A single black hair ribbon bound his hair into a high ponytail, yet it lacked youthful vigor. His entire demeanor was like a cold stone sunk in a deep pool.
The youth’s features had fully matured: sword brows and star-like eyes, handsome as jade. He was even sharper than his personal disciple, seeming to bristle with edge at first glance—but upon closer look, it was as if veiled in layers of heavy, dead ashes.
His expression somewhat aloof and cold, he paced among the disciples, inspecting their forms.
One hand habitually rested on the hilt at his waist. Two swords hung there, one black and one white, with dangling sword tassels.
The pitch-black one was Shadow Full, the jade-white one Dustless.
Yet the sword tassels’ colors were reversed, like a taiji diagram entwined together, encompassing each other.
They were her swords.
Li Yin’s gaze swept over the jade-white blade, then to the dangling sword tassel.
In the middle of the sword tassel hung a Symbiotic Knot, swaying to a stop.
Knots interdependent, hearts reliant—mutual affection, never to part.
It was her token of affection with him.
He had kept it pristine, as good as new after a century, as if it were yesterday.
Li Yin zoned out.
A torrent of fragmented memories surged back, and she recalled even more.
Unlike his current clear detachment, the youth’s temperament had been truly hard to fathom back then.
His sarcasm came and went unpredictably, and for a time, he deliberately avoided the player.
The player remembered that day clearly—
It was the first and only time Little Junior Brother skipped morning practice.
The player hadn’t seen her junior brother early that morning. Normally, the youth was diligent, always out practicing sword early without ever missing.
Had he overslept? the player wondered.
He was only fifteen or sixteen, at the age where he was still growing. Sleeping in was normal.
The player thought again—finally, a chance to tease her sarcastic junior brother.
The player hurried to check on her junior brother’s condition.
She didn’t find him at his quarters.
The player was puzzled.
She searched nearby for her junior brother’s figure.
Finally, the player spotted the youth’s silhouette from afar on the mountain path.
He was drenched, his hair dripping wet, water trickling from the hem of his clothes—like he had fallen into water. She had no idea what had happened.
The player called out to him.
The water droplets from his hem shattered on the ground.
Little Junior Brother turned to look at her, then…
Little Junior Brother ran.
The drenched youth ran away.
After that day, the youth behaved himself for quite a while. Not only did he stop teasing his senior sister, he even deliberately avoided her—for a full year.
It was around then that distance created beauty. In a moment of realization, the player discovered that Little Junior Brother had grown up unnoticed.
Exceptional looks, agile build, extraordinary talent—top in every way. Even his favorability was extremely high.
In the end, the player decided: Little Junior Brother would be the capture target. It required no effort at all.
Though Little Junior Brother inexplicably ignored her, she took the initiative, often seeking him out to ask about sword techniques.
Once his favorability was about right, she decided to give him a token of affection.
The timing of the token of affection was quite coincidental—Little Junior Brother had gotten into a fight with fellow disciples and was confined as punishment.
The player brought healing medicine. “Little Junior Brother, you can’t fight with fellow sect members.”
Considering he was injured and confined, the player held back from any “teasing” revenge.
After the senior sister lectured him, the little junior brother’s lips moved, but he didn’t speak.
After a long while, he finally responded in a muffled voice.
“Mm.”
What he had wanted to say that day, the Player had no way of knowing.
After applying the medicine, the Player chose to hand over the Token of Affection. “Here, for you. The sword tassel on your sword hilt was torn off. Replace it with a new one.”
Actually, all of the little junior brother’s sword tassels had been gifts from his senior sister.
Two rope knots, one black and one white, lay in her palm, just like their lifebound swords—distinctly black and white.
“What is this?” The little junior brother turned his head, frowning, not quite understanding the meaning of the two rope knots.
“So there’s still something you don’t know.” The Player recalled how he could recite sword manuals backwards and forwards, finding it amusing.
“It’s a Symbiotic Knot.” The Player picked up a round rope knot.
The little junior brother’s lifebound sword was black, and the rope knot she picked up was also black. She wanted to give him one of the matching color.
The Player said, “I bought it at the market stalls a few days ago. The shopkeeper said it’s called a Symbiotic Knot, symbolizing knots interdependent, hearts reliant, mutual affection, never separate.”
“My memory isn’t that bad either.” Although she couldn’t memorize sword manuals, the Player had remembered the meaning of the Token of Affection.
After she finished speaking, she realized the youth was staring at her in a daze, motionless.
“What’s wrong?” The Player asked, puzzled. She deliberately added, “If you don’t like it, then forget it.”
The little junior brother finally reacted.
His originally indifferent, listless expression shattered in an instant. It was like he had returned to the time before he was fifteen, his cheeks flushing bright red.
“No, I… I…” He even started stuttering, completely at a loss for what to do.
As the Player handed over the black rope knot, his words suddenly became clear.
“I want this one!”
He snatched the white rope knot, not even waiting for his senior sister’s permission.
The youth’s fingers gripped the white rope knot tightly—the same color as his senior sister’s lifebound sword. Only then did he belatedly react and glance at his senior sister’s expression.
The Game Panel reminded her:
[Favorability 99]
Just one final step away. According to the game’s official description, this last bit of favorability was often added on the wedding night or at the moment of consummation.
Of course, special circumstances weren’t out of the question. After all, each save file’s route was different.
The Player’s gaze shifted again. The “Marriage” and “Dual Cultivation” requests were temporarily unavailable to initiate.
The reason was simple.
The capture target was seventeen—underage.
That was why she hadn’t considered him at first.
The Player brushed past the system reminder and turned to look at the capture target. “Then the black one is mine.”
This time, the little junior brother responded muffledly again. His gaze drifted to other places, but his face was red—and growing even redder.
After a while, the flush on his cheeks stabilized somewhat. Surprisingly, he obediently called out to his senior sister. “Senior Sister… what do you mean by giving me this?”
“We’ll talk when you’re eighteen.” The Player said, tying the black sword tassel onto her own lifebound sword.
The little junior brother still didn’t quite understand—or rather, that wasn’t the answer he wanted.
He seemed to muster his courage and looked at his senior sister again. Her lips moved once more.
“Because in my hometown, you have to be eighteen to get married,” the Player said dejectedly.
That was how this game’s setting worked.
She looked at the little junior brother and noticed his eyes shining brightly once again.
“I see.” He gripped the white rope knot in his hand tightly, opening and closing his mouth repeatedly. He seemed too shy to speak. After struggling for a long while, he finally said,
“Then, then… please wait for me one more year, Senior Sister.”
Unfortunately, before a year had passed, the Player was provoked by him. She acted on impulse and went out for training. Moreover, the Game Panel didn’t act decently, causing her to encounter danger in the secret realm.
Otherwise, the little junior brother would have long become the senior sister’s man. The Player could have gotten a Happy Ending and been happy about it.
There wouldn’t have been any need to go through all this, let alone drag out even more doubts.
While Li Yin was feeling depressed, several colorful streams of light flew over from afar, scattering noisy chatter and murmurs along the way.
“Hurry up! I heard that Sword Venerable has appeared. It’s rare for him to come out—we have to take a good look.”
Several female cultivators arrived giggling. They had no intention of stepping onto the Martial Field to disturb the sword cultivator disciples. They only stood at the edge of the Martial Field, peering in.
“Sure enough, he’s wearing all black, just like the rumors.”
“More than that. If not for Hidden Sword Mountain’s opening and these sword cultivator disciples intensifying their training and needing guidance, he’d probably still be up on the mountain living like a widower…”
“He looks pretty good—handsome, nice figure. But it’s a pity he has someone in his heart…”
“I’m really curious how his senior sister did it, taming a man to be so obedient and willing to live like a widower. If I died someday, that bastard of mine would definitely pack up the money and run…”
“Who told you to fancy male cultivators from outside? Switch to a man from our territory: born yours, dead your ghost…”
“That would be so boring. Little sister, you don’t know—taming these male cultivators from outside, riding a wild horse like that is what really thrills…”
The female cultivators giggled again. They tugged at their companion’s clothes and muttered about other sword cultivator disciples who looked good.
The Player had stayed in the Joyous Union Sect before. She recognized this group’s style at a glance—they were Joyous Union Sect disciples.
Joyous Union Sect disciples dressed freely, emphasizing a riot of colors and carefree joy. They only adorned themselves with the sect’s flower ornament on their clothes’ hem, between the eyebrows, or at the hairline.
Finding handsome sword cultivators at the Martial Field was something the Player was all too familiar with.
In the save files, she would occasionally pretend to go to the Martial Field to check in and practice swordsmanship. But actually, it was to scout for any handsome male cultivators with exceptional talent.
After all, the game she played was a conquest game. She had no desire to compete with the sword cultivator disciples. Whenever cultivation plotlines came up, she mostly idled through them without deliberately developing the related attributes.
In short, compared to her motivated fellow disciples in the save files, the Player was lazy in cultivation. As a disciple of a sword cultivation sect, she hadn’t even nurtured sword intent or sword spirit.
This was what Li Yin was thinking. But at that moment, on the field, the sword at the youth’s waist suddenly stirred.
The one trembling and humming wasn’t his lifebound sword, but another—the white jade sword body that had been silent for a long time.
[Your lifebound sword faintly senses your aura. The success rate of your lifebound sword successfully finding you is at least: 60%.]
[Would you like to use Directed Random?]
[Countdown: 10]
[9, 8, 7…]
The Player was stunned for a moment. The longsword went “shing!” as it unsheathed and flew straight toward the edge of the Martial Field.
Don’t come over!
[Directed Random used successfully!]
The jade-white longsword halted in mid-air, circling around somewhat bewilderedly.
The sudden anomaly made the plaza fall silent instantly. Among the stunned crowd, only the black-clad Sword Venerable moved.
His toes shifted slightly as he involuntarily took a step forward. His black pupils fixed tightly on the sword’s trajectory.
This masterless sword had been nurtured by him for many years and had only just developed a faint shadow of a sword spirit.
He knew this better than anyone.
This sword’s master could no longer return.
But he still hoped it could go back to its master’s side.