It was like a single drop of water falling into a deep pool, sending out tiny ripples.
Li Yin turned to meet the young man’s black eyes.
They no longer resembled dead ashes. Faint firefly lights had reignited within, staring at her without moving.
In her view, his eyelashes trembled faintly.
It was a dream.
Another dream.
Though he knew it was a dream, Yun Jian had no intention of waking.
He sank deeper into it, his lips curving in a light smile. “Little Senior Sister.”
He called again, yet he remained standing at a distance, refusing to step closer.
The girl by the desk tilted her head slightly, as if puzzled. Then she approached him of her own accord.
She moved like a cat cocking its head in curiosity, padding quietly forward to inspect and scrutinize him.
She drew nearer and nearer, the distance shrinking bit by bit. His black pupils shifted faintly, sweeping over every inch and fiber of her, as if etching her reflection deep into them.
Senior sister was exactly the same as before.
She reached him at last. The hand clenched at the young man’s side twitched. He reached out, seemingly to embrace her—but halted midway and pulled back. He refused to touch her.
The girl noticed the motion and looked up at him, blinking.
Junior brother towered far above senior sister now.
He had grown up. She hadn’t.
Yun Jian lowered his gaze to the cheek inches away, softening his breath. “Senior Sister, what’s wrong?”
He didn’t want to scare off this curious cat. His tone was exceedingly gentle.
Like during the day, he wore plain black robes—nothing ornate—which only accentuated his upright posture: broad shoulders tapering to a narrow waist, tall frame, long legs.
It surpassed even his youthful grace. In the time without his senior sister’s gaze, he had fully matured.
With his softened tone, the daytime silence melted away. The deep pool seemed to transform into spring water, cradling her scrutiny.
The girl said nothing. Suddenly, she moved—and shoved him down.
The young Sword Venerable toppled easily under her push, pinned beneath her as his bound hair scattered across the floor.
His black eyes stayed fixed, unmoving, on her face.
He indulged her completely—no resistance, no obstruction.
Unlike his younger self, he offered no mocking words to dampen the mood.
Time seemed to have ground away his edges, stripping the prickly sharpness.
Little Junior Brother had changed too much.
Though Li Yin puzzled over it, she couldn’t resist. Her hands roamed curiously over her now-grown junior brother.
It was just a dream, after all. She reached to strip off one or two of his garments and leave a commemoration—a supplementation seal.
But suddenly, the young man seized her reaching hand.
Yun Jian gazed at her, his faint smile helpless.
Another dream like this.
It must stem from daytime, when he saw senior sister’s lifebound sword stir.
The sword had moved—and so had his heart. He couldn’t help thinking of her.
“Senior Sister, no.” He pinned her restless hand and refused her warmly.
Sword cultivators gripped swords year-round. His fingers were long and jointed distinctly, layered with thin calluses from endless practice—not smooth like jade, but full of strength.
His slightly rough fingertip rubbed her fingers involuntarily.
Yet he harbored no lascivious thoughts. He merely held senior sister’s hand to his chest, preventing further mischief.
Then he embraced her, sitting up together. He buried his face deep in the crook of her neck, his murmuring voice trembling lightly. “Senior Sister, stay with me a while.”
His steady voice altered, gravel grinding it hoarse amid pained shivers.
The Sword Venerable’s daytime facade cracked, revealing Little Junior Brother’s voice.
“Senior Sister… your lifebound sword moved. I actually thought you’d returned… Senior Sister, I’m the Sword Venerable revered by all now… When will you come see me…”
His cheek rubbed gently against her skin, warm flesh meeting warm flesh. The girl in his arms paused faintly.
Li Yin thought to herself that she had returned—but her junior brother might not acknowledge her.
She was no longer a sword cultivator disciple, nor the Sword Venerable’s senior sister.
Now, she was merely a little demonic cultivator—one who practiced joyous union dao and supplementation techniques, the kind everyone wanted to kill.
Like right now: the little demonic cultivator yearned to supplement the lofty Sword Venerable.
She patted the young man’s back lightly in consolation. But business came first.
She wanted to supplement him. She also wanted to test his feelings.
Yun Jian had only spoken two sentences when he noticed his senior sister growing restless in his arms.
She was untying his belt.
Yun Jian caught her hand once more. “Senior Sister, why are you so eager to strip my clothes?”
A faint smile touched his lips—thoroughly helpless.
Her captured, unruly hand met his with clear eyes, utterly guileless. Suddenly, she spoke. “Is it really not allowed?”
Her voice wasn’t loud, yet it boomed like thunder. The young man froze in shock, speechless—then she shoved him down again.
Why was the little senior sister in his dream—
So vividly alive this time?
The girl straddled him once more, hands braced on his chest as she looked down. “Don’t you like Senior Sister anymore?”
Yun Jian’s expression dazed. He gazed at her and murmured, “Senior Sister—”
He gripped her fingers tightly, staring. His lips pursed—a prelude to refusal.
But the next instant, his eyes finally shifted away. His lowered lashes quivered, accentuating his narrow eye corners. Unknowingly, a blush crept in, as if from shyness.
“I… I’ll do it myself,” he said.
An indirect answer to her question.
The young man released her hand and began undoing his own clothes.
His qi and blood ran vigorous; he wore little. Inner and outer layers amounted to scant pieces. He undid his belt first, then peeled them away one by one.
A sword cultivator’s sword hand was the steadiest. Undressing proved no different.
The dusty relics took the initiative, shedding the grime layer by layer to bare a chest white as carved jade—awaiting her claim.
Senior sister lay atop him, cheek propped on her hand as she watched him discard his coverings piece by piece.
She looked delighted, her brows and eyes lively. Occasionally, her little leg kicked up, dangling and swinging—like she had come alive.
At that point, Yun Jian could ignore it no longer. He seized her waist abruptly. His pupils quivered as they locked onto her face, fixating on her every expression.
The girl jumped at his sudden move.
“Why, why—” He seemed to have noticed something—or sensed something off.
In his occasional dreams of senior sister, she had never been this spirited.
The young man palmed her waist like clutching a fuse. It reignited his dead black eyes, blazing with terrifying brilliance.
“Little Senior Sister, have you… really returned? Today—today I even saw your lifebound sword move.”
The black-robed Sword Venerable’s daytime image shattered completely.
Little Junior Brother clawed free from the ashes, clutching the figure before him with endless questions.
His body trembled in waves. The blush at his eye corners deepened. Shiny water light welled in his black eyes, crystalline as in his youth.
He was her little junior brother—always had been.
Little Junior Brother opened his mouth again. “I miss you so much, Little Senior Sister. I—”
The next second, senior sister clamped his mouth. “Do you still like Senior Sister now?”
Little Junior Brother blurted, “I do. I like you. I liked you then, I like you now, I’ll like you forever. I like Senior Sister the most.”
His eyes reddened, tears shimmering as he professed his future to a senior sister long “dead.”
The girl he held suddenly changed expression.
She felt it.
Something pressed against her.
Straining upward, proclaiming an irrepressible affection.
Li Yin sat astride his crotch. Her junior brother’s upward-straining affection lifted her higher and higher.
His two hands gripped her too tightly, making it impossible for her to move for the moment, as if he had pinned her there even through their clothes.
The opportunity to supplement from her junior brother was right in front of her, but before that, her confusion spilled out first.
“Do you like me that much? Then why do you always mock me?” she couldn’t help but ask. “And do you even remember? The first day you skipped class, you actually ran away the moment you saw me!”
She grabbed the young Sword Venerable Yun Jian’s collar, shaking it vigorously just like she used to shake Little Junior Brother’s collar, venting the Player’s pent-up frustration.
“Wasn’t Senior Sister good to you? Back when you first came up the mountain, I picked fruit for you every day! You were so cute when you were little. Who did you learn that bad temper from after you grew up? Always talking so rudely!”
“That day—” Little Junior Brother started to recall, but he abruptly fell silent after just those words.
He pressed his lips tightly together, refusing to say another word.
Li Yin reached up and touched his lips, pinching them lightly. She was certain. “You’re hiding something from me.”
His mouth clamped shut even tighter. His eyes reddened, and his face flushed as well.
“Speak.” Senior Sister commanded.
Junior Brother refused to talk and wouldn’t make a sound. He simply gazed at her with eyes on the verge of tears, misty and pleading.
His eyes, filled with glistening tears, shone brightly, as if they had returned to his childhood.
That was the boy not yet fifteen, the adorably pitiful young teen that Senior Sister called “so cute.”
The girl tilted her head and decided to switch topics. “Do you know why I suddenly decided to go out for training that day you went into seclusion?”
Junior Brother froze in realization and finally spoke. “…What?”
The day he went into seclusion was the day Little Senior Sister went out for training—
The day Little Senior Sister died.
Of course. He was just dreaming.
Senior Sister had died long ago.
“Because of you.” The Little Senior Sister who had died centuries ago suddenly lost her lively expression. She sat astride him, looking down at him with lowered eyes, her voice turning slightly cold.
The dim light shrouded her brows and eyes, as if dusted with the ashes of the past.
She was forever trapped in the past.
He had been forever trapped in the present by her.
He was no longer her Little Junior Brother. He was Hidden Sword Mountain’s current Sword Venerable.
“Because of you.” She repeated. “Do you remember what you said to me before you went into seclusion?”