The Sword Dynasty

“Still not here.” He did not turn around as he said to Zhang Luyang, “I told you that she would not come.”

Zhang Luyang looked up and opened his mouth like a fish about to die of thirst. He gazed up at the last sliver of sunlight in the sky. But even he knew the result. He knew she would not come.

“Why is it like this?”

The last wisp of light in his eyes completely disappeared.

Jing Liuli looked at this man. She felt a bit sad and sympathetic.

“Do not let him die.” Ding Ning’s low voice passed into her ears at this moment.

Jing Liuli raised her eyes slightly and still did not quite understand. Yet at this time, she felt a sword essence.

Zhang Luyang was still kneeling but his body leaned forward. A glowing sword light appeared in his hand like the color of morning dew on tea leaves. This sword light did not stab towards Ding Ning but his own chest.

Jing Liuli suddenly understood the feeling of grief greater than death. She stomped her foot. Blades of grass flew, gentle but with an elevated presence, to attack Zhang Luyang’s sword.

With a clear sound, Zhang Luyang’s glowing sword light was shot to the ground.

The surroundings were in an uproar. The people who were already tired and impatient immediately gasped when they saw this change.

“You lost, not because you do not understand, but because you are not willing to believe. Is it worth it to die like this?”

Ding Ning slowly turned around and looked calmly at Zhang Luyang. He said, “You are trapped in this tea garden. This tea garden is a prison to you. I do not believe you never had thoughts of leaving here.”

Zhang Luyang did not speak. His expression could not be seen in the darkness.

Ding Ning looked away from him and glanced at Jing Liuli. “Let’s go.”

Jing Liuli followed him obediently like a real attendant. Only when she drove the carriage slowly out of the tea garden did she whisper. “Why did you have me rescue Zhang Luyang?”

“So what if he dies, that is straightforward.” Ding Ning said softly, “But if he lives... it is a kind of constant suffering.”

Jing Liuli thought for a moment and said, “So you feel if Zhang Luyang lives today, his effect on Palace Attendant Rong will be greater than if he dies?”

“Yes.” Ding Ning simply replied.

When the carriage was leaving the tea garden, Palace Attendant Rong was still standing under the eaves. The closing events of the tea garden reached her ears.

She knew Zhang Luyang had not died, and survived. But inexplicably, when she heard that Jing Liuli had stopped Zhang Luyang’s suicide attempt, she felt no joy. Her heart dropped into an even deeper abyss.

There seemed to be a demon king in the deeper abyss with the same face as Ding Ning. He grabbed onto her heart now and was devouring it in large bites. Her body was empty and powerless. Changling and the imperial palace, having just entered darkness, seemed to be empty. She seemed to have lost everything she had ever possessed in Changling.

“Honestly speaking, he surprised me, but if I were Baili Suxue, I definitely would have him return to Min Mountain Sword Sect, and not let him rampage through Changling,” The black-robed man looked at Shao Sharen on the bridge and said sincerely as he left in the darkness.

Shao Sharen knew his meaning but only looked coldly at him and said, “You do not qualify to discuss Baili Suxue.”

The black-robed man’s expression suddenly turned cold. Strange hissing sounds came from his black sword. Even so, he turned and left without a word in the end.

At a river port not far from where the black-robed man and Shao Sharen were standing, two women stood together. The thin water mist floating off the river draped the pair like silk.

“This is Xu Fenqin,” Ye Celeng looked at where the man had disappeared and said to Bai Shanshui next to her, “a former fisherman of the Jiaodong Commandery. Zheng Xiu taught him the Killing Sword of the Ba Mountain Sword Field.”

Bai Shanshui smiled proudly and said, “So Zheng Xiu’s top thug is like this.”

“Top killer, not top thug.” Ye Celeng corrected her.

“So he is the person who will protect Liang Lian while leaving Changling.” Bai Shanshui said coolly, “I will kill him.”

“I have more and more confidence in him.”

“I believe he can help me rescue the people from the Great Floating Water Prison. So I will agree to his matter, and help him kill Liang Lian.”

**

“What are you thinking about?”

As the carriage moved through the streets of Changling, Ding Ning did not say much, just like usual. But today, Jing Liuli felt that Ding Ning was exceptionally quiet.

“There is about a fortnight before I have the capability to win against Palace Attendant Rong. In this time, I do not hope she comes to find me,” Ding Ning said.

Jing Liuli frowned. “You can reach realm five in these days?”

Ding Ning ignored her words and whispered. “I’m thinking of Wang Taixu and my senior sect brother.”

“Wang Taixu is taking a detour and may have just arrived.” Jing Liuli turned to glance at him and said, “Zhang Yi should have arrived for a while.”

**

Celestial Seal Sect

The water in an ancient well clearly reflected the moon in the sky. Zhang Yi put down the water buckets he was carrying. He looked at the reflection of the moon, and his own reflection in the water. He gradually felt slightly abashed and entranced.

In Celestial Seal Sect’s test, his performance had been mediocre. Even he did not understand how he managed to pass the test and become a disciple here.

Also, after entering Celestial Seal Sect, his performance had been the most mediocre. Many times, he had been punished because he could not complete the homework that his teachers left him.

Like today, because he had made a mistake in the simplest of seal scripts and accidentally broke numerous water tanks, he had been punished to carry water for all of Celestial Seal Sect. Thinking of his little sect brother who had been so glorious in the Min Mountain Sword Trials, he felt comforted. He missed the other, and also felt slightly ashamed.

“The eldest sect brother of White Goat Cave, someone who entered the top ten of Min Mountain Sword Trials has fallen to such straits. Is it that you are not suited to the Yan lands, or this Celestial Seal Sect?”

A voice sounded.

Zhang Yi suddenly shook. He felt this voice was very familiar. He followed the voice and when he saw the speaker, he was stunned.

Then he saw the robes the person wore. After many breaths, he said in disbelief, “Su Qin... you are also here?”

“This world is really too small. I came to Celestial Seal Sect, and did not expect you to come as well.”

In the darkness, that person smiled at Zhang Yi. “But I seem to be more suited to Celestial Seal Sect than you. I am already allowed to enter the True Seal Palace.”