Chapter 52: A Thousand-Year-Old Ancient SwordCloud Peak

Lin Yuchu, dressed in a sky-blue robe, stood at the foot of Cloud Peak. He raised his head, his gaze falling on the solitary mountain before him, a towering peak that pierced into the clouds, wreathed in mist and lush with dense greenery.

This was the highest mountain in the cultivation world. Legend said it bordered the heavens. If one climbed upward along Cloud Peak, one could reach the Heavenly Ladder, and by following the Heavenly Ladder upward, one could pass into the immortal realm.

Of course, this was only a legend. Whether it was true or false was impossible to tell.

Bright Moon Capital was built on the summit of Cloud Peak, and the Stargazing Platform was the tallest structure in Bright Moon Capital. It stood atop Cloud Peak’s summit, sharing a stage with the stars.

There was only one road to Bright Moon Capital: starting from the foot of Cloud Peak and climbing all the way up on foot to the summit.

Transportation depended entirely on one’s two legs.

Sigh!

Lin Yuchu lifted his head and looked up at the highest peak in the cultivation world before him. Then he lowered his head, his gaze incomparably tender as he glanced at his own legs. You poor things.

After that, his gaze turned firm, his expression resolute, and he strode forward, climbing up from the mountain’s base.

Cloud Peak had its own barrier. Only cultivators at Nascent Soul level or above were allowed to ride the wind upward. Everyone else could only rely on their two legs to climb.

This was discrimination. Naked discrimination!

It was persecution against those with lower cultivation!

Lin Yuchu climbed with his legs, expressionless, while inwardly grumbling.

Now he was beginning to regret it a little.

Why did he have to be so stubborn?

He should have agreed to come with Lin Yunheng.

With Lin Yunheng, he would not have had to painstakingly climb the mountain himself!

Unfortunately, there was no medicine for regret in this world.

The stubborn boy Lin Yuchu could only swallow this bitter fruit himself.

…

Seven days later.

After painstakingly climbing for seven days, Lin Yuchu finally covered half the distance, making it from the foot of the mountain to the mountainside.

Lin Yuchu followed the mountain road forward for a while. Huh!?

He lifted his head and looked ahead, surprise flashing across his face. There was actually a teahouse in the mountain forest up ahead?

It was a very ordinary, crude-looking teahouse built from a thatched hut.

There was actually a teahouse here. If they opened it in a place like this, would anyone come drink tea? Were they not afraid of losing money?

Lin Yuchu thought this in puzzlement, but his legs were still very honest as they walked forward. After all, he had been climbing for so many days and was very tired. Having a teahouse where he could rest his feet, drink some tea, eat something, and take a break was not bad at all.

So Lin Yuchu walked toward the teahouse ahead.

Only after he entered did Lin Yuchu discover that someone was already sitting inside the teahouse.

It was a young boy in black.

When he saw Lin Yuchu come in, the black-clothed youth who had long since been sitting inside the teahouse also lifted his head and glanced at him.

Because of this, Lin Yuchu was able to see his appearance clearly. He was a remarkably handsome youth, with a cold, aloof air and expression.

His brows and eyes were sharp, slanting upward toward his temples. His face was as fair as polished jade, and the bridge of his nose was high and straight.

He wore black from head to toe, and carried a black sword on his back.

Lin Yuchu’s gaze only lingered on his face for a moment before shifting to the sword on his back. The scabbard was pure black, simple and heavy, engraved with strange patterns, while the sword guard was copper-gold.

This sword was extraordinary.

Lin Yuchu thought this to himself. Then, with a calm expression, he withdrew his gaze and stopped looking at him. Instead, he turned and went to sit at a table to the side.

Just as he turned around, the black-clothed youth who had originally been sitting at that table with his head lowered, drinking tea, lifted his head and glanced at him. His brows furrowed slightly.

Lin Yuchu sat down in a nearby seat. After sitting for a while, no one came to greet him.

He felt a little puzzled. Lifting his head, he looked toward the inner room at the front of the teahouse. Inside, three men dressed in short gray tunics were huddled together, muttering among themselves about who knew what.

Seeing this, Lin Yuchu felt something was a little strange. Then he called out, “Boss, tea.”

“Aye, coming!”

At the sound of his call, a shout came from inside.

Lin Yuchu waited a little longer, then saw a thin young man in a short gray tunic walk out from inside. A white cloth hung over his shoulder, and he carried a pot of tea in his hand, a smile on his face.

The teahouse attendant walked up to Lin Yuchu, lifted the teapot in his hand, and poured a cup of greenish-yellow tea into the cup in front of him. He set the teapot down on Lin Yuchu’s table, then looked at him with a smile and said, “Please drink, honored guest.”

Lin Yuchu glanced at the tea in front of him. Then he raised his head, looked at the teahouse attendant before him, and said, “Bring me half a catty of beef and a bowl of plain noodles.”

Hearing this, the teahouse attendant’s expression immediately turned troubled. He looked at him and said, “Honored guest, our teahouse is a small business. We don’t have beef, and we don’t have noodles either.”

“Then bring me a plate of melon seeds and a plate of pastries,” Lin Yuchu said.

“We don’t have those either,” the teahouse attendant said, looking even more troubled.

“…”

Lin Yuchu looked at him and asked with a face full of sincerity, “Then what do you have?”

“…Tea,” the teahouse attendant said. “Only tea.”

Hearing this, Lin Yuchu turned his head and glanced at the black-clothed youth at the neighboring table. He saw that there was only a teapot on his table as well, nothing else.

It seemed this attendant was not lying. It was just that…

A teahouse that only sold tea and nothing else—this was his first time seeing one.

As if sensing Lin Yuchu’s gaze, the black-clothed youth, who had originally been sitting there with lowered brows and downcast eyes, suddenly lifted his head and looked coldly at Lin Yuchu.

Having been discovered, Lin Yuchu smiled at him as though nothing had happened, then withdrew his gaze.

“Tea it is, then.”

Lin Yuchu said this to the teahouse attendant before him. He thought to himself that, in any case, he had not come here for food or tea. He had purely come to find a place to rest. “However, why is your tea so murky?”

After saying this, Lin Yuchu smiled, his eyes dark and bright as he stared at the teahouse attendant before him.

Hearing this, the teahouse attendant’s heart immediately gave a thump. Sweat instantly seeped from his forehead, and his expression grew nervous. He quickly said, “Perhaps it’s because the tea has been steeped for too long, so…”

The hand hanging at his side clenched tightly, his palm slick and damp with sweat. Nervously, he shifted his gaze away, not daring to look at the youth before him.

This youth clearly had a smile on his face, yet for no reason, that smile made a person’s heart go cold.

Too uncanny.

Those eyes of his seemed as though they had seen through everything.

The teahouse attendant felt that if he kept standing here, he was afraid he would…

“I see.”

Lin Yuchu looked at him, then withdrew his gaze. Looking at the cup of greenish-yellow tea on the table before him, he said, “It’s also possible the tea leaves are simply too inferior.”

Only after hearing him say this did the teahouse attendant abruptly let out a breath of relief. A smile appeared on his face as he said, “That’s right. We’re only a small business, so this is the only kind of tea leaves we can afford.”

“Please don’t disdain it, honored guest. Please drink.”

After saying this, he hurriedly turned and walked toward the inner room.

That rushed posture made it look exactly as if a vicious wolf were chasing him from behind.

After he left, Lin Yuchu lowered his head and continued staring at the cup of tea on the table before him. Suddenly, interest came over him. He was a little curious.

On his fair, delicate face, with its cool expression, his lips curved slightly with a hint of slyness.

A fleeting smile, gone in an instant.

It carried a touch of calculation.

…

As if he had not noticed anything at all, Lin Yuchu reached for the cup of tea before him, picked it up, and brought it toward his mouth.

Meanwhile, from just now—accurately speaking, ever since Lin Yuchu had walked in—the black-clothed youth sitting at the neighboring table had been secretly observing him. Seeing this, he immediately furrowed his brows.

His lowered head tilted slightly to the side, and his dark eyes stared fixedly at Lin Yuchu’s movements.

Just as Lin Yuchu’s lips were about to touch the teacup, the black-clothed youth’s face abruptly darkened. Then he lifted a hand and flicked a finger toward Lin Yuchu beside him.

A burst of energy shot out.

With a crack.

The teacup in Lin Yuchu’s hand shattered instantly. Scalding tea spilled all over his hand, and his snow-white skin was instantly burned red.

“Idiot!”

The black-clothed youth at the neighboring table shouted, “That tea was drugged!”

Hearing this, Lin Yuchu’s expression still did not change. Whether it was the tea being poisonous or the matter of having scalding tea burn his hand, he seemed completely calm, as if he did not much care.

He merely lifted his eyes, turned his head, and looked toward the black-clothed youth beside him.

Then he saw that after the black-clothed youth shouted and exposed the truth behind this black shop, he immediately stood up with a cold expression. Without the slightest mercy, he kicked over the table in front of him, drew the sword from his back with a reverse grip, made one cool and dazzling turn, swung the sword, and hacked straight toward the inner room separated off by wooden boards.

Lin Yuchu sat there, unmoving, staring fixedly at his movements.

To be precise, he was staring at the sword in the youth’s hand.

The instant the black-clothed youth drew his sword, a light flashed. It was not bright, and could even be called somewhat dim, yet it was impossible to ignore. An ancient, heavy light flashed at the very moment the blade was pulled from the scabbard, reflected in Lin Yuchu’s eyes.

It was not a bright, dazzling silver-white sword light, but an ancient, heavy sword light suffused with a faint copper-yellow hue.

It was the yellow of an old sheet of paper gone with age. It was the yellow of a withered leaf falling in autumn.

Heavy.

Yes, heavy.

The sword in the black-clothed youth’s hand carried a dense, heavy, ancient simplicity.

That was the scent of time.

Lin Yuchu dared to bet that the sword in his hand was at least a thousand years old.

It was a thousand-year-old ancient sword.

…

Lin Yuchu’s gaze remained fixed on the sword in the black-clothed youth’s hand up ahead. He saw that the sword was broad and heavy, its body mottled with rust. Even the blade was rusted and dull.

It looked like nothing more than a ruined, blunt, decrepit old sword, the sort that could not even cut vegetables.

But the truth was…

The black-clothed youth held the sword in one hand and brought it down toward the wall made of wooden boards before him.

Then he saw it.

A crack split open in the wooden board.

And that crack was still continuously extending.

“Idiot, run!”

The black-clothed youth turned back and called coldly to Lin Yuchu, who was still sitting there without moving.

Hearing this, Lin Yuchu did not move.

He only lifted his eyes and looked at him with his dark, bright gaze.

The black-clothed youth was stunned for a moment by that gaze.

Only afterward did he seem to remember something. He lunged forward—accurately speaking, toward Lin Yuchu.

Lin Yuchu watched his movements, and his delicate, handsome brows immediately furrowed.

But the black-clothed youth moved too quickly.

His movement technique truly deserved to be called top-tier.

Before Lin Yuchu could do anything, the black-clothed youth had already pounced over and wrapped one arm around his waist.

“…”

Aside from his initial astonishment, Lin Yuchu quickly calmed down. Accepting the fact that he had been princess-carried by someone, he thought with great composure and Buddhist-like detachment: Since he’s already holding me, then… forget it.

Let’s see what he wants to do next.

Lin Yuchu did not resist, letting the black-clothed youth hold him with one arm. He lifted his head, his dark, bright eyes staring unblinkingly at him.

“You’re rather obedient. Not resisting?”

Seeing him allow himself to be held so quietly and obediently, the black-clothed youth said this, then lowered his head and glanced at him.

He happened to meet Lin Yuchu’s eyes, pure and bright as stars. His face immediately froze for a moment, and then he quickly turned his head away.

Holding him, he used a single instantaneous step and rushed outside.

“This kid… looks simple and stupid, but his eyes are pretty nice,” the black-clothed youth muttered quietly.

And just as the two of them flashed away and left the teahouse—

Rumble!

Behind them, the entire teahouse collapsed.

Hearing the movement, Lin Yuchu immediately lifted his head and looked over.

He gazed at the collapsed, shattered teahouse ahead, his eyes dark and deep. As expected, he had not seen wrong back then.

The black-clothed youth’s sword had not only split open that wooden wall. The sword energy carried by the blade had also severed the four wooden pillars supporting the entire teahouse.

What precise control over the sword!

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