Senior Sister, Please Act Human! - Chapter 5

Xiao Yuanzhi ran all the way to the training grounds. She had barely taken a few breaths when Wei Zisu arrived.

This time, however, the sword in her hand had been replaced.

It was many times larger than the one she had carried before.

Xiao Yuanzhi immediately straightened her back and smiled at Wei Zisu.

“Senior Sister, you’re here.”

There was no chance Wei Zisu would joke around with Xiao Yuanzhi. Her face remained cold and stern. She merely swept Xiao Yuanzhi a brief glance before looking elsewhere.

In those few short seconds, Xiao Yuanzhi cursed Wei Zisu several more times in her heart, yet not the slightest awkwardness appeared on her face.

“Tonight, we will not practice the same things as before. I—”

Before Wei Zisu could finish, Xiao Yuanzhi immediately began applauding.

This was wonderful news for her.

At least her legs had been saved. And once her legs recovered, would she not be able to run away?

Then she would never again have to endure the torment of this black-hearted woman!

Wei Zisu grew impatient at being interrupted, but Xiao Yuanzhi was observant. The moment Wei Zisu looked at her, she immediately lowered her hands.

“Please continue, Senior Sister.”

“I was not tormenting you before. I was testing the strength of your arms and legs. You know how strict Cangfeng Manor’s rules are when accepting disciples. Anyone without genuine skill will be unable to remain here. Moreover, Junior Sister has grown up in the manor since childhood. Your abilities should naturally surpass those of the other disciples.”

Wei Zisu spoke with such righteousness and dignity that her explanation almost sounded true.

In reality, she had deliberately been tormenting Xiao Yuanzhi.

But how could she possibly admit that?

Xiao Yuanzhi suppressed the urge to roll her eyes. She nodded solemnly and pretended to believe every word.

Wei Zisu had truly brought the phrase sanctimonious hypocrite to life.

Xiao Yuanzhi almost wanted to edit together a video compilation of her and submit it online so everyone could witness her true face.

“Although Martial Uncle Jiuji entrusted you to Master last month, the martial arts they teach are entirely different. You may find it difficult to adapt. To help you overcome that problem, display each of the skills you usually practice.”

“Martial arts?”

Wei Zisu nodded and gestured for Xiao Yuanzhi to begin.

Xiao Yuanzhi was dumbfounded.

She could dig traps and run her mouth, but asking her to demonstrate martial arts—wasn’t that making things difficult for poor Peppa Pig?

Had she actually known martial arts, would she have needed to grovel before Wei Zisu like this?

She would have grabbed a pole and started a rebellion long ago!

Wei Zisu interpreted Xiao Yuanzhi’s hesitation as dissatisfaction with the limited space. Thinking there was not enough room for her to display her skills, she took several steps backward and cleared a large area for her.

Xiao Yuanzhi had already been driven onto the stage. Could she simply turn around and run?

Even if she did, Wei Zisu would only catch her and drag her back.

And if Wei Zisu had not suspected her before, running away now would be the same as digging a pit and burying herself in it.

Xiao Yuanzhi had no intention of exposing herself.

She still wanted to live a long and peaceful life.

But after thinking carefully, she realized that in all twenty-one years of her life, forget martial arts—she did not even know how to dance.

No, wait.

She did know one routine.

Her little niece had forced her to learn it while they watched Dancing Magic Goddesses together.

Seeing faint displeasure appear on Wei Zisu’s face, Xiao Yuanzhi suddenly remembered that she still knew the military boxing routine she had learned during military training.

She took a deep breath and put on an impressively serious expression.

Then, under Wei Zisu’s watchful gaze, she performed an entire military boxing routine.

“Hey—!”

“Ha—!”

“Hey—!”

Xiao Yuanzhi’s shouts were loud and forceful.

Her bizarre collection of movements left Wei Zisu staring in astonishment.

Martial Uncle Jiuji possessed formidable abilities. She had personally witnessed him defeat several opponents entirely on his own.

To examine the martial arts of its disciples, Cangfeng Manor held an assessment every two years. One part of that assessment was a martial competition.

In previous years, Xiao Yuanzhi had been too young to participate.

This year was different.

She had already reached the age of fifteen, when a young woman traditionally came of age. As Martial Uncle Jiuji’s sole personal disciple, a confrontation between Xiao Yuanzhi and Wei Zisu would naturally be unavoidable.

Wei Zisu had planned to use this opportunity to discover the weaknesses in Xiao Yuanzhi’s martial arts so that she could defeat her during the assessment.

Who could have expected Xiao Yuanzhi to suddenly perform something like this?

Wei Zisu’s delicate brows knitted together.

Everyone in Cangfeng Manor knew how deeply Martial Uncle Jiuji doted upon his disciple. How could he possibly have taught her these strange movements?

Could Xiao Yuanzhi be deliberately concealing her true strength?

Considering all the unusual behavior Xiao Yuanzhi had displayed over the past several days, especially when compared with how she had acted before, the possibility seemed extremely likely.

Just as Xiao Yuanzhi prepared to perform the routine a second time, Wei Zisu told her to stop and brought forward the enormous sword in her hand.

“This is a black-iron heavy sword. Its entire body was forged from black iron. Although it cannot compare with the one Martial Uncle Jiuji uses, it is still the heaviest weapon I could find in the Sword Pavilion. To ensure Little Junior Sister passes the assessment smoothly, I specially obtained Master’s permission to retrieve it today.”

Wei Zisu lowered her gaze toward the heavy sword.

“As everyone knows, Martial Uncle Jiuji’s supreme techniques are performed with a heavy sword. Since Little Junior Sister is his personal disciple, you should naturally use one as well.”

Circulating her internal energy, Wei Zisu swung the heavy sword several times in front of Xiao Yuanzhi before casually weighing it in her hand.

“Although this sword is somewhat light for Little Junior Sister, it should still be usable.”

She then pointed the blade downward.

When its tip struck the ground, it shattered the stone beneath it. Fragments scattered around Xiao Yuanzhi’s feet, and she could clearly feel the ground tremble.

This was supposed to be light?

Xiao Yuanzhi instinctively swallowed. Her voice trembled noticeably as she asked, “How much… does that sword weigh?”

Wei Zisu answered truthfully.

“Only a little over ninety jin.”

Xiao Yuanzhi’s legs went weak.

She staggered backward several steps before managing to steady herself. Her eyes nearly rolled back as she came close to passing out.

She had assumed black-iron heavy sword was only an impressive name.

Since Wei Zisu could swing it around, Xiao Yuanzhi had thought she might at least be able to move it a few times.

How could she have known it was genuinely a heavy sword?

Only a little over ninety jin?

Were those even words a human being should say?

Why was Wei Zisu treating her this way?

She was only a child from a small county town!

The two of them had already been keeping their distance.

Xiao Yuanzhi believed that the reason she had sneezed several days ago was entirely because of Wei Zisu. To prevent the same thing from happening again, she had made sure to stay far away.

Now, she had taken another several steps backward.

Combined with the undisguised resistance in her eyes, this only strengthened Wei Zisu’s desire to investigate.

Even though Xiao Yuanzhi might as well have written the word NO across her face, Wei Zisu still threw the heavy sword toward her, adding a small amount of internal energy to the toss.

“Little Junior Sister, catch!”

Xiao Yuanzhi’s eyes widened in terror.

The heavy sword came flying toward her at tremendous speed, giving her no opportunity to escape.

That thing weighed more than ninety jin!

If she caught it, would it not smash both her hands into minced meat?

But if she did not catch it, she might need her limbs amputated!

Seeing the heavy sword about to strike her, Xiao Yuanzhi instinctively raised her arms to shield her face.

She closed her eyes and waited for the impact.

So be it. If she died, she died.

At worst, she would simply transmigrate back.

She would not even be losing anything. That was how novels always worked, after all—the protagonist died and then returned to the modern world.

However, several seconds passed, and the expected impact never came.

Instead, she heard the sound of shoes scraping violently against the ground.

The moment Xiao Yuanzhi opened her eyes, she heard Wei Zisu speak through clenched teeth.

“Xiao Yuanzhi!”

The fact that every word had been forced out through the gaps between her teeth revealed exactly how furious she was.

She had even called Xiao Yuanzhi by her full name.

Xiao Yuanzhi turned toward the voice and received another shock.

Wei Zisu was now standing some distance away.

But that was not what frightened her most.

Wei Zisu no longer wore her usual icy expression.

In its place was fury—such overwhelming fury that she looked ready to kill Xiao Yuanzhi.

Wei Zisu had thrown the heavy sword at Xiao Yuanzhi for two reasons.

First, she wanted to determine whether Xiao Yuanzhi was concealing her true strength.

Second, she trusted Martial Uncle Jiuji’s abilities. A disciple personally taught by him should not have been incompetent.

Wei Zisu might have hated Xiao Yuanzhi, but she had never intended to kill her.

It was not because she could not bear to do it.

She simply had no desire to stain her hands with the blood of a fellow disciple.

Yet to her surprise, Xiao Yuanzhi had been so vicious.

While Wei Zisu was unprepared, she had suddenly used internal energy to deflect the heavy sword.

Wei Zisu had been standing directly opposite her.

Had it been daytime, she could easily have dodged. But it was already late at night, and she could not risk awakening the others.

What else could she do but receive the sword head-on?

Fortunately, she had sealed her acupoints in time and prevented her injuries from worsening.

Even so, a streak of vivid red blood now stained the corner of her lips.

Wei Zisu had never been as furious as she was today.

Xiao Yuanzhi clearly possessed internal energy, yet during the previous days, she had deliberately put on an act in front of her.

Had she been playing with Wei Zisu all along?

Treating her like a dog she could lead around for amusement?!

Xiao Yuanzhi looked over the spot where Wei Zisu stood.

There was now a small pool of blood on the ground.

Had she… done that?

“Did… did I do that?”

But aside from herself and Wei Zisu, there was no one else around.

Yet she had clearly done nothing!

Xiao Yuanzhi’s question, despite the answer appearing obvious, made Wei Zisu even angrier.

At a time like this, why was Xiao Yuanzhi still pretending to be innocent?

When Xiao Yuanzhi met Wei Zisu’s gaze, she shuddered.

She hurriedly said, “Senior Sister, I don’t know why that happened either. Would you believe me if I said I didn’t do it on purpose?”

Wei Zisu did not answer.

However, the cold laugh she suddenly gave was answer enough.

Fine.

Xiao Yuanzhi understood.

What was she still waiting for?

Run!

“I’m sorry!”

Xiao Yuanzhi shouted, spun around, and ran, striving to reach a speed of seventy miles an hour.

“Hah. You still think you can escape?”

Wei Zisu circulated her internal energy and struck out with one palm.

A tremendous explosion followed.

A stone Xiao Yuanzhi had just passed suddenly burst apart. Fragments of every size flew into her body.

Had she not been running so quickly, she would have been the one to explode instead.

That alone showed precisely how furious Wei Zisu had become.

It was as though the death knell had begun to toll.

Xiao Yuanzhi knew she was finished.

She could no longer concern herself with anything else. She did not want to die, so her only choice was to run even faster.

Yet no matter how quickly she fled, Wei Zisu remained close behind.

Everywhere Xiao Yuanzhi passed, something exploded.

Xiao Yuanzhi felt unbearably miserable.

No matter what she did, she could not shake Wei Zisu off.

Her legs were already aching terribly, and her strength was gradually running out. She could barely even breathe.

Every time she looked back, Wei Zisu was still chasing her relentlessly.

“Senior Sister, can’t you… spare me just this once?”

“I was wrong!”

“I… I really was wrong!”

“I didn’t do it on purpose!”

Her pleas did nothing to calm Wei Zisu’s fury.

By now, Wei Zisu had lost most of her reason. She continuously launched bursts of internal energy around Xiao Yuanzhi, forcing her to flee in every direction.

Just look at Wei Zisu’s abilities.

It would be a terrible waste if she did not become a demolition expert.

The nation needed her!

Xiao Yuanzhi stopped wasting her breath.

Talking was useless.

She might as well conserve her strength and keep running.