Chapter 3: A Bolt from the Blue
"Jian Lan is joining forces with the Blood Martial Hall to request that the Manor Lord make Jian Meng'er the Sword Pavilion Master, to take control of the Sword Pavilion? What kind of joke is this?" Jian Wushuang chuckled to himself, not taking it seriously at all.
You see, for the past four years, he had been with Jian Meng'er practically every single day, and Jian Lan had always treated him with great warmth and care. They got along wonderfully—so well that Jian Wushuang had come to regard the father and daughter as his own family. Before them, he held nothing back.
So both Jian Lan and Jian Meng'er knew perfectly well that his greatest wish was to take control of the Sword Pavilion.
Moreover, the Sword Pavilion Master had always been chosen from within the Sword Pavilion itself, and Jian Meng'er, like her father, belonged to the Blood Martial Hall.
Within the Sword Marquis Manor, the Sword Pavilion and the Blood Martial Hall were the two most powerful factions.
In its earliest days, the Sword Marquis Manor had focused primarily on the study of swordsmanship—evident from the fact that every member of the clan bore the surname Jian (Sword). But as the manor gradually grew stronger and expanded, some clansmen who lacked talent in swordsmanship showed remarkable aptitude with other weapons. This naturally gave rise to manor disciples who devoted themselves to other arms.
Over time, these disciples grew more and more numerous, until at last the Blood Martial Hall was born. The two factions coexisted within the manor, and though they had never truly come to open blows, they frequently clashed in secret, their rivalry all but irreconcilable. Jian Meng'er was the daughter of the Blood Martial Hall's Grand Elder—she could be called the heir of the Blood Martial Hall itself. How could she possibly take control of the Sword Pavilion?
Jian Wushuang assumed the person who had just spoken was merely joking and paid it no mind. But he had barely taken two steps when more murmurs of discussion arose around him.
"I heard it too. The Blood Martial Hall, led by Jian Lan—even some alchemists from the Pill Chamber came forward, jointly petitioning the Manor Lord to approve Jian Meng'er's control of the Sword Pavilion. The Sword Pavilion people objected vehemently, but ever since the Sword Pavilion Master Jian Nantian vanished four years ago, the Sword Pavilion's influence within the manor has steadily declined. Their objections were useless. In the end, the Manor Lord, left with no choice, made a promise: as long as Jian Meng'er met the conditions to become Sword Pavilion Master, she would be allowed to take control of it!"
"The conditions to become Sword Pavilion Master? What are they?"
"The Sword Pavilion Master ranks second only to the Manor Lord in the Sword Marquis Manor—a position of extremely high status. Naturally, becoming Pavilion Master is no simple matter, so the Sword Pavilion has always had baseline requirements. First and foremost, anyone who wishes to become Pavilion Master must possess extraordinary attainments in the way of the sword—all eighteen first-rate sword arts of the Sword Pavilion must be mastered in full."
"First-rate sword arts? All eighteen?"
Gasps of astonishment filled the air.
In the Sword Marquis Manor, ordinary disciples could generally only study third-rate or second-rate sword arts. First-rate arts were reserved for the most elite genius disciples. In the Sword Pavilion today, there were no more than ten disciples qualified to study first-rate sword arts, and even they could only manage one, or at most two.
As for all eighteen first-rate sword arts—not even the core disciples of the Sword Pavilion had the right to study them all, let alone a disciple of the Blood Martial Hall.
"That Jian Meng'er could never possibly meet that condition," someone said with certainty.
"No—she did. Just today. Before the Manor Lord and the many elders of the Sword Pavilion, she demonstrated the eighteen first-rate sword arts one by one. And not only that—she had mastered every single one to the Dacheng level!"
"What?"
"How is that possible?"
"Where did Jian Meng'er get those sword arts?"
Shock rippled through the crowd.
And Jian Wushuang, standing nearby all this while, froze.
The eighteen first-rate sword arts of the Sword Pavilion?
Weren't those the very arts he had taught Jian Meng'er?
Four years ago, devastated by his father's disappearance and his own inability to condense spiritual power, it was Jian Meng'er who had helped him climb out of his despair. He had always been grateful to her, and so for these four years he had stayed by her side almost constantly. Jian Meng'er had considerable talent in the way of the sword and loved practicing, but the truly profound sword arts within the Blood Martial Hall were few.
Jian Wushuang had been only twelve or thirteen at the time, without any guile at all. Having noticed all this, he began to guide Jian Meng'er's swordsmanship, and as time went on, he taught her the Sword Pavilion's arts without the slightest reservation.
Over four years, he taught her all eighteen first-rate sword arts of the Sword Pavilion, one by one.
And now today, Jian Meng'er was going to use those very eighteen arts he had taught her to take control of the Sword Pavilion?
Taking control of the Sword Pavilion—that was his greatest wish.
"No, impossible! Meng'er would never do this!" Jian Wushuang shook his head again and again, still refusing to believe.
"To take control of the Sword Pavilion, one must not only master all eighteen first-rate sword arts but also possess impressive strength. The Sword Pavilion's minimum strength requirement for its Master is to exchange moves with each of the Four Great Elders and last twenty moves against every one of them... And Jian Meng'er—she did that too!"
"Impossible!"
"I know how strong the Four Great Elders are. All four of them reached the Sea Formation realm long ago. The strongest among them, Elder Hong, is said to have already reached peak Sea Formation—only a single step away from the Golden Core stage. To last twenty moves against him? How could Jian Meng'er possibly manage that?"
"We've all underestimated Jian Meng'er. She's always kept a low profile in the manor and never revealed her strength. But today, when she fought each of the four Sword Pavilion elders in turn, the strength she displayed stunned everyone. She has already formed her spiritual sea—and not just barely formed it, but reached Dacheng in Sea Formation. One more step and she'd be at peak Sea Formation!"
"Jian Meng'er, at Dacheng in Sea Formation?"
"She's only sixteen this year, isn't she? How is this possible?"
Not only were the gossiping disciples struck speechless with shock—even Jian Wushuang was completely dumbfounded.
"Meng'er, Meng'er she... Dacheng in Sea Formation?" Jian Wushuang's face was full of disbelief.
Though he had spent these four years constantly at Jian Meng'er's side, she had never truly revealed her strength before him. Jian Wushuang hadn't thought much of it, assuming she was like any other disciple of the manor—at most at the fifth or sixth layer of the Spirit Path. Sea Formation? He had never even imagined it, let alone Dacheng in Sea Formation.
Sixteen years old, Dacheng in Sea Formation?
Never once in the several-hundred-year history of the Sword Marquis Manor had such a thing occurred.
"Jian Meng'er is simply dazzling—an absolute super genius rarely seen in several hundred years of our Sword Marquis Manor. On top of that, she has mastered the eighteen first-rate sword arts of the Sword Pavilion and fulfilled the requirement of lasting twenty moves against each of the Four Great Elders. So the Manor Lord agreed on the spot: Jian Meng'er is to become Sword Pavilion Master and take control of the Sword Pavilion!"
"In two months comes the annual Sword Marquis Token Contention of our manor. Jian Meng'er will take the stage and, before all the powers of the Ba Prefecture, demonstrate her earth-shattering talent and strength. Then, witnessed by all, she will formally assume the position of Sword Pavilion Master!"
"Incredible!"
"Sixteen and Dacheng in Sea Formation. Tsk tsk—this Jian Meng'er is truly extraordinary!"
Everyone around was marveling, but Jian Wushuang's face had already turned deathly pale.
"Meng'er reached Dacheng in Sea Formation? And in two months she'll assume the position of Sword Pavilion Master?"
"Impossible! Impossible—I refuse to believe it!"
Jian Wushuang clenched his fists tightly, then bolted like a madman toward the courtyard where Jian Meng'er lived, his heart roaring in wild fury.
He didn't believe it. He refused to believe it was true.
The Sword Pavilion was the pavilion of the Sword Pavilion's disciples! It was his father's pavilion—and his pavilion!
He would forever remember what his father had once said: the Sword Pavilion must only ever be governed by disciples of the Sword Pavilion!
And taking control of the Sword Pavilion was his greatest wish!
How could he let someone else fulfill his wish?
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