In the distant plaza, several maids sweeping the grounds froze where they stood.
The leading maid in green crushed her broom with a crack, the sound especially sharp in the courtyard where everyone sat quietly comprehending the sword.
"Miss..." Another maid clutched her rag tightly, her voice trembling. "She took a man's hand of her own accord?"
"What??"
Quite a few Li Clan disciples who had been sitting in meditation to comprehend the sword abruptly opened their eyes. Following everyone's gaze, they too stared wide-eyed in shock.
"We Sword Cultivators would never care about such romantic entanglements..." One person in the crowd remained calm, only to suddenly leap to his feet in the next instant. "But it's different if it's Miss! Where? Where is she?"
"Last year, the Chu Clan's youngest grandson presented an Emperor Weapon, and Miss did not even spare him a glance. She even cut him down because he stepped a few paces closer. Chu Qingyan had to come personally to mediate, yet now she actually..."
The maid stared fixedly at those interlocked fingers, her voice growing softer and softer.
Though everyone spoke quietly, there were simply too many of them!
In an instant, the entire Li Clan seemed to freeze—
Whether they were disciples practicing their swords, servants sweeping the ground, Rogue Cultivators comprehending Sword Intent, or even the Spirit Cranes perched beneath the eaves, all of them turned in unison toward the pair with their fingers entwined.
Their astonishment was comparable to seeing Qin Wudao walk into the Qin Clan hand in hand with a woman, his face full of smiles.
Listening to the chatter behind him, Qin Wangchuan's lips curled slightly as he looked warmly at Li Qingluan. "You cut people down merely for coming close? That heartless?"
"What else are they saying?" He tilted his head slightly, lowering his voice. "They're rather far away, so I can't hear clearly. Why don't you... tell me?"
The youth's gentle voice carried a hint of laughter.
His Original Intention had been to make this cool and distant girl reveal a touch of embarrassment, so she would loosen her hand.
Yet Li Qingluan's fingertips twitched slightly. Not only did she fail to let go, she instead gently tightened her fingers.
"Of course you can hear them clearly." Her voice remained cool, but carried a faint softness that was difficult to detect. "They said..." After a pause, she lowered her voice even further. "I have never allowed a man to come this close to me."
"They also said I... treat you... exceptionally differently."
Though she had already acknowledged this fiancé of hers, she was merely raising him as a younger brother for now. She had no intention of crossing that line.
Well, for now.
Having failed to tease her only to be teased in return, Qin Wangchuan walked on with a blank expression.
No giggling.
When Li Qingluan saw Qin Wangchuan's composed appearance, she suddenly let out a soft laugh.
That laughter was like an ice lake suddenly breaking open—cool and pleasant to the ear—yet it made everyone present suck in a cold breath. The Li Clan's eldest young lady's smile was rarer even than her sword.
"What?" She tilted her head, the tassels of the Jade Hairpin in her hair swaying gently. Her eyes held a slyness outsiders had never seen before, as though an elder sister were teasing her younger brother. "Can the Qin Clan's future Immortal Emperor be shy too?"
"No."
"We're here." Qin Wangchuan stepped into the hall with an expressionless face.
Had he known that exposing her identity back then would also tear away that veneer of cool restraint, he would never have spoken so readily.
After thinking for a moment, Qin Wangchuan paused and finally reminded her in a low voice,
"The Great Dao should not be so narrow."
"Our engagement is merely a temporary expedient. If you become immersed in love and your cultivation falls behind mine, you may lose your status as my fiancée because of it..."
Before Qin Wangchuan could finish, he suddenly felt his wrist tighten.
Li Qingluan's five fingers clamped around his arm like iron pincers, violently dragging him back out of the hall.
The Sword Qi barrier at the hall entrance buzzed and trembled from her pull.
The distance between them abruptly shrank, close enough for him to see his own reflection in her eyes.
Li Qingluan's expression remained unchanged as she stepped forward again, but the instant her skirt brushed over the bluestone slabs, it left behind hair-thin cracks—marks carved by the Sword Intent inadvertently spilling from around her.
"The Great Dao is naturally broad." Her voice was still cool, yet her lashes trembled almost imperceptibly as she lifted her eyes. "However..."
The wind chimes beneath the eaves suddenly fell still.
"If we are speaking of cultivation..." Li Qingluan suddenly glanced sideways, her tone excessively calm, "I will not lose to you."
Qin Wangchuan was stunned.
The Li Clan's legitimate daughter before him appeared calm as drifting clouds and gentle breezes, yet at this moment, everything about her seemed unusual in his eyes—
The tension at the corners of her lips, her overly deliberate calm, and the sword marks left wherever her skirt swept past all revealed the turmoil in her heart.
Was she jealous?
(Like a cat with its fur standing on end, yet still pretending to be aloof.)
Qin Wangchuan thought to himself.
A crisp "clang" came from afar—a Li Clan Sword Cultivator stood dumbly in place, only snapping back to his senses when the sword in his hand slipped free and fell to the ground.
"Heavens... heavens..." His Adam's apple bobbed as his pupils contracted violently. Pointing at the interlocked fingers before the hall, his hand shook without stopping. "I must have Deviated from Cultivation to see..."
Before he could finish, the person beside him covered his mouth. "Keep your voice down! Do you want Miss to cut you down?!"
Meanwhile, atop the high seat within the hall, the usually imposing Heavenly Emperor Li silently reduced the azure jade teacup in his hand to powder.
That Old Ghost of the Qin Clan! The corner of his eye twitched. It has barely been any time at all. Taking her away was one thing, but he even stole her heart?!
After tangling with each other a while longer.
The two entered the great hall and stood side by side, their sleeves overlapping so closely that there was almost no visible gap between them.
Heavenly Emperor Li's gaze lingered for a moment on the barely perceptible overlap of their robes, and he gave a measured cough.
Qin Wangchuan's fingertips moved slightly, but he felt a faint resistance coming from within his sleeve—
A strand of Sword Qi had quietly wound itself around his cuff.
Those words from earlier appeared to have touched someone's reverse scale.
Even before the Heavenly Emperor, she maintained flawless composure.
Yet her wide sleeve, which seemed to hang casually at her side, now remained as immovable as cast iron, locking the distance between them into just the right degree of intimacy.
—The stubbornness of Sword Cultivators had always been this silent.
"Very well." Heavenly Emperor Li flicked his sleeve and turned around. The spiritual energy in the hall abruptly gathered into a Light Screen. "As agreed earlier, you may enter the Sword Tomb to comprehend."
With a light tap of his fingertip, countless sword tombs beneath the enormous Heavenly Sword appeared within the Light Screen.
As the Light Screen shifted, faint, mournful sword cries could be heard.
"How long you can remain inside, and how much you gain, will depend entirely on yourself."
Before you continue