Chapter 13
Chapter 13: Such a Beautiful Sword
Zhao Ke Xin saw An Ru Xu and Jiang Li Sheng trading looks, and anger flared in her chest. She marked Jiang Li Sheng down again, silently.
He Zhen Tang stood on the platform and looked at An Ru Xu with open contempt. “What kind of garbage have you been learning? Embarrassing.”
Then his voice turned harder. “Today we won’t study rules. Everyone will learn the move I just used. Tomorrow we test outside the hall. Anyone who can’t take it ends up like An Ru Xu.”
A chill passed through the room.
An Ru Xu sucked in air, ribs aching. The Discipline Hall wasn’t training—it was a furnace. He’d thought the first day meant all days would be easy. What a joke.
No wonder no one dared break the rules. Instructor He was a devil.
He wanted to spit up the Yuan Hu he’d swallowed. He didn’t want to stay here anymore. Was it still possible to back out?
Obviously not.
He could only grit his teeth, circulate his breath to steady his battered spiritual palace, and stare at He Zhen Tang like staring might somehow keep him alive.
He Zhen Tang produced a mirror.
Inside it, there was no face—only a sword, flipping and darting through empty air as if it were a recorded ghost. Cold light flashed with every turn. One strike could split mountains and seas. One strike could blot out sun and moon.
The moment the blade moved, the bright weather in the mirror collapsed. Snow poured down in a blink. The sword-shadow accelerated until it became a storm, the blade itself vanishing into the blizzard. You couldn’t see the sword anymore—only the wind’s scream and the way vast sheets of snow were shredded into powder and drifted down like ash.
A sword like that…
A sword like that…
An Ru Xu’s breathing nearly stopped.
One new disciple couldn’t endure the violent surge in his spiritual palace and fainted on the spot.
Zhao Ke Xin and Zhu Wen Yin’s faces paled as they forced themselves to hold on, jawlines tight.
Only Jiang Li Sheng stood out.
From the platform, He Zhen Tang looked down and saw her staring at the shadow-recording mirror, eyes wide and fixed. She looked almost dazed, almost empty. If not for that unblinking focus, he might have thought her soul had wandered off somewhere else entirely.
An Ru Xu suddenly coughed up another mouthful of blood and folded toward the floor.
Zhao Ke Xin and Zhu Wen Yin didn’t move this time. They couldn’t. The sword inside the mirror pinned their minds in place.
Jiang Li Sheng moved anyway.
Her eyes never left the mirror, but her hand shot out and caught An Ru Xu before he hit the ground. With her free hand she yanked out the bottle of Heavenly Fragrance Pills Jin Wang Chou had given her, poured out two without hesitation, and stuffed them into An Ru Xu’s mouth.
He swallowed them messily. This time he couldn’t even force out a thank you—opening his mouth made him feel like he would vomit blood again.
In the mirror, the final move ended. The snow stopped. The wind fell silent. A sword stood upright, perfectly still.
He Zhen Tang put the mirror away and swept his gaze over the hall. Most people were unconscious. A handful remained upright, but they were bleeding—Zhao Ke Xin and Zhu Wen Yin among them.
Only one person seemed untouched.
Jiang Li Sheng’s gaze followed the mirror as it vanished. She looked… fine.
He Zhen Tang asked, “What did you think?”
Jiang Li Sheng blinked, stood up, and answered with bright sincerity, “Instructor, that sword is really beautiful.”
He Zhen Tang stared at her.
He almost laughed from sheer irritation. “That’s all you saw? That the sword is beautiful?”
“The snow was beautiful too,” Jiang Li Sheng added, as if offering a helpful detail.
He Zhen Tang drew in a long breath. “And?”
Jiang Li Sheng thought hard, then scratched her head. “Such a pretty sword… why doesn’t it have a pretty tassel?”
For a heartbeat He Zhen Tang looked like he might draw his own blade and shave her.
He held it back with visible effort. “Jiang Li Sheng. I’m asking you about the sword move.”
She shrank slightly, then switched to the answer she knew he wanted. “The sword art is exquisite. The spiritual method is beyond ordinary. Whoever swung that blade could stir heaven and earth and change the very sky.”
He Zhen Tang’s voice stayed sharp. “Someone your age.”
Jiang Li Sheng froze.
“You’re the same age as Wei Qing Lan,” He Zhen Tang said, merciless. “You’re both the sect master’s personal disciple. Look at him, then look at you. Tell me—are you even presentable?”
Jiang Li Sheng lowered her head. “No,” she said softly.
He Zhen Tang snorted and walked out, not sparing another glance for the bodies on the floor.
Only when he was gone did Jiang Li Sheng let out a breath.
So it was Wei Qing Lan’s sword.
Yesterday at the Forbidden Grounds, he had drawn it to save her, and she hadn’t even noticed how striking it was.
She looked around the hall, then focused on An Ru Xu. “Senior Brother An, are you okay?”
He was sitting up, but his spiritual palace churned like a stormy sea. Even with the pills pressing it down, the pain still sat deep in him.
After a long moment he managed, “Junior Sister Jiang… why are you fine?”
Jiang Li Sheng scratched her head, genuinely puzzled. “Maybe I’m too dumb to grasp anything deeper. I only see the surface, so it doesn’t stir my spiritual palace at all?”
An Ru Xu eyed her like she’d just claimed to be immune to fire. “Seriously?”
“My master tried all kinds of methods to stimulate my spiritual palace,” Jiang Li Sheng said honestly. “Hardly anything worked. Eventually my master gave up and called me rotten wood that couldn’t be carved.”
An Ru Xu didn’t know whether to laugh or curse. He was dying in pain, and she was standing there untouched. It was maddening.
“Give me another Heavenly Fragrance Pill,” he said bluntly.
She handed him one. He swallowed it, closed his eyes, and regulated his breath until his face regained a trace of color.
“I’ll repay you later,” he said hoarsely.
Jiang Li Sheng nodded.
Zhao Ke Xin and Zhu Wen Yin had taken pills as well and steadied themselves. They wiped the blood from their lips and approached An Ru Xu.
“Senior Brother An, are you okay? We still have Heavenly Fragrance Pills.”
“No need,” An Ru Xu said. “I already got some from Junior Sister Jiang.”
He turned to Zhao Ke Xin. “Thank you for the pill earlier. I’ll repay you.”
Zhao Ke Xin’s gaze flicked to Jiang Li Sheng, annoyance tightening her mouth, but her voice stayed soft. “It was only one Heavenly Fragrance Pill. I have plenty.”
“I’m still repaying it,” An Ru Xu insisted. “A proper senior brother doesn’t take advantage of a junior sister for free.”
His eyes swept the room, worry sinking in. “What do we do about everyone else? Do we send them to the Medical Hall? Heavenly Fragrance Pills can’t be fed to the whole hall, and a single pill won’t fix the ones who’ve fainted.”
Zhu Wen Yin spoke up, practical. “We should ask the Medical Hall physician to come.”
She turned to Jiang Li Sheng. “Junior Sister Jiang, out of all of us, only you’re fine. Can you fly to the Medical Hall and bring a physician?”
Jiang Li Sheng nodded. “Okay.”
An Ru Xu’s brows pulled together. “Don’t get lost. I’ll go with you.”
Zhao Ke Xin grabbed him. “Senior Brother An, your injury isn’t healed—don’t move around. Let Junior Sister Jiang go herself. It’s such a small thing; does she really need someone to hold her hand? If she can get lost inside Kun Lun Sect, what happens during training? She’ll enter a secret realm and never come out.”
Jiang Li Sheng kept her temper. “Senior Brother An, it’s fine. I can find the way.”
But An Ru Xu shook Zhao Ke Xin off, stubborn to the bone. “I still need to buy Heavenly Fragrance Pills. I’m going with Junior Sister Jiang.”
He looked at Zhao Ke Xin and Zhu Wen Yin. “Sorry to trouble you two junior sisters. Please watch the junior brothers and junior sisters here.”
Then he seized Jiang Li Sheng’s sleeve. “Junior Sister Jiang, carry me. Go.”
Jiang Li Sheng stared at him, speechless.
She could already feel the hatred she was about to collect.