Rebirth: The Time-locked Girl-Chapter 259 The Real Sword Move! Expose the Fake [1 More]

As she spoke, the woman appraised Ye Wanlan from head to toe.

She indeed looked unexpectedly beautiful, but at such a young age, what could she have achieved?

Professor Shen’s expression turned cold, "Miss Xie, we handed the sword hilt over to you hoping you would conduct thorough research, not for you to claim it as your own! Please hand over the sword hilt now!"

"Elder Shen, I believe I’ve made myself very clear." The woman’s expression turned equally icy, "As the Successor of the Sword Saint, I cannot possibly hand over the Sword Saint’s relics to an outsider, especially since my research is still ongoing!"

She didn’t know, but what kind of spell had this young lady cast on the two professors from Yunjing University?

"Miss Xie, Old Shen and I aren’t here to negotiate with you but to inform you." Professor Li said coldly, "You are not an in-house member of the Cultural Relics Bureau Archaeology Center, and as a contracted external member, you have no right to decide on the fate of the cultural relics!"

"You....!" The woman laughed out of extreme anger, "Fine, I’ll give the sword hilt to you. But when you can’t research anything substantial, don’t even think about returning it to me, because I won’t want it!"

She turned and went into the house to get a box and tossed it out with tremendous resentment.

The box shot out like a cannonball, with great speed and impact.

Professor Shen hadn’t expected the woman to hurl the box at her face so abruptly and stood frozen in place.

"Snap!"

Ye Wanlan reached out from behind Professor Shen and firmly caught the box in her palm.

She slowly raised her head and looked at the woman, speaking indifferently, "Hasn’t your family taught you to respect your elders?"

That look was very calm and bland, yet full of deterrence.

Their gazes briefly met for a fraction of a second, yet the woman couldn’t help but retreat several steps, even falling into a chair with a loud clang.

The woman’s expression changed over and over.

Her throw just now wasn’t just any throw; it was imbued with Inner Strength.

Forget an elderly person like Professor Shen, even a young person, if hit accurately, would need to go to a hospital.

And yet Ye Wanlan caught it so effortlessly?

"Professors, we have the item now, let’s go." Ye Wanlan extended her hand to support Professor Shen, "The air here is polluted; staying any longer might affect the health."

This time, the woman didn’t speak, but her gaze darkened as she watched Ye Wanlan’s retreating figure uncertainly.

The boat returned from Lake Heart Island to the ferry dock of Fengyuan City.

Once back on solid ground, Professor Shen gasped for air.

She wiped the sweat from her brow and couldn’t help but let out a wry smile, "Wanlan, thank you for earlier. If not for you.... my old bones would have suffered an injury."

But fortunately, they had recovered the sword hilt of the Sword Saint’s Sword.

However, it was then that Professor Shen saw Ye Wanlan grap the sword hilt, her hand tightening slightly.

With a series of "crackle" sounds, the sword hilt shattered into pieces.

"!!!"

Professor Shen’s pupils contracted sharply, "Wanlan?!"

Ye Wanlan shook her head and said lightly, "It’s fake."

Upon hearing this, both Professor Shen and Professor Li’s expressions changed dramatically!

"Fake?!" exclaimed Professor Shen in surprise, "How could it be fake?"

"Because on the Sword Saint’s Sword hilt, there should be a ’Heavenly’ character composed of seal script patterns," explained Ye Wanlan, "But I checked just now and didn’t find any similar patterns."

The pattern was one thing.

The most crucial aspect was the weight of the sword hilt.

When she studied under Xie Leyou, she had also held the Sword Saint’s Sword.

She remembered the weight of the sword tip, sword edge, sword hilt, and sword tassel clearly to this day.

The hilt she had just shattered was very light and could not possibly be authentic.

The Sword Saint’s Unmatched Martial Skills were legendary, and not only was the power of his "Heavenly Sword Method" immense, but the sword he wielded must also have been a treasured item.

How could it be so easily destroyed by her?

"I see," murmured Professor Shen before letting out a sigh, "We thought that by finding the sword hilt, we could learn more about the Sword Saint. Who would have thought... it turned out to be fake?"

"No—" Ye Wanlan spoke slowly, "The sword hilt found by the professors should be real."

Professor Shen and Professor Li exchanged glances, seeing shock in each other’s eyes as they both blurted out, "Does that mean she had crafted a fake sword hilt in advance and given us the fake one?"

Ye Wanlan nodded.

"Outrageous!" Professor Shen could not contain his anger, "Did nobody carefully check her background when nominating her?"

She and Professor Li did not know that Miss Xie, but it was another researcher from the Cultural Relics Bureau Archaeology Center who recommended her, and with the title of "Successor of the Sword Saint", they ended up handing over the sword hilt.

"There’s no need for both professors to worry," Ye Wanlan said lightly, "By this time tomorrow, I will have retrieved the sword hilt."

The previous Sword Saint was her master, and the last Sword Saint was her senior brother.

She would not allow anyone to falsely claim the title of Successor of the Sword Saint.

**

In the evening, Ye Wanlan returned to the hotel.

Huo Yungui was not there today; according to Rong Yu, he had obtained a workbook produced by Shenzhou University from Yan Tingfeng and was now immersed in a sea of knowledge.

"Why were you out for so long today?" Yan Tingfeng poured a cup of freshly brewed tea and handed it over, "Did something troublesome happen?"

"Sort of, but not really," Ye Wanlan briefly recounted the afternoon’s events, "I don’t know what the use is in pretending to be the Successor of the Sword Saint, or who is behind it."

That Mrs. Xie was no ordinary person.

Ye Wanlan felt fluctuations of Inner Strength from her.

The Inner Strength wasn’t strong, but a person with Inner Strength could easily deal with ordinary people.

Yan Tingfeng’s pupils narrowed slightly, with a faint murderous intent forming in his eyes, "Do you need help?"

The former Sword Saint, Xie Leyou, was one of the only two masters he recognized.

Xie Leyou had a free and easy nature, wandering the world, and was a chivalrous hero often drawing his sword to help others in distress.

Although sometimes he did unreliable things when drunk, Xie Leyou was quite competent as both a martial hero and a teacher.

After the death of Xie Leyou, his son Xie Linyuan inherited the title of Sword Saint.

He had crossed swords with Xie Linyuan and acknowledged that the latter truly excelled beyond his teacher, making the name of the Sword Saint even more glorious.

But where did this so-called Successor of the Sword Saint come from three hundred years later?

Although "Heavenly Swords" was among the strongest martial arts along with the Divine Strategy Spear Technique and the Heavenly Music Method, unlike the Six Great Sects, the Sword Saint lineage allowed only one person per generation.

With Xie Linyuan gone, where then was the Sword Saint?

"When I need it, I will tell you," Ye Wanlan raised an eyebrow, "We’ve known each other for so long, we’re friends, and I never act tough in front of friends."

Yan Tingfeng’s eyelashes fluttered slightly, muttering to himself, "Friends, huh..."

For him, the word was exceedingly luxurious.

He had been wandering the Jianghu for over twenty years, and the number of people he could truly call "friends" were few.

Those who remained by his side did so more out of fear of him than anything else.

"Alright, friend," Yan Tingfeng looked up again, with a calm, shallow smile, "If Xiao Wan needs help, I won’t be stingy."

"I need to go out for a bit later," Ye Wanlan nodded, "Please help me make a phone call to my uncle."

Yan Tingfeng was at ease, "It’s a small matter; I already promised your uncle when I came to Fengyuan, you go ahead with your business, I have everything else covered."

At half past twelve midnight, on the small island in the lake.

At this moment, the sky was profoundly dark, the night adorned with only a few sparse stars and a crescent moon.

A woman walked out of the small cabin and sat on a stone bench by the riverside.

In her hands was a piece of metal— the hilt of the Sword Saint’s Sword.

"These people from the Cultural Relics Bureau are really easy to fool," the woman sneered contemptuously to herself, "They happily took away the fake hilt, now I really want to see what they can come up with."

She caressed the hilt lovingly, and suddenly, the sound of whistling wind arose.

"Who’s there?!" The woman’s expression chilled, and she stood up abruptly.

Her reactions were extremely swift, flipping her wrist, she tucked away the hilt.

"You do have the real hilt in your hands, but can you really figure it out?" a voice said, calm, "Or have you been calling yourself the Successor of the Sword Saint for so long that you’ve tricked even yourself?"

The woman spun around, her pupils shaking, "It’s you?"

Ye Wanlan stood with her hands behind her back, "Hand over the real hilt."

"Impossible!" The woman scoffed coldly, "You really are bold, daring to come here alone at this late hour, truly a naive calf unafraid of tigers."

"It seems you don’t want to talk properly," Ye Wanlan said flatly, "Coincidentally, neither do I."

She raised her hand, slowly lifting the sword.

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