I Rely On My Archenemy To Defy Fate - Chapter 2

Wen Qingyin froze slightly, but that did not affect her sword swing. Only, before the sword could be swung, Wen Qingyin discovered that she had lost all her spiritual energy.

She stared blankly at her own transparent hand. In the span of a single breath, she scattered on the spot like cloud and mist.

The sword formation…

Had been broken.

No. Or perhaps it should be said that this sword formation had shattered!!

The gatekeeping disciple watched with her own eyes as Wen Qingyin’s phantom dispersed inside the sword formation. Then she watched Shang Que happily take a step forward and dig out the formation core Wen Qingyin had pierced through.

The gatekeeping disciple’s expression turned strange. “Fellow Daoist, are you a formation cultivator?”

Shang Que said modestly, “I’ve learned a little. Just a little.”

Was this just a little??

In such a short time, under Senior Sister Wen’s attack that dense and relentless, she had still been able to find the sword formation’s core. Wasn’t this a genius in the art of formations?!

At that thought, the gatekeeping disciple’s expression grew solemn, and she congratulated her. “Congratulations, Fellow Daoist, on breaking the sword formation. Please follow me to the outer sect first. I will go apply for your entry gifts right away.”

Shang Que nodded.

In quite a good mood, she followed the gatekeeping disciple to the outer courtyard of Jiuxiao Sect.

The gatekeeping disciple kept her eyes properly lowered. Although she could tell Shang Que was a formation genius who was not arrogant, the things that had to be said still had to be said.

“Such are Jiuxiao Sect’s rules. No matter what kind of talent one possesses, one must study in the outer sect for a period of time and wait for the disciple acceptance ceremony one year later.”

“Even Senior Sister Wen was no exception.”

Shang Que nodded without the slightest surprise.

The outer sect was exactly what she wanted.

The female lead was currently in the outer sect, after all.

But when it came to the disciple acceptance ceremony, Shang Que quietly asked the gatekeeping disciple, “Before your disciple acceptance ceremony, don’t you usually hold an arena competition? I heard the person who takes first place in the arena competition gets some kind of reward.”

The gatekeeping disciple nodded and explained, “The martial competition is arranged so the elders can see your fighting styles and choose disciples more suited to them.”

“There are indeed rewards as well. Generally, the rewards at the disciple acceptance ceremony are quite generous.”

Shang Que nodded in understanding, then asked, “Then who do you think is the opponent I need to pay the most attention to in this disciple acceptance ceremony?”

The corner of the gatekeeping disciple’s mouth twitched. You’re already at the fifth level of Qi Refining, and your formation skills are this powerful. No matter how impressive this year’s group of children is, they can’t be more impressive than you.

But since Shang Que wanted to know, she still answered, “The quality of this round of disciples is fairly high. If we’re talking about people you should pay attention to, one is Changsun Yu. Both her parents are cultivators, and she herself has a single metal spiritual root. She’s a good seedling for sword cultivation.”

Seeing Shang Que nod and listen seriously, she continued, “The other one came from the mortal realm.”

The gatekeeping disciple frowned, seeming to hesitate over whether she should say it.

But then Shang Que’s eyes lit up. “From the mortal realm?”

“I came from the mortal realm too.”

“Where did she come from?”

Seeing that Shang Que did not show any contempt toward the mortal realm, the gatekeeping disciple let out a breath of relief and continued, “That, I do not know.”

“I only know that she came from the mortal realm. When our senior sisters went there to recruit disciples, they encountered a demon beast in the mortal realm. She assisted them from the side and joined the senior sisters in killing that demon beast.”

It was a plot Shang Que had read in the comic.

It was the female lead!

The female lead of this world, Su Tanghua.

“To think there is such a capable person,” she praised, signaling for the gatekeeping disciple to continue. Unfortunately, the gatekeeping disciple did not know much either. She only introduced Su Tanghua’s experiences since entering the sect, such as how she was the first person to finish climbing the thousand-step Heart-Inquiry Stairs, how she possessed dual wood and fire spiritual roots, and how she successfully drew qi into her body on the very first day she received cultivation books.

“However, I believe Changsun Yu is still the bigger threat.”

Shang Que merely nodded.

She followed the gatekeeping disciple to the courtyard where she would temporarily stay.

In truth, the courtyard was shared. After entering through the small courtyard’s gate, there were three rooms: left, right, and center.

But because Shang Que was the first wandering cultivator this year to pass the sword formation and enter, she enjoyed a whole courtyard to herself.

In other words, for the time being, all three rooms were hers.

She had no roommates.

The room had probably not been lived in for a long time. The moment the door was pushed open, dust flew everywhere.

Fortunately, she was not a mortal who had just stepped onto the path of cultivation…

Otherwise, just cleaning the place would have wasted a great deal of time.

After several cleaning spells, the room was already spotless.

Shang Que did not have much luggage, so she soon finished making the bed.

While Shang Que was cleaning and making her bed, news that a wandering cultivator had arrived at the sect, along with the recording stone, was delivered into the hands of every elder in Jiuxiao Sect.

Of course, it also reached Wen Qingyin’s hands. In fact, it was among the first to arrive there.

At that time, Wen Qingyin was sitting in a pavilion among the mountains. Clouds and mist curled around her, and a gentle breeze drifted by. Her long lashes lowered slightly as she focused on the chessboard.

She was playing chess with someone, presenting a scene that looked exceedingly immortal-like.

But that was not actually the case.

Because the person playing chess with her was a body cultivator who could not sit still.

A body cultivator whose own life was extremely rough and who had absolutely no understanding of elegance, romance, or moonlit refinement.

Inside the pavilion, Elder Changsun felt as though she were sitting on pins and needles. She could not tell whether it was because of this game of Go, which she had studied for half a month and still had not even begun to understand, and which made her feel itchy all over the moment she tried to think, or because the clouds and mist passing through the pavilion made her entire body feel sticky.

In short, every part of her felt uncomfortable, and her heart was unbearably restless.

She had no interest in Go at all. Why would a brainless body cultivator like her learn a mortal game of Go?!

Could she even understand it?!

But who asked her daughter, who had just begun cultivating, to want to become Wen Qingyin’s disciple?

Who asked her to think from the very beginning that Wen Qingyin was no good person, so she had always avoided Wen Qingyin from afar before this?

Because of that, she and Wen Qingyin had no channel at all for building a relationship.

After repeated inquiries, she learned that Wen Qingyin was a very refined person. Before stepping onto the Dao, she had apparently been either a princess or a wealthy young lady. In short, during her leisure time, she would always play a round of chess.

Chess was good. Chess was good!

At last, there was a way to establish a connection.

Whether she knew how to play Go or not, and no matter what kind of mess she made of the game…

She, Changsun Jiu, was very interested in Go during this period of time.

And so she used this excuse to seek instruction from Wen Qingyin.

Fortunately, Wen Qingyin had always been “kindhearted” and had not refused her.

To be honest, this was the first time Elder Changsun felt grateful that Wen Qingyin was smooth and tactful, never tearing off all pretense with others.

Yes. Elder Changsun used “smooth and tactful” to describe that number one sword cultivator, who was so sharp she could break ten thousand techniques with a single sword.

Even if Wen Qingyin’s admirers believed Wen Qingyin was compassionate and kindhearted, unable to bear seeing others upset, Elder Changsun had never thought that way.

A body cultivator’s intuition told her that Wen Qingyin was absolutely no good sort.

Everything about this sword cultivator was suspicious.

What sword cultivator, after seizing the title of number one in the sword path, would refuse to properly practice the sword, properly temper their state of mind, and continue secluding themselves in pursuit of ascension?

Wen Qingyin, however, was something else. After sitting firmly in the position of number one sword cultivator, she first returned to Jiuxiao Sect and slowly took away the sect master’s authority.

It had even been a gentle coup. The seizure of power had taken place before anyone noticed.

Elder Changsun could not understand those hidden undercurrents at all. She could only watch helplessly as Wen Qingyin went from a brilliant, sharp-edged sword cultivation genius, the sect’s public face in terms of combat strength, into the sect’s sole decision-maker who held power alone.

Although she did not have the title of sect master, Elder Changsun felt that Wen Qingyin only lacked picking an auspicious day to officially ascend the throne.

One had to know that the sect master had long since been reduced to a figurehead by her.

She truly did not want to have much contact with Wen Qingyin.

But Wen Qingyin was genuinely capable, whether in the way of the sword or in the pursuit of fame and power.

If her daughter could become Wen Qingyin’s disciple, then her daughter’s cultivation path would definitely be smooth sailing.

So Elder Changsun still forced herself to come.

It was just that she played this game of chess with her heart in her throat.

She was afraid that if Wen Qingyin was displeased, not only would she refuse to accept her daughter as a disciple, she might even deduct the cultivation resources of their Body Peak.

Fortunately, Wen Qingyin had been in a decent mood recently. While playing chess, she could even casually read through the sect’s account books.

When Wen Qingyin placed her stones, she rarely hesitated, always giving people the impression that everything was already within her grasp.

Elder Changsun always felt that everything on the chessboard was under her control.

Including herself, outside the chessboard.

In truth, Wen Qingyin had long known why she had come and what she wanted.

But she did not want to give it to her directly.

As if entertaining herself, she watched Elder Changsun rack her brains to find excuses to get close to her, and watched her scratch her ears and cheeks because she could not place a stone.

Like teasing a pet.

Hate.

Why did her daughter have to take a liking to Wen Qingyin?

Elder Changsun was suffering greatly.

So when an inner disciple came to report, “A wandering cultivator has broken Wen Qingyin’s sword formation,” Elder Changsun felt as though she had been granted amnesty.

Before she had even figured out what that sentence meant, she set down the chess piece in her hand at once and called to the Dao attendant, “Quick, quick, bring it here!”

She was just short of personally going out the door and carrying the recording stone inside herself.

Wen Qingyin’s brow lifted slightly. She put down the account book in her hand, also somewhat surprised.

Her information network was fairly well connected, but she had not heard of any sudden emergence of a sword path genius anywhere.

Before the disciple had taken more than a few steps through the door, Elder Changsun still could not hold herself back. With nimble hands and feet, she snatched the recording stone over and very diligently set up the water screen that could enlarge the scene inside the stone.

At the same time, she rationalized her own eager behavior, muttering, “This is a talent who broke Wen Qingyin’s sword formation. We have to take a good look at this young talent.”

She spoke a bunch of nonsense. When the recording stone began to play and Wen Qingyin appeared in the center of the sword formation, the two began exchanging moves, continuing until the sword formation dispersed. Only then did she fully come back to herself.

“She broke Wen Qingyin’s sword formation?!” Her voice cracked sharply from astonishment.

Only then did she finally realize what this matter meant.

One had to know that the wandering cultivator entrance sword formation was entirely under Wen Qingyin’s control.

This sword formation had not originally been made to test incoming cultivators. It was used for sword cultivators to seek Wen Qingyin out and exchange pointers on swordsmanship.

Along the way, it also attracted many challengers who questioned her.

Wen Qingyin was merciful enough. Regardless of cultivation level, as long as it was a challenge in the way of the sword, she accepted each one. She fought for more than ten years, until whenever cultivators mentioned sword cultivators, the first person they thought of was Wen Qingyin.

From then on, she completely secured her title as the number one sword cultivator.

Everyone thought the turmoil over the seat of sword path leader had ended there. But Wen Qingyin, whether because she was truly merciful or because she wanted to consolidate her reputation and status as the number one sword cultivator, created several sword formations and declared that no matter who it was and no matter their cultivation level, as long as they loved the way of the sword, they could enter the sword formations and exchange pointers with her.

For a time, her reputation rose again. On top of that, the sword formations were indeed suitable for sword cultivators to study and comprehend the sword path, and even to this day, no one had ever defeated a same-level Wen Qingyin inside the sword formations. As a result, the gimmick only became even more famous.

That was why, even now, sword cultivators still came to challenge Wen Qingyin’s sword formations.

They could be considered a famous tourist attraction of Jiuxiao Sect.

It could almost be said that the cultivators who came to Jiuxiao Sect were all there to challenge Wen Qingyin’s sword formations.

Seeing all those outstanding young talents, some of whom were even wandering cultivators, Jiuxiao Sect’s sect master at the time had, quite understandably… grown envious.

She set Wen Qingyin’s sword formation as one of Jiuxiao Sect’s entrance assessments as well, and promised that anyone who broke Wen Qingyin’s sword formation would be unconditionally promoted into the inner sect and receive generous magical artifact rewards.

Unfortunately, the sect master at the time truly did not understand sword cultivators.

What sword cultivators cared about was only one thing: Wen Qingyin.

Because there were simply too many sword cultivators lining up, some who were in a hurry would also line up for the sword formation used in Jiuxiao Sect’s entrance assessment.

And so the sword cultivators successfully turned an assessment where only one day out of seven used Wen Qingyin’s sword formation into one where six and a half days out of seven were Wen Qingyin…

However, this did not affect wandering cultivators entering Jiuxiao Sect all that much.

If there truly were wandering cultivators who sincerely wanted to enter Jiuxiao Sect, then either they would have gathered information in advance, or they would persevere for a few more days, take a few more beatings from Wen Qingyin, and sooner or later get a turn at an ordinary sword formation.

But unexpectedly, today, Wen Qingyin’s sword formation had actually been broken?!

Although it was the Qi Refining stage sword formation, one that was practically deserted and almost never challenged.

Although it was the weakest sword formation.

It was still Wen Qingyin’s sword formation!

And now it had actually been broken!

This was truly the first time in thirty years.

Elder Changsun watched with great interest, while worry inevitably rose in her heart as well.

If this person was also a sword path genius… would it affect her daughter’s apprenticeship?

But this thought disappeared very quickly.

Because she played the recording stone again. This time, she watched it extremely carefully.

After Elder Changsun finished watching that brief process of breaking the formation, she let out a breath of relief.

Good. She was a formation cultivator.

Although she was also a genius.

Fortunately, she was a formation cultivator.

Elder Changsun adjusted her emotions and decided to chat at length with Wen Qingyin about it. But when she turned her head, she discovered that Wen Qingyin no longer had that calm, unruffled air.

She was looking intently at that person. She had even risen from her seat and walked to the recording stone, pausing the playback on Shang Que’s face.

Only then did Elder Changsun discover that a patch of Wen Qingyin’s white sleeve had been soaked through with tea.

Was there something wrong with this person?

She had actually made Wen Qingyin lose her composure.

Elder Changsun observed from the side.

She watched Wen Qingyin’s gaze sweep over the image from top to bottom.

As for Wen Qingyin, she stared intently at Shang Que inside the recording stone.

She looked at Shang Que’s deep-blue, water-like long hair, at her open, handsome face that was as refreshing as a clear breeze, at those deep-blue eyes that resembled still pool water.

Identical peach blossom eyes.

If that person had grown up, she would probably look like this too.

Subconsciously, she rubbed the deep-blue, jade-like pendant at her waist.

After a long while, she sighed.

No one knew what she was sighing about.

Elder Changsun seemed to sense something and asked cautiously, “Qingyin, this person… do you know her?”

Wen Qingyin nodded without avoiding the question.

A trace of nostalgia lingered in her eyes.

“She should be my benefactor’s child.”