Chapter 130

130. Chapter One Hundred Thirty

Guan San is currently caressing the server, please make up the subscription to defeat him! The Bai Xinli spoken of by the Bai couple.

The Bai Xinli she hadn't seen in fifteen years.

The Bai Xinli who changed her fate.

The Bai Xinli who could completely suppress her with a single glance.

Too strong, too strong, too strong.

Too wonderful, too wonderful, too wonderful!

She was going to draw her sword against Bai Xinli!!

Atian knew she was going mad.

A lucid madness.

But what of it?

She was destined from birth to be no well-behaved, rule-following young lady — so what harm was there in a little madness?

The sword hilt in her hand shifted from cool to warm, two flushes of pink crept up her cheeks; Lady Bai, who had devoted herself single-mindedly to cultivating Atian into a proper lady, certainly wouldn't have spent money hiring her a martial instructor. Those fighting moves of hers were all rough street styles — she couldn't even clench her fist properly, let alone wield a weapon.

But for a Sword Cultivator, the least necessary thing to learn is how to hold a sword — something one is born knowing, does it still need a teacher?

Bai Tian, naturally, was no exception.

The moment Bai Xinli said "Junior Sister Bai, please," she thrust a backhanded strike without a second thought, flames gathering on the pitch-black blade to form a vortex, the sword tip aimed straight at Bai Xinli's heart.

Her sword hand was steady, the blade was steady, the thrust accurate and forceful, as though it had been practiced thousands upon thousands of times; even the slight lateral spin of the tip gave one a feeling of exquisite precision.

This is what it means to be a Sword Cultivator — they are born for the sword.

However, Sword Cultivators too have their ranks.

This sword was stopped a mere inch from Bai Xinli's chest by an invisible wall; the moon-white hair ribbon covered his sight and concealed his expression, but Atian guessed he must look, as he had that day, as pure and lofty as the bright moon in the sky.

Then, she was sent flying by a tremendous force.

Slammed heavily into the wall behind her, Atian slid down to the floor, a tearing pain shooting from the tiger's mouth of her right hand; a sticky liquid welled up from it and dripped down along the hilt.

It hurts.

An unprecedented pain swept in from her back, instantly engulfing her five viscera and six bowels, churning them into a mess — yet she wanted to laugh out loud, even her fingers trembling slightly with excitement.

Bai Xinli had not drawn his sword, he had not even moved; his protective Sword Qi alone had given her a brutal show of force.

She, to Bai Xinli, was like Song Zhicheng to her — a mayfly shaking a tree, not worth mentioning — yet, yet, this was exactly how it should be!

Her Sword Bone was complete, while Song Zhicheng's had only just begun to sprout.

Bai Xinli had achieved success in Sword Cultivation, while she hadn't even stepped through the door.

Song Zhicheng wanted to become her, and she wanted to become Bai Xinli.

And what was wrong with that?

Bai Tian, trembling, propped herself up against her sword, shook the remaining drops of blood from her right hand, and beamed radiantly at Bai Xinli: "Again!"

She thrust another sword, faster and more cunning than the last, but the flames still could not pierce the invisible barrier, and once again she crashed heavily to the ground.

"Haha..." She wiped the fresh blood from the corner of her mouth with the back of her left hand, then raised her sword again: "Again!"

It went without saying that what awaited her was being sent flying once more.

Atian used her sword to prop herself up as she rose; her white underclothes were already dotted with red plum blossoms, yet she laughed brightly and said: "Again!"

Again and again she raised her sword, again and again she was sent flying; in the end, the blood on her hand made it impossible to grip the sword, and the hilt slipped from her palm. Her body wrapped in searing pain, no longer able to carry out her brain's commands, she simply leaned against the wall and gave a shy smile at Bai Xinli, who was gradually approaching.

As if to prevent her from charging forward recklessly again, Bai Xinli extended one hand and gently pressed his index finger against her forehead; his body temperature was slightly cool, out of place in this room filled with flames.

As for Atian, after a moment of catching her breath, she slowly reached out; her drooping fingertip traced across his chest, leaving a red streak on his moon-white garments.

"Ah, I stabbed you." Atian said with a beaming smile.

Before she lost consciousness, she seemed to hear Bai Xinli sigh.

When Atian woke again, she was still in her own room, only now lying in bed; everything around her was as usual, only the scorch marks on the walls and ceiling, and the pain across her body, proved that the raging flames had not been a dream.

"You're awake."

Su Ying, sitting by the bed, frowned at the bronze mirror in her hands; she had recently been feeling a dry line appearing under her eyes and was greatly troubled by it — though given her true age, a face full of wrinkles would be perfectly normal.

"Hurts, doesn't it? Good — serves you right, a lesson learned! Provoking Senior Brother, you really don't value your life!"

Su Ying didn't even look up, but that didn't stop her from lecturing.

"Speaking of which, I heard the commotion you caused last night was no small matter. Luckily I was on night duty — otherwise, the one facing you last night would have been me, and I don't have Senior Brother's ability; I might not have been able to restrain you."

Finding her Life-bound Sword at the head of the bed, Atian reached out to touch it before she felt a little at ease; then she felt a chill on her chest, looked down, and discovered she was wearing only a single thin garment.

"Eek!" She shrieked and burrowed into the blankets.

"Eek what," Su Ying set down the mirror, her tone brimming with irrepressible gleeful schadenfreude, "last night you were wearing this very outfit, clinging to Senior Brother and refusing to let him leave — what's the use of being shy now!"

"A proper lady must be shy," Atian earnestly countered.

Su Ying expressed surprise at her professionalism, and with deep emotion handed her a bronze mirror: "Wake up! I've never seen a proper lady who drags a man into a midnight sparring match and sets fire to things!"

Atian rubbed her struck forehead, feeling a little wronged.

"Speaking of which, helping Junior Brothers and Junior Sisters through the agitation brought on by sword-forging is also one of Senior Brother's duties — you needn't feel guilty about it."

"Agitation?" Atian, who felt no guilt whatsoever, repeated thoughtfully.

"A sword is a weapon of slaughter; once it leaves its sheath, a surge of battle-lust is inevitable, and since your Life-bound Sword is intimately tied to you, being affected is unavoidable."

Su Ying explained seriously.

"A sword is sharpest the moment it leaves its sheath — it relies on an all-out, no-retreat sharpness of spirit. If we hadn't let you vent that sharpness completely right then, it would likely damage your Sword Heart in the future."

Atian was too embarrassed to tell her Senior Sister that she was this crazy on ordinary days as well, so she could only nod vigorously to show she was listening.

"Since you have already succeeded in forging your sword, there are some things that must be said," Su Ying's tone suddenly turned solemn as she spoke, "Have you felt it — your Sword Heart? Do you know — your Sword Name?"

Sword Heart and Sword Name — the two most important things for a Sword Cultivator.

Bai Tian gently stroked the long sword in her hand, yet her mouth brought up an entirely unrelated topic, "... Senior Sister Su Ying, Senior Brother—he's really strong."

"Why bring that up all of a sudden?" Su Ying furrowed her brow.

Atian laughed, "Because I want to become that strong too!"

Su Ying fell silent at those words. She thought for a moment, then finally sat on the edge of the bed with her legs spread wide in a bold, imposing posture, and said to Bai Tian, "Junior Sister Bai, do you know what Senior Brother's sword is called?"

Atian thought of the beautiful red-threaded White Jade Sword worn at Bai Xinli's waist, and shook her head.

"Senior Brother's sword... is called 'No-Self,'" Su Ying's face was utterly solemn, "Of the three thousand Daos, all laws return to no-self—that is what this 'No-Self' means."

"The reason Senior Brother has been praised as 'the person of the younger generation closest to the Heavenly Dao' lies precisely in this. What others spend their whole lives pursuing, he obtained from the very start—but the higher the starting point, the harder the road ahead becomes."

"How can one hold fast to 'No-Self'? Losing oneself plunges one into eternal calamity; clinging too tightly to oneself means one cannot take a single step forward—the Sword Heart falls. The hardship and suffering within this, perhaps only he himself knows."

"I have already almost forgotten Bai Xinli."

That sentence Atian could not puzzle out no matter how hard she tried echoed in her ears.

Speaking of this, a bitter smile tugged at the corner of Su Ying's mouth, "Come to think of it, I'm actually a few years older than Senior Brother's mother. I raised him from childhood, but ever since he began nurturing his sword and sheathing its edge, even I can't really figure him out anymore."

However, the self-pitying mood did not last long. Senior Sister Su Ying, who could never resist breaking her own composure, indignantly slapped the headboard, "That stinky little brat, hiding things from a Senior Sister who's like a loving mother—truly lacking in filial piety! How utterly unreasonable!"

Atian nodded her head like a little chick pecking at grain.

After calming her emotions a little, Su Ying switched the form of address back again, "A Sword Cultivator cannot choose their own Sword Heart, nor can they change their own original mind. Even though this path is ten thousand times difficult to walk, Senior Brother can only press on in spite of the difficulty."

"I say all this because I want you to know—if you wish to be as powerful as Senior Brother, I'm afraid you can only—press on in spite of the difficulty."

"On the road of Xiuxian, there are no shortcuts. Only by keeping faith with one's original mind and comprehending the great Dao can one fight out an Immortal Path from among the thousands upon thousands!"

As she spoke, her brow and eyes softened.

"I'll ask you one more time—what is the name of your sword?"

"Ten Thousand Calamities," Atian smiled too, "Through ten thousand tribulations, only then can one reach the beginning and the end."

She tilted her head, and her fair, beautiful face now looked rather innocent and artless.

"I like that name."