Granny Hundred Flowers

"Who is your martial uncle?"

Nangong Feiyan furrowed her brow, thinking, This is bad. Could someone have beaten me to it?

Whoosh! At last, the sword cut down a snowflake.

Standing beneath the tree, Wang Xian giggled.

After all these days of grueling practice, he had finally cut down a snowflake in the wind. He had wanted to show his master, but two troublesome women were sitting in the main hall.

"Dongfang Nishang? Senior, you don't know my martial uncle?"

Looking up, he saw that noon had already passed, and his stomach was growling.

Wang Xian put away his wooden sword and hurried toward the kitchen nearby, asking as he went, "Would you two seniors like some porridge?"

"No!"

At Nangong Feiyan's words, how could she possibly eat?

Dongfang Nishang of the Kunlun Sword Sect and the Old Daoist from the temple were both reclusive experts, their cultivation no weaker than hers.

She wondered if things would turn troublesome should the sword fall into Dongfang Nishang's hands.

Before the porridge Wang Xian was cooking had even finished,

Nangong Feiyan hurriedly drank two cups of spirit tea, then took her junior sister and rushed toward the Kunlun Sword Sect on North Slope.

As she left, she instructed Wang Xian, "Little fellow, tell your master I'm going to visit the Sword Sect. I'll come back and have a drink with him later."

Wang Xian hurriedly poked his head out of the kitchen.

Through a face full of soot, he called, "Senior, I've cooked a whole big pot of porridge..."

Pfft!

Nangong Zhilan couldn't help laughing. "Senior Sister, this little fellow has a kind heart. He even cooked porridge for us!"

Nangong Feiyan shook her head. "Should I spirit him away to the East Sea and make him your disciple?"

Nangong Zhilan giggled, then called out to Wang Xian from afar, "Little fellow, my sister's going to spirit you away to the East Sea!"

At that, Wang Xian ducked his head and immediately replied, "I'm not going!"

Nangong Zhilan glanced at her sister.

Goodness, she'd just been rejected by a little fellow at the Foundation Establishment Realm.

When the Old Daoist returned to the mountain with a pile of New Year's goods, he heard that two women had come from the East Sea. He merely shook his head, showing no surprise.

Instead, he told Wang Xian that it would have been strange if those people hadn't come.

For the first time, Wang Xian told him about the Divine Sword.

He believed his master had kept quiet because he was afraid Wang Xian couldn't keep the secret. His master had probably intended to wait until he reached Spirit Transformation before telling him.

But the Old Daoist was startled when he heard this.

He looked at Wang Xian and asked anxiously, "What happened? This was your martial uncle... No, that can't be..."

"It wasn't my martial uncle!"

Wang Xian replied quietly, "During the ten years I spent inside my martial uncle's Heavenly Book, a voice told me about the Divine Sword..."

"I see. It's a good thing you didn't let anything slip in front of those two women and their master-disciple pair!"

The Old Daoist sighed.

He smiled wryly. "It's a long story. You and that Coiling Dragon Divine Sword fell from beyond the heavens and landed right in front of me... while the scabbard had been with me for countless years..."

"Remember, until you reach Spirit Transformation, don't even think about trying to use this Divine Sword!"

Wang Xian chuckled. "So Master shielded me from the secrets of heaven. Otherwise, my martial uncle, those two old men yesterday, and those two women today..."

Thinking of it, Wang Xian patted his chest and let out a deep sigh.

He said weakly, "That scared me to death!"

Then, realizing something, he asked, "Master, those two women from the East Sea said they'd come again. What should I do?"

The Old Daoist smiled. "With me here, you don't need to worry about it. If they ask you, just deny it to your dying breath. What else can you do?"

That night, both master and disciple lay awake.

Wang Xian thought about how it was almost New Year's Eve, yet people were still coming to make trouble for him and his master.

Lying in bed, the Old Daoist couldn't understand why, after his disciple had manifested his Divine Sea,

and then laid eyes on the Coiling Dragon Divine Sword,

he still hadn't regained his memories from before. To him, it was truly inexplicable.

Sure enough, trouble kept coming.

Before the two who had gone to the Kunlun Sword Sect on North Slope could return to pick a fight, Wang Xian, practicing his sword in the wind and snow, cried out again.

"Master, there's an old granny outside the mountain gate!"

In his spiritual perception, an old woman in purple, her hair streaked with gray, stood outside the mountain gate.

Behind her, she chatted away with a woman in a white dress, her black hair flowing in the breeze.

Before he could finish speaking, the Old Daoist waved his hand and activated the formation at the mountain gate.

Then he called into the wind, "Don't tell me you've come to spend New Year's at my place. Did you bring food and wine?"

The visitor was Granny Hundred Flowers of Hundred Flowers Valley, who had arrived gracefully with her daughter, Baili Wenqiu.

Baili Wenqiu hadn't wanted to leave home, but she couldn't bear to let her mother travel alone. Left with no choice, she followed her to Kunlun.

As she walked through the wind and snow, Granny Hundred Flowers laughed. "I have no desire to suffer in your remote mountain wilderness."

Beneath a snow-laden pine, Wang Xian stood dumbstruck.

He didn't dare ask who the two women in the wind and snow were. In the blink of an eye, it would be New Year's Eve.

So... it seemed that countless cultivators in the world had their eyes on the sword in his Divine Sea.

This sword is mine. What the hell does it have to do with you?

Near noon, the Old Daoist came out of the kitchen.

He watched the mother and daughter stroll toward him through the snow and wind, and fell silent for a long moment.

At last, he said, "Whether you've come to make trouble for me or not, you're guests now that you're here. Let's eat first."

At his master's call, Wang Xian put away his wooden sword.

Before long, the mother and daughter sat opposite the master and disciple.

Granny Hundred Flowers looked at Wang Xian's well-behaved manner and couldn't help smiling.

"Your cultivation is a little low... Child, what's your name? Would you like to come play at Hundred Flowers Valley with Granny?"

Wang Xian shook his head and replied, "My name is Wang Xian."

Baili Wenqiu hadn't expected the young man before her to refuse her mother's kind offer, and for a moment she was stunned.

The Old Daoist smiled faintly. "You came too late. My disciple has already promised his martial uncle he'll go to the Kunlun Sword Sect in spring to watch the spring recruitment tournament."

Wang Xian nodded and quietly finished his bowl of rice.

As far as he was concerned, he wouldn't leave Kunlun until he had mastered his master's heaven-slaying sword strike.

Granny Hundred Flowers shook her head. "The spring recruitment at Kunlun? Our disciples from Hundred Flowers Valley will be taking part too. That should make things lively." Suddenly, her voice turned cold, and her eyes grew as sharp as blades.

She held out a hand and said coldly, "Old man, you should know why I've come."

At her words, Wang Xian tensed. He quickly grabbed the bowls and chopsticks from the table and slipped away.

If there was going to be a fight, his master was there. His job was to get far away and make sure the two women didn't set their sights on him.

The Old Daoist sighed and smiled wryly. "I told you, you came too late."

"What do you mean?" Baili Wenqiu frowned.

Granny Hundred Flowers also spoke. "Old man, do you think that just because we haven't seen each other in years, I wouldn't bring myself to fight you?"

"Before you, Nalan Ming from Tianshan and Nangong Feiyan from the East Sea both came. They went to the Kunlun Sword Sect one after another to ask my junior sister about it!"

The Old Daoist said solemnly, "My junior sister was the first person to come here and demand the Divine Sword..."

He spread his hands. "My temple is only so big. Search it as you please. Do you want to inspect my disciple's and my Storage Rings, too?"

Ever since Wang Xian had told him the previous night that he knew about the Divine Sword,

the Old Daoist had finally felt at ease. Even if his disciple would never let a word slip, no one would believe him if he did.

Granny Hundred Flowers stared at him. "I hope you understand one thing."

The Old Daoist smiled. "Go on."

Granny Hundred Flowers sneered. "I will get that Divine Sword, no matter the cost!"