The Great Heavenly Sword Emperor - Chapter 46

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 046. A Twisted Truth, the Tightening Mark (2)

“Hahahaha!”
Dongfang Tianbo burst into hearty laughter as Danya Valley receded behind them.
He rarely laughed with such unbridled joy.
And the source of that laughter was none other than Dongfang Yanhui’s words.
“So you’ve caught two rabbits with one stone, then? Or is one of them actually a wolf?”
At Dongfang Tianbo’s question, Dongfang Yanhui nodded.
“Precisely. Now not only the Jianghu, but the entire world will shun Tian Wujue completely. In the worst case, even the imperial military may seek to pressure him. He will have no choice but to endure a journey where he cannot eat in peace, rest in peace, or sleep in peace.”
Dongfang Tianbo’s expression brightened at Dongfang Yanhui’s words, but then his face hardened.
“There’s no trace of our involvement in the Danya Valley affair, correct?”
“Without question. They will never know.”
At Dongfang Yanhui’s assurance, Dongfang Tianbo finally relaxed and nodded.
“All we need do is gradually absorb the business rights held by the three sects.”
At Dongfang Yanhui’s continued words, Dongfang Tianbo smiled with satisfaction.
“Excellent. As always, your schemes exceed all expectations.”
“You honor me.”
Dongfang Yanhui replied with a smile and bowed his head.
“I find myself curious. In what condition will he present himself before me?”
Dongfang Tianbo wore a thin smile as he imagined Tian Wujue, now trapped in circumstances of his own making.

* * *

Tian Wujue and Beigong Danya departed the village immediately after breakfast.
If what the Zandeng Society had told them was true, lingering in the village itself would only bring harm to its people.
Yet the journey that followed proved unremarkable.
No sect came to waylay them. Nor did any of those bounty hunters common to the Jianghu appear.
This absence troubled Beigong Danya all the more.
He found it easier to face an opponent he could see.
Even if those moments were agonizing and difficult, overcoming them meant moving past one trial closer to victory.
“It seems they mean to prepare thoroughly. Given how quiet things have been so far.”
To Beigong Danya’s words, Tian Wujue offered no reply.
Whether enemies came or not, he would face them as they came.
That was Tian Wujue’s way.
“Sigh……”
Beigong Danya released a heavy sigh.
At this, Tian Wujue cast a sidelong glance at him.
“No matter how much I consider it, I cannot fathom what the Dongfang Clan has done. It defies belief.”
Beigong Danya’s words poured out frustration and anger.
“Were you entirely unaware of that aspect of the Dongfang Clan?”
Tian Wujue asked quietly as they continued walking.
“Completely unaware. I confess I suspected something, but facing it directly is far more shocking than I could have imagined.”
No clan or faction grows without transgression.
Yet he had never imagined they would expand their power through such cruelty.
But Tian Wujue had anticipated this much.
Considering all those he had met thus far, it was entirely foreseeable.
The Zandeng Society, the Heiwai Gang, and even Guigu itself.
All were evidence of truths the Dongfang Clan had to conceal.
Boxian’s Abbot had likely sensed this much as well.
“Were there no exchanges between the Dongfang Clan and the Beigong Clan?”
At Tian Wujue’s question, Beigong Danya released another long sigh before answering.
“Well…… I’ve heard that in the past, exchanges between the Beigong Clan and the Dongfang Clan were quite active. But at least in my memory, there has been no direct contact with the Dongfang Clan.”
This meant Beigong Danya’s knowledge of the Dongfang Clan was necessarily sparse.
“From now on, you must steel your thoughts and your heart.”
At Tian Wujue’s words, Beigong Danya turned to look at him.
“You must prepare yourself for the Dongfang Clan’s worst. You may yet witness cruelty and malice far exceeding what we have seen thus far.”
At Tian Wujue’s words, Beigong Danya thought ‘Surely not?’ — yet at the same time, he couldn’t dismiss the possibility.
The more he considered it, the more his chest tightened with frustration.
Both clans had served as guardian families under the Heaven Sword Grand Emperor, fulfilling their sacred duty.
There was genuine sorrow in witnessing how the Dongfang Clan had become so corrupted, so twisted from what it once was.
But beneath that sorrow lay something far sharper — rage.
Rage that the Dongfang Clan’s deeds were an offense unto themselves, and that they had poisoned him with Stigma, hastening his own family’s ruin.
Tian Wujue had said he would go to the Dongfang Clan to take his revenge.
Beigong Danya harbored the same hunger.
“If I’m honest, I’d like nothing more than a drink right now.”
Desperate to silence the tangle of thoughts and feelings, Beigong Danya reached for wine.
“Of course.”
Tian Wujue agreed without hesitation.
“Do you even know how to drink?”
“I’ve never tried.”
At this answer, Beigong Danya let out a short, sharp laugh.
“If it’s your first time, you’re in for quite an ordeal. Perhaps I’ll finally get to see the great Master Tian lose his composure.”
There was something almost gleeful in his tone.
“We can’t linger in the village long, but surely we can spare coin for a bottle or two.”
Beigong Danya found himself eager for a village to appear.

* * *

“Hah.”
Beigong Danya exhaled a hollow laugh.
He never imagined it would come to this.
Before long, just as Beigong Danya had hoped, a village materialized ahead.
He’d never intended to stay long in the first place.
His plan was simple: procure some food and a few bottles of wine, then move on.
But the moment they entered the village—
The greeting they received was not hospitality, but a mixture of fear and icy disdain in every pair of eyes.
The villagers shunned them completely.
The moment they approached, people scattered as though they’d encountered tigers.
Those too slow to flee averted their gaze, pretending not to hear any questions, offering only silence.
As they passed, whispers followed in their wake.
“Those are the wicked swordsmen, aren’t they?”
“Hush! They might hear! Their trouble could spill onto us!”
“Why did they have to come to our village of all places?”
“People like that don’t care about the rules. If things go wrong, they’ll just kill us and be done with it.”
“Let’s get inside before we court disaster. Best to stay quiet at home and wait for them to pass.”
Though whispered, every word reached Beigong Danya’s ears with painful clarity.
Watching the villagers labor under such perfect misunderstanding, Beigong Danya struggled to contain his frustration.
Yet there was no way to correct them.
Who would believe an explanation anyway?
In this world, might made right, and the strong’s words were scripture.
Regardless of true strength.
By the world’s measure, both Tian Wujue and himself remained utterly powerless.
In the end, they left the village empty-handed, unable to procure even a single bottle.
“Vicious. The Dongfang Clan is vicious.”
Beigong Danya ground his teeth, speaking through clenched jaws.
The Dongfang Clan’s meticulous scheming had branded them both with a Mark that could never be erased.
And that Mark was now tightening around them, suffocating them both.
“This was only the beginning.”
Tian Wujue spoke calmly, as if he had already steeled himself for far worse.
“I know. And yet… the injustice, the helplessness, the sheer humiliation — I can’t simply let it pass.”
Unable to master his emotions, Beigong Danya released a succession of bitter sighs.
“How do you manage your feelings, Master Tian? How do you bear it?”
Beigong Danya regarded Tian Wujue with something like admiration, watching how he remained unmoved even now.
In such circumstances, to show no disturbance at all — Beigong Danya wondered if the man felt anything at all.
Yet he remembered Tian Wujue’s face when the news came that the Dongfang Clan had slaughtered everyone remaining in Danya Valley. That was not the face of one without emotion.
“Twenty years beneath the Heaven Sword Pavilion taught me how.”
“What sort of time have you been enduring all this while?”
At Beigong Danya’s question, Tian Wujue remained silent for a moment before speaking.
“Since leaving Heaven Sword Pavilion until now, I have suffered nothing more agonizing, nothing more hellish than what I endured during those twenty years.”
Beigong Danya’s tongue clicked softly at Tian Wujue’s response.
He could not dare to imagine what those twenty years in the depths of Heaven Sword Pavilion had truly been like.
“In any case, it’s a grave matter. As for sleeping, one can manage by lying down anywhere, but food and drink—that’s the problem.”
“I can manage well enough, but it’s the young lord of Beigong I worry for.”
“Am I the only one of concern? The young lord of Tian cannot eat or drink either.”
Tian Wujue continued calmly in response to Beigong Danya’s words.
“There was a store of provisions in the depths of Heaven Sword Pavilion. Roughly a decade’s supply of the Bigu Dan.”
Beigong Danya found himself at a loss for words.
A decade’s worth of Bigu Dan.
If Tian Wujue had spent twenty years there, how on earth had he survived ten years with such rations?
Even by the most frugal rationing, could he have lasted only another year or so?
“Heh.”
Beigong Danya let out a hollow laugh.
The more he learned of Tian Wujue, the more astounded he became.
And so the journey of the two continued on.

* * *

As they passed through two villages, neither man could purchase food anywhere.
Through hunting they managed to scrape by meal after meal, but lacking proper knowledge of preparation, they remained at an impasse.
With each passing day, the state of the two grew more and more wretched.
If only the Zandeng Society would send word, they might seek assistance, but the Zandeng Society remained utterly silent.
It was grueling.
Not merely grueling in body, but far more so in spirit.
To bear the full weight of people’s stares, their pointed fingers, their whispers—that was a torment of a different order entirely.
Spiritual depletion was a suffering wholly unto itself.
There were moments when facing an enemy across blades seemed the easiest thing in all the world.
Tian Wujue weathered it well, but the speed of Beigong Danya’s unraveling was swift indeed.
In such a state, the two men crossed from Jiangsu Province into Anhui Province proper.

Days had passed since their entry into Anhui Province.
It was then that an inescapable limit began to close in on Beigong Danya.
[Here. A familiar place. One bound to my origins.]
After a long silence, Tian Shen Jian broke his quiet.
At Tian Shen Jian’s words, Tian Wujue scanned the surroundings, and his gaze fell upon a mountain.
‘Are you speaking of that one?’
[Yes.]
‘A place tied to your origins, you say. Do you not know precisely what sort of place it is?’
[My memory grows hazy.]
Tian Wujue was taken aback by Tian Shen Jian’s answer.
Until now, Tian Shen Jian had remembered countless things and imparted much knowledge.
Never once had he claimed not to recall something, or confessed ignorance.
Yet this time was different.
“Let us go there.”
Tian Wujue pointed toward the mountain as he spoke.
“Qingshi Mountain.”
Beigong Danya named the mountain.
“It appears on the map that the monk Guang’an provided. It’s tangled up in some curious legends as well.”
“What sort of legends?”
“It’s said that mist always clings to the mountain—fog so thick you cannot see even a stride ahead. So one can easily lose their way, I’m told.”
To Tian Wujue’s ears, it did not seem a particularly remarkable tale.
“But there’s an even stranger rumor besides.”
“Is there?”
“It’s said that the sound of metalwork echoes from the mountain from time to time.”
“The sound of metalwork?”
“Yes. The sound of a blacksmith’s forge.”
At Beigong Danya’s words, Tian Wujue recalled what Tian Shen Jian had said.
A place related to the beginning, they’d said.
‘Perhaps…….’
Tian Wujue, who had been lost in thought for a moment, finally spoke.
“Let’s go see it.”
“Pardon?”
Though Beigong Danya was taken aback—they’d been warned it was a place easy to lose one’s way in—he hastily fell into step behind Tian Wujue.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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