21 The Dream Has Two Faces 8

Tiying's cultivation was inferior to Huashi's.

Everyone felt a sense of pity for Tiying and admiration for Huashi: among this year's group of young disciples, surely Senior Sister Hua was unrivaled.

When Huashi thrust her sword straight forward, she did not consider Tiying a worthy opponent. With Tiying's meager cultivation, it was impossible she had killed Suanyu.

Huashi, wanting to tease the little girl who might soon become her junior, arrogantly thought, She’s far too unruly; I’ll teach her some manners.

The talisman-laden blade was about to strike Tiying when, stumbling, she hastily drew some strange symbol on a paper talisman, and in the blink of an eye, she vanished on the spot.

The yellow talisman fluttered onto the tip of the sword—striking nothing but air.

An instant later, Tiying reappeared behind a cultivator among the spectators, grinning mischievously. “Senior Sister Stranger, I’m over here!”

Huashi didn’t turn, but sent her sword energy flying once more.

Tiying’s movements were quicksilver, her figure flickering among the crowd—ghostly and elusive.

Several times as she darted about, Tiying hastily set up small arrays. They couldn’t harm Huashi, but they delayed her—sometimes exploding, sometimes erupting in clouds of fog—leaving the once-pristine garments of Lady Hua ever more disheveled and dust-stained.

The crowd dodged as they watched the contest, whispering among themselves. “Who is this little girl? She’s managed to evade Lady Hua’s sword for so long?”

“I don’t think she’s all that skilled. She can barely touch Senior Sister Hua, but her sword could easily wound her.”

“She claimed she killed Suanyu… What did she say her name was?”

Some began to take an interest in Tiying’s name, while the disciples’ registrars looked on with growing anxiety. “Can someone stop Senior Sister Hua? What if she hurts other cultivators in the street?”

Among the onlookers, Chen Da—having resolved to seek immortality at Jade Capital Gate—felt a newfound kinship with Jiang Xuehe and Tiying.

Watching Tiying being chased so desperately by Huashi, Chen Da grew anxious for her. “Immortal Jiang, aren’t you going to help the little fairy?”

Jiang Xuehe remained serenely calm.

He possessed a patience far greater than that of ordinary men.

He patiently sought to understand Tiying, to discern what she was doing, why she wouldn’t ask for his help, whether it meant she disliked him.

Eyes fixed on the duel, Jiang Xuehe said, “Wait a bit longer.”

—

High above, the siblings Shen Xingchuan and Shen Yushu watched the chaos below.

Shen Yushu smiled. “This little girl fighting with Hua is quite interesting. There are plenty in the world who could defeat Huashi, but to provoke her to this degree of agitation—very few indeed.”

She sighed with regret. “If only her talent weren’t so poor, I’d want to take her as my disciple right now.”

For those as accomplished as herself and her brother, a single glance at a young person sufficed—they could judge a youth’s potential without even probing their spiritual roots.

After so much appraisal, Shen Xingchuan remained silent: Talent?

What does that matter?

Shen Yushu lowered her gaze, sighing inwardly: Her brother was the foremost genius of the family. Without him, the Shen clan would never have secured a place at Jade Capital Gate, nor would she have her current fortune.

If she wished to survive at Jade Capital Gate, she could only strive endlessly to please her brother… He was taciturn; she was long accustomed to it.

Smiling faintly, Shen Yushu turned to a topic certain to interest him more: “After seeing Night Slayer in action, these little squabbles below must seem trivial to you.”

Shen Xingchuan’s eyes flickered.

Shen Yushu asked, “Have you truly never found Night Slayer again?”

Shen Xingchuan answered obliquely: “Four years ago, when I arrived at Severed Life Path, the entire valley was filled with corpses. All the evidence pointed to Night Slayer’s betrayal—no one in this world would harbor him.”

Shen Yushu said, “What a pity. Though Severed Life Path was hardly virtuous, its twin prodigies, the Night Boys, were at the height of their renown.”

—

Elsewhere in the small town, while cultivators gathered at the registration site for Jade Capital Gate, in a drafty, secluded thatched hut, a woman’s wretched screams were muffled within a formation.

A boy in black sat lazily on a small stool, his foot pressing down on the bloodied, skinned woman beneath him.

He wielded a soul-scraping knife, repeatedly scraping at her spiritual bones and