Ever since that last question, the Huiyuan Sword Art had gone silent.
Which only made Gu Chengming more certain of his theory.
You had to untie a knot with the same hand that tied it.
If the root of this personality shift lay in Flowing Light, Sword Shadows — and Flowing Light, Sword Shadows had itself grown out of the Flowing Cloud, Moon-Following Sword Art — then to truly understand what was going on inside the Huiyuan Sword Art right now, he'd have to trace the problem back to its source.
Among everyone Gu Chengming knew, when it came to obscure lore and buried secrets of the cultivation world, there were only two candidates: the great elder of Huiyuan Gate, and Yu Wenqiu.
This Steward Yu always looked like she hadn't slept in three days, but she was still a Third Realm cultivator — and a steward of the Hidden Sword Pavilion at that. Whatever secrets floated around the sect, she'd have heard more than a few.
Of course, you couldn't show up empty-handed when you needed a favor.
Gu Chengming worked through the night, dug up several side-plot threads from the third installment of the serial that had originally been cut, gave them a quick polish, and bound them into a tidy little manuscript.
[The Qingxin Formula strongly condemns your half-hearted, perfunctory attitude.]
[It considers these plotlines hackneyed and utterly devoid of originality — a flat-out insult to the reader's intelligence.]
Gu Chengming ignored the commentary entirely.
A gift was about the gesture, not the craftsmanship. A few recycled plot threads would do just fine. No need to overdo it.
....
Inside the Hidden Sword Pavilion.
Yu Wenqiu sat behind her reading table, the "gift" Gu Chengming had just delivered in her hands, her expression somewhere between complicated and unreadable.
She kept glancing at the manuscript, then sneaking looks at Gu Chengming sitting across from her — perfectly upright, the picture of propriety — while the tips of her ears went faintly pink.
Ever since she'd read that scene — the one where the master accidentally ingests Harmonious Joy Powder and the disciple offers his own body as the antidote — the way she looked at Gu Chengming had never quite gone back to normal.
On one hand, she was fairly convinced it was a hint. Hard evidence that this little schemer had designs on her.
On the other hand, reason kept whispering that she was probably reading too much into it. It was a serial novel, after all. Written to sell.
The result was that she now had absolutely no idea how to act around him.
"Steward Yu?"
Gu Chengming waited. She hadn't said a word in what felt like ages. He ventured a cautious prompt.
"Ah? Ahem!"
Yu Wenqiu snapped back to herself. To cover the awkwardness, she quickly shoved the manuscript into her sleeve, picked up her teacup, took a long sip, and asked with practiced nonchalance:
"So… Little Gu, what brings you by today?"
Gu Chengming didn't think anything of it — he figured she'd just gotten absorbed in her reading — and came straight to the point:
"I've run into some confusion while practicing a sword technique recently. I've heard it's connected to a lineage called the Flowing Cloud, Moon-Following Sword Art. I was wondering if you might know anything about it."
"Flowing Cloud, Moon-Following?"
Yu Wenqiu set down her cup, brow furrowing slightly. She thought for a moment — then her eyes lit up with recognition.
"You mean the sword art from Yunyue Sect?"
She might have had both ears sealed off from the outside world, her attention devoted entirely to serial fiction — but when it came to major sword-cultivation sects, she knew enough to get by.
Seeing Gu Chengming nod, Yu Wenqiu's interest kindled. She had always loved collecting this sort of obscure gossip. Delighted to have someone actually asking, she cleared her throat and began to hold forth:
"Yunyue Sect — like our Wenjian Sect — is one of the great sword-cultivation sects of the current age. Though what they cultivate isn't the pure sword path. Theirs is a 'Dao-Sword' approach, actually somewhat similar to Daoning Gate in that respect."
"Now, the origins of the Flowing Cloud, Moon-Following Sword Art — that's where it gets interesting."
A gleam of gossip-fed delight lit up Yu Wenqiu's eyes.
"According to what's been passed down, Yunyue Sect didn't start out as a sword sect at all. It was originally a music sect — a sect that cultivated the Dao through musical rhythm. Their primary cultivation method was this very Flowing Cloud, Moon-Following Art."
"The idea behind it: sound transforms into drifting clouds, melody crystallizes into cold spirit, music ends and the moon appears. It was originally an art of sonic killing — capturing the true principle of the heavenly Dao, where clouds hold no fixed shape and the moon waxes and wanes. Later on, a sword cultivator of startling genius emerged from within the sect."
She glanced at Gu Chengming, caught the look of half-formed confusion on his face, and answered the unspoken question before he could ask it.
"Just like our Wenjian Sect has spell cultivators, a music sect producing one sword cultivator isn't the least bit strange."
"This predecessor felt that playing instruments was too tame — not nearly satisfying enough — and through sheer, towering insight, managed to reshape the entire music-cultivation method into a sword art."
"What made it brilliant was this: he kept the core principle — clouds without fixed form, moon with waxing and waning — while pouring into it a killing edge of unmatched ferocity. And so it came to be that the sect's original music-cultivating disciples were able to switch over to the sword art without the slightest difficulty."
"In the end, that predecessor attained the rank of Sovereign, ascending to the upper echelons of true cultivation — and in doing so, he set Yunyue Sect firmly on the path of a great sword-cultivation sect."
As Gu Chengming listened, his expression slowly grew strange.
Ah. So that was it.
No wonder the Huiyuan Sword Art's personality had fractured into such a contradiction.
The Huiyuan Sword Art itself had developed this crisis of self-doubt out of a fear of being abandoned.
And the ancestor of Flowing Light, Sword Shadows — the Flowing Cloud, Moon-Following Sword Art — was itself a technique that had been abandoned in its original form, forced to reshape itself entirely just to survive.
The two had resonated with each other on some deep, fundamental level.
The Huiyuan Sword Art had perhaps sensed, on some instinctive level, that only by doing what Flowing Cloud, Moon-Following had done — casting off its original "mediocrity" and remaking itself into something "powerful" and new — could it remain by his side.
Perhaps the old resentment still clinging to the original Flowing Cloud, Moon-Following Art was also playing a role.
Yu Wenqiu hadn't noticed the shift in his expression. She was in full flow now, words coming easily:
"The Flowing Cloud, Moon-Following Sword Art is genuinely formidable. Easy to pick up, yet its power is nothing to dismiss — it's one of those rare high-tier sword arts that even ordinary disciples can cultivate."
"Back when the inter-sect tournaments were still held, Yunyue Sect's disciples used to make our Wenjian Sect people absolutely miserable with that technique."
"However…"
Yu Wenqiu's tone shifted. A faint smug satisfaction crept onto her face.
"Our Wenjian Sect isn't so easily pushed around."
"Back in the day, our sect's Fate-Reversing Tribulation-Severing Sovereign took one look at it, grasped its entire intent on the spot, and proceeded to point out its structural flaws right then and there — then simplified and refined it into what you now know as Flowing Light, Sword Shadows."
"And on top of that, the Sovereign made a wager with Yunyue Sect's sect master."
"Yunyue Sect ended up not only having their sword technique poached wholesale, but losing the bet as well — handing over a massive Sword-Questioning Stone to us as forfeit."
Gu Chengming's eyes sharpened. "Sword-Questioning Stone?"
Yu Wenqiu made a rough gesture to indicate its size, and explained:
"Supposedly, Yunyue Sect's master retrieved it from some ancient secret realm. The Sword-Questioning Stone is said to hone sword intent and challenge the cultivator to confront their own heart — it has a remarkable effect on dispelling inner demons and stabilizing the Dao-heart."
"Beyond that, it can also test a sword cultivator's aptitude and temperament. The closer you stand to it, the stronger the sword-intent pressure it bears down on you — but the more clearly you can see your own true self."
"It's best suited for sword cultivators who've lost their way, or who are trapped in self-doubt. Though it's not cheap to use — even as a steward, my merit points only stretch to one visit per month at most. Ordinary disciples can forget about it entirely."
"Challenging one's true heart… seeing one's true self…"
Gu Chengming murmured the words slowly, a bright, focused light igniting in his eyes.
Wasn't this exactly what he needed right now?
To make the Huiyuan Sword Art shed its disguise. To shatter that false Flowing Light, Sword Shadows mask it had put on. What method could possibly be more effective than forcing a direct confrontation with one's own heart?
"Many thanks for clearing this up, Steward Yu!"
Gu Chengming shot to his feet, clasped his hands in a formal bow, voice sharp with urgency.
"I have pressing matters to attend to — please excuse me!"
Without waiting for Yu Wenqiu to react, he turned and swept out of the Scripture Library like a gust of wind.
"Hey? Wait—"
Yu Wenqiu's hand was barely halfway up, the words "I still have something I wanted to ask you" not yet past her lips, when the room was already empty.
She stared at the vacant doorway for a long moment, and at last could only let out a resigned sigh, lowering her hand.
She reached into her sleeve and felt the manuscript there. That small flicker of courage that had just begun to rise in her chest quietly went out. Never mind. Better to pretend she knew nothing.
As long as this Little Gu kept delivering his manuscripts on time, a little willful ignorance on certain matters was really quite comfortable.
And even if he really did have some improper intentions toward her — she doubted he had the nerve to ever say it out loud.
Yu Wenqiu consoled herself with the thought, picked up the manuscript again, and settled back into reading with evident pleasure.
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