Ch1 – His Hair Scattered, His Eyes Closed, His Appearance Was Like Snow
It was late autumn.
The cool autumn breeze chased away the last remnants of the midsummer heat.
There was a slight chill in the wind.
It was currently the perfect time for an outdoor excursion.
Things like appreciating the leaves and climbing were best done during the cool weather of autumn.
The carriage rattled along.
Meanwhile, the person inside the carriage closed his eyes and meditated.
He could feel the wheels of the carriage as they rolled over the uneven road, squeaking as they went.
“The capital of Da Yuan is just up ahead.”
A scholar dressed in white, or Gu Ziyuan, pulled on the reins.
He turned the horse around and spoke with a smile.
Not too far away stood a majestic city wall upon which armored guards were patrolling.
High above the wall flew Da Yuan’s flag.
It had black stripes along the top and bottom of the flag.
In between the black stripes was a strip of red.
A great dragon stood proudly in the center.
“This is the capital of Da Yuan! How spectacular!”
Instantly, the young students of Confucianism seemed to shed their exhaustion and began excitedly chattering with each other.
“It’s not surprising that no nation was ever able to defeat Da Yuan.
Look at that moat.
Da Yuan’s walls are truly invulnerable.”
“It really is different from the smaller nations that we’ve been to before.
I can’t help but get excited.”
Within the great wilderness, there were many, many nations, hundreds of contending schools of thought, rampant witchcraft and sorcery, and countless legends of immortals.
These were troubled times, and the times made the people.
Rulers competed for power.
Each country was hungry for talents.
In the past, the commoners followed whoever held the Seal of Six Kingdoms.
Later, peasants began leading armies and winning great victories.
It was an era of heroes, of shamans, of conflict, and of chivalry.
Da Yuan was strong and powerful.
It didn’t lose at all to the Kingdom of Wei.
The Kingdom of Wei was no longer the dominant power.
Rather, it was in a state of decline.
Meanwhile, Da Yuan, which had undergone political reform, was currently on the rise.
Such bright prospects would naturally attract talents from all over the world.
This was exactly the case for the students of Confucianism.
Although they didn’t agree with Da Yuan’s current political policy, they still hoped to introduce their own school of thought and their own governance philosophy into Da Yuan’s political sphere.
The purpose of their travel abroad was to promote their ideas.
The Confucian students got off their horse at the city gate.
They held onto the reins and waited in line to enter the city.
The guard stationed by the city gate took a look at their diplomatic note.
“Confucians?”
Gu Ziyuan, who had been leading from the front, hurriedly cupped his hands.
“Precisely.”
Da Yuan’s governing strategy was primarily based upon the ideas of Legalism.
All sorts of ideologies could be found within Da Yuan’s court.
The School of Diplomacy, the School of Daoism, the School of Yin-Yang, the Mixed School of Thought, the Military School of Thought, all of them had a place within Da Yuan.
The only one that wasn’t so popular was Confucianism.
This could not be blamed on Da Yuan.
In fact, within the entire region, the only countries that cared about Confucianism were the small ones that abided by the traditions of the past.
Although there were many strong, powerful nations, none of them truly abided by the ideals of Confucianism when it came to political governance.
It was an era of warring states.
Each nation was pursuing reform and military might.
They were focused on conquest and expansion.
Confucianism emphasized benevolence and propriety.
This ideology was easy enough to implement but extremely difficult to maintain.
Gu Ziyuan knew this as well.
He couldn’t help but smile bitterly.
For many years, Confucians had been wandering around within smaller nations.
They rarely stepped foot in powerful countries such as Da Yuan.
One reason for this was that they weren’t fond of the monarch’s tyrannical style of rule.
The other reason was that Da Yuan heavily promoted Legalist ideologies.
It wasn’t any secret that Legalists and Confucians didn’t see eye to eye.
Why would they go to a place where the opponent held the upper hand? Wouldn’t that just be looking for trouble?
However, today was not the same as yesterday.
It was clear to everyone that Da Yuan was the rising power.
If they were to establish Confucianism as a contending school of thought, they would need support and recognition from a powerful country.
The guard looked past Gu Ziyuan.
“Who’s sitting in the carriage?”
Gu Ziyuan replied, “Sir, the person sitting in the carriage is a distinguished guest of our School of Confucianism.
Both of his eyes are ailing.
If you could…”
“Enough nonsense!” The garrison interrupted him.
“If you want to enter the capital, you have to undergo an inspection.
Tell the person in the carriage to get out and open up all of your belongings! Otherwise, don’t blame me for being impolite!”
As soon as he raised his voice, the other guards tightened their grips on their spears, and their expressions became grim.
The other people lining up to enter the city shrank back in fear, their faces full of dread.
A pigtailed little girl grabbed the hem of a woman’s clothing and burst into tears.
“Mother, are they going to arrest us and chop our heads off?”
“Don’t speak nonsense!” The woman dressed in ragged clothes quickly slapped a hand over the girl’s mouth for fear that she might stir up trouble.
Da Yuan’s troops were a million strong, and they were an army of fierce fighters.
However, they had a vicious reputation within neighboring countries.
Furthermore, Da Yuan had a rather harsh criminal law.
Any one of these punishments was enough to frighten a man half to death.
The people of other nations had gotten used to being free and unrestrained, so they found it difficult to accept such severe consequences.
As such, Da Yuan was increasingly regarded as a dangerous place.
Just as things were reaching a fever pitch, a clear and melodious voice rang out from behind the carriage’s curtain.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection.
If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
“Sir, please don’t do anything rash.
This commoner will come down.”
Cc fifujca jcv vfolcfv tjcv qeiifv atf megajlc yjmx.
Ktf qfgrbc lcrlvf atf mjggljuf kjr vgfrrfv lc j rcbk-ktlaf gbyf jcv j ugffc lccfg ilclcu.
Llr ijqfi jcv meoor kfgf fwyfiilrtfv klat fwfgjiv jcv ubiv, jcv tlr ojmf kjr jr ufcaif jr pjvf.
C rkbgv kjr alfv jgbecv tlr kjlra.
Lf kjrc’a kfjglcu j mgbkc jabq tlr tfjv.
Pcrafjv, tf tjv tlr tjlg alfv lc j qbcsajli ilxf j kjgglbg kbeiv.
Qtfc tf ifa tlr ibcu yijmx tjlg ojii yftlcv tlw, tf ibbxfv qjgalmeijgis tfgblm.
It was clear from his posture alone that he was a gallant and virtuous person.
His entire bearing was like that of a spring breeze.
However, this noble and elegant person had a strip of white silk covering his eyes, smothering some of his radiance.
The onlookers all shook their heads and sighed with pity.
“If you’re carrying a weapon, you’ll need to go to the other side to register.”
The guard saw that the person inside the carriage really was blind.
Furthermore, he was incredibly beautiful and had an outstanding temperament.
He looked like the son of an aristocratic family.
The guard didn’t make things difficult for them anymore.
He waved them off and allowed them to go register their names.
“Brother Luo, please come with me.”
Gu Ziyuan took a step forward.
After instructing the other students to wait for a while, he led Zong Luo over to the side.
The separation between civil officers and military officials had not yet begun.
It was convention for everyone to carry a sword, from the monarch to the scholar to the warrior.
Most people were masters of both the pen and the sword.
For example, the Mohist School of Thought’s leader and the Kingdom of Wei’s Feng Yuejun were both well-known swordsmen.
Confucians were no exception.
They had many students who were knowledgeable in both civil and military matters.
It was just that, in Gu Ziyuan’s case, he was a brilliant literary talent.
However, his talent for martial arts was mediocre, so he didn’t really invest a lot of effort in it.
There was a special station for registering weapons.
Not only did they need to measure the weapon’s length, they also needed to record any notable features on the sword’s body.
Then, this record would be stored away in case any troubles were to arise.
Zong Luo casually untied the sword on his waist and handed it to the guard.
The scabbard of his sword was unremarkable.
Its entire body was silver white, and it didn’t look particularly interesting.
The only thing of note was the crow-black jade hanging from the hilt of his sword.
It was engraved with intricate and mysterious Kui motifs.
The guard pulled the sword out of its scabbard.
When the sword was unsheathed, it flashed with a cold light.
The blade was like autumn frost.
Its sharp edge was intimidating.
The sword’s cold aura could be felt just by holding it.
“What a fine sword!”
When the record-keeper saw it, he almost knocked over his inkstone.
His eyes lit up.
“Would this gentleman allow my humble self to take a closer look?”
A good saddle must be paired with a good horse, and a good sword must be paired with a good master.
It was clear that such a gleaming sword must’ve been cast by a renowned master.
Who would believe that its owner was just a nameless martial artist?
It was just a pity that the master turned out to be a blind man.
He even carried a faint scent of medicine with him.
“Of course.” Zong Luo nodded with a smile.
The record-keeper was overjoyed.
He quickly reached out with both hands to accept.
He was a sword lover.
He carefully held the sword in his hands and meticulously looked over the details.
“Good, good, good! The sword is three feet and eight inches long.
It can slice through both gold and jade, and it can cut through iron like its mud! This is indeed a good sword!”
The record-keeper said the word “good” three times in a row.
As he was testing the sword, he noticed a veined pattern on the sword’s body.
Doubts started rising in his heart.
He quickly grabbed the hilt of the sword.
When he looked down at the sword’s body, he felt as if he were looking down into the abyss.
There was a dragon crouching down there in those unimaginable depths.
It was both awe-inspiring and terrifying.
Ordinary swords were without sword intent.
This sword had only just come out of its scabbard, yet its sword intent was already this intense.
It was obvious that this sword was incredibly extraordinary.
He seemed to have underestimated it.
A sword like this ought to be recorded within the ranks of the best.
Or maybe it was already listed there.
The more the record-keeper looked at it, the more familiar it looked and the more alarmed he became.
The description of a certain sword quickly flashed through his mind.
However, the thought was far too absurd.
He didn’t dare to jump to conclusions.
His face was solemn.
“Sir, if I may be so bold, does this sword have a name?”
Zong Luo shook his head.
“I don’t remember.”
“You don’t remember?”
Gu Ziyuan, who was standing by his side, helped him explain.
“Brother Luo is our leader’s distinguished guest.
About a year ago, he fainted near one of our residences.
At the time, he had been severely injured and nearly lost his life.
Fortunately, there were physicians and medical saints present.
Thanks to their efforts, we managed to pull Brother Luo back from the gates of hell.
He finally woke up after about half a year, but he ended up losing his memory.”
Gu Ziyuan didn’t really understand martial arts.
When he noticed how much the record-keeper liked the sword, he assumed that the record-keeper wanted to take it for himself.
Gu Ziyuan wanted to quickly dispel any such thoughts.
“Even when he was injured, Brother Luo had never let go of this sword.
It’s clear that he must’ve carried this sword with him a lot before he lost his memory.”
He tactfully hinted, “A gentleman would never rob others of their blessings.
If you’ve finished your inspection, you should return the sword to the original owner as soon as possible.”
The record-keeper fell silent.
He turned around and whispered to the guard.
Then, he faced
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