Chapter 219: Zhang Ping Changed His Fate
The heavens were high and the land vast. A towering mountain stood upon the desolate plain, with sparse flowers and grasses upon it, majestic like a giant god standing upon the earth.
On the cliff of the mountain, a white-haired elder sat cross-legged at the edge. He wore a crimson robe, barefoot, his hair loose and unbound, facing the wind with his eyes closed. Before him stretched the boundless world, while eagles circled in the sky above, screeching across the heavens.
A figure walked over from behind and stopped behind him, bowing respectfully.
This was a man clad in black armor, wearing a tiger-bone hair crown. Two swords were strapped to his back, one long and one short, their hilts wreathed in eerie black energy.
He raised his head to look at the crimson-robed elder and spoke, “Sect Master, the southern advance plan failed. Jianji Sect was annihilated by Clear Sky Sect. Our people were also pursued by Clear Sky Sect and can no longer step into Cangzhou. The Northern Court army is likewise being driven back. The main defeat was due to Li Sifeng of Clear Sky Sect. Li Sifeng campaigned across the battlefield, clearly fighting to seize the Nine Provinces for Clear Sky Sect.”
The crimson-robed elder was precisely the Sect Master of Xuanji Sect, Gui Wuqiung.
Hearing this, Gui Wuqiung was not surprised. He slowly asked, “So, if one wants to occupy the Nine Provinces, whether on the battlefield or within the martial world, Clear Sky Sect cannot be avoided?”
The sword-bearing man said in a deep voice, “That is correct. Clear Sky Sect is different from the former Martial Two Saints and the Three Founding Sects of the Dynasty. They are too strong. I believe now is not the time for our Xuanji Sect. We can temporarily abandon the plan.”
“You also said Clear Sky Sect is different. Do you think time is an advantage for us?” Gui Wuqiung asked.
Facing Gui Wuqiung’s question, the sword-bearing man fell silent.
Gui Wuqiung opened his eyes and looked toward the horizon, saying faintly, “What I fear is that in the future, Clear Sky Sect will march north, while the terror in the north also moves south, leaving us attacked from both front and rear.”
The sword-bearing man opened his mouth, but in the end said nothing.
The cliff fell into silence.
A clear breeze swept past, carrying a faint scent of blood.
After a long while.
Gui Wuqiung spoke, “Go find Elder Gui and have him carry out the plan I previously settled with him.”
The sword-bearing man frowned, greatly wanting to ask what plan it was, yet fearing to anger Gui Wuqiung, he could only agree and then turn to leave.
After he departed, Gui Wuqiong lifted his head to look at the vault of the sky and murmured to himself, “With heaven and earth so vast, how is it that there is no place for our Northern Court to stand?”
……
As autumn deepened, Clear Sky Mountain became different from before. The greatest change was that sword-riding figures now filled the skies.
The Clear Sky Sword allowed disciples to consume less vital energy while flying on swords. As a result, more and more disciples began to favor sword flight. Such scenes left visiting pilgrims and martial artists greatly astonished.
The fact that Clear Sky Sect was an Immortal Cultivation Sect began to be acknowledged by more and more people.
For Clear Sky Sect, the greatest use of the Clear Sky Sword was helping them rapidly expand the sect. The Ancient Great Mountain Range truly began to be incorporated into Clear Sky Sect.
The Ancient Great Mountain Range was vast. In the past, it had only nominally belonged to Clear Sky Sect. Now, disciples’ figures covered the mountain range, making it truly part of Clear Sky Sect’s territory.
More and more disciples began opening cave dwellings. Heavenly Works Hall announced a policy allowing disciples to choose cave dwellings, after which Heavenly Works Hall would dispatch disciples to repair them.
Although the Ancient Great Mountain Range was large, it was not something disciples could occupy at will. After choosing a location, it had to be reviewed by the Free Spirit Hall, and equivalent Dao Fate had to be submitted.
Not only that, disciples across the mountains and lands of the Ancient Great Mountain Range began reclaiming medicine fields.
On this day, Li Qingqiu finished cultivating the divine art Moving Mountains to Suppress Gods and returned to Lingxiao Courtyard.
In recent months, he had been focusing on studying the divine art Moving Mountains to Suppress Gods. He had already begun to look forward to the scene of using it to shock the sect’s disciples.
Today, his Moving Mountains to Suppress Gods reached a new height, putting him in an especially good mood.
He walked to the long table and sat down. On the table was spiritual wine prepared by Yuan Qi. This spiritual wine was a recent achievement of the Cultivation Hall. Drinking it helped restore vital energy, and once it went on sale, disciples rushed to buy it.
Li Qingqiu habitually summoned the Dao Lineage panel and first checked on the situation of the new disciples.
Not bad.
Today, another disciple with excellent cultivation aptitude had been found!
Li Qingqiu was pleasantly surprised. The threshold of Clear Sky Sect was becoming higher and higher. Anyone who could directly become a registered disciple possessed obvious talent.
He silently noted this disciple’s name, looking forward to seeing which hall would accept him next.
There were already enough geniuses around him. He had to give other halls some opportunities as well.
After reviewing the new disciples, Li Qingqiu then looked at those disciples whose fate traits carried destiny guidance, checking whether their fate traits had changed.
Very quickly, Li Qingqiu raised his eyebrows. Someone’s fate traits had indeed changed.
【Name: Zhang Ping】
【Gender: Male】
【Age: 23】
【Loyalty (to Sect Master / Sect): 89 / 84 (Max 100)】
【Cultivation Aptitude: Good】
【Comprehension: Average】
【Fate Traits: Ordinary Person, Seek Fortune and Avoid Disaster, Defy Heaven and Change Fate】
【Ordinary Person: Ordinary background, ordinary appearance, ordinary temperament, easily overlooked】
【Seek Fortune and Avoid Disaster: When encountering trouble and danger, always thinks of avoidance, possesses a certain degree of good fortune, does nothing without confidence】
【Defy Heaven and Change Fate: Three fate-changing opportunities will appear in life, two remain】
……
Already changed fate once?
Li Qingqiu remembered that Zhang Ping’s cultivation aptitude had been average, yet it had risen by one level. Could it be related to a fate-changing opportunity?
This kid was indeed not simple.
Li Qingqiu considered whether he should copy the fate trait Defy Heaven and Change Fate.
But he quickly dismissed the idea. He did not need to defy heaven and change fate. What he needed were fate traits that strengthened his own power.
From the moment Zhang Ping entered the sect, Li Qingqiu had been paying attention to him. He had also secretly asked Zhang Yuchun to look after him. The reason he did not do so openly was to avoid scaring Zhang Ping away.
After so many years, Zhang Ping’s loyalty still had not reached 90. Li Qingqiu felt it was time for him to take action.
He sent a sound transmission to Yuan Qi outside the courtyard, telling him to go find Zhang Ping.
Afterward, he stood up and went to find Yun Cai.
He sought out Yun Cai mainly because he had placed Li Shouzheng and Li Shoumin in her courtyard, where her seven sisters took turns caring for the two boys.
These two boys were both outstanding, top-tier geniuses, and he held very high expectations for them.
Twenty years later, when Yuan Li, Yun Cai, Zhao Zhen, the Three Xiao Brothers, and other geniuses had grown up and no longer participated in the Grand Dao Tournament, Li Shouzheng and Li Shoumin would certainly become the leading figures of the new generation.
……
By evening, Li Qingqiu returned to Lingxiao Courtyard, where Yuan Qi had been waiting for a long time.
“Going down the mountain for tempering? How long has he been gone?” Li Qingqiu could not help but ask after hearing Yuan Qi’s account.
That kid would not have encountered danger, right?
For no reason at all, how could he have changed fate?
“Nearly two months already,” Yuan Qi answered truthfully.
Li Qingqiu frowned and walked toward the long table. Seeing his expression, Yuan Qi immediately followed, waiting for his instructions.
After some thought.
Li Qingqiu instructed, “Have the Three Xiao Brothers make a trip to the Tempering Hall. Ask clearly what mission Zhang Ping took, then go down the mountain to investigate. Avoid letting this kid run into trouble.”
Yuan Qi was surprised. He did not have a deep impression of Zhang Ping. That this person could make the Sect Master dispatch the Three Xiao Brothers to support him made Yuan Qi curious about the relationship between this person and the Sect Master.
“Yes!”
Yuan Qi did not ask further and immediately accepted the order and left.
Li Qingqiu did not think Zhang Ping would meet with disaster. After all, the kid had already changed fate. He merely wanted to see whether he could provide help in time of need.
……
Moonlight poured down from the cliff, spilling into a pit two hundred zhang deep. At the bottom of the pit lay a lake, unfathomably deep, glowing faintly in the night.
Zhang Ping sat on a reef by the lake. He gazed up at the bright moon beyond the opening above, despair written all over his face.
Looking closely, his legs were twisted at very unnatural angles. Clearly, both of his legs were already broken.
His hair was somewhat disheveled, his robe torn in places, leaving him in a miserable state.
“Am I really going to die here……”
Zhang Ping was unwilling to accept it. His shallow medical skills were simply incapable of treating his broken legs, let alone escaping from this place.
Had he known earlier, he should not have gone down the mountain.
The power struggles within the sect had given him headaches, but at least they would not have driven him into such a desperate situation.
At this moment, a white-clad woman walked out of the darkness. Her robe was drenched, outlining her graceful figure. Her hair was loose, and though disheveled, her pretty face remained bright and delicate, making her look pitiable.
She held several fiery red fruits in her arms, each as large as a fist.
She came to Zhang Ping’s side and placed the fruits on his legs, adjusting his broken legs to prevent the fruits from rolling off the reef.
Zhang Ping could no longer feel pain, yet her actions still made the corner of his mouth twitch.
“Can you at least respect my injuries? After all, I was injured saving you,” Zhang Ping said with grievance.
Murong Xi snorted, “If I didn’t respect you, I wouldn’t be serving you or going to find these fruits for you.”
“Instead of sitting here in a daze, you might as well practice that divine skill on the wall. Maybe it can heal your broken legs.”
Hearing this, Zhang Ping fell silent. He picked up a fruit and began to gnaw on it.
Seeing his expression, Murong Xi grew even more annoyed and said, “Your martial arts are quite good. How can you not see the extraordinariness of the supreme technique on that wall?”
She did not know that Zhang Ping was a disciple of Clear Sky Sect.
That so-called supreme technique—Zhang Ping had already seen it. In the martial world, it was indeed a divine skill, but compared to his Primordial Unity Scripture, it was not worth mentioning at all.
For him, an Immortal Cultivator, to learn martial arts—especially internal cultivation—was purely a waste of time.
He simply could not explain this clearly to Murong Xi.
“If you want to learn it, then go learn it yourself. Who knows, maybe one day your enemies will climb down and come looking for trouble,” Zhang Ping said, his heart softening at the thought of her care over these past days.
“So high up—how would they come down?” Murong Xi said disdainfully.
Zhang Ping asked curiously, “I’ve long wanted to ask—who exactly are you, and why are those experts looking for trouble with you?”
He had wanted to ask earlier but feared being dragged into even greater trouble. Now that he saw no hope of escape, he decided to ask outright.
“I come from Murong Manor. Have you heard of it? Those people are of the same clan as me. They want to seize a treasure on my body,” Murong Xi answered.
If not for Zhang Ping grabbing her when they fell, she would already have been shattered to pieces. Thus, she now trusted Zhang Ping completely.
Thanks to the reward of 10001 Qidian Coins from ‘Reading Novels Since Age Three’.