A small path weaved through the valley of bamboo. Within the clear green forest was a white stone tower, empty of people.

Outside, Leung Lakse slouched against the building with a sword at his lap, absently gazing at nothing. The man’s brown hair pulled back in a knot, further sharpening his features.

His eyes narrowed before he stood up and stepped forward, blocking the mountain path. “This is the final point of our sect’s mountain gate and you are not accompanied by a disciple-” Lakse began.

Appearing from behind the foliage, a man in grey strolled. With a shallow beard reminiscent of a woodcutter, he absently hummed a light tune.

Lakse stroked his own neck. A shaking grin broke free from being held back. “That means I’m allowed to kill you.”

The man finally paused and raised an eyebrow. “Is that what it means?”

“Of course it is.” Murderous intent leaked.

Lakse reached for his sword- and then immediately fell forward. His knees collapsed to the ground first and his palms pushed against the dirt next. Something gripped the air in his lungs, pulling it down. He gargled. Tears formed in his eyes as he fought to turn his head.

The man in grey’s lips quirked up.

Lakse’s head voluntarily pressed onto the dirt. He, a cultivator in the Doubtless Realm of the Union Path groveled. “Respected Senior, please forgive me.”

As he felt his body dragged further beneath an ocean, a hand gripped his shoulder and he was pulled back to the surface. He looked up to see a short-haired man, who wore a white coat over a green robe, crouched in front of him. “Pavilion Master Lo…”

Pavilion Master Lo patted his shoulders. “Core Disciple Leung Lakse correct? I happened to be passing by and got confused as to why you were kissing the ground.” He released Lakse. Slouching, he walked past the man in grey as if he wasn’t there.

Lakse found it increasingly odd that he appeared. “…Pavilion Master, where are you going?”

He pulled his lips back. “A quick visit to the capital.”

“…do the elders know?”

Pavilion Master Lo scratched his neck. “Obviously not. They’ll try to stop me if I tell them. You’re a part of my pavilion, so you keep your mouth shut as well.”

The man in grey that was being ignored finally coughed. “Lo Shukou?”

Pavilion Master Lo, spun his head, sighing as he did so. “Why couldn’t you have just stayed silent. If you did, I would have let you go. But no… now I have to do my job. Well, Stranger, who is the man I’m about to kick out.”

“Hyun Daeseong.” The Grandmaster’s First Disciple smiled.

Lo Shukou shifted his brows. “Ah. I heard about the recent story between you and your school’s Second Disciple. Most people are surprised your master hasn’t expelled you. And if I recall, you’re also the one who has been disrupting the regional sword tournaments.”

Daeseong gave an amiable smile. “I am here to challenge this gate. As the youngest Pavilion Master of the Bamboo Garden Sect, you seem like the most suitable person who should accept.”

“Not interested.”

“I need to sharpen my sword before I return to Mulsunhwan.” Despite the rejection, he maintained his smile and unsheathed the blade at his side anyway.

Lo Shukou shook his head and pulled his own sword from his back.

As Lakse retreated next to the white tower, Daeseong raised his blade while pointing it forward. The valley shook. The sword was heavy, heavy enough to cause rumbling, all directed towards Lo Shukou, who neatly swept his own sword. Then, the force of a mountain collapsing down disappeared.

Daeseong stood still. Cuts bled all over his body. His grey robe was in tatters. He still didn’t move. If he did, he would die. “I see,” he whispered. Both of them possessed cultivations in the fourth realm. “So it’s still not enough.”

In the distance, striding over on the bamboo tops, three elders were already coming towards them. Lo Shukou clicked his tongue. Thanks to this stunt, he had failed to leave undetected. “Are you going to Pine Mountain next?”

“What?”

“Since you decided to challenge Bamboo Garden, it only makes sense that you’re going to Pine Mountain next.”

When people ask for the name of the strongest sword sect in the south, a person will first answer it was the Bamboo Garden Sect. A second person will follow by correcting them to say it was the Pine Mountain Sect. Although he lost, since Hyun Daesung has now fought against Bamboo Garden, he would obviously go to Pine Mountain as well.

Daeseong blinked. “I will.”

“Well don’t, at least not yet. Although my Separation Sword is unsuitable, Mulsunhwan’s style and Bamboo Garden’s Tearing Sword are not that different. You might find it insightful if you spend time developing your style here.”

“You will allow me to train here?”

“The fact is, Bamboo Garden just beat you. The entire South will hear of this, and since that is the case, I can’t let you leave when you’re obviously going to lose to Pine Mountain next. You need to beat them because when you do, it means that Bamboo Garden has defeated Pine Mountain.”

Daeseong paused at the logic before laughing. “Isn’t this quite insidious?” Is this the rivalry between the southern sword sects?

“It is very insidious.” Lo Shukou saw past Daeseong and spoke to Leung Lakse. “Since helping you have prevented me from going to Taiping, I have a mission for you.”

…

Lakse avoided the center of the sect, the valley which resembled a miniature city and the seven towering pavilions which surrounded it. On the roundabout cliffside paths, any disciples which passed by did not greet him but bowed their head down to avoid eye contact.

A scroll twirled in his hand. One of the elders at the Missions Office decided to stipulate his mission with a two-person requirement. They really want to keep me here, but it won’t work. Unlike Pavilion Master Lo, he could go anywhere he wanted. However, the stipulation did inconvenience him as he didn’t want to give the Justice Hall any more reasons to complain.

Most of the sect disliked him and his blood relatives hated him even more. He could not think of a single person left that would cooperate with him until he had recalled a distant memory from years old.

Further within the cliffside, he knocked on a loose gate.

A girl in the brown robe of an outer sect disciple opened the door. Scattered unkempt grey hair made her resemble a short old woman. Only when the hair unparted did a younger expressionless face get revealed. Oddly, she held a section of bamboo wrapped completely by a red rope in her hand.

She raised her head and opened her mouth but no sound came out.

“What?” Lakse lowered his head. His tone was already irritated.

She tried again but only a low breath escaped.

“Did the child that I picked up for the sect turn mute? No wonder my standing within the sect isn’t improving.”

Out of all times he spent traveling, he had only once found an orphaned brat with enough potential that he bothered to bring them back to the sect. After receiving barely any contribution for the trouble, he never bothered again. He never bothered to inquire what happened to the brat either.

“…juan.”

He raised an eyebrow.

“Shui… xian… Juan. Shuixian… Juan,” her dry voice said.

“Is that supposed to be your name? Who chose such a thing?”

She lowered her head. “…you …did.“

Lakse shifted his brow. He couldn’t recall doing so. His attention drifted to the section of bamboo tied with rope. “You don’t have a sword from the ravine yet?”

“The elder there said… to find a suitable sword. I couldn’t. I didn’t.” Instead of a sword, her replacement was a blood-quenched rope wrapped around bamboo. A way to practice sword methods without a blade which the sect recommended for situations of this nature. A false bamboo sword.

Lakse nodded and then paused. An outer disciple wouldn’t need a false sword unless they can perform a method. “What were you doing before I arrived?”

Shuixian Juan ran back into her yard and picked up a stalk of bamboo and stuck it into the ground where a hole already existed. Holding up her own rope wrapped bamboo that was essentially a red staff, she swung diagonally. The bamboo stalk sliced cleanly in half.

“The Object Will method of Separation Sword. You’re in the second realm already?” An achievement like this should have already granted her a position within the Inner Sect. If the elders knew, they might just fight to claim her as their student.

Just like him and Lo Shukou, she practiced and cultivated Separation Sword. Traditional Separation Sword dictated the combination of a sword style that provided Perception and a sword method that began at Object Will. She had not entered the Martial Path, but she was at the lower state of Object Will, allowing her to practice the method.

Solid matter was formed by even smaller pieces conjoined together. Separation Sword broke whatever law or energy responsible for conjoining, allowing a blade to cut through iron as if flesh.

Shuixian Juan nodded.

“Does anyone else know?” he said.

“No one else… knows. Besides you, no one else but the caretakers delivering vegetables have visited.”

Lakse remembered the Leung brat that his relatives were currently raising as Bamboo Garden’s Spring Generation Chosen. A grin crept up his face. “I guess that’s good enough. Gather your things and follow me. We’re going on a sect mission.”

Towards someone she had supposedly not seen in years, Shuixian Juan simply nodded.

She had no things, except a bag which she picked up near the gate before running after Lakse.

He thought nothing of the youth. A question remained as to how she learned Separation Sword without joining Separation Pavilion, but few people cared about the pointless secrets of an outer sect disciple.

…

After leaving Qingdu Province by crossing the Red River, they entered Shangsuo Province which also bordered the White River. Leung Lakse’s initial plan was to skip over Luoyi entirely and board a ship at the port city of Xuzhou, but travel was slower than when alone. Progress was done on foot, not using carriages or inns, but suffering through the temperatures outside even during cold nights.

On the forest path, leaves shaded the summer sun, however, sweat still beaded Shuixian Juan’s temples and the muscles in her legs burned. Yet she remained silent as she always did instead of complaining.

When she slowed, she received a kick at her back.

“There’s a teahouse up ahead. Hurry up.” ‘Hurry up’ was the only word he said while traveling.

Shuixian Juan followed Lakse and stepped inside the single teahouse. Unlike the empty road, nearly a dozen people were drinking inside. He chose the table in the middle and sat down. The girl collapsed on the other chair.

A young woman came up to the table. “We only serve green tea, Patrons.”

“Two cups,” Lakse lazily said.

The waitress, the only person currently running the teahouse, returned with two full cups and a teapot before disappearing into the back of the room.

“Do you know what we’re doing?”

“A sect mission,” Shuixian Juan answered.

He raised an eyebrow. “Yes, this is officially a sect mission. Once we’re done you’ll likely benefit from the contribution. The task is to investigate an official in the capital named Luo Yizuan. The mission is officially assigned by Pavilion Master Lo. He suspects the official to be a member of the Lo bloodline hiding his identity. We confirm or deny and leave.“

Over the eras, most dissolving cultivator clans joined sects to become a part of their foundation. It was true for the Leung bloodline and the Lo bloodline was no different.

Shuixian Juan nodded.

Lakse picked up his cup of tea. “What else are we doing?”

“Training.”

“Correct. The pace will remain the same until Xuzhou. The long term plan is to return to the sect after completing the mission. You will use your contribution points and your cultivation state to join Separation Pavilion. If anyone questions where you learned Separation Sword, you can tell them I taught it to you during this mission.” He smirked. ”During the next sword trial, you will challenge Leung Chunsun in the guise of claiming the Center Conference’s seed placement. If you get a chance, try to main him as well.”

Shuixian Juan scrunched her lips up, neither objecting to the adamant demand or questioning morality of it. “Who’s Leung Chunsun?”

Lakse shrugged. “It appears you don’t know anything about your own generation within the sect. I don’t know either. He might be a younger cousin of mine or even more distant relation. All I know is that anything my relatives care about is a prime target for spite. He should have a similar cultivation to yours but more methods and combat abilities. Therefore our exchange is that I will ensure you become strong enough to crush him.”

“Ensure how? Just travel as training?”

Lakse pushed her cup forward instead of answering. “The tea has cooled.”

Shuixian Juan held up her cup against her lips and froze. “There’s something in this. It has to be poisoned,” she whispered.

“I know. Drink it anyway.” He did not change his expression.

Her eyes widened yet she finished the tea.

Lakse gulped down his own cup next. “Training is simple. Your first task is even simpler. Kill everyone within this teahouse.”

Her despondent eyes merely blinked. “Why?”

“It’s obvious for someone at the peak of Perception. Everyone here… wants to kill us.”

Immediately as he said this, ten coins, four pairs of chopsticks, and two knives shot towards their table.

The moment the objects were within an arm’s reach of the table, they were all cut in two at uneven angles, redirecting them elsewhere. It was as if the table was protected by invisible blades.

The method was known as Breath’s Blade. A breath exhaled by the body is controlled through intent in a quick slice. Lakse’s breath was shallow, so his domain was small and the time before a single breath dissipated was short. However, by relying on Perception in combination with Separation Sword, he could efficiently destroy anything within his domain as long as he perceived it coming. Therefore, this application fell under the category of Sword Intent.

The other twelve customers within the teahouse all stood up.

Shuixian Juan leaped onto their table holding out her false sword, however, Lakse remained sitting.

“There are ten second-realm cultivators and two third-realm cultivators. You will fight all of them and I won’t help you. You have cultivation talent, now prove to me you have combat potential as well and I’m not just wasting my time,” he said.

Shuixian Juan’s eyes shook for the first time as she surveyed the room. She was a lower state Object Will cultivator who knew a single sword method. How was she supposed to fight twelve people with cultivations just as high if not higher than her? The only thing she could do was keep an eye on everyone surrounding them.

A man with long curling black hair in a brown robe stood at the back. “Leung Lakse! Do you remember my brother?”

Lakse laughed. “What kind of cliche line is that? If you’re all here for revenge, get on with the show. Unless your relative was especially ugly, how am I supposed to remember their face from everyone I’ve cut apart?”

A man in a pale-red tunic spoke. “Thanh, ignore him. His sect can’t protect him here and they probably want him dead as much as we do.”

Thanh of the Red Chain hummed. Ever since the news that Mad Dog Leung had left Bamboo Garden’s territory, they had planned this confrontation. “Take care of the kid first and retreat back for me to deal with him,” he ordered.

The ten second-realm cultivators all held up weapons that ranged from knives to axes.

“How do you expect me to fight all of them?” Shuixian Juan let out.

“You overestimate them and underestimate yourself. They are merely loose cultivators that wander the Rivers and Lakes. You are a sword cultivator of Bamboo Garden. Their methods are trash, so you’re merely cleaning up trash.” He made no attempt at lowering his voice.

The loose cultivators, a mixture of the Worldly Path and Union Path, all went forward. Those in the Worldy Path augmented their bodies with the store of energy circulating their body. Those in the Union Path augmented their weapons to unpredictable movements and strength.

Shuixian Juan held up her false sword. She predicted that she could finish two people before a fatal blow caused her death.

The man in the pale-red tunic, who remained standing at the back like Thanh, gulped down a cup of tea and spat it out as a sphere of liquid.

The girl immediately noticed the incoming liquid projectile and instead of dodging it, she swung her rope-wrapped bamboo pole.

The sphere of liquid collided with her false sword and the sound of bamboo splitting resounded.

Crack!

It was meaningless to cut through water. Her false sword broke into pieces. The liquid scattered.

The surrounding loose cultivators raised their weapons, to maim if not end the disarmed girl.

Instead of expressing dismay, Shuixian Juan abruptly moved. Perfectly balanced on one foot as a pivot, as if dancing with a ribbon, she spun and twirled the red rope that had unraveled from the broken bamboo along with her spin.

The red blood-quenched rope swung in a complete circle.

The first cultivator which saw the rope coming towards him simply raised his ax to stop and entangle it. However, the rope didn’t stop. Even when it cut through the ax like water, it did not stop. Nothing could stop Separation Sword.

Blood sprayed in all directions like a red blossom.

All ten loose cultivators were sliced cleanly in half.

The teahouse was silent.

Thanh of the Red Chain and the man in the pale-red tunic stood frozen.

Shock. Depression. Pity.

Lakse began clapping from his seat. “A passing grade so far, but it’s not over yet. There’s still the two third-realm cultivators left.”

Thanh’s shoulders shook at the sight of the man celebrating the death of their allies. His teeth pressed together.

Clank! Clank! Clank!

From inside his loose robe, nine red chains shot out towards Lakse.

Lakse kicked off the ground and out of his seat to land at a spot behind Shuixian Juan.

The chains were controlled by intent and rose in the air before continuing towards the girl. Like the venomous nine-headed snake monster recorded within Classic of Mountains and Seas, the chains twisted and crossed to either bite or strangle her.

Shuixian Juan raised her hand, twirling the red cord in a spiral to protect herself.

The first chain met the red rope, and instead of being split in half, the spot on the rope burned to a crisp instead.

The moment she felt the rope that was her sword break, she leaped back, dodging the first chain before she began throwing the surrounding chairs at the incoming others.

The chairs did nothing to stop or even slow the chains. They burned to ash the moment they contacted.

Eventually, she found herself next to Lakse. Both of them were up against the teahouse wall which Shuixian Juan was sure Lakse could cut open. He didn’t, nor did it look like he was prepared to help or fight in any way.

The chains crept to surround and block any openings.

Shuixian Juan eyed the red chains. She was still confused as to why she couldn’t cut them even if her rope burned in the process.

Thanh spoke. “The temperature of the chains rival even the steel furnaces of Zhao’s metal industries. When they are cut cleanly, they instantly meld back together. Your sect’s sword methods won’t work.” He was a Core Formation cultivator. In his primary method, each of his cores directed enough energy to cause the chains to glow in molten red. The chains themselves were moved by a control method.

The man in the pale-red tunic stepped out from behind Thanh. From a leather bag at his side, a stream of water began wrapping around him. The suspended liquid began emitting steam, highlighting the boiling water. He was a Dao Fruit cultivator who chose water as his law. “Last words?”

Lakse turned his head and saw Shuixian Juan already looking up at him. “You pass.”

As the words left Lakse’s mouth, both third-realm cultivators began shaking before collapsing on the ground.

They had died.

Besides the two Bamboo Garden members, no one else was left in the teahouse.

“What did you do?” Shuixian Juan said.

“You willingly drank your cup of tea, didn’t you?”

She looked down at the purple faces of Thanh and the other man. “Then shouldn’t we be the ones poisoned?”

“What we drank was the antidote. The poison came from the air.”

“You practice poison besides the sword?”

He rolled his eyes. “Of course not. A poison that a room full of cultivators didn’t notice? Impossible for me. I can think of who though. The Tang Clan.”

“The Tang Clan specializes in poison?”

“They specialize in any method capable of murder. People say that all the assassin organizations have gone extinct, but as long as the Tang Clan still exists, I disagree.” He slipped his head behind the teahouses partition to the empty kitchen where an uncontrolled blaze had started. “The waitress that served us the antidote was a Tang Clan member. Her target was most likely the man in the pale-red tunic.”

“Why were we left alive?”

“Think for yourself.”

Shuixian Juan blinked twice and didn’t answer.

He clicked his tongue as he gazed over the blood-filled hall before it all burned down. “The Tang Clan enjoys framing me whenever one of their targets comes after me. And now the relatives of all these guys will start coming after me as well.”

The girl nodded at the explanation and followed Lakse outside. As they prepared to continue traveling, they noticed a carriage parked nearby. The two drivers of the carriage had their throats slit by a blade and the horses were missing.

A short man with completely white eyes fell out of the carriage onto the ground. “Please don’t kill me, Master Leung!”

“Someone who chickened out from the ambush? Someone who was late? Or did he come to watch?” she said.

“None of the options are good for him,” Lakse said.

The blind man shivered. “Spare me! Spare me!”

“He was left alive because he’s a witness.”

The Tang Clan woman killed the two drivers because they saw her, and left the blind man behind for him to claim that it was Leung Lakse who killed everyone in the teahouse. From the blind man’s perspective, his two drivers had suddenly died and he couldn’t tell the reason. The fake waitress hid her intent too well for even him to perceive.

“Who are you and where are you from?” Lakse said.

“I’m Fei Ling, a martial artist. Everyone calls me Blind Fei. I traveled south from Luoyi.”

“If you want to live, follow us.” It looks like I’ll visit Luoyi after all. Lakse gestured for Shuixian Juan to lead the way.

The girl frowned. The stay at the teahouse was hardly a rest, however, she continued forward.

Stepping on the road, she took a glance behind her. By now the girl has confirmed that the man known as Leung Lakse has an issue with his memory whether he knew it or not. She asked herself whether it mattered to her, and decided that it didn’t

A trio continued through the Rivers and Lakes.