Chapter 14 — A Prodigy

Su Wan did not answer at once. She turned and looked at her husband, who sat motionless, his face ashen, and could only shake her head. "Qi Hao's gifts are indeed far above your eldest senior brother's. There was no trickery in that match. In particular, the immortal sword he wields, 'Frost,' was refined from ten-thousand-year ice crystal of the far north and is immensely powerful. Your eldest senior brother is no match for him."

Just then Tian Buhui seemed to sense something and turned his head to look at Su Wan as well. Their eyes met, and each saw in the other the words left unspoken deep in the heart: if only Dazhu Peak had such a talent among its disciples, how fine that would be!

Below the dais Qi Hao was chatting amiably with the disciples. Accomplished in cultivation, trusted by his elders, and much traveled in the world, he was broad of experience and quick of tongue, his witticisms scattering like pearls, and in no time everyone felt drawn to him; even Song Dayi, who had once been beaten by him, had long since lost any hostility.

Amid a burst of laughter—Qi Hao had told some joke or other, and the whole company was roaring—his gaze happened to fall on Tian Lingsu, who had stood behind Su Wan all this while, and then on the "Amber Crimson Ribbon" wound about her waist. His eyes lit up and he smiled. "Can this be the renowned Junior Sister Tian Lingsu?"

Tian Lingsu raised an eyebrow. "How do you know of me?"

Qi Hao smiled and took a few steps forward, looking at her. "Junior Sister Tian is but sixteen, and her attainment in the Taiji Xuanqing Dao is already no small thing. That is known throughout the sect, and I have admired you a long while. Today I see the fame is well deserved."

Tian Lingsu blushed and said sharply, "You've never even seen me fight. How do you know the fame is deserved?"

Qi Hao was taken aback for a moment, then laughed. "Junior Sister Tian is not only beautiful as a flower but keen of wit. You put me, your senior brother, to shame."

Tian Lingsu, seeing the tall, handsome figure standing before her and hearing her beauty praised to her face, felt a sudden sweetness in her heart, though she kept a stern face. "Nonsense, always nonsense. What kind of senior brother are you? Have you no shame!"

Tian Buhui frowned, and Su Wan said at once, "Ling'er, that's no way to talk."

Qi Hao hurriedly said to Su Wan, "Uncle-Master Su, pray do not reprove your daughter on my account. It was I who spoke carelessly and gave offense." He paused a moment, then drew a small brocade box from his bosom and handed it to Tian Lingsu with a smile. "Junior Sister Tian, the 'Chill Pearl' in this box came to me by chance a few years ago, when I was traveling the road of chivalry with my master, the Perfected Cangsong, and we wiped out a band of demonic sect villains. It is no rare treasure, but carried on one's person it dispels heat and cools the body, and they say it does some good for a lady's complexion as well. Today I make it a gift to you, junior sister, by way of apology."

Tian Lingsu blushed again. Before she could speak, Su Wan said, "Nephew Qi, this Cool Clarity Pearl is a treasure in its own right; Ling'er could not possibly accept it. You had best put it away at once."

Qi Hao smiled. "Martial Aunt Su, you may not know it, but this pearl is of little use to me—no better than a chicken rib. But for one of Sister Tian's youth and beauty it is just the thing. A small token of my regard; I hope Sister Tian will not think it too poor."

Tian Lingsu glanced at Qi Hao, her expression greatly softened, and reached out to take the little box. "Thank you, Senior Brother Qi," she said softly.

Qi Hao seemed delighted, his face all smiles. "No thanks needed, none at all. Sister, your gifts are exceptional, and your future is beyond measure. It must be said—though the Canglan Sect has no lack of talent, few indeed are of your caliber. Even I must yield to you."

Hearing this, Tian Buhui's face wore a smile for the first time. Tian Lingsu said, "Senior Brother flatters me."

Qi Hao shook his head. "Not at all. I too was brought up the mountain by my master as a child, yet at your age my cultivation was far beneath yours. Still..."

Tian Lingsu, being a young girl at heart, felt greatly disposed toward him after such praise; but when she caught that "still," she could not help pressing him. "Still what?"

By now even Tian Buhui and Su Wan had turned their heads, wanting to hear what this "still" might mean. Qi Hao said, "Still, if we speak of natural gifts alone, there is one who might well be compared to Sister Tian."

Tian Lingsu blinked. "Who?"

Qi Hao smiled and gestured outside the Shoujing Hall. "None other than my junior brother Lin here. Since my master, the Reverend Cang Song, took him in three years ago, his progress in so short a time has been astonishing. In the way of cultivation he is a prodigy of rare talent, unmatched among the disciples of our line: in three years he has broken through to the fourth level of the Jade Clarity Realm, and in a thousand years I have never heard of such a one." Here his voice filled with affection. "My master cannot praise Junior Brother Lin enough, calling him a talent seen but once in a thousand years, one who might almost stand beside Patriarch Qingye himself!"

"Crack!" The sharp sound startled them all; they turned toward it and saw Tian Buhui's face gone iron-gray, his expression hideous—and the hard sandalwood armrest beside his hand had been wrenched clean off in his grip.

Qi Hao started, then said quietly to Su Wan, "Martial Aunt Su, have I said something wrong?"

Su Wan forced a smile and was about to speak when suddenly a shout came from outside the hall: "Ah!" Before the sound had faded, a figure came tumbling in through the doorway and crashed to the floor with a thud; such was the momentum that he rolled over several more times, covered in dust and utterly disgraced. A closer look—who else could it be but Zhang Qingyue?

Every face on Dazhu Peak changed. Tian Lingsu, the closest of all to Zhang Qingyue, rushed forward first, helped him up, and asked anxiously, "Xiaofan, what happened to you?"

The fall had been a hard one; his head was still swimming, but he managed, "N-nothing. I'm all right."

Just then Lin Jinghong came running in from the doorway, his face anxious. "Xiaofan, are you hurt? My hand slipped for a moment..."

At those words Tian Lingsu knew at once that this was the one who had bullied her junior brother. Her anger surged; and Qi Hao had just praised Lin Jinghong to her face, with the veiled hint that she could not compare—which chafed her all the more. She thought no further. Springing to her feet, she cried angrily, "What gives you the right to bully people?" Even as she spoke she pointed a hand seal, and radiant light blazed forth as the Amber Crimson Silk rose into the air and shot at Lin Jinghong with a whoosh.

Su Wan and Qi Hao shouted together: "Stop!"

But the Amber Crimson Silk was swift as lightning, and in a moment it was before Lin Jinghong's face. Startled but not panicked, seeing a blaze of colors before his eyes, he knew it for an immortal's treasure. At once he retreated three steps, left hand pointing to heaven, right hand to earth, gripping the sword seal, and shouted, "Rise!"

With a clang like a dragon's cry that rang through the Shoujing Hall, Lin Jinghong was shrouded in blue light, and a blue immortal sword of ten thousand rays rose up, its blade clear as autumn water, its auspicious vapor steaming. In an instant it not only checked the onrushing waves of light from the Amber Crimson Silk but cast every face in the Shoujing Hall in a jade-green hue.

Tian Buhui gave a sudden cold snort. "Cang Song is generous indeed, to pass down even the Dragon-Slaying Sword to him."