Knowing that Su Jinxue wouldn't come with him without a reasonable explanation, Zhu Yu offered the excuse he had prepared.
"Because I saw your talent."
"Ta...lent...?"
Su Jinxue tilted her head, not understanding.
What talent did she have?
Did being hard to kill count?
A large hand gripped her shoulder.
Su Jinxue's heart tightened, and just as she was about to dodge, she felt something within her body resonating with Zhu Yu's spiritual energy.
Within her spine, a sharp, cold power hummed.
Like the low hum of a sword's edge.
"This...this is...?"
"Sword Bone."
Zhu Yu withdrew his hand, speaking with feigned profundity:
"I was right, you are a born Sword Cultivator."
"To be honest, I am the last remaining member of the Sword Sect."
"My current journey is to find a disciple to continue the sect."
"Are you willing to join my Sword Sect?"
"Sword...Sect?"
Su Jinxue hadn't yet recovered from the shock of possessing a "Sword Bone"; her expression was still wooden.
"Precisely." Zhu Yu nodded.
There was no such thing as a Sword Sect in this era.
It shouldn't matter if he borrowed their name, right?
Moreover, Su Jinxue was the Sword Sect's Ancestor.
If the Sword Sect disciples knew he was taking their Ancestor as a disciple, they would surely praise him, wouldn't they?
"You...want...to be my master?"
Su Jinxue finally understood this time.
She hadn't heard of the "Sword Sect," so it was probably a small sect from somewhere.
And...
"You...you don't look much older than me..."
He was just a teenager; how strong could he be?
"Still looking down on me, little girl? Come with me."
Zhu Yu took Su Jinxue's hand and led her outside the cave.
"Wh-what are you doing?"
Su Jinxue pulled her wrist back, displeased that Zhu Yu touched her so casually.
Disciples of this sect were always touching others.
This Sword Sect clearly wasn't a proper sect!
"Watch closely."
Zhu Yu picked up a twig and, facing the distance, gently waved it—
Buzz—
Su Jinxue suddenly felt the world fall silent.
The swirling snowflakes hung suspended in mid-air.
The next moment,
Sword Qi surged, and the world changed color.
A hundred-zhang sword rainbow soared into the vast snowy plain!
In the distance, the snowy mountain split with a roar, and snow waves, carrying rocks, rushed down, only to be pulverized by the Sword Qi before they fell!
The little girl's stray hairs by her ears were lifted by the residual Sword Qi, and in her constricted pupils, was the gradually dissipating azure sword mark.
Su Jinxue stared blankly at the ravine.
If she could also possess such power, Shuo Province City...wouldn't have been breached by demons...
Father, Mother, and everyone else wouldn't have...
"How is it?" Zhu Yu patted the twig, "Are you willing to join my Sword Sect?"
Outside the cave, where the wind and snow howled.
Su Jinxue's slender figure trembled slightly in the cold wind.
She stared intently at the sword mark that cut across the snowy plain, the lingering glow of the Sword Qi reflected in her icy blue eyes.
That sword rainbow, which had split the mountain, seemed to cleave open the last defense in her heart, injecting something fiery into her frozen core.
Thump, thump, thump—
She could hear her own rapid heartbeat.
"Power..."
Her chapped lips parted slightly, and the white mist she exhaled vanished in an instant.
Her frostbitten red fingers unconsciously clenched her clothes.
Her knuckles turned white from the effort.
Images of her final farewell with her parents flashed through her mind:
Father's back as he held his sword, blocking the demons...
Mother's resolute gaze as she pushed her out of the city gate...
And...
The roar of the entire Shuo Province City collapsing in a sea of fire.
"I need this power..."
She said to herself, her voice so soft it was almost inaudible.
The wind and snow grew fiercer.
A snowflake landed on her trembling eyelashes, melting into a tear-like droplet that slid down.
Zhu Yu stood quietly to the side, his green robe flapping in the wind.
He deliberately did not rush her.
With his hands behind his back, his gaze stretched into the distance.
"I..."
Su Jinxue suddenly looked up, a flicker of flame ignited in her crystal-like eyes.
She abruptly knelt in the snow.
"Disciple Su Jinxue, greets Master!"
Her forehead hit the frozen ground with a dull thud.
The icy snow water soaked her knees, but she felt no cold.
Something was violently churning in her chest.
Almost bursting through her throat.
"I want...I want to become strong!"
She raised her head, her voice no longer trembling.
Her thin body stood perfectly straight.
She wanted to become a powerful Sword Cultivator like Zhu Yu.
Strong enough to slay all the demons in the world.
Strong enough...never to lose important people again!
Zhu Yu looked at this stubborn little girl.
Kneeling in the snow, she looked like a drawn short sword.
Though scarred, she was already showing her sharpness.
Her wary eyes were now astonishingly bright.
They held hatred for demons, and also burning hope.
"Very good."
He reached out to help his newly accepted disciple up, brushing the snow from her hair.
"From today onwards, you are a disciple of my Sword Sect."
Even the Sword Saint was getting better; she could now take him as her master.
"Master, when do we start cultivating?"
The little girl's eagerness was written all over her face.
"No rush." Zhu Yu ruffled her head, "What you need to do now is take a bath and change into clean clothes."
She froze, then looked at herself—
Her tattered clothes were stained with blood and dirt, her hair was a mess, and the ends of her hair were twisted into clumps.
She looked like a little beggar.
If Mother saw her like this, she would definitely scold her while lovingly heating water to wash her.
After she recovered.
Then give her a good beating.
If Father tried to stop it, he'd get a few hits too.
But Mother was gone.
Father was gone too.
Her vision blurred again.
Then, a large hand gently lifted her face.
Wiping away her tears.
That face, which she had wanted to bite just a moment ago, became clear.
"You look even uglier when you cry, little calico cat."
Zhu Yu pinched her cheek, intentionally speaking in a tone of distaste:
"Look at this face, you could roll out mud balls from it."
Immersed in sadness, Su Jinxue immediately bristled at these words:
"N-not ugly at all!"
She forcefully wiped her face, only to smear black ash all over her hand, instantly silencing her.
The little wildcat turned into a sad, wilted kitten.
Zhu Yu seemed to see illusory, floppy cat ears on her head.
"Pfft—"
He was amused by his own hallucination.
A snicker earned him an angry glare from the little girl.
But then she remembered that this was her newly acknowledged Master.
Her defiance weakened.
She could only stomp her foot in frustration.
Then she stepped on an icy patch and almost slipped.
Zhu Yu grabbed her by the scruff of her neck.
"Be careful, if you fall and get hurt, I'll have to find a new disciple."
"L-let go..."
Su Jinxue flailed her limbs.
This posture reminded her of a kitten being carried by its cat father.
How embarrassing.
"Master said, you have to take a bath first."
She retorted:
"Th-this...the mountain is covered in heavy snow, and the lake is frozen...how can I wash? And I...I don't have any clothes to change into..."
"Is that all?"
Zhu Yu waved his hand, and a complete wolf pelt flew out of the cave.
It was the fur of the old wolf from before, now processed to be soft and fluffy.
Before Su Jinxue could see clearly, he picked her up by the waist.
"Wait—"
The cold wind howled past.
By the time Su Jinxue came to her senses, they were already standing by the frozen lake.