Chapter 201

As the Qi flowed through, the small sword lost its buoyancy; Seeing Pei Ye placed it on his lap and untied the small scroll of paper.

Seeing Pei Ye was stunned; he hadn't expected it to appear at this moment, though it wasn't that he hadn't anticipated its arrival.

This was a question he had only sent out yesterday.

Previously, Lu Yunsheng had wanted this bead because he wanted to take the matter of the Joyful Death Tower into the hands of Tianshan to handle; Seeing Pei Ye himself had no desire to compete for it, only harboring some necessary vigilance toward Tianshan, this unfamiliar behemoth.

However, if asked about his understanding of Tianshan, he couldn't even say ten sentences; even if Tianshan truly had some conspiracy, he had no way to guess, let alone investigate, so at the time, he had asked Lu Yunsheng to wait, as he wanted to inquire and make a decision later.

The object of his inquiry was naturally Ming Qitian.

Yesterday, after reading the woman's first reply, Seeing Pei Ye had used the small sword in his hand to send another letter, detailing the events of the past two days, and finally asking if Tianshan could be trusted.

Miss Ming, firstly, had a broad perspective and knew much; secondly, she was currently at Tianshan and could pay a little attention to Tianshan's attitude toward this matter, and could always give him some advice.

Of course, he didn't expect a definitive answer, as the woman only knew about this matter from his letter and didn't understand the various parties involved.

This was precisely why Seeing Pei Ye was surprised that the reply had come so quickly—for Miss Ming to answer his question, she would at least need to understand and inquire, which should have taken a day or two.

Now, it was as if she had picked up the pen and replied immediately after receiving it.

She couldn't have just written the four words "I don't know," could she?

It wasn't easy for the small sword to fly a round trip, so she couldn't be that irresponsible. Seeing Pei Ye unwrapped the outer layer of the paper note, spread it flat, and there was indeed a line of the woman's handwriting on it.

Sure enough, it was only a very brief sentence.

"The bead you mentioned can be handed over to that Tianshan disciple; I have asked their sect leader."

Hmm.

Seeing Pei Ye was stunned for a moment and touched his hair.

Fine.

There didn't seem to be any problem; if Tianshan truly had some scheme, for the next-generation Sword Lord of Mount Yunlang to come and ask in person, they would indeed be expected to explain everything immediately.

It was probably a conversation like this: "Neighbor, why are you putting a trap here?" "To deal with rats." "Take it away for now; there are children at home these days who love to run around." "Oh! You should have said so earlier; I'll hurry and remove the rat poison too!"

Otherwise, if a matter of catching rats really hurt the children of Mount Yunlang, what would they do?

Although Seeing Pei Ye's random, strange thoughts were just that, they were actually not far from the reality.

When Ming Qitian received the letter, she was in the Qunyu Pavilion holding a scroll and discussing swords with several seniors. After reading the letter, she temporarily left her seat to visit the sect leader, informing them of the letter and the reasons, and asking about Tianshan's planning in this matter.

However, the sect leader had no idea what this matter was after hearing about it, only promising first that no matter how Tianshan was planning here, they would stop or let it go as needed, and would absolutely not harm the harmony between the two sides.

Afterward, they summoned Ye Wohan, who also had a blank expression, until Chu Xiao was called, and the ins and outs of the matter were finally clarified.

According to Master Chu, Tianshan was only passively investigating a case and had no active plans for the moment; the only intention was to see if they could borrow strength to establish a foothold on the Shaolong Road.

As for the young man mentioned by the Sword Lord, this was also the first time Tianshan had heard the name. If it was indeed as stated in the letter, then there was no doubt that he was a friend on the same front as Tianshan, with absolutely no deception, and certainly no intention of harm.

Thus, Ming Qitian thanked them on the spot and picked up her pen to reply with that sentence.

Seeing Pei Ye read it again, flipped it over to confirm there were no extra words, then carefully folded it and put it back into the cloth bag.

Only then did he pick up the small sword from his lap and look up. A row of silent faces looked over in unison, so he smiled: "It's a small magic tool for transmitting messages—just right, now I have a finger-sword to use."

The quiet atmosphere truly took a while to begin to melt. Everyone seemed to have a lot to say, but no one could open their mouth completely. In the end, Shen Yao moved forward and handed over the hand holding the sword.

"Young Master Pei."

Seeing Pei Ye hurriedly took it, and began to spar with the woman with a clatter.

"What is this letter... for?" Li Piaoqing asked from the side.

"It's about the Soul-Snatching Bead; I wasn't sure, so I asked a knowledgeable friend." Seeing Pei Ye dismantled the moves with his hands, "This is the reply; she said there's no problem, and it can be handed to Mr. Lu."

"Oh, this friend of yours..." The young girl rested her chin on her hand, not knowing where to start asking.

She originally wanted to ask, "Is it a very good friend?", but the way the young man had carefully put away the letter just now, "treasuring it," lacked the casualness between friends.

So Li Piaoqing hesitated for a while and didn't ask again, because she suddenly felt that a strange, massive mountain was being unveiled to her from the young man.

From the beginning of killing the Seven Lives, to the profound Sword Theory book, to the small sword that suddenly flew in just now, and the friend in the letter she had never heard of... they together constituted a massive curtain on the young man that she had never touched. This was not something that could be clarified in a few words, nor could the young man bridge this gap of strangeness just by telling her.

But Seeing Pei Ye was still sparring with Shen Yao with one hand, while the other hand reached into the cloth bag and took out the paper, clearly noticing her hesitation.

"Here." He smiled and handed it to her, "Take a look; this friend of mine is very impressive."

"Ah?" The young girl smiled in surprise, took it, and lowered her head to unfold it.

A line of very clear ink characters.

Before even identifying the content, the handwriting itself made her slightly stunned.

It was, of course, very beautiful. Just a moment ago, she had seen the most beautiful handwriting to date in that "General Theory" book, and now, this line of characters surpassed those annotations.

But it was hard to define it merely with words like "beautiful" or "pretty"; the most appropriate word should be "clear."

It wasn't just the visual impression brought by the good pen, paper, and ink, nor was it just that the strokes were horizontal and vertical; in fact, there were many connected strokes, and one could imagine that the owner did not write it in a sitting, serious environment. Compared to a letter, this was actually more like a casual note.

But it just gave you an intuitive sense of clarity. You could analyze many feelings from it—bright, neat, powerful, calm, composed...

If it is said that the handwriting reflects the person... Li Piaoqing's thought flashed by, and the content on the paper had already entered her eyes.

Very concise and to the point.

"The bead you mentioned can be handed over to that Tianshan disciple; I have asked their sect leader."

"..."

Li Piaoqing unconsciously turned her head to look at Seeing Pei Ye. The young man was just picking a flaw at random and tapped Shen Yao's wrist.

Then she turned her head back and read the sentence again.

"The bead you mentioned can be handed over to that Tianshan disciple; I have asked their sect leader."

This "their," if it didn't refer to Tianshan, who else could it refer to?

She made the same movement as the young man just now—flipped the paper, but there were indeed no extra words.

She poked Seeing Pei Ye, who was exchanging pleasantries with Shen Yao, and pointed to the words on the paper: "Whose sect leader?"

"Tianshan."

Oh, Tianshan.

Li Piaoqing frowned and looked at Seeing Pei Ye, and Seeing Pei Ye also looked at her.

"Your friend is indeed very impressive." After a quiet moment, Li Piaoqing handed the note back to him, her hands unconsciously clasped together, "Who is he—can you say?"

Seeing Pei Ye smiled: "She—"

Suddenly, he looked at the young girl, his eyes rolled, and he smiled: "Let's not talk about it for now. In about ten days, she will come to Bowang; I'll introduce you then."

"Oh, okay." Li Piaoqing looked at him strangely.

Then Seeing Pei Ye's eyes fell on the young girl's waist: "Is that one gone forever?"

"... Oh, right." Li Piaoqing lowered her head and lifted the small wooden sword hanging on her waist, "That mechanism can only be triggered once; after use, it can only be dismantled and reassembled, and it requires melting a part—actually, it's better to cast a new one."

Seeing Pei Ye remembered the way she had clutched the empty shell when she got off the carriage that day. For a long time, that small sword must have been the young girl's sustenance and support. Even though it was now helplessly damaged, Seeing Pei Ye had seen the young girl subconsciously reach for her waist from time to time over the past two days.

Seeing Pei Ye nodded and said softly: "When the time comes, I'll give you a gift."

The young girl's eyes widened: "When?"

"Hmm, in about ten days."

"Okay." The young girl smiled, "What will you give me?"

"Asking so clearly."

"I know even if you don't say it, is it a finger-sword?" Li Piaoqing smiled and said, "Who asks for a gift immediately after being told one is coming?"

"... Do you want it or not?"

"I do!"

Seeing Pei Ye chuckled.

After the chat here, the disciples hadn't started the second round yet, but were chatting and waiting. It turned out they wanted Seeing Pei Ye to be the first to fight; otherwise, in this form of tournament, they could only watch Pei the genius fight one match, and it was a rigged one at that, which was not satisfying enough.

Upon hearing this, Seeing Pei Ye immediately sat in the middle position with feigned reluctance—since he was a child, whenever they played grass-fighting, he always insisted on organizing a group against him, then gave others the thin ones, while he chose the thickest and toughest grass to win through.

Now that he sat down, his heroic spirit rose. He smiled and looked at the senior brothers and sisters around him, the small jade sword turning in his hand like his sixth white finger.

And while the small sword was organized again here, the long sword battle on the other side became increasingly intense. Disciples of the Bai Zhu Pavilion had already entered the arena, winning seven rows of streamers, and a seven-egret work had also appeared on the literary side, with the scholars gathered in a group to appreciate and discuss it.

And in the ranks of the Seven Serpents, a person suddenly stood up, shouting something to the pale and heavy-hearted disciples. The disciples' expressions seemed to change, and a few stood up, but were pressed down by him, and he himself walked onto the field with his sword.

Afterward, this person defeated three people in a row, including a Fourth Life of the Bai Zhu Pavilion.

This twenty-five or twenty-six-year-old man scanned the crowd with bloodshot eyes, and the relaxed atmosphere on the martial arts side began to become somewhat heavy.

Instead, the attention on the literary side was attracted, and scholars friendly to the Seven Serpents had already written two poems, which respectively flew four and five white egrets.

Kuang Rong, who had not participated in the discussion and sat staring at the field, reported this scene to the young girl at this time, and the young girl tilted her head and took a look.

One could guess what was going on without sound. In this form of one-by-one entry, those who entered first naturally suffered, which was also the reason why Cuiyu had not moved until now.

But in the poetry gatherings of the past few years, the Seven Serpents had always been the first to go up, relying on their abundance of talent to laugh at the whole field.

Now, in fact, their second-generation disciples had not suffered any damage and were still the strongest among the three factions of Bowang, but they had all lost their spirit, and in their panic, no one dared to move first.

Strong winds reveal sturdy grass; the person who jumped out was a hero.

But a hero also had his own limits. Under such a general trend, if you want to turn the tide, you must be a hero who can hold up the sky.

Are you also called Seeing Pei Ye?

Li Piaoqing withdrew her gaze lightly, pointed at Zhang Shixiong Chu Nian, who was sticking his head out and staring at Seeing Pei Ye's fingers, and pointed to the field.

Chu Nian smiled in surprise, looked in the direction pointed, and when he turned back, he had already restrained his smile, cupped his fists at the young girl, and walked onto the field.

Cuiyu's most capable Fourth Life disciple, and also rested and ready, within twenty moves, this emerging disciple of the Seven Serpents was hit hard in the chest by Chu Nian's knee and fainted on the spot.

The Cuiyu disciple's blood did not fill his eyes, but the injury and anger in his heart were not the least bit less. If it weren't for the poetry gathering, what would have hit him just now wouldn't have been a knee, but a blade.

And after this person was defeated, for a time, no one from the Seven Serpents entered the field again.

This was the difference caused by the two factions' operating methods. Cuiyu's recruitment of disciples followed the most orthodox path: careful selection, virtue before art, and no money required. If a disciple's family was in difficulty, the sect would even provide relief. After entering the sect, the master treated the disciple like a child, the disciple served the master like a father, and the senior brothers and sisters were like siblings.

Recruiting disciples this way naturally kept the numbers low, and training them was time-consuming and laborious, but almost every disciple was extremely refined and loyal, taking the sect as their home and the Cuiyu heritage as their own, with extremely strong cohesion.

As for the Seven Serpents, they were established late and had a greenwood style, with chaotic customs, so they naturally couldn't be like Cuiyu. And recruiting disciples with huge profits, although the number was huge and the fish and dragons were mixed, there were indeed many talents, but when things were going well, everything was easy to say, and everything was flourishing. But when the sect fell into trouble, expecting the disciples to be like Cuiyu, never leaving and being of one heart, was simply impossible.

After Chu Nian entered the field, the other martial artists present had already seen something wrong and no one was willing to go up and intervene, so it was a long time before another Seven Serpents Fourth Life came up, and then was smashed in the face by Chu Nian's fist in the thirty-fourth move.

The man took a white towel to wipe the blood on his hands, looked up expressionlessly at the Seven Serpents team.

Thus, he defeated two more Seven Serpents Fourth Lives before being defeated by a Seven Serpents Fifth Life. Although there was no such category established, the Fourth Life level was indeed won by Cuiyu.

Afterward, the poem written for Chu Nian was also released. Winning four matches in a row indeed had scholars participating, and this time, a full eight white egrets flew up, the highest since the start.

And after the Seven Serpents Fifth Life took the stage, Shen Yao went up on the Cuiyu side. As the only Fifth Life who could fight in Cuiyu now, Shen Yao indeed held up this sect's reputation and won this match somewhat arduously.

However, the Seven Serpents still had two Fifth Lives. Facing the second enemy, Shen Yao struggled for forty moves and finally failed. And Li Piaoqing's injury had not healed, so it looked like Cuiyu had lost.

Then Li Piaoqing reached out and pointed at Seeing Pei Ye.

The young man had just hit the last disciple's finger-sword to the ground with a "clang," proudly completing a clean sweep of the small sword field.

He chuckled and turned his head, showing a questioning look to Li Piaoqing: "What's wrong?"

"Serious business." The young girl pointed to the field.

"... Oh." Seeing Pei Ye stood up with his sword, his smile unchanged—winning with a big sword was also winning.

He put the small jade sword and the "General Theory" into the cloth bag, handed the bag to the young girl to hold, and then took his sword onto the field.

Cuiyu's goal today was to take all the reputation they could, and if they couldn't, let Seeing Pei Ye take it; in short, try not to let the Seven Serpents win. In fact, not just the poetry gathering, but any gathering afterward, Cuiyu would fight for everything they could. They just wanted to forcefully announce to Bowang that the Seven Serpents should withdraw.

Li Piaoqing watched the young man walk onto the field, just like the previous matches, without any etiquette.

He struck with his sword, one move, two moves, three moves—with a "clang," the Fifth Life's sword fell from his wrist to the ground.

The whole field was quiet for a moment; they had just started discussing the young man's appearance and background.

Everyone on the literary side was surprised and blank, looking at each other, and the most common sound was: "Ah?"

The Cuiyu woman just now was already very, very impressive, and the Seven Serpents Fifth Life's skill was not inferior at all. The two had just contributed an extremely wonderful fight, with agile figures, chaotic Qi, and leaves rolling in the wind... making the scholars who came for the first time shout that it was satisfying and that the trip was worth it.

Of course, where could one see two Fifth Lives fighting with all their might on a daily basis? Many people had actually never seen a Fifth Life strike.

The scenery inspired poetic interest, and many scholars wrote poems for the match just now. There were actually three eight-egret works, and the atmosphere reached the highest since the start.

And now, a young man who was excessively young came up, pulled out his sword, clashed a few times with a clatter, and then this Fifth Life's sword fell to the ground with a "clatter," and the winner was decided.

Many people didn't even react—what's going on? Is this etiquette for a junior? Where is that move where you cut a crack in the stone with one slash just now? Where is that sword light as fast and dense as snowflakes?

Why does he look like a wooden man, not striking back and letting others hit him?

And while the scholars were confused, correspondingly, there was the most uniform exclamation and commotion on the martial arts side since the start, and then nine rows of streamers fell down, wrapping the young man in them.

This was truly the layman watching the excitement and the expert watching the doorway. Many people asked about the background of this unfamiliar young face.

"My friend, Seeing Pei Ye of Fenghuai!" Zhang Dingyun opened his arms and shouted loudly, "A heroic youth, a jade of the sword path, sincere, resolute, and courageous! For the martial arts competition five days later, fellow scholars, please cheer for him more!"

After shouting, Zhang Dingyun started to deal with the surprise in his heart—wasn't Seeing Pei Ye only Third Life?

"... I have to prepare a fan for him to sign for me." The little fatty muttered to himself while looking at the young man on the field, not forgetting to lower his head and glare at Fang Jidao beside him, "It's much more prestigious than being friends with you!"

And on the field, another Seven Serpents Fifth Life soon came up, which was also their last Fifth Life. This time, the scholars leaned over the railing and watched without blinking.

This newly arrived Fifth Life looked to be in his thirties, and was actually dressed as a scholar, wearing a long gown and a crown, with a long sword at his waist—this was not a talent cultivated by the Seven Serpents, but a thug hired from a neighboring prefecture with money.

Many martial artists knew that this was the strongest Fifth Life of the Seven Serpents today, and the scholars also immediately realized this extraordinary nature after this person struck—because the wind that was whipped up had already pressed against their faces, brushing their headscarves backward!

There had never been this kind of power just now!

Perhaps because he saw the powerlessness of his fellow disciple after clashing with the young man just now, this time he came up directly with this move. When the young man saw him, this move was already unstoppable.

It was indeed a killing move that made people subconsciously dodge, straight, powerful, determined, as heavy as angry thunder, as fast as electric light.

Pale amber like the sky, white stone as a platform, tall trees standing quietly, yellow leaves rolling and dancing, two hundred people stared at this sword. In such an autumn scene, the man in Confucian clothing swept toward Seeing Pei Ye, as if a thick ink brush had pulled a heavy and powerful ink line across this picture!

'It's bad, there's going to be blood!' Many martial artists felt a tug in their hearts.

And at the end of this ink line, the young man just stood quietly, tilted his head, as if he had just seen the enemy clearly.

Not until the moment before clashing with this angry python did he lift his wrist, and the sword body cut into the opponent's impact at an inclined angle.

At the moment the "ding" sounded, the Qi in the young man's wrist condensed into muscle bundles, and he lifted his foot and took a step back.

Afterward, "ding ding ding ding ding" connected into dense pearls on a silver plate, and the sword blade flew into silver light and broken shadows.

The young man retreated seven steps in total and struck twenty-one swords, the whole process ending within one breath. When the last "ding" fell, the Confucian-clothed sword fell crookedly to the ground, and his crown flew high, his messy hair looking wretched.

Behind him, the young man who had sheathed his sword and stood quietly reached out gently and steadily caught the falling crown.

Then he threw it on the ground casually.

The wind had stopped, and the countless yellow leaves that had just been stirred up were still falling slowly.

The winner was decided.

In terms of time, this match ended even faster than the previous one, but this time, the scholars at least saw how the young man struck.

And it was clear, and it was elegant and stunning!

Composed stepping, exquisite control, the true beauty of the sword was revealed to them in this exchange.

The sky is damp and the sheath is deep, the handsome sword is hard to hide for long. This must have been written by the hermit about this person; such a sword, of course, should not be hidden!

The applause was endless, the atmosphere climbed to a peak again, and there was almost no one sitting on the literary side, and for a time, they even scrambled for pens and ink nearby.

Next, six more people came up, including Bai Zhu Pavilion, martial arts halls, escort agencies, and wandering martial artists. In a situation without hatred or resentment, Seeing Pei Ye no longer used such ruthless, somewhat humiliating winning methods, but steadily won one by one with full etiquette.

So there was no more impact and stunning beauty like just now.

And poems had been written one after another on the literary side, and the quality of the poems this time was far better than the previous few matches.

Li Piaoqing watched from afar, thirteen egret-releasing people were already reading poems, and the young girl guessed that it was very likely to produce a ten-egret work this time.

She was not surprised. When she asked the young man to go up, she was already prepared to see this shining moment.

Everyone didn't know the name "Seeing Pei Ye," not because he lacked strength, but because he hadn't been seen yet. He was originally a night-luminescent pearl rare in the world, just needing to be taken out of the box.

It was also with such thoughts that the young girl unconsciously pinched the cloth bag in her hand and felt the thick layer inside.

The foolish old man moves the mountain, water drips through the stone, the Jingwei fills the sea, the iron pestle grinds into a needle—sooner or later I will pay it all back!

Still owe 33 chapters.

(End of chapter)