Second Senior Sister Has A Highly Dangerous Profession - Chapter 67
Chapter 67
He spoke lightly, but it seemed the Ten-Mile Lonely Forest had heard his voice.
Though the branches were dry and leafless, buds were sprouting in tender green, emerald green, and deep green hues.
The night was heavy and dark, looking down from above, one could see only a wave of swaying buds like rolling tides.
In the past, they had assumed this lonely forest merely bore the marks of sword energy and sword intent from Qianya Peak, a place so inhospitable that not even grass could grow.
Huang Li had gone to great lengths, pouring all his lifetime knowledge of farming into making a few acres of farmland atop the peak bear crops.
So this Ten-Mile Lonely Forest was likely the woodland that had managed to survive under the harsh sword intent.
Yet now, everyone was struggling to stay steady on their swords, and none dared gaze at the forest’s sword intent again for fear it might burn their eyes.
Yu Xizhi suddenly recalled that night when the little twig had escorted her back to Muyong Peak.
No wonder the twig had been so spirited and full of fighting will.
At the noodle shop entrance, just as she’d wanted to draw her sword, the twig had jumped into her hand on its own.
Then her brows furrowed slightly as another thought struck her.
She had casually used that twig as a hairpin…wasn’t that the same as sticking Xie Junzhi’s life-bonded sword into her hair?
And the time she had missed the arena competition, she’d just snapped off a twig and gone…mainly because Xie Junzhi always used twigs to spar with her.
So she had done the same, out of habit.
But he had been using his life-bonded sword.
Even if he stripped this whole forest bare, it was his right.
What right did she have to snap one off so casually?
Yu Xizhi felt her storage pouch, the one holding the twig, growing warm.
She reached out to quietly retrieve it, but felt too embarrassed.
Cheng Luocen and Yi Zui’s expressions had already changed.
Back when they trained, they had practically explored every inch of Qianya Peak especially this Ten-Mile Lonely Forest, whose trees couldn’t even be cut by sword wind or energy.
It had been their favorite training ground.
Now it all made sense.
No wonder the forest was so tough, it turned out they had been running wild on their little junior uncle’s life-bonded sword?
The three of them had the same thought pop into their heads at the same time:
They had some nerve.
Once they passed the Ten-Mile Lonely Forest, arriving at the peak of Qianya took no time at all.
The aroma of beef soup mixed with scallions spread through the air.
From afar, Huang Li spotted the group.
As they landed, the bowls were already set on the table.
He had just finished tossing chopped scallions and garlic sprouts into each bowl and was turning to grab chopsticks.
The noodles smelled amazing, especially for those who had just fought ten rounds in the arena and were utterly exhausted.
Normally, they would have rushed up together in a frenzy, and Yi Zui would even steal a couple slices of braised beef from both Huang Li and Cheng Luocen’s bowls.
Because of that, Huang Li had secretly stuffed two extra slices of beef into his and Cheng Luocen’s bowls.
But after waiting a while, Huang Li saw the three at the cliffside with pale and conflicted expressions.
Only their little junior uncle walked steadily toward the table, sat down casually, and picked up his chopsticks.
“What’s wrong with you all? Come eat noodles,” Huang Li said, puzzled.
Yu Xizhi remembered the little twig in the mountain cave that she was too lazy to retrieve.
She took a step back, let out an awkward laugh, and said, “You all eat first.”
Yi Zui and Cheng Luocen looked at each other, then braced themselves and stepped forward. Yi Zui spoke dryly, “Little junior uncle, um… back then, we didn’t know…”
“It’s nothing,” Xie Junzhi said as he lifted a mouthful of noodles and gently blew on the rising steam.
“What was in the past shall remain so in the future; there’s no need to be concerned.”
Huang Li, completely clueless, asked, “Concerned about what?”
Yi Zui pulled Huang Li aside and lowered his voice to explain the situation.
As expected, Huang Li’s expression turned to shock.
“A life-bonded sword… can not be a sword?”
“Tch, it’s one thing if someone else asks, but your life-bonded weapon is a hoe; wake up,” Yi Zui grimaced.
“Can you really treat Little Junior Uncle’s life-bonded sword like everyone else’s? If you don’t get it, don’t blurt it out.”
The group sat down in silence, picking at their noodles distractedly, their hearts clearly not in it.
Though Yi Zui spoke with confidence, he too felt uneasy inside.
Truthfully, he didn’t understand either.
He thought about asking his uncle why a whole forest could be a life-bonded sword, but feared it might be some secret that shouldn’t be spoken of.
Meanwhile, the old man’s remnant soul in Cheng Luocen’s mind wore a smug look, saying, “I knew it. I always felt there was something odd about the sword energy in that forest. But the sword intent on Qianya Peak is so scattered and chaotic. Only something like this kind of sword energy could suppress it. That boy really is… hiding his strength.”
Cheng Luocen kept his eyes lowered, eating his noodles, and asked internally, “Can a forest be a life-bonded sword? Was it originally a forest, or did the sword fall and become a forest?”
The old soul was, for the first time, at a loss for words.
After a long pause, he muttered, “If you want to know, just ask him. How would I know? This kind of sword…I’ve never seen one before either. Hmph!”
“You call yourself all-knowing, and even you don’t know?”
“You do know it’s just a claim, right?” the old soul snapped.
“The world is vast, who truly dares claim they know everything? But you still have to allow old men like us to put on a bit of a show and boast now and then!”
While the group absentmindedly ate their noodles, Yu Xizhi had already arrived at the cave entrance.
Every time she came here before, Xie Junzhi had always walked ahead, and she followed behind.
…And afterward, she didn’t even know how she got out of the cave.
Most likely, she’d either been carried or dragged.
Whatever the case, she always felt that Xie Junzhi, walking ahead, had borne the brunt of the sword intent for her.
Today, she had faced ten opponents in a row.
Though their cultivation levels were lower than hers, she hadn’t relied on her realm to overpower them.
Aware of her lack of combat experience, she had treated each fight seriously, suppressing her cultivation to match her opponent’s.
As a result, she was now thoroughly exhausted.
But this kind of exhaustion was one she was familiar with…like the many late nights she had spent practicing swordsmanship.
She had trained into the deep of night countless times, from when the moon rose above the treetops, to when it sank beneath the mountains and the morning sun began to rise.
Yet she had never once faced these sword intents alone.
Her instinct told her to shrink back.
The memory of being mercilessly battered by the sword energy replayed in her mind with almost hallucinatory pain.
But under the beautiful moonlight, among scattered stars, she spotted a familiar little twig—quietly lying inside the cave.
If it were just a twig, lying there would be nothing special.
But that was Xie Junzhi’s life-bonded sword.
His life-bonded sword should not, and could not, be left behind in a night where no one would notice.
Yu Xizhi drew Yanxiao, took a deep breath, and stepped into the cave.
Familiar, fierce sword wind swept toward her.
She raised her sword and lowered her body.
Yanxiao burst forth with a sharp and brilliant sword intent, clashing head-on with the sword wind inside the cave.
If someone were watching nearby at this moment, they would be stunned to see that the sword energy and battle intent radiating from this young girl were so fierce and domineering, it was as if she were a completely different person from the one who had fought in the arena matches.
She held nothing back with her strikes, fluid and unrestrained.
The fourth form of Taiqing Moon Gazing was originally a gentle tap of the sword repeated dozens of times, but as she wielded Yanxiao to block the sword energy in the cave, her light taps moved with such speed that they left afterimages!
She took a step forward and unleashed another flurry of strikes.
Some of the sword intents resembled those within the cave, while others were techniques she had just learned earlier that day.
Sword shadows danced wildly.
The clouds that had veiled the moon began to scatter, and the sword light seemed almost ready to shatter the moonlight itself.
Her hair was disheveled, and even the Tianzhao hairpin could no longer hold her long locks in place.
Her sleeves and hems were shredded by the sword energy.
The force of it crashed down like waves, slamming against her again and again.
She could no longer hold on and coughed up a mouthful of blood, yet she still stepped forward.
From the entrance of the cave to the spot where the little twig lay, there were only seven steps.
But for Yu Xizhi, these seven steps seemed to drain all the strength she had in her life.
There were sixty-six kinds of sword intent within the cave.
In the past, with Xie Junzhi shielding her from half of them, she had only seen and learned the remaining half.
Until this moonlit night, she finally saw the other half.
On the stone walls of the cave, sword intent was deeply etched.
Each one came from a once dazzling and peerless swordmaster.
Some had gained enlightenment here, some had broken through their limits, and others had sat here in silence for a hundred years, turning white overnight—only to take one step into true freedom.
But today, the girl who charged in recklessly came only to retrieve a single dry twig.
She took one more step.
Then another.
A storm raged around her, wild winds and violent waves.
The girl’s eyes were bright, and the light of her sword even brighter!
As the cave lit up with sword light, so did she.
When the sword light soared into the sky, she followed it upward with ease.
She had spent nearly a full year learning the first thirty-three sword forms, ever since the first time Xie Junzhi threw her into this cave.
But the latter thirty-three, she had mastered them all in a single night.
Meanwhile, Huang Li had waited a long time.
Seeing that a bowl of beef noodles was starting to get soggy and the soup was growing cold, he muttered to himself, Could my cooking have worsened? Even beef noodles can’t tempt Second Senior Sister anymore?…and in the end, he reluctantly helped himself to another bowl.
Under the moon, on the west tower, at Qianya Peak, some tossed and turned all night, unable to sleep because of the Ten-Mile Lonely Forest; some sat cross-legged in meditation, hoping to one day become True Immortal; and some scrubbed pots and washed bowls, preparing for the next day’s matches.
And in the forest, a white-robed figure stood among the trees.
His pale hand lightly stroked the bark of a tree.
With eyes half closed, he could sense the overwhelming sword intent filling the mountain.
Even his own sword intent had been stirred into restlessness by the sword enegry in the back mountain cave.
Swords in the Sword Tomb clanged wildly, as if thirsting for battle.
“So noisy,” the youth said coldly, though there was a faint smile in his eyes.
But as soon as he spoke, the clamor in the Sword Tomb abruptly ceased, as if stifled in unwilling surrender…daring not to rebel.
The sword cries faded, the aura subsided, and the entire mountain fell into silence except for the small cave, where blades still howled and clashed.
At some unknown point, Ju’er had crept out and circled around his feet twice, then looked up at him.
Xie Junzhi, for once in a good mood, squatted down and reached out to pat Ju’er’s head.
“Did you know she’d reach this point one day, so you went to dig her out? Or was it just coincidence? If you did it on purpose… then I really underestimated you.”
Ju’er’s eyes darted around nervously, its whiskers twitching slightly.
Well, since you’ve said it like that, it thought, of course I have to say I did it on purpose. What else am I supposed to say? That she tried to pat my head and I retaliated in self-defense?
And if I said that, and someone asked why anyone could even reach my head, what am I supposed to say then? That I lost myself because the cat rice balls were too delicious, and actually thought I was a real cat? Is being a cat really that great?
…
In the east, a faint light shimmered.
It was already dawn.
The sun rose in a hazy blur, and the morning glow was as dreamlike and magnificent as a painting.
In the distance, mountains and lakes reflected each other in a patchwork of color and light.
Yu Xizhi finally severed all the sword intents and stepped out the final step.
She was nearly exhausted.
There was blood at the corners of her lips, and her chest was stained red across her clothes.
Her whole body trembled slightly, yet she still forced herself to bend down and reach for the little twig.
But the twig suddenly leapt up on its own and landed steadily in her hand.
Entering the cave to retrieve the twig was only half the journey.
Yu Xizhi took a breath, gripped the twig tightly, and turned around.
Light streamed into the cave, veiling the sword aura in a soft mist, casting a hazy glow upon the disheveled girl.
She lifted the twig and stepped forward.
It had taken her seven full steps and an entire night to enter this cave.
But to walk out of it, she only needed one step and one sword stroke.
One twig gathered all the sword intents within the cave.
The layered sword intents inside the cave were shattered by a single strike.
The girl, holding the twig, leapt out, her figure pausing in midair, black hair flying—
Then continued her way toward the mountain peak.
Within the cave, there had originally been sixty-six kinds of sword intent.
But if one were to look closely now, there was one more sword mark etched into the stone wall.
