A flash of light illuminated the teleportation array in the middle of the platform. There was a gust of wind followed by a surge of blue flames. When the flames burned away, an eye-catching group of people appeared, a young man surrounded by vivacious beauties clad in an array of colors.
"Immortal Blue Dragon Chen Wentian, The Eastern Sword Alliance welcomes to Everblade City and the Convocation of Swords!" A group of people wearing turquoise robes greeted the new arrivals.
Everblade City was located in the far north of the Eastern Sanmu Subcontinent, in an area that did not belong to any province or immortal. The city was managed by the alliance as a place where all sword cultivators could come and seek the way of the sword. As if to emphasize this point, the plaza where the teleportation array was situated was surrounded by many rings of rough-hewn stone monoliths. They were taller than several stories and pointed straight into the sky like swords that had been embedded into the ground.
Chen Wentian nodded to them and looked around at the stone monoliths. He noticed that each one was filled with names, their allegiance, and a nonsensical number at the end. The alliance member who was the leader noticed his gaze and walked forward.
"Immortal, this one is named Du Cai of the Mount Tai Sect," The older man said, "These sword pillars are records of all of the Convocations of Swords that have ever taken place. Each name represents a sword practitioner that has managed to enter the fabled Forest of Swords and returned with a sword truth."
"Sword truth?" Chen Wentian asked, having never heard of the term.
Du Cai pointed to a set of verdant mountains outside of the city, "Everblade City was built here because of the Forest of Swords. It is a mysterious place that is a hallowed cultivation ground for swordsmen and swordswomen. Every five years or so, it will the trees in the forest will produce strange branches that contain profound concepts and truths about the way of the sword. We call these sword truths and one of the goals of the Convocation of Swords is for the participants to try to find these sword truths."
"Nobody knows when the Forest of Swords appeared but everyone thinks that it was a gift left behind by an all-powerful expert, a true master of the sword and all of its forms." Du Cai then pointed back to the pillars, "Finding these branches will greatly aid a person with their sword arts but it is a difficult task. Even finding one is a worthy achievement and thus they are recorded on these sword pillars."
"I see." Chen Wentian muttered and scanned the names again, this time paying attention to the number of markings at the end of each which signified the number of sword truths they obtained.
Most were one like Du Cai said but there were also many with two, three, or even five. The number of people that managed to obtain more fell sharply after that but there were still a number of outliers. He saw three names that had managed to obtain ten sword truths, two that had managed to obtain eleven, and one person that had somehow found twelve which was the record.
He lost interest after that as he didn't recognize any of the names. The one he had been looking for, Peng Yuefeng who was the sect master of the Tower of Swords, was nowhere to be found.
"Lord Immortal, you have brought a group of talented disciples. Will all of them be participating in the convocation?" Du Cai asked.
"Yes. All of them." Chen Wentian answered.
"Very well. Once again, on behalf of the Eastern Sword Alliance, welcome to Everbalde City." Du Cai bowed and the others followed.
"Indeed, myself and the disciples of Ten Thousand Flower Valley are glad to be here and guests of your wonderful city." Chen Wentian said.
"Lord Chen, the competition will begin three days from now at the main stadium. In the meantime, we have arranged the best quarters for you and your disciples in the city center. Please feel free to explore the city and everything it has to offer for sword cultivators." Du Cai said, handing over a sealed letter.
"We definitely will." Chen Wentian replied.
"One last thing, in these three days, the city is hosting a sword festival each evening at the grand sword plaza. We invite you to participate in the festivities with exhibits and performances from sword cultivators from all over the subcontinent."
Chen Wentian nodded, "Sounds interesting. We'll take a look."
"Excellent. That's all. Please enjoy your stay."
"Alright. Disciples, let's go." Chen Wentian said.
Leaving Du Cai and his people behind, Chen Wentian led his disciples away from the teleportation array and came to a busy intersection. Pedestrians and horse carriages squeezed past each other on the paved roadway while others went in and out of the various shops that lined the streets on both sides.
"Master, can we go to the festival?" Lin Qingcheng asked.
He shrugged, "Sure, I have nothing planned for the rest of day. We can explore the city and then see what this festival is about tonight."
"Alright! I want to go there!" She jumped up and down and pointed at a nearby clothes store that sold outfits for swordswomen.
The others also seemed interested so he acquiesced. "Alright, let's go."
He was quickly pulled into the store by several pairs of hands. He stood there and watched with amusement as Lin Qingcheng led the rest to ransack the store from top to bottom looking for the best and cutest outfits. Gold flowed out of their pockets like a river but it really was inconsequential compared to the eye-watering amounts he had spent in the Martial Brilliance Continent.
After some time, he noticed Li Yuechan standing off to the side so he walked up to her.
"Not buying a dashing swordswoman outfit like the rest?" He asked.
She smiled, "I've already bought mine."
"Oh? Which one?"
"It's a secret. You'll just have to wait." She nudged him and giggled.
He laughed, "Alright fine… Say, how are you feeling? Any pain still?"
Li Yuechan had finally broken through to the 10th Level of the Spirit Initiate Realm two days ago after continuous sessions of dual cultivation. He didn't want to push her so hard but she had insisted. After five straight nights, it was no surprise that the backlash of such ruthless determination still lingered across her body.
She let out a small sigh and rubbed her arm, "Yeah, the pain I can manage but the chills… it comes and goes and I have to spend a lot of energy to suppress them."
She looked up at him with a pitiful expression, eyes fluttering with emotion, biting her lower lip softly.
His heart melted as heat pooled in his groin. She was probably trying to seduce him and he welcomed it wholeheartedly.
He leaned over and whispered, "Don't worry, sweetheart. Come to my room tonight, I've got your cure and plenty of it!"
"Master! You're so mean!" She pushed his face away and ran to her sisters, smiling all the way.
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