Chapter 2

The system was baffled.

“Host, what are you doing? You’re supposed to survive, turn things around, put people in their place, and make them like you. How can you start by driving a wedge between them?”

Savoring what had just happened, I said, “Turn things around? Put people in their place? Doesn’t that sound exhausting? Approval points are easy. I barely have to try.”

The system whirled anxiously around inside my mind. “Don’t think you’ll benefit just because you’ve turned Senior Brother against Yin Danxin. His approval of you is still negative! He doesn’t even intend to let you enter tomorrow’s Sword Tournament. If you don’t compete, how will you prove yourself and make people like you?”

No sooner had it finished than Senior Brother came striding back.

Sure enough, the system was right. His eyes were still cold and displeased. He clearly didn’t think much of me.

“Second Sister, don’t think that because I won’t take Junior Sister’s side, I’ll take yours. Your pettiness and arrogance haven’t escaped my notice. While our master is in secluded cultivation, I’m in charge of the sect. Don’t think you can cause trouble.”

Having delivered his warning, he waited for my response.

Whether I begged for mercy or talked back, I was supposed to say something.

Instead, I took a talisman from inside my robe, unfolded it carefully, and showed him.

He gave it a casual glance. Then his face froze.

Staring at the talisman in disbelief, he raised a trembling hand and touched it lightly.

“Is this…”

“A talisman drawn by the matriarch herself,” I said. “They go for eighty thousand spirit stones apiece on the black market, and those are all fakes.”

“Yours… yours has to be real. Those brushstrokes, the smell of the cinnabar—there’s no faking that. Heavens, where did you get it?”

“That’s nothing. Look.”

I opened my storage pouch and took out a stack of little portraits of the matriarch.

Practicing with her sword, lost in thought, ascending, smiling, looking annoyed—every image was astonishingly lifelike.

Senior Brother’s eyes lit up. “They look exactly like her! Were these scented with her favorite sandalwood incense? I’d know that scent anywhere!”

I nodded and took out several small glass discs. Her signature and portrait were set inside, with pins on the back.

“You can pin these to your clothes? Where did you get them? How much? I’ll buy them!” He clenched his fists in excitement.

Smiling, I piled the whole lot into his arms.

“Money? Between us? Please. They’re yours.”

Senior Brother squealed. Clutching his treasures, he stamped his feet with excitement, the jade pendant at his waist clinking against his sword.

After a few stamps, he regained his composure. His face was red, his voice stiff.

“Li Chunfeng, don’t think you can bribe me with these. Name your price. I can afford it.”

“Tsk,” said the system. “He’s a tough one, Host. He won’t take your bribe.”

I ignored it and smiled at Senior Brother.

“Senior Brother, why would I give away such valuable things just to bribe you? I’m giving them to you because I’ve finally found someone who understands.”

“…What? You hate that bastard Shen too?”

I clapped my hands. “Who with eyes wouldn’t? Eight hundred years of clinging to her! A lifelong freeloader who can’t stand on his own! That stinking pill-brewer!”

Senior Brother nodded vigorously. “Exactly! Exactly right!”

“Host, his approval is going up!” said the system. “Wait, why does he hate that man so much? All you did was join in, and now he sees you differently?”

“That’s a toxic solo stan for you. You don’t need to understand. Just remember not to cross one.”

Senior Brother had clearly been bottling this up for years. Now he couldn’t stop. “A talented man and a beautiful woman? Made for each other? Pah! I bet those pill-brewers started that rumor. Anything to make their precious leader look good!”

“Do you know why Junior Sister Danxin keeps trying to pair them up?” I said. “Her mother is an alchemist! And she’s actually related to that bastard Shen.”

“What? Is that reliable information?”

“I know people in the business. Guaranteed.”

Senior Brother raised his face in anguish. “Shameless! Those alchemists are shameless! Matriarch, please, open your eyes! Kick that bastard Shen aside and free yourself from this misery! Your disciple would gladly… gladly…”

“Give up meat for life if it meant you could shine alone!” I supplied.

He threw his arms around me, overcome. Tears spilled as he choked out, “Let her shine alone! Let her shine alone!”

Once he’d calmed down a little, I said, “Can you accept these now, Senior Brother? They’re my most treasured possessions. If we weren’t kindred spirits, I could never bear to give them away.”

He had no objections this time. From his storage pouch, he produced a fine, brand-new cloth bag, shook it clean, and carefully packed away his matriarch merch.

I handed him a packet of lime. “To absorb moisture. Keep it all dry.”

Then I gave him some little paper sleeves. “For the portraits. Don’t let them get scratched.”

He gave me an approving look.

I chuckled and rubbed my hands together. “Senior Brother, about tomorrow’s Sword Tournament… any chance I could compete? I’m not chasing fame or fortune, of course. I just can’t stand those alchemists. Thought I’d take them down a peg.”

“That’s all? Of course! Get out there and show them! Let those damned pill-brewers see that we sword cultivators aren’t pushovers! ‘A talented man and a beautiful woman,’ ‘a match made in heaven’—rip their filthy mouths open!”

Then he pulled out a heap of magical artifacts and shoved them into my arms.

He also gave me an impromptu transfer of cultivation power.

Finally, he handed over a huge pile of spirit stones and told me to come back when I’d spent them.

Then he left happily, hugging the storage pouch containing his merch.

The system was reeling.

“Host, do you realize you just got everything the heroine spent six months working for? She had to flit around like a butterfly and put in so much effort to get those artifacts and that cultivation power!”

I took a cigarette from the system inventory, lit it, and leaned against a peach tree. After a drag, I blew a smoke ring toward the sky.

“A rival this weak? I can take her out in one hit.”