Chapter 17
Chapter 17: Don’t Want to Talk to You
After Ying Zong Yu left, Zhou Zhen Yan finally released a long breath, as if he’d been holding it in his lungs the entire time.
In Kun Lun Sect, there were two people among his peers who were famously hard to deal with: He Zhen Tang of Heaven Sword Peak, and Ying Zong Yu of the Medical Hall. And of course—he happened to work in the Discipline Hall, the place that dealt with both of them most.
He turned to Jiang Li Sheng. “What did Hall Master Ying want you to do?”
Jiang Li Sheng explained obediently.
Zhou Zhen Yan’s eyes narrowed with thought. “You can help heal Wei Qing Lan’s spiritual palace injury?”
Jiang Li Sheng shook her head. “I don’t know if I can help. Hall Master Ying said he wants to study me.”
Zhou Zhen Yan laughed. “He’s not exactly polite. And you’re far too easy to agree.”
Then he studied her more closely. “You watched the shadow-recording mirror today and weren’t hurt at all?”
Jiang Li Sheng nodded.
Zhou Zhen Yan looked even more intrigued. “Then the rumors aren’t reliable. You are Sect Master Yu’s personal disciple, after all—so you do have ability.”
Jiang Li Sheng grew embarrassed and admitted quietly, “I wasn’t affected because… I probably only saw the surface. I don’t have insight.”
“What do you mean?”
She lowered her head. “Senior Brother Wei’s sword was very pretty.”
Zhou Zhen Yan blinked—then burst out laughing. “Back to the simple truth. Yes, it’s pretty.”
His amusement softened into something almost approving. “Swordsmanship with glamour shadow added drags people into an illusion. The ones who get charmed aren’t watching the sword anymore—they’re lost in the phantom realm it builds. But it’s swordsmanship. Strip away the false and what’s left is the sword itself. You kept your eyes on the sword. That’s not nothing.”
Jiang Li Sheng looked up. It was the first time she’d ever been praised like that, and her eyes brightened. “Thank you, Hall Master Zhou.”
She waited—just a little, hopeful for more.
Zhou Zhen Yan, unfortunately, didn’t notice. He waved them off with a grin. “All right. Go back and rest.”
Jiang Li Sheng didn’t press. She nodded and looked to An Ru Xu.
An Ru Xu mounted his sword. “Junior Sister Jiang, let’s go.”
They returned to their residence. The moment they landed, Zhao Ke Xin and Zhu Wen Yin emerged from their courtyard and stopped them.
“Senior Brother An, Junior Sister Jiang,” Zhao Ke Xin called. “You’re finally back.”
Jiang Li Sheng acted as if she hadn’t heard a single word. She turned and slipped straight into her own yard, shutting herself away with the speed of someone fleeing trouble.
An Ru Xu was a beat too slow. He cursed himself inwardly for not being as quick-witted. With no escape left, he could only turn and greet them. “Junior Sister Zhao. Junior Sister Zhu. We were delayed at the Medical Hall.”
Zhao Ke Xin’s gaze flicked to Jiang Li Sheng’s closed gate, irritation flashing through her eyes, then she focused on An Ru Xu. “You only went to the Medical Hall. Why did it take half a day? What happened?”
An Ru Xu’s scalp prickled. Wei Qing Lan’s return to the sect, the demon snakes, the spiritual palace injury—those weren’t things he could casually spread around.
So he grabbed the first safe excuse. “I needed to buy Heavenly Fragrance Pills. Today the Medical Hall only had Hall Master Ying. He rushed off to treat the injured from the Discipline Hall, so we had to wait for him to return. The injuries were difficult, so… we waited a long time.”
Zhao Ke Xin gave a small snort. “You’re the one buying pills, not Junior Sister Jiang. Why did she wait with you? She’s really kind.”
An Ru Xu forced a smile. “Yes. Junior Sister Jiang has a good heart. She couldn’t just leave me there alone.”
Zhao Ke Xin’s lips tightened as if she wanted to say more, but Zhu Wen Yin tugged her sleeve and stepped in smoothly.
“Senior Brother An,” Zhu Wen Yin said, “about the swordsmanship on the shadow-recording mirror—Instructor He said he’ll test us tomorrow. How much did you understand? We should practice, or we’ll be injured again.”
An Ru Xu nodded. “I understood about fifty percent.”
“Same,” Zhu Wen Yin said. “Junior Sister is about the same too. Why don’t we practice together? Maybe three of us can piece it together faster.”
An Ru Xu didn’t particularly want to spend more time with them. His eyes drifted to Jiang Li Sheng’s yard. The gate was shut. He extended his senses—her room door was shut, too.
Another day where Junior Sister Jiang didn’t come out to practice sword.
She could skip practice; she didn’t seem afraid of being beaten. But he couldn’t.
Alone, he really was worse off than three people working together.
He swallowed his reluctance. “Fine. We’ll practice together.”
Inside her room, Jiang Li Sheng lay down, listening to the faint ring of blades next door. Sleep rolled over her like warm fog, and she drifted off.
A short while later, she jolted awake, sat up, and pulled out the sword manual Wei Qing Lan had given her.
She had to read it—otherwise how would she pass tomorrow?
She strongly suspected Instructor He would test her first again, just like yesterday’s recitation of rules. She couldn’t afford to be caught unprepared.
So she dragged herself upright and forced her eyes across the lines, continuing from where she’d left off at the Medical Hall.
If her master saw her now, he would be shocked by this sudden, earnest study. In the past, she’d fall asleep the moment she opened a sword manual. And if she did practice, she’d forget every move the second she raised her blade, swinging like a child hacking at air.
But now she didn’t have that luxury.
Jiang Li Sheng kept reading until midnight. She finished the entire manual, then, terrified she would forget, replayed each move and stance in her mind—again and again—until she’d run through it three full times.
Only then did she set it down and fall asleep, her head tilting to one side.
The next morning, An Ru Xu called for her as usual.
Jiang Li Sheng stumbled out, yawning hard. “Morning, Senior Brother An.”
An Ru Xu stared. “Didn’t you go to bed early? Why do you look like you didn’t sleep at all?”
Right on cue, Zhao Ke Xin pushed open her gate. Hearing that, she answered for Jiang Li Sheng with a sharp smile. “Junior Sister Jiang probably didn’t sleep. Who knows what she locked herself inside to do. Isn’t that right, Junior Sister Jiang?”
Jiang Li Sheng glanced at her. She was so tired her eyelids felt glued together. She didn’t bother replying.
Zhao Ke Xin’s temper flared instantly. “Junior Sister Jiang, I’m talking to you.”
Jiang Li Sheng stepped onto her sword. “Senior Sister Zhao, I don’t want to talk to you.”
Zhao Ke Xin’s face turned cold. “What an attitude.”
Jiang Li Sheng shot away with a soft whoosh, not sparing her another look.
Zhao Ke Xin’s breath hitched. In the next instant, she struck—silent qi slicing through the air toward Jiang Li Sheng’s sword.
Crack.
The blade shattered. Jiang Li Sheng dropped off her sword, landed with practiced steadiness, and turned back. Her face was blank, her gaze fixed on Zhao Ke Xin as if she were looking at something ordinary and unpleasant.
Zhao Ke Xin smiled sweetly. “Junior Sister Jiang, that’s what you get for being rude. Look—your sword can’t stand it either.”
Jiang Li Sheng didn’t answer.
Zhao Ke Xin mounted her sword and called out brightly, “Senior Brother An, Senior Sister—let’s go.”
And then she copied Jiang Li Sheng, vanishing with another whoosh.
Jiang Li Sheng lifted her hand and sent her own stream of qi after Zhao Ke Xin’s sword—clean, direct, and not even disguised.
Zhao Ke Xin sensed it, but she didn’t think it mattered. Her sword was a good one. She was skilled. What could Jiang Li Sheng possibly do?
Then—
Crack.
Her sword split apart mid-flight. Zhao Ke Xin, completely unprepared, shrieked and toppled from the air.