Chapter 2: The Chill of the Emotionless Sword

A ringing clang of a sword sounded.

Shen Zhaoqing felt the pressure on her body instantly lighten, and she gasped for a deep breath.

With difficulty, she raised her head, only to see a figure cloaked in azure, who had appeared before her, shielding her.

The newcomer was tall and slender, adorned in the Azure Cloud Sect’s distinctive snow-patterned sword robes. Her dark hair was tied up high, revealing a smooth, full forehead and a sharply defined jawline.

A venerable longsword rested on her back, its scabbard wreathed in frost. Even from behind, she stood like a majestic snow-capped mountain—serene, resolute, and capable of weathering any storm the world could throw.

The First Sword Immortal of the Azure Cloud Sect, its Chief Disciple, Gu Chang’an.

Shen Zhaoqing’s mood instantly shifted from ‘I’m going to die’ to ‘Perhaps I can still be saved.’

“Senior Sister Gu?”

Although this Senior Sister was usually as cold as ice, looking at everyone as if they were a piece of wood ready for the chopping block, at this very moment, Shen Zhaoqing swore Senior Sister Gu was her goddess!

A voice sounded from behind her, but Gu Chang’an did not turn. She stood before Shen Zhaoqing, her apricot-shaped eyes, cold as distant stars, fearlessly meeting the gaze of the demonic overlord before them.

“Demon Venerable, this is Azure Cloud territory.”

Her hand rested lightly on the hilt of the sword on her back, her tone calm, yet every word cut like a blade.

“My junior sister is timid; she cannot withstand fright.”

Shen Zhaoqing nodded frantically.

Ling Shuangjue stepped forward two paces, a hint of amusement in her expression.

Threads of cold light coalesced into an azure barrier. A rainbow-like chill rapidly spread outwards as the greatsword was drawn, yet only the small patch of ground beneath Shen Zhaoqing’s feet remained protected.

Though blocked by the sword light, Ling Shuangjue showed no trace of annoyance.

She even chuckled, her smile deepening further than before.

Her gaze drifted between the expressionless Gu Chang’an and the stunned Shen Zhaoqing. “Gu Chang’an…” Ling Shuangjue murmured the name softly, her scarlet tongue flicking across her dry lips. “The ‘Grand Dao of Emotionless Sword Art’ truly lives up to its reputation, transforming you into a stubborn, unyielding stone.”

She paused, her gaze returning to Shen Zhaoqing, her obsessive possessiveness almost palpable. “However, the more beautiful a collection piece, the more it deserves to be kept in a magnificent cage. Don’t you agree? My… little thing.”

‘Little thing’?!

‘You’re’ the ‘little thing’!

Shen Zhaoqing shivered uncontrollably.

“My junior sister is not someone you can casually defile.” The azure light advanced another two inches. Ling Shuangjue merely raised a hand, and the chilling aura was blocked, unable to move forward another step.

“Defile?” The Demon Venerable scoffed. “Do you dare to claim you harbor no intentions towards her?”

“Your swordsmanship remains as stagnant as ever since our last encounter.”

Shen Zhaoqing found herself caught in the epicenter of the two supreme powers of righteousness and demonry. To her left was ten-thousand-year-old ice capable of freezing a person to death, and to her right, the infernal flames of hell.

She felt less than human.

She was akin to a tender, succulent slab of pork belly, being fought over by two prehistoric behemoths.

“Whether she’s yours or mine, we’ll know after a test.” The roar of the Abyssal Slaughter Sword instantly made one’s scalp tingle. Ling Shuangjue patted the hilt reassuringly, then, as if remembering something, disdainfully released her grip. “Forget it, I’m not in the mood today. I won’t fight you.”

Having spoken, the Demon Venerable didn’t even spare Gu Chang’an another glance. Her form flickered, transforming into a crimson streak of light, carrying boundless killing intent, and vanished into the horizon.

Only the phrase, “We’ll meet again soon, darling,” lingered in Shen Zhaoqing’s ears, echoing for a long time.

The terrifying pressure, strong enough to crush bones, dissipated. Shen Zhaoqing’s legs instantly went weak, and she nearly performed a split on the spot for Senior Sister Gu.

Thank goodness, thank goodness, her life was spared.

Just as she was about to catch her breath, the collar at the back of her neck suddenly tightened!

Shen Zhaoqing experienced firsthand what it meant to be a ‘scampering chick.’

Oh no, rather, a ‘chick being carried away.’

Gu Chang’an remained silent, not even bothering to spare her a glance. With a casual grip on the back of Shen Zhaoqing’s collar, she merely tapped her toes, and her entire being shot forth like a bolt of azure lightning, rocketing towards the inner gates of the Azure Cloud Sect.

The wind howled past her ears, and the scenery blurred rapidly in reverse. Shen Zhaoqing dangled in mid-air in an utterly undignified posture, her feet off the ground, limbs flailing wildly, like a land-duck snatched by an eagle.

“Se-Senior Sister! Let’s talk this over! I can walk myself!” Shen Zhaoqing, her mouth full of cold wind, spoke with a whistle. “This… this damages the sect’s image, hey!”

Shen Zhaoqing felt like crying but had no tears. “Senior Sister, I haven’t even had a sip of the wine I just bought.”

Gu Chang’an offered no reply.

Traversing the Sea of Clouds, crossing the Rainbow Bridge, and bypassing the blue-tiled courtyards where outer disciples resided, Gu Chang’an directly brought Shen Zhaoqing to a mountain peak deep within the inner sect, where spiritual energy was most abundant.

Atop the peak stood a solitary small dwelling, surrounded by vast stretches of emerald bamboo forest. The cold wind rustled through the bamboo leaves, adding to the desolate chill. On the plaque above the dwelling’s entrance, three characters were carved with elegant flourishes—Frostbright Abode.

‘Good heavens, just hearing the name made her feel like the air conditioning had to be set to eighteen degrees.’

Gu Chang’an carried her as if entering an empty realm, passing directly through the courtyard gate, into the main house, and then… casually let go.

“Thud.”

Shen Zhaoqing landed firmly on the cold flagstone floor in a perfect ‘five-limbed prostration’ pose.

“Hiss…” She grimaced, rubbing her aching lower back, feeling as if her bones were about to fall apart.

‘This Senior Sister, indeed, was single by virtue of her strength; she had no concept of cherishing beauty or tenderness.’

Before she could even scramble to her feet, an indisputable, clear, cold voice descended from above.

“Sit.”

Shen Zhaoqing looked up to see Gu Chang’an already seated cross-legged on a meditation cushion, her emotionless, star-cold apricot eyes fixed on her.

A shiver ran through Shen Zhaoqing. Her survival instinct made her instantly forget the pain, and she scrambled to another meditation cushion, sitting cross-legged just like Gu Chang’an. Her back was ramrod straight, and her hands rested obediently on her knees, looking precisely like a primary school student awaiting a scolding from their teacher.

“Circulate the ‘Heart-Cleansing Spirit-Guiding Art’.” Gu Chang’an’s words were concise; an extra syllable would have seemed like a waste of breath.

“Huh?” Shen Zhaoqing was dumbfounded.

“‘Heart-Cleansing Spirit-Guiding Art’?”

‘Wasn’t that just a common cultivation method the Azure Cloud Sect gave to their menial disciples, meant for strengthening the body and occasionally drawing a wisp or two of spiritual energy into the body?’

‘It was supposedly a simplified version, unable to even reach the Qi Induction stage, at most allowing one to wear one less pair of long johns in winter.’

‘You snatched me back from the Demon Venerable, rushed me to your private mansion, all just to have me perform a ‘Menial Disciple’s Self-Cultivation’ for you?’

‘Senior Sister, isn’t this move a bit too perplexing?’

However, Gu Chang’an’s gaze told her this was not a suggestion, but an order.

Shen Zhaoqing dared not defy. She could only rage internally, while resignedly closing her eyes and beginning to practice the clumsy method from her memory, attempting to regulate her breathing.

Shortly after entering meditation, she felt a chill at her back.

It was a bone-piercing cold, as if an ancient block of profound ice, unearthed from the northernmost frozen wastes, sat behind her instead of a person.

Shen Zhaoqing shivered violently, almost breaking out of her meditative state.

She didn’t need to open her eyes to know that Gu Chang’an had moved behind her, and was now incredibly close—so close she could feel the cold aura emanating from the other’s sword robes, a blend of frost, snow, and sword intent.

‘So cold, so cold, so cold.’

Shen Zhaoqing’s heart pounded with anxiety, but her survival instinct kept her from stopping. She could only grit her teeth and, trembling, continue to circulate the ‘Heart-Cleansing Spirit-Guiding Art’ that she knew by heart.

Unbeknownst to her, behind her, Gu Chang’an slowly closed her eyes.

The moment Shen Zhaoqing began to breathe, a subtle yet incredibly pure and gentle life force quietly emanated from within her, like an invisible spring breeze, softly caressing Gu Chang’an’s limbs and bones.

Gu Chang’an cultivated the Azure Cloud Sect’s ultimate foundational art, the ‘Grand Dao of Emotionless Sword Art’.

This sword art possessed unparalleled power, capable of severing emotional ties and breaking karmic bonds, leaving the sword heart like a mirror, untainted by dust. Yet, precisely because of this, cultivators became emotionally detached, their minds increasingly approaching ‘nothingness.’ The sword intent, in turn, grew overly sharp and excessively cold, like a peerless, ominous weapon with only an edge but no spine.

Gu Chang’an had long since reached the Great Perfection of the Void Return Realm, only a single step away from Dao Integration. Yet, this step was like an unbridgeable chasm.

Her sword dao lacked something.

It lacked something… that could imbue this cold sword with a ‘soul.’

She had meditated in the Sword Tomb for three years, severing all distracting thoughts. Her sword intent grew purer, yet also colder, and the bottleneck remained unbreakable. Until that day, Shen Zhaoqing appeared.

That aura was not spiritual energy, nor was it from medicinal pills. Instead, it was the most fundamental ‘life force,’ one that could make all the Grand Daos of existence draw near.

At this moment, this life force continuously emanated from Shen Zhaoqing, actively and meekly merging into Gu Chang’an’s sword domain.

Gu Chang’an felt her natal flying sword, ‘Frostbright,’ which had long resided in her sea of consciousness, cold and aloof, emit an unprecedented, joyous hum.

Her sword intent was no longer purely ’emotionless,’ but was slowly transforming towards the harmonious state of ‘after emotionlessness, the heart finds its home.’

An unprecedented sense of peace and completeness surged through her.

The bottleneck that had plagued her for years actually showed signs of loosening under the nourishment of this aura!

Gu Chang’an’s breathing quickened imperceptibly for a moment.

She opened her eyes, her star-cold gaze falling upon the fuzzy back of the head before her, her expression incredibly complex.

‘So this was it.’

‘Shen Zhaoqing was the sole opportunity to complete her sword dao!’

‘This person must never fall into anyone else’s hands, especially not that blood-soaked demon!’

‘Ling Shuangjue wanted to treat her as a trophy, to lock her in a magnificent cage?’

‘Ridiculous.’

‘Only beneath Gu Chang’an’s sword was her safest, and only, sanctuary.’

Gu Chang’an’s gaze gradually became firm and cold. She reached out, seemingly intending to place her hand on Shen Zhaoqing’s shoulder, but her fingertips paused abruptly an inch before touching the other’s clothes, ultimately retracting slowly.

The ‘Grand Dao of Emotionless Sword Art’ made her unaccustomed to and ignorant of how to be intimate with others.

‘But it didn’t matter.’

‘She had her own methods.’

Meanwhile, Shen Zhaoqing, who was unknowingly serving as a ‘sword dao charging bank,’ remained completely oblivious.

She only felt that the ‘ten-thousand-year profound ice’ behind her had not only failed to recede but had intensified, emitting a chill that could freeze one’s very soul.

‘Cold, so incredibly cold!’

Shen Zhaoqing felt her blood was about to freeze. Her teeth chattered uncontrollably, yet the aura behind her carried an undeniable壓制, leaving her without the courage to even stop.

‘This wasn’t cultivation; this was clearly torture! QAQ’

Shen Zhaoqing secretly cursed Gu Chang’an eight hundred times over in her mind.

‘Human refrigerator!’

‘The ultimate antithesis of energy conservation and emission reduction!!’

‘A single person capable of reversing global warming by a hundred years!!!’

Shivering, she muttered incessantly in her mind, diverting her attention from the encroaching numbness of the cold.

Time, in this strange atmosphere of cold and warmth, stillness and motion, slowly slipped away.

****

The light beyond the bamboo forest gradually dimmed, and night silently descended.

Inside Frostbright Abode, the lamps remained unlit.

Yet, outside the abode, deep within the bamboo forest, which the moonlight had coated with a layer of silver frost, a slender figure had stood silently for an unknown duration.

It was a young girl dressed in the attire of an outer disciple of the Azure Cloud Sect. Her frame was so frail it seemed a gust of wind could topple her, and her complexion was a sickly pallor from years without sunlight. A pair of ink-blue pupils appeared exceptionally profound in the night.

Li Wuxia had stealthily made her way here from the outer sect.

Her gaze pierced through the gaps in the bamboo forest, fixated on the two figures intertwined within the small dwelling.

Shen Zhaoqing, who, during the Black Wind Mountain Bandit raid years ago, had unhesitatingly extended a helping hand to her in that blood and wine-soaked prisoner cart.

The young girl, trembling, used a hidden shard of glass to slit the bandit’s throat. The gushing blood stained those slightly drunken, pale golden pupils, and imprinted itself deep within her soul, becoming her sole obsession for survival.

She endured the repulsive faces of the Li family members, the bone-chilling cold poison brought by the ‘Clear River Yin-Sha Scripture,’ and the insignificance of being a humble ant among the Azure Cloud Sect’s outer disciples.

All she sought was to watch her from afar, as she was now, and to occasionally draw near, to feel that warm aura that could even quell the cold poison within her.

But now, that very aura was ‘monopolized’ by someone else.

Li Wuxia’s gaze slowly shifted from Shen Zhaoqing to the figure behind her.

Gu Chang’an.

The Chief Disciple of the Azure Cloud Sect, a favored daughter of heaven, an object of awe for all disciples.

Li Wuxia saw the sword domain around Gu Chang’an, almost solidified, and also saw Shen Zhaoqing shivering within that domain.

‘Why?’

‘Why could Gu Chang’an so rightfully claim her as her own?’

‘She should be the one closest to Senior Sister!’

A sinister and viscous jealousy, like a poisonous vine, furiously sprouted from the depths of Li Wuxia’s heart, instantly entwining her limbs and bones. Deep within her ink-blue pupils, a terrifying, almost palpable, chilling killing intent slowly surged.

She looked at Gu Chang’an’s clear and aloof profile, and a thousand methods for making her disappear without a trace flashed through her mind.

Her fingertips, hidden in her sleeve, trembled slightly.

Ultimately, she forcefully suppressed the murderous intent that was nearly breaking through her rationality.

‘No.’

‘Not yet.’

‘Gu Chang’an is too strong. If I were to act, not only would I fail to kill her, but I would also expose myself, and even worse… put Senior Sister in danger.’

‘She would never allow anyone to harm Senior Sister, not even herself.’

Li Wuxia took a deep breath, the cold air filling her lungs, slightly calming her turbulent emotions.

Her gaze returned to Shen Zhaoqing, and the killing intent instantly vanished, replaced by a nearly pathological tenderness and obsession.

“Senior Sister, please wait a little longer.”

“Soon… soon I will become powerful enough.”

‘Powerful enough to clear away all the ‘杂物’ around you, so that you belong only to me.’

‘By then, no one will be able to ‘bully’ you like this anymore.’

The girl’s figure retreated silently like a ghost, soon vanishing into the dense night, as if she had never been there.

Only a faint shimmer of cold light, held between her fingertips, flashed and disappeared under the moonlight as she left.

It was a silver needle, fine as an ox’s hair. Its tip was laced with a dark blue, supremely Yin cold poison, potent enough to sever the meridians of even Golden Core cultivators.