Chapter 510

Chapter 510: The Qiao Family Inequality

Noticing Qiao Mu’s gaze, the white-haired swordsman, Earth Sword Immortal, broke into a slight sweat on his forehead.

He was drenched in sweat.

However, he managed to smooth things over, feeling relieved inside.

But clearly, someone wasn’t planning to let him off the hook.

"You are truly humble, senior. You stand at the peak of martial arts in Jiu Province, yet remain so modest," a middle-aged swordsman exclaimed.

"As you said, the ancients are not necessarily inferior to the present."

"But why belittle oneself? With your unmatched elegance, have you ever been lesser than others?"

Clearly, even when gently advised, some still took his words as mere modesty.

The Earth Sword Immortal felt a bit helpless about this.

Today’s One Sage, One Ancestor, and Five Peerless Ones are the remarkable heroes who stood at the forefront against the two great Immortal Gates over the past fifty years.

The Qiao family member was a martial arts legend from fifty years ago, while the Earth Sword Immortal brothers are the strongest martial artists still standing in the world today.

"No, you don’t understand," said the Earth Sword Immortal deeply.

"Martial artists like me and my brother are indeed strong, but we are just climbers of the mountains."

"Just like Martial Saint in the past, he cut through the thorns and left a rough mountain path… even if that path isn’t smooth and may not lead anywhere, it is still a choice."

"As for the Qiao family member…" The Earth Sword Immortal took a deep breath and began to explain.

"Now let me ask you, in the nearly hundred years since the Inhuman War, when did the martial arts of Jiu Province progress the fastest?"

At this moment, everyone learned to be clever and did not answer the Earth Sword Immortal’s question right away.

Someone thought seriously and analyzed, "In the past hundred years, the Nine Heavenly Immortal Gates that interfered in the human world were a powerful enemy that the martial artists had never faced before."

"But because of this great pressure, the martial arts of Jiu Province have continued to develop through the efforts of generations of strong warriors."

"Using the three years after the Qiao family member appeared as a boundary, it can be divided into two periods: the first forty years and the following fifty years."

"The stories from the first forty years, I once heard from a storyteller at Tide Listening Building; it was during that time that Martial Saint created Taotie Martial Art, marking the division between ancient martial arts and modern martial arts in Jiu Province."

"If one were to say when martial arts progressed the fastest, it might be during those first forty years."

"In my view, the advancements in the following fifty years were even greater." Some people raised objections:

"In today’s Jiu Province, many talented individuals have gathered, creating a great momentum of change that simply cannot compare to those earlier days."

These more than ten martial artists expressed their opinions, standing on either side and debating.

In the end, they all turned their attention to Earth Sword Immortal.

Not only was he the one who posed the question, but Earth Sword Immortal was also very old, having gained recognition in Jiu Province even before the Inhuman War.

The historical debates of the younger generation of martial artists were past events for Earth Sword Immortal, making it accurate to say he is a living fossil of the martial world in today’s Jiu Province.

"I have a different opinion," said the Earth Sword Immortal with a smile.

"If I say that the recent hundred years in Jiu Province’s martial arts is developing the fastest, it was during those three fleeting years of the Qiao family member?"

As these words were spoken,

The crowd was not shocked, but rather puzzled. They exchanged glances, feeling somewhat confused.

Even if the Earth Sword Immortal is such an extraordinary strong person, no matter how high his reputation, he cannot ignore the facts and claim that three years is greater than forty years or fifty years….

Isn’t that just making empty boasts?

"The older generation of martial artists are like this," someone thought, shaking their head.

"Those who are seventy or eighty years old, or even older, experienced those three dreamlike years firsthand. They mostly hold the Qiao family member in great admiration and respect."

"Perhaps it is similar to how we respect the Earth Sword Immortal and other seniors…."

Everyone did not argue with the Earth Sword Immortal, saying "yes, yes" with their mouths.

"That is true."

"You are right, senior."

But they did not really believe it in their hearts.

Their words and feelings did not match, and the Earth Sword Immortal noticed this.

"Yes," he said.

"The martial arts have made great progress in the past three years, much more than in the last forty or fifty years."

"This may not seem reasonable, but it is indeed a fact."

"Back then, a member of the Qiao family achieved many things that seemed impossible, and this was just one of them."

Saying this, the Earth Sword Immortal showed a hint of confusion and doubt in his eyes and continued:

"You might find it hard to believe, but fifty years ago, the Qiao family’s martial arts spread throughout Jiu Province; not only were they not outdated, they were actually ahead of the martial arts of Jiu Province by hundreds of years!"

"The ‘Human Path Sutra’ broke the small limits of the fourth rank, the ‘Divine Transformation Technique’ completed the Spiritual Refining Martial Art, along with methods like ‘Heavenly Demon Forging Body’ and ‘Blood Origin Skill’ that gradually shattered the physical limits of martial artists."

"The so-called ‘mountain-moving’ skill is not just empty words. The Qiao family’s martial arts that emerged like a fountain fifty years ago, if calculated by common sense, would probably not appear in the martial world of Jiu Province for hundreds of years."

"Otherwise, do you young ones think that the Qiao family’s martial arts from back then earned them the title of ‘Martial Ancestor’?"

A hint of loneliness appeared in the Earth Sword Immortal’s eyes as he slowly said:

"The term Martial Ancestor does not mean that their skills were exceptionally high, but rather that they are the founding masters of generation after generation."

"?" Everyone looked suspicious, thinking this was getting more and more exaggerated.

Could it be that this Earth Sword Immortal, one of the seven strongest in today’s martial arts, could not escape the norm, just like the old martial arts seniors they had seen before, and was a devoted fan of the Qiao family?

The more the Earth Sword Immortal explained, the more they felt it was unbelievable… It wasn’t really his fault.

After all, the Qiao family’s great achievements fifty years ago were indeed against common sense, and those looking back at those three years can only feel it was absurd and strange.

What about those who never seem to die, who are unmatched in martial arts, and whose family history is as strong as ever… These stories could easily be called legends, right?

Amidst the crowd’s doubts.

Suddenly, footsteps approached from afar.

"There’s no need to explain further," Qiao Mu said calmly.

"I’m not that petty."

The white-haired swordsman, with a wooden sword and a stone sword hanging at his waist, remained silent.

He was silent for a long time before he spoke:

"It’s not about helping my younger brother."

"Those who freeze to death in the wind and snow cannot be forgotten."

"This is the only small help we can give to those who come after us."

"It seems you really are…" Qiao Mu guessed something from the other person’s tone.

"This is not the place for talking… follow me."

Two figures, one in front and one behind, vanished into the market of Lone Goose City.

Only the more than ten martial artists that were there remained, still reflecting on the conversation they had just heard.

"Who is that mysterious person…" someone pondered, feeling something strange.

"The Earth Sword Immortal is already one hundred forty years old this year, and yet he calls himself a newcomer in front of him?"

Life at seventy has always been rare, and a martial artist at one hundred and forty is a true rarity through the ages.

"Logically speaking, among the long-lived people, there should be the founding emperor of Great Yan in the Imperial Capital, but the Founding Emperor Yan’s portrait has long been known… Could this person be a cultivator who achieves eternal life?" Everyone was filled with confusion.

…………………………………….

Outside Lone Goose City.

Qiao Mu was walking in the wasteland with the Earth Sword Immortal and the Sky Piercing Water Spirit.

After fifty years, when he saw a member of the Qiao family again, the Earth Sword Immortal had no small talk about old friends.

From his perspective, the Qiao family member standing before him was not an old friend but a relative of that friend.

For Qiao Mu, both the Earth Sword Immortal and his brother Lu Yanbei were old friends from fifty thousand years ago.

Fifty thousand years is a long time; even though the memories remain clear, they feel distant, like trying to see flowers in the fog.

In the human world, for fifty years, the winds and clouds change. Outside of this world, for fifty thousand years, the seas have transformed.

When we meet again, the old friends are still here, but everything has changed.

"Fortunately, the elders of the Qiao family have returned from the Return Ruins, so they did not completely vanish fifty years ago," sighed Earth Sword Immortal with many feelings.

Perhaps at this moment, he should be called Lu Yanbei.

Lu Yanbei, a martial arts master at one hundred and forty years old, is much more thoughtful and gentle.

However, even someone as calm as he is, at this moment, finds it hard to suppress the swirling thoughts in his mind, instinctively clenching and then relaxing his fist.

Many years ago, he also stood in the Hundred-mile Desert of Zhong Province. At that time, he was eighty-seven years old when he first met a member of the Qiao family, filled with youthful passion as he fought alongside them, eventually walking out of the desert.

At first, there was great joy, but upon deeper reflection, there was a faint sadness.

The martial arts of the Qiao family were fully unleashed, fighting to the death against the Immortal Gate’s ancestral masters. However, this Qiao Huo who returned is very different from Qiao Yao, the martial arts leader from fifty years ago.

It is both good news and bad news.

After asking a few questions to confirm Qiao Huo’s true identity, Lu Yanbei honestly spoke about the changes in his family’s situation.

"Before the Qiao family’s ancestors left Jiu Province, they left behind the ‘Nine Leaf Immortal Lotus’ taken from Kuafu Mountain in the Western Province. Even earlier, they had given one of its leaves to Founding Emperor Yan. I wonder if Senior Qiao Huo knows about this?"

"So your current body is not a real human body anymore, but a transformation of one of the leaves of the immortal lotus?" Qiao Mu guessed.

"Yes." Lu Yanbei casually played with the hilt of the stone sword at his waist and continued,

"In those early years, almost no one in the martial arts world could compete with the Immortal Sect Leader at the Soul Changing Stage… Fortunately, at that time, there were only two Soul Changing Taoist Lords left."

"During those years, Founding Emperor Yan, wielding the Human Emperor Sword, was the pillar of martial arts in Jiu Province. Even with the magical pills accumulated over hundreds of years by the Great Yan Imperial Court, he nearly died several times at the hands of Changsheng Taoist Lord and Soul Predicting Path Lord."

"In the end, the medicine store was almost empty. Even though the Medicine Spirit Body hadn’t reached its limit, the national treasury of the Great Yan Imperial Court was about to reach its limit."

"With no medicine available and in a critical state, he risked everything to figure out how to use the ‘Nine Leaf Immortal Lotus’."

Lu Yanbei pressed the red mark on his forehead, shaped like a leaf and a sword, and explained:

"The reason my brother and I survived is thanks to this magical lotus leaf. After our bodies died, it helped us reshape ourselves."

Although Lu Yanbei spoke of this lightly, it was clear that the situation was filled with danger and twists.

The long fifty years were especially tough in the beginning.

The Earth Sword Immortal and the Founding Emperor Yan were once the greatest martial leaders at the peak of martial arts in Jiu Province. However, these remarkable figures nearly died in battle before the turmoil at the Immortal Gate.

Both the Earth Sword Immortal and Lu Yanbei lost their physical forms, and the Founding Emperor Yan nearly drained the treasury of the nation, suffering many severe injuries.

"My brother and I now share one body of blood lotus, with two souls in one."

Lu Yanbei lightly flicked the stone sword in his hand and said calmly:

"Sometimes I am the sword, and sometimes he is the sword. We have lived this way for many years, and later we made a name for ourselves…"

"But these are just small matters," Lu Yanbei said.

"On this trip to Kuafu Mountain in Western Province, besides chasing the Shaoyin Taoist Lord, I actually have something else to do."

"I have business with the ‘Saint of Martial Arts’ Wu Qizheng."

"That’s perfect, it’s on the way," Qiao Mu nodded as well.

The three of them walked faster than ordinary martial artists, their true strength making them move like the wind across the sky, and Kuafu Mountain gradually came closer.

But when Qiao Mu looked nearer, he realized that the change was not just with Baojian Peak.

There was also Kuafu Mountain.

Looking up, a giant mountain stretched across the barren land. The mountain resembled the upper body of a giant.

The mountain’s wall hinted at the giant’s vague features, with eyes wide open, as if a deity gazed down upon the world.

"I remember I should have closed my eyes before, and this Kuafu Mountain was only half as tall, about reaching my chest. The lower half was still hidden beneath the plain, but now… it seems like there is more showing above the ground?"

Qiao Mu has long remembered clearly, he cannot be mistaken. When he carefully compared his memory from fifty years ago, he discovered a shocking truth.

The body of the Giant Kuafu Mountain, above the waist, was already above the plain, like a giant deity slowly crawling out of the earth.

"The era when cultivators fought against gods and demons was in ancient times, long before the great changes in the world of Jiu Province."

"This Giant Kuafu called Lie, surely cannot really be alive, right?" Qiao Mu carefully examined this Giant Kuafu.

As his gaze fell on the eye of the Giant Kuafu Mountain, its colossal head slowly turned with a rumbling sound, its eyes fixed on Qiao Mu, staring at him from afar.

"It looks very much like a living creature, but it is indeed not." Qiao Mu said.

"Senior Qiao Huo has a great vision." Lu Yanbei nodded in agreement.

"Decades ago, the ‘Saint of Martial Arts’ made a stunning appearance, bravely confronting the Immortal Gate in the Western Province Kuafu Mountain all alone."

"But what the world does not know is that, during that event, Wu Qizheng was not fighting alone; there was actually another person standing beside him."

"However, the path this person took was no longer purely one of martial arts; they were not famous and did not appear on the list of the so-called seven great martial legends."

In the next moment, the ground of the giant mountain split apart, and a shadow stepped out from the crack.

The newcomer appeared to be a young person, but like Lu Yanbei, he had a depth in his gaze that young people do not have.