A Faceful of Indian Hawthorn Water - Chapter 1

Chapter 1

The Pure Yang Sword Sect had an unwritten rule: it only accepted male disciples.

From top to bottom, every one of them had to be chaste men, using their own yang energy to practice the sword. Women were what they considered most taboo.

First, women had too little yang and too much yin, making them unsuitable for the Chunyang Sword Technique. Second, they feared that if their disciples lost their virginity, their yang would be damaged and they would be at a disadvantage in battle.

Women were their greatest taboo.

They faithfully followed the creed that if there were no women in one’s heart, one’s drawn sword would naturally become divine. Their only lifelong companion was the sword.

And I, unfortunately, am a woman with a pure yang body.

My yang energy is so vigorous that not practicing the Chunyang Sword Technique would truly be a waste of talent.

So my eldest sister raised me as a boy from childhood.

“Your five spiritual roots are mixed and impure. If you follow the conventional path, even reaching Foundation Establishment will be difficult. But you were born with a pure yang body, which can be called a blessing in misfortune.”

“Ah Sheng, you have only one path to take: the Pure Yang Sword Sect.”

My eldest sister carefully made all manner of arrangements for me, used a magical artifact to conceal my identity, and sent me into the Pure Yang Sword Sect.

No one noticed anything unusual about my sex. From the moment I entered the sect, I was regarded as a once-in-a-generation genius.

Not only did Master Ziyang personally emerge from five hundred years of seclusion to accept me as his disciple, he also gave me a mountain of heavenly treasures.

Including, among other things… Senior Grand Disciple Shen Junchi, who was assigned to teach me.

The Pure Yang Sword Sect’s chief disciple, the Nascent Soul prodigy Shen Junchi-I had long heard his name.

He had made his name young, with unparalleled sword intent. The elders valued him, his peers admired him, and he was a flower on a distant peak, aloof and unsullied by the world.

Dressed in fitted blue-and-white robes, with layered sashes bound around his waist, he looked all the more straight-backed and upright. He was like a sword himself, sharp and dazzling.

Seeing his cool yet courteous expression, I found the reputation entirely deserved.

After Master accepted me, he handed me over to Shen Junchi for instruction. Every day I followed behind him, calling “Senior Grand Disciple” this and “Senior Grand Disciple” that.

He held nothing back in his teaching, instructing me with care and seriousness.

And not just swordsmanship-he managed every detail of my daily life in impeccable order.

He was an utterly responsible senior brother.

But he was observant to a frightening degree. I only got my monthly period and spent two days with yin flourishing and yang declining, and he had already grown suspicious.

Once I reached Foundation Establishment and severed the Red Dragon, there would be no flaws left to expose me. But right now I was only at the seventh stage of Qi Refining, so I could only hurry and think of a way to handle it.

In what situation would a man have flourishing yin and declining yang? Only if… he had been overindulging in self-pleasure…

So when he questioned me, I put on a guilty, embarrassed expression and stammered for quite a while, barely managing to bluff my way through.

Shen Junchi looked as though he wanted to say something but held himself back, staring at me like I was something filthy.

“No matter how exceptional your talent is, you shouldn’t waste yourself like this.”

I lowered my head and answered meekly, “Senior Grand Disciple, you don’t understand. My yang energy is too abundant. If I don’t vent it, the internal heat burns too fiercely. It’s hard to bear.”

His brows knit tightly, as if he wanted to scold me on the spot, but then he remembered my one-of-a-kind pure yang body and thought perhaps it really was possible.

In the end, he could only swallow his anger.

But it came every month with clockwork regularity. On top of that, I disliked physical contact with others, and I never went to the communal bath.

Shen Junchi wasn’t stupid. He began testing me…

That day, he came over with a gentle expression and brought some illustrated booklets, saying that since he understood how difficult it was for me to calm my internal heat, he had specially found something to help reduce the fire.

The covers looked plain and unremarkable, but the obscene scenes inside made my face burn red.

“Senior Grand Disciple… can you let me look at them by myself…?”

He studied my expression, his eyes full of scrutiny. “Oh…? Have a look first and see if they suit your tastes. If not, I’ll go exchange them.”

“Senior Grand Disciple…” I shot him a shy, bashful glance, and he immediately retreated two steps and fled in panic as though he’d seen some savage demon.

Ha. I escaped another calamity.

With my hands on my hips, I perked up my fake ** and felt immensely pleased with myself.

Most things in the cultivation world carried spiritual energy. This kind of mechanism could move without using spiritual energy, making it difficult for cultivators to notice. A perfect blind spot.

As expected of me. Clever and resourceful.