The affairs of men and women?
Bai Qianshuang was momentarily stunned by the directness of the question.
Perhaps because she was being stared at so intently by the Sword Spirit, Bai Qianshuang’s gaze began to flicker. Finally, she chose to change the subject.
"There's a cake shop nearby. Do you want to go take a look?"
"Cake?"
"Yes, something delicious. A type of pastry," Bai Qianshuang said, seeing that the Sword Spirit’s attention had been successfully diverted.
"Delicious pastries... I don't seem to have much interest in them," the Sword Spirit said, but then she circled back to Lan Xiaoke’s earlier comment. "Master, what did that junior sister mean by 'playing poker' together?"
"It’s... a type of game." Bai Qianshuang rubbed her temples in frustration and stood up. "Enough of that. Let's go eat some dessert."
"Very well."
The two of them looked like twins as they spent the afternoon wandering around and eating. Gradually, the Sword Spirit began to understand the state of this world.
"Mortal bodies, yet the weapons they develop can rival immortals. How truly miraculous," the Sword Spirit remarked, unable to hide her surprise after learning more. "Perhaps because this world lacks spiritual energy, it took a different path?"
"Exactly."
"It seems that no matter the world, everything eventually comes back to the word 'power,'" the Sword Spirit lamented.
"Order can only be brought about through a combination of power and morality," Bai Qianshuang added.
"Master speaks the truth."
As night fell, the rest of the household finally met the Sword Spirit.
"A sword spirit? That’s quite a rarity." Luo Xi showed a look of surprise when she saw the "Bai Qianshuang" standing next to the original. "Do sword spirits always look exactly like their masters?"
"Yeah, it’s so magical!" Lan Xiaoke chimed in. "When my weapon finally manifests a sword spirit, will she look just like me?"
"If you work harder on your cultivation and get stronger, it'll be easy to raise a sword spirit in the future," Ye Chuan told Lan Xiaoke.
However, if there were two Lan Xiaokes...
Ye Chuan briefly imagined the scene.
He felt like he would be completely overwhelmed—though, to be fair, he was usually overwhelmed by her anyway.
"It feels a bit awkward to keep calling her 'Sword Spirit.' Shouldn't we give her a name?" Luo Xi suggested from the side.
"I am not human. Calling me Sword Spirit is fine," the Sword Spirit replied.
"It would be better to have a name to address you by," Ye Chuan agreed.
"In that case—" The Sword Spirit’s gaze fell upon Bai Qianshuang. Since Qianshuang was her master, it was only fitting that she provide the name.
Before Bai Qianshuang could speak, Lan Xiaoke shot her hand up.
"Heaven-Shaking Earth-Shattering Thunderbolt Fire!"
This thunderous suggestion caused everyone present to turn and stare at Lan Xiaoke, as if trying to figure out what exactly was going on inside that silly white-haired girl’s head.
"Sorry about that. Xiaoke has these sudden 'bursts of inspiration' sometimes," Luo Xi said to the Sword Spirit. "Just treat her like a child."
"It is no matter. Many of the female disciples in the Yuxu Sect were quite lively as well," the Sword Spirit replied. She didn't mind; after all, Lan Xiaoke was technically a member of the Yuxu Sect, so she felt a natural sense of tolerance toward her.
"A forty or fifty-year-old child?" Ye Chuan muttered, crossing his arms.
"I’ve only been dead for a few decades! I’m not actually that old!" Lan Xiaoke snapped back immediately.
"Years spent as a ghost still count."
"I don't want them to!"
After the bickering died down, Bai Qianshuang thought for a moment and then said, "Bai Ling?"
"Not bad. It's a bit common, but it sounds nice," Ye Chuan commented.
"It is excellent," the Sword Spirit—now Bai Ling—seemed to accept the name.
"I think—" Lan Xiaoke started to speak again, but Ye Chuan pinched her mouth shut.
"Right, let's leave it at that," Ye Chuan smiled. "By the way, Bai Ling, do you want to stay here?"
Stay here?
"No. Currently, the Yuxu Sect is in a state of rebuilding. I must remain there to contribute my strength," Bai Ling said.
"Fair enough." Ye Chuan didn't push it. He was just offering her a place; since Bai Ling wasn't a special tenant, she hadn't triggered any notifications from his System anyway.
Later that evening, Lan Xiaoke hugged her pillow and turned to Bai Qianshuang, who was sitting on the sofa. "Qianshuang, you coming? Let's go play poker."
Bai Qianshuang: "..."
She instinctively glanced at her sword spirit. "Not today."
"Oh? Are you feeling unwell? Okay then, I'm off!"
After Lan Xiaoke left, Bai Ling looked curious. "Master, what did the junior sister mean?"
"Nothing. It's just a very popular game in this world, that's all," Bai Qianshuang explained. "A game that can be cleared solo, or played with multiple people."
"I see... so that's what it means." Bai Ling nodded in realization. But then, hearing the commotion coming from Lan Xiaoke’s side, she asked again, "Then those sounds—why is junior sister constantly shouting that she's 'coming'?"
"Speakers. They're similar to sound-transmission stones," Bai Qianshuang said with a deadpan expression. "That isn't Lan Xiaoke's voice."
"I see. I was wondering why she kept saying she was coming," Bai Ling said.
Understood!
Speakers!
Bai Ling was a fast learner.
However, at that moment, Bai Ling suddenly sensed a wave of ominous energy. She snapped to her feet!
"What is it?" Bai Qianshuang was startled.
Bai Ling stared intensely at the nearby bedroom door. The handle began to turn, and a girl with grayish-white hair walked out, clutching a plush doll.
"Where's Brother? Is he back?" The one coming out of the room was, of course, Ye Yue. She looked like she had just woken up, rubbing her sleepy eyes.
Ye Yue quickly spotted two Bai Qianshuangs sitting on the sofa. She blinked, wondering if she was seeing double.
Bai Ling’s throat tightened as she stared at Ye Yue in disbelief.
Ominous! Extremely ominous!
As a pure artifact spirit, Bai Ling was naturally sensitive to the aura of all things. In her eyes, Ye Yue was a mass of pitch-black, infinite dread—an ominous existence beyond comprehension!
This...
An unspeakable monster?
"Sister Qianshuang, why are there two of you?" Ye Yue walked over. Bai Ling reacted instantly, standing up and even drawing her sword.
"Eh?" Seeing this, Ye Yue tilted her head. "The other Sister Qianshuang, why did you pull out a sword? Are you going to attack me?"
"Master!" Bai Ling immediately shouted to Bai Qianshuang. "She is dangerous!"
"..." Bai Qianshuang was stunned. She looked at Ye Yue, who was wearing a sweet, innocent smile, and explained, "Calm down. She is Ye Chuan’s sister, Ye Yue."
Senior Ye’s sister?
Bai Ling froze.
No, this thing wasn't human at all!
This was a monster! And a monster that was incredibly skilled at hiding its true nature!
"Master..."
"Don't be so nervous." Bai Qianshuang didn't understand why Bai Ling was so on edge. "She's just a normal child."
A normal child??
Just then, Ye Yue walked to the refrigerator. She opened the freezer and pulled out two whole fish.
Ye Yue’s mouth suddenly split wide open. With two wet gulps, the fish—each as thick as a man's arm—vanished down her throat.
Having finished her snack, Ye Yue skipped off with light steps to find Ye Chuan.
"You call this ordinary?" Bai Ling was practically petrified.
he colors of other people’s emotions. Light red meant anxiety. Gray meant exhaustion. Orange meant excitement. Yellow... meant repression. At the same time, he could gain unlimited control over one of those colors. Pale cyan: relaxation. Using this ability, he started offering “two-yuan hugs,” spending an afternoon exchanging emotional-color experiences with others. Then came his final female customer of the day— a girl whose emotional color was pure black... —— A week later, Xu Chuan had become skilled at using pale cyan—Relaxation—treating it like a bottle of menthol balm whenever he needed it. That was when he discovered he had unlocked another unlimited emotional color: Purple, the color of fear. So these emotional colors refresh every week? Fine, I take it back—I’ll never call you useless again... —— Much later, after Xu Chuan had accumulated countless emotional abilities, one night, he suddenly found himself inside someone else’s dream. There, he could use the emotional colors he possessed to paint. And in her dream, he painted her a shower of pink shooting stars, spreading across the depths of the night sky...
s the Eldest Princess, renowned for her cold and aloof detachment, became the most docile of lambs, obeying his every command without question. But when the final move was played on the chessboard, as Gu Chenghan seized everything and ascended on the verge of apotheosis, that very Princess suddenly embraced him from behind, her tone carrying a dependence never heard before: "Wait... you haven't yet... commanded me to love you forever." Gu Chenghan froze abruptly. She... hadn't been hypnotized?! ... [The Eldest Princess's Diary] [When my soul was extracted, becoming the sole spectator outside my own shell] [At first, there was overwhelming fury, until I saw] [How he used my sword to effortlessly shatter my inescapable doom] [How he wielded my authority to eradicate fatal conspiracies I had never even detected] [Like a deity, he rescued me from the deep mire I was trapped in] [If not for those annoying vixens, he and I would be a match made in heaven] [I think I am ill, gravely ill] [My deity should belong to me alone] ... "Hypnosis? Oh, it succeeded, my dear Master." "Only this time, it's my turn to hypnotize you."
lity and could only live as an ordinary mortal. He only wished to live a peaceful life. Yet he didn't know— The dog he adopted, because it ate his food, became a legendary demon king. The kitchen knife he casually forged became a peerless divine weapon, causing numerous experts to fight desperately for it. The young disciple he took in became an immortal lord that led an era, due to cultivating the techniques Ye Feng taught him. Even the skeletons he looked down on the most were ominous demon kings that suppressed countless worlds. Many years later, looking at the void shattered with a punch, Ye Feng murmured to himself: It turns out the peerless kings were myself all along...
to panic—he has a system. As long as an investment target dies, he can claim a reward. And since he is immortal, the one thing he has plenty of is time. ... Countless years later. “Immortal Emperor of Longevity? I invested in him.” “Supreme Celestial Venerable? I invested in him.” “Undying Empress? I invested in her.” “...” “Heh. Once they’ve all died, even the Heavenly Dao will have to kneel and call me Dad.”
