Return to Sword School, Part 1

Tian Ning was missing.

Su Qing went to the leading teachers to ask about her whereabouts. Tang Yueling originally didn’t want to go; she just wanted to lie comfortably on her bed, sleep all the way, and wake up at the Sword School.

But Su Qing wanted to go. She thought for a moment, then threw on her robes and jumped down to accompany her.

The cloud boat sailed amidst a sea of clouds.

There was nothing else going on. The four leading teachers were all gathered in one room, writing some kind of dossier. One of them would occasionally complain angrily, “Write your own, don’t copy mine! Your divine sense domain is open to mine; if you copy all of mine, what will I write?”

“We agreed everyone writes ten thousand words. No one writes more, and whoever violates this rule will have their cultivation stagnate like a turtle.”

After Su Qing knocked and entered, all the teachers looked utterly exhausted, their eyes filled with a faint deathly weariness.

It was known that even fighting for life and death on the beast tide front lines hadn’t made them show such expressions.

Now, they looked as if half their vitality had been drained, for some unknown reason.

Su Qing briefly mentioned Tian Ning’s disappearance, asking the leading teachers if they had seen when she left.

Upon learning of this, all the leading teachers showed an expression of knowing, but there was not a trace of surprise or anxiety.

“But she’s gone,” Su Qing asked. “She didn’t leave a note or a message or anything. She just suddenly vanished.”

Deng Mingjian reluctantly lifted his head from his mission report and said calmly, “You mean, someone traveled thousands of miles, across vast distances, came here specifically to kidnap Young Lady Qi Tian Ning, just to provoke a feud with the Qi family?”

Su Qing blinked, a little hesitant, “Is that impossible?” She emphasized, “Her name is Tian Ning.”

“Not to mention her cultivation is the highest among the students here. Furthermore, besides her natal sword, she is practically penniless.” Deng Mingjian scoffed, “What would anyone gain by kidnapping her? She left the sect on her own.”

“Left the sect on her own?” Su Qing thought, “Why would she leave the sect for no good reason?”

“Why else?” Deng Mingjian threw up his hands. “Her roommate was too controlling, too meddlesome, truly annoying. No freedom. She had no choice but to go out for some fresh air.”

Tang Yueling glared at him, “Elder Deng, what do you know? She clearly liked it very much.”

Deng Mingjian said perfunctorily, “Yes, yes, yes, she liked it very much.”

Lin Hebai, unable to tolerate Deng Mingjian’s enjoyment of the spectacle, directly threw her talisman brush, accurately hitting him on the head. “Stop stirring up trouble here.”

She turned, put on a gentle and kind face, and looked at her proud disciples, explaining, “Elder Zhou just sent a message to me. He saw her leave on her own; no one forced her. There must be something important she needs to resolve. Don’t worry.”

Tang Yueling walked beside Su Qing. She had already anticipated it. “I told you so. Now that the beast tide is over, there won won’t be any more danger. She just disappeared like that, without a single unusual sign. She must have left on her own.”

“Look at Deng Mingjian’s face. I really can’t stand it, being mocked by him for nothing. I don’t even know how he became a teacher.” As she spoke, her emotions flared up, “When that ice block comes back, I’m definitely going to tell her: next time she goes out alone and doesn’t come back, she has to submit a report first.”

In truth, cultivators had always been solitary, walking the path of longevity alone.

But they had spent so much time together that they felt unaccustomed to not seeing each other for a while.

Su Qing also didn’t think there would be any more danger, but she always asked just to be sure.

But what important matter did Tian Ning have to resolve?

Was it her stalled cultivation, unable to advance, or—Su Qing’s eyes flickered, thinking of another possibility.

During this period, only one thing had caused Tian Ning’s emotions to change drastically: the chi talisman.

Yinlan City began to snow shortly after the Sword School left.

This place was located in the extreme north, with cold weather, ice, and snow.

For more than half of the three hundred and sixty-five days a year, it snowed.

Therefore, this amount of snowfall was not rare. But after a farewell, such a snow always felt tinged with the sadness of parting.

The sky was covered with a layer of pale gray clouds, from which snowflakes gently fell. Bits of new snow, like goose feathers, drifted down, silently enveloping the sky.

This was an extremely hidden stronghold, originally belonging to the Old Temple, later occupied by Ci’an Herb Hall, and finally becoming an uninhabited area within the city.

Yinlan City had hundreds of passages, but strangely, none of them led to it. It was like a sore on a bustling city, a dead corner, an isolated island.

A black-robed female cultivator, with a frost-forged sword at her waist, stood quietly before the sealed door.

She seemed to have been standing there for a very, very long time, so much so that the cold white new snow seemed to mistake her for a blade of grass, a tree, enveloping her coldly and gently.

At first, these snowflakes were blocked by the spiritual energy around her.

She stood there clean, untouched by dust.

But seven days later, the female cultivator seemed to give up on some action, or perhaps, her heart had grown cold, no longer warm, and she merged with the snowy weather.

New snow fell into Tian Ning’s dark hair, on her eyelashes, on her shoulders, yet it did not bend her spine.

Finally, the sealed door made an extremely faint “creak.” The door was pushed open. A stooped, white-haired old woman, wrapped in a blanket and leaning on a staff, slowly walked out.

She looked like an ordinary elderly person, even with poor leg strength, walking slowly and tremblingly, as if she would stumble at any second, which was truly startling.

Tian Ning looked up. As expected, she didn’t see the person she wanted to see. Her voice was frozen. After a long while, she softly said, “Granny Nuo.”

Granny Nuo was indeed an old woman, but she was also a powerful cultivator at the Void Refinement stage.

She was an honored guest of the Qi family and an elder who accompanied Young Lady Qi to grow up.

Granny Nuo said tremblingly, “Little Young Lady, you’ve grown up.”

Tian Ning,

“Ah.”

Granny Nuo still remembered Tian Ning when she left home.

She was a little girl, barely fifteen, small in stature.

Although she was beautiful in every way, she was dull and not good with words.

She kept everything bottled up inside, living like a deity made of ice and snow, unapproachable.

In a blink of an eye, many years had passed. The other party had grown into an adult.

She was still naive, lacking experience, but there seemed to be signs of softening between her brows, no longer tightly furrowed as if constantly hating and resisting everything.

She just wondered who had melted her? Although not much, and not yet reaching her heart, but like a trickle of water over time, who knows what the future held?

Granny Nuo wanted to sigh again. ‘What a mess.’ But she ultimately showed nothing, asking, “So, what does Little Young Lady seek?”

“It’s not a request,” Tian Ning said coldly. Her dark eyes met Granny Nuo’s cloudy ones. “Please convey this for me, Granny Nuo: Although Tian Ning’s name means ‘peace,’ she was born in a place of hardship, her fate difficult, and she will ultimately find no peace. She possesses very little, so she cherishes it deeply. Once lost, no matter who the other party is, she will only draw her sword against them.”

She had waited for so long, merely for these words.

Having spoken, she turned and left without a hint of reluctance, her dark hair scattering in the wind and snow, like a rich, dramatic ink wash painting.

Granny Nuo recalled the child who, in her infancy, would repeatedly escape from the nursery, trying every means to see her mother.

She was so small back then, plump like a snowball, and solitary, not caring for anyone. But when she saw the Young Lady, she would run forward, open her arms, look up, and joyfully, cautiously, and crisply call out, “Mother.”

But the Young Lady did not acknowledge this child who was born against her will.

She wouldn’t harm her; she just… ignored her. She called her, but she didn’t hear.

She extended her hand, but she didn’t feel it. She saw her hopeful eyes, but she didn’t see.

Granny Nuo, out of pity, once asked the Young Lady, but it only elicited a very surprised question in return, “Granny Nuo, don’t you find it terrifying? I treat her like this, and she not only doesn’t hate me, she loves me.”

“She loves me? She loves me!” The Young Lady’s brows furrowed with a dense, crazed melancholy. “To speak the word ‘love’ in a place like this, how ridiculous… To speak of love here will only kill her!”

Granny Nuo had lived for a very, very long time, so much so that Tian Ning’s age still seemed like a very tender sprout in front of her.

But at this moment, the snowball-like child and the now tall, distant woman appeared simultaneously before her.

She felt for the countless time that sending the Little Young Lady away was the best decision.

Staying in a loveless place would ultimately only lead to destruction.

Granny Nuo leaned on her staff and suddenly asked, “Little Young Lady, do you have a place you can return to at any time now?”

Tian Ning did not turn back, nor did she pause. She walked very fast.

Her voice, carried by the wind along with the snowflakes, drifted to Granny Nuo.

“I don’t know, but perhaps I do.”

It was indeed time to leave. With these words, there was no need for more.

The snow sword at her waist flashed. Snowfall Sword carried Tian Ning floating in the air.

She no longer lingered. Spiritual energy overflowed from her body, transforming into a silvery-white arc of light, and she swiftly chased along the cloud path left by the cloud boat ahead.

The cold snowflakes beat against her body, a very refreshing sensation.

Two weeks later, Tian Ning, as desired, caught up with the cloud boat.

She skillfully brake-sworded, instantly stopping on the deck. This was a skill she learned while doing rapid messenger tasks.

She put away her sword, walked quickly back to her room, pushed open the door, and said coldly, “I’m back.”

The room was warm as spring.

Su Qing was originally engrossed in practicing drawing. She looked up, having anticipated her arrival, and immediately launched into an accusation, “Three weeks! A full three weeks! Do you know how I got through it? No note, no message, running away from home. Are you going through your rebellious phase?”

Saying strange things again.

Tang Yueling slammed her talisman brush onto the table with a “thwack,” and said angrily, “Submit a report! Next time you go out, you must submit a report! Otherwise, don’t come home!”

Tian Ning softly “hmmmed,” walked in, sat down in her usual spot, and began to pick at the fruits on the table. Then she glanced at the paper on the table, paused for a moment, and suddenly frowned, “What’s this?”

“An announcement for finding Ning!” Tang Yueling said proudly, pointing at her masterpiece, “Isn’t it exactly alike?”

Tian Ning was silent for a few breaths.

She looked at Su Qing, who was holding back a laugh, and asked a question completely unrelated to herself, “…Do I look that ugly?”