The Female Sword Fairy Act

"Who is the one your heart belongs to?" Yang Yanqi asked Li Shiyin.

"Ah?" Li Shiyin's face turned red as she hemmed and hawed, unwilling to say.

Despite Li Shiyin's carefree and decisive personality, and her image as a cold and aloof female sword immortal without any maidenly coyness, when it came to talking about the one she liked, she still shyly hesitated to speak it out to her parents.

What was especially problematic was that the identity of the person she liked seemed to have some issues.

Master and disciple...was this something that could be spoken aloud?

Although the cultivation world did not seem to mind such matters much, given the long lifespans, in the mortal world, ethics and morals dictated that a master-disciple relationship was still rather inappropriate.

Thus, no matter how Yang Yanqi asked, Li Shiyin simply refused to say.

In the end, Yang Yanqi was led to believe that Li Shiyin did not actually have someone she liked, and her earlier claim of her heart belonging to someone was merely an excuse told to Cheng Nan about why she did not wish to marry him.

On the second day after Cheng Nan's visit with his father on the 20th day of the last lunar month to propose marriage, while Li Shiyin was pondering the meaning of life in the backyard garden, she was once again found by a servant from the household.

"Young miss, the General requests your presence in the study."

"He's asking for me again?!" Li Shiyin was very puzzled. "Now what matter is it today?"

This servant was slightly cleverer than the one from yesterday. He thought for a bit before answering, "The General has just returned from the Imperial Palace. He looks quite angry."

"Returned from the Imperial Palace and now angry?" Li Shiyin furrowed her brows. "That should relate to important state affairs. What does it have to do with me?"

She wondered in her heart, but still left the backyard garden nevertheless and headed towards Li Zhan's study. As usual, she pushed the door open and entered straightaway without knocking.

Upon entering the study, Li Shiyin realized Li Shiwen was also inside, limply kneeling to one side looking half-dead. Meanwhile, her father Li Zhan was writing something at his desk.

"Close the door and kneel down," said Li Zhan upon noticing her arrival, without shifting his gaze towards her as he tersely commanded. His tone was devoid of any inflection.

But hearing that voice alone caused Li Shiyin to feel itchy all over. Because she knew this was not an ordinary tone, but Li Zhan's fury suppressed to an extreme extent. In all her years growing up, she had seldom heard this kind of voice from him before.

She could recall clearly that once was when she had beaten the Crown Prince until he cried, and another time when she had played a prank on the guard at their household gates. At any rate, the eventual outcome for her had never been that great.

After closing the door, Li Shiyin obediently knelt down beside Li Shiwen. No matter her reputation as a peerless sword immortal capable of slaying demons and banishing evils as she willed between Heaven and Earth, before her father she still had to kneel if required.

"What's the matter?" Once kneeling down, Li Shiyin gestured wordlessly at Li Shiwen, seeking to inquire about the situation.

Having lived as siblings for over a decade, they had this level of tacit understanding at least.

Li Shiwen understood her gestures, but currently maintained his limp and half-dead appearance without bothering overmuch as he directly replied, "What else could it be? The matter with Xiang Hui and Tang Yin has erupted."

Li Shiyin glared at him. *You* may not wish to live but *I* still do! She also sensed Li Zhan's gaze turning towards them, and hastily knelt even more properly.

After Li Zhan finished writing, he put down his brush and picked up the paper. His tone was neither cold nor warm as he spoke, "Cultivating for merely half a year has indeed increased your abilities!"

"No, Father. What abilities do I have?" Li Shiyin awkwardly laughed.

Li Zhan did not humor her denial, simply blowing on the ink markings on the paper instead.

The entire study was filled solely with the sounds of Li Zhan blowing and drying the ink markings - honestly, this sound caused Li Shiyin to feel afraid, as though she had returned to Dasang Village once more.

When the ink had fully dried, Li Zhan finally continued speaking. "Going half a year without returning home, only to accomplish great things once back. Beating the scholar-officials' sons from the homes of the Minister of Personnel, General Who Pacifies the North, and the Hanlin academicians' households as well as that Eighth Prince's household, all in but the second day. If this is not ability, then what is?"

Upon hearing this and recalling that the servant had just mentioned Li Zhan returning from the Imperial Palace, Li Shiyin realized that the problem was likely more serious than expected. Thus, she no longer kept up her previously grinning and jesting attitude, and instead silently lowered her head.

Seeing that Li Shiyin did not continue retorting, which was a rare sight, Li Zhan felt strange inwardly and glanced over, only to behold that wild child kneeling there looking surprisingly well-behaved and aware of her mistakes.

"Oh? Have you finally learned to wise up?" He asked in astonishment.

Li Shiwen looked at Li Shiyin as well, also shocked to discover his little sister seeming to have developed more cunning schemes and plots now...just a bit, but not many.

Li Zhan put down the paper and rose to his feet.

Yet the instant he stood up, the entire study seemed to shrink. An incredibly oppressive atmosphere descended, leaving Li Shiyin to feel as though a Nascent Soul stage senior was about to take action.

"Here it comes - the big explosion is imminent." She gritted her teeth, preparing to withstand her father's impending wrath.

And indeed...

"Bang!"

Li Zhan slammed the desk heavily as he roared,

"In the middle of a heavy snowstorm, you not only beat up their household but still lacked the decency to stop at that? You stripped them naked and paraded them on all fours to return home, in full view of every commoner in Danyang City! Is this something a person is capable of doing?! Much less a young lady from a respectable family?!!

"Utterly disgraceful! Could you not have at least blindfolded them?! Left them a strip of cloth to cover up with?!! Even a dog leash would have been better!!! A complete loss of conscience!! Simply no better than demons, demons themselves would be more merciful!!"

As Li Zhan scolded and berated them, he walked over to this side, such that his flying spittle even landed on Li Shiwen's face.

Li Shiwen wiped his face indifferently and turned his dead fish eyes towards Li Zhan. Seizing the break in between Li Zhan's tirade, he laughed aloud, "Father, actually you are quite happy about this, aren't you?!"

"Happy?" Li Shiyin tilted her head to glance at her elder brother. Has he gone mad from the scolding? Where did you espy any happiness?

Li Zhan skeptically eyed Li Shiwen without replying, yet tacitly granting Li Shiwen time to elaborate his point.

"The scholar-officials, the Hanlin academicians, the royalty - that whole pedantic bunch has always looked down on us military men, with Xiang Hui especially at odds with us. By beating up those four, Shiyin has...in a way helped you vent some pent-up frustrations, I'd reckon. All this time, you must have..."

Here, recalling his own recently listless state, Li Shiwen did not continue that train of thought, changing tracks as he went on,

"Moreover, you should have become aware of this matter almost immediately. Yet you did not summon us. I also believe you must have been attempting to shield us secretly - maybe things could have still blown over then. But unexpectedly, after Prime Minister Cheng Nan's marriage proposal was rejected yesterday..."

He glanced briefly at Li Shiyin. "I presume they must have collectively petitioned the Emperor after banding together, alongside Prime Minister Cheng Nan's momentum, resulting in this exposure before His Majesty. Thus this matter coming to light now."

When Li Shiwen finished, Li Shiyin goggled her eyes at him. Wow, that was impressively well-reasoned! But why could she not comprehend any bit of it? Then...

"Since when did you become so smart?" she whispered to Li Shiwen.

Wasn't their sworn oath as siblings to remain stupid together for life? So who had secretly been raising their IQ?

Li Shiwen slanted his eyes at her in silence. "Do I have to explicitly announce everywhere that you were the one playing dumb all this while?"

"Humph!" Li Zhan coldly sounded. "You have still failed to touch on the crux of the issue."

"Hmm?" Li Shiwen was bewildered.

"As expected, we are still on the same level after all." Li Shiyin contentedly nodded her head.

"The understanding among Danyang's prominent households is for the younger generation's issues to remain strictly within their own domain," Li Zhan explained. "Although your actions were somewhat overboard, it should not have escalated to reach His Majesty's attention."

"Then why has it still managed to catch His Majesty's notice?" He posed the question to Li Shiwen once more.

Li Shiwen lowered his head in contemplation briefly before realization struck as he turned to look at Li Shiyin instead.

"Because of Shiyin?"

"No..." Li Zhan shook his head while likewise looking at Li Shiyin. "Because of a powerful cultivator."