The Cloudstep Sword Is Never Alone

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My next novel is The Young Lady Takes Her Blade and Leaves Her Husband. Check the pinned comment for the blurb. Add it to your collection if you're interested!

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Shen Huaizhen lost her mother when she was young. Fortunately, her sect took her in, sparing her the fate of living on the streets.

One day, an old acquaintance comes to her, ready to die for her sake, and reveals long-buried secrets. Her mother's death, it turns out, was the result of a conspiracy riddled with hidden attacks. She gazes toward the distant heights, where bones lie in heaps. Even the Immortal Lord's honored title was won in blood and tears.

Even with a talent unmatched across the land, how can she stand against Heaven when she has no one to rely on?

She ignores everyone's advice. They can keep their broad, easy road to immortality. She'd rather take the lonely, treacherous path where every bird has flown. If a knot is too tangled to unravel, she'll cut it with her sword. If a feud is too murky to understand, she'll turn the world upside down until right and wrong are made clear.

She never imagined she would have a companion on this rugged, perilous road.

He bears a grudge of his own and seeks the truth. Shen Huaizhen is wary of He Rong. Behind his warm, snow-melting smile and unreserved trust, she senses something too cold and mysterious, like a drawn blade that spills blood at the slightest touch.

Later, when he's so badly injured he can barely hold on, he finally confesses to her through the haze of a rainy night:

"Actually, a long time ago... I saw you once."

They say that those near death speak the truth. Shen Huaizhen suddenly realizes that she's a little afraid he'll die. "...This isn't one of those cliches where I saved a handsome man, is it?"

A faint smile appears on the young man's pale, handsome face.

"No... It was just something very, very trivial. You've probably... forgotten it by now."

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From gentle breezes and warm sunlight, flowers falling in the woods, to mountains of corpses and a fall into the dust, it all happens in the blink of an eye.

He Rong has always understood that lowly rogue cultivators, ordinary mortals, birds, and beasts are all as insignificant as blades of grass, unworthy of a second glance.

But then she comes toward him, drenched in blood, her sword gleaming with a cold light, her eyes smiling like frost.

"So what if I'm insignificant? With this sword forged from mortal iron, I'll make them understand that even if Heaven is unjust, I'll bring those who once laid waste to living beings to account."

He once thought hatred was everything, that a lifetime could be devoted to pursuing vengeance. But when his grudges are settled, and that girl, radiant as the sun and bright as the moon, turns back toward him with her sword in hand...

He suddenly realizes how deeply he hopes that, just for a moment, her unstoppable steps might pause for him.

Even if she only looks back once.

[What kind of sword strike does it take to part the clouds and see daylight again?]

[Just an ordinary sword of the mortal world.]

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[The first two chapters focus on the action. The main plot begins in Chapter 3, so you can skip ahead.]

*Decisive, peerlessly gifted female sword cultivator x outwardly warm, inwardly cold evil male cultivator who hides a blade in his smile

*I've been in and out of poor health lately, and work is busy toward the end of the year, with frequent overtime. The plot is also entering its final stages, so updates will slow down a little. Thanks for understanding. I absolutely won't abandon the novel!

*The heroine is the strongest; the hero isn't just a background character; investigation, revenge, monster-slaying, and leveling up

*One-on-one romance, both leads' first love, happy ending

Premise: Every living thing has a spirit.