Second Senior Sister Has A Highly Dangerous Profession - Chapter 58
Chapter 58
Sword intent roared like thunder, shaking heaven and earth.
Everyone from Mount Kunwu Sect was stunned, thinking to themselves that this tribulation seemed even more terrifying than Senior Brother Yu’s.
Just a moment ago, a warm sun had been shining on their bodies, but now, despite being several peaks away, they felt an icy chill reminiscent of a biting spring frost—cold and fearful all at once.
It wasn’t until someone felt a strain in their neck and turned around that they noticed something strange.
“…Why is your robe torn?”
“Wait, why are all your robes torn?! Are these Tao robes really that poorly made?”
“…Hiss, why is my robe torn too?!”
Everyone froze, glanced down at themselves, and then realized with growing panic that their clothes were indeed in shreds.
Luckily, everyone’s attention had been entirely drawn elsewhere earlier, leaving them enough time to quickly cover themselves up.
Only then did they fully grasp the source of their unease—it wasn’t just fear.
The cold they felt was…real.
In a distant secluded cave, an elder stood up with a worried expression.
At the entrance of the cave, another elder who had also been disturbed met their gaze, both unable to hide the concern in their eyes.
Master Huaiyun abruptly rose to his feet, his expression grave as he stared at the thunderous sword radiance over Qianya Peak.
His hand hovered near the hilt of his sword several times before finally pressing it down.
Yet the sword energy suddenly lightened.
The oppressive black clouds that blotted out the sun finally receded as the last strike of the tribulation fell heavily.
The tribulation clouds parted, the sword energy withdrew, and the great formation protecting Qianya Peak opened briefly before sealing shut again.
The bright sun peeked out once more from behind the dissipating clouds.
The stark contrast between the blackness and sudden light left many shielding their eyes, struggling to adjust.
Strangely, the sunlight seemed dimmer than before—or perhaps it was simply because they had witnessed a single dazzling sword light that now made all other brightness pale in comparison.
What had just seemed like an apocalyptic dream quickly vanished like smoke.
Looking back at Qianya Peak, it was still the same sharp and silent mountain.
Only now did some begin to realize that their earlier fear wasn’t caused by witnessing the thunder tribulation but rather because Qianya Peak had been forced to open its great formation to welcome the tribulation, allowing just a sliver of its sword energy to escape.
And even that sliver had left them all shivering in terror.
So, just how powerful was Qianya Peak’s junior master uncle?
***
The junior master uncle, revered by all as immensely powerful, was coughing.
Beside him, a slumped young woman was coughing even more dramatically.
Xie Junzhi was coughing because normally suppressing the sword intent only required brute force.
Even when the tribulation caused minor disturbances in the sword tomb, it wouldn’t have been a problem.
However, on a whim, he decided to let Yu Xizhi test herself.
This required him to split his focus, releasing most of the sword intent while holding back just enough to temper her body without killing her.
As for Yu Xizhi, her coughing was because she was on the verge of death.
The sword energy felt like it was going to kill her, only to stop just short of making her lose consciousness—a state that was neither here nor there, utterly tormenting.
For a moment, Yu Xizhi couldn’t decide whether being pierced through the heart by her junior sister’s sword was more painful or enduring this torment lying here.
All she could do was cough out her grievances and sorrow.
—If she had done something wrong, she wished the tribulation thunder would punish her directly instead of leaving her here to be tormented endlessly by sword intent!
Meanwhile, Yi Zui, who had just broken through, thought he would at least receive a pill to stabilize his foundation.
Yet after waiting for ages under the scorching sun, his hair nearly singed from the heat, he received nothing.
Instead, he was greeted by the sound of coughing from both high and low.
Alarmed, Yi Zui forgot about his breakthrough excitement and rushed towards Xie Junzhi and Yu Xizhi.
“Junior master uncle, Second Senior Sister, what’s wrong?!”
Yu Xizhi weakly waved him off.
“N-nothing… cough cough…”
Yi Zui thought this didn’t look like “nothing” at all, though he couldn’t imagine what Xie Junzhi might have done.
After some thought, he assumed Yu Xizhi’s current state must have been caused by him.
Embarrassed, he scratched his head.
“This was my first tribulation, and I didn’t have any experience. I didn’t even realize I was ready for it. If there’s a next time…”
“Don’t do it on Qianya Peak,” Yu Xizhi said hoarsely, finally managing a coherent sentence before dissolving into another coughing fit.
“Pick a peak you don’t like and let the thunder strike there.”
Yi Zui’s eyes lit up.
“Then next time, I’ll go to the roof of the main hall on Taiqing Peak!”
Yu Xizhi hadn’t expected him to take her seriously and could only wave him off helplessly.
“Go wherever you want. If there’s nothing else, stabilize your cultivation.”
Yi Zui glanced at Yu Xizhi, who looked more exhausted than when she’d been tossing talismans before the tribulation.
Unable to bear it, he took out a precious pill box from his storage bag and held it out to her.
“Second Senior Sister, this is a rare Tianshu Sanyuan Pill that my mother went to great lengths to obtain from Master Tan. There’s only one… why don’t you take it?”
“Which of your eyes saw her needing such a pill?” Xie Junzhi’s cold voice interjected before Yu Xizhi could respond.
“Is she missing an arm, a leg, or half her head?”
Yi Zui, stunned, hesitated before reluctantly pulling the box back.
“Junior master uncle is right. Second Senior Sister is perfectly fine. She doesn’t need it. I’ll just… go inform my mother and uncle first and then stabilize my realm. I’ll leave you two to rest!”
Yu Xizhi glared at Xie Junzhi but thought better of picking a fight with someone so ruthless.
If she vented her anger on him, he might retaliate by tormenting her with more sword energy.
She sighed and fished out a bottle, tossing it to Yi Zui.
“Take two of these to stabilize yourself, and give one to Huang Li.”
Yi Zui blinked.
“He’s only at the Foundation Establishment stage. Does he need it?”
“Whose pills are these, yours or mine? Just do as I say. Why are you talking so much nonsense?””
Yu Xizhi muttered tiredly.
“You were raised in a pool of spiritual treasures. Huang Li wasn’t. What, jealous now?”
Yi Zui dared not admit that he’d been slightly jealous earlier.
Mumbling an apology, he grabbed the bottle and ran off.
Halfway, he paused, feeling as though he’d forgotten something.
But the warm glow of his newly stabilized golden core distracted him.
Joyful, he hurried off to share the news, pushing the nagging thought aside.
Not far away, Huang Li and Cheng Luocen exchanged glances.
Huang Li thought that Yi Zui had been here for so long, and he had time to throw him the stabilizing pill; he must have said everything he needed to say.
Cheng Luocen, meanwhile, envied the pill, wondering if he could get one himself if he broke through during a match.
In the end, no one remembered to tell Yu Xizhi about the competition scheduled for the next day.
Exhausted and unbothered, the girl had little energy left for her usual meticulousness.
As she coughed herself to sleep leaning against the doorframe, her concerns drifted away like the dissipating tribulation clouds.
Sword intent surged and coursed through her meridians, cleansing them.
The girl already harbored a vast and boundless reservoir of spiritual energy within her, but it was so chaotic and dormant that she herself was completely unaware of it.
Only after she drifted into sleep did this energy tentatively emerge, clashing and intertwining with the sword intent swirling within her.
The collision of these forces deepened her pain.
Yet, as the sword intent and spiritual energy collided, the sword intent grew purer while the spiritual energy became denser.
Though her brows furrowed in discomfort, a hand stretched out, hesitated above her for a moment, then gently smoothed the furrow from her brow.
Orange Mimi crept closer, eyeing the exposed wound on her arm.
After a brief hesitation, it leaned down and licked the wound.
Instantly, the injury healed, and her skin returned to its smooth, unblemished state.
The cat prepared to lick again, but a hand abruptly seized the scruff of its neck, lifting it off the ground.
With an impassive expression, Xie Junzhi picked up the orange tabby and unceremoniously tossed it aside.
His face betrayed faint annoyance.
“When you clawed her to shreds last time, where was this sudden concern? What use is licking now?”
The orange tabby cat landed gracefully but bristled slightly, emitting a low “meow” of protest.
Seeing no one else around, Xie Junzhi seemed to recall something and turned to the cat.
“So, back then, she was able to enter my Heart Demon Realm because of you, wasn’t she?”
The cat’s round eyes widened, its whiskers twitching slightly as its ears drooped ever so slightly, betraying a hint of guilt despite its innocent expression, as though saying, “What does this have to do with me, Orange Mimi?”
Xie Junzhi, however, didn’t react with anger as the cat had feared.
Instead, a faint sigh escaped him.
In a rare gesture, he squatted down, pinching the scruff of the cat’s neck and giving its fur a few absent-minded strokes.
His tone was cold and tinged with self-mockery.
“You want out? So do I. You’re trapped here, and so am I. Even when venturing into the secret realm, I can only send those paper talismans twice. Utterly boring.”
As he spoke of dullness, his gaze shifted, and he cast a glance at the restless girl in her uneasy sleep—perhaps the only anomaly in his monotonous existence.
The sun, veiled by clouds, waned.
It sank further west, and night fell.
With darkness deepening and giving way to the pale light of dawn, Xie Junzhi remained by Yu Xizhi’s side, watching over her.
Gradually, the chaotic sword intent within her subsided, while the massive surge of spiritual energy that could have catapulted her to Grandmaster-level cultivation quietly retreated.
The young man rubbed his fingers together thoughtfully.
After a moment, he shook his head and murmured to himself, “Not reaching Grandmaster yet? Then there’s no rush.”
At Qianya Peak, all was silent.
The night before, Yi Zui had been running around in ecstatic celebration after forming his golden core.
Meanwhile, Huang Li and Cheng Luocen had spent the night practicing swordsmanship in the solitary forest.
By dawn, they had performed cleansing spells to freshen up and headed straight for the main venue of the Sword Selection Conference.
At the venue, the three crossed paths with a jubilant Yi Zui, who had just returned from Baiyu Pavillion.
The tournament opened with a ceremony, during which the sect master delivered an inspirational speech.
Disciples, both inner and outer, who rarely saw the sect master, listened with shining eyes, their hearts swelling with determination.
They felt their blood boil, ready to wield their swords for Kunwu.
The other four peaks bustled with activity.
Crowds filled the space, and the combined disciples of the inner and outer sects could have formed a circle around Ziyuan Peak twice over.
In stark contrast, Qianya Peak stood deserted and desolate.
Even its signboard was conspicuously newer than the others, clearly having been made recently.
The three huddled with their swords, half-listening to the speeches.
Cheng Luocen couldn’t shake the feeling of an overly intense gaze lingering on him.
He turned to look several times but couldn’t pinpoint its source in the sea of faces.
After the sect master’s speech and a reading of the tournament rules, barriers rose to divide the arenas, and spectators flooded into the seating areas.
Master Han of Ziyuan Peak waved his sleeve, conjuring four enormous black stone pillars with mirror-like smooth surfaces.
These displayed the changing rankings and match-ups for the tournament.
During the commotion, Yu Si slipped over to Yi Zui and whispered, “Who was the one who formed their golden core yesterday?”
Yi Zui grinned with pride.
“Senior Brother, surprised? I’ve reached Core Formation too. Just wait—when we face off, who knows who’ll come out on top!”
“Congratulations,” Yu Si replied, momentarily surprised it wasn’t Yu Xizhi.
He quickly composed himself, his smile returning as he gave Yi Zui an approving nod.
After ensuring the latter was unscathed, he asked, “And Xizhi? I recall she has a match today.”
“She should be here soon, right?”
Yi Zui turned to Huang Li.
“Didn’t she tell you she didn’t want to attend the opening ceremony?”
Huang Li blinked in confusion.
“Why would she tell me? Didn’t Senior Brother say you’d already notified her?”
The two exchanged glances, realization dawning simultaneously.
They stammered and turned to Cheng Luocen: “You… You told Second Senior Sister about today’s match, didn’t you?”
Cheng Luocen froze. “Didn’t Senior Brother Huang say Senior Brother Yi already told her?”
Yi Zui: …
Huang Li: …
We’re doomed.
