Jade Shakes the Thousand Mountains - Chapter 10: Sword Sacrifice - A-Chan, Jump for Me

Chapter 10: Sword Sacrifice – A-Chan, Jump for Me

Xue Huailing’s cheeks flushed with an abnormal redness from anger. Her willow-leaf eyebrows arched sharply as her furious eyes remained fixed on Lu Chanji, who lay unconscious in Lu Wenshu’s embrace.

Clad in a thin blue robe, Lu Chanji’s delicate features remained visible even with closed eyes. The faint redness beneath her eyelids contrasted with her pale lips, her slightly pallid face pressed against Lu Wenshu’s chest as she breathed weakly, appearing exceptionally vulnerable.

Xue Huailing’s temper flared instantly. “Lu Wenshu!” she spat angrily. “You keep saying that as the young sect master, you must shoulder the responsibility for the entire Sword Inheriting Sect. Is this how you fulfill that duty? While you’re being intimate with this mortal woman, what does that make me?”

“No matter how the rumors spread, I always believed they were just grasping at shadows and distorting the truth. But today I see that I’ve been kept in the dark like a fool!” As the proud daughter of Wind Breath Valley, cherished and pampered since childhood as its brightest pearl, Xue Huailing had never experienced such humiliation and defeat. In her raging fury, she summoned her Natal Sword, gripping it firmly.

“Our families have been close for generations, with bonds no ordinary relationship can match. Are you truly going to trample on both our families’ dignity for this mortal? Lu Wenshu, if you dare take her away today, I will never let either of you go!” Xue Huailing raised her sword, directly blocking Lu Wenshu’s path.

Lu Wenshu didn’t even lift his eyelids, keeping his gaze fixed on Lu Chanji’s unconscious face as he addressed Xue Huailing: “You’ve misunderstood.”

“Step aside,” he continued. “She will soon disappear from your sight.”

Without giving Xue Huailing a chance to respond, Lu Wenshu transformed into a stream of white light and vanished from the spot.

Xue Huailing could only stare helplessly at where he had disappeared, seething with anger. Turning around and seeing the Listening Spring Pavilion behind her, she swung her sword and shattered the Restriction protecting it.

Striding into the pavilion, she found the interior lush with greenery, which only fueled her rage further.

The meticulously maintained plants and flowers within Listening Spring Pavilion were all specially brought from the mortal realm some varieties even Wind Breath Valley didn’t possess. That Lu Wenshu had shown such careful attention and nurturing care to Lu Chanji, yet told her she had misunderstood? Xue Huailing felt as if her heart were burning with fire.

Spotting several Puppet Dolls standing haphazardly in the courtyard, each bearing faces resembling Lu Chanji’s, the enraged Xue Huailing strode forward and mercilessly sliced the remaining torsos into fragments.

–

When Lu Chanji awoke again, her surroundings had changed completely no longer the familiar Listening Spring Pavilion.

Looking around in confusion, she saw only jagged rocks and steep cliffs around her. On the reddish-brown precipitous mountain face, only a few pine trees managed to embed their roots into rock crevices, spreading their fan-shaped needles as they stood with difficulty.

As far as she could see, there wasn’t a single person in sight, with only the howling wind in her ears.

“Brother Wenshu? … Is anyone there? Anyone?”

Lu Chanji called out loudly, but her voice received no response.

She attempted to leave the cliff alone, but after taking only a few steps, encountered an invisible wall blocking her path. Unable to advance further, she found herself confined to the mountain cliff with no means of escape.

Had Lu Wenshu… imprisoned her?

Lu Chanji’s eyebrows gradually furrowed as a sense of powerlessness spread throughout her limbs.

For a moment, she truly didn’t know what to do.

She never imagined that one day, Lu Wenshu would actually lock her away, restricting her freedom.

Thrown back by the Restriction, she refused to give up and charged forward several more times, only to be repelled without exception.

Faced with the Restriction set by Lu Wenshu, Lu Chanji was utterly helpless.

What did he want?

To imprison her here for life?

Various thoughts swirled in Lu Chanji’s mind, and a wave of immense panic enveloped her, leaving her limbs weak.

On this cliff, she was completely alone not even birds or beasts were in sight. She waited like this, watching the moon rise and the sun set, spending seven or eight days in silence until Lu Wenshu finally arrived.

In those seven or eight days, Lu Chanji had grown noticeably thinner.

Although she had eaten the Zhu Yu Herb and did not need food or drink to stave off hunger, the weight of her worries had taken its toll. In just a few days, her once radiant face had become gaunt and pale.

Her eyes still held a spark of brightness, but they no longer held a smile.

Lu Chanji hugged her knees, leaning against a pine tree. The sharp pine needles pierced through her clothes and pricked her skin, but she seemed oblivious. When Lu Wenshu landed on the ground, she merely lifted her eyelids to glance at him, her body unmoving.

As always, Lu Wenshu called her name upon seeing her: “A-Chan.”

He approached and reached out to stroke her hair, saying, “I’ve been busy with matters these past few days and couldn’t come to accompany you. I’ve already sent Ling’er back to Wind Breath Valley. Don’t be upset.”

Lu Chanji didn’t care about Xue Huailing.

None of it had anything to do with her anymore.

During these days alone on Sword Forging Cliff, Lu Chanji had come to understand some things, while others remained unclear.

There were many things she couldn’t figure out, but one thing was certain: Lu Wenshu did not want her to leave.

This was an obstacle Lu Chanji had never anticipated in her plan to leave Sword Inheriting Sect.

If he refused to let her go, she would never regain her freedom.

“Where is this place? How long do you intend to keep me locked up?” Lu Chanji asked, shaking off his hand.

Her expression was cold, her attitude impatient. She dodged his attempt to touch her hair again, a hint of wariness flickering in her eyes.

Lu Wenshu lowered his gaze and placed his hands behind his back.

“This is Sword Forging Cliff, the place where I usually seclude myself to practice swordsmanship,” Lu Wenshu said, turning his back to her as he gazed down at the windswept cliff. “No one will come here. Stay here, and no one will disturb us.”

Sword Forging Cliff the forbidden ground of Sword Inheriting Sect. Lu Chanji had heard of it before.

No one was allowed to enter or leave. In other words, apart from Lu Wenshu, Lu Chanji had no chance of meeting anyone else, nor would anyone come to take her away.

This crushed even her last shred of hope. Lu Chanji’s face turned deathly pale as she asked in a trembling voice, “…How long will you keep me imprisoned?”

“Soon, it will all be over soon.”

“How soon is soon?”

“On your eighteenth birthday.”

Her eighteenth birthday? Wasn’t that… today?

Lu Chanji couldn’t believe it. Was he really going to let her go?

Something felt off. Hesitantly, she asked, “My birthday is today… So today, you’ll let me leave?”

“No,” Lu Wenshu said. “We will be together forever.”

“No!” Lu Chanji’s chest heaved with agitation. “We can never be together forever. I don’t want this either to stay by your side like some pet. I’d rather die. Even if I turn into a handful of yellow earth, I won’t be a pet.”

“How could you be a pet?” Lu Wenshu crouched before her, brushing pine needles from her clothes. His eyes shone as he smiled with rare sincerity. “You are the edge and blade of my sword. You’ll stand with me. As long as we’re together, we’ll be invincible, succeeding in every endeavor.”

Lu Chanji’s face turned pale in waves. Unable to bear it any longer, she cried out, “Stop spouting these delusional pretty words!”

“They’re not pretty words, A-Chan. You’ll give me the finest sword. You’re the companion I’ve dreamed of since childhood. We’ll be together forever, in the most intimate way.”

Just as Lu Chanji was about to retort, she suddenly remembered something.

Back when she had lit lanterns at the Moon Wall to pray for her parents’ blessings, she had asked Lu Wenshu what he wanted for his birthday gift. He had said she would give him the most precious present.

The finest sword… the most precious gift…

If those words weren’t meant to comfort her, then for Lu Wenshu, who was obsessed with sword cultivation, the most precious gift should indeed be the world’s most valuable sword.

She seemed to grasp something, yet shuddered inexplicably. Lu Chanji abruptly looked up at Lu Wenshu. “Lu Wenshu, what do you want from me?”

Her voice had never been so cold, and her eyes held not a trace of trust as she gazed at him.

Lu Wenshu paused slightly, then laughed like clouds parting after rain.

He laughed heartily, more comfortably, freely, and joyfully than ever before.

Instead of answering, Lu Wenshu asked, “A-Chan, do you know of the Yinghuo Sword?”

Lu Chanji remained silent.

“The Yinghuo Sword belonged to the founding ancestor of the Sword Inheriting Sect,” Lu Wenshu continued unprompted. “During those turbulent times, when the Demon Lord of the Asura Realm emerged and demons plagued the mortal world, cultivators from the Great Ocean Ten Continents sacrificed themselves one after another, yet none could prevent the demons’ descent.”

“The ancestor’s beloved offered herself to the sword, awakening Yinghuo’s killing aura, which finally vanquished the demons. But since then, unless bloodied, Yinghuo refuses to leave its sheath. Like the ‘Seven Killings,’ it has become a cursed sword.”

“Now it lies locked beneath the cliffs, covered in rust and dust. This is its Sword Cemetery its final resting place, hidden from the world.”

Lu Wenshu murmured, “Wei Shengming possesses the ‘Seven Killings,’ so I should have ‘Yinghuo.’ Only then am I worthy to face him in battle. Don’t you agree, A-Chan?”

At that moment, her body turned ice-cold, as if transported back to that snowy night when she was five, facing the enormous, terrifying Snow Demon, utterly defenseless.

“You want me to sacrifice myself to the sword?” Though phrased as a question, Lu Chanji already knew the answer in her heart.

Lu Wenshu didn’t deny it.

A chill spread from her chest throughout her entire body. Lu Chanji’s throat tightened. “When did you decide this?”

Lu Wenshu looked at her for a long time before finally replying, “The first moment I saw you.”

The first moment… that night when he saved her from the Snow Demon’s jaws?

She had always remembered that night the endless thick snow, the moon illuminating heaven and earth, the cold-eyed youth whose lonely features seemed to brighten when he looked at her. So that was it! So that was it!

She thought the light in his eyes was from successfully rescuing her.

But it turned out, it was because he had found a suitable sacrificial offering for his sword.

“So that’s how it was…” Lu Chanji laughed until she nearly lost all strength, as if she were crying.

“I don’t understand… why me… why?” Lu Chanji couldn’t continue. She thought she was a pet, but in reality, she wasn’t even worth as much as a pet…

“Your constitution is special, your fate is thin. All these years, your thoughts and desires, your loves and hatreds, have risen and fallen because of me alone. You will be the best sacrificial offering ‘Yinghuo’ will adore you.”

“No!”

Had she lived all these years, trained Puppets so desperately, practiced swordsmanship so diligently, only to become an offering for a sword?

No! She was not born to be a sword sacrifice. She should not meet her end here.

Lu Chanji refuted with unwavering conviction.

She retreated step by step, her dark eyes fixed intently on Lu Wenshu. His expression remained as tender as ever, yet through his gentle facade, Lu Chanji saw his stubbornness and madness.

Thirteen years in all these thirteen years, Lu Wenshu had never seemed as unfamiliar to her as he did at this moment.

She had known him for thirteen years, yet only today did she truly come to know the real him.

How could she possibly accept her fate calmly and willingly?

“Aren’t you afraid that if others find out, it will damage the prestige of the Sword Inheriting Sect and harm your cultivation and virtue?” Lu Chanji tried to awaken Lu Wenshu’s conscience. “If Lu Qi and the others learn of this, how can you remain the person they ”

But Lu Wenshu merely flicked his sleeve once more.

Instantly, Lu Chanji was rendered speechless again.

She was once again placed under a spell by Lu Wenshu. Her body rose uncontrollably from the ground, stiff as a Puppet Doll, her movements entirely under his command.

With a wave of his hand, Lu Wenshu dispelled the Restriction. Immediately, a fierce gale swept across the cliff top, nearly uprooting the ancient pines. The trees clung tenaciously to their roots, standing firm, but Lu Chanji walked steadily into the wind.

Her long black hair and thin robes were tossed into disarray, yet her body moved forward, step by step, unceasingly toward the cliff’s edge.

Watching the figure in blue gradually approach the precipice, Lu Wenshu let out a final sigh: “A-Chan.”

His sigh seemed to mock the absurdity of her earlier words: “A mortal’s life is but a hundred years. After you die, no one in the cultivation world will remember you except for me.”

“I will always remember you,” he said. “A-Chan, for my sake, jump.”

Her foot stepped into empty air, a sensation of weightlessness engulfing her. Lu Chanji closed her eyes and finally shed her first tear.

A ruthless Sword Qi slashed toward her.

Then a second, a third…

Her robes were torn, her hair severed, her flesh mangled, her spirit shattered.

The long-dormant “Yinghuo” had lost none of its ferocity. A single strand of Sword Qi was enough to bring utter Annihilation.

In her blurred vision, Lu Chanji saw “Yinghuo’s” blade standing erect at the base of the cliff and heard its excited, resonant hum. Soon, she lost consciousness.

–

From that day onward,

There was no more Listening Spring Pavilion upon Azure Peak.

And within the Sword Inheriting Sect, there was no more Lu Chanji.