Bright Moonlit Journey - Chapter 2

Chapter 2

From then on, Ling Zhouxun seemed to have it out for me. Every few days, he would come charging over to Jingxin Courtyard to challenge me to a spar.

“Shen Jiaojiao! Come out and fight me for another three hundred rounds!”

He shouted from outside the courtyard, his voice bright and clear, filled with the stubborn defiance unique to a young man.

I was usually busy. Busy watching clouds, or watching ants-

The ants on an immortal mountain were rather large, and the things they carried were strange too. Quite interesting, actually.

Ling Zhouxun refused to give up and started hacking at the barrier around my courtyard gate with sword energy.

The barrier made a rather noisy tremor.

I had no choice but to go out.

The moment I stepped outside, I saw him standing there with sword in hand, posture straight and proud.

To be fair, Ling Zhouxun was indeed good-looking, like one of those little lucky children painted on New Year prints.

“Senior Sister Shen, please enlighten me!” His gaze was sharp, his fighting spirit blazing.

I gave a sound of acknowledgment, raised my hand, and generally finished things in no more than three moves.

Sometimes, I used spiritual power to pin him in place, leaving him frozen for ages in the middle of a sword swing.

Sometimes, I summoned a strange gust of wind that blew his Daoist robes into disarray and knocked his hair crown askew.

The harshest time, I found him too noisy, so I sealed his mouth with a Silencing Spell, hung him upside down from the crooked tree outside my courtyard, and let him sway there for the time it took an incense stick to burn.

All sorts of rumors began spreading through the sect.

“Junior Brother Ling got beaten up by Senior Sister Shen again!”

“I heard he was carried back today frozen into an ice block.”

“Senior Sister Shen’s Ruthless Dao really is formidable…”

“Shh, keep it down. Junior Brother Ling is looking this way…”

After it happened enough times, even the Sect Master heard about it.

One day, the Sect Master summoned me and said tactfully, “Jiaojiao, Zhouxun is, after all, the Sword Peak Elder’s precious darling. Next time… maybe go a little easier on him? Leave your junior brother some dignity?”

I looked at my master blankly. “He was the one who wanted to start fighting.”

The Sect Master’s mouth twitched. He waved me away.

That day, Ling Zhouxun came again.

This time, he seemed especially different. He did not shout, nor did he hack at the gate with sword energy.

He simply stood outside my courtyard gate, quiet and still.

I had just finished watching the ants carry away some pastry crumbs and was about to head back inside to sleep. When I opened the door, I saw him standing beneath the moonlight.

The young man had grown taller again, with broad shoulders and long legs. His thin lips were pressed tightly together.

I said nothing and waited for him to shout “spar” as usual.

But he did not move. He only stared at me fixedly, his chest rising and falling several times before he finally spoke in a hoarse voice.

“Shen Jiaojiao, since you cultivate the Ruthless Dao, does that mean you’ll never understand… what love is?”

Love?

That word had come up during the Sect Master’s lectures. He said it was a great taboo in cultivation, a deadly poison that must never be touched.

I recalled my master’s teachings and considered my own situation. Then I nodded with absolute certainty and honesty.

I even added a sentence, trying to make things clearer for him. “Master said it is poison. Touching it will hinder cultivation.”

Though I did not quite understand why it was poison, Master was never wrong.

Ling Zhouxun looked at me, his eyes quickly reddening. He seemed aggrieved, or perhaps angry. In any case, I could not understand it.

I tilted my head, a little puzzled.

Was he crying because he could not beat me? Were sword cultivators all this fragile?

The next second, he abruptly drew the sword at his waist and slashed viciously at an innocent mountain peak nearby-

“Boom!!!”

A deafening crash rang out. The earth shook, rocks flew, and dust filled the air.

When I waved away the dirt in front of me and looked over, I saw that the small mountain peak had actually been split open by his sword, nearly half of it cleaved away by force.

Ling Zhouxun stood where he was with sword in hand, his chest heaving violently, his eyes red as he glared straight at me.

Then, without saying a word, he spun around and turned into a streak of sword light, vanishing with a whoosh.

I stood there, staring at the cleaved mountain, and blinked.

Only one thought crossed my mind: What incredible strength. He had come purely to provoke me.

The next morning, I got up as usual and prepared to go to the dining hall for breakfast.

As soon as I stepped outside, I noticed that every junior brother and sister I met on the road was looking at me strangely.

There was a bit of curiosity mixed into their awe, and a bit of sympathy mixed into their curiosity.

I even heard their hushed whispers:

“Did you hear? Senior Brother Ling went to Jingxin Courtyard last night!”

“And then? What happened?”

“Then Senior Sister Shen… bullied him until he cried!”

“Seriously? He c-cried?”

“Absolutely true! He cried so miserably, and while crying, he split Wangyue Peak to vent his anger! My heavens, half the mountain is gone!”

“Senior Sister’s Ruthless Dao is truly terrifying beyond belief!”

Me: “…?”

What did I do?

I had only… answered a question.

Also, Ling Zhouxun was the one who split the mountain. Why were they saying I bullied him? Wasn’t he showing off how much stronger he had gotten?

Holding my empty rice bowl, I stood in the middle of the road and looked at Wangyue Peak, which was now missing half its body.

For the first time, I felt that the people in this sect might not be quite right in the head.

Except for me.