Location: Verdant Peak Courtyard - Post-Paternal Revelation
The unsettling warmth of Long Qianli's departing "paternal pride" still lingered like an awkward echo. Gu Qingxi watched him vanish into the main hall's shadowed entrance, then slowly turned to Lu Tianyu, her expression a tapestry of bewilderment. "Shixiong… Third Brother's teaching methods… are they… standard?"
Lu Tianyu shuddered, a flicker of genuine trauma flashing behind his eyes. He stared at the distant waterfall cascading down Verdant Peak's western cliffs like a man confronting a ghost. "Strict doesn't begin to cover it, Shimei. Brace yourself." He took a steadying breath, his voice dropping to a haunted whisper. "That Azure Tearfall behind us? When I first joined, young and chronically sleep-deprived, Third Brother once dragged me from my pallet at the Hour of the Rat – dead of night, mind you – declared my sword form 'resembled a drunken badger stumbling through molasses,' and…" Lu Tianyu paused, gulping audibly, "...he threw me off the top of the falls. Sword and all. I nearly drowned trying to perform the 'Flowing Stream' stance mid-plummet."
Gu Qingxi's eyes widened, her earlier apprehensions crystallizing into full-blown dread. Shifu's teaching through near-death leaps... Third Brother's… aquatic assault? Is 'mercy' a foreign concept on Verdant Peak? The sect's pedagogical philosophy seemed distinctly… Darwinian.
"But don't worry!" Lu Tianyu added hastily, mistaking her stunned silence for terror. He forced a reassuring grin that didn't quite reach his eyes. "You're Shimei! Soft and delicate! He'd probably just… flash-freeze you from the ankles up to 'facilitate mental clarity.' Gentle reminder. Perfectly safe!"
"Gentle?" Gu Qingxi choked, images of herself as a human popsicle flashing unpleasantly. "And 'safe' involves instantaneous frostbite?"
"Defrosts quickly! Leaves the skin… refreshingly tingly?" Lu Tianyu offered weakly. Seeing her unimpressed stare, he quickly shifted topics. "Anyway, how's your mastery of the Azure Heavens Nine Swords? Third Brother will demand a demonstration. Immediately."
"Should be passable," Gu Qingxi answered modestly, though a flicker of confidence stirred within. After days of relentless practice fueled by the Fasting Elixir's lingering trauma, the foundational sword set felt like an extension of her will.
"Passable won't cut it," Lu Tianyu warned, his gaze distant, lost in painful recollection. "If he spots a micro-flaw? Expect predawn awakenings involving glacial temperatures and compulsory high-altitude drills. Vigilance is key! He holds Azure Essence's student night-swordmanship record: three consecutive lunar cycles without sleep. A true… enthusiast."
"You're a veteran of these nocturnal seminars, I take it?" Gu Qingxi's curiosity momentarily overshadowed her apprehension.
"Seminar? More like glacier-bound survival training!" Lu Tianyu's shudder returned. "And that waterfall incident wasn't the finale! Remember the winter of the Seventy-Year Frost? When Mistress Fan's spirit-pig froze solid? Third Brother decided sub-zero temperatures enhanced 'strike precision.' We drilled bladework for weeks on the Peak's frozen Spirit-Mirror Lake, chipping away ice to reveal practice dummies… our fingers resembled overripe spirit-plums!" He wiggled painfully swollen-looking digits phantom-memory.
Before Gu Qingxi could process this new layer of horror, Lu Tianyu leaned in conspiratorially, a mischievous glint replacing the trauma. "But forget the pedagogy – the real comedy is Third Brother's… romantic history!" His grin widened. "Beauty like his? Imagine jade carved by moonlight! Naturally, disciples across the Nine Peaks – Cloudmist's poetic songstresses, Spiritbloom's fierce battle-maidens – mooned over him. Sent gifts. Wove token bracelets. Penned scrolls fragrant with hibiscus oil and yearning…"
Gu Qingxi could picture it. Long Qianli's beauty was otherworldly.
"...And every single one," Lu Tianyu whispered gleefully, "ended up plotting his untimely demise! Why?" He leaned closer, savoring the punchline. "Because talking to Third Brother is like conversing with a beautifully sculpted glacier – impervious, impenetrable, and utterly oblivious to anything unrelated to blade angles or kinetic transfer!"
Gu Qingxi caught movement beyond Lu Tianyu's shoulder. Long Qianli had materialized like condensed moonlight, his expression colder than Verdant Peak's deepest ice cave. He stared at Lu Tianyu's back with enough frosty disdain to flash-freeze a spirit-pond.
"Shixiong…" Gu Qingxi murmured urgently, eyes darting in warning.
Oblivious, Lu Tianyu barreled on, warming to his theme. "Case in point: Lady Wen Shuyi of Driftingcloud Peak! Picture her: elegance incarnate! Spirit butterflies flocking to her sleeves! She spends weeks perfecting an orchid-scented declaration sealed with a plum blossom sigil – invitation to a moonlit tryst beneath the Twin-Star Blossoms? Poetic perfection!" Lu Tianyu chuckled, lost in the memory. "Third Brother reads it. What does he deduce? A dueling challenge! Shows up at midnight! Lady Wen steps from the shadows, heart fluttering like a trapped swallow… 'Senior Brother Long, I—' WHAM! She's airborne! A single 'Soaring Dragon Ascendant' stance sweeps her clean off the cliff path! Lands in a medicinal herb patch ten zhang downhill! Ruined her best gossamer robe! Rumor says she spent the next month crafting effigies of him for target practice with ice needles! Bwahahaha—"
Lu Tianyu's booming laugh died abruptly as glacial Qi washed over the courtyard. Slowly, like a man realizing he's accidentally kicked a hibernating Deepfrost Direbear, he turned.
Long Qianli stood a mere arm's length away, his perfect features sculpted from arctic fury. Silence descended, brittle and sharp as hoarfrost.
"Shixiong," Lu Tianyu squeaked, his smile petrifying. "S-so swift your meeting with Shifu concluded?"
"The heavens bless us with abundant leisure time, Junior Brother Lu," Long Qianli stated, his voice colder than Verdant Peak's deepest winter stream. "Clearly yours overflows. Ten thousand repetition forms. Standard grip. No Qi augmentation." His obsidian eyes narrowed fractionally. "And prepare your Verdant Serpent's Coil stance. We revisit… corrective sparring after sunset." He paused, letting the glacial promise hang. "To ensure no regression occurred while gossiping."
Lu Tianyu's shoulders slumped. "Yes, Third Brother." He trudged towards the practice field, pulling his massive, spirit-metal warblade Mountainbreaker from its dimensional sheath with a dejected clang.
Gu Qingxi watched, impressed despite herself. Lu Tianyu's normally boundless energy was instantly cowed. Third Brother wields silence like a spirit blade.
Long Qianli turned his frost-etched gaze on Gu Qingxi. The earlier paternal warmth was now eclipsed by focused pedagogical intent. "Junior Sister Gu. Shifu praises your rapid foundation. Yet speed without bedrock is illusion. The Azure Heavens Nine Swords are that bedrock. Demonstrate your grasp. Discard humility. Show me truth."
Gu Qingxi drew a slow breath. This was the evaluation. "Yes, Third Senior Brother!" She adopted the Rooted Oak stance, hand resting on Chillspring's moon-silver pommel.
Long Qianli retreated ten paces, posture immaculate, eyes transformed into analytical lenses.
Gu Qingxi closed her eyes. Centered her mind. The chaotic energy from Lu Tianyu's departure, Long Qianli's freezing scrutiny – she let it all flow into the earth beneath her feet. Only the sword remained. Only the stance. Only the path.
She opened her eyes—and moved.
Chillspring leapt free, not drawn, but awoken. What followed wasn't a mere practice of forms. It was revelation. She flowed through the opening Sky-Door Unlocks, Cloud-Parting Thrust, Heaven-Earth Split with smooth, learned precision. But then… momentum took her. Muscle memory deeper than conscious thought surfaced. Dragon Emerges from Azure Mist? No, that transition felt… constrained. Her sword arm shifted minutely, elbow dropping, wrist rolling—Azure Mist Parts Revealing Scale! Unforeseen!
A gasp echoed – Lu Tianyu, mid-form, frozen in shock. This wasn't the standard Nine Swords! Where was the prescribed pivot?
Gu Qingxi flowed onward, ignoring the tremor. Star-Scatter Parry dissolved seamlessly into an ascending spiral she'd practiced a thousand times in solitude—Cloud-Ladder to Ninth Heaven! She became a silver-and-indigo vortex, her sword tracing arcs that resonated with a low, ethereal hum, the air shimmering like heat haze in her wake.
On the ninth stance—Celestial Judgement Descends—Gu Qingxi's spirit surged. She felt it. Completion. But… completion felt like… stepping off a cliff. Instead of the terminal lunge, her body coiled, knees bending deep, Chillspring reversing course in a silver blur—Uncoiling Serpent's Strike!
Silence. Utter and profound.
Then—
WHUMMPH!
The world exploded in cold. A concussive wave of glacial Qi erupted from Long Qianli, jagged ice crystals blooming with terrifying speed across the courtyard flagstones! The air temperature plummeted instantly. Gu Qingxi's instincts screamed. She kicked backwards off an ice-coated stone bench, flipping through air sharp as knives, landing beside a slack-jawed Lu Tianyu just as a razor-edged sheet of ice sealed the ground where she'd stood.
**CLINK. SHHHHKKK…**
The sound of ice retreating filled the silence. Long Qianli stood amidst rapidly melting frost, his usually serene expression shattered. He stared at his hand – still clenched on his jade-hilted sword's grip, sheath trembling with unreleased power. Gu Qingxi's chest heaved. She stared at the receding ice daggers glittering in the sun.
"Apologies, Shimei!" Long Qianli gasped, genuine mortification cracking his glacial reserve. He withdrew his hand as if burned, forcibly smoothing his Qi. The remaining frost sublimated, leaving only damp stone and an electric tang of ozone. "Such… lack of control is unacceptable." He shook his head, a flicker of dazed wonder replacing embarrassment as he refocused on Gu Qingxi. "But your swordsmanship… Shimei! This… this was not mere recitation! The Nine forms? Executed with core purity. But then… Cloud-Ladder to Ninth Heaven? That transition is… flawed! Restricted! You found the unbound path! And the following strikes? They flowed like a mountain stream after the thaw! Where did…?"
He stopped abruptly, eyes blazing with fervor, hand twitching towards his sword again. "They pulsed with the essence of the Dragon! Ancestral! Primal! Did you grasp them from the void? Inherit them? Shimei, how—?"
"Long-shixiong!" Lu Tianyu's bellow was pure exasperation. He stomped forward, gesturing wildly at the shattered stone bench Gu Qingxi had kicked off and the rapidly evaporating puddles. "Sparring intent is understandable! But unleashing core Qi? Shimei was nearly crystallized into a garden ornament! Control your 'sword resonance euphoria'!"
Long Qianli had the grace to look utterly chastised, a faint flush visible even on his jade-like complexion. "A thousand apologies, Shimei. Lapse in… emotional regulation." He rummaged hurriedly in his spatial pouch, a clear desire to make amends. "Peace offering. And… a belated welcoming gift." He produced two items: a bulging hemp sack radiating rich plant-aspected Qi, and a hair ornament.
Gu Qingxi took them cautiously. The sack contained fist-sized spirit-fruits resembling celestial peaches crossed with glowing persimmons – Sun-Halo Persimmons, rare late-autumn treasures saturated with potent Yang-essence vital for Foundation Stage cultivation. Precious.
Then she looked at the hairpin. Its craftsmanship was exquisite: forged from frost-bright silver, shaped like a phoenix feather curling into a protective arc, set with a single, perfectly calibrated Frost-Core Sapphire that pulsed with gentle, icy Qi. Yet… marring the lower arc near the clasp… a rust-brown smear. Dried blood.
Lu Tianyu's sharp intake of breath confirmed it. "Shixiong… the pin bears bloodscent. Was this… another misunderstood gift?" he deadpanned.
Long Qianli blinked, followed Lu Tianyu's gaze, and stared at the smear with clinical detachment. "Ah. That. Unfortunate oversight. Procured it off a Bone-Chime Enchantress near the Scarlet Miasma Marshes last month. Nasty piece of work. Specialized in entrapping disciples via 'gifts' laced with soul-binding poisons." He plucked the pin from Gu Qingxi's hand. "Disposed of her when she attempted to 'gift' it to a Verdant Peak novice recruit. Must have spattered during the counter-strike." He strode towards the courtyard's spirit-cleansing fountain, pulling a silk polishing cloth from his sleeve. "A moment, Shimei. Requires purification."
As Long Qianli meticulously scrubbed the bloodstain under the crystalline waterfall, Lu Tianyu leaned closer to Gu Qingxi, lowering his voice. "See? Steel-straight. Utterly incorruptible. And terrifyingly efficient." He nudged the sack of Sun-Halo Persimmons in her arms. "But his intent remains pure. Spirit-fruits were undoubtedly acquired legally. Probably bought with the Enchantress's own blood-money. The pin?" He nodded towards Long Qianli, now holding the gleaming, blood-free ornament up to the light for inspection. "An actual planned gift. Frost-Core Sapphire helps regulate fiery Qi fluctuations. Especially useful when… explosive breakthroughs occur." He shot a meaningful glance back at the shattered bench. "He does notice what you need. Just… filters it exclusively through the lens of combat efficacy and survival statistics."
Gu Qingxi looked at the pristine pin, then at Long Qianli's serene, utterly focused expression as he examined the Frost-Core's resonance. A strange mix of exasperation, residual terror, and grudging warmth settled within her. Her Third Senior Brother wasn't just a steel-straight sword saint. He was a deeply earnest, terminally awkward force of nature wrapped in devastatingly beautiful, occasionally icy, packaging.