42 The Sword of Farewell Autumn

Before sunset, Wei Gaoyuan returned to Dark-Feather Peak. He obtained some herbs from the warehouse and soaked it into a large wooden tub of hot water, which turned into dark green nearly half an hour later.

Then he soaked himself in the dark green water before a strong tingle came through his body soon. With the time passed by, the small wound from the practice within the wind basin healed, and the bruises and swellings also gradually disappeared.

After a long while, he jumped out of the tub, feeling refreshed. Someone knocked on the door as he was getting dressed. He opened the door, it was Zhu Qinglong, who entered the Dark-Feather with him on the same day.

"Junior brother Wei, master Wu sent me to inform you~ He's waiting for you at the Back Peak. Come on~" Zhu Qinglong was half a year older than him, so he was called junior brother.

The master's command! Wei Gaoyuan didn't dare to hesitate and ran to the back of the Peak. The sky was dark when he arrived Afterglow Pavilion, in which Elder Wu had already been waiting.

He ran into the pavilion and made a bow, "Master! Disciple Wei Gaoyuan, at your command."

"You kid just came back a few days ago, and twice had you offended the Cyan-Feather Peak twice. That old Xu's been complaining so much these days to me…" Elder Wu got straight to the point with smiling, little blame in his tone.

Wei Gaoyuan could naturally figure it out, scratching his head and saying, "Report to master, I shouldn't be to blame for the incident today. It was Ji Huzhe who took the initiative to attack me. I'd taken his three palm-strike before I struck him back. And… I didn't hit him, it's a big branch… thrown by the wind."

"Well, fortunately, the branch stunned him, otherwise you 're now in Law Enforcement Hall," Elder Wu said, then he fixed his eyes on Wei Gaoyuan and asked, "I heard… you almost killed that boy, with one pattern of swordsmanship. Ji Huzhe, at nearly the bottom of eighth-level, entered Cyan-Feather four years ago…How could you do that? "

"It ...he maybe…careless?" Wei Gaoyuan was not so sure indeed.

An eighth-level, same level as himself, should dodge it at that time even though couldn't take it. He did know little about what the "first cloud" was like in his opponent's eyes.

"Maybe? Maybe…" Elder Wu nodded. He didn't know "Eight Clouds in Dream."

"Do remember! If anyone asks about it, you just reply he launched an attack first and was then stunned by a branch, carelessly…Do not explain anything else!" Elder Wu instructed.

"Got it! Master!" Wei Gaoyuan nodded seriously.

In the story, he often heard "The bird who takes the lead will take the bullet first." Besides, he was realizing more and more about the relationship, behind the scenes, among the Peaks.

"Well, this chapter ends," Elder Wu seemed quite satisfied with Wei Gaoyuan's response. "In terms of the pattern of swordsmanship you used to defeat Ji Huzhe, where did you learn it? If possible, can you show it to me here and now?"

"Report to master, I learned it from a senior. Sure, I would appreciate your guidance," Wei Gaoyuan turn to observe the trees not far away as he was speaking, looking for a suitable branch as a sword.

It was rude for a disciple to see the elders with a sword, so he came without his sword. Elder Wu seemed to have considered it, throwing him a sword, "Just use this one!"

"Ah!" Wei Gaoyuan took the sword in surprise.

It was master's private sword! He heard that Elder Wu had collected three great swords, of which each was very extraordinary and precious. Is it just one of the three?

With a crisp sound from the scabbard, like a warbling of a lark, the sword was pulled out by Wei Gaoyuan. As a swordsman who held the most excellent sword he'd ever seen, his hand was flapping slightly with excitement.

"Oh? Feeling the call of the sword?" Elder Wu laughed. "Do you want it?"

Embarrassed, Wei Gaoyuan's expression told a hundred "sure" in his heart.

The laugh of Elder Wu didn't fade, "The name of the sword is 'Farewell Autumn', made by a Taoism Follower in our inner section. It cuts iron like cutting a cake… On the day you reach The Nature… if I'm still the Elder of Dark-Feather Peak that day… 'Farewell Autumn' will be yours."

"Thank you master! I will, I promise!" Wei Gaoyuan bowed respectfully.

"Just thank me when you'll!" Elder Wu nodded calmly. "Then, let me see the beauty of that pattern."

"Yes!" Wei Gaoyuan took "Farewell Autumn" to the clearing outside Afterglow Pavilion.

The original eight sword patterns in the scroll was so excellent that it would even go beyond the power of ordinary Martial Arts into the power of Sword Taoists if it was used by a strong enough martial artist.

Wei Gaoyuan was not the strong enough certainly, but after the modification in the dream space, "Eight Clouds in Dream" had been added something mysterious and inexplicable; only its target could tell its mystery, so in the view of Elder Wu, that pattern seemed nothing more than an ordinary one when Wei Gaoyuan finished it.

"One more time, use it to attack me!" Elder Wu walked over him.

He thought that pattern shouldn't be so simple on the surface, otherwise Cyan-Feather Peak of old Xu would be closed up and dismissed.

"Ah? ... Master..." Wei Gaoyuan's mouth opened wide.

"Don't be afraid! I command you, just give it all," Elder Wu laughed. "You think you could hurt me, eh?"

Silly, that was my master! Wei Gaoyuan withdrew his concern and raised "Farewell Autumn."

"Master, look out!"

On Wei Gaoyuan's sword stabbing out, Elder Wu's pupils instantly constricted! Even he had a sudden illusion that several sword shadows were shooting over him from all directions, and it returned to normal soon. But the next moment his face changed suddenly, he reached out fast and caught the tip of the sword in front of him!

"A senior taught you this pattern?!" Elder Wu's expression turned very serious. The pattern could even influence the vision and judgment of himself, a martial artist in the Nature, even if for only a second. It was amazing enough!

Wei Gaoyuan thought for a while and replied, "Yes, master, I learned it from a woman in white, whose cuff was embroidered with… a cloud pattern…"

"Cloud-Heaven Palace?!!" Elder Wu's body suddenly straightened, with eyes wide, wide open. He didn't keep his astonishment secret and asked, "you met the people from Cloud-Heaven Palace?!"

"I don't know the exact identity of that woman, just vaguely remembers her dress," Wei Gaoyuan said.

And thinking about it now, he seemed to understand why the woman in white gave him a secret scroll instead of taking him with his sister; she might have seen into him at first sight— his aptitude was hopeless to cultivate the Taoism Arts while acceptable to the Martial Arts.

Elder Wu in shock didn't continue asking. He tried to imagine what had happened to this boy at that time, and soon got a conclusion similar to Wei Gaoyuan's.

Cloud-Heaven Palace was, undoubtedly, the top sect in the world of Taoism Followers, thus it must care little to take back a boy with the fake spiritual root to cultivate martial arts. Perhaps, the woman in white supposed that leaving the boy a scroll of Martial Arts would earn herself a Positive Karma.

(Karma: cosmic merit or demerit accumulated throughout one's life based on one's deeds. It determines which type of reincarnation—out of the Six Paths—they will experience in their next life.)

The scroll seemed to be extremely unusual. The first pattern simply done by an eighth-level could make the Elder of Peak so impressed; if the boy learned all in the scroll, who knew how strong he would be?

Indeed, there was a reward mechanism in the outer section: A disciple who contributed a valuable secret scroll of Martial Arts would get a corresponding reward. Accordingly, he wouldn't mind, if it was an average secret scroll, advising Wei Gaoyuan to get some reward he needed by submitting it. However, it was the scroll from Cloud-Heaven Palace; even the East Mountain Sword Clan wouldn't touch this beautiful rose with thorns.

"You keep hiding it well, never take it out easily, never told anybody you've met the senior of Cloud-Heaven Palace… Even in the future, do—not—disclose—it!!" Elder Wu emphasized.

In general, there were at least two force in the world: Orthodoxy and Unorthodox; the Righteous and the Evil. For those who were always so bold and outrageous, a splendid secret scroll would be worth far more than their own lives, let alone to get it by all means available was just likely to risk themselves offending Cloud-Heaven Palace.

Moreover, the highest reputation of Cloud-Heaven Palace spread widely only in the ocean of Taoism Followers, little fish and shrimps in Jianghu might never heard of it.

But never, ever underestimate a flood of seemingly little fish and shrimps.