Chapter 6

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Chapter 6: Title

Cultivators flooded into Linglong Pavilion, leaving only scattered observers at the desert’s edge. Everything appeared ordinary—but who had dismantled the barrier?

Wen Zhishu shielded her eyes, squinting at distant specks entering the pavilion. She turned to Xia Shi. "Aren’t we going?"

Xia Shi leaned against a tree, sword cradled like a sleeping child, eyelids drooping. She roused herself. "We should."

Red jade rarely appeared. For her sword’s sake, she needed to try. After two steps, she paused and blinked at Suiyin.

Suiyin: "?"

What did that look signify?

Xia Shi asked, "Miss Suiyin, will you join us?"

Suiyin replied, "…I suppose."

The request felt oddly scheming.

"Then would you carry Miss Wen and me? The pavilion floats too high—I can’t reach it." Xia Shi’s tone dripped sincerity.

Suiyin: "……"

Hadn’t this woman brazenly wielded a branch earlier?

Ahead, Jiang Xinian stumbled mid-stride, whirling to stare at Xia Shi. Even he disbelieved her.

Wen Zhishu might lack flight skills, but Xia Shi’s claim reeked of falsehood.

"You can ride your sword," Suiyin gestured at the blade hugged to Xia Shi’s chest. Others carried weapons; she nursed hers like an infant.

Xia Shi shook her head. "I don’t know how."

Suiyin: "……"

Did Xia Shi take her for a fool?

An elite sword cultivator who couldn’t fly on her blade—preposterous.

Suiyin snorted, stepped forward, and flew away with her arm wrapped around Wen Zhishu’s shoulder.

Wen Zhishu turned her head and called out, "Hey! Xia Shi!"

Suiyin said flatly, "She can come up on her own."

Xia Shi: "…"

She glanced at Jiang Xinian and Liu Sheng ahead.

Just as she opened her mouth, Jiang Xinian dragged his companion away while shouting, "Miss Xia’s skills are remarkable enough to ascend. Besides, men and women shouldn’t have improper contact – I can’t carry a lady."

Xia Shi sighed.

After seeing the group waiting for her at Linglong Pavilion’s entrance, she turned to leave.

The people above stared in disbelief: "…"

"She! She just left?!" Suiyin gaped at the scene below.

"Since you’ve come this far, why leave? If they won’t help you, I will!"

Lu Ciyou suddenly appeared and struck Xia Shi’s back without warning.

Xia Shi twisted to shield her sword, but the palm strike’s wind still grazed the weapon in her arms, making its blade quiver.

The remaining spiritual energy sent Xia Shi flying backward until someone caught her midair.

"Must be quite the treasure," Suiyin remarked, eyeing the loosened black cloth revealing a silver hilt with rust specks. "Getting hurt to protect it."

Ignoring her surroundings, Xia Shi anxiously checked the sword before rewrapping it meticulously.

Suiyin rolled her eyes internally: Who cares about some rusty blade?

Lu Ciyou hadn’t meant serious harm – just excessive force.

Still irritated from her earlier clash with Yan Li, she’d seized the chance to vent her longstanding dislike for Sanqing Realm and the Xia family.

As they entered Linglong Pavilion, Jiang Xinian sneered, "How typically overbearing, Young Lady Lu. Attacking someone who never provoked you."

Lu Ciyou tilted her chin defiantly. "I helped her ascend. Should I have carried her princess-style? She didn’t complain – why play hero when you abandoned her too?"

Jiang Xinian shut his mouth.

Releasing Xia Shi, Suiyin asked hesitantly, "You truly can’t fly on swords?"

Xia Shi clutched her sword tighter, face hidden. After a long pause came the reply: "I’m no sword cultivator."

Without sword heart or sword spirit, the title meant nothing.

"What?!" The men exclaimed simultaneously.

Having missed Xia Shi’s earlier flowing water sword moves, Lu Ciyou simply found it odd – why treasure a sword without being a cultivator?

Even Wen Zhishu looked surprised. Suiyin gestured at the wrapped blade. "Then whose is it?"

"Mine." Xia Shi hugged it possessively.

Suiyin’s eye twitched. Who’d want that broken sword anyway?

Lu Ciyou laughed coldly. "Flaunting a sword without being a cultivator! Thought you hid some great power, but it’s just an empty show."

"Indeed, in a vast forest you’ll find all kinds of birds. Those surnamed Xia are always so pretentious." As she spoke, she suddenly recalled another person. Irritation flooded her mood, and she pursed her lips to glare at Xia Shi before marching into Linglong Pavilion.

Jiang Xinian followed close behind. He and Lu Ciyou shared similar age and talent, constantly compared by others, but Lu Ciyou always came out on top – something he could never accept.

"So you came to Linglong Pavilion for sword materials?" Suiyin asked casually, then froze as a fleeting thought escaped her grasp.

Xia Shi’s heart lurched. Had she discovered the Hanyu Stone matter?

At that moment, Wen Zhishu squeezed between them. "Miss Xia is helping me gather spirit herbs."

Suiyin’s attention shifted immediately. "Spirit herbs? Why not visit Divine Doctor Valley then?"

Divine Doctor Valley remained aloof from worldly affairs, overflowing with rare spirit herbs. Most cultivators’ requests for medicine were granted there, earning its people high standing across the Nine Realms. Even major sects avoided antagonizing them.

"I… belong to the Wen clan." Wen Zhishu spoke with difficulty.

Suiyin blinked. "What’s wrong with being a Wen?"

"Twenty years ago," Wen Zhishu murmured, eyes downcast, "an informant leaked the Valley’s secrets to the Thirteen Ghost Domains. Their invasion left only eleven survivors from two hundred thirteen disciples, and gravely injured Master Hua Sheng. Since then, the Valley refuses all Wen clan members."

"Because that informant was a Wen."

Unfamiliar with this history, Suiyin only felt fresh hatred for the Thirteen Ghost Domains. Then confusion struck – if the Valley was closed to them, why come here? Common herbs didn’t require this journey, nor could frail Wen Zhishu with her wispy spiritual power handle rare ones.

Before she could question further, the pair moved ahead. "Wait!" Suiyin hurried after them.

Beyond the entrance, Linglong Pavilion’s first floor stretched endlessly. Countless shelves held ancient texts copied by Lingyang Jun over millennia – miscellaneous writings and common manuals mostly, since better treasures lay above. All cultivators rushed upward immediately.

Suiyin hesitated when she saw her companions heading for the shelves instead. What could they want here? Though tempted to ascend, she followed. One couldn’t use spiritual power, the other clutched a broken sword without flying skills – they’d be easy prey.

After several turns, Suiyin froze. Where were they? She leapt onto a shelf-top, finding herself alone on the entire floor. Sword energy sliced through shelves as she emerged scowling. The shelves instantly reformed through the Pavilion’s magic.

Xia Shi and Wen Zhishu reached the fifth floor where cultivators clustered. Miscellaneous items lay scattered, all protected by formations. Even fingernail-sized objects required defeating guardian arrays. Failed attempts meant severe injury or eternal entrapment.

Guided by the Book of All Knowledge, Wen Zhishu spotted a black box on red cloth, conspicuously isolated. A nearby youth warned quietly, "Best stay away from that, ladies."

Xia Shi asked, "Why?"

The young man seemed terrified of the black box, not daring to look at it. He shielded half his face and stammered, "Someone tried taking it earlier. The formation sucked him in and spat him out skinned! Look at the bloodstains!"

Xia Shi lowered her gaze to the indicated spot. The blood had already faded considerably, being gradually absorbed by Linglong Pavilion.

"Is he dead?" Wen Zhishu edged closer to Xia Shi, visibly shaken.

The pale youth nodded.

"Xia Shi!" An angry shout reverberated through the fifth floor.

Suiyin’s booming voice startled several cultivators into accidentally activating formations, getting dragged in before they could react.

She stormed toward Xia Shi demanding answers. The headache-prone woman wondered why this persistent person kept pursuing her.

"Suiyin, you—" The words died as Suiyin tripped mid-stride. When she tried summoning spiritual energy to recover, it felt completely frozen.

She watched in dismay as Xia Shi sidestepped her fall without attempting to catch her.

Narrowing her eyes dangerously, Suiyin grabbed Xia Shi’s hem.

"Ah! Xia Shi!" Wen Zhishu’s grasping hands caught only air as both women tumbled into the black box.

The terrified youth squeezed his eyes shut, missing the dimming glow of the box’s formation being replaced by a larger, darker pattern.

Inside the formation, Xia Shi shook off Suiyin’s grip with a disapproving glare.

Suiyin sat defiantly on the ground, radiating challenge. The confined space reeked of old blood under its single dim light.

Leaning back on her palms, Suiyin studied Xia Shi’s face critically before deciding: "Average looks, but decent eyes."

"Can you handle formations?" Xia Shi asked after surveying their prison.

"Only swords," Suiyin declared from her cross-legged position.

"Where’s yours then?"

Suiyin blinked in confusion, as if considering this for the first time. After prolonged silence, she mumbled, "Probably with someone."

"Probably?" Xia Shi’s disapproval deepened. What kind of sword cultivator lost track of their blade?

Her eyelashes fluttered as old bitterness surfaced – who was she to judge?

Suiyin sprang up eagerly. "When I find my sword, duel me properly! No branches or broken swords – use a fine blade. No spiritual power, just pure technique like against Jiang Ying!" Her eyes shone with battle hunger after witnessing that earlier duel.

Xia Shi’s temple throbbed, her gloom instantly vanishing. She couldn’t hold back anymore. "Wrong!"

Her sword was the real broken one!