[Vol. 1] Chapter 5 - Thirty Years East, Thirty Years West
Xiaolan winced at the sight of the new Charge Points. Speak of the devil, and she shall appear?
—Shing!
The sound of a sword being drawn was followed by a figure dropping from a tree. The lithe form was none other than Chen Mingyuan.
Seeing the nimble girl, Wenhui's exhausted expression twisted into one of fawning relief. "This means you'll let me go now, right?"
Xiaolan looked from Mingyuan to Wenhui, understanding the situation instantly. I've been sold out. So the pursuer was Mingyuan, and she had forced Wenhui to find her.
—Pfft!
The sickening sound of spurting blood. Mingyuan had severed Wenhui's wrist where the talisman was attached.
"Aaaahhhh! Help! I give up! Please!" Wenhui's cries were pathetic as he desperately tried to channel qi into the talisman, to signal the shadow guards like Bai Yu outside the fog.
"Ah! Ah, ah, ah!!!" But with dawning horror, he realized he couldn't signal at all.
Xiaolan's eyes widened. That's right... That shadow guard instructor, Bai Yu, had only said the talisman would send a distress signal to alert them of trouble. It didn't technically mean they'd come to save you.
And if your wrist or the arm it was attached to was severed, you couldn't channel qi through it at all.
Xiaolan shuddered. The flimsy safety net she'd relied on was shattered in an instant.
"Hmph." Chen Mingyuan snorted. She was, of course, petty. Among those in the clearing who had looked down on her, she had clearly seen Wenhui trying to curry favor with the group.
And Wenhui was worth ten points.
Xiaolan was worth five.
Mingyuan's predatory gaze settled on Xiaolan. "Thirty years on the east bank of the river, thirty years on the west," she quoted, a malicious grin slicing across her sweet features. "Your turn now."
Xiaolan could only cry internally. What in the hell did the original Xiaolan do to you?!
The severed wrist and talisman lay on the damp ground between them.
Wenhui had collapsed, clutching the bloody stump, his whimpering the only other sound in the suffocating fog.
Mingyuan ignored him completely, her focus absolute.
"You want my points? You can have them!" Xiaolan scoffed as she fumbled for the talisman on her own wrist.
Mingyuan's sweet smile didn't waver. "I know. I'm taking them." On any other occasion, that smile would be as sweet as a peach. She didn't stop advancing.
"Huh? Can't you just rip it off? Why bother with… violent methods?" Xiaolan asked, stepping back.
Mingyuan took a step closer but froze at Xiaolan's words. She immediately pointed her sword at her. "Who are you?"
Ah, so it comes to this anyway. Who cares?!
"Your daddy," Xiaolan snorted.
[Charge points +15]
[Current charge points: 30]
A vein bulged on Mingyuan's forehead. She had first suspected someone was foolishly disguising themselves as Xiaolan, but that thought vanished...
That annoying mix of overt and covert attempts to provoke, those nonsensical words and aggravating behaviors that disturb one's heart dao, were practically Xiaolan's personal authenticity code. No one else could replicate that distinct flavor so perfectly.
"Did we have a relationship before? Are you my ex? So obsessive… even coming here to personally attend the training grounds?" Xiaolan went all out, her objective clear: to milk more charge points out of Chen Mingyuan.
"Lin! Xiao! Lan!" Chen Mingyuan roared.
[Charge points: +20]
[Current charge points: 50]
Strangely, her guess wasn't so far off the mark.
Chen Mingyuan had indeed come here for one purpose: to defeat Xiaolan and prove herself superior.
Who knew this arrogant, conceited young lady, a mere prospective Alpha who hadn't even differentiated yet, could be so thoroughly, infuriatingly annoying?
Before Mingyuan could charge forward with her sword, Xiaolan's next words froze her in place.
"Wait, is it true? Are you my ex-lover? If not, then why are you reacting so strongly? Are you still in love with me? I'm sorry, but I no longer feel that way about you. Please accept my sincere feelings!"
…Ex-lover…
…In love…
…Sincere feelings…
Chen Mingyuan's Dao heart nearly shuddered, her qi flow stuttering backward at the sheer, breathtaking shamelessness of it all.
Her face darkened to the color of a cast-iron pot's bottom, especially as she stared at Xiaolan's unrepentantly grinning face.
Wenhui, still whimpering in pain on the other hand, made an expression as though he'd been force-fed dog shit.
That crazy Chen girl made me bait and search all over just to find Lin Xiaolan for… this? Wenhui had long since taken a healing pill to numb the agony.
Only Xiaolan could see the screen flashing before her eyes:
[Charge points +20]
[Charge points +20]
[Current charge points: 90]
A tremor of violent killing intent erupted from Chen Mingyuan as she roared.
"Die!"
Her sword shot forward like a silver streak, its needle-thin point aimed at Xiaolan.
Xiaolan threw herself backward into the thicker fog, the sword's tip grazing the fabric over her throat.
Think, think! Her mind raced. She's faster, stronger, a better fighter. But she's also angry, and that makes you stupid.
Xiaolan scrambled to her feet, putting the gnarled trunk of a spirit-sapping tree between them. "So violent! Is that how you treat all your exes?" she shouted in taunt.
[Charge points +10]
[Current charge points: 100]
Chen Mingyuan leaped forward in a single breath, sword still in hand but her momentum halting for just a moment.
She narrowed her apricot eyes. This Xiaolan had done nothing but taunt her so far, without ever fighting back.
"Not even bothering to draw your weapon?" Mingyuan's voice was a low, dangerous purr. The fury had cooled into focus.
"Either you're an utter fool, or you're hiding something. Which is it, Xiaolan?"
Xiaolan's mind was in chaos. Draw a weapon? I don't even have a weapon! The original Xiaolan probably had a fancy spiritual tool or something.
She patted her robes dramatically. "Ah, my weapon? I left it at home. Seemed unfair to bring it to a friendly reunion."
[Charge Points +5]
[Current charge points: 105]
Only five? She's getting used to it...
"Reunion," Mingyuan repeated flatly. "The Lin family's precious, arrogant daughter, who spat on my family's name at the Spring Banquet, wouldn't be caught dead without her Frostneedle Dagger. Where is it?"
Spring Banquet? Spat on her family? Ah curse you Xiaolan! She cursed herself frantically.
"Maybe I pawned it. Needed the cash. Times are tough, you know? Even for a young miss."
Wenhui, from his heap on the ground, let out a pained, disbelieving snort. He was fumbling with a strip of cloth, trying to stanch the bleeding from his stump with clumsy, one-handed movements.
Mingyuan's eyes flashed. The barb hit something...pride, perhaps. The idea that her nemesis would treat her own weapon so flippantly was its own insult.
"You disgrace more than just yourself," Mingyuan hissed. "No weapon. No dignity. Then this ends now."
A smirk appeared on Xiaolan's youthful face, making her look every bit the sly, scheming fox. Mingyuan caught it and immediately used qinggong to leap backward.
"Eh? You retreated just like that?" Xiaolan was puzzled and even bewildered. This Mingyuan… is she a paper tiger?
Wenhui looked between Xiaolan and Mingyuan—they clearly didn't have him in their eyes. Sure, he did want to cower away when they weren't paying attention, but wasn't this looking down on him a bit too much? He was a martial artist!
"You two… don't forget I'm still here!" Wenhui finally couldn't take it anymore; even with one hand, he wanted to prove himself. This was a succession battleground! He was a prospective heir of the Azure Lin-Lao-Chen Clan!
With that, he cheered himself on as he took kunais from his pockets, throwing them successively at both Xiaolan and Mingyuan.
If he died, then he died. If he lived, then he proved himself.
Xiaolan dodged instinctively, but she was still a beat too late. A kunai struck her in the back, her movements not yet fully synchronized with her new body. She gasped, muffling a cry of pain against her forearm.
In contrast, Chen Mingyuan dodged with clean efficiency. Her attention was fixed on Xiaolan, but she hadn't forgotten the other variable: Wenhui.
"What are you doing, Wenhui?" Chen Mingyuan demanded scornfully.
"Chen Mingyuan, what are you doing instead of crippling Xiaolan? You promised you'd let me go! I kept my part...now do yours!" Wenhui spouted indignantly, his remaining hand shaking as he pointed at them. "You're just flirting!"
"Shut up!" Chen Mingyuan yelled. "Does this look like flirting to you?!"