Upon the stone steps, a slender silhouette slowly walked down.
It was a young woman in her early twenties.
She wore a moon-white gown, with a green-sheathed long sword hanging at her waist.
Moonlight fell upon her face, revealing cold, elegant features and skin so fair it was almost translucent.
Standing beneath the archway, one hand rested upon her sword hilt as her gaze scanned coldly across the convoy.
Her eyes paused for an instant on the black iron command flag, her brows furrowing slightly.
“People of Furnace-Listening Pavilion?”
Her tone took on a palpable edge of displeasure.
“Do you not know the rules of Mirror Water Villa?
Disciples of Furnace-Listening Pavilion are not permitted to take even a single step into our Mirror Water Villa.
This is an iron rule established by our sect master.”
She paused, her gaze turning several degrees colder.
“If you took the wrong path, it is still not too late to turn back.
If you detour forty li to the east, there is an old official road that bypasses Mount Jingshui.
Though the road is rougher, at least it will not break the rules between our two factions.”
The Staff Grandmaster looked back toward Qi Tianchen atop the transport wagon.
The other seven martial artists in martial attire also cast their gazes in his direction.
Even A-Tong poked his head out from the carriage cabin, looking nervously at Qi Tianchen.
Qi Tianchen slowly opened his eyes.
Picking up the long saber from his lap, he cradled it with both hands and slowly stood up from the transport wagon.
His movements were exceedingly slow, as if every joint were uttering a silent groan.
Yet his back remained ramrod straight; standing upon the wagon board, the moonlight stretched his shadow out long.
He looked at the young woman beneath the archway and remained silent for a long time.
The night wind passed through the bamboo grove, stirring the few strands of white hair across his forehead.
His lips parted slightly as if weighing his words.
Only after a long while did he finally speak in a measured tone.
“Report to your sect master.”
“Say that I, Qi Tianchen, have come to atone.”
Hearing this, the young woman was stunned.
Her hand loosened from the sword hilt, the chill on her face replaced by utter astonishment in that very instant.
Qi Tianchen.
Of course she had heard this name.
It was a name that everyone in Mirror Water Villa, from top to bottom, hated to the very bone!
“No need!”
Right at that moment, a voice drifted down from the sky.
Two words, clear and cold as an ice spring striking stone.
Neither loud nor soft, it instantly overpowered the billowing pine waves and murmuring streams across the entire mountain.
It fell crystal clear into the ears of everyone present.
Chen Zui looked toward the source of the sound.
Atop the highest pavilion in Mirror Water Villa, a white figure stood in midair.
Standing there, she was like an unsheathed sword, suppressing even the moonlight spanning the entire mountain.
In the next instant, she took a single step out from atop the pavilion.
She did not leap down, nor did she use a movement technique to soar through the air.
It was simply a single step forward, as though treading upon an invisible stairway, dragging a snow-white afterimage through the moonlight.
With each step that figure took, a visible ripple drifted through the air.
Wherever the ripples passed, the bamboo along both sides of the stone stairway bent in unison, and the moon’s reflection in the stream shattered into ten thousand silver scales.
Nine steps later, she landed beneath the archway.
By this time, the young female disciple had already bowed and stepped aside, not daring to take even a loud breath.
Moonlight spilled down from behind the newcomer, silhouetting her figure.
It was a woman.
She was noticeably taller than ordinary women, with a face whose true age was impossible to discern.
There were fine lines at the corners of her eyes and the weathering of frost and wind between her brows, yet her facial features remained as exquisitely chiseled as if carved with a knife.
Her eyebrows were darker and thicker than typical women's, slanting sharply toward her temples and lending her a heroic aura.
Her eyes were a deep amber, glinting with a chilly glow under the moonlight, like two pieces of frozen amber.
Though Qi Tianchen stood nearly a head taller atop the transport wagon, her presence made it feel as though she were the one looking down from on high.
Such was her commanding aura that no onlooker dared harbor the slightest disrespect.
Across the Two Realms, female Grandmasters could be counted on one’s fingers.
And this woman named Murong Qingnü was the one ranked first among them.
She stood beneath the archway with her hands clasped behind her back, her amber eyes fixed rigidly on Qi Tianchen.
“Qi Tianchen.”
She spoke, her voice still cool and clear.
Yet every word sounded as if it were squeezed out from between her teeth.
“Instead of hiding away in your Furnace-Listening Pavilion forging weapons, you still have the audacity to step foot onto my Mirror Water Villa’s territory?”
Standing atop the transport wagon, Qi Tianchen held the long saber in both hands with his back ramrod straight, yet uttered no reply.
Moonlight fell across his deeply wrinkled face, illuminating the old scar beside his eye with stark clarity.
Murong Qingnü did not wait for his answer.
The corner of her lips curled into a faint, frosty curve that held not the slightest warmth.
“You cannot possibly be ignorant of Mirror Water Villa’s rules.”
She took a step forward, a ring of energy silently spreading beneath her feet, instantly shattering the dew accumulated over half the day on the bluestone slabs into mist.
“Qi Tianchen, did you forget, or do you think my Mirror Water Villa dares not bar your way, O Great Grandmaster at the Boundless Realm peak?”
Hearing this, Qi Tianchen finally spoke.
“Little Qingnü…”
“Do not call me by that name!”
Murong Qingnü’s voice rose sharply.
The night wind within three chi of her body abruptly halted.
She glared fixedly at Qi Tianchen, her chest heaving several times.
“Qi Tianchen, do you still remember my martial aunt, Xie Qingyi?”
At those words, Qi Tianchen’s body shuddered violently.
Murong Qingnü looked at him coldly, without a shred of pity in her tone.
“What kind of person was she back then?
She was a once-in-a-century prodigy of Mirror Water Villa.
Her sword was praised even by that Sword Immortal Shen of yours as ‘possessing the bearing to shatter the heavens.’
Among all female Grandmasters under heaven, if she claimed second, none would dare claim first.”
Her voice trembled slightly.
“Back then, how many people said she would become the first female Earthly Immortal in history?
Her aptitude, her temperament, her comprehension—every single one was paramount.
Had she devoted herself wholeheartedly to walking her own Way of the Sword, the Earthly Immortal Realm would have been nothing more than a threshold she was bound to cross sooner or later.
But she just had to cross paths with you.”
Hearing that, Qi Tianchen lowered his eyelids, the hands cradling the saber trembling even harder.
“To fulfill your Great Dao, to accompany you along the path you chose for yourself...
She willingly surrendered her Way of the Sword cultivation.
Someone who had the potential to become an Earthly Sword Immortal forcibly suppressed her own realm, all just to serve as your foil!
How many tribulations did she block for you?
How many bottlenecks did she help you cross?
Without Xie Qingyi, could you, Qi Tianchen, have ever reached today’s Boundless Realm peak?”
Murong Qingnü’s voice took on a raspy edge.
“And how did you treat her?”
She took another step forward.
This time, she did not rein in her aura at all; the overwhelming pressure of a Boundless Realm Grandmaster crashed down toward Qi Tianchen like a tidal wave.
Within dozens of zhang, the slender bamboo bent low simultaneously.
Bamboo leaves rustled down in droves, carpeting the bluestone slabs in a thick layer.
“The war between the two dynasties.
She stayed behind alone to cover your retreat, one person and one sword blocking Grand Shuo’s iron cavalry.
Where were you back then?”
“Had she never met you, had she never abandoned her Way of the Sword, with her talent she would have become an Earthly Sword Immortal long ago.
Could a mere three thousand iron cavalry harm even a single hair of an Earthly Sword Immortal?
And how could she have possibly died?!”
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