Chapter 012

Chapter 12: Fang He An Hacked to Death

Ye Wan Wan heard a sound and opened the door at once: “Second Senior Sister.”

Bai Jian paused mid knock and looked her over, then nodded with some satisfaction: “You’re up early. Come on, I’ll take you to morning class.”

Ye Wan Wan had already planned to listen to the day’s teaching. But Heavenly One Sect’s morning class was not like the Supreme Sect’s. They did not sit to hear lectures or breathe and meditate. Instead, they fought each other.

[Figures. Very special.]

Fang He An said with a straight face: “Junior Sister, you’ve got it wrong. This is sparring, just sparring among the same sect.”

Li Wan Zhi had already been dragged into the practice yard and started round two of training. His eyes, full of hope and begging for help, fell on Ye Wan Wan as he reached a hand toward her. But Fang He An pushed his hand back down.

Each joint that got pressed back felt like Li Wan Zhi’s plea for help being snuffed out.

Fang He An said calmly: “I’m an alchemist, not a body cultivator. If you can’t even take my punch, how will you cultivate in the future? Junior Brother Li, you need to train.”

Li Wan Zhi whimpered.

Ye Wan Wan watched as Fang He An led Li Wan Zhi through a few exchanges. Li Wan Zhi dodged in a rush, and within two moves he took a hit to the cheek. By the third or fourth move he was beaten badly. His foundation was clearly missing.

“He won’t die,” Bai Jian said from the side.

Ye Wan Wan turned and saw that Bai Jian had also changed into training clothes: “I’ll test your skills first.”

Ye Wan Wan nodded: “Alright. Please go easy on me, Senior Sister.”

They faced off. The winter morning air still held a bite of cold, but when the two girls’ eyes met, a few sparks seemed to fly, warming the practice yard. It wasn’t smoke of hostility. It was fighting spirit.

They moved fast. Their fists met with a thud. Power traveled from knuckles to wrist and up the arm, and Ye Wan Wan felt the full force of Bai Jian’s strength head on. For a moment she almost lost her footing and had to step back half a step before she stopped.

“So strong,” Ye Wan Wan said, her eyes bright with excitement.

Bai Jian’s eyes lit up too. After testing each other with the first punch, they started a second exchange. Wind hissed past their fists, skimming their knuckles.

Ye Wan Wan kept slipping aside, yet she could still catch Bai Jian’s sudden punches. Bai Jian’s attacks were simple but their paths were hard to predict.

Move after move, they kept going.

Three moves. Four. Five.

Their figures grew faster and heavier, fists landing solidly. The sounds of impact were so sharp that Fang He An and Li Wan Zhi stopped what they were doing and stared.

“I’ve never seen anyone last more than ten moves against the Great Devil without getting blasted across the yard,” Li Wan Zhi said, sitting on the ground with empty eyes. Only their flashing afterimages were reflected in his pupils.

Fang He An was shocked too. Among their peers, only the Eldest Senior Brother could match Bai Jian’s strength, and even he had said that at the same realm, without using spiritual power to shield the body and speaking only of raw force, he was not as strong as Second Senior Sister. But now there was another Junior Sister who could trade blows with her.

A genius. Good. Truly someone worthy of Heavenly One Sect.

When Ye Wan Wan and Bai Jian reached the eighteenth move, Ye Wan Wan said, “Stop,” and yielded.

Bai Jian’s fist hovered an inch from Ye Wan Wan’s chest. Her eyes were still shining, but she looked confused: “Why not continue?”

Ye Wan Wan smiled and admitted: “I concede, Second Senior Sister.”

“Why?” Bai Jian tilted her head.

Ye Wan Wan held out both fists. Only then did Bai Jian see that her hands were shaking.

“My hands hurt,” Ye Wan Wan said.

Fang He An stepped over, sucked in two breaths through his teeth, and said, “Hairline fractures, Second Senior Sister.”

Bai Jian’s face changed.

“It’s fine,” Ye Wan Wan said with a smile. “A bit of rest and I’ll be alright.”

Li Wan Zhi coughed weakly: “Hairline fractures and you say a bit of rest will do? You think you’re some kind of god, brothers? You’re just at the Qi Refining Stage. You’ll need at least two weeks.”

He paused, then fell into deep thought. Clever. Use the injury to skip morning class for two weeks. Why hadn’t he thought of that? If he’d known, he would have faked a serious injury earlier.

“Don’t even think about it, Junior Brother Li,” Fang He An said in a chilly tone. “Your body is different. You could die and still live.”

Li Wan Zhi: “…”

Ye Wan Wan: “…?”

[Die and still live? Is he unkillable?]

Bai Jian took Ye Wan Wan to put on medicine, and Fang He An dragged a sniffling Li Wan Zhi back to finish morning class.

“I didn’t control my strength,” Bai Jian said, eyes full of regret.

“It’s alright, Second Senior Sister,” Ye Wan Wan comforted her. “I really will be fine soon.”

Bai Jian glanced at Ye Wan Wan and asked carefully: “When you’re better, will you still spar with me?”

So that was it. Ye Wan Wan laughed: “Yes.”

Bai Jian let out a breath of relief. She only had one partner who could keep up with her, Li Yan. But Li Yan wasn’t here, and no one else could be her match. If she lost her partner for morning class, it would be rough.

Injured, Ye Wan Wan sat to the side and watched Bai Jian and Fang He An put Li Wan Zhi through drills. As she observed, Li Wan Zhi’s body really was special. No matter how they beat him, his injuries healed quickly. His energy stayed full. The faster he fell, the faster he got back up. His improvement was visible to the eye. From only blocking three moves at first, he got to four, then five. Each session he added one or two moves, which didn’t look like much, but he never seemed to tire.

[In my last life, I didn’t know him well enough.]

After an hour of morning class, which for Li Wan Zhi was one sided beating, Bai Jian led everyone to the dining hall. Yan Ju wasn’t there, so the kitchen was cold and empty.

“Looks like Senior Uncle went down the mountain to work,” Fang He An said. “We still have some steamed buns from before. I’ll reheat them.”

Bai Jian went into the kitchen to help. Ye Wan Wan wanted to help too, but the two of them waved her off because of her injury.

Li Wan Zhi lay flat on the table and didn’t move, calling in a thin voice: “Food… food…”

Fang He An stacked five tiers of buns on the steamer and told Bai Jian: “Senior Sister, the bottom four tiers are yours. The top one is for us.”

Bai Jian nodded and squatted by the stove to feed the fire.

Ye Wan Wan looked at Bai Jian and thought of that flash that had crossed her mind the other day. With Bai Jian’s ability, how could she die so miserably? With her personality, whom could she offend? She was two or three years older than Ye Wan Wan, but her way of thinking seemed stuck at eleven or twelve. How could someone like Bai Jian end up dying a terrible death? Would no one else in Heavenly One Sect care?

Ye Wan Wan looked at Fang He An.

“Junior Sister, hungry?” Fang He An said as he handed her a flatbread. Ye Wan Wan reached out to take it, and the moment she did, a new vision hit her.

Fang He An, hacked to death.