Chapter 15
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Chapter 15: Her Name
As the night fell, the outside world was silent like a still pond, not even the sound of wind or insects. Only the flickering candlelight in front of her hinted at movement, as Wen Yun casually adjusted the wick with a nearby stick.
The pressure was getting closer, and her hands began to tremble uncontrollably.
The candlelight suddenly disappeared, and the whole room fell into darkness.
A gentle voice spoke softly, "Don’t be afraid, little one, I will help you ascend."
It was the elder from the East, known as the Supreme Elder.
Without saying much, he smiled and raised a sword emitting a faint blue light in the darkness, slowly aiming towards her. The sword strike felt as heavy as a mountain, attacking from all directions. Wen Yun could hardly avoid it.
Instead of waiting to be defeated, she quickly grabbed a thick stack of magic scrolls and unleashed a chaotic mix of elemental spells, causing explosions all around.
"Fireball!"
"Light arrow!"
"Water barrier!"
Eastern Dongfang exclaimed, dropping his sword, "So your ‘Sword Intent Transformation’ is actually using a talisman. Wait, there is no spiritual power fluctuation, this is not a talisman!"
These basic magical spells were like tickles to him, instead of resisting, he became interested and started studying them. While muttering to himself, his curiosity grew, "This is strange, I have never seen anything like this before, it seems like a product of another kind of magic system…"
Without daring to distract the other person, Wen Yun’s elderberry wand emitted a faint glow at the moment when the other person’s attention was diverted by the talisman.
"A curse spell!"
A cold and powerful curse, containing a strong mental pressure, struck out, causing Eastern Dongfang’s thoughts to suddenly slow down, creating a brief moment of blankness.
It was very short, like a fleeting moment, but it was enough!
Just as Wen Yun was about to crush the last magic scroll, she realized that the person who was standing beside her had disappeared.
Her heart sank, and her hand holding the scroll paused.
In that brief moment, Eastern Dongfang’s consciousness had cleared up, and he realized something was wrong. He quickly reached out to try to restrain Wen Yun by the neck.
However, the next moment, he let out a painful cry, his fingers trembling and curling up like dry wood, ultimately falling weakly in front of Wen Yun.
Wen Yun looked up in surprise and saw the person in white she was looking for standing in front of her, bathed in the light of a magic scroll.
He was holding a wand made of fire hemlock, its other end inserted into the back of the old man, blood flowing steadily down the wood, thick and dark in the night.
"It’s you… it’s you…"
Eastern Dongfang muttered something incoherent, his voice trembling with fear, as if the appearance of the person in front of him had caused him more terror than the fatal wound in his abdomen.
Ye Shubai’s voice was icy cold, "You shouldn’t have come tonight."
Eastern Dongfang’s voice quivered, "I… If I knew you were here, I wouldn’t have come alone…"
He would surely rally all his old allies and erase Ye Shubai from this world for good!
"No, you shouldn’t come to kill her."
Eastern Dongfang’s consciousness was slipping away, he whispered, "Her?"
Ye Shubai answered softly, "She is the one I must protect."
The object in his hand was not like wood, but more like the sharpest sword. With a simple thrust, it shattered the opponent’s entire abdomen. Even the Nascent Soul turned into powder, leaving only a small fragment in the palm.
One of his hands was already covered in dirty blood, while the other hand remained pale and clean. He used the clean hand to pull the surprised Wen Yun closer.
He said lightly, "You are still young, you shouldn’t see these things."
She wanted to say that she was not young and had seen bloody scenes before, but his hand had already covered her eyes without resistance.
The man’s palm was slightly cold, and a faint scent of white plum lingered from his sleeve to Wen Yun’s nostrils. The scent was very clear and light, inexplicably dispersing the heavy smell of blood in the room.
Eastern Dongfang’s voice was already broken and unable to form complete sentences. He seemed to be pleading for something, but there was no response.
After a while, the entire courtyard returned to calmness.
Ye Shubai handed Wen Yun a piece of white jade fragment and said, "Take this, I will be back soon."
He sternly warned again, "Don’t open your eyes."
Wen Yun, "…"
Has this sapling gone crazy? How dare it talk to her like this? Is she the type to obediently listen?
Just as Wen Yun opened her eyes and couldn’t see clearly what was around her, the person with their back to her coldly said without turning around, "Close them."
Wen Yun thought, "Okay, a good master should occasionally agree to the sword spirit’s requests."
Ye Shubai returned quickly, looking once again elegant in his white attire, with no trace of blood on his hands. He even took the time to clean the fire hemlock wand.
Wen Yun wasn’t puzzled about why Eastern Dongfang wanted to kill her. After all, having lived for centuries, she had seen all kinds of oddities. In her past life, she had been hunted for over a hundred years just because of her black hair and eyes.
Both of these worlds are the same—they don’t care about laws or morals.
She only cared about the person’s whereabouts, asking, "Is he dead?"
He obviously didn’t want to explain in detail, just nodded, then took the small piece that looked like jade but wasn’t really jade from Wen Yun’s hand. Although it was tiny, it contained a powerful spirit, even mixed with some energies that felt familiar to Wen Yun.
Wen Yun asked, "What is this?"
Ye Shubai calmly answered, "It’s something he stole from me."
"He injured you earlier, didn’t he?"
He stayed silent for a moment, not correcting the statement, "Sort of."
The shard in Ye Shubai’s palm gradually lit up, then turned into a mist that completely merged into his body. Even though Wen Yun didn’t have spirit energy, she could feel his aura changing at that moment.
Wen Yun didn’t care about the shard, she frowned and said, "We need to leave Qingliu Sword Sect quickly, or we won’t be able to escape if someone finds us."
Ye Shubai looked at Wen Yun and said something that could be considered a comforting words, "He blocked off this area when he came, and when I took him away, no one knew. So, just forget about tonight’s events as if they never happened, no need to worry."
Wen Yun replied, "I’m not worried."
She wasn’t worried at all, even though she couldn’t defeat Transmigration Stage right now, she could still run away safely. It’s just that she didn’t expect him to catch the fleeting opportunity to decisively end Eastern Dongfang. Now looking back, she realized that a slight mistake at that time would have been disastrous.
She found it strange. After all, he was one of the top figures in the cultivation world, how did he manage to kill the opponent with a sword… no, it was a staff? This was obviously not something an ordinary sword spirit could do.
This time, Ye Shubai avoided mentioning his identity, and casually said, "If you want to learn this sword technique, I can teach you."
Wen Yun replied, "No need, I’m learning swordsmanship under Elder Ye’s name. I heard from my senior brother that he is the number one sword cultivator in the world…"
"I can defeat Transmigration with just one sword."
Wen Yun hesitated, "I don’t have spiritual power, so it might be difficult to achieve much in practicing swordsmanship…"
"I can defeat Transmigration with just one sword."
Wen Yun had to be honest, "I don’t want to wake up early."
Most of their magic practitioners practiced at night, which was associated with the underworld; they couldn’t stand the habit of sword cultivators to practice swordsmanship in the daytime. If they had to practice magic at night and swordsmanship during the day, she thought she might perish before ascending.
Ye Shubai didn’t hear her, and arranged for her, "If you want to learn, then wake up early tomorrow morning to practice swordsmanship."
Wen Yun was unhappy with his attitude, "Please show some respect to your master."
Ye Shubai disappeared from sight, leaving behind only a faint sentence, "Rest for now, I will call you in the morning."
A magician who is not willing to cultivate both magic and martial arts is not a good sword practitioner.
Wen Yun was forced by her own sword spirit to practice swordsmanship early in the morning for half a month. During this time, she remained extremely vigilant, carrying the last magic scroll with her, but she had not heard any news of Eastern Dongfang’s death, only news of him being in seclusion.
"Transmigration Stage experts are a sect’s hidden trump card." Ye Shubai stood beside Wen Yun and explained to her, "Even if they fall, it will not be made public, or else the other two major sects may take advantage and seize resources."
After saying this, he tapped Wen Yun’s back with a fire hemlock wand, "Not fast enough, try again."
Wen Yun, who was woken up at the break of dawn, couldn’t take it anymore and asked, "Have you heard of magic?"
Ye Shubai replied, "I have not, is it a special power you possess?"
Wen Yun, "I’ll teach you."
Ye Shubai vaguely felt her tone was wrong.
Wen Yun, "As my backup magic spirit, you need to understand magic. I’ll give you a spell book to memorize."
Ye Shubai, "Okay."
Wen Yun was waiting for this, she immediately threw a thick spell book silently. The words written on it were in a strange language that was difficult to understand. She wondered how long it would take for him to memorize it.
However, the next day before dawn, Ye Shubai came to find her with the book.
"You go practice sword fighting, I’ll stay here and read."
"…"
Oh no!
*
Three days later, news spread throughout the sect that Elder Dongfang had closed the door for cultivation. At the same time, it was also heard that the sect leader was preparing to break through to the Transmigration Stage while Elder Ouyang temporarily handled the internal affairs.
Some people gossiped, claiming they saw Elder Ouyang and the sect leader having a fierce battle with swords on the back mountain last night, suggesting a major disagreement erupted between them.
However, this had nothing to do with Wen Yun, as Ye Shubai was very cautious in his actions, and no one had been able to find any faults with her so far.
Wen Yun boarded the cloud boat heading to the Swordsmanship Contest, preparing to leave Qingliu Sword Sect.
This year’s Swordsmanship Contest was held on Blizzard Island, about half a month’s journey from Qingliu Sword Sect. Therefore, disciples travelling there rode cloud boats inscribed with spirit stone arrays.
Among the fellow travelers, she only knew Shen Xinghai, not recognizing anyone else.
However, the inner disciples of the other peaks all knew her and greeted her by bowing respectfully after seeing Wen Yun, saying, "Martial Sister Wen."
"Martial Sister Wen, I am Zhu Erchong, a direct disciple of The Second Peak."
"Sister Wen, I am disciple Bao Pilong from the Fifth Peak."
…
The First Peak holds great power within the sect. If disciples from other peaks have conflicts with their people, they usually end up feeling unlucky. Seeing The First Peak fail in the grand competition this year brought satisfaction to others.
Of course, Shen Xinghai doesn’t count. As an outsider who entered the sect, he was always on the edge of The First Peak. Even when he went to the Swordsmanship Contest, The First Peak couldn’t be bothered to send an elder with him.
Disciples from different peaks witnessed Wen Yun defeat Liu Luoyin fair and square, so they admired her. Even the Ninth Peak disciples, who were often scolded by the Third Martial Brother, treated her kindly.
After the beautiful Sister Mengran from the Sixth Peak offered fruit wine to everyone, the atmosphere on the cloud boat became more harmonious. People shared their food, and Wen Yun even brought out the roasted chicken Second Master Brother had prepared for her last night…
Well, actually it was roasted crane.
Wen Yun nibbled on the crispy and tender crane claw, took a sip of fruit wine, watched the clouds pass by next to the cloud boat, and was about to reach for another crane wing when she suddenly heard a distant and melodious crane call.
"That is the Xie Family’s cloud boat," Sister Mengran explained. "Junior Brother Xie is said to have taken Sister Liu with him to participate in the Swordsmanship Contest, using the Xie Family’s slot."
Some people sneered, "It’s indeed different when you come from a good background, even if you lose a big competition, there’s still another shortcut to take."
"Hey, Martial Sister Wen, this roasted crane tastes really good, where did you get it from?"
Wen Yun vaguely replied, "It was a gift from my martial brother, I don’t know anything about it."
As two cloud boats sailed side by side, Xie Mian on one of the boats smiled warmly and nodded to a fellow disciple, his gaze naturally falling upon the figure with their back towards him.
He paused for a moment, before his Golden Core suddenly heated up in his dantian, causing a sharp pain that made him wince, leaving him no time to focus on that familiar figure.
Frowning, he reluctantly returned indoors to rest for a moment, when Liu Luoyin hurried over.
"I heard that you don’t look too good, is your injury hurting?"
Xie Mian lifted his head and showed a reassuring smile, "I’m fine, elder martial sister, thanks for your concern. You also have injuries, why aren’t you resting in your room?"
Liu Luoyin’s expression turned serious, "I just saw the sect’s cloud boats, that girl is also on board."
Xie Mian had heard that Liu Luoyin was defeated by a young girl at The Tenth Peak, but he had been recuperating at his own courtyard and was not aware of the details.
He comforted her gently, "Victory and defeat are common in the world of martial arts. Elder martial sister, there is no need to worry about success or failure at the moment. I see that your swordsmanship is exquisite, and you will surely defeat her next time."
Liu Luoyin, who was usually arrogant and proud, now frowned and hesitated, saying, "Junior brother, you don’t know, her swordsmanship has reached an unreachable level for ordinary people… Have you ever seen someone who could transform Sword Intent at the age of over ten?"
Xie Mian fell silent for a while, his pale face appearing somewhat distracted, and then his voice became somewhat hoarse, "I have actually seen one."
This time, it was Liu Luoyin’s turn to be shocked, "Is it someone from your Xie Family?"
The man’s gentle face showed an uncommon bewilderment, as if recalling something. A faint smile curved his thin lips, "Yes, when she was fourteen, she touched the true essence of the way of the sword. Among our generation, or even among my elders, few can draw their swords faster than her."
"And then? What level has she reached now?"
"And then…"
She died, killed by his sword.
Xie Mian looked down with a hint of sadness on his face, "After going out for training, he was attacked by a demon cultivator."
Liu Luoyin fell silent, whispered an apology, and said no more.
"It’s okay, let’s not talk about these sad things anymore." Xie Mian smiled gently, "By the way, elder martial sister, what is the name of the little girl you mentioned?"