CHAPTER 26

  The night wind swept across the summit of One-Sword Peak, carrying the chill of the high mountains.

  The moon hung quietly in the still sky, its pale light spilling across the stone courtyard before the cave dwellings. A small stone stove crackled softly, its red glow casting long shifting shadows of those seated around it.

  The smell of roasted fish drifted through the night air.

  Yang Feng sat beside the fire, slowly turning a skewer of fish above the glowing coals. The skin had turned a deep golden color, and drops of fat fell onto the charcoal with faint sizzling sounds.

  No one spoke.

  Until Leng Wuqing did.

  She stood at the edge of the stone courtyard, her white robes stirring slightly in the mountain wind. Moonlight washed over her face in a cold silver glow.

  “Yang Feng.”

  Her voice was calm and even.

  “Do you remember your first mission?”

  Yang Feng’s hand paused slightly.

  A strange feeling suddenly passed through his mind, as if a puzzle piece that had long been misplaced had finally snapped into the correct position.

  He looked up.

  “Master… the mission to suppress the bandit camp in Linghe Village.”

  He hesitated for a moment.

  “Could it be… that Third Senior Sister told you about it?”

  Leng Wuqing looked at him.

  Her gaze was as calm as the surface of a midnight lake.

  “You may not speak much in your daily life,” she said evenly.

  “But if someone called you a fool… I would not believe it.”

  She tilted her head slightly.

  “Tell me.”

  “What do you think?”

  The flames in the stove flickered softly.

  Yang Feng stared at the fire for a moment.

  The firelight reflected in his eyes, trembling with each quiet crackle of burning charcoal.

  Then he spoke.

  This time, there was no hesitation in his voice.

  “So… from the very beginning, it was never a second-rank mission.”

  He spoke slowly.

  “A bandit suppression mission… yet a demonic cultivator appeared.”

  “And Third Senior Sister did not just happen to be there.”

  He paused.

  The flames before him wavered slightly.

  “That mission… was never a mistake.”

  He lifted his head and looked directly at Leng Wuqing.

  “Because the sect would never confuse bandits with a demonic cultivator.”

  “So…”

  “From the very start… it was never a second-rank mission.”

  The air around the fire grew heavy.

  Liao Jiran, who was sitting cross-legged on a nearby stone slab, narrowed her eyes slightly. Liu Lingling quietly glanced toward Su Xueni.

  Only Li Xiaodao remained lying on her back atop a flat rock, her hands folded behind her head, staring at the star-filled sky as if none of this concerned her at all.

  Yang Feng continued.

  “Third Senior Sister didn’t just happen to appear there either.”

  “If Master had been observing this disciple from the beginning…”

  He paused again.

  Then he asked directly.

  “Then why… did you not stop this disciple from breaking through to Mortal Foundation?”

  Leng Wuqing answered immediately.

  Without the slightest pause.

  “If you had waited the full five years.”

  “And then used a mid-grade Foundation Elixir to break through to Earth Foundation according to the sect’s standards…”

  Her gaze swept across him.

  “Do you think I would have chosen you?”

  The night wind brushed across the stone courtyard.

  The firelight swayed softly.

  Leng Wuqing continued.

  “There is one more thing.”

  “I assume…”

  “You never intended to challenge the Heavens.”

  “You never once considered walking the path of Heaven Foundation.”

  Yang Feng fell silent.

  In that moment, something he had never thought about suddenly became clear.

  Everything that had happened over the past year…

  had not been random.

  First Senior Sister pushing him to train his body.

  The crushing gravity of One-Sword Peak.

  Fourth Senior Sister teaching him sword techniques.

  Third Senior Sister appearing during that first mission.

  Even his being allowed to step onto this peak.

  All of it…

  had likely been within someone’s sight for a very long time.

  Yang Feng let out a quiet laugh.

  There was a trace of self-mockery in it.

  “So…”

  “Even if this disciple is the weakest Foundation in the entire sect…”

  Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.

  “I would still have been chosen.”

  Leng Wuqing did not answer immediately.

  She stepped closer to the fire.

  Then sat down on a flat stone beside it.

  The firelight illuminated her face, softening some of the coldness she usually carried.

  She reached out and took one of the roasted fish skewers from Yang Feng.

  “Look at this fish.”

  She slowly rotated the skewer in her hand.

  “What do you think…”

  “For a good fish…”

  “what matters most?”

  “The freshness of the fish…”

  “or how it is cooked?”

  Yang Feng couldn’t help but laugh.

  The comparison was so strange it was almost ridiculous.

  He thought for a moment before answering.

  “This disciple thinks…”

  “Even if a fish is very fresh…”

  “if it is burned, overcooked, or still raw…”

  “then it cannot be eaten.”

  He continued.

  “On the other hand…”

  “If the fish is already rotten…”

  “then no matter how well it is cooked…”

  “it will never taste good.”

  He looked at Leng Wuqing.

  “So…”

  “A good fish…”

  “needs both freshness and the correct method of cooking.”

  “The right heat.”

  “The right amount of time.”

  “And the one cooking it…”

  “must put their heart into it.”

  He paused.

  Then gave a faint smile.

  “I understand now.”

  “This disciple may be a dead fish.”

  “But…”

  “I’m not rotten yet.”

  Leng Wuqing looked at him.

  Then glanced toward the other three.

  Her gaze moved past Li Xiaodao, Su Xueni, and Liao Jiran.

  A faint curve appeared at the corner of her lips.

  “A fish.”

  “Fresh or not…”

  “A cook can tell with a single glance.”

  She snapped off the tail of the roasted fish.

  “It seems…”

  “your senior sisters already saw that.”

  She put the crispy tail into her mouth.

  A soft crunch sounded.

  She chewed slowly.

  Then said,

  “I suppose…”

  “in front of my own disciples…”

  “I don’t need to maintain appearances.”

  She stood up.

  Lightly dusted her hands.

  “Yang Feng.”

  “Next time, prepare an extra fish for me.”

  Yang Feng immediately replied,

  “Master, please go ahead and eat.”

  “This disciple has plenty.”

  Leng Wuqing turned and walked toward the cave dwellings.

  Before leaving, she paused briefly.

  “You four.”

  “Answer your junior brother’s questions.”

  “I will rest first.”

  Then she added,

  “Yang Feng.”

  “The cultivation method I gave you.”

  “If there is anything you do not understand…”

  “ask your senior sisters.”

  All five of them cupped their hands together.

  “Farewell, Master.”

  The night wind swept across the courtyard.

  The fire in the stove had dimmed, leaving only faint red embers beneath a thin layer of ash.

  Moonlight slanted across the cliff walls, covering the stone courtyard in a cold silver glow.

  Leng Wuqing’s figure had already disappeared deep within the cave dwellings.

  Only the five of them remained.

  Yang Feng looked at the four senior sisters in front of him.

  After a long moment, he finally spoke.

  “What exactly…”

  “…is the Cloudshade Pavilion?”

  Li Xiaodao, who had been lying on her back atop a flat stone watching the stars, suddenly sat up.

  Her long black hair fell over her shoulders.

  Moonlight reflected in her curved eyes, carrying a trace of mysterious amusement.

  She leaned back on her hands and tilted her head toward Yang Feng.

  “On the surface…”

  “The Heavenly Sword Sect…”

  “is a sect of sword cultivators.”

  She spoke slowly.

  “But that…”

  “is only the surface.”

  The night wind brushed past.

  The firelight flickered in her eyes.

  “We have an intelligence network.”

  “It was founded by the Grand Elder, Wu Zhixiang, after his elder brother—Wu Huaizhang—became the Sect Master.”

  She paused for a moment.

  “That network…”

  “…is the Cloudshade Pavilion.”

  Yang Feng froze.

  He had never expected a secret of this magnitude to be spoken so openly in front of him.

  Li Xiaodao continued, her voice as light as the night breeze.

  “Roughly a quarter of the disciples of the Heavenly Sword Sect…”

  “…are members of the Cloudshade Pavilion.”

  “We have branch bases in cities both large and small throughout the Eastern Region.”

  “Merchant guilds, taverns, inns, even associations of rogue cultivators… and even within the Heavenly Sword Sect itself.”

  She let out a soft laugh.

  “There are many places…”

  “…where people have no idea they are speaking in front of the eyes and ears of the Heavenly Sword Sect.”

  Yang Feng felt a shock run through him.

  At that moment, he suddenly understood something.

  The Heavenly Sword Sect had endured for thousands of years…

  not because of the sword alone.

  Su Xueni finally spoke.

  Her voice was as calm as ever.

  “But the Cloudshade Pavilion is not directly controlled by the Grand Elder.”

  “The first Pavilion Master…”

  Her gaze turned toward the cave dwelling where Leng Wuqing had just disappeared.

  “…was our Master.”

  Yang Feng blinked in surprise.

  Liao Jiran let out a quiet giggle.

  “You thought Master was only a Peak Master?”

  She casually waved the wooden practice sword in her hand.

  “Master Leng was raised by the Sect Master since she was a child.”

  “Like a daughter.”

  “And also…”

  She narrowed her eyes.

  “…like a sword.”

  Su Xueni continued.

  “From a young age, Master was trained to lead the Cloudshade Pavilion.”

  “No one in the entire Eastern Region knows that this organization exists.”

  “And yet…”

  “It has always been operating.”

  “Silently.”

  “Exactly.”

  Yang Feng suddenly realized something.

  Leng Wuqing’s coldness.

  Her gaze like ice.

  Every word she spoke as straight and sharp as a blade.

  It was not because she had always been that way.

  It was because…

  since childhood, she had been tempered into a living sword of the sect.

  A sword that could not afford weakness.

  A sword that had to see everything within the darkness.

  Li Xiaodao stretched lazily.

  Then she stood up.

  She walked toward Yang Feng.

  The corner of her lips curved slightly.

  “Oh…”

  “I almost forgot to mention.”

  She tilted her head.

  “I am the second Pavilion Master of the Cloudshade Pavilion.”

  Yang Feng was startled.

  “Third Senior Sister…?”

  She nodded.

  “Three years ago.”

  “After Master realized that…”

  She gave a faint smile.

  “…I had a certain talent for reconnaissance, interrogation, and manipulating people.”

  “She handed the Cloudshade Pavilion over to me.”

  As soon as she finished speaking, her figure shifted.

  A faint breeze swept past.

  In the blink of an eye, she appeared behind Yang Feng.

  Yang Feng flinched in surprise.

  A faint fragrance, like night-blooming flowers, spread around him.

  A hand rested lightly on his shoulder. Warm breath brushed past his ear.

  Li Xiaodao whispered softly,

  “Do you know that gathering information doesn’t always involve using a sword?”

  A thin mist, light as smoke, drifted around her.

  Her eyes glimmered with a dark and alluring glow.

  It was a charm technique.

  Yang Feng immediately felt his mind grow slightly dizzy.

  His body stiffened, and his heart skipped a beat.

  After a moment he stammered,

  “Th–Third Senior Sister… you’re a bit too close.”

  He hurriedly turned his head.

  At that instant, his mind suddenly cleared and his breathing steadied.

  The thin mist of charm around him dissipated.

  Yang Feng stepped half a pace back.

  The other three were all slightly surprised.

  Li Xiaodao paused as well.

  A flicker of astonishment flashed across her eyes.

  Her charm technique…

  had never failed before.

  She had studied it since childhood.

  She had used it countless times to lure, manipulate, and draw information from her targets during missions.

  Very few people could break free from it so quickly.

  She narrowed her eyes at Yang Feng.

  After a moment she spoke.

  “Your heart…”

  “…is frighteningly upright.”

  She tilted her head.

  Then suddenly asked,

  “Unless…”

  “you already have someone in your heart.”

  Yang Feng froze slightly.

  Li Xiaodao looked directly into his eyes.

  Then smiled faintly.

  “Is it Master?”

  The stone courtyard suddenly fell silent.

  Liao Jiran’s eyes widened immediately.

  Su Xueni gave a light cough.

  And Yang Feng…

  stood frozen where he was.

  The embers in the stove popped softly.

  Moonlight quietly spread across the courtyard.

  Li Xiaodao watched Yang Feng’s stiff expression for a long moment.

  Then she burst out laughing.

  It was a very soft laugh, but enough to break the tension.

  She stretched lazily and turned back toward the stone slab where she had been lying earlier.

  “It’s late.”

  She said it as though she had only just remembered something ordinary.

  “Yang Feng, go get some rest.”

  Her eyes flicked toward the jade slip in his hand.

  “Remember, you only have two days.”

  “Two days to master the qi circulation method in that cultivation manual.”

  Her tone was no longer teasing.

  “Only when you harmonize spiritual energy the way it teaches…”

  “…will the Heavenly Sword Art truly come alive.”

  Liao Jiran propped her chin on her hand and added,

  “Little Five, you’re practicing a sword technique meant for sword cultivators.”

  “Only Inner Sect disciples are allowed to learn the complete cultivation method.”

  “Until now, all you Outer Sect disciples have only been practicing the Heavenly Sword Art like ordinary mortals.”

  “The five basic forms of the Heavenly Sword Art…”

  She picked up the wooden practice sword beside the stove and flicked it lightly.

  The blade cut through the air with a faint whoosh.

  “Without the qi-circulation method…”

  “the sword has form.”

  “But no soul.”

  Yang Feng stood still.

  The jade slip remained in his hand.

  Memories of the past two weeks suddenly surfaced in his mind.

  Every day he had practiced the Heavenly Sword Art from morning until night, until both arms were numb.

  Yet his sword had not improved.

  It was not sharper.

  Not faster.

  Not stronger.

  Just the same repeated movements.

  The sword had form but no soul.

  Yang Feng suddenly let out a soft laugh.

  “No wonder…”

  he murmured.

  “After more than two weeks on One-Sword Peak…”

  “…I still hasn’t improved.”

  Li Xiaodao lay back down on the stone slab.

  Her hands rested behind her head.

  “Work hard.”

  She said lazily.

  “You’ll soon realize the most basic sword art of the Heavenly Sword Sect…”

  “…is far more profound than you think.”

  The night wind swept across the courtyard again.

  The fire in the stove had nearly died.

  Only a few glowing embers remained.

  Yang Feng lowered his head and cupped his hands.

  “Thank you, Senior Sisters.”

  Then he turned and walked toward the narrow stone path leading to his cave dwelling.

  Moonlight illuminated the winding trail along the cliff.

  Behind him, Liao Jiran suddenly called out.

  “Oh right, Little Five.”

  Yang Feng turned back.

  Liao Jiran squinted mischievously.

  “If two days pass and you still don’t understand the cultivation method…”

  “…then prepare to be kicked off the cliff by Master and start your training all over again.”

  Li Xiaodao burst out laughing.

  Su Xueni only shook her head gently.

  Yang Feng stood there for a second.

  Then gave a bitter smile.

  “This junior brother…”

  “…will do his best.”

  He turned and left.

  His figure gradually disappeared along the winding stone path leading into the cave dwellings.