The Amorous Swordsman

"So, you guys encountered a level four Ghost-Faced Spider?!"

After listening to Li Shiyin and Tian Wenjin's account of their mission, Qin Ran frowned and asked.

"Yes! It was indeed a Ghost-Faced Spider." Li Shiyin nodded and said.

Her clothes were a little messy, with several tears in her skirt hem. It was obvious that she had angered Danfeng again and the two had a big fight.

She tidied her hair and asked Qin Ran, "Wenjin said the Ghost-Faced Spider is just an ordinary forest venomous insect and should not be a demonic beast. Master...why did the Ghost-Faced Spider become a level four demonic beast?"

Qin Ran pondered and stood up, pacing around the room.

"The Ghost-Faced Spider itself does not have anything particularly special compared to other spiders. They all rely on webs to catch prey, use venom to poison and kill prey, and use their mouthparts to suck the juices of prey melted by the venom."

He contemplated and slowly said, "There is only one possibility, though the probability is very low...

"The reason it is called a Ghost-Faced Spider is first because the pattern on its abdomen looks very much like ghosts in folklore legends; second, when it sucks prey, there is a very small chance that it can absorb the prey's soul as well."

"Like Chasing the Wind?" Li Shiyin asked.

"Very similar..." Qin Ran nodded, "Except that for Chasing the Wind, absorbing souls is 100% guaranteed, while for the Ghost-Faced Spider, the chance is one in a million or one in ten million."

"Based on this reasoning, this Ghost-Faced Spider must be one of those Ghost-Faced Spiders that absorbed souls after feeding," he speculated.

"Plus, after the Ravening Demon Willow incident last time, too many creatures died and there must be many wandering lonely souls and wild ghosts in the Hengduan Mountains. With so many contributing factors combined, this exceptionally rare level four Ghost-Faced Spider was created."

"You guys were also quite lucky."

"Master always says such unlucky words!" Li Shiyin pouted.

"Alright alright, completing the mission and returning safely in the end means everything went perfectly. Let the mission stay in the mission.” Qin Ran smiled and said, “This is the uncertainty I always tell you about in the cultivation world. You must always..."

Li Shiyin interrupted Qin Ran's words and continued saying herself, "Always have an awe and reverence towards the cultivation world, and always be cautious! I know!"

She rolled her eyes, "You say this every day, my ears are calloused!"

"Fine fine, I won’t say it today."

"You’ve already said it today."

Qin Ran could only change the topic: "To celebrate my disciple from Danfeng successfully completing her first mission for the first time, let’s eat something nice tonight. Tell me, what do you want to eat?"

Li Shiyin's eyes lit up and she shouted with her hand raised, "Master, Master, I want to eat meatballs, pork elbows, braised chicken feet..."

They were in the living room. Chasing the Wind was curled up miserably by the window. The white fur around his eyes was punched black by someone, temporarily guest starring as a panda;

Li Shiyin sat at this end of the long bench, smiling as she discussed with Qin Ran what to eat for dinner tonight;

Qin Ran leaned against the original so-called "TV wall" on the other side of the long bench, also smiling as he agreed to all of Li Shiyin’s requests;

Tian Wenjin sat at the other end of the long bench, but felt like she was with these people in the room yet in two different worlds.

"I’m sitting to your left yet feel like I’m separated by the Milky Way."

She looked at Li Shiyin and saw her master occupying all of the bright star-like eyes; she looked at Qin Ran and saw his disciple taking up every bit of fondness in his deep, universe-like eyes.

"I shouldn’t sit on this chair. I should sit under it."

"It was clearly a conversation among three people yet she could never have a voice."

Perhaps this was her fate – for every romance, it would end before it even began. Huang Feiyu was like this. Li Shiyin...

She felt her ruthless sword intent strengthen by some more.

"Cough cough cough cough..."

At this moment, a series of coughs came from outside. Tian Wenjin looked out the window and saw a little person wrapped like a zongzi (glutinous rice dumpling) staggering by the window.

Shortly after, the living room door was lightly pushed open. Long Qiqi’s words were accompanied by coughs as she entered, "Qin Ran, you should concoct two cold-dispelling and cough-relieving pills for me. I feel like I’m going to be coughed to death."

"Qiqi?" Li Shiyin looked over in surprise, "How did you catch a cold?! You were still fine yesterday, right?!"

Cultivators were unaffected by extreme weather. Long Qiqi could be considered the first in history to have caught a cold.

"Oh! Shiyin, you’re back!" Long Qiqi waddled over like a penguin and said, "How would I know I was going to catch a cold? I woke up like this today morning."

Qin Ran shook his head and laughed, "That’s quite a feat."

He gave advice again, "Why not hibernate for the winter! It’s not Da Han (Great Cold) yet. Temperatures will drop even lower later on. I’m afraid there will be danger to your life."

Long Qiqi cocooned herself onto the chair and seriously contemplated Qin Ran’s suggestion before eventually shaking her head and saying, "I cultivated into a human form so I’m a human now. Do humans hibernate? Do you guys hibernate?"

All three people in the room shook their heads simultaneously.

"Aren’t you trying to become a dragon?" Qin Ran joked.

"It has to be done slowly..." Long Qiqi said. Then immediately passing the blame to Qin Ran, "This cold must be from that night at Lakeside Pavilion! Of all the places we could eat, you just had to insist on Lakeside Pavilion, and it was so cold with strong winds there... Achoo!!"

"We’re going back to Lakeside Pavilion to eat dinner tonight. Are you coming?" Qin Ran asked with a laugh.

"Eat wha—?" Long Qiqi came to her senses and mustered all her courage to say, "No... Not going!!"

Seeing her entire body shivering, one could tell how much resolve it took for her to make this decision. Qin Ran laughed heartily and asked Long Qiqi and Tian Wenjin, "What do you guys want to eat? I’ll go prepare now!"

"I want to eat..." Long Qiqi instantly perked up at the mention of food, feeling like her cold was already halfway cured. She wanted to rattle off her order excitedly.

But suddenly...

"Thank you Uncle-Master, but I won’t be eating." Tian Wenjin got up and bid Qin Ran farewell, "I completed the mission with Shiyin and returned her to you safe and sound too. I should head back myself to report to Sword Peak too."

Qin Ran looked at Tian Wenjin. The smile on his face faded but he did not try to keep her there. He said, "Go back and report your safety first then. If there's anything you want to eat, come by again next time. Uncle-Master will make it for you."

Tian Wenjin lowered her head in greeting.

"Wenjin, you’re leaving already?" Li Shiyin still hadn’t reacted.

Tian Wenjin forced a smile at Li Shiyin and left without turning back.

"What’s wrong with Wenjin?" Tian Wenjin was clearly not herself. Even Li Shiyin noticed it.

Qin Ran shook his head. No matter how clever he was, he could not have guessed that Tian Wenjin wanted to compete with him for a disciple.

Amidst the heavy snowfall, Tian Wenjin traveled alone on her sword. She did not return to Sword Peak but flew out of Dao Sword Sect instead.

She did not know where she wanted to go. She just wandered aimlessly, lonely through the distant heavens and earth, the fluttering snow.

After flying for a long time, night fell and she stopped, looking back. It was as if she could see the warm little house of Danfeng with bright lamplight inside, piping hot food on the table, and sounds of lively laughter.

She took a deep breath and started sword dancing. Around her was darkness, cold, heavy snow, gusty winds, the cries of a lone wolf...

On this snowy night, she comprehended the first move of her ruthless sword intent – Snow Flying in the Wind!