Chapter 26

In the eyes of the world, Sheng Ningyu is a peerless swordsmanship prodigy, the admired leader of the Sword Pavilion, and the bright moon that can only be seen but not reached in the sky.

But in Feng Xiaosheng's eyes, Sheng Ningyu was just a Sword Pavilion disciple who liked to give people nicknames, spoke rudely, and was always asking to be beaten.

Yes, she and Sheng Ningyu were not friends from the beginning.

Sheng Ningyu was a prodigy in her youth, with exceptional talent, and was hailed as a "once-in-a-century swordsmanship prodigy." She was the youngest among her batch of disciples.

From the moment she entered the academy, she was taken care of by her senior brother Yan Ruchao and second senior brother Rong Que, as well as protected by Ning Guihai, the then leader of the Sword Pavilion. In addition, she had a free and unrestrained personality and was always joking around. Surrounded by so many people, she was never short of friends.

And what about Feng Xiaosheng? She is the little princess of the Phoenix Clan. With her older brother supporting her and her clansmen taking care of her, she has developed a spoiled and domineering temperament since childhood. She never wrongs herself, let alone suppresses her feelings.

To outsiders, the Qingyi Academy was full of promising young immortals with ethereal bearing, but in Feng Xiaosheng's eyes, they were nothing more than a bunch of mediocre talents on the verge of death.

In the academy, she often looked down at the disciples' foolish and busy appearances, not wanting to pay attention to any of them.

The Phoenix Clan is a long-lived species favored by Heaven. They have their own pride, and they will not perch on anything but the parasol tree, nor drink anything but the sweet spring. Naturally, they disdain to easily lower themselves to associate with others.

Later, even some people within the Phoenix Clan became curious and dared to ask how their noble and proud little princess had become acquainted with that "troublemaker" from the Sword Pavilion. Feng Xiaosheng was speechless.

"Feng Xiaohong, don't just sit here all the time. How about we go out for a walk together?"

Feng Xiaosheng frowned, dusted off the shoulder that had been patted, and scolded, "Speak your mind, don't resort to violence."

"Also, my name isn't Feng Xiaohong!"

Enraged, Feng Xiaosheng immediately tried to capture the person, but the person dodged too quickly and skillfully, and Feng Xiaosheng couldn't catch him at all.

Finally, the phoenix princess, having been riddled with insults, could only stop, catch her breath, raise her chin, and try to maintain her haughty demeanor: "Where did this ill-mannered fellow come from? How dare you mock the name of my phoenix clan?!"

She even knows how to be polite?!

Feng Xiaosheng was so angry she almost fell backwards.

Feng Xiaosheng angrily flung his sleeve: "You haven't even told me your own name, so why should I speak first?"

The man tilted his head, seemingly lost in thought, and said, "What you said makes sense."

The next second, she actually jumped down from the tree.

The disciples of Jian Ge are dressed in an ethereal and otherworldly style. The blue and white hem of their robes part the shadows of the trees and is swept up by the wind, like floating leaves and drifting snow, exuding a carefree and unrestrained spirit that transcends worldly concerns.

"My name is Sheng Ningyu, and I am the personal disciple of Master Guihai, the head of the Sword Pavilion. What is your name?"

She extended her hand to the Phoenix Clan princess, palm up, in an inviting gesture.

In the dead of winter, with a chill in the air, Feng Xiaosheng pursed his lips, his movements stiff, but he still covered her face.

That was the first time she had come into contact with someone other than the Phoenix Clan, and it was also the warmest palm she had ever touched.

“...Phoenix Clan, Feng Xiaosheng.”

This little princess of the Phoenix Clan entered Qingyi Academy in the spring of the thirty-seventh year of Jinghe, but she always believed that her academy life began in the cold winter of the fortieth year of Jinghe.

Day after day, Feng Xiaosheng and Sheng Ningyu inexplicably became familiar with each other.

They were classmates and became sworn sisters. They were a special group of people who, if one of them was absent, would be assumed by others to convey messages to the other.

Everyone knows that they are best friends.

Until the upheaval sixty years later, demonic energy invaded, the barrier of the cultivation world was almost destroyed, and everyone was in danger.

Feng Xiaosheng was confined at home, unaware of what had happened. Later, he learned that Master Guihai had perished, and his friend, who had cultivated the Ninefold Sword to the Tianji Realm, had become the new Sword Master.

Sheng Ningyu became busy, no longer as playful and lively as before. She wrote letters frequently, but the words were brief, and she was rarely seen in person.

And then...

The Way of Heaven is in decline, demonic energy is rampant, and evil spirits are causing chaos in people's hearts.

The Phoenix Clan also suffered heavy losses. Feng Xiaosheng's father passed away, his mother was seriously injured, and he was in a state of mental turmoil when he received news of the death of his elder brother, Feng Shiwen.

Feng Xiaosheng didn't believe it.

She managed to extricate herself from her busy schedule and dared to meet Sheng Ningyu, only to receive four words in return.

"I killed him."

In the pouring rain, the once proud Phoenix Princess appeared almost emaciated for a moment. Her phoenix eyes dimmed for a instant, but were immediately filled with anger, glistening and almost rolling down her cheeks.

"Why!"

At worst...

Even if it's the worst that can happen, even if it's having someone else do it, even if it's covering up the truth, even if it's just lying to her.

She knew perfectly well that her eldest brother Feng Shiwen's father was the king of the Phoenix Clan and her most beloved maternal uncle!

Sheng Ningyu's actions were so heartless; what would her clansmen think? What would her uncle think? What would the world think?

Perhaps this sword master, as radiant as the bright moon, doesn't care.

They don't care what the Phoenix Clan thinks, nor do they care what the world thinks.

I don't care what she thinks.

Feng Xiaosheng didn't remember how she left. She only remembered that she cried bitterly afterward, folded countless paper kites for transmitting messages, and cursed more and more cruelly, using more and more heartless words each time.

At that time, Feng Xiaosheng was competitive and stubbornly refused to lose to the other party. She announced the dispute to the world, publicized the breakup between the two, and made no attempt to ridicule the other party.

She thought, well, there's plenty of time.

The Phoenix Clan is a long-lived species, and their cultivators can shatter the void. They can argue for a hundred or two hundred years, until their disciples and grand-disciples enter the Qingyi Academy and let those younger generations settle the score.

However, Qingyi Academy was destroyed.

Sheng Ningyu has also disappeared.

At that time, the whole city was in an uproar, with too many rumors, both true and false.

Feng Xiaosheng didn't know which one to believe, so she simply didn't believe either.

At that time, she believed that Sheng Ningyu would definitely come back.

When we meet again, she will surely still be as carefree and unrestrained as she was in the academy.

But year after year, each piece of news only makes one's heart sink lower and lower.

Sixty years is but a drop in the ocean for immortal beings, yet Feng Xiaosheng suddenly felt that time was so long and boring.

She longed to return to the days when she was there, and she desperately wanted to talk about her with others.

Feng Xiaosheng now guesses that she was probably too eager at the time and showed a bit of madness. The name "Sheng Ningyu" gradually became a taboo that was not spoken of in the entire Zhuyue City. It was a secret that everyone knew.

No one dared to touch it, no one dared to mention it.

Feng Xiaosheng, seated at the head of the table, looked down at the self-righteous expressions of the people below, propped his head up, and curled his lips into a contemptuous and arrogant smile, just as he had always been.

They were all timid and hesitant, as cowardly as mice.

They are not like her, and they are not qualified to talk about her.

As a result, Feng Xiaosheng became increasingly obsessed with vying for power.

Only occasionally, when I see those below me trembling with fear and holding their breath, only occasionally when all is silent, only occasionally when I see those people arguing endlessly over their meager power...

In those countless "occasional" moments, Feng Xiaosheng sat alone on the throne on the high steps, propping her head up, but she always felt someone gently patting her shoulder.

...

The spiritual tea in the cup was warmed up again and again.

Feng Xiaosheng snapped out of her daze and saw Feng Qingxing standing silently beside her. She smiled and said, "You don't need to worry about these things. Just leave them there."

Feng Qingxing didn't answer, stubbornly using his spiritual power to warm the glass cup, and asked bluntly, "Is Young Master thinking about that Sword Master again?"

Feng Xiaosheng paused, then shook his head: "No, I'm thinking of someone else."

"Who is the young lord thinking of?"

Feng Qingxing: "Did he do something bad?"

"On the contrary."

Feng Xiaosheng shook his head again. "Not only did he not do anything bad, but he also helped us a lot. Moreover, he looks aloof and elegant, with a jade-like temperament. His face is not much different from that of Young Master Rong Que of the Sword Pavilion. If I didn't tell you, you would never have mistaken him for a demonic cultivator when you first met him."

"But my gut feeling tells me that he is definitely a troublemaker, but now I can't rule him out."

Feng Xiaosheng's gaze fell on the glass cup, and his voice became somewhat distant, almost inaudible: "He is dangerous, Qingxing, I can't see through him."

Feng Xiaosheng's thoughts and concerns were not unfounded.

Xie Qianjing's appearance was very abrupt.

The cause was the frequent appearance of puppet barriers, and the demonic energy that spread as a result.

People generally believe that demonic cultivators are now weak and can hardly imagine that the Bright Moon Sword Master was defeated by mere demonic energy. But Feng Xiaosheng knows that this is not the case.

Sixty years ago, when Sheng Ningyu had just died, Feng Xiaosheng could clearly feel that the demonic energy was almost nowhere to be seen. However, in the past few years, not to mention the sudden appearance of the puppet barrier, demonic energy has appeared in various places without warning.

There is an undercurrent, but its source cannot be found.

Deep down, Feng Xiaosheng always felt that the rise and fall of this demonic energy was inextricably linked to the fall of the Sword Master. Therefore, over the years, while seizing power within the Phoenix Clan, she also used Zhuyue City as her center to search for those suddenly appearing demonic energy and puppet barriers.

Xie Qianjing appeared around that time.

Dressed in white, his face was blurred, but he held blood-red demonic energy in his hand. The puppet barrier, whose movements were usually unpredictable, was as docile as a spirit pet in front of him.

He easily rescued the Feng family members and asked Feng Xiaosheng, "Young Master, have you considered cooperating?"

Feng Xiaosheng, waving his Hundred Feather Mo Lan fan, raised his chin slightly upon hearing this, his tone exuding an unapproachable air of nobility: "You wish to cooperate with the Phoenix Clan?"

The man calmly replied, "Not with the Phoenix Clan, but with the Young Lord."

Feng Xiaosheng remained silent for a long time before finally agreeing.

The two cooperated fairly well; one needed the puppet barrier to consolidate his cultivation, while the other needed to eliminate the danger and investigate the cause. Just as Feng Xiaosheng began to be wary of Xie Qianjing, the other party took the initiative to remove the mask from his face and even brought out someone Feng Xiaosheng knew very well to vouch for him.

The former master of the Yuan family, Yuan Daojun.

Feng Xiaosheng then realized that the person in front of him was a descendant of the Xie family, who had been wiped out for harboring demons. And coincidentally, Feng Xiaosheng had heard his name before.

Xie Qianjing, the Bodhi Immortal Lord of the Xie family, was once an existence that the entire cultivation world could only look up to.

She was exceptionally beautiful and talented, but because of a prophecy from the Heavenly Mystery Pavilion, she was kept in the Xie family's home and rarely left. Even when she did appear, Xie Qianjing usually wore a veil and beaded curtain, and almost never showed her true face.

Very few people have seen Xie Qianjing's true face. Feng Xiaosheng has seen him only a few times, and always with Sheng Ningyu.

She had also suspected that Sheng Ningyu had some kind of entanglement with Xie Qianjing, until later when the Xie family was destroyed and Sheng Ningyu casually announced her engagement to the young master of the Chu family, Feng Xiaosheng was finally relieved.

But she still didn't like Xie Qianjing.

Not only because of his ability to see through people's hearts, making Feng Xiaosheng feel as if he had been manipulated and his every move was under his control, but also because of his inexplicable intuition.

The moment she saw Xie Qianjing, she felt an inexplicable aversion to him.

So much so that when Xie Qianjing offered to go to Qingyi Academy to ensure the safety of the academy's disciples, Feng Xiaosheng breathed a sigh of relief.

Out of sight, out of mind.

Feng Xiaosheng unconsciously turned the teacup, and the originally calm surface of the water in the cup suddenly became rippled.

This is how she behaves when she's wavering.

Feng Qingxing didn't say anything, but quietly stayed by her side.

However, after a short while, she said, "The disciples of the major sects have been enrolled for thirty days."

Feng Xiaosheng's voice was so low it was almost a murmur, as if he were telling someone else, or as if he were convincing himself.

"I need to go and see..." She paused, raised her chin, and her voice regained the composure and elegance that belonged to the young lord of the Phoenix Clan.

"I should have gone to see it."

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Author's Note: In the next chapter, our poor Yuan Bushu will finally recognize him, hahaha!