Chapter 181 | The Galgame Martial Saint

When Gu Chengming said the words "You cannot touch it," he actually had very little confidence.

The pressure of a Sixth Realm expert was like a physical substance, packing every inch of the surrounding space. He could only feel his heart thumping in his chest as if it were about to shatter his ribs, and a thick scent of blood welled up in his throat.

He said this partly to maintain a front, and partly to buy time with his life.

After all, he had to find a way. Even dragging it out for half a breath, or gaining just one more gasp of air, was better than nothing.

However, to everyone's surprise, the Longevity Sect Perfected Man’s pale hand actually came to a halt in mid-air.

Amidst the deathly silence, a soft laugh rang out.

“I cannot touch it?”

The Perfected Man savored those words as if he had heard the greatest joke in the world, yet his tone carried a hint of condescending amusement.

“Facing the might of the Sixth Realm, even Fifth Realm experts kneel like ants. You, a mere junior of the Third Realm, not only haven't had your liver and gallbladder burst from fear, but your bones are surprisingly stiff. At my age, I have seen plenty of people groveling for survival. A brat like you, who doesn't know the meaning of death yet possesses such heaven-defying courage, truly makes me a bit reluctant to crush you instantly.”

He hovered in the air as if taking a stroll, even finding the leisure to brush the sleeves of his moon-white and black Daoist robe, as if waiting to see what other interesting rants Gu Chengming could spit out.

Gu Chengming took advantage of this rare gap, silently swallowing the sweet blood in his throat. He lifted his eyelids and stared fixedly at the other party: “Since you're reluctant to kill me, why not clear up a doubt for me? Why did the Longevity Sect go to such great lengths to scheme and alter a sword art of the Cloud Moon Sect?”

Hearing this, the Perfected Man tilted his hood slightly, seemingly surprised that he could remain so sharp even in such a desperate situation.

“A sword art? You mean that 《Flowing Cloud Following Moon》?” The Perfected Man shook his head, his voice full of pity: “Truly the narrow vision of an ant. You think this sect is targeting the mere Cloud Moon Sect?”

“Is it not?” Gu Chengming pressed on.

“You give them too much credit.” The Perfected Man chuckled softly: “The ‘Dao Plague’ beneath the Cuiping Mountains requires the most extreme yin and darkest malice to be nourished. And in all the world, what could be a more suitable ‘slop bucket’ for containing such filth than an inheritance originating from a True Monarch?”

Hearing the term “slop bucket,” the anger in Gu Chengming’s eyes intensified.

The Perfected Man did not notice the subtle changes in his emotions and aura, lost in the self-satisfaction of a ten-thousand-year plot, and continued:

“That sword art was supposed to be the purest ‘moonlight.’ Precisely because it is clean enough, the malice and resentment planted within it create the most extreme contrast and effect. And those sword cultivators of the Cloud Moon Sect, who revere it as a sacred canon and practice it day and night, will unknowingly be tainted by this malice. They will inevitably suffer qi deviation and become the best nourishment.”

“With such a magnificent method, even at the brink of death, what you care about is a piece of trash sword art that has been used as a slop bucket for a thousand years and is already soaked in filth? Truly a rather adorable thought.”

Gu Chengming listened to these words with his eyes lowered, silent. A fire was surging wildly within his chest.

But just as those words landed, in the half-breath of the Longevity Sect Perfected Man’s light laughter, the previously disorganized clues in his mind suddenly burst into light, becoming clear!

The Cloud Moon Sect... the Flowing Cloud Following Moon Sword Art... the Dao Plague... and what True Monarch Liuyun Suyu had asked him to do in the Land of Nowhere.

In the Land of Nowhere, he had used “Love Infinite” to bluff his way through the True Monarch’s missing “half-move of affection,” rewriting the ending to “Die Together.” Before the True Monarch dissipated, she had forcibly stripped the 《Flowing Cloud Following Moon Sword Art》 from the torrent of time, clearly knowing it would eventually fall into his hands.

And this sword art was later twisted by the planting of malice. On the surface, it looked like the Cloud Moon Sect had been schemed against, but the mastermind was likely the high-and-mighty Longevity Sect before him.

If his guess was correct, the True Monarch’s “dissipation” back then didn't necessarily mean true death. She might have just stripped herself from the torrent of time, just as she did with her sword art, hiding in the “gap” where the ending was suspended.

In other words, the reason that strike of “Die Together” hadn't been truly “finalized” for ten thousand years was because the Red Dust Immortal was still barely surviving in the secret realm until a few months ago.

It wasn't until Gu Chengming rewrote karma within the secret realm and completely erased the Red Dust Immortal that the ending of that strike finally had the possibility of being settled. But it was only a “possibility.”

To truly allow this strike of “Die Together” to be completely finalized on the current timeline and reverse cause and effect, it still lacked a trigger—it needed a specific event to activate it.

And as everything came to light, another question that had troubled him for a long time also found its answer.

—Why did the Flowing Cloud Following Moon Sword Art hate sword cultivators?

“The personality of those who practice this art will gradually be pulled toward extremes...”

From top to bottom in the Cloud Moon Sect, without exception, those who practiced this art became obsessive and frenzied.

That was absolutely not the fault of the sword cultivators themselves, but this forcibly altered sword art, which was wearing down their minds inch by inch, alienating them into “vessels” to hold malice.

What about the sword art itself?

What it hated was never sword cultivators; what it hated was itself.

With every additional sword cultivator who practiced the altered version with high hopes, another portion of foul malice flowed through its body. With every genius who fell into the abyss of obsession because of it, it carried another piece of bloody sin.

It was the blade forced to become the murderer. It hated sword cultivators because it was filled with guilt, unable to look directly at every sword cultivator it had destroyed with its own hands.

Gu Chengming slowly closed his eyes. Even without a system dialogue box popping up, he could already clearly feel the current emotions of 《Flowing Cloud Following Moon》 within his sea of consciousness.

It was as if it had been tainted by sludge for a thousand years, and one day, hearing someone say with disgust, “How can you be so dirty,” it didn't offer a single word of rebuttal, only silently burying its head deeper.

He suddenly remembered the night he had mastered the true 《Flowing Cloud Following Moon Sword》 in the Land of Nowhere, when it had abruptly said, “Don't call me Little Liuyun.”

At the time, he thought the technique was just being tsundere and difficult. Only now did he realize that it was the first time in ten thousand years it had been called by its true name in a proper manner.

It wasn't being difficult; it didn't dare to answer, fearing that by doing so, it would also defile the name “Little Liuyun.”

Gu Chengming’s hand at his side slowly clenched into a fist. Where did that piece of earth vein beneath the Cuiping Mountains, tainted by malice for ten thousand years, originate from? What did the Dao Plague rely on to feast?

It was all the malice of sword cultivators!

In the vast Cloud Moon Sect, for ten thousand years, they had held the polluted 《Flowing Cloud Following Moon》 and practiced bitterly day and night. Every time they drew their swords, they were adding fuel to the fire for the Dao Plague beneath the main peak.

A supreme sword art that should have been as pure as the moonlight of the nine heavens and as clear as ten thousand miles of flowing clouds had been boiled into a slop bucket for the Dao Plague by someone!

The fire in Gu Chengming’s chest suddenly burned even more intensely. His original plan was to extract the diagram step by step, activate the Unborn Lotus, and use “Love Infinite” as the key to invite the True Monarch to descend.

That was his only path to survival and the current optimal solution.

—But he suddenly wanted to do something even if it was incredibly stupid.

On behalf of a sword art that had been polluted as nourishment for ten thousand years, on the eve of it returning to its origin through the True Monarch’s hand, he would personally swing a single strike in its original form.

To let this world, to let that high-and-mighty Sixth Realm of the Longevity Sect watching the show, and to let that coward hiding behind the scenes, open their eyes and see clearly—it was never some filthy nourishment. It was the moonlight above the nine heavens, the flowing clouds that rolled and unfurled freely, the bit of “purity” that the True Monarch had forcibly carved out of the torrent of time!

Knowing he was like a mantis trying to stop a carriage, knowing that this strike landing on a Sixth Realm expert would likely not even graze the edge of his Daoist robe, knowing that as soon as this strike was sent out, the next moment would bring the crushing of that hand—

—But this strike must be delivered today.

Simply because in these thousand years, no one else could swing this strike for it.

【The Great Record: ...】

The Great Record, who was still trembling with fear a moment ago, now sensibly silenced herself.

As a remnant of the old world, she had watched the collapse of ten million life tracks. Remaining a cold observer had long since become an instinct. But as she watched the long sword in Gu Chengming’s hand, a ripple of excitement that hadn't been felt in ten thousand years actually arose in her heart for the first time.

But the quietest of all was the 《Flowing Cloud Following Moon Sword Art》 itself; it didn't say a word.

It had been pretending for too long.

Pretending to be that altered, deformed embryo; pretending to be a bloodthirsty demon shrouded in malice; pretending to be indifferent with a “I was born with this filthy look.” In the long erosion of time, it had almost truly forgotten its original appearance.

Or perhaps it hadn't forgotten at all; it just didn't have the courage to look at its clean self again.

“Little Liuyun, I’m sorry for making you endure for so long.”

Enduring the terrifying pressure that even solidified the surrounding air, Gu Chengming forcibly bit the tip of his tongue. Using that bit of clarity, he raised his sword.

In an instant, silver-white, pure moonlight burst forth from that sword body covered in nicks and scratches!

For ten thousand years, every time it was forced to unsheathe, it had to personally strip away its own moonlight layer by layer, burying it deep into the soil, and then churn up that disgusting malice to the front. It was used to playing the role of that twisted, deformed monster for others to drive.

But today, the person behind it, the hands holding it, would not allow it to pretend anymore.

And so, those moonbeams it had personally extinguished ten million times lit up inch by inch along the sword spine at this moment, like lighting up the starry sky, sweeping out with the force of a tidal wave!

Clouds rolled and unfurled, moonlight poured down like a waterfall.

This was the reappearance of the full form of the 《Flowing Cloud Following Moon Sword Art》 that the True Monarch had left on the ancient wall of the Penglai Immortal Sect branch!

The cold astral winds that had whistled incessantly through the Cuiping Mountains for years completely died down the moment they touched this moonlight.

Even that Sixth Realm pressure, which had forced the four Fifth Realm experts to kneel and was incredibly arrogant, experienced a brief half-breath of stagnation before this moonlight of ultimate clarity.

The sword slashed down. Only a wisp of moonlight, clean to the extreme, swept past the shoulder of the Sixth Realm Perfected Man.

“Rip—”

The elegant and sophisticated Daoist robe made a slight sound of tearing silk.

A tiny opening appeared. From the opening, a drop of blood—dull in color but forced to glow with a silver-white light—seeped out.

Outside the cavern, the gale stopped. Everyone’s eyes, whether standing or kneeling, were fixed on that drop of blood.

That was the blood of a Sixth Realm True Monarch.

Daoist Don't Know’s murky eyes instantly went wide. Song Heng’s pupils, which were always as calm as still water, trembled violently. Qin Wuwang’s knuckles, which were digging into the ground, couldn't stop shaking. True Monarch Baicang even forgot to breathe, whispering in disbelief:

“...He... he actually injured that person?”

At this moment, the 《Flowing Cloud Following Moon Sword Art》 deep within the sea of consciousness was also in a state of massive shock.

Following Gu Chengming all this way, it had long since decided it was a piece of trash that was “too unlucky to even be taken out.” It had accepted its fate long ago, feeling it would never see the day its name was cleared.

It was used to being a foil, used to being full of defensive words like a thorn, used to making cynical remarks whenever Gu Chengming summoned it properly, trying to use those thorny jeers to distance itself from the orthodox techniques of famous sects.

Because it felt it was dirty, felt it didn't have the face to stand alongside the likes of 《Hundred Bones Resonating》 and 《Huiyuan Sword Manual》. Every one of its sneers was actually a humble apology for its own appearance.

“I’m sorry, it’s just the dirty, ruined me who isn't even fit to stand on the stage.”

But that sword strike just now was the first time since it gained consciousness that it had been held steadily by a pair of warm and firm hands in its true identity as “Flowing Cloud Following Moon.”

In the next breath, the technique panel before Gu Chengming’s eyes, which was usually cold, suddenly erupted with a dazzling golden light and a series of crisp chimes!

【《Flowing Cloud Following Moon Sword Art》 Affection: 90 → 100 (Until Death Do Us Part)】

【Flowing Cloud Following Moon finally no longer loathes sword cultivators. Simply because she is certain that there is finally a sword cultivator in this world who is willing to swing her original form without reservation even in a desperate situation.】

The dead line of ninety affection points had been nailed down by the Heavenly Dao back when the True Monarch stripped the sword art and severed its origin ten thousand years ago.

As a broken technique with a damaged origin, it was destined to never reach “Until Death Do Us Part,” because even its complete “self” was shattered.

Until today, when Gu Chengming forcibly supplemented the final missing piece of its origin on the river of karma.

Gu Chengming’s hand holding the sword trembled slightly. He gasped for air, not even having the mind to look at the newly unlocked CG scroll.

Because in the air, that silver-white bloodstain was slowly dripping from the shoulder of the Sixth Realm Perfected Man.

And that Perfected Man was watching him with a gaze that made one's hair stand on end.

The Sixth Realm Perfected Man was silent for a long time. The playfulness in his eyes gradually receded, replaced by surging killing intent.

Then, he actually slowly raised his hand and clapped twice.

“Good sword art.”

“Truly a good sword.” He repeated it, this time with a hint of unmasked admiration in his tone: “I thought it was lost. I didn't expect the True Monarch’s true trump card back then to be like this. I... have lived for a thousand years, and this is the first time I've had my eyes opened.”

He tilted his head slightly, a gentle smile appearing at the corners of his mouth.

“A pity.”

“Such a peerless sword and such a transparent heart as yours are destined to perish here today.”

Before the words finished, a heaven-toppling pressure crashed down like a collapsing pillar of heaven. Gu Chengming closed his eyes.

He knew well that it was impossible to take this hit. And he had never intended to take it.

What he needed to do was already complete.

What the True Monarch had left in the half-move in the Land of Nowhere was never sword intent, but “affection.” Gu Chengming had earlier bluffed his way through “affection” with “Love Infinite,” but that was only a half-finished product.

The ultimate move that could truly finalize the karmic law of “Die Together” was the sword strike itself, which followed naturally after “affection.”

And the strike Gu Chengming had just delivered with all his might was exactly the indispensable final piece of the puzzle!

The uncorrupted, pure, and stainless strike that the True Monarch herself had fished out of the river of time!

“Hum!”

The Sixth Realm Perfected Man’s killing move, which carried the power to destroy heaven and earth and was already above Gu Chengming’s crown, froze in mid-air without warning.

It was as if the time of the entire space had been forcibly pressed with a stop button.

The entire Cuiping Mountains trembled violently as if struck by lightning.

Outside the cavern, somewhere in the night sky at the peak of the deep mountains, a long gap was quietly torn open by a wisp of moonlight that was almost transparent.

The gap hung quietly in the sky. There was no world-shaking storm of laws, nor any earth-shattering spiritual energy leakage. It appeared so naturally that even the trajectory of the surrounding night breeze wasn't disturbed.

Only that wisp of moonlight pouring down from the gap was far too clear. It was so clear that merely shining down caused the ten-thousand-year accumulation of filth, fallen thoughts, and the lingering Dao Plague beneath the Cuiping Mountains to instantly emit a sizzling sound of burning, retreating in terror into the depths of the earth by more than half an inch!

Song Heng, Baicang, Qin Wuwang, and Daoist Don't Know—the four Fifth Realm experts who were still forced to kneel—all looked up at the same breath.

None of them had ever personally witnessed such peerless moonlight, such sword light that did not belong to this era.

But they all recognized the origin of this moonlight the moment they looked up.

In the ancient records and inscriptions of the Great Qian cultivation world, whenever that brilliant Sixth Realm expert who controlled the path of time was mentioned—

—True Monarch Liuyun Suyu, the descriptions used by historians were surprisingly consistent.

“The moonlight is as white as of old, the flowing clouds as they once were.”

Within the moonbeams that were as bright as water, a figure in plain clothes slowly materialized, spanning ten thousand years of time.

The moon-white long shirt was untainted by a single speck of dust, and a strand of silver hair hung from her temple, fluttering lightly in the breeze. The sword hanging at her waist was exactly the same as the broken sword enshrined in the main hall of the Penglai Immortal Sect branch!

She didn't say a word. Her only action after manifesting in the world was to calmly raise her hand, grip the hilt, and draw the sword.

Her movements were neither hurried nor slow, as leisurely as enjoying the moon and drinking tea. But this seemingly casual action was, for the person below, an unavoidable death tribulation that had been slashed across ten thousand years!

“...Liuyun...”

A look of ultimate terror finally appeared on the Longevity Sect Perfected Man’s face, which hadn't changed for ten thousand years. He used all his strength, but only managed to squeeze those two words out from between his teeth.

The long sword had already fallen.

It was just as clear and pure as the strike Gu Chengming had delivered earlier. That strike that originally belonged to this world and cleansed the universe.

Only this time, the person holding the sword was its rightful, eternal master.

“Puff!” A dull thud sounded.

The sophisticated moon-white and black Daoist robe on the Longevity Sect Perfected Man’s chest was completely sliced open from the left shoulder to the right abdomen by a silver-white flash!

Those cloud patterns that had previously made Gu Chengming’s heart tighten and flowed strangely were like melting snow hit by boiling water under the cleansing of this sword light; they didn't even have a chance to struggle before disintegrating in an instant.

Beneath the Daoist robe, that tattered shell that had barely survived for ten thousand years by absorbing malice—already unknown whether it should be called a human or a monster—was like being hit by a ten-thousand-jin hammer, retreating seven steps in mid-air!

Only, no one could see the true face hidden under his hood, because before his face was exposed, his entire being was pinned in mid-air by the terrifying remnants of the time laws from that strike, unable to move even an inch.

The Longevity Sect Perfected Man’s hand tightly clutched the through-and-through wound on his chest. What gushed from between his fingers was no longer that drop of silver-glowing blood, but a thick blackness that poured out uncontrollably from the wound.

Under the brilliant moonlight, his hideous state was fully exposed.

The entire Cuiping Mountains fell into a deathly silence where even a needle could be heard.

The wisp of moonlight in the sky grew stronger and stronger until the entire night sky was illuminated as bright as day.

A figure slowly manifested from within that wisp of moonlight.

Pure as the moon, robes like flowing clouds, the woman finally looked at Gu Chengming. With affection hidden in her eyes, she couldn't help but smile.