“Ren He and Yuxian looked at each other.”
“Probably,”
“This is something Master left behind. Anyway, I’ve never used the Sect Master Token to lock this box before.”
“There was no barrier or resistance when I opened it.”
Yuxian frowned in confusion: “When did Master lock it?”
“I don’t know either.”
At the time when Ren Bin became the Sect Leader, if we calculate back…
He hadn’t come to the Book Pavilion more than five times.
That familiar scent hit them as soon as they opened the box.
“Let’s open it and take a look.”
Ren Bin said.
Cough cough cough—
As soon as the box was opened, Ren Bin started coughing violently.
A musty smell rushed straight from the box into his nose and lungs—
Even his breathing now carried that unpleasant odor.
“It smells moldy…”
“A faint stench of mildew.”
Yuxian glanced at him and said with a hint of helplessness: “Master wouldn’t have set a trap specifically to harm you.”
Ren Bin looked helpless and let out a breath.
He rubbed his nose and said: “What’s in there?”
Inside lay— a worn-out, unclear-looking book.
Ren Bin rubbed his eyes, then carefully took out the black book from the box.
“What is this?”
He looked closely at the cover.
“The Heavenly Origin Sword – Sequel?”
“Heavenly Origin Sword?”
Yuxian looked a bit surprised.
“Isn’t this the sword technique you practice?”
Ren Bin scratched his head.
He took out a manual from his treasure pouch—but it was not the same Heavenly Origin Sword.
“Huh? What’s going on with this?”
He stared at the two manuals in his hands in confusion.
Both were titled ‘Heavenly Origin Sword’, but—
“Is there actually a sequel to it?”
“But Heavenly Origin Sword isn’t even a novel…How come there’s a sequel?”
“Who writes sequels for martial arts techniques?!”
“Wanna open it and take a look?”
Yuxian was also intrigued.
Ren Bin nodded.
There might be a part that wasn’t finished in the original— and so a continuation was left behind.
Or maybe it was something that couldn’t be made public back then.
He suggested naturally: “Let’s check it out.”
Master hid it inside a box that couldn’t be destroyed.
A special reason must be behind it.
Flipping open the sequel manual, what immediately caught their eyes were four bold characters: “Break and Reforge.”
( Break to rebuild.)
Ren Bin furrowed his brow in confusion and kept reading.
As he continued down the page, a vivid mental image gradually took shape in his mind—
A person stood steadily, repeatedly swinging a sword.
But the hand holding the sword seemed as soft as jelly—
Every swing was weak, powerless, almost floppy.
It didn’t look like sword training at all—
It looked more like dancing.
And not just any dance—
The kind of dance performed by someone with muscle atrophy.
Ren Bin frowned deeply.
Pain suddenly shot through his head, almost making him cry out.
The scene looked more and more bizarre the longer he focused on it…
Suddenly, a sharp pain surged through Ren Bin’s head.
“This technique…it’s draining my mental energy.”
Ren Bin took a deep breath— then closed the sequel manual.
“Draining mental energy?”
Yuxian frowned.
“You were using your spiritual power to simulate the technique inside?”
“Yeah.”
Ren Bin looked visibly exhausted.
His expression was tired, and his eyelids felt so heavy—he just wanted to sleep.
Without a word, he lit a charm talisman for support.
Even his voice grew weak and listless as he spoke.
“I only tried to simulate a portion of the contents…and I still haven’t finished.”
“But even just that small portion…has already drained almost all my spiritual energy.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means…”
“The sequel to this sword technique…” “…is so powerful that it’s beyond comprehension.”
“A light and airy dance? Why would that consume mental energy?”
Ren Bin asked,
“Why do you think Master placed this manual in that box?”
He put the manual back into his treasure pouch, then turned to Yuxian and asked:
“Is it that important?”
“Then why didn’t he keep it on him? Or just…give it to you?”
“Or even give it to me directly?”
“I don’t know,”
Yuxian said, shaking her head with a helpless smile.
“If this manual and Heavenly Origin Sword are two parts of the same technique—upper and lower volumes— Then why didn’t Master give it to us back then?”
Ren Bin pinched his chin and thought for a moment.
“This old man…”
Locked it away in a special box, hidden so deliberately—
It was as if he had been waiting specifically for me to come find it.
The opening line of this technique manual was: “Once sword intent is formed, it must be broken and reforged.”
“Yet it was ruined by a disaster from the heavens…”
As Ren Bin read that line, his heartbeat suddenly sped up.
And also—
“Break and Reforge.”
It felt like…it was describing the current state of things— utter collapse.
Ren Bin suddenly had a chilling thought:
“Could this ‘Reforge’…be referring to something that’s about to happen?”
Knocking on his own head lightly, he muttered: “Something’s definitely about to happen…”
Then a strange idea popped up in his mind: “Wife…do you think Master might’ve known someone who could predict the future?”
Yuxian tilted her head, surprised: “You’re saying…he might’ve consulted a fortune-teller?”
“He knew that Bamboo Peak would decline one day?”
“I don’t know…”
Yuxian’s expression shifted slightly, as if she was starting to understand something.
“You mean…the current you?”
Ren Bin didn’t answer immediately— but Yuxian could already guess what he was thinking.
Yuxian carefully recalled, then responded: “I think…Master knew from very early on.”
That Hua Bamboo Peak, in the future, would fall into ruin—and remain in decline for a very long time.
Ren Bin frowned slightly.
“So you’re saying…Master hid this sword technique…”
“And didn’t tell anyone?”
“I don’t know,” Yuxian said.
But Ren Bin shook his head and replied: “Still, it makes a lot of sense.”
“It explains why Master passed the position of Sect Leader…to me—someone who was a complete failure at the time.”
Because only the Sect Leader’s Token could open that hidden box.
“And this sword technique…”
“It’s a kind of…dance?”
“A sword dance without any spiritual energy. Just purely…dancing.”
“I used my spiritual power to simulate the technique, and it felt soft, limp…”
“Could this ‘Reforge’ be referring to me…learning how to rebuild myself from this technique?”
“To rebuild everything…starting with this soft, powerless sword dance.”
Yuxian’s pupils narrowed slightly.
Her mood also grew tenser with the realization.
“It’s possible…”
She took a deep breath to calm her nerves, then nodded seriously.
“If Master really knew that something like this would happen…”
“Then why didn’t he give you this technique before entering closed-door seclusion, or before his death?”
Ren Bin responded: “I don’t know.”
He sighed heavily.
“I don’t even know if Master truly went into closed-door life-or-death seclusion…”
“Or if he actually passed away.”
“I just don’t know.”
“When I woke up back then, all that was left beside me— was his final letter, and the Sect Leader’s Token.”
“Maybe…”
“That fortune-teller he consulted…didn’t see the full picture?”
“Fortune-telling isn’t all-knowing, after all.”
“Maybe he missed something.”
“Maybe…the fortune-teller didn’t foresee when Hua Bamboo Peak would face disaster.”
“Maybe he didn’t know how many people would die…or how bad things would get.”
Ren Bin softly sighed.
“Forget it. No need to overthink it.”
“Since Master made his choice, he must’ve had his reasons.”
“Let’s clean up this place first,” he said.
“Mm.”
Yuxian nodded.
The two of them spent about ten minutes tidying things up— and soon, the whole third floor was cleaned and organized.
Ren Bin took the manual he had just retrieved from his treasure pouch, and carefully placed it back on the bookshelf.
“So empty now…”
He couldn’t help but sigh with some sorrow.
“This shelf used to be packed full.”
“And now…it’s just this one book left.”
He stared at the nearly empty bookshelf, lost in thought.
Looking at the completely empty bookshelf,
Yuxian stood quietly by Ren Bin’s side and softly said: “We’ll get back what we can recover.”
Ren Bin smiled.
“Everything we lost…I’ll take it all back.”
“I’ll restore Hua Bamboo Peak—” “—to what it once was.”
No—
To something even better.
Yuxian didn’t pull her hand away.
Instead, she gently turned her hand over— and held Ren Bin’s hand tightly in return.
“Better than it ever was before.”