Chapter 300: Chapter 300

The last time was just recently, against that bastard Yun Xing. He’d used this sword to block one killing move of his. Of course, there was no way in hell he could say that out loud. After thinking for a second, he began, “No…” He realized Ming Ji wasn’t listening at all. Her slender fingers were slowly gliding down the blade. Wherever they passed, the sword aura pulsed and dimmed, green light flickering with a faint, whistling hisses. This time, even he could tell something was seriously wrong with the Azure Jade Sword.

Each time her fingertips slid across it, the sword trembled. And its hum thin and threadlike, but broken here and there, stuttering. And when the sword aura flared and retracted, it didn’t fully withdraw. Wisps of radiance leaked out, refusing to be gathered back in. For someone with Ming Ji’s level of sword mastery, that was flat-out impossible. Li Xun’s chest tightened. This had to be… spiritual energy leaking out?

A sharp “clang!” rang out. Li Xun’s whole body jolted. When he looked again, the room that had been drowning in green light was suddenly dead quiet. Every last shred of radiance had been sucked back in. Ming Ji’s face showed nothing. In her hand, the treasured sword was broken clean in two.

Li Xun let out an “Ah!” of surprise.

Seeing his reaction, Ming Ji gave a small shake of her head, looking displeased. “This sword is damaged this badly, and you had no idea?”

Hearing that slightly reproachful tone from Ming Ji made the hair on the back of Li Xun’s neck stand up. Yes, he hadn’t known the Azure Jade Sword was damaged this badly. But he damn well knew when it happened… and exactly who had done it.

By the Star River, beside the Qingcang River, Yun Xing had caught the exact moment he broke free from the restriction and swung a sword across the sky. Li Xun had blocked it with the Azure Jade Sword. Even now, just thinking back on the sheer power of that blow sent a chill through him. With the sharpness of the Greedy Wolf Immortal Sword and Yun Xing’s cultivation on top of that… there was no doubt it had been the main cause of the Azure Jade Sword’s serious damage.

But could he actually say any of that out loud? Li Xun still remembered that this sword had been Ming Ji’s beloved weapon since she first started cultivating. She’d once specially sunk it into an icy deep pool for safekeeping, only to later gift it to him. It held real importance. And now… it was snapped in half. Snapped in a way that couldn’t even be explained properly. Broken for “no clear reason at all.”

This had to be the heavens playing a cruel joke.

Li Xun’s mind stalled for a moment. The sudden turn of events was so unexpected that even his quick wits struggled to catch up.

Under Ming Ji’s piercing, almost heart-seeing gaze, Li Xun knew full well she wasn’t deliberately trying to dig into him. Even so, his heart still lurched into frantic chaos. Luckily, with the Azure Jade Sword lying broken right there between them, his momentary panic didn’t look all that out of place. It actually passed for a normal reaction.

Ming Ji let out a quiet sigh and turned her eyes back to the sword snapped clean in two. You could see she was trying hard to stay calm, but it was not going very well.

Li Xun finally snapped out of it. Without needing to put on any act, he lowered his head, looking defeated, and apologized to Ming Ji.

She shook her head. “It is not really a big deal. The Azure Jade already had a flaw when it was refined into a sword. And you and I have constantly used it to spar with experts. After several hundred years… maybe this was simply its fate. There is only one thing I need to ask. Have you been slacking in your sword training lately?”

“Huh?”

“This break is a pity. After the blade was damaged, it held on for quite some time without snapping completely. And at the fracture, the break lines look smooth at first glance, but there are tiny uneven curves. When true breath runs across it, the vibration stays completely even.

“This is obviously what happens when two swords clash. The other guy used the ‘Hummingbird Quick Sword’ technique, vibrating his blade back and forth at insane speed within the tiniest possible space, channeling his true breath through it, and basically shook the Azure Jade apart by sheer force…”

Ming Ji was speaking casually, the scene she described sprang up crystal-clear in his mind. Li Xun felt cold sweat sliding down his back.

And that wasn’t even the worst of it. Ming Ji frowned and went on, “The sword techniques of our sect are called ‘Sword Incantations. They are not like the sword doctrines of Xingji or Heavenly Demon Sword Sects. Ours focus on using the sword to draw in and guide qi, and commanding the blade with pure spirit. At its core, it’s the highest grade of spirit-refining, qi-manipulating path.

“You already reached complete harmony of sword and qi twenty years ago. You stopped relying on the blade itself to defeat enemies long ago. So how did you end up allowing two sword edges to collide and let that ruin your sword?”

Li Xun kept his head down, not daring to look up. What the hell was he supposed to say? Tell Ming Ji the truth? That back then he was using the Blood-Shadow Demon Body, so he couldn’t pull off a single proper move from the Mingxin Sword Sect? That in that life-or-death moment, he’d basically just treated the Azure Jade like a goddamn shield and threw it up to block?

Looking at Li Xun like this, Ming Ji couldn’t even muster real anger. She knew him too well. The kid’s mind was sharp as a blade, always reading the room, always knowing exactly how deep the water was. He’d never been the type to need scolding or constant supervision. Ever since she’d taken over guiding him after Lin Ge died, she’d almost never raised her voice at him, never come down hard. Today, letting a little displeasure slip out actually felt… weird to her. Unnatural. Like wearing someone else’s clothes. She was feeling uneasy herself.

After a moment of silence, she softened her voice. “You have exceptional talent and an iron will; I shouldn’t even need to say this stuff. The only reason I’m bringing it up is because your situation isn’t like the other disciples. Besides mastering our sect’s own cultivation methods, you’ve gone off collecting techniques from other schools, digging deep into forbidden methods.

“Even if your approach to making forbidden methods complement each other is quite impressive, splitting your focus like that… it’s still not the same as putting your whole heart and mind into one path without distractions.”

Li Xun saw that she’d misunderstood. And he was relieved as hell that she thought his distraction came from researching the forbidden path. He quickly bobbed his head, agreeing with her. But then, out of nowhere, Ming Ji let out a sudden “Pfft” and burst into laughter. Li Xun looked up in surprise, and that rare, bewildered look of his only made her laugh harder.

She laughed for quite a while before returning to her usual calm self. She shook her head. “As expected, I am not suited to play the cold, stern master. Giving long lectures is terribly boring. And you, as a disciple, look entirely too weird… Whatever, forget it!”

Seeing that her mood had lifted, Li Xun finally relaxed a little. He was just about to strike while the iron was hot and smooth this whole issue over quickly when she suddenly remembered the earlier question. “Right,” she said, tilting her head. “Who exactly were you fighting ?”

Li Xun felt his scalp tighten. Only then did he realize it would not be so easy to bluff his way through. Luckily that brief pause gave him time to think up an excuse. He scratched his head and said, “Quite a few people, actually… But the ones I actually fought were Xu Kang from the Heavenly Demon Sword Sect, and one of his junior brothers… a guy named Luo. I ran into them while I was tangled up with a swarm of ghosts. Things are a mess in the southwest.”

“The southwest?”

Ming Ji looked thoughtful. Li Xun had no idea whether this would make her connect the dots to why he’d been “late” in the first place. On the surface, though, things still didn’t seem too bad.

After a moment of silence, Ming Ji finally said, “If it was the Heavenly Demon Sword Sect, that makes sense. The ‘Hummingbird Quick Sword’ sounds simple, but without perfect unity between body and blade, no one could control that weapon. In this realm , the only sects that truly specialize in sword cultivation are the Heavenly Demon Sword Sect and the Xingji Sword Sect. You got lucky… first you taste their Heavenly Demon sword techniques, and right after that you run into the Star River restrictions…”

Li Xun wiped away a cold sweat on the sly. Good thing he had been cautious and used his run-in with the Heavenly Demon Sword Sect in the southwest as his cover. Otherwise there was no way he would have passed this easily.

While that thought was still in his mind, he saw Ming Ji looking at him. Her gaze seemed light and calm, yet sharp like a blade. His heart jumped. Before he could think, that piercing look faded into a small smile.

She very carefully slid the two broken halves of the sword back into the scabbard, but made no move to return it to Li Xun. She only said, “It’s getting late. Go get some rest. Tomorrow I’ll go to the sect’s treasury and fetch you a new sword. And this time, try not to let someone snap it in two.”

Li Xun thanked her, although his eyes stayed fixed on the broken green-jade sword in Ming Ji’s hand. In the end, he tested the waters and asked, “Fourth Martial Aunt, why not let me keep that sword? When I have time, I can go to Qianfan City and find a top-tier swordsmith to restore it…”

Ming Ji tapped him on the shoulder with the scabbard. “And you’re the only one with connections? Are you saying my network is worse than yours? You don’t need to worry about this sword. I’ll handle it. What you need to worry about is training with me tomorrow. Otherwise, the next time you face a real expert, the thing getting snapped won’t be your sword, it’ll be your neck!”

The more Ming Ji played up her role as an elder and martial aunt, the more relaxed and approachable she seemed. Li Xun understood that, and warmth rose in his chest. He was just about to agree when he remembered his plans with Qi Bi and the others. He could only awkwardly explain things to Ming Ji.

“In that case, we’ll put it off for now,” she said. “There’s plenty of time in the days ahead, isn’t there?”

Using the phrase “there’s plenty of time ahead” here sounded a bit odd, and the look on Ming Ji’s face… there was something different in it.

Before Li Xun could think about it further, Ming Ji waved her hand and turned to leave.

Li Xun followed her to the door and stood there for a while, stunned. Something about Ming Ji tonight felt off. It was like she was holding something back, which wasn’t like her at all. She was always upfront and straightforward. Even the way she took her leave felt rushed… Could things really be about to take such a bad turn?