Song of Adolescence

In the west, there was a city which positioned itself as a gathering spot for the geniuses of the world. With a wealth that rivalled a country, it was unparalleled in the world. This city was named Unparalleled City.

However, the western region was ravaged by Beili a hundred years ago and even though the Unparalleled City managed to survive the disaster, they lost the better half of their fortune. Though the drums eventually stilled and banners were laid down, they only managed to regain eighty percent of their former glory. Yet it was at such a sensitive time that a faction like the Snow Moon City appeared. Even the prestigious Tangmen and the Lei Clan sent their disciples to the Snow Moon City. Furthermore, it even managed to snuff out the ambitions of the unorthodox sects twelve years ago.

The current citymaster of Unparalleled City, Song Yanhui, known as “One sword to break the water and halt a thousand rivers”, challenged the second master of Snow Moon City, Li Hanyi, in the ways of the sword, but he lost three out of three times. Following that, though Unparalleled City kept its name, no one dared to bring up the four words, ‘Unparalleled under the heavens’ anymore.

“Even Unparalleled City is here to fish in these muddy waters?” Tang Lian took a step forward and glared coldly at the man wearing a black veil over his face.

The black veiled man dismounted and threw off the black coat over his body. He held a long silver spear in his hand. “And what about you? How clear are the waters that the Snow Moon City fishes in?”

“So you wish to block our path?” Tang Lian laughed with disdain in his voice.

The leader pointed his spear at Wuxin resting on Wuchan’s back, “We only want the monk.”

“What if I refuse?” Tang Lian’s pupils constricted as he replied.

“Don’t try and put up a strong front now.” The leader let out a cold laugh as he continued, “I already know that you guys are seriously injured.”

Tang Lian coldly harrumphed. The leader spoke the truth. After fighting with Wang Rensun, both him and Wuchan were drained. As for Wuxin, he had crippled his own martial arts. Lei Wujie suffered heavy injuries while trying to break through the Arhat Array, not to mention Xiao Se who didn’t know martial arts at. Facing several tens of experts from Unparalleled City, they really had no chance of winning.

“What is your plan then? Kill us all? Do you believe that after you’re done, Snow Moon City, Tangmen, the Lei Clan, and every Buddhist sect in the world would band together and wipe your Unparalleled City off the face of the earth?” Tang Lian coldly stating.

“Injuring without killing… we are still capable of doing that at least.” The leader tightened his grasp on his spear.

“Martial brother, let me do it.” The kid got off his horse as well, hands holding a long box. He revealed a toothy grin and continued, “If you’re the one fighting, martial brother, who knows how long that would take. Even if you’re not anxious to get back to our Unparalleled City, I am.

The leader was stunned for a second. However, it seemed as though he wasn’t angry with his junior brother for belittling his martial arts. Instead, he let out a soft sigh, “Injuring without killing… got it?”

“Yeah yeah… it’s not like I’m some kind of fiend who thinks about killing all day. However, my swords have no eyes. If I fail to control them, I can’t do anything about it.” The kid laughed and said.

Facing the head disciple of Snow Moon City, the kid’s words were simply too condescending. Yet, the leader simply nodded his head and took a few steps back.

Tang Lian couldn’t hold it in anymore and he yelled, “Disciples from Unparalleled City sure know how to talk big! What is your name?”

The kid sat down and laid out the Sword Magazine in front of him. “Unparalleled,” he answered with a smile.

“Unparalleled?” The scene fell silent instantly. He was actually named after the city itself. Compared to the arrogance embedded in his name, his words were nothing!

“Is there a problem?” The kid named Unparalleled asked with an innocent expression on his face.

Everyone looked at each other -there actually wasn’t anything wrong with that.

“Since there are no problems, let’s start fighting then.” Unparalleled opened his Sword Magazine revealing thirteen swords within it, one of which was a fiery red long sword while the other twelve were thin swords.

“That’s?” Lei Wujie’s eyes widened. As someone who loved listening to stories about the martial world from a young age, he had naturally heard of a sword art known as the art of commanding swords. Instead of engaging in close combat with their swords, users of this art would control flying swords. With a light wave of a finger and a light smile on their face, they would take the life of their opponent as easily as immortals plucking stars. However, a martial art like that only existed in the legends; there were many people who heard of ot but those who witnessed it with their own eyes were few. It had been said that those people who could employ such a technique had already reached the level of a Sword Saint. Yet the kid in front of them was probably around the same age as him… This was the first time Lei Wujie felt a profound sense of defeat.

“Cloudshuttle.” Unparalleled chanted under his breath. His finger shot towards one of the swords and lightly tapped it once. In an instant, the sword flipped around and made a turn in the sky before flying towards Tang Lian.

“Gentlefrost.” Another sword shot towards Wuchan.

“Perfection.” Yet another one shot at Lei Wujie.

“Jade Fortune.” The last sword charged at Xiao Se.

It was then that Tang Lian finally believed that Unparalleled wasn’t just bragging. The sword known as Cloudshuttle barely registered as a flash before it appeared before him. The fingertip knife in his hand flashed as he blocked the sword. However, Unparalleled simply waved his finger once more and Cloudshuttle unleashed another round of attack on Tang Lian.

Wuchan dared not receive such an attack head on so he circulated all the true qi in his body and formed a barrier about himself and Wuxin, blocking the flying sword in the process.

As for Lei Wujie, he was suddenly at a loss as to what to do. The flying sword he was up against was called Perfection and like its name, it was hard to deal with. His fists failed to connect, and in just a split second, the flying sword had left several cuts all over his body. Finally, he grabbed hold of the large sack on his back, the same one which he had left untouched throughout this entire journey. It was at that very instant that his restraint ran out

Xiao Se, on the other hand, was running circles around the battlefield as the sword chased after him. His movement skill was unrivaled so even though he couldn’t block the sword like Wuchan or Tang Lian, the flying sword wasn’t able to hurt him in the slightest.

“Windsorrow.” Unparalleled chanted once again and he waved his sleeves. Yet another sword flew out and it sliced apart the Phoenix Tail Dart flying towards him. After making an arc in the air, the sword returned to him. The kid then stretched out a finger and the flying sword twirled around it. “This is my first time controlling five swords, you guys had better keep me entertained here.”

Xiao Se continued running as before till he reached Lei Wujie. Face as calm as before, he said “Lei Wujie, I bet you’re feeling really down right now, aren’t you?”

“What about it?” Lei Wujue was still stuck in a deadlock with the sword as beads of sweat rolled down his forehead.

“I bet you fancied yourself as some kind of hero, that you can roam the martial world undefeated. Yet here you are now, faced with someone more powerful than yourself…” Xiao Se tilted his body to the side and dodged the incoming Jade Fortune.

In truth, everything up till now had been fine for Lei Wujie. The Lunar Maiden and Nether Duke were people who had been famous in the martial world for years. The monk, Wuxin, used techniques which couldn’t be considered martial arts. However, this kid in front of them looked like he wasn’t too much younger yet the level at which he controlled swords was astounding -he was even able to control five swords at once.

Even the head disciple of Snow Moon City, Tang Lian, was helpless before this kid. Once more, Lei Wujie thought about opening the sack behind him. That sack was entrusted to him by his teacher and he was only supposed to open it after meeting that person in Snow Moon City. However, they were in a precarious situation right now. Lei Wujie gnashed his teeth and after thinking about what his teacher said, he decided against opening the sack.

“And what plans do you have, brother Tang?” Xiao Se looked as though he was taking a leisurely stroll through a courtyard as he appeared beside Tang Lian.

“You might not know any martial arts, but those movement skills of yours have really reached a new level of perfection…” Tang Lian glared at Xiao Se. 𝒇𝘳ℯℯ𝚠𝙚𝑏𝗻𝑜ѵ𝑒𝙡.co𝑚

“That’s because he doesn’t want to take my life.” Xiao Se sighed and continued, “See that? He still has another sword twirling around his finger. If he really wishes to go all out, who can say whether or not he will pull out another sword or two. My movement skills are great and I can dodge one sword, but can I dodge two of them? That’s why I have to trouble brother Tang for a plan.”

“Well my hidden weapons are spent after that battle with Wang Rensun. You want me to come up with an idea… exactly what do you think I can come up with?” Rarely flustered, this head disciple of Snow Moon City couldn’t help but feel a rage well up within him from being cornered by some unknown kid from Unparalleled City.

“Senior brother, put me down.” Wuxin suddenly opened his mouth.

Wuchan was stunned for a moment but he eventually placed Wuxin down. “Junior brother, your injuries aren’t healed yet…”

Yet who would have thought that the moment Wuxin landed on the ground, his figure disappeared in a flash and reappeared beside Tang Lian. Stretching out two fingers, he lightly tapped Cloudshuttle and sent it flying back to Unparalleled’s sword magazine.

Unparalleled was taken aback but he quickly recovered and waved his index finger once more, causing Cloudshuttle to fly out of the magazine.

However, Wuxin’s figure flashed once again and he landed beside Lei Wujie. Pushing out another finger, he reversed the direction of Perfection back towards Unparalleled. Following that, he closed his eyes and tilted his head slightly to the side as he dodged Windsorrow.

A serious look finally appeared in Unparalleled’s eyes and Jade Fortune, which had been chasing Xiao Se till now, changed directions and shot towards Wuxin. Wuxin’s eyes snapped open and just before the sword was able to touch him, it stopped in mid air, unable to advance even an inch.

Curling his fingers slightly, Unparalleled recalled all of his flying swords back into the sword magazine.

Lei Wujie stared at the feat slack jawed, “Wuxin, didn’t you just destroy your own martial arts? Did you just lie to those old monks?”

“No. This time, his martial arts are different.” Xiao Se frowned.

Wuchan was stunned for a second but a smile soon appeared on his face, “Congratulations, junior brother…”

“Higher Power, Divine Ear, and Divine Eye. These aren’t martial arts of the Rakshasa Hall, they are the actual Six Higher Knowledges!” Tang Lian exclaimed in surprise.

“Was this what our esteemed teacher meant by entering the Buddhist Path through the unorthodox? Has inadvertently mastered the Higher Knowledges when he crippled his secret arts?” Wuchan asked in a puzzled voice.

Wuxin shook his head. “I don’t know either. It’s just that I felt a sense of clarity which I never felt before my body started regaining some of its power. The only time I saw such an art was back when I was still a kid and I saw the old monk use it. Yet for some strange reason, it feels like I’ve practised it a thousand times…”

“This is good as well.” Even though Unparalleled couldn’t make heads or tails of what they were talking about, his lazy behaviour didn’t change at all. “At least there is some meaning in this battle.”

Wuxin took a single step forward. However, with this single step, he appeared right in front of Unparalleled, hands outstretched as if he was trying to grab the kid’s head “Exactly what kind of meaning would that be?”

Unparalleled suddenly laughed but as he laughed, the sword magazine in front of him seemed to bloom like a flower. Five flying swords shot towards Wuxin’s head simultaneously.