Chapter One Hundred: The Bamboo Cottage

Raising his Twin Dragon Sword, Chu Sheng suddenly reached into his robe. His brows knit together immediately; after searching himself all over, his face turned deathly pale. "Oh no, Qianqian's handkerchief is gone! It must be with that little girl. I have to go back and get it." He took two steps back along the path but stopped abruptly, murmuring to himself, "No, I can't just go like this. My own life doesn't matter, but what about Xiaosheng? Never mind, I'll wait for another chance to retrieve it."

Staggering all the way, he finally returned to a bamboo grove. At dawn, birds erupted from their nests in a great, lively chorus. In the center of the grove stood a unique bamboo house, artfully constructed. Before he even reached the house, the sound of sword practice rang out from in front of it. Hearing this, a look of fatherly affection softened Chu Sheng’s usually stern features.

The one practicing swordplay was a young boy, his face set with determination, though his lips were pale and bloodless and his body as frail and slender as a bean sprout. Yet, his swordplay was remarkably skilled.

Halfway through the routine, something went wrong. The boy began to cough violently, the sword slipping from his hand and clattering to the ground. After a fit of harsh coughing, his cheeks flushed deep red and he spat out a mouthful of blood, but unlike ordinary blood, it was a dark, purplish black.

Chu Sheng’s heart twisted with pain; his eyes instantly bloodshot. Ignoring his own injuries, he summoned his inner strength, darted forward, caught the collapsing boy in his arms, and quickly fed him a medicinal pill. Pressing his palm to the boy’s chest, he poured his internal energy desperately into the child.

Xiaosheng looked up at his father with wide eyes and said weakly, "Father, you're back. I'm all right. I can still practice! I want to master peerless martial arts just like you and make a name for myself throughout the world, cough..."

His son's words brought tears to Chu Sheng’s eyes, yet he was a man of iron, forcing the tears back, a few glistening in his eyes. "Don’t speak, Xiaosheng. Let me heal you now. When you're better, I'll teach you swordsmanship that will amaze the world."

After half a day, Chu Sheng carried his son into the bamboo house and laid him on the bed, covering the sleeping Xiaosheng with a quilt. Sitting at his bedside, he gazed at the pale face of his son, his heart aching and his mind drifting into contemplation.

At length, Chu Sheng seemed to come to a decision. Grabbing his Twin Dragon Sword, he looked back at Xiaosheng, then strode out of the bamboo grove.

Meanwhile, at the Prince Xian’s residence, Baili Xian hurried back and went straight to pay his respects to the Empress Dowager. When he received the urgent pigeon message from Tie Wula, Baili Xian was both shocked and furious, slamming his palm down and shattering a stone table.

He was alarmed because the morning's incident had turned out to be a false scare, but the Empress Dowager’s birthday was fast approaching. If anything happened to her at his residence, no amount of explanation could save him. What enraged him was that the Shadow Dragon Twin Swords showed no regard for his authority, daring to attempt an assassination on the Empress Dowager in broad daylight at his own residence. Did they really think his household was so defenseless?

He also blamed himself for being too busy lately and neglecting the manor's security. After leaving his residence, Baili Xian went straight to the palace and requested a detachment of imperial guards from the emperor. By midday, squads of guards began to patrol the prince’s manor.

When Emperor Baili Hai heard about the Empress Dowager's incident, he too came to the prince's residence at noon, intending to escort her back to the palace, but she refused once again. This made Liu Ling’er wonder if there was something in the manor that was particularly important to the Empress Dowager. What puzzled Liu Ling’er even more was Baili Hai himself; she clearly saw him leave the prince’s residence with a cold, scheming smile, as if he had his own plans.

These were just the overt actions. To ensure that nothing like the morning’s attack would happen again in his absence, Baili Xian managed to assign several top experts from the busy Yuntian Alliance to secretly guard the manor.

In short, within a single day, the prince’s residence was as tightly guarded as an iron fortress—so much so that, as the saying goes, not even a fly could escape. Liu Ling’er was deeply frustrated; all this did was make things more difficult for her.

She could feel the presence of the many hidden guards in the residence, yet she had to pretend not to notice, all the while trying to avoid them as she searched for Xiao Shuangshuang. That was no easy task—even though she could manage it, it was clearly a waste of time.

Anyway, the matter of taking Xiao Shuangshuang as her disciple had already been confirmed by Baili Xian, who had laughed at her for a long while: "You can’t even be called a novice, yet you want to teach Xiao Shuangshuang martial arts? What a joke!"

At the time, Liu Ling’er had wanted nothing more than to punch the mocking smile off his face. In the end, Baili Xian asked Xiao Shuangshuang whether she wanted a better teacher. Unexpectedly, Xiao Shuangshuang resolutely refused, declaring that she would only learn from Sister Ling’er and no one else. This filled Liu Ling’er with pride and she secretly praised the girl's discernment.

With her taking a disciple now known to all, Liu Ling’er no longer had to secretly train Xiao Shuangshuang in the middle of the night. Each day, after practicing sword dance with Bingfeng, she would send Bingfeng away and then teach Xiao Shuangshuang martial arts.

Xiao Shuangshuang not only possessed extraordinary talent, but also remarkable perseverance. She never once complained of fatigue during training, making Liu Ling’er’s worries about her giving up completely unnecessary. With such a disciple, what more could a master ask for?