Sword School Night Market

Lin Hebai had a strong arm.

Su Qing felt herself lighten, and in the blink of an eye, she was thrown a hundred meters away.

When she, refusing to give up, adjusted her posture mid-air and flew back on her sword, she nearly collided head-on with an anxious Tang Yueling.

The two exchanged a glance in the air, then tacitly rushed towards the large pit side by side.

By now, Lin Hebai had already finished her investigation and stood at the edge of the deep pit, her expression slightly solemn.

The mountain wind ruffled her dark hair, carrying the tyrannical spiritual energy unique to the aftermath of a lightning tribulation.

Lin Hebai slowly closed her eyes, then reopened them, and softly said, “This is good too. An easy path is not necessarily a good thing…”

At this moment, the two little brats she had just thrown away quickly climbed back.

Lin Hebai had already confirmed the situation here, so she didn’t stop them.

After all, children’s matters had to be resolved by the children themselves. If teachers said too much, it would only annoy them.

Su Qing hovered above the deep pit, looking down.

Below, dense black mist billowed, obscuring vision.

This “mist” was actually black ash, a product of being struck by heavenly lightning.

Tang Yueling mumbled, “It’s over, turning into charcoal would be terribly ugly.”

Su Qing extended her divine sense downwards.

Her heart suddenly seized for a moment, sensing an extremely chilling point at the bottom of the pit.

So cold, at one point, she even thought that this chill had already climbed up her spiritual meridians and blood vessels, freezing her flesh and bones rigid, turning the hot air from her mouth and nose into white vapor.

This sensation of cold seemed to last for a thousand years, yet also for just a single breath.

By the time Su Qing regained her senses, she saw countless ice flowers spreading from this cold point at the bottom of the pit, erupting upwards along the pit walls.

Soon, the bottom of the pit was filled with solid ice, and tiny snow crystals gently fell onto the icy surface.

The snow crystals on Su Qing’s eyelashes quickly melted into water droplets from her body heat, flowing down her lashes.

A figure gradually emerged. This person was, of course, Tian Ning.

Having undergone the lightning tribulation, which was a true journey of returning to nature through the thousandfold tempering of thunder, it was inevitable that her clothes would be completely shattered.

Tian Ning was the same.

However, fine, cracked lines appeared on her body.

Whether it was black ash clinging to her skin or some other reason, she resembled a white-glazed ice bottle that had failed in its firing.

Tian Ning’s expression was as usual, a cold face. Su Qing quickly analyzed her expression:

Her eyebrows weren’t furrowed, her lips weren’t pursed, and her eyes stared straight ahead.

This was Tian Ning’s usual NPC expression for eighty percent of the time, signifying neither good nor bad mood, neither annoyed nor agitated.

‘It seems like nothing happened?’

Tang Yueling tossed a fiery red magic robe to cover her head.

She also breathed a sigh of relief: still cold white skin, not turned into charcoal, thank heavens.

Moreover, this wooden king’s aura was very smooth. Of course, having just broken through, she certainly couldn’t control her oppressive aura perfectly; a trace of it still leaked out.

It was clearly a Golden Core stage aura.

Having fought against Golden Core cultivators in the exam, Tang Yueling’s judgment couldn’t be wrong.

It seemed the breakthrough was successful.

When the wooden king was not doing well, it made people angry.

When injured, it also made people angry. When fully recovered, it made people even angrier.

She was annoying no matter how one looked at her, saved only by her good looks.

Tang Yueling raised an eyebrow. “It seems she’s fine.”

Su Qing blinked. “Is she really okay?”

After this great tribulation, Tian Ning’s dark hair had long since unbound, falling like silk to her ankles, revealing only a jade-like face.

Paired with fiery red clothes, she appeared even more transparently pale.

To Su Qing and Tang Yueling’s concern, her expression was normal.

She merely nodded coolly. “I’m fine. Thank you for your concern.”

With just that one sentence, Su Qing and Tang Yueling simultaneously realized something was amiss.

This person who nodded, used a subject, was polite and thoughtful, and understood social etiquette—who was she?

Certainly not Tian Ning.

Tian Ning would only say two words, “I’m fine.”

As the words fell, Tian Ning also seemed to realize her own dullness.

The corners of her lips tightened almost imperceptibly.

She first swept past Su Qing and Tang Yueling, then lifted her leg and walked away.

The aura of ice and snow brushed past, and her dark hair quickly swept past the two.

In the gaps where her hair flew, the varied expressions on Su Qing and Tang Yueling’s faces were revealed.

Tang Yueling’s eyelid twitched, a cold sneer already forming in her throat, ready to erupt in the blink of an eye.

‘Lying was one thing, but trying to escape too? Did she think she was so smart?’

Su Qing quickly pressed Tang Yueling’s shoulder, giving her a look that meant: ‘At least give the kid some face in public. Knowing but not speaking is the mark of an adult.’

After all, they had been roommates for so many years…

Tang Yueling flattened her lips, shook her shoulder, throwing off Su Qing’s hand.

She crossed her arms, lifted her chin slightly, and stormed off, seething with anger.

Su Qing was given the cold shoulder but wasn’t annoyed.

She calmly followed behind. ‘This feeling of balancing both sides was truly missed. They had been getting along too well these past few days, making her think she hadn’t left the illusion yet.’

She met Teacher Hebai, who was standing far to the side. Lin Hebai gave her a slight nod.

Su Qing immediately understood.

This meant Tian Ning’s situation was not right, but Teacher Hebai’s expression wasn’t too grim, suggesting the problem might not be too big.

But Teacher Hebai herself had very poor talent and had climbed her way up through sheer struggle.

Her “not too big” problem might be a heavy blow for the incredibly talented Tian Ning.

Her Golden Core aura couldn’t be hidden.

As Tian Ning walked, the crowd above the Sword Tomb consciously parted to both sides.

She walked quickly, but the murmuring whispers of the crowd still followed her.

“She’s truly amazing… A first-year, only fifteen years since enrollment. Even if she entered at the oldest, eighteen, she’d only be in her early thirties, yet she’s already in Golden Core. Such talent is rare in the world.”

“And not only that. Golden Core cultivators aren’t rare, but did you see the tribulation clouds when she underwent tribulation? They were three times the size of mine back then! I remember I was struck by lightning and lay on the ground for three years before recovering. But she’s better; she seems even livelier after the tribulation!”
“I heard she also has a twin brother who also reached Golden Core, even a step before her. The Qi family lineage truly produces geniuses.”

“Heh, don’t keep boosting others’ morale. What good seedlings can come from aristocratic families? They cultivate well simply because our Sword School teaches well!”

“That’s not entirely unreasonable… It is reasonable. Your words are pleasing to the ear.”

Tian Ning had received many such praises and astonished remarks since childhood, but it was only today that she heard them for the first time.

She silently pursed her lips, feeling as if constantly pricked by needles, and quickened her pace, leaving the Sword Tomb.

For the rest of the week, Su Qing did not see her in the dormitory.

Tang Yueling’s anger had soared so high that no matter how much water Su Qing poured, it couldn’t be quenched.

Especially when she saw that Tian Ning ranked first in the midterm exam results, her anger intensified. “Is being first in her year not enough for her pride? She just has to look down on others like that, as if we’re not worthy!”

Looking down on others easily leads to impatience, and in the end, one suffers for it.

Su Qing understood the source of her anger.

By the way, although she passed this exam, it didn’t count towards the ranking because she was outside the scope of normal assessment.

Several grading teachers couldn’t agree.

Some said her performance was unexpectedly excellent and that she was exactly the talent the Sword School needed.

Others felt she should undergo labor reform and compensate the Sword School for its property.

It was said that the examination ground was an extremely valuable artifact, and her final disruption caused it to crash and smoke, requiring the Sword School to expend great effort to repair it.

But considering there were extenuating circumstances and it was within the allowed scope of the exam, Su Qing wouldn’t have to pay.

In any case, passing was enough, and not having to pay was enough.

The first place went to a first-year Body School disciple, and she also received all the rewards she was due.

As for the fact that the recording of her driving the cat-car was posted on the confession wall with high praise for three months, she could pretend not to see it.

She was a female university student with strong psychological resilience… …Just kidding.

Anyway, Su Qing had successfully quit the confession wall, because she didn’t want to see her own memes every time she opened her Lingtong.

Recently, she hadn’t seen the Orange King either.

According to the cook lady, it had been sent to a weight loss training camp for devilish training.

The cook lady said, “This is a good thing. It’s a rare opportunity to make the Orange King open its mouth, so we must seize the moment to thoroughly clean out its belly. When you see it again, it will probably be a brand new Orange King.”
Su Qing honestly asked, “Will it be thinner?”

The cook lady also answered honestly, “No, it’s solid.” 

Seeing Tang Yueling’s anger threatening to burn Su Qing along with everything else, Su Qing finally used her excellent connections in the Sword School—which was actually just exchanging information with Senior Sister Cuiyue—to find out where Tian Ning was.

“I didn’t even know the Sword School had a night market. This is quite normal, though. According to the information I gathered, the night market is only open to second-year students and above. Although it’s called a night market, ‘night fighting arena’ would be more appropriate. It’s said that it was originally a place where Sword School disciples privately exchanged cultivation resources and sparred with swords. Later, it gradually evolved into a semi-public dueling ground and black market.”

Su Qing spoke with great inflection, “Senior Sister Cuiyue told me that recently, a new talent has arrived at the night fighting arena. She excels at using a white sword and has an ice spiritual root. In the past few days, this person has consecutively conquered ten arenas, and tonight will be her first time on the central arena. It’s said that many people will appear tonight just to catch a glimpse of her…”

“I’m not going.” Tang Yueling was using her fingertips to feed her Earth Fire, Ten Million, with high-grade fire spiritual stones.

The small fire mass snuggled in her embrace, even extending a tendril of flame to wrap around her arm, utterly intimate. “What does that have to do with me? I haven’t even picked out the new products from the Spiritual Treasure Pavilion yet. I’m very busy.”

“…”

Su Qing remained quiet for a long time, until Tang Yueling couldn’t resist looking up.

Only then did Su Qing take out a black command token and toy with it in her hand.

The dark token spun conspicuously between her knuckles.

“I am going. I even specifically bought a command token for her opponent. Not for anything else, but just out of curiosity to see what kind of genius she is. Everyone says geniuses look down on ordinary people, and are most arrogant. I just want to know what it’s like to confront such a person, especially to defeat such a genius and make her bow her head…”

Tang Yueling stood up, gracefully adjusted her already perfectly neat collar.

She looked up, her gaze burning brightly. “It’s said that there are many inheritances concerning fire in that night market. That would certainly be worth a special trip to see.”