Chapter 20

Since Ling Jian had already decided about the ceremony for Yuki, the whole sect had started the preparation for it. The important buildings like the sword palace, weapon's hall, etc were either getting decorated or already had been decorated. In midst of all this, a lot of disciples were also wondering the reason behind this.

In front of the weapon's hall, a group of three disciples, who came to get some weapons saw the decorations and were talking amongst themselves.

"Do any of you know the reason behind this?" one of them asks while pointing at the weapon's hall

"You mean the decorations and other preparations" another one replies

"Yes,"

"I think someone important is going to visit our sect," a girl among them says

"Is it the princess from the royal family?"

"That's nonsense, she hardy leaves the royal palace. And even if she did, why would she come here?" the girl retorts

"Maybe, to meet the sect master. They are friends after all"

"Maybe, but I don't think it's related to that"

"I agree, and I heard from one of the masters, that our ancestor has come back and all this preparation is to welcome him" the girl explains

"No way"

"Are you sure?"

"At least that's what I heard," the girl says

"Do we even have an ancestor?"

"Who knows?"

"But if it's really our ancestor, he'll be old," one of the guys says

"very old" All three of them nod their heads.

"Whatever, we'll know tomorrow" the girl lazily replies

They then go inside the weapon's hall. These kinds of conversations were happening all over the sect. Some people had a little hint about what was happening, while others were limited to guessing. Yuki, the reason behind this was oblivious to all this. She was spending the most of her time in the library, reading.

***

The night before the ceremony.

Yuki is lying on her stomach on the bed while propping her head with a pillow. She has already taken a bath and is wearing her blue pajama. Her slightly damp hair is sticking on her face as well as scattering over her shoulders and the pillow. Yuki is also playing with her smooth legs by moving them up and down. At the moment, she looks nothing like the girl who made the vice sect master Chen terrified.

'The ceremony is tomorrow, but little Ling didn't tell me what time it will be? I guess I'll find out tomorrow' Yuki is thinking about the ceremony when she suddenly hears a knock on her door.

SFX knock knock

'Who might it be?' Yuki gets up from her bed to open the door. When she opens the door, the person who is standing at her door is none other than Ling Jian herself.

"Little Ling, what are you doing here?" Yuki asks while being a tiny bit surprised.

"I have something to talk about," Ling Jian says in her dignified tone. Her eyes glance over Yuki, but since Yuki is wearing something unlike the last time, she doesn't say anything about her.

"Don't stand on ceremony then. Come in" Yuki smilingly says. Her smile is enough to tug at anyone's heartstrings and Ling Jian is no exception. She gets a tiny bit flustered, but she doesn't let it show on her face. Ling Jian enters her room and Yuki follows behind.

Yuki sits on the edge of the bed, folding one leg over the other, making her blue shorts slid backwards, revealing her thighs even more. Ling Jian who is unaffected by it pulls a chair and sits in front of Yuki.

"The ceremony will start at 10 am tomorrow, so don't go to the library tomorrow. I'll send someone to get you tomorrow"

"Okay," Yuki nods her head. She also adds "You didn't come all the way to my room, just to tell me that, right"

After hearing Yuki, Ling Jian starts fidgeting with her hands while her eyes move here and there. Seeing her, Yuki knew she had guessed it right because Ling Jian is here to talk about something else.

"And..could you tell me.... about that slash... you used?" Ling Jian says in a low voice after a few moments. She is a very proud girl and it is hard for her to ask for something, and it's even more true when the other person is a girl the same age as her.

Yuki smiles and says "sure, why not?"

"huh!" Ling Jian gets surprised on hearing her. She wasn't expecting this answer. That slash that Yuki used was definitely an amazing one, and anyone smart would avoid divulging any information about it. But Yuki doesn't care about such things, plus she trusts Ling Jian just like elder Chi.

"This expression looks cute on you" Yuki teases her with a giggle. Ling Jian is already very pretty to begin with. In fact, it won't be an exaggeration to call her one of the most beautiful girls on the western continent. But she rarely smiles. She usually has a serious expression on her face throughout the day. Apart from elder Ya and elder Chi, with whom Ling Jian is close, no one would have seen this kind of expression on her face. Yuki has only seen it a few times and she likes it. This silly expression looks much better on her pretty face.

Yuki's teasing brings Ling Jian gets out of her surprise. She gets a bit embarrassed and glares at Yuki like an angry kitten, but Yuki just smiles it off.

"So tell me what do you want to know?" Yuki asks while still giggling

Ling Jian takes a deep breath and calms her anger down. She then looks directly at Yuki, her expression is serious, Yuki stops giggling after watching the change in her. Ling Jian then asks "Who taught you that move?"

"I can't tell" Yuki instantly refuses

Ling Jian was more or less expecting that answer so she maintains her composure and asks again "Do you have any kind of relationship with any of the previous sect masters?"

'relation with any sect masters?' Yuki wonders about her question and asks "what kind of relationship?"

"Like you are a daughter or a sister of some previous sect master"

'well, Uncle Ji was a founder of the sect, and he did loved me like his daughter but I can't tell her about him' Yuki then replies "No, but why are you asking?"

"The slash you used, I have kind of heard about it"

'Well, she is a descendant of uncle Ji, so she must know about it' Yuki thinks in her mind. She asks "Where did you hear it?"

"I had heard about it from my grandfather when I was a kid" Ling Jian earnestly answers

"What did he told you exactly?"

"It was a move used by the sword God, and it used to be passed down the successive sect masters"

"Used to?" Yuki wonders

"A long time back one of the sect masters died before he could teach it to his successor, so it was lost."

'This is strange' Yuki finds it suspicious, she asks about the details "Is there any record of how he died?"

"There is, but it only says he died of unknown reason" Even Ling Jian who was telling Yuki about it finds it strange, but it happened so long ago that they can't investigate even if they want to.

Yuki seems to be contemplating something, her eyes are closed. Ling Jian waits for her response. Yuki opens her eyes after a moment and asks "Little Ling, do you want to learn it?"

"Yes," Ling Jian instantly replies. Yuki can see the determination in her eyes. Though Ling Jian is a proud girl, that slash is something related to the Sword god and her sect, as such she has no hesitation saying yes.

"Very well, I'll teach You. We'll start when I come back from the celebration"

Ling Jian becomes visibly happy after hearing that Yuki will teach her. She knows what it means for her as well as the sect and its future. She gives a beautiful smile like a full-bloomed flower in autumn "Thank you"

'Little Ling can smile like that!' even Yuki gets a bit stunned for a second by her beautiful smile, but she instantly recovers.

"You should smile more, you look way more beautiful when you smile." Yuki accepts her thanks and gives an honest compliment.

"Wha...what are you saying?" after hearing Yuki, Ling Jian stammers while a tinge of redness creeps up her face. Yuki's compliment completely caught her off guard. Ling Jian has heard a lot of compliments and it doesn't affect her. But for some reason when Yuki says it, her heart starts pounding in her chest and she can't stop her flustering.

"Good night" Ling Jian hurriedly declares, jumps out of her chair and dashes towards the door. Within seconds, she has left Yuki's room. If anyone could get a glimpse, they would notice that Ling Jian's face looks like a ripe tomato at the moment.

"Was little Ling feeling sick or something?" Yuki wonders but then decides to let it go. She then goes to sleep.

"