"Master, Xiaoxiao successfully condensed her Sword Intent~"
Hearing this, a look of surprise appeared on Pei Yuhang's face.
Yu Xiaoyan's current Cultivation was at the Foundation Establishment Stage. To be able to condense Sword Intent with only Foundation Establishment Cultivation was something that not even Qing Yueqiu, who possessed the Innate Sword Bone, had managed to do.
'Is this to be expected from a Cultivator with the Seven-Aperture Exquisite Heart talent? This seemingly carefree and innocent little disciple of his has a terrifyingly high comprehension.'
"Xiaoxiao, let Master see your Sword Intent."
"Okay."
Seeing her master's happy expression, the corners of Yu Xiaoyan's mouth curled up.
'See, Senior Sister? The fruits of your labor are only meaningful if people see them. You just practice bitterly all by yourself and never take the initiative to show Master the progress you've worked so hard for—'
'No wonder Master pays less and less attention to you~!'
Yu Xiaoyan brought her index and middle fingers together, thrusting them forward. At her will, the sword at her waist flew from its sheath.
VMMMM—
A clear, ringing hum of the sword vibrated outward.
Standing not far away, Qing Yueqiu's ruby-like eyes widened.
'Junior Sister actually... really condensed Sword Intent... But she clearly gave up before. Her understanding of the sword should have fallen short.'
'Or... did she comprehend it long ago and was just waiting for Master to return before showing it?'
'Then what was the point of me painstakingly practicing Swordsmanship with her for two days?'
For a moment, Qing Yueqiu felt a sense of frustration, as if she had been played.
Master had clearly instructed her to help her junior sister with her training, and she had been ten times more serious than usual...
But from the looks of it, her junior sister didn't seem to need her help at all.
Compared to Qing Yueqiu, Pei Yuhang's perception of this incredibly sharp slashing intent was far more nuanced. Though it was still nascent, it was enough to see Yu Xiaoyan's own understanding of the sword.
To defeat a person, first defeat their will.
This Sword Intent specialized in attacking a person's will. Once a crack was slashed into an enemy's will, they would quickly lose the will to resist, allowing Yu Xiaoyan to subdue them without a fight.
"A fine Sword Intent, Xiaoxiao. To have reached this level during the Foundation Establishment Stage is already quite extraordinary."
Hearing her master's praise, Yu Xiaoyan felt immense joy in her heart.
She sheathed her sword and, like a small animal seeking praise, snuggled into Pei Yuhang's embrace. She lifted her moist eyes to look at him, her soft, delicate lips parting slightly as if in anticipation of something.
Seeing that his little disciple had made such an achievement, Pei Yuhang was naturally overjoyed. He stroked Yu Xiaoyan's head, wondering what reward he should give her.
Although the Cold Palace Sword Mansion was dirt poor right now, it wasn't so broke that it couldn't afford to reward a Foundation Establishment Stage disciple.
Since his disciple was so outstanding, he had to give a reward that would delight her.
Pei Yuhang thought for a moment, then said to Yu Xiaoyan, "Xiaoxiao, you should be about to advance to the Golden Core Stage, right?"
"Mhm... I've accumulated more than enough Spiritual Qi. I estimate I can break through, compress my Spirit Sea, and condense a Golden Core within a month."
'She's about to condense a Golden Core.'
Pei Yuhang's expression grew solemn. He looked at Yu Xiaoyan and said:
"Xiaoxiao, do you remember how I took you as my disciple?"
"I remember. My father and mother were searching the entire world for extraordinary people, hoping to solve the matter of me being 'possessed.' Then Master, who was traveling through the Mortal World with Senior Sister, came to our door..."
As Yu Xiaoyan spoke of the scene of her first meeting with her master, a light shone in her watery eyes.
Meeting her master was the most memorable moment of her life so far.
'The only thing that could surpass that moment... would probably be replacing the master's wife in the future and giving myself to Master without reservation.'
Yu Xiaoyan snuggled in her master's arms, feeling his warm body and strong heartbeat as she fell into a reverie.
'It was a painful memory that I should have been unwilling to recall for the rest of my life. But looking back now, perhaps it was just Heaven's way of giving me a chance to meet Master?'
At that time, Yu Xiaoyan was only nine years old. Because of the "sister" in her head, she was locked away all day in a dark, sunless attic.
From the private jeers of the Maids, she learned that her reputation had spread throughout the Capital City.
The reputation of "the cursed, inauspicious daughter."
Before, her mother had doted on her so much, and her father, though strict on the surface, had also truly loved her.
But then that "sister" appeared and threw her once-perfect family into chaos.
Her mother screamed in terror, looking at her as if she were some unclean, evil thing. She just knelt on the floor, shrinking back ceaselessly.
Her father's look of disgust... Yu Xiaoyan clearly remembered him placing his hand on the sword at his waist... 'Did he want to kill his own daughter?'
She also learned the whole truth from the "sister's" mouth.
It turned out that from the moment she was born, she had been a deformed monster.
She and her sister were twins—conjoined twins!
Disgusting, bizarre, unclean...
According to her "sister," if their mother hadn't been half-mad at the time, begging their father not to act, the two of them would have been smashed to death on the cold, hard stone bricks the moment they left the warmth and softness of the womb.
Later, her father found a Cultivator.
Using a Secret Technique, the Cultivator repaired their bodies, sacrificing one of their lives in exchange for allowing the other to live as a normal person.
But no one had expected that although the "sister's" physical body was destroyed, her Divine Soul took up residence in her younger sister's body.
She resided in the sunless Sea of Consciousness, her spirit long since driven to madness.
Then, at her seventh birthday banquet, the "sister" unexpectedly gained control of her body for a time. Facing the dignitaries from all over the Capital City who had come to celebrate, she exposed her parents' scandals, causing them to lose face completely.
She even stabbed her father...
And so, Yu Xiaoyan was locked away.
Locked in a sunless attic with no light and no wind. There was only the cold chain sealing the door and the guards outside with their cold-bladed weapons.
After that, her parents only came to see her once. They stood outside the door, afraid to enter, looking at her with the same fearful eyes one would use for a mad dog.
They never came again after that. She heard from a Maid... that they had a new child, a boy.
A boy who could inherit their father's family business and title.
It was as if Yu Xiaoyan had been forgotten by everyone, left to slowly rot in the stinking, pitch-black attic.
Originally, she had resented her "sister," hating her for destroying the wonderful life she should have had.
But after being imprisoned in the endless darkness, she gradually grew numb. She even began to think it wasn't so bad having someone in her head to talk to, even if it was just to bicker and vent her anger.
At least this way, she wouldn't go mad herself.
And so, she held on until her master arrived.
It was the first time in her two years of imprisonment that Yu Xiaoyan had seen the warm, gentle sunlight from the outside world and felt the cool, crisp breeze on her skin.
Dressed all in white, Pei Yuhang opened the attic's iron door. The light behind him draped over his shoulders like a cloak, as if the world had focused all its spotlights on this one man.
A gentleman on the path, as fine as jade; peerless in all the world.
Yu Xiaoyan subconsciously recalled this line of poetry she had read in a storybook.
'Is this the young master who has come to save me?'
Yu Xiaoyan didn't know. At that moment, she just felt terribly ashamed.
'Will he think I'm too filthy? That this place is too smelly, too disgusting...?'
'I really, really want to hide like a rat.'
'But I also really, really want to take this filthy body of mine and defile that young master's spotless white robes...'
'I want to make this ethereal Immortal, who seems untouched by the mortal world, indulge and fall with me.'
'Perhaps I've gone mad, just like my sister.'