That bow didn't fill him with honor — it sent a spike of dread straight through him, the kind that screams: Wait, have I completely jumped the rails here?
Not a word was exchanged, yet Kong Zheng's bearing alone was enough for Gu Chengming to piece together roughly what had happened.
While Gu Chengming was still lost in his racing thoughts, Kong Zheng had already straightened up. A sweep of his wide sleeves — and the surrounding illusion receded like a tide.
"Hmmm——"
A faint wave of dizziness washed over him. When Gu Chengming opened his eyes again, he was back inside the main hall of the Mirror of the Heart.
Before the Mirror of the Heart.
Ren Wencai leaned slightly forward, his cup of spirit tea still forgotten in his hand, his gaze darting back and forth between his own disciple and Kong Zheng.
Watching Kong Zheng emerge in total silence, his expression grave enough to wring water from, Ren Wencai felt his heart lurch.
This is bad.
He silently cursed his luck.
This Kong the Black-face was strict at the best of times, but if he came across a seedling he found promising, he'd at least offer a word or two of commentary.
This dead silence, though — could it be that Chengming had stumbled somewhere in that illusion and landed on this old stick-in-the-mud's last nerve?
Zhao Wuji and Li Linfen exchanged glances, equally at a loss.
In the midst of that suffocating silence, a line of text suddenly flashed through Gu Chengming's mind.
[Hundred Bones Resonance is a little put out.]
[It declares that if it had been the one sent into that illusion, it would have made sure that Elder Kong understood what true dominance really looks like.]
Will you give it a rest, Gu Chengming thought privately.
If the a hundred-thousand-year-old Heavenly Emperor — that decisive, kill-first-ask-never personality who was constantly itching to steamroll the ages — had actually gone in there and staged some grand performance in the Mirror of the Heart along the lines of "Let this body be the kindling, and I shall reforge heaven and earth," then this side hall would probably have become an execution ground by now.
It was right at that moment that something stirred on the dais.
Kong Zheng slowly opened his eyes, rose to his feet, and reached for the brush resting on the table.
He loaded it with deep, rich ink. The brush moved like a dragon.
Every eye in the room snapped to that sheet of pristine white xuan paper.
Scratch. Scratch.
Two strokes fell — force driving clean through the paper, iron lines and silver hooks.
——Grade One, Superior!
"Cough, cough——"
Ren Wencai nearly choked on the mouthful of spirit tea he'd just raised to his lips. He didn't even bother wiping the drops from his beard; his eyes went wide.
Zhao Wuji beside him looked outright stunned. Even Elder Li Linfen of Guizang Gate went rigid mid-fan, his expression strange beyond words.
In all the thousands of years since the founding of Wenjian Sect, through however many successive heads of the Enforcement Hall, the current Kong Zheng had a reputation as the strictest and most inflexible of them all — a man who could find a bone in an egg.
By his standards, anyone with no major character flaws but the odd small blemish earned a Grade Three. Steadfast character might squeeze out a Grade Two. And Grade One? That was reserved exclusively for those of truly exceptional character.
"Elder Kong..."
Ren Wencai swallowed hard and ventured carefully: "Isn't this evaluation... perhaps a touch too generous?"
He might be protective of his own, but Grade One, Superior was so high it made his hair stand on end.
This old curmudgeon isn't trying to praise the boy to death, is he?
Faced with the room's collective skepticism, Kong Zheng paid it no mind whatsoever.
He set down his brush and simply gave that sheet of paper — the two characters Grade One, Superior inked upon it — a gentle push.
The instant the paper settled.
"Hmmm——"
The Mirror of the Heart, which had lain dormant this whole while, suddenly rang out with a clear, resonant hum.
In the Mirror's judgment, Gu Chengming's character was, without a shadow of a doubt, worthy of those two characters: Grade One, Superior.
The elders around the room completely lost their composure.
This Gu Chengming kid — did he go in there and save the Heavenly Dao itself? How on earth does he deserve Grade One, Superior?
Gu Chengming was losing his composure too.
Who knew the Zhouli Heavenly Harmony Righteous Heart Method would pack this kind of punch?
[Zhouli Heavenly Harmony Righteous Heart Method is entirely unbothered — if anything, faintly gratified.]
[It muses that this Wenjian Sect is not entirely composed of those who have abandoned all rites and propriety. There are still teachable souls to be found.]
Gu Chengming sighed inwardly.
On the dais, Kong Zheng paid no heed to the others' reactions. He inclined his head slightly, as if this outcome was precisely what he had expected.
Then, with a turn of his wrist, a waist token appeared in his palm — neither gold nor jade, jet-black all over. The front was engraved with the two characters Wenjian, while the back bore the image of an unsheathed blade, radiating a faint but piercing sword intent.
"Gu Chengming."
Kong Zheng's voice was as stiff as ever, yet carried a warmth so subtle it was barely perceptible:
"This is the waist token of an Inner Sect disciple. Once your cultivation officially breaks through to the Second Realm, go to the Sect Affairs Hall and light a soul-lamp — and you will be a true Inner Sect disciple of our Wenjian Sect."
He flicked his finger. The waist token became a streak of flowing light and landed squarely in Gu Chengming's waiting hands.
"Many thanks, Elder."
Gu Chengming received it with both hands and bowed respectfully.
What followed was a transmission of sound directly into the mind.
"Gu... young friend."
Kong Zheng's voice resonated within Gu Chengming's sea of consciousness, carrying a trace of hesitation and a trace of hope.
"The world you manifested in that illusion — that order of sovereign and subject, parent and child, the Great Dao of all things kept in their proper place... it moved this old man deeply."
"When you have time in the future... this old man would very much like to call upon you and seek your guidance on a matter or two, if you would permit it."
The hand gripping the waist token gave a violent jolt. But looking into the elder's eyes, Gu Chengming could only grit his teeth and nod.
Kong Zheng caught this, and a flicker of joy crossed his eyes — swiftly suppressed, his expression smoothing back to its usual composure. He gave a dismissive wave:
"Very well. You may go."
Gu Chengming wasted no time retreating to Ren Wencai's side.
Ren Wencai glanced at Kong Zheng, then at his own disciple. He was full of questions, but this was clearly not the place.
"Since the assessment is passed, let us be on our way."
Ren Wencai cupped his hands toward his fellow elders:
"Many thanks to all of you for bearing witness today. Another day I'll host a proper banquet at the Cloud-Sea Pavilion — we won't leave until we're drunk."
With that, a sweep of his wide sleeves, and he and Gu Chengming became a streak of light that vanished from the Mirror of the Heart in an instant.
The streak of light cleaved through the sea of clouds, racing in the direction of Huiyuan Gate.
The whole way back, Ren Wencai did not speak.
Not until they descended at that familiar rear-mountain private courtyard, when Ren Wencai's expression turned a bit odd, and he finally could not hold back:
"Chengming, what on earth did you do in that illusion?"
I haven't the faintest idea — it wasn't me who went in, now was it?
But obviously he couldn't say that.
Gu Chengming chose his words with care:
"Once inside the mirror, this disciple felt my spirit grow hazy, as though adrift in a void of primordial chaos. There was only one thought in my mind — to hold fast to my true heart, to follow the rites, to maintain order in all things..."
"I simply followed that feeling and gave shape to what was in my heart. I did nothing earth-shattering."
Ren Wencai fell into thought.
He recalled Gu Chengming's earlier remarks about the order of rites, and then thought of the Confucian heart method the boy had just finished cultivating.
"It seems it was that Zhouli Heavenly Harmony Righteous Heart Method of yours."
He reasoned it out on his own, nodded, and his expression eased somewhat:
"Kong Zheng cultivates a blended path of Legalist and Confucian sword cultivation — he is above all a man of rules. I imagine it was your innate 'righteous heart' that resonated with his own Dao."
"Well, regardless of the process, the result is good."
Ren Wencai clapped a hand on Gu Chengming's shoulder and said with a laugh:
"Since Elder Kong has taken a shine to you, that is your own fortune to treasure."
"In the future... hmm, when you have nothing better to do, why not bring a few Confucian texts and visit the Enforcement Hall more often?"
"That Kong the Black-face has a rotten temper and is famously stingy, but the good things in his hands are not few. Now that he has recognized your Dao, he certainly won't be miserly toward a disciple like you."
"If you can coax a defensive treasure or two out of him — or some insights on the path of law cultivation — it will do you a world of good down the road."
Listening to his master deliver this earnest, heartfelt lesson in fleecing the sheep, Gu Chengming could only give a dry laugh and nod along.
In the back of his mind, Kong Zheng's words about calling upon him for guidance floated up, and he felt a sinking unease.
Calling upon me is probably off the table. Greeting him at my own front door seems far more likely.
Naturally, Gu Chengming kept that thought to himself.
"Alright, go back and rest properly."
Ren Wencai waved a hand and said with a grin:
"Your master also needs to go and have a good... ahem, a good exchange of today's insights with those old fellows."
Having made such a splash, if he didn't strike while the iron was hot and go show off, it would be like wearing splendid robes in the dark of night — a complete waste.
Watching Ren Wencai stride away with barely-concealed excitement, Gu Chengming shook his head.
He reached into his robes and touched the Inner Sect waist token, still faintly warm, and felt only that the road ahead was long and the path was steep.
But no matter what — he had gotten into the Inner Sect.
The day faded, the distant mountains darkened; the cold sky hung over a humble abode.
By the time Gu Chengming returned to the courtyard, he felt as if several ounces of weight had been lifted from every bone in his body. He brewed himself a pot of spirit tea called Cloud-Mist Gathered — a parting gift Elder Zhao had pressed into his hands before leaving.
The fragrance of the tea curled gently upward, and just as he was about to let it ease his throat, a series of unhurried knocks came from outside the courtyard gate.
Knock. Knock.
Two soft raps.
He rose and opened the door. Outside stood a person who was... well, a semi-stranger, one might say.
The woman was dressed in a simple moon-white robe, her long hair pinned up casually with a single wooden hairpin. In her hand she idly twirled a folding fan of unclear provenance, tapping it against her palm with that peculiar air of having nothing better to do.
"Elder Yu?"
Yu Wenqiu stepped into the courtyard without ceremony, walked straight to the stone table, sat herself down, poured her own cup of tea, took a sip, and only then spoke at a leisurely pace:
"I heard Elder Kong himself presided over today's assessment?"
Gu Chengming also sat down and nodded. "It was indeed Elder Kong."
"That old stick-in-the-mud is the most troublesome creature at the best of times — he could find fault with a flawless egg."
Yu Wenqiu propped her chin on one hand and asked with a smile:
"Well? Did that black face of his frighten you?"
Today's situation was genuinely a bit frightening, Gu Chengming thought privately.
Aloud, he said, "Thanks to the elder's blessings, it went well enough. Elder Kong, though strict, is a reasonable man — he did not make things overly difficult for this disciple."
"Well enough?"
Yu Wenqiu raised an eyebrow, clearly a little surprised by the answer, but her true purpose in coming tonight was not this.
Seeing that Gu Chengming had returned in one piece, looking perfectly at ease, it was plain that the Inner Sect qualification was already in the bag.
Since the important matter was settled, it was time to discuss the less official matter.
Yu Wenqiu set down her teacup. She leaned forward slightly, and that habitual air of drowsy indolence receded a little, replaced by a light called anticipation, flickering in those bright, pretty eyes.
She gave a small, studied cough, and asked with an air of casual indifference:
"Ahem... that story booklet I gave you a few days ago — have you read it yet?"
Gu Chengming understood immediately.
So barging over in the middle of the night, all that concern about the assessment was just the pretense — what she really came to do was hound him for his impressions.
Gu Chengming felt laughter welling up, but kept his face composed with perfect steadiness.
"Of course I read it."
He said with great sincerity: "Elder's writing is brilliant. After reading it, this disciple found the experience lingering in his mind for days — even his cultivation slackened a little these past two days, his head full of the story's scenes."
"Spare me the flattery."
Yu Wenqiu gave a light huff, but the corners of her mouth refused to stay flat. That particular piece of praise had landed quite pleasantly.
"I've read your story manuscript — the construction is clever, the foreshadowing laid out in hidden threads. My own humble chapters, though written as a continuation of your story, feel... off somehow, and I can't quite put my finger on it."
She furrowed her brow with a hint of frustration:
"Especially that scene where the master storms the demon lair alone to save her disciple. I used so many brushstrokes on her inner psychology — flashbacks, internal monologue, the whole arsenal — yet when I read it back, it feels... tepid. It's missing that spine-tingling intensity."
Gu Chengming took a moment to cast his mind back over those tens of thousands of words of fan fiction.
He had to admit — Elder Yu had a genuine gift for depicting delicate emotional interactions, especially the subtle, ambiguous warmth between master and disciple, and the cozy intimacy of daily life.
But that was precisely the problem.
Too sweet. Sweet without any undulation.
After a moment's consideration, Gu Chengming ventured that what people called the truly soul-stirring was seldom born from smooth sailing and perfect happiness — it was forged in the meeting and parting of joy and sorrow.
Take the master in the story, for instance. If her normal bearing was one of lofty, untouchable serenity — a woman who didn't let a speck of dust cling to her — then she shouldn't remain equally composed and calm when disaster strikes.
As she listened, an image rose unbidden in Yu Wenqiu's mind.
A broken sword. Ragged wounds. And that utterly nonchalant line: "Your master is fine."
A shiver ran through her. This little Gu is absolutely wicked!
"Though now that you put it that way, I've gotten some new inspiration. That original scene where master and disciple bare their hearts to each other beneath the moonlight — should I revise that too?"
"What if the master is actually carrying a lethal poison and doesn't have long to live, but hides it so the disciple won't worry, coughing up blood on one side while mending the disciple's robes on the other?"
Gu Chengming let out a dry laugh.
Elder Yu, is your gift for extrapolation just a little too powerful?
"Ahem... it needn't be quite so ruthless." Gu Chengming hastily walked it back: "These things also call for a balance — tension and release in equal measure."
The two of them fell into an animated discussion on that very topic.
For a time, the small courtyard was filled with the lively — and ever-so-slightly depraved — atmosphere of an academic seminar.
The moon climbed to the top of the sky, and two pots of tea were emptied and replaced.
Only then did Yu Wenqiu reluctantly pull herself back from the conversation.
In this vast Wenjian Sect, there was truly no one else who could sit with her and chat about these frivolous things — and do so with such perfect mutual understanding.
"Alright, it's getting late — keep talking and dawn will be upon us."
Yu Wenqiu stood up, stretched lazily, smoothed out her skirt, and asked as if in passing:
"Oh, right — now that your Inner Sect assessment is passed, have you made any decision about taking a master?"
"The Inner Sect is not like the Outer Sect. Without a master to guide you, many resources and secret realms will be difficult to access. Your talent is apparent now — I expect no small number of elders have their eye on you."
She paused here, her gaze drifting ever so slightly in a way she likely hoped went unnoticed, and added:
"Of course, while our Wenjian Sect does observe some distinctions between lineages, by and large it also values fate and affinity. If you haven't made up your mind yet, there's no need to rush — look around, take your pick..."
Between her words, there seemed to lurk a quiet, unspoken intention to recruit him for herself.
But Gu Chengming didn't hesitate for so much as an instant. He cupped his hands and answered:
"I am grateful for the elder's concern. This disciple made up his mind long ago. Elder Ren Wencai recognized my potential when no one else did, and has sheltered and guided me every step of this journey. In my heart, I have long regarded him as my master."
"On the day I formally enter the gate, I will perform the full discipleship rites before Elder Ren."
At the words Ren Wencai, Yu Wenqiu's expression instantly turned rather peculiar.
It was a complex look — a mixture of I had a feeling, a bit of a pity, and where does one even begin.
She opened her mouth as if to say something:
"Elder Ren, is it..."
"Mm. That's good."
Why does everyone react this same way whenever Elder Ren's name comes up? Gu Chengming thought privately.
Oh, wait — everyone has a pretty consistent reaction whenever Elder Yu's name comes up, too.
Then Yu Wenqiu added as a supplement:
"Junior Brother Ren, as a person — sure, he looks a little unreliable on the surface, his conduct a bit erratic, the number of enemies he's managed to accumulate a bit on the high side, and his reputation out in the world marginally on the poor side..."
Gu Chengming's eye twitched.
Elder, is that not a few too many qualifiers? This doesn't sound like a 'marginal' issue at all.
"...but when it comes to his disciples, there is genuinely nothing to fault him on."
Yu Wenqiu sighed, and a note of real sincerity entered her voice:
"In this Wenjian Sect, if you're talking about who is most protective of their own, most willing to give everything for their disciple — if Junior Brother Ren claimed second place, I doubt anyone would dare claim first."
"Choosing him as your master is no waste of your potential."
"I remember back in the day, Junior Brother Ren did have a disciple — I think the surname was Yuan, or something like that? At the time, he..."
She got halfway through, and Yu Wenqiu's voice came to an abrupt halt.
She seemed to suddenly realize something, her brow creasing slightly. She said no more.
Gu Chengming had been listening intently. Seeing her stop so suddenly, he looked puzzled:
"Elder, what is it?"
Yu Wenqiu looked at him. She hesitated for a moment, appearing to weigh whether these old, stale events were worth bringing up.
After a long pause, she finally sighed and gave a dismissive wave:
"Forget it. Among the older generation this isn't much of a secret — there's no harm in telling you."
"It happened decades ago. Back then, Junior Brother Ren wasn't as... ahem, as steady as he is now. He noticed an outer sect disciple with the surname Yuan — thought the boy was rough jade waiting to be carved. Without even waiting for the Inner Sect selection, he took the boy under his wing directly, tutored him with great care, and treated him like his own flesh and blood."
"The treatment that disciple received was better than most true-transmission disciples — every resource there was, he gave to that boy first."
Yu Wenqiu shook her head, her tone tinged with a quiet melancholy:
"A pity. You can draw a tiger's hide but not its bones. You may know a man's face but not his heart."
"That disciple's character... was frankly rather rotten. What exactly happened, nobody on the outside knows — it was swept under the rug because it involved a sect scandal. What is known is that master and disciple had a complete and irreconcilable falling-out in the end."
"That disciple eventually left Huiyuan Gate to go train outside the sect, and the whole affair became a long-standing embarrassment for Huiyuan Gate. As for Junior Brother Ren, he was left cold and disillusioned after that — he never took another disciple. He just spent his days refining pills, handling miscellaneous external affairs, drifting through the years until now."
At that, Yu Wenqiu looked over at Gu Chengming:
"So the fact that he took a chance on you this time — that truly is your own fortune. And it means he's come to terms with the past."
Hearing all this, something clicked into place in Gu Chengming's mind.
No wonder Elder Ren had been so attentive, even willing to dig into his private reserves for resources, yet never formally acknowledged him as a disciple — not even a verbal promise — before insisting it wait until after the Inner Sect assessment.
Once bitten by a snake, you spend ten years afraid of a coiled rope.
He had been afraid of repeating the same mistake — afraid that Gu Chengming might also be a person of crooked character — so he had waited for the Mirror of the Heart to give a definitive answer before he dared take that final step.
That was the reason?
With that layer of cause and effect now clear, the last trace of puzzlement in Gu Chengming's heart dissolved completely.
Story told, Yu Wenqiu seemed to feel a little tired herself.
She rose slowly, gave a languid stretch — a gesture hardly befitting an elder's dignity, yet radiating a kind of wholly natural ease — then straightened the slightly rumpled cuffs of her sleeves and let her gaze fall on Gu Chengming's thoughtful face:
"Don't feel pressured by any of this. Junior Brother Ren may look calculating, but at heart he is the most sentimental of people. As long as you don't..."
Midway through she felt her own words were getting too long-winded, and stopped herself.
She didn't wait for Gu Chengming to reply. A tap of her toes.
"Never mind. Too much talk. I'm going back to sleep."
Her voice drifted back from a growing distance, carrying the hint of a casual yawn:
"Next time there's a banquet at Zuixian Tower, remember to call me."
The following day, at the first pale light of dawn.
A few wisps of cold, damp mist still lingered among the bamboo. The occasional bright chirp of a bird cut through the silence.
Gu Chengming pushed open his chamber door and took his seat at the stone table in the courtyard.
He brewed a pot of hot tea, and waited for the curling fragrance to drift apart on the morning breeze before unhurriedly drawing from his robes the green-covered booklet gifted to him by Li Linfen, along with the sheaf of handwritten notes that Lu Che had guarded like a treasure.
Last night's account of Ren Wencai's past, told by Yu Wenqiu, had stirred something in him — but he hadn't dwelt on it for long.
The road of cultivation was distant. The old stories were the karmic debts of his elders. Since he had already decided to enter Huiyuan Gate, his only task was to walk his own path well.
What interested him far more at this moment was that peculiar art known as the Passionate Sword Formula.
Gu Chengming opened the green booklet.
Elder Li Linfen of Guizang Gate had not disappointed — the booklet was thin, yet the sword principles woven between its lines were profoundly deep.
Unlike Wenjian Sect's mainstream approach of one sword to break ten thousand methods — blunt, forceful, overwhelming — and unlike Yunyue Sect's eccentric path of blending music into sword, the Passionate Sword Formula was built around one word: bond.
Bind your heart to a person. Bind your feeling to your sword.
"Where feeling arises, its origin is unknown; where the sword arrives, that is where the heart points."
Gu Chengming tapped the table lightly with his fingertips, slowly chewing over the general principles laid out in the opening.
According to Li Linfen's explanation, those who cultivated this sword art first had to enter the mortal world — to find in the red dust of human life that person or thing which moved their heart, and make it the anchor of their sword path.
One nourishes sword intent with threads of feeling. The deeper the feeling, the heavier the intent — and the sword grows faster, sharper.
This was also why Lu Che carried around those pain-swords painted all over with two-dimensional maidens, and had even attempted to break through his bottleneck by pursuing real female cultivators.
For anyone else — even someone as gifted as Lu Che — mastering this sword art would probably require rolling around in the mundane world for several decades, tasting the full bitterness of love and hate, attachment and fury, before even a modest beginning could be claimed.
After all, the human heart shifts easily, and feeling is the most incomprehensible of all things — one misstep and your Dao-heart clouds over, and you fall into qi deviation.
But he was different.
His feeling didn't need to be entrusted to some ephemeral stranger drifting through the red dust. He didn't need to pursue any unfamiliar senior or junior sister.
Instead, he had something far better: cultivation methods whose favorability was visible, interactions that came with a dialogue box, pivotal moments that presented him with choices — cultivation methods with vivid personalities that had faced life and death alongside him.
When you could actually see a chat window pop up during a conversation, was there anything in the world more compelling than that?
What if... I applied the principles of the Passionate Sword Formula to my own way of cultivating these methods...
The bold idea growing in Gu Chengming's mind became clearer and clearer.
Since this sword art required bonds, required deep feeling — then was there any bond deeper than the system-certified, through-life-and-death kind?
If he used these cultivation methods as his cultivation companions, and the system's favorability as his threads of feeling, to cultivate this Passionate Sword Formula... wouldn't that be... a match made in heaven?
Just as he was lost in this wild train of thought —
[Hundred Bones Resonance has suddenly fallen into deep contemplation.]
[It stares at the core tenets of the Passionate Sword Formula, and thinks: this method may be rather sentimental — but when you think about it carefully, doesn't that saying "feeling so deep it harbors no resentment" describe precisely its own absolute devotion to the Heavenly Emperor Gu?]
[Since the path calls for feeling as the entry point, isn't the bond between it and the Heavenly Emperor Gu more than qualified to cultivate this wretched little sword art?]
Gu Chengming froze. The tea he'd just taken into his mouth nearly shot back out.
Big Bro Hundred, are you actually serious??
He had only been musing to himself — he hadn't expected any of the cultivation methods to react.
After all, the Passionate Sword Formula belonged to the deep and refined tradition of heart-and-mind sword cultivation, while Hundred Bones Resonance was a straightforward body-tempering path — the two were about as related as chalk and cheese.
[Hundred Bones Resonance declares that the world may say body cultivators are crude and know nothing of romance — but little do they know: protection is the most passionate declaration of love!]
[Since the Heavenly Emperor Gu believes this approach can work, it will give it a try! It will prove itself through this path and help you reach the summit once more!]
[Hundred Bones Resonance has entered a state of deep comprehension.]
Holy — is Big Bro Hundred actually a genius?!
Gu Chengming held his breath, full of anticipation.
Then the next moment, a new dialogue box popped up.
Like the monologue that plays right before a gacha pull pays out.
[What is feeling?]
[Feeling is POWER! Love deeply, demand fiercely!]
[BREAK THROUGH!]
And then, that previously stirring notification box went dark in an instant.
[Hundred Bones Resonance — comprehension failed.]
Ah. And there's the Big Bro Hundred I know.
Gu Chengming pressed a hand to his forehead in helpless resignation.
[Hundred Bones Resonance looks briefly confused, and then furious with embarrassment.]
[It declares that this sword art is utter melodramatic drivel — what threads of feeling? These things only make people weak and indecisive, and are completely unworthy of the Heavenly Emperor Gu's supreme body of boundless might!]
And then it pretended to be very busy — though with what, nobody knew — and disappeared.
Gu Chengming shook his head, set down his teacup, and prepared to shelve the Passionate Sword Formula for the time being.
Perhaps there'd be some other chance encounter in the future — or perhaps after cultivating some new method rich with emotional depth — he could come back and try again.
Yet just as he was about to close the booklet, the moment that thought settled —
Without the blustering, dramatic entrance of Hundred Bones Resonance —
[Huiyuan Sword Art has been quietly watching from the side this whole time — watching Hundred Bones Resonance's attempt, and watching your anticipation and disappointment.]
[It had not wished to compete for anything. But when it saw those eight characters — "bind your heart to a person, bind your feeling to your sword" — it couldn't help but pause.]
[If there truly exists a force in this world born of companionship, of steadfast presence, of that slow, steady, bone-deep interdependence between relying on another and being relied upon...]
[...then apart from itself, who could have more right to embody such feeling?]
[It does not understand the poetry of romance. It does not understand the vastness of the red world of human passions.]
[Huiyuan Sword Art simply does not want to let you down.]
[Huiyuan Sword Art has entered a state of deep comprehension.]
Holy — Huiyuan Mom, you too?!
And this time, the situation seemed... different.
It felt like it had actually entered a genuine state of comprehension.
Gu Chengming watched, both startled and worried.
After all, he didn't know the details of the Passionate Sword Formula — what if its sword intent ended up warping the Huiyuan Sword Art?
It was right then that the Zhouli Heavenly Harmony Righteous Heart Method seemed to sense his concern.
[Zhouli Heavenly Harmony Righteous Heart Method speaks: This is not licentious or deviant — it is righteousness and goodness, aligned with the natural order of Heaven and Earth.]
If you say it's fine, then it's truly fine.
With that thought, Gu Chengming gradually let go of his worry.
The next several days passed in quiet calm.
Each day, aside from his regular breathing cultivation, Gu Chengming visited the Scripture Library to browse texts on the rites and institutions of the Great Qian dynasty, preparing for Kong Zheng's eventual visit.
The Huiyuan Sword Art no longer diligently cycled spiritual energy through its usual circuits, as it always had before. Instead it fell quiet, transforming into a soft orb of white light that floated, suspended, above his sea of qi.
Occasionally, a wisp or two of slightly frivolous energy would try to slip into it — only to be caught by the ever-vigilant Zhouli Heavenly Harmony Righteous Heart Method standing guard nearby, which would temper it into something upright and balanced before the Huiyuan Sword Art absorbed it.
An unexpected bonus.
With the Zhouli standing watch, Gu Chengming stopped worrying that the Huiyuan Sword Art would be led astray.
On the third morning.
Dawn was barely breaking when a clear, piercing sword-cry suddenly exploded in the depths of Gu Chengming's sea of consciousness.
[Huiyuan Sword Art — comprehension complete.]
[CG Unlocked: Ten Thousand Paths, One Heart (Sword Path Chapter)]
[Huiyuan Sword Art CG / Ten Thousand Paths, One Heart (Sword Path Chapter): Drawing from the Passionate Sword Formula's characteristic of "ten thousand streams returning to the source," and under the ceremonial-order governance of the Zhouli Heavenly Harmony Righteous Heart Method, the Huiyuan Sword Art has given concrete form to what were once scattered sword-path insights — transforming them into rule-units that can be freely combined.]
[Effect (Special): Unlocks the Sword Chess interface. Every sword art the host has learned, and every sword intent the host has comprehended, will be transformed into a piece possessing specific attributes and bonds. The host may place pieces onto the board before or during battle. When specific combinations exist on the board, they will trigger Bond Resonance, granting the host additional spiritual energy enhancement, special forms, or rule-level suppression.]
As the notification tone faded, the view before Gu Chengming's eyes suddenly shifted.
The system interface — previously clean and simple, nothing but a dialogue box and a favorability bar — was as if an invisible hand had torn open a corner of it.
Countless points of light converged and reassembled.
A moment later, a new interface surfaced before his retinas.
Gu Chengming fixed his gaze on it — and the whole person went rigid on the spot.
Is that... a chess board?
No — more accurately, it was an interface constructed of pale-blue spirit-light, resembling a tactical formation diagram.
Along the bottom of the interface stretched a long, horizontal preparation bench.
And on that preparation bench, lying quietly, were several icons Gu Chengming recognized intimately.
They were not specific objects — they were concepts given concrete form.
[Flowing Cloud Moon-Following (Cloud)] [Flowing Cloud Moon-Following (Moon)] [Basic Sword Techniques (Mortal)] [Sword Intent: Clinging]
Above these icons was the large hexagonal chess board itself.
At this moment, the board was completely empty — only the central position glowed, labeled Sword Master.
[Current Active Bonds: None]
Holy — this is a Teamfight Tactics board, isn't it?!
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