Chapter 11

From the moment He Jian said that, Nan Xi knew the system would say this.

Even though she was reluctant in her heart, Nan Xi immediately put on an expression of sincere sadness and longing, and said affectionately: "A-Qian is good in every way."

She lowered her head slightly and said, "I'm not good enough, that's why he doesn't like me. I'm not worthy of him."

As soon as these words were spoken, even if Nan Xi didn't say anything, she could feel the anger that suddenly emerged from He Jian, and her face became hot.

He Jian said calmly, "What if I tell you that you must give up on him?"

Nan Xi paused when he heard this, then raised his head in panic, shook his head and stepped back, feeling a little anxious.

[I definitely cannot promise Master, but if I were to go against Master, then I really don’t want this master-disciple relationship anymore.]

She frowned secretly and missed the hint of surprise that flashed in He Jian's eyes.

Although he didn't know what kind of feelings his disciple had towards Qi Qian now, He Jian was very clear about one thing, that is, Nan Xi was extremely firm in his choice towards Qi Qian.

He Jian had already prepared himself mentally for Nan Xi to fight him to the end, but from her inner voice, he felt that Nan Xi cared about him as her master, which made him feel a little relieved.

Nan Xi quickly came up with an idea. Her eyes lit up, she glanced at He Jian, and immediately touched the hilt of her own sword.

He suddenly pulled out the sword, looking like he was about to cry. Under He Jian's slightly horrified gaze, he quickly walked to the side with the sword in hand. While swinging the sword, he said breathlessly, "Disciple... Disciple remembered that today's training has not been completed. Please supervise me, Master."

Nan Xi knew He Jian very well. In his eyes, compared to Qi Qian who had not yet caused great harm to Nan Xi, the current cultivation must be the most important.

Sure enough, when He Jian saw her actions, the wrinkles on his brows relaxed at first, and he didn't want to interrupt her, but it was unknown what he was thinking in his heart.

[I will deliberately make one or two mistakes later, so that Master can focus on my mistakes and scold me. He will definitely not be able to remember the changes.]

Nan Xi gave herself a thumbs up for her cleverness.

He Jian frowned again and opened his mouth to warn him, but Nan Xi's inner voice came back again.

[No, I was scolded last time. It would be too embarrassing to be scolded again for simply swinging a sword this time. How about I let Master see my perfect swordsmanship? ]

He Jian's expression became warm again.

【or……】

Seeing that Nan Xi was about to say something, He Jian suddenly realized that he was being led by Nan Xi's inner voice, so he lowered his voice.

"After you finish swinging the sword, I will check the sword style you practiced. If it is not up to standard, you will have to practice more."

Nan Xi looked at He Jian, almost forgetting to create a character, and then lowered her head slightly, "Disciple knows."

[There is no other way, I can only let Master see my sword style. ]

He Jian's expression eased slightly.

[Hmm…how many times have I swung it now? How about counting it as a thousand times?]

He Jian frowned and said, "You have swung the sword 87 times now, don't count wrong."

Nan Xi's hand paused, and she couldn't help but glance at He Jian, and responded with a hesitant look on her face.

[Damn it, how did Master know I wanted a false number? ]

He Jian watched Nan Xi count honestly from 87, he slowly touched his short beard, and couldn't help but smile. Although Nan Xi's heart was not well-behaved, he was lively and clever. Obviously, there were still a lot of problems that he hadn't thought through, but now He Jian still felt relieved.

But soon, He Jian became worried again.

Nan Xi swung the sword seriously, with tears on her face and a stubborn look, but her inner voice had gradually changed from simply counting.

[88, 89, 90, 91... Chop the scumbag 7777 times, chop the scumbag 7778 times... Chop the scumbag 9997 times, chop the scumbag 9998 times, chop the scumbag 9999 times, hehe, today is another hard day of chopping scumbags.]

Nan Xi was so absorbed in swinging the sword that she didn't notice that her forced expression had changed. The slight twist on her face made her stubborn and weak look sinister, as if she really wanted to kill Qi Qian.

He Jian, who was deliberately remembering Qi Qian's incident and wanted to teach Nan Xi a lesson, said: "..."

He looked at Nan Xi's hand which didn't move at all, and silently swallowed the words he wanted to say.

Maybe, possibly, it wasn't Nan Xi that he should be worried about.

Nan Xi had finished practicing sword skills and felt that some of her resentment had been vented, so she adjusted her expression and saw that He Jian no longer mentioned the matter of relocation. Then she didn't need to act like that and just blinked at He Jian.

"Master, I have finished my training."

He Jian nodded calmly and said, "Sword style, show me."

He spoke in a serious and solemn tone, making people dare not neglect him. However, Nan Xi was very familiar with him and was not afraid at all. She responded obediently.

I laughed in my heart, [Hehe, Master will definitely be surprised and very satisfied with my progress. Who knows, he might even give me a small reward.]

He Jian frowned and sneered in his heart.

Are you kidding? There's no way he would be surprised.

Nan Xi picked up the sword, stood up, and swung the sword.

From the very beginning, an inexplicable aura rose from her body, flowing around her as she moved, and finally gathered at the tip of the sword. The sword suddenly became sharp, and the buzzing sound during the brief pause was crisp and pleasant, with the aura of a sword that could cut through everything.

He Jian's eyes lit up as Nan Xi danced with the sword.

It wasn't a complete surprise, but it certainly gave him a sense of experience.

Last week, his movements were clearly not up to standard, but this time, they were performed to perfection, and even produced a very superior sword intent. This sword intent was bright and eye-catching, and the person holding the sword also looked radiant.

For a moment, He Jian seemed to see a side of Nan Xi that was unfamiliar to him, and this side made He Jian feel like he was peeking into Nan Xi's true appearance.

Nan Xi didn't know that someone could see so many tricks from a sword show. She just felt that her performance was perfect this time and would definitely satisfy her master. After putting away her sword, she looked at He Jian with burning eyes.

He Jian hurriedly put away his satisfied expression and coughed lightly.

"Not bad, but you must not be complacent because of this achievement."

He thought about it and found that there seemed to be nothing to say, so he hesitated for a moment and said, "Since you have performed well, I will waive the requirement of 10,000 sword swings a day. You must practice more in the future and don't slack off."

When he was really speechless, He Jian thought of Qi Qian's matter, opened his mouth, and seemed to want to say something but stopped himself, and seemed to want to say something again.

Finally, he said: "If you really can't let go of Qi Qian, just be more restrained and don't be possessed by the devil."

After saying that, he sighed deeply and waved his hand, "It's okay, you can go back."

Nan Xi: “?”

He Jian's reaction was not right. She looked at him suspiciously for a few more times, feeling a little conflicted and hesitant.

[Master, have you been upset? Why don’t you encourage me? ]

After a pause, he thought again, [You only said "good", you arrogant guy, I saw you smile... Oh no, where is my reward? I always get a reward for doing well, why is it gone? ]

Nan Xi widened her eyes, a look of fear on her face.

[Could it be that Master, although he doesn’t say it on the surface, is actually disappointed in me? ? My perfect performance didn’t make him change his mind? Huh? ? No, Master——]

"That's enough." He Jianren couldn't bear to interrupt Nan Xi's thoughts and stared at her. He couldn't say anything for a long time. He could only take out a robe and a magic weapon in the shape of a hairpin from his sleeve and stuffed them directly into Nan Xi's storage ring.

"If you can still do this in the future, I will allow you to go down the mountain to gain experience."

As soon as these words came out, Nan Xi's eyes lit up, "Thank you, Master."

[Great! Let’s go down the mountain! ]

In the end, the issue of Qi Qian was left unresolved. Nan Xi was somewhat satisfied that He Jian was not disappointed in her this time. On the other hand, she unexpectedly learned about the system's rating standards, which actually allowed deviations in the plot.

As long as the core plot remains unchanged, everything else is just a minor insignificance to the system.

This was great news for Nan Xi, and it kept her in a good mood for several days. Once she was in a good mood, she put Qi Qian behind her mind. For several days in a row, she didn't mention Qi Qian at all.

…

This was not actually a bad thing for the disciples. After all, it was truly terrifying to see their senior sister loving and hating a man every day.

But other than that, being able to hear Nan Xi's inner thoughts was not a good thing.

Even without Qi Qian, Nan Xi's thoughts were still very eccentric, including but not limited to complaining about a disciple's movements that looked like □□ during sword practice, or having wild thoughts about which salty food was the most delicious, and even gossiping about the head elders.

It was so exciting that they almost couldn't practice swordplay properly.

The time has come for the monthly assessment.

Leaving aside the assessment of ordinary disciples, on this day of every month, all the direct disciples in the sect gather together to fight with magic and swords, which is quite exciting.

Unfortunately this time, there are seven Tianyun Sword Sect elders including the Sect Master. Although not all of them have disciples, there are seven direct disciples in total. However, there are only three of them in the sect now.

That is Nan Xi, the sixth elder’s disciple Lian Qianxing, and the great elder’s disciple Qi Zhao.

Elders and masters with disciples will come to participate in such assessments if they are free. Disciples will also learn how much progress they have made through this test. Everyone is motivated and looks forward to a fair competition with others.

Therefore, most people in the sect look forward to this monthly assessment.

But Nan Xi is definitely not among them.

In the martial arts arena, the elders had not arrived yet, but the disciples kept glancing toward the right front.

Nan Xi's face showed no expression, and she looked calm and composed, but in reality...

【well……】

【well.】

【well!】

This was the 28th time Nan Xi sighed since the gathering today. Even though she didn't show it, the presence of her inner voice still made everyone look at her sideways.

Qi Zhao had known about Nan Xi's inner thoughts long ago, but today was the first time he heard Nan Xi's inner thoughts except for the day he returned to the clan. He tried to hold back, but finally couldn't.

Question: "Sister, you seem to be in a bad mood, but what's troubling you?"

Nan Xi looked at him, this genius junior brother who never liked talking to her and had great talent, intelligence and emotional intelligence, and then showed a standard perfunctory smile on her face.

"I'm not in a mood to be surprised. I think my junior brother is mistaken."

But I sighed secretly in my heart.

[Such a keen observation, is this a genius? ]

Then he sighed again, "I'm not in a good mood because I have to compete with geniuses like you."

The disciples understood after hearing this. After all, the senior sister's swordsmanship was not outstanding. On weekdays, she could still show off her skills against those of them who were slower in progress. But when facing a true genius, she would inevitably be outdone.

Even Qi Zhao, after hearing Nan Xi's thoughts, did not change his expression. He just smiled humbly and said, "I guess I was wrong."

No one knows what he is thinking at this moment.

Lian Qianxing looked at Nan Xi nervously and wanted to say something to comfort her, but Nan Xi showed no emotion at all, so it would be too abrupt to speak at this time.

[It's really hard to not reveal my true strength, to lose to you and let geniuses like you think I'm just average. ]

Nan Xi thought expressionlessly.

Qi Zhao, Lian Qianxing, and many disciples: "?"

Why do I feel like there's something wrong with what Senior Sister said?

Nan Xi looked at the ground again, silently tracing the pattern on the floor, [Last time I lost to Qi Zhao, it was because of an "accidental" mistake. This time, if I make a mistake again, it will be too obvious and inappropriate.]

[Pretend to be defeated and slowly retreat? You can, but it's very tiring and it takes a long time. Although if you are careful, no one will notice... Let's think of other ways. ]

[Hmm...pretend that I'm not in good condition? This way I can lose faster and appear to be weaker, which doesn't seem to be a bad idea.]

Nan Xi's eyes lit up, and she met Qi Zhao's gaze as soon as she looked up. She quickly adjusted her expression, then slowly let out a sigh and said to Qi Zhao, "Junior brother, to be honest, I forgot the time when I was practicing sword yesterday because I was thinking about today's test."

"My spiritual power was exhausted and has not recovered yet."

She acted very realistically, fully demonstrating her acting skills that she had honed over the years.

Everyone: “…”

If they hadn't heard your heart, they would have believed it.

But what does Senior Sister mean by this? Does it mean that she is actually quite strong, but she has been pretending? Or does it mean that she doesn't want to win over Qi Zhao and the others, and has been trying to find ways to make herself lose?

The disciples vaguely understood what Nan Xi meant, but they did not dare to believe it.

If that is the case, what is Nan Xi's purpose? As a swordsman, how can she not want to defeat others?

Qi Zhao looked at Nan Xi, and his eyes, which were always gentle, narrowed slightly. Of course, he could guess what the disciples could, but at this moment he had no time to think about what Nan Xi's purpose was. He just cared about the fact that Nan Xi said she wanted to lose to him on purpose.

His expression also became a little serious.

He said to Nan Xi: "Senior Sister, I will do my best in this competition. I hope you won't let me down."

Nan Xi was a little confused by Qi Zhao's sudden words.

[Are you angry? Why? Because I said I was not in a good state? ]

[Give it your all? What should I do? It’s even harder! ]

For a cultivator, the more focused he is during the competition, the more he can detect tiny discrepancies, and the difficulty of Nan Xi's performance increases sharply.

anger?

The disciples' gazes slowly fell on Qi Zhao's face again. Their senior brother had always been kind and good-tempered, and they had never seen Qi Zhao angry.

However, Qi Zhao just pursed his lips and said very seriously: "If the victory is unfair, this competition will be meaningless."

It was rare for him to look at Nan Xi seriously, so when he looked at Nan Xi's face, he actually felt extremely unfamiliar. It was not really angry, but he did care about Nan Xi's thoughts just now, so a strong desire to fight arose in his heart.

He was determined to make Nan Xi take it seriously.

Nan Xi met his eyes and was suddenly startled, and slowly had a bad premonition.

Why do I feel like the performance won't be so smooth this time?