The afternoon light at the Inch Heart Dojo soaked the wooden floors warm, and the air carried the faint, familiar smell of old timber.
Today was a good day for motion capture — even if a few familiar faces were missing.
Fu Hua had gone to school for class. Even a reclusive grandmaster had to earn her credits these days.
Second Senior Sister Su Mei was tied up haggling with investors, stressing herself half to death over the dojo's monetization strategy.
Third and Fourth Senior Brothers weren't in Arc City either — but they kept things simple and direct. The moment they heard about the big motion capture session at Inch Heart Dojo, they wired money straight to Lin Zhaoyu without a word.
And then there was the legendary Seventh Junior Sister, Qin Suyi — reportedly a designer with a modest reputation in her circle.
She hadn't shown up in person, but her delivery had arrived right on time.
Su Yu tore open the elegantly wrapped box and shook out a red-and-white training uniform.
He had to admit — Qin Suyi was every bit the professional hanfu designer she claimed to be. The garment preserved the Tai Xu Sword Sect's signature otherworldly, classical aesthetic, while making smart, experienced adjustments at the waist and cuffs — practical enough for free movement, yet perfectly suited to show off a young woman's figure.
"Try it on?" Su Yu held the uniform out to Kiana. "Seventh Senior Sister specifically said you have to wear this to look the part of the sect's Little Grandmaster."
Kiana took it, her cheeks a little pink, muttered "what a hassle," and then her body walked of its own accord toward the changing room.
Su Yu watched her go, mind still working over the motion capture parameters for later — and yet his feet, as if drawn by some magnet, began following her quite naturally.
One step. Two steps. Three steps…
Until a long, languid arm stretched out and blocked his path.
"Oh my."
Cheng Lingshuang still had that half-asleep look about her, draped across a chair like a cat, one arm lazily extended to stop Su Yu in his tracks.
She raised an eyelid slightly. A flicker of amusement passed through those eyes that always seemed unfocused.
"Eldest Senior Brother, I know you and Little Grandmaster are close, but — that's the women's changing room?"
Su Yu's feet stopped dead.
Up ahead, Kiana startled like a frightened rabbit, spun around to shoot Su Yu a ferocious glare, then slammed the changing room door with a resounding bang.
"Ahem." Su Yu cleared his throat with strategic precision, scratching the back of his head in a bid to cover his embarrassment. "That… habit. Force of habit. You know how it is — there were some, uh… circumstances beyond my control."
"Eldest Senior Brother." Cheng Lingshuang drew the words out lazily, the way someone does right after waking up. "Isn't your need to keep tabs on Little Grandmaster getting a little intense? That's not healthy, you know."
Nearby, Ma Feima paused his warm-up to stare, rubbing his buzzcut in bewilderment — and then the expression of a man who has just had a revelation spread across his face. So Eldest Senior Brother and Little Grandmaster really do have something going on.
Su Yu decided silence was the better part of valor.
He retreated with his tail between his legs, heading to the center of the motion capture floor to calibrate the equipment.
To cover up the social death he'd just experienced, he made a show of shadowboxing at nothing in particular — while internally, he knocked on the door of a certain old-fashioned spirit.
"Squad Monitor, you there?"
The space in his mind was quiet, nothing but Fenghuang's soft, shallow breathing.
Su Yu glanced at Ma Feima, who was doing leg stretches not far off, then at Cheng Lingshuang, slumped nearby scrolling her phone.
In the story of Honkai Impact 3rd, these two were among the infamous "Seven Who Betrayed Master and Sect."
In this world, they were just disciples with a bit of personality. But to Fenghuang, who held the memories of that other timeline, the sight must have stung more than a little.
"Seeing these familiar faces — nothing you want to say?"
Su Yu adjusted the camera angle and asked the question inwardly.
Silence stretched for a long moment before Fenghuang's voice finally came, carrying a weariness she barely tried to conceal.
"I… don't know what to say. Or rather — what kind of reaction are you expecting from me? Anger? Grief?"
Su Yu's fingers paused on the keyboard.
"I know that in that world, those seven disciples are a wound you've never been able to close. What happened back then… honestly, it was infuriating. When I was playing the game I wanted to reach through the screen and knock them all flat."
"That was another life." Fenghuang's voice was very calm — still as standing water. "And besides, the people in this world never did those things. I am not as composed as you seem to think, but I know clearly enough that the sins of that world should not be laid at the feet of these people. That would simply be displacing my anger onto the innocent."
Rational. Restrained. Always knowing right from wrong.
That was Fenghuang.
Even with a thorn lodged in her heart, she would force herself to swallow it whole, and never, ever let her feelings spill onto someone who didn't deserve them.
Su Yu let out a quiet sigh.
This old-fashioned woman. She made life so exhausting for herself.
He looked at Ma Feima, who was flexing in the mirror with a dopey grin, then at Cheng Lingshuang with those clear, guileless eyes.
Well. Since Fenghuang was too principled to "displace her anger" — he'd just have to do it for her, as a properly ordinary person.
"Senior Brother Ma." Su Yu spoke up suddenly.
Ma Feima dropped his shadowboxing immediately and looked over with a respectful expression. "Eldest Senior Brother, what do you need?"
"Here's the thing." Su Yu spun a completely straight-faced lie. "Little Junior Sister stayed up late last night studying the sword manual and didn't get enough rest, so she might not be at her best today. How about she provides technical direction from the side, and I'll be your motion capture sparring partner instead?"
Ma Feima blinked.
The next second, his eyes lit up like a light bulb suddenly switched on.
"Really?!"
Ma Feima was so excited he nearly jumped.
Ever since the day he witnessed Little Grandmaster's devastating power firsthand, he'd been brimming with curiosity about this Eldest Senior Brother who had always kept such a low profile — claiming he didn't know any martial arts. Anyone who could be the senior brother to a Little Grandmaster, and design techniques that refined, had to be a sweeping-monk-type hidden master! The whole "I don't know martial arts" thing was definitely just expert-level humility!
"Eldest Senior Brother gracing me with a lesson — that's this old Ma's honor!" Ma Feima cracked his knuckles, every muscle on his body trembling with anticipation.
Even Cheng Lingshuang, who had been sprawled out the entire time, sat up straight. A spark of genuine interest appeared in those perpetually half-lidded eyes.
"Oh? Eldest Senior Brother is stepping onto the floor himself?" She stretched with a lazy yawn and slowly rose to her feet. "Then I'll come have a look too. I want to see exactly what the man who has Little Grandmaster wrapped around his finger is actually made of."
Su Yu smiled and nodded, with an air of profound mystery. "By all means, by all means."
At that moment, the changing room door opened.
Kiana stepped out.
For just an instant, the whole dojo seemed to brighten.
The red-and-white training uniform fit her curves perfectly, the wide sleeves swaying gently with each step, and the red sash at her waist traced the slender line of her figure. Her white hair was swept up high, baring a graceful neck, the entire effect at once spirited and sharp — yet still carrying an unmistakably girlish charm.
The sect's Little Grandmaster had come to life.
"Wow." Cheng Lingshuang let out a low whistle.
Kiana tugged at the hem of her uniform, a touch self-conscious, and walked over to Su Yu. "Hey, Su Yu, this outfit… isn't it a bit much?"
"Not at all — it's just right." Su Yu gave a thumbs-up. "Like it was made for you."
Before Kiana could even get properly embarrassed, Ma Feima boomed across the room: "Little Grandmaster! Eldest Senior Brother said he's stepping onto the floor today to spar with us himself! One against two! Just stand on the side and give us some pointers!"
Kiana: "…Huh?"
Her beautiful heterochromatic eyes went perfectly round. She stared at Su Yu with the expression of someone watching a fool walk into traffic.
"Are you insane?" Kiana leaned close to Su Yu's ear, voice dropping to an urgent whisper. "Your body — yes, it's been enhanced, but Ma Feima is built like an ox, and Cheng Lingshuang is a complete freak! You're going to get killed!"
In his mind, Fenghuang also couldn't help speaking up.
"You haven't started formally cultivating the Heart Essence chapter yet. No matter how strong your body is, without proper technique—"
But Su Yu only smiled, and reached over to brush a few stray hairs back from Kiana's forehead.
"Relax. I know what I'm doing," he replied inwardly.
"What exactly do you know?" Fenghuang pressed, more urgently than usual. "There's no need to take a risk like this for the sake of data. If you want to learn Tai Xu Sword Qi, steady and gradual is the right path. If you do this—"
"Who said anything about data?"
Su Yu cut her off.
He rolled his wrists and flexed, feeling the muscles in his body — still faintly aching from the enhancement serum, yet surging with raw power.
"You and I are different, Squad Monitor. I'm an ordinary person."
Su Yu looked at the two "treacherous disciples" across the floor, practically vibrating with eagerness, and a wicked little grin curved his lips.
"I know seeing these traitors bothers you. But you can't actually do anything about it, because there's no logical basis for it — right?"
"So." Su Yu laughed inwardly, the kind of laugh that came with a prank successfully executed. "I'll beat them up for you. Consider it me venting on your behalf."
The mental space went instantly silent.
Several seconds passed before Fenghuang let out a very soft laugh.
It was the sound of something releasing — relief laced with helpless indulgence.
"You… honestly, sometimes I think you're even more reckless than Kiana."
Fair enough.
If he weren't this reckless, he'd never have managed to beat the Herrscher of the Void into submission.
"Since you want to fight — go fight. I'll be watching. Just try not to lose too badly."
"Don't worry." Su Yu smiled inwardly. "If I really can't handle it, just possess me directly using your divine sky-tier techniques — I mean, please grace us with the presence of Ancestor Fenghuang."
Fenghuang went quiet. She wasn't above understanding that Su Yu was joking — she simply had absolutely no idea what "sky-tier divine techniques" he was referring to.
Su Yu shrugged off his jacket and tossed it to a baffled Kiana.
"Hold this for me, Little Grandmaster."
He turned around, walked to the center of the floor, and crooked a finger at the two of them — Ma Feima grinning from ear to ear, Cheng Lingshuang watching with cool curiosity.
"Come on then, trai— ahem. Junior Brother, Junior Sister."
Su Yu smiled brighter than the afternoon sun outside.
"Let Eldest Senior Brother show you today what it means to respect your teachers."
As far as Cheng Lingshuang and Ma Feima could see, though —
Su Yu just stood there. Casually. Completely without ceremony.
No opening stance. No dropped shoulders or tucked elbows. His center of gravity didn't even seem stable — it drifted, vaguely unmoored.
At a glance, he looked like an old man who'd just finished lunch and was about to take a leisurely stroll through the park. Every inch of him was an opening.
Ma Feima froze.
He scratched his buzzcut, face full of confusion.
This was Eldest Senior Brother's "stepping onto the floor"?
This stance — forget Tai Xu Sword Qi, even the grandmas doing square dancing outside would stand steadier than this.
"Eldest Senior Brother, you…"
Ma Feima started to speak, but the words died in his throat.
Because Su Yu had raised his head.
In that single instant, Ma Feima felt the air around him drain away, and a chill shot straight up his spine and into the crown of his skull.
Su Yu's gaze wasn't focused on either of them. It looked through them, fixed on some point in empty space beyond.
In those dark eyes, Ma Feima found no warrior's fighting spirit, no excitement of a friendly sparring match. He found only one thing —
Deadness.
An absolute indifference to life. A total familiarity with death.
Su Yu's body, in terms of raw martial ability, was genuinely nothing special.
But in that strange consciousness space, he was an undeniable veteran.
One thousand and twenty-four times.
Pierced through by the Subspace Lance. Crushed by the Imaginary Space. Corroded by Honkai energy. Every single death had been real. Every single agony had been carved into him to the bone.
And through over a thousand cycles of death and rebirth, he had not only survived — he had battered a high-and-mighty Herrscher into submission through sheer headbutts and fists.
That ironclad mental will, forged at the very edge between life and death, that vicious stubbornness that came from genuinely brawling with monsters with his life on the line — in a peaceful, everyday world like this, it was a weapon from an entirely different dimension.
Su Yu even laughed at himself inwardly: if this were a cultivation novel, those thousand-plus near-death experiences would have him starting off as a Nascent Soul old monster at minimum, wouldn't they?
"…!"
Cheng Lingshuang took a sharp half-step back, her perpetually half-asleep eyes now wide open, locked onto Su Yu.
As a martial prodigy, her senses were far sharper than Ma Feima's.
In her perception, the casually rumpled Eldest Senior Brother had disappeared.
In his place stood something else — a abyss, reeking of blood.
Pure killing intent.
The kind of suffocating, crushing pressure that only belonged to someone who had clawed their way out of a mountain of corpses.
Was this really Eldest Senior Brother?
The Eldest Senior Brother who needed Little Grandmaster to help him open bottles?!
Even Kiana, watching from the side, felt a jolt of alarm.
She stared at Su Yu's back, and fragments of scattered images suddenly surfaced in her mind —
The figure from her dream: drenched in blood, and still laughing wildly at the Herrscher of the Void — that image slowly overlapped with the gentle young man standing before her now.
Wait… hadn't that been a dream?
Kiana pressed a hand to her chest, the pounding of her heart so real it couldn't be denied.
Why did Su Yu carry a killing intent even denser than her own?
She was the one who had survived by scraping through the ruins of Nagazora. But right now, Su Yu felt more dangerous than any Emperor-class Honkai Beast she had ever encountered.
And then, into that frozen silence, Ma Feima began to tremble violently.
"I understand… I understand now!" Ma Feima's eyes blazed with fervent light, burning into Su Yu's stance — the one that seemed to offer nothing but openings. "This is defeating technique with no technique! This is returning to the primordial!"
In Ma Feima's mind, every single "opening" Su Yu presented had transformed into a deadly trap.
That loose, relaxed posture was perfect for exploding in any direction at a moment's notice. That drifting center of gravity was designed to confuse the enemy's judgment.
It looked like he had no martial arts — because he had transcended martial arts!
Was this Eldest Senior Brother's true level?!
"Eldest Senior Brother! Please teach me!"
Ma Feima let out a roar, every muscle swelling with blood-rush excitement, the whole man like an enraged bull.
Su Yu: "…"
He had, in fact, simply been spacing out and thinking about other things.
But since the atmosphere had already been built up this high, it would be awkward not to start.
"Senior Sister Lin." Su Yu called out, calm and even.
Lin Zhaoyu, standing at the control station, serenely pressed the start button.
She had absolutely no idea what the "neuro-feedback system" or the "holographic motion capture algorithm" meant, mechanically speaking.
But Su Yu's operating manual had been very clear: red light on, press green. Green light on, press red. When in doubt, just respond to the beeps.
"Beep — Motion capture system ready."
The flat electronic tone broke the frozen tension in the dojo.
Su Yu turned to look at the still-dazed Kiana, and a warm smile crossed his face. That suffocating killing intent vanished without a trace, as if it had never existed.
"Stop spacing out, Little Grandmaster." He gestured toward the two "Honkai Beasts" who were already primed and ready to go. "It's time for your class. Show them what a real monster looks like."
Kiana snapped back to herself.
She held Su Yu's gaze for a long moment, then pressed her questions down into silence.
Whatever was going on — right now, Su Yu needed her.
"Got it!"
Kiana drew a deep breath, and the look in her eyes went sharp as a blade.
She walked to the center of the floor and beckoned Ma Feima and Cheng Lingshuang forward.
"Since Eldest Senior Brother says so, I won't hold back."
The girl rolled her wrists with a crisp crack.
"Listen up. What you're going to imitate next isn't people — it's beasts. Forget your techniques, forget your forms. Imagine you have nothing but instinct — nothing but the desire to kill!"
"Ma Feima — you're playing a Chariot-class Honkai Beast! Drop your center of gravity, lead with your shoulder! Stop thinking about defense — Honkai Beasts don't know defense!"
"Cheng Lingshuang — you're playing a Zombie! Keep your movements stiff, but the moment you strike, be fast! Like a snake!"
With Kiana's commands, the rehearsal for a "human-beast battle" in the middle of this peaceful world officially began.
And Su Yu, standing at the side watching it all unfold, quietly rubbed at his still-faintly-aching forehead.
Tch. Sirin's skull really is hard… Next time I'm using a brick.
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