The Truth About the Broken Sword

The academic director stared at the sender ID in the upper-right corner of the display. As he swiped open the school archive permissions and scrolled down, the color slowly drained from his face.

"They want more than grades—home addresses, medical records, and training data from the past three years. Everything is on the list."

The principal reached out and stopped the finger about to tap, then returned the permissions page to the basic records section.

"We can hand over the basic records. Hold back the medical records and combat footage for now. Reply that the students have just suffered an Iron-Winged Vulture attack and their physical examinations are not yet complete."

The principal paused, then added one more sentence.

"Before the special investigation team arrives, no one is to make contact with Jiang Yuan alone."

The academic director sent the acknowledgment as instructed, then notified the security team to seal the school gates.

Two hours would pass in the blink of an eye. The school needed to unify its story before the investigation team arrived while also keeping the thousands of students on the training field under control.

Li Qingshan took the loudspeaker. His soles stepped over scattered broken feathers at the edge of the stage, and a brief burst of static crackled through the speaker.

"The alert has been lifted. Each class, count your students. Injured students, proceed to the medical area. Everyone else, regroup according to your original formations."

The students scattered around the training field gradually returned to their lines. A few gathered together and passed around terminals, trying to bypass the campus network restrictions, but the moment their screens lit up, teachers confiscated the devices.

Li Qingshan inspected Class Eight's formation, his gaze finally settling on Guo Hongtao.

"Little Fatty Liu, step out."

Guo Hongtao looked to either side, then raised a hand and pointed at his own nose.

"Teacher, were you calling me?"

"When everyone was gathering just now, you were clutching roast meat and heading toward the grill. When the Iron-Winged Vultures swooped down, you were still standing there."

Li Qingshan raised the loudspeaker and tapped it twice toward the track.

"After the ceremony ends, run twenty laps."

Guo Hongtao hugged the remaining half-skewer of roast meat to his chest and tried to defend himself.

"I was testing it for poison on everyone's behalf."

"Twenty-five laps."

"The Iron-Winged Vultures didn't even get the chance to eat me, but you're taking half my life first."

"Thirty laps."

Guo Hongtao swallowed the rest of his complaint and dragged his feet back into formation.

Jiang Yuan turned his head and reminded him in a voice only the two of them could hear, "Say a few less words, and you might keep the other half of your life."

"When you saved me, why didn't you smash the teacher's loudspeaker while you were at it?"

Li Qingshan looked over. Guo Hongtao immediately straightened his back, pressed both hands against the seams of his trousers, and even hid the roast meat behind him.

Once the training field had settled down again, the principal stepped onto the stage. He did not mention the Subtlety Realm swordsmanship or reveal any news about the New Star investigation team. He only announced the injuries caused by the attack.

Two students had suffered abrasions, one staff member had sprained something, and there had been no deaths.

"Jiang Yuan of Senior Year Class Eight took the initiative to fight during the beast attack. He saved his classmates and killed four Iron-Winged Vultures in succession."

Holding the loudspeaker, the principal clearly announced the arrangements that would follow.

"The school will apply for a commendation for righteous conduct on his behalf and grant him additional cultivation resources for this semester."

Applause began within Class Eight's formation and soon spread across the training field. The students in the front rows stepped aside, leaving a path leading to the stage.

Jiang Yuan followed Li Qingshan to the foot of the stage. The principal stood beside him while the publicity teacher raised a camera and adjusted its focus on the two of them.

Jiang Yuan glanced at the lens and asked quietly, "Principal, weren't we still blocking the news just now? Is it really appropriate to take publicity photos now?"

"The video has already leaked. If the school keeps covering it up, it will only make more people speculate about your swordsmanship and weapon."

The principal straightened the wooden case on Jiang Yuan's shoulder, then fixed his crooked collar.

"If the school makes public how you saved people, we'll have a chance to contain the rest of the news. If the investigation team asks about your swordsmanship, you simply broke through in the heat of the moment during a crisis."

The shutter clicked repeatedly.

After finishing the solo photos, the principal waved Guo Hongtao over and had the publicity teacher take another photo of the rescued student shaking hands with Jiang Yuan.

Guo Hongtao grasped Jiang Yuan's hand and squeezed out a smile at the camera.

"Brother Yuan, if this photo makes it onto the campus homepage, can the roast meat I owe you count as paid back?"

"Finish your thirty laps first."

"Then I'd better keep owing you."

The ceremony ended early. Staff pushed over transport carts and began clearing the beast corpses from the training field.

Carrying the wooden case, Jiang Yuan returned to the battle area and assisted the staff in recording sword marks and corpse locations. The fourth Iron-Winged Vulture's blood had soaked through the broken sword, and several dried clots still clung to its blade.

When no one around him was paying attention, he drew the broken sword and slowly wiped its spine with a cleaning cloth.

More than half of the reddish-brown rust layer that had covered the blade had fallen away. Several scarlet patterns extended upward from the guard, reaching all the way to the jagged break.

There had originally been a nick near the blade's edge, half a thumb wide when he bought it. Now, only a shallow groove remained.

Jiang Yuan turned the sword over and compared its other side inch by inch to how it had looked in his memory.

Two fine cracks had already closed, and the edge of the break had grown outward by a short length. The uneven notch was far more even than before.

When he had bound the sword to himself, Nine Yang Inner Force had shaken rust from its body. But the changes before him were all concentrated in places stained with beast blood.

Jiang Yuan crouched beside an Iron-Winged Vulture corpse, dipped the cleaning cloth in a small amount of blood, and placed a drop onto the shallow groove in the blade.

The droplet clung to the metal instead of rolling down the sword. In the blink of an eye, it seeped deep into the iron.

The scarlet patterns lit up for two breaths. The two sides of the shallow groove drew together, until only a fine mark remained.

This broken sword could devour the blood of alien beasts and repair its own damage.

Jiang Yuan wiped away the remaining blood, returned the broken sword to its wooden case, and fastened the lid shut.

The staff carrying away corpses were busy checking serial numbers. No one noticed what he had just done.

The Heaven-Reliant Dragon-Slayer Thunderfire Sword was still damaged. If it could gradually recover by relying on the blood of high-level alien beasts, its value would have to multiply several times over.

That afternoon, Li Qingshan called Jiang Yuan into the martial arts office.

"The investigation team will arrive in forty minutes."

Li Qingshan brought up the battle replay and paused it at the moment Jiang Yuan delivered his third strike.

"Tell me. Why has your swordsmanship progressed so quickly?"

"An epiphany."

Li Qingshan raised a finger and tapped the frozen battle footage.

"Explain exactly what happened."

"The Iron-Winged Vultures blocked my retreat, so I could only target their wings and joints. After the first Iron-Winged Vulture fell, the parts of my sword techniques that I hadn't understood suddenly became clear."

Li Qingshan walked around the desk and stopped in front of Jiang Yuan.

"You obtained a fragment during winter break, encountered Iron-Winged Vultures during the school anniversary celebration, and gained an epiphany in battle. Your swordsmanship then entered the Subtlety Realm."

He raised a hand and turned off the battle replay.

"When the investigation team asks, answer according to that account."

Jiang Yuan agreed, then opened his combat assessment record and pushed the display toward Li Qingshan.

"Teacher, we still have an agreement from before. The combat assessment was meant to inspect my progress in cultivating Tyrant Blade. As long as my performance was satisfactory, you would give me another martial arts slot."

Li Qingshan stood there with his mouth open, unable to speak for a long while.

He remembered the first time Jiang Yuan had learned Tyrant Blade. He really had experienced an epiphany on the spot and directly gotten started.

Back then, Li Qingshan had thought Jiang Yuan was exceptionally gifted with blade techniques.

But now... in a life-or-death situation, while facing the siege of three alien beasts, he had actually achieved another epiphany and comprehended swordsmanship to the Subtlety Realm?

What kind of absurd talent for comprehension was this?

"A monster. He really is a monster..."

Li Qingshan muttered to himself. The way he looked at Jiang Yuan had changed from seeing a promising seedling to seeing a future martial arts titan.

This investment was more than a huge profit. It was practically enough to change his fate!

"Teacher?" Jiang Yuan called out tentatively.

"Huh? Oh!" Li Qingshan came back to himself, his face instantly breaking into a smile so warm it was as if he were looking at his own son.

"Ahem. Jiang Yuan, you did exceptionally well this time! You helped the school avert an enormous crisis. The school will definitely remember this achievement!"

"Teacher, being credited is a small matter." Jiang Yuan changed the subject. "You said before that as long as I showed enough potential, the school would invest heavily in training me. Does that still count?"

"It counts! Of course it counts!"

Li Qingshan patted his chest in assurance. "You're the school's treasure now. Forget me—even the principal would have to worship you! Tell me, what reward do you want? High-grade vitality potions? Or more powerful martial arts techniques?"

He felt that, given the value Jiang Yuan had displayed, if he applied for another set of A-Rank Martial Arts, the principal would absolutely approve it without hesitation.

"I don't want potions." Jiang Yuan shook his head, then said something shocking.

"Teacher, I want to learn every A-Rank Martial Art in the school."

The office fell silent at once.

The smile on Li Qingshan's face froze.

"What did you say? Every one?" He suspected he had heard wrong.

"Yes, every one." Jiang Yuan nodded in confirmation.

"Nonsense!"

Li Qingshan's expression darkened. "What do you think A-Rank Martial Arts are? Cabbages? You want every single one?"