NEBM Chapter 4: The Ribbon

Shen Zhixian seriously tried to recall the content of the book.

In the book, the relevant matters about the original “Shen Zhixian” wasn’t written in detail. After all, he was only a cannon fodder that induced the protagonist to blacken. His biggest role was to torture Yan Jin and grind him into having a cold heart.

Where did the original heart ailment come from, and what exactly happened at that time?

…Not written.

Song Ming was not the most outstanding of their master’s disciples. Why did he end up being the sect leader?

…Not written.

Even the death of their master, the former sect leader of Qingyun Sect, was a mystery. Shen Zhixian clearly remembered that the former sect leader was in excellent condition. Once he retired into seclusion, a promotion would have been a sure thing.

Think carefully.

When reading a book, it was easy to read quickly and not use one’s brain. Now that he had transmigrated into a cannon fodder in the book, he wished he was the reincarnation of Sherlock Holmes.

Shen Zhixian pondered the matter and even slowed down for a moment.

Eh, it was still too hard to understand.

It was surely no coincidence that Yan Shan could become the original Shen Zhixian’s disciple. This was probably the result of Song Ming’s underhanded contributions. Nearly a year ago, it was Song Ming who said a few words at the Sword Competition Assembly and convinced the original owner to receive Yan Shen on the spot.

After Yan Shen became Yan Jin’s junior brother, he did not bully the latter outright.

Relying on the original owner’s acquiescence and his own carefully constructed image of a cheerful sunshine, he used the status of the original owner’s most beloved disciple to secretly pull many people to his side to create stumbling blocks for Yan Jin.

This time, the plot with the Hidden Sword Pavillion was a deep one. One couldn’t help but wonder whether Song Ming had a hand in this affair.

Most likely, he did. If not, then he probably knew the hidden details of the plot.

Shen Zhixian rubbed his eyebrows again, which was his usual action when thinking about difficult questions.

In the book, the original Shen Zhixian’s attitude toward Song Ming was neither cold nor warm. However, after seeing Song Ming this afternoon, he felt slightly uncomfortable. The more he thought about it seriously, the more he realized how inconsistent this behavior was, considering the factors involved.

Obviously, when Shen Zhixian was reading the novel, he didn’t pay much attention to this sect leader supporting role who was killed shortly after the original Shen Zhixian was strangled to death.

Eh?

How did Song Ming die?

…It seemed that the author didn’t write it.

The original owner had lost the position of sect leader due to his heart ailment, which gave Song Ming the opportunity to become the top person in power in the sect. Could it be that Song Ming was worried that he would one day heal his heart and take back the position, and so decided to guard against him secretly?

This wasn’t without reason.

However, now that the original owner was no longer present, the current Shen Zhixian just wanted to treat Yan Jin well to avoid a miserable end. He was not ambitious and had no intention of fighting for the sect leader position.

Shen Zhixian paused, identified a direction, and re-implemented the diversionary spell. Following the original person’s memory, he walked toward the Hidden Sword Pavilion.

Qingyun Sect was a sword sect. In order to encourage sect disciples to diligently cultivate, a Hidden Sword Pavilion was constructed. The pavilion contained countless swords and daggers, along with other valuable treasures.

The Sword Competition was held every five years, and the top three disciples would not only have the opportunity to be accepted by either the Sect Leader or the five Elders as a personal disciple, but also be able to enter the Hidden Sword Pavilion to select their own personal sword.

Shen Zhixian remembered that the book had briefly mentioned that Yan Shen deliberately schemed to force Yan Jin to enter the Hidden Sword Pavilion. However, it did not provide a detailed explanation.

As he stood behind a tree not far from the Hidden Sword Pavilion, he had a vague idea. Muttering indistinctly to himself, he bent down and picked up a few fallen leaves.

The Hidden Sword Pavilion was only recently broken into and had yet to be cleaned. However, Song Ming took care to send a few disciples to guard the building. These disciples were now carefully patrolling the base of the structure and kept a vigilant eye out for intruders.

Shen Zhixian pinched several fallen leaves between his fingers and pondered the situation. Once he came up with a general strategy, he rubbed the fallen leaves between his fingers, cast a spell from memory, and released them toward the pavilion. As he waited, his body gradually disappeared, leaving behind only a small shadow.

As the disciples guard the Hidden Sword Pavilion with serious faces, a gust of wind suddenly blew over them. They were immediately alerted and looked around with narrowed eyes.

However, they didn’t find anything out of the ordinary and only saw a lot of dead leaves that were blown by the wind and spinning drunkenly toward them.

It was a funny sight.

A junior disciple couldn’t help bursting out laughing. He broke the silence and said, “These dead leaves are funny. They’re wind-drunk.”

The senior disciple remained calm. He frowned as he looked at the dead leaves turning around and around. His hand tightened on the hilt of his sword as he said, “Be careful. Don’t be careless.”

The junior disciple didn’t care much. “We’re all here to guard. The person who dared to break in had already broken in and was sent to the Cliff of Reflection. Who else would come? Besides, the Sect Leader even personally came to set restrictions on the Hidden Sword Pavilion. No one can break in easily.”

The reason Yan Jin was able to break in was because these restrictions were only partially enabled. Now, the Hidden Sword Pavilion was completely restricted. Even an ant could not enter, much less a person.

The senior disciple was a little hesitant. He looked around and lowered his voice. “I heard that Elder Shen is not subjected to any sect restrictions.”

“Ah?” After immediately being reproached by the senior disciple to lower his voice, the junior disciple didn’t hesitate to show his willingness to hear the details. He whispered, “What’s going on? I didn’t know this at all!”

The other two disciples smelled a sect secret and carefully perked their ears to listen.

“Elder Shen was supposed to inherit the position of Sect Leader. Then, I don’t know what happened, but he was replaced by Sect Leader Song…Hush! I’ll just tell you a few words. Don’t spread it out.”

After seeing the junior disciples gathering around him like small chicks pecking at rice grains, the senior disciple quietly went on to say, “Elder Shen was the former Sect Leader’s personal inheriting disciple. He was greatly doted upon and received a lot of privileges.”

As the disciples gathered closer to quietly gossip, they didn’t notice that a little shadow had sneaked pass and entered the Hidden Sword Pavilion.

–Sure enough. There was no obstruction.

As Shen Zhixian lamented over how much the former sect leader had loved the original Shen Zhixian, he avoided the broken swords at his feet and carefully scanned his surroundings.

The Hidden Sword Pavilion had seven floors. As the floor became higher, the quality of swords would also increase. The disciples who entered to select swords could only use their own abilities to climb up the many floors.

When Yan Jin trespassed the Hidden Sword Pavilion, everyone assumed he wanted to steal a sword. This was ridiculous because, from beginning to end, Yan Jin seemed to have no intention of climbing the second floor. His goal had been the first floor, and the swords on the first floor…

To put it bluntly, the swords stored on the first floor were no better than high-quality toys. There was no way Yan Jin would fancy the toy swords here. The most important thing was that Shen Zhixian knew very well that Yan Jin didn’t obtain his sword here.

Most of the swords on the first floor were destroyed when Yan Jin fought with the other disciples. The broken swords were scattered messily on the floor and had not been cleaned up yet.

Shen Zhixian looked for a while and finally found what he was looking for under a broken sword in the corner.