Chapter 2
Chapter 2
The Medicine Peak Elder?
Wasn’t that Ji Haitang’s eldest uncle?
He’d disliked me since I was a child.
When he handed out pills that could increase inner strength to the other disciples, he gave me laxatives instead.
And now he was kind enough to send medicine over for me?
I wasn’t stupid enough to drink anything he gave me.
I closed my eyes and rolled over.
With a pulse of inner strength, I sent the bowl of medicine flying.
The porcelain bowl hit the floor with a crisp crash, shattering into a mess of fragments.
Mu Yuan rose to his feet, anger edging into his voice.
“Qiu Bai!”
“Why must you always be so overbearing? Even when you’re injured, you refuse to lower your head and accept someone else’s kindness?”
At that, I couldn’t help letting out a cold laugh.
“Oh? And who was it that got me injured?”
His hand clenched tight.
He drew in a deep breath.
“I was thinking of you.”
“Your sword technique is too ruthless. If that strike had landed, you would have borne the infamy of crippling a fellow disciple. I couldn’t bear to see that happen.”
I was so angry I laughed.
I simply sat up.
“In the Battle for First Seat, everyone signed a life-and-death contract. Injury and death are left to fate, though most people stop once victory is decided and don’t take lives.”
“Besides, Ji Haitang wasn’t the first person I faced. So many disciples before her were defeated by my hand. Why didn’t I see you turn your blade at the final moment and wound me then?”
“Are you really concerned about me, or do you forget whose sword you are the moment you see Ji Haitang?”
“As a divine sword, you betrayed your master. As a sword spirit, you are false and despicable.”
“If I were you, I would snap myself in two!”
He frowned, staring at me as if he were looking at a lunatic.
“Unreasonable.”
“Qiu Bai, must you wound others with your words like this?”
Mu Yuan’s words enlightened me.
Right.
Why was I only hurting him with words?
Shouldn’t I be paying tooth for tooth, eye for eye?
So I took out my sword contract with Mu Yuan.
Between my two fingers, a spark of flame flared to life.
The fire swallowed the sword contract in an instant, and Mu Yuan’s expression twisted with pain.
He dropped to one knee, unable to endure the agony as a cry tore from his throat.
I watched him coldly.
“You’re right. Words can only hurt so much. What’s the point?”
“Mu Yuan, do you still have the strength to be generous at my expense?”
“Senior Sister! Stop!”
I had originally intended to stop.
But just before I did, I heard Ji Haitang’s anxious voice from the doorway.
So I ignited the flames again.
Mu Yuan was tormented until he rolled across the floor.
Ji Haitang panicked.
She rushed in at once and helped Mu Yuan up, then shouted at me indignantly.
“Senior Sister! No swordsman in this world would ever treat their own sword like this!”
“If you have resentment, direct it at me. Why take it out on him?”
When Mu Yuan was with me, he always wore a dead-fish expression.
I had thought that although he was aligned with wood, his nature was ice.
But after I finished my travels and brought him back to the Sacred Sword Sect, I realized I had been wrong.
His nature wasn’t ice.
He was just sick of me.
In front of Ji Haitang, he was the most obedient divine sword in the world.
He would fly up cliffs to pick flowers for her. He would teach Ji Haitang the sword forms we had created together.
He would even get jealous when Ji Haitang wanted to choose a sword to practice with and destroy every candidate sword, forcing Ji Haitang to come borrow mine.
Even I was starting to ship the two of them.
Since Mu Yuan liked Ji Haitang so much, how could he possibly be willing to look pathetic in front of her?
So he forced himself to endure it and comforted her with a bitter smile. “I’m fine. It’s only the contract being burned by fire. I can withstand it.”
Ji Haitang was heartbroken.
“Nonsense! It must hurt. It must hurt so much.”
“Senior Sister, I’m begging you. I can give you the position of Chief Disciple. Please stop, all right?”
I nodded.
“Sure.”
Then I fed more power into the flames.