Song of Adolescence

Chapter 26: Spear From The West

Chapter 26: Spear From The West

Those who had cultivated the Higher Power, the iddhi-vidha, were able to move as they pleased.

Those who had cultivated the Divine Eye, the dibba-cakkhu, were able to see a flower bloom, see the wind blow, see the sun rise; there was nothing in the Six Paths that could escape this person’s sight, whether it was their joys, their sorrows or their deaths.

As for those who had cultivated the Divine Ear, the dibba-sota, they could hear a person speak from a hundred miles away, they could hear the wind blow from a thousand miles away; there was nothing in the Six Paths that they couldn’t hear.

At this very instant, Wuxin still wasn’t versed in all six Higher Knowledges of Buddhism -merely three. Yet just mastering those three alone was astounding. To others, those five flying swords struck like lightning, swift, deadly and fierce. But to Wuxin, they were slow. The moment those swords left their magazine, he had already heard them. It merely took a split second for the swords to reach his chest. But to Wuxin, it was as if a hundred springs had passed. With a twist of his body, all five swords missed their mark. Smiling, he pinched the last sword known as Windsorrow like a Buddha pinching a lotus between his fingers.

As always, he was dashing.

Still hugging his Sword Magazine, Unparallelled immediately retreated ten meters. The rest of his four swords came flying back as well but none of them entered the magazine, merely hovering beside the teenager in a pointed down fashion.

“Windsorrow!” Unparalleled called out. That captured sword started to tremble violently as if it was trying to break out of Wuxin’s grasp and heed its master’s call. Wuxin didn’t hinder the sword, merely letting go of his fingers and allowing the sword to return to Unparalleled’s side.

Wuxin smiled and said, “The art of commanding swords… my eyes have been opened once more.”

“The Six Higher Knowledges of Buddhism… profound in their own right.” Unparalleled grinned a toothy grin, not at all flustered by his failure.

However, the black veiled leader from Unparalleled City wasn’t all that pleased, frowning as his spear shook.

“Looks like my senior brother can’t wait any longer.” Unparalleled laughed. With a wave of his finger, all five swords formed up in a line. “If you weren’t injured, it would probably take a decent effort to defeat you.”

Wuxin’s face twitched slightly. Even though he had just learnt those three Higher Knowledges, it was also a fact that he had just lost all his martial arts not too long ago. While he might seem unaffected on the surface, it was all bluff. His body was completely spent.

Lei Wujie took a step forward, “monk…”

However, Wuxin shook his head at him, and Xiao Se came forward to stop him as well. “Don’t forget, there are still thirty disciples behind him. Even if we were to defeat this sword-commanding fellow together, all that awaits us would still be defeat.”

Tang Lian, Wuchan and Lei Wujie were all still able to fight, but other than that sword-commanding teenager, there was still that leader to contend with. Wielding a silvery spear, he looked every bit an expert, not to mention all the disciples standing behind him who were all powerful in their own right.

“Those five swords I threw out just now might look impressive on the surface, but that’s just bluster. Look closely, monk, these next few swords are the real deal. If you can endure these strikes, I’ll step aside. What say you?” Unparalleled asked with a smile.

“Junior brother!” As he said that, the leader sighed internally. He just knew that this junior brother of his would act willfully at a crucial moment like this.

“Not a bad deal.” Wuxin took a step forward.

“Scram.” Unparalleled chuckled. As he did so, his finger gently tapped on the sword known as Perfection. “Stop him.”

Responding to his call, Perfection flew towards the monk, stopping him in his tracks and preventing him from approaching the Sword Magazine like before.

“Destroy his qi gate.” Unparalleled tapped on Cloudshuttle and it went speeding off in a whistle, right towards the brows of Wuxin.

Wuxin slammed his palms together and yelled, “HALT!” The sword stopped in response though its force neither lessened nor changed direction.

“Gentlefrost, take his head.” Unparalleled whistled, sending the sword forth in a blast of cold air.

“Begone!” Wuxin yelled once more, coughing up a mouthful of blood in the process.

“Hmm.” Unparalleled nodded his head. “Such a stubborn monk. Jade Fortune, Windsorrow!”

The last two swords finally made their move as well!

Yet Wuxin had already collapsed to the floor, his body completely spent. He grimaced; never would he have imagined that he would end up this state. He had fended off one of the Five Grand Eunuchs, Chen Jingzhou, and defeated the Arhat Array of the Nine Dragon Temple, yet now he was about to meet his fate under the flying sword of some teenager.

“Do not kill him!” The black robed leader hurriedly yelled out.

Unparalleled lightly smiled before flicking his finger.

In that instant, countless methods of stopping that sword flashed through Tang Lian’s mind. Wuchan himself pondered for a second before taking a step forward. However, both of them were too late, a set of red garments was already fluttering its way to the front of Wuxin.

Of those present, that figure was the most inexperienced in the martial arts. If there was someone who could actually block those two swords, it definitely wouldn’t be him. However, it was precisely because he couldn’t block those swords that he took the most simple route.

Two flying swords, one lodged in his left shoulder and the other lodged in his right. He immediately spat out a mouthful of blood.

“Lei Wujie!” A wide-eyed Tang Lian exclaimed.

“Silly kid.” Xiao Se chided in a voice neither too serious nor too light.

At the side, the black robed leader breathed a heavy sigh of relief as well.

“What’s your name?” Unparalleled peered with interest at the red teenager.

“Lei Wujie,” he answered unsteadily in pain.

Unparalleled frowned, thought about it for a second, then without any warning whatsoever or tact for that matter, said, “doesn’t sound like a famous name to me.”

At that moment, it felt like his shoulder wounds both ached even more.

Tapping the Sword Magazine, Unparalleled continued, “hey, my swords aren’t meant for nobodies. Kid, you’d better remember this, make sure to make a name for yourself in the future.”

“Eh?” Lei Wujie was taken aback for a second but recovered soon after with a smile. “Naturally.”

Unparalleled gently flicked his finger upwards causing the three fallen swords on the floor as well the two stuck in Lei Wujie’s shoulders to come flying back to him. With a wave of his sleeves, he wiped the swords clean of blood before commanding them back into their magazine. He then closed up the magazine, stood up, and walked up to the black robed leader, “Senior brother, I’m done.”

The black robed figure merely nodded his head in response before picking up his spear and walking forward.

“The head disciple of Unparalleled City, Lu Yudi.” Tang Lian coldly addressed the figure.

“The head disciple of Snow Moon City, Tang Lian?” Lu Yudi answered, mimicking Tang Lian’s exact tone.

A flash of silver later, a fingertip knife was ready and waiting in Tang Lian’s hands.

Lu Yudi flourished his long spear, stirring up a veritable whirlwind in the process.

In this impending confrontation, Tang Lian who barely had any energy left in him decided to focus his last strength into this one strike. As for Lu Yudi, he held nothing back as well. Against an opponent like Tang Lian, injuring but not killing was a joke, the only option was to face Tang Lian with his full force.

The remaining disciples of Unparalleled gave their horse whips a mighty crack as well, charging right into the fray without reservation.

Having not been a part of the battle till now, Wuchan held his breath for a moment before howling into the heavens. That howl carried with it the regret he felt towards being unable to save his own junior brother, a force most extraordinary. Half of the horses immediately collapsed to the ground, unable to stand at all.

Unparalleled couldn’t help but shake his head as he watched the scene unfold. “Can this battle get anymore unsightly?”

It was then that a voice came booming from the west without any notice.

“HALT!”

Tang Lian and Lu Yudi both threw their heads around yet all they saw was a metallic black spear tearing through the air towards them from the west. A boom shook the air in its wake, as if a mighty dragon was roaring at them.

The two of them immediately retreated. The force behind that spear was clearly above what their current martial arts could handle. All they could do was run.

The spear stabbed solidly between the two of them and a 30 meter wide gulley was instantly created, blocking the charging horses in the process.

“Identity yourself!” Lu Yudi yelled.

“It’s me.” A voice blandly answered him, heralding the approaching of a black robed figure from the west who landed atop the spear’s hilt with ease.

“Third Esteemed Teacher!”

The black robed newcomer turned around to regard Lu Yudi, “you asked who am I?”

Lu Yudi remained silent. The suffocating terror within him clamped around his throat like a vice and caused his spear to tremble uncontrollably.

“You don’t recognize me? Well then, do you recognize this spear?” The black robed newcomer asked once more in a bland voice.

To Lu Yudi however, it felt the weight of mountain bore down upon him, constricting his airways till he finally couldn’t bear it any longer and roared, waving his long spear violently in the process.

Yet after that single wave, it shattered!

Lu Yudi furiously retreated. With each step he took, he spat out blood until he was thirty paces away at which point his junior brothers finally managed to halt his momentum.

“Do you still wish to ask who am I?” As he stood atop his spear, the black robed newcomer gazed down upon the distant Lu Yudi.

‘Is that even…a man?’ That was the only thought that came to Lei Wujie’s mind as he stared with wide-eyed shock.

Xiao Se turned around to look at the black robed newcomer at that point, having finished bandaging up Lei Wujie not too long ago. “You love those martial world stories, don’t you, Lei Wujie? Well, you had better remember that man. Even those so-called top experts you saw before, Chen Jingzhou of the Frostwind Sword or Wang Rensun of the Space-severing blade, you can forget all of their names, but this man, you must remember.”

“As agile as their sword may be, as mighty as their knives may be, those people can only be considered one of the best.”

“Not that man. He isn’t one of the best - he is THE best.”

“The number one spearman in the world, the Spear Immortal, Sikong Changfeng.”