The moon hung half-sunk in the sky, the light of dawn still nowhere in sight, scattered stars caged in a curtain of pitch-black night.
Yun Xiu had no idea how she’d even slept the night before, she woke up with her hair a wild, frizzled mess, strands plastered to her fair, delicate face, the red cord that bound it hanging loose and crooked at the ends, making her look like a scruffy little stray dog dumped in the underbrush.
She had no energy to fix it, though. She was too busy staring at the back of Xie Wuwang’s hand, watching the patch of skin that had started out a faint pink deepen and deepen into red, while he himself showed no reaction at all.
She fidgeted with her sleeve, hesitating over whether to say something about his allergic reaction.
Wait, did he even know what he was allergic to was fox fur?
If he knew, wouldn’t that mean her fox-spirit identity was already blown?
While her thoughts were still spinning, the young man’s voice drifted down from above, unhurried.
“It’s nothing serious. My spiritual energy simply surged all at once overnight, and I’m not quite used to it yet. You’re already a Qi Refinement cultivator now.”
He lowered his hand, expression calm. “You’ve only just joined the sect, there’s no rush to start cultivating these next few days. Rest well at your quarters. As for getting familiar with the sect… it isn’t convenient for me to show you around personally. I’ll have a disciple guide you instead.”
Yun Xiu understood exactly what “isn’t convenient” meant.
Wherever he went, the place would be packed solid (so crowded you couldn’t squeeze a drop of water through) with people.
She gave a small nod. “Okay.”
The young man’s gaze seemed to settle on the top of her head. He was quiet for a moment, then his voice suddenly turned cool and crisp. “Turn around.”
Yun Xiu’s spirits jolted upright. That line sounded exactly like something out of a cops-and-robbers drama, “Hands up, don’t move.”
…So she’d been found out after all.
Obediently, Yun Xiu turned her back to him, closing her eyes in grim resignation, mourning her one-day career as an undercover agent for a solid two seconds before, once again, feeling strangely at peace with it.
She didn’t struggle, didn’t beg. She simply put her hands behind her back and stood there like a good girl, waiting for the cuffs.
About half a minute passed. The young man behind her made no move.
Just as she started to wonder what was going on, something cool and round was pressed into her palm, still damp with droplets of water.
Yun Xiu blinked, startled, and brought it up to look, it was a freshly washed water peach, giving off a sweet, fragrant peach scent.
Yun Xiu: ?
The young man’s voice came from behind her, level as ever. “This is all there is for now. Once it’s light out, we’ll go to the sect’s kitchen hall to eat.”
The moment he finished speaking, Yun Xiu felt a fingertip lightly tap the top of her head, the way you’d touch a cat with its fur standing on end, brief, cautious, ready to withdraw at the first sign of a swipe.
Two or three seconds later, that same cool, gentle fingertip settled on her again, moving slowly and carefully over the end of her hair.
He untied the loosened red cord, and a cascade of dark hair immediately tumbled free.
Something cold slid through her hair and brushed the back of her head, as the young man’s slow, gentle motions worked their way down from the top, Yun Xiu suddenly realized, it was a comb.
Yun Xiu cradled the peach and blinked in a daze.
Good Guy Bro was… combing her hair?
Growing up, aside from that one time the auntie next door couldn’t stand her messy state anymore and tied her hair into a little fountain ponytail, Yun Xiu had always done her own hair.
Having someone else touch her hair felt… strange.
And also, his technique was seriously bad.
He’d work at a single lock of hair forever without getting it untangled, tugging hard enough to hurt, nearly knotting it into a ball instead.
Yun Xiu lowered her eyes and quietly gnawed at her peach.
Actually, she wasn’t that hungry. Usually after waking up she’d feel ravenous, sluggish, needing to eat a huge amount just to feel full, but this time she woke up already feeling stuffed.
Still, since it had been given to her, it would be rude not to eat it.
Yun Xiu suddenly spoke, mournfully. “Farewell, little peach.”
Xie Wuwang’s comb paused. “…?”
He was silent for two seconds. “If you want more, I have plenty.”
Yun Xiu: “No. I’m bidding farewell to the strand of hair you just yanked out.”
When modern people stayed up too late, whether or not they got any joy out of it, they always lost something, either love, or hair.
And she, single since birth, had lost both. And soon enough, she was going to die a horrible death in a snake’s belly, too.
People always turned strangely eloquent when wallowing in late-night self-pity.
Yun Xiu: “It’s been with me for so long, it’s practically my closest friend by now. And yet farewell always comes so suddenly. I want to give it a proper send-off, to commemorate the time we spent together.”
Yun Xiu: “I’m sorry, I got a little emotional there. Don’t mind me.”
Xie Wuwang: “…”
Yun Xiu: “If there’s a next life, I’ll definitely take good care—”
Xie Wuwang lowered his head, expression blank, plucked the strand of hair tangled around the comb, pinched a hand seal, and reattached it to her head.
Yun Xiu: Um… um?
His voice was cold. “Go on, then.”
Yun Xiu: “?”
“Deliver your reunion speech to the little peach.”
Yun Xiu fell silent.
Yun Xiu behaved herself.
Yun Xiu quietly gnawed on her peach.
He combed for about ten minutes or so, until Yun Xiu was starting to feel drowsy, before the young man finally finished.
Warm, cool fingers pressed lightly against the back of her head, followed by something cold sliding over her scalp, a pale blue glow of spiritual light flickered past her vision, as if sealing away some kind of presence.
Once the hairpin was secured, the young man withdrew his hands, stepped back two paces, and instructed her in a calm, steady voice.
“Wear this whenever you’re out and about. Don’t lose it carelessly.”
Seeing the glow of spiritual light, Yun Xiu guessed it was some kind of magical item and gave a small nod.
Xie Wuwang paused, then flicked his fingertip, a talisman slowly drifted through the air and landed in her hand. “This is a sound-transmission talisman. Just tear it to activate it. If you run into any trouble in the sect, call for me right away.”
Yun Xiu: “…”
Why did she suddenly feel like a kid being dropped off at kindergarten?
And Xie Wuwang was acting like a first-time parent sending his child to school, fretting over every last instruction before she left.
She looked down at the pale blue talisman in her hand.
Wasn’t this basically the cultivation-world version of a kids’ smartwatch? The kind you could use to call your parent anytime, anywhere.
Yun Xiu clutched the talisman and said quietly, “I won’t cause any trouble at the sect.”
“Mm.”
Xie Wuwang gave a calm hum of acknowledgment, was silent for two seconds, then pulled out a whole stack of sound-transmission talismans and stuffed them into her hands.
Yun Xiu: “…”
Did she really look like that much of a lawless troublemaker?!
Actually, over all her years at school, Yun Xiu had developed her own set of tricks for staying unnoticed by other students.
At any school, the most conspicuous types boiled down to three kinds of people: the top student, the bottom-of-the-class straggler, and the accursed young couples.
Most people, years later, couldn’t even remember the name of that classmate in glasses who sat in the middle of the pack academically, was thoroughly unremarkable in every way, and rarely spoke up.
Yun Xiu was that classmate.
She kept her grades steadily in the middle of the class, every subject sitting at a comfortably good-but-not-outstanding score, just enough to never catch a teacher’s attention.
She never ran for class officer, always finished the 800-meter run with the main pack, wore her uniform neat rain or shine, kept her eyes hidden behind thick black-rimmed glasses, and ate lunch alone in the cafeteria.
According to her own research, though, if you added a stutter on top of that persona, your odds of getting bullied in the movie version of your life shot up to 91.7%.
Not that she was afraid of a fight, she could easily flatten some skinny hundred-pound classmate mid-puberty with one hand, but attracting attention was the real problem.
So Yun Xiu had come up with a brilliant solution.
Speak only in single syllables!
That way, no one could tell she stuttered when talking. Perfect.
Once she got to university, it got even easier: apply for off-campus housing, show up only for class, join no clubs.
Except one day, while munching fries and scrolling through forum posts, she happened to spot one that said, “Ahhh, I ran into that untouchable-beauty junior from the department at the same McDonald’s today, she’s even cuter in person, apparently she’s been this adorable since middle school QWQ.”
The attached photo was her own moody side profile, hurrying out the door with a bag of fries the second she noticed no one else was around.
Yun Xiu: ?
Whoever posted that hadn’t bothered to check the picture, they’d tagged the wrong person entirely.
Anyway, thanks to this whole system, Yun Xiu had successfully coasted all the way through to graduation.
Crouched by the stone monument, picking at it, Yun Xiu believed she could coast through these three months safely at Lingyun Sect too!
…
You Yujing had strictly followed his master Shuo Yunhuai’s instructions, collecting a first-meeting gift from every Elder and elder-master at Lingxiao Hall, tying it up with ribbon, wrapping it into a lovely gift box, and heading to Luoxue Peak.
Luoxue Peak was warded, so You Yujing landed at the foot of the mountain by flying sword, and immediately spotted a small, dark little lump crouched by the stone monument.
He’d seen the sketch, Little Yun-shimei liked to talk to the flowers and grasses on the ground when she felt lonely.
You Yujing’s heart was instantly struck by the scene, going soft, he cleared his throat gently. “Um, Yun-shimei.”
Yun Xiu hurriedly stood up, peering at him through the gap under her veiled hat.
She’d seen him yesterday in the main hall, and he’d greeted her, but she’d been unable to get a single word out at the time.
He was the one who’d waved his sweater, some rainbow, flashy thing that looked like it belonged in a dance game, right in front of her, asking if it looked good.
“My master told me to help you get familiar with the sect. I’m You Yujing. Just call me Senior Brother You.”
There was no need to keep up her act with someone whose whole job was to help her settle in, she’d actually have to communicate this time.
Just as Yun Xiu opened her mouth, the young man suddenly seemed to remember something and hastily waved his hands. “No need to call me anything, actually! When I talk to you, just nod or hum along, that’s fine.”
Yun Xiu: OvO?
What a strange request.
Didn’t understand it, but respected it.
So Yun Xiu gave a small hum in response.
You Yujing flushed slightly, and pulled two glazed mirrors from his sleeve. “This is a glazed mirror specially made for Lingyun Sect, it marks you as a disciple and lets you connect to the sect’s exclusive SpiritNet. You can use it to take on sect missions and check in for daily cultivation.”
“This one’s yours. This one’s for Shishu Wuwang, you can hand it to him later, Yun-shimei.”
Yun Xiu took it, then paused.
Seeming to notice her confusion, You Yujing explained, “Shishu Wuwang’s been in seclusion for five hundred years, the glazed mirror’s only been around for the past hundred or so. People used to communicate through sound-transmission talismans, but now that we have glazed mirrors, it’s much more convenient than talismans, you can talk to thousands of people at once.”
As a socially anxious person, Yun Xiu understood this perfectly, the difference between a phone call and a group text.
On a phone call she could barely squeeze out a few words, timid and stammering. In a group chat, she’d throw punches on the keyboard, clacking away like a pro.
“Yun-shimei, we can add each other on Knock, that way it’ll be easier to talk if anything comes up.”
Yun Xiu agreed, and spent a while studying the newly issued glazed mirror. When creating her Knock account, she instinctively went to type “Crematorium Technician Master Yun, AAA Crematorium,” then caught herself just in time.
She thought it over for a moment and settled on a slightly more subtle, understated name instead.
—”Nine-Meals-A-Day.”
She accepted You Yujing’s friend request and sent over her name as a note.
Glancing over, his ID wasn’t exactly modest either.
—”Xuanling Grandmaster of Slacking Off.”
You Yujing was busy silently grinning at the words “Yun Xiu” on his glazed mirror when he suddenly caught sight of his own name, and his spine went rigid.
Oh no, would Little Yun-shimei think he was some lazy good-for-nothing!
Just as Yun Xiu was about to put the glazed mirror away, she blinked and saw his name had abruptly changed.
—”Xuanling Grandmaster of Diligent Sword Practice.”
Yun Xiu: ?
Some lies were fine to tell your sisters, but you shouldn’t go fooling yourself, too.
You Yujing remembered there was still a purpose to this trip, and pulled a gift box and a small booklet out of his storage pouch. “Yun-shimei, these are welcome gifts from the Elders and elder-masters.”
Yun Xiu took it and opened the box.
Two seconds.
She blinked her eyes, stinging from the blinding glare, and shut the box without hesitation, tossing it straight into the storage pouch Xie Wuwang had given her and sealing it shut.
Whoever wore these magical items out would definitely be the flashiest thing on the whole street, drawing every eye a hundred percent guaranteed.
You Yujing asked, “You don’t like them, Yun-shimei?”
Before Yun Xiu could answer, he muttered on, “I knew this whole set wouldn’t work, and those elders too, why’d they all have to send stuff like this along?”
As he spoke, the boy fidgeted and pulled out a little pink box from his sleeve. “I, um, I didn’t really know what Yun-shimei would like, and Shishu Wuwang probably doesn’t lack for any magical items… so after a lot of thought, I just went with food. This is Xuanling Crystal Red-Cloud, it replenishes energy and clears the spirit, I gathered it myself in the Scarlet Blaze Lands not long ago.”
Yun Xiu opened it and her eyes lit up.
Lying in the box was a fluffy red cotton-candy-like puff, shaped like a little cloud umbrella, soft to the touch just like actual cotton candy.
You Yujing, bashful yet hopeful, said, “You can eat it straight, it tastes sweet.”
Food was so much better than all those flashy random things!
Yun Xiu was about to say thank you, but remembering his odd request, she closed her mouth, nodded gently instead, and hummed.
“Let’s go, Yun-shimei, I’ll show you around the sect.”
Yun Xiu gave a small nod and followed him, pulling out her glazed mirror from her sleeve and tapping something out with her head lowered.
You Yujing was just wondering who she was texting when his own glazed mirror in his robes buzzed. He pulled it out to check.
Little Yun-shimei: 【Thank you, Senior Brother You.】
In an instant, the boy’s ears turned bright red, and it looked like little wispy flowers had bloomed on top of his head, swaying uncontrollably.
…
“Yun-shimei, this is the Xuanling training grounds. To the right is the Sword-Testing Pavilion, it has ten floors total, each with different demon-beast illusion trials inside. You pick which floor based on your own cultivation level.”
“To the left is the sword-debate platform, where disciples spar with each other in their free time. The sect also keeps a Heaven Rankings ladder, every ten years there’s a Sword-Debate Tournament to rank everyone. Beat a disciple ranked above you, and you take their spot.”
Yun Xiu walked alongside You Yujing, nodding along as she nibbled her cotton candy.
Simple enough, in gaming terms, this was just PvE and PvP. Sword-Testing Pavilion was PvE dungeon-clearing against demon beasts, and the sword-debate platform was PvP disciple-versus-disciple.
Yun Xiu looked up at the semi-transparent screen in front of her, the Heaven Rankings, and there, in big bold letters at rank one, was the name “You Yujing.”
She finished off her cotton-candy stick, wiped her hands, and recalled she’d actually seen someone mention while scrolling forums that he really had taken first place in the last Sword-Debate Tournament.
“Well well, if it isn’t Rank One. Haven’t shown your face at the training grounds in a few hundred years, what’s brought on this sudden burst of enthusiasm today?”
A sarcastic male voice suddenly rang out nearby.
Yun Xiu looked over and saw a red-robed young man cradling a sword, eyebrow raised, glaring provocatively at You Yujing.
You Yujing let out a rough cough, pressing a fist to his lips. “Who says I haven’t been coming? Of course I’ve been here every single day, given how diligent I am. Xu Shaoqian, how dare you slander an innocent man out of nowhere.”
What kind of talk was that! Little Yun-shimei was listening to every word!
The young man he’d called Xu Shaoqian let out a cold snort. “Every day, huh? I practice here every single day and I’ve never once seen so much as your shadow. So what’ve you been doing here if not practicing?”
He suddenly gave a long, drawn-out “Oh,” as if he’d just figured something out, tone dripping with mockery. “Don’t tell me you’re scared I’ll beat you so badly in this tournament you won’t know which way is north, so you’ve been hiding here sneaking peeks at my sword techniques?”
Xu Shaoqian’s expression turned instantly disdainful. “So this is the only trick up your sleeve, huh.”
You Yujing: ?
Where on earth did this confidence come from?
Damn it, if Little Yun-shimei weren’t here, he’d definitely have pinned this brat down on the sword-debate platform and given him a beating.
“But I can’t be bothered arguing with you. A true powerhouse doesn’t stoop to petty tricks like a lowlife such as yourself, I only ever compete fair and square.”
Xu Shaoqian raised his chin. “Just you wait for the Sword-Debate Tournament two months from now, I’ll trample you under my feet.”
Infuriating, but he had to keep his composure.
He couldn’t let Little Yun-shimei think he was some hot-tempered, aggressive senior brother.
You Yujing smiled and nodded. “Good luck. Best of wishes on securing second place.”
Xu Shaoqian had already come in second in two consecutive tournaments, the old reigning first-place champion had skipped the last one, and he’d genuinely been the favorite to win first, only for You Yujing to come out of nowhere and steal it.
He hated more than anything hearing someone mention “second place” in front of him, and the moment he heard You Yujing say that, he flared up instantly. “You—!”
Xu Shaoqian gritted his teeth. “All you’re good for is running your mouth. If you’ve got the guts, come up here and fight.”
You Yujing smiled. “I’m on official duty today. My apologies, I can’t oblige.”
Xu Shaoqian scoffed. “‘Official duty,’ sure. I can see right through you, you’re just scared. If you don’t dare fight, just say so, coward.”
The air between the two of them crackled with tension, when a faint, delicate female voice suddenly spoke up beside them.
“Y-You…!”
You Yujing startled and quickly turned to Yun Xiu, her veiled hat hid her expression, but he could see her knuckles clenched tight, her frame trembling faintly.
He tensed. “What’s wrong, Yun-shimei?”
“That thing… you gave me to eat, what was it?”
You Yujing was baffled. “Xuanling Crystal Red-Cloud? It’s a kind of spirit mushroom that grows in the magma of the Scarlet Blaze Lands. What’s the matter?”
Hearing this, Xu Shaoqian’s gaze drifted over to the low-profile black-robed girl beside You Yujing, and he raised an eyebrow. “You’re pretty generous, kid, handing out something that precious to just anyone.”
“Junior Sister…” he leaned in, sizing Yun Xiu up. “So this is the new disciple your master just took in?”
“I’ve long heard of the East Sea’s reputation, renowned across the world for its arts of mechanism and formation.” Xu Shaoqian nodded. “But you’ve come to join the Sword Sect instead, do you perhaps have a distinct approach to the sword-dao?”
The black-robed girl gave no response at all, not even lifting her head to look at him.
“She’s not Long-shimei.”
You Yujing casually answered Xu Shaoqian, his attention entirely on Yun Xiu, voice gentled. “Little Yun-shimei, are you all right?”
“What Long-shimei, Yun-shimei. I’m talking to you, did you hear me?”
Ignored, Xu Shaoqian clicked his tongue and stepped forward, reaching out to yank off Yun Xiu’s veiled hat. “Let’s see just what kind of exalted being is so full of themselves that they—”
Before his outstretched hand could touch the hat, it was suddenly seized by the girl’s hand.
Slender fingers, applying just a hint of pressure.
The next instant, a bloodcurdling scream rang out across the entire Xuanling training grounds.
…
Clouds upon mountains, mist upon rivers, a lone fishing rod cast into the water.
Shuo Yunhuai sat by the riverbank, one hand stroking a white crane’s feathers, eyes on the bobber floating on the water, utterly at ease.
Beside him sat a transparent glazed fish tank, a few plump, chubby spirit fish swimming lazily inside.
“Sword Venerable Wuwang. What a rare guest.”
Shuo Yunhuai spoke up suddenly, turning to look at the white-robed young man. “You’ve only just taken in a new disciple, shouldn’t you be busy tending to her education? What are you doing with free time to come find me?”
Shuo Yunhuai chuckled. “Aren’t you afraid those old geezers will find out she’s a mortal with no spiritual power at all, and hold a public struggle session against you every day?”
“That’s no longer the case,” Xie Wuwang said, tone level.
Shuo Yunhuai: “?”
“Seventh layer of Qi Refinement.”
Shuo Yunhuai raised an eyebrow. “In one night? Not bad, you really did drag home a cultivation prodigy.”
“Never thought you’d actually take on a disciple. When Grand Elder mentioned it, I thought you were just humoring him.”
As he spoke, another spirit fish took the bait, Shuo Yunhuai leisurely reeled in the line and dropped the fish into the tank.
“So, what brings you here?”
The white-robed young man spoke unhurriedly.
Shuo Yunhuai gave him a sidelong glance. “Of course that sword-embryo has a fierce temperament, otherwise how could it have sat suppressed in the sword-heart pool all these years without anyone daring to touch it?”
“I do have the thing you need… but are you sure you want her to handle it? Seems a bit harsh on the poor girl, given she’s only just become your disciple. Why not deal with it yourself first, then give it to her?”
“Her temperament is soft and yielding, her cultivation isn’t high, and she’s timid by nature. If I’m not by her side, that sword will never accept her as its master.”
Shuo Yunhuai rubbed his chin. “Fair point, I suppose.”
“Fine, fine.” He tossed over a black jade token. “Just take it easy with her.”
The Sword Venerable unhurriedly pocketed the token, then casually scooped up the spirit fish from the glazed tank and packed them away.
Shuo Yunhuai bared his teeth. “You brat, freeloading a meal on top of everything else!”
These spirit fish were absurdly delicate, they could only be lured with precious spirit plants and reeled in slowly with an ordinary fishing rod, using spiritual power to grab them would kill them on the spot.
He’d fished all night, his backside gone numb, and only managed to catch a handful, and now they’d all been stolen away.
Just as he finished speaking, the glazed mirror in his sleeve began buzzing wildly.
Puzzled, Shuo Yunhuai pulled it out to look, a flood of messages.
Shuo Yunhuai read through them and fell silent for two seconds.
“Xie Wuwang.”
The Sword Venerable, currently pondering whether this haul of fish would be enough to eat, looked up at the sound of his name. “?”
Shuo Yunhuai raised his head. “The Sect Master of Qianyue Palace had a son late in life. Both husband and wife doted on him endlessly, and over time, it made him quite arrogant and unruly.”
“A few years back, the boy became obsessed with the sword-dao and joined Lingyun Sect. Always challenging people to sword debates, a total sword-fanatic.”
“But none of that matters right now. What matters is that a sect member just told me…”
Shuo Yunhuai held up his glazed mirror. “That weak, pitiful, delicate little disciple you were just talking about is, at this very moment, pinning someone down in front of a whole crowd on the sword-debate platform and beating the daylights out of them.”
Shuo Yunhuai paused, then added.
“My own disciple tried to break it up. He got beaten too.”
Xie Wuwang: “…”