The Vortex

"Too dangerous, Xu Yuan."

"More dangerous than a Human-Skin Monster at the Ninth Layer of Qi Refining?" Xu Yuan asked.

"Well, no." Yang Xiaobing considered it seriously.

"Then there you go. I'll beat them all until they admit defeat. Next time you tell someone how strong I am, nobody will be able to argue."

Xu Yuan spoke slowly and reached out to rub Yang Xiaobing's head.

This time, Yang Xiaobing did not dodge. She held a breath in her mouth, puffing it from cheek to cheek, and shook her little head in protest.

Several breaths passed in silence.

"Then... after next year's College Entrance Examination, let's meet up at Luofu in triumph."

The girl lowered her head and spoke softly.

Since you've made up your mind.

I'll keep pace with you.

"Mm," Xu Yuan replied.

Yang Xiaobing suddenly stamped her foot, let go of his sleeve, and darted into the crowd as though fleeing.

Xu Yuan stayed where he was, a smile on his lips, silently watching her go.

That little girl.

She probably still doesn't quite believe me. She probably thinks I was boasting to make her feel better.

But I wasn't.

When it comes to skill, you either have it or you don't.

I have it.

I'm the King of Competition.

Beating everyone in my year until they admit defeat is just standard practice.

All that's left is to do it.

Two vermilion pillars formed the gate, each topped with a gilded, spread-winged bird's head.

Between the pillars stood a door studded in nine rows, with rings held in beasts' mouths.

The gatekeepers were already waiting nearby.

"Eldest Miss!"

They spoke in unison.

The Flying Boat descended.

Jiang Xueyao leaped out.

Her steps were hurried. She rounded the screen wall, passed from the outer hall through the three-room ancestral shrine and the family temple, followed the lotus pond, crossed the pavilion and the long garden corridor, and entered the main hall.

As she walked, her pace slowed. She looked at the large rosewood couch in the hall and the Heavenly Mountain Moon-Gazing Screen standing perfectly intact behind it.

Every arrangement and coded sign showed that all was well at home.

Only then did she ask:

"Nothing at home seems to have changed, and the staff are where they've always been. Why did Father trick me into coming back?"

The old man who had followed her all the way merely smiled. Only when she kept staring at him did he say:

"It was all the head of the household's orders, Eldest Miss."

Jiang Xueyao said no more.

She went around the screen, took the path past the eastern rooms and through the arched garden, glanced at the plum branches just beginning to bud, then passed through the flower-hung gate and arrived before the embroidered tower in the inner courtyard.

A long-haired middle-aged man in a pale-blue Daoist robe stood trimming the branches of a small tree before the tower with a pair of gold-handled shears.

"You sent a Flying Boat into the school to fetch me. I thought something serious had happened, but here you are, taking it easy."

Jiang Xueyao's voice was cool.

The middle-aged man kept working without turning around. "Three months ago, Nine Luminaries unearthed a sword art in an ancient ruin."

Jiang Xueyao said nothing. She only watched his back.

The middle-aged man continued:

"Chang is going to hold a lecture on the sword. He'll be explaining the secrets of that very sword art. I secured you a place, so go listen for a few days."

"When do I leave?" Jiang Xueyao asked.

"After tomorrow morning's Monthly Exam. A Flying Boat will pick you up and take you straight to Penglai on the Sea. Everything's arranged. All you have to do is go," the middle-aged man said.

"For how long?"

"Half a month."

"Why so long?"

"That sword art is extraordinary. Hearing him speak about it will benefit your cultivation."

Jiang Xueyao lowered her eyes and fell silent.

"Listen to your father," the middle-aged man said. "This is a good opportunity. I wouldn't do anything to harm you."

A long while passed.

"No."

Jiang Xueyao spoke slowly.

"At first, you said there was an emergency. Now that I'm back, you've arranged a sword lecture you know I'd want to attend, just to send me away for half a month."

"You're hiding something from me."

"You're overthinking it," the middle-aged man said.

"Is telling me the truth so difficult? Or have you already decided there are things you'll keep from me?"

A layer of frost settled over Jiang Xueyao's beautiful eyes. Her voice was quiet and detached.

The middle-aged man's hands stopped.

Yet his tone remained as gentle as a spring breeze:

"Since you've noticed, I suppose there's no harm in telling you."

"Your exam this morning caught the attention of both Highnesses. Even the Sacred Sovereign has heard of it."

"We didn't cheat," Jiang Xueyao said.

"It's precisely because those results were genuinely yours that so many people took notice," the middle-aged man said.

"I don't understand," Jiang Xueyao said.

"Ten years ago—"

The middle-aged man said those three words, then raised a hand and waved it.

Figures emerged from all around and swiftly left the courtyard.

Immediately afterward,

the spiritual energy began to shift violently.

It was like water boiling without a sound, or some giant beast beneath the ocean depths slowly opening its eyes.

One breath.

Two breaths.

Three breaths.

Everything returned to normal.

At last, Jiang Xueyao's expression changed. She said softly:

"With the Grand Array fully activated, no one can eavesdrop here. What exactly are you going to tell me?"

The middle-aged man said, "Ten years ago—"

"A conclusion had already been reached about that disaster:"

"In the battle that destroyed the city, the final stand was horrific, but it was the only way to get both Highnesses out alive."

"But Xueyao, do you know?"

He turned and met his daughter's eyes for the first time. His voice grew grave.

"No one ever imagined there might be another way—a new path that could be found without so many sacrifices."

"Strictly speaking, it didn't save both Highnesses."

"But it was a new path nonetheless."

Jiang Xueyao had been listening quietly, but something suddenly occurred to her. Her gaze seemed to freeze, and the color drained from her cheeks.

"That's impossible!"

The words burst from her.

The middle-aged man went on in a calm voice:

"Heroic sacrifice and devotion leave people speechless, with no one to blame."

"But what if—"

"What if those sacrifices were made out of stupidity and incompetence?"

"What if lives were thrown away only because no one could find the right way out?"

"What do you think the Sacred Sovereign would do?"

Silence.

Silence.

Deathly silence.

If these words got out, they would stir up towering waves.

Fortunately, the surrounding Magic Array was running at full strength.

No one else could learn what father and daughter had said.

Safe within its protection, Jiang Xueyao had long forgotten her earlier trace of displeasure.

She bit her lip without realizing it, her brows drawing together slightly. Her voice turned cold:

"We really didn't join the others, but we didn't discover any new path, either—"

"We just brought the Commandery Princess with us."

"And as far as my teammates knew, she was just an ordinary-looking little boy, probably a commoner."

"That counts as a new path?"

When she finished speaking,

her father did not answer. He only looked deeply at her without a word.

Jiang Xueyao was sharp as ice and snow.

Time slipped silently through her fingers.

Little by little, she grasped what he meant.

"No... Could the direction we took really have—"

She stopped there, fixing her eyes on her father as she waited for an answer.

Her father said nothing either.

But he gave an almost imperceptible nod.

So that was it!

In that instant,

Jiang Xueyao understood completely!

Xu Yuan had driven like mad and even killed a Man-Demon at the Ninth Layer of Qi Refining, but that was not the end of it.

The final result was that he had actually taken the right escape route?

This was serious!

It was the sort of revelation that could send heads rolling and blood flowing like a river!

That was why her father wanted to pull her out at once and send her away to study, before this terrifying vortex dragged her in!

But he was not finished.

The middle-aged man put away the gold-handled shears, clasped his hands behind his back, and continued:

"All these years, those who knew what happened praised First Highness for responding wisely, leading from the front, and fighting bravely."

"If not for First Highness's careful plans, perhaps no one would have survived."

"First Highness kept the Commandery Princess at his side, and that was how her life was spared."

"First Highness saved both himself and his sister. A remarkable feat."

"But now—"

"You saved the Commandery Princess, took her away from the site of the final battle, and survived all the way to the overpass North of the City."

"The City Gate was not far from there. By careful calculation, your position meant you were almost close enough to have a chance of escaping alive."

"And you were only four high-school students in the Qi Refining Realm."

"So tell me—"

"What will His Majesty think of that?"

"And what of the Commandery Princess, who has kept silent all these years?"

"Faced with the facts, will the ministers, the leaders of the various sects, and the elders of Nine Luminaries University still be able to flatter First Highness?"

Jiang Xueyao gazed at the garden full of blossoms, but a chill ran through her entire body. Cold sweat poured down her back, and she could barely stand.