Volume One: The Emperor’s Sword Chapter 57: Wicked Woman

The silver pomfret merely possesses greater strength; when bitten, it only sheds more blood. The golden pomfret, however, can kill with a single bite!

For cultivators, a first-tier aquatic demon beast is far more dangerous than one on land. At least on land, one can see the beast approaching, but creatures of the water hold a natural advantage and move unhindered through their domain. Unless equipped with a water-repelling artifact, even a Qi Refining cultivator would choose to avoid encountering a first-tier water demon, let alone a mere sword servant.

At Ma Yong’s warning, chaos erupted across the river’s surface! Sword servants scattered in panic on the boat bridge. A young disciple, fleeing blindly, slipped and fell into the water, colliding with a charging silver pomfret, leaving his face bruised and blood streaming from his nose and mouth.

The demon beasts had not yet arrived, but the disciples of the Northern Courtyard had already descended into turmoil.

“Don’t panic! Take shelter on your own wooden boat!” Xue Ziyi commanded sternly, her expression grim. She moved swiftly, employing Sword Escape, transforming into a streak of sword light that reached the river’s center, snatching the fallen disciple and tossing him back onto the boat.

With their senior sister presiding, the new disciples calmed down, retreating to the sterns of their boats, vigilantly on guard.

In the distance, the cliff still shimmered with spots of gold.

Those were the reflections of fish scales beneath the sunlight; more than one glimmer suggested that golden pomfrets were present in numbers.

Suspicion welled in Xue Ziyi’s heart.

While it was true that the Coldwater River contained golden pomfrets, their numbers were always sparse; during fishing tasks, one might encounter one or two, three or four at most. Yet today, the golden pomfrets swimming down from the cliff numbered more than ten!

Even after two weeks of trapping, such numbers were impossible.

What puzzled Xue Ziyi even more was not only the surge of golden pomfrets, but also that silver pomfrets were far more numerous than before.

Could it be the flood season?

As Xue Ziyi pondered in confusion, a bell-like laughter rang out from the riverside forest.

A group of people emerged, led by the Second Senior Sister of the Western Courtyard, Qian Yuxiu.

Standing at the riverbank, hands on her hips, Qian Yuxiu feigned exaggerated surprise. “Northern Courtyard disciples are so useless! Just catching a few fish and you need your senior sister to intervene? At this rate, the Northern Courtyard won’t just be dominated by women—it’ll be devoid of men altogether!”

At the sight of Qian Yuxiu, Xue Ziyi immediately understood, her anger flaring. “Qian Yuxiu, this is your doing! The Western Courtyard skipped releasing fish last cycle!”

Xue Ziyi’s outburst enlightened the Northern Courtyard disciples.

No wonder there were so many fish today—it was two cycles’ worth of stock.

The four courtyards—East, South, West, and North—rotate the fishing task every two weeks, activating the fish-trapping mechanism at each interval. The Western Courtyard precedes the Northern; last time, the Western Courtyard didn’t activate the mechanism, so the fish released this time by the Northern Courtyard had accumulated upstream for an entire month!

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“Don’t say such ugly things—what do you mean by 'doing something shady'?” Qian Yuxiu feigned innocence. “I only did it for the Northern Courtyard’s benefit, thought I’d help you train a few junior brothers. Who’d have guessed you have not a single real man among you, all frightened by a bunch of small fish and shrimp, truly disappointing.”

Her words brought shame to the faces of the Northern Courtyard disciples.

Especially the one who had fallen into the water earlier, who wished he could crawl into a hole, utterly embarrassed.

And she wasn’t wrong.

Even before the demon beasts arrived, the Northern Courtyard had lost formation; if not for their senior sister’s presence, the consequences would have been unimaginable.

Wu Dachuan clenched his teeth in fury.

But all he could do was grind his teeth; Qian Yuxiu, like Xue Ziyi, was at the Foundation Establishment stage, and even sword disciples addressed her as Senior Sister. Wu Dachuan, a mere sword servant, wouldn’t dare retort even if insulted to his face.

“What an annoying woman!” Luo Xiaoyu muttered under her breath, indignant on behalf of her senior sister.

Yun Que sat on the boat’s edge, watching the spectacle with a smile. He, too, was a Northern Courtyard disciple—and thus included in the scope of humiliation—but he remained unbothered, neither angry nor upset, casually scooping up a silver pomfret with his net.

Xue Ziyi, enraged by Qian Yuxiu, grew pale with fury yet could find no words to reply.

The Northern Courtyard truly was too weak.

Without her as their senior sister, perhaps even these few would have fled in the end.

“I will report this matter honestly to the Swordmaster. Your Western Courtyard abandoned the Sword Palace’s task; punishment will be inevitable,” Xue Ziyi said coldly.

“Come now, it was only a slip of the mind, not intentional. Why must you press so hard, Senior Sister?” Qian Yuxiu feigned a pitiful expression, her demeanor delicate and pitiable.

With her seductive bearing and astonishing figure, coupled with such coy gestures, even the male disciples of the Northern Courtyard felt reluctant to see such beauty punished.

Suddenly, a dull thump!

A large fish struck the bottom of a wooden boat, lifting its stern. Several new disciples, distracted by Qian Yuxiu’s charm and staring blankly, failed to notice the incident, falling straight into the river.

“Hahaha! A bunch of useless fools!” Qian Yuxiu laughed, openly sowing discord. “Your senior sister is far too stiff and dull. Why not join my Western Courtyard? Let me train you little fledglings properly. Hehe, I’ll be waiting for you!”

With a wink and a beckoning finger toward the boat bridge, Qian Yuxiu sauntered away, her voluptuous figure and swaying hips leaving a breathtaking impression.

On the wooden boats, many new disciples pinched their noses or tilted their heads back, desperately inhaling.

They had to—blood wouldn’t stop flowing.

“Vixen!” Luo Xiaoyu shook her tiny fist indignantly, then looked down at herself, her mood sinking.

Comparisons were odious.

She simply could not compete...

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Yun Que had never seen Qian Yuxiu before, though he’d heard her name from Senior Sister’s lips—a longstanding rival of Xue Ziyi. Seeing her now, she was indeed a formidable opponent.

She possessed followers, beauty, and cunning.

In contrast, Senior Sister, aside from her reputation for recklessness, was overshadowed in every aspect.

Well, in terms of figure, perhaps she could contend.

By now, Yun Que had already caught three silver pomfrets, smashing their heads as he muttered, “Is Qian Yuxiu part cat or something? She loves keeping fish so much—sooner or later she’ll be meowing like one.”

Naturally, Yun Que sided with Senior Sister.

Anyway, the Sword Disciple contest was still a month away; the more Qian Yuxiu underestimated Senior Sister now, the better. When the time came, she’d fall hard enough to be unable to shed a single tear.

Xue Ziyi paid no mind to her departing rival, busy rescuing people from the river.

The golden pomfrets had reached the boat bridge. A struggling disciple, just about to climb onto the boat, suddenly found a huge mouth breaking the water’s surface behind him!

A crunching sound!

A maw filled with sharp teeth snapped shut, biting nothing as Xue Ziyi hauled the disciple onto the boat.

Had she been a moment slower, the boy would have lost a leg.

At last, those on the boat bridge got a clear look at the golden pomfret—a demon beast a full ten feet long, resembling the silver pomfret, but with an enormous mouth, easily able to swallow a child whole.

The crisp snap of its jaws revealed its terrifying bite force!

“Wretched beast!” Xue Ziyi shouted, wielding her sword. A streak of sword light flashed; the fish, still lunging at the boat, was sliced cleanly in two.

Its corpse sank to the riverbed.

Senior Sister’s strike—an instant kill of a first-tier demon beast!

The disciples on the boat bridge cheered, their morale, battered by Qian Yuxiu, finally lifting.

Yun Que nodded quietly.

A Foundation Establishment cultivator was indeed extraordinary—slaying a first-tier demon beast was effortless.

As everyone’s attention focused on the golden pomfret felled by Senior Sister, Yun Que happened to glimpse something falling from the cliff upstream.

It was definitely not a golden pomfret.

From such a distance, a golden pomfret appeared as just a spot of gold.

But what Yun Que saw was a golden thread.