fangxiu City, yet vaster and more overwhelming. Beside these great mountains were sword peaks, their summits like swords!

And bell peaks, their summits like bells. Cauldron peaks, shaped like cauldrons.

Pagoda peaks, shaped like pagodas.

Tower peaks like layered towers.

Those peaks were the forms of various primal weapons!

Beyond that, below the peaks ran great rivers, surging and roaring, twisting through nine turns and eighteen bends; on the peaks hung flying-rainbow waterfalls plunging three thousand zhang; among the ranges drifted seas of cloud, with thunder and lightning flashing.

Above the sea of clouds, a cluster of palaces seemed bathed in golden light.

The True Heaven Palace of the Western Lands! The holy ground of the Western Lands was harder to deal with than he had imagined!