The next day, Lei Wujie slowly opened his eyes as he laid in the straw hut. Feeling for Rainfall beside him, Lei Wujie picked it up before heading out the door. The next thing he saw was a Li Hanyi seated in front of him with his back facing him and Armored Glacier stabbed into the ground beside him. Even when he heard footsteps behind him, Li Hanyi didn’t turn around, instead muttering thusly, “From today on, your training in the sword arts officially begin”
“What kind of sword art?”
“The art of drawing the sword.” Li Hanyi said softly.
Lei Wujie felt as though his head had just been dealt a severe blow. “Why is it sword drawing again, haven’t I already drawn it? That’s why I’m here.”
Li Hanyi stood up and placed his hand on the hilt of his sword. “Don’t look down on the art of drawing the sword. In a battle between experts, life or death can be decided the moment the sword is drawn. That moment is extremely important. Today, I want you to look closely and engrave in your heart the sword mantra I’m about to teach you.”
“What sword mantra?” Lei Wujie hurriedly asked.
“Hidden Sword of Wind and Lightning–” Li Hanyi turned around, fingers still white from gripping down on his sword. Even so, there was a faint rumbling within the scabbard that could be felt even with the distance between him and Li Hanyi. It was as if the sword was about to shoot out of its sheath at any moment.
The winds surrounding them turned frigid in an instant.
It was then that Li Hanyi suddenly drew his sword and pointed it towards Lei Wujie. Lei Wujie immediately broke out in cold sweat as a piercing sensation struck, like there were a dozen swords pointing right at him!
Li Hanyi withdrew his sword and Lei Wujie fell to one knee at that point, head drenched in sweat.
“–Drawing the Blade in All Directions.” Li Hanyi recited the later half of the mantra.
Lei Wujie exhaled deeply before replying, “Your disciple remembers.”
Li Hanyi nodded his head and turned around to leave. Lei Wujie hesitated for a moment before calling out to him. “Teacher!”
Li Hanyi’s footsteps stopped. “What is it?”
“What happened to Song Yanhui?”
“He lost. Yin Luoxia should have brought him down the mountain to recuperate by now.” Li Hanyi replied.
“Oh.” Lei Wujie acknowledged before following up with another question, “Teacher, when are you going to accompany me on a trip back to the Lei Clan? My teacher… he still wants to meet you.”
“Wait till you are able to challenge me in a sword duel.” As soon as the words left Li Hanyi’s mouth, he turned around and disappeared into the forest.
Lei Wujie helplessly scratched his head. Challenging the Sword Immortal in a swordfight? Was that even possible without another decade of practise?
Below the mountain, another person opened his eyes.
“A Sword To Break The Water, Halting A Thousand Rivers.” Song Yanhui.
Beside him sat Immortal Maiden Luo Xia who once split a river with her palm.
There were very few people in the martial world who knew of the history and relationship between these two people. Not only did the both of them save countless people from disaster, they also shared a special relationship with each other as a result of that. In the end, however, this man who was born to wield the sword left.
“What are you doing here in Snow Moon City?” Song Yanhui sat up and awkwardly asked.
Yin Luoxia merely laughed his question off coldly. “I was swindled by that damned Sikong Changfeng. I agreed to gamble three rounds against him but he actually cheated in all three. And don’t try to play dumb, I refuse to believe that you were in the dark about me being in Snow Moon City.”
Song Yanhui laughed. “Whether you are here or not, what difference does it make?”
Yin Luoxia completely ignored him and simply mocked him, “Then what difference does it make if you win or lose? You challenged Li Hanyi four times in a row and each time, you lost more miserably than the last. This time, you nearly died. Why are you even practising the sword after all that? If I were you, I would just sell that piece of scrap away, retire to some village and marry a girl.”
Thirteen years ago, during the flooding of River Canglan, the young immortal maiden once said the same thing. “Stop practicing the way of the sword. We’ll sell our swords together and settle down in the countryside. We can start a family together.”
However, this man in front of her was still as block headed as he was thirteen years ago. He simply shook his head and said, “I accepted a disciple several years ago whose talents are second to none in the entire martial world. If it’s him, he will definitely be able to shoulder the heavy responsibility of restoring Unparalleled City’s reputation. Even though my sword has lost to Li Hanyi, my disciple’s definitely won’t.”
Yin Luxia sighed and replied, “Is restoring the reputation of Unparalleled City that important to you?”
Song Yanhui lowered his head and didn’t answer her question.
“Is beating the Snow Moon Sword Immortal so important?”
Song Yanhui silently made his way to the door.
“And what about me, am I not important?”
Song Yanhui pushed the door open and hastily walked into the courtyard, avoiding the terrifying question entirely. Leaning against the doorframe, Yin Luoxia merely gazed at Song Yanhui’s back as he left, an expression of abject grief on her face. Throughout all that, he quietly weathered her forlorn gaze, head downcast and feet quick, the very picture of an unfaithful man.
Yet what was supposed to be a solemn moment of silence was suddenly interrupted by a howl from nowhere.
“Scram! You heartless b*stard!”
Song Yanhui turned his head around just in time to see a leg flying towards his face. Setting out to dodge it, he was immediately foiled by a burst of sharp pain in his shoulders. His injuries from yesterday’s battle were simply too serious so he wasn’t even able to use the slightest bit of true qi. In the end, he was sent flying out the door by a kick.
“You!” Song Yanhui crawled up from the ground and looked at the person in front of him. He wore the same type of white robe as Yin Luoxia, with that exact same ‘gamble’ was written on the back. It was obvious from a glance that this person was Yin Luoxia’s disciple, Luo Mingxuan.
“What do you mean ‘you’!?” Luo Mingxuan widened his eyes. “I’ll beat you to death you disloyal man!” Originally, Luo Mingxuan was just here to pay his respects to his teacher, Yin Luoxia and ask about the outcome of yesterday’s Six Gambles; that was when he witnessed the scene before him. It was obvious that his teacher, Yin Luoxia, was trying her best to keep this man by her side but he was adamant about treating his sword as his wife. He could no longer control himself, and in a fit of fury, he tried to seek justice for his teacher, even though, given his cowardly personality, he would never have done so had he known that the person he just kicked was the one and only citymaster of Unparalleled.
“How dare you stare at me? Do you know whose territory you’re stepping on right now?” Luo Mingxuan yelled and sent out a palm strike that was clearly Yin Luoxia’s Mournful Severing Palm with nothing held back, no less.
Song Yanhui’s clothes turned into shreds from that attack and his body seemed as though it was about to collapse at any moment. Had it been any other time, Luo Mingxuan wouldn’t have been even worthy of receiving a sword from him. Now however, Luo Mingxuan was able to beat him up like a dead dog, and since Song Yanhui understood that there was no way he could defeat Luo Mingxuan, there was only one thing left to do: run.
Luo Mingxuan immediately gave chase without relent. But like his namesake, the swallow, Song Yanhui’s movement skills were beyond compare. Even in his injured state, he was able to deftly dodge the incoming blows with a swerve left or a dodge right, resulting in the whole endeavor devolving into a game of cat and mouse.
“Teacher, just wait till I get my hands on this b*stard! I swear I’ll castrate him!” Luo Mingxuan yelled.
Yin Luoxia raised one of her hand to cover her mouth as she giggled. “Alright!”
No matter how refined the citymaster of Unparalleled City, Song Yanhui, was, he could no longer swallow this embarrassment as his anger shot through the skies. “Brat, do you even know who you’re talking to?!”
“Oh! You still have something left to say?” Luo Mingxuan shot past Song Yanhui and sent out a kick which caused Song Yanhui to go flying out the door.
Flipping his body midair, he managed to regain his posture midair and land atop a nearby wall. After hesitating for a short moment, he looked at Yin Luoxia before jumping off.
“Teacher, I’ve chased him away.” Turning around, Luo Mingxuan laughed as he looked at his teacher. However, tears were dripping down Immortal Maiden Luoxia’s face even though she was laughing happily just a moment ago. Though a smile was still frozen on her face, a stream of tears flowed forth from both of her eyes.
