Song of Adolescence

Beili practised the sword, Nanjue favoured the sabre.

The former Citymaster of Snow Moon City, Li Changsheng, once joked that every young man in Beili harboured a dream of becoming a swordsman.

Who didn't want to travel the martial world, dressed all in white and armed with a sword?

Xiao Se also wanted to, once upon a time.

"Shifu, besides staff arts, can I also learn to use a sword?" Xiao Se once asked Ji Ruofeng.

Ji Ruofeng smiled as he picked up the Wuji staff and tapped him on the head. "Why? Are you interested in learning the sword too?"

Xiao Se, who was only a young boy at the time, nodded. "Although I quite like the staff arts, it just seems like all the peerless martial experts in storybooks are swordsmen."

"You can learn the sword if you want, but I can't teach you." Ji Ruofeng shook his head.

"Why not? Shifu, aren't you proficient in all martial arts under Heaven? How could you not know any sword arts?" Xiao Se asked.

"No, it's just that if you want to learn the sword, I can't be the one to teach you." Ji Ruofeng looked at the sky. "The Xiao family has their own Xiao family sword arts."

The next day, Ji Ruofeng did not come. Instead, it was Langya Prince Xiao Ruofeng, all decked out in his battle armour, who came. He looked at Xiao Se and remarked, "I heard from your shifu that you want to learn the sword?"

Xiao Se was shocked. "Huang-shu, you're going to teach me?"

"Did you know that our ancestor, the founding emperor Xiao Yi, was a disciple of the sword immortal, Mo Bai? If we want to learn the sword, why would we learn from others?" Xiao Ruofeng drew the long sword at his waist. "Today, I will impart this swordplay to you.

"Name of the swordplay, Warring Kingdoms."

Xiao Se snapped open his eyes, his clothes completely soaked, as he stared at the nine famous swords he had placed in his room. He climbed down from the bed and reached out a hand to brush his fingers over one of the blades.

"Sword, oh sword," Xiao Se whispered softly.

With a flick of his finger, he drew one of the swords from its sheath. He waved it lightly and the door suddenly swung open.

Ji Xue, her white hair loose around her, stood just outside.

"You're here." Xiao Se withdrew his sword.

Ji Xue looked at the swords in the room, a frown on her brows. "You're really going to fight him yourself. When was the last time you used a sword?"

"I don't use a sword because I haven't found one that suits me," Xiao Se said.

Ji Xue pulled out the Windswept Rain sword. "The Poetry Immortal's sword is timeless and beautiful. Such a pity though. Would any of these swords suit you?"

"Not at all, but they're as good as it gets. These are the best swords you can find in the whole of Heavenly Revelations City. I wouldn't mind borrowing Mu Chunfeng's Moving Mountains sword. That would be the most suitable." Xiao Se sighed. "But, the sword already recognised its master. If someone else uses it, it will be even more unfit."

"The most suitable one is not Moving Mountains, but that sword," Ji Xue said pointedly.

"That's the sword of the Son of Heaven, and I'm not the Son of Heaven," Xiao Se said seriously.

"The so-called Son of Heaven is the one chosen by Heaven. Heaven's Chosen One! You don't get to decide," Ji Xue replied.

Xiao Se chuckled. "I suddenly thought of the times I would visit Tianqi Shop when I was a child. The storyteller there loved to knock on the table and declare: My life is up to me, not Heaven, and I’ll cut off Bodhisattva first, then the immortals! If Lei Wujie were here now, he'd rebut you with that too."

"Stop joking around. Your personality has really changed. You've become so baffling that sometimes, I can't tell what you're thinking." Ji Xue sighed.

"Actually, I haven't changed, and we didn't really know each other well back then." Xiao Se shrugged.

"I know what swordplay you were trained in. Warring Kingdoms, the swordplay of the Xiao Clan imperial family. It's so difficult that only the most talented could practise it. In the last generation, Langya Prince was the only one who could and in this generation, you're the only one. Langya Prince mastered up to the Breaking Tempest realm. What about you?" Ji Xue asked.

"Berserk Dragon," Xiao Se said lightly.

"Berserk Dragon!" Ji Xue was shocked. "You're one level higher than Langya Prince. You're probably the strongest person in the past three generations of the imperial family."

"Extinguish Life, Breaking Tempest, Berserk Dragon, Fragmented Heaven," Xiao Se recited softly. "I can enter the third realm, but how do you think it compares to Luo Qingyang?"

"You have a fighting chance, but you won't do any better than Wushuang. I was also there that day and secretly observed the fight. Luo Qingyang only used Hymn to the Fallen, not Honouring the Dead. But, he's already more powerful than your Berserk Dragon. If you can't enter Fragmented Heaven, you have no chance." Ji Xue shook her head.

"Then look forward to it and see if I can suddenly breakthrough when the time comes." Xiao Se took over the Windswept Rain sword and inserted it back into its sheath.

"This is a matter of life and death. You're just going to leave it to fate?" Ji Xue asked.

Xiao Se spread his hands. "The number one under Heaven wants to kill me, what can I do? Speaking of which, aren't you the one who ranked him number one under Heaven?"

Ji Xue didn't answer the question directly. Instead, she said, "Write a letter to Sikong Changfeng, or contact Baili Dongjun."

"This is my affair, I will handle it myself. Baili Dongjun can't do it for me, Sikong Changfeng can't do it, and even Lei Wujie can't handle it for me. I don't have any say in life and death, but in between life and death, I won't let anyone else decide it for me! "Xiao Se turned around and faced those nine swords. His qi and power suddenly rose and he said, "You should go now. I need to practise my sword."

Ji Xue sighed with resignation. "I came here to pass you some news."

"What news?" Xiao Se didn't turn his head. 𝙛r𝚎𝐞𝑤𝚎𝗯𝗻𝗼𝐯e𝚕.𝒄𝐨𝓂

"Luo Qingyang was indeed invited by Xiao Yu, but Luo Qingyang's ultimate goal is still Consort Xuan, the woman he's loved for decades. He came to Heavenly Revelations this time to tell everyone that he's now number one under Heaven. No one can stop him from taking away the person he wants," Ji Xue said.

Xiao Se nodded. "Understood."

Ji Xue closed the door and walked out. She didn't jump over the wall to leave, but slowly made her way out through the courtyard. She wandered through one of the other courtyards and saw a woman in silver training her spear under the moonlight.

The bright moon hung in the sky, and the moonlight was like a shadow on the ground.

"Miss Sikong," Ji Xue greeted. "You've only just recovered from your injuries and you're already training your spear?"

"He has the final say in his life and death, but if he chooses to die, I won't agree," Sikong Qianluo said seriously.

"You heard?" Ji Xue was taken aback.

Sikong Qianluo smiled. "You're Baihu, and I'm Zhuque. We also have our own missions. What do you think?"

Ji Xue glanced at the Cloud-Rising staff at her waist and grinned. "Yeah."

Outside the gates of Heavenly Revelations City.

A middle-aged man with white hair sat on a horse carriage and slowly made his way towards the city. Sitting beside him was a young man in black who was waving the horse's whip.

"Thank you for letting me hitch a ride." The middle-aged man coughed lightly.

The youth glanced at him. "Senior, you're not in good health?"

"Yeah, I'm dying," the middle-aged man remarked slowly.

The youth took a serious look at him before confirming that he was not joking. He patted the middle-aged man on the shoulder. "There are many famous doctors in Heavenly Revelations City. Maybe you'll be able to find a chance to turn things around. Senior, you came to Heavenly Revelations to seek a doctor, right?"

"No, I'm here to seek death." The middle-aged man laughed. "What about you, young disciple of the Tang Clan."

"This junior is Tang Ze. Greetings to Senior Ji," the youth said respectfully, without the slightest fear of his identity being exposed.

"Whose disciple are you?" Ji Ruofeng asked.

"This junior was the disciple of the previous Grandmaster Tang. Now, I am under the tutelage of the head elder, Tang Lianyue. But, this junior is here today not because of the Tang Clan." Tang Ze took out a token from his belt. "I'm here because I am Xuanwu now."