strictlysupreme Chapter 445: Zhou Jinyun's Concerns
Chapter 445: Zhou Jinyun's Concerns
History would eventually form a closed loop.
And returning to eight thousand years in the past would certainly make him a participant in that historical loop.
Chen Yan had always understood this.
It was the same way Heavenly Summit Mountain had been destroyed because his observation had interfered with cause and effect.
So, what exactly was he supposed to do in these eight thousand years in the past?
Chen Yan racked his brain, recalling the books he had once read at Qingjin Ravine in Wind Ravine Valley.
Information about Su Hongzhen, who would only burst onto the scene during the Heavenly Summit Mountain Dao Inquiry, was extremely scarce before that event.
Even the name of the sword Su Hongzhen carried during the Heavenly Summit Mountain Dao Inquiry-the Xun-Li Sword-was only known after he had become famous.
As for what he needed to do next, he would have to figure it out by groping in the dark.
If he took the wrong path, Heaven's Dao would naturally correct it.However, he would have to bear the karmic backlash brought about by the cycle of reincarnation.
The worst-case scenario might end up like when he was still the chief disciple of Kongyuan Mountain, nailed to the outer court training grounds by Huo Mu, trapped in an endless death loop.
If it hadn't been for that ring and the Black Flood Dragon's Remnant Soul...
He might still be being killed over and over again.
Even Chen Yan, who had weathered countless storms, still felt a lingering fear when he thought about that possibility.
"Watch the sword!"
A boy's shout came from outside the house.
Chen Yan turned his head and looked toward the courtyard.
Su Hongzhen's figure blurred into a shadow, rapidly charging toward the young girl across from him, who was dressed in deep green daoist robes.
In his hand, he held the Xun-Li Sword that Chen Yan had gifted him.
His speed was fast.
At least, for a cultivator at the Qi Circulation Realm, Su Hongzhen was very fast.
Chen Yan hadn't taught Su Hongzhen any movement techniques.
Yet through his own efforts, Su Hongzhen seemed to have discovered the secret to some kind of movement technique.
According to Su Hongzhen himself, he had comprehended it while practicing his swordplay, wielding the Xun-Li Sword with true qi.
Chen Yan believed this might be related to the Xun Wind Step inscription he had engraved on the sword using the Great Derivation Art.
In other words, Su Hongzhen had been inspired by the inscription about the Xun Wind Step technique engraved on the Xun-Li Sword.
For the first two days, when Su Hongzhen used the movement technique he had derived from the sword, there were still traces of the Xun Wind Step in it.
But after a few more days, Chen Yan could no longer find a single hint of the Xun Wind Step in the movement technique Su Hongzhen used.
In other words, Su Hongzhen had used the Xun Wind Step as a blueprint to create his own movement technique.
In terms of performance, based on what a cultivator at the Qi Circulation Realm could achieve, the movement technique Su Hongzhen currently used was not much worse than the Xun Wind Step.
Chen Yan had also probed Su Hongzhen, asking how he had developed this movement technique.
Su Hongzhen's answer was that he had just fiddled with it on his own.
Maybe this was the talent of the foremost Sword Immortal of Chenping Continent.
Chen Yan sighed inwardly.
He watched as Su Hongzhen, holding the Xun-Li Sword, thrust toward Zhou Jinyun.
His speed was incredible; the nearly ten zhang distance between them was erased in less than half a breath.
Facing Su Hongzhen's sword strike, the chief disciple of Weaving Dreams Tower from Mirage Palace remained completely unhurried.
She simply raised her hand and, with her slender, fair fingers, lightly flicked the Xun-Li Sword in Su Hongzhen's hand.
The sword's balance was immediately lost, veering off to the side.
Then, Zhou Jinyun slowly lifted her foot.
And with lightning speed, she used the tip of her shoe to kick Su Hongzhen's calf.
"Owwwwwwww!!!"
A pig-slaughtering scream rang out from the courtyard of Listening to the Waves Pavilion.
Su Hongzhen collapsed on the ground, rolling back and forth while clutching his calf.
Zhou Jinyun simply stared coldly at the boy making a spectacle of himself before her.
She turned her head and looked toward the window of the house.
Then, she met Chen Yan's gaze for a moment. Her expression suddenly turned serious, and she bowed toward Chen Yan.
Chen Yan nodded but said nothing.
These past few days, Zhou Jinyun had been acting as Little Su's sparring partner.
This was part of the deal between Zhou Jinyun and Chen Yan.
After Grand Elder Jing of Mirage Palace took Kang Zongdan away, Zhou Jinyun had fallen into a very difficult situation.
The problem she faced was far more complex than she had originally imagined.
Behind all of this, there was actually a shadow of a Grand Elder from within the sect-a great power of the upper three realms.
It was extremely tricky.
On her own, Zhou Jinyun had no way to solve it.
She had once thought about sending word back to Mirage Palace to inform Imperial Law Elder Shang, but she couldn't.
Because she was worried about alerting the enemy.
After all, only a very few Grand Elders in Mirage Palace still knew of her existence.
In other words, Zhou Jinyun's only support right now rested on one person.
This person's cultivation was above the upper three realms.
And he was smart enough, with a cunning, experienced air about him.
That person was Chen Yan.
Zhou Jinyun knew she had no bargaining chips to make Chen Yan agree to help her.
But she had no choice and could only steel herself to ask for help.
She hoped that Chen Yan would go with her to Moxu Mountain.
That was a mountain range tens of thousands of li away from Yunxi Country, gathering many second-rate, third-rate, and even unranked immortal sects, as well as numerous rogue cultivators.
It could be said to be one of the most prosperous cultivator gathering places in the southeastern part of the Western Region of Chenping Continent.
And Grand Elder Jing had taken Kang Zongdan there.
Chen Yan neither agreed nor refused Zhou Jinyun's request.
He simply put forward a condition to her.
The condition was that Zhou Jinyun had to find a way to secure Little Su a spot to participate in the Heavenly Summit Mountain Dao Inquiry five years later.
For the chief disciple of Weaving Dreams Tower, this was not difficult.
Each of the Five Great Sects could only send three Dao Inquirers to Heavenly Summit Mountain, while all other sects, regardless of size, could only send one.
Of course, rogue cultivators also had quotas.
Zhou Jinyun did not have the authority to decide who among Mirage Palace's three Heavenly Summit Mountain Dao Inquirers would be chosen, but as the chief disciple of Weaving Dreams Tower, she absolutely had the ability to secure a spot for a rogue cultivator to participate in the Heavenly Summit Mountain Dao Inquiry.
The prerequisite was that both the cultivation realm and age requirements had to meet the standards of the Heavenly Summit Mountain Dao Inquiry.
In other words, Zhou Jinyun could secure a spot for Su Hongzhen to participate in the Heavenly Summit Mountain Dao Inquiry.
Provided she was willing to do so.
Zhou Jinyun did not immediately agree to Chen Yan's condition.
Because if she recommended a Dao Inquirer, and something happened to that person on Heavenly Summit Mountain, she would have to bear joint responsibility.
That was her concern.