Twenty years ago.
Jinyang City.
It was deep autumn.
Osmanthus blossoms filled the city, their fragrance wafting through every street and alley as the sea breeze blew.
That year, Lü Beisheng had not long entered the Earthly Immortal Realm, riding high on youthful vigor and high spirits.
Everyone in the martial world said that after Sword Immortal Shen, Grand Zhao had finally produced another true peak of the Way of the Sword.
In those days, an endless stream of martial artists arrived to offer congratulations, request spars, or simply pay homage to his fame.
The inns of Jinyang City were packed with martial artists speaking in accents from across the land.
Back then, Lü Beisheng had not yet learned how to refuse people.
He turned no one away; if there was wine, he drank, and if there was a sword, he tested it.
And on that day.
Envoys from the capital arrived without warning.
They did not follow the usual procedure of an imperial decree arriving first and relay stations preparing horses in advance.
Instead, a party of riders suddenly appeared outside Jinyang City’s northern gate.
Twelve Imperial Army guards, a purple-robed eunuch, and three officials from the Ministry of Rites.
They arrayed their honor guard with grand pomp.
Planting the apricot-yellow banner embroidered with the characters “Imperial Envoy” at the city gates, drums and music sounded in unison, resounding across the wilderness.
The entire city flocked to the city gate to watch the spectacle.
When Lu Yang dragged Lü Beisheng out of the tavern, he still reeked of wine.
He wore a faded gray cloth robe with frayed cuffs, his hair tied loosely with only a hemp rope—looking not in the least like someone about to receive an imperial decree.
Lu Yang was sweating with anxiety.
He dusted the wine stains off his lapels while nagging non-stop.
“At least change your clothes! This is an imperial envoy, an imperial envoy!”
Annoyed by his nagging, Lü Beisheng rummaged through his wardrobe for a fairly new green robe, threw it on, and went just like that.
The purple-robed eunuch was surnamed Cao, the second-in-command of the Directorate of Ceremonial. Pale and beardless, he spoke in a slow, deliberate manner.
“Sword Immortal Lü, our humble self has come under imperial orders to proclaim His Majesty’s decree.”
Lü Beisheng knelt on the bluestone pavers, hearing the ornate parallel prose buzzing in his ears.
Things like “Heaven blesses Grand Zhao with flourishing martial fortune,” “A peerless genius of the sword and pillar of the realm,” and “We are deeply gratified and specially bestow this noble enfeoffment.”
“An enfeoffment?”
Hearing this, he raised his head, looking utterly bewildered.
Eunuch Cao rolled up the imperial decree with a smile and presented it before him with both hands.
“By His Majesty's decree, Lü Beisheng is hereby enfeoffed as City Lord of Jinyang City, with a fief of three thousand households, hereditary without decline.
Lü Beisheng, why do you not yet kneel and accept your title?”
An uproar swept through the city.
Though Jinyang City was an important border stronghold, no position of City Lord had ever been established since the previous dynasty, having always been administered by the Prefect’s yamen.
With this act, His Majesty was essentially granting all of Jinyang City and the surrounding hundred li of land to Lü Beisheng.
A fief of three thousand households, hereditary without decline—this was the treatment reserved for ennobling a prince of a different surname.
Lü Beisheng took the imperial decree, his mind still completely blank.
He turned the heavy roll of bright yellow silk over in his hands, at a loss for words.
Following what Lu Yang had instructed beforehand, he simply said, “I thank the Sovereign for His boundless grace.”
Eunuch Cao was in no hurry, retrieving another document from his sleeve.
This document was not an imperial decree, but the ceremonial protocol for the enfeoffment issued by the Ministry of Rites.
A thick stack, densely covered with writing.
“Sword Immortal Lü, the enfeoffment of a City Lord is a grand state ceremony.
An auspicious day must be chosen to erect an altar and offer sacrifices to Heaven, perform the ceremony of three kneelings and nine kowtows, and receive the golden seal with purple ribbon.
At that time, the Ministry of Rites will dispatch special commissioners to supervise, and governors from all provinces will also send envoys to attend the ceremony.”
Lü Beisheng got a massive headache listening to all this, and was just about to ask if it could be simplified.
Yet Eunuch Cao suddenly shifted his tone. His voice remained slow and measured, but every word abruptly grew heavy.
“However, Sword Immortal Lü, according to court etiquette, the lord of a city must possess an unblemished background, free of any misconduct.
Before coming here, our humble self perused the records of Sword Immortal Lü's life, and I am truly filled with deep admiration.
At sixteen you entered Inquiry, at nineteen you broke into Mountain-Viewing, at twenty-two you entered Abyss-Facing, at twenty-four you reached Wind-Riding, at twenty-six you stepped into Boundless, and at thirty you reached the pinnacle of Earthly Sword Immortal.
Across the several centuries of Grand Zhao's martial history, such speed of cultivation belongs to you alone.”
Eunuch Cao opened the dossier and read aloud a few lines of Lü Beisheng's past deeds.
Finally, Eunuch Cao slowly closed the dossier and looked up at Lü Beisheng.
“Sword Immortal Lü, you have killed far too many people.
The martial world might call you a hero and say you act on Heaven's behalf.
But the censors in the imperial court do not see it that way.
The souls slain by your sword number several hundred at the very least.
Your cultivation was watered with blood.
Now His Majesty wishes to enfeoff you as City Lord, an exceptional grace.
But how could those upright censors in the court let the matter rest?”
As his words fell, inside and outside the city gate grew so quiet that one could hear the sound of distant waves crashing against the shore.
“Therefore, our humble self has taken the liberty of devising a solution for Sword Immortal Lü.
Everyone in the martial world knows that Sword Immortal Lü possesses a natal sword.
If Sword God Lü is willing to personally destroy this sword before the eyes of the entire world,
to signal that from now on you harbor no ambition to compete for supremacy, retiring from the martial world to bring peace and prosperity to this region,
His Majesty can also silence the censors.
This enfeoffment would then proceed without the slightest obstacle.
This is a mutually beneficial solution.”
...
Heh.
A mutually beneficial solution.
Lu Yang still remembered the scene from that day.
Lü Beisheng laid his natal sword across his knees, gathered the entirety of his cultivation, and struck the spine of the blade with a single palm.
That sword, which had accompanied him through countless mountains and rivers, shattered inch by inch beneath his hand.
Lu Yang had stood right behind him back then, watching helplessly as that sword turned into a ground strewn with iron fragments.
From that day forth, that window on the ninth floor of Wangchao Pavilion was never closed again.
Regardless of wind and rain, regardless of scorching summer or freezing winter, that window remained wide open.
Inside sat an Earthly Sword Immortal without a natal sword.
Facing the Eastern Sea, his back turned to the martial world.
And the natal sword that Lü Beisheng destroyed with his own hands was named “Changgeng.”
“Beisheng.”
Lu Yang spoke suddenly, his tone a few degrees heavier than before.
“This sword... are you going to use it or not?”
Lü Beisheng did not answer.
He swallowed the beef in his mouth, pinched another slice, and continued chewing slowly.
Lu Yang looked at his profile, remained silent for a moment, and then said slowly,
“I know it isn't Changgeng.
But it is a sword after all.
A sword that Furnace-Listening Pavilion spent three years pouring all their efforts into forging.
If you use it, you'll have a few more odds against Sword Immortal Shen.”
Lü Beisheng still said nothing.
The sea breeze poured in through the eastern window, gently fluttering the stray locks of hair at his temples.
The two remained silent like this for a long time.
Suddenly, the corner of Lü Beisheng's mouth curved upward.
“I also really want to see just how strong that senior who has overshadowed me for most of my life truly is.
Whether his sword can genuinely make me accept defeat from the bottom of my heart.”
Lu Yang looked into his eyes and suddenly laughed.
“Now that sounds like you, Lü Beisheng.”
He stuffed the last slice of braised beef from the oiled paper into his mouth and chewed.
Then he stood up and dusted the crumbs from his lapel.
“It's getting late; I should head down.
No matter what happens, as your brother, I'll collect your corpse.”
Hearing this, Lü Beisheng's lips curled slightly.
He lifted the teapot and poured himself a cup.
Then he raised the teacup, offering a mock toast toward Lu Yang.
“Then I'll trouble you with that.”
Rate on N.U.
