If one hadn't witnessed it with their own eyes, who could believe that someone could live such a fiercely passionate life? Like a raging fire, once ignited, it spread across the mountains and plains—only moving forward, never retreating. It wouldn't stop, wouldn't extinguish, unless everything it encountered was burned away, including itself.
Wang Shu stared at the calm Zhou Man, dazed.
The Mud Bodhisattva gazed blankly at the raging fire.
The Sword Master stood frozen, his eyes fixed on Zhou Man.
Jin Buhuan opened his mouth to speak on Zhou Man's behalf, but feared offending the Sword Master. No one dared to speak, and no one knew what would happen next.
Zhou Man remained bowed, standing below.
Finally, the Sword Master said, "Good!"
As soon as he finished speaking, a sword flew from his wide sleeve and was caught in his hand.
Everyone was startled: "Sword Master!"
Jin Buhuan above and Wang Shu below almost simultaneously took a step forward. Jin Buhuan even flipped his palm, already clutching the jade plate he used as a protective magic weapon, nearly ready to block the attack.
However, no one expected what came next.
The Sword Master's sword didn't strike toward Zhou Man. Instead, it turned back, piercing through his own left shoulder.
The sudden turn of events stunned everyone present. Even Zhou Man, who had been forcing him to apologize, frowned instantly.
A long sword piercing his shoulder, blood gushing forth—naturally it caused pain, and even a cultivator of the Sword Master's caliber couldn't help but grimace.
He first glanced at the jade plate in Jin Buhuan's hand and coldly asked, "What do you want to do?"
Jin Buhuan's scalp tingled, and he immediately put away the jade plate, though he couldn't help thinking: Shouldn't we be asking you what you want to do!
Seeing him put away the jade plate, the Sword Master withdrew his gaze, coldly snorted, and drew his sword from his shoulder, saying to Zhou Man, "You asked a good question. I have lived my life for the sword, and if that day ever comes, I will never destroy my sword or abandon my path. My words just now were a slip of the tongue, and it was my fault."
Zhou Man had thought that, given the Sword Master's temperament, even if he were to attack her, he might not be willing to apologize. She had already prepared herself to abandon the Sword Hall. But who would have thought that not only would he apologize, but he would also pierce his left shoulder with his sword?
She remained silent for a long time before saying, "Thank you, Sword Master."
Wang Shu stood not far in front of her, his hand—the one that had previously injured his wrist—tucked into his sleeve, seemingly gripping something tightly.
When he heard the Sword Master's words, he hesitated for a moment. But seeing that the Sword Master indeed had no intention of attacking Zhou Man, he slowly loosened his grip and coughed.
Compared to Jin Buhuan, however, his actions were more discreet, and no one noticed from beginning to end.
But the Sword Master continued, "I'm not joking with you. I've entered deeply into the path of the sword, and even if my body is destroyed one day, my sword heart will never be extinguished. But you haven't even stepped onto this path yet; you have a choice."
Zhou Man looked at him.
The Sword Master said, word by word, "The most important thing for a cultivator is their body. Once broken, it cannot be repaired, and even if it is, it will crack. I saw that you held the sword with your right hand just now, so I know you weren't born with a left-handed advantage. The little finger, among the five fingers, may seem useless, but in fact, half of the power you wield with a sword or knife comes from it! If you hold the sword with your left hand, you're at a natural disadvantage; if you hold the sword with your right hand, you have only half the power of someone else's strength. How can you possibly win?"
Blood was still flowing from his shoulder, but he didn't even glance at it.
His cold, stern voice echoed throughout the entire Sword Study Hall: "You have the heart to learn swordsmanship, and your courage is commendable; but with this severed finger, you are ultimately not suited for it. The path you should choose is those weapons that don't require the little finger, or even no weapons at all. Although Wang Shu is crippled, his main focus is undoubtedly medicine; he may only listen to swordsmanship from the sidelines, and there's still hope for him. But if you persist in your ways, there will be no turning back. I'll say it again: the Sword Study Hall is not a place for you!"
Zhou Man simply replied, "Indeed, it's not a place for me, but I'm already here."
The Sword Master felt his anger rising again, and his face darkened as he asked, "Are you still so stubborn, still wanting to learn swordsmanship?"
Zhou Man said, "At the academy, I only chose swordsmanship."
Among the dozen or so people behind the Sword Master, some gasped in shock.
The Sword Academy was indeed renowned throughout the world for its "swords," but to come to the academy with a severed finger and only choose swordsmanship? Such a drastic and unconventional approach was unheard of.
Even the Sword Master fell silent: "You insist on testing my sword?"
Zhou Man replied, "I wish to test my sword, even if I lose, I will have no regrets."
The Sword Master's face turned cold, and he simply raised his hand, signaling to the sword attendant below: "Sword One, don't hold back, let her know."
The first sword attendant, hearing the words "don't hold back," knew that the Sword Master wanted him to force her to back down. Still, he was secretly startled. After hesitating for a moment, he took a brand new wooden sword and handed it to Zhou Man with both hands: "Please."
Zhou Man also accepted it with both hands, then held the sword, bowed, and said, "Please."
The two each took a step back and assumed their stances.
Zhou Man gripped the hilt of the wooden sword tightly with her right hand, which had lost a finger, but her five fingers were still aching from the force of the Sword Master's earlier flick of his sleeve.
Sword One was the first to draw his sword.
Since he wanted to force his opponent to back down, he naturally wanted to defeat Zhou Man as quickly as possible. His sword strike was extremely fierce, and the first blow forced Zhou Man to take a step back. However, she instantly used the momentum to spin around and tried to slash at Sword One's waist.
Sword One's first strike failed, and with his opponent's sword pressing in, he had no choice but to retreat.
In her previous life, Zhou Man had indeed never seriously studied swordsmanship, but with such an obsession in her heart, how could she not be touched by it? She had collected many sword techniques and had even used a tree branch as a sword when no one was around. However, she had never infused her sword with magic power, nor had she ever fought with anyone.
In this life, she had only been back for a short time and had been cultivating the Yi Shen Jue before, having no time to pay attention to anything else. Even though Wei Xuan had given her the Han Chan Sword Technique, it was only yesterday, and she had no time to practice it.
Her eyes and mind could keep up with Sword One's blade.
But her hands could not, even though she had already practiced the "Stealing Heaven's Wonderful Hand" from the Yi Shen Jue for the purpose of stringing the bowstring.
The two clashed fiercely, sword against sword. Zhou Man's face grew increasingly grim with each strike, while Sword One's heart pounded with growing alarm.
Zhou Man's grimness stemmed from her hatred for her own hands.
Sword One's alarm lay in the fact that even with half a finger missing from her right hand, her strength seemed remarkably undiminished, and she always appeared to anticipate his attacks. However, limited by her agility and the missing finger, her swordplay was fraught with flaws, never quite reaching perfection.
Even the onlookers on the steps began to notice something amiss.
The boldest to speak first was none other than Miao Huanxi, the Lotus Sect's goddess from that day: "The strength this sword boy is using now is probably more than 60% higher than when he fought us."
Song Lanzhen also slowly said, "Her right hand seemed to be injured just now..."
Lu Yangchen frowned deeply, becoming more and more puzzled: "Strange, too strange. Her understanding of this sword fight is clearly superior to Jian Yi's, but..."
But she just can't win.
Could this be the reason why the Sword Master made her retreat? Even with a high level of understanding, it's all in vain if you can't use it.
Jin Buhuan gripped his gold-flecked fan, watching intently without uttering a word.
Wang Shu below followed the two figures with a slightly solemn expression.
Finally, Zhou Man revealed another opening.
Sword One didn't hesitate to thrust forward, slashing down at Zhou Man's head. Zhou Man took a step back. He slashed again.
Such sword strikes, each one as powerful as a mountain, forced Zhou Man to retreat repeatedly, her four fingers—the ones primarily used for gripping the sword—already aching and numb.
Sword One slashed again!
Zhou Man blocked with her sword, but her right hand finally gave way, and the weapon was about to slip from her grasp.
At that moment, a resolute glint flashed in her eyes, and she chose to retreat another step, switching the sword from her right hand to her left, ready to retaliate.
But it was too late.
Seeing her retreat again, Sword One had already guessed her intention. With a swift, upward slash, he left Zhou Man no room to maneuver.
Crack!
The wooden sword in her left hand was sent flying by his strike, tumbling twice before crashing to the ground and finally coming to a stop.
Sword One had repeatedly pressured her with the force of a heavy blade, waiting for her right hand to give up, forcing her to either surrender outright or be caught off guard when switching swords—a defeat for both.
This was a strategy specifically designed to exploit weaknesses.
Sword One knew that if she hadn't lost her finger, she wouldn't have lost to him today. He couldn't bear it, and after standing there for a moment with his sword drawn, he said with a hint of guilt, "I'm sorry to have conceded."
He sheathed his sword and returned to his position.
Zhou Man was left standing alone, looking down at her exhausted hands and slightly reddened fingers.
In front of the Sword Hall, no one could speak for a moment. Everyone could see that today's competition was far from fair.
Except for Wang Shu, almost everyone stood on the higher steps, leaving Zhou Man alone below—a stark and uncomfortable sight.
Zhou Man looked up at the Sword Master.
The Sword Master also looked down at her.
Their eyes met, and neither gave way.
The Sword Master said, "Now you should understand. Today you only used a wooden sword, which is easy for you to handle; if you used an iron sword, you probably wouldn't last half as long. And if you have a weakness for even one day, someone will exploit it for that day, and you'll have to expend several times the effort to defeat someone who is not as good as you. Why waste the same effort on the sword? You've already lost. Leave the Sword Hall now."
Zhou Man asked, "May I ask, Sword Master, if I can defeat the Sword Boy, can I enter the Sword Hall?"
The Sword Master said, "That's right."
Zhou Man said, "Good."
After saying that, she didn't say another word and turned to leave.
The decision was so decisive and swift that many people were stunned.
Wang Shu was also taken aback at first, then reacted and bowed to the Sword Master, saying, "Please forgive me, Sword Master, I need to take a moment's leave!"
He turned and followed, chasing after Zhou Man.
Jin Buhuan, seeing this from above, instinctively wanted to go down as well. But just as he moved his toes, he saw the Song siblings not far away. Hesitating for a moment, he steadied himself and watched the two walk away, one after the other.
Zhou Man walked quickly, and Wang Shu chased after her for a while before catching up.
She turned to look at him: "What brings you here, Doctor Wang?"
A breeze blew through the corridor, causing Wang Shu's old Taoist robe to flutter. The sunlight streamed in, making his figure appear even more somber, but he replied, "I've come to thank Miss Zhou for her words earlier."
Zhou Man said, "That wasn't for you; I only said it for myself."
Wang Shu gazed at her and said, "Then I like it very much."
Zhou Man felt that this man's quirks were probably not so minor.
She had just lost a match and was in a bad mood, not wanting to talk to anyone. She simply scoffed, "Go back to the Sword Refining Hall and listen to your 'outsider's swordplay.'"
Without another glance, she walked away.
Wang Shu stood in the corridor, watching her go.
Zhou Man's departure lasted a full twelve days, during which she never appeared again in the Sword Study Hall, nor even in the sight of others.
Only the tightly closed doors and windows of the room in the East Dormitory bearing the name "Zhou Man" indicated that she hadn't left the academy in a fit of anger.
The events that occurred in front of the Sword Study Hall that day had already spread throughout the academy. This was far more shocking than Zhou Man saving Zhao Nishang.
The Sword Master, after all, was a high-level cultivator at the Nascent Soul stage. Although he had a fiery temper and cursed everyone he encountered, he was still among the top five sword cultivators in existence. How could he, because of a mere question from a female cultivator with a severed finger, draw his sword and stab himself in the left shoulder, and then apologize?
It was utterly inconceivable.
Zhou Man had asked about entering the Sword Study Hall that day, simply saying "okay" before leaving. Many people guessed she would definitely return.
Even the Sword Master himself didn't doubt it.
However, a day passed, two days passed, days passed… twelve days passed.
Zhou Man made no move whatsoever.
The initial expectations of everyone gradually soured.
Some thought the Sword Master was right: with half a finger missing, learning swordsmanship was pointless for Zhou Man, and a wise person should abandon swordsmanship and choose another path rather than getting caught up in a fuss over a little pride.
Others thought the Sword Master's attitude was quite clear: Zhou Man must have been afraid, or perhaps she went back to practice and found that learning swordsmanship wasn't as simple as she thought, and gave up.
In short, everyone had their own guesses, but once they entered the academy, each had their own chosen courses, and new things happened every day. With Zhou Man's prolonged absence, everyone gradually forgot about the matter.
This was especially true in the Sword Study Hall. If it weren't for the fact that everyone saw Wang Shu sitting behind the table outside the door every day when they passed by, and remembered the Sword Master's words—"One is useless, the other is crippled"—they probably wouldn't even remember that Zhou Man existed.
Only the Sword Master, on the twelfth day, when teaching Li Pu the method of swordsmanship—after being taught it twice and still not getting it—finally got so angry that he cursed, "What kind of rubbish is this? You're not torturing yourself by learning swordsmanship, you're torturing this old man, trying to kill me!"
Li Pu wished he could shrink his head into a shell.
The others also lowered their heads and pretended not to exist.
The more the Sword Master looked, the angrier he became, and he simply launched into an indiscriminate tirade: "Sects, muddleheaded! Aristocratic families, bullshit! Even if they kneel down and beg me next year, I won't teach them! Among you all, not one truly has the aptitude to cultivate swordsmanship!"
Among them were many noble sons of aristocratic families, like Lu Yangchen who had already entered the hall of mastery in the way of swordsmanship, or those with outstanding talent like Song Lanzhen, yet they were all cursed like this, and they couldn't help but feel indignant.
No one could understand what Sword Master meant by "aptitude."
But Sword Master was too lazy to look at them any longer. After venting his anger, he turned and walked away to the back hall to drink tea and calm his frustration.
It was Sword One who brought the tea.
Sword Master took a sip, and then, as if remembering something, he said angrily, "To hell with her! This year's young ones are no good! I thought she was so strong-willed, but she couldn't even withstand this little test and just quit!"
Sword One was speechless: "When you told me to beat her without holding back, you didn't say it was a 'test.'"
Sword Master slammed his teacup down: "You've gone too far! So you're saying I'm the one who's wrong?"
Sword One immediately lowered his head: "I dare not."
Sword Master fell silent, and after a long while, he sighed: "She does have aptitude, but unfortunately... alas, if she hadn't been beaten back and dared to come again, I would have been willing to teach her."
Even with half a finger missing, her achievements in the way of swordsmanship might be limited.
That day, after class at the Sword Study Hall, Jin Buhuan and Wang Shu walked out together.
Jin Buhuan looked at the distant tower, a hint of doubt creeping into his eyes for the first time: "You mean she's really not coming?"
Wang Shu recalled the figure standing before the hall that day, as if he could see that raging fire again.
He shook his head, certain: "No way."
Jin Buhuan said, "For twelve whole days, she hasn't left her room. Her food and drink are delivered to her door by the people from Wuwei Hall. Occasionally, we see her eating, but most of the time she doesn't eat. We knocked on the door, but no one answered. If she had medicine, she could probably recover from her hand injury in less than two days. She's not far from being at the Sword Academy, how could it take so long?"
Ever since the sword trial at the Sword Hall that day, some old ailment in Wang Shu seemed to have flared up again.
After walking a few steps, he coughed twice before looking up at the shady trees in the distance. He slowly said, "Have you ever heard of a cicada? It lies buried in the soil for seventeen years before it can emerge, flap its wings, and fly to the treetops, letting the world hear its voice. Those who lie dormant for a long time will surely plan far ahead and fly high. She is not like me, someone willing to listen to 'swords from outside the door.'"
Ever since Zhou Man left the Sword Refining Hall, she had immediately used her status as one recommended by the Wang family to first visit the Qing Shuang Hall—which was under the Wang family's control—to get a sword for free, before returning to her room, closing the door, and ignoring everyone.
She took medicine for twelve days and practiced swordsmanship for twelve days.
The bottle of Star Transformation Pills that Wei Xuan had given her to aid in cultivation was now just an empty bottle. The four walls of the room were covered with sword manuals that she had memorized from her past life.
On the twelfth night, Zhou Man stopped cultivating and went to sleep.
The next morning, she finally got up and opened the door.
By this time, everyone from the East Dormitory had already left for class, and the large courtyard was deserted. She walked through the silent corridor, sword in hand.
At the second quarter of the hour of Mao, Zhou Man once again stood before the Sword Refining Hall.
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