Volume 1, Chapter 60: Past Events of the Bamboo Sword Immortal

"It's her!"

Tang Wanshu and Lang Xiaoyun were extremely shocked when they saw this person.

Many people at the riverside pier also gasped in astonishment upon seeing this sight.

More importantly, this woman was truly breathtakingly beautiful!

She was the kind of person who left an unforgettable impression at just a single glance.

Her beauty was entirely different from that of the Fairy of Unfeeling; it possessed a much more mature quality.

The Fairy of Unfeeling was exquisitely beautiful, exuding an overwhelming aura of nobility and aloofness.

In contrast, this person's beauty was entirely natural, easily etching itself into one's heart at first sight, making it impossible to forget.

"Who is she?" Li Hanzhou could sense that this woman possessed formidable strength.

"The Bamboo Sword Immortal, Su Nianyi," Tang Wanshu said. "She is a member of the Valley of Unfeeling and one of the reigning sword immortals of this era. Her strength is terrifyingly high."

"A sword immortal?"

This was not the first time Li Hanzhou had heard this title, so he couldn't help but ask, "Does that mean her cultivation has already reached the Immortal-Approaching Realm?"

To his surprise, Tang Wanshu shook her head and replied, "Simply reaching the Immortal-Approaching Realm does not qualify one to be called a sword immortal."

"The so-called immortal requires more than just attaining the Immortal-Approaching Realm; one must carve out their own Dao before they can be called an immortal. The number of powerhouses in this heaven and earth who can be addressed as immortals is pitifully small precisely because they fail to forge their own Dao," Tang Wanshu explained earnestly to Li Hanzhou.

"The Dao?"

Li Hanzhou nodded.

Stepping into the Immortal-Approaching Realm was already an arduous task; carving out one's own Dao was an even greater challenge.

Yet the woman he had just seen was actually a sword immortal.

This was the first time Li Hanzhou had ever encountered one.

Even with just a fleeting glance, Li Hanzhou could clearly perceive that her strength was leagues beyond the likes of powerhouses such as Zhao Qianxian and Jiang Yixuan.

They were simply not in the same league.

After bidding farewell to Tang Wanshu and his wife, Li Hanzhou boarded a ship with Shi Ming. However, carriages could not be brought onto the vessel, so Li Hanzhou first had to find a place to sell their horses.

By past noon, Li Hanzhou and Shi Ming finally boarded the ship, heading toward Lingyan City.

"Have you heard? Lingyan City is at war again." On board, the conversation among a group of people caught Li Hanzhou's attention.

"It must be those people from Great Zhou again. Over the years, friction between Great Zhou and our Shenque has been incessant, especially around the border passes where such incidents happen frequently."

"This wasn't just a simple harassment; I heard they almost breached the city. Word has it that this morning, someone even spotted the Bamboo Sword Immortal heading toward Lingyan City."

"If not for the Bamboo Sword Immortal over these past few years, Lingyan City would likely have fallen long ago," a martial artist with a long sword hanging at his waist said with a helpless shake of his head.

Listening to their conversation out of curiosity, Li Hanzhou stepped closer and asked, "Why does the Bamboo Sword Immortal protect Lingyan City? Could she originally have been from there?"

Seeing that Li Hanzhou looked entirely like a casual onlooker eager for gossip, one of them chuckled and said, "It seems this brother rarely travels outside; you don't even know about this?"

"The Bamboo Sword Immortal was once an supreme prodigy of the Valley of Unfeeling, named Su Nianyi. Later, when war broke out in the nation of Shenque and fighting erupted with Great Zhou, Su Nianyi participated in the Defense of Shenque as a disciple of the Valley of Unfeeling. It was during that time she met General Shen Zhu of Shenque. Their prolonged battle side by side caused the two to fall deeply in love."

"However, disciples of the Valley of Unfeeling are forbidden from falling in love; otherwise, the Heartless Chant will never advance an inch further for the rest of one's life."

"The master of the Valley of Unfeeling at that time—Su Nianyi's own mentor—had cultivated her with the hope that she would represent the valley in contending for the Mandate of Heaven. How could she tolerate her falling in love with a man now? She wanted to force them to sever ties."

"So cliché?" Li Hanzhou muttered the word "cliché" while listening with rapt attention.

"Let me take over the story," an elderly man nearby chimed in, unable to help himself. "Su Nianyi's master intended to kill Shen Zhu to cut off Su Nianyi's emotional ties so she could focus on contending for the Mandate of Heaven. However, upon discovering that her master harbored murderous intent toward Shen Zhu, Su Nianyi actually crippled her own cultivation right in front of her master, utterly destroying the *Heartless Chant* which she had painstakingly practiced to the seventh stage!"

"Hiss!"

Li Hanzhou gasped in astonishment.

What a ruthless individual!

She crippled her own cultivation!

And that too at the seventh stage of the *Heartless Chant*; wouldn't that mean Su Nianyi had at least severed a cultivation level equivalent to the Heavenly罡 Realm?

She was certainly a hopeless romantic.

"To everyone's surprise, Su Nianyi's actions literally infuriated her master to death," the old man sighed.

"Goodness," Li Hanzhou clicked his tongue. "What a ferocious temper."

"Seeing that her master had died, Su Nianyi was filled with remorse, so she stopped interacting with Shen Zhu. Shen Zhu visited the Valley of Unfeeling many times, but Su Nianyi refused to see him. Later on, war broke out once more, and Shen Zhu made one final trip to the Valley of Unfeeling, still failing to see her. Afterward, he departed for Lingyan City, which was the most dangerous place at the time. He held Lingyan City desperately for forty-seven days, defeating thirty thousand iron cavalry of Great Zhou, but ultimately exhausted his lifeblood and died within the city."

"After Shen Zhu died, Su Nianyi personally came to Lingyan City to retrieve his body and bury him. Ever since then, Su Nianyi embarked on the path of a sword immortal with a single bamboo sword, earning her the title: the Bamboo Sword Immortal."

"And ever since then, whenever trouble befalls Lingyan City, the Bamboo Sword Immortal always comes to help," the old man concluded with a sigh. "She is also a pitiful woman."

"Alas."

Li Hanzhou sighed as well.

That master of hers was cut from the exact same cloth as Abbess Miejue of Emei.

Yet Su Nianyi's talent was truly terrifying; even after crippling her own cultivation, she was still able to ascend the path of a sword immortal with just herself and a single sword.

Had she never fallen in love with Shen Zhu back then and simply cultivated diligently, perhaps she really would have contended for the Mandate of Heaven and ascended by now.

When the ship arrived at Lingyan City from the pier, it was already the morning of the next day.

Along the journey, reading books while listening to the gossip on the boat made Li Hanzhou feel that this pugilistic world was quite interesting indeed.

After disembarking, the two bought a pair of horses and rode northward for half a day before finally reaching Lingyan City.

However, upon arriving at the city gates, Li Hanzhou and Shi Ming discovered that the entire city of Lingyan was on high alert.

Wounded soldiers could be seen everywhere.

The city itself was currently in utter chaos, with collapsed houses visible on every street, making it look as though it had been sacked.

"Uncle-Master, it seems the people on the ship were right; something really has happened to Lingyan City," Shi Ming observed the surroundings, noticing many ordinary citizens on the streets who had been reduced to homelessness, sitting silently by the roadside while cradling their children.

There was no light left in their eyes.

Most of these people were women.

It didn't take much imagination to realize that their husbands had likely died in battle.

A look of unbearable sympathy appeared on Shi Ming's face.

"War..." Li Hanzhou took a deep breath, inhaling the heavy scent of slaughter in the air.

In his past life, the country he lived in was largely free of conflict, and this was his first genuine experience of the cruelty of war.