Chapter 72: Senior Brother, a Five-Good Youth
Xiao Yunluo sat down in the inner room with Ye Anping, her face filled with worry as she recounted the events of yesterday morning to him.
…
The dew had not yet dried, and the sun had just peeked over the mountains.
Outside the main gate of the Tianyun Peak Three-Bay House, Pei Lianxue held a bamboo sword, calmly demonstrating the first three forms of her Leaf Shadow Sword Art.
“Yunluo, watch closely.”
*Swish*
“First, like this.”
*Swoosh, swoosh*
“Then, like this…”
*Boom*
“And finally, like this!!”
Pei Lianxue exhaled a puff of white mist. She then walked over to the stunned Xiao Yunluo and gently asked:
“Did you learn it? This sword art was taught to me by my senior brother.”
To Xiao Yunluo, all she saw was Pei Lianxue swing her sword horizontally, slash vertically, and then thrust upwards. She saw nothing else.
She had previously learned the sword arts of the Xuan Xing Sect from an elder of Tianyun Peak.
The elder not only broke down movements and taught them step by step, but he also spent hours explaining the most crucial aspect of the sword art – the spiritual rhythm – to aid her comprehension.
Even so, ordinary disciples wouldn’t necessarily understand, and only exceptional disciples like Xiao Yunluo, who were both gifted and intelligent, could figure it out on their own later.
However, with Pei Lianxue, the complex spiritual rhythm and the detailed sword movements were simply reduced to “like this,” “then like this,” and “finally like this.”
Xiao Yunluo asked hesitantly, “Lian Xue, have I learned it?”
“Mhm,” Pei Lianxue nodded seriously. “Yunluo, I’ve demonstrated it for you fifteen times already.”
To save face, Xiao Yunluo had no choice but to nod:
“Then… then I’ve learned it.”
“Mhm, if you don’t understand anything, come ask me. I’m going to practice over there.”
…
As she reached this point, Xiao Yunluo felt utterly insignificant.
What did it matter that she was the Young Miss of the Xuan Xing Sect? What did her Heavenly Spiritual Root matter?
In front of Pei Lianxue, it all meant nothing.
When Ye Anping heard her reach this part, he felt a pang of shame. While it was understandable that Bai Yuexin might have been discouraged, Xiao Yunluo’s discouragement was completely unexpected.
However, only Xiao Yunluo’s discouragement was unexpected.
Ye Anping had anticipated her reason for coming.
Xiao Yunluo fidgeted with her fingers, looking Ye Anping in the eyes. “Young Master Ye, Lian Xue said you taught her sword art. Could you teach me?”
“Of course…”
Xiao Yunluo’s eyes lit up, but they were immediately doused with cold water by Ye Anping.
“No.”
Xiao Yunluo pursed her lips, letting out a breath that felt like relief yet also disappointment. “You’re right, I was overstepping. Goodbye…”
With that, Xiao Yunluo stood up, ready to leave.
However, seeing her rise, Ye Anping quickly added:
“Senior Sister Xiao, you’re heading in the wrong direction.”
“Direction?”
“Mhm,” Ye Anping nodded. “What you need to learn isn’t the sword art. You lack the ‘blood energy’ that my junior sister and Feng Yu Die have.”
“…Blood energy?” Xiao Yunluo’s eyes showed a trace of confusion. “What is that?”
“Neither my junior sister nor Feng Yu Die grew up in a beautiful garden like you. When they were children, they faced death countless times, fighting Demonic Beasts in the mountains and forests and surviving.”
Xiao Yunluo felt like she understood, yet she didn’t. She asked:
“Then… how should I practice?”
“Follow me.”
With that, Ye Anping picked up two blunt swords from a corner of the room and led the way out of the house, to the backyard of the physiotherapy center.
In the backyard, willow trees swayed with the wind. The fallen leaves on the ground seemed to sense their arrival and deliberately cleared a circular area.
Xiao Yunluo still didn’t know what Ye Anping was planning to do. “Young Master Ye, what are we doing?”
“Sparring with me.”
Ye Anping handed one of the blunt swords to her, then took the other and walked ten feet away, turning to face her.
“Sparring…”
Xiao Yunluo looked at the sword in her hand, then at Ye Anping ten feet away. After a moment’s hesitation, she assumed it was just practice, so she didn’t refuse, placing the blunt sword in her right hand.
“Okay!”
“Be careful not to die.”
“Die?”
The next instant, a loud bang echoed from the backyard!
*Boom—*
Ye Anping stepped forward, holding his long sword horizontally. With explosive force, he charged towards Xiao Yunluo, his sword tip aimed directly at her neck.
This was a killing blow.
If it were a Qi Refining Stage cultivator, even with a blunt sword, being hit would almost certainly be fatal.
However, it was also an extremely easy attack to dodge or block, as the sword path was incredibly simple – a direct thrust towards the center of the neck.
Whether it was by shifting her stance or parrying with her sword, anyone who had practiced swordplay could easily deflect it upon reacting.
Xiao Yunluo was capable of doing so.
However, in her eyes now, Ye Anping was like those thugs from the Seven Kill Gate she encountered at the back mountains of Xuan Xing Sect before.
She saw the ghastly killing intent in Ye Anping’s eyes. It was not a threat, but a genuine intent to kill her.
This was absolutely not a sparring match.
Why?
She couldn’t understand why Ye Anping wanted to kill her.
Xiao Yunluo’s pupils contracted into tiny points, her lips parted, but she couldn’t make a sound.
She could only watch as the tip of Ye Anping’s sword rapidly approached her neck.
“Die!!”
Ye Anping mercilessly declared Xiao Yunluo’s imminent death. At this point, even he couldn’t pull his sword back.
Only two futures were possible now. Either his sword would pierce Xiao Yunluo’s neck directly, or Xiao Yunluo would evade it with a sidestep or her sword.
However, perhaps Ye Anping had gambled correctly?
*Clang—*
At the last moment, Xiao Yunluo shifted her sword, blocking her neck. But due to her slightly delayed reaction, she couldn’t deflect Ye Anping’s thrust without injury.
The full force of Ye Anping’s power transferred through Xiao Yunluo’s sword to her wrist, and then to her entire body. Xiao Yunluo was sent flying backward, crashing into the nearby brick wall and leaving a dent.
“Cough—”
Watching Xiao Yunluo slide down the wall, Ye Anping simply swung his sword aside, exhaled lightly, and then walked up to her, extending his hand.
“How was it? Are you accustomed to it yet? If not, we’ll do it again.”
Xiao Yunluo was dazed for a moment before coming back to her senses. She then gripped her sword tightly and lunged at him, but Ye Anping dodged with a twist of his body.
“Do you want to kill me?!”
Having experienced a brush with death, Xiao Yunluo was furious. She glared at Ye Anping and roared.
However, Ye Anping merely sighed and said, “Aren’t you still alive?”
“Do you know that if I had been a little slower…”
Ye Anping interrupted, “But in reality, you weren’t dead.”
Xiao Yunluo gritted her teeth, looking at him, and shouted, “What if? What if I hadn’t blocked it? That sword strike could have taken my life instantly!!”
“There’s no ‘what if’,” Ye Anping shrugged and encouraged, “I believe you could block it. You are Xiao Yunluo.”
—Just kidding.
Ye Anping did not actually believe Xiao Yunluo. He believed in Si Xuanji and the protective spell Si Xuanji had placed on her.
Earlier at the back mountains of Xuan Xing Sect, he had worried that Liang Zhu and the others might force out Xiao Yunluo’s protective spell and attract Si Xuanji. It was precisely because he knew Xiao Yunluo had the protective spell that he dared to strike at her with his sword. And it was precisely because Xiao Yunluo was unaware she had the protective spell that she felt fear. Ye Anping was a five-good youth and never gambled.
…
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PS: Apologies for the late update. I rewrote this chapter seven times, and finally, I have one I’m somewhat satisfied with. From now on, updates will be around 11 PM, with 2-3 chapters.
