Volume One, Chapter 127: Long Since Accustomed to It

"Ouch!" "Hiss... it hurts, it hurts! Let go, let go!"

Ning Chengfeng suddenly felt a sharp pain in the hand he was using to cover Ning Muyu’s mouth, and he winced, crying out in agony. The siblings had already put some distance between themselves and the Hall of Phenomena, jogging until they reached the edge of a quiet grove.

"Hoo, hoo, hoo..." Ning Chengfeng, eyes brimming with tears, blew repeatedly on the perfect tooth marks on his palm. His sister really didn't stand on ceremony with him; that bite had been truly painful.

After breaking free from Ning Chengfeng’s grip, Ning Muyu raised her fist, fuming, and put all her strength into a strike aimed at the chubby boy's abdomen. Ning Chengfeng shifted his feet, dodging his older sister’s angry blow. As his plump frame darted past her powerful fist, the gust of wind it generated scattered the fallen leaves.

"Ning Chengfeng, why wouldn't you let me fight him?" Ning Muyu roared in fury, seemingly intent on venting all her rage upon her younger brother.

"Fight who? Who are you even trying to fight?" Ning Chengfeng dodged left and right, his chubby body surprisingly agile, evading every one of Ning Muyu’s attacks with perfect timing.

"That cheater! He used tricks to get into the camp, he doesn't train properly at the Hall of Phenomena, and he didn't even dare to accept a challenge. He’s just a coward who hides behind women!" Ning Muyu’s face was flushed red, and the aura around her continued to climb. A slender golden sword began to manifest in her delicate hand.

"Oh, come on! Sis, you’re actually going to get serious?" Seeing his sister manifesting her ability, Ning Chengfeng couldn't help but be startled. It seemed this "Brother Mo" had become a genuine knot in his sister's heart.

He knew his sister all too well. She was impulsive, quick to anger, and fiercely competitive. Once she set her mind on something, not even he and their father combined could sway her. Ning Muyu was well aware that she often fell into states of extreme emotion, yet she was never able to control herself well. This time, she had fallen into a state of extreme prejudice and anger toward Mo De. Her stubborn, preconceived notions meant that no matter how Mo De responded, in her eyes, it would only be one mistake after another.

There was no helping it; that was just his sister’s terrible personality—passionate, impulsive, and prone to obsessive love and hate. Even after being toyed with time and again by the sweet words of various scoundrels, she would still march headlong into the next player's trap.

Ning Chengfeng knew his sister hadn't always been like this. Back then, her tone was gentle; after school, she would take his little hand to walk in the park, and she would always prepare surprises for his birthday.

"Ning Chengfeng, get out of my way!" A rain of sword strikes descended upon him.

A breeze swirled around him, and in the next instant, Ning Chengfeng’s figure vanished from where he stood. When he reappeared, he had reached out a hand, grabbing toward the space in front of Ning Muyu.

Ning Muyu’s sword moved like a swimming dragon; she spun around, instinctively thrusting toward the figure that had suddenly appeared in her opening. Her killing intent surged, a strike aimed straight for the throat.

At the very last moment, the enraged Ning Muyu suddenly realized that the person standing behind her was her own brother, Ning Chengfeng. She tried to disperse her ability and retract the move, but it was too late. In a flash, she could only veer the blade, redirecting the lethal strike.

Feeling the killing intent locked on his throat suddenly shift away, a complex expression flickered in Ning Chengfeng’s eyes. He raised his left hand, which he had reached out, and caught the blade point that was thrusting into empty air.

With a muffled "shing," the sound of flesh scraping against the blade rang out. The sharp sword pierced through his left hand, which was unprotected by any ability, and the golden blade was quickly covered in spreading crimson.

Ning Muyu froze instantly, her eyes wide as she stared at her blood-stained blade and her brother’s injured hand.

Ning Chengfeng took a step toward her, pushing his hand further against the blade, allowing the blood to coat the entire sword. Ning Muyu stared at his hand in a daze, and the slender sword in her grasp flickered and vanished into thin air. Without the sword as a carrier, Ning Chengfeng’s blood fell like a line of raindrops onto the leaf-strewn ground, drawing a straight red mark.

His blood-soaked hand reached out to take Ning Muyu’s, and Ning Chengfeng pulled his distraught sister into an embrace.

"Sis, are you calm now?"

"I know how much you despise Mo De. I know you’ve tried to suppress it, but you just can't extinguish that raging fire of anger."

"You’ve always known about your problem with emotional outbursts, and you’ve tried to fix it, even if you’ve never succeeded."

"You’ve been working hard; I’ve seen it all along. But for now, just calm yourself down, okay?" Ning Chengfeng whispered softly into her ear.

Holding her brother’s injured hand, Ning Muyu frantically tore at her own sleeves to bandage it. Hearing his words, a tear dropped beside the line of blood on the ground. The emotions she had been bottling up finally burst forth, and she wept hysterically in his arms.

How could she not know the meaning of "self-control"? But once her emotions were stirred, she would often completely forget the word entirely. Since that sudden funeral when she was ten, the young Ning Muyu—who hadn't yet undergone her awakening—had been stimulated into a rapid, premature awakening, crossing into the Transmutation Realm. This premature awakening caused a girl already on the brink of collapse to undergo a drastic change in personality, becoming increasingly extreme.

Ning Chengfeng reached out his right hand to stroke her hair, a sad smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. Their mother’s passing had nearly broken their family. Their father had struggled to pick up the pieces, pouring his heart and soul into his children, but his sister’s awakening had already been irrevocably completed. Her exceptional talent allowed her body to withstand the burden of the "foreign seeds," but her personality had become increasingly impossible to restrain under their influence.

Those who wield the sword are mastered by the sword; those who feel too deeply are consumed by their own emotions. Ning Chengfeng understood his sister better than anyone, which was why his heart ached—both for the innocent passersby hurt by her extreme emotions, and for his sister, who was perpetually dominated by them.

"Are you calm now?" Sensing that her sobbing had gradually subsided, Ning Chengfeng asked, looking down.

"Mm..." Ning Muyu replied with a sniffle.

"Chengfeng, am I... am I just terrible?" she asked quietly, sitting on the ground.

"Terrible doesn't even begin to cover it—you’re absolutely awful," Ning Chengfeng replied, looking at his simply bandaged left hand and the fresh, drying blood upon it. "But luckily, Ning Chengfeng has been used to it for a long time."