Chapter 22: The Duel
Mu Bai was stunned.
He stood frozen in place for a long while, until Su Mo pulled him up and said, “Let’s go; it’s time to return.”
Only then did he come to his senses, raising his hand to touch the jade pendant on his forehead.
Originally a cold piece of jade, it now felt warm and smooth after absorbing a hint of his body heat.
Mu Bai stole a glance at Su Mo; his lips were so pale that they surely couldn’t be warm.
Then why did this jade feel somewhat scalding to the touch?
After pondering for quite a while, he finally spoke: “You… you kissed me—no, why did you kiss my jade?”
Su Mo replied with a smile: “I found it beautiful, so I gave it a kiss.”
“Do you like it?” Mu Bai plucked the pendant from her brow and, as if handing over a scalding yam, thrust it into Su Mo’s hand. “It’s yours.”
“Take it back. You can kiss it as many times as you wish.”
Su Mo arched an eyebrow. “A token of betrothal?”
“…” Mu Bai collapsed in exasperation. “How can you be like this?”
“How am I?”
After carefully choosing his words, Mu Bai issued his condemnation: “Frivolous.”
“Frivolous?” Su Mo, far from being angered, broke into a smile and halted in his tracks. “There are things far more frivolous than that.”
They had already walked far away from the crowd; on one side stood the wall of a pitch-black alleyway.
Mu Bai didn’t react in time and was pinned against the wall by Su Mo’s raised hand.
“You…”
Su Mo’s eyes were half-lidded; light and shadow fell across his face, as if he had merged into a painting.
He raised his hand to block Mu Bai’s incoming fist and said lazily, “What about me?”
Mu Bai gritted her teeth, lifted her leg, and drove her knee into his abdomen.
Su Mo sidestepped, effortlessly dodging the blow.
The Xuanhe Sect’s movement techniques were unpredictable as ghosts and gods; without her sword, Mu Bai could hardly land a hit relying solely on hand-to-hand combat.
“If you have any courage, stop dodging.”
After leaving his master, Mu Bai had hardly encountered a true rival in the jianghu; only now did he finally understand the frustration Luo Wangchuan and Elder White Crane must have felt when facing each other.
It was like punching a bundle of cotton.
He chased Su Mo for a while until he finally spotted an opening, lunged forward, and pinned him to the ground, locking both his arms.
Su Mo tried to pull his hands free, but was immediately seized again by Mu Bai.
They exchanged a few blows with fists and palms before Su Mo gave up resisting, allowing himself to be firmly pinned.
Mu Bai still dared not relax; she tightened her grip on Su Mo’s five fingers and straddled him.
Su Mo’s voice carried a hint of breathlessness as he smiled and said, “Miss Xiao Bai, isn’t this rather inappropriate?”
“Who told you to keep running away?”
“Not running and just standing there to get beaten?”
“Why didn’t you fight back?” Mu Bai casually wiped the sweat from her brow, then immediately pinned him down again.
Su Mo chuckled softly, “I couldn’t bring myself to strike. Young Lady Xiao Bai, your skirt is torn; if others see this, they’ll think I was bullying you.”
Mu Bai glanced down at her gauze skirt; after their scuffle, it had already been ripped in two places.
He fell silent for a moment, then released Su Mo and rose from atop him.
Brushing off his clothes, he said, “I’ll let you off this time, but if you dare flirt with me again, I’ll beat you up every single time I see you.”
“When did I ever flirt with you?” Su Mo asked, looking utterly innocent.
“You pinned me against the wall; what else would you call that but flirting?”
“I just noticed your hair was messy and wanted to fix it for you.”
“As if I’d believe that.” Mu Bai shot him a sidelong glance, flicked his sleeve, and strode away.
Su Mo hurried after her, holding out the forehead pendant: “You forgot this.”
“Didn’t you say you liked it? I already gave it to you; why are you returning it?”
“I was just joking.” Su Mo held him back and carefully set the forehead pendant back onto Mu Bai’s brow.
Still fuming, Mu Bai couldn’t be bothered to respond, standing motionless. “Are you done yet?”
“Done,” Su Mo replied, cupping Mu Bai’s face to study it for a moment as if checking whether the pendant sat straight. “Xiao Bai, you look especially beautiful today.”
The corner of Mu Bai’s lips twitched upward before he forced it down again, pretending to remain displeased. “I look beautiful every day.”
Su Mo looked at him and smiled. “Yes.”
“Do you think I’ll be happy just because you praised me?”
He felt a bit happy, but couldn’t show it.
Su Mo carefully pressed the cold jade against his brow, then suddenly leaned in and kissed Mu Bai on the side of his face.
Mu Bai: “…”
“Ah, seems like he’s even angrier now.” Having said that, Su Mo released him, tapped lightly with his toes, and soared away.
Mu Bai: “…!”
“!!!”
That night, the young hero Ta Xue stormed into Su Mo’s room with the Tian Yu Liu Fang sword on his back and sliced his bed apart with a single strike.
Su Mo leaped onto the roof beam, only for half of it to be severed as well.
..
Half an hour later, Su Mo sat leisurely amidst the rubble and broken walls, pouring himself a cup of tea. “These all belong to Lingyun Palace; you’ll have to pay for them.”
Mu Bai, well prepared, drew a luminous pearl from his sleeve and placed it on the table, which had one corner sheared off. “Is this enough?”
Su Mo shook his head with a wry smile. “Truly a grand gesture.”
“Being able to drag you down for a beating makes it worth every penny.”
Mu Bai clapped his hands, turned to leave, but suddenly heard Su Mo ask, “You came to see me tonight; aren’t you here to learn lightness skill?”
He paused mid-step, fell silent for a moment, then turned back. “You’re still willing to teach me?”
“If I promised to teach you, I would never break my word.”
Mu Bai’s heart stirred, yet he stubbornly retorted, “You truly are a strange person.”
He took the beating without a sound, yet still intended to teach me lightness skills.
Su Mo pulled him close: “Lift your qi gently.”
“Aren’t you going to ask me why I beat you?”
“Alright.” Su Mo adjusted his breathing while cooperatively asking, “Why?”
“Because you were flirting with an innocent young lady.” Upon uttering the last two words, Mu Bai lowered his voice, feeling rather guilty.
Su Mo chuckled softly and played along quite cooperatively: “I see. So you actually witnessed that.”
Hearing this, Mu Bai felt even more guilty.
“However,” Su Mo said in a calm voice, “getting beaten after a kiss isn’t a bad trade.”
He raised his eyes: “Besides, you held back.”
Mu Bai had merely vented her frustration; though the furniture suffered severe damage, a single night pearl would be more than enough to cover repairs, or even a complete renovation of the room.
As for Su Mo, he had taken two punches to the chest, neither delivered with full force.
Mu Bai lowered her eyes and said, “If I cripple you, who will I learn lightness skills from?”
Besides, Su Mo never fought back from the very beginning.
Mu Bai sighed in frustration, “When will my lightness skills ever catch up to yours?”
Su Mo asked, “What do you want to catch me for?”
“When I can catch up to you, you’ll finally fight me seriously.”
“It’s not that I’m not serious; I just can’t bring myself to strike.”
“Why?”
“Because I like you.”
Su Mo remained composed, his tone as if he were joking.
Mu Bai stared at him and muttered under her breath, “I’d believe your nonsense.”
Su Mo sighed, “You don’t even call me ‘older brother’ anymore.”
Mu Bai shot him a glance and corrected herself, “Fine, I’ll believe the nonsense of my dear older brother.”
Su Mo: “…”
–
Half a month later, coinciding with the annual disciple selection, Lingyun Palace held a banquet in the main hall to host a welcome reception that lasted well into the early hours of the morning.
Disciples from the entire mountain sect gathered in the main hall, which was why only that place was brightly lit while all other areas remained dark.
In the night, the long corridor was dim; a white figure pushed open a door, slipped inside, and quietly closed it behind them.
After confirming that no one was in the room, Mu Bai lit a fire starter and quietly crept over to the desk.
The table was covered with sword manuals.
He flipped through it casually but couldn’t find the love letter from Luo Ziyi to Lady Ling that Jiang Cijing had mentioned.
Come to think of it, even if Luo Wangchuan still kept such things, he wouldn’t have left them here.
Mu Bai opened the wardrobe again.
Inside were only two or three sets of clothes and practice garments that Sect Master Luo usually wore.
Most of the items “Miss Ling” had on her when she appeared were in the bundle that Luo Ziyi found.
Since Luo Wangchuan has already thrown those things away, he surely would not have left any evidence in his own room.
Mu Bai shook his head, then circled the room once more, tapping here and there to check for any hidden compartments.
He had already searched thoroughly, but Luo Wangchuan, aside from practicing swordsmanship, had no other interests in daily life; the room’s furnishings were sparse, almost entirely visible at a glance.
On the bed lay only a straw mat, a single pillow, and a sword—there wasn’t even a quilt or bedding… Wait.
A sword?
Mu Bai walked to the bedside.
It was well known that the Sword Obsessive never parted from his sword, even sleeping with it in his arms. Yet Luo Wangchuan was currently presiding over an assembly in the main hall, so his personal sword must be with him.
Then this one is…
Mu Bai picked it up and examined it for a moment.
From the outside, both the scabbard and the hilt were utterly ordinary, devoid of any carved patterns—the kind carried by every patrolling soldier and constable on the streets.
Drawing out the blade revealed nothing remarkable either; it was merely an iron sword, proving nothing at all.
Mu Bai felt somewhat disappointed and picked up the scabbard, giving it a shake.
“Snap.”
A letter fell out.
His eyes lit up; he bent down to pick it up and was about to open it when he suddenly heard footsteps approaching from outside the door.
Just as he reached the doorway, Luo Wangchuan sensed something amiss and kicked the door open with a single strike.
There was not a soul inside.
He remained vigilant, his hand resting on the hilt of his sword as he stepped into the room.
The darkness was vast and silent, making the sound of his footsteps unusually loud.
Luo Wangchuan closed the door and walked over to the candle stand.
“Hiss.”
The moment the candle was lit, accompanied by a faint sound, a white figure burst through the door.
“Halt!” Luo Wangchuan immediately drew his sword and leaped forward in pursuit.
He hadn’t chased far before he realized that the lightness skill and movements of that white figure seemed strangely familiar, as if…
Bai He?
That was a shadow that had haunted him for years.
The Liu Feng Hui Xue Sword, ranked first on the Hero List, could not even slice off a corner of Elder Bai He’s robe.
Luo Wangchuan suddenly accelerated with fierce determination, slashing through the eaves where Mu Bai had landed.
Mu Bai’s heart skipped a beat; he quickly leaped to another spot.
Luo Wangchuan pursued relentlessly, his sword’s edge sweeping away a pile of roof tiles from the eaves of Lingyun Palace.
A series of shattering sounds startled everyone inside the main hall.
Disciples and senior uncles of Lingyun Palace, along with Inspector Jiang, Huamei, and others staying overnight, hurried outside to investigate the situation.
Hearing that outside, Sect Master Luo was chasing a white-clad thief, Ye Xing also pushed out Su Mo’s wheelchair.
Everyone gathered in the spacious courtyard outside the hall, watching two figures leap between rooftops until they finally came to rest atop the main hall.
Mu Bai leaped onto the flying eaves in a few strides, when suddenly a sharp shout rang out from behind: “Stop running; I won’t kill you.”
“?”
He hesitated for a moment, then turned his head to see Luo Wangchuan perched on the flying eaves at the other end.
Though he did not approach, he still pointed his sword at Mu Bai.
“Your footwork—did you learn it from Elder White Crane?”
Mu Bai remained silent.
Luo Wangchuan took the silence as assent and asked again, “You snuck into my room; what did you steal?”
Mu Bai still remained silent.
Luo Wangchuan asked no further questions; there was nothing of value in his room to begin with, so he felt no regret over its loss.
Instead, he found himself quite intrigued by the thief standing before him. The intruder’s movement carried hints of a white crane, yet he bore a sword on his back—one that was unmistakably of extraordinary quality at first glance.
Strapping the sword to his own back, Luo Wangchuan adopted a serious demeanor and said, “I wish to spar with you. We shall stop once the outcome is clear. If I win, you must return what you stole from me.”
“And if I am the one who wins?” Mu Bai asked.
“Then take it as you wish.”
“Good.”
Mu Bai placed his hand on the sword hilt and slowly drew the Tianyu Liufang Sword.
Beneath the pale moonlight, seven pieces of lustrous white jade shone brilliantly like a row of stars.
“Hey! The two of them are fighting!”
“This flying thief can actually go toe-to-toe with Sect Master Luo; they must be someone of considerable stature.”
Jiang Cijing guessed that the white-clad thief was Ta Xue and silently broke out in a cold sweat, wondering, “I wonder which of them will win?”
Huamei rested her hand on her browbone, watching the spectacle with amusement, and said, “I’ll bet my money that the one wielding the sword will win!”