"...I'm afraid I don't know you."
That single line from Mu Xia's mouth was enough to freeze Chen Jingyi's smile in place. His lips trembled, caught completely off guard by such a merciless rejection. Beside him, his junior brother tried to step in and salvage the awkward moment.
"...Come on, Junior Sister Mu. We've known each other for years. You even came to visit our sect back then..."
"Yi Feng!"
Before he could finish, Chen Jingyi shouted for him to stop, trying to signal to his junior brother, who clearly had no idea what was going on.
Wasn't that the very day he'd turned Mu Xia away, coldly and without a shred of mercy!
Why did this clueless junior brother have to go and reopen that old wound!?
"...Oh? Did something like that really happen?"
Mu Xia's eyes grew colder by the second. What had started as the look of a stranger now carried the first traces of something closer to hatred.
"Mu Xia... it was my fault, before."
Chen Jingyi tried to soften her, stepping closer with a pained expression.
"Why don't we go somewhere and talk this out? I know a good teahouse..."
"Go away."
Mu Xia did not even wait for him to finish. She turned her back without a second glance and called for her fellow disciples to walk away with her.
Thud!
But the path was not as clear as they had thought. Dozens of Virtue Sword Sect disciples appeared, blocking their way forward. Su Lin's brow furrowed as she turned back and glared at Chen Jingyi.
"What's the meaning of this?"
"This..."
"Didn't I already say there's no need to waste time talking?"
At that moment, a girl's voice rang out from behind the group of disciples. They parted down the middle as a figure in brightly colored robes stepped through, and every Virtue Sword Sect disciple pressed their palms together in a deferential, perfectly synchronized bow.
"Yaoyao..."
Chen Jingyi's expression stiffened the moment he realized who it was. He walked straight over, took the girl's hand, and spoke in a coaxing voice.
"Weren't you supposed to be waiting for me back at the sect?"
His show of concern drew a soft, disdainful huff from Mu Xia. She stopped paying them any attention and turned to walk away, but it seemed the Virtue Sword Sect was not finished with them yet — the disciples still surrounded them on every side, refusing to let them pass.
"Move..."
Mu Xia, her patience gone, said it in an icy voice. Her fierce glare made the male disciple blocking her way flinch and look around for help.
"Let's talk this through first."
Chen Jingyi stepped forward with the young woman he had called Yaoyao. There was no need to guess — from the way everyone treated her, she could only be the young princess, the sect head's one and only daughter.
"We have nothing left to talk about."
Mu Xia refused to budge. But just then, Yaoyao's expression soured, and she turned to ask her husband:
"Dear, do we really have to do this?"
In front of his wife, Chen Jingyi put on a show of reluctance, but the look in his eyes as he stared at Mu Xia said something else entirely. He could not understand why, after all this time apart, the girl he had once known looked so much more captivating now. He cleared his throat softly, gestured toward Mu Xia, and said:
"Mu Xia... can we go back to how things used to be?"
"..."
"...What do you mean by that?"
"Our relationship... going back to what it used to be."
Mu Xia had not expected him to say something like that, right in front of the Virtue Sword Sect's young princess, no less.
"Go back to how it used to be? What exactly were we, back then?"
Mu Xia was, without question, someone who remembered every wound. She was not about to let some childish notion of love blind her to what he had done. She had never once forgotten the day he turned his back and left her behind.
"Before, it was my fault... If you give me another chance, the three of us could be together..."
"The three of us...?"
She understood now. Mu Xia's brow lifted, and she looked between Chen Jingyi and Yaoyao with open disgust.
This was what they wanted?
For me to come live as a concubine, shared between the two of them?
This had to be the Virtue Sword Sect head's order, then...
"...You insult me."
"Stop playing hard to get! It's an honor that the Virtue Sword Sect's heir would even accept you as a concubine. Aren't you secretly thrilled?"
Spoiled since childhood, the Virtue Sword Sect's young princess had never had much patience. Her face twisted, and her voice carried loud enough for every onlooker gathered to enjoy the show to hear clearly.
"A concubine... she's a disciple of the Alchemy Palace?"
"Now that's real luck. Isn't this what they call a gift falling straight out of the sky?"
"Why hasn't she said yes already? The Virtue Sword Sect is second only to Wild Bloom. Marry in as concubine to the future sect head, and she'd be set for life..."
The onlookers, with no real understanding of the situation or its history, whispered among themselves with relish. Some were even envious of Mu Xia's supposed fortune, with no idea what she had actually been through.
"...I refuse."
Mu Xia's voice was cold enough to be ice itself. Every Virtue Sword Sect disciple tightened their grip on the weapons at their waists. It seemed her refusal was not going to be the end of it.
"Just come back with me quietly, and don't make this any more troublesome." Yaoyao turned and signaled for the sect disciples to tighten the encirclement. No one noticed the strange, knowing smile that had crept onto the corner of her mouth.
"..."
Chen Jingyi seemed to be the only one who understood what it meant. He gazed at the face of the girl he had once loved, regret written across his own. If only she had accepted his offer, things could have been so much simpler.
"Get out of my way!"
When they still refused to clear a path, Mu Xia's patience finally ran out. She gave the chest of the male disciple in front of her a light shove with her palm.
But unbelievably, it sent him flying several meters back, a stream of blood spraying from his mouth!
Gah!?
The disciple writhed on the ground, blood pouring from his mouth until his robes were soaked through. The crowd of onlookers cried out in shock, never expecting such a brazen act of violence to break out in the middle of the street.
"Junior Brother Mo!"
Yaoyao, who had been standing perfectly still until now, rushed over to check on the young man. She pressed her fingers to his pulse for a moment before looking up at Mu Xia with fury in her eyes.
"Why would you hurt him this badly!"
"...I—"
Mu Xia herself had no idea what had just happened. All she had done was give him a light push with ordinary physical strength. She had not channeled a single trace of qi or inner power.
Then why had he been sent flying, as though I'd struck him with everything I had?
"..."
But while she stood there in confusion, Su Lin's hand closed around her wrist to steady her. Some silent signal from her senior sister snapped her back to focus, and Mu Xia realized something was not right.
"Let me take a look at him."
If she hadn't done this herself, then there was only one explanation.
These people were staging this to frame her!
So she needed to see for herself whether the man was truly injured. But Yaoyao was not about to allow that. She flung out a hand to block her, then turned to order the Virtue Sword Sect disciples nearby.
"Haven't you hurt him enough already!?...Get your junior brother back for treatment, now."
"..."
That confirmed it! And if she let them take the injured disciple away now, she'd never have a chance to prove her innocence again!
"Mu Xia... I don't want to do this, but it looks like you'll have to come with us now."
Chen Jingyi made it look like he had no other choice, like this was the last thing he wanted. And yet his hand drew the sword at his waist without hesitation, leveling the blade at the face of the girl he had once loved.
"..."
So this was their backup plan?
If she let things play out as they were now, that was exactly how it would end — the Virtue Sword Sect using this incident as an excuse to demand compensation from the Alchemy Palace. On the surface, it was a rather clever plan.
If Mu Xia had agreed from the start, the Virtue Sword Sect would have secured ties to the resurging Goddess Alchemy Palace. And since it was only a concubine's position, whatever came of it afterward could be brushed off and discarded without consequence.
And if she refused, it would come to this — staging a scene that made Mu Xia the guilty party, then demanding compensation, since word had already spread through the city that the Goddess Alchemy Palace had just come into a considerable fortune.
Given the choice between making an enemy of the city's second most powerful sect or handing over treasure, the Goddess Alchemy Palace of old would never have risked it — they would have surrendered the treasure without a fight.
Yes. If this were the Goddess Alchemy Palace of before...
"Xinhong, Xinjia... I've dragged you both into trouble..."
Mu Xia turned back to her two junior sisters, paying no mind at all to the sword still leveled at her throat.
"...It's fine. We're not about to let anyone push us around either, not anymore."
The two girls smiled bravely, though they trembled faintly as dozens of weapons turned toward them.
"Just a couple of Martial Artists..."
The Virtue Sword Sect disciples were growing irritated at being ignored as though they did not exist. At last, on a signal from Yaoyao, one of them lunged forward bare-handed, aiming to snatch up both sisters at once!
Gah!?
Thwack!
"...Huh?"
But just as he was about to close his grip on their collars, Xinjia and Xinhong spun away in opposite directions out of pure fear. Eyes squeezed shut, the two girls kicked back on pure instinct, landing a pair of beautifully placed blows straight to his face!
"...What was that?"
Even the two who had done it could hardly believe their own bodies. The man who had lunged at them was leagues above their cultivation level — under normal circumstances, the sheer pressure of that gap alone should have left them frozen, unable to move at all.
But this time, they had not felt a trace of that pressure!
And the moment they stirred the qi in their bodies, unused for over a week...
Rumble...
The pressure of compressed qi rippled outward in a wide burst! It was not much to speak of, but it was proof enough — the two girls had fully broken through to Martial Master!
"Could it be because..."
The training had actually worked!
The two of them turned to look at each other. It seemed all those grueling days of running had not let them down after all. What neither of them realized was that the real reason for their breakthrough was not the running at all — it was the blue water they had been drinking since the third or fourth day!
"Breaking through now won't help you..."
Feeling the spotlight slip away from her bit by bit, Yaoyao drew a thorned red whip from her waist. She unleashed a burst of Grandmaster-level qi and lashed it down on Xinjia and Xinhong without mercy!
Snap!
A pale, delicate-looking hand shot out of nowhere and caught the whip in a grip so tight that Yaoyao stumbled off balance. It was Mu Xia — though no one, not even Mu Xia herself, knew when or how she had moved fast enough to appear there!
"Just like little Grandmaster Hui'er said..."
Mu Xia muttered something no one else understood. Her grip tightened around the red whip, and with a single hard yank, she sent the Virtue Sword Sect's young princess flying straight toward her!
No one had expected that slight frame to hold this much power. Yaoyao, suspended midair, went pale as a sheet. Her eyes met Mu Xia's cold, unblinking stare, and in that instant, she could feel the other woman's qi surging as though it were about to explode.
Early-stage Grandmaster...
Mid-stage Grandmaster...
Mu Xia's qi, as though it had been dammed up for far too long, surged now with unrestrained force. It coursed through her entire body like a horse breaking into a full gallop, her power climbing higher and higher with no sign of stopping.
...Late-stage Grandmaster.
Only a few steps left now before she crossed into the realm of Sage!
"...W-wait—"
Yaoyao could feel the danger creeping in. In the span of just a few seconds, the woman who had pulled her close had become someone with overwhelming, insurmountable strength. She wanted to let go of the whip, but Mu Xia's qi seemed to have pinned her in place. All she could do was watch as more and more power gathered into Mu Xia's other fist, building steadily...
"..."
And in the span of a single heartbeat—
Mu Xia's right fist slammed square into the face of the Virtue Sword Sect's young princess!
BOOM!