Chapter 37: The Result of the Draw

When Meng Yingxing got up from the ground, Xiu Qingcheng saw that his face now bore the red, rather deep imprint of the Ting Tian Sword’s guard.

“It should be… alright, right?”

Xiu Qingcheng stared at the mark and muttered to herself.

“What’s alright?” Meng Yingxing wiped his face, feeling exceptionally well at the moment.

“Was I too heavy-handed just now?”

Meng Yingxing smiled, “No, it was just right.”

Xiu Qingcheng turned around, presenting the other side of her sword to Meng Yingxing, and muttered to herself behind his back, “I really suspect this silly disciple is a masochist…”

“Junior Brother Meng! Junior Brother Meng!”

It was that same energetic and sweet voice. The person had not yet arrived, but the voice preceded her. Even Xiu Qingcheng was incredibly familiar with this voice.

‘Liu Chenxin, again?!’

Xiu Qingcheng quickly fell to the ground on the spot, pretending to be just an ordinary, unremarkable longsword.

And so, when Liu Chenxin entered the room, she once again saw a familiar scene.

The Ting Tian Sword lying on the ground, and a flustered-looking Meng Yingxing.

The only difference from before was that there was now a red mark on Meng Yingxing’s face.

Liu Chenxin deftly bent down to pick up the Ting Tian Sword, preparing to hand it back to Meng Yingxing.

Meng Yingxing was also about to take the Ting Tian Sword from her and thank her, but this time, just as he reached out his hand, Liu Chenxin turned her wrist and took the sword back.

Meng Yingxing’s heart tensed, and he subconsciously asked her, “Senior Sister Liu, what’s wrong?”

Liu Chenxin didn’t reply at first. She just looked down at the guard of the Ting Tian Sword, then looked up at Meng Yingxing’s face, and said to him with some confusion, “Junior Brother Meng, did… this sword of yours… bite you?”

Meng Yingxing raised his hand to cover the part of his face where he had asked Xiu Qingcheng to slap him. Only then did he realize what Liu Chenxin was talking about, and he immediately felt a little embarrassed.

He couldn’t possibly tell Liu Chenxin that he had asked his own sword to give him a slap, and the sword had actually moved on its own, right?

So, Meng Yingxing gave Liu Chenxin an ambiguous explanation, “Well, you know, this sword helped me a lot during the Divine Weapon Trial, so I was lying on the bed thanking it and wiping it clean. But I didn’t get a firm grip, and it fell on my face… You know, this sword is quite heavy.”

Liu Chenxin nodded, seemingly understanding, and weighed the Ting Tian Sword in her hand. Finding that it was indeed quite heavy, she believed Meng Yingxing’s nonsense and returned the sword to him.

“I didn’t expect Junior Brother Meng to like having such a deep exchange with his own sword, even thanking it.”

As Liu Chenxin spoke, she automatically pictured Meng Yingxing lying on the bed, holding his sword and thanking it. It was quite… quite unique.

Meng Yingxing didn’t expect Liu Chenxin’s focus to be on this. His expression stiffened, and he took the Ting Tian Sword, nodding noncommittally.

‘Just let her think that.’

Meng Yingxing put on a show of wiping the Ting Tian Sword with a cloth in front of Liu Chenxin, then sheathed it.

“Did Senior Sister Liu come to find me for something else?” After the awkward scene passed, Meng Yingxing’s attitude towards Liu Chenxin became lukewarm again.

“Oh, no,” Liu Chenxin said frankly.

“I just came to congratulate you on winning your first match in the Divine Weapon Trial!” Liu Chenxin’s smile seemed to come from the heart. “I really didn’t expect that Junior Brother Meng, who used to be bullied all the time, would become so strong.”

“Just good luck,” Meng Yingxing used coincidences and good luck to cover up the truth.

“Good luck is also a form of strength. When you have time later, would you like to spar with me?” Liu Chenxin leaned forward, speaking to Meng Yingxing with considerable interest.

When Xiu Qingcheng saw Liu Chenxin’s forward posture, her eyes widened instantly. “So… so big!”

Meng Yingxing: “What’s so big?”

Suddenly hearing Xiu Qingcheng’s inexplicable words, Meng Yingxing inexplicably asked in his mind.

But Xiu Qingcheng suddenly stopped talking.

“If there’s a chance,” Meng Yingxing gave a perfunctory reply.

Liu Chenxin seemed completely oblivious to Meng Yingxing’s perfunctory attitude and was happy on her own, “Alright, then it’s a deal!”

“Junior Brother Meng, you still have to draw for your second-round opponent this afternoon, right? You must do your best! I have high hopes for you, Senior Sister!”

As Liu Chenxin spoke, she made a ‘V’ sign with both hands and pointed at Meng Yingxing.

“Rest well, Junior Brother Meng. I won’t disturb you anymore!”

Almost as soon as she finished speaking, Meng Yingxing saw Liu Chenxin’s back disappear from his small house. Her movements were so fast, he could barely catch a shadow.

As soon as Liu Chenxin left, Xiu Qingcheng flew out of the scabbard on her own and floated quietly beside Meng Yingxing.

Meng Yingxing then continued to ask about what she had said earlier, “So Master, what did you say was so big just now?”

The Ting Tian Sword tilted towards Meng Yingxing, and Xiu Qingcheng said with a profound tone, “Big is good, good is big. My dear disciple, you are still too young. You will understand in the future.”

Meng Yingxing scratched his head.

Alright, his master always said things he couldn’t understand. He was used to it.

Respect, bless.

“So why is Liu Chenxin so concerned about you?” To prevent Meng Yingxing from getting hung up on the question of ‘big’, Xiu Qingcheng proactively changed the subject.

The reply she received was Meng Yingxing shaking his head.

“I don’t know. Senior Sister Liu joined the Tianfeng Sect two years ago. At that time, we had almost no interaction. Later, she heard about me from others, but she didn’t do much about it.”

So… Liu Chenxin had no pity for Meng Yingxing from the very beginning? But why was she now protecting him and revolving around him every day?

‘Never visit a temple without a cause, and one who is overly attentive is either a thief or a swindler!’

‘Suspicious, too suspicious!’

Xiu Qingcheng mused to herself.

“Then, about a year later, I suddenly ran into Senior Sister Liu on the road. Well, I can’t say it was sudden. I think she was deliberately waiting for me on the road. At that time, she took the initiative to greet me and chatted with me very enthusiastically. After that, she would come looking for me every now and then,” Meng Yingxing continued.

Although Xiu Qingcheng really wanted to say that the ‘she was deliberately waiting on the road’ in Meng Yingxing’s words might be one of life’s three great illusions, based on her understanding of him, he probably really did think that purely.

“As the saying goes, ‘one who is overly attentive is either a thief or a swindler,’ so I have never taken the initiative to approach Senior Sister Liu,” Meng Yingxing smiled.

Hearing this, Xiu Qingcheng suddenly became sarcastic, “You’ve never taken the initiative to approach her, yet you let her come find you every now and then? Hmm? If you’re really worried about something, why don’t you hurry up and draw a clear line with her!?”

‘This guy, a central air conditioner!’

Meng Yingxing fell silent.

Perhaps at that time, he really did develop a momentary reliance on the sudden beam of light that Liu Chenxin had brought.

But now, he had his own true light.

Humans are always greedy. He hoped that this light would never leave him, and would always be by his side.

After Meng Yingxing’s short rest, he and Xiu Qingcheng returned to the venue of the Divine Weapon Trial in the afternoon for the second round of drawing lots.

It was still drawing a bamboo slip from a wooden bucket.

Meng Yingxing chose from among the several bamboo slips and drew one out.

After seeing the name engraved in golden characters on the bamboo slip, Meng Yingxing felt as if he had been plunged into an ice cellar.

Xiu Qingcheng was still looking around. Noticing that Meng Yingxing had been silent for a long time after drawing the lot, she turned her gaze over and helped him read the characters on the bamboo slip.

“Mò—Kǎi—míng.”

Xiu Qingcheng suddenly had a flashback to what Liu Chenxin had said in the restaurant.

“Mò Kǎimíng, Faint Star Lower-grade. The weapon he got from the Divine Weapon Pavilion is a longsword of the same type as yours, Junior Brother. And his sword seems to be a famous sword recorded in ancient texts? At his age, with his cultivation, he’s quite a genius…”