Under their feet, a huge magic circle spread out like a slowly lit beacon fire, and a sigh came from nowhere to their ears.

Cheng Qian was stunned: "This seems to be the one Han Yuan painted outside Fuyao Mountain that day."

Yan Zhengming: “Sh ...

He raised his hand to cover Cheng Qian's eyes: "Listen carefully."

The demon cultivator who set up the formation said that this formation is called "Listening to the Mountain Formation". What can one hear?

From the depths of darkness, there was the sound of insects chirping, followed by the faint sound of water, the wind blowing across the grass, and someone seemed to turn over next to him...

Yan Zhengming whispered, "It seems to be the back mountain."

On the grass beside a deep pool in a cave at the back mountain, several young men were carrying a little creature, who was not sure whether it was a human or a monster, waiting for their master while suffering from hunger and cold. They fell asleep unknowingly, and opened their eyes once in confusion, and what filled their ears was this sound.

Then the wind blew through the bamboo forest, and a scent of bamboo leaves seemed to be about to emerge. A thin bamboo pen shaft knocked against the stone table, making a crisp sound with a slightly echoing sound. The next moment, there was a "rustle", as if the paper was lifted up by the wind, but it did not blow away. It seemed that a corner of it was pressed down by something, and it just kept making noises.

This is Qing'anju.

Neither of them said anything. They listened silently for a long while, as if they had walked around Fuyao Mountain, until the magic circle under their feet dimmed and the last ray of light disappeared into the darkness.

So Han Yuan secretly ran to the foot of Fuyao Mountain that day and set up a seemingly dangerous formation with great momentum, just to listen to the sound of Fuyao Mountain?

Cheng Qian didn't know what to feel for a moment.

At this moment, the hand that was blocking his front suddenly dropped down, and Yan Zhengming put the glowing seal stone into his palm. The surroundings immediately became dark, and a white shadow suddenly walked out of the darkness, holding a wooden sword in his hand. Not far away, he arrogantly performed an ancient ritual, raised his hand and made a starting move to lift the wooden sword.

What does it mean?

The man demonstrated the Fuyao wooden sword on the spot as if no one was around.

At the beginning, he was a young boy in plain white cloth. As the Fuyao wooden sword advanced step by step, his appearance gradually changed into that of an adult. The wooden sword in his hand turned into a long rainbow sword with cold light, and the cloth on his body turned into an elegant brocade robe.

Every sword move he performed was exactly the same as what his master taught him, yet he couldn't tell where the subtle differences were.

After a long set of wooden sword skills, the sword dancer has become an old man, the brocade robe has turned into a plain white cloth, and the sword has turned into a blunt wooden sword. He lowered his sword and closed his eyes, and his whole body has a kind of tranquility that has seen through the world.

This set of sword skills was as smooth as flowing water. Both of them practiced swordsmanship, especially Yan Zhengming, who was a sword practitioner, so he could naturally see the depth of the sword. They were all shocked for a moment and no one had time to speak.

The next moment, the old man in white suddenly raised his head and stabbed forward with a sword.

Cheng Qian pushed Yan Zhengming away, and the two men were three feet apart. The wooden sword passed through them, and the sharp sword wind cut off a strand of Cheng Qian's messy hair hanging on his shoulder.

Then he disappeared in an instant, and the next moment, two old men in white appeared on the field, floating in from both sides without touching the ground, and immediately separated the two men.

When Yan Zhengming dodged, his entire body was submerged in the dark shadow and disappeared in the blink of an eye.

Cheng Qian was surprised: "Brother!"

His true energy was firmly suppressed in his inner palace, and for a moment he was no different from that of an ordinary person. The frost blade that seemed to be able to communicate with his mind in the past suddenly became extremely stagnant. Cheng Qian tried his best to draw his sword to block it, but he felt that the old man's wooden sword seemed to have the force of a mountain pressing down on him. His wrist went numb, and the situation was too strange, so Cheng Qian instinctively stepped back.

It didn't matter that he retreated, the frost blade in his hand immediately showed signs of backlash. This vicious sword had not made any trouble for many years, and Cheng Qian almost forgot what its nature was.

The old man had already delivered his second sword, so Cheng Qian had no choice but to grit his teeth and take the attack again without giving in.

The pressure on his hands was getting greater and greater, it really felt like the sky was falling down on his shoulders.

Human power was finally insufficient, and the sword of "No Good Death" did not allow him to retreat even a single step. Cheng Qian's arms finally began to tremble, and his wrist that was stuck there made a slight "crack" sound, as if a muscle was twisted. He forcibly attacked the true energy sealed in his sea of ​​​​qi, and the true energy continued to attack his internal organs. Frost flashed in Cheng Qian's eyes again and again, but was suppressed back again and again.

Cheng Qian was in a hurry to find Yan Zhengming. He didn't want to fight with the old man in a mortal way at all. He immediately got angry and kicked the other party in the waist and abdomen.

Unexpectedly, the kick hit nothing, and the old man himself was just an illusion, and only the sword in his hand was real.

Cheng Qian missed his step, and the strength in his hand was immediately lost. The old man's wooden sword hit him hard in the chest, and this time it was real. If his body was not made of the spirit jade, this sword would have broken a row of his ribs.

He choked and coughed a few times, and felt half of his body was numb from the beating. The wounds on his back that had already stopped bleeding all burst open.

The old man looked at him woodenly, his cloudy eyes filled with dead indifference. He held the wooden sword straight and pointed it at his chest. For a moment, the only sound around him was Cheng Qian's slightly heavy breathing.

Suddenly, the old man said, "With your impetuous mind, you still want to follow the 'humane path'?"

Cheng Qian had intended to beat him into a white flour bag, but after hearing this, he suddenly paused: "Senior, you are..."

“Take it, stop talking nonsense!” The old man raised his sword and slashed it across the waist, using the “extreme prosperity” in “prosperity and decline”, and the wooden sword drew a long arc like a full moon.

If it gets hit like this, even the real jade would probably break into pieces.

Cheng Qian did not dare to neglect him, nor did he dare to fight him head-on. He took a step forward in a somewhat embarrassed manner to avoid his sharp edge. He recalled with difficulty the moves he had studied for a while when his cultivation was low, and hastily responded with the "Subtle" move from the same style.

The move "Youwei" is about "the wind starts from the tip of the green duckweed", which means that at the peak, the root of evil has already been buried. The root of evil grows together with the situation of flowers and flowers, and finally becomes the opportunity for prosperity to decline. This move is varied and extremely subtle, which is incompatible with Cheng Qian's usual sea tide swordsmanship mixed with tyranny. He was already struggling because of the haste, and his move was a little slower.

This delay was like a slight mistake that led to a huge error. His palm felt numb, and the frost blade made a "clang" sound, and was actually picked up by a wooden sword and flew away!

Cheng Qian: “…”

He had been learning sword since he was ten years old. Not only had he swept across the world with his frost blade, but he had also never suffered such a great humiliation.

The old man in white looked at him expressionlessly, stretched out his hand, and the frost blade flew up close to Cheng Qian: "Come again."

Cheng Qian tightened his fingers.

Then the old man said again: "Fool."

Cheng Qian's fingers were about to be crushed by himself. He grabbed the frost blade. The old man suddenly leaped forward. In an instant, thousands of sword shadows flashed in front of him, as fine as the early spring rain, which was impossible to avoid and defend against.

This is the true “subtlety”!

Cheng Qian's pupils shrank, and he suddenly realized that the old man seemed to be teaching him. He was stunned for a moment, until the wooden sword tore through the endless phantoms and stopped straight under his nose.

"You have never properly learned sword skills?" the old man asked. "Who is your master?"

Cheng Qian couldn't help but get stuck.

True Master Mu Chun had indeed only taught him for more than a year, and had hurriedly passed on the entire set of Fuyao Wooden Sword to him in Wangyou Valley, relying on his photographic memory when he was a child. Later, Cheng Qian basically memorized the sect's sword manual from memory, and the senior brother corrected any discrepancies.

Now that I think about it, what he hastily memorized when he had only a vague understanding of the subject, must be correct?

Can the mediocre sword skills that the eldest brother learned when he was a child really correct anything?

Cheng Qian defended himself in a low voice: "My master passed away when we were just starting to learn."

The old man frowned.

Cheng Qian suppressed his temper and asked respectfully: "Master demonstrated the Fuyao Wooden Sword to me with his soul before he died. I may not remember some parts clearly in a hurry..."

His words were interrupted by a cold snort. The old man, for some reason, became even angrier after hearing this. He swung his wooden sword and slapped Cheng Qian on the shoulder, cursing, "Idiot! Idiot!"

Cheng Qian had never been labeled as a fool so many times in his life, but he couldn't refute it - after all, the other person was so much better than him.

Faced with such a senior fellow disciple, he had no choice but to listen even if the other party said that there was a seven-hole chamber pot on his neck.

The old man jumped for a while, then suddenly changed his body shape and turned into the middle-aged man in brocade robe, and swung out another "Extreme Sheng" move.

Cheng Qian's scalp exploded. When this senior appeared as an old man, he used the sword move of "prosperity and decline" which was more mature, but it was more like "decline" and lacked momentum. But when he appeared as a middle-aged man, the wooden sword in his hand turned into an unknown sword, which just matched the sword meaning of "prosperity" and the power was incomparable.

Countless thoughts flashed through Cheng Qian's mind in an instant. He pondered over the "subtlety" that the old man had just concealed from beginning to end, and once again gritted his teeth and used the sword move.

Caught it!

But before he could rejoice, the middle-aged man had already raised his sword and went up again without saying a word. He flipped up in the air, looked down from above, and chopped down vertically - the ultimate transformation!

Cheng Qian's pupils suddenly shrank. The next moment, he found that the restriction on his true energy had been released. The true energy that had been imprisoned for a long time flowed madly in his sea of ​​qi. The frost blade in his hand made a light "hum" sound, and in an instant, seven or eight sword shadows separated and fought hand to hand -

Without waiting for the opponent to change his moves, Cheng Qian had already entered the subtle sword intent. The frosty sword intent filled the entire space, leaving no trace, yet omnipresent. The middle-aged man's third sword "Extreme Prosperity" arrived in a flash, and the two true essences collided in the air, with a loud bang that shook the earth.

The senior showed no mercy and swung his sword sixteen times in a row, each one more tricky and dangerous than the last.

For the first time, Cheng Qian truly understood the "subtle" sword intent. His sword skills, which had been a little sluggish at first, became more and more proficient. The frosty blade brought up sword shadows all over the sky, spreading out in the entire space in a thrilling manner. For a moment, it was similar to the Demon-Slaying Formation.

Unfortunately, the stronger he became, the stronger his opponents became, and Cheng Qian’s strength was finally exhausted.

When he struck the sixteenth sword, the frost blade slipped out of his hand again and rolled to the ground in a mess. Cheng Qian took a deep breath, swayed for a moment and lost his balance. He actually fell to his knees, barely supporting the ground with his arms.

The middle-aged man placed the sword in his hand on his neck, looking down at him and said indifferently, "Do you know where you are wrong?"

Cheng Qian's heart was beating like thunder and he was speechless.

"The 'Subtle' move is the most difficult move in the Fuyao Wooden Sword. It is unpredictable and can penetrate any hole. You knew nothing about it before, but in an instant, you have mastered it with ease. With such talent, why would you rather study other swordsmanship? You are so impetuous!"

Cheng Qian admitted that he was worried about Yan Zhengming and was a little impatient, but he had worked as hard as anyone else over the years, and had survived many life-and-death situations, and had never been more at ease than anyone else - regardless of his talent, he believed that he was by no means an impetuous person.

Cheng Qian immediately defended himself: "I..."

The middle-aged man raised his lips slightly, revealing a stiff smile and interrupted him: "Because you feel that the wooden sword is not suitable for you, right? My Fuyao wooden sword follows the 'human way'. From birth to death, from youth to old age, thousands of ordinary people in the world cannot escape this path. There is nothing strange about it. You think you are an exception, different from those ordinary people, right?"

Cheng Qian: “…”

Looking back, when others were young and fearless, still waiting for a bright future, he thought he had matured to the point of losing his youthful heart. When others were searching and confused about the way forward, he thought he had already followed a clear goal and was far ahead. When others were struggling and things went against their wishes, he was running rampant in the world and was fearless. When others were longing to ascend to heaven and seeking it in vain, he voluntarily embarked on the "human path".

Although he never boasted about himself, Cheng Qian's high self-esteem hidden deep in his subconscious mind made him never associate every move of the Fuyao Wooden Sword with himself.

To him, all the sword intent in the wooden sword always seemed to be separated by a layer. He applied it mechanically, as if he was trying to understand other people's life experiences with difficulty, and he had never really expressed his feelings.

The middle-aged man shouted, "You looked at the world, then at yourself, and then at others, but you never compared yourself with them. Aren't you a human? Since you chose the 'human way', why are you unwilling to let go of your big and useless heart for the world?"

"How you treat people depends on how close you are to them, who you feel for, who you tolerate, who you are close to, who you love - have you ever revered anyone? Who have you looked up to? Who have you taken as a model?"

When the middle-aged man said this, he suddenly pressed the tip of his sword downwards, and the sharp blade scraped Cheng Qian's neck painfully: "You are young and ignorant, arrogant and conceited. I see that you are not young anymore, and your character has not improved much."

Cheng Qian broke out in a cold sweat on his back.

"If you are truly extraordinary and think you have mastered the Fuyao Wooden Sword, why can't you even use the 'Youwei' move properly? Stand up!" the middle-aged man shouted angrily, "The sword has not been fully passed on yet, why are you pretending to be dead!"

At first, he was restless and felt like he was living a year in a day. Although he was not worried about Yan Zhengming who was also here, he began to worry about Li Yun and others who were outside sharing a room with many demon cultivators and people from Tianyan. He did not expect that the owner of this place could see through his absent-mindedness and he was abused by the storm, forcing him to put aside his distracting thoughts and gradually sink into the Fuyao wooden sword.

Cheng Qian had been trapped here for an unknown period of time. The unknown master here had imprisoned his true energy countless times and forced him to practice with the Frost Blade as if it were an ordinary wooden sword like a young disciple.

But when the man who had transformed into an old man again pushed open another door and let him go, Cheng Qian suddenly had a strange feeling, as if all these things that happened without days or moon happened in just a moment. He stood at another door and looked up to see that the small strand of hair that was cut off by the wooden sword before he entered this door had just fallen to the ground.

Cheng Qian suddenly took a step back, turned around and asked, "What's your name, senior?"

The old man looked at his nose and then at his mouth and replied, "Wuming, I am just a little bit of your legacy."

Cheng Qian asked again: "What if we chose the word 'sky' or 'earth'?"

The old man said, "The Fuyao sect has only followed the human path since ancient times. As for the heaven and earth, I can't teach you, and no one can. I can only send you back to where you came from."

After hearing this, an idea suddenly flashed through Cheng Qian's mind, so fast that he didn't have time to catch it. He thought for a moment, then properly paid his respects to the old man as a junior, and then strode away.

The door of inheritance behind him closed silently, as if it had never existed. Cheng Qian looked up and saw Yan Zhengming standing not far away, holding the wooden sword he had taken out of the inner palace, with his head slightly lowered in thought.

Upon seeing him, Cheng Qian couldn't help but feel happy, and his steps became much lighter: "Big Brother..."

Unexpectedly, as soon as he opened his mouth, Yan Zhengming cast a cold glance at him, interrupting him from saying the rest of his words.

Cheng Qian grew up with him, and he could tell whether he was just looking for trouble or was really angry. He was stunned at the time, and wondered in his heart, "Could it be that he was also tortured by the old man?"

Yan Zhengming glared at him, then turned around and walked forward without saying anything.

Cheng Qian followed him in confusion, racking his brains to recall how he had offended the young master, and asked helplessly, "What's wrong with you?"

As soon as he finished speaking, Cheng Qian suddenly reacted. His eyes fell on the wooden sword in Yan Zhengming's hand uncontrollably. His scalp tingled and he thought to himself, "Wait, why would he take out the wooden sword for no reason?"

The old man in the inheritance has very sharp eyes. He wouldn’t notice anything that was said, right?

Thinking of this, Cheng Qian almost felt guilty. He quietly wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and quickly thought of a countermeasure.

After hearing his question, Yan Zhengming immediately kept silent, thinking: "Oh, this is because he is guilty."

After waiting for a while, just when Cheng Qian coughed and was about to speak, Yan Zhengming said unexpectedly: "Why, have you already made up a lie about how to deal with this wooden sword?"

Cheng Qian: “…”

The two of them seemed to have walked through a long and narrow passage and soon reached the end. At the end, there was a soft halo of dawn. After Yan Zhengming asked that question, he walked straight in without looking back. His figure flashed and he passed through something and disappeared.

Cheng Qian hurriedly took a step forward to chase after him. His eyes blurred and he found himself back at the foot of Taiyin Mountain. When he looked back again, all the inheritance and Heart Demon Valley had disappeared.

In addition to an angry senior brother, there were many other people in front of him. On one side, Han Yuan was the leader, and behind him was a mob of demon cultivators. On the other side, You Liang was the leader, and behind him was a large number of ordinary cultivators who had gathered here at some point in time.

Li Yun, Shuikeng, Nian Dada and others were standing in the middle awkwardly, floating in the sky.

Cheng Qian was certain that when the Demon-Slaying Formation was broken, there were not so many living cultivators here.

Could it be that they moved the battle between immortals and demons originally scheduled for Taihang Mountains to here?