Chapter 150: Senior Sister or Master?
Up on the roof, everyone’s weapons could not help but start vibrating. Xiao Chen used all his might to prevent the Lunar Shadow Saber from struggling out of his hand.
He thought in astonishment, Listening To the Sword and Communicating With It… Listening To the Sword and Communicating With It, again. This was the second person Xiao Chen had met in Xihe Province to have grasped the saber to this realm.
However, it was very obvious Liu Ruyue’s Listening To the Sword and Communicating With It was significantly stronger than Leng Liusu’s. Back when he fought with Leng Liusu, his weapon did not have such a large reaction.
In the instant Xiao Chen was astonished, Liu Ruyue’s body flashed and arrived before Xiao Chen. The saber in her hand chopped mercilessly down at Xiao Chen.
“Dang! Dang! Dang!”
Xiao Chen brandished his saber to block the attacks. Metallic clanging rang out continuously. Liu Ruyue’s speed increased, faster and faster. Slowly, Xiao Chen came to a point where he could only see a vague image of a saber. He could only rely on his feelings and continuously use Drawing The Saber.
What a fast saber! Xiao Chen thought in astonishment. This should be the result of Liu Ruyue suppressing her strength. The strength behind the saber was controlled to within what Xiao Chen could withstand.
Xiao Chen had never seen such a fast use of the saber before. The opponent did not use any complicated Saber Techniques; she used the simplest combinations of sweep, hack, push, pare, skim, swing, chop, and pierce.
These were the eight basic movements when using a saber. However, it was all it took to completely render Xiao Chen incapable of retaliating. Using Drawing The Saber was all he could do.
However, in order to execute Drawing The Saber, he had to constantly keep his focus at its peak. Furthermore, each time he executed Drawing The Saber, the momentum he had just began would collapse immediately. This was the weak point of the Rushing Thunder Saber Technique.
As it stood, Xiao Chen was rapidly exhausting his energy, whereas Liu Ruyue did not even seem tired at all. The saber in her hand had never stopped moving from beginning to end.
“Huang!”
After a moment, Liu Ruyue withdrew her saber and stood upright. Her graceful face revealed a satisfied smile. She said, “Reflexes are good, but basics are not firm enough. I can tell he is not too experienced.”
After she spoke, she walked up to Xiao Chen. Her lily-white hands headed for Xiao Chen’s face to pinch it. Xiao Chen was already very tired, but when he saw what was happening, he managed to find some strength from somewhere and retreated backward by a huge step.
He moved extremely fast, almost belying that he was tired. Lu Chen and Tang Dingtian, who were at the side, could not help but laugh. Lu Chen hurriedly said, “Little Brother Ye Chen, don’t be nervous. Senior Sister is only going to test your bone age.”
Testing the bone age was something many sects did. The main reason was to prevent someone from reporting a fake age and tricking the sect. Xiao Chen sweated heavily, knowing he had overreacted. Anyone who saw it would have laughed at him.
A light flashed in Liu Ruyue’s eyes. She did not mind Xiao Chen’s reaction and walked over again. This time, when she tried to test his bone age, he did not move; he just stood at his original spot and let her do what she wanted.
Liu Ruyue’s hands started rubbing Xiao Chen’s upper body’s bones in a regular pattern.
At such a close distance, the woman’s indistinct scent was picked up by Xiao Chen’s nose. This caused Xiao Chen’s mental state to be disordered, and he did not even dare to breathe.
After a moment, Liu Ruyue withdrew her hands, revealing a faint smile on her face. “He is indeed sixteen years old. A sixteen years old Martial Grand Master – slightly inferior to me when I was that age, but it’s passable. Ye Chen, right? Call me Master!”
Xiao Chen’s head was dotted with cold sweat as he felt a headache coming on. Now that he had entered the Heavenly Saber Pavilion, he had to be apprenticed to a master. However, Xiao Chen had not expected his master to be a woman who did not appear to be much older than himself.
Seeing that Xiao Chen was speechless, Liu Ruyue frowned. She said very fiercely, “Are you not willing? Since you are not willing, then don’t come to my Qingyun Peak. The consequences of making me make this trip for nothing is quite severe, and even Feng Feixue will not be able to protect you.”
Liu Ruyue’s right hand was on the handle of her saber, the look on her face revealing killing intent. She was ready to draw her saber at any time. Xiao Chen was speechless. This woman was too headstrong.
There was a smile on Lu Chen’s handsome face as he slowly walked over and said, “Ye Chen, you don’t have to worry. If you enter Qingyun Peak, your advantages will not be any less than in the other peaks. Furthermore, with Senior Sister Ruyue’s strength, there should be no issue in her teaching you.
“In the future, if you become a core disciple, you can enter the Divine Saber Camp as well. The most important thing is that Senior Sister Ruyue is the acting Peak Master. If you become her disciple, in terms of seniority, you would be equivalent to Brother Tang.”
Xiao Chen smiled bitterly to himself, thinking, There are quite a lot of benefits. However, it feels like something is wrong...
This Liu Ruyue was only older than him by a few years, which was something he found difficult to accept.
He could not help but lower his head; when he did so, he saw the Lunar Shadow Saber out of the corner of his eyes. His chest could not help but tighten as the thought hit him; I have already left Mohe City for about half a year already.
However, the reason why I left was so I can release the seal on Ao Jiao. This is a great opportunity, and Liu Ruyue has comprehended Listening To the Sword and Communicating With It. Accepting her as my master is a good choice.
After Xiao Chen thought of this, he knelt on the ground on one knee and stated decisively, “Disciple Ye Chen sincerely acknowledges the Qingyun Peak Master, Liu Ruyue, as his master. Would Master accept me?”
Actually, Xiao Chen had a plan in mind: since he was using a fake identity and had changed his appearance, he could always deny everything whenever he wanted to by changing back.
The killing intent on Liu Ruyue’s graceful face slowly vanished, relaxing into a warm smile. Her expression turned solemn as she said, “I, Qingyun Peak’s Acting Peak Master, Liu Ruyue, accept you, Ye Chen, as my disciple. I will do my best to teach and guide you seriously.”
After she spoke, Liu Ruyue helped Xiao Chen get up. Then she looked at Lu Chen and Tang Dingtian and said, “You two are my Qingyun Peak’s witnesses!”
Lu Chen smiled faintly, “Don’t worry, I will immediately make changes to Ye Chen’s information as well as remake his identity token.”
Tang Dingtian took out a short saber from his Spatial Ring and handed it to Xiao Chen, “Congratulations, Brother Ye, for entering Qingyun Peak. Consider this short sword a congratulatory present for accepting a master.”
Xiao Chen received the short sword and grabbed the handle, drawing it out of the scabbard slowly. There was a cold glean on the saber, and it was actually an Earth Ranked Spirit Weapon. This Tang Dingtian was really generous.
Liu Ruyue turned to Lu Chen and smiled, “Steward Tang has given him an Earth Ranked Spirit Weapon. Junior Brother Lu, shouldn’t you express some goodwill as well?”
Lu Chen took out a book and smiled faintly, “I can tell the aura in your body is not stable, flowing chaotically. It is likely you have learned too many things and are unable to merge them all together. Read this Flowing Cloud Scripture when you have time. It should be beneficial to you.”
Xiao Chen quickly expressed his gratitude and received it. This Flowing Cloud Scripture was a very valuable item, and he had heard of it before. It was derived from the ancient martial scriptures.
It was very famous, and the last thing he expected was to receive a handwritten copy of the Flowing Cloud Scripture right upon acknowledging a master. It was very surprising.
Liu Ruyue helped Xiao Chen up the green bird and bid her farewell to the two of them. Then, the green bird flapped its wings vigorously, kicking up a huge gust as they soared into the sky.
Tang Dingtian watched on as the two of them left. “Brother Lu, I must say, you are very generous. Normally, whenever I wanted to borrow your Flowing Cloud Scripture to take a look, you would give me all sorts of excuses not to. Today, you’ve actually given it away in such a straightforward manner.”
Lu Chen turned around and smiled, “You are no better than me. That Saber is Jade Hook, originating from the Clear Sky Sect. And that is no ordinary Earth Ranked Spirit Weapon.”
[TL note: When I looked at a dictionary for Jade Hook (勾玉), it gave me ‘magatama’, a Japanese Curved Bead. I decided to separate the two words and translate them individually instead, thus obtaining Jade Hook.]
Tang Dingtian sighed and said, “I felt it was unfortunate given his talent. Not only did he have Miss Feng’s recommendation letter, he even killed a Rank 5 Spirit Beast to obtain the qualification to enter the inner sect.
“I really have no idea what Ge Yunbin was thinking when he sent him to Qingyun Peak. It feels very strange.”
Lu Chen revealed an expression of shock. He said, “He killed a Rank 5 Spirit Beast alone? He is only an Inferior Grade Martial Grand Master. How is this possible?”
Tang Dingtian turned back and looked at him, “Then this is going to shock you even more. At the time he killed the Rank 5 Spirit Beast, he was only a Superior Grade Martial Master. He only advanced in cultivation realm after that.”
Lu Chen’s complexion changed. But after a while, he smiled in a carefree manner. Tang Dingtian did not understand what was going on. He said, “Let’s go, I’ll treat you to a drink later.”
The green bird soared high into the sky. Xiao Chen sat behind Liu Ruyue. Eventually, he spoke up, “Master, can I ask you a question?”
Liu Ruyue smiled faintly and said, “When there is no one around, just address me as Elder Sister Ruyue, just as Feng Feixue does. I am not that much older than you, so I won’t bully you too much.”
Xiao Chen was slightly stunned. That solved one of his mysteries. He finally understood why Liu Ruyue felt inclined to to take him under her wing as her disciple on their first meeting; it was mostly because she knew Feng Feixue.
“I would like to ask, how many inner disciples does Qingyun Peak have? How many elders are there? How many disciples does Elder Sister Ruyue have?” Xiao Chen had some doubts about this long ago. Now that he had the chance to ask, he did not hesitate to.
Liu Ruyue turned her head around and asked in a strange manner, “You do not know? Don’t tell me you entered Qingyun Peak without knowing anything?”
Suddenly, Xiao Chen had a bad feeling. He smiled bitterly, “That is indeed the case – I am now entering Qingyun Peak without knowing anything.”
Liu Ruyue felt a headache coming on as she said in a sullen voice, “Before you came, the answer to all these questions was zero. After you came, the answer is now one.”
Xiao Chen was frazzled. Although he knew Qingyun Peak was not too formidable, he did not expect it to be so bad to the point where there was no one.
Liu Ruyue smiled, “This is also the reason why I accepted you as my disciple. Within Qingyun Peak, there is no one else who can teach you.”
“However, you don’t have to think about it too much. There are benefits to having less people. You have the Peak Master to teach you personally. There are not many in Heavenly Saber Pavilion with such a privilege.”
A Peak Master who was not a Martial King? The strength of the Outer Sect Master, Ge Yunbin, was already at peak Martial King. How could the Peak Master of the inner Sect be lower?
However, Xiao Chen did not mind. After all, he was here to learn how to reach the state of Listening To the Sword and Communicating With It. The state itself had no relation to cultivation realm for the most part, and strength alone did not allow one to grasp it. At the end of the day, talent and comprehension were far more important.
To Xiao Chen, a master who was able to perform Listening To the Sword and Communicating With It was sufficient to make up for all the shortcomings of Liu Ruyue.
Before long, a towering peak appeared before Xiao Chen’s eyes. The clouds surrounding it stretched out into the horizon.