Chapter 343: Heartbreak
He adopted his perfect, hollow, melancholic mask, attempting to utilize the Sect Leader’s "Poker Face" to de-escalate the situation through polite, tragic nobility.
"Junior Brother Lu," Zechuan murmured softly, his hollow baritone echoing calmly in the courtyard. He offered a shallow, respectful bow. "Please, sheathe your hostility. You labor under a misconception. Martial Uncle Lin has inflicted no harm upon my soul."
Jianheng paused, his blazing eyes shifting to the Senior Apprentice. The sight of Zechuan actively stepping in to defend his "seducer" only fueled Jianheng’s righteous, jealous fury.
’He is already completely under the cook’s spell! The brainwashing is absolute!’
"Senior Brother Shen, you do not understand the danger you are in," Jianheng pleaded urgently, his tone softening slightly as he addressed the "victim." "His words are like honey, but his actions are binding. He will trap you and ruin your Dao heart. You must step away from him."
Zechuan tilted his head, his dark eyes radiating with sincerity. He wanted to clear the air and explain that Ji’an wasn’t a stranger, and that their bond was deep, and entirely unbreakable.
Unfortunately, Zechuan’s phrasing was incredibly poor.
"There is no danger, Junior Brother," Zechuan whispered gently, a soft, incredibly devoted, deeply nostalgic smile touching his lips as he looked over his shoulder at Ji’an.
He turned back to Jianheng, placing a hand over his own heart.
"We belong together. We have been together from the very start. Even when the world was dark, my soul has always belonged to Martial Uncle Ji’an. I willingly submit to whatever demands are made of me."
The silence that followed Zechuan’s heartfelt, misguided declaration was absolute.
For three seconds, not a single part of air moved in the glass courtyard.
Lin Ji’an stood behind Zechuan, her jaw unhinged, her eyes wide, staring at the back of the abyssal prodigy’s head in horror.
’Why did he phrase it like that?!’ Ji’an’s internal monologue shrieked, a cold sweat drenching her red robes. ’He made it sound like we are star-crossed lovers bound by destiny! He basically just announced we are eloping! He just confirmed every single one of the Sword Lord’s insane delusions!’
Lu Jianheng stood ten paces away.
The Sword Lord’s face went entirely blank.
All color drained from his cheeks, leaving him as pale as parchment. His eyes widened to an impossible circumference, the pupils contracting to pinpricks.
The fragile, repressed, incredibly confused dam holding back his emotional stability completely shattered into a million pieces of debris.
’They have been together from the start,’ Jianheng’s mind echoed, the words tearing through his sanity like a jagged blade. ’He submits to him. The cook has already conquered him. The flower thief has won.’
The jealousy, the raw heartbreak of realizing the boy he had secretly, embarrassingly obsessed over was romantically entangled with the tragic prince, completely overrode his orthodox discipline. He didn’t care about the tournament. He didn’t care about the rules. He only cared about destroying the source of his agony.
"LIN JI’AN!"
The roar that ripped from Lu Jianheng’s throat was not human. It was the sound of a wounded, enraged apex predator.
SHING!
The legendary blade Autumn Shine was drawn from its scabbard with lightning speed, the ringing steel echoing like a death knell. A blinding wave of pure, icy-blue sword aura erupted from Jianheng’s core, violently shattering the glass pillars surrounding the courtyard.
"I WILL SEVER YOUR MERIDIANS! I WILL PURGE YOUR CORRUPTION FROM THIS SECT! I WILL CHOP YOU INTO PIECES SO SMALL EVEN YOUR OWN WOK CANNOT HOLD THEM!"
Ji’an didn’t hesitate. She didn’t try to explain.
She turned on her heel, channeled every single ounce of her energy into her red leather boots, and sprinted in the opposite direction faster than she had ever run in her entire, two-life existence.
"HE IS CRAZY! THE SWORD LORD IS ACTUALLY INSANE! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!" Ji’an screamed, tearing through a translucent glass archway and diving into the labyrinth, her red robes snapping like a flag in a hurricane.
"COME BACK HERE, YOU DEGENERATE SEDUCER!" Jianheng bellowed, completely ignoring Zechuan, launching himself after Ji’an with the explosive speed of a fired arrow, his sword raised high.
What followed was the most ridiculous, high-stakes, slapstick comedic chase sequence in the history of the Official Sect Martial Tournament.
Ji’an tore through the pearlescent mist, utilizing her Wind-Step technique to vault over shifting glass walls, sliding under optical illusions, and frantically weaving through the narrow, reflective corridors.
"I DIDN’T SEDUCE HIM!" Ji’an shrieked over her shoulder, ducking as a massive, crescent-shaped wave of blue sword aura violently sheared the top off the glass wall she had just vaulted over, showering her in crystalline debris. "HE IS AN AIRHEAD! HE DOESN’T KNOW HOW TO USE WORDS PROPERLY! PLEASE, LU JIANHENG, PUT THE SWORD AWAY! WE CAN CALMLY SIT DOWN AND TALK ABOUT YOUR FEELINGS!"
"THERE IS NOTHING TO TALK ABOUT!" Jianheng roared, his face twisted into a mask of furious, tear-streaked rage, slashing his blade wildly, entirely destroying the carefully constructed architecture of the Middle Zone. "YOU BASTARD! YOU RUINED MY PEACE IN THE HERB GARDEN, AND NOW YOU HAVE RUINED THE SENIOR APPRENTICE! YOU ARE A WALKING PLAGUE UPON THE ORTHODOX WORLD!"
"IT WAS JUST ONE INCIDENT WITH A SPATULA! GET OVER IT ALREADY!"
Ji’an skidded around a sharp corner, her boots losing traction on the polished obsidian, causing her to crash hard into a solid glass barrier.
She scrambled to her feet, panting heavily, turning around to face the corridor. It was a dead end. She was trapped in a small, enclosed crystalline cul-de-sac.
Lu Jianheng rounded the corner, his blue robes billowing, his sword gleaming with lethal intent. He didn’t look like a noble peerless genius. He looked like a spurned, heartbroken, homicidal maniac.
He raised his sword, the Autumn Shine, high above his head with both hands, channeling a overwhelming amount of Golden Core Qi into the blade, preparing to unleash his ultimate, signature technique: The Severing of the Autumn Moon.
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