Chapter 3

Chapter 3: No More Ripples

Lin Qing Ling thought for a moment, then summoned her First Disciple, Luo Ming Yue.

Luo Ming Yue was the senior disciple under her seat and one of the best among the young generation. Because Lin Qing Ling focused on the Supreme Emotionless Art, others in the sect kept their distance. Emotionless Peak had few people, only four disciples in all, and Luo Ming Yue was the most steady of them.

Handing over the jade slip, Lin Qing Ling gave careful instructions: “Ming Yue, this is the sensing jade slip for the Supreme Emotionless Art. Someone has entered the art, so the slip responded. This is a great matter. But I have pills still in the furnace and cannot leave right now. I am entrusting you to find this person. Remember, the closer you draw to the one who entered the art, the brighter the jade slip will shine. Search with care. When you find them, you will likely gain a new Junior Sister or Junior Brother.”

There was a trace of comfort in Lin Qing Ling’s tone.

A thousand years had passed.

At last, the Sword Sect might have a genius who could practice the Supreme Emotionless Art. If so, that sword manual could finally return to the world.

“Yes,” Luo Ming Yue said, accepting the jade slip with a serious look.

“Go,” Lin Qing Ling said with a wave.

Luo Ming Yue bowed and withdrew. Looking at the jade slip, she smiled with joy. Someone had finally entered the Supreme Emotionless Art. This was her Master’s long held wish. Now that a true talent had appeared, her Master could finally find peace.

Whether it was a Junior Brother or a Junior Sister, she needed to find them quickly.

Full of happy energy, Luo Ming Yue set out to search.

A few days later, Li Shuang stood before the Sword Sect’s mountain gate, her eyes calm.

She had returned.

In the snow mountains, she had killed the Snow Fiends until they were terrified. Only a few scattered ones still wandered. After learning the Supreme Emotionless Art, her senses were especially sharp. She avoided the Snow Fiends and the cutting wind and finally made it down the mountain.

Immortal Ling Xu had said that from now on he had no such disciple as her.

She should not have come back.

But the Supreme Emotionless Art was the Sword Sect’s peerless legacy. Since she had learned it, she owed the sect a report in both feeling and reason.

So this time, although she had returned, she did not plan to see anyone from Ling Xu Peak. She would go straight to ask for an audience with the Sect Master.

On the path to the Sect Master’s peak, Li Shuang passed the Scripture Pavilion.

A familiar voice reached her ears as Sheng Yuan said warmly: “Zhao Zhao, you are missing a good sword technique. You should take time to choose one in the Scripture Pavilion. I have saved some Merit Points, and you can use them first.”

His junior sister had stood alone against so many Snow Fiends and had been hurt badly. He had to make it up to her.

Ye Zhao Zhao answered in a sweet voice: “Thank you, Second Senior Brother. Master also gave me some Merit Points. If I borrow a few more from you, I should be able to get a top sword technique.”

“What do you mean borrow? What is Senior Brother’s is yours,” Sheng Yuan said with a smile.

Ye Zhao Zhao’s cheeks turned pink as she gave a soft reply.

Li Shuang fell silent.

She had planned to avoid the people of Ling Xu Peak. By chance, they had walked right into her path.

She started to turn away.

Ye Zhao Zhao’s surprised voice rose: “First Senior Sister, you are back?”

Sheng Yuan looked over and frowned. He said with displeasure: “First Senior Sister, since you are back, why did you not come to Ling Xu Peak to plead guilty? You also owe Junior Sister an apology.”

Showing no change in expression, Li Shuang stepped to leave.

Angered by her attitude, Sheng Yuan drew his sword and thrust straight toward Li Shuang.

Li Shuang frowned and forced herself to raise a bit of spiritual power, but her cultivation was too low. She barely avoided a deadly point, yet the sword still left a long cut across her body.

Shock flashed across Sheng Yuan’s face as the hand holding the Deepwater Sword began to tremble.

What was going on?

He had used less than a tenth of his strength, and Senior Sister still could not dodge.

The sect strictly forbade disciples from fighting at will. He had not truly wanted to hurt Li Shuang.

He had only wanted Senior Sister to apologize to Zhao Zhao.

Ye Zhao Zhao’s eyes lit with a quick glint as she said: “First Senior Sister, why did you not dodge! Oh no, you let Second Senior Brother stab you on purpose. Now he will be punished.”

At her words, Sheng Yuan’s gaze turned cold.

So that was her plan. First Senior Sister wanted him to bear the punishment for harming a fellow disciple.

That day on the snow mountain, she had abandoned Zhao Zhao and all of them. They had not even held her to account yet.

And now she was shameless again.

Holding back his anger, Sheng Yuan said in an icy voice: “First Senior Sister, you are very calculating. On the snow mountain, you did not manage to harm us. Are you very sorry about that?”

Blood kept seeping from the cut. Li Shuang drew up her power and barely stopped the bleeding. Then she lifted her eyes to the furious Sheng Yuan.

This was her second junior brother.

When he had first come up the mountain, he had been only seven or eight, a small child. In a strange place, he had been afraid every day and could not sleep at night.

She had searched for old storybooks and read to him in a soft voice.

He would only fall asleep after listening to her stories for an hour or two.

Before his Qi Induction, he had been like a mortal child, getting fevers and falling ill.

Not long after he arrived, he had been very sick.

She had checked the prescriptions again and again, boiled the medicine with care, and watched over him for three days and nights.

Only then had he slowly recovered.

Li Shuang’s gaze dropped to the Deepwater Sword in his hand.

And this sword.

When it left the Sword Pavilion, it had been only a sword embryo like all the rest. She had searched for ores and forged the Deepwater Sword again and again until it had the power it carried now.

And now Sheng Yuan held the Deepwater Sword and attacked her without hesitation.

In the past, she would have been hurt for a long time.

But this time, with the Supreme Emotionless Art running, Li Shuang felt only calm.

Her cool look made Sheng Yuan’s heart shake.

Something was wrong.

In the past, when First Senior Sister looked at him, there had always been a gentle smile in her eyes.

Now there was only coldness.

But why?

She was the one who had done wrong.

Yet the way she looked at him, it was like he was the one at fault.

Biting down, Sheng Yuan said: “First Senior Sister, apologize to Zhao Zhao right now, or I will ask the Disciplinary Hall to judge what you did on the snow mountain.”