Volume One: The Son of Heaven's Sword Chapter 158: Three Great Oddities

Crouching at a man's feet and meowing like a cat—such an act could only be described as the utmost humiliation.

Especially for Qian Yuxiu, who possessed Foundation Establishment cultivation, this was simply unimaginable.

As the Second Senior Sister of the Eastern Courtyard, Qian Yuxiu was usually domineering and arrogant, taking the greatest pleasure in tomenting sword apprentices and servants. Someone had once witnessed a sword apprentice kneeling at Qian Yuxiu's feet, using his face to wipe her leather boots.

Even more outrageously, a certain sword heir had gone so far as to help Qian Yuxiu empty her nightstool for an entire year just to curry favor with her.

Such a haughty Foundation Establishment senior sister would make ordinary sword heirs without status or backing detour from afar. Who could possibly believe that Qian Yuxiu would one day be reduced to meowing like a cat?

And doing so while crouching at the feet of a former sword servant!

Every single disciple of the Sword Palace who witnessed this scene could hardly believe their eyes.

Yet the reality was right before them.

The humiliating meows, one after another, made everyone's heart skip a beat.

Many disciples suspected that the next moment Qian Yuxiu might fly into a rage and commit murder, because such an act was utterly disgraceful.

Xue Ziyi felt no surprise whatsoever.

She had long known what was inside Yun Que's storage bag.

Three hundred mid-grade flying swords and a wager of over ten thousand spiritual stones—let alone meowing like a cat, Qian Yuxiu wouldn't have hesitated to bark like a dog.

Because she simply could not afford to pay!

A wager of this magnitude was something even Core Formation elders might not be able to produce all at once, let alone a mere Foundation Establishment disciple.

Ma Yong, Niu Bucai, and the others were left completely dumbfounded, filled with boundless curiosity about the wager inside that storage bag.

It must have been something of immense value to force Qian Yuxiu into such a shameful display of meowing like a cat.

Yun Que took his storage bag back from the First Senior Sister, a faint smile playing at the corners of his lips.

He had already anticipated that Qian Yuxiu could not afford to pay. This time served as a lesson and a minor punishment; if she dared to persistently target him again in the future, Yun Que wouldn't mind letting the big cat at his feet turn into a dead cat.

At this moment, Qian Yuxiu's face was flushed crimson, a mix of shame and fury burning within her.

As the Second Senior Sister of the Eastern Courtyard, when had she ever suffered such a grievance? But she had no choice. In her wildest dreams, she never expected that a mere sword servant could pull out three hundred mid-grade flying swords.

This was as absurd as a beggar pulling one hundred thousand silver notes out of his pocket.

"Have you had enough!"

Qian Yuxiu straightened her upper body, glaring murderously at Yun Que, her eyes seemingly spitting fire.

"Of course not yet," Yun Que replied unhurriedly. "We made an agreement beforehand. If you couldn't pay, from now on, whenever you see me, you must act like a cat and keep meowing until I am satisfied."

Since he was not yet satisfied, Qian Yuxiu had no alternative but to crouch back down and continue meowing.

As she meowed, she swore fiercely in her heart that she would return this humiliation a hundredfold one day!

After a full pot of tea's time, Qian Yuxiu's throat was hoarse. When she looked up, Yun Que had already left at some unknown point.

Abruptly turning her head, Qian Yuxiu glared with fury at the surrounding disciples.

With a whoosh.

The crowd in the distance instantly scattered like birds and beasts.

That very day, the three major oddities of this year's Sword Heir tournament swept through the Sword Palace.

The first oddity: A Northern Courtyard sword servant single-handedly harvested three thousand one hundred sword tassels, becoming the unprecedented and unequalled number one figure in the Sword Palace.

The second oddity: A peak level-four ferocious beast, the Blood-Feathered Spider, appeared within the illusory realm, sending over a thousand disciples to their deaths in the bellies of beasts.

The third oddity: The Second Senior Sister of the Eastern Courtyard lost a wager and spent a long time crouching at someone's feet, meowing like a cat.

The Sword Palace's Assembly Hall.

Several elders sat in a circle around a table.

"Does the Sword Leader truly believe what that Northern Courtyard sword servant said? He is at least at the eighth layer of Qi Condensation; what miraculous fruit could grant someone such cultivation in half a day?" Chu Chen said coldly. In any case, he refused to believe it.

"I suspect eight out of ten that the brat was just spouting nonsense. Even if such a miraculous fruit existed, it would take him half a day just to absorb the cultivation power. Could it be that he didn't need time to consolidate his realm? Where would he even find the time to plunder so many people?" Gu Shaoyang analyzed with clear logic.

"The talk of the spatial rift is also shrouded in suspicion. The Sword Burial Grounds is not anyone's backyard; how could there be other exits? It's completely unheard of!" Quan Yu said with a gloomy expression.

These three were all elders who had managed various courtyards of the Sword Palace for many years, great cultivators at the Core Formation realm. They held deep suspicions regarding Yun Que and his party's safe return from the illusory realm.

As the largest illusory realm of the Spirit Sword Sect, the Sword Burial Grounds had never experienced such an absurd event since the founding of the sect.

From the perspective of the three elders, no matter how many disciples died in the Sword Burial Grounds, it could still be excused.

The only thing that made no sense was that they were able to come back out after the illusory realm had closed!

"This matter is indeed rather suspicious. Elder Quan, after returning to the sect, you may report it truthfully."

Qin Shangzhang gently nodded, agreeing with the speculations of the several elders, before turning the conversation abruptly. "The Sword Burial Grounds is indeed not anyone's backyard, but an illusory realm is not ownerless territory. Let us not forget that *that person* has always lived inside."

As soon as these words were spoken, the expressions of Quan Yu, Chu Chen, and Gu Shaoyang changed simultaneously, their demeanors instantly turning deeply apprehensive.

They dared not speak more of the person Qin Shangzhang referred to.

No one else spoke, and silence fell over the hall for a time. Soon after, the elders of the three courtyards each returned to their respective places.

Qin Shangzhang sat alone in the large chair, remaining silently wordless as her beautiful eyes gazed out the window.

The direction she looked toward was none other than the Myriad Fathom Tower.

...

Outside the imperial city, beside a small river.

Lando was washing her face.

The cool river water brought her a sense of refreshment, washing away the lingering cold sweat from shortly before.

"What kind of place was that? So terrifying, it scared me to death."

Lando muttered as she wiped her face, sitting by the riverbank to calm her rippling emotions.

She did not know the truth of the Netherworld, but her Beast Spiritual Roots keenly perceived the terrifying nature of those ghost-faced beasts and tiger-headed vultures.

"They weren't normal ferocious beasts at all; they were entirely shrouded in deathly energy, looking nothing like living things!"

Lando lingeringly feared it, especially regarding Yun Que's combat prowess, which could only be described as terrifying.

"That fellow is too dreadful, carving a bloody path ten miles long. Is he human or a demon? The deathly energy on him at that time was even heavier than those monsters!"

Whenever she recalled the aura Yun Que emitted in that otherworldly realm, Lando felt her heart leap in terror.

She could sense the Calamity of Death power radiating from Yun Que. Although she did not know where that power came from, she was well aware that it was extremely dangerous.

Lando believed that if they had gotten any closer to Yun Que back then, they would have been chopped into mincemeat as well!

A distance of ten zhang was a relatively safe margin—Lando deeply etched this number into her mind. If Yun Que ever exhibited that deathly energy again in the future, she would definitely be the first to sprint more than ten zhang away.

Looking at her own reflection mirrored in the water, Lando said with heartbreak:

"Father is gone, older brother is dead, Hesa has changed, and even the Spirit Jade Bow is lost. What should I do? Ah, this is too hard for me."

Pulling herself together, Lando stood by the riverbank and shouted at her own reflection on the water's surface:

"You can do it, Lando! You still have the Chuyue Tribe! You still have your clansmen! You still have your cattle and sheep! You still have two spiritual stones!"

It would have been better if she hadn't mentioned the spiritual stones. After shouting about two spiritual stones, Lando instantly flew into a rage.

The two spiritual stones in her possession were the travel funds Yun Que had given her before they parted ways.

"He robbed me of my Spirit Jade Bow and storage bag, and just gave me two spiritual stones? Is he trying to brush off a beggar!"

In a fit of anger, she fiercely hurled the two spiritual stones into the river.

Then Lando immediately regretted it.

Her body was completely cleaned out; forget silver notes, she didn't even have a single copper coin.

This was the territory of the Great Yan Nation, and returning to her tribe required crossing thousands of mountains and rivers. She had no idea how long the journey would take.

Having no money meant having nothing to eat, nothing to drink, and nowhere to stay—she wouldn't be able to move a single step.

"My spiritual stones!"

With a splash, Lando dove into the river, frantically searching for her spiritual stones.

At the very least, spiritual stones could be exchanged for money; the silver fetched from two spiritual stones would be enough to get her back home.

Just as Lando was rummaging through the river for her spiritual stones, Ma Yong was preparing to administer the Deathbed Pill to Wu Dachuan, intending to wake him up so he could leave some final words—only to be directly stopped by Yun Que.