Yu Mi and Qing Ying sat on the steps without moving an inch. They stayed there the whole day, all the way until noon the next day, when a bouncing, lively figure came hopping over. She hopped to Yu Mi’s side and called out,
“Martial Uncle.”
She gave Yu Mi a proper salute, then glanced at Qing Ying sitting beside her, realized she didn’t know this person, and since Qing Ying didn’t even spare her a look, she simply sat down next to Yu Mi.
She took out a jade slip and said,
“Martial Uncle, I just can’t use this sword form properly.”
Yu Mi lifted her eyes and glanced over the entry-level sword art recorded on the jade slip.
“Show it to me.”
Bao Nianhui answered promptly,
“Okay!”
She pulled a golden core–grade sword from her storage ring, leapt down off the steps, gripped the sword, raised her hand and took the opening stance. Then, following the sequence in the jade slip, she went through the entire set, move by move.
Every posture was in place, every motion was clean and practiced; it was obvious she’d put in real work. When she finished the full set, she sheathed her sword and ran back to Yu Mi’s side, looking miserable.
“Martial Uncle, I practiced exactly according to the sword manual. I’m very familiar with every move, but I always feel like I can’t bring out its power.”
Yu Mi said,
“Your sword realm is lacking. You’re missing sword intent.
“Where the sword points is where your intent should go. When you use your sword, have you ever thought about where the sword is *meant* to point? The sword should move with your intent. Your sword is moving, but your intent isn’t.”
Seeing the blank confusion on Bao Nianhui’s face, she gave a soft smile.
“Don’t rush to practice the form. First, think about *why* you want to practice the sword at all.”
Bao Nianhui replied,
“To cultivate, of course. The monthly matches are the day after tomorrow. If my sword’s no good, I’ll lose to my junior cousin and they’ll all laugh at me again.”
Yu Mi said,
“With no sword in your heart, of course you can’t train the sword well.
“No matter what sword art it is, it isn’t ‘good’ just because it can unleash a certain level of power. The sword has no end. The highest realm of sword arts is to have no fixed form at all.
“You’re holding a sword in your hand, but it’s not the sword you ought to be cultivating. The sword you should be cultivating is here.”
She lightly tapped the spot over Bao Nianhui’s heart.
Bao Nianhui tilted her head, thinking over Yu Mi’s words, but still didn’t really understand. She scratched her chin in confusion.
Yu Mi asked,
“Where is Martial Uncle’s sword?”
Bao Nianhui said,
“Martial Uncle cultivates a body-weapon fusion technique. Naturally Martial Uncle’s sword is on Martial Uncle’s body, fused into your blood, muscles, and bones.”
Yu Mi said,
“Then when I want to use my sword, how do I take it out?”
Bao Nianhui answered honestly,
“That I don’t know. A technique that profound—I can’t cultivate it yet.”
Yu Mi said,
“Once the sword is fused into the body, it becomes one with you. It no longer has a fixed shape or form.
“When you see me use my sword, I just move with a thought and a flicker of intent and the sword appears, right? But the sword I call out then is and isn’t the same sword that was fused into me. It’s actually a sword I condense by using sword intent to draw on the power in my body.
“With sword intent, your sword is alive. Your sword arts become alive.
“Go think hard about *why* you want to practice the sword. What should the sword in your heart look like?”
When she finished speaking, she stood, walked slowly down the steps, lifted her hand, and a sword appeared in her palm—its shape almost identical to the one in Bao Nianhui’s hand.
Then she began to perform the exact same set of sword forms Bao Nianhui had just demonstrated.
She didn’t channel any spiritual power at all. She only used the sword itself. Yet in her hand, the sword seemed alive. Its path was like a roaming dragon; her body was light as a startled swan. As she turned and moved, person and sword seemed fully merged into one. The entire set flowed out of her naturally, with a kind of effortless freedom.
The very same sword art—Bao Nianhui’s version had been like dutifully tracing a pattern. In Yu Mi’s hands, it was as if she’d breathed life into it.
Bao Nianhui watched until her eyes were dazzled, gasping in amazement over and over.
Qing Ying stared, stunned.
This annoying “cheap Martial Uncle” of hers had just danced a simple set of basic sword forms—the sort given to little children—and somehow it carried the resonance of the Dao.
Her *own* cheap Master’s sword was a sword of slaughter. One stroke split the vault of heaven, shattered mountains, dyed rivers red.
Her cheap Martial Uncle’s sword, by contrast, was like a circle, encompassing all heaven and earth, evolving the Dao within it. Within a single set of forms she actually traced out the flavor of life and death—a thrust to take life, a turn to grant it.
Only now did Qing Ying realize that the cheap Martial Uncle she’d always looked down on actually had some real skill. Her cultivation level wasn’t high, but her swordsmanship had already reached a marvelous perfection, stepping into the true Way of the Sword.
Yu Mi finished the last move, sheathed the sword, and returned to the steps.
“Go,” she told Bao Nianhui. “Sword practice isn’t something you accomplish overnight. And the monthly matches aren’t decided in a single day either.
“Don’t rush to drill forms and moves. First, recognize the sword in your hand. Then find the sword in your heart.”
Qing Ying gave Yu Mi a slight sideways glance, then went back to gnawing on her pill “dumplings.”
She chewed for a while, then suddenly remembered that little girl had called her cheap Martial Uncle “Martial Uncle.” That form of address sounded… a bit close, didn’t it?
A thought flashed, and her figure blurred. She slipped along the corridor rail as lightly as smoke, using lightfootwork to catch up with Bao Nianhui, who was running toward the rear courtyard. She asked,
“Hey, you—who’s your Master?”
Bao Nianhui was blocked and stopped. She looked at this “older sister” who didn’t seem much older than her at all.
“My Master is Cleaver Warden Bao Gu. Elder Sister, who are you? Why haven’t I seen you before? Are you someone Martial Uncle just picked up?
“My name is Bao Nianhui. What’s yours?”
Qing Ying’s pretty face instantly darkened.
There was *also* a cheap junior sister here? And such a… clumsy, scatterbrained cheap junior sister at that!
Her gaze flickered. Suddenly remembering something, she felt all her fine hairs stand on end.
Could this brat be here to steal her Master? Steal her pills and rations?
One cheap Martial Uncle was already annoying enough. Now there was a cheap junior sister?
A shudder of disgust ran through Qing Ying.
Her face went cold.
“From now on, if you don’t understand something, you’re not allowed to go to your Master or your Martial Uncle. I’ll teach you.”
Bao Nianhui blinked in confusion.
“If I don’t understand something of *course* I have to ask my Martial Uncle and Master. Why would I ask you?”
Qing Ying clasped her hands behind her back, gave a cold snort.
“Do you know who I am?”
Bao Nianhui shook her head.
“You never told me who you were.”
Qing Ying straightened her face, all seriousness.
“My name is Qing Ying. I entered under your Master—who is also my Master—five hundred years ago. In terms of seniority, you should call me Senior Sister.
“If there’s anything you don’t understand, it’s only right that I, as your Senior Sister, teach you. Master has a lot to do and is very busy. You shouldn’t disturb her.
“As for that cheap Martial Uncle, don’t you find her extremely annoying?”
Bao Nianhui let out an “Ah.”
She did *not* find Martial Uncle annoying. Martial Uncle was great. It was this cold-faced, pretending-to-be-important Senior Sister that felt a bit annoying.
She wasn’t stupid. One look and she could tell this Senior Sister didn’t have any good intentions.
“I still have to go cultivate. I’ll be going now,” she said.
She stepped around Qing Ying and walked forward—only to find that one step past her, Qing Ying was somehow standing in front of her again.
Startled, she turned her head to look behind. The “Senior Sister” who had suddenly appeared earlier was no longer there.
How did she get in front again?
Bao Nianhui tried circling around her again and took two steps forward. That random-where-did-you-come-from Senior Sister blocked her path once more.
“Don’t block me,” Bao Nianhui said. “I’m going to practice.”
Qing Ying looked her up and down.
“Did you hear what I said? From now on you’re not allowed to go to Master or your Martial Uncle.”
Bao Nianhui’s face grew serious.
“Going to my Martial Uncle and Master is the most natural thing in the world. You not allowing it makes no sense at all.
“If they’re busy, I’ll just wait until they’re free before I go.”
Qing Ying was so angry she snorted twice in a row.
“I said no, so it’s no!”
Seeing that this cheap junior sister still looked unwilling to agree, she decided to scare her a bit.
Coldly, she said,
“Do you know who I am? I’m a *Ba*.”
Bao Nianhui made a confused little sound.
“Huh? A *bo*?”
In her mind appeared the image of the two round metal plates that go “clang clang” beside the lion dancers during the New Year.
Her delicate little face wrinkled.
“Even if you were a gong, I still wouldn’t agree.”
This suddenly appeared Senior Sister clearly had something wrong with her brain!
Bao Nianhui shook her head and walked forward again—only to find herself blocked *yet again*.
Finally out of patience, she drew a deep breath and yelled,
“Martial Uncle—!”
Over by the hall, Yu Mi had long since been laughing so hard at this pair of senior and junior sisters that she couldn’t straighten up. She really wanted to shout,
“Bao Gu, your two disciples are about to start a fight.”
Qing Ying snorted.
“Even if you call Master, it’s no use—”
Before she finished, she suddenly sensed movement. Not far away, the doors to her cheap Master’s seclusion chamber opened, and that cheap Master of hers walked out without the slightest warning.
Qing Ying froze.
Out of seclusion already? This reforging of the artifact soul finished *that* fast?
Bao Nianhui saw Qing Ying’s expression change, and reflexively turned to look as well. She raised her eyes and saw her Master in white, like an immortal descending from a painting, step out of the room.
Instantly overjoyed, she ran over.
“Master!”
Then she peeked back toward Qing Ying and asked,
“Master, do I have another Senior Sister? Is there something wrong with her head?
“She just blocked me so I couldn’t leave and said she was a ‘ba.’ But a ‘bo’ is those metal plates that go clang-clang next to the lion dance, right?”
Bao Gu: “…”
What in the world?
She looked over at Yu Mi and saw Yu Mi leaning against a pillar outside the main hall doors, laughing so hard she almost folded in half. Then she turned to look at Qing Ying—and saw Qing Ying, for once, with a blackened face, looking like Bao Gu had starved her of rations for several months.
Qing Ying walked back to Bao Gu’s side and said, aggrieved,
“They’re all bullying me.”
Bao Nianhui: “…”
Who’s bullying who here? Do you even want your face?
Bao Gu asked,
“Did someone steal your rations?”
Who’d dare?
Qing Ying shook her head.
Bao Gu’s eyes were full of doubt.
“Then how did they bully you?”
Qing Ying, bullied? Since when?
Qing Ying said gloomily,
“They didn’t call me when they were eating. Only after they’d finished did they pack up some for me. They were eating Earth Immortal meat, too.”
Bao Gu: “…”
Qing Ying added,
“That cheap Martial Uncle snuck off to peek at you in seclusion. I snuck in after her and got caught. She threw me out really fiercely and even activated the Great Qingzhou Formation to deal with me.”
Bao Gu: “…”
Qing Ying went on,
“And then a cheap junior sister popped out of nowhere to steal my Master!”
Yu Mi: “…”
The legendary drought fiend was actually tattling?
Yu Mi was so shocked she stared, speechless.
The corner of Bao Gu’s mouth tugged. Inwardly, she thought, *she really is feeling wronged this time.*
She kept her face taut.
“They didn’t bring you to eat? You didn’t fight your way in?”
That wasn’t Qing Ying’s style at all. Even if she didn’t beat them up, she’d at least scare whoever dared eat without her until they didn’t dare lift their chopsticks and had to give their food to her.
Qing Ying said in a low, gloomy voice,
“That bad little fox had a *row* of emperor-grade artifacts. I couldn’t beat her.”
The key point was that the cooking cauldron was a Dao-proving emperor artifact. She couldn’t steal it.
Bad little fox? A row of emperor artifacts?
Bao Gu thought for a second, her beautiful eyes widening.
*That must be Master’s wife.*
Seeing food but realizing she couldn’t win and didn’t dare step forward, forced to sit there drooling—that was more than enough to make Qing Ying feel thoroughly wronged.
Bao Gu comforted her.
“Don’t feel so bad. Tell me what you want to eat, and I’ll make it for you.”
Qing Ying’s eyes lit up. Faster than lightning, she dragged out the body of an Earth Immortal.
“Stir-fried Earth Immortal meat!”
Her voice rang crisp and decisive.
Bao Gu: “…”
“In human form,” she said.
Qing Ying replied,
“The little bad fox said sparrows and eagles are both bird-shaped, and eagles still eat sparrows. There’s nothing wrong with us eating human-shaped Earth Immortals.
“Cheap Martial Uncle, cheap Grandmaster, and cheap Martial Grand-Aunt all ate it.”
Suddenly remembering something else, she added,
“Right, Master—my cauldron!”
Bao Gu sighed inwardly.
“I’ll find a chef for you,” she said. “You let the chef cook you Earth Immortal meat. As for your cauldron, I’ll think of a way to get it back for you later.”
Qing Ying gave a very well-behaved “Mm,” then glanced over at Bao Nianhui to the side. Smiling sweetly, she hugged Bao Gu’s arm.
“Master, this is my junior sister, right?”
Hearing that Qing Ying had actually omitted the word “cheap,” Bao Gu gave her a wary look.
“Mm.”
“From now on I’ll look after her,” Qing Ying said. “If there’s anything she doesn’t understand, I’ll teach her.”
Bao Nianhui went deathly pale with fright.
“No! She definitely has bad intentions!”
She looked to her Martial Uncle for help, nearly scared to death by this clearly brain-damaged Senior Sister who seemed to be deeply doted on by Master.
Yu Mi coughed lightly.
“Qing Ying’s cultivation realm is too high. I’ll teach the little girl instead.”
She’d fully seen through Qing Ying’s little scheme.
Qing Ying said solemnly,
“It’s only right for a Senior Sister to teach her junior sister. Cheap Master, weren’t you raised by your Senior Sister back then too?”
Bao Gu: “…”
She actually had no way to refute that.
Bao Nianhui was on the verge of tears.
*My Master’s Senior Sister isn’t brain-damaged like mine,* she howled silently in her heart.
She remembered “I’m a Ba” all too clearly. Who introduced themselves as a “ba” anyway? It wasn’t like she was some cymbal spirit!
She clutched Bao Gu’s sleeve, begging, and shot Yu Mi another pleading look.
Yu Mi said,
“Bao Gu is someone I accepted into the sect, so of course she follows me. Qing Ying, did *you* take Nianhui in as a disciple?”
Qing Ying pretended she hadn’t heard Yu Mi at all, only fixed her eyes on Bao Gu.
Bao Gu shot Qing Ying a deep look.
“With how tiny your junior sister is, and you want to teach her?
“Are you sure you wouldn’t kill her with a single poke of your finger? Of course, if you don’t mind me taking your rations to save her life whenever you ‘accidentally’ stab her to death during instruction, I’d be very happy to hand her over to you.”
Qing Ying demanded indignantly,
“Doesn’t she have her own rations?”
Bao Gu said,
“So far, she hasn’t drawn even a single ration from me. Strictly speaking, I’ve been a very irresponsible Master.”
Qing Ying let out a strangled little sound.
Suddenly it felt like she’d just dropped a rock on her own foot. She couldn’t get a single word out.
Of course Bao Gu understood what Qing Ying was worried about.
“No one can steal your cheap Master away,” she told her.
Looking into Bao Gu’s open, bare-hearted eyes, Qing Ying’s heart settled back into her chest. Once she felt secure, she suddenly felt that squabbling with a little girl over seniority had been beneath her. It made her feel awkward all over.
Without a sound, she slipped away.
Bao Gu turned to Bao Nianhui.
“Go on. Your Senior Sister won’t trouble you again. I’ll come find you when I’m free.”
Bao Nianhui let go of Bao Gu’s sleeve and gave a respectful bow.
“Disciple takes her leave.”
She cupped her fists toward Yu Mi as well in the formal sect salute, then turned to go. After a few steps, she looked left and right. Not seeing the brain-damaged Senior Sister anywhere, she immediately sped up and ran as fast as she could.
Yu Mi looked at Bao Gu, smiling in amusement, then asked,
“Out of seclusion so quickly? You finished reforging the artifact soul?”
Bao Gu answered,
“Very smoothly.”
She walked up to Yu Mi. Looking at Yu Mi’s smiling face, something stirred in her heart. She lifted her arms and drew Yu Mi into a hug.
“Uh—” Yu Mi made a small sound.
“There are people watching…”
Her ears heated up, and her face flushed from cheeks to earlobes.
Bao Gu chuckled softly.
“You’re right.”
She let Yu Mi go—then promptly pulled her into the bedchamber instead. With a sweep of her sleeve, she closed the doors tightly.
Yu Mi tensed up, equal parts nervous and shy.
“Bao Gu, what are you going to do? They’re all out there. Won’t they laugh me to death later?”
Bao Gu looked at her with an innocent expression.
“Am I going to do something?”
Yu Mi blinked.
“If you’re not planning to do anything, why are you shutting the doors so tight in broad daylight?”
“Then we *should* do something,” Bao Gu said.
Yu Mi: “…”
She gave Bao Gu a fierce glare, turned, and walked to the doorway.
“Tonight,” she threw over her shoulder.
She flung the door open and sent her divine sense sweeping outside. She immediately detected that whole group of women lounging on the pleasure boat on the little lake in the rear garden, sipping tea and placing bets on whether Bao Gu was about to have her way with her.
Yu Mi’s mood soured on the spot.
*Her*, overbearing and mighty as she was, get “done in” by Bao Gu?
