Clear Pool Sword Dao consisted of nine forms, each drawn from battle-tested swordsmanship in the martial world. They might have seemed ordinary, but paired with the cultivation method and an understanding of Clear Pool Sword Intent beneath the water, they could let one suddenly strike from below, using swordsmanship honed through countless battles to catch the enemy off guard and leave them no chance to defend themselves.
Li Shuidao was still a beginner. For now, he was only familiarizing himself with the moves. To truly master this underhanded sword art, he would have to find a deep pool.
Li Shuidao sprang into the air, his sword flashing as he darted back and forth across the courtyard. The nine forms flowed like water, swift and seamless, dazzling to behold.
Xia Ruoxue stood silently to one side, watching the changes in Li Shuidao's movements. Complicated emotions filled her beautiful eyes.
So this was her husband...
As time passed, Li Shuidao grew more familiar with the moves. His body seemed to merge with his sword, every form brimming with agility and power.
The air in the courtyard seemed to tremble beneath his swordplay. Swordlight scattered, and shadows of the blade crisscrossed.
When Li Shuidao returned his sword to its sheath, sword shadows still seemed to flicker over the moss on the wall.
Seizing the opportunity,
Xia Ruoxue, who had been standing there for quite some time, hurried forward and delivered the words she had prepared long ago. "Husband, you've been cultivating so hard. If you feel tired, please rest more. I'll always be here by your side."
Li Shuidao paused slightly at her words, then frowned and asked, "Are you paying your respects to me?"
Xia Ruoxue looked a little lost, and could only nod.
"What do you think of this courtyard?" Li Shuidao asked, pointing around the yard.
"It's beautiful," Xia Ruoxue replied, following his lead.
"This is our new home. I'll live here for half a year. After that, I'll go to the Five Poisons Sect, and you'll stay here and continue as a daughter-in-law of the Li Family."
"I'm willing to dutifully be a daughter-in-law of the Li Family," Xia Ruoxue said with firm sincerity. "But I have one request."
"What is it?" Li Shuidao asked.
"Please, husband, let Lin Yunzhi go." Xia Ruoxue dropped to her knees and even kowtowed to Li Shuidao.
"You're asking your husband to release your sweetheart?" Li Shuidao's gaze turned distant.
"I'm willing to be a daughter-in-law of the Li Family. You have no use for Lin Yunzhi anymore. Please let him go." Tears welled in Xia Ruoxue's eyes once more.
Li Shuidao fell silent, deep in thought.
He would be leaving in half a year, and this woman surely wouldn't become pregnant. By then, gossip would inevitably arise, and she would be mocked by the clan.
A woman taken captive, forcibly separated from the man she loved and made to marry a stranger she had never met, then condemned to endure a lifetime of gossip.
"Come with me to pay our respects to my parents first. Then I'll ask Fourth Uncle to release Lin Yunzhi. In half a year, I'll leave the clan for the sect. You can leave then, too. You don't have to spend your whole life as a daughter-in-law of the Li Family," Li Shuidao said gravely.
At his words, Xia Ruoxue trembled, her mind buzzing.
She hadn't expected Li Shuidao to plan to abandon her outright after half a year.
Then why had he forcibly taken her?
What was she to him?
Was she only taken and toyed with because she was pretty?
"I never meant to betray you, husband. I only wanted to put an end to my former relationship. Please don't abandon me." Xia Ruoxue wept like someone drowning.
Li Shuidao paused, taken aback.
His teacher's wife, Qin Yue'e, had left such a profound impression on him that he had assumed women in this world treated marriage just as women in his previous life did—as a fleeting encounter.
So he had suggested they part ways in half a year, thinking he was kindly setting her free, not cruelly abandoning her.
Could this woman have resigned herself to her fate?
That made sense...
If all the women in this world were like his teacher's wife, then in this agrarian world, humanity would never survive...
"I understand. Get up," Li Shuidao said gently.
Xia Ruoxue slowly rose, watching her husband nervously.
Knock, knock, knock...
The hurried knocking at the courtyard gate broke the silence.
Li Shuidao opened the gate and found a member of the Li Family standing there.
His name was Li Shuiqi, and he had been a fellow cultivator in Li Shuidao's school cohort.
"Brother Dao, something's happened... Come outside, and I'll tell you," Li Shuiqi said mysteriously, his eyes flicking toward Xia Ruoxue now and then.
Clearly, he didn't want Xia Ruoxue to hear.
"Xiao Xiao... Stay in the courtyard with Madam and wait for me."
"Yes, young master." Luo Xiaoxiao nodded.
"Husband..." Xia Ruoxue had just started to say something when Li Shuidao had already slammed the gate behind him and left.
Xia Ruoxue could only sigh helplessly.
Outside the courtyard,
several cultivators had appeared. They were all capable members of the clan, hiding in the shadows with tense expressions.
Li Shuiqi lowered his voice. "Late last night, a man disguised himself as a Li Family servant and came to steal the bride..."
"I know. His name is Lin Yunzhi, and he's Xia Ruoxue's childhood sweetheart. Two mortals dared to cause trouble in our clan, and Fourth Uncle caught him on the spot," Li Shuidao said.
"Fourth Uncle is dead," Li Shuiqi said gravely.
"What did you say?" Li Shuidao cried, stunned.
"Around midnight, a cultivator descended from the sky and rescued Lin Yunzhi. He also killed Fourth Uncle. By the time the clan leader arrived, that person had already flown away on a flying beast. The demonic beast was incredibly fast. The clan leader chased them for ages, but they still got away."
"The clan leader is back?" Li Shuidao asked.
"Yeah... The clan leader sent me to ask about Lin Yunzhi's identity."
"You mean, ask Xia Ruoxue?"
Li Shuiqi nodded.
"She probably doesn't know," Li Shuidao said after a moment's thought.
"Why not?"
"If she knew her sweetheart had ties to cultivators, she would have said so when Uncle Tianxi captured him."
"Brother Dao, that makes sense."
"Stay here. I'll go see the clan leader," Li Shuidao said.
The Li Clan had gathered in front of a temporary morgue set up on an empty lot. Heartbreaking wails echoed through the air.
Li Haoyun's body lay beneath a white canopy. His face was pale, and unmistakable claw marks remained on his body. It seemed he had been brutally clawed to death by a ferocious demonic beast.
Seven or eight of his close relatives, including Li Shuiting and Xiao Cui, gathered around the body. Every face was haggard, and tears glistened in their eyes.
Li Shuidao approached the body, his heart heavy.
Li Haoyun was the father of Li Shuilang and Li Shuiting, and had presided over Li Shuidao's wedding just yesterday. Now he was nothing but a cold corpse.
The cold wind blew, and the white canopy fluttered as if conveying Li Haoyun's resentment and grievance.
Li Shuiting wept uncontrollably. Her voice trembling, she said, "Brother Dao, my father did capture a mortal yesterday, but after locking him in a wooden cage, he left him alone. No one was guarding that mortal at the time. If that cultivator wanted to rescue him, he could have simply taken him away. Our Li Family wouldn't have made trouble for a mortal. So why did he still come all the way to our home and kill my father!?"
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