Bright Moonlit Journey - Chapter 3

Chapter 3

When I went to the dining hall for breakfast, the Fat Senior Brother serving food gave me an extra half ladle of rice porridge. His eyes were filled with a strange, pitying affection.

I silently accepted the bowl and thought to myself, My luck is great today.

After breakfast, I went to listen to Master’s lecture. The senior brothers and sisters around me all looked at me strangely and automatically cleared out a vacuum-like circle around me.

Master was up front explaining how “the Way of Heaven acts through nonaction.” When his gaze swept over me, it seemed to carry a complicated sort of hesitation, as if he wanted to say something but held back.

In the afternoon, as usual, I sat in Jingxin Courtyard, spacing out in the name of cultivation.

The restriction on the courtyard gate started buzzing again.

No need to guess. It had to be Ling Zhouxun.

I slowly went to open the door. Sure enough, it was him.

He looked much more normal today. At least his eyes were no longer red. His expression was still a little foul, though, and he held his sword with his lips pressed into a tight line.

“Shen Jiaojiao.” He called my name, his voice stiff and blunt.

I answered and waited for him to continue.

Did he want to spar again? What move should I use today?

I had come up with a new one yesterday. It could plant a person into the flowerbed with only their head sticking out. Perfect chance to try it.

But Ling Zhouxun did not draw his sword. He only glared at me for a long while before finally forcing out, “I wasn’t crying before.”

For a moment, I did not understand what he was talking about.

“Yesterday, that was… sword energy filling my eyes!” It was as though he had found a very suitable excuse, and even his voice grew louder.

“My cultivation hit a bottleneck, and I couldn’t control my sword energy. It overflowed from my eyes!”

I blinked. Was that a thing? Sword cultivators really were strange.

“Then you’re pretty impressive,” I replied.

Ling Zhouxun seemed choked by my reaction. Gritting his teeth, he said, “Also, I didn’t split the mountain because of you!”

That, I agreed with. He had indeed split the mountain himself.

“I was-I had some sudden insight while practicing the sword, my sword energy surged, and I tested it casually!”

The more he spoke, the smoother he got. Even he started believing it. “Yes. That’s exactly what happened!”

“Okay.” I nodded.

Ling Zhouxun looked at my expression, which probably said, Are you done? His handsome face turned a little blue again.

He abruptly spun around as if to leave, then stopped. With his back to me, he tossed out in a muffled voice,

“In the future, I’ll still come find you to spar!”

After saying that, he practically fled. Even his sword light flew crookedly.

I closed the door, even more certain now: sword cultivators were not only mentally fragile, their brains might not be very clear either.

But what did that last sentence mean? He was still coming?

Sigh. What a bother.

In the days that followed, Ling Zhouxun did indeed come more often.

He no longer mentioned anything about feelings or love. The moment he arrived, he simply drew his sword. “Shen Jiaojiao, spar with me!”

Then I “sent” him away in all sorts of positions.

The rumors in the sect changed direction again.

“Is Senior Brother Ling… getting braver with every defeat?”

“Could it be that Senior Sister Shen’s blows have made his Dao heart even firmer?”

“I say it’s an ill-fated bond. Definitely an ill-fated bond…”

I did not care about the rumors. I only felt that although Ling Zhouxun’s brain was not very good, he was rather persistent.

As expected of a genius sword cultivator. Even his willpower was a few notches higher than ordinary people’s.

Besides, with him coming regularly to spar with me, I discovered that my use of spiritual power seemed to have grown a little more flexible.

In the past, I only knew how to blast people straight away. Now I could add some variety.

This was probably what Master meant by practice brings true knowledge.

One day, Ling Zhouxun was once again caught by the Binding Rope I had newly researched. It wrapped around both his feet, and he struggled desperately.

I crouched beside him and looked at his handsome face, now smeared with dirt. For once, I felt a bit curious.

“Ling Zhouxun,” I asked him, “you clearly can’t beat me every time. Why do you keep coming?”

“Besides, I’m a spiritual cultivator and you’re a sword cultivator. There isn’t much point in us sparring in the first place.”

Ling Zhouxun’s struggling paused. He lifted his head. His hair was a little messy across his forehead, but his eyes still held a young man’s brightness.

“Because you’re the most talented person in the sect!” he said, perfectly justified. “If I want to surpass you, I have to defeat you first!”

So that was it? I nodded, half understanding.

So it was for the sake of becoming stronger.

That reason sounded much more reliable than “sword energy filling my eyes.”

I reached out, intending to use spiritual power to help Ling Zhouxun undo the Binding Rope.

But he misunderstood. His gaze sharpened, and thinking I was about to attack, he instinctively swung his sword to block.

Sword energy swept past and cut off a handful of my hair.

We both froze.

He looked at my falling strands of hair. His face went deathly pale, and even his voice turned panicked.

“I… I didn’t do it on purpose! Are you all right?”

I touched the place where my hair had been cut and shook my head. “I’m fine. It’s just hair. It’ll grow back.”

But he looked deeply upset. He even forgot to struggle. Lowering his head, he said in a muffled voice, “I’m sorry.”

Then he put away his sword, silently found a way to untie himself, and left covered in dirt, stumbling with one step deep and the next shallow.

He even forgot his usual line about coming back next time to spar.

I watched his retreating back and felt even more confused.

This person was truly the strangest person I had ever met.

Even stranger than the monkey in the back mountain that always tried to steal spirit fruit, only to get bounced away by the formation every single time.