Chapter 75
These seemingly simple foundational movements only reveal their true difficulty when strung together. Just trying to execute each action perfectly had already drained most of her spiritual energy.
The lack of spiritual energy and the fatigue in her body made her feel unsteady, her head spinning. She longed to just collapse onto the bed, to sleep under the warm yet authoritative gaze of her master...
Wait, master?!
Li Qingran bit her tongue sharply.
'No sleeping! Hold on!'
Right now, her master was teaching her sword techniques!
How could she let herself be confused?
【Qingran, demonstrate the sequence again for me, and then we’ll call it a day. Tomorrow, I’ll teach you the first sword style, ‘Changfeng Polang’ (Long Wind Breaking Waves).】
“Yes, Master.”
Li Qingran steadied herself, silently cheering herself on, and rose to perform the sword dance.
Chen Huai'an popped a peanut into his mouth, gazing at the screen with rapt attention.
In fact, Li Qingran had already grasped the twelfth chapter of the sword manual to a certain extent.
He simply wanted to watch her dance with the sword once more.
Swish, swish, swish—! The girl on the screen held her sword gracefully, her posture like a crane, her steps light and agile. With a few elegant flourishes, her dress billowed, and the glint of her sword sparkled like the first snowflakes of winter, drifting unpredictably.
Chen Huai'an was entranced, losing track of time.
He didn’t even notice the fatigue etched on the girl’s face.
By the time she finished the twelve sword chapters, Li Qingran was drenched in sweat. The thin, sheer fabric of her nightgown left Chen Huai'an with quite the visual feast.
“Master, how was Qingran’s swordplay?”
Li Qingran sheathed her sword, her right hand propping up the hilt while her left lifted her skirt to hide the sword behind it. She forced a calm expression, though her breath was quick and her cheeks flushed.
A bead of sweat slid from her brow to the tip of her delicate nose, then fell to her lips, tickling her. She quickly stuck out her tongue to lick it away.
She could imagine how disheveled she looked.
Her spiritual energy was completely spent, and the movements of the last two chapters had become distorted. She had merely pushed through on sheer will, ignoring her body’s discomfort to finish.
Li Qingran gazed longingly at the ceiling.
She knew her master was watching her; she could feel it.
But why hadn’t he said anything for so long?
Did he think she wasn’t doing well?
Outside, Chen Huai'an took a moment to calm his racing heart.
【Not bad, keep it up!】
Hearing her master’s praise, Li Qingran’s eyes sparkled, her heart sweeter than honey.
The fatigue in her body seemed to dissipate significantly.
Wasn’t this the moment she had been waiting for?
No one’s approval could compare to her master’s.
“Master, I’m slow-witted. It took me a full six hours to grasp the basics. If it were you, you’d probably have mastered it in half an hour.” Li Qingran leaned lightly against her sword, fingers crossed over her chest, her downcast eyes hiding a hint of mischief.
She wasn’t ready to let Chen Huai'an go just yet, so she had to find something to talk about.
Heh, look at how she talks.
Chen Huai'an felt a flush of embarrassment.
He had practiced the movements of the Qinglian Sword Manual for a long time.
If he hadn’t used the helmet once to memorize the basic movements, it would have taken him at least a week to reach a teaching level.
【Ahem, there’s no need for you to be modest. I’m very pleased that you grasped it in six hours.】
“Then, how long did it take you, Master?”
【Hmm... ahem... fifteen minutes.】
“Wow, Master is truly amazing! I need to work harder to catch up!”
Chen Huai'an felt his face heat up as he looked at Li Qingran, who was beaming with admiration.
He chatted with her for a few more moments before hurriedly retreating; after practicing several sets of movements, he was feeling quite hungry.
Li Qingran didn’t cling to Chen Huai'an any longer.
Instead, she obediently went to wash up, changed into a fresh outfit, and without choosing to rest, she sat cross-legged to recover the spiritual energy she had exhausted.
…
Meanwhile, on the peak of Luoxia—
“Hey! Did you hear? The new junior sister built a beautiful house in half a day and has ten plots of spiritual farmland!”
“What? No way!”
“Did you hear? The new junior sister came with a beautiful house and fifty plots of spiritual farmland!”
“Unbelievable! The new junior sister opened a hundred plots of spiritual farmland in half a stick of incense and built a fairy mansion!”
“By the heavens, did you know? The new junior sister has a cloud palace and a hundred acres of spiritual farmland! She even caught two azure dragons as pets!”
“What? That can’t be true!”
“Let’s go! Who cares if it’s true or not, let’s go take a look!”
…
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh—!
Suddenly, the sound of flying swords whistled outside the window.
Li Qingran jumped in surprise.
She quickly got up and opened the window to check.
Outside, a swarm of sword cultivators filled the sky, their robes billowing as they rode on colorful flying swords, surrounding the entire peak of Luoxia. They were all disciples of the Sword Pavilion, even the pavilion master and elders had come.
“What... what’s going on?” Li Qingran’s face turned pale, her mind blank. She instinctively closed the window, crouched down against the wall, and hugged her head in defense.
“Junior Sister Qingran, don’t hide! We all saw you!” came the teasing voice of her senior sister, Yue Qianchi, from outside.
Saw what?
Li Qingran’s mind went blank, a void of confusion.
Did they see her master giving her special attention?
Was she still in her nightgown in front of her master?!
And the nightgown had a frog and lotus pattern on it?
She hadn’t even put on her socks, her bare feet exposed?
Ah... Master, this is so embarrassing!
“No matter how you hide, you can’t take back your house and farmland! Come out!”
“Oh...” Li Qingran let out a small sigh of relief.
But her heart quickly tightened again.
What were these people doing outside?!
Recalling the Sword Pavilion disciples’ bold demeanor...
She nervously pushed the door open, her hands pressed against it like a little crab protecting its shell, gazing at the swarm of Sword Pavilion disciples above her head, already bracing herself for what was to come.
Surely, all the disciples of Luoxia Peak had come, right?
They wouldn’t really try to take her house, would they?!
…
…
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Chapter 80: The Tradition of the Sword Pavilion?
The house and farmland were given to her by her master; she would never let anyone take them.
But since her master was a high elder, they probably wouldn’t do that, right?
“Junior Sister, why are you guarding the door like that?”
Just as she was lost in thought, Yue Qianchi, riding her flying sword, teased with a smile, “What’s wrong? Afraid we’ll take the door off your little house and rush in to claim it as our own?”
The surrounding Sword Pavilion disciples burst into laughter.
Yet, there was no malice in their laughter.
Li Qingran, caught with her thoughts exposed, turned beet red, stammering and unable to speak.
“Li Qingran, this house and farmland are your master’s doing?”
The speaker was the pavilion master, Su Qinian.
Li Qingran glanced up, quickly averted her gaze, and mumbled, “Yes, Master helped me with it. He said it’s just for me to live in, and the farmland... the farmland is for me to cultivate alone…”
“Oh.” Su Qinian looked at the farmland, surprised.
The fertility of this land was already considered top-notch.
His own medicinal garden was probably at this level too, and it wasn’t much larger than Li Qingran’s.
But such fertile farmland had been cultivated right under his nose, ten plots in total.
What kind of background did Li Qingran’s master have?
Surely, he couldn’t have infiltrated the Sword Pavilion without him noticing, right?
He must have used some kind of treasure, but even just using a treasure would require extraordinary skill.
“Master, Junior Sister Qingran is afraid you’ll take her farmland~”
Su Qinian, reminded by Yue Qianchi, realized what was happening and rolled his eyes at Li Qingran’s defensive posture: “You think I’ll help you cultivate the farmland if you don’t do it yourself? You’re quite the dreamer!”
The Sword Pavilion disciples laughed heartily again.
Li Qingran’s face turned even redder as she stammered, “I-I didn’t mean it like that…”
Su Qinian: “You did mean it like that.”
“I didn’t…”
“Then what did you mean?”
Li Qingran fell silent.
She didn’t dare to speak.
She had never seen a sect master so relentless in questioning a disciple.
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