Chapter 59: The Frost King Saber
Xiao Qiu cast a cursory glance at Lu Fang and the other club members. When she saw that they were alright, she left with Chen Chuan.
Lu Fang and the others watched silently as Chen Chuan disappeared from view. After a while, one of the club members approached him and asked, “Vice President, what should we do?”
“Are the others okay?” Lu Fang asked instead.
“They’re fine. He held back, so we only suffered minor injuries. We’ll be okay after some basic treatment,” the club member answered.
“We had our chance, but we failed to seize it. If we continue bothering him, it won’t end well. Perhaps he’s right. Maybe he can go to even greater heights without the Arcane Phase Force,” Lu Fang said with a sigh.
But some of the members could not accept that. “That’s not possible. Not even he could do it, so how could Chen Chuan?”
Lu Fang dismissed the conversation with a wave of his hand. “Let’s not talk about this anymore. Since we couldn’t convince him to change his mind, we can only wait.”
“For what?”
“If he treads down his path steadily without much ambition, we can only let him be. It’s just a pity that he’ll waste his talent. But if he does decide to take a step forward and aspire to greater heights, we’ll help him from the shadows,” Lu Fang said.
The other club members said nothing.
“Alright. It’s late now. Let’s leave the place. Jing Hao, bring the injured members to the infirmary. Bi Yang, use the club money to buy medicine for our injured members. Also, leave in batches,” Lu Fang instructed.
Once he made the arrangements, all of them left while supporting each other. Yet despite leaving in batches, they caught a lot of attention. Fortunately, it was almost a daily occurrence for martial artists to get hurt, so no one thought much about it. At most, they just wondered why so many upperclassmen were injured.
***
When Chen Chuan followed Xiao Qiu into the hall, Feng Xiaoqi had already finished his exam and left. Cheng Zitong and Ni Xiaolin were talking by themselves.
Xiao Qiu went over to Ni Xiaolin and murmured quietly to her for a while. Ni Xiaolin listened calmly before sizing Chen Chuan up.
“This must be your mentee, Xiao Cheng. He’s quite the energetic youngster,” she remarked.
“Chen Chuan, this is Ms. Ni. She can be considered my senior. Come, say hello,” Cheng Zitong instructed.
Chen Chuan stepped forward and gave Ni Xiaolin a hand-and-fist salute. “Hello, Ms. Ni.”
Ni Xiaolin was satisfied. She observed Chen Chuan for a while and asked, “What sort of weapon do you like, young man?”
Cheng Zitong perked up and motioned for Chen Chuan to answer.
Chen Chuan thought about it before answering. “Long sabers.”
Ni Xiaolin gave Xiao Qiu an order, and after a while, she came back holding a long saber with a black scabbard.
“I like you, young man, so I’m giving you this saber,” Ni Xiaolin said.
Xiao Qiu went to Chen Chuan and handed the saber to him with the blade held upright.
Chen Chuan did not take it immediately, so Cheng Zitong hurriedly said, “Ms. Ni is giving you the saber as a gift to celebrate your first meeting. Take it.”
Chen Chuan nodded as thanks to Xiao Qiu before taking the scabbard with both hands. He felt his hands sink a little; the saber was heavier than he thought it was. He bowed to Ni Xiaolin and expressed his gratitude. “Thank you, Ms. Ni.”
“Aren’t you going to take a look?” Ni Xiaolin asked with a smile.
Chen Chuan slowly drew the saber and saw a brilliant white light reflecting off the blade. When he drew the entire blade out, it felt as if a chill had settled over the room.
“It’s a good saber,” Cheng Zitong praised it.
“Does the Frost King Saber feel right in your hand, young man?” Ni Xiaolin asked.
The saber looked quite similar to long sabers from the Ming dynasty. Thin silver patterns wrapped around the saber hilt, and it was more than 1.6 meters long.
With a twist of the wrist, Chen Chuan spun the saber in a flourish.
He could tell that the saber weighed more than five kilograms, while the usual ones weighed around 1 to 1.5 kilograms. Even Martial Valor University students would not use sabers that weighed more than 2.5 kilograms, so this saber’s weight was practically double that of the average saber.
But Chen Chuan had his second self, so he did not think that it was too heavy. It was not as if Martial Valor University students could not use heavy weapons, but that if a weapon was too heavy, it would affect their center of gravity. This saber was perfect.
“It feels right,” he answered.
“While you were fighting, Xiao Qiu took your measurements and calculated your approximate strength. If you like long sabers, then this one will suit you. But you youngsters grow fast, so you might not find this long saber good all too soon. Anyway, make do with it for now.”
Chen Chuan held the saber upright and gave her another hand-and-fist salute as he said earnestly, “Thank you, Ms. Ni.”
“My family had opened a weapons shop years ago. Even though I no longer have the ability to craft weapons, I still have good judgment. I also have a lot of weapons. I’m old now and can’t use them, so I like giving them to youngsters like you,” Ni Xiaolin said with a smile.
Chen Chuan thanked her once again.
Xiao Qiu took note of the time and whispered, “It’s time for your medicine, Master.”
Ni Xiaolin nodded and stood up with the help of her cane. “Keep the saber with you. You’ll find it useful.”
Cheng Zitong shot to his feet as well.
While Ni Xiaolin headed further into the training hall, she mumbled under her breath, “People are people, and weapons are weapons. In the end, they always part.”
After watching her leave, Cheng Zitong said to Chen Chuan, “Let’s go too.”
“Alright,” Chen Chuan said.
Once they left the training hall and got into the car, Cheng Zitong said, “Ms. Ni is amazing. When she told me about what was going on, I felt a little angry, but you passed the exam, and she gave you a saber. Now, I don’t feel angry at all. Instead, I have to thank her.”
When Chen Chuan remained silent, he asked, “Penny for your thoughts?”
“I felt like I was still part of the old world while I was talking to Ms. Ni just now, Mr. Cheng,” Chen Chuan answered.
While he was speaking to Ni Xiaolin, the atmosphere in the room and Ni Xiaolin herself felt like they were from the old world. It was only when Chen Chuan left the training hall and saw the buildings outside that he felt like he had returned to the present.
Cheng Zitong was taken aback by his words before he looked forward and sighed. “When you get old, you start reminiscing about the past and get lost in your memories. We live in a world of social circles. We have them within and outside the university. The lecturers have their social circles, and so do the students.
“These social circles make you feel a sense of belonging, and over time, you realize that you’ve formed a circle of memories in your heart so that you’ll feel like you belong somewhere, but don’t ever get trapped within that circle. You have to get out of it. Otherwise, your world view will become narrow, and you’ll never see the world the way it is.”
“You’re right,” Chen Chuan agreed with a nod.
Cheng Zitong started his car and drove to the dormitory. “Since Ms. Ni gave you the saber, you’ll have to pick up a saber technique, or it’ll be useless. I’ll teach you a basic saber technique later.”
“Thank you, Mr. Cheng, but I can’t bring the saber with me without the weapons permit,” Chen Chuan pointed out.
“That’s why you have to get that weapons permit as soon as possible. Even though you can get permission under certain special circumstances, the permit is more important than you think. Anyway, you should learn a saber technique first. That way, you can put the saber to good use after you get the permit.
“That reminds me, you can go on some dispatch missions in a few days. Get ready. I’ll get someone to guide you. Let’s complete the three dispatch missions you need before registering for the weapons permit test.”
“Alright. I’ll be waiting,” Chen Chuan replied.
***
In an office located on the highest floor of the administrative office building was an old man. He was practicing calligraphy in his office. The paper hung off the wall while he held the end of a huge brush that was two meters long with three of his fingers. With a relaxed expression, he wrote on the paper.
A young student walked in and waited for a while before saying, “Sir, the students lost. Should we...”
The old man swung his arm, and the motion left behind a sharp, hooked stroke. He took a few steps back and looked at the paper in satisfaction as he said, “Don’t stick your nose into this anymore. The blade has been polished. Other people will sharpen it.”
“Understood.”
***
The recommended students at the villas in North Peak also learned about what had happened in the training hall.
“The All-Encompassing Force? Do we have that in the university?” someone asked in surprise.
Jiang Wei gave an order to his retainer, and he left quickly. Soon, he came back and offered up a rather old All-Encompassing Force manual.
Jiang Wei read it for some time while reclining in his chair. He had thought that this refined force contained some sort of secret, but after looking through the manual several times, he found nothing besides idealistic beliefs. He threw it to the side. “It’s trash.”
Another recommended student picked it up and read through it as well. Soon, he scoffed at it and said in glee, “He chose this? Just how much does he hate himself?”
Jiang Wei narrowed his eyes. “Even though he refused to learn the Arcane Phase Force, he still defeated so many upperclassmen after just enrolling. We can’t let him out of our sight.”