Chapter 337: The thousand dao city 7.

"Ji Ruyan. One of the senior disciples of Battle Maiden Sect."

Mo Yuxin glanced at the spear.

"Do you use that?"

Ruyan nodded.

"Most of the time."

"Good weapon?"

"Good enough."

Mo Yuxin smiled slightly. That answer was honest. Su Yubing noticed something else. Ruyan’s hand had a small bandage around two fingers.

"Injured?"

Ruyan looked at her hand.

"Training accident."

Qinghe immediately said, "She has been overtraining again." Ruyan frowned.

"I am fine."

Shuyue looked at her.

"You always say that."

Ruyan fell silent. Su Yubing smiled. The dynamic was familiar. Strong person refusing to admit they were tired. Friends seeing through it. Mo Yuxin understood that very well. They talked for several hours. Ruyan explained that she had been training younger disciples because their sect had lost several instructors. She had also been helping with supply issues. She was exhausted. But she did not complain. She spoke of the sect with pride.

"Battle Maiden Sect has existed for a very long time. We have never depended on being liked."

Su Yubing nodded.

"That is a good principle."

Ruyan looked at her.

"Some people think it is stubbornness."

"Sometimes strength looks like stubbornness from the outside."

Ruyan smiled for the first time.

"You speak like someone who has seen it before."

Mo Yuxin answered, "She usually is right." Su Yubing glanced at her.

"Usually?" ℯ

"Always."

Ruyan looked at the two of them. Then laughed quietly. Qinghe pointed at them.

"See? I told you they are strange."

Shuyue nodded.

"They are."

Mo Yuxin did not mind. Su Yubing leaned against her shoulder. The four women continued drinking tea. For the first time since entering Thousand Dao City, Mo Yuxin felt that their visit was becoming more than tourism. Not because she wanted to become involved. But because she had met people she respected. That changed things. Over the next few days, Ruyan joined them occasionally. She showed them a less crowded training district. Su Yubing showed her a pastry shop. Mo Yuxin challenged her to a friendly spear and sword exercise, though she kept her strength at an extremely small fraction of what she could actually use. Ruyan still realized something was wrong. She could not explain it.

Mo Yuxin barely moved. She did not need to. Every time Ruyan adjusted her stance, Mo Yuxin already knew where the attack would go. At the end, Ruyan stood breathing hard while Mo Yuxin looked perfectly relaxed. Ruyan lowered her spear.

"You are strange."

Mo Yuxin nodded.

"I hear that often."

Su Yubing smiled from nearby. Ruyan looked at her.

"How does she always look so calm?"

Su Yubing replied, "She is only calm because I am here." Mo Yuxin nodded.

"Correct."

Ruyan shook her head.

"You two really are something else."

That afternoon, they sat together under a tree while Ruyan told them about the Battle Maiden Sect’s history. It had been founded in the Southern Continent by cultivators who came from the Central Continent generations earlier. The original sect had been built around martial cultivation and the belief that women should have the same right to control their own cultivation future as anyone else. At first, it had been small. Then it had grown. The sect had eventually become one of the major forces in the Southern Continent. Its strongest era had produced several Soul Formation and higher-level cultivators. But over time, its alliances weakened. Some elders retired. Some territories were lost. Several affiliated families switched sides.

The Central Continent branch remained powerful, but distance made direct assistance difficult. Ruyan said it without bitterness.

"We cannot rely on our branch forever."

Mo Yuxin looked at her. There was something admirable about that sentence. She had never thought much about the branch in the Central Continent, because she knew far more about it than almost anyone in the Southern Continent did. But she did not reveal anything. Not yet. Su Yubing asked, "What do you want for your sect?" Ruyan thought.

"To stand on our own again."

"That is ambitious."

"It is necessary."

Su Yubing smiled.

"I think you will."

Ruyan looked at her. For some reason, those simple words meant more than they should have. She nodded.

"Thank you."

Mo Yuxin quietly held Su Yubing’s hand. She knew her wife had already decided that if things became serious, they would help. Mo Yuxin did not mind. She trusted Su Yubing’s heart. Not everyone in Thousand Dao City was hostile toward the Battle Maiden Sect. That became clear over time. At a large public gathering, Mo Yuxin met several Heavenly Sword disciples who spoke respectfully about the Battle Maiden fighters. One elderly sword cultivator openly said that several of his best sparring partners had come from the Battle Maiden Sect. A Purple Heaven Valley elder complained that the current political situation was making medicine distribution unnecessarily difficult. Several Nine Heavens Academy professors continued to invite Battle Maiden students to lectures.

The city itself remained neutral. The problem was that some powerful people were exploiting that neutrality. They wanted the Battle Maiden Sect to have fewer resources without appearing to attack them directly. It was subtle enough that most people did not see a pattern. Mo Yuxin did. She had spent too long studying large organizations not to recognize coordinated pressure. Su Yubing noticed the same thing. Their nightly conversations slowly changed from what restaurant they would visit the next morning to what they thought about the city. One night, Su Yubing sat on the balcony while Mo Yuxin rested her head against her thigh. The city glittered below them. Countless formation lights moved along the roads.

Flying boats traveled between towers. The central sect districts glowed like another world. Su Yubing gently played with Mo Yuxin’s hair.

"What are you thinking?"

Mo Yuxin answered, "How long we should stay."

"Do you want to leave?"

"Not yet."

"Why?"

Mo Yuxin opened her eyes.

"I like the city."

Su Yubing smiled.

"Only the city?"

"No."

"Then?"

"I like the people we met."

"Qinghe?"

"And Shuyue."

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TO BE CONTINUED.