Wuxia: Become the 100-Victory Sword King at the Beginning

The morning mist over Yihua Palace drifted over the carved railings like a light veil. Shi Feiyang stood with his hands behind his back in front of the palace gate, his Xuan Shuang Blade reflecting a cold light in the morning light.

Behind him, over a hundred wives and concubines stood in the corridor, their flowing skirts trailing on the ground, creating a sound like petals scattered by the wind in spring.

“Young master…” Qiu Shuhui’s voice was like the first song of a nightingale, and the handkerchief embroidered with twin lotus flowers was twisted out of shape.

She longed to call him "husband," but she didn't dare!
Her naturally gentle nature now only dared to gaze at him from a distance of three zhang, her eyes brimming with autumn-like sorrow. "The journey... is long and arduous..." As Shi Feiyang turned, he noticed Huo Chenxi's hand trembling as she leaned against the pillar. This fierce beauty from Yihua Palace had removed the nine-section whip from her waist, the golden bell on her wrist silent, only the dew clinging to her eyelashes, whether mist or tears, remained unseen.

"Why are you all looking so long-faced?" Shi Feiyang deliberately used his Xuan Shuang Blade to lift Qiu Shuhui's hair. "I'm just going to explore the martial world, not to the execution ground! When I've earned enough money, I'll come back and make ten catties of gold bracelets for each of you!"

“The gold bracelet…” Huo Chenxi suddenly spoke, her voice hoarse and unlike her usual self, “I just want you to be safe…” Before she could finish speaking, she turned her face away, her shoulders trembling slightly. Shi Feiyang’s heart softened, but then he saw the Palace Mistress of Yaoyue’s ice-silk dress sweep across the steps three zhang away, the frost rising from her sleeves freezing the morning mist.

“Young Master Shi is in quite a good mood.” Yaoyue’s voice was as cold as if she had just been pulled out of an ice cellar. “The gates of Yihua Palace are not places you can come and go as you please.” With a light wave of her jade hand, a ten-foot-high ice wall suddenly rose in front of the palace gate. “If you want to leave, you will have to step over the wall.”

Qiu Shuhui exclaimed in surprise and instinctively tried to rush forward, but was pulled back by Lüwu beside her. Lüwu, who was usually taciturn, gripped the peacock feather at her waist tightly: "Sister, don't worry, the young master has a way."

Shi Feiyang looked at the ice wall and suddenly laughed. He took off the wine gourd from his waist and tossed it to Qiu Shuhui: "Keep it safe for me! When I come back, we'll use it to store wine from the northern frontier!" After saying that, he took three steps back and used the peerless lightness skill "Leaving No Trace for a Thousand Miles" to tap the ice wall nine times with his toes, leaping onto the top of the wall as if walking on flat ground.

"My beauties!" He straddled the ice wall, winking at his wives and concubines below, "If you miss me, just shout three times towards the northwest, and I'll hear you from a thousand miles away!"

Before he could finish speaking, the ice shards from the Moon Palace Master had already grazed past his feet, startling him so much that he hurriedly used his lightness skill to leap down.

Huo Chenxi finally couldn't resist and chased after him to the palace gate, only to be blocked by an ice wall. She took out a jade pendant from her bosom, carved from a piece of broken jade that Shi Feiyang had casually given her, and it was now incredibly hot in her palm: "Young Master! If you encounter any danger on this journey, crush it!"

When Shi Feiyang took the jade pendant, he felt the warmth of her fingertips. He suddenly remembered the gentle shadow cast on her cheek by the candlelight as she sewed his clothes last night, and he couldn't help but lower his voice: "Don't worry! I'll come back to hear you call me a scoundrel."

"You scoundrel..." Huo Chenxi burst into laughter through her tears, but the tears fell onto the jade pendant. "If you dare to lie to me, I will whip you with the nine-section whip!" Shi Feiyang laughed and put the jade pendant into his pocket. When he turned around, he saw the Palace Mistress of Yaoyue standing at the top of the steps. The morning light cast her long shadow, which looked just like the lone pine tree he had seen in the northern frontier that year.

"Let's go, let's go!" He waved to his wives and concubines, his Xuan Shuang Blade slicing a streak of light in the morning mist. "Once I've pacified this chaotic world, I'll definitely take you to see the splendor of Chang'an!"

Before the words were finished, the gates of Yihua Palace slammed shut, shutting out the more than one hundred lingering gazes into the morning mist.

Clutching her wine gourd, Qiu Shuhui gazed in the direction where Shi Feiyang had disappeared, suddenly remembering his words: "The world is too vast, but you are the only place I belong." She looked down at the newly carved crooked character "Qiu" on the gourd, finally unable to hold back her tears. Just then, she heard Luwu whisper beside her: "Sister, look quickly, the young master left something!"

Following her gaze, everyone saw that on the stone steps in front of the palace gate, there was a flower carved from icicles every three steps.

The ice flowers were crystal clear, carved casually by Shi Feiyang with the Xuan Shuang Blade. They refracted seven colors in the morning light, like the last touch of tenderness he left for them.

At this moment, Shi Feiyang strode forward under the rising sun. He took out Huo Chenxi's jade pendant from his pocket, a roguish smile playing on his lips. Behind him, the ice walls of Yihua Palace gradually melted in the sunlight, just like the feelings hidden deep in his heart, frozen but forever warm.

The wind whipped up a sky full of yellow sand, but it could not sweep away the sorrow of parting in this palace. As Shi Feiyang's figure disappeared at the end of the official road, in the embroidery room of Yihua Palace, more than a hundred women simultaneously opened the window lattice and looked at the flowing clouds in the northwest direction.

As dusk, like ink, bathed the glazed tiles of the Yihua Palace, Palace Mistress Lianxing leaned against the vermilion railing of the winding corridor, a thin layer of frost clinging to her jade flute. A gentle evening breeze swept past the ice bells hanging beneath the corridor, their clear sound startling her fingertips. For a fleeting moment, she thought it was that rogue barging in again, brandishing his wine gourd, drooling, "Sister Lianxing's flute music can intoxicate." She stroked the crooked characters carved into the flute with the Xuan Shuang Blade, her fingertips caressing the missing corner of the character "Xing"—a mark left in the chaos of her chasing Shi Feiyang while he was halfway through carving.

As memories surged, tears welled up in my eyes, and a single tear fell, blooming into a tiny ice crystal on the cool jade flute.

"That scoundrel... he didn't even say a proper goodbye..." she muttered to herself, her voice fading into the deepening night, the empty corridor tearing the last words apart.

Palace Mistress Yaoyue stood atop the eaves, her long, flowing silk dress billowing like surging waves in the night wind. Gazing at Lianxing's forlorn figure, she curled her lips into a cold smile, but the smile didn't reach her eyes; instead, it made her icy blue pupils appear even more profound.

Ice shards had formed on her palms without her noticing, their sharp edges pricking her skin, but nothing compared to the subtle, dull pain in her heart. "Just a smooth-talking scoundrel, is he worth all this distraction?" she chuckled softly, but before she could finish speaking, the ice shards in her hand suddenly shattered, their cold light scattering onto the blue bricks, much like her suddenly out-of-control emotions.

At midnight, Lianxing curled up on the bed in her bedchamber, clutching the broken wine gourd left behind by Shi Feiyang to her chest. The wine stains on the gourd had long since dried, but a faint fragrance of osmanthus remained, mixed with the distinctive smell of gunpowder and sunshine on his body.

She buried her face in the gourd, listening to her own erratic heartbeat, and suddenly remembered that day when he was seriously injured, yet still said with a grin, "With Sister Lianxing's medicine, I can conquer ten more Netherworld Sects."

Tears streamed down her face, soaking the pillowcase embroidered with twin lotus blossoms: "Liar...you promised to take me to see the poplars beyond the Great Wall..."

Yaoyue sat alone in the ice chamber, the eerie blue light emanating from her Mingyu Gong making her face appear even paler. On the table lay a half-shattered wooden carving—a small figure that Shi Feiyang had casually sculpted with his Xuanshuang Blade before leaving, its crooked outline still revealing a roguish air about it.

Her fingertips traced the sharp wood shavings from the broken piece, and she suddenly remembered how he had forcibly held her hand to warm it, the scorching heat of his palm almost burning her jade-like body that she had cultivated for many years. "Absurd!" She abruptly swept her sleeve, knocking the wood carving to the ground, but as the sound of shattering echoed in the silence, a void colder than an ice chamber welled up in her heart.

The night watchman's drum shattered the long night, and Lianxing ran barefoot to the palace gate. The moonlight stretched her slender figure long. Gazing at the empty end of the official road, she clutched the jade pendant left by Shi Feiyang around her neck. The icy touch was nothing compared to the chill in her heart at that moment.

"If you encounter danger... make sure you stay safe..." Before she could finish speaking, a familiar cracking sound came from behind her. She didn't need to turn around to know that her sister was suppressing her out-of-control inner energy again. "What kind of behavior is this in the middle of the night!" Yaoyue's voice was icy, but when it touched Lianxing's reddened eyes, the last syllable trembled involuntarily.

She caught a glimpse of the jade pendant in Lianxing's hand. It was casually carved by Shi Feiyang from fragments of jade he had stolen from the Netherworld Cultists, and now it gleamed warmly in the moonlight. Jealousy and bitterness surged within her at the same time, and the icicles on her fingertips suddenly flared up: "Just some random things, worth..."

"Does Sister really think so?" Lianxing suddenly turned around, her face still streaked with tears but filled with stubbornness. "That day, he fought bravely against a group of enemies to save us, and even though he knew he was no match, he still smiled and said, 'My life is tough'... Can Sister really forget someone like that completely?"

Yaoyue shuddered, and the icicles shattered with a crash. Memories flooded back: his strong arms as he carried her as she leaped down from the ruins, his warm breath as he dispelled the chill, and his bold words, "I will definitely warm this iceberg of yours into spring water."

She turned her face away, but couldn't stop the blush rising at the tips of her ears: "Ridiculous! It's just..."

"Then why do you always stare blankly at the ice sculpture he left behind late at night?" Lianxing's voice suddenly softened. "Why does the ice in your palm melt unconsciously every time you mention him?"

Yaoyue's pupils trembled violently, and the chill emanating from her body spread out of control, instantly freezing the red plum blossoms under the corridor.

She opened her mouth, but the words she wanted to say stuck in her throat.

The first rooster crowed in the distance, and the morning light pierced the night, gilding the two equally lonely figures. The feelings hidden deep within their hearts, like a stream flowing beneath the ice, meandered and grew in every inch of the Flower Palace. (End of Chapter)