Geniuses and Geniuses

Smack!

The wooden sword spun through the air and flew out, stabbing diagonally into the ground.

The girl, covered in mud and bits of grass, collapsed onto the ground. She clutched her wrist and gritted her teeth, forcing herself not to cry out in pain.

"Stand up."

The old man, his beard and hair a wild tangle of white, stood ramrod straight, no different from the mottled, heavy stone stele beside him. He pointed the wooden sword in his hand at the girl. "Nalan Yanran! No one on a battlefield will give you time to rest... Stand up! Pick up your sword!"

"Yes, Grandfather." Nalan Yanran pulled out the wooden sword. Her hands trembled with a dull ache, and she could not hold the hilt at all.

After thinking for a few seconds, she untied the bandages on her hands and bound the hilt to her palms.

"Come on."

A hint of approval entered the old man's eyes. "Attack me. Or I will attack you."

"Father!" Nalan Su's expression changed slightly. "It's time to let her rest."

He understood their personalities far too well. Like this, they would only grit their teeth and force themselves to keep fighting until they collapsed on the ground and could not even crawl back up.

"Hmph! This old man is teaching his granddaughter. Since when is it your place to interrupt?!"

"But this level of training is too much for her..."

Nalan Su felt a little frightened, but for his daughter's sake, he still braced himself and continued. "If she keeps training like this, something really will happen! Yanran is still young."

"What nonsense are you spouting?"

Nalan Jie's hair and beard flared up, every word like a roar, shaking the heart in the most literal sense. "Back then, this old man went through who knows how much more than she has! What, has the Nalan Family become useless by my granddaughter's generation?"

"But—"

"Father, stop."

Nalan Yanran raised her voice and cut him off. She tightened her grip on the wooden sword and assumed her stance, then charged again under her father's worried gaze. "Grandfather, I'm coming!"

Nalan Jie's eyes instantly lit up, and the wooden sword in his hand swung out with a wave of air like a heavy sword. "Haha... good!"

The sun set into dusk.

"Yanran!"

Nalan Su shot forward and caught his exhausted, collapsing daughter. Looking at the bruises all over her body, he did not even know where to place his hands.

The old man's face was cold, but an almost imperceptible ripple passed through his eyes. The fingers gripping the sword hilt kept rubbing against it.

"Rustle..."

Hearing the faint sound from behind him, Nalan Jie finally let out a breath. "Sect Master Yun, what do you think of Yanran?"

Sect Master Yun? Nalan Su looked up at the sound and saw the woman in a long robe. Although he had never seen her true face, her attire gave her away.

"Nalan Su greets Sect Master Yun!"

He hurriedly bent to salute, but with the unconscious Nalan Yanran in his arms, Nalan Su froze in place, not knowing what to do.

"No need for ceremony."

Yun Yun waved a hand casually and stepped closer, removing the hood that covered half her face. All her attention was on the girl in Nalan Su's arms.

She reached out and brushed aside the strands of hair, getting a clear look at her appearance.

"Nalan... Yanran, is it?"

Yun Yun nodded lightly, as if she had only just learned her name. "Old Marshal, in three days, the Misty Cloud Sect will send people to fetch her."

"She leaves in three days?"

Nalan Jie smiled. "Then... Nalan Yanran will have to prepare properly. As her grandfather, I should also—"

"No need." Yun Yun raised a hand and cut him off. "The Misty Cloud Sect will prepare everything."

"...Thank you for your favor, Sect Master Yun."

Nalan Jie's smile faded, and he sighed inwardly, but he still bowed respectfully.

The Jia Ma Imperial Family was clearly about to sink past the horizon. Old injuries from magical beasts plagued them, Jia Xingtian was advanced in years, and even if no great upheaval occurred, their days were numbered.

The Misty Cloud Sect, however, was at the height of its prosperity. Sect Master Yun Yun was already at the peak of the Dou Wang class and was about to pierce through that barrier. Her Dou Qi was who knew how much denser than his.

This Jia Ma Empire would change hands sooner or later.

"Father? This..."

Watching Yun Yun leave, Nalan Su's lips moved, only to find that he did not even know where to begin asking.

"You!" Nalan Jie looked at his son and felt anger rising from nowhere. "Think more, think harder! You pig-brained fool!"

After throwing out a few furious rebukes, Old Man Nalan flicked his sleeves and walked toward the house. Halfway there, he still stopped and said one more thing. "Cherish these few days! After three days, she will no longer be your daughter."

"...Huh?"

Nalan Jie: ...

Did this old man truly give birth to a pig? Did you think Yun Yun's words were meant only for me?

"Old Marshal Nalan, it has been a long time."

Elder Yun Leng cupped his fists, with two Dou Wang behind him and a whole group of Dou Ling and Da Dou Shi accompanying them.

The moment this force left the Misty Cloud Sect, it drew the attention of every faction in the Jia Ma Imperial Capital and stirred everyone into unease. The Nalan Family had gone out early and set up a formation to receive them, and even Nalan Jie's heart tightened.

With a lineup like this marching over, forget picking someone up—even wiping out the Nalan Family would be nothing difficult.

"Elder Yun Leng..." Nalan Jie returned the gesture carefully, glancing at the large group behind him with obvious meaning. "May I ask what the Misty Cloud Sect is doing?"

"We have come to receive someone. To bring Yanran back to the sect."

Yun Leng betrayed nothing.

The old man raised a hand to stop Nalan Su, who had been about to speak, and looked at Yun Leng in silence for a long while.

What was he supposed to ask?

When could Nalan Yanran come home? What treatment would she receive in the Misty Cloud Sect? Or perhaps whether she would still be allowed to have contact with the Nalan Family?

"Nalan Yanran, she..."

"Yanran." Yun Leng's smile did not lessen.

Nalan Jie sank into silence once more.

Even on the battlefield, even when facing the imperial family, the old man had never felt so powerless.

The Misty Cloud Sect had merely sent out a small force, yet it had already put the Nalan Family over the fire, and could even sprinkle on whatever seasoning it liked, roasting them to whatever degree it pleased.

"If Yanran is returning to the sect, this old man can see her off. Why must your esteemed sect make such a grand display?"

"Eh~ that is where you are mistaken."

Yun Leng raised his hand in signal, and a Dou Wang behind him took out a Sword Case and held it in his arms.

"This?!" Nalan Jie froze where he stood.

Yun Leng patted his shoulder and laughed softly. "We are here to bring 'Yun Yanran' back to the sect."

"Still not awake? If this drags on any longer, I'm going to pick a cultivation method at random and break through to Dou Shi."

Xiao Yan lay spread-eagled on the roof, reeking of salted fish from head to toe.

A Dou Zhe needed a cultivation method to train, but where was he supposed to get one now? He had been brute-forcing it himself, absorbing everything and stuffing it all into his Dantian in one go, and that was the end of it.

Even so, it was still much faster than before. Since he could not use the Magic Stone Tablet, he currently had no way to know his exact realm.

But... probably, maybe, perhaps, he was a high-star Dou Zhe by now? "Miss."

"How is it? Have you confirmed it?" Xun Er sat by the bed, her little feet that had once swung idly now brushing against the floor from time to time.

"It is as Miss thought. Young Master has hidden his strength."

Ling Ying frowned. "But how should I put this... his aura is very strange. He is indeed at the Dou Zhe stage, that much is certain, but there are no signs that he has cultivated a method. Probing him is a complete mess too. There are at least three possible results."

"At least three?"

Xun Er stopped her feet. "Could it be some secret technique for hiding his strength?"

"No, no... it is more like the Dou Qi within him has been split apart, with several different masses stuffed together... no, that is not quite right either." The more Ling Ying spoke, the more confused he became. "Forgive this old servant's incompetence. I cannot guess what exactly is going on."

Nalan's age is rather strange. The original work changed it many times.

For now, calculating it as the same age as Xiao Yan, she entered the Misty Cloud Sect at ten.