Chapter 197 — True Anger
The Sword Questions the Heavens · Page 2 of 7
A cold snort, and there appeared a slender, delicate figure standing pertly in the doorway of the great hall. It was none other than Su Wan.
That one sound in an instant overawed the whole assembly. In the vast Jade Balance Hall there was not another breath of noise; every gaze was fixed upon the woman who had so suddenly displayed her wrath.
Her glossy black hair was done up in a coil, skewered at an angle with a golden phoenix-spread-wings hairpin set with red jade for its eyes, from whose beak hung a three-part tinkling ornament of glazed jade, swaying gently. Two willow-leaf brows, cold yet alluring, clear yet more seductive still; red lips pressed tight, cheeks like snow, a pair of eyes incomparably bright and clear, and carrying three parts wrath. The loose garments she ordinarily wore were gone; at this moment Su Wan was dressed in plain white, tightly wrapping her figure—less of the charm, more of the fervor. In her hand she gripped a dark-green immortal sword still in its sheath, its blade-light blazing. Though the sheath was on, layer upon layer of sword-qi spread formlessly through the air, giving one the feeling that this immortal sword had a spirit of its own and was eager to leap forth and be brandished wildly.
The corner of Xiao Yichen's eye twitched several times in succession, and instinctively he felt a chill at his back.
Su Wan's face was like frost, her gaze icy as she swept it over the assembled company in the Jade Balance Hall. Under that glance, for all her beauty, not a one dared meet her eyes.
From the corner of his eye Xiao Yichen looked at the young disciples now groaning and slowly picking themselves up from the floor. Though some had swollen noses and blackened eyes, their injuries were no more than slight hurts of the skin—let alone broken bones or torn sinews, there was scarcely even blood to be seen. At that sight he felt considerably reassured. It seemed that though Uncle-Master Su Wan had for some reason or other suddenly loosed this thunderous wrath, she still had a care for the bonds of the same school and had not struck hard. Otherwise, by the talk of those elders in times past—"that woman is truly formidable"—these junior brothers of his would surely have had far worse to suffer.
Yet even so, Xiao Yichen suddenly felt a chill before his eyes: Su Wan's gaze had come to rest on him at last. He gave a dry laugh, stepped forward, and made a cupped-hand salute, while stealing a glance at the dark-green immortal sword in her hand. "Uncle-Master Su, how is it you have such leisure today as to come to our Jietian Peak?"
Su Wan looked at Xiao Yichen coldly and gave a cold snort, paying no heed at all to his question, and showing not the slightest inclination to return his salute. She stood there still, haughty in the extreme, her fair face frosty, and said in a cold voice, "Enough nonsense. Bring Daoyan out here for me!"
At these words a stir ran through the nearly hundred Jietian Peak disciples in the Jade Balance Hall. Xiao Yichen's expression too changed, and he was dumbstruck for a good while before saying, "Uncle-Master Su, has something happened? My honored master has been in seclusion all this time. Ah, that reminds me—where is Uncle-Master Tian? Why has he not come with you?"
It would have been better had he not mentioned Tian Buhui. At those words Su Wan's face changed at once, her expression shifting through a turmoil of emotions—three parts grief, three parts anxiety, and three parts wrath besides, with a thread of icy killing intent.
"ROAR!"