Chapter 29 - 26: Vermilion
"Little sister... you’re too weak."
Qiu Yuehan seemed to be smiling. As she smiled, her features began to blur, then re-form, finally transforming into Han Shui Master—the woman who had raised her from a swaddled infant to a three-year-old toddler.
Xia Lianxue’s beautiful eyes widened as she gasped, "True Master...?"
Han Shui Master said, "You really are inferior to Yuehan. I was right not to take you as my disciple. You would have only brought me shame."
The sword slashed down, and Xia Lianxue instinctively took a step back.
BANG!
Her sword fell to the ground. Her right arm was pierced and stained crimson, unable to lift a sword again.
She had lost. Again.
Han Shui Master shouted coldly, "You still won’t admit defeat?!"
Xia Lianxue bit her lip. The taste of blood seemed to fill her mouth, and a crystalline tear fell from the corner of her eye.
She opened her mouth but couldn’t speak, her throat unbelievably dry and hoarse.
A feeling of helplessness washed over her once more, until a man’s voice drifted from the distance.
The voice was calm, stating it as a matter of fact: "Your mastery of Miao Yu’s Thirteen Swords is inferior to Qiu Yuehan’s."
’I know, I know.’
’I know my swordsmanship is worse than my senior sister’s! Stop saying it! Please, just stop!’
As if hearing her, the voice didn’t mention it again. Instead, it asked, "But is Miao Yu’s Thirteen Swords all you know?"
’What kind of joke is this?’
’I entered Miao Yu Palace as a child. I learned the Moonlight Technique, I practiced Miao Yu’s Thirteen Swords, and I cultivate the Sword Dao.’
’What else could I possibly know?’
’Know... what?’
The young man’s voice was flat and earnest. "My sword is a cut above those of your Miao Yu Palace."
It was as if the bells of dawn and dusk exploded beside her ears. Xia Lianxue couldn’t hear anything clearly, so she simply closed her eyes.
She seemed to be transported to a small courtyard.
The summer sun blazed.
In the courtyard stood an Arhat Pine. A hot wind blew, making the Arhat Pine sway and its leaves fall.
No matter what she did, she couldn’t strike the leaves. She was miserable. Having already lost all her power and been reduced to a mortal, now even the leaves were bullying her.
A handsome, roguish young man said to her with a smile, "I have a sword technique. Want to learn it?"
One sword strike.
What kind of strike?
A strike as fierce and majestic as summer itself!
So she took the sword the young man offered, and the pitch-black night suddenly became as bright as day.
A clap of thunder erupted from a clear sky as a fierce wind swept up the fallen leaves.
Everything was annihilated by this single strike.
The vermilion sun shines bright on the window pane, a gentle breeze stirs the white silk.
Xia Lianxue, her white robes like snow, murmured softly as if talking in her sleep, "Vermilion."
She opened her eyes. Miao Yu Palace began to coalesce like an ink-wash painting, then, like spreading ink fading with time, Han Shui Master, Qiu Yuehan, and Miao Yu Palace all receded from her, bit by bit.
She said softly, "Sir?"
She blinked gently. The dream of a floating life was over. She was still in the small courtyard.
She remembered everything from the dream with perfect clarity.
Lu Changyuan smiled at her. "What’s wrong?"
"Did you or did you not peek at me while I was bathing?"
’Why does she still remember that?’
’You’ve already overcome your mental barrier, so why are you still hung up on such a small thing?’
Lu Changyuan played dumb. "What are you talking about?"
Xia Lianxue walked up to Lu Changyuan step by step, her beautiful eyes fixed on him. "Sir, what just happened to me?"
"You were engulfed in black energy. I helped you guard your true self and waited for you to wake up on your own."
"You didn’t do anything else, Sir?"
"No. Don’t tell me you dreamed about me?"
"As a matter of fact, I did. I dreamed that I lost to my senior sister... but with your help, Sir, I won." The Fairy smoothed her long skirt and said softly, "I used your swordsmanship. It’s very powerful."
Lu Changyuan shrugged. "I told you my sword was powerful. In a few days, I’ll take you back to Miao Yu Palace, and you can win again. That’ll make it twice."
"I’ve always believed you, Sir."
The Fairy’s lips curved into a smile, revealing an unprecedented charm. She was like a blooming peony embraced by the sky-blue hue after a rain—pure, beautiful, and elegant, yet possessing a bone-deep tenderness.
"I’m an unwanted orphan. If the True Master hadn’t found me, I would have died. The True Master raised me for three years."
Lu Changyuan stared blankly, lost in thought.
’She raised Xia Lianxue for three years?’
’Then what’s the difference between Han Shui Master and a mother in Xia Lianxue’s heart? No wonder it could breed a Heart Demon.’
The Fairy turned back, extended a porcelain-white arm, and slowly plucked a leaf from the Arhat Pine. "That’s why I was so jealous of my senior sister. Because the True Master didn’t care about me."
"And now?"
Xia Lianxue gave an unrealistically beautiful smile. "I’m still jealous. But now I dare to admit it. I am jealous of my senior sister. Even you think she’s more outstanding than me, don’t you, Sir?"
’How did this woman’s personality change so much?’
"Thanks to you, Sir, I have overcome my tribulation. Once I re-enter the Fourth Realm, I’ll be able to advance straight into the Fifth Realm."
The gap between the Fourth and Fifth Realms is the difference between Dao and Realm.
Xia Lianxue’s fall from a great height was a tribulation in itself. Now that her Heart Tribulation was over, the Great Dao was wide open and lay right before her.
Although she currently had no cultivation, she was already close to the Dao, even giving off an out-of-sync feeling with the time and space of this world.
’What Dao does she intend to enter?’
Lu Changyuan narrowed his eyes, but on second thought, he decided it wasn’t necessary to know. "That’s good. We should go get the pill."
「Two days remain until the Heavenly Repair Pill emerges.」
Xia Lianxue tilted her pretty head. "It’s still raining outside. I’ll go get an umbrella."
Soon, the Fairy returned, holding an open oil-paper umbrella.
Lu Changyuan said, "Why did you only bring one?"
"Should I have brought two?"
"Forget it. One is fine, I guess."
Xia Lianxue smiled faintly, seeming to revert to the serene Gentle Fairy that Lu Changyuan had first met.
The Fairy, dressed in a green skirt and holding the oil-paper umbrella, was as beautiful as if she had stepped out of an ink-wash painting. Lu Changyuan was slightly dazed.
"What are you looking at, Sir?"
Lu Changyuan said, "You’re beautiful, so I’m taking a few extra looks. Isn’t being beautiful for people to look at?"
"You’re quite honest, Sir."
"Honesty is one of humanity’s finest virtues."
Xia Lianxue didn’t get angry. Instead, she gestured for Lu Changyuan to head out.
Rain pattered on the oil-paper umbrella, the soft pitter-patter creating a soothing melody as droplets bounced off and hit the ground.
Lu Changyuan felt a strange sense of danger, but it wasn’t life-threatening. It was something else entirely.
"We should really get another umbrella."
Xia Lianxue shook her head, the hairpin in her hair swaying along with the movement. "There’s actually only one." She had already walked to Lu Changyuan’s side. "Let’s squeeze together."
"Squeeze together it is."
The Green Skirt Fairy holding an umbrella for him... this was an honor countless people could only dream of.
The two of them walked to the main gate.
Xia Lianxue suddenly spoke. "Was it white?"
Lu Changyuan had long expected this question, so he smiled at Xia Lianxue. "What was white?"
Logically, Lu Changyuan should have successfully deflected the question with that.
But the Fairy’s tone was as light as a feather. "My body. I suddenly remembered, when you were exorcising the Demon for me, Sir, did you see all of Lianxue’s body?"
’Not only did I see it all.’
’I even touched it.’
’It was very smooth.’
’A perfect fit.’
Lu Changyuan started breaking out in a cold sweat for no reason. "Saving you was the priority. A healer sees no gender before them."
"Was it beautiful?"
"In a healer’s eyes..."
Xia Lianxue enunciated each word, "Was. It. Beautiful?"
"Beautiful."