Chapter 143: The Wine Sword Immortal

Nie Feng was a disciple of Xiongba, renowned as the God of Winds, possessing supreme mastery in leg techniques. Yet, from afar, Jiang Ming watched as Zhou Tian kicked him flying with a single blow.

Bu Jingyun and Qin Shuang launched a joint siege, only for Zhou Tian to swat Bu Jingyun away with a single palm strike and suppress Qin Shuang with one punch.

Xiongba’s three principal disciples were heavily injured in the blink of an eye.

"Three-Part Returning Origin Qi!"

Enraged, Xiongba struck instantly. Reaching out, he gathered the surrounding vital energy into a sphere and hurled it toward Zhou Tian.

The elemental energy was tyrannical, its destructive force terrifying.

This was one of Xiongba's ultimate techniques, but Zhou Tian merely sneered. He raised his hand, caught the sphere directly in his palm, and—amidst Xiongba’s astonished gaze—crushed it to pieces with a casual squeeze.

"The esteemed leader of the Tianxiahui, and this is all you've got..."

Zhou Tian shook his head in disappointment.

With a flash of his figure, he left nine afterimages, giving Xiongba no chance to react before sending him flying with a single kick that smashed him deep into the rock wall.

"Peak tier six, far too weak!"

Zhou Tian was somewhat disappointed, despite having stepped into tier six only recently.

By this time, Jiang Ming had also arrived.

"Mud Bodhisattva..." Xiongba clutched his chest, looking at Zhou Tian with profound dread. Seeing Jiang Ming approach as well, his pupils constricted.

However, locking his gaze first on the Mud Bodhisattva, he roared in fury, "Were you scheming against me all along?"

"It wasn't me; it was destiny," the Mud Bodhisattva sighed with emotion. "When you sought a fortune reading from me back then, I already knew your nature was crafty and treacherous. Once I prophesied for you, I would inevitably be killed by you. Thus, I only granted you a prophecy of ten years: *'The golden scaled is no creature of a mere pond; the moment it meets wind and cloud, it transforms into a dragon.'* True to form, fate brought you into contact with Nie Feng and Bu Jingyun. Taking them as disciples drastically increased your fortune, allowing you to expand your territories with such speed that the Tianxiahui now commands half the pugilistic world."

Though injured and in pain, Bu Jingyun and Nie Feng had also made their way over. Hearing the Mud Bodhisattva's words, both wore expressions of utter shock.

"Mud Bodhisattva, you truly live up to your title as the greatest diviner under heaven. Your prophecy for my past was spot on. What about my future?" Unable to care about anything else, Xiongba hurriedly pressed for answers.

He had an instinctive premonition that after today, his destiny would undergo a drastic and violent transformation.

Perhaps even ending in death!

"Sigh..." The Mud Bodhisattva let out a soft sigh. "If events had followed their original trajectory, the prophecy for the second half of your life should have been: *'The nine heavens dragon roar shakes a heaven-defying change; success comes through wind and cloud, ruin follows wind and cloud.'* Your entire life will remain inextricably entangled with the Wind and the Cloud."

"Success comes through wind and cloud, ruin follows wind and cloud?" Xiongba stood frozen, then turned his gaze toward Nie Feng and Bu Jingyun.

He finally understood the Mud Bodhisattva's meaning: the first half of his life was made successful by the power of the Wind and Cloud, while the second half would be dominated by them, ultimately leading to a mortal enmity.

Bu Jingyun stared at Xiongba, the hatred in his eyes no longer masked.

He had learned the truth of the past—his adoptive father had been murdered by Xiongba, and he had spent years serving his enemy as a father.

Nie Feng, on the other hand, stood somewhat at a loss.

"No, Mud Bodhisattva, you said that was the original trajectory..." Xiongba recovered his wits and questioned him again, "What on earth do you mean?"

"The heavenly secrets have shifted dramatically. The future is unmeasurable, unknowable, filled with infinite unknowns and variables that no one can fully divine!" the Mud Bodhisattva said calmly. "Take myself, for example. I originally knew that once you found me—no, the moment I gave you that first prophecy—upon the completion of the ten-year term, you would inevitably find me again to divine the second half of my life, and then you would kill me. Regarding destiny, I originally cared little. Life and death, death and rebirth—I had seen through it all long ago. To peer into fate is to be toyed with by fate, and I had already accepted it. But... fate can change, and so, I suddenly found I no longer wished to die."

"If the heavenly secrets remain unchanged, does every single one of us possess a predestined fate?" Ye Hongyu frowned. "If so, wouldn't everyone simply be a puppet on strings?"

"Destiny? I don't believe in fate!" Xiongba raged, his hair and beard standing on end.

The Mud Bodhisattva ignored him.

Jiang Ming glanced over and ignored him as well.

Xiongba was a towering figure of a generation, a warlord at heart, but his cultivation was somewhat lacking. Otherwise, he might have truly unified the Great Wu territory.

"It's just a pity I won't get to see Kong Ci give herself to Bu Jingyun while lying in Qin Shuang's arms and professing her love for Nie Feng."

Jiang Ming shook his head.

As for the Tianxiahui?

Zhou Tian expressed that he merely wanted to play around with it.

He assumed the position of gang leader, driving out Xiongba, his three disciples, and the rest. Before leaving, the Mud Bodhisattva dropped a parting revelation: "Nie Feng, back then, in order to make a name for himself, Xiongba challenged your father. Your father wished only to live in seclusion and refused the fight. To force your hand, Xiongba seized your mother, compelling your father to fight him right beside the Lingyun Grotto. Distraught and mentally shattered, your father was defeated by Xiongba, dragged into the Lingyun Grotto by the Fire Kirin, and died a tragic death. Overcome with shame, your mother leaped into the river."

The master and disciples had broken apart even before descending the mountain.

Xiongba departed with his daughter Youruo, his senior disciple Qin Shuang, and Wen Chouchou. Bu Jingyun attempted to make a move, but was stopped by Nie Feng, and the two went their separate ways.

"Mud Bodhisattva, you certainly have a mischievous streak!" Zhou Tian could not help but smile.

"This was their destiny all along—inextricably entangled," the Mud Bodhisattva sighed. "If the Wind and Cloud wish to grow rapidly, they require Xiongba as a catalyst. The Wind and Cloud aid Xiongba, and Xiongba aids the Wind and Cloud. Fate is truly wondrous."

Ye Hongyu, however, remarked, "Xiongba is a man of towering ambition. By letting him leave, aren't you afraid of future retaliation?"

"Hahaha..." Zhou Tian burst into hearty laughter. "If his retaliation succeeds against me, then I am an absolute, thorough failure! In every possible aspect, he is inferior to me. If he manages to surpass me in the future, it can only mean I am good for nothing."

That was the essence of his supreme arrogance.

Even Ye Hongyu could not help but admire it.

Had it been her, she would have completely uprooted the weeds and eliminated the roots.

Before entering closed-door seclusion, the group inspected the Tianxiahui treasury. Good grief, gold and silver were piled like mountains, though Jiang Ming and the others paid them no heed. What truly caught their interest were the precious medicinal herbs, such as the wild ginseng.

"There are actually several roots of millennium-old ginseng!" Jiang Ming rubbed his hands in delight. "I certainly won't be polite with these. I'll find an apothecary and brew them into a nourishing supreme tonic."

"Splendid!" Zhou Tian was even more excited.

Even Ye Hongyu was overjoyed.

Jian Chen, naturally, went without saying.

Eating, drinking, and cultivating in seclusion, their days passed in leisurely comfort.

Jiang Ming resided in the back mountain where chambers were carved into the rock. When night fell, his Yin spirit would leave his physical body, roaming freely across lakes and seas. This nocturnal journey revealed that Yin spirits were active everywhere, and across the entire Great Wu territory, utter chaos reigned supreme.

Factions, sects, bandits, and outlaws ran rampant—how else could one describe such a disordered world?

Jiang Ming could not help but sigh softly.

Yet he chose not to intervene.

Roaming the vast seas by night, he continuously deduced the arts of the divine path.

Most of his time, however, was still dedicated to martial arts cultivation, setting aside dedicated hours to temper his physical body in preparation for the next breakthrough.

"The seventh revolution of body-refinement is the Realm of Freedom in Size and Will!"

"I have already sensed the threshold of the seventh revolution. I must use the power of my blood Qi to shatter the physical body's confinement barrier, tempering my limbs, torso, and even the marrow of my skull, thereby triggering a miraculous qualitative transformation."

"The confinement is as immovable as a mountain; breaking through it will likely require considerable effort!"

Jiang Ming sensed the inner shackles within his body.

Every single revolution was a world unto itself. He was confident of breaking through, though it would require time.

On this particular day, the anomalous phenomena over the back mountain suddenly shifted. Black and white hues manifested, and as they spun, the rocks below were directly ground into fine powder.

Following this, piercing cold emerged, freezing the earth into ice, while crimson light simultaneously surged upward, sending temperatures soaring. In a single revolution, yin and yang alternated, ice and fire clashed, and a terrifyingly powerful force erupted forth.

"The Yin-Yang artistic conception has been completely branded into the void, merging into the framework of the spatial and worldly conceptions."

"Next up shall be the Five Elements! Though this conception does not rank among the top ten supreme conceptions, it is not inferior in the slightest!"

"Space, World, Yin-Yang, Five Elements, followed by Life and Death, Light and Darkness..."

Jiang Ming cultivated step by step, following a steady progression.

Back at the Tianxiahui, martial artists were arriving in ever-greater numbers.

There was no lack of grandmaster-level experts among them—untamed and arrogant. Hearing of the upheaval at the Tianxiahui, they intended to force their way in to see if they could seize any fortuitous encounters, only to be either suppressed or executed.

On this day, the moon rose above the willow trees, and Jiang Ming, sitting cross-legged on a blue boulder, opened his eyes. In the distance, a massive wine gourd came hurtling through the air at high speed.

A mighty gale swept past, carrying with it a rich fragrance of wine.

Atop the wine gourd sat a solitary figure—plainly dressed, disheveled with stubble, and carrying a long sword strapped to his back. He was about to soar across the sky and depart.

Clang...

A surge of sword intent soared into the sky, blocking his path.

"Heaven Sword intent, the Myth Wangu? No, although it is the Heaven Sword, the intent is far too shallow; it has yet to reach the Land Immortal realm!" The middle-aged man dozing atop the wine gourd gave a start, making a swift judgment after a brief sensory check.

Glancing down, he saw a young man looking directly up at him.

"What a dashing and carefree young lad!" The wine gourd flipped and descended in a sharp turn, landing right in front of Jiang Ming. The man leaped off, reached out, and the wine gourd rapidly shrank in size.

"Wine Sword Immortal!" Jiang Ming stood up, his tone utterly certain.

"Indeed. Who are you?" The Wine Sword Immortal uncapped his gourd and took a few swigs, looking carefree and unrestrained.

"Jiang Ming!" Having stated his name, Jiang Ming looked at the other's gourd and said, "Able to grow large and small, containing an inner spatial dimension—I never expected such a treasure to exist in this world. Is it an artifact refined by human hands, or a spiritual treasure born of heaven and earth?"

"Why should I tell you?" The Wine Sword Immortal lay down on a rock, gazing up at the night sky. "Fine moon, splendid moon. A fine night indeed calls for a mouthful of wine."

Glug...

He drank deeply, some of the wine spilling out to dampen his clothes, adding a touch of melancholy to his demeanor.

"You will certainly tell me!" Jiang Ming said with a smiling squint. "You hail from Mount Shu in the Great Wilderness territory, and your senior martial brother is the Sword Saint, am I right? In your parts, there is a Moon Worship Cult, and in the Kingdom of Nanzhao, there is a former saintess known as the Holy Aunt, am I right? And you are deeply in love with Lin Qing'er, the descendant of Nüwa, am I right?"

"How do you know?" The Wine Sword Immortal sprang up, an expression of solemn gravity replacing his casual facade.

Other matters might have been brushed aside.

Yet the other party had accurately stated that he was in love with Lin Qing'er.

This was a profound secret known only to his senior brother and Lin Qing'er herself.

"Who on earth are you?" Trapped by the chains of emotion, the Wine Sword Immortal appeared carefree, yet it was merely a facade to drown his sorrows in alcohol. Beneath his dissolute exterior lay a heart full of melancholy.

Though he acted as though he cared for nothing, his mind and heart remained trapped in the past, unable to move on.

Hum...

Simultaneously, the Wine Sword Immortal manipulated the energy of heaven and earth, sealing off the surrounding space and unleashing a terrifyingly powerful pressure downward.

Jiang Ming felt no fear whatsoever. His spiritual will merged with the void, stirring celestial phenomena to clash and contend with the opponent.

Even so, he was outmatched; the celestial pressure he commanded was suppressed, despite having integrated spatial, worldly, and yin-yang forces.

Still, he managed to hold his ground.

"At the Celestial Phenomenon realm, yet you can actually block my spiritual pressure? What a remarkable youth. In terms of sheer innate talent, he is no weaker than a disciple I recently accepted some time ago," the Wine Sword Immortal remarked with genuine astonishment.

Following that, his brows furrowed tightly as he asked with stern seriousness, "How do you know my secrets?"

"I also know you have a daughter!" Jiang Ming continued to smile.

"Impossible!" The Wine Sword Immortal froze, his eyes widening as he hurriedly denied it. "I don't even have a wife, let alone a daughter! Brat, daring to toy with me—believe me or not, I'll pack you off to the imperial palace to serve as a eunuch."

Sword qi flickered in his eyes, and his aura surged violently.

Rumble...

Within the sealed domain, a heaven-shattering phenomenon formed.

The pressure crushing down on Jiang Ming's celestial domain compressed even further.

Two formless forces collided, bursting forth with a tempestuous storm akin to roaring mountains and raging seas, causing the very space around them to slightly distort.

The surrounding rocks instantly shattered into dust.

"Think carefully: have you ever slept with someone?" Jiang Ming's expression remained completely unperturbed. Amidst the intense pressure, he steadily drove the Five Elements artistic conception to brand itself rapidly into the void.

"I haven't..." The Wine Sword Immortal wanted to refute the claim, but his breath caught, and the light in his eyes flickered uncertainly.

He scratched his head, no longer calm as doubt crept in. "Could it be possible?"

He remembered.

Back then, after being rejected by Lin Qing'er, he had gotten heavily drunk and slept with a woman.

Just that once.

"I truly have a daughter?" The Wine Sword Immortal felt a mixture of agitation and apprehension.

In the dark recesses of fate, he could suddenly sense a faint bloodline connection, a binding entanglement, and a profound sense of responsibility.

"Where did this come from?" Jiang Ming pointed at the other's wine gourd.

"This, this, this..." The Wine Sword Immortal raised his hand, half-tempted to slap the young man to death, but forcibly restrained himself.

He could tell that this person was not to be trifled with.

Even if his cultivation level wasn't exceptionally high, his actual combat strength was definitely extraordinary.

"This is a treasure of Mount Shu, a genuine divine treasure!" Suppressing his surging anxiety, the Wine Sword Immortal explained, "There is a Demon-Suppressing Pagoda on Mount Shu. I know not how, but behind the pagoda, a gourd vine grew, absorbing the ambient demonic and malevolent energies to give birth to a miraculous gourd. When it matured and was plucked, we discovered it possessed an inner dimension capable of capturing and suppressing evil entities. Later on, it came into my possession and became my wine gourd."

"You are squandering a heavenly treasure!" Jiang Ming felt a pang of heartache.

"I am making full use of its functions; how can that be called squandering?" The Wine Sword Immortal offered a weak defense before pressing on, "Brother Jiang, quickly tell me, who is my daughter?"

How the other party knew his secrets, how he knew about a daughter—he no longer cared to ask any of that.

Right now, the only thing he wanted to know was the whereabouts of his child.

"There's no rush!" Jiang Ming sat back down and gestured toward the opposite side.

The long sword on the Wine Sword Immortal's back hummed and vibrated in agitation. He ground his teeth and rubbed his hands together before finally sitting down.

"That's right," Jiang Ming smiled. "You have a descendant of Nüwa in your parts. Does Nüwa truly exist?"

"Since there is a descendant of Nüwa, Mother Nüwa naturally exis—" Before the Wine Sword Immortal could finish, he suddenly froze, his brows knitting into a deep frown. "Qing'er said she is a descendant of Nüwa, and that in every generation there is a Nüwa descendant, all of them female. From ancient times to the present, the bloodline has never been broken, existing solely to protect all living beings on earth. But..."

He raised his head to gaze at the night sky: "My senior brother never deeply investigated it, nor did I ever think too deeply about it. But with your question today, it suddenly feels exceedingly strange. If Mother Nüwa truly exists, why did the nine territories merge into one? Why is there no detailed history of the past? And why do Nüwa descendants exist only in such a tiny nation as Nanzhao?"

Let's start with this chapter!

(End of this chapter)