NOVEL NEXT Ch. 25
Chapter 25: Why Are You Just Watching
The wind wanted to stir.
Yet, beneath the swords of two fairies in plain white dresses, it was forcefully stilled.
Lu Changyuan stood at the side of the redwood martial platform, while Xia Lianxue turned half her body, looking at him.
So Lu Changyuan said: “What are you looking at me for? Do you think I’ll help you fight in her place? You have to win her fair and square.”
Xia Lianxue’s willow brows furrowed slightly: “How could I possibly win?”
“If you keep thinking you can’t win, then you’ll never win in your life. Xia Lianxue, your Senior Sister Qiu Yuehan is much stronger than you. At least when she loses, she doesn’t cry.”
A strange fire surged through her five viscera.
Why was this person like this?
He spoke so harshly!
This was inside a nightmare, where all her emotions were easily stirred.
Thus, the fairy in white glared viciously at Qiu Yuehan before her.
“If I lose, then together with you secretly peeking at me, I’ll settle both debts at once!”
The fairy raised her sword, her opening move already a tricky technique.
The third sword of the Thirteen Swords of the Jade Temple—Fish Swimming Amidst Lotus Dew.
This sword emphasized an airtight stance, shrinking the opponent’s defensive space step by step, until finally, like a fish upon a lotus leaf, only waiting for death in place.
A year ago, in the grand competition, Xia Lianxue had also opened with this same move against Qiu Yuehan.
The fairy suspended her sword, and a lotus quickly bloomed, scattering its petals into sharp sword energy, stabbing straight at Qiu Yuehan’s face.
But as a fellow True Disciple of Jade Temple, how could Qiu Yuehan not know the weakness of this technique?
Qiu Yuehan, in an instant, also transformed into a streak of white light, clashing head-on with Xia Lianxue.
She neither dodged nor evaded, but raised her sword to meet the lotus sword energy.
The move Fish Swimming Amidst Lotus Dew was not without a solution.
Within the endless streams of sword energy, there was a relatively weak point—the lotus heart.
If one possessed a heart that pressed ever forward and thrust their sword directly there, the formation could be broken.
The three-foot-long sword pierced the lotus heart, just like a little fish unaware of its fate, yet still leaping boldly, finally plunging into the vast expanse of the pond.
“Senior Sister actually didn’t hesitate at all?”
As Xia Lianxue’s words fell, she reversed her grip, a sword energy exploding out from the lotus heart.
Indeed, this was the weakest spot, but it could also serve as the starting point for the next move.
“Junior Sister’s sword is used with remarkable mastery.”
Qiu Yuehan’s sword was jarred until her hands ached.
With the glazed feather robe draped over her body, she actually exerted another thirty percent of her strength, pressing Xia Lianxue into retreat.
Lu Changyuan watched in awe.
This was the Qiu Yuehan of Xia Lianxue’s memory.
This chief True Disciple of the Jade Temple could be summed up with one word.
Fierce.
Her body was delicate, her face ethereal, but her sword was utterly lethal.
When he had seen the wounds of the Heart-Eating Monk, Lu Changyuan had already guessed that Qiu Yuehan was a tigress, savagely ferocious, frighteningly so—yet he had not expected her to be this ruthless.
Xia Lianxue bit her lip, her left foot rooted firmly to the ground, her waist twisting lightly as she slid past, her sword rising from beneath Qiu Yuehan’s armpit, as though intending to run her completely through.
Clang!
A tremendous force struck from Xia Lianxue’s waist.
Qiu Yuehan raised her long leg, mercilessly kicking her Junior Sister.
In desperation, Xia Lianxue could only brace her sword against Qiu Yuehan’s lotus shoes, yet still, she was kicked flying.
Qiu Yuehan paused only slightly, before her stern sword aura circulated again, tearing through the wind.
Before her figure arrived, the sound came first, followed by the clear ringing of swords.
The blades clashed.
The ground beneath Xia Lianxue’s feet cracked as she blocked the strike.
She twisted her head toward Lu Changyuan: “Do you have any way? Quickly, say it!”
“Try attacking her middle path.”
Attack the middle? What middle?
Senior Sister’s sword pressed forward unstoppably, her body filled with flaws, and yet with none at all.
To strike Qiu Yuehan, she would have to lose two taels of flesh herself.
Without much hope, Xia Lianxue glanced again, only to be shocked to find that Qiu Yuehan’s center indeed had an opening.
So, she diverted her force with her sword, slid it upward, and struck straight toward Qiu Yuehan’s center.
“Junior Sister’s sword has improved.”
Qiu Yuehan really did withdraw her blade, forced back several steps by Xia Lianxue’s thrust.
Xia Lianxue’s eyes shone slightly as she looked at Lu Changyuan: “Quickly, keep telling me.”
If Lu Changyuan kept pointing out Qiu Yuehan’s flaws, then she could win this match.
But at some point, Lu Changyuan had picked up a bowl of noodles and sat at the platform’s edge eating.
Xia Lianxue was furious.
“Fairy Xia, the truth is, I lied to you. I have no way to make you defeat Qiu Yuehan. You know well that Qiu Yuehan’s strength is inconceivable. Even in a deadlock, she can forcefully find a way out.”
And so, a thought sprouted in her mind.
The youth before her supported Senior Sister Qiu Yuehan more.
As soon as this thought took shape, Qiu Yuehan’s unending, rain-like attacks surged forward again.
Xia Lianxue could no longer clearly see Qiu Yuehan’s sword.
She could only block each strike with instinct.
Behind Qiu Yuehan, a full moon arose.
Xia Lianxue faltered for an instant, and a sword grazed her cheek.
A bloody scar left a chilling mark on her delicate face.
She looked again toward Lu Changyuan.
Only to find him eating candied hawthorn skewers.
How could there be candied haws in Jade Temple Palace?
Lu Changyuan also wanted to ask—why did a fairy’s nightmare contain candied haws?
But since they were there, why not eat?
“Help me, quickly!”
Lu Changyuan seemed not to hear.
He bit into the skewer and placed it in his mouth, yet the expected sweet-sour taste never came.
The candied haws were utterly flavorless.
So it seemed that this lofty Fairy Xia had never eaten candied haws either.
For no reason, Xia Lianxue felt aggrieved.
This man had promised to help her, and he had indeed helped—but if he was going to escort the Buddha to the west, why stop halfway?
Wouldn’t it have been better not to help at all from the start?
Giving her the hope of victory, only to fall silent afterward—was this not torment?
“Junior Sister, one must not be distracted in a duel.”
Qiu Yuehan’s sword moved, and in the next moment, it was already before Xia Lianxue’s face.
The jade-green lotus of Jade Temple exploded, its sword aura cutting Xia Lianxue’s skin raw as Qiu Yuehan leapt down from above.
This sword had no trace of refinement.
It possessed only speed so great that no one could see it clearly.
“So heavy!”
Xia Lianxue staggered back several steps.
Her left hand steadied her blade, her right hand gripped the hilt tightly, barely resisting Qiu Yuehan’s strike.
But Qiu Yuehan still pressed harder.
Xia Lianxue bit down on her lip, seemingly bent on competing with Qiu Yuehan in sheer will.
She abandoned intricate swordplay, and the two of them began purely contesting intent upon this one sword.
Lu Changyuan sighed.
If this continued, Xia Lianxue would surely lose.
Even if this was merely a replay of the past, and the Qiu Yuehan before her wasn’t real, Xia Lianxue could not possibly win.
Because Xia Lianxue believed she could not win.
She had never won.
From the age of three, when she first entered Jade Temple, she had learned many exquisite sword techniques, yet she was always inferior to Qiu Yuehan.
All the more so now, when she had already lost to her once before.
On the platform, Qiu Yuehan’s sword pressed down as heavy as a thousand catties.
Xia Lianxue braced her blade with her left hand, trying to keep Qiu Yuehan’s sword from descending further, but the edge sliced through her clothes, cut into her shoulder, and drops of crimson blood were drawn into Qiu Yuehan’s sword, burning with pain.
She was going to lose.
She was destined to lose.
She could not win.
So Xia Lianxue thought, and her strength diminished, her stance weakening with it.