Chapter 235: Bai Lingfeng

Bai Lingfeng was born into a rogue cultivator family. Both of her parents were cultivators, and she was the family’s only daughter.

Father said that girls did not need to endure hardship. It was enough to be a proper young lady. Getting stronger through hardship was a boy’s privilege, and she did not need any of that.

Mother secretly told her not to worry about all that. She was still young and could play for a few more years. When she reached the age truly suitable for cultivation, she would be allowed to choose whether or not to cultivate.

That period of time was the happiest and most joyful time of her life.

She had thought it would stay that way forever, until an enemy her father had once let go out of a moment of mercy came looking for them.

She saw the enemy come to their door with an ingratiating smile all over his face. Father welcomed him with a smile. The two entered the house very politely, while Mother served good wine and fine food…

But in the blink of an eye, raging flames set the house ablaze, lighting the interior bright. Father lay in a pool of blood.

The enemy kept swinging his blade, stabbing it into Father’s chest, riddling him with wounds until blood pooled in small hollows.

The enemy’s face wore the smile of one whose great revenge had been fulfilled, laughing without restraint. Father fell completely, his eyes never closing in death.

She stared blankly, a ringing filling both ears. Massive shock and terror exploded in her heart like a bomb in an instant, robbing her brain of the ability to think again and her body of the ability to react.

She only remembered being picked up by Mother, draped in a gauze garment, and shoved directly under the bed.

She later learned that the gauze garment possessed abilities such as concealment, aura masking, and defense. It was a single-use middle-grade artifact whose effects were close to those of a high-grade artifact.

Then she saw Mother raise the artifact and charge forward, shouting that she would take revenge, only to be cut into several pieces by the enemy with a single sword strike.

A hand fell beside her. It was the hand that usually stroked her gently, still warm.

Mother urged her never to make a sound no matter what, to live on, not to think of revenge, to pursue her own matters, and to be sure to live, to live well. Father and Mother were shouting, as if trying to cover something up.

She clamped her hand over her mouth. Tears flowed through the gaps between her fingers. Her whole body trembled, and she did not dare make the slightest sound.

After doing all this, the enemy gave another cold smile and said to the air, “I already know where you’re hiding, little brat. Hurry up and get out here. Considering your old man spared my life back then, I’ll spare yours too. As long as you don’t think about revenge, you’ll be safe and sound.”

Bai Lingfeng did not dare move an inch, because Mother had once told her that most people in the Cultivation World liked to play tricks, stating uncertain things in a certain tone in order to trick out an enemy’s methods.

She did not know whether the enemy had truly discovered her. She only knew that if she went out, she would certainly die.

When no one came out, the enemy cursed furiously for a while, then muttered, “Could it really be that there are no descendants? Maybe so. The probability is small, but it isn’t impossible.”

“Forget it. Staying here will only leave more clues. I’d better leave first.”

The enemy left, but not long after he turned back. Seeing that there was still not the slightest movement, he finally let out a sigh of relief.

The enemy ransacked the place, searching for any trace of life and plundering any bit of wealth. Only when nothing of value could be squeezed out of the place did he leave.

Bai Lingfeng would never forget that day. That hatred would be forever engraved in her heart, driving her to grow stronger without end.

She hated. She hated that she lacked strength and could not save the people she wanted to save. She even hated that she was not a boy, that she did not even have the right to die there…

She crawled out from the ruins and found a shattered shard of mirror. Like a madwoman, she cut and shortened the carefully tended black hair.

Then she used charcoal to smear her pretty face. Only after finishing all this did she stop. She lowered her head in the torrential rain, not knowing whether what flowed from the corners of her eyes was rain or tears.

She walked aimlessly through the wilderness, wandering like a lone ghost. She fought wild dogs for food, slit scavengers’ throats with a blade, and broke bandits’ bones with her fists.

She gradually discovered that she seemed somewhat different from others. Her grasp of combat far exceeded that of ordinary people, reaching a terrifying degree.

She was incomparably excited, her whole body trembling like the wind. This was the hope of revenge.

Although she could fight very well, she was ultimately just a little girl. Getting injured was only natural.

Relying on her agile skills, she killed more than a dozen people from nearby gangs, but she herself was also seriously injured. She leaned against the cold bluestone brick wall, licking her wounds as always.

Yet on this very day, she saw the figure she would never be able to forget in this life.

A little girl, beautiful as a fairy, passed by. Seeing her, she gave her a healing pill and some daily supplies, then skipped away.

She stared blankly at the other’s back. In that little girl, she saw a shadow of her former self, and her fondness for the girl swelled rapidly like a bubble. Unfortunately, for a long time afterward, she never saw the other again.

Another year passed. She finally got an opportunity and seized a cultivation technique from a chaotic battle, a very common cultivation technique.

She cultivated day and night, desperately fighting for any possible cultivation resource, constantly raising her strength.

Although her cultivation speed was not fast, her powerful combat talent allowed her to fight across realms and defeat the strong while weak.

***

Another two years passed. She tied up her long hair and completely changed her appearance, just like a real boy.

Relying on a terrifying self-created sword art and a nature that killed without restraint, she became known as Heavenly Sword Star.

Half a year later, through her desperate investigation, she finally found the hiding place of that former enemy.

Without the slightest hesitation, she took only three breaths to break through the formation the enemy had carefully laid out. With just one move, she directly robbed the enemy of his combat ability.

The enemy, whose hair had long since turned white, knelt and begged for mercy, even weeping bitterly. He was willing to offer everything just to exchange for a chance to live.

It turned out her enemy had already grown old and lost his edge. Before this, her memory had remained fixed on the time when the enemy was vigorous and high-spirited. She had forgotten the cruelty of time, that blunt knife.

Her sword did not hesitate. It sliced across his throat without emotion, just like the thousands of sword swings she had made in the past.

The enemy died by her hand, his eyes still holding disbelief, as if he had not expected her to be so resolute.

With her great revenge fulfilled, she did not cry loudly or laugh wildly. Only a sense of wistful loss lingered in her heart.

She executed the enemy’s entire family. To prevent future trouble, she hid in the darkness and observed for half a month before finally leaving.