Chapter 48: Hammer Sound, Sword Intent

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  Yan Ruyu gazed steadily at Lu Qing, her face a mix of emotions. "You've grown up..."

  A warm smile spread across his face as he looked at his mother and said, "I've grown up."

  The people around looked at everything in front of them with a smile of joy, and this future town guard seemed to be full of expectation.

  He shifted his gaze to the middle where Lu Jian was tied up, and Lu Qing sighed, saying: "Five hundred years ago, our ancestor Quiet Ming Gong lost a sword fight to the Qingyu Sect's Qingfeng-level swordsmith, and rather than tarnish the reputation of our Lu family for a thousand years, he chose to leave the sect. Now that five hundred years have passed, although the bloodline in your bodies has become increasingly diluted, you are still connected by the ancestral vein. In ancient times, someone once said 'Originally from the same root, why be so eager to destroy each other?' How much more should we not join forces with outsiders to plot against our Lu family's thousand-year-old legacy?"

  Lu Qing paused for a moment, then said: "I don't want to pursue this to the end either, so as not to disturb the spirit of Shi Jingming in the underworld. Make a vow with your swords and I'll let you go."

  The Sword God's Oath, sworn on the Sword God itself, states that anyone who breaks it will never make progress in swordsmanship again and will be punished by the destruction of their physical body and soul. For over 50,000 years, no one has ever escaped this oath unscathed. This is the most severe oath in the Ten Thousand Great Mountains of the mainland. The moment someone violates the oath, the explosion of the Sword God's forbidden thoughts alone can instantly shatter the soul of any swordsman below the realm of Sword Soul, not to mention the endless pursuit and killing by the countless experts of the Sword God Temple, which is almost more terrifying than death itself.

  After all, even if the soul doesn't disperse after death, it can still enter reincarnation. However, if one violates the Sword God's oath, even if they take their own life, their soul will be found by the Sword God Temple and shattered into nothingness, losing even the qualification for reincarnation, and thus forever dispersing in this world. Therefore, the Sword God's oath can be said to be the most effective, yet also the most helpless and humiliating.

  Lu Jian and the other person were taken aback at first, but then seemed to age a few years in an instant. They didn't say another word, and the two of them made a solemn oath in front of everyone. Similarly, Lu Qing once again felt the vast, gentle yet irresistible willpower of the Sword God. Meanwhile, Duan Qingyun and others also had serious expressions, and as their cultivation progressed, they gradually began to feel and understand the boundless power of the Sword God that pierced through heaven and earth.

  Then Lu Qing turned his gaze to the six swordsmen secretly trained by Huang Fu Yu, as if they had sensed Lu Qing's intention. The six people also made a Sword God oath at the same time, willing to serve and guard the Lu family for generations. This crisis was finally over.

  They untied the rope and let Lu Jin go, and as they left, Lu Xun also took away the body of his son Lu Tianjin. The fierce battle in the courtyard had been intense, and no one had noticed that Lu Tianjin, who was already seriously injured, had been hit by several residual waves and died on the spot. At this moment, Lu Xun no longer looked like he used to, leaving only a increasingly desolate figure slowly disappearing into the distance at the end of the corridor.

  Then Lu Qing looked at Yi Lao and others, gratefully saying: "Thank you all for lending a helping hand to my Lu family in times of crisis, disregarding your own safety. My Lu family is eternally grateful." After finishing speaking, he bowed deeply to the crowd, while the town guards and others also hurriedly returned the courtesy. At this moment, Lu Qing also knew that after his father Lu Yun's passing, the central power of this Yangguang Town had truly been restored.

  Everything was settled after midnight, and the town of Chaoyang also gradually returned to calmness. Lu Qing, however, along with Duan Qingyun and others, continued to drink heavily at the Chaoyang Pavilion in his family's mansion until dawn. Duan Qingyun and the others also tasted the Biyu chicken and the 50-year-old Qingyang liquor. When Duan Qingyun found out that this was Lu's family wine cellar, he exclaimed that they had made a huge profit, leaving everyone laughing and crying at the same time.

  The next day, Duan Qingyun and others left one after another. There were less than ten days before the annual festival, and Wu Feng's disciples all went down the mountain to return home. After all, the sword path is not without emotion, and human relationships are also included in the heavenly way and the sword path. Later, Lu Qing completely grasped the power of the Xu family in Chaoyang Town, and the Xu family thoroughly became a family with only some wealth. Lu Qing read the ancient books of benevolence and righteousness, but did not exterminate them, and lost Xu Ding Shu, the only swordsman, and no longer had the strength to resist.

  Up to now, Chaoyang Town can be said to have truly fallen into his hands, the Lu family.

  For the next two days, Lu Qing quietly stayed by her mother Yan Ruyu's side, recounting her experiences over the past six months. Yan Ruyu listened silently beside her, but couldn't help shedding tears and blaming herself when it came to the most thrilling parts, also sighing that the Lu family's incense continued and their fortune was not cut off.

  Two days passed, Lu Qing's mood became more calm and peaceful, his heart was harmonious at home, his mind was more open, even the Soul Refining Technique had made progress in this short period of time. Now when he cast it out, he could already cover a distance of seventeen or eighteen zhang, but he still hadn't broken through the Nurturing Soul boundary. As for the sealed yuan powder's medicinal properties on Yan Ruyi's body, Lu Qing used the silver lotus leaf and the Purple Electric Sword to dissipate them within one day.

  On the third day, Lu Qing set off with a package wrapped in a piece of blue cloth entrusted to him by Old Huang, riding a black-blooded horse that could travel 500 miles a day from the Yuans' stables, heading towards the direction of Chaoyang City.

  Morning Sun City, one of the five major cities of the Purple Mist Sect, is under the jurisdiction of Morning Sun Peak. There are several small towns and more than a dozen villages around it. The city master is Yan Lie, a protector who guards outside Morning Sun Peak, but is not among the six great protectors of the peak.

  As one of the five cities of Zixia, Chaoyang City has a history of over a thousand years. The ancient walls and green bricks, with city walls tens of meters high, are difficult to climb even for swordsmen. Holding the reins of his black horse, Lu Qing looked at the mottled marks on the city wall, where faintly visible were bloodstains that had formed over the years, exuding a stern and murderous aura.

  This is the will of a thousand-year-old city, and it's indeed not comparable to the accumulation of Chao Yang Town. Lu Qing sighed and looked again, even the gatekeepers guarding the city gate mostly had the cultivation of sword slaves, and some were even higher than Lu Qing, he saw two sword servants.

  Lu Qing showed his identity card and led the horse into the city under the respectful gaze of the gate guard. The city was very large, roughly covering an area of over ten miles in circumference. Inside, the streets were bustling with people, and all sorts of stalls lined the roads as far as the eye could see.

  Lu Qing, however, did not linger and headed south towards the city's market district. As he arrived in the southern part of the city, the crowd grew denser. The market was a specialized trading area with a twenty-zhang-high archway as its entrance. Lu Qing left his horse at a nearby stable and walked inside.

  There were all kinds of shops here, more than the ones in Chaoyang Town's Fangshi, but Lu Qing found that more than half of them were sword casting shops and mineral stores. Not only were the shops spacious and atmospheric, but the things inside were also diverse. However, Lu Qing didn't stay for long and went straight to the northernmost part of Fangshi.

  Perhaps due to the poor location, the place is not very lively, and the shops are sparse, many of which can be said to be dilapidated, with dust covering the facades, clearly having been uninhabited for a long time.

  He turned into a narrow alley that could accommodate five or six people walking, and the sound of iron forging came faintly, it was here. Lu Qing touched the package behind his back and walked in.

  The alley is different from the outside, it's very clean. The bluestone ground has a thin layer of water on it, obviously someone has cleaned it with water, but probably because it's cold winter, more than half of the place has frozen into a thin layer of ice, and it's extremely slippery to walk on.

  However, this was not what made Lu Qing most worried. With his cultivation and control over his strength, he remained steady on the icy ground, which had no effect on him whatsoever. What made him most anxious was the gradually clearer sound of hammering.

  What a muffled sound it was, that gradually clear voice seemed to carry a strange power, slowly occupying Lu Qing's heart and mind, making him unable to help but want to deeply indulge in it. Fortunately, Lu Qing's state of mind had changed, his will was also exceptionally firm, and under the guard of his original heart, he withstood this strange temptation.

  However, as the alleyway deepened, the hammering sounds grew louder and more rhythmic, almost evenly spaced, bringing with it an inexplicable spiritual pressure that made Lu Qing feel his mind and consciousness nearly stagnate. The refreshing air currents generated by his divine sense seemed to tremble violently as if encountering a sworn enemy, causing a nameless chill to rise in Lu Qing's heart.

  Who is this? Is it really the person that Huang Lao wants me to find? How scary, Lu Qing thought to herself.

  That was a sword-casting house about ten or more zhangs away, the house was just an ordinary stone-built one, but due to the passage of time, it gradually presented a light gray color on its surface, giving people a sense of heaviness. Along the edge of the roof, a vent emitted a grayish-white smoke.

  It was here, and as Lu Qing approached, the Heart Refining Sword on his back began to tremble uncontrollably and emitted a faint sword hum. As Lu Qing gradually crossed the distance of over ten zhang, the sword hum continued to rise, and even Lu Qing felt that the body of the Heart Refining Sword was starting to heat up.

  The sword wrapped in cloth, Nian Yun Jian, also slightly **rose**, a more intense and fiery sharp sword energy wanted to rise from behind, but was firmly pressed down by Lu Qing's backhand. At this moment, Lu Qing's heart was extremely shocked, because he suddenly thought of the last sentence of the Xu Ri Xin Jing.

  The spirit of the sword is the gathering of spiritual energy and divine vitality, communicating with the spiritual soul of the sword.

  Is this the reaction of Lian Xin and Nian Yun? Lu Qing thought to himself, at this time every step he took was extremely difficult, as if a huge boulder was pressing down on his heart, the air around him seemed to be frozen by that sword intent, without any flow, and the hammering sound continued, only seemingly slower, but with increasing force.