"I have almost mastered the third level of Dark Power... That's pretty fast."
It took Xi Heng more than two years from getting started with Ming Jin to mastering it.
But after becoming an Dark Power, he used the Life-Taking Technique so many times to increase his Qi and blood. Afterwards, he practiced swordsmanship with extraordinary sword intent, and his efficiency can be said to have improved by leaps and bounds. His talent is extraordinary.
In just less than six months, she had already mastered the hidden power moves of the Red Line Sword Technique. Although she had not yet mastered it to perfection, she had almost mastered everything that could be learned through sword practice.
"After that, you will need to hone your swordsmanship and sword intentions through actual combat..."
Xi Heng glanced at the sword academy outside the window, thinking that perhaps he also had to say goodbye to this place and go somewhere else.
"However, there will be some disturbances in the Jinshi City martial arts school in the next few days. It is better to wait until I help Senior Sister to settle these troubles before leaving. I can also try to get his Wave Sword Technique from Guo Zheng... But the other party is Hua Jin after all. It doesn't matter if I can't get it in this life. I will get it sooner or later."
She remembered that after the challenge incident was over, the entire Jinshi City would be peaceful for quite a long time.
However...the other troubles that occurred later were not such trivial matters.
"The Tianliang army..." Xi Heng muttered to himself:
"When the Tianliang Army attacked the city, Senior Sister Hong Miao would definitely seek revenge on the general of the Tianliang Army. There is no way to stop her."
"In my previous life, I only had the Great Mastery of Bright Strength, so I couldn't help Senior Sister... But in this life, I have reached the Great Mastery of Dark Strength, and I am on par with her in sword fighting. Add to that the Great Mastery of the Sea of Blood... In terms of overall strength, I may even be able to surpass Senior Sister."
"In this case, it will definitely be enough to go and help."
Although assassinating a general in the Tianliang Army’s camp...this kind of thing is quite dangerous just by hearing about it.
However, since Xi Heng wanted to do it, he had already put aside life and death.
At the beginning, Senior Sister Hong Miao forced her to leave Jinshi City. Since then, Xi Heng would occasionally think that when she was strong enough in one of her reincarnations, she would help her senior sister assassinate General Tianliang, and they would live and die together.
Now it seems that it can be done in this lifetime.
Even if I fail and die during the assassination, I will just think of it as having spent my whole life practicing martial arts.
Xi Heng doesn't care.
"But there should still be more than a year and a half before the Tianliang Army attacks."
"During this period of time, I'd better go out and walk around."
The girl closed the secret book on the table and put it aside.
He went downstairs and heated a pot of tea to drink.
As I sipped my tea, I gradually heard a burst of subtle applause coming from the sword training ground a hundred meters away, covering up the sound of swords that never stopped.
"Who is getting into the game again... let's calculate the time." Xi Heng recalled and blinked: "It seems to be Hong Ji?"
She then put down the teacup in her hand, left the attic and walked towards the sword field.
On the sword training ground paved with stone slabs, dozens of junior sisters formed a wider, scattered circle.
Senior Sister Hong Miao on the periphery walked into the center, and the other junior sisters made way for her.
She clapped her hands gently and said the same lines as in her previous life:
"Yan Hongji, mastered the Qi and blood in one hundred and seventy-four days, and felt the sword intention..."
Xi Heng had already arrived and followed in the footsteps of Senior Sister Hong Miao. Looking at Yan Hongji surrounded by the crowd, he felt somewhat relieved.
In this life, she thought that she had not given Yan Hongji enough motivation, and the other party would probably become mediocre and unable to successfully enter the game.
But in fact, the other party got such strong spirit and strength from somewhere and finally succeeded.
"I have mastered the Qi and blood..."
When Hongji saw the two sisters coming, he couldn't hide his joy and asked quietly:
"Senior Sister... I, this is considered as getting into the game, right?"
Hong Miao approached first and invited Hong Ji to become a formal female disciple in the Sword Academy.
After accepting the invitation from the senior sister, she immediately ran to Xi Heng.
Her beautiful face was covered with a little sweat, and she panted slightly in excitement. She bowed to her senior sister earnestly:
"Thank you, Senior Sister... If it weren't for your careful teaching these days, and the miraculous medicine you gave me, I wouldn't be able to hold on at all, and I wouldn't be able to get into the state of strength no matter what I did."
"You rely on your own efforts. You don't have to blame others." Xi Heng just looked at the other person curiously.
For some reason, Hongji has changed from the weak and frail girl who might give up at any time to the girl who has a strong will now.
"Senior sister is in my heart, not an outsider." Yan Hongji stroked her chest and said softly:
"Recently, my clan called me back to the capital to take over the business. I wanted to give up, but when I was packing my luggage, my senior sister's face came into my mind. After hesitating, I was unwilling to remain silent and say goodbye to my senior sister like this..."
She took a pendant from her chest and handed it to Xi Heng seriously:
"This jade token is a token of my Yan family. I am giving it to you now. No matter which property of my family you visit in the future, you will be treated as an honored guest... I will be waiting for you in the capital..." As she spoke, her tone gradually became shy.
"Hmm..." Xi Heng accepted it.
Listening to the other person's words, I felt vaguely strange.
The last time Yan Hongji made up his mind was because of a bet, but this time it was not the same, but the effect was similar.
"Senior Sister." Yan Hongji was a little reluctant to leave. Her delicate five fingers that handed over the jade token remained in Xi Heng's warm palm.
"I am about to leave. It is my blessing to meet Senior Sister here... I will wait for Senior Sister in the capital. Senior Sister must come."
She pursed her lips, but couldn't hold back what was in her heart, so she made a request to her senior sister.
Without waiting for her senior sister to agree, she was really afraid that she would not agree. After she said that, she resolutely let go of her hand, turned around, and followed Senior Sister Hong Miao to the main hall to pay homage to the master and become a formal disciple.
Xi Heng, who stayed where he was, slowly clenched his left hand, the jade token in his hand still retaining some warmth.
But after a while, Yan Hongji had walked far away, and the fellow sisters who had gathered here had almost all dispersed.
Xi Heng exhaled lightly and whispered to himself:
"The capital? But I don't really want to go to the capital."
"I always feel like if I go there, I'll get into all kinds of trouble."
Maybe it would be like last time, when just a few months after arriving in the capital, the court would suddenly come to visit him.
Although she could easily kill Zhao Qianyuan, a lot of troubles would arise afterwards.
"Forget it, let's just let nature take its course. Maybe after a few months of wandering around without a fixed place to stay, I'll want to go again."
……
Three days later, Xi Heng went out shopping with a junior sister from the Sword Academy.
Ever since Yan Hongji left the Sword Academy, the attitudes of many of the younger sisters have obviously become more positive.
Xi Heng didn't know why, but when one of them invited him to go out, he thought that he hadn't been out of the yard for a long time and really wanted to go for a walk, so he agreed.
All of her fellow apprentice sisters were able to spend twenty taels of silver to come to the Sword Academy to learn martial arts. Most of them were young ladies from wealthy families in Jinshi City and were familiar with the city.
We first went to a restaurant for dinner, and then went to the theater to watch a variety show. While shopping, we bought a new set of clothes in light red and light pink. The atmosphere was quite warm and peaceful.
Until Xi Heng was in the center of the city and saw that there were hundreds of people surrounding the notice board, crowded together.
As I got closer, I saw another scholar in blue clothes standing on a high chair and reading the notice on the board -
"To all the people in Jinshi City, I am hereby ordered to announce that Jianchang City in the south has been breached. The Tianliang bandits have been in the city for three days without stopping. The massacre is extremely brutal. There are cries of grief everywhere. The people in the city are bowing their heads and wailing. The scorching sun is steaming the air, the smell of corpses is choking the air, and there are burnings everywhere. The smoke is like fog..."
"The Liang bandits have captured Jianchang and looted countless people. Now they are heading for Jinshi. I must mobilize troops to defend Jinshi. I urgently need to recruit brave and skilled warriors to form a strong army to resist the Liang bandits. All the people of our great Zhao have the responsibility to protect the country and the land. We should dedicate ourselves to the country and fight bravely..."
She didn't listen to the following words of encouragement for recruiting soldiers.
The only important information is that the Tianliang Army has already conquered the southern city of Jianchang and is now heading towards Jinshi.
Xi Heng stopped and listened, becoming more and more confused.
"That's not right... the siege started earlier than planned? Even so, it's still too early, isn't it?"
She remembered that Tianliang's attack on Jinshi City happened at the end of the second year of the file reading.
By then, she had already been in the Red Line Sword Academy for two years, a full twenty-four months.
And now, it’s only the sixth month.
"The city of Jianchang in the south shouldn't have been breached so early..." Xi Heng stopped and looked silently at the bulletin board at the end of the crowd.
It's the winter solstice now. In ancient times, which army would march and attack a city in winter?
"But the city is recruiting soldiers... This can't be fake news."
In any case, the huge changes in the Tianliang Army's capture process must have something to do with her activities.
In the cycle of time, she herself is the only variable.
"Did I trigger some kind of butterfly effect that caused Tianliang to attack early?" she asked herself in her heart.
"But I didn't do anything... I haven't even killed anyone in this life."
"The only one that has something to do with me is the Red Line Sword Academy... Is it the extension of the situation in the Sword Academy that ultimately led to this incident?"
"The biggest change in the Sword Academy is the departure of the elders... and the elders left in order to gather the descendants of the Bloodline Sword to avenge Zhao Qianqiu, and the target of revenge is Zhao Qianyuan..."
"If Zhao Qianyuan was assassinated and the commander of the Tianliang Army got the news, he planned to take advantage of the civil strife during the succession of the throne of the Great Zhao to send troops to Champa, then this makes sense."
But that guy was guarded by two Imperial Guards who were Hua Jin warriors, and there were three thousand imperial guards in the palace... How could he die like that?
Xi Heng twitched his lips as he listened to the recruitment notice read out by a scholar in blue not far away.
……
Chapter 53: Holding the Sword and Examining the Conscience
"Senior Sister?" She was confused when the junior sister who was taking her shopping poked her shoulder.
Xi Heng finally came back to his senses from all the thoughts in his mind.
"Tianliang is attacking." She sighed.
However, the petite junior sister next to him obviously didn't know much about fighting.
She had never experienced or known how powerful the enemy was.
Seeing her senior sister's worried look, she thought for a moment, then pointed to the tall city wall that stretched for thousands of miles in the distance.
"The city walls are so high, they can be defended even if 10,000 people come to attack, right?" She didn't seem worried.
"It's much more than this." Xi Heng just shook his head.
"I heard that the Tianliang thieves are poor beggars wearing cloth and holding pitchforks. How can they break through the city wall with pitchforks and sickles? And our guards are wearing armor, how can they not defend the city?"
"We can't just rely on what we heard. The actual siege is much more complicated."
Xi Heng said something casually, and without saying anything more to this young lady from Jinshi City, he turned around and said:
"Let's go back to the Sword Academy and practice martial arts."
Xi Heng's original interest and mood in shopping were disrupted by the sudden announcement, and he gradually lost his mood.
……
For the next half month, Xi Heng no longer went out to play with other junior sisters.
Now she just wanted to take advantage of the short period of time when Jinshi City was still relatively stable to hone her martial arts.
Half a month later, at dusk, Xi Heng was in the empty sword training ground, and he was fighting with Senior Sister Hong Miao as usual.
The two swords collided, producing sparks and clanging sounds.
Something feels wrong today.
Senior Sister Hong Miao has always been quite natural and casual when fighting with swords.
No matter whether it is defending or attacking, deliberately feeding the opponent's attack or trying to achieve a surprise victory, at the beginning of the sword fight, the senior sister will first use a few peaceful moves to build up the strength.
Not until halfway through the fight when his hands became hot and he became eager to fight, would he gradually become serious, using Xi Heng's fierce swordsmanship to counter his moves, detect his flaws and attack his weaknesses.
But today is quite different from before.
Senior Sister Hong Miao did not wait for her to make a move, but immediately rushed forward at the beginning.
This sudden change startled Xi Heng, and he instinctively raised his sword to block.
The two swords collided, and the force from the opponent's attack made her palm numb.
