Breaking the Day - Chapter 127

Chapter 127: The Arrays and Mechanisms of Yanjian Hall

As Chengfeng thought of this, his face had changed drastically. ‘Isn’t this embarrassing?’ he thought to himself.

However, it looked like the last two times that he had fainted, he seemingly mobilised his own True Yuan to cure his own injuries? Does that mean that this power could be used to heal any injuries?

Chengfeng took out a small knife that he had always carried around him to slice meat and sliced his finger with it. Fresh blood started to drip from the cut. Chengfeng proceeded to silently mobilise his True Yuan, hoping to move the Qi of the plants surrounding him and heal his cut.

But no matter how Chengfeng mobilised the Spiritual Qi of the grass and flowers, its Qi could not enter his body. This made Chengfeng extremely furious, his facial expression turning darker. Not far away, he could hear Xiaobao’s voice calling for him getting nearer and more worried.

“Stop shouting, I’m here!” shouted Chengfeng irritably.

Xiaobao sighed in relief and ran towards the direction of his voice. However, as he laid eyes on Chengfeng, he noticed that his fists were tightly clenched, and on it was fresh blooding dripping to the ground. Chengfeng’s facial expression looked horrible as well.

Xiaobao was shocked as he immediately rushed towards his young master. With a loud thud, he swiftly kneeled on the ground, hugging his young master’s feet. “Young Master, please! Don’t kill yourself! What happened in the Valley of Ten Thousand Swords was not your fault, even if you didn’t receive your sword of fate, that doesn’t mean you should end your life! If you really can’t take it, Xiaobao… Xiaobao will give you his own sword, Young Master!” he begged.

Chengfeng snapped back to reality, he smiled as he playfully kicked Xiaobao. “Who would want your womanly sword? I just accidentally cut myself, who said I wanted to take my own life? Do you think that I, your Young Master, would kill myself over that?”

Xiaobao sighed in relief. He quickly stood up and smiled, “Xiaobao just panicked that’s all. You almost scared me to death Young Master. It’s rare for you to leave the house for so long and not return, that’s why I thought something might have gone wrong.”

Chengfeng smiled as he scolded Xiaobao, “Ptui! Don’t curse me!”

The two of them bickered as they walked home. It was only until nightfall when Chengfeng finally drifted to sleep, his heart full of hope that he would once again return to his mysterious dream. Yet what greeted him when he opened his eyes once more, was Su Yuehan.

“Young Master, it’s morning. Time to wake up!” chirped Yuehan as she held a wet towel in front of Chengfeng.

Chengfeng looked left and right, then proceeded to pinch himself. It hurt so much that he gasped and mumbled, “Goodness, what shall I do?”

Confused, Yuehan asked, “Young Master, what’s the matter?”

Chengfeng lethargically reached for the towel and wiped his face. Because there was no basin, they had been using the little stream on the back of their home to freshen up in the morning. The cold winter air made Chengfeng very chatty that day, for it made him feel much better. He passed the towel back to Yuehan and said, “Go down the mountain and buy us some household necessities. This is all too inconvenient after all.”

“Understood, Young Master. Has there been something bothering you lately?” she asked.

Chengfeng sighed, “It’s something you can’t solve. Go down the mountain after this alright? Remember to wear the cultivator’s robes. Try your best to avoid meeting with the cultivators from the other three courts.”

Yuehan nodded and continued on with her duties. On the other side, Chengfeng and Xiaobao had finished packing up. The two of them brought upon their go-to weapons. After carefully concealing them, they continued their journey to the Stone Platform Plaza.

This time around, the broad stone platform only had 6 people standing. It was a sad sight to see.

Grand Senior Brother had been there since early morning. Chengfeng carefully observed and realised that Qin Mieqin and Ouyang Nan were nowhere to be seen. When Grand Brother Senior noticed Chengfeng, he said to them all, “Let’s go.”

Grand Senior Brother continued to walk, without turning his head back he told him, “They had a mission.”

This sentence made the others feel a chill to their bones. As a member of the Hidden Sword Court, they knew very well what this meant — This would very much mean that among them there might be some that would never come back. Their clothes will be buried within the Valley of Ten Thousand Swords, and the magical weapons that they once wielded would return to become one of the swords that shape the Dragon of Ten Thousand Swords.

And in the future, they too would be going on missions as well. And they too might not be able to return forever.

Among them, a man with a goatee suddenly spat in anger, “At such times, why would they still let us go on missions?! Why did Senior Brother Qin and others still have to go?!”

Grand Senior Brother smirked, “If we don’t go, they could threaten us with the commandments. It is all fair and just. Not to mention, when have we, the Hidden Sword Court, had ever backed down from a fight?”

The rest of them looked at each other as if they all had something to say. However, in the end, they all held their tongues instead.

Chengfeng thought to himself, ‘Even so, then why wouldn’t the other three courts just use harsh missions to impair Hidden Sword Court? Why did they choose such an old fashioned method instead?’

He thought about this the entire journey while he followed Grand Brother Senior and their team. They passed through the Stone Platform Plaza and arrived at Yanjian Hall that was situated behind the mountains.

Before Chengfeng’s eyes stood a magnificent palace. This palace was encircled by three levels, its walls were adorned with colourful and intricate carvings. The pillars surrounding it looked rough and sturdy. Situated at the front was a large plaza that was as big as a football field. As to how big it exactly is, one could not even tell, this was because the other half of the plaza had been tucked inside of the mountain.

The four corners of the Yanjian Hall stood four stone statues that wielded a sword each. These four statues seemed to be the pillars that supported the palace, that supported the entire weight of the magnificent building. The statues that wielded the stone swords were half-kneeling as each of them faced the directions of south, north, east and west. Their gaze concentrated in the middle of the plaza, giving those who stood there a feeling of tremendous pressure.

The Grand Senior Brother walked towards the centre of the plaza, as he lifted up his arm, a bracelet from the Hidden Sword Court could be seen. He then swiftly made some quick gestures, continued to rapidly gesture eight mudras, and finally stopped at the heavy sword gesture. A low rumbling sound suddenly echoed from within the magnificent castle, immediately after, a clicking sound from a mechanism could be heard.

He then turned around facing Chengfeng and the rest, “Today, we are standing on Hidden Sword Court’s most important venue, the Yanjian Hall. Inside the hall lies ninety-nine thousand eight hundred and eleven arrays. Today, you need to clear three arrays, only then you qualify. Listen up, these three arrays are the Hidden Sword Array, the Killer Sword Array, and the Chaotic Sword Array. These are the Hidden Sword Court’s most basic sword arrays. If you aren’t able to even pass these basics challenges, then… Heh, it’s better if you don’t ever come back.”

Grand Senior Brother observed those that stood in front of him, his gaze brushed past all of them. “Those of you who are afraid or are regretting your decisions, feel free to step away right now.”

Many in the team started to hesitate. After yesterday’s adrenaline-filled activity at the plaza, some of the teammates had started to calm down and began to rationally think of this question, ‘Isn’t it better to stay alive?’

Chengfeng suddenly took one step forward and asked, “Grand Master Senior, Today is my first day of training. Don’t you think having to clear sword arrays as a complete beginner is a bit… too dangerous?”

Grand Brother Senior smirked, “Next time when you fight with an enemy you should tell them, ‘I’m still a novice cultivator, please be gentle when you kill me! I’m scared of pain!’”

Chengfeng was not angry at his statement, but asked once more, “But, shouldn’t we start from practising how to summon arrays? Why should we start by breaking them first?”

“Because time waits for no man! The best way to understand an array is to learn how to break them first! To understand it while in a fight will always be far more memorable than memorising it from a mere book!” replied Grand Senior Brother coldly. “Each generation of the Hidden Sword Court had trained in such a way! Like I said if you’re scared to die, leave now!”

Chengfeng took a deep breath as he looked back at Xiaobao. Although Xiaobao was quite intimidated, he still nodded. Chengfeng smiled as he patted Xiaobao on the shoulder and said, “Follow my lead, we’ll strike whenever we see an opportunity.”

Sometimes, the best way was to fake it until you made it, Chengfeng and Xiaobao walked towards the large stone gate of Yanjian hall together. A large and burly man too followed their steps soon after, the others looked at each other one last time and followed suit as well.

When Chengfeng entered the Yanjian Hall, he noticed that inside the hall was a stone room that was at least two storeys tall and two football fields wide. The floor of the stone room was filled with bluestones that were a meter square wide. Plenty of the bluestone floors were cracked, and within them grew plenty of weeds. The large stone room had eight gigantic round stone pillars surrounding it, each situated on its own side. In front of where they stood, the ground suddenly began to emit a thudding noise from a mechanism that had activated. Before they could react, one by one, the bluestone floors started to sink. Replaced by it, however, was five large stone statues that were around two meters tall.

These five statues had four arms each, their hands wielded long swords. As if they were armoured warriors, the second these stone statues appeared, it started to charge at them with intense killing intent.