Song of Adolescence

Chapter 75 Riding a Horse Through Qingshan

“I have four more pancakes. If we each ate one a day, then we can last another two days.” Lei Wujie opened his pack, thought about it further, then broke the pancake in his hand into two. “If we each ate half, then we can last four days.” Lei Wujie handed over that dry and unappetising half a pancake to Xiao Se.

Over the last few days, Xiao Se had rolled his eyes more than enough times. Impatiently, he accepted that half a pancake and nibbled on it slowly.

Lei Wujie, on the other hand, took large bites and finished the half pancake in moments. He took out the canteen that hung on the side of the horse, drank a few mouthfuls of water, put down the canteen again, then sighed. “I’m still hungry though.”

Even though they’d specially prepared a map this time, the two of them still lost their way. They were trapped in a forest wandering for several days without any progress. The rations they had saved from before were depleted, leaving just four pathetic pancakes.

“Lei Wujie, I earnestly request that when you return to the Lei Clan this time, just stay in the Lei Clan Fort like a good boy and never step out again and disgrace yourself, all right?” Xiao Se chewed off another bite of the pancake.

Lei Wujie laughed a little. “That won’t do. Now, we wander the martial world, we must go forth with unrestrained freedom. We’ll go where we end up. This time, after we go back to Lei Clan, I have a proper job to do.”

“You have a proper job?” Xiao Se snorted in disdain.

“But, of course.” Lei Wujie replied brightly. “I’m a disciple of a famous sect, after all! The younger brother of a Sword Immortal!”

“Then, please, noble disciple of a famous sect, where might Qingcheng Mountain be?” Xiao Se smiled thinly.

Lei Wujie delivered a swift kick to the horse’s side, and rushed ahead. “We ride straight ahead, and keep going straight without stopping for a whole day and night, until the end of the sky. No doubt we’ll see Qingcheng Mountain then!” Xiao Se hurried up and followed him, and the two of them rode wildly for just over two hours, until they finally felt like they'd crossed through the forest. Lei Wujie whipped the horse impatiently, and suddenly realised there were a lot of people around him. They were all heading towards the entrance to a mountain. He looked up at the entrance to the mountain and saw two people who dressed like they were Daoist priests. He took a second look, and at the foot of the mountain, there was a stone tablet standing on the ground. On it were three words written clearly.

Qingcheng Mountain.

“We’re here.” Xiao Se had caught up.

Lei Wujie nodded his head and jumped off the horse. He sat down on a rock on the road side.

“What are you up to?” Xiao Se stared blankly at him.

Lei Wujie opened his pack and took out a large pancake. He started chewing big chunks of it. “Wait until I finish this pancake. I must gather my strength before I go up the mountain!”

Xiao Se was speechless for a moment. He dropped onto his backside next to Lei Wujie in a huff and stuck out his right hand at him.

“What?” Lei Wujie didn’t understand.

“Give me a pancake too!” Xiao Se retorted.

While Lei Wujie was eating his pancake, the entire Qingcheng Mountain was in a furor.

Zhao Yuzhen, who was sitting inside the Qian Kun Hall, suddenly opened his eyes. His voice started to waver. “You’ve come?” He walked out of the front door of Qian Kun Hall, closed his eyes in thought for a moment, then suddenly rushed in the direction of the foot of the mountain.

The Daoist Sword Immortal, Zhao Yuzhen, who went up the mountain on the day he was born and for over thirty years, has never stepped one foot down the mountain. In the last ten years, he either stayed in seclusion in Qian Kun Hall, or stood at the summit watching the clouds. He had never taken a step down from Qian Kun Hall. But this time, he walked, one step at a time, down the stairs.

Zhao Yuzhen was really going down the mountain this time!

Four elderly men with snow white hair and beards blocked his path.

“Yuzhen, you want to leave,” The elder in the lead spoke in a serious tone.

“Yin-shibo5.” Zhao Yuzhen faced the elderly men and bowed deeply with clasped hands. The four men in front of him were, in fact, the four remaining Celestial Masters from the previous generation. They were all Zhao Yuzhen’s martial uncles, and their skill levels were all beyond the Unrestrained Earthly Realm. They formed an array to block the road, clearly to prevent Zhao Yuzhen from leaving the mountain.

But, Zhao Yuzhen only sighed softly. “I can feel she’s here.”

“Do you know what it means for you to go down the mountain?” The old man frowned.

“So what?” Zhao Yuzhen smiled, and in a flash, his figure had passed through the four Celestial Masters. The four Celestial Masters didn’t get a chance to react before Zhao Yuzhen resumed walking towards the foot of the mountain.

The old man exclaimed, “Yuzhen!”

Zhao Yuzhen waved a hand casually.

But, two shadows had already rushed ahead of Zhao Yuzhen and were hurrying towards the foot of the mountain!

Fei Xuan blurted out, “Little shishu6, you must stop shizu7, he cannot go down the mountain!”

Li Fansong scolded back, “Why don’t you stop him? If the four elders can’t stop him, you think I can?”

Fei Xuan wiped the sweat from his forehead. “Then, we must get rid of the people at the foot of the mountain!”

Zhao Yuzhen’s steps were both solemn and slow-moving, giving Li Fansong and Fei Xuan a chance. The two of them overtook him immediately and they sprinted towards the foot of the mountain. But, Zhao Yuzhen laughed at them. Considering their current level of martial arts, they couldn’t possibly stop that little angel. But, it’d been almost twenty years, the little angel would have become a grown-up angel.

At that present moment, Lei Wujie had just finished his pancake and climbed onto his horse. Xiao Se, who was puzzled, asked, “We’re going up the mountain. Why did you mount your horse?”

“I’m not going to slowly walk up the mountain! That Daoist priest named Zhao has let down my sister for so many years. I’m going to ride my horse and break through Qingcheng Mountain! Hah!” Lei Wujie slapped the side of his horse with a powerful kick, and dashed uphill towards Qingcheng Mountain.

Xiao Se shouted angrily, “Can you not abuse my horse!”

“They’re here!” Fei Xuan halted his steps. There was a horse in the distance galloping wildly uphill towards them. In a hurry, he raised his Great Dragon and Elephant Strength, and pushed forward lightly with his hand.

Lei Wujie only felt that the horse that was galloping wildly under his legs had suddenly struck a wall and came to a stop, while he was thrown off heavily.

“Rainfall!” Lei Wujie shouted furiously. The Rainfall sword on his back flew out of its sheath and he stepped onto the sword. He rode on top of the sword and continued flying up the mountain.

“You! Stop right there!” Li Fansong gestured with his right hand, pulled a peach wood sword from the waist of a Daoist priest on the road side into his hand, took a flying leap and swung the sword at Lei Wujie’s head.

Fei Xuan reached out a hand, bit his fingertip, and hastily drew an incantation in the air. There was a sound like a lion’s roar, then unexpectedly, the illusion of a lion appeared in the incantation and rushed towards Lei Wujie.

The Boundless Big Dipper Swordplay, the Taiyi Lion Arts. Both of them had used their expert skills from the start.

Lei Wujie thought to himself, these Qingcheng Mountain people were too unreasonable. All he did was ride his horse up the mountain. Did they have to use such fatal techniques to stop him? He turned his body to dodge Li Fansong’s sword, and struck out his fist to break the lion illusion.

Li Fansong failed with his first sword move, so he used another one, then another one. He successively attacked Lei Wujie with three sword moves. This peach wood sword was something he borrowed conveniently, so it wasn’t as good as the one he made himself. It wasn’t as attuned to his Boundless Big Dipper Swordplay, so it was definitely a lot weaker and after three sword moves, it shattered into splinters. He exclaimed, “Sword Array!”

All the Daoist priests who were standing around him had peach wood swords on their waist and all the swords left their sheaths at the same time. Almost ten swords were gathered above his head. He gestured forcefully and shouted again, “Sword, fall!” With swishing sounds, the ten swords appeared like rainfall and flew in a torrent towards Lei Wujie. Lei Wujie finally got a chance to see his opponents and was taken aback. “Aren’t you…” Before he could finish his sentence, the rain of swords were in front of him. Lei Wujie had no choice but to pull out the Murderous Dread Sword on his back.

“Rainfall on a Tall Pavilion.”

“Sudden Thunderclap!”

With a loud thunderclap, the ten peach wood swords shattered in an instant, the splinters falling to the ground. Lei Wujie sheathed both his swords, raised his head to look at Li Fansong, whose sword move he’d recognised, and smiled. “Li-xiong, have you forgotten that day when we joined forces at the Tower of Ascension? All I did was step onto Qingcheng Mountain, and Li-xiong wants to kill me!”

Li Fansong and Fei Xuan were both stunned. “Why is it you?”

Behind them, another voice drifted over. “Who on earth are you!?”

Li Fansong and Fei Xuan turned their heads hastily, seeing Zhao Yuzhen dressed in the robes of a Celestial Master. He knitted his brows with a deep frown, staring at Lei Wujie in confusion, when he asked his question.