Situ Ping couldn't understand, "Why would your mother die just because I told my parents? Speak clearly!"

Ziling sobbed with tears running down her face, "I'm actually not an ordinary human; my father is a Sword Immortal from the Emei Sect, and my mother is a different kind, a Heavenly Fox.

After her Soldier Disintegration years ago, her Nascent Soul flew to Fishing Rock in the East Sea for seclusion and cultivation. Now, she's about to face the Heavenly Tribulation, and only you can save her..."

"Why could I save her? I'm just a weak scholar without the strength to truss a chicken."

"You were born in a 'full yang' moment—on a yang year, yang month, yang day, during yang hour. My great-grandmaster said that only someone born at such a time can help my mother get through the Heavenly Tribulation."

"So someone born at this 'full yang' moment could save your mother if they were even bedridden?"

That question bewildered Ziling, and after thinking a bit, she nodded slightly, "It seems fate is not the same for everyone, to comply with the principle of the genesis and restraint of Yin and Yang, countering the changes of heaven and earth. Anyway, my great-grandmaster said it, so it must be correct. If you were truly bedridden, or if we couldn't find you at all, then it'd just be my mother's fate to be beyond help with no alternative."

As she spoke, tears spotted her eyes at the thought of her mother possibly failing to transcend the tribulation and being obliterated. Ziling was deeply worried.

Seeing Ziling cry so sadly, Situ Ping felt compassion and softened his tone, "Then tell me, if I go back and inform my parents, why would that make things impossible?"

Ziling explained, "I heard from my father that he is a Sword Immortal from the Emei Sect, and your mother is a Sword Immortal from the Wutai Sect. The enmity between Emei and Wutai is as deep as the ocean. If your mother learns of this, she will definitely not allow you to save my mother."

Situ Ping was stunned for a moment and then burst out laughing, "You say my mother is a Sword Immortal? A Sword Immortal from the Wutai Sect? Hahaha, my mother is just a tofu seller! She can't wield a sword. She's skilled in grinding beans and soaking soybeans—for discipline, she's handy with a feather duster, but let's drop the Sword Immortal bit. I've never seen a treasure sword at home all my life. If there were a treasure sword, I'd have taken it out to make my mark in the Jianghu by now!"

Deep down, Situ Ping had a dream of martial heroes, admiring the great heroes of Jiangnan hugely and fantasizing more than once about wielding a sword around the world, taking from the rich to give to the poor, eradicating evil, and relishing chivalrous rivalries...

Unfortunately, although his parents taught him some breathing exercises for health cultivation, he was still a scholar without any strength.

Watching him react like this, Ziling suddenly flipped her hand, and the table in front of them floated up and then flew.

Situ Ping watched in amazement: "Is this a trick or real Immortal Technique?"

He reached out, moving his arm above, below, in front, and behind the table to see if something was pulling it.

Of course, there was nothing.

Ziling pointed her finger, and Situ Ping lifted off the ground.

He flailed his arms, stumbling back and forth, nearly falling, but of course, he didn't fall. Even if he flipped over head to feet, he remained suspended a couple of feet above the ground.

"Heavens, I'm really floating!" Situ Ping exclaimed excitedly, "Is everything you said true? Is your father really a Sword Immortal? Is your mother really a fox spirit?"

All was fine until he blurted out "fox spirit", and Ziling's face immediately changed color. She quickly retracted her Immortal Technique, sending Situ Ping crashing to the ground, then turned away, huffing angrily.

Situ Ping, rubbing his backside, got up and approached her, "Are you really a Sword Immortal? Can you release a Flying Sword? Just like the legends say, with a flick of your finger, a flying sword shoots out to vanquish demons from a hundred steps away?"

Ziling flicked her hand, and a streak of purple sword light shot out, cutting a piece of wood in the yard clean through, then returning to her body.

"Wow!" Situ Ping hurried to the yard to inspect the cleanly sliced wood, then came back to stare at Ziling's hand, "That light just now flew into there—is that really a Flying Sword?"

Seeing Situ Ping like this, Ziling sighed helplessly, "I've told you the truth; the Emei Sect is a Righteous Sect, and the Wutai Sect is an Evil Sect. In the end, you need to turn from evil to good.

The task of helping my mother overcome the tribulation is your chance to join the Emei Sect. Not only that... I... My great-grandmaster, he said... He said... we two..."

She was trying to speak about their predestined marriage but was too shy to continue.

Situ Ping, completely guileless, asked, "What about us two? What did your great-grandmaster say? Could it be...?"

He seemed to have realized something and began exclaiming in shock.

Ziling thought he'd guessed and her face turned crimson, and again she turned her back.

Situ Ping said, "Isn't that bad?"

Ziling spoke with profound sadness, "But if Master Ancestor says it's the decree of fate, what can we do?"

Situ Ping also felt distressed, "Why must this be deemed the decree of fate, why? Which heaven has decreed such a thing? It's utterly nonsensical!"

Seeing his reluctance, Ziling felt rather embarrassed and at a loss for words, "Do you think this matter is undesirable?"

"Of course it's undesirable!" Situ Ping angrily slammed the table, "No wonder some curse that thieving heaven; even such things are predestined, it's just too vile!"

Ziling felt a sense of injustice brewing within her. She turned around and challenged him, "What's wrong? Am I not good enough for you?"

Situ Ping was a bit flabbergasted, "You're stronger than me. You are a Sword Immortal now. And me? A scholar without the strength to truss a chicken. For me to duel with you, isn't that heaven just as thieving?"

"What?" Ziling felt there must be some misunderstanding, "What are you thinking? What did you say heaven has decreed?"

Situ Ping spoke earnestly, "It's about you representing the Emei Sect and me standing in for the Wutai Sect, and then the two of us having a swordfight! Think about it, I still have to save your mother—that makes me your family's benefactor. To have this benefactor duel with you,

and for it to be deemed predestined, how much more nonsensical can heaven be? Moreover, I'm certainly no match for you. In the end, I'll be killed by your sword, and I certainly won't survive, leaving you with the infamy of slaying your benefactor.

Ah, this story spun by thieving heaven is indeed complex and moving, but to decree such a thing is truly abhorrent!"

Ziling was stunned by the scenario he had conjured up. She couldn't fathom how the boy could imagine such things.

"You representing Wutai Sect? Me representing the Emei Sect? The two of us having a swordfight to the death?"

"Exactly, that's what the books say," Situ Ping explained seriously, "The Emei Sect and the Wutai Sect have been warring for a century, generations after generations locked in mortal combat. Now, in our generation, only you and I, the most outstanding disciples,

remain. Originally, you came to kill me, but as it happens, I am the life-saving predestined person for your mother. Then you come to ask me to save your mother, and after I do, you were to pledge yourself to me, but the vendetta must also be avenged.

The two of us would fight a world-shaking duel to end the hundred-year strife between the two sects. Eventually, you would kill me, leaving yourself unhappy, living with regret for the rest of your life, never marrying, dying consumed by melancholy."

Ziling could hardly keep from laughing and crying; all the books she read in Purple Valley were the Scripture Collection Secret Manuals—she had never read such storytelling and couldn't imagine how Situ Ping came up with such a tale.

But when she heard Situ Ping mention the pledge, she was inwardly moved.

"Is that not how it is?" Situ Ping noticed her reaction was off.

"Of course not!" Ziling corrected him, "From the first generation of elders, the Emei Sect has a thousand-year heritage, and the Wutai Sect has existed since the Song Dynasty. Both sects have countless esteemed individuals.

Sixty years ago, the first swordfight at Emei Mountain took place. The Wutai Sect's Mixed Yuan Ancestor had an arm cut off by Emei Sect's Sect Leader Master Qi, and he, not admitting defeat, proposed another duel in ten years..."

Ziling briefly recounted the feud between the two sects to Situ Ping, "How much Dao Level do you and I possess to represent the two great sects in resolving their grudges? Such talk must never be mentioned again, or else people would laugh their teeth off at you."

"Is that so?" Situ Ping scratched his head, "Then, according to you, our sects do indeed have a deep-seated hatred, so how can I help your mother with her tribulation? Wouldn't that make me a traitor to my own sect?"

Ziling patiently explained to him, "This isn't considered betrayal; it's abandoning the dark and seeking the light! Although the Wutai Sect is somewhat better than those Evil Demons and Outcasts, there's still a large gang of scum among them. Some ripped open the bellies of pregnant women bearing life to refine swords.

Others captured children this big, killed them with Evil Skills, and used their souls to refine swords. Except for the few who know restraint, the rest are monsters and scum that deserve death!"

After a slight pause, she continued, "Moreover, although my father is a true master from the Emei Sect's lineage, I have yet to formally join the sect. My grandmaster mentioned that I also have a twin sister, who also shares... a marital destiny with you.

Only after helping my mother through her tribulation, will the three of us join the Emei Sect together. My thought is, the Emei Sect's teachings are strict. Especially in ascending to the Heavenly Immortal Position and the Ascension to Immortal Realm, one must enter the path as a virgin.

In the future, although we three will be known as husband and wife, it will only be in name. Led by affection but restrained by etiquette, we will assist each other in good deeds as knowledgeable companions, then cultivate together to become Heavenly Immortals and ascend to the Immortal Realm together. I wonder, would you agree to this?"

Situ Ping felt as if he were dreaming, struggling to accept this reality, "Wait a minute, give me some time to process this."

He stood up and walked outside. Ziling called out from behind, "No matter what, please don't tell your parents. If you do, I'm afraid our fate will be completely severed!"

Situ Ping seemed not to hear and walked home in a daze. Looking at his parents picking beans, who appeared nothing like the legendary sword immortals he envisioned, similar to Ziling with their Flying Swords at the ready.

Situ Xingming and Jiang San Auntie had surmised big events were about to unfold these past days and were filled with anxiety, not noticing the change in their son's demeanor for the moment.

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