CHAPTER 317: CHAPTER 315: THE OWNER

"From now on, you are not only my Sword Master but also my feeder."

The man’s voice still seemed to linger by her ears as Ming Shuiyun walked on the campus avenue, illuminated by streetlights, momentarily feeling a bit dazed.

"Wow, Shuiyun, are you okay?!"

A petite girl in blue bunny pajamas was sitting on a bench by the roadside. She was startled upon seeing Ming Shuiyun and immediately ran over: "Why are you covered in blood? Do you need to see the Medical Officer?"

"I... I’m fine, the blood on my body isn’t mine." Ming Shuiyun shook her head, "Thank you, Qingyun."

"It’s already quite late now, and the dorm stops the hot water at 11 PM, you should quickly head back for a shower." Ming Qingyun carefully looked over Shuiyun, relieved to see she wasn’t harmed: "Did your sword sheath get into a fight with Sister Shuangli’s mad dog?"

"Yeah." Ming Shuiyun didn’t want to elaborate and changed the subject: "Why are you sitting outside, Qingyun?"

"I just finished washing my hair, using the ironing board couldn’t get it dry, and it’s so cool outside, so I came out to watch the stars." Ming Qingyun glanced at the brightly lit dormitory building behind her: "Besides, it’s noisy in there."

"What?"

"Nothing." Ming Qingyun stretched lazily, "This is a safe zone anyway, I prefer being alone quietly like this, Shuiyun, you should go back, the room is on the third floor, room A."

"Okay." Ming Shuiyun took a couple of steps, suddenly remembered something, and went back to grab Ming Qingyun’s right hand.

A lazily cloud-like mark appeared on the back of Ming Qingyun’s hand.

"You joined too?" Ming Shuiyun asked in surprise.

"Well, I planned to participate from the start, exiting halfway through would be too dull."

The pajama girl yawned lazily: "And even if what Sister Shuangli says sounds nice, those who quit initially are certainly less respectable than those who quit later on."

She pointed to the mark on her hand: "This game has winners and losers, but the stakes aren’t about winning or losing. This is our stake—rather than giving up on it initially, it’s better to hold onto it."

"As time goes by, the value of these stakes will only increase, and we opportunistic onlookers will gain more and more."

Ming Shuiyun was surprised: "I didn’t see you and Chaoyan earlier, I thought you two really gave up... Moreover, you aren’t too obsessed with seeking the sword and the throne."

"Indeed, though Chaoyan and I are different, we’re both people who prefer living peacefully." Ming Qingyun chuckled, "Thanks to Sister Shuangli’s mad dog going rabid and driving you all away, no one was near the Holy Sword Radiance, so Chaoyan and I easily got the oath mark, made the contract with our sword sheath, and came back for a bath."

Ming Shuiyun couldn’t help feeling a bit dispirited. The oath ceremony they worked hard to complete, others managed to pass easily by seizing an opportunity. It’s like paying full price for a new game only to see it given away for free on a different platform the next day... Sensing her sister’s discontent, Ming Qingyun smiled and said:

"But both our sword sheaths, like us, aren’t keen about winning, otherwise they wouldn’t have refrained from acting earlier; they might already be considering how to persuade us to ally with Sister Shuangli... What about your sword sheath, Shuiyun? Is he someone you can trust?"

Ming Shuiyun was slightly startled, suddenly shivered, and the wound on her neck seemed to start aching faintly again: "I... I don’t know."

"I’ve already become a bettor instead of a contestant; Shuiyun, tell me honestly, would your sword sheath help you achieve victory?" Ming Qingyun stretched and curiously asked, "If you intend to compete for the throne, I should curry favor with you early and place my bets ahead of time..."

"I don’t know!"

An awkward silence began to spread, with screams faintly heard from the dormitory building in the distance.

"You look a bit unwell." Ming Qingyun said, "Go back and take a hot bath, I’ll sit here a while longer."

"Okay... I’m sorry."

"No need, I asked too many questions." Ming Qingyun smiled, "But if you need someone to confide any secrets, you can always come to me, I can keep my lips sealed tightly."

She mimicked a zipper motion, raised an eyebrow.

Ming Shuiyun nodded gratefully, about to turn away when she heard Ming Qingyun say again:

"Don’t trust your sword sheath too much, whether they’re good or evil. We see them as tools to win, so why wouldn’t they see us as means to fulfill their ambitions? They may not betray, but that doesn’t mean they have feelings for us."

Ming Shuiyun paused slightly, then continued walking into the dormitory building.

Upon reaching the third floor, Ming Shuiyun heard a commotion. The bright light from room A seeped through the cracks of the window and door, giving her a vague premonition. She pulled out her key to open the door.

"—Dailan, you actually ambushed me!"

"That was Sister Shuangli’s throw! It has nothing to do with me!"

"It’s not my fault! Let’s team up against Taolang first, she throws really hard!"

"Come! Watch me take on both of you!"

What met Ming Shuiyun’s eyes was a chaotic pillow fight in the girls’ dormitory.

The scene was extremely lively, with several nominal Imperial Family princesses and the next candidates for emperor engaging in a no-holds-barred battle with the dormitory’s ultimate single combat weapon—the pillow. Each side employed diverse tactics, sometimes forming alliances and sometimes coordinating focused attacks, sometimes engaging in guerrilla operations, and sometimes launching coordinated assaults—a nutshell description would be a chaotic scramble.

"Lively, isn’t it?"

As Ming Shuiyun stood dumbfounded, the bathroom door next to her opened, and Ming Yueyan came out drying her hair with a towel. With eyes adorned by dark circles, she glanced at the dormitory battle and remarked: "If the sword sheaths saw their Sword Masters fighting like this, would they give up on the sword-seeking competition in disillusionment?"

"Why, why?" Ming Shuiyun pointed at them, asking in bewilderment.

"Well, Taolang and Dailan came back all filthy, not much better than you." Ming Yueyan glanced at Ming Shuiyun’s ’battlefield Valkyrie skin,’ saying: "Then they noticed that Sister Shuangli had already returned, bathed, and was lying on her bed reading, which made them mad. After they finished bathing, they both confronted Sister Shuangli."

"New grudges mixed with old ones, understandable, isn’t it? Being chased all night by Sister Shuangli’s sword sheath, then seeing Sister Shuangli gloating upon return, it’s natural to be angry, but here is a safe zone, so tossing pillows is the only option."

Ming Yueyan gestured a ’please’ motion: "Shuiyun, do you want to join the fight? You don’t even need a pillow, just hugging them would make them cry and beg you not to come any closer."

Ming Shuiyun looked at her own bloody clothes, shook her head: "I have no such sadistic pleasures... What I’m asking is, why are they here?"

"Of course they are here." Ming Yueyan said: "This is their dorm room."

"But it’s also my dorm room..." Ming Shuiyun looked at her dormitory key, "Could it be...?"

"Come to think of it, you didn’t seem to have come to the dorm during the day to arrange your luggage." Ming Yueyan suddenly realized, "No wonder you didn’t know—"

"The seven of us are all staying in the same eight-person dorm, and for the next six months, we will be scheming against each other during the day and still plotting at night in the dorm. How about it, isn’t it exciting and surprising?"

Perhaps faced with too many unexpected situations tonight, Ming Shuiyun wasn’t particularly surprised, just sighed: "This arrangement is way too weird..."

"It might be to encourage us to figure out how to eliminate competitors in the safe zone? I’m even suspecting there might be a dormitory locked-room murder case a few days later."

Ming Yueyan, drying her hair, said, "By the way, the book Sister Shuangli was reading just now is Song Tixing’s latest, ’Innocence Record: Northern Train Murder Case.’ I suggest you buy a few murder novels to enrich yourself too. Even if you don’t learn how to commit murder, at least learn how to leave clues."

Song Tixing is a well-known bestselling author of murder novels. Although the murder novel genre doesn’t have a large audience, its readers are extremely loyal. ’Innocence Record’ has been a bestseller for over twenty years, and Ming Shuiyun once even watched a play adapted from it.

Ming Yueyan’s perfectly timed sarcastic remarks sometimes leave Ming Shuiyun unsure whether she’s giving genuine advice or joking. Ming Shuiyun found her bunk, organized her luggage, took out some clothes for changing, and was preparing to take a shower when a voice greeted her from the next bed.

"Shuiyun, are you hurt?"

Ming Chaoyan, who was dozing off with drooping eyelids, propped herself up, saying, "I know a little Scenic Battle Technique..."

"No, I’m not hurt."

Noticing that Ming Shuangli and the others were staring at her, Ming Shuiyun had to shake her bloodstained clothes and explain, "None of the blood on me is mine."

Ming Shuangli suddenly twitched her nose and sniffed seriously, "Hmm... some of it is Niruo’s blood."

"Really?!" Ming Taolang was shocked. "Sister Shuangli, you can actually tell the difference between blood by smelling it?"

"Of course!" Ming Shuangli said with her hands on her hips. "Different people’s blood is definitely different!"

Ming Dailan stopped throwing her pillow. "Really? What’s different about it?"

Ming Shuangli coughed and said seriously, "For instance, the blood of smelly men is surely fishy and stinky, but the blood of us charming young ladies is as sweet as fine wine and as refreshing as floral tea—"

"Really!" Ming Taolang opened her mouth over her arm. "Let me try—"

"Don’t!"

A new round of chaos began, and thus, no one noticed the momentary paleness on Ming Shuiyun’s face.

Ming Chaoyan rubbed her eyes and, like a log, fell back onto her bed, hugging a Sword Master plushie. "Since Shuiyun is okay, I’ll go back to sleep then..."

"Yes, you continue to sleep," Ming Shuiyun laughed. The Chaoyan household is very strict, and being young, she’s usually supposed to be in bed by nine o’clock, which explains why she can sleep soundly in such a noisy environment.

Holding her clothes and towel, Ming Shuiyun went into the bathroom and slowly undressed. Having been soaked in blood for too long, in the heat of Great Xia, she’d only worn thin, breathable clothes, so they almost clung to her skin, with the blood still retaining some warmth.

After taking off all her clothes and turning on the shower, the warm water cascaded over Ming Shuiyun, streaming through her hair, coursing over her collarbone, down her back, crossing over her curves, and along her long legs, washing away all her tiredness and filth.

In the narrow bathroom, away from her clothing and burdens of comfort, listening to the rushing water, Ming Shuiyun could finally quiet her mind and contemplate what had just happened.

She reached out to touch the wound on her neck. It was two puncture marks from teeth, with no blood, seemingly having already stopped bleeding and healed. Perhaps by tomorrow, it would be restored as normal.

But she would not forget, just moments ago, in the desolate outskirts of Wanxiang Forest, that red-haired man had clung to her, bitten her neck, pierced two holes, and sucked her blood.

Throughout the ordeal, she was stunned and passive, completely unaware of what was happening. Until after he finished his feeding, he licked the wound and whispered in her ear:

"My first wish is for you to become my provider."

"No matter the time or place, as long as I have need, you shall provide your blood to me as you did now. This is the symbiotic sin between us. You need me to fight for you, and I need you to be my... food."

"If you can become the new emperor, perhaps you can end our symbiosis, or perhaps... you won’t, but you can give it a try."

"From now on, you are both my Sword Master and my provider."

Recalling that dreamy scene, Ming Shuiyun couldn’t help but shiver. She couldn’t understand why things had turned out this way, why her scabbard would suck blood, why their relationship had become so bizarre, why she had to be chosen...

"They cannot betray, but that doesn’t mean they have affection for us."

"The blood of we charming young ladies is as sweet as fine wine and as refreshing as floral tea—"

The words from earlier echoed in her mind, and Ming Shuiyun slowly crouched down, hugging her legs, letting the water flow freely over her body. This strong, beautiful girl finally collapsed under the strains of her shattered worldview, showing a bewildered expression:

"Is this a nightmare, or..."

"A beautiful dream?"

...

...

"Good, she probably thinks I’m just an ordinary blood-sucking weirdo now."

After his shower, Leyu checked himself in the mirror and found his injuries were almost healed.

"Is fresh extract really better than mixed juice?" Leyu was a bit surprised. He had only taken a little blood from Ming Shuiyun, about 200cc—any more, and he was afraid she’d get weak or it would be that time of the month.

Injuries that could only be eased by drinking an entire bottle of red juice were healed completely with just 200cc of fresh blood. Could it be that the fresher the blood bottle, the better the effect?

No, Leyu quickly dismissed this notion. The blood itself didn’t have healing properties; it was the act of ’blood-sucking’ that triggered the passive effect of the Blood Drinking Yada Ryuu, which automatically guided his Spiritual Power to heal the wounds.

Following this logic, it must have been Leyu’s flamboyant blood-sucking ritual that allowed the passive effect to have such an exaggerated performance. If drinking a blood bottle could only trigger 50% healing effect, then Leyu’s attack on the beautiful girl in Moonlit Forest probably boosted it to 1000%, with Spiritual Power singing songs of praise for Leyu’s perverted actions.

Although Leyu discovered the small blood-sucking trick of Blood Drinking Yada Ryuu, he had no intention of using this secret. His blood-sucking was only to scare Ming Shuiyun, not because he had a proclivity for it.

Fortunately, Blood Drinking Yada Ryuu really has assisted blood-sucking skills, such as temporarily generating two sharp light explosion teeth; otherwise, Leyu wouldn’t know how to poke two holes in Ming Shuiyun’s neck.

After such a scare, Ming Shuiyun was sure to be both frightened and wary of Leyu, but in order to seek the sword and vie for the throne, she would have to submit and listen to his orders.

The thought of his Sword Master both fearing and resenting him, yet being obliged to heed his words, brought Leyu immense satisfaction—don’t get it wrong, Leyu isn’t a psychopath; this is the pleasure of the proletariat successfully resisting the ruling class, a justified feeling.

In any case, Leyu needn’t worry about the Sword Master developing any romantic notions towards him.

Qing Lan, steady.

With internal issues settled, Leyu also needed to address external threats.

He sat at his desk, picked up the lesson plan personally written by Qin Yueyang, and began preparing for his first class—

Main Title: "The Fall of Silver Blood"

Subtitle: "On the Study of Zhengwei-ism"