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.
lanned to earn money steadily and take life at a slower pace. But he never expected... his father's remarriage, and the stepmother bringing along a dependent, would completely disrupt his life's plans...
ut it can buy an entire year of absolutely perfect training results! Su Yu stared at his empty wallet and decisively opened up various online loan platforms. “Borrow a thousand bucks! Recharge my vitality!” Boom! His vitality broke a hundred points, shattering the limits of the human body! “Borrow ten thousand bucks! Recharge my combat skills!” Boom! A basic punching technique so common it was everywhere instantly maxed out, revealing the ultimate assassination technique of Five Elements Unity—Inner Force! When a rich kid hired assassins for a midnight ambush, aiming to break both of his legs, they instead ran headfirst into a monster—a human-shaped tyrannosaur, brimming with dragon-like vitality. With just two fingers, Su Yu snapped a steel staff reinforced with alloy. Staring at the killer’s stash of stolen cash—a staggering quarter-million dollars—he showed a corporate-sincere smile: “Thanks for the pre-exam gift pack, Mr. Zhao! I’m gonna go re-invest this!” Three days later, at the National Martial Arts College Entrance Exam, while everyone else struggled just to reach the passing line, Su Yu threw a single punch—and more than a thousand vitality points literally detonated the entire arena!
m back to his original world. In the end, he realized he had overthought things. [Hey, why is Shen Manni, the female lead, acting strange? Shouldn't she be fawning over the male lead at this point?] [Zhou Qiaoqiao, are you sick? Weren't you supposed to break off your engagement today?] [Damn it! An Youyi, please do your job as an undercover agent and sell my information to the protagonist, you idiot!] ... At this moment, Xu Mo himself didn't know that these female leads had already heard his inner thoughts. Then they decided not to play by the rules. Xu Mo: Please respect my profession as the big villain!
e bizarre and supernatural had descended. The previous emperor was a thoroughgoing tyrant; no longer satisfied with human women, he had set his sights on a stunningly beautiful supernatural entity. He met his end in his bedchamber, drained of all his vital essence. As the legitimate eldest son and crown prince, Wang Hao was thus hastily enthroned, becoming the young emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty. No sooner had he awakened the "Imperial Sign-In Intelligence System" than he was assassinated by a Son of Destiny—a classic villain's opening. The Great Zhou, ravaged by the former emperor's excesses, was in national decline. The great families within its borders harbored their own treacherous schemes, martial sects began to defy the imperial court's decrees, and border armies, their pay and provisions in arrears, grumbled incessantly against the central government. Fortunately, the central capital was still held secure by the half-million Imperial Guards and fifty thousand Imperial Forest Army who obeyed the court's orders, along with the royal family's hidden reserves of power, barely managing to suppress the realm. As the Great Zhou's finances worsened and supernatural activities grew ever more frequent, the court sat atop a volcano. Ambitious plotters everywhere dreamed of overthrowing the dynasty, and even some reclusive ancient powers emerged, attempting to sway the tides of the world. At the first grand court assembly, the civil and military officials nearly came to blows, fighting tooth and nail over the allocation of fifty million taels of silver from the summer tax revenues. The spectacle opened Wang Hao's eyes—the Great Zhou's bureaucracy was not only corrupt but also martially proficient, a cabinet of all-rounders. Some officials even had the audacity to suggest the emperor release funds from the imperial privy purse to address the emergency. Wang Hao suddenly felt weary. Let it all burn.
