The Three Realms Thief Chapter 13

My sword!

It broke!

Three gold coins!

I don’t usually kill people, so how am I supposed to get three gold coins back?

I’m practically in tears!

Jiang Xueyao looked at his expression, shook her head, and asked again:

“What were you thinking when you were fighting me just now?”

“Nothing, really—oh, why did you suddenly attack me? Why did we have this fight?” Xu Yuan asked, full of resentment.

Jiang Xueyao was silent for a few breaths.

How awkward.

How should she put it?

I thought you were an ignorant骗子?

Suddenly, she sheathed her sword and threw it directly to him.

“?” Xu Yuan stared at her with wide eyes.

“Your sword was broken by me, so consider this sword as compensation.”

Jiang Xueyao said indifferently.

Xu Yuan was surprised and quickly drew the sword to examine it.

The sword was about three feet seven inches long and more than two fingers wide. Its blade was like cold jade, having absorbed snowmelt for years, naturally displaying a frosty sheen.

Holding the longsword, a faint, elusive fragrance wafted from it.

—Probably from its original owner.

In the void, lines of prompts quietly appeared:

“You have obtained a sword.”

“Qionghu.”

“Sword, rare grade.”

“Sharpness +5, Agility +3, Strength +2.”

“Divine Power: Chuixue.”

“Description: Activating this power with spiritual energy can increase your next sword strike speed by two times.”

“—Qiongying Yirui falls into the front pond, asking where the flowers came from, you do not know.”

A rare grade sword!

Xu Yuan’s eyes almost popped out.

No wonder he felt the opponent’s attacks were like a surging tide, one wave higher than the last, during the battle.

No wonder that sword was too fast to react to, and knocked his own sword away!

A cash player!

—We who play with skill hate encountering cash players the most!

This fight was like life itself; it was unfair from the start.

Fortunately—

Xu Yuan quickly sheathed the sword, tied it to his waist, and bowed to the opposite side, smiling:

“You’re too generous, too generous.”

“It’s nothing,” Jiang Xueyao shook her head and asked, “Answer my question, and the sword is yours.”

“Huh? What question?” Xu Yuan was bewildered.

“What were you thinking during the fight?” Jiang Xueyao asked.

Xu Yuan opened his mouth.

This girl, so beautiful, but a lunatic?

During a fight, one naturally fights.

There’s nothing else to think about.

For the sake of the Qionghu sword—

Xu Yuan thought seriously and said:

“Nothing special, just drawing my sword.”

“What was your combat strategy?” Jiang Xueyao asked.

“…” Xu Yuan said.

He was stumped.

This made him think even more deeply, and he carefully said:

“I probably understand what you mean, but in an intense confrontation, taking time to think about strategy is a waste of time.”

“A waste of time?” Jiang Xueyao asked.

“Yes, thoughts are too slow,” Xu Yuan said.

“What in the world can be faster than thought?” Jiang Xueyao pressed.

“Instinctive reactions—transforming every move into instinct, not even needing to think. Sometimes, being a split second faster than others determines victory or defeat.”

Xu Yuan stated truthfully.

This was indeed a small insight he gained from countless e-sports matches.

Not just e-sports.

In athletic competitions, the pursuit of training “quantity” is also to transform skills into bodily instinct, thereby achieving a breakthrough in “quality.”

This is the most fundamental truth in competition!

“Oh, I also have a question for you. Why did we have this fight?” Xu Yuan asked again.

Awkward.

Jiang Xueyao turned her head and looked at the autumn scenery in the distance, saying:

“The divine power on the Qionghu sword is called ‘Chuixue’.”

“Among all the high school students who have fought me for the first time, you are the first not to be defeated by this sword.”

“Therefore, this sword is yours.”

The two had fought their way up and were now standing on the rooftop of the teaching building.

Yang Xiaobing stood not far away.

“It’s nothing, we were just sparring—Xiaobing, you won.”

Jiang Xueyao said to her as well, then turned and left.

She left the rooftop, descended the stairs, walked out of the teaching building, and headed towards the school gate.

As she walked, she took out her phone and dialed a number.

“Hello.”

“Send Chixiao here.”

A surprised voice came through the receiver.

“…Never mind, send it immediately. I’ll wait at the school gate.”

Jiang Xueyao finished speaking and hung up the phone.

—That boy was indeed as strong as Yang Xiaobing said.

Yang Xiaobing was not deceived.

They trusted each other and were not influenced by outsiders.

So.

Was I the one who was deceived?

Was I used as someone who could deceive Yang Xiaobing, taking that fake love letter to gain her trust?

Was this just to—

Drive away Xu Yuan, bring Yang Xiaobing into the team, and achieve excellent results in this important monthly exam.

Jiang Xueyao’s almond eyes turned cold.

When she stood still at the school gate, a streak of light flew across the sky.

A flying boat.

From the flying boat, six cultivators jumped down and landed in front of Jiang Xueyao.

“Young miss.”

The six said in unison.

“Where’s the sword?” Jiang Xueyao asked.

“Here.” One person patted a storage bag on his waist, releasing a sword box covered with talismans.

The six performed a magic art together.

Those talismans, following their magic art, detached one by one from the sword box.

When all the talismans were gone, the sword box slowly opened.

Inside lay a long sword kept in a crimson scabbard.

“The Patriarch sent a message.”

“Speak,” Jiang Xueyao said.

“Do not kill anyone.”

“Hmph, he thinks of his daughter so fiercely; I’ll scold him when I go back.”

Everyone bowed their heads in silence.

Jiang Xueyao waved her hand, took the crimson longsword, tied it to her waist, and re-entered the school gate.

On the rooftop.

Xu Yuan and Yang Xiaobing looked at each other.

“She’d rather give me a sword than answer my question?” Xu Yuan asked.

Yang Xiaobing smiled, playing peacemaker:

“I bet you could take one of her sword strikes, but she didn’t believe it.”

“The bet was this sword?” Xu Yuan asked.

“Yes,” Yang Xiaobing said.

—Neither of them had bad intentions, both were good, why reveal the truth?

“Xiaobing, you truly have good taste. This sword owes a part of its credit to you. I’ll definitely treat you to a meal later,” Xu Yuan immediately praised.

A rare grade treasured sword.

What a huge profit!

…

There were still ten minutes left for the warm-up before the exam.

Xu Yuan returned to the sports field.

By this time, almost all the students from each class had arrived.

Everyone had also seen the situation of Xu Yuan and Jiang Xueyao’s engagement just now.

However, after the two rushed to the rooftop, they disappeared from view.

The teachers maintaining order had ordered everyone not to follow and watch, to avoid accidental injury.

—The lethality of sword qi was still very strong.

So, until Xu Yuan stepped onto the sports field, no one knew the outcome of the battle.

“Look, he’s back alive!”

Someone couldn’t help but exclaim.

Xu Yuan rolled his eyes.

Ignoring the doubtful, fearful, scrutinizing, and curious gazes, he waved to Zhao Afei.

Zhao Afei had just finished a set of punches to warm up, panting as he ran over, sizing up Xu Yuan, and suddenly cried out:

“Qionghu!”

At his shout, others also looked over.

Indeed.

The sword that originally belonged to Jiang Xueyao was securely fastened to Xu Yuan’s waist.

A silent stir began to spread through the crowd.

Jiang Xueyao’s sword!

She gave it to him!

“Awesome, awesome! So the love letter was for Jiang Xueyao after all?”

Zhao Afei looked at Xu Yuan with almost worshipful eyes.

“Bullshit!”

Xu Yuan grabbed the scabbard, swatted Zhao Afei’s butt, and explained:

“My sword was broken by her, and she compensated me with a sword.”

“Ah, I see.” Only then did Zhao Afei breathe a sigh of relief.

Still not right.

—Compensating with a sword was expected.

But there was no need to compensate with her personal treasured sword.

This sword was a true high-grade weapon!

“Wait, you just hit my butt with that sword?”

Zhao Afei pointed at the sword, asking in an incredulous tone.

“What, you have an objection?” Xu Yuan asked.

“Can you hit it again?”

“…When did you become so disgusting?”

“That’s Goddess Jiang’s sword!”

“Enough nonsense,” Xu Yuan glared at him, “Xiaobing and I have formed a team. Do you want to join us?”

“Of course!” Zhao Afei immediately agreed.

At this moment.

A teacher stepped onto the stage and announced loudly:

“Attention, students from all classes.”

“You can now start forming teams.”

“Each team will consist of four people for this monthly exam.”

“Students who have not successfully formed a team, gather on the left side of the sports field. After five minutes, you will be randomly assigned to teams.”

“Start!”

The formations of each class immediately fell into disarray.

High school third-year students rushed to their pre-arranged teammates.

Those who hadn’t formed a team yet could only stand in place, enviously watching the newly formed teams, while also waiting for the random assignment later.

Xu Yuan waved to the distance.

Yang Xiaobing walked over, smiling as she greeted Zhao Afei:

“We’re counting on you for the pills, Zhao Afei.”

“No problem, I’ve also prepared a lot of mechanisms and traps—just waiting for you, Xiaobing, to lead me!” Zhao Afei immediately put on a smiling face.

“You also went down the path of Qi Refining (Artifice Refining)?” Yang Xiaobing asked curiously.

“I really don’t like direct combat.” Zhao Afei scratched his head sheepishly.

Standing aside, Xu Yuan was about to speak when lines of prompts appeared before his eyes:

“The monthly exam is about to begin.”

“This exam can be transformed into a ‘competition’.”

“Would you like to transform it?”

Sure enough, any battle counts as a competition!

Xu Yuan immediately asked, “If it’s transformed into a competition, will there be rewards?”

A line of small text appeared before him:

“Any competition has corresponding level rewards.”

“Transform it.” Xu Yuan said without hesitation.

—Before the nightmare arrived, he needed to accumulate more power by all means possible!

Moreover.

There was an even more important point.

The “Apprentice Qi Cultivator’s Combat Preparation Room” hadn’t truly unleashed its full potential.

—Because he had no money!

He only had 14 Gold Coins left.

And competitions could earn Gold Coins!

Any competition, if you don’t develop an economy, upgrade equipment, and improve overall strength—

Then no matter how good your skills are, it’s useless!

This could even be called another form of “a clever housewife cannot cook without rice.”

After a few breaths.

Lines of faint small text quietly appeared:

“Optional competition: ‘Eight Schools Joint Exam’ has begun.”

“Difficulty: Simple (Floating System).”

“Open competition, observers from various parties in the current world are in place.”

“Win the audience’s unanimous approval, and you will receive special rewards!”

“Requirement: Do your best to achieve the best results.”

“Description: Your actions in the competition will be presented to those who are secretly observing everything, and may potentially influence their decisions.”

“When you win at this difficulty, or become the highest-scoring student in this competition, there is a certain probability of influencing the direction of subsequent nightmare-level competitions.”

“If you do not meet the requirements, you will immediately enter the nightmare-level competition ‘Road to Survival and the Resurrection Match that Must Be Played When Stuck by a Sword During Transmigration and Unable to Survive (Second Half)’.”

“—Strive for victory with all your might!”