Chapter 19
Chapter 19: Smart
He Zhen Tang stared at Jiang Li Sheng as if she’d personally offended him.
After a long pause, he sneered. “That swordsmanship was a mess. You didn’t use the phantom sword from the shadow-recording mirror at all. What did you learn in class yesterday? Don’t tell me you really were just staring because the sword was pretty.”
Jiang Li Sheng stayed silent, eyes lowered.
She had studied. Wei Qing Lan had given her a sword manual. But once she moved, her mind went blank, and everything vanished as if she’d never read a word.
Zhou Zhen Yan laughed, stepping in. “Senior Brother He, don’t be so harsh. I think it’s fine. Martial Niece Jiang wasn’t bewitched by glamour shadow—otherwise she couldn’t have taken that many moves from you. Look at An Ru Xu. He clearly studied seriously, and he still only took three moves.”
He shrugged. “Using their newly learned phantom sword to answer your phantom sword with endless variation isn’t exactly fair.”
Then he beckoned. “Martial Niece Jiang, come here.”
Jiang Li Sheng pushed herself up, brushed dust off her sleeves, and first went to help An Ru Xu.
An Ru Xu looked like he’d been run through a mill. He could barely breathe past the pain. Seeing Jiang Li Sheng standing there like nothing had happened, he nearly teared up. “Junior Sister Jiang… if I’d known, I wouldn’t have rushed in. I was completely useless.”
Jiang Li Sheng pulled out Heavenly Fragrance Pills and stuffed three into his mouth without hesitation. “Senior Brother An, think of it this way. After the instructor tested me, you were next anyway. Now you saved yourself.”
An Ru Xu froze. “…”
Was that really how it worked?
He swallowed the pills with difficulty, regulated his breath for a moment, then let Jiang Li Sheng support him back to his spot.
Zhou Zhen Yan watched with growing curiosity. “The Feng Yun Rankings list three thousand. By rights, if you can take more than twenty moves from Senior Brother He and remain unhurt, you shouldn’t be missing from the list entirely. What happened during the grand exam between the sects?”
Jiang Li Sheng’s ears turned red. “I was knocked off the platform in one move.”
Zhou Zhen Yan blinked. “Why? Did your sword shatter the moment it touched someone?”
Jiang Li Sheng rubbed her nose. “No. My sword was good. Master spent years finding it for me. It wouldn’t shatter no matter who I faced. The problem was me—I couldn’t take even one move.”
Zhou Zhen Yan frowned. “That doesn’t make sense. Who was your opponent?”
Jiang Li Sheng thought for a moment. “Tai Yi Sect Ye Xing Ci.”
Zhou Zhen Yan sputtered a laugh. “Ah—then you really were ‘lucky.’”
Ye Xing Ci was second on the Feng Yun Rankings—only one rank below Kun Lun Sect’s Wei Qing Lan.
He Zhen Tang sounded equally unimpressed. “Both are sect master personal disciples. Ye Xing Ci is only two years older than you. If I used this phantom sword on him, he could take a hundred moves.”
His gaze sharpened. “And you? Qing Xu Sect’s Jiang Li Sheng—you barely took twenty-some, and you did it like a disaster, messy and without form. Stupid. No wonder you couldn’t survive one move against Ye Xing Ci.”
Jiang Li Sheng lowered her head further.
Zhou Zhen Yan laughed as if to smooth it over. “All right, all right. Not everyone can be like Qing Lan and Ye Xing Ci. Geniuses are rare. If they don’t hold back, it’s truly difficult to take even one move.”
His eyes dropped to her storage pouch. “Why are you carrying so many swords? In case they break? You’re strange, you know. Fine, ordinary swords can’t withstand Senior Brother He’s phantom sword—but the sword he gave you was mid-grade. Why did it still shatter in your hands?”
Jiang Li Sheng flicked a glance at He Zhen Tang. He’d already turned away and begun testing the other disciples, even ordering them to come at him together. She lowered her voice. “My spiritual power is… special. If I use a sword, anything less than immortal-grade will shatter. When Master taught me, we broke countless swords. After endless effort, he finally found me an immortal-grade sword. After that, it stopped shattering. But I didn’t bring that sword to Kun Lun Sect.”
Zhou Zhen Yan’s interest sharpened. “Show me your spiritual power.”
He Zhen Tang waved him off. “If you’re that idle, you can test the remaining disciples.”
Zhou Zhen Yan grinned shamelessly. “I’m just curious. Martial Niece Jiang has already been tested. Let me study her a bit.”
He turned to Jiang Li Sheng. “Martial Niece Jiang, do you agree?”
Jiang Li Sheng nodded and stepped closer. Back at Qing Xu Sect, from her master to her martial uncles, plenty of people had “studied” her. None of them had found anything useful.
Zhou Zhen Yan said, “Use your spiritual power. Let me see.”
Jiang Li Sheng flexed her fingertips. Icy blue light spilled out, clear as frost.
Zhou Zhen Yan watched, puzzled. It looked… ordinary.
He pulled a sword from his storage ring and offered it to her. “Here. Slash at me.”
Jiang Li Sheng took it and swung. Zhou Zhen Yan lifted his sword to block, barely using strength and even holding back his spiritual power—
Crack.
The sword in Jiang Li Sheng’s hand shattered anyway.
Zhou Zhen Yan stared. “Well, that’s… your spiritual power looks normal, but it really is wicked.”
He rubbed his chin. “So only immortal-grade swords can handle you? What a high-class spiritual power—ordinary swords don’t deserve it?”
Jiang Li Sheng didn’t argue.
Zhou Zhen Yan brightened again. “Let me check your meridians. Is that all right?”
Jiang Li Sheng nodded.
He pressed two fingers to her wrist, listened with his senses, then withdrew with a deep frown. “They’re normal. What did your master say?”
Jiang Li Sheng sighed. “Master said I’m rotten wood that can’t be carved.”
Zhou Zhen Yan choked. “…No. I meant about your spiritual power.”
Jiang Li Sheng sighed again. “When Master first took me, he thought I had a heavenly spiritual root. But after he brought me back to Qing Xu Sect, within a month he realized my spiritual root was mixed—impure, messy, almost everything blended together. But by then he’d already boasted.”
Zhou Zhen Yan frowned harder. “But just now your spiritual power looked like a heavenly spiritual root. That icy blue is very pure.”
“You didn’t look closely,” Jiang Li Sheng said.
She released her spiritual power again, this time holding it longer, letting it drift closer—close enough that it hovered beneath Zhou Zhen Yan’s eyes.
Zhou Zhen Yan stared, unblinking. Only after a long moment did he finally see it: beneath the icy blue, there was a faint, shifting rainbow sheen.
Seven colors, hidden and sly.
He exhaled slowly. “So that’s it.”
Jiang Li Sheng withdrew her power.
Zhou Zhen Yan’s expression turned complicated. “Your master really hasn’t had it easy.”
Jiang Li Sheng nodded, sincere. Her master had raised her all these years while worrying day and night. He slept poorly, fretted constantly, and in the end refused to take a second disciple no matter who tried to persuade him.
Zhou Zhen Yan looked at her obedient nod and almost laughed. “Do you have any swords left?”
Jiang Li Sheng glanced at He Zhen Tang. He’d already turned away, testing the other disciples. She lowered her voice. “I saved one.”
Zhou Zhen Yan clicked his tongue in approval. “Smart.”