Chapter 3: Hua Xiangwan’s Heart and the Heart-Searching Sword
The moment Hua Xiangwan saw the words, she choked on a mouthful of wine, coughing violently. She grabbed a handkerchief, covering her mouth as her body shook with the force of it. Only after several long, rattling breaths did she manage to calm herself.
Unable to resist, she reread the seven characters, confirming them once more. It was indeed—Qingheng Shangjun, Xie Changji.
The name struck terror and awe across Yunlai and the Western Territory. Qingheng Shangjun, fifteenth master of the Heavenly Sword Sect's Heart-Searching Sword, was a cultivator of unmatched skill. The youngest in Yunlai to transcend tribulation, he had a reputation for obliterating entire sects with a single strike. Legends told of his sudden descent from the Realm of Life and Death, annihilating invaders with a single, unstoppable sword force. Ever since, he was revered as “Shangjun,” the unchallenged Sword Master, cementing the Heavenly Sword Sect’s dominance for over two centuries.
Yet, for Hua Xiangwan, this legendary figure bore a far more personal identity—her ex-husband.
Her story with Xie Changji stretched back two hundred years. At that time, the Western Tianji Sect had foreseen the rise of a Qiling, a demon cultivated by the Otherworld. Since Xie Gutang, the twelfth generation Sword Master, had reinforced the seal on the Boundary of Life and Death, the Otherworld had sought to break it, sending demons to lure cultivators to their side.
A Qiling, like a demon, could inhabit a human host, granting immense power—but at the cost of the host’s soul. These gulings, ethereal yet dangerous, fed on resentment, often turning their hosts to madness, slaughtering innocents, and inevitably meeting their end at the hands of immortal sects.
The Western Territory was rife with chaos as sects sought control over these forces. The Hehuan Palace, prestigious and cautious, opposed the rise of such destructive power.
At just eighteen, Hua Xiangwan, already a Divine Transformation cultivator, assumed the alias “Wanwan” and brought the Soul-Locking Lamp to Yunlai to aid the Tianjian Sect in sealing the Qiling. Despite her youth and untested heart, her mission was clear. Her master even teased her about finding a Taoist partner in Yunlai—but never one from the Heart-Searching Sword lineage, for they were devoted entirely to the Way of Heaven, incapable of love or attachment.
Then came Xie Changji.
She first encountered him in Fengxia Town while investigating the same case. Though appearing as a low-ranking disciple, he possessed the qualities of a true Heart-Searching Sword cultivator: cold, composed, yet surprisingly tender-hearted. To stay close, Hua Xiangwan feigned blindness, lameness, and even amnesia. At times, he saw through her pretenses; at others, he chose to believe, never leaving her side when danger loomed.
When pretending to be blind, he let her grip the hilt of his cold white jade sword as he led her. When pretending to be lame, he carried her on a rattan chair, pressing on through obstacles. Even when she feigned memory loss, he reminded her of her identity and waited patiently for her recollection.
In time, Hua Xiangwan began to forget the artifice. She convinced herself she liked him, and perhaps, in small ways, he liked her too. Their moments together—bandaging wounds, sharing whispered conversations by the river—became etched in her memory. She even taught him the secret technique of the Hehuan Palace, “The Dream Butterfly,” allowing him to see illusions of old friends. In one such moment, when their fingertips touched through a phantom blue butterfly, she believed, briefly, that he might have reciprocated her feelings.
Yet all evidence pointed otherwise. Xie Changji never showed preference; he treated all disciples equally.
Every rejection, every cold dismissal, and every act of impartiality slowly revealed the truth.
Her illusions crumbled when she married him. Shen Yichen, her childhood friend, was caught in the crossfire and killed. Hua Xiangwan herself slew Yaoguang at Mingjian Villa, witnessing his bloodied form curse her:
"He won't love you, never will. He's the heir of the Sword of the Heart, and he'll never love anyone else in his entire life."
"He married you simply to repay a favor. Your love has tainted his path. Even if I die, I'll make you know you're unworthy!"
"You don't deserve to love him. Your love is a sin, a sin, and he'll never be tempted by someone like you in his entire life."
Only then did Hua Xiangwan finally comprehend: Xie Changji, heir of the Heart-Searching Sword, was incapable of romantic affection. His devotion was absolute, but it was to duty, the Way of Heaven, and justice—not to a single mortal heart.
Still, she had clung to hope, rationalizing her feelings, finding imagined signs of his affection. It had been a self-deception, one that had brought suffering to herself and others.
When the barrier between life and death shattered, and the Qiling was unleashed, she witnessed the collapse of her world and heard Xie Changji’s final apology. Amid the chaos of snow and wind, she accepted the truth: her love had been a sin, her obsession futile.
From that moment, Hua Xiangwan resolved to sever all ties to the past. She returned the Sword of Inquiry to Xie Changji, sacrificed her clone to the Soul-Locking Lamp, and, with Xie Yunting, sealed the ghost spirit. She staged her own death, leaving the world to believe Wanwan—her alias—had perished.
Her love for Xie Changji, humble and hypocritical, was buried in the realm of life and death. No one would ever know that Hua Xiangwan, young master of Hehuan Palace, had once loved so sincerely and so tragically.
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