Tome of Troubled Times

Chapter 80: Sabers and Swords with Spirits

“If my guess is correct...” Zhao Changhe asked, “Then the saber is used to replace the effects of the Qinghe Sword. You can’t let someone just take it away. Correct?”

Cui Yuanyang’s hands trembled as she made more tea. She looked at her father with an astonished expression. Could it be that second uncle’s accusations were true?

Has the Qinghe Sword really stopped working, and all along, we’ve been relying on the Dragon Bird of the Great Xia to scare people?

Cui Wenjing did not appear to care too much and casually revealed, “You’re correct. But my brother got some things wrong. The Qinghe Sword hasn’t been lost. It’s still the same blade. However, its mysterious powers have faded away. Today, it’s just a perfectly-crafted blade that can cut through metal like dirt. It’s a great sword nonetheless, but you can’t really call it a divine sword. If someone said that it was a fake, it would be hard to refute them.”

Zhao Changhe said, “Since the Qinghe Sword has not been lost, its symbolic meaning still remains. It may no longer possess its mysterious powers, but this was, from the beginning, secondary. On the contrary, this allows you to use the sword whenever and...however you wish.”

Cui Wenjing clapped and smiled. “Its symbolic meaning has always been more important. However, not everyone thinks like you. If it really turned out that the Qinghe Sword was powerless, the members of the Cui Clan would not be able to accept it.”

Other people aside, even Cui Yuanyang found it hard to accept this. She asked incredulously, “When did this...all start...?”

“This was inevitable. In fact, a few decades ago, when I marched through the jianghu with the Qinghe Sword in hand, there were already signs that it was losing its power. In the past few years, it has completely faded away.” Cui Wenjing said indifferently, “The divine sword had its own spirit, but...for what purpose did it exist? To bring peace to Qinghe and purge the land of scoundrels. In the hands of people like us, how could such a spirit be preserved? It’s good enough that the sword didn’t kill us in the first place. Why would it submit to us? As things were...its power just faded away.”

Cui Yuanyang was dumbstruck, but she soon calmed down and said in a low voice, “I guess that should be the case.”

“If I, Cui Wenjing, admit that I’m not worthy of wielding the Qinghe Sword, how many in the clan can really proclaim themselves to be worthy? None of them have ever thought about why the spirit of the divine sword has faded away. Instead, they wish to use the sword for the very evil purposes it so despised: a bargaining chip to vie for political power. If the sword’s spirit was still here, it’d be weeping!”

Cui Yuanyang felt a little sad. She pursed her lips and said nothing.

Cui Wenjing did not bring up the Qinghe Sword again and changed the topic to the Dragon Bird of the Great Xia. “Dragon Bird was the saber His Majesty used when he was conquering the world. It’s exceedingly fierce and overbearing. It cannot bear to be disobeyed. Some people have even likened its temper to that of an impudent child. Once it’s provoked, it’s like it stomps around angrily. This is just a characteristic of the saber itself. If it wasn’t like this, it’d have no way of maintaining such an overbearing battle intent.”

Zhao Changhe nodded. From what he had experienced, this was indeed true. He felt that the sword’s response was like that of an eighth grader. However, this was normal for saber intent. It was not some extremely intelligent thing that could calm down and consider things reasonably.

“His Majesty found out about the problem with the Qinghe Sword a few years back and conferred this saber upon me. On the surface, it looks like it suppresses treachery. At the very least, when put beside the Qinghe Sword, it’s difficult to tell from which weapon this intent is emanating from, so it could act as a suitable substitute.” Cui Wenjing smiled. “No one ever thought about why His Majesty chose to bestow us a saber when our Cui Clan uses swords. Of course, there was a very good reason.”

From this, Zhao Changhe gathered that Cui Wenjing was a royalist. It was obvious Xia Longyuan had given him the saber to assist him. “But since this is the case, you still need the saber, senior. I can’t take it away.”

Cui Wenjing laughed. “Do you think that anyone will dare to have thoughts about the Qinghe sword in the short-term after today’s incident? There’s no harm in letting you have it for the time being. And that’s not even the most important point. More importantly, I feel that Dragon Bird longs for battle. If it remains in that small room to collect dust, sooner or later, it’ll lose its own spirit. Now that would be a waste.”

Zhao Changhe sighed. “Indeed. I feel that it’s impatient. It really can’t bear to remain here.”

“Since it has accepted you, it belongs to you by fate. Why do you need to be so polite?”

“Senior, it’s not that I’m being polite. I really like the saber, but I feel like I have no way of carrying it around...” Zhao Changhe felt that this was a pain in the ass. “Its killing intent is too fierceful. Anyone can feel it from a mile away and any person with half a brain will know that it’s a treasure. If I bring it around with my current strength, it’ll be like a child walking through the city center carrying gold. For me, it’ll be nothing more than a source of trouble. I won’t be able to move around freely. If I were to commission something like a copper scabbard, it’d be too heavy and inconvenient to bring around. And once I unsheathe it, it’ll rouse the greed of others all the same. It’s just too troublesome.”

“Your idea about the whole thing is incredibly skewed.” Cui Wenjing broke out into laughter. “If you want to conceal the saber’s killing intent, there are many ways to do it. You can simply smear something on it. Why would you need a copper pavilion for that? The copper pavilion is to nurture its spirit! A jade pavilion would be even more effective at that, but it’s too expensive and easily damaged. No one does it like that, but there are many people who use jade boxes.”

Zhao Changhe “I’m an ignorant bandit. There won’t be any issues, then.”

Cui Yuanyang, who had been well-behaved as she sat down quietly making tea for her father and boyfriend, finally could not help but giggle.

“It’ll be pretty easy for you to take it away. Even the sharpness and luster of the saber can be covered up by applying some simple rust marks. It’ll look like any other worn-out saber. This really isn’t anything difficult.” Cui Wenjing said leisurely, “However, you can’t just rely on it. Right now, its killing intent is flowing all over the place because it doesn’t obey you. Once you become its master, it’ll naturally be obedient. It can even warn you of others’ killing intent. That’s the goal you want to reach.”

Zhao Changhe was greatly interested. “How do I get it to accept me as its master?”

“As you are now, the problem is pretty simple. You’re weak. Even though you’re compatible with it, at most, it only sees you as a companion. There’s still a long way to go before it accepts you as its master.” Cui Wenjing raised his cup and blew on his tea. Unperturbed, he continued, “Keep working hard.”

So you have no idea how much I’ll have to train until I’m at the level where I can be its master. Why do you need to put on that shitty fa?ade? Zhao Changhe did not know if he should laugh or cry. “Why do I have the feeling that you really want me to take the saber away? Is it really so that the saber stops collecting dust?”

Cui Wenjing replied, “I won’t lie to you, I also wish to use this opportunity to send a message to certain people, particularly Tang Wanzhuang and His Majesty. What His Majesty is thinking, I haven’t a clue. Not. One. Clue. Once he knows that you’re marching through the jianghu with Dragon Bird, though...he should have some reaction.”

Zhao Changhe suddenly thought of the blind woman’s words.

“Perhaps if you compared them with the Cui Clan, the latter would conform more to the thoughts of ordinary men.”

Indeed. Their thoughts remain with the imperial court, the jianghu, the inheritance of the clan. No matter how crafty they are, they’ll never be able to scheme themselves out of this limited scope.

“Since that’s the case, then I’ve been disrespectful.” Zhao Changhe finally stopped being modest. “I really like the saber.”

Cui Wenjing laughed. “I’ve already ordered people to work on it a little. For the time being, enjoy your tea.”

Cui Yuanyang’s joy was practically about to overflow as she kept up her well-behaved image. Finally, Zhao Changhe had gained something after walking through this thorny road. This is what he deserves after drenching himself in blood fighting bravely for his life. People shouldn’t be pointing out this and that to him, or telling him that he’s gunning for something beyond what he can get.

Furthermore, this is definitely a saber that he’ll be able to use forever. It’s a real treasured saber that’s very hard to damage. At the very least, it’s more durable than that wine gourd of his! When he uses that saber in the future, he’ll think of me while that wine gourd might break at any time. Hehe.

She very happily sipped her tea and poured both her father and boyfriend another cup.

From the moment that Cui Yuanyang had her little heart struck by Zhao Changhe, she always thought that he would have a falling out with her father; she thought the latter would do all he could to separate them, like the plot of a folktale. In all fairness, her father had indeed thought of letting Zhao Changhe die to settle things at the start. She felt that was the direction in which things were going, tragedy was looming upon them...

...But as it turned out, Zhao Changhe and her father actually got along ridiculously well, to the point where people thought that they should just become a couple. Her father had never seemed so pleasant to the eye of this young lady in her rebellious phase. Perhaps I should give him a back massage later?

“Senior.” Zhao Changhe drank some tea and raised another topic. “I’ve been meaning to find out more about a certain thing, but I never found an appropriate opportunity to do so. Can I ask you about it right now?”

Cui Wenjing answered indifferently, “If you call me senior, then no.”

Zhao Changhe was dumbstruck for a moment. After a while, he scratched his head and asked, “Father?”

Cui Wenjing, to his surprise, actually blushed slightly.

Cui Yuanyang’s small face was even redder. The moisture in her eyes was about to overflow.

Cui Wenjing pretended not to see it and leisurely sipped his tea. “Alright. Ask away.”

“About this era...actually, more about the previous era. What did it look like and how did it collapse? Your family is powerful and it has a long history. I believe you should know a thing or two about it.”

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