Volume 1, Chapter 56 – Sitting in the Well

Chilong Army camp, southwest sector.

Smoke likewise drifted through the night, but it hadn’t affected the camp much; nearly all the blast craters had landed in front of the poured-concrete barrier. Nearby lay scattered scraps of remains—corpses of the invading aberrant beasts.

With a flick to sling off the blood on her blade, Chai Xuan kept a cold face and silently pressed the edge back into the scabbard.

Before her, a fan-shaped swath was splashed with scarlet gore—as if someone had used this spot as the center and flung pig’s blood outward in all directions.

That made her the center of the battlefield. Whether Chilong soldiers or Sword Institute disciples who’d come along, all looked at her with awed envy.

“Did you catch her swing just now?”

“No… too fast…”

“Didn’t even see an afterimage… didn’t even see her draw. That corner’s beasts just turned to minced gore in an instant…”

“No wonder she topped the national sword exam…”

“I heard she rose from a blank start—before the national sword exam she hadn’t apprenticed to any famed master…”

“Now that’s the pride of the common folk. Compared to her, what are those hyped-up star sword-track students from before… just bulling people with an early start.”

“Why else would her popularity be so high? My niece keeps bringing home her posters.”

“No, I’m getting an autograph later…”

“Me too!”

“I called it first!”

Catching the murmurs at the edge, the curve of Chai Xuan’s lips didn’t change, but her eyes narrowed in quiet contentment.

“No wonder you’re Senior Sister Chai!” A few sword-bearing boys came over. The lead one’s gaze was practically glued to her face—anyone could see the adoration in his eyes.

“Senior Sister Chai, you must be tired. I’ve got some water left in my canteen—have a drink?”

Seeing this, two girls standing to the side frowned slightly.

“Zhao Xu is simping again,” the girl on the left said angrily. “We really ought to film him like this and show it to him when he’s older and wiser—let him see how ugly he looks!”

You couldn’t wear period costume out in the field. Chai Xuan included, the disciples had all changed into the camp-issue deep-green camo form-fitting combat suits.

But this girl wouldn’t be content looking like everyone else—vainly, she’d stuck a pink heart on her cheek. Her voice rose and fell, full-on asserting herself.

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“Don’t say that.” The ponytailed girl on the right glanced over. She, too, frowned a little, but still tried to keep sect harmony. “Admiring the young and pretty is only human. Junior Sister Chai’s talent and luck are top-tier—being adored is only right.”

“Senior Sister Xu? You’re not annoyed by her?” The heart-sticker girl stared in surprise. “Her swordsmanship isn’t as strong as yours, and Master hasn’t taught her the root method yet. She just lucked into a three-hundred-year Demon Pool. Why does she get to press you down the moment she walks in?”

“Zheng Lingying! Talking trash about Sister Xuan again!”

With a sharp shout, a few more camo-clad students pushed out of the trees. At their head was the Senior Brother who’d shown up at the fast-food joint before—Hao Chengzhuo. Beside him stood that willful girl who’d tried to cut the line for takeout, glaring furiously at the two.

“Xiao Ming.” Senior Sister Xu felt a headache coming on at the sight. “Junior Sister Zheng spoke without thinking—don’t take it to heart.”

“What do you mean ‘without thinking’!” the girl snapped, pressing the advantage. “And ‘a three-hundred-year Demon Pool’? How old is her pool? A hundred years?”

“She knows perfectly well that later on you can fold the cultivations of other Demon Pools into the spirit tiger; the higher the cultivation of the pool you forge with, the greater your advantage later! How can she mock Sister Xuan over that?”

She cast a disgusted look at the heart-sticker girl. “You’re just jealous! You can’t stand it!”

“You!” The heart-sticker girl flushed with anger.

“Say I can’t stand it? Fine, I admit it! But how dare you drag Senior Sister Xu?”

And after Senior Sister Xu spoke up for Chai Xuan, too!

“Hmph!” The girl curled her lip. “She’s said all that and still won’t call you out to your face… who knows what she really thinks!”

“Liang Wanming! You’ve gone too far!”

The heart-sticker girl finally snapped—steel rang as she drew her sword. “I’ll teach you on Master’s behalf today! Learn that words aren’t free!”

“Come on then! You think I’m afraid?”

“All right—enough!”

Seeing the two sides about to throw down, Hao Chengzhuo finally put on authority and barked them to a stop.

“Out in the field, you don’t think of bringing credit to the Sword Institute and honor to the dojo—every day you bicker like village shrews!”

He squinted and pointed at ‘Xiao Ming’. “From now on, no quarreling over trifles!”

The girl pouted, clearly unconvinced, but said nothing more.

“As for you, Junior Sister Zheng…”

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Hao Chengzhuo looked at the pair opposite, face solemn and stiff. “Don’t you think your talk about Junior Sister Chai went too far?”

“If Master hears how you behaved today—especially that you wanted to ‘teach’ Xiao Ming on his behalf…”

As he spoke, the heart-sticker girl’s face turned uglier by the moment.

“Go apologize to Junior Sister Chai now. I’ll let this pass and won’t tell Master Liang or Master.”

Satisfied with the effect of his words, Hao Chengzhuo pointed toward Chai Xuan, signaling her not to waste time.

The heart-sticker girl froze, then her face went bloodless.

“Senior Brother!”

Senior Sister Xu frowned at once and stepped forward to shield her companion. “Handled this way, how is Junior Sister Zheng supposed to face people afterward?”

“She slandered a fellow disciple—shouldn’t she be punished?” Hao Chengzhuo looked at her coldly, with a hint of disappointment.

“Even if punished, not like this!”

Senior Sister Xu pressed her lips tight and kept her voice low. “Since ancient times, most unrest comes from ‘unevenness’. Xiao Ming broke the speech rules before and was punished with three months facing the wall. Junior Sister Zheng’s a first-time offender and gets a different punishment. If this spreads, few will accept it!”

“You—” Hao Chengzhuo’s face changed. He hadn’t expected her to pull that line of reasoning.

“Senior Brother!” Senior Sister Xu didn’t flinch. “Master has always said, ‘equal treatment for all’!”

“Just because Xiao Ming is Master’s… have you thought how Master will feel when he hears?”

Her words were reasonable and grounded. Those around, though afraid to speak up, nodded along.

Yeah.

You can’t run two sets of standards just because Xiao Ming is Master’s daughter!

That’s the kind of thing small, shabby sects do—how could we copy them?

“What’s going on, what’s going on?”

“Why are you all crowding here?”

Zhao Xu happened to be walking with Chai Xuan. Seeing the heavy mood, he hurried to smooth things over with a grin.

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“Come on, we’re all senior and junior brothers and sisters—what’s there to get mad about?”

“We just hacked down aberrations—shouldn’t you be resting?”

Playing the big man, he talked while sneaking glances at Chai Xuan.

“Senior Brother Zhao!” Xiao Ming glared, pointing across. “They were bad-mouthing Senior Sister Chai behind her back!”

“Hm?”

Zhao Xu’s eyes went wide.

So that’s a thing?

Here we go again…

Senior Sister Xu pinched the bridge of her nose—her brain felt like it would burst.

Not just Zhao Xu and Xiao Ming—ever since Chai Xuan entered the sect, Senior Brother Hao seemed like a different person too.

Sigh.

Should’ve stayed back at the Sword Institute and shut myself in for bitter training.

On the other side, Xiao Ming had already spiced up the story. Sure enough, Zhao Xu’s face darkened.

“Junior Sister Zheng really went too far.”

He looked at Xu and Zheng, then gestured grandly toward Chai Xuan at his side.

“At seventeen she subdued a three-hundred-year Demon Pool and took the national sword exam’s crown.”

“Maybe not earlier, but in recent years—have you seen any seventeen-year-old sword-track student better than Junior Sister Chai?”

He bore down on Zheng Lingying with his gaze; her mouth twitched, and she couldn’t speak.

He looked to Senior Sister Xu next—she could only close her eyes.

Performing like this before the one he fancied, Zhao Xu felt ten feet tall, high-spirited—and started running his mouth.

He pointed at a sturdy locust tree in the distance. “Go ahead—find one!”

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“If you can find one, I’ll smash my head on it!”

Isn’t that a bit much…

Chai Xuan frowned slightly at that.

This Zhao Xu—does he not know how to praise someone with a little restraint?

Beep—beep—beep—

Just then, a buzz sounded from Hao Chengzhuo’s waist.

He quickly took off the walkie-talkie and opened the channel. “Master Liang…?”

“There’s an emergency down south—bring everyone here, now!”

Liang Wenbo’s voice came through—breathless and urgent.

Was that a hint of excitement…?

Hao Chengzhuo blinked. “But… we just finished cutting down aberrations. Can’t we let them rest a bit…”

“What rest!”

Liang Wenbo cut him off, excitement all but overflowing through the radio.

“Lü Ran’s been cut down!”

“They hit the rear and took both Lü Ran and the phantasmic Demon Pool’s true form!”

“Now that we’ve got the true form, the Demon Kingdom’s entrance is wide open! Those demons won’t have expected things to turn like this—this is the perfect moment to chase and kill!”

“This is great news!”

Liang Wenbo emphasized.

“A three-tribulation great demon… and I hear a seventeen-year-old sword-track student did it?”

“Just right—come see it for yourselves…”

“So you stop staring at the sky from the bottom of a well all day!”