In the center of the stone-paved courtyard, a few bamboo leaves shaken loose by sword qi were still spinning lazily through the air, drifting toward the ground.
The dappled shadows of bamboo swayed across the flagstones in the afternoon light, and the sharp, clean edge of a blade's passing still lingered in the air.
Gu Chengming stood motionless, sword in hand, breathing slightly quickened. His blade tilted toward the ground as he regarded the figure he had just driven back with a single strike.
That figure was the young junior brother who called himself "Liu En."
Despite being pushed back a step — his shoulder still throbbing with a dull ache — Liu Enchuan's face held not a trace of irritation. On the contrary, he broke into hearty, unstinting applause.
"Excellent! Excellent! Excellent!"
He laughed with unrestrained delight.
"My thanks for the lesson, 'Senior Brother Gu'!"
That "Senior Brother Gu" rolled off his tongue with complete and utter sincerity — no psychological resistance whatsoever.
In the world of cultivation, ability commands respect.
Gu Chengming's understanding of the Huiyuan Sword Art far exceeded Liu Enchuan's expectations. In certain respects, it had even surpassed his own — the elder's — comprehension.
Calling him "senior brother" wasn't the least bit shameful.
Besides, he was currently operating under a false name and a disguised face. Who would ever know this was Liu Enchuan, the venerable Meritorious Elder? So long as the disguise held, calling someone "senior brother" cost him nothing.
For his part, Gu Chengming had quite a good impression of this "Junior Brother Liu En."
Not only had this invigorating bout pushed his understanding of the Huiyuan Sword Art to a new level — he was also struck by that final move his opponent had made, the one that looked desperate but was, on closer inspection, exquisitely controlled.
Gu Chengming hadn't seen that technique before, but the passive trait Lucid Sword-Heart had let him feel, in that single instant, a genuine flicker of danger.
There was no question about it — that was a profoundly advanced sword technique.
Setting aside the constraint of the Huiyuan Sword Art entirely, this "Junior Brother Liu En" was, in terms of pure sword cultivation, unquestionably a master operating on a level far above his own.
The two of them sheathed their swords and stood facing each other, exchanging a few more thoughts on what they'd learned.
The more they talked, the more naturally the conversation flowed — that rare feeling of having met a kindred spirit too late in life.
Of course, that feeling carried a subtle difference depending on which side you were standing on.
Gu Chengming was thinking: I've finally found a reliable, durable sparring partner who actually knows his stuff!
Liu Enchuan, meanwhile, looked at Gu Chengming and liked what he saw more with every passing second — more pleased, more satisfied.
This boy is the future hope of Huiyuan Gate!
As he spoke, his tone had unconsciously taken on the warm, gratified quality of a senior regarding a promising junior:
"Senior Brother Gu, you must train diligently. Don't let such talent go to waste. If you ever run into difficulties in your cultivation, feel free to — ahem — feel free to bring them to this junior brother of yours."
Gu Chengming felt a faint, inexplicable unease creep over him.
That tone... why did it sound exactly like the old man next door lecturing his grandson?
He assumed this junior brother was simply a sword-obsessed eccentric — the kind who lived and breathed cultivation but had no idea how to make normal conversation — and didn't think too much of it. He just smiled and accepted the sentiment.
Liu Enchuan seemed to realize he'd let the mask slip, that his tone had been a touch too "grandfatherly." He quickly reined himself in, reassuming the breezy demeanor of a young sword cultivator. After a few more brief exchanges, he clasped his hands in farewell and departed.
Watching Liu Enchuan's retreating figure, Gu Chengming felt his mood lift considerably.
Today's bout had been well worth it.
.....
Meanwhile, over at the Hidden Sword Pavilion, a certain Elder Yu was having a considerably less pleasant time of it.
Ever since being left on a cliffhanger at that critical moment several nights ago, Yu Wenqiu had felt as though she'd been poisoned by something called "update withdrawal."
Each day she sat behind the Hidden Sword Pavilion counter, outwardly the picture of serene meditation and profound contemplation. Inwardly, her mind was careening through wild, undisciplined tangents.
Even when disciples came to exchange for techniques, she could barely hold herself together.
"Elder, I'd like to exchange for this copy of the Blazing Fire Palm."
"Mm... what do you suppose the protagonist would do if he chose the third option?"
"I beg your pardon, Elder?"
"Ahem, ahem. Never mind. Take it and go."
Two days of this was all she could endure.
No. She refused to simply sit here and suffer. If the mountain wouldn't come to her, she would go to the mountain.
She resolved to take the initiative — to track down that boy called Gu Chengming and ask him when the sequel would be delivered.
As an elder, locating the residence of an outer disciple was trivially easy.
A few taps of the fingers, a quick lookup in the sect's disciple registry — and she could pull up a map precise enough to give her the door number.
In short order, Yu Wenqiu had pinpointed Gu Chengming's location.
If Gu Chengming had known, he'd probably have had only one reaction: a slow, horrified blink.
Yu Wenqiu didn't head straight over. She made a detour back to her own dwelling first to prepare.
She changed out of her conspicuous elder's robes and into a moon-white dress that looked understated at first glance but was cut from fine, carefully chosen fabric. She styled her hair into a simple bun, securing it with a single plain jade hairpin.
Once ready, she summoned her escape light and slipped quietly toward Gu Chengming's residence.
The moment she touched down outside, she heard a series of dull, rhythmic thuds from within the courtyard.
Thud. Thud. Thud.
Curious, Yu Wenqiu leaned forward to look.
Inside the courtyard, Gu Chengming stood bare-chested, every muscle drawn taut, sweat tracing long lines down his spine.
In a posture that was strange to the point of looking self-punishing, he was throwing his body repeatedly into a thick wooden post planted in the ground.
It was the bone-forging method recorded in the Hundred Bones Resonance.
With each impact, a faint crack of bone could be heard. It looked painful just to watch.
Something stirred quietly in Yu Wenqiu's chest. Her expression shifted into something complicated.
This kid... he really is putting in the work.
Her thoughts drifted to the upcoming sect disciple examination, which was almost upon them.
Gu Chengming was working this hard — surely he was trying to earn a decent result in the exam, to avoid being cut from the sect.
The thought brought to mind her own younger years: cramming furiously before her elder's examination, training through entire sleepless nights, losing fistfuls of hair in the process...
A wave of commiserating sympathy rose unbidden.
Yu Wenqiu sighed inwardly.
She and this young Gu weren't just kindred spirits when it came to their taste in novels. Even this — this desperate, last-minute grind before an examination — was something they had in common.
Since they were fellow devotees, and since the boy was clearly working himself to the bone, she, as an elder, had no wish to watch him get eliminated just like that.
And more importantly — she was still counting on him to procure the remaining volumes of that novel for her!
If he got expelled and left the sect, who on earth would bring her books?
With these thoughts turning over in her mind, Yu Wenqiu found herself wondering what she could do to help the boy.
At that moment, Gu Chengming — deep in his training — seemed to sense movement at the gate.
He paused, wiped the sweat from his face, and turned to look toward the courtyard entrance.
When he saw the woman standing in the doorway — her moon-white dress, her gentle, refined bearing — he blinked in momentary surprise, then spoke with undisguised astonishment:
"Elder Yu? What brings you here?"
Yu Wenqiu, who had been thoroughly absorbed in contemplating how to assist a struggling junior disciple, was jolted back to the present by his voice.
Only then did she remember why she'd actually come.
"Ahem! Ahem!"
She cleared her throat with a touch of embarrassment, swiftly composing her expression. She clasped her hands behind her back and walked inside with unhurried dignity.
"As it happens... I was passing by this area, and recalled that you had only recently exchanged for the Hundred Bones Resonance. I thought I'd stop in and see how your training was coming along."
She made a show of inspecting the post — which had been visibly deformed by repeated impact — and gave a measured nod.
"Indeed, it is clear you have been diligent. The Hundred Bones Resonance progresses slowly, but it builds an exceptionally solid foundation. With this level of dedication, you have not failed to live up to... ahem... the goodwill shown to you that day."
It was quite the elaborate piece of circumlocution — perfectly dignified, eminently high-minded. The very image of a genuine senior checking in on a junior's academic progress.
Gu Chengming, momentarily thrown, hastily clasped his hands and replied: "Many thanks for your concern, Elder. This disciple will continue to work hard."
Having sufficiently laid the groundwork, Yu Wenqiu pivoted with studied casualness:
"By the way, apart from your training... that storybook you brought me the other day — I happened to glance through a page or two of it in my idle hours."
She paused, her eyes drifting to the side, feigning nonchalance as she continued:
"Some of the plot developments... are rather novel. I wonder — when might you be able to procure the remaining volumes? It would allow me to... mm, continue contemplating the profound truths of mortal existence contained within."
Gu Chengming watched her — so obviously desperate, yet straining with equal effort to appear indifferent — and had to suppress a laugh.
So it really had gained him another devoted reader of the genre.
Since she'd come all the way to his door, Gu Chengming saw no reason to keep up the pretense any longer.
After all, they'd be working together long-term. Letting her know the truth would only serve his own interests — a more solid foundation for their, shall we say, revolutionary comradeship. (He had briefly thought of another phrase involving emperors and edicts, but thought better of it.)
So he smiled and said: "If Elder Yu enjoys that storybook, then it is this disciple's honor. Actually..."
He gestured toward the pile of manuscript pages stacked on the stone table:
"That storybook wasn't purchased from anywhere. I wrote it myself, in my spare time — just making things up as I went."
Yu Wenqiu's eyes went wide. She stared at him in utter disbelief, then looked at the manuscript pages on the stone table — still faintly fragrant with ink — then back at Gu Chengming again. She stood there completely frozen.
Unable to help herself, she swept a thread of her spiritual sense across the manuscript pages.
It was unmistakably the same handwriting — and the content was a direct continuation of where the first volume had ended!
At the critical moment, the protagonist had actually come back to life! And on top of that, he had even...
She'd only taken one glance before she was completely hooked, desperately wishing she could devour every remaining page on the spot.
But Gu Chengming chose that precise moment to smile and say:
"Though this second volume is still in progress — not yet finished. It will be some time before it's ready. Once this disciple has completed it, he will send it along to Elder Yu."
Yu Wenqiu retracted her spiritual sense without a visible flicker, but inside she was absolutely itching — as though several hundred cats were simultaneously clawing at her from within.
Her emotions at this moment were extraordinarily tangled.
On one hand, she found this little wretch absolutely insufferable — how dare he leave her on another cliffhanger! And hide the manuscript right in front of her, just out of reach!
On the other hand, she felt a helpless, grudging admiration welling up — this young Gu was an outright master of the form.
But in the end, every last one of those feelings converged into a single, crystalline thought:
This boy absolutely cannot be expelled from the sect.
If he gets eliminated, packs his things, and walks out that gate — what happens to my novels?!
...
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