Sword Pavilion

The little witch Li Shiyin ran off to cuddle with her master, leaving Yu Chi Zhen alone in the carriage... well, not entirely alone - there was still a cat.

Chaswind had mastered his shapeshifting ability and could now change his body size at will. At the moment, he had transformed into a cat-sized form and was napping in the carriage.

That's just how felines are - no matter how powerful, mighty, or fierce they may be, they always maintain a lazy demeanor. As the saying goes: why walk when you can ride, why sit when you can lie down, and why stay awake when you can sleep?

... In fact, apart from humans, all living creatures behave this way. Other than hunting and reproducing, they're reluctant to do anything that wastes energy.

After Cheng Nan's departure, the caravan continued on its journey.

When Li Shiyin was in the carriage, Yu Chi Zhen could casually chat with her and listen to interesting stories about the cultivation world. Now that Li Shiyin had slipped away, she felt bored.

She took out a book to read, but the poor quality of the carriage made it shake and sway, making reading uncomfortable. After a while, she finally gave up.

Bored, she looked around, even lifting the curtains to peek outside at the commoners busy with spring plowing by the roadside. After a while, finding little interest there, she withdrew her gaze and looked around the carriage interior, finally settling on Chaswind.

Imagine, a snow-white, fluffy, adorable big cat - who wouldn't love it? Especially girls.

Just looking at it made her feel at ease, and she wanted to hug and pet it. Thinking about the soft, fluffy, smooth, and warm feeling of a cat in her arms, with such a cat right before her eyes, she couldn't resist reaching out her hand.

But she stopped herself, remembering this cat's previous form - a white tiger as big as a small house, powerful, majestic, and imposing. It had stood guard on the city walls for two months, becoming the guardian deity of Wuyi City, imbued with a sense of holiness.

Such a divine guardian beast, and now she wanted to hold it in her arms and play with it. This was blasphemy... sacrilege! She was truly unforgivable!

So after another moment, she reached out and touched the cat...

"Wow!" Her eyes immediately lit up. Indeed, it was warm and soft, feeling wonderful, exactly as she had imagined, or perhaps even better.

Most importantly, this powerful guardian deity (adorable cat) didn't mind her touch, allowing her to pet it freely.

"Hmm... is this okay?" she wondered hesitantly, while petting more boldly, running her palm over the cat's body, rubbing its belly, playing with its paws, and even gently swinging its tail... truly treating it like an obedient, lovable cat.

Finally, feeling unsatisfied, she picked up the cat and hugged it to her chest.

The commotion seemed to have woken the cat up. It lazily opened its eyes and looked at Yu Chi Zhen.

Yu Chi Zhen was startled, realizing how presumptuous and irreverent she had been, actually holding a divine beast in her arms to play with... Surely the divine beast would be displeased and bring divine punishment upon her! She quickly lowered her head, waiting for the divine retribution to descend.

Chaswind glanced at her, then paid her no more attention, closing his eyes and falling back asleep with a purr.

Since he had grown up, it had been a long time since his father had petted him like this. Now, after many years, a gentle and beautiful woman with a motherly aura was giving him a massage... It felt so good, meow!

"Eh?" Yu Chi Zhen was puzzled by this reaction. "No punishment?"

After a while, she tentatively placed her hand back on Chaswind, and soon she was playing with him again...

In the chilly early spring, holding a warm, big cat on her lap like a living heater that she could freely pet - wasn't this one of life's great pleasures?

As the carriage convoy leisurely continued its journey, not yet reaching Danyang, Cheng Nan was already approaching Wuyi City on his flying sword.

In fact, even before reaching Wuyi City, while still quite far away, Cheng Nan could see the four pillars of starry sword energy towering around the city.

The sword energy rose far above the city walls, seemingly connecting to the sky.

As a sword cultivator, although his sword cultivation level was low, years of familiarity with swords allowed Cheng Nan to sense the power of those sword energy pillars, the profound understanding of the sword dao contained within them, and a gentle intent... sword intent?

The sharp aura of the sword energy affected Cheng Nan even from a great distance, filling him with awe. Yet within that sharpness was also a gentle, protective intent.

"Which sword dao expert left behind this sword energy?" Cheng Nan wondered. "It must be a North Chu sword expert, as the protective intent is directed towards the people of North Chu."

He could sense the power of the sword energy, and also that it harbored no hostility towards him.

"If there's a chance..." he yearned, "how wonderful it would be to seek guidance on sword dao from them."

Cheng Nan arrived at Wuyi City on his flying sword and found the city bustling with activity.

Inside the city, many people were engaged in post-war reconstruction, clearing away debris. Outside the city was also lively, with many people tilling the fields in preparation for spring planting.

Overall, there was an air of enthusiastic post-war rebuilding.

"So the war really is over," he thought, feeling conflicted. On one hand, he was happy about this, but on the other hand, he was disappointed that he had come all this way for nothing.

But he was also puzzled, "I heard that the sect's upper echelons fully supported Xuan Qin, so how did North Chu manage to win?"

- He was a disciple of the Cloud Heaven Sect.

Cheng Nan flew over Wuyi City and landed in the courtyard of the city lord's mansion.

Flying at low altitude through the city, he noticed that the citizens were neither curious nor afraid of him, but rather seemed somewhat respectful. He vaguely understood that this might be related to the sword energy outside the city.

"When did North Chu produce such a powerful sword cultivator?" he wondered.

Standing in the city, gazing at the sword energy outside, he faintly discerned its protective effect on Wuyi City. In his mind, he couldn't help but imagine that senior expert, single-handedly with one sword, "stemming the tide at the point of collapse, supporting the great edifice on the verge of falling," defeating the Cloud Heaven Sect's cultivators alone in a display of unparalleled prowess. With one sword strike, deterring enemy cultivators from daring to invade again.

"This is how we sword cultivators should aspire to be!" he sighed. "What a pity I couldn't meet them."

Cheng Nan walked through the city lord's mansion, intending to find the person in charge... he knew it was likely Li Shiyin's father, Li Zhan.

Making his way to the study, before he could knock, his keen hearing caught voices from inside.

It was Li Zhan's voice, saying:

"...Erecting a statue for the divine beast White Tiger is indeed appropriate. But for Shiyin, let's not. She is my daughter, Li Zhan's child, and ultimately a person of North Chu. Fighting for North Chu is only natural and expected."

Someone else said, "There's a suggestion to rename Wuyi City to commemorate the Sword Immortal's contributions."

"What name?" Li Zhan asked.

"The Sword Immortal left four pillars of sword energy in the city, so this city will nurture the Sword Immortal's sword energy from now on..." the person said, "How about calling it Sword Pavilion City?"

Li Zhan considered that this name didn't involve Li Shiyin's name directly and wasn't too exaggerated, so he agreed, "That's fine."

"Regarding the renovation of the city walls..."

While the people inside continued discussing North Chu's post-war reconstruction, Cheng Nan stood outside, dumbfounded. He wasn't a fool; hearing their conversation, he realized that the key to victory in this battle was Li Shiyin...

In other words, the sword cultivator expert who had left him in awe and filled him with admiration was Li Shiyin.

"Li Shiyin... Li Shiyin..." he murmured, feeling as if life was a dream, like he had crossed into another world. This world was too fantastical, too mystical, too... cultivationy!

"Who's out there?!" His low muttering was heard by those inside, and someone hurriedly came out to check.

But when they emerged, all they saw was a sword light flying off into the distance. The sword light wavered unsteadily among the clouds.

"So it was another Sword Immortal..." someone sighed, "Truly a blessing for North Chu."

"A blessing for North Chu?" Li Zhan watched the departing sword light and sighed. North Chu, North Chu, there might not be a North Chu anymore, "This is North Chu's sorrow."

To commemorate Li Shiyin's single-handed defense of Wuyi City, the city was officially renamed Sword Pavilion City. To commemorate the White Tiger's two-month vigil on the city walls, protecting Wuyi City, a statue of a crouching White Tiger was erected in the city.

From then on, Sword Pavilion City took the White Tiger as its patron deity. The White Tiger represents warfare, and warfare is governed by the sword dao.

Due to the sword qi and sword intent outside Sword Pavilion City, many sword cultivators came to comprehend the Sword Dao and pay homage to the legendary guardian sword immortal.

Because of the blessing of intermingling sword qi, many children within Sword Pavilion City were born with exceptional talent in the Sword Dao.

As thousands and tens of thousands of years passed, sword cultivators in Sword Pavilion City grew more numerous, living up to the city's name and gradually becoming the center of swordsmanship in the world.

Once, a sword immortal who had attained profound mastery of the Sword Dao came to Sword Pavilion City to pay his respects. Standing atop the city walls, gazing at the eternal starry sword qi beyond the city, he sighed in admiration: "Sword Pavilion stands lofty and majestic, where one man can guard the pass against ten thousand."

This was to praise the great sword immortal ancestor, Li Shiyin.