Chapter 3

My Unfettered Sword had broken. Master said he would forge me a new one, but he still needed a Clearwater Spirit Pearl.

For that one pearl, I had plunged into clear waters to hunt eight-horned serpent turtles. After finally finding one that had formed an inner core, I risked my life to kill it and cut out the core, obtaining the pearl.

When I returned, the sect was hung with lanterns and festive decorations.

It was our youngest sister’s birthday.

Everyone was celebrating for her.

Third Brother smiled. “Second Sister, we’ve all given her presents. What are you giving her?”

After a moment’s thought, I took out the spirit turtle’s shell. It could withstand a single attack.

Third Brother curled his lip. “We all gave her the best things we had. Your best possession is that Clearwater Spirit Pearl. Why are you so reluctant to give it to her?”

Qin Rou’s eyes reddened.

“Second Sister, I’m not after your pearl. I only hope you won’t dislike me.”

She began to cry.

Bright tears spilled down her cheeks.

That day, everyone gathered around to comfort her and glared at me.

I couldn’t understand what I had done to deserve it.

In the end, I handed over the pearl. It felt as if I’d swallowed ten thousand centipedes. I was sick with disgust.

That evening, miserable and bewildered, I wandered alone through the bamboo grove.

There I found Third Brother and our youngest sister chatting in the moonlight on a stone platform beside the trees.

They sat shoulder to shoulder.

Her head rested lazily against him.

“Third Brother, thank you. Without you, Second Sister would never have given me such a lovely gift. I don’t know why, but she doesn’t seem to like me. We’re the only two women on Morningcloud Peak. I think of her as my own sister, but she…”

“She’s jealous because everyone likes you. Don’t bother trying to please her anymore. If she bullies you, just tell Master and Eldest Brother.”

I had never imagined that was how they saw me.

“Third Brother,” I said coldly, “aren’t you afraid your tongue will rot from all that backbiting? If you’re so unhappy with me, meet me on the sparring platform tomorrow.”

I issued him a formal challenge.

Its announcement rang out across all of Morningcloud Peak.

That very night, Luo Qingzhu came to confront me.

Standing outside my door, he accused me of lacking all the dignity of a senior sister and viciously attacking a junior brother.

“Before you rush to scold me, Eldest Brother,” I snapped, “why don’t you ask what your precious junior brother was saying behind my back? He said I was jealous of our youngest sister. That I bullied her…”

“Don’t you?” Luo Qingzhu cut in.

I stared at him.

“If you meant her no harm, why would Master have needed to send you to fetch that pearl for her?”

“What do you mean?”

“Hmph. Your sword never needed a Clearwater Spirit Pearl. Her flying artifact did. But only a woman can retrieve that pearl, and her cultivation is too weak. You were the only one who could go. If we’d told you outright, you would have put on airs and made things difficult for her. Master had no choice but to tell you it was for your sword. Don’t you understand, Huaiyue? Everyone in the sect knows you hate her. What’s the point of denying it?”

His words tore a deep wound in my heart.

I could barely hear anything else. There was only one thing I needed to know.

“Master… he knew?”

Luo Qingzhu said nothing.

I understood.

Somehow, without my noticing, I had become the villain of the sect.

Even the master I revered more than anyone thought I bullied our youngest sister.

It took only an instant for my heart to crumble to dust.

Fighting back the hot tears rising in my eyes, I said coldly,

“All right, Eldest Brother. Tell me. You all say I’ve mistreated her. Exactly how have I hurt her?”

For an instant, Luo Qingzhu looked lost.

I gave a soft, scornful laugh. “You can’t name anything either?”

“There are too many things to list,” he snorted. “Who spread the rumor that she was born useless? Who injured her before the sect tournament, robbing her of her chance to compete? Who stole the Unfettered Sword she wanted in Sword-Choosing Valley? And you still claim you bear her no ill will? Withdraw your challenge to Third Brother today, and we’ll let this go. Otherwise, expect a challenge from me.”

He rose upon the wind, graceful and poised, his words leaving no room for argument. Anyone who heard him would have praised such a righteous, refined immortal.

He was a guardian to Qin Rou and our junior brothers. To me, he was a fool.

“Born useless” was Qin Rou’s own self-mocking description after she swallowed countless rare treasures and still remained at the Qi Refining stage. Somehow, as the story spread, it became something I had said to ridicule her.

Afraid of losing and disgracing herself at the tournament, she had wanted to feign an injury. Too cowardly to hurt herself, she attacked me while I was meditating. My protective barrier threw her back. Afterward, I was blamed for costing her a precious opportunity.

As for the Unfettered Sword, she had indeed chosen it. But that proud sword had a will of its own. Would it have followed her?

I was the one who finally drew it out.

They knew perfectly well that whoever drew a sword in Sword-Choosing Valley could take it away. Yet now they blamed me for doing exactly that.

When had they become so biased?

Or had they always been this way, with no chance to show it before?

Perhaps our youngest sister simply gave them an excuse to express their resentment of me.

“So you broke my Unfettered Sword on purpose?” I demanded.

“You weren’t worthy of it,” Luo Qingzhu said. “Your sword deserved to break.”

In his heart, it was probably me he thought deserved to be broken.

I tossed and turned all night, trying over and over to recall when I had offended them.

Once I stepped outside the story, the answer was obvious.

To someone who dislikes you, everything you do is wrong.

If you assume you must be at fault simply because someone dislikes you,

then you are too kind, too yielding, and your abusers have found somewhere to unleash their malice without restraint.

The next day, I went to the sparring platform anyway. I followed my own judgment and knocked the ashen-faced Third Brother off it.

Qin Rou’s eyes brimmed with tears.

“Second Sister, even if Third Brother said something wrong, you shouldn’t have been so cruel. He’s still your fellow disciple!”

She cried so bitterly, as if justice itself stood on her side.

I watched her without expression, wondering whether an enormous water jar was connected to the backs of her eyes. How did she summon those tears at will? How did they never run dry?

If I could,

I would have liked to poke her eyes out.

Then I’d see whether she could still cry.

Murderous intent spilled from me.

Qin Rou shrank back in fear.

A moment later, a written challenge flew toward me.

A thunderous voice rolled through the clouds overhead.

“Luo Qingzhu challenges Huaiyue. Does Huaiyue accept?”

I looked up at the boundless sky and said softly, “I accept.”