Xi Heng had to mobilize his muscles, bones, and flesh from the very beginning to block the opponent's continuous moves.
This time, the senior sister seemed to have used all her strength. Her body and sword moved like lightning, incomparably fast, even more fierce than herself.
She had no time to think and could only keep attacking and blocking.
After only a dozen moves in just a few seconds, Xi Heng was already at a disadvantage.
Although she could see the flaws for a few moments, by the time she noticed it, the opponent's sword moves had changed, and the flaws disappeared, making it difficult to attack. She could only keep using counter-moves to block.
After another three or two moves, Hong Miao suddenly raised the sword upwards, and Xi Heng retreated half a step and barely avoided it, but a strand of hair on his temples was cut off by the sword, and it slowly fell in the wind like fallen leaves in autumn.
The next moment, they both stopped at the same time.
The two paused swords trembled slightly, and the swords rang long and deep, plunging the sword field into silence.
"Senior Sister won..."
Xiheng's heart was still beating rapidly.
Her sword skills were all taught by Senior Sister Hong Miao, so it was normal that she couldn't take on the opponent's powerful moves.
But... why did Senior Sister suddenly change her attitude when facing the sword today?
Normally, his swordplay was like teaching, but today, it was as if he wanted to vent something, and he used all his strength to attack.
"Sister?"
And after Senior Sister Hong Miao stopped wielding the sword, she still didn't say anything.
Then, the opponent inserted the sword into the ground and slowly squatted down.
His eyes were just looking at the sword in his hand, staring at the face reflected in the cold light on the sword.
The setting sun fell a few inches, and the golden light it cast reflected along the sword blade and fell on her hair that covered her face.
Hong Miao finally let out a sigh and whispered to Xi Heng in a low voice as if she was talking to herself:
"Your enemy is dead."
"Me?" Xi Heng was not sure whether her senior sister was talking to her in this strange state.
"Zhao Qianyuan is dead."
"Oh..." Xi Heng had guessed it half a month ago.
Now that I have truly heard what Senior Sister said, my heart is calm:
“This should be considered a good thing, right?”
"He was killed by three Dark Power masters who risked their lives to break through the Dark Power with the Bloodline Forbidden Technique and were killed on the spot." Hong Miao's voice was a little hoarse:
"Elder Honglianzhan also died in this assassination."
She turned her head and looked at the bamboo forest swaying in the wind with her dark pupils, listening to the rustling sound of bamboo leaves, with a myriad of thoughts in her heart.
"...Senior sister, please accept my condolences." Xi Heng was not very good at comforting others, so he only said this.
"There is nothing to be sad about. The elder is getting weaker and weaker, and his life span is not long... Now he can use this short life to fulfill his wish, which can be regarded as martyrdom. For a warrior, it is quite good." Hong Miao said softly, and sighed softly:
"Although I understand, I am still a little uneasy after hearing the news today... The elder has passed away for more than 20 days, and I just learned about this today. It is really unpleasant..."
She shook her head, stopped talking here, and changed the subject:
"Let's stop here for today's sword fight. There's not much I can teach you anymore, Junior Sister."
After saying that, Hong Miao sheathed her sword, turned around and headed west.
Under the setting sun, her lonely figure gradually became smaller.
The red and yellow light passed around her back, and her shadow was stretched to more than ten meters, falling right at Xi Heng's feet.
The young girl at the back watched quietly, retaining her senior sister's back in her pupils. She seemed to be affected by her senior sister's mood, and her heart felt a little heavy.
Xi Heng also put away the Qingfeng sword in his hand, and after a moment he followed Sister Hong Miao's shoulder.
"Senior Sister, there's no need to be too disappointed. The elders wouldn't want to see you like this..." She still wanted to comfort him.
"That's true." Hong Miao looked at the crimson sunset that was slowly setting in the distance and exhaled slowly:
"Every time the elders saw me like this, they would scold me and tell me that warriors should not be weak or cry, especially warriors like me who practice killing swords, we should not beg for mercy."
"She once said that she would do this even when she died... It seems that there is a wall in the elder's chest, and even I am separated from it."
She shook her head and said:
"It was probably because she knew she would die early and was afraid that I would be sad, so she didn't want to be close to me. She even refused to let me become her disciple and only allowed me to address her as the elder."
"Now, I have followed the elder's wishes...After she passed away, I felt lost but not too sad."
Xi Heng listened quietly beside him.
After all, this is a matter between Senior Sister and the Elder. I don’t know what to say, so I can only be a listener.
As she was talking, Senior Sister Hong Miao turned her gaze and chuckled, "And you, too."
"Me?" Xi Heng tilted his head.
"Although you appear to be cheerful and understanding, you are actually extremely arrogant and don't want to show your true feelings to anyone... This is a common problem among warriors like us. When you practice this kind of killing sword, you will naturally be indifferent to others and become more arrogant." Hong Miao said simply.
"……Yeah?"
But Xi Heng didn't realize it very much.
"You are just like the elder, who doesn't treat others with sincerity." said the senior sister.
"Sincerely?" Xi Heng blinked: "I should have that, right?"
"I didn't see you ever have any feelings for me."
"Affectionate? Senior Sister, what are you talking about?" Xi Heng still didn't understand.
"Yeah...what am I talking about?" Senior Sister shook her head, as if she realized that she was talking nonsense because of sadness, and said to Xi Heng:
"Just pretend you never heard it."
"Oh……"
"That's enough. I'm going back to my room to meditate and relax."
After saying this, the senior sister walked across the flower bed with her hands behind her back, opened the door and walked into her small attic.
Xi Heng said "oh" again, then turned around and left obediently.
But she didn't see it. When she turned around, Hong Miao suddenly looked back, and when she saw Xi Heng leaving, a trace of resentment flashed in her eyes again.
Finally, this invisible resentment turned into a sigh and slowly came out from the lips.
……
Three days later, outside the south gate of Jinshi City, the Tianliang army arrived at the city.
Heavy white clouds were floating with fine snow falling, and the snowflakes in the sky accompanied by the east wind were blowing onto the faces of the soldiers in full armor on the thick city walls.
The cold wind was blowing and the temperature suddenly dropped today, making even the strong soldiers feel quite uncomfortable.
Outside the city wall, the ground had been covered with fallen snow and turned into a cotton-white color. Outside, the Tianliang Army was cutting down the surrounding trees to make siege ladders or chopping wood to make fire to keep warm for the soldiers who were not fully clothed.
The war drums were not beaten. Although it looked like the two armies were facing each other, they were both silent.
There were few elite soldiers wearing armor among the Tianliang Army that were scattered all over the mountains and plains. Most of them were militiamen who had only been trained for less than a month before going to the battlefield. Their clothes were untidy and not thick, and they were shivering from the cold wind.
Inside the city, the civilians began to flee in panic, forming a formation just like during the siege in the previous life.
However, in this life, because the news of the Tianliang Army's attack arrived half a month in advance, most of the wealthy people in the city, or those who had relatives in other places to rely on, had already retreated to the north in an orderly manner.
The Tianliang Army had been in Jianchang City for three days without laying down their weapons, and their notoriety had spread throughout Jinshi. Those who could leave were unwilling to stay, and only a small number of people who trusted the officers and soldiers remained in Jinshi. But today, when they saw the huge and majestic army of the Tianliang bandits, they also began to flee in a hurry.
There was still some order in the city, with bailiffs and constables patrolling everywhere. At least Xi Heng walked a thousand meters on the road and was not robbed by bandits like in his previous life.
However, it may also be because the inner city was not burned down and did not breed enough bandits.
Xi Heng grabbed a bulging small bag, opened the gate of the sword courtyard with the key, and walked to the main hall in the center of the courtyard.
Now, there are only her and Senior Sister Hong Miao left in the Hongxian Sword Academy. Most of the other sisters were either taken away from Jinshi by their families, or persuaded to leave by their senior sisters.
She was also advised once, but when she said she wanted to help her senior sister get revenge, her senior sister stared at Xi Heng with a strange expression for a while, and seeing Xi Heng's determination, she finally agreed reluctantly.
Today, it was Senior Sister Hong Miao who asked her to go to Qinsexuan in the inner city to pick up a package.
Gradually, Xi Heng walked to the front of the hall of the sword courtyard, knocked twice, and then pushed the door open and entered.
The windows in the room were covered with red gauze, making the atmosphere quite dim and eerie. Two candles stood on the table in front, swaying constantly, and three incense sticks were inserted in a small stove, offering a tablet for Elder Hong.
On the ground, Senior Sister Hong Miao was sitting cross-legged in a neat and clean white and red dress, holding a handkerchief in her hand, slowly wiping the long sword in her hand.
"Sister, I brought the things."
Xi Heng put the bag in his hand beside the other person, and bottles and jars fell down with a sound of collision.
"Um……"
Hong Miao wiped the blade a few more times, then placed the sword steadily on her thigh, untied the bag beside her, and took out a small black bottle first.
There was a rich dark black liquid in the bottle. Hong Miao held the sword steadily again, poured the black liquid from the small bottle in her hand onto the sword, and then spread it evenly with a handkerchief.
After pouring out this bottle, the senior sister took out another bottle of deep red liquid as red as blood and continued to pour it on the sword blade.
"This method can make the enemy die quickly from the poison after cutting a wound." Senior Sister Hong Miao explained with her back to Xi Heng: "Do you need it?"
"I have some methods of my own, so I don't need to use my senior sister's."
"Oh?" Hong Miao seemed interested.
"It can also be considered a kind of poison." Xi Heng didn't explain much.
"Is that so?" The other party didn't ask any more questions.
As bottles of poison soaked into the sword, the blade of the Red Shuriken quickly turned from dark black to scarlet, then gradually changed into colorful colors, and finally returned to pure white.
After applying the poison, the senior sister slowly sheathed the extremely dangerous sword. At the same time, she turned around and said to Xi Heng:
"Today, you just need to coordinate with the outside world to assassinate General Tianliang. If you see that the situation is not right, flee immediately."
"Okay." Xi Heng agreed perfunctorily.
If she didn't agree to this, her senior sister would never let her join in the action.
"If an unexpected situation occurs... you don't have to avenge me." Hong Miao said softly.
"No accidents will happen, don't worry, Senior Sister."
"You always look indifferent, as if nothing can affect your mood. Why?" Hong Miao suddenly asked.
Because Xi Heng has experienced too many big and small things in these past few lives, his mood will no longer be disturbed by these things.
Now, although the early arrival of the Tianliang Army was a little beyond her expectations, helping her senior sister to take revenge was already within her expectations, so Xi Heng would naturally not be too surprised.
"Because I am happy to live and die with my senior sister."
This is not a lie. Xi Heng has become less and less concerned about matters of life and death.
Take revenge together with Senior Sister, no matter whether the result is good or bad, it doesn’t matter.
Upon hearing this, Hong Miao stopped stroking the scabbard and turned back to meet Xi Heng's eyes.
What surprised her was that the other person's eyes didn't look like he was lying.
"Really?" Senior sister tried to confirm again.
"really."
"..."
Hong Miao's eyes flickered slightly.
In her opinion, Xi Heng was not the kind of person who would say such a thing.
Whenever Junior Sister Xi Heng treated anyone, there was always some kind of indescribable indifference in her eyes.
She thought... the other party probably didn't have any sincere feelings for her.
But in reality, that doesn't seem to be the case.
When Xi Heng said the words "live and die together", he was serious...
This strange sense of contradiction made Hong Miao feel conflicted. She shouldn't have such a bad eye for people.
Was I wrong? Or was it that my junior sister was not a person who could be judged by common sense?
