Chapter 22: Sword Demon Valley

  The giant eagle may not have spread its wings to fly, but it walked extremely quickly. Song Qingchu was barely able to keep up with it even when using the Treading Clouds technique of the Wudang Sect. This made Song Qingchu sigh in his heart - a divine eagle is indeed extraordinary, and even its descendants are not ordinary. To think that Song Qingchu was now only a third-rate expert, yet he could barely keep up with the giant eagle's ordinary walking pace using the Treading Clouds technique; it was truly impressive.

  Song Qing followed the divine eagle, heading deep into the mountain forest. The trees along the way grew taller and more majestic, their canopies reaching high into the clouds, blocking out most of the sunlight, making it almost impossible to see one's hand in front of their face in the dense woods. Fortunately, Song Qing had already broken through and could see at night. The eagle flew lower and lower until they entered a deep valley. After walking for a long time, they arrived in front of a large cave. They stopped moving.

  Song Qing's spirit shook, knowing that Jianmo Valley had arrived.

  "For over thirty years, I have roamed the land, killing all my enemies and defeating all heroes. Now there is no one left to oppose me, nothing can be done about it. I can only retreat to a secluded valley, with cranes as my companions. Alas! Throughout my life, I sought an equal opponent but could not find one, truly a lonely and unbearable fate."

  Although he had not yet entered the cave, Song Qing seemed to have already seen the three lines of characters carved on the stone wall inside the cave, which had been sealed and covered with dust over time.

  "Jianmo" Dugu Qiubei, from start to finish never appeared in person, but created several top-notch masters.

  Xi Kuang Yang had just learned Dugu Qiubai's Xuan Tie Jian Fa and was already able to roam freely in the Jianghu.

  Feng Qingyang, a recluse who has been in hiding for many years, is an existence that even the Shaolin monks must admire (as seen when Linghu Chong and Ren Yingying met Fangsheng at Shaolin). Indeed, "Brother may not be in Jianghu, but his legend still circulates on Jianghu."

  Even if Linghu Chong's meridians were severely damaged and he suffered serious injuries, he could still kill dozens of top masters in the Jianghu with his mastery of the Nine Swords of Dugu.

  This legendary master, who has never appeared before and whose origins are shrouded in mystery, is truly the embodiment of 'although I am no longer in the martial world, my legend still lives on'. Perhaps only the carefree sect's founder from "The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber", Hei Jun Bao's master, can be mentioned in the same breath as him.

  The Divine Eagle tugged at the corner of Song Qing's robe and strode into the cave, with Song Qing following closely behind.

  This cave is not deep, and it's less than three zhang before reaching the end. Song Qingxue looked around and saw that except for a stone table and a stone stool inside the cave, there was only a pile of rubble in the corner, resembling a tomb. He thought to himself: "It seems this is where Dugu Qiubai is buried."

  Hey, how's the roaming of Jianghu? What about being invincible under heaven? No matter who you were in life - emperor, king, general or hero, as long as you can't jump out of this world, in the end it all comes down to turning into a pile of white bones, rotting together with grass and trees! Seeing this, Song Qing also couldn't help but feel a pang of sorrow. If Dugu Qiubai wasn't in this martial arts world, but rather in a world of immortal heroes, he would probably be another master roaming the heavens.

  Since Song Qing heard about the existence of Qimen Wulin from Lan Cai'er, he felt that this place was not a purely martial world as he had imagined. Perhaps the legendary cultivation of immortals might also exist, although there was no evidence, but in Song Qing's heart, such seeds were buried.

  Although so, Song Qing Shu still knelt down in front of the stone pile and kowtowed three times to express his admiration for this senior master. After that, Song Qing Shu lit a torch he had prepared on the side of the road, waved his sleeve and released a gentle force, blowing away the dust and moss on the wall of the cave, revealing the three lines of characters below. He saw that these characters were very fine, but they were carved extremely deeply into the stone, as if they were engraved with an extremely sharp divine weapon.

  Song Qing suddenly remembered the story of how his teacher, Zhang Sanfeng, created the "Leaning on Heaven and Slaughtering Dragon" technique. He thought to himself that even someone like his teacher, who wasn't a sword cultivator, could reach such heights with this technique, which was left behind by the unparalleled swordsman Dugu Qiubai. Thinking about it, he felt that it shouldn't be simple, so he focused his mind and carefully examined and pondered over it.

  This look is indeed a wonderful sight. At first glance, these characters only seem sharp and majestic, with a hint of a fierce and unmatched sword intent hidden within. Song Qing couldn't help but use his fingers to trace the strokes of these characters. Gradually, each character in his eyes dispersed and broke down into individual strokes - dots, horizontal lines, vertical lines, hooks, etc., and within each stroke, incredibly subtle and profound sword techniques were hidden.

  For a moment, Song Qing was deeply immersed in the profound and boundless principles of swordsmanship, unable to extricate himself. His fingers moved wildly and rapidly in the air, his fingertips emitting a faintly discernible sharp energy, making a soft whooshing sound.

  That divine eagle seemed to have seen the scene of its own ancestors being infatuated with martial arts, and didn't find Song Qingchu's crazy behavior strange at all, quietly watching from the side.

  After an unknown period of time, Song Qing suddenly let out a long laugh and pulled out the long sword on his back. His left hand held the sword, while his right hand's index and middle fingers formed a sword gesture, with both hands forming a ring shape, slowly rising up, exactly the "starting pose" of the Ruyun Swordsmanship.

  The clouds dispersed, the winds gathered, and the white clouds drifted lazily by. The Cloud Sword was wielded with a slow and deliberate motion, its movements seemingly imbued with an ineffable vitality and fluidity. Compared to before, Song Qing's swordsmanship had gained an extra layer of depth, as if the entire set of moves had suddenly come alive in his hands.

  This sword practice is like writing, if the previous Song Qing's swordsmanship was just rigidly copying, drawing a calabash to paint a calabash, every time it was launched, it could only be launched in sequence. After being baptized by Dugu Qiubai's sword intent, Song Qing's current swordsmanship has reached the realm of freely flowing clouds and water, one move and one style, no longer limited to routines.

  It is said that 'in the mountains there is no sun or moon, and in the world it has already been a thousand years'. Song Qing Shu, who was immersed in the mysteries of swordsmanship, had forgotten about time.

  Three days later, a sharp eagle cry awakened Song Qing. At this moment, Song Qing's face was pale and his spirit had reached an all-time low. If the divine eagle hadn't discovered that something was wrong with Song Qing and woken him up, he might have hurt his foundation.

  This is also like the general situation of a sect's disciples, if their cultivation level is not high enough, they will not be given profound martial arts. If their cultivation level is not high enough and they force themselves to comprehend, in the end, only they themselves will get hurt.

  Song Qing Shu, although already a third-rate master, was among the best of his generation, but compared to Dugu Qiubai, it was like the difference between heaven and earth. Therefore, Song Qing Shu, who had been immersed in Dugu Qiubai's sword intent, was clearly injured.

  This is actually a bit of luck for Song Qing, thinking about Dugu Qiubai's character, even if it was something written casually, not just anyone could see it. It's like in The Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils, where the Jianghu heroes found the martial arts on the stone wall in the Western Xia palace, wanting to forcibly cultivate it, but ultimately went mad one by one. As for Song Qing, he didn't because of the passage of time, Dugu Qiubai's sword intent left on top had slowly dissipated a bit.