Chapter One Hundred Forty-Eight: The Clean and Pure Girl
The next few days were pretty similar.
Sang Zhe showed up at Gu Yingmian’s place for sparring every day on time, and Gu Yingmian put her all into finding ways to counter Sang Zhe’s sword intent.
Yet, every time ended with Gu Yingmian feeling gloomy over her defeat.
Now, Gu Yingmian didn’t drag Sang Zhe into training all day but limited their sparring to three times a day, letting Sang Zhe go rest during the rest of the time.
She seized the opportunity to continuously refine her own sword intent.
Meanwhile, Sang Zhe was living his best life.
Every day, he was either challenging Gu Yingmian while flexing a bit or enjoying the sight of the many young and beautiful female disciples practicing swords at Sword Flower Palace.
Here and there, he could also sneak a meal at Chun Lan and Qiu Ju’s place, watching the two sisters fuss over him, each with their own hidden motives.
A week went by just like that.
——
——
“I say, Nian Nian,”
In the steamy bath, Sang Zhe leaned against the edge, mumbling to himself:
“Gu Yingmian is truly a sword genius.”
“At first, she couldn’t even stand one move of ‘Clear Peace and Float Life Sword.'”
“Then, she managed to barely take one or two moves.”
“Now, I need to throw at least ten moves at her to win. The speed of her progress is just insane!”
“Why’s the gap between people so huge?”
Nian Nian sat by the pool, her delicate feet gently splashing in the water.
She really wanted to spill the real reason to Sang Zhe.
But after thinking it over, she chose to keep her mouth shut to protect her host’s morale.
“Ugh, thank goodness I’m smart.”
Sang Zhe continued lamenting to himself: “If I hadn’t been clever enough to mislead her with a few words after every practice, she might have already mastered ‘Clear Peace and Float Life Sword’ by now.”
Nian Nian: “…”
“Hey, if she keeps improving at this rate, can I still break her heart in battle?”
“She won’t, mid-battle, gain enlightenment and reach a breakthrough in swordsmanship, right?” Sang Zhe lay on the edge, looking worriedly at Nian Nian.
“Don’t worry.”
Nian Nian rolled her eyes in annoyance and said sweetly: “While there’s a non-zero chance of that, it’s still just that—a non-zero chance.”
“Aiming for mastery in any aspect is incredibly difficult in any world.”
“Thinking it can be achieved overnight is tough even with cheat codes.”
“Just because Gu Yingmian seems to hold her ground against ‘Clear Peace and Float Life Sword’ doesn’t mean she’s close.”
“But if you really think back to the sword intent she had at the beginning compared to now…”
Sang Zhe seriously thought it over.
Indeed.
At first, Gu Yingmian insisted on her own isolated sword intent.
Sure, she couldn’t beat ‘Clear Peace and Float Life Sword.’
But her sword intent was still pure, elegant, and beyond beautiful.
Just appreciating her sword intent made a layman like Sang Zhe feel delighted.
Now, however, it felt like she was forcing her sword intent to conform to ‘Clear Peace and Float Life Sword’ to counter it.
She could last longer against her, sure.
But it didn’t feel as pleasant anymore.
“For sword cultivators, mixing sword intents is ultimately a big taboo.”
Nian Nian folded her arms and said: “She’s likely become aware of this in the past few days.”
Sang Zhe pondered, nodding thoughtfully.
——
——
Meanwhile, in Gu Yingmian’s quarters.
Gu Yingmian took off her hairpin, letting her long black hair cascade down her shoulders.
She slipped into a lightweight nightgown, sat before her vanity, and looked at her reflection in the bronze mirror.
The young woman in the mirror looked even more haggard than before.
There was a hint of delicate frailty, as if she were ill.
Gu Yingmian felt like she was losing her mind over these past few days.
From the moment she got up, she had been racking her brain on how to deal with ‘Clear Peace and Float Life Sword.’
Then she dueled with Sang Zhe, only to lose again.
She went back to thinking, pondering over meals, even in her dreams, she was still battling Sang Zhe.
That ‘Clear Peace and Float Life Sword’ loomed over her like a nightmare, weighing heavily on her heart.
Despite putting her all into countering it,
Even after exhausting all conceivable methods, she could still only manage ten moves before falling to defeat.
What scared her even more was.
Gu Yingmian slowly realized.
She was starting to forget what her original isolated sword intent even looked like.
These exhausting days of grappling with ‘Clear Peace and Float Life Sword’ had forced her to mix every sword technique from her scriptures into her sword intent.
She could last longer, sure.
But it was becoming less and less like her original sword technique.
At first, Gu Yingmian thought she was just a bit drained.
But gradually, when she tried to reclaim her former sword intent,
She suddenly found herself strangely uncertain when picking up the Dream Jun Sword.
Even attempting to replicate the moves from memory felt awkward and clumsy.
Thus, after a few desperate attempts, Gu Yingmian listlessly clutched the Dream Jun Sword, standing in the courtyard.
Feeling dazed and lost.
…Huh.
No, that’s not right.
It shouldn’t be like this…
This chaotic, incomprehensible sword intent.
Is this really how I wield it?
How could that be… it shouldn’t be like this…
My, my hard-earned sword intent from years of practice…
Gu Yingmian looked down.
Even the Dream Jun Sword responded not at all to her techniques.
It felt as if it had lost its warmth for her.
In that moment, a wave of immense fear washed over Gu Yingmian.
She felt inexplicably cold all over.
Especially chilling. Even hugging her arms tightly didn’t stop her from shivering.
She gazed deeply at the Dream Jun Sword, her face pale, biting her lip tightly.
“That’s not how it is.”
“I haven’t regressed… I haven’t forgotten our sword intent.”
“Dream Jun Sword, please don’t be mad, forgive me, okay…”
“Just give me one more chance, I promise I can—”
In near despair, she raised her sword once more.
But again, it was without grace, lacking any aesthetic.
It was hardly even recognizably swordplay.
The Dream Jun Sword remained silent.
It wouldn’t shake for her affectionately like before.
Now, it seemed to watch her miserable state coldly, peering down at her from a distance.
That indifference and disappointment made Gu Yingmian feel like her heart was breaking.
Eventually, she couldn’t remember how she returned to her quarters.
How she collapsed on her bed, utterly drained.
How she slipped into a hazy, unconscious sleep.
Only to be jolted awake by nightmares.
Until morning, when the dawn light softly shone through.
——
——
Early in the morning, Sang Zhe dutifully ran to find Gu Yingmian.
“Gu Palace Master~ Your junior has come to shamelessly ask for guidance again~”
However, this time.
There was no response.
Sang Zhe thought Gu Yingmian must have overslept and called out a few more times.
But louder he shouted, the more silent it remained.
Curiously, Sang Zhe thought she had stepped out, so he knocked on the door.
Only to discover, upon knocking, that the door to Gu Yingmian’s quarters wasn’t even closed.
“Gu Palace Master… I’m coming in.”
Sang Zhe cautiously pushed the door open.
What greeted him was complete chaos.
From the entrance onward, everything in the room was smashed to bits.
Vases and ceramic items lay shattered on the floor, tables and chairs scattered everywhere, scrolls and books ripped apart.
There were even horrific cracks remaining on the walls and floors.
The whole place looked tragic, as if it had just witnessed a great battle.
Sang Zhe gingerly stepped over the debris, growing increasingly alarmed.
Holy moly.
Who would dare invade the quarters of a Major Realm expert?
But as he navigated through the wreckage and reached Gu Yingmian’s bedside,
He found her huddled next to a broken vanity.
The vanity was cracked, the bronze mirror lay in shards on the ground, reflecting countless images of Gu Yingmian’s lonely figure.
She was curled up, facing the wall, her body trembling slightly.
“Gu, Gu Palace Master?”
Sang Zhe tentatively asked.
There was no reply.
Gritting his teeth, he cautiously approached and lightly tapped Gu Yingmian on the shoulder:
“Gu Palace Master? What happened here—”
She suddenly jerked and slowly turned her head towards him.
Her strikingly beautiful face was streaked with tears, breathtaking yet sorrowful.
Her enchanting eyes were clouded with mist, the flush of grievance evident, giving her a sorrowful, captivating look as if she had just cried her heart out.
“Gu Palace Master?”
Sang Zhe was taken aback, stuttering, “Did someone… steal your secret stash?”
“…”
Gu Yingmian bit her rosy lips, sounding pitiful like a little girl as she choked out:
“Sang… Young Master Sang…”
“I… I seem to… have forgotten how to use the sword…”
And with that, she began sobbing once more.
She had completely lost the grand demeanor of a Major Realm Sword Immortal, crying like a sheltered girl who lost the flower gifted by her beloved.
It was only upon seeing Gu Yingmian like this that Sang Zhe suddenly realized.
This woman had excluded everything else from her life.
Immersed in a solitary world of swordsmanship, she had tirelessly trained for hundreds of years.
She was an incredibly powerful, astonishing Major Realm Sword Immortal.
But at the same time.
She was just a simple, clean, ordinary girl whose world revolved solely around swordplay and cultivation.
Sang Zhe remained silent for a long moment before asking: “Gu Palace Master, did you run into problems with your sword training?”
“I… I don’t know…”
Through her tearful eyes, she choked out intermittently: “I can’t… bring out my sword intent…”
“And the Dream Jun Sword, sob, it won’t even acknowledge me anymore…”
She looked utterly wronged as she cried.
Her rain-like tears in a way that made one want to hold her and comfort her.
Of course, Sang Zhe wasn’t brave enough to do that.
He could only sigh deeply and solemnly say:
“Gu Palace Master, you can’t just give up.”
“If your sword intent is lost, you can still train again.”
“If a person is lost… then that’s all there is.”
Gu Yingmian looked up at him with her pitiful, tear-filled eyes.
After a long while, she whispered shyly:
“…Thank you.”
No need to be polite.
Sang Zhe smiled while sweat poured down his back.
After all.
If one had to say it, he was the one responsible for her losing her sword intent.
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