Chapter 129: Disciple Meets Grand-Master, One-on-One Master Guidance!
〜Type-Moon World, Carnival Phantasm Worldline〜
"Splendid, truly splendid."
In the Emiya household, Sasaki Kojirō slowly clapped by the hearth, the admiration in his eyes completely undisguised.
Six flying swords... an ordinary person might spend their entire life unable to hone even one sword to such a degree, yet this young man Yanqing could simultaneously control six. Calling him "exceptionally gifted" was no exaggeration.
"Assassin, can't you deal with his flying swords?"
Emiya Shirou asked skeptically. In his memory, the only ones who truly understood the sword were he and Saber.
"If it were just one or two of them, I might stand a chance..."
Sasaki Kojirō gently shook his head.
"If it's six, I'm afraid I would need to act alongside Saber just to secure a sliver of survival."
"Seriously? That's too exaggerated."
Shirou looked incredulously at Saber, but when he turned his head, he realized cold sweat was already tracing a path down the beautiful girl's chin.
It wasn't Yanqing's swordsmanship that made her sweat profusely, but the white-haired woman standing in front of him, her eyes covered by a black veil...
It was Jingliu!!
—
「 "Thank you for your assistance, young man." Jingliu slightly turned her head. Although she was offering thanks, her cold tone conveyed little actual gratitude.
"Just doing my job. The port has been sealed off. Why are you here alone?"
"I came with a merchant ship. The shadows of old friends have returned to my thoughts of late... I came to reunite with them and relive old times... Who would have imagined the Luofu could become such a dangerous place?"
"Then you've arrived at a bad time. Something unexpected happened in Xianzhou. But the General will resolve it. Come on, you can't stay here. We need to go to the nearest Cloud Knight outpost." Yanqing suddenly remembered something.
"Oh, right, have you seen a long-haired man in black—"
Before he finished speaking, Jingliu had already turned around, and Yanqing's words abruptly stopped—he saw the black veil covering the woman's eyes.
"You... you can't see? Apologies, I thought..." Yanqing was momentarily embarrassed. He quickly introduced himself: "My name is Yanqing, and I am a formally registered Cloud Knight soldier. May I ask for your name, big sister?"
"I am Jingliu."
"Uh... Sister Jingliu, I'll lead you for a while. We might have to take a detour, but I promise to safely deliver you to the Cloud Knights."
Along the way, Yanqing asked Jingliu many questions, such as where she was from and how long it had been since she last visited Xianzhou. However, Jingliu remained aloof and distant. Aside from learning she was from Cangcheng, he couldn't elicit any other information. 」
「 .....」
〜Dragon Raja World〜
Japan, on the outskirts of Shinjuku Ward, inside a cheap capsule hotel, Caesar, Lu Mingfei, and Chu Zihang finally had a rare chance to meet up.
"You need skill when talking to women, especially when trying to coax information out of them. Details are crucial."
Watching Yanqing's clumsy, completely unsubtle attempts to fish for information, Caesar just shook his head.
"Asking a beautiful woman where she's from, where she's going... sigh. I stopped asking those kinds of questions when I was eight,"
Caesar said.
"Questions with too strong a purpose are easily guarded against. They need to be subtly integrated into the conversation."
"Hey, hey, hey! Boss, can we skip mentioning your elementary school love life right now? Just watch the beauty, focus on the appreciation!"
"The Headmaster said we should properly study her swordsmanship. Maybe they'll add a 'Jingliu Swordsmanship' course next semester, and we won't get credits if we fail,"
Chu Zihang said.
"But now is indeed a good time to study."
"A good time? Sorry, I can't concentrate right now."
Caesar's eyes were slightly glazed over.
As he spoke, the camera cut perfectly to Jingliu's lower body. Beneath the light-colored, petal-shaped pleated skirt, two thighs as white as solidified fat made one's eyes blur.
"Boss, staring intently at a girl's thighs is not gentlemanly behavior! Keep looking, and the reputation of the Gattuso family will be ruined!"
"The Gattuso reputation has nothing to do with this. According to our family tradition, I should continue watching. If it were my stud father, he would probably be biting a rose and inviting Jingliu for late-night swordsmanship instruction."
Caesar raised his eyebrows.
"Besides, don't you guys agree? This is the part that requires the most appreciation."
—
「 Yanqing and Jingliu hurried toward the ferry, but the only path was blocked by a Disciple of Sanctus Medicus.
He instructed Jingliu to stay put and not move while he went to deal with it.
The Disciple of Sanctus Medicus was not difficult to handle, but their clear consciousness made Yanqing's expression solemn.
"Where did these guys come from? Huh, the general was right — there's a threat lurking on the Xianzhou itself." Yanqing sighed worriedly.
At that moment, Jingliu suddenly spoke up from the side: "You are quite the swordmaster, young man."
"Huh? You... you saw that?" Yanqing was stunned.
"I heard it. A sword whistles through the air and rings out upon contacting the enemy ... Whilst invisible to the eye, such signals reveal the quality of one's swordplay."
"It's like a musician listening to the zither, or a poet listening to rhythm. Amidst the changes and flow of sword moves, a skilled swordsman will never leave behind sluggish dissonance. To control six flying swords simultaneously in a single breath, Cloud Knights with such ability must be few and far between."
Yanqing was momentarily embarrassed by the praise. He scratched his head: "Uh, haha, you flatter me."
"However, you focus solely on aggressive offense, not knowing how to conceal your edge..." Jingliu paused.
"...which causes your sword's song to become somewhat mumbled at the end."
"...It seems music and swordsmanship truly do share similarities. The General also made a similar comment, saying my sword is brimming with spirit, too sharp-edged, and lacks a measure of maturity if I wish to claim the title of 'Sword Champion'..."
"'Sword Champion'. I recall that it is the title for the Cloud Knight soldier whose swordsmanship has reached its peak. It's too distant..." Jingliu's gaze shifted from the distant sea of clouds back to the sword in Yanqing's hand.
"Speaking of which, the martial arts of the Cloud Knights each have their own lineage. Young man, who instructed you in your swordsmanship?"
When mentioning his master, Yanqing seemed a little proud. He lifted his head and smiled slightly: "Since Sister is an appreciator of the sword, I won't keep you guessing. My master is none other than General Jing Yuan of the Luofu." 」
「 .....」
〜Genshin Impact World〜
"That's the grand-disciple meeting the grand-master... Tsk tsk, if I were Jing Yuan, just thinking about it would be stressful."
Just imagining the scene made Hu Tao sweat profusely:
"If the grand-master isn't satisfied with the disciple I trained, will she come personally to chastise me?"
"How could that be? The Director is overthinking things,"
Zhongli chuckled.
"With a supremely talented junior in the lineage, Jingliu would likely be too busy cherishing him, wouldn't she?"
—