Wo Yu Cheng Feng – Chapter 57

Mu Xujing glanced at Ling Luo and said, “Move aside. I’ll fight him.”

“On what grounds?” Ling Luo sneered. “I was here first. If anyone’s going to fight him, it’s me. You’ll have to wait your turn.”

Yue Liangze was left speechless. He hadn’t expected that these two would both come looking for a fight with him in the middle of the night instead of sleeping.

Mu Xujing’s long sword reflected the moonlight from above, giving off a cold yet sinister aura.

He changed his stance but still refused to back down.

Yue Liangze said, “Wait a moment. I’d like to test his sword skills too.”

Ling Luo turned around and glared at him.

Yue Liangze stepped past her, shielding her behind him.

Ling Luo stood fuming under the cherry tree and said, “Well, whoever wins gets to fight me next!”

No sooner had she finished speaking than both men sprang into action.

Their figures blurred into afterimages as they clashed swords. The falling flowers spinning under the moonlight couldn’t match the speed of their exchanging techniques. Each collision of their blades shattered the fallen blossoms, adding even more petals to the cherry grove’s flowery rain.

To ordinary people, it would appear as nothing but a dizzying display of afterimages flying back and forth.

But Ling Luo could see every move clearly—each technique, the flow of spiritual power, and the changing sword intent. Mu Xujing still wasn’t using the North Palace Moon Court’s sword techniques, but he was faster than when he had sparred with her before.

She recognized whose sword technique this was.

Yue Liangze must know it even better than she did.

Ling Luo blinked, her eyes reflecting the now-serious Yue Liangze in combat.

It was the second year after she had succumbed to demonic power and the twenty-third day of Yue Liangze’s stay in Nanjiang City.

Ling Luo had given up on the Beauty’s Peak technique and instead snatched a manual of evil sword techniques from the Twenty-Six Demons, preparing to practice demonic sword arts.

She disliked how every sword strike she made carried the righteous, magnificent aura of a noble spirit.

In her eyes at that time, it was the most useless thing.

But Yue Liangze had said, “You won’t be able to control it.”

Ling Luo retorted, “Mind your own business! I’m not practicing Beauty’s Peak anymore, so why haven’t you left yet? Do I look that easy to talk to?”

Considering that a few days earlier she had forcibly made Yue Liangze eat some buns bought from the street, and later felt a twinge of regret, she only threatened him verbally without taking action.

That night, lying in bed, she kept seeing Yue Liangze’s miserable appearance whether her eyes were open or closed.

Every time he turned to leave, no matter how many times it happened, Ling Luo always felt he would never return.

It was as if she had broken something that could never be repaired.

But stopping Yue Liangze from leaving, watching that man stand silently with his back to her, was also a form of cruelty.

Ling Luo felt unusually remorseful, frowning as she covered her eyes even in the darkness.

Since she had mentioned using Yue Liangze to practice Beauty’s Peak, they had shared the same bed every night, although Ling Luo had countless times forbidden him from sleeping beside her until dawn, only to be coaxed and tricked by Yue Liangze each time.

In the end, she would just scold him a couple of times and couldn’t be bothered to take any real action.

Tonight, with him absent, she found herself unable to sleep.

Ling Luo grew increasingly frustrated.

What did I do wrong?

I just made you eat a bun! If you couldn’t eat it, you should have said so!

Why didn’t you just say no?

She completely forgot that her demonic nature had been out of control at the time, and if Yue Liangze hadn’t complied, she could have destroyed the entire Nanjiang City.

While Ling Luo was still muttering to herself, she suddenly heard the door open.

A familiar presence wafted in, and all the voices in her head scattered.

Yue Liangze entered the room quietly. He had just returned from bathing; his hair was dry, but his body still carried a misty feel. The faint post-bath fragrance she loved came and went, becoming more distinct as the man approached the bedside.

Ling Luo steadied her breathing, pretending to be asleep.

The lights in the room had been extinguished long ago, and Yue Liangze didn’t light any when he came in. In the dimness, he confidently made his way to the bedside but stood still for a moment, seemingly trying to determine whether she was asleep or awake.

Ling Luo thought to herself:

Tonight, I might have been somewhat in the wrong, so I’ll reluctantly allow you to sleep beside me tonight.

After a good while, Yue Liangze finally bent down.

There was the rustling sound of fabric, and Ling Luo felt him lie down beside her, slipping under the covers, bringing with him a coolness followed by warmth.

This presumptuous man even reached out to wrap his arm around her waist, carefully embracing her from behind. His warm chest pressed against her back, and she could faintly feel his beating heart.

Ling Luo recalled Yue Liangze looking at her and saying “Never mind,” his eyelashes trembling slightly.

Never mind.

Let him be tonight.

Yue Liangze lowered his head to her neck, his embrace powerful yet dependent on her. The boundless darkness concealed his vulnerability.

“Ling Luo,” he softly called her name.

Ling Luo listened quietly.

He always liked to call her name.

Yue Liangze’s voice was very, very soft.

He said, “I didn’t want to eat it.”

Their hair intertwined.

Ling Luo listened to the man’s slightly trembling voice.

“And I don’t want to never see you again.”

Ling Luo didn’t know why she had briefly compromised with Yue Liangze.

The next day, she went out and gathered most of the ingredients needed, then told Yue Liangze he could cook whatever he wanted, and she wouldn’t force him to eat anything anymore.

Then she told him to leave after he was done.

This time, she wouldn’t kill him.

Yue Liangze looked at the room full of ingredients, his eyes showing amusement: “I can’t tell if you want me to leave or if you don’t want me to leave.”

“You’d better leave now. I might change my mind at any moment, and killing you would do me no harm,” Ling Luo said coldly. “The only reason I’m not doing it now is because I don’t want Gui Ci coming to bother me and waste my time.”

But Yue Liangze showed no sign of annoyance.

Although she no longer practiced Beauty’s Peak, occasionally when Ling Luo unconsciously got too close to him, something would still happen between them.

Ling Luo brought out the evil sword manual to choose a technique to practice. After flipping through the entire book, only one caught her eye.

An evil sword technique is called Half-Day Calamity.

After looking at it, Yue Liangze remained silent for a moment, placed a plate of prepared snacks on the table, and asked her, “You want to practice this sword technique?”

Ling Luo snorted, “Scared?”

“It’s already lost,” Yue Liangze sat down beside her, peeling nuts for her. “This sword technique can only be passed down to one person at a time, in life or death, but the method is special.”

What did “in life or death” mean?

Ling Luo turned her head to look at him suspiciously, “You know about it?”

“I once crossed swords with the inheritor of Half-Day Calamity,” Yue Liangze explained patiently. “Although it’s an evil sword technique, the more skilled the practitioner becomes, the weaker the demonic aura grows.”

“At the highest level, one can achieve a state of ‘no breath exists.'”

When he first entered the world, he had been invited to eliminate a demon in the mountains.

This demon had killed 123 people and slaughtered several squads of royal soldiers passing through the area, becoming a major threat to nearby villages and border military forces.

Such a demon, harmful to the world’s order, was feared and detested by ordinary people. Although they wanted to eliminate it, its strength was formidable. After military forces were defeated multiple times, they had to widely recruit cultivators from across the world to eliminate the demon.

That was the first demon Yue Liangze had killed with Lifeless.

Though called a demon, it was a man who had fallen to demonic ways.

In the snowy mountains, the man stood before his house, holding a sword and smiling at him: “What difference is there between human and demon? They’re all the same.”

Although he only had an ordinary sword, he had killed many cultivators who came to eliminate him.

The demonic aura came from the man himself, not from his sword intent.

During their battle, Yue Liangze learned about the evil sword technique Half-Day Calamity from the man.

“This sword technique is passed down to only one person. Even if I die, it will find its inheritor to continue,” the man smiled grotesquely. “You can’t kill us all!”

Yue Liangze killed him, shattered his sword, and reduced him to ashes, thinking this would prevent Half-Day Calamity from finding a new inheritor.

Later, however, he encountered another person who knew this sword technique.

Ling Luo had mocked at the time, “If Half-Day Calamity found an inheritor, how can you say it’s lost?”

“Because now no one knows it anymore,” Yue Liangze said. “Half-Day Calamity is truly dead.”

Ling Luo didn’t believe him. She arranged sword matches with several of the Twenty-Six Demons, but they couldn’t grasp the essence. She alone learned a bit of the superficial aspects but couldn’t master the core of the sword intent.

She angrily ran to find Yue Liangze: “Do you have any memory of Half-Day Calamity?”

Yue Liangze, as if expecting her request, calmly handed her a spirit jade: “It’s stored in here.”

Ling Luo watched the spirit jade containing his battle with Half-Day Calamity over and over again, finally confirming that this Half-Day Calamity could not be mastered.

At that time, she didn’t ask who the last person to know the Half-Day Calamity sword technique was, nor how Half-Day Calamity died.

A couple of days later, she left Nanjiang City, abandoning Yue Liangze.

Now looking back, Yue Liangze and Mu Xujing had known each other in their previous lives.

There might be many things she didn’t know.

Ling Luo came back to her senses and saw the two still fighting. She turned around and left angrily.

The sound of blades rang clearly. Yue Liangze glimpsed Ling Luo leaving, withdrew his sword, and stopped fighting. Mu Xujing, who had been about to attack again, also stopped.

“Ling Luo,” Yue Liangze called out to her.

Ling Luo turned back: “What?”

Yue Liangze blinked: “Why are you leaving?”

His voice betrayed a hint of confusion.

Ling Luo let out a cold laugh: “You have someone to practice swordsmanship with, why shouldn’t I leave? I want to go back to sleep.”

Yue Liangze sheathed his sword, ignoring Mu Xujing, and walked towards Ling Luo: “What did you come to find me for?”

Mu Xujing: “?”

With gloomy eyes, he said, “Why are you leaving?”

Yue Liangze said, “We’re done fighting.”

Mu Xujing: “She said earlier that whoever wins would fight her next.”

“You can’t beat me,” Yue Liangze turned his head, raising the corner of his eye slightly. “You came to duel me tonight, presumably because you know I’m the one who killed your master.”

Mu Xujing looked at him with an expressionless face.

He knew the killer was a disciple of the Sacred Sword Sect, but he didn’t know what the person looked like.

Ling Luo asked curiously, “Didn’t Jiang Miao tell you he was from the Sacred Sword Sect?”

Since she was the current head of the North Palace Moon Court, Mu Xujing knew that only those who looked down on Jiang Miao would call her by name, so he glanced at Ling Luo.

Mu Xujing: “I couldn’t understand her hand signs.”

Ling Luo: “…”

Mu Xujing then asked Yue Liangze: “Why are you so certain I can’t win?”

“Your master could achieve a state of ‘no breath exists,’ but you still fall short. While fighting you, I can still detect the demonic aura. If you were to fight someone at the level of a sect leader, being detected would bring trouble upon yourself,” Yue Liangze said calmly. “Since you can’t achieve ‘no breath exists,’ you also can’t escape this sword formation.”

Mu Xujing’s brows furrowed slightly, his face showing a rare change in emotion.

He looked down and realized that the scattered cherry blossoms had somehow formed a sword formation beneath his feet.

“Your swordsmanship is decent, but your comprehension of incantations is terrible—you didn’t notice it at all,” Ling Luo asked. “Didn’t your master teach you?”

Mu Xujing was silent for a moment before responding impassively, “He wasn’t my master, and I didn’t come looking for you to seek revenge.”

Ling Luo: “Then why did you attack as soon as you arrived?”

“I just wanted to test the strength of someone who could kill Half-Day Calamity, to prepare myself for potential future encounters,” Mu Xujing slightly raised his eyebrows with a hint of mockery. “Didn’t your sword have killing intent toward me from the beginning?”

Yue Liangze: “…”

Lifeless: That’s your honor!

Yue Liangze said, “My battle with Half-Day Calamity was because that person had fallen to demonic ways and was harming the region, not targeting the sword technique itself. I have no prejudice against Half-Day Calamity, and I won’t constantly watch you even if you master it.”

Mu Xujing said flatly, “Perhaps one day I’ll become like him, killing without blinking an eye.”

Yue Liangze: “We’ll talk about that when the time comes.”

Mu Xujing looked up at him: “You’ll kill me then?”

“The one who kills you might not be me,” Yue Liangze turned to look at him but tilted his head toward Ling Luo’s direction. “And you won’t necessarily fall to demonic ways and repeat that person’s path.”

Ling Luo sized up Mu Xujing and found him somewhat interesting.

Mu Xujing was the illegitimate son of the previous head of the North Palace Moon Court.

Being an illegitimate son meant he was raised in the countryside, having no connection whatsoever with the North Palace Moon Court or cultivators.

Although he possessed spiritual power, he had never received any guidance and did not admire cultivators.

Even after being brought back to the North Palace Moon Court, no one seriously taught him.

The sword technique Mu Xujing knew was Half-Day Calamity, an evil sword technique despised and resisted by righteous sects.

This was the only technique he knew.

This sword technique was rare and not many people knew about it. The Moon Court even thought he had created it himself and praised him as a genius.

Except for these two people.

After finishing his conversation with Mu Xujing, Yue Liangze turned back to look at Ling Luo and asked, “How do you know about Half-Day Calamity?”

Ling Luo lied without changing her expression: “It was recorded in ancient texts. During the duel, I sensed the demonic aura in his sword technique and tested him. I didn’t expect to guess correctly.”

As both men looked at her, Ling Luo added irritably, “What are you looking at me for? I don’t discriminate against this sword technique. Practice it or not, whether you fall to demonic ways depends on your abilities.”

I even wanted to practice it myself!

Mu Xujing received an unexpected answer. After a moment of silence, he sheathed his sword and turned to leave.

“Hey, stop!” Ling Luo called out to him. “We’ll keep your secret, but you need to do something for me.”

Mu Xujing turned back, “What is it?”

Ling Luo pointed at Yue Liangze and said, “Stay here and practice swordplay with him until dawn.”

Mu Xujing: “…”

Yue Liangze was stunned: “…Why does he have to practice with me?”

“I’ll be here too,” Ling Luo blinked. “I also want to exchange more moves with Half-Day Calamity.”

Mu Xujing had no choice. He had only walked a few steps before turning back and drawing his sword again.

Ling Luo didn’t want him to go back but to practice swordplay here, just so that after she lost the Spirit-Subduing Jade tomorrow, those who had mocked Yue Liangze would be silenced.

Some words were too harsh; she got angry just hearing them.

She hadn’t expected Mu Xujing to show up midway—a heaven-sent helper. Might as well take advantage of it.

Yue Liangze, who had originally been waiting for Bai Cang to return to the cherry grove, inexplicably ended up dueling with the two until dawn. Only as the morning sun rose did the three leave the cherry grove.

Ling Luo looked at the two men beside her with confusion: “Why are you both following me?”

Yue Liangze: “I live across from you.”

Mu Xujing: “I also live in the inner court.”

Ling Luo: “…”