Chapter 8: The child’s sword.

Chapter 8: Chapter 8: The child’s sword.

Yue’er stared angrily, her cheeks were still puffed, and the dissatisfaction in her eyes had not diminished in the slightest.

She didn’t like it.

She didn’t like the way everyone was looking at her as though she had merely imagined everything and fabricated what she saw. She knew what she had seen, and she knew they were real.

From the sword, the clouds, and the figure standing upon it. And most importantly, she strangely enough remembered the movements for the technique.

It was strange that she was able to remember it, but her childish mind had not yet been able to comprehend the situation.

Her tiny fingers tightened around the doll, and for a moment, she remained silent.

Then, as though she had finally made up her mind, Yue’er suddenly lifted her head up. She didn’t say anything anymore.

Instead, she grumpily turned around and took several small steps away from the elders.

Her cheeks were still puffed, and there was an unmistakable trace of annoyance in the way she moved. Chen Haoran noticed the sudden movements made by her and watched her in confusion.

"Yue’er?"

The little girl ignored him completely. She stopped several steps away in front of the elders and her father. She lowered her head, and her attention turned toward the small wooden stick she had hidden inside her clothes.

Her hand slipped into her pocket under everyone’s eyes. A moment later, she pulled it out.

It was nothing more than a small wooden stick, roughly the length of her arm. Its surface was uneven in several places, and there were faint scratches scattered across the wood, indicating that it had been used many times before.

The elders blinked. Even her father couldn’t help but smile wryly.

"Yue’er..."

Chen Meilan paused, seemingly unsure whether she should even ask.

"Why do you have a stick hidden in your pocket?"

Yue’er didn’t answer. She simply tightened her grip around the stick and continued staring at it with a serious expression.

Chen Meilan’s lips twitched slightly, while Chen Haoran felt a little embarrassed at his daughter’s behavior.

The little girl had just finished describing an ancient sword technique supposedly left behind by an unknown ancestor, and now she had suddenly taken out a thin wooden stick in front of the entire clan’s elders.

For a moment, the elders couldn’t tell whether Yue’er was being stubborn or simply preparing to do something else that might be unexpected.

Then she slowly raised her head. She didn’t need to explain herself anymore, as they didn’t believe her. Since they won’t believe me, then I will show them.

Yue’er shifted her feet slightly. The wooden stick was held in both of her small hands as she adjusted her grip, trying to imitate the posture she had seen within the strange vision.

At first, the movements were clumsy as she tried imitating them. Her arms were too short, her stance was unstable, and the wooden stick was obviously nothing more than a child’s crude imitation of a sword.

The elders tried persuading her to stop, as nobody understood what she was doing. Chen Haoran’s faint smile gradually disappeared from his face as he, too, tried to persuade her.

"Yue’er."

But the little girl didn’t respond to his words. She simply took another small step, then another. Her left foot moved forward, and her right foot followed.

Her right shoulder slowly lowered, and the wooden stick was brought across her body. Nothing particularly impressive, and to the eyes of the elders, it looked almost like a child playing with a wooden sword.

She didn’t see it that way, and her eyes were entirely focused on the movements she remembered.

The hand, the sky, the heaven...

She repeated the words inside her mind as her breathing slowed down.

The sword, the wind, and the clouds...

She didn’t understand, but these words kept coming unbidden. So she tried. The wooden stick slowly rose, and her small body turned with it.

The second movement followed the first.

The third movement followed the second.

Her feet shifted across the polished stone floor, one small step at a time, as the wooden stick traced an unfamiliar path through the air. Yue’er’s breathing gradually became heavier, and her small chest rose and fell as she tried her best to keep up.

The wooden stick became an extension of her hands. She raised it slowly as her body turned. The stick swept the air around her body in a wide arc before she brought it above her head.

Then, she paused.

For the briefest moment, the entire hall became completely silent.

The elders watched her silently.

Chen Meilan was the first to speak.

"Yue’er, you don’t need to prove anything to us." Her tone remained gentle, but there was a trace of helplessness in it.

"Just put the stick away, alright?"

Yue’er ignored her. Chen Guanshan exchanged a glance with Chen Rong. The two elders had already begun to lose their patience.

Chen Rong sighed quietly.

"Perhaps we should stop this."

Chen Haoran’s expression also became slightly stern. He had been patient with Yue’er until now, but seeing her continue despite everyone’s attempts to persuade her was beginning to test his patience.

"Yue’er."

His voice was firmer this time.

"That’s enough of you."

The little girl still didn’t respond. Yue’er ignored her father; Yue’er ignored them all.

Then, under the elders’ increasingly puzzled expressions, she swung the stick downward.

Nothing.

There was nothing particularly powerful about the movement. It was simply a downward swing from the hands of a six-year-old girl.

Chen Haoran’s brows furrowed.

"Yue’er, what are you—"

He never finished.

BOOM!

A terrifying coercion suddenly erupted from Yue’er’s tiny body. The entire hall trembled, and Chen Haoran’s expression shifted almost immediately.

Like an invisible shockwave, the elders’ bodies subconsciously shuddered as an indescribable pressure swept through the hall with an invisible momentum.

The clan flags hanging from the pillars suddenly whipped violently as though caught in a powerful gale. The flames of the candles trembled wildly, and several of them nearly went out before flaring back to life.

The wooden furnishings creaked beneath the sudden pressure, while the loose edges of the scrolls and papers scattered across the nearby tables fluttered into the air.

No one expected this outcome, nor was it something they could immediately understand. The pressure struck the hall with such suddenness that several of the elders were caught completely off guard.

Chen Guanshan’s body lurched backward. His hand instinctively caught the edge of his seat as his feet scraped against the floor, preventing himself from falling.

The chair beneath his weight groaned under the sudden force, while the sleeve of his robe was thrown backward by the invisible force.

Chen Rong wasn’t as fortunate.

Her body was pushed against the back of her seat, and she hurriedly planted one hand against the armrest to steady herself. Her eyes widened as she stared at Yue’er, unable to comprehend what she was sensing from the tiny figure before them.

A bead of sweat rolled down along her temple. Then another, and within moments, the same cold sweat had begun to cling to the foreheads of the other elders.

Chen Meilan’s fingers tightened around the armrest, and her earlier gentleness had disappeared completely. She stared in horror at Yue’er with disbelief, her lips parting, but no words seemed to come out.

She was unable to understand what was happening.

Then Chen Haoran moved. His body rose from his seat, and his spiritual energy surged outward, gathering around his body without conscious thought.

"Yue’er!"

His spiritual energy stirred violently as he prepared to move forward toward her. But the little girl still didn’t answer, just as before.

She remained standing where she was, both hands wrapped around the wooden stick. Her small face had become strangely blank, as though she herself wasn’t aware of what was happening around her.

"Yue’er, wake up!"

The pressure continued to spread. The stone beneath Yue’er’s feet gave a faint tremor, and the commotion slowly seeped outside through the ground.

Chen Haoran’s spiritual energy surged another step, and he was ready to rush forward against the powerful coercion. He didn’t know what had happened to his daughter, but he would not simply stand there and watch.

Then—

The pressure vanished.

It disappeared so abruptly that the elders struggled to find their footing. The flags slowly fell still, the candles straightened, and the papers that had been suspended in the air dropped onto the floor.

The hall became quiet again, albeit in the messy state it was currently in.

Chen Haoran stood frozen, his spiritual energy remaining gathered around his body for another moment before he restrained it.

His eyes remained fixed upon Yue’er’s immature face as the little girl slowly escaped from the blank state.

She blinked one time, then another, and she looked down at the wooden stick in her hands as a faint cracking sound came from it.

Chen Haoran’s gaze shifted worriedly, and then, under everyone’s eyes—

CRACK.

Thin cracks had appeared across the surface of the stick as it began to crumble into pieces. The wood broke apart in Yue’er’s hands, its solid form collapsing into countless tiny fragments.

And those fragments continued breaking apart until nothing remained except a faint cloud of dust that drifted toward the floor.

Chen Haoran was perplexed, and the elders were shocked beyond belief.

No one spoke, except for the hard swallowing sounds of their breaths.

"Father?"

Her small lips moved as she looked at her empty hands.

The word was barely audible. Her vision collapsed rapidly as her body swayed.

"I feel... dizzy."

Chen Haoran’s expression changed instantly. He crossed the distance between them in an instant, catching her just as her legs gave way. Her little body fell limp against him.

"Yue’er?"

Chen Haoran’s expression from moments earlier was completely gone. Panic replaced it as he hurriedly checked her breathing and pulse.

His fingers pressed against her tiny wrist. A heartbeat was felt, weak but still there.

He immediately placed his palm against her back and carefully circulated his spiritual energy through her body, checking her meridians and internal condition.

His brows remained tightly furrowed as he searched for any sign of injury caused by the strange power that had erupted from her.

There was nothing. No damaged meridians, no signs of internal injuries, and nothing else that might indicate otherwise.

Instead—

"Her body is just exhausted?"

It was as though every ounce of strength in her body had been drained away. Chen Haoran finally released the breath he had been holding.

"She’s still breathing..."

There was relief in his voice. Quiet, but at the very least, she was safe.

He carefully adjusted Yue’er’s position in his arms, supporting her head against his shoulder. The little girl’s face was pale, and her small body remained completely limp.

"What happened to her, Patriarch?" Chen Meilan finally asked from the side, and Chen Haoran didn’t answer immediately.

He continued examining Yue’er for another moment before shaking his head.

"She overexerted herself, but I don’t know why it happened."

His gaze lowered toward his daughter.

"But it must’ve been related to the strange set of movements she performed just now. Her body simply couldn’t endure it and collapsed."

The explanation did little to ease the confusion in the hall. The elders remained where they were, staring at the spot where the wooden stick had disappeared.

Chen Guanshan’s hand slowly lowered from the edge of his seat. He looked at the fine wooden dust scattered across the floor, then toward Yue’er in Chen Haoran’s arms.

"She... was trying to prove that technique she claimed she saw, didn’t she?"

His expression was filled with disbelief. The same was true for Chen Rong.

She swallowed quietly, her eyes still fixed on the unconscious child.

"How can a child perform a technique without spiritual energy? That set of movements from before, and the strange coercion we felt. Could it be she was telling the truth? How many secrets is the Old Ancestor hiding from us?"

She referred to Chen Yuan by the Ancestor’s title directly, fearing that underestimating that old man might do them more harm than good.

Chen Meilan didn’t respond. She couldn’t. Her mind was still trying to make sense of what she had witnessed.

"The Old Ancestor had always been doing his own things for the past few decades. Perhaps it was our fault for not believing his words in the first place."

Chen Haoran’s attention, however, was no longer on the matter. He stood with Yue’er securely in his arms and turned toward the entrance.

"Get someone to prepare her room."

His voice was hurried, and a servant outside immediately answered.

"Yes, Patriarch."

Chen Haoran took several steps before stopping, and he glanced back at the elders behind him.

The sternness that had appeared on his face during the earlier discussion was nowhere to be seen. At this moment, he was simply a father concerned about his unconscious daughter.

"Do not do anything rash and continue with the discussion."

His gaze swept across them.

"As for..."

He paused and corrected the words he was about to say.

"As for Ancestor Chen Yuan. Let me handle it. I will be seeing the old man tonight to find out the truth."

The elders exchanged glances but remained silent. Chen Haoran didn’t wait for a response and hurried away out of the main hall, carrying Yue’er carefully in his arms as his footsteps gradually faded into the distance.