Maybe it was because their teacher was going to die.
Whatever the reason, Jingliu threw herself into her sword practice harder than ever.
If she got stronger, she thought, if she beat every enemy, if she became a swordswoman even greater than their teacher, then maybe their teacher wouldn’t have to die.
Compared to Jingliu, Felutina seemed strangely unhurried.
She still dragged Jingliu out every weekend to relax, and now and then they ran into Baiyun passing through.
The days went by one after another, and everything stayed the same.
Until a weekend a year later.
“Looks like I’m getting married.”
Baiyun announced it to Felutina and Jingliu with a grin.
“Oh?
Congrats.”
Felutina kept shoveling rice into her mouth, not the slightest bit interested in romantic gossip.
The Foxian counted as a long-lived species too, but an average of three hundred years was still awfully short next to the thousand-plus years of the Celestials.
Falling in love at this age wasn’t strange at all.
She wondered when she’d finally get to meet Baiheng.
Jingliu sat beside Felutina, taking small bites of her food, and her head snapped up the moment Baiyun spoke.
But she wasn’t looking at Baiyun.
She was looking at Felutina.
“What’s with you two?
No reaction at all.
You’re supposed to be teenage girls!”
Baiyun pouted, puffing up with indignation.
Jingliu finally moved her gaze from Felutina’s face to Baiyun.
Watching Baiyun chat with Felutina had always stirred something in her she couldn’t name, something sulky and childish.
Now that Baiyun had brought up marriage out of nowhere, that feeling faded a little, and her mood lifted along with it.
“Because there’s nothing to react to,” Felutina said, blinking, starlight shifting in her eyes.
“Besides, what worries me more is whether some weirdo’s conning you.”
Jingliu nodded in profound agreement.
“As if!
Don’t treat me like an idiot!” Baiyun huffed.
As though to prove something, she pulled out her Jade Abacus, swiped rapidly across the screen, then brandished the device in triumph.
“Xianzhou Alliance Standard Intelligence Test – Just how smart are you?
Find out if your IQ is in the top one percent!”
One look at the headline and Felutina lost it.
“My results put me in the very highest bracket!”
“How much did this test cost you?”
Felutina’s chopsticks paused midair, and disbelief finally crossed her face.
“A hundred Strale!” Baiyun said, sticking out her chest.
“…Well, that settles the question of your intelligence.”
Felutina’s mouth twitched, and she started worrying in advance for the not-yet-born Baiheng.
Jingliu ate in silence, keeping her head down, because if she looked up she was going to burst out laughing.
“What’s that face supposed to mean?” Baiyun scolded, her fluffy fox ears trembling.
“All right, all right.
I trust your judgment,” Felutina said, soothing.
“But you know how things are on our end…
we won’t be able to attend your wedding.”
“I know, but that’s not what I wanted to talk about…”
Baiyun deflated, propping both hands against her cheeks so that her soft little face squished up between them.
Then she went for the direct approach.
“What I mean is, isn’t there someone you—”
“Ahaha, don’t be ridiculous.
Why would a beautiful girl like me like a man?”
“…”
Felutina cut her off without mercy before she could finish, and when Baiyun opened her mouth to fire back, that outrageous line cut her off a second time.
She turned to Jingliu instead.
Jingliu did lift her head at last, but she said nothing, only pressed her thin lips into a stiff little curve.
She was about to lose it.
Her red eyes shone.
Nothing about her suggested she wanted to argue with Felutina.
She looked purely, unmistakably hopeful.
At last, a normal sisterly relationship…
No, wait, there was nothing normal about this!
Baiyun’s hands slid from her cheeks up to her scalp, and she scrubbed hard at her hair, trying to settle the mess of thoughts rattling around inside.
“There, there.” Felutina made an attempt at comforting the idiot.
“I’ll miss your starskiff.
Congratulations on the wedding.”
“That’s not what’s bothering me either…”
Baiyun was going out of her mind, the fur on her tail standing up strand by strand.
Then a red envelope entered her field of vision.
“This is the last friendship fee,” Felutina said, entirely sincere.
“And mine.” Jingliu was blunter about it.
She hadn’t prepared a red envelope, so she simply dug a few Strale out of her pocket and handed them over.
“It’s called a wedding gift!”
Baiyun’s lips twisted.
She paused, and then her expression turned serious, her pretty brows drawing faintly together.
She spoke softly.
“Felutina.
Don’t die.”
As disciples of the Sword Champion, Felutina and Jingliu were all but destined for the battlefield.
And Baiyun had worked alongside Felutina.
She knew her.
This white-haired girl was the sort who would give way to others in anything.
Including letting others live while she walked to her death alone.
Felutina would do that without a moment’s hesitation.
“You actually get sentimental?” Felutina said, honestly surprised.
So that was why Baiyun had been acting strange all day.
She’d been worried Felutina would die quietly on some battlefield without a word.
Baiyun’s tail swished irritably from side to side.
“What kind of question is that?
I’m a person too, of course I have all sorts of feelings!”
“Yes, yes.
But there’s no need to worry.” Felutina answered offhandedly, straightening up a little and patting a chest that had only just begun to develop, beaming.
“I’m the World’s No.
1 Killer.”
“What’s the World’s No.
1 Killer supposed to mean?” Baiyun had long since gotten used to the strange vocabulary Felutina produced from time to time, so she just asked outright.
“Mm…
it means that even if I were dragging Xianzhou Luofu along with one hand, I, Felutina, would still be unmatched in this world,” Felutina intoned, then explained.
“Then they should give you the General’s seat.”
Baiyun cracked and snorted out a laugh.
She stood and looked out the window, reluctant to let the moment end, a trace of regret in her face.
“Ah, once I go back to Yaoqing this time, it’ll be hard for me to come visit you on the Luofu again.”
“Isn’t that what the Jade Abacus is for?”
“Meeting in person is different!
Ceremony matters, don’t you get it?
Ceremony.”
Baiyun sighed with her hands on her hips.
…
After saying goodbye to Felutina and Jingliu, Baiyun left soon after.
Time rolled on like a wheel.
With Baiyun gone, their lives didn’t seem to change much at all.
If anything had changed, it was that Felutina had recently started reading.
Strange books that Jingliu couldn’t make heads or tails of, full of mystical business about reading the heavens and divining the winds.
It seemed Felutina wanted to test into the Divination Commission.
When Jingliu learned this, even the swing of her blade in practice grew heavier.
She wanted to stay with her Sis forever.