Chapter 592 - 384: Divine Country Invitation

Chapter 592: Chapter 384: Divine Country Invitation

Wang Jue ignored him. Instead, he looked at a middle-aged man at the next table and shouted, "I am Fast Sword Ma San!"

The man was a passing traveler with an honest and simple appearance. Startled by the sudden shout, he squinted, cupped his hands in a polite salute, and said, "I’ve heard much about you..."

Wang Jue nodded. He then turned his attention to a teenage passerby carrying a rucksack on the main road and yelled, "Hey, I am Fast Sword Ma San!"

The teenager shrank his neck in fear and bolted away.

"My title is quite intimidating, isn’t it?" Wang Jue thought with a faint smile. He was here to grind out a quest. From then on, he simply sat in the tea stall, drinking tea and shouting a single phrase: "I am Fast Sword Ma San."

As time passed and the sky grew dark, the small tea stall prepared to close. The worker, Ma Er, said, "Young Master Wang Jue, we’re closing up for the day. You’ve had two pots of tea in total. Since we’re all neighbors here, just give me five Copper Coins!"

Expressionless, Wang Jue took out five Copper Coins, lined them up on the table, and said, "I am Fast Sword Ma San..."

"I know, I know. From now on, we’ll just call you Fast Sword Ma San, alright?"

Wang Jue did not respond. Seeing that there were barely any passersby left, he stood up, shouted "I am Fast Sword Ma San!" one last time, and left.

Ma Er watched Wang Jue leave with a helpless look on his face, muttering, "Has this guy lost his mind?"

Two days later.

Inside the same small tea stall, Wang Jue—whom half the residents of Fire Willow Village now believed to have recently lost his mind—suddenly fell silent.

He heard a system notification that only he could hear: "DING. Quest completed. Congratulations, you have obtained the title [Fast Sword Ma San]. Congratulations, you have obtained one [Sharp Iron Sword]!"

Along with the system prompt, an information panel popped up in front of him, visible only to his eyes.

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Title: Fast Sword Ma San

Tier: Green

Applicable: Before the Spiritual Energy Realm

Instructions: Shout "I am Fast Sword Ma San" to equip the title.

Title Ability: When this title is equipped, the Player’s Body Technique speeds up, and their attack speed greatly increases when using a sword weapon. Their strength will be comparable to a second-rate Jianghu master.

Description: The title will be automatically unequipped if the weapon leaves your hand.

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"A Longsword in hand makes me a second-rate master?" he wondered, his eyes wide.

Wang Jue checked his Storage Realm and discovered that a quaint Longsword had indeed appeared inside. With a mere thought, the Longsword materialized before him. It looked to be about 1.2 meters long with a snow-bright Ming Feng and a copper hilt. Overall, it possessed a simple and elegant charm. The three words "Sharp Iron Sword" were engraved in seal script on both sides of the blade.

Wang Jue gripped the hilt with his right hand and flicked the blade with his left index finger. Listening to the clear, ringing sound of the metal, he exclaimed, "Good sword!"

Hearing this, the tea stall worker, Ma Er, turned his head and saw that Wang Jue was somehow holding a Longsword. Surprised, he asked, "Hey, Wang Jue, where did you get that sword?"

A smug look appeared on Wang Jue’s face as he shouted loudly, "I am Fast Sword Ma San!"

With that shout, Wang Jue equipped the "Fast Sword Ma San" title. He immediately felt a mysterious power flood into his body. A flash of insight struck his mind, as if he had experienced countless battles in a single instant. His body underwent an indescribable tempering, and he gained an uncanny understanding of Swordsmanship.

"This title... is quite magical!" he thought.

Invigorated, Wang Jue stood up and dashed under a nearby tree. Taking advantage of the wind blowing the falling leaves, he brandished his sword. SWISH, SWISH, SWISH. His blade chased the falling foliage, and in the span of a single breath, he chopped all the leaves around him into tiny pieces that scattered like fine dust.

"Not bad, not bad! Hahahaha! With this Swordsmanship, I might actually stand a chance in this year’s disciple selection for Cyan Wood Mountain!"

Wang Jue’s spirits soared as he thought about the upcoming event. Cyan Wood Mountain was the only Immortal Sect within a five-hundred-mile radius of the Yu Province. All the farmland, minerals, and other resources within the province were under its control, supported by over a thousand villages like Fire Willow Village. Every year after the start of autumn, Cyan Wood Mountain would send deacons to travel through the various villages and towns in Yu Province. Their first task was to audit accounts and collect rent; their second was to recruit disciples.

However, Cyan Wood Mountain’s requirements for recruiting disciples were extremely high. First, the candidate had to be no older than sixteen. Second, they had to possess at least a high-grade Spirit Root.

Those with high-grade Spirit Roots were incredibly rare. In Fire Willow Village, for instance, only two such individuals had ever emerged. One of them was Wang Qingyu, who was selected as a disciple by Cyan Wood Mountain twenty years ago. Speaking of which, she was actually Wang Jue’s Aunt Qingyu. Because of this connection, Wang Jue’s family held a high status in Fire Willow Village. While they were far from being a prominent or wealthy clan, no one dared to provoke them, which was how Wang Jue earned the title of "Young Master."

The other person accepted as a disciple was Zhang Yunhu. He was the same age as Wang Jue, and the two had grown up playing together as childhood friends. When Zhang Yunhu was twelve years old, a deacon from Cyan Cloud Mountain detected his high-grade Spirit Root. He joined Cyan Wood Mountain and reached the heavens in a single bound. During that same test, Wang Jue was found to have a low-grade Spirit Root. From then on, he was labeled a piece of trash, doomed to only look up at the mountain and sigh.

There was another rule regarding Cyan Wood Mountain’s disciple selection: as long as a person was under sixteen, even if their Spirit Root was poor, they could still join the sect by challenging and defeating a current Cyan Wood Mountain disciple during the selection. While this rule existed, no one had ever been known to successfully join Cyan Wood Mountain through this method.

"My main quest is Cultivation!" Wang Jue thought. "There are many benefits to becoming a disciple of Cyan Wood Mountain. The most basic one is acquiring Cultivation Techniques and Cultivation resources. If I want to attain immortality, becoming a disciple is the most reliable way right now... After this year, I’ll be sixteen. This year is my final chance!"

He was not content with merely being a second-rate Jianghu master, and he pondered silently. From his understanding of this world, Martial Arts such as Swordsmanship and boxing were considered unorthodox paths, practiced only by unranked, ordinary people. After all, if one could pursue Cultivation, who would still bother practicing Martial Arts?

However, low-level Cultivators had low Cultivation Realms and couldn’t yet control unfathomable techniques. With his Fast Sword, it wasn’t guaranteed that he would lose to them. Having made up his mind, Wang Jue sheathed his Longsword and briskly returned to his courtyard with a proud look on his face. He needed to find a secluded spot to properly experience his Fast Sword.

Ma Er stared blankly as Wang Jue left. It wasn’t until Wang Jue’s back completely disappeared that he suddenly slapped his forehead and said, "This Ma San—oh, I mean, Wang Jue—could it be that he actually knows how to use a Fast Sword?"

Five days later.

In the village square of Fire Willow Village, a large four-wheeled carriage was parked beneath the fiery willow tree. The carriage featured carved wood and iron plating, with jade-colored silk ribbons hanging from its four corners, giving it a heavy yet luxurious appearance.

Pulling the carriage were four strange, giant horses with deer-like antlers. They were a full size larger than water buffaloes, with eyes as large as bells. Clad in iron armor, they snorted sparks, looking incredibly terrifying. A group of children with snot bubbles hanging from their noses surrounded the carriage, yelling and shouting, while even more people gathered in the center of the square.

Today was a big day for Fire Willow Village: the deacon from Cyan Wood Mountain had arrived. Surprisingly, this deacon was Wang Qingyu, who hailed from Fire Willow Village itself. Tall and dressed in a plain white dress, she had sword-like eyebrows and starry eyes. She looked like an otherworldly fairy yet carried a certain heroic spirit, forming a sharp contrast with the simply dressed villagers around her.

Wang Qingyu had brought along two disciples, a young man and a young woman. The male disciple had an imposing and towering presence; he was none other than Zhang Yunhu, who had left Fire Willow Village four years ago. The other disciple was a fifteen or sixteen-year-old girl in a yellow dress. With bright, shining eyes, she looked around curiously, appearing extremely quirky and full of spirit.

At this moment, Wang Qingyu sat gracefully on a high seat, flanked by Zhang Yunhu and the girl in the yellow dress. Wang Jue’s father, Wang Yin, Zhang Yunhu’s father, Zhang Shanming, and the respected elders of Fire Willow Village carefully kept her company from the side. Everyone wore smiles and spoke words of flattery, making the scene quite lively.

Wang Qingyu coughed lightly and flicked her sleeve. "Our task for coming down the mountain this time is quite heavy," she said. "Let us not dwell on idle chatter. Anyone in the village between the ages of twelve and sixteen who wishes to join Cyan Wood Mountain, come to me and test your Spirit Root. Those with a high-grade Spirit Root may enter the sect!"

After saying this, Wang Qingyu opened her right hand. A tiny, verdant tree quickly materialized in the center of her palm. The small tree was only two feet tall, resembling a tower-shaped pine tree.

The villagers had been waiting for this moment for a long time. In truth, under the arrangements of their parents, the youths between twelve and sixteen had already lined up in the square. There weren’t many of them—only sixteen in total.

With his Fast Sword strapped to his back and his hands tucked into his sleeves, Wang Jue stood at the very front of the line. Most of those lined up behind him were children who had just turned twelve, the tallest of whom was still a head shorter than him.