Pan Wanxiu felt delighted and said:
"I have a friend who is indeed from the Farmer School."
"He spends his days studying agriculture, though the political stance of the Farmer School seems to have been left behind by him. What content do you want me to write to him?"
This boisterous man was straightforward, taking out paper and a brush, licking the brush to moisten it, ready to write anything Li Guanyi asked in a candid and direct manner.
Li Guanyi simply said, "I have land and I am willing to provide funding to support their research on various plants from the Farmer School."
Pan Wanxiu chuckled: "Isn’t that too mundane?"
Li Guanyi thought for a moment and cheerfully said, "If he has good seeds."
"I am willing to allocate land for him to test grow them."
"However much he needs, I will provide."
Pan Wanxiu opened his mouth wide and wrote a letter seriously, still based on Li Guanyi’s ideas, but with some refinements.
Li Guanyi looked at it and found that the letter written by the Master, who seemed boisterous and preferred Mechanical Techniques over the doctrines of the Mo School, was very formal and eloquent. After thinking, he said:
"Excuse me for a moment, let me add a few sentences."
Li Guanyi squatted down, took over the writing brush and said, "Just write ."
With a flourish, he quickly finished writing. Pan Wanxiu looked and saw that the words on the letter were simple yet elegant. Of course, the handwriting taught by Murong Qiushui was beautiful, but the content written was rudimentary and direct—
"Give land, give people, give money."
Pan Wanxiu was dumbfounded.
Thinking of those minor disciples from the Farmer School within the Academy, seeing these lines, he somewhat wanted to go and see for himself.
Then he admired and smiled, saying, "The Farmer School, too, should join the General’s ranks."
After the Mo School left, Murong Longtu and Li Guanyi were drinking tea. When Murong Longtu heard that Li Guanyi was going to search for the descendants of the Gongsu Family, the old man nodded. His voice was gentle as he said, "Guan Yi, your martial arts skills are indeed not bad. Among the younger generation, there is no one stronger than you."
"But this world is never a fair fight."
"Your opponents have decades, even hundreds of years of Inner Strength cultivation over you... If it were merely fighting on a battlefield, that would be one thing, but as you travel alone in the world, even with a Qilin at your side, there are martial artists who could forcefully assassinate you."
Li Guan pressed his lips together, knowing what Sword Madman was talking about.
At this moment, it was only because Sword Madman was with him that no one dared to assassinate him.
Murong Longtu paused, the old man’s wrinkled palm caressing a sword and said softly with a smile: "I am just a swordsman after all, no matter how high my martial arts skills. I’ve been alone since my youth, and later became renowned throughout the world. Then various branches of the Murong Family gathered, and the Murong Family became noisy.
"But I still felt, I was alone. It was only later when I had your great-grandmother, your grandfather, your mother, and Qiushui and others that gradually, I felt that I was not alone in this vast world and I also had places to rest."
"But later, everything I had was also relinquished."
"I am alone again, only with the Green Blade in hand, and then seeing you, it felt like a loss regained."
Murong Longtu recounted his two hundred years, the old man whispered softly:
"My two hundred years in this life were dedicated to the sword, and it’s the sword I pursued."
"I did not seek the illusory promise of longevity. You, being a man, won’t have me by your side all the time to protect you in the future. You have your grand ambitions, and I have my own pursuits in this life."
"But, whether it is you or me, death is not the worst thing, is it?" Murong Longtu smiled freely and said:
"You will go to the Western Regions after this, and I won’t accompany you."
"But rest assured, though this old man can’t go to the Western Regions with you, I can ensure that within the next three years, no one in the world can assassinate you, eliminating your concerns for your safety. You can then freely roam the world. After three years, my great-grandson, the Sword Madman, will have grown enough to be undaunted by others."
This aged, tough swordsman, also finally showed a moment of tenderness, but the swordsman’s warmth was different from others’, and the warmth of Sword Madman had its own thousand-fold vigor.
Murong Longtu looked towards the distance, the great river roared, the wind stirred the forest, almost as if he could see the faces of friends and family of the past.
With friends and family gone and old acquaintances dispersed, his life here was also like a wandering weed.
And Li Guanyi had also grown up, his severe poisons cured, Murong Qiushui safe in Jiangnan, he finally could be himself again.
The Green Robed Swordsman stood up: "What is the ultimate reach of the Sword Dao?"
"And what is the peak of Martial Arts?"
"The legends of Martial Arts promise enduring lifespans, but if this foundation is transformed and unleashed in battle, how magnificent it would be? I am curious, yet I also feel that this is how my life should be, not to curb my edge for the sake of longevity."
Murong Longtu said placidly:
"Murong Longtu is the strongest swordsman in the past eight hundred years, and for no one to dare unsheathe their swords against successors for the next eight hundred years, that would indeed bring things full circle."
He walked away slowly, but that day, a significant event occurred in the Martial World—
Murong Longtu returned to The World’s First Building.
Fifty-five mystical weapons tangled together, Sword Qi soaring, the whole city’s sword sound never ceased, the man in green robes with white hair ascended to the highest, proclaiming:
"An assembly at the Academy, inviting all heroes, ten Great Grandmasters, six Palace Masters."
"Taoist Sect, military god, longevity, Whale Fishing, all of you, feel free to join!"
That Sword Qi Divine Charm soared to the heavens, The World’s First Building’s Tower Master himself came forward, spreading that final sentence penned by Murong Longtu that day, across the entire Martial World—
"Murong Longtu seeks a single defeat!"
That day, there was no longer any dispute over the titles of Sword God, Sword Venerate, or Sword Immortal in the Martial World.
Eight hundred years past, eight hundred years future, in the Martial World, among the Sword Dao, the most elegant!