Chapter 13

Chapter 13: Third Junior Brother Shen Yue

Li Shuang turned and looked calmly at the newcomers. Shen Yue and Ye Zhao Zhao. This was her former Third Junior Brother, now Ling Xu Peak’s second disciple, Shen Yue.

Shen Yue was a small but noted talent in the Sword Sect’s Way of the Sword. When he joined, he showed great skill with the sword. Li Shuang taught him on behalf of the master. She taught him everything, corrected every mistake, and helped him improve with patience.

After only three years, Shen Yue became known among the lower-ranked disciples as a Way of the Sword prodigy. At first, he was very grateful to her. Then Ye Zhao Zhao arrived. Li Shuang did not know what happened, but Shen Yue suddenly decided that his fame came only from his own natural gifts. Outsiders saying his sword work was taught by Li Shuang became an insult to him. When she tried to guide him, he often grew impatient. After Li Shuang’s realm stalled and she lost the glow of the Heaven’s Proud Daughter, Shen Yue stopped respecting her and grew closer to Ye Zhao Zhao, who did nothing but flatter him.

In the past, Li Shuang had felt deep pain at Shen Yue’s change. Now, her heart was calm as still water.

Luo Ming Yue clenched her fists: “What are you barking about?”

Shen Yue pushed further with a provoking look: “First Senior Sister? No, I spoke wrong. I should call you a traitor to the sect.”

He stared hard at Li Shuang. He had been in seclusion for a few days. When he came out, he heard that Li Shuang refused to admit her fault and even left to join Emotionless Peak. He had wanted to go settle accounts with her right away, but his Junior Sister told him to calm down. She said the First Senior Sister must have her reasons.

Reasons? What reasons? She looked just fine now.

Ye Zhao Zhao noticed Li Shuang behind Luo Ming Yue and her face lit up. She had not gotten any negative emotions from Li Shuang for days, and her training had completely stalled. At Ling Xu Peak she wore the mask of a peerless genius. She almost never met a bottleneck and improved every day. But these last few days, she did not move at all. While training with several Senior Brothers, they all could connect to heaven and earth’s energy. She alone could not draw even a thread. They asked if she had something on her mind. She pushed the blame onto Li Shuang, saying Li Shuang had upset her mood and she could not train. That was how she covered the truth.

Ye Zhao Zhao had been fretting over how to get to Emotionless Peak to see Li Shuang and pluck more negative emotions from her. Now Li Shuang had delivered herself.

“What traitor? If you cannot speak right, do you want me to teach you how to talk?” Luo Ming Yue said.

Li Shuang’s voice was calm: “The Sect Master witnessed it. Two Peak Masters agreed. I also chose it myself. What, Shen Yue, are you unhappy with that?”

Seeing Li Shuang put away her items, Shen Yue’s face changed: “Those things. Are you planning to use them to curry favor with these people?”

In the past, Li Shuang gave all her resources to the few of them. She never argued with them. Now she put them away for herself as if it were only natural.

“Shut up. We are not as shameless as you,” Luo Ming Yue snapped.

Liu Jun Cheng gave a cold laugh: “A shameless person thinks everyone in the world is as shameless as he is.”

Jiang Yi pinched the edge of her sleeve and nodded hard in agreement.

“Heh, anyone can say pretty words,” Shen Yue said, eyes fixed on Li Shuang. “You tell us. How will you divide your resources?”

Li Shuang answered, voice light: “They are my sect resources. I will handle them myself. What right do you have to question me?”

[If I want to open the Heaven and Earth Furnace and absorb the Black Abyss Sword, I could begin now. But the Black Abyss has a spirit. I cannot bring myself to swallow a living thing. As a Sword Cultivator, I also need a good sword. That means I need many rare materials to push the progress bar.] The sect’s resources included spirit stones and pills. She could use them to train, trade them at the market, or pour them straight into the Heaven and Earth Furnace. Her resources had many uses. She had no need to explain any of that to Shen Yue.

Shen Yue ground his teeth: “You really mean to take the resources and leave? Then you are cutting off all feelings.”

In the past, Li Shuang always said yes to any request from her Junior Brothers and Junior Sisters. She would rather suffer than let them go without. Now they were still waiting for her to come back and apologize, yet she was acting like she wanted a clean break. Was that not pure ingratitude?

Ye Zhao Zhao’s eyes flickered. She put on a very hurt look: “Second Senior Brother, First Senior Sister has joined Emotionless Peak. She does not want us anymore. We should be smart about it.”

Her words poured oil on fire. Young and proud, Shen Yue flared up at once. He glared at Li Shuang: “Yesterday Junior Sister even said she wanted to visit you at Emotionless Peak. You did something so awful to her, and she was still willing to forgive you. And you? What did you do? Just because you are jealous, you threw away the bond of master and disciple and the friendship of fellow students.”

Li Shuang sighed. [Why do they never stop?] She had only taken what was hers.

“I do not want to see you, and you do not want to see me,” she said evenly. “Let us walk our own roads and mind our own business.”

Ye Zhao Zhao glanced at her System panel. Again, she had not collected any negative emotion. Walk separate roads? No way.

She spoke gently: “First Senior Sister, do not say things in anger. We have been together so long. Even if we fight for a while, we are still family. Come back to Ling Xu Peak and let us get together, all right?”

As she talked, Shen Yue remembered something and said coldly: “Among your things there is a Frost Blossom every month. Junior Sister likes it because it is pretty. Every month that flower is given to her. Take out the Frost Blossom now and give it to Junior Sister. The sword stone for Tempering the Sword Heart has always been mine to use. The sword stone stays with me. As for the rest, I will not argue with you.”

He sounded perfectly righteous. Luo Ming Yue and her friends were speechless. Even the onlooking disciples were stunned. Wasn’t Li Shuang supposed to be second only to one person at Ling Xu Peak, above everyone else? Why did it look like she had no status at all?

Luo Ming Yue was about to explode. She shot back: “I will put aside your behavior for a moment and scold you later. Let me ask one thing. Ye Zhao Zhao has Mixed Spiritual Roots, so what does she need a Frost Blossom for? Only someone with an Ice Spiritual Root can use that flower to refine their root.”

These were resources the sect tailored for Li Shuang.

Shen Yue frowned: “Did you not hear? It is pretty. Junior Sister likes it.”

Everyone fell silent. For Li Shuang, the Frost Blossom was a training resource. For Ye Zhao Zhao, it was just something nice to look at. Yet Shen Yue thought it should, of course, be given to Ye Zhao Zhao.