In the courtyard in the afternoon, two figures, one red and one white, stood on opposite sides.
One was lithe and agile, the other slender and cool, facing each other across the bluestone path.
“Come on, let me see how you wield those double halberds.”
Hua Yan held her carved fine sword, enthusiastically waving toward Yun Xuechang across from her.
Even though according to their deal, she shouldn’t peek at the secret manual Su Feiyao had sent, sparring with each other wouldn’t hurt.
“Mm.”
Yun Xuechang nodded in agreement, gripping a meridian-mandarin duck axe in each hand.
She lightly tapped her left toes on the ground, her figure spinning like the wind, and in an instant, she had swept in front of Hua Yan.
‘Well done!’
A sharp gleam flashed in Hua Yan’s eyes.
She immediately raised her sword to meet her, the slender blade darting out like a snake’s tongue.
Taking advantage of her longer reach, she aimed straight for Yun Xuechang’s face.
As she lunged forward, Yun Xuechang’s expression tightened.
She swiftly adjusted her stance, spinning the double halberds from a chop into a parry, just barely blocking this fierce strike.
But how could Hua Yan’s assault stop there? She let out a spirited shout: “Watch this!”
Her figure, clad in a red dress, flipped through the air.
The fine sword in her hand followed, trailing a blur of afterimages.
It turned into a powerful cleaving slash, the sword light carrying a fierce wind as it struck once more.
Caught off guard, Yun Xuechang could only raise her weapons to parry, her expression growing increasingly solemn.
After just two exchanges, Hua Yan had already spotted the problem.
Yun Xuechang had indeed memorized the techniques of the Yin-Yang Double Halberd Art—she remembered the opening stances of each move, the flow of every attack, and even those tongue-twisting instructions for channeling force.
That was already impressive. Even a sword expert would struggle to master a new weapon in just two days.
But her weakness was also fatal.
She was thinking like a swordsman.
The meridian-mandarin duck axes were designed for close-quarters combat, elusive and tricky—an assassin’s weapon.
Yet Yun Xuechang wielded them like short swords, her moves sweeping and grand.
The halberds’ curved edges were meant to lock onto an enemy’s blade, but she only used them for parrying.
Their sharp points should have struck from odd, unpredictable angles, but she always tried for a straightforward thrust.
Hua Yan’s fine sword jabbed repeatedly, the tip flickering like a viper’s tongue, targeting the gaps in Yun Xuechang’s transitions.
Just as Yun Xuechang’s left halberd deflected one strike, her right halberd wasn’t ready to follow up, and Hua Yan’s second thrust was already at her side—
“Stop.”
Hua Yan withdrew her sword, the tip lightly tapping the fabric at Yun Xuechang’s waist, a mischievous smile spreading across her face.
“I say, Xuechang, are you dancing a sword dance with those halberds?”
Yun Xuechang lowered her gaze to the double axes in her hands, silent for a moment.
“…That’s wrong.”
“Of course it’s wrong.”
Hua Yan circled around her, twirling her fine sword into a few elegant flower-like patterns.
“You’re holding those halberds, but all you think about is thrusting, chopping, and slashing—but is that how you use them?”
She stepped up beside Yun Xuechang and suddenly reached out to grip her wrist.
Feeling the girl’s warm, soft palm against her skin, Yun Xuechang stiffened slightly.
Unaware of her reaction, Hua Yan just adjusted the angle of the halberd in her hand.
“I’ve never refined these meridian-mandarin duck axes before, but I’ve used some close-range blades, so I know a thing or two. You need to keep the edge facing outward, not forward. Let it ‘slide’ along your opponent’s weapon, don’t ‘crash’ into it…”
She chattered on, her warm fingers tracing patterns on Yun Xuechang’s hand.
Yun Xuechang looked down at her earnest side profile, feeling a slight itch on the back of her hand where she’d touched her.
And her heart itched too.
“Did you get that?”
Hua Yan pulled her hand back, looking up at her with a smile, her eyes curving into crescents.
“…Mm.”
“Then… again?”
Hua Yan stepped back a few paces, tilting her head, still brimming with excitement. Then, they clashed once more.
… L
In the second round, Yun Xuechang’s halberd technique was still clumsy.
She tried to make the halberds “slide” along Hua Yan’s sword, but Hua Yan’s fine sword was too fast and unpredictable, her movements illusory.
With both of them suppressing their spiritual power, wielding this unfamiliar weapon made it hard to keep up with the dazzling swordplay.
The moment she tried to slide, the sword slipped away.
When she attempted to twist her waist and hips for power, the short burst of force felt awkward and stiff.
But Hua Yan’s fine sword only grew faster.
Sword light wove into a web, closing in from all directions.
Yun Xuechang swung her double halberds in defense, using a brief opening to leap backward, finally catching her breath.
‘If this keeps up, I’ll lose.’
‘…Since I can’t get used to these halberds, why not… be more direct. Stop thinking about all those technique variations.’
Yun Xuechang’s crimson eyes sharpened. She charged forward again, meeting Hua Yan’s blade.
This time, she no longer forced herself to follow the halberd techniques. Instead, she treated the double axes as an extension of her body.
The weapon didn’t matter—what mattered were her eyes, her reactions, and the instinct honed by over a century of sword practice.
Hua Yan thrust her sword forward from a tricky angle.
Yun Xuechang didn’t use her halberd to parry.
She sidestepped, her feet executing the footwork of the Xiaoyao Sword Arts—something she knew by heart.
At the same time, her right halberd followed the arc of her turn, flowing outward without deliberate force, just riding the momentum from her waist and hips.
Hua Yan quickly retracted her sword to block.
The halberd blade scraped along her sword, letting out a harsh screech.
“Huh?”
Hua Yan raised an eyebrow in surprise, but her sword momentum didn’t stop.
The fine sword quivered, releasing a free-spirited burst of sword light that scattered through the air like falling cherry blossoms, drifting everywhere.
Flower Sword: Falling Sakura.
This was another technique embedded in the memory of Hua Yan’s fine sword—part illusion, part reality, dazzling and overwhelming.
Every drifting “petal” could be an attack point, making it the hardest to defend against.
Yun Xuechang lifted her gaze to scan the radiant sword light closing in. Her pupils contracted.
Then she moved.
The double halberds didn’t bother distinguishing illusion from reality.
They cut straight into the center of the sword shadows.
The most dangerous spot—but also the simplest.
Because no matter how the sword shadows shifted, Hua Yan’s wrist, her arm, her body—all of it was there.
Yun Xuechang was too fast. She didn’t even need to think.
Over a hundred years of combat experience was etched into her bones.
Hua Yan had only gotten half her sword out when Yun Xuechang’s halberd sealed off her path to change techniques.
The moment Hua Yan tried to adjust, the other halberd had already stuck to her sword, sliding along the blade toward the hand holding it.
“Hiss—”
Hua Yan sucked in a sharp breath, quickly pulling back her sword and retreating.
But Yun Xuechang’s attack wasn’t over yet.
She stepped forward, her double halberds crossing.
The left one locked onto Hua Yan’s sword, while the right halberd’s blade stopped just three inches from her neck.
The whole exchange took less than a moment.
Hua Yan stared blankly at the halberd blade inches from her face, then looked at Yun Xuechang’s still-calm expression.
“You cheated!”
Yun Xuechang blinked. “I didn’t.”
“You did cheat!”
Hua Yan stomped her foot, pointing her sword at her, her face flushed with anger.
“You’re not using the halberd technique at all! You’re just bullying me with your reflexes!”
Yun Xuechang thought for a moment, then nodded in admission. “Mm. I still don’t know the halberd techniques. But Yan’er, beating you is something I already know how to do.”
Hua Yan: ???
“Are you saying I’m easy to beat?”
“No.”
Yun Xuechang shook her head seriously. “It’s that my sword arts are better than yours. Since I don’t know the halberd technique, I just used my swordsmanship to fight you.”
‘What do you mean your sword arts are better than mine!’
The more Hua Yan listened, the angrier she got. She couldn’t help stomping her foot again.
Even if it were true, did she have to say it out loud? Did she care about face at all?
“Still, thank you, Yan’er. Practicing with you like this helped me figure some things out.”
Yun Xuechang continued softly. “I’m not someone meant to use these double halberds. I just need to learn the essence from them and incorporate it into my Xiaoyao Sword Arts, just like I’ve done with the other swordsmanship styles I’ve studied. Thank you. If it weren’t for this practice with you, it would have taken me much longer to realize this. Now, I already have a general idea.”
Looking at her sincere face, tinged with a faint, heartfelt smile, the frustration in Hua Yan’s heart melted away in an instant.
She scratched her head, her tone softening as she said somewhat sheepishly, “I didn’t really do much…”
“No, you did.”
Yun Xuechang shook her head and put away her double halberds.
“Yan’er, it’s getting late. I need to keep reading the storybooks Daoist Su gave me, so I can write my review for her.”
“Oh, okay… Then how about I brew some tea, grab a storybook I picked out myself, and sit with you to read?”
Hua Yan nodded and put away her carved fine sword.
She knew Yun Xuechang had gotten some romance storybooks about women from Su Feiyao—the latter had mentioned it last night.
‘Come to think of it, I should thank Su Feiyao for this. If not for those storybooks she gave her, Xuechang wouldn’t have opened up her heart so quickly and exchanged feelings with me. Letting Xuechang read more of these romance novels, learning how other women get along and fall in love, is actually a good thing.’
‘That shameless vixen actually did something good. Once those storybooks come out, I’ll buy a hundred or so boxes to thank her.’
Hua Yan thought blissfully as she brewed the tea.
But how could she know that these storybooks were far from just “romance between women,” as Yun Xuechang had described—they were filled with many vulgar, explicit details of intimacy between women, hiding a “surprise” she’d never expect.
“Xuechang, you need to read those storybooks carefully. Read them well and learn from them.”
Hua Yan smiled sweetly, handing a cup of brewed flower tea to Yun Xuechang.
“I’m looking forward to you gaining some useful new knowledge from them.”
“Alright. I’ll be sure to study them thoroughly.”
At her instructions, Yun Xuechang nodded seriously, her gaze solemn.