For a few tense seconds, I wondered if I had failed. I wondered, for one frightful moment, if my gambit had blown and the spirit flames I stole from Na Lan Yan Ran's phoenix didn't work.
Then, as the bright flash of qi that momentarily blinded my sixth sense faded away, I saw Xia Xing Ling hovering in the air. For a second, a glowing blue mark that resembled flames etched itself into her forehead before fading away. Xia Xing Ling floated in the air for a moment, slowly opening her eyes. When she saw her sister in front of her, tears began to flow freely from her eyes.
"Sister!"
She leaped into Xia Xing Yue's embrace, sobbing.
"Uuuu! Sister, it's all my fault! I dragged you along with me! How did you die as well? But at least we will still be together even though we have become ghosts!"
For a moment, Xia Xing Yue was speechless, unable to respond to her sister's raving. Then she broke into a dazzling smile.
"Ling Er, your sister hasn't died. You're also fine! You're still very much alive!"
"Huh? How did I not die?" Xia Xing Ling blinked as she parted from her sister and stared at her in bewilderment.
"You silly girl, what are you talking about? With your sister around, nothing will happen to you! I'll make sure of it!"
"Hmm, your sister looks fine now." Shen Jian observed the two sisters, and then smiled as well. He glanced at his smartphone. "I'll get Doctor Yi here. Both of you wait here, and don't move from this spot. This spirit flame that the young gentleman used earlier might have suppressed the cold poison, but I don't know how long it can suppress it for. It's best to get Doctor Yi to give your sister a checkup."
"Then I'll have to trouble you, Director Shen." Xia Xing Yue cupped her hands and bowed her head. He chuckled and shook his head.
"No, you shouldn't be thanking me. You should be grateful to that young man instead." He glanced approvingly in my direction.
"That's right. Shu Cong, I owe you a great debt! You saved Ling Er not once, but twice now. I don't know how I'll ever be able to repay you."
"No, you don't have to worry about that." I raised both hands while dismissing my magic carp. "I only did what was right. What anyone else would have done."
"I don't know about that. Who would use a precious spirit flame to save a stranger that you've met for the first time today?"
"Oh? I thought you were friends." Shen Jian raised an eyebrow. "You were desperately pleading with me to help him earlier. I never imagined you only met for the first time today."
"We did indeed meet for the first time earlier today, but this is the second time he has saved my sister's life…"
"Ah, I see. Don't worry, I'm not doubting you, Student Xia." Shen Jian lifted his hand to forestall her clumsy explanation. "Also, it's not the length of time that you've known the other party that matters, but what you've both done for each other."
"Right now, Shu Cong has been helping me and my sister, but I have done absolutely nothing for him."
"If you really want to replay brother, sister, you should just marry him!" Xia Xing Ling suggested brightly. Xia Xing Yue blushed at that.
"W…w…what are you talking about, Ling Er? That's…that's…!"
"Ha ha, youth." Shen Jian laughed and turned away. "Both of you, wait here. I'll fetch Doctor Yi. Hopefully he's done with his surgery. I'll see you later."
He leaped to the air and disappeared in a single bound. I gaped at him, amazed at his heaven-defying physical abilities. The guy could practically fly without the need of vehicles.
"Then we will get going too." Hu Mei Er nodded. Her friends waved and the group of girls left, grinning and giggling among themselves. I wasn't sure what they found so funny, but I couldn't be bothered to ask. I hardly knew any of them, after all.
I just waved at them and watched them leave. Then I realized I had no idea what to do. Was I supposed to wait with Xia Xing Yue and Xia Xing Ling? Did this mean I was officially a student of Ten Thousand Swords University? I mean, I did clear the Nine Heavenly Swords Formation in that pavilion. The inner director himself even came out to punish Cang Zhong on my behalf.
Speaking of which, Cang Zhong was still lurking around even though he had just been demoted and given a dressing down. Right. His demotion didn't officially take place until tomorrow. Not that I cared. The damage had been done.
"Go on." Xia Xing Ling was pushing Xia Xing Yue toward me for some reason. "Give me a reason to call him brother-in-law!"
"What are you talking about?! Stop talking nonsense, Ling Er!"
"Eh…come one! It's fine, isn't it?"
"No, it isn't! I mean, I'm grateful to him, but I've only just met him today! At least give me some time to develop a relationship with him!"
"So if I give you enough time, you'll eventually marry him?"
"N…no! That's not what I said! Ugh! Stop teasing me!"
"Oh, right! Don't we need to report this to Dad?" Xia Xing Ling suddenly recalled something important. "I believe Dad will want to personally thank brother as well! Knowing him, he'll probably promise a monetary reward at least. Compensation for the spirit flames."
She looked at me guiltily, but I shook my head.
"Don't worry about it. The price of a spirit fire cannot be compared to a human life. No matter what, I'll always choose to save you."
"Thank you." It was Xia Xing Ling's turn to blush. She quickly turned away while taking out her smartphone from her skirt. "Sister, I'll leave him to you. I'm going to make a call to Dad."
"Okay. Don't get too far."
We watched Xia Xing Ling head over to the trees to make her phone all, then turned away from each other awkwardly. Scratching my head, I sighed.
"Um, so I'll be relying on you for the days to come?"
"Yes. You can count on me."
"Thank you," I said before breathing a sigh of relief. "Honestly, I've not been in the cultivator world for long. There's still so much I don't know. Even though I'm officially from the Divine Dragon Sect, I've only joined it for less than a month."
And by a strange twist of fate, I was the only disciple in the Divine Dragon Sect right now, thanks to the stupidity of Long Ao Tian.
"Don't worry. I'll take responsibility for you." There was a beat before Xia Xing Yue realized what she had just said and she blushed. "Sorry, I didn't mean that kind of responsibility!"
"Uh, I know. Like I said, I'll be relying on you…"
I suddenly stopped when I sensed something terrifying descending upon me. From her expression, Xia Xing Yue detected the same thing. A shadow fell across our faces before we both looked up and jumped away.
"Get away from my junior sister!"
I watched as ice erupted from the ground, a result of my assailant's attack hitting the concrete. He was fast, already kicking off the floor and lunging at me with a sword. Frosty qi swirled around his blade in a fierce blizzard, flinging hail at me.
"Whoa!"
I was forced to retreat from the first thrust, and then I leaped upward when he tried to cut me down, placing a foot on his arm and slightly deflecting his sword to the side. Before he could right his aim, I was already propelling myself above his head, cartwheeling in the air before spinning around to avoid his next strike.
"Senior brother!" Xia Xing Yue shouted, rushing forward, only to be buffeted by the howling blizzard that had whipped up around the newcomer. "Stop! You're mistaken…!"
But her senior brother had no intention of listening to her. He was attacking me ferociously, his frozen sword leaving trails of ice in the air as he hacked and slashed in my direction. It took me everything I had to evade his attacks. My Heavenly Flow and Earthly Paths could detect the currents of his qi and predict the trajectory of his attacks, but his strokes were so swift and precise that I almost couldn't avoid them in time.
Heaving, I drew my sword and parried his strikes. We exchanged a few blows, but I was mostly forced into the defensive. Giving ground, I retreated, blocked and evaded, ducking under a sweeping blow and attempting a counterattack of my own, only for my opponent to swat my blade aside. I stumbled before blocking his retaliating strike. The raw power of his strikes sent vibrations along my arms, causing them to grow numb. And that wasn't even taking into account the chilling qi that accompanied his attacks.
This guy was at least at the top levels of Heaven realm. Perhaps even at the peak of Heaven realm!
"You…!"
I could see from his confused expression that he realized I was only at Earth realm. Yet he was unable to defeat me in the first few opening blows. He was suppressing me, yes. He had the edge in combat and was significantly stronger, yeah. But given the gaps in our cultivation realms, he should have by all rights crushed me like an insect.
Somehow I was defying all odds and surviving his onslaught of attacks.
Deflecting his other strikes, I managed to knock his sword aside and cut apart the frost he was freezing around me. Sucking in a breath that chilled my lungs, I found an opportunity to break free and widen the distance between us.
Too late I realized that my foe had allowed me to retreat. He was preparing a colossal attack of his own, conjuring a howling blizzard that took the form of a gigantic icicle. Swinging his sword downward, he hurled the massive icicle at me, which left a trail of ice in its wake.
Exhaling, I closed my eyes briefly and opened up my sixth sense. Digging my heels into the ground, I held my dragon sword in both hands and angled it in such a way that I would be able to sink my blade into the thinnest qi thread that I could perceive. When the projectile came, along with a hellish cold that froze my body all the way to the bone, I carved it apart by tracing my sword along the most vulnerable current of qi.
And just like that, the colossal icicle ceased to exist.
"What?!" my opponent yelled. "How is that possible!?"
I flicked the frost of my sword and got ready to defend from another attack, but Xia Xing Yue was way ahead of me. She had conjured a hundred ice swords and had every single one of them pointed at her senior brother. In her right hand, she held a real sword, a slender blade of exquisite craftsmanship.
"W…what is the meaning of this, junior sister?!" the guy demanded, taken aback.
"That should be my question, senior brother." Xia Xing Yue's voice was cold. "Why are you attacking Shu Cong?"
"Huh? What do you mean? Wasn't he…?"
"He is a friend. He had just saved my sister's life…twice. And he's a new student of Ten Thousand Swords University."
"Huh? But Han Sha said…" The guy trailed off when he saw me sheathing my sword. I held up both hands, as if in surrender.
"Ms. Xia is correct. I am not an enemy."
"You…" the guy growled. Xia Xing Yue shook her head and released her technique, allowing him to drop to the ground.
"I apologize, Shu Cong. This is my senior brother Yun Che, also of the Frozen Cloud Sword Palace, and a senior at Ten Thousand Swords University." She turned to glare at him. "Apologize."
For a moment, it looked as if Yun Che was going to argue, but he forced himself to lower his head and cup his hands. I could see his arms tremble in anger and his teeth gnashed in frustration, but he obeyed his junior sister.
"I…apologize, Mr. Shu. I misunderstood and jumped into conclusions. I was led to believe that you were…harassing my junior sister."
"Not at all." I waved his apology away. "It's just a misunderstanding. I admire your willingness to protect your junior sister."
"Hmph." Yun Che approached me, and then he dropped his voice to a whisper so that Xia Xing Yue couldn't hear him. "Stay away from my junior sister…or I won't be polite."
"Hey! What are you doing?!" Xia Xing Ling had returned after making her phone call. Actually, she had been back since before then, but she couldn't intervene because of her senior brother's rampage. "Leave it at that, senior brother!"
"Yes, I've already apologized."
"No, you're not in the wrong!" Cang Zhong suddenly emerged from out of nowhere and struck me in the back, causing me to topple over. Blood spurted from my mouth and I toppled down the stairs. The elder interposed himself between the stunned Xia sisters and me, stopping them from going to my aid. "That brat deserves death! Finish him off, Yun Che!"
"What?! You…!" Xia Xing Yue snarled coldly, but Cang Zhong blocked her path. Qi swirled around his palm as he smashed her ice swords aside. "When Director Shen returns…!"
"By the time Director Shen returns, it will be too late. That trash will be dead!"
Cang Zhong laughed manically.
"A trash who wastes a spirit flame to save a girl whose cultivation has been destroyed by the backlash of learning a forbidden technique! Such an idiot should die! No…never mind that, he should pay for hurting my grandson!"
He turned his head to nod at Yun Che meaningfully.
"You were not wrong. If you hadn't arrived, this brat who overestimates his own strength will really steal away your junior sister! To prevent that from happening, you must eliminate him as quickly as possible!"
"No! Senior brother, Cang Zhong is corrupted! Don't listen to him! He's just making use of you!"
"That's…" Yun Che hesitated. Cang Zhong scowled and leaped away.
"Then I'll do it! Yun Che, hold back your junior sisters! Even if you don't have the guts to kill a rival, you can hinder your junior sisters at least, right?"
"I understand." Yun Che grimly stood in the way of the Xia sisters, conjuring his own icicle to block Xia Xing Yue's barrage of ice swords. He parried her real sword with his own, barring her path.
"Get out of the way, senior brother!"
"I'm afraid I can't disobey an order from an elder."
"You…!"
"Ha ha ha! There's no one to save you now, trash! Even Director Shen is too far away!"
Cackling madly, Cang Zhong delivered a powerful palm strike with enough force to shatter all the bones in my body.