HPLFK 04

Chapter – 04

Oh Ho, Your Wife Is Injured!

Oh? Injured?

Yun Luoyi looked at the bloodstains on A-Shang’s body. They were merely scratches from her sword aura—nothing that would kill her.

But looking at that vixen-like face of A-Shang’s, Yun Luoyi found it increasingly irritating.

The next moment, her sword aura came hurtling toward A-Shang’s face, as if intending to slash it to ribbons.

The disciples present sucked in a sharp breath. Just as they thought A-Shang’s face was about to be marred by Yun Luoyi’s sword aura, a streak of white light suddenly materialized out of thin air, rapidly freezing that fierce sword aura into frost before shattering it into nothingness mid-air.

“Luoyi!”

A cold male voice rang out. Yun Luoyi turned around and saw her elder brother, Yun Lanci, along with Xie Hengyu standing beside him.

“It’s Senior Martial Brother Xie…”

Someone among the disciples murmured, and everyone present immediately turned their gazes toward him.

As the sole disciple of Qingyu Zhenren, Xie Hengyu’s name was known to almost everyone in the cultivation world.

He had become a disciple of Qingyun Zhenren at the age of four, mastered Qingyun Zhenren’s *Nine Forms of the Sword Continent* by the time he was ten, and had even created his own unique swordsmanship—the *Nineteen Forms of the Lone Frost Sword*—at thirteen.

Six years ago, at the Sect Assembly, he defeated over a dozen cultivation experts in succession, claiming the top spot on the Heavenly Rankings—a position no one had surpassed to this day. He was hailed by the world as the Number One Sword Cultivator.

Xie Hengyu rarely made public appearances. The disciples present were thrilled to see their Senior Martial Brother Xie, whom they might only glimpse once or twice a year, suddenly appear here today.

A-Shang looked up and saw Xie Hengyu in his pale cyan robe. But it was only a single glance before she averted her gaze.

Elder Jikai stepped out from behind the two of them, surveyed the crowd, and frowned. “What happened here?”

A disciple named Zuo Tang—one who secretly admired Yun Luoyi—was the first to step forward and speak. “In response to Elder, Miss Luoyi and A-Shang were sparring. Unfortunately, A-Shang’s swordsmanship is lacking, so Miss Luoyi accidentally injured her.”

With those words, Zuo Tang effectively attributed A-Shang’s injuries to her own inferior skill while absolving Yun Luoyi of any blame.

Hearing this, the disciples exchanged uneasy glances. Though they generally disliked A-Shang, the truth of the matter was that Yun Luoyi had been the one to provoke the fight.

Everyone instinctively looked toward Xie Hengyu, wanting to see how their Senior Martial Brother viewed this matter.

After all, A-Shang was still his Dao companion—even if the way she had become his Dao companion was hardly honorable.

Unfortunately, Xie Hengyu’s face betrayed no emotion at that moment; his gaze did not even rest on A-Shang.

“A-Shang, you speak,” Elder Jikai said, looking at her.

A-Shang lowered her gaze to her arms, which had been cut by Yun Luoyi’s sword aura. She did not speak, because she knew—what would be the point even if she told the truth?

One was a beloved daughter of the sect, showered with adoration; the other was a lowly half-demon with no background, who had defiled their Senior Martial Brother Xie. The answer to whom they would side with was painfully obvious.

Just as the silence around them grew unbearable, one disciple finally gathered his courage and spoke up: “It was Miss Luoyi who first proposed sparring with Junior Martial Sister A-Shang. Junior Martial Sister A-Shang didn’t want to, but Miss Luoyi struck first and tried to wound A-Shang…”

“Luoyi, apologize!”

Yun Lanci said coldly to Yun Luoyi from a distance, effectively cutting off that disciple’s words mid-sentence.

“Brother!” Yun Luoyi’s face was filled with shock. Her brother was actually telling her to apologize to this half-demon?

Yun Luoyi was naturally unwilling. But seeing the stern look in her elder brother’s eyes, she finally mumbled a reluctant “I’m sorry” toward A-Shang.

Compared to Yun Luoyi, who looked immaculate and radiant at this moment, A-Shang—covered in bloodstains—was clearly far worse off.

The Qingyun Sect and the Xianmen Sect had been on good terms for many years. For the sake of maintaining friendly relations between the two sects, it naturally would not do to let things escalate too far. Elder Jikai chuckled from the side and said, “In that case, let both sides take a step back and consider this matter settled.”

Yun Lanci gave a slight nod and spoke, “This matter was indeed instigated by my younger sister. This is a jar of Golden Jade Ointment—please accept it, Miss A-Shang.”

Golden Jade Ointment?

The disciples present were taken aback. The Golden Jade Ointment was a rare and precious remedy for repairing the skin—even a tiny amount was extraordinarily valuable. A full bottle of it would cost an astronomical number of spirit stones to afford.

When Yun Luoyi saw that Yun Lanci was giving such precious Golden Jade Ointment to that half-demon, she could not help but speak up: “Brother, this Golden Jade Ointment is so precious—how can you just give it away like—”

“Silence.” Yun Lanci shot a glance at his good-for-nothing younger sister, his tone severe.

Yun Luoyi shut her mouth in indignation, already cursing A-Shang a thousand times over in her heart.

“What do you think, Yanzhi?” Yun Lanci turned to look at Xie Hengyu beside him.

Xie Hengyu did not reply. Instead, he looked over at A-Shang, as if waiting for her answer.

The wounds on her body throbbed with dull pain. A-Shang knew the value of the Golden Jade Ointment, but she was no fool—she had no intention of letting herself suffer such a great injury for nothing.

“Thank you, Young Sect Master Yun.” A-Shang took the Golden Jade Ointment that Yun Lanci handed over.

Yun Lanci glanced at A-Shang, then at Xie Hengyu. The two were Dao companions, yet when they met face to face, they looked like complete strangers.

At this moment, he began to believe some of the rumors he had heard.

The rumors said that Xie Hengyu had been drugged by a half-demon woman, spending a night of passion with her. The Xianmen Sect had strict laws, and Xie Hengyu was a role model among its disciples. Although the woman had acted deliberately, he had still taken her virtue, and so naturally, he had to take responsibility.

He had originally thought that someone like Xie Hengyu would never marry a woman he did not love as his Dao companion—unless she was someone he truly cherished.

But now, observing Xie Hengyu’s cold and detached attitude toward his newlywed Dao companion, it was obvious that he did not love her.

Who would have thought that Daoist Yanzhi—admired and looked up to by so many disciples as their model—would one day marry a woman he did not love, all because of that rigid, conservative sense of so-called honor and shame?

Ha. Utterly absurd.

However, what surprised Yun Lanci slightly was this: he had heard that the half-demon woman who drugged Xie Hengyu had done so out of infatuation with him. But today, looking at A-Shang, he found that she was not quite what he had imagined.

He had expected a woman capable of such a shameless act to be a vulgar, low-class sort who could not hold her own in polite company.

Xie Hengyu soon left alongside Elder Jikai. Throughout the entire encounter, he did not speak a single word to A-Shang in private. He showed no reaction to the bloodstains on her arms.

From beginning to end, he treated her like a complete stranger.

A-Shang had long since come to terms with the fact that he did not like her, so she held no expectations. And without expectations, there was naturally no heartache.

After leaving the Sword Practice Hall, A-Shang went to the Scripture Pavilion to borrow a few books, then returned to her quarters and retrieved the blade she had brought with her—*Wushuang*  (Frostless).

Wushuang had been a gift from her father. Though he was just a helpless scholar who taught children their letters, he understood that she lived in chaotic times. As a half-demon, she had to have a proper weapon for self-defense.

Wushuang was just an ordinary blade, not yet having given birth to a sword spirit. It had been tucked away in her storage pouch for a long time, but when she drew it out now, its body still gleamed with a faint silvery-white cold light. At the very top of the blade, her father had personally engraved a single character: *Shang*.

A-Shang gently ran her fingertip over the engraved character on the blade. *In this life, I will put Wushuang to good use.*