Seven Emotions Combat Technique—Le Yu hadn't heard that name in a long time.

The last time he heard it, he was thrashing Gao Jin as part of the Qian Yuliu, and Gao Jin had shot a faint, harmless green beam at him using the Combat Technique. Back then, Le Yu thought it was some kind of psychic damage.

Le Yu had never seen the Seven Emotions Combat Technique listed in the system panel, and almost no one ever trained in this technique seriously—or maybe, it was just that this technique never really had any levels to speak of, and you ended up the same no matter how much you practiced.

If you had to say it, the Seven Emotions Combat Technique was really a trading system; as long as you sacrificed enough emotion, you could get enough in return. But the vast majority of emotions held no value.

"Irritability, self-pity, pleasure, anxiety... All those ordinary emotions that crop up over and over in daily life— even if normal people treat them as monsters or plagues, toss and turn at night because of them, lose sleep and energy, become weak and limp— in the end, that's all it is."

"Because you can get through it, you can push through. You've overcome those emotions."

"In that war, you won."

The price required for the Seven Emotions Combat Technique, though, was the emotion you couldn't overcome.

This was also why, for all his experience, Le Yu had still never seen a genuine Seven Emotions Martial Artist—because most martial artists who got beaten by their own emotions had already been weeded out by society and never made it in front of him anyway.

The deeper Le Yu dug into Combat Techniques, the more confused he got about the Seven Emotions Combat Technique. Because by its requirements, not even Qin Yueyang's Zhengwei of the Qinyi School, Le Yin of Blooddrinker, or Yinyin Yin of Swordhider made the cut— even though all of them had been tormented almost to death by the Forbidden Battle Technique—

They still managed to survive on their own.

"Even if they lived in disgrace, even if their lives were ugly as hell, even if it shattered their very minds,"

They still beat the darkness inside themselves.

Only those who couldn't survive on their own might rely on such a Combat Technique— that was Le Yu's latest understanding of the Seven Emotions Combat Technique.

But after hearing Bai Yu's statement, Le Yu figured it was time to update his knowledge again.

Bai Yu, however, couldn't care less that there was a cute knowledge-thirsty little guy standing next to him— he just asked coldly, "Whose sword sheath are you?"

The Bandaged Assassin's muttering shut off abruptly. He was silent for a moment, then in a chilly voice said, "I'm not a sword sheath."

"I'm not a sword sheath!"

"I'm not a sword sheath—why the hell am I not! Why, why, why did I lose to that guy!"

"Why was I so stupid, I should have elbowed him and turned it into a Desolate Bite; why am I so weak, if only my fists were a bit tougher I could've bashed his head in; why am I stuck doing this dead-end crap, why am I not even a sword sheath— why!"

With a heavy thud, Le Yu's whole body flinched at the sound— it felt like the Bandaged Assassin had just punched himself. Judging from the deep, resonant tone running from treble to bass, he figured the guy probably smacked himself right in the temple.

"That's brutal. When people are angry, the weak strike at the weaker, the strong strike upward at the even stronger— only the utterly twisted take a swing at themselves."

"How did you spot me?" Bai Yu asked as he calmly loaded bullets into his gun, "As far as I know, I kept a pretty low profile, didn't even appear to be part of the sword search power struggle at all."

"We just investigated all faculty members," the Bandaged Assassin suddenly said flatly, "Tonight, any teacher with the privileges to meet the principal was put under surveillance."

"The Martial Council put all the Martial Pillars under house arrest. But that means Yanjing has no more shackles, either. We've been waiting a long time for this chance."

"Hahaha, you probably thought things were real safe lately, right? All the contacts would use this time to have one last meet-up with the sword sheaths— this was the chance we were waiting for!"

"If you want to parachute a newcomer into the academy, you're gonna need one of the original staff to make the connection. Really, you people are the best contacts, from all angles— you really thought you were that clever!? He's the sword sheath, right? Him!? How the hell does he get to be a sword sheath when I can't!?"

As he kept talking, the Bandaged Assassin started getting worked up again. Nothing he said made any sense. Le Yu really wanted to verbally smack him down, but after glancing at his own still-healing hand, he held back.

Patience!

Three minutes! Three damn minutes without swearing!

"Isn't it obvious?" Bai Yu said, "You managed to achieve 'emotional stirrings,' but you could never reach 'heart death.' Right now, you can't even make it inside the academy— how the hell could you qualify as a Sword Master's sheath?"

Bai Yu paused. Apparently noticing that he should stall for Le Yu, he began to explain, "Out of all eighteen Combat Techniques, the Seven Emotions Combat Technique is the most unique. It's way too easy to train, but almost impossible to qualify for. And as for how it's actually used— anyone can guess, but no one would really do it."

Anyone can guess? No one would do it?

"First, let your emotions cross a certain threshold to activate the Seven Emotions Combat Technique. After that, when you don't need it, you return your emotions to normal." Bai Yu spoke softly, "Sounds simple, right? But just the first step—'emotional stirring'—is enough to stump countless people. Us Huiyao folk are too damn tough; hardly anything can break our spirits... but the real killer is the second step: 'heart death.'"

The Bandaged Assassin listened quietly to Bai Yu, maybe out of arrogance, or maybe he just wanted to see what information he could get from him.

"If you can suppress all your emotions and make your heart as still as if it were dead, then you can throw off the influence of the Seven Emotions Combat Technique, live a normal life outside of combat, and then, whenever you need it, trigger 'emotional stirring' again— switch them on and off at will."

"The Seven Emotions Combat Technique is actually two tribulations: the 'Seven Emotions Tribulation' and the 'Heart-Dead Tribulation'... but even if you can't make it past 'Heart-Dead,' just getting through 'Seven Emotions Tribulation' is enough to give a martial artist a freakish power no one's ever seen."

"The most famous Seven Emotions Martial Artist had to be the 'Sword Master of Annihilation' from over a thousand years ago— studied sword by day, shattered armies by night, and made history forever. The power he got from the Seven Emotions Tribulation contaminated his Spirit, turned his mentality into something that literally altered his thinking, and by burning through his life at a crazy rate, pushed his insight to a nonhuman realm— he hit the Peak of Perfection in a single day."

"See what I'm getting at? The freaky thing about the Seven Emotions Combat Technique is that it can change your Spiritual Power."

"Even if a regular martial artist wanted to burn his life away for more insight, it's not possible. Normal Spiritual Power can only boost your senses a bit, but in the dark it's basically useless offensively. The kind that's been contaminated by the Seven Emotions Combat Technique, though— that's different. It can take solid form, and unleash powers that border on the miraculous."

"That's why the Seven Emotions Combat Technique is still around today." Silently, Bai Yu finished loading his bullets and snapped the revolver shut, "It's a miracle for the hopeless."

"So," Le Yu stretched his hand, feeling like he had enough strength back, and spoke up, "What we're up against is a miracle-using madman?"

"You say you're not a sword sheath," Bai Yu suddenly said, "so the person who beat you and became one can not only 'stir emotions,' but also 'kill their heart?' If you can't control your own emotions, you have no business competing in the sword search anyway."

"Why do you have to ask the questions that hurt me...?" the Bandaged Assassin's voice grew low, "Why does everyone have to go against me, why does everything have to be so fucking unbearable..."

The clouds parted, and moonlight slipped into the bedroom. Under its pale glow, they saw the Bandaged Assassin clutching his head in pain, his face contorted, his eyes staring back at them in agony. The moonlight swirled over his body and transformed into a menacing aura— just looking at him made their eyes sting.

Le Yu drained the crimson liquid in a single gulp, tossing the bottle aside. "If you're in so much pain, let us put you out of your misery."

"I have another option..."

The Bandaged Assassin let out a low growl from his throat, "And that's making you all feel my pain, too!"

...

...

"Young master, could you help me?"

Qin Yueyang paused in the hallway. He lifted his lantern and shined it into a side corridor, where he saw a pitifully beautiful young woman waiting nearby.

She was tall— even in her night's black outfit she gave off the air of a secret officer. When she looked up, her charming, flawless face was revealed, her eyes misty, lips delicately parted with a hungry look, and she gazed at Qin Yueyang with hopeful eyes. "Young master, I'm so scared."

"Scared of what?"

"I'm scared I won't finish the mission," she whimpered, "scared I won't kill everyone here, scared I'll let the sword sheath escape, scared of corpses, scared of the dark, scared of being scolded if I go back, scared of not having food, scared of being punished... boohoo..."

She started sobbing, her shoulders trembling, tears rolling down her face like pearls spilling onto a jade plate—tink, tink, tink.

It was the sound of ice beads dropping on the ground.

Qin Yueyang looked down and realized the ground was covered with a thin layer of ice—sometime, somehow—and the cold had started to creep up his boots.

"Young master, could you help me? I'm so scared..." she sniffled, her eyes big and pleading, so pitiful and cute it could melt a stone.

Qin Yueyang glanced at the servant behind her who had been turned into an ice statue, then nodded. "No problem."

With a pop, the lantern suddenly burst into flames, morphing into a dozen fire dragons that lunged at Qin Yueyang's right hand like playful kittens greeting their owner.

The fire hovered, condensed, shrank, and finally formed into a tiny flame at his fingertip, lighting up Qin Yueyang's face, which showed neither sorrow nor joy.

"I'm always good at cleaning up messes."