Show Me Your Sword

The Qingsha senior brother's eyes were like those of a hawk. He did not miss how the girl carrying the sword quickly adjusted the black cloth so that the entire hilt was covered, nor did he miss how the young man with her stepped protectively in front of her again. His suspicions increased.

"Miss, could you show us your sword? We just want to confirm something." He said again.

Mo Xian's forehead furrowed with impatience. "Why do you want to see her sword?"

"Ah, childe, you see, this miss's sword looks very similar to that of a martial artist who was the martial arts sector's public enemy number one. Our mentor, the chief of Qingsha sect, as ordered us to look for his disciple. I am only carrying out orders." The senior brother, unlike his junior brothers, was less hotheaded. His piercing gaze pinned Wang Jingyuan to the spot. "Sorry to bother you, miss, but please just show me your sword so I can confirm that it's not the one we're looking for."

"Who do you think you are? This sword has been passed down in my family for generations. Why should I let an outsider, especially one who has been giving me trouble all night, look at my family heirloom?" Wang Jingyuan tried to not give away anything through her expression.

"If you're not hiding something, why won't you let us look at your sword?" One of the pupils shouted.

"Why should she show you her sword?" Mo Xian was visibly angry. "First one of you ran into my friend and refused to apologize, then all of you show up and try to fight her, and now you are demanding for her to show you her prized family heirloom. Are all Qingsha pupils as rude and unreasonable as you lot?"

The surrounding crowd began to murmur again.

"Yeah, how rude."

"Look at the little couple, trying to have a good night, only for it to be ruined by a bunch of insolent brats."

"Exactly; the childe and miss have been nothing but polite and well-mannered. The Qingsha pupils are really being a disgrace to their sect name."

"If I had a family heirloom and someone demanded to see it, I wouldn't show them either."

The voices grew louder and louder. The Qingsha pupils looked at each other and then at their senior brother, who knew that it was better not to stir up a scene when everyone was against them. It would not be good for their reputation.

"You're right, how rude of me. I am sorry for bothering you two. But miss, before you leave, could you tell me the name of your sword?"

"Why do you want to know the name?" Mo Xian was beginning to think he should've just let Wang Jingyuan beat all of them up earlier.

Before the Qingsha sect senior brother could answer, Wang Jingyuan spoke up. "The name of my sword is Fu Rong. Does that answer your question?"

"Yes, it does." The senior brother did not seem convinced, but he couldn't say that without having everyone think he was picking on a girl. He made the martial artist greeting with his right fist against an open left palm, with the left fingers pointing forty-five degrees in the air. "Thank you, miss."

"Do you have any other problems? If not, we will be leaving now. Good-bye." With a swish of his long, wide sleeves, Mo Xian turned and guided Wang Jingyuan through the crowd and away.

The onlookers scattered and returned to their normal activities. The Qingsha pupils gathered around their senior brother. "Senior Brother Lu, what was wrong with the sword?"

"I saw a gold design that looked a lot like a phoenix's wing. The only person I know of in the entire martial arts sector with a phoenix on their sword is Luo Qingye," the Qingsha senior brother said darkly.

The other pupils gasped. "Luo Qingye—like, chief of Xuanyan Sect Luo Qingye?" One asked.

"Do you know any other Luo Qingyes?" The senior brother smacked his junior brother on the head.

"Does that mean that girl is Luo Qingye's disciple? The one we're searching for?" The Qingsha pupil with last name Zhu wondered.

"I'm not one hundred percent sure." The senior brother looked toward where Mo Xian and Wang Jingyuan's backs were still barely visible amidst the people on the streets. "Two of you, follow them. Figure out where they're living, or find some way to pull off the cloth on her sword. The rest of you, stay here with me so we don't draw attention to ourselves."

"Yes, senior brother!" Two pupils immediately went off to tail Wang Jingyuan and Mo Xian.

Twenty minutes later, they returned. The senior brother stood up from the front steps of a shop that he was sitting on. "Well?"

"Um, Senior Brother Lu…" The two pupils looked at each other before hanging their heads. "We…lost them."

"You lost them?!" The senior brother was furious. "How can you not follow two large, live humans? It's not even that crowded on the streets!"

"We were following them from a distance so as to not get spotted," one of the pupils began to explain, "then a horse cart crossed our path, and then they were gone! We searched the surrounding area and looked everywhere, but we couldn't find any traces of them. No one we asked saw them either."

"Useless idiots!" The senior brother cursed. "I knew I should have followed them myself. We finally have some sort of lead after so many days of fruitless searching, and you two let it slip out of your fingers!"

"Senior Brother Lu, what do we do now?" Another Qingsha pupil asked.

"What else can we do? We're going to go search for them again. Keep your eyes peeled, and don't let anything escape your sight!" With a frustrated groan, the senior brother led his junior brothers back onto the street to look for Wang Jingyuan and Mo Xian.