Forcing the Aloof Master to Madness - Chapter 19 

Wang Xi saw the shocked and confused expression on Shen Lezhi’s face. She did not say much, but simply turned to face Shen Lezhi, drawing the treasured sword from her Na Jie (Storage Ring) and holding it in her hand.

“Today, I teach you swordplay.”

Shen Lezhi heard Wang Xi’s unquestionable tone, coupled with the slightly intimidating gaze fixed upon her.

Shen Lezhi wasn’t scheduled to learn spells today, and she certainly hadn’t planned on learning sword techniques.

But Wang Xi’s gaze offered no room for refusal. Although Shen Lezhi was inwardly unwilling, she was momentarily speechless when meeting those eyes.

Well, if I have to learn, I’ll learn.

At least she doesn’t want me to pay with my body, right?

So, Shen Lezhi nodded, indicating she would follow the arrangement.

The sword technique Wang Xi taught was the most basic sword style of the Xuan-Yu Sect, the Xuan-Yu Sword Technique, created by the sect’s founder, Qi Xuanyu.

The entire set of moves was filled with killing intent and utterly domineering.

The reason the technique created by the founder was considered the most basic was simply that only the first seventeen moves could be learned today. The final ten moves were known only to Wang Xi in the world.

In the past, Xuan-Yu Sect cultivators were keen to learn the final ten moves, but no one succeeded except for Wang Xi. Furthermore, the first seventeen moves had long been specifically countered, and without the last ten, the true power of this sword technique could not be unleashed.

Thus, this technique was modified and used for novice cultivators to practice.

But Shen Lezhi had no interest in swordplay. While she listened to Wang Xi’s explanation, her thoughts were on the spiritual field back home.

She originally wanted to return earlier today to clear the remaining wasteland on the back mountain, and she also wanted to tidy up the pond she had accidentally found last time, to see if she could grow some aquatic plants. Her mind wandered away, and she didn’t snap back even after Wang Xi stopped teaching and stared at her with both eyes.

When she habitually glanced toward Wang Xi, she met the other party’s fixed, cold gaze head-on.

Shen Lezhi’s heart skipped a beat, feeling the panic and embarrassment of being caught daydreaming by her head teacher in school.

And wasn’t Wang Xi exactly her teacher?

Fortunately, Wang Xi had a cold temperament and didn’t scold her. Instead, she merely waved a finger, and Shen Lezhi felt her wandering soul being forcibly pulled back instantly.

Shen Lezhi was extremely embarrassed and dared not lose focus again. Just then, Wang Xi began to demonstrate the sword moves for her.

Domineering sword Qi erupted before Shen Lezhi’s eyes. The chilly sword edge sliced through the air. The seemingly ordinary longsword in Wang Xi’s hand was like a sharp blade that had drunk the blood of a thousand men.

She came forward with the sword, her robes seemingly becoming weapons themselves. A dazzling cold light appeared at the sword’s tip.

Shen Lezhi’s eyes were momentarily blinded by the chill, and everything before her turned white.

She instinctively took a step back, trying to avoid the overbearing sword intent. But the sword seemed to pursue her figure, thrusting directly toward her.

At this moment, Shen Lezhi’s heart pounded like thunder. She didn’t know where to dodge.

She was completely defenseless against Wang Xi and powerless to resist such domineering sword Qi.

She froze in place, her mind temporarily unable to think.

Only the frost-laden sword tip approached her eyes. She instinctively feared the sharp blade.

Her heart thumped violently until the sword tip stopped right at her brow, and a slight stinging sensation radiated from her body.

A drop of crimson blood trickled down her brow bone, staining the view before her with a rosy hue.

Shen Lezhi looked through the crimson blood drop at Wang Xi’s stunningly beautiful face.

She had always known Wang Xi was beautiful; she had never seen such a beautiful person.

If this were the modern world, Shen Lezhi might not even dare to look at such a person properly every day.

But she was facing Wang Xi now. She had been wounded by Wang Xi’s sword. Though not severe, there was pain.

That slight pain was like venom; faint at first, it slowly became unbearable and heart-wrenching.

Shen Lezhi stared at Wang Xi, reaching out to pinch the blade, moving Wang Xi’s sword away from her brow.

The sharp weapon sliced her palm, and thicker blood flowed from her hand.

Shen Lezhi glanced down. Fresh blood dripped from her fingertips. She felt a more intense, tearing pain, but she disregarded it at the moment.

She stared at Wang Xi, her gaze unwavering. Shen Lezhi rarely dared to meet Wang Xi’s eyes before, but now she refused to back down in the slightest.

Fire gathered in her chest; her eyes held anger.

This was not the first time Wang Xi had played such a trick on her.

She had been completely defenseless against the other party because she knew of Wang Xi’s love for the original female protagonist. Although she wasn’t obsessed with Wang Xi like her colleague, Shen Lezhi also recognized that Wang Xi was a tragic figure in this book.

Someone to be regretted, someone to be pitied.

Shen Lezhi had never thought Wang Xi would hurt her.

This situation had occurred a few times before, and each time, Shen Lezhi followed the book’s setting and found a reason for Wang Xi’s actions.

But at this moment, the sky was clear and the wind was gentle; even the birds on the branches were peaceful. Yet Wang Xi’s killing intent was so naked and unconcealed.

Shen Lezhi was angry at her own naivete, and furious at her complete lack of defense against Wang Xi.

Was it because she had transmigrated into the original female protagonist and knew the plot of the book that she had presumptuously placed complete trust in Wang Xi?

Shen Lezhi felt this was particularly laughable at this moment.

She met Wang Xi’s eyes. The killing intent that had been present moments ago completely vanished, as if it had never existed, traceless in Wang Xi’s indifferent eyes.

“I don’t want to learn,” Shen Lezhi curled her lips and spoke the defiant words forcefully.

Wang Xi did not respond to her. She let the longsword stained with Shen Lezhi’s blood droop toward the ground, allowing the blood to soak into the soil.

Wang Xi looked back at Shen Lezhi. She didn’t speak, her expression unchanged, but suddenly, strong winds erupted around them, and cold air rushed in.

The peaceful birds on the branches were startled, their sharp cries suddenly echoing across the sky. The bare branches of the withered trees on Linglong Peak swayed violently in the wind, the dense sounds of cracking wood rushing into Shen Lezhi’s ears.

Circles of cold air assailed her. Everything around her became chaotic. She watched Wang Xi stand in the midst of the chaos, her cold, fierce eyes unwavering, the only stillness in this storm.

An icy stillness.

The stillness of the creator of this storm.

Shen Lezhi was also in chaos. She was not the controller. The strong wind whipped her long hair, and the cold air invaded her body.

She was tottering, barely able to stand. She was the weak one in this storm.

She should have known.

From the beginning to the end, Shen Lezhi had no ability to contend with Wang Xi.

Shen Lezhi finally calmed down.

But she continued to stare intently into Wang Xi’s eyes, refusing to lower her head.

Perhaps, in the modern world, faced with a threat to life, Shen Lezhi would have chosen to timidly beg for mercy.

The fear of death is human nature, a biological instinct.

But perhaps because she had already died once, perhaps because she did not consider this world her hometown, she was not entirely fearless—she trembled, unable to control the body’s instinctive fear.

But she was not intimidated.

Not intimidated by Wang Xi’s absolute power, not intimidated by the fact that she was no different from the startled birds in this freezing weather.

She just looked at Wang Xi. Her body swayed, but she never fell.

Her fervent, angry gaze burned in Wang Xi’s eyes. Finally, the wind stopped, as suddenly as it began.

The world instantly returned to tranquility, as if everything that just happened had never occurred.

A strange tranquility.

But the birds on the branches were gone, and the branches of the withered trees littered the ground.

“I will not learn,” Shen Lezhi’s calm words broke the quiet air.

She spoke for Wang Xi to hear, using even stronger words this time.

Wang Xi remained still and silent.

She didn’t even look at the sharp Shen Lezhi anymore. She lowered her eyelids, and Shen Lezhi couldn’t see the red threads that had appeared in her eyes.

Then, it began to rain again.

Rain mixed with snow, falling heavily onto the earth.

Shen Lezhi lifted her leg, ready to leave, unwilling to play this confrontation game with Wang Xi any longer. But her turning step froze. Her legs were unable to move.

It was as if they had been embedded in the mud. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t lift them.

Shen Lezhi repeatedly took deep breaths, looking up at the instigator. The other party had already turned away, sword in hand, only her white robe facing Shen Lezhi coldly.

“Punishment,” Wang Xi spoke at last, her back to Shen Lezhi.

Rain fell on Shen Lezhi’s face—rain mixed with snow, cold to the bone.