Heavenly Sword Peak—
Shen Mo had just finished a round of spiritual power guidance for the Cloud-Soaring Crane.
He leaned by the couch to regulate his breathing, too weak to even raise his hand.
He wore a black brocade robe that was somewhat oversized and ill-fitting; it was Qin Shuying’s casual attire, still carrying the cold fir-like scent and a faint smell of alcohol.
The door of the quiet room was gently knocked at this time.
Qin Shuying was not there; she had gone to the main hall to handle some matters.
A clear and sweet female voice came from outside the door, with careful respect: “Lord Shen? Are you here? I am Chunlan, ordered by the Peak Master to bring you some regulating elixirs and tea snacks.”
Shen Mo wearily opened his eyes and responded hoarsely, “Come in.”
The door was pushed open, and a young girl in a goose-yellow dress walked in.
She wore her hair in double buns, adorned with a few round pearls, with big almond eyes and two shallow dimples on her cheeks when she smiled.
In her hands she carried a jade plate on which were a few jade bottles filled with shimmering spiritual energy and a plate of delicious-looking spirit fruit snacks.
She summoned her courage to look at Shen Mo.
With just one glance, it was as if her soul was snatched away; she stood frozen in place.
It wasn’t her first time seeing Shen Mo, but in the past it was either a distant glance or when he was haggard and unconscious.
When had she ever seen him like this?
The thin afternoon light outlined his delicate profile, long lashes lowered, straight nose bridge, beautiful lips but completely bloodless; the whole person seemed like a fragile treasure carved from the finest mutton-fat white jade.
So beautiful… practically unreal.
Especially that inviolable, sacred aura—even an extra glance felt like an offense, and approaching required immense courage.
“Lord Shen, you’ve worked hard.”
She stepped lightly closer, placed the jade plate on a low table nearby, bent her knees in a bow, and was very respectful.
“The Peak Master said you’ve expended a lot, and asked me to make sure you take the elixir and also some tea snacks.”
Shen Mo nodded reluctantly, his gaze falling on the girl’s inexplicably flushed face.
He saw her eyes stealing glances at him and then quickly looking away.
He had seen that kind of look before.
But different from the eyes of those who coveted him.
In her eyes, there was no possession, no madness, only one thing—careful admiration.
Like looking at something lofty and forever out of reach.
Shen Mo took the elixir.
His Adam’s apple moved up and down.
Chunlan quickly placed the tray on the small table, arranged the bowls and chopsticks, then retreated a few steps and stood there with her head lowered.
Shen Mo glanced at her.
“Is there something else?”
Chunlan’s face reddened again.
She opened her mouth, wanting to say something, but couldn’t utter a word.
She just wanted to stay a little longer.
Look at him a bit more.
Even just standing here, watching him from a distance, she felt her heart pounding fiercely.
“This servant… this servant will wait outside. If you have any orders, young master, please call at any time.”
After speaking, she lowered her head and stepped out with small steps.
The door closed behind her.
She leaned against the door, clutching her chest, panting heavily.
Her heart was beating too fast.
So fast it felt like it would jump out of her throat.
She closed her eyes, and her mind was filled with that face.
That face so beautiful it made people dare not look directly.
She remembered the glance he had given her just now—light, distant, without any meaning.
But that one glance made her legs go weak.
‘Chunlan, Chunlan,’ she scolded herself in her heart, ‘What status do you have? Are you even worthy of thinking about such things?’
Being able to look at him so closely and deliver a meal was already an immense honor.
But the images in her mind couldn’t be driven away.
The voice she heard that night.
Those well-proportioned, jade-white feet.
And that face.
That face impossible to forget after a single glance.
She crouched down, burying her face in her knees.
She didn’t dare think anymore.
But that heart kept pounding, thump thump thump, and wouldn’t stop.
She only dared to suppress this throb deep in her heart, and only in the most unknown dreams did she dare to secretly weave some impossibly beautiful and absurd scenes to * herself.
……
At the mountain gate of Heavenly Sword Peak, Lin Jingzhe stood for a full hour.
It wasn’t that she didn’t want to enter.
She couldn’t get in.
That mountain gate looked ordinary, just two stone pillars and a light barrier.
But the moment her hand touched the light barrier, she was thrown back by a tremendous force.
She tried three times, and three times she was flung away; the last time knocked her so hard that her qi and blood churned and blood trickled from the corner of her mouth.
A restriction.
A Nascent Soul level mountain protection array.
Above the light barrier, sword qi flowed, with faint sounds of wind and thunder; this was the outer manifestation of the Ten Thousand Swords Returning to Origin Barrier, the peak protection array of Heavenly Sword Peak.
Anyone not a disciple of this peak or holding a specific token who trespassed would be lightly injured by sword qi or heavily trigger the array’s deadly move, resulting in body and soul destruction.
She, who had come so confidently and spiritedly, couldn’t even get through the gate.
Lin Jingzhe gritted her teeth, got up, and stared at that brilliant, shimmering light barrier.
Beyond the light barrier was Heavenly Sword Peak.
The place where her master’s husband was imprisoned.
She could even vaguely see the halls on the peak, the upward-curving eaves, and that unidentified ancient tree.
So close.
Yet so far.
“Qin Shuying!” she shouted at the mountain gate, “Come out!”
No one answered.
Only the wind, blowing from the mountains, stirred her robe.
She shouted again.
Still no one answered.
The disciples guarding the mountain stood far away, watching her expressionlessly, as if looking at a joke.
Lin Jingzhe’s face flushed bright red.
From shame.
From anger.
From resentment.
She clenched her fists, her nails digging into her palms until it hurt.
But that pain couldn’t compare to the pain in her heart.
“Senior Sister Lin,” a mountain-guarding disciple walked over, his tone polite but distant, “Peak Master Qin said that Lord Shen is here recovering from injuries and will be sent back once healed. Please return.”
Recovering.
Always recovering.
Lin Jingzhe stared at that disciple, flames almost shooting from her eyes.
The disciple stepped back under her gaze, his smile freezing.
“Senior Sister Lin, please don’t make this difficult for us…”
Lin Jingzhe didn’t move.
She just stood there, looking at the mountain gate, looking at the restriction she couldn’t break.
One hour.
Two hours.
The sun moved from the center to the west, then sank below the mountains.
Twilight closed in.
Lin Jingzhe finally moved. Her right hand formed sword fingers, her golden core spinning wildly inside her, releasing pure and fierce metal-attribute spiritual power without reservation, pouring it all into the sword in her hand!
Clang!
The sword blade let out a clear, stirring ring, and golden light surged on the blade, flickering, emitting a sharp, unmatched Gengjin sword qi!
A fierce glint flashed in her phoenix eyes, and her form suddenly transformed into a golden lightning bolt, merging man and sword, carrying an unstoppable momentum to break through everything, and stabbed fiercely at the pale green sword qi barrier!
“Jingzhe: Mountain Breaker!”
This was the strongest single-target attack sword art she could currently unleash!
Where the sword light passed, air was torn, producing sharp sonic booms, and the ground was plowed into deep furrows by the stray sword qi!
Booom!!!
The golden sword light and the pale green barrier collided violently!
A deafening explosion erupted, and a violent shockwave spread in a ring from the point of impact, shattering and flinging all plants and rocks within a hundred zhang! Dust and smoke filled the air!
The backlash force came like a tidal wave through the sword, slamming violently into her meridians and internal organs!
She let out a muffled groan, a sweet taste in her throat, but she forced it down.