Wuxia: Become the 100-Victory Sword King at the Beginning

With tears welling in her eyes, Nangong Xiaodie watched his retreating figure, then suddenly mustered her courage and called out, "Young Master Shi! I..." Before she could finish speaking, Nangong Jun slapped her across the face, turning her head to the side. Shi Feiyang paused, but ultimately did not turn around.

The moment he leaped onto the palace wall, he pulled out an oil paper package from his pocket, inside which were seven neatly arranged osmanthus sugar cakes—secretly given to him by Nangong Xiaodie. "Silly girl," he muttered to himself, distributing the sugar cakes to the wild dogs that surrounded him, "My heart has long been stolen by the ice beauty."

As night deepened, he stepped alone into the Peach Blossom Array of the Yihua Palace. The traps and mechanisms were nothing more than child's playthings to him; he even had the leisure to carve words on a stone tablet with his Xuan Shuang Blade: "Shi Feiyang was here—and brought a gift for the Palace Master!"

The so-called gift turned out to be a bag of fake snow mixed with chili powder. He imagined Yaoyue being choked and her face turning pale, and couldn't help but laugh out loud.

At this moment, in the main hall of Yihua Palace, Yaoyue was gazing at the broken hairpin left by Shi Feiyang, her fingertips tracing the spider lily on the hairpin's tip, and a ripple in her eyes that she herself did not notice.

Suddenly, a maid rushed in, panicked: "Palace Master! That...that rascal is back again! He's even setting off firecrackers in the Peach Blossom Maze!"

Yaoyue abruptly stood up, her flowing sleeves sweeping over the teacups on the table: "He's gone too far!" With a light tap of her jade feet, she vanished into the night as a white shadow. Meanwhile, Shi Feiyang sat cross-legged by the Rebirth Pool, humming a tune and toying with the jade flute he'd swiped from Lianxing's study: "Ice Queen, I'm back for some candy!"

The crescent moon, like scattered silver fragments, spilled across the peach blossom array of the Yihua Palace. Shi Feiyang's toes touched the icy stone lanterns, and the Xuan Shuang Blade spun half a silver light in his palm. The Palace Mistress of Yaoyue's icicles grazed his ear and embedded themselves in a tree trunk, the ice crystals that were stirred up falling into his hair, like a handful of broken diamonds.

"Shi Feiyang!" Yaoyue's voice was shrouded in the chill of millennia-old ice, yet a barely perceptible tremor crept into the final syllable. She activated her Bright Jade Skill, her skin becoming as transparent as an ice sculpture, the icy blue true energy flowing through her veins like a celestial river. "Dare to act recklessly again, and I will seal you to the bottom of the Pool of Rebirth!"

"Sealed to the bottom of the pool?" Shi Feiyang suddenly turned around, striking a flamboyant pose in the moonlight. "Then wouldn't I become the most prized possession of the Yihua Palace? Every day when the Palace Master visits, he only needs to tap the ice, and I'll sing you a song—"

He deliberately dragged out the last syllable, "Sing 'The Iceberg Beauty Fell in Love with Me'!"

With a wave of her jade hand, Yaoyue sent three ice shards flying in a triangular formation. Shi Feiyang cried out and used his "Shifting Flowers and Receiving Jade" divine skill, his palms moving like butterflies flitting among flowers, drawing vortexes of true energy and directing the ice shards toward a distant Taihu stone.

With a deafening roar, stone chips flew everywhere, revealing the Palace Master Lianxing hidden behind the stone.

"Master Lianxing, save me!" Shi Feiyang seized the opportunity to pounce behind Lianxing, pulling out an oil paper package from his bosom. "Smell this, it's a rose pastry from the Western Regions, even more fragrant than the osmanthus cake you praised last time!"

Lianxing stumbled from his bump, her jade flute nearly slipping from her grasp, but she caught a whiff of sweet fragrance and couldn't help but smile: "You little rascal, how did you know I wanted to try something sweet today?" Seeing the two of them being so intimate, Yaoyue felt a nameless rage rise in her heart, and her Mingyu Gong suddenly advanced to the "Ice Soul Cold Prison" level.

The temperature plummeted, and peach blossoms instantly turned into ice crystals. Tiny ice beads even formed on Shi Feiyang's temples. He knew something was wrong and unleashed the "Sword Intent Ruins" technique from the Nine Heavens Sword Manual. Thousands of sword energies transformed into pink peach blossoms, clashing with Yaoyue's ice shards.

"Sister, be careful!" Lianxing gently raised her jade flute and used the "Transferring Flowers and Jade - Twin Summoning" technique to help Yaoyue lock onto Shi Feiyang's figure.

Unexpectedly, Shi Feiyang was intimately familiar with the intricacies of the Peach Blossom Formation, and by following the direction of the formation's core, he redirected the attacks of the two towards each other. Yaoyue's icy palm collided with Lianxing's jade flute, and the resulting shockwave shook down the ice crystals covering the trees, which shimmered like a reversed Milky Way under the moonlight.

"What a perfect pair of twins!" Shi Feiyang, hiding behind the Bagua stone formation, took the opportunity to pull out a piece of roasted meat and started gnawing on it. "With such tacit understanding between you two masters, it's a pity you're not busking on the streets! I'd be happy to be a ticket scalper, I guarantee I'll make a fortune!"

Before he could finish speaking, Yaoyue's icicle pierced through the stone array, grazed his nose, and pinned the kebab to a peach tree three zhang away.

"Still dare to mock us?" Lianxing feigned anger, her jade flute arcing as she unleashed the "Five Plum Blossoms" technique. Five jade hairpins hurtled through the air, their pearl tips gleaming coldly in the moonlight. Shi Feiyang used "Sword Heart Connection," his Xuan Shuang Blade transforming into a streak of light, deflecting all the hairpins. One of them even precisely embedded itself back into Lianxing's hair: "Master, this hairpin is crooked. I'll put it back in its place for you!"

Seeing her sister being teased, Yaoyue completely lost her patience and used the forbidden martial art of Yihua Palace, "Mingyu Thousand Waves," by forming hand seals.

Layer upon layer of icy waves swept in, shattering stone paths and bending peach trees in their wake.

Backed into a corner, Shi Feiyang suddenly had a flash of inspiration and unleashed the "Sword Master's Sundial" from the Nine Heavens Sword Manual—the flow of time around him suddenly slowed down, and the ice waves of the Moon Invitation slowly froze in front of him.

"Excuse me!" Shi Feiyang grinned and quickly kissed Yaoyue on the cheek. While she was still stunned, he sprinkled the chili powder in his arms onto the ice wave. The spicy aroma entered Yaoyue's nose along with the vortex of true energy, and she couldn't help but sneeze. The ice wave immediately shattered into countless ice shards.

Seeing this, Lianxing could no longer hold back and collapsed onto the stone table laughing. Her jade flute rolled to the ground, startling a pond full of koi.

"Shi, Fei, Yang!" Yaoyue gritted her teeth, but when she saw his innocent expression, she suddenly turned and left.

Under the moonlight, the tips of her ears were redder than peach blossoms, but the silver hairpin in her hair had been replaced by the carved silver hairpin that Shi Feiyang had secretly hidden.

Shi Feiyang watched her retreating figure, touched the tip of his nose, and suddenly noticed that Lianxing was staring at him with great interest.

He immediately put on a pitiful face: "Master, save me! The Palace Master is afraid he'll skin me alive..."

Lianxing chuckled, picked up the jade flute, and whistled. A distant owl responded, "If she really wanted to kill you, you would have been an ice sculpture by now."

That night, a strange fragrance wafted from the kitchen of Yihua Palace.

Shi Feiyang squatted in front of the stove, shaving ice blocks with the Xuan Shuang Blade, while a bear paw that he had just stolen from Lianxing's storeroom was stewing in the pot.

Suddenly, he heard the sound of clothes outside the window. He looked up and saw Yaoyue standing on a plum branch, the moonlight gilding her with a soft golden edge.

"The moonlight is beautiful tonight." Shi Feiyang grinned, ladling a bowl of hot soup and handing it over. "Would the Palace Master like to try my 'Ice and Fire'? Hot soup with ice sculptures, a perfect match!" Yaoyue glared at him, but took the bowl, her fingertips touching the calluses on his palms—marks from years of wielding swords. In the Peach Blossom Array, the shadows of the thousand-year-old iceberg and the mischievous demon king overlapped.

In the distance, Lianxing watched this scene, gently shaking her head and smiling.

Some stories are destined to be written in the clash of ice and fire, creating their most brilliant chapters.

That day, Shi Feiyang squatted in front of the kitchen stove, using his Xuan Shuang Blade to carve ice into the shape of a lotus flower. The bear paw stewing in the pot was bubbling away, and the aroma wafting out made his mouth water. Suddenly, he heard light footsteps outside the window. His eyes darted around, and he deliberately raised his voice: "If the Palace Master continues to hide outside the window, I'll have to add croton seeds to the soup!"

Before she could finish speaking, a dark figure burst through the window. It was not Yaoyue, but the assassin "Black-Faced Lord" from the Netherworld Cult.

The chain knife in his hand hummed, the barbs on the blade gleaming with a ghostly blue poisonous light: "Little demon, prepare to die!" Shi Feiyang yelled and leaped up, the soup ladle in his hand turning into a hidden weapon, the hot soup splashing onto the assassin's face with a hissing sound.

"Damn it! Not bad martial arts!" Black-faced Jun cursed, swinging his sword, but the chain blade was pulled off course by Shi Feiyang's vortex suction, striking a nearby pickle jar. Sour juices splattered everywhere, and Shi Feiyang seized the opportunity to use his "Hidden Identity" lightness skill to leap onto the roof beam, teasingly saying, "Assassin brother, how about trying my pickles first? I guarantee they're even more potent than your poisoned blade!"

While they were playing around, they suddenly felt a chill on the back of their neck; it turned out that Yaoyue's icicles were pressing against their acupoints.

Her voice was so cold it could freeze hot blood: "Why are the people of the Netherworld Sect here at the Flower Palace?" Shi Feiyang turned around with a bitter face, only to see Lianxing standing behind Yaoyue, her jade flute held across her chest, her eyes full of concern.

"How would I know?" He spread his hands. "But judging from the assassin's attire... could it be that he's after Your Majesty's good looks?"

With a slight movement of her jade hand, Yaoyue brought the icicle closer by half an inch: "If you spout any more nonsense, I'll send you to meet the King of Hell right now!"

Suddenly, Shi Feiyang reached out and grabbed her wrist. The vortex of suction in his palm pulled her staggering, and the two of them fell into the large vat filled with flour. "Shi Feiyang!" Yaoyue's angry roar was blocked by the flour. She struggled to get up, her head and face covered in white powder, making her look like an angry snowman.

Shi Feiyang suppressed a laugh and pulled a piece of moldy osmanthus cake from the bottom of the jar: "Is the Palace Master hungry? This humble servant will treat you to dessert!"

Lianxing finally couldn't hold back anymore and collapsed laughing by the stove, her jade flute clattering against the copper pot.

In the chaos, Blackface seized the opportunity to attack again.

Shi Feiyang used "Shifting Flowers and Jade" to lure Yaoyue's ice shards toward the assassin, but at the critical moment, he caught a glimpse of half a token falling from the assassin's arms—it was the Dragon Soaring Token of the Nangong family! He was startled and suddenly realized: Nangong Jun had actually colluded with the Netherworld Sect to kill someone with a borrowed knife!
"Palace Master, be careful!" Without thinking, he rushed forward to shield Yaoyue from the chain blade, and a bloody gash immediately appeared on his shoulder.

Inviting the moon cried out in surprise, she activated the Mingyu Skill, and ice shards shot out like a rainstorm, pinning the Black-Faced Lord to the wall.

Lianxing hurriedly bandaged Shi Feiyang's wound, only to see him grin and say, "Now that's good, I'm one of those 'beauty saves the hero' characters!" Yaoyue glared at him, her eyes full of concern, "Why did you block it? You knew... you knew I would be alright!" Shi Feiyang looked at her flustered appearance, and a thought struck him. He reached out and gently brushed the flour off her face, "Because... I didn't want you to worry."

The atmosphere suddenly became awkward. Lianxing, sensing the awkwardness, turned away, saying, "I'll go brew some wound medicine." Only the two of them remained in the room. Yaoyue's face gradually flushed redder than the peach blossoms outside the window. Seeing this, Shi Feiyang seized the opportunity to put his arm around her slender waist, saying, "Palace Master, how about we make a pact?"

"A...a promise?" Yaoyue's heart raced at his sudden intimate gesture. "Next time someone comes to kill me," Shi Feiyang grinned, "just say I'm your husband, and I guarantee it'll scare away all the assassins!"

"You...you're being insolent!" Yaoyue struggled to push him away, but he held her even tighter. A cough came from afar, and the two hurriedly separated, only to see Lianxing holding a bowl of medicine, her eyes full of smiles: "The medicine is ready. Young Master Shi, would you like me to feed you, or...the Palace Master?"

Seeing Yaoyue's ears turn bright red, Shi Feiyang suddenly felt that even if there were mountains of knives and seas of fire ahead, as long as he had these two beauties by his side, life would be worthwhile. Little did he know that at this moment, Nangong Jun's adopted son, Nangong Yuchuan, was plotting with He Qiulian, the leader of the Thunderfire Camp, and an even greater crisis was quietly approaching Yihua Palace.

……

A hundred miles away in Nangong Wan, Nangong Xiaodie gazed at the bright moon outside her window, clutching the last piece of osmanthus sweet cake tightly in her hand. Tears dripped onto the cake, spreading a bittersweet color. A light rain was falling in Nangong Wan. Nangong Xiaodie leaned against the window, watching the withered flowers beaten down by the rain. The peach blossom note she held in her hand was already blurred by tears.

Ever since Shi Feiyang left, she has been hoping every day that his grinning figure would climb over the wall and come in, carrying his empty promises and some trinkets he'd stolen from somewhere.

"Miss, it's time for your medicine." The maid's voice startled her from her thoughts. She numbly picked up the bowl, the bitterness spreading on her tongue, but it was nothing compared to the bitterness in her heart. Suddenly, a commotion arose outside the courtyard. She jumped up, the porcelain bowl crashing to the ground—Xiao Chong had returned.

"Young Master Shi... is he alright?" She grabbed Xiao Chong's sleeve, her eyes filled with hope. Xiao Chong remained silent for a long time before slowly speaking, "He's at Yihua Palace... having a passionate affair with Palace Master Yaoyue." These words were like a sharp blade, cruelly ripping into her heart.

Nangong Xiaodie staggered backward and slumped into a chair. Tears welled up in her eyes again. She finally understood that she was just a passerby in Shi Feiyang's life, while his heart was already tied to that cold palace.

Even so, she still couldn't control her longing. Like a moth drawn to a flame, she knew she would get hurt, but she still went without hesitation.

Late at night, she secretly sneaked into the inn where Shi Feiyang had once stayed. His faint scent still lingered in the room, mingled with the sweet aroma of osmanthus cakes. She curled up by the bed and picked up half a jade pendant from the floor—the only keepsake Shi Feiyang had left her.

Moonlight streamed through the window lattice, illuminating the jade pendant and highlighting her pale face.

"What am I clinging to?" she murmured to herself, tears falling onto the jade pendant. "I know he doesn't belong to me, yet I still can't let go..."

Suddenly, her eyes hardened, and she pressed the jade pendant tightly against her heart: "No matter what, I must see him again, even if it's just a glimpse from afar..." The next day, despite her father's objections, Nangong Xiaodie insisted on leaving Nangong Wan. Disguised as a man, she embarked on her journey to Yihua Palace.

She endured hardships and slept in the open along the way, but the thought of seeing Shi Feiyang made it all worthwhile. Finally, she arrived at the Yihua Palace. Gazing at the towering palace walls, her heart pounded. But before she could get close, she was stopped by a flower servant.

Nangong Xiaodie was extremely anxious and shouted Shi Feiyang's name loudly, her voice echoing in the empty sky and earth.

Shi Feiyang was arguing with Yaoyue in the palace when he heard that familiar voice, and the sugar cake in his hand fell to the ground with a "thud".

He hesitated for a moment, then leaped forward. Seeing Nangong Xiaodie's disheveled yet stubborn appearance, a pang of guilt welled up inside him. "Why are you here?" he asked, frowning. Nangong Xiaodie looked at him, tears welling up again: "I...I just wanted to see you, to see if you were doing well..."

She paused, then pulled a paper package from her bosom containing brand-new osmanthus sugar cakes. "I've learned how to make sugar cakes, try some..."

Shi Feiyang took the sugar cake, but dared not look her in the eye: "Don't come here again, it's dangerous here."

Nangong Xiaodie forced a smile: "It's alright, as long as I know you're safe, I'm relieved..."

She gave him a deep look, then turned and left, her back view filled with endless loneliness.

Watching her departing figure, Shi Feiyang was filled with mixed emotions. He knew he might never be able to reciprocate her feelings, but Nangong Xiaodie's persistence was like a seed, quietly taking root and sprouting in his heart. (End of Chapter)