Chapter 250: Exchange

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Once it becomes clear that Bright Sword and Bai Wen are about to enter the palace, some soldiers immediately start dashing for the gates to join them. An equally large group of enemy soldiers frantically tries to stop them.

They are a minority.

By large, most people on the battlefield see the folly of trying to break into the palace so early. After all, to enter the palace is to challenge General He Bin. It’d be the height of foolishness.

Mud is all too aware of that.

He fights against General He Bin’s commanders one after another. They are all cultivators in the Earth and Heaven Realm who vastly overestimate their capabilities and underestimate his. Each one he encounters is taken out with quick and brutal efficiency,

“What… what are you?” One of them asks with his dying gasps.

“I am Mud,” he says to the corpse.

It is the answer he has given himself countless times, yet it feels lacking now.

“What are you still doing here?”

“Colonel Peng,” Mud says as the old soldier appears next to him. His armor is dirty with the blood of his enemies. “I am afraid I don’t understand the question.”

Colonel Peng snorts and spits to the side.

“Of course you don’t,” he says. “I’ll make things simple then. I bring orders from General Nie Dan. Break into the palace. Murong Bang’s underling is taking far too many liberties.”

Mud’s first instinct is to try to find General Nie Dan’s face across the mass of soldiers and beasts killing each other. It’d be useless, of course. The man is too far back.

Still, distance does not stop Mud from feeling the general’s knowing eyes on him.

“If those are the general’s orders, then this Mud shall comply.”

Colonel Peng humors him by not saying anything in reply, not that Mud would have heard him. He is already flying across the battlefield. Any foe that tries to attack him is stopped in place. Any obstacle is removed swiftly. In the blink of an eye, he has already broken through the gates.

He immediately overhears a fascinating conversation.

“The Peerless Heavenly Sword,” Mud repeats, his voice echoing loudly across the corridor. “You will have to forgive this Mud for overhearing. I assure you it happened through pure happenstance. Eavesdropping is an uncouth habit. Nevertheless, this Mud cannot help but notice that is the name of one of the three powers from beyond the Dead Plains.”

He tilts his head.

“How can you possibly be a member of it?”

Instead of answering him, the one called Bright Sword looks at the few remaining dark clouds lurking about. “You hid his presence from me.”

Alas, the dark clouds of the Storm Dragon do not give Bright Sword any answers. They merely fade away.

“It seems this Mud has offended,” Mud says.

“Inconvenienced,” Bright Sword corrects him. “You have inconvenienced me. However, that is all your presence here boils down to. An inconvenience.”

Mud inclines his head in acknowledgment.

“Mud usually is that, yes.”

Silence falls over the room. Both cultivators gauge each other carefully. Their power slowly fills the room. It is quiet. Gradual.

Even an Earth Realm cultivator would struggle to breathe in their presence.

“Is there any way I could convince you to never breathe a word of what you have just heard?” Bright Sword asks him, his casual tone belying the increasingly hostile clash of their aura.

“That would make things easier, would it not?” Mud muses. A resigned smile tugs at his lips. “Alas, this Mud does not lie.”

The air sharpens.

“What a pity.” Bright Sword’s eyes are without emotion. “I took you for a reasonable person.”

“I apologize for disappointing you,” Mud says regretfully. “Rest assured, I believe myself to be a reasonable person as well, and it is reason that will not permit me to trust you.”

“It’s a difference of opinion then.” Bright Sword thinks it over and nods. “Let us settle this properly then.”

Bright Sword brings his hand down and…

He takes a step back.

“Curious,” he says, looking at Mud with new eyes. “That was very curious.”

Mud gives him a small nod.

“I am glad a disciple of Peerless Heavenly Sword approves.”

“I do not say I approved. I said it was curious,” Bright Sword corrects him. “However, what will happen if I do this?”

Bright Sword slashes air.

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He takes a step back.

“Now, I approve,” Bright Sword says, taking a few steps back. “To be honest, you had caught my eye earlier. I cannot imagine what went through the head of the one who made you. To twist someone so thoroughly is not the act of someone sane.”

“I do not think anyone can be said to be completely sane,” Mud replies. “However, I would appreciate it if you did not speak ill of my master. Twisted though his actions may seem, I am grateful for them.”

“Ah.” An odd smile appears on Bright Sword’s face. “You are crazy as well.”

He slices the air. A thin cut appears on the roof above their heads.

He slices the air. The wall behind Mud is cut down.

He slices the air. A scar appears on the floor.

Bright Sword smiles.

“Once upon a time, someone said this: For someone to move, he must first reach the middle point to his destination. However, before reaching the middle point, he must reach the middle point to the middle point, and before that, the middle point to the middle point to the middle point. For every action, a person must cross an infinite number of middle points. Since it is impossible to perform an infinite number of actions, movement is an impossibility. An illusion.”

Mud says nothing.

“That is what you do,” Bright Sword says, pointing at him. “You materialize that impossibility. Any time I try to attack you, my movement becomes an impossibility. Even trying to hit you as a side-effect will not work. You are a stumbling block. I do not know your exact Dao, but I know its purpose. You confound the talented by presenting them with something they have never encountered: An insurmountable obstacle. Utter and complete futility. To be able to achieve such a thing, you must have been quite untalented.”

“I see the reputation of the powers beyond the Dead Plains is not lacking in the slightest,” Mud says. He brings his hands together and bows. “I truly am grateful to meet such a brilliant flower.”

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