Chapter 133: Chapter One Hundred and Thirty-Three

133. Chapter One Hundred and Thirty-Three

Guan San is currently caressing the server, please complete your subscription to defeat him!

Truly worthy of being my sword.

She thought absently, this feeling of two hearts communicating as one made her scalp tingle, like someone peeking into her thoughts inside her mind, or like a confidant pouring out their heart to you—either way, it was irresistible.

At this moment, no matter who came to her side, there would only be one outcome: a fight. So when she saw Bai Xinli's figure appear outside the door, she was wild with joy.

The Bai Xinli spoken of by Lord and Lady Bai.

The Bai Xinli she had not seen for fifteen years.

The Bai Xinli who had changed her fate.

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

Too strong, too strong, too strong.

Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful!

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

Atian knew she was going mad.

A lucid madness.

But so what?

She was born destined never to be a well-behaved, rule-following good girl—what was wrong with a little madness?

The sword hilt in her hand went from cool to warm, two flushes of red quietly creeping onto her cheeks. Lady Bai, who had devoted herself single-mindedly to cultivating Atian into a proper lady, certainly would not have spent money hiring a martial instructor for her. 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 most unnecessary thing to learn was how to hold a sword—something one is born knowing, who needs to be taught?

Bai Tian was, naturally, no exception.

The moment Bai Xinli said "Junior Sister Bai, please," she thrust a sword backward without a second thought. Flame gathered on the pitch-black blade, forming a vortex, and the sword tip pointed straight at Bai Xinli's heart.

Her sword hand was very steady, the blade very steady, the thrust accurate and forceful, as if she had practiced it thousands upon thousands of times. Even the slight sideways spin of the sword tip gave one a feeling of exquisite precision.

This is what Sword Cultivators are—they are born as swords.

However, Sword Cultivators too have their ranks.

This sword thrust was stopped a few inches before Bai Xinli's chest by an invisible wall. The moon-white hair ribbon covered his eyes 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 powerful shockwave.

Slammed heavily against the wall behind her, Atian slid down to the ground. A tearing pain came from the tiger's mouth of her right hand, and a sticky liquid welled up from it, dripping down along the sword 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 severe warning.

She, in relation to Bai Xinli, was like Song Zhicheng in relation to her—a mayfly shaking a tree, not worth mentioning. But偏偏, 偏偏, this was exactly right!

Her Sword Bone was completed, while Song Zhicheng's had only just sprouted.

Bai Xinli had achieved success in Sword Cultivation, while she had not 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, leaning on her sword, struggled shakily to her feet, shook off 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 blood from the corner of her mouth with the back of her left hand, then raised her sword. "Again!"

It goes 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 undergarments were already dotted with red plum blossoms, yet she laughed brightly and said, "Again!"

Time and again she raised her sword, and time and again she was sent flying. In the end, the blood on her hands made her unable to grip the sword; she could only let the hilt slide from her palm. Her body was wrapped in severe pain, no longer able to carry out the commands of her brain. She leaned against the wall like that, and gave a shy smile at Bai Xinli, who was gradually approaching.

As if to prevent her from recklessly charging at him again, Bai Xinli extended a hand and gently tapped her forehead with one finger. His body temperature was slightly cool, out of place in this room filled with flames.

As for Atian, after catching her breath for a moment, she slowly reached out, her drooping fingertip tracing across his chest, leaving a red mark on his moon-white garment.

"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, except now she was lying in bed. Everything around her was as usual; only the scorch marks on the walls and roof, and the pain in 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 hand. She had recently felt 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 the norm.

"Does it hurt? Good, it should! Let that teach you a lesson! Challenging Senior Brother—have you got a death wish!"

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. Fortunately, I was on night duty; otherwise, the one who faced you last night would have been me. 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 feeling a little reassured. Then she felt a bit chilly 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 put down the mirror, her tone laced with irrepressible schadenfreude. "Last night you were wearing this very outfit and clinging to Senior Brother, refusing to let him leave—what's the use of being shy now!"

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

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 duel in the middle of the night and sets fires!"

Atian rubbed her struck forehead, feeling a little wronged.

"Speaking of which, helping Junior Brothers and Sisters through the agitation brought on by tempering their swords is also one of Senior Brother's duties, so you needn't feel guilty."

"Agitation?" Not feeling guilty in the slightest, Atian repeated thoughtfully.

"A sword is a weapon of slaughter; once unsheathed, the desire to fight will inevitably surge. And since your Life-bound Sword is intimately connected to you, being affected by it is unavoidable."

Su Ying explained earnestly.

"A sword is sharpest the moment it leaves its sheath, relying entirely on the momentum of pressing forward without retreat. If we hadn't let you vent that edge completely at the time, I'm afraid your Sword Heart would have been damaged later."

Atian was too embarrassed to tell her Senior Sister that she was usually just as wild and crazy herself, so she could only nod vigorously to show she was listening.

"Since you have already completed your sword forging, there are some things I must say," Su Ying said, her tone suddenly turning solemn. "Have you felt it? Your Sword Heart? Do you know it? Your Sword Name?"

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

Bai Tian gently stroked the longsword in her hand, yet her mouth brought up an entirely unrelated topic. "... Senior Sister Su Ying, Senior Brother — he's really strong, isn't he?"

"Why bring that up all of a sudden?" Su Ying knitted her brows.

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

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, commanding posture, and said to Bai Tian, "Junior Sister Bai, do you know what Senior Brother's sword is called?"

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

"Senior Brother's sword... is called 'Selfless,'" Su Ying's face was utterly solemn. "Of the three thousand Daos, all laws are selfless — that is what this 'Selfless' 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 a lifetime pursuing, he obtained from the very start. But the higher the starting point, the harder the road ahead."

"How can one hold 'Selfless' in proper measure? Losing oneself plunges one into eternal calamity; being too much oneself makes it impossible to advance a single step, and the Sword Heart falls. The hardship and suffering within this — perhaps only he himself knows."

"I have already nearly forgotten Bai Xinli."

That sentence Atian had puzzled over endlessly echoed in her ears.

At this point, a wry smile appeared at the corner of Su Ying's mouth. "Speaking of which, 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 hardly understand him anymore."

However, the self-pitying mood didn't last long. Senior Sister Su Ying, who could never resist breaking her own composure, indignantly slapped the bedhead. "That stinky little brat, hiding things from his loving-mother-like Senior Sister me — he truly has no filial piety at all! It's simply outrageous!"

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

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

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