A Sword That Made Him Call Her Sister

Qingzhou, the wild woods on the northern side of Screen Mountain.

As night steadily swallowed the horizon, mountain mist gradually rose through the dense forest, drifting between the peaks like gauze.

In a wild lake nearby, frogs began croaking without pause, sounding restless and agitated.

Just then, a convoy escorting four carriages was moving through the forest beneath the night sky. Everyone on the carriages seemed to be wearing black cloaks, making them look exceedingly mysterious.

On the cliff beside the convoy's path, the twenty-seven Spirit Sword Mountain disciples lying in ambush all perked up, their drowsiness vanishing completely.

Several days earlier, a group of cultivators traveling beyond the mountain from Qingzhou had vanished without reason.

Zhuo Wanqiu had received a secret order from the Mountain Gate and rushed here to investigate. After relentless searching, she had finally uncovered a few clues pointing toward these woods.

Soon afterward, Song Ziheng, a junior brother from outside the Mountain Gate, had hurried over to join them. Their group had been secretly lying in wait here for three days now, and they had finally found a trace.

But at that moment, Zhuo Wanqiu noticed that her junior brother Song Ziheng had quietly drawn his sword.

"Junior Brother, what are you doing?"

"Opportunity knocks but once. Of course we should stop them and find out where they took the missing disciples."

Song Ziheng was already gathering Sword Qi, a cold gleam in his eyes.

Zhuo Wanqiu frowned tightly. "Anyone capable of abducting thirteen cultivators traveling beyond the mountain must have an expert of the Upper Five Realms. The secret order from the Mountain Gate was for us to keep close watch on this place and not startle the grass and alert the snake!"

"If we only subdue one of them, perhaps we can pry out useful information."

"I am in charge of this mission. Could it be that Junior Brother refuses to obey orders?"

Song Ziheng looked at Zhuo Wanqiu upon hearing this. After a long silence, he released the sword hilt.

Yet as the carriages drew closer and closer to the cliff, until their auras could gradually be sensed, he could not help secretly gathering Sword Qi again.

He had discovered that the five people following the carriages were merely in the Nirvana Realm, a full realm below him, who had reached Perfection of the Lower Three Realms.

He turned to look at Zhuo Wanqiu, while his Sword Qi continued to gather.

Perhaps this senior sister did not know that he was the most gifted disciple of Spirit Sword Mountain's Outer Court.

Ever since entering the mountain, he had passed through the Forest of Ancient Sword Intent. He had now gathered three strands of Mystic Light, with the Upper Five Realms within arm's reach. An Inner Court position was already as easy as reaching into a bag and taking something out.

But the Inner Court was merely a threshold. What Song Ziheng truly wanted was a place as a direct disciple of one of the Three Great Peak Masters.

Before coming to Qingzhou, he had made inquiries. He had heard that a great figure from the mountain had personally involved himself in this operation. He needed an opportunity for a peak master to see him.

They were only five Nirvana Realm cultivators...

Song Ziheng gripped his sword hilt tight. The instant the convoy was about to pass, he suddenly shot out. Sword Qi descended through the air, and sword light bright as lightning instantly tore apart the night.

The sword edge swept past with a ringing hum, and a head flew into the air.

He had succeeded!

Song Ziheng immediately leaped back with his sword, only for four gleaming longsabers to come crashing down on him at once, incomparably fast.

Spiritual energy surged beneath his feet, and he dodged with a thunderous burst. Then he laughed loudly and rushed forward with sword in hand.

Amid flashing blades and dancing swords, Killing Intent scattered in every direction.

The four saber wielders attacked with extreme speed. Waves of saber light wove into a dense net and pressed forward, saber aura bursting forth with the force to split mountains.

Song Ziheng's eyes widened in fury as the longsword in his hand met the four sabers. Sparks flew amid crisscrossing Sword Qi, and the clanging of metal rang endlessly in his ears.

But after this exchange, the smile at the corner of Song Ziheng's lips gradually froze.

The Lower Three Realms were called the Essence Realm. Advancement through those realms was, in truth, merely an increase in speed and strength.

Yet at this moment, these four Nirvana Realm cultivators displayed an extraordinary force. Every strike carried a tearing power, their saber winds as fierce as steel.

Song Ziheng wildly circulated his spiritual energy and poured it into his sword. A violent radiance burst from his hand as he met their attack again.

And in the instant sparks erupted, his heart suddenly trembled.

He discovered that as the four people before him swung their sabers, a dense Killing Intent began drifting through the air. Furthermore, the mountain-splitting sabers grew heavier with every strike, until the final blows weighed a thousand pounds and nearly shattered the bones in his hand.

He would die...

If this continued, he would definitely die.

Fear began to show on Song Ziheng's face. The more he fought, the more timid he became.

One strike, two strikes, three strikes... eight strikes!

Seeing the saber before him become as heavy as a mountain, Song Ziheng knew he absolutely could not withstand the next strike.

In his panic, he suddenly condensed a fierce strand of Sword Qi and slashed it out. Then he turned and sprinted toward the cliff where the others were hiding.

Zhuo Wanqiu watched the scene unfold, fury surging to the heavens, but she had no time to reprimand him. She immediately drew her sword and rushed out.

"Damn it!"

"All disciples, follow me and save them!"

The twenty-seven disciples immediately rode their qi through the air, their descending swords bursting forth like cold flashes.

The four saber wielders were indeed strange. Their physical strength was nothing like that of ordinary Nirvana Realm cultivators.

But even so, faced with such a difference in numbers, the saber wielders had no chance to gather strength. Amid the clang of sword against saber, they were driven back step by step by the Spirit Sword Mountain disciples.

The tension in Zhuo Wanqiu's heart eased somewhat. She thought that although they had disobeyed the Mountain Gate's orders, the situation still seemed under control.

But then, she vaguely saw a blinding golden light rise into the air, like a gigantic golden wheel suspended in the sky. Even the surrounding night seemed to melt within it.

At that moment, the coachman seated on the first carriage had already risen into the air, spiritual light radiating from his entire body.

"There's someone else?!"

"Senior Sister, it's the Dao Integration Realm..."

In the dark forest, everyone looked up. Their faces turned ashen with despair amid their disbelief.

Not even in their wildest dreams had they expected a mere little convoy to have a Dao Integration Realm expert serving as its coachman.

A trap?

No, impossible.

No outsider knew they were lying in ambush here. Had Song Ziheng not been so eager to gain merit, they would not have been exposed like this.

Besides, if a Dao Integration Realm cultivator wanted to kill them, what need would there be for a trap?

The only possibility was that this Dao Integration Realm cultivator truly was just a coachman. What kind of convoy was this?

Amid her racing thoughts, Zhuo Wanqiu's face had already been bleached white by the sunlike golden radiance before her. Then she felt a gale rushing straight at her, Killing Intent dancing wildly beneath the night sky.

With a thunderous boom, fist intent like a howling tempest crashed down. The five disciples at the forefront had their longswords shattered at once and were sent flying sideways.

The Dao Integration Realm cultivator in the cloak gathered another punch. It was as though thunder and fire were held in his hand, as though he were a god descended from heaven.

"Go, quickly!"

"Senior Sister..."

"Leave at once and report to the sect."

Zhuo Wanqiu raised her sword, gritting her teeth against the pressure before her before charging forward with her blade held across her body.

This was undoubtedly a death sentence. Zhuo Wanqiu understood it, and the disciples behind her understood it as well, but they had no other choice.

But just then, an even more powerful pressure suddenly rose from the distant forest, causing the Dao Integration Realm cultivator's body to stiffen abruptly.

In the next instant, wind and waves howled among the faraway mountains, withered trees bent at the waist, and an immense sword intent rose into the air beneath the moonlight.

With a clear sword cry, that suspended sword intent shot forth, blasting the Dao Integration Realm cultivator away and leaving a deep sword scar in the mountainside as waves of dirt rolled up.

When the dust settled, everyone discovered that the Dao Integration Realm cultivator had lost an arm, though he still had one breath left and was gasping raggedly.

The Spirit Sword Mountain disciples turned in astonishment and saw a woman gliding through the air, spiritual light gathered around her, graceful as an immortal.

She had reached perfection at ten, entered the Upper Five Realms the following year, and no one had ever dared call her cute, because whenever she acted, she was Spirit Sword Mountain's sharpest sword.

Among the direct disciples of the Seven Great Immortal Sects, she was the only one who had yet to become sect leader while already wielding a sacred artifact of the Dao lineage.

Because everyone knew that she represented the rise and fall of Spirit Sword Mountain over the next hundred years.

Tonight, she had arrived from Shengjing by riding the void, and her first sword had directly struck down a Dao Integration Realm cultivator.

The twenty-two Spirit Sword Mountain disciples standing frozen in place quickly realized her identity and immediately dropped to one knee, though fear still lingered on their faces.

Everyone knew that an important figure from the Inner Court of Spirit Sword Mountain would be coming, but no one had expected the Young Master Jian of Cloud Top Hall to come personally.

"Stop kneeling. Save the wounded first."

"Then check whether those four are completely dead. If they are, stab them a few more times. If they are not, bind them."

"The rest of you, go see what is in the carriages."

Yan Shuyi walked through the dust and rolling earth. She glanced at the Dao Integration Realm cultivator embedded in the mountainside, who had yet to die, then waved a hand and tore him down.

His cloak had been shattered by the impact, revealing a fairly young face.

Upon seeing that face, Zhuo Wanqiu's complexion turned even paler. "It's Chen Qinghe..."

Yan Shuyi turned to look at her. "You know him?"

"Reporting to Young Master Jian, he is an Outer Court disciple of the Chen Clan Immortal Family. I saw him two years ago at Spirit Sword Mountain's Sword Seeking Gathering, but... at that time, he had merely reached Perfection of the Lower Three Realms."

"He broke through from Mystic Light to the Dao Integration Realm in two years?"

Yan Shuyi's brows drew tightly together, finding it difficult to believe.

Because she was publicly acknowledged as the fastest of her generation. Yet even she had taken five years to break through from Mystic Light into the Dao Integration Realm.

Zhuo Wanqiu looked at Chen Qinghe and discovered that he was struggling wildly, clawing and baring his teeth. He did not seem afraid at all. "Young Master Jian, he... seems rather strange."

"Bind him, then notify the Chen Clan Immortal Family. Tomorrow, I will go question the mountain."

"Question the mountain..."

Zhuo Wanqiu held her breath and immediately cupped her hands in acknowledgment. She then arranged for disciples to send the severely wounded senior brothers and sisters back to the mountain, ordered others to bind Chen Qinghe, who had become like a wild beast, and arranged for him to be sent overnight to the Chen Clan Immortal Family before inspecting the carriages.

The carriages were loaded with all sorts of rather obscure spiritual herbs.

By obscure, it meant herbs that did not raise a cultivator's realm and were not listed in the cultivation records of the Seven Great Immortal Sects.

Some even carried violent toxicity, such as Flowing Spring Grass and Sacred Yin Flower.

These clues were not enough to tell them where the missing disciples had been taken. The only lead still pointed to the Chen Clan Immortal Family.

Yan Shuyi ordered the disciples to record every herb from the carriages. Then someone hurried over. It was Song Ziheng, who had just retreated behind everyone in the midst of battle.

"Outer Court disciple Song Ziheng greets Young Master Jian. This disciple just killed one person."

"Is that so? But I saw you retreat."

"This disciple... this disciple was following Senior Sister Zhuo's orders and wished to swiftly return to the sect to report to Young Master Jian."

Yan Shuyi had entered the Upper Five Realms at ten and had already forgotten that those at Perfection of the Lower Three Realms were so weak—so weak that she could kill them with a wave of her hand.

But that fellow had only reached Perfection of the Lower Three Realms too. How had he dared pinch her cheeks, and with such audacious lust even call her cute?

She really ought to let him see that sword from earlier. It would be best if it scared him into calling her sister.

"Someone, remove Song Ziheng's jade token."

"Young Master Jian, please wait. Young Master Jian may not know this, but I am currently the most gifted disciple of the Outer Court."

"You?"

Yan Shuyi looked him over twice, her brows knitting slightly. "Then isn't our Spirit Sword Mountain far inferior to the Celestial Academy?"

(The follow count has soared. I bow to everyone in thanks. I was so happy that I wrote an extra thousand words... orz.)