The Sword Dynasty

The blooms of golden flames spread on the cliff. The scorched rock started to turn red, and slowly melted.

All of this displayed the great power of the Chu Dynasty’s standardized seal weapon.

As he coughed, the emperor of Qi’s face turned ugly.

Even in the most elite armies of the dynasty that were completely composed of cultivators, the cultivators were primarily realm three and four. Realm five cultivators were few.

When the ground of the entire battlefield turned to burning lava, most cultivators could not survive. Even more so when a dominant and yang type primal energy of the universe like the sun truefire could create the greatest damage towards those who cultivated yin methods.

In other words, this kind of standardized seal weapon was a greater threat to the Qi armies.

Watching as a spectator ... It was difficult to do so.

"Is this worth three years?"

The emperor of Chu’s white hair was dyed golden yellow by the falling golden flames. He bathed in the golden color as he asked Emperor Yuanwu.

Everybody present understood the meaning in his words.

While Emperor Yuanwu had sent an army to take over Yangshan Commandery the night before the Deer Mountain Conference formally started, the Qin army could naturally retreat just as they had advanced.

The emperor of Chu wanted Emperor Yuanwu to cede Yangshan Commandery for three years.

Almost all the people who were looking at the thin metal pieces covered in golden threads felt that this wasn’t an outrageous demand.

In the view of many, the emperor of Chu was too old, too conservative and lacking spirit.

Yet, unexpectedly, Emperor Yuanwu shook his head briskly when he heard the emperor of Chu’s question. "It is not worth it."

"The Starfire Sword cannot defeat this!"

A rebellious voice came from behind the king of Chu.

The speaker was an old official from the Chu Dynasty dressed in purple official robes.

In this kind of situation, him speaking up was extremely disrespectful; he was overstepping a monarch’s power. But there were always officials in history who did not fear punishment or death. Due to his words, almost everybody present was certain that he was the one responsible for producing this kind of seal weapon which was why he was so unstable at this time.

The words Starfire Sword reminded everyone on the peak of Deer Mountain — the Qin Dynasty also had an existence of an empress like Zheng Xiu.

If the seal weapon could not be defeated by starfire, this meant that the seal weapon likely could absorb starfire.

Yet, Emperor Yuanwu looked dismissively at this old official of the Chu Dynasty and said, "There is no need for the Starfire Sword."

As he spoke, the blades of green grass on Deer Mountain rippled slightly.

A strange ripple of energy spread from the Qin army campsite at the base of Deer Mountain.

Many black rays of light surged up and gathered upwards.

All of the rays of light gathered into one.

If it were an ordinary light, it would reflect outwards. But this ray of black light was so condensed that, in everybody’s sight, it appeared to be a black pillar of ice stretching upwards into the sky.

This pillar of black light swept towards the floating metal pieces high in the sky.

"As expected." Fu Su looked at this and laughed in joy.

"What is this?" Ding Ning asked, his eyes narrowed slightly.

He faintly felt that this was related to the items that the Xie Family had transported. But he had never seen this kind of seal weapon before.

"Shooting Sirius."

Fu Su turned to look at Ding Ning. Since this important weapon had been revealed at Deer Mountain Conference, it was fated to be known throughout the world. There was no more need for secrecy.

"Shooting Sirius."

He repeated this name with some pride. Then he continued to explain to Ding Ning. "This is a kind of seal weapon that was being tested in the first year of Yuanwu. It is only complete now."

"Shooting Sirius?"

Ding Ning repeated the name, and felt a wave of coldness.

Several others felt waves of cold as well.

On the peak of Deer Mountain, many had completely stopped breathing, their bodies colder than if they were immersed in ice water.

The golden flames grew scarce.

When the ray of black light touched the floating metal pieces in the sky, the metal pieces started to fall.

When the ray of black light touched all the floating metal pieces, they all fell.

The golden flames completely disappeared.

"Splash."

The outspoken old Chu Dynasty official vomited a mouthful of blood, falling backwards and passing out.

The emperor of Chu looked at this ray of black light, and many more wrinkles appeared on his face.

Li Lingjun looked dazedly at the falling pieces of thin metal. More frost appeared at the root of his hair.

The atmosphere at the top of Deer Mountain was extremely stifling.

Someone helped the unconscious old Chu official up and started treatment. Suddenly, loud sobs filled the air.

The ones crying were the craftsmen of the Chu Dynasty.

Everybody could understand their emotions.

No one knew how much effort they had spent on this "Heavenly Censure." This standardized seal weapon, that originally would be enough to write their names into the history books and change the future of the Chu Dynasty, had been defeated by a pillar of black light like this.

This ray of black light was still in the air. From its density, it appeared it could exist for a long time.

Just one ray of black light was enough to destroy as many "Heavenly Censure" as needed. Also, it appeared from Emperor Yuanwu that the Qin Dynasty had not just made one item that could produce a ray of black light like this.

"Who!"

Someone shouted madly among the sobbing. "Who is the criminal that should be cursed for thousands of years, who is the spy from the Qin. Come out!"

Something like "Heavenly Censure" was a top secret in the Chu Dynasty. But the first time it appeared at Deer Mountain Conference, it was targeted and subdued by the Qin Dynasty. The most likely reason was that someone had leaked this secret to the Qin Dynasty long ago. Also, this person must be of considerable status. Otherwise, they would not have access to the true secret of this item.

"Enough." The emperor of Chu said firmly.

The air froze. All the voices behind him disappeared.

"There is no meaning."

Murderousness flashed across his face and returned to peacefulness as he slowly spoke.

The crying and furious craftsmen and officials behind him knew that these words were their monarch comforting them, but they could not easily dissipate the sadness they felt. They no longer spoke, but their heads hung low and their bodies trembled uncontrollably.

"Long ago when Changling started the reformation, and the city of Changling started major reconstruction, those corner turrets were not used purely to observe and dispatch the army."

The emperor of Chu spoke as though nothing had happened. He looked at Emperor Yuanwu and slowly narrated. "Long ago in the forecasts of the Ba Mountain Sword Field cultivators, they wanted to set up some seal weapons on those corner turrets that could reach every corner of Changling."

"If I remember correctly, at the time, that idea was called the Falling Dark Moon."

"Rays of light produced by sufficiently strong yin items condensed by seal crystals can shoot into any corner of Changling like powerful flying swords."

"In reality, there is a sword hanging above every person walking in Changling that can appear at any time."

"This is the true reason why Changling, at the beginning, was without city walls."

"But this kind of seal weapon is too evil in itself. It needs countless corpses and bones, the majority of those cultivators and females. They have to be soaked in seal water before they can be used to make seal weapons ... the Ba Mountain Sword Field cultivators who had this idea died before your ascension, so the production of these seal weapons was delayed."

"I had not expected you and Zheng Xiu found the method to make these seal weapons."

As he slowly narrated, on the other mountain peak, Ding Ning finally remembered what kind of seal weapon this was.

Falling Dark Moon. He thought coldly within.

The emperors of Qi and Yan had ugly expressions.

Regardless of what kind of seal weapon this was, they could sense the power of this ray of light surpassed the lifebond sword that most Qi cultivators nurtured their entire lives with yin energy.

"You are correct."

Emperor Yuanwu nodded directly, looking at the emperor of Chu, and saying, "So there is no need to speak of Yangshan Commandery."

The emperor of Chu shook his head and said, "It is not so simple."

When these simple words were said, everybody atop Deer Mountain shook again.

There were at least a hundred thousand elite Chu Dynasty soldiers in Yangshan Commandery, and many of the Chu Dynasty’s famous generals. These people were likely dead now. Adding on that the standardized seal weapon they had placed such importance on was useless, the Chu Dynasty had suffered successive losses to the Qin Dynasty. If they paid another great price, it would not be as simple as returning Yangshan Commandery.

Emperor Yuanwu’s brows furrowed. He slowly raised his head, but did not look at the emperor of Chu, rather to his rear.

For the first time, the man in black robes next to the emperor of Qi showed shock.

A barefoot man with messy hair slowly walked out of the slim Chu palace. This was a man whose age could not be judged by his appearance.

He wore a long robe made from untanned sheepskin that had all kinds of chaotic totems painted on it with simple colored rock powders.

He did not look like someone from the Chu Dynasty, but a shaman from the tribes on the desert border.

Translator Ramblings: The Chinese have a very strong taboo against disturbing someone’s remains. So not letting someone’s remain "lie in peace" and be used as weapons is pretty taboo.