The carriage wheels landed back on the ground leaving a puff of dust in the wake. The two horses resumed their original appearance and continued to race forward. The carriage driver didn’t even slow down to examine the corpses of the two Qi cultivators.

In no time, the corpses of these two Qi cultivators started to rapidly decay, turning even the rags on their bodies into black water. This black water then sank into the ground.

The forests were deathly silent. All beings within ten thousand feet were dead. Yet, not long after the carriage had disappeared from this region of forest, a thread of black smoke slowly appeared.

The black energy grew thicker, gradually taking the form of a black figure.

This was a middle-aged man dressed in black robes. His hair was tied up in thirds behind his back. He sensed the sword essence that had dissipated through the air and slowly walked over to the spot where Fang Xiang’s golden dragon had passed.

In an instant, he seemed to have touched the path of this sword. His black eyes, with its unusually large pupils, flickered violently.

Then he bowed deeply, in a grand salute, to the place where the two Qi cultivators had passed away. He said softly, “For Qi.”

It was over twenty days until the Deer Mountain Conference. But as the four noblest rules in the world were going to be at Deer Mountain in person, the battles and explorations had already started.

A middle-aged man dressed like an ordinary scholar but whose presence was one with the surrounding forest and evidently had great power, came to the base of a mountain.

This mountain was a relatively short mountain of the dozens of mountains opposite Deer Mountain.

While short, he should be able to clearly feel the movement of the primal energies of the universe on the peak of Deer Mountain once the Deer Mountain Conference started.

As the shortest, naturally there would be less interest in it.

But when he came to the base of this mountain, this middle-aged scholar’s expression underwent a change, and he stopped.

At the base of this mountain, where the forest and bushes met, there was a faint sword mark on the ground.

This sword mark had just cut through the moss on the ground without even reaching the earth. But in his eyes, it was an unsurpassable wall.

This light sword mark twisted and winded, stretching for an unknown number of miles. It managed to completely surround the base of the mountain, yet, the sword mark had not been interrupted in the least. Someone had swung the sword, and the sword moved along the border of the forest and the bushes to create the border.

Herein were countless twists and turns, small and large, but this person had accomplished it all in one blow.

This middle-aged scholar did not know what kind of grandmaster could have performed with the sword like this. He had never seen such a powerful state. Yet, he knew the mark the grandmaster had left behind was telling everyone that he had taken over this mountain.

The middle-aged scholar started to retreat. He looked up, filled with awe. The Deer Mountain Conference had not yet started, but he had already seen a tall mountain he had never seen before.

Using the reformation, and the support of the peerless cultivators at the time, Emperor Yuanwu had destroyed the power of the old aristocracy and three dynasties. But in the following storm of blood, countless Qin cultivators died and many powerful armies perished. Even the Ba Mountain Sword Field, which had become the strongest sect in the world, disappeared in the rivers of history.

Exploiting this vulnerability, the Chu Dynasty defeated the Qin armies, forcing the Qin to give up Yangshan Commandery to avoid years of war. The four strongest dynasties in the world signed an agreement of non-aggression. They set a time limit of nine years to remake the agreement at Deer Mountain.

The Qin Dynasty had lost the war against the Chu, yet, the Chu, Yan and Qi dynasties signed the agreement because many people had lost their lives at the hands of the stunning Qin cultivators of the previous Qin Dynasty. Also, the Qin Dynasty’s political situation was stable. Emperor Yuanwu, the empress, and the two ministers formed a stable triangle that had unprecedented control of the Qin Dynasty.

So even though these three other powerful dynasties of the world did not feel great fear, they were very wary and cautious concerning the Qin Dynasty.

A true conference where everything had to be discussed had never appeared before in the history of the Qin, and even in the previous dynasties. So just like Zhang Yi said, nothing was set. No one knew what would happen or how many hidden grandmasters would appear around Deer Mountain.

A caravan of at least a dozen carriages sedately advanced towards Deer Mountain. These carriages looked ordinary, but the walls of the cabins were carved with numerous complicated and indescribable seal scripts. The light of these seal scripts formed a thin layer of light in the cabin, but no energy leaked out.

The cultivators sitting inside were mostly young and they all had a kind of indescribable pride.

The other unique trait they had was that their bodies seemed exceptionally light and ethereal, like clouds that would float into the sky at any moment.

At a bend in the road, in a carriage at the middle of the caravan, a youth of thirteen slightly lifted the curtain and looked back. There were three black carriages ten miles behind them. He said softly to the slightly older-looking youth sitting opposite him, “Those three carriages have been following us from Changling.”

The older youth had a handsome oval face as gentle as jade. His hair was casually tied up with a cloth tie. Clouds and mist seemed to rise from his hair strands, so his black hair looked like a tall black mountain shrouded in the mist.

“Ignore them.”

He smiled disdainfully and said, “Since they followed us from Changling and passed through the forts, there will not be any problems. At most, they are sects or families that are not strong enough. They want to borrow our power to open the path to avoid attracting trouble along the way.”

Sitting in the last carriage of the three carriages the two youths spoke of was Ding Ning and Fu Su.

The black carriage they rode in looked extremely ordinary on the outside. However, on the inside, the cabin was wide, covered in expensive and soft fur.

Even though the path was bumpy, the softness of these furs would make people feel comfortable.

This kind of carriage was a moving residence and cultivation place for cultivators. But the horses that pulled these carriages needed to be rested and switched. The food and clean water stored in the first carriage had to be replenished.

The three carriages had followed the caravan ahead of them this entire journey. When they were near one of the district cities, Forefather Zhou’s voice came from the middle carriage, “We are going to rest in the city tonight.”

“This is Lueyan District of Guanzhong, not far from the home of my junior sect brother Shen Yi.” As they travelled the last bit of road towards the district city, Ding Ning mentioned to Fu Su in a pleasant mood.

Fu Su had never left Changling in his life. Looking at the scenery that was completely different from Changling, and how this vast world were all lands belonging to Qin, he was in an even better mood. So he gave a small smile and said softly, “This is even close to Xie Rou’s family.”

Ding Ning frowned slightly and said, “Yes.”

Fu Su glanced at him, shook his head and said, “You are so boring. You don’t even let people take up the topic.”

Ding Ning looked at him and shook his head. “You are the one with the bad taste to joke about this.”

Fu Su still did not give up. He said, “What is not good about Xie Rou?”

Ding Ning said calmly, “It’s me that’s not good.”

Fu Su stilled. When he thought of how all cultivators in Changling should know of Ding Ning’s state of health, he was slightly embarrassed. A long moment later, he comforted. “There will be a solution.”

Ding Ning nodded and said, “Maybe there are solutions, but I have to use my time wisely.”

Fu Su naturally did not know Ding Ning’s true thoughts. After a moment’s thought, he said, “You are right. You know your priorities better than me.”

As they talked, the carriage had moved into the streets of the district city. It finally stopped in front of an inn.

But the moment they stepped off the carriage, Ding Ning’s body froze for a moment.

Fu Su naturally detected his strangeness. He looked over and then stilled as well.

There was a carriage parked under a green tree by the inn door. Walking out of the carriage was a tall and beautiful young girl.

She coincidentally saw Ding Ning and also froze as well.

“Is this Xie Rou?”

Fu Su reacted after a breath and said softly in disbelief, “There are such coincidences?”

“Why are you here?”

The tall and beautiful girl seemed to hesitate but still walked over and asked Ding Ning.

Ding Ning took a deep breath.

Looking at Xie Rou’s expression, he knew that this was truly a coincidence. There could really be such coincidences.

“What are you doing here?” He did not answer Xie Rou’s question and softly asked as he looked at her trembling eyelashes.

Translator Ramblings: All coincidences are manipulated by the power to be … the author.