The Sword Breaks, the Snake Dances

Sword Breaks, Serpent Dances

Mu Rong Ziying is a good-for-nothing when it comes to cultivation? No problem. He has latched onto Liu Ruyan, the snake demon of Shu Mountain. The cunning and ruthless demoness protects him at every turn, even going so far as to make an enemy of all Shu Mountain.

"Little good-for-nothing, call me Big Sister, and I'll keep you safe for the rest of your life."

Until the day he holds a long sword to her throat, his gaze cold as frost.

"Liu Ruyan, you deceived me so cruelly."

She laughs softly, her snake tail coiling around his waist, her eyes alluring as silk. "Ziying, guess which of us is the other's doom?"

Qingyun Mountain is shrouded in spiritual mist all year round. It is home to the outer sect of the Shu Mountain Sword Sect. At its foot stand several crooked thatched huts, offering shelter from wind and rain to registered disciples with such poor aptitude that they do not even qualify as outer disciples. Mu Rong Ziying lives here.

Every day, before the sun rises, he sweeps the 999 stone steps from the mountain gate to the training grounds. The steps are slick and covered in moss. His broom is made of bundled bamboo branches, rough and painful to grip. He has been doing this for seven years.

Seven years ago, when he was brought up the mountain, he was still a small child. Now he has grown into a slight youth, a profound stillness etched into his features by the passage of time. His sword is carved from peachwood and decorated with a red tassel. It is only good for practicing the most basic sword moves. The spiritual energy inside him is as thin as the morning mist, barely...