Chapter Seventeen

1

"How could it be? We just came out to buy some things for the college celebration ball."

"Just kidding. My surname is Chen, with a single character "Ming". You can call me Auntie, or like Hanya, you can call me Master. But after being able to survive competing against Duke Qin, I don't feel worthy of being called Master!"

"There's nothing to feel unworthy about. It's just that I didn't charge you tuition fees, so the one who should feel sorry is me."

"Hanya, you don't have to be so polite when talking to Duke Qin!" Hanya walked to the side and picked up a tea set, skillfully and quickly brewing a pot of tea. After pouring a small cup, the aroma of the tea spread elegantly in the room.

"Qin Yang! Do you have many girls around you?" From the way Master Chen poured tea for me, she noticed something interesting. The scene of me kissing Qiong had been broadcasted by the media during the competition, but obviously the girl by my side now wasn't the same one as before. Anyone could see that.

"Um... not many." Is my answer considered evasive? The comparison of "many" or "few" depends on who you're comparing to.

"Qin Yang is also very skilled with the sword. I really want to see who's more powerful, Master or Qin Yang." Hanya seemed to have a suspicion of changing the topic, as she noticed that Master Chen's expression wasn't right.

"Are you still coming to challenge in the end?"

"Master, don't be so stubborn. Just give me a chance to learn, okay!" Unexpectedly, Hanya displayed this kind of coquettish act in front of her master. Perhaps her master gave her a sense of security, which allowed her to do such things. Or maybe Hanya regarded her master as her family.

"I'm also curious about your strength. What makes Hanya attracted to you?"

"Mas... Master! Please don't say that."

"Don't deceive your master. When two people buy underwear, don't tell me you're clueless, like a hermit." Master Chen's eyes glanced over the logo on the bag in Hanya's hand. Any woman would know what brand it belonged to.

"......" Hanya's face immediately turned blood red, her gaze became uncertain, and she quickly hid the bag behind her back.

"Come with me! I have a better place." Master Chen beckoned for us to follow.

After leaving the room, we passed through the backyard and arrived at a separate sword training room. From the outside, it had multiple layers of magic devices for soundproofing, vibration reduction, and weakening the external damage caused by magic. All of these were located in a hidden compartment at the bottom of the room.

"Based on the monthly tuition fees that Master charges your disciples, it shouldn't be enough to cover your expenses, right?" I was quite curious. The students here at the martial arts school were mostly from average families in the surrounding area. How could they have so much money?

"Teaching is my side business, but our main business hasn't been done for a long time."

"A job that hasn't been done for a long time?"

"It's the family business - vampire hunters. Most of the time, the government funds us for the job."

This is troublesome. If we encounter someone specialized in killing vampires, fortunately Black had already warned Perla about it, so it served as a warning for them. If they were really caught, it would be a lot of trouble, and they could even be surrounded.

"Didn't you hear that vampires are extinct? What other source of income do you have?"

"Recently, there have been movements from vampires that were thought to be extinct, so I'm reminding you to be careful." Master looked at me with extremely sharp eyes, then said, "Although I don't know why, you always give off a feeling that is extremely similar to a vampire." In the end, Master didn't find anything particular.

"Haha... just joking!" I laughed and walked into the room. It's natural to have a somewhat similar feeling when the ancestors of vampires are here, but no matter how you look at it, I'm still a human now. Everything's fine.

Here is the training room, where there are wooden swords of different sizes along the walls. These are special swords that can be adjusted to fit most people. They can also be used as specialized magic swords, although their performance is not particularly high.

"Pick one!" Master immediately selected a sword that suited him, picked it up, and infused a trace of magic into the hilt. A pale blue data appeared around his hand, gradually turning red after a few seconds, indicating that the system had completed the adjustment.

I randomly chose one from the wall and after it underwent automatic adjustment, the sword became perfectly suited to me.

"I thought you would choose a heavy sword."

"I prefer lighter swords, they are easier to handle."

After one minute, we were ready for various exercises. Even though it was just a simple sparring, the handling of the swords was taken very seriously.

"Clang!" The wooden swords collided, making a sound like metal. I don't understand why the system bothers to simulate the sound of swords clashing, it seems unnecessary.

Hanya watched from the side, learning more swordsmanship techniques. She loved this and knew that opportunities for learning were rare, so she had to make the most of them.

"Our swordsmanship comes from battles with vampires, so it is very aggressive and doesn't emphasize elegance, but it does stress technique. I wonder how your swordsmanship, Qin Yang, will be!"

"My swordsmanship also comes from battles, or you may not believe it, but I have to say it comes from battles with the entire demon race."

The swords clashed dozens of times, and Hanya's master showed both offense and defense, proving that old dogs can still learn new tricks.

"Master!" Suddenly, a disciple called from outside the door.

Hanya walked to the door and said, "Master is busy! If you have something, come find me!"

"Then, Senior Sister, come with me!"

"Um...alright!" Although Hanya wanted to continue watching, she knew that interrupting the masters' practice was not something a disciple should do.

Hanya left the room and closed the door. After walking twenty steps or so, the master's expression suddenly changed, and he threw the wooden sword against the wall with all his strength. The wood sword broke in response. Then, he quickly unsheathed his silver-white sword and with seamless fluidity, swung it down towards me.

I blocked with my wooden sword, reinforced by magic, although I wasn't sure if it was the sword's fragility or a special skill used by the master that caused it, but the wooden sword broke into two after only a few seconds.

Quickly stepping back to dodge was the only option. Although the real sword didn't hit me, the sword energy grazed the collar of my clothes.

"You...!"

The master's sword didn't pause, and he immediately pursued his attack.

Forced into a corner, I decided to summon "Splitting Cloud" and quickly used three attacks to force the master back.

"'Splitting Cloud'? What have you done to Hanya?" The master's gaze was alert, clearly indicating that she never trusted me from the beginning.

"I didn't want to shatter your sword, master, so please rest assured that I haven't done anything to hurt Hanya."

"Don't try to divert the topic! I want your answer." The master didn't seem like someone who could be easily fooled. There was no reason to hide the fact that I kissed Hanya, twice.

"There are many things that I can't explain to you!" After forcing the master to retreat another step, she launched another counterattack, making progress by taking two steps forward.

"There are also many things you don't know, so don't try to deceive me!" The silver sword bore engraved patterns, making it extremely dangerous. It was not uncommon for anger to cause a transformation in a magic sword.

"Hanya's scars were left when she was very young. Her twisted mentality was corrected. Isn't that the best outcome?"

"Do you know?" Master Hanya's eyes narrowed like the tip of a knife. "I would rather Hanya like girls her whole life than have her get close to other men."

It's so strange. Why does she have this wish? Why is she so emotional? I can only speculate! Speculation requires evidence, and based on her feelings towards Hanya and the age gap between them, the more carefully I look, the more Hanya and her master resemble each other.

"In fact, I should call you Aunt!" I tentatively stated.

"What... are you talking about?" The master, being a skilled sword master, showed a delayed emotional response during our battle, confirming my speculation.

This delayed reaction was an opportunity. As I circled "Fissure Cloud" around the silver sword, sandwiched between the master and her sword, I pushed forward. With my force added on top of the master's forward momentum, her body quickly tilted forward. In such close proximity, she released golden bandages, leaving her with almost no chance to escape.

Suddenly, Hanya's master felt as if the connection between her hand and the demon sword had been severed, with no response whatsoever.