Taming the Merman - Chapter 7

Lan Shiyu did not stop talking once on the journey home, as though determined to make up for all the conversations we had never had.

My head buzzed, but after accepting his gift I could hardly turn cold. I forced myself to respond.

By the time we reached the sect, he had begun asking about the junior brother who had requested directions from me precisely one thousand five hundred and twenty-six days ago, during the Si hour.

Only a lunatic could invent such a question. He had to be tormenting me on purpose.

Fortunately, our junior disciples surrounded him soon after we arrived.

Of course they did. Everyone adored Eldest Senior Brother.

While he was trapped, I leaped onto my sword and shot straight back to my cave dwelling.

Meteorite iron, demon core, broken sword, and all the scraps I had hoarded—everything was ready.

Time to fire the furnace!

Tempering the sword took a long time. As I watched the meteorite iron slowly vanish into its blade, I remembered meeting the weapon in the Sword Tomb.

Most swords there possessed spirits, so cultivator and weapon chose each other.

That was how the greatest joke of my life began.

I chose the broken sword. The broken sword chose Lan Shiyu. Lan Shiyu rejected it.

“Though this is a fine sword,” he had said, “it does not suit me.”

Only much later, after he used his beautiful Clear Water Sword in a match, did I understand his true meaning.

Good sword. Too ugly.

At the time, I did not know Lan Shiyu cared so much about appearances. I thought he was showing off.

He had followed a short distance behind me from the moment we entered the tomb. There were countless branching paths, and disciples normally separated to avoid conflict. Lan Shiyu alone had trailed me without shame.

Back then, I still had some manners. I envied him, but I did not yet despise him, so I kept my discomfort to myself.

My courtesy was rewarded with merciless betrayal.

A sword cultivator shared a mysterious sense with the weapon best suited to them. When I reached the end of the path, I knew at once that the fire-poker-like wreck was mine.

It initially flew toward me—then saw Lan Shiyu, veered aside, and began circling him like a peacock displaying its feathers. It had plainly changed its mind and wanted him as its master.

Furious and humiliated, I nearly walked away. But my instincts insisted there would be no sword in the entire tomb better suited to me.

The broken sword and I had one thing in common: we were both stubborn.

I refused to give it up, and it refused to give up Lan Shiyu.

There was only one traditional sword-cultivator solution.

We fought for seven days and seven nights.

I had no proper weapon, and the once-divine sword had lost its former glory. In short, we were two weaklings pecking at each other.

At dawn on the eighth day, the sword collapsed first. Looking like a vengeful ghost, I forced myself to stay conscious, fed it my blood, and made it recognize me as master.

After seven days it lacked the strength to resist and had gained a measure of respect for me, so it accepted the bond.

What should have been a smooth search had become a week of torment merely because Lan Shiyu appeared.

My resentment ignited.

It was bad enough that he coasted through life like a cheat. Why did he have to interfere with mine?

He must have been provoking me deliberately.

So I began seeking him out, trying to reclaim my dignity. Naturally, I lost every time, after which he humiliated me by asking when I would come challenge him again.

Before long, I hated him in earnest.

Over time, “How can I defeat him?” consumed me so completely that I forgot how our conflict had begun.

Looking back now…

I watched the valuable meteorite iron melt into my sword and decided the old incident had not been so terrible.

Let it go, Xie Wanfeng.

Neither of us had mentioned that month, because doing so would be mortifying. But after I had nearly sucked the poor man raw and he had said nothing, continuing to torment him seemed unreasonable.

The instant the meteorite iron fused completely, I made a decision.

I would never trouble Lan Shiyu again.

I meant it. From now on, I would walk the other way whenever I saw him.