The matter of the CG update could wait for now.
After all, the Free and Unfettered Art had only just entered its updating state; there was no way to see the actual CG content any time soon, so there was no point in being impatient.
What weighed on Gu Chengming's mind more was this little dragon that had suddenly appeared before him.
Ji Yixi knelt on the ground, head twisted to stare at the little dragon sprawled in a heap beside her. Those eyes, widened just a fraction, betrayed the workings of her mind in that instant — clearly this had not been in any of the scripts she'd gleaned from those countless world-lines either.
Among the assembled "crowd," it was actually the Hundred Bones Resonance that reacted first.
[Hundred Bones Resonance was stunned for a moment, then had a sudden realization: So Heavenly Emperor Gu really is a dragon!]
[Hundred Bones Resonance, utterly convinced: No wonder Heavenly Emperor Gu wields such divine might! It's the bloodline of the ancient dragon clan!]
[Hundred Bones Resonance favorability +5]
Gu Chengming sighed inwardly. Old Hundred, only you could come up with comforting words for me this fast in a mess like this.
But at that very moment, the little black dragon sprawled on the ground realized something was off. The aura on Gu Chengming truly did resemble that one aura known so intimately in the depths of its memory — but only "resembled," nothing more.
It recalled what Ji Yixi had mentioned earlier: this young man named Gu Chengming had once drawn dragon-qi into his body back in the Capital.
So it wasn't its father resurrected — it was just that this kid carried a whiff of dragon-qi, and the scent had fooled its own perception, still dull and not quite sharp since it had woken not long ago.
The instant it grasped this, the little dragon slowly lifted its head from that prostrate, face-to-the-floor posture, a pair of pitch-black dragon eyes meeting Gu Chengming's gaze.
The little dragon's face was written all over with mortification.
A dignified derivation of the very source of the ancient dragon race, a being that had once stood shoulder to shoulder with the founding ancestor of the Great Qian to slay otherworldly demons — and just now, in front of a Third Realm junior, it had cried out "Father" and flung itself flat on the ground.
— How was it supposed to explain that?
"Senior has mistaken him for someone else."
Ji Yixi's voice rang out, flat and even. Somewhere along the way she had shifted from kneeling to sitting upright, and though her hands were still bound behind her by the Immortal-Binding Rope, she carried herself with considerable composure. "The aura is similar, but the origin is different. Senior has likely mistaken the lingering fluctuations of dragon-qi for an old acquaintance."
The little dragon cleared its throat awkwardly, drifted back up into the air, and did its utmost to arrange itself into the dignified pose of one who "was merely confirming intelligence."
Gu Chengming saw it all and, rather kindly, chose not to call it out.
[Huiyuan Sword Formula muttered under its breath: Chengming, isn't this little dragon a bit of a fool?]
Everyone connected to the Great Qian imperial house seems to be a bit foolish. Little Huiyuan was used to it — so that was fine.
So thought Gu Chengming, his gaze settling once more on the Second Imperial Princess before him.
Come to think of it, Her Highness had been bound this whole time.
With that thought, he withdrew the Immortal-Binding Rope's spiritual power lock.
Ji Yixi worked her somewhat numb wrists, rose unhurriedly to her feet, smoothed out her rumpled palace robes, and refastened the jade hairpin that had slipped down beside her ear.
"My thanks, Commander Gu." She inclined her head slightly.
Watching that face, which had shown no great ripple of emotion from beginning to end, Gu Chengming felt a touch of genuine admiration.
Her thought processes might be rather peculiar, but Her Highness's conduct could truly be called the picture of composure.
"So then, Your Highness."
Gu Chengming dragged over a chair and sat, raising a hand to invite her to be seated. His tone shifted from its earlier wariness to something even. "A visit deep in the night — surely not truly for the sake of catching up. Your Highness has come here for what purpose?"
Ji Yixi sat down across from him, hands folded on her knees, and came straight to the point. "I hope Commander Gu can do something for me."
Gu Chengming neither agreed nor refused. The last time this Second Imperial Princess had sought him out, her opening line had been "I know the dragon-qi in your body has yet to be roused," which had thoroughly spooked him.
This time, though the scene was even more absurd, at least her attitude was a good deal more sincere than before.
"No hurry." Gu Chengming looked at her, his tone steady. "Why don't you first tell me, Your Highness — what can you give me?"
The words were blunt, but for both parties they were, in fact, the most efficient way to communicate.
After all, given the unpleasantness of last time, Gu Chengming was under no obligation to hear out her request before weighing his terms. Showing one's hand first was basic good faith.
Ji Yixi clearly agreed with that logic. From her sleeve she drew a jade slip and offered it to Gu Chengming with both hands.
"As a token of my sincerity, this is my first gift."
Gu Chengming took the jade slip and sent his spiritual sense inside.
What the jade slip recorded was a piece of intelligence — on the shores of the East Sea, the Fubai Dragon Lord had been attacked by an unidentified cultivator, gravely wounded, and forced to withdraw into the Dragon Transformation Pool to recuperate. For now the East Sea had sealed off all word of it, and no one outside knew a thing.
The Fubai Dragon Lord.
That name was no stranger to him. It counted, one might say, as a rather unpleasant strand of cause and effect — he had earlier slain the Dragon Lord's offspring and so made an enemy of him. Though the other party, hampered by various considerations, hadn't come knocking at once, the debt had hung there all along, and sooner or later it would be trouble.
And now that trouble had been temporarily resolved for him by someone else.
With the Fubai Dragon Lord wounded and withdrawn into the pool to recover, he would surely have no attention to spare for anything else for a good while.
The East Sea dragon clan had always been closed off and exclusionary; not even the great sects of the cultivation world had caught the faintest whisper of the Fubai Dragon Lord's attack. For Ji Yixi to produce intelligence of this caliber as a first gift, she was in all likelihood no small part of the affair herself.
"Your Highness's sincerity, I've received it."
Gu Chengming nodded, choosing his words with care. "The matter of the Fubai Dragon Lord has indeed lifted a weight from my mind. Whatever role Your Highness played in it, this favor — I, Gu, will remember it."
Ji Yixi inclined her head slightly. Her manner was as restrained as ever, and that sense of proportion left Gu Chengming with a far better impression of her than last time.
"However." Ji Yixi spoke up again. "There are some things I need to tell Commander Gu in advance."
She slowed her pace of speech, plainly weighing each and every word.
"This thing I wish to ask Commander Gu to help with — I myself do not know the full picture of it. But from what I have observed, the one stirring up the winds and clouds behind this affair shares a certain entanglement with Commander Gu."
Gu Chengming's gaze tightened a fraction.
Ji Yixi went on. "This person's methods are exceedingly covert. For now I can only confirm that this Grand Tournament — or Floating Isle City itself — has very likely already had some hidden hand laid within it. And the one behind the scheme aims for something vast; the span and depth of their designs far exceed the ordinary."
She paused, as if considering how far to take her words. "Commander Gu should understand better than I what sort of power excels at schemes stretched across such scales of time."
Said that far, there was no need to spell it out any plainer.
Gu Chengming strung the key pieces together in his mind.
Skilled at schemes spanning scales of time, and entangled with him — clearly, people of the Eternal Life Sect.
And in the Tianque Secret Realm, those who had crossed hands with him and had the power to stir up trouble at the Grand Tournament, together with the ancient secret Zhou Qingmu had disclosed earlier — one name floated to the surface.
The Red Dust Immortal.
That ancient Jìntiān elder of the Eternal Life Sect, the master Eternal Life Chess had followed his whole life, the being who had gone missing in the Great Tribulation several thousand years ago.
If the Eternal Life Sect truly possessed a means to "extract" the dead back from history into the present, then since Eternal Life Chess could be hauled back, so too could the Red Dust Immortal. Indeed, given the Red Dust Immortal's strength and standing in life, perhaps he was the Eternal Life Sect's true chess player, and Eternal Life Chess was merely the first piece cast onto the board.
Gu Chengming ran these conjectures through his mind once and did not press for exactly who it was.
He glanced at Ji Yixi. "I won't inquire into Your Highness's sources. Since this affair concerns me, naturally I've no reason to stand idly by. Speak — what exactly do you need me to do?"
Ji Yixi let out a breath, then spoke frankly. "I hope Commander Gu will go to the Mohist Gate and try out the Floating Heaven Mystic Spirit Mirror."
A question mark rose over Gu Chengming's head.
— And what was this now?
Seeming to read his confusion, Ji Yixi continued. "The Floating Heaven Mystic Spirit Mirror is a top-tier Fifth Realm spirit artifact the Mohist Gate has developed specially for this Grand Tournament. Its principle is to project the user's spirit soul into an independent space constructed within the artifact — the Mohist Gate calls it the Inner Mirror."
"Once inside the Inner Mirror, the artifact will, based on the information carried by the user's spirit soul, faithfully replicate their cultivation realm, technique traits, physical strength, blood-and-qi and spiritual power, right down to their compatibility with spirit artifacts."
Ji Yixi paused, then added, "To put it simply — you use your own spirit soul to control a projection whose strength is fully identical to your own, and duel other cultivators' projections within the Inner Mirror."
Gu Chengming clicked his tongue.
— A virtual combat platform, too?
"The Mohist Gate's original intent in developing this thing was to replace the traditional arena duels of the Grand Tournament. The battles within the Inner Mirror may be fierce, but since it's only the projections crossing hands, the true bodies suffer no injury whatsoever."
"This way, the young disciples of each sect can cut loose and go all out without fear of irreversible deaths or maimings in a duel. Word has it that part of this Grand Tournament will use the Floating Heaven Mystic Spirit Mirror as a contest method for the first time. The Sect Head of the Mohist Gate sets great store by it, regarding it as one of the Gate's most important breakthroughs in the Dao of creation in decades."
Hearing this far, Gu Chengming found his curiosity about the artifact growing.
A Fifth Realm artifact capable of faithfully replicating every attribute of a cultivator — the complexity of its formation structure and its consumption of spirit materials had to be astronomical. That the Mohist Gate could forge such a thing truly earned them the title of "Foremost of the Artisan's Dao."
But another matter concerned him more.
"Those hidden hands Your Highness just spoke of…" Gu Chengming looked at Ji Yixi and cut to the heart of it. "They're connected to this Floating Heaven Mystic Spirit Mirror?"
"I'm not certain." Ji Yixi's answer was candid to the point of being unexpected.
"That is precisely why I ask Commander Gu to try it out." She tilted her head slightly. "The Floating Heaven Mystic Spirit Mirror is a top-tier Fifth Realm artifact, and its internal formation architecture is exceedingly intricate. If someone wished to tamper with the Grand Tournament, this artifact would be the ideal point of entry. The spirit souls of several hundred young disciples will be cast into the Inner Mirror during the tournament — should the artifact be contaminated, the consequences would be unthinkable."
"But the Mohist Gate's own inspection of the artifact is rigorous, leaving outsiders almost no room to intervene… So I need a person to enter the Inner Mirror in the identity of an ordinary contestant, and probe from within for any anomaly."
At this point Ji Yixi hesitated, and in the end still did not speak of the matter of the "variable."
"As I understand it, Commander Gu's methods in the defense of the spirit soul are quite exceptional. To this day, no one has ever managed to trap Commander Gu in an illusion."
"So I believe Commander Gu is one of the best candidates for this affair."
Gu Chengming understood, and then nodded.
He carried the passive of the Legacy Teaching of Peace, which specifically countered laws of the tampering, distorting, and subverting sort. If the Floating Heaven Mystic Spirit Mirror really had been meddled with, he did indeed have one more layer of safeguard than others.
Besides, if the Eternal Life Sect really stood behind this affair, then he had all the less reason to keep himself out of it.
Having ruined a millennium-long scheme of theirs in the Tianque Secret Realm, there was no chance that lot would let it rest. Rather than passively wait for them to make their move, better to actively feel out their hand.
Ji Yixi seemed to have long expected he would agree; she added no further words of persuasion, but instead drew a second item from her sleeve.
It was a bracelet, its band cast from some unknown dark-silver metal, its surface carved with intricate formation patterns, faint flecks of light flickering in and out along the lines.
A Fourth Realm artifact — and of the very highest quality.
"This item is called the Mirror Heart Bracelet. I had it specially made in private through a master artisan of the Mohist Gate." Ji Yixi added, "Should there truly be contamination within the Inner Mirror, this can keep Commander Gu's spirit soul from being eroded."
"Your Highness has thought of everything."
Gu Chengming tucked the Mirror Heart Bracelet into his sleeve, already clear in his mind about the terms of this bargain.
The first gift was the intelligence on the Fubai Dragon Lord, resolving a near-term worry; the token of cooperative sincerity was a Fourth Realm artifact, keeping him safe; and the remaining hints were clear enough — this affair was tied to the Eternal Life Sect, bound up with his old grudge, their interests aligned with his.
Compared to that first meeting, which could only be called a catastrophe, this time Ji Yixi had plainly done her homework.
The terms were on the table, the sincerity laid bare, and she had even honestly confessed the fact that she didn't know the whole picture. A collaborator like this was, at the very least, not exhausting to deal with.
"Fine." Gu Chengming nodded, crisp and clean. "The Floating Heaven Mystic Spirit Mirror — I'll go."
Ji Yixi was slightly startled. She lowered her lashes, and at an angle the other party could not see, the corner of her mouth twitched faintly.
The little dragon on her shoulder caught that subtle change. Its dragon eyes narrowed, and its mood grew rather complicated.
After spending so long around this girl, this was the first time it had ever seen anything like "relief" on her face.
"Then, as for the exact location of the Floating Heaven Mystic Spirit Mirror and the procedure for its use, I will send them to Commander Gu tomorrow by message talisman." Ji Yixi rose and made a slight bow toward Gu Chengming.
"I've intruded upon your night; I beg Commander Gu's pardon. Should there be need to make contact hereafter, you may send word to me directly through the formation patterns built into the Mirror Heart Bracelet."
Gu Chengming nodded his assent. "Your Highness is too polite… Though next time you come, do remember to use the door."
Ji Yixi blinked, then nodded in earnest. "I'll remember."
Watching her solemn manner, Gu Chengming couldn't quite shake the feeling that Her Highness perhaps really hadn't climbed the wall on purpose.
The door was pushed gently open and closed again; footsteps sounded in the courtyard for a few breaths, until they vanished into the night.
The next morning, the sun over Floating Isle City came earlier than expected.
Perhaps because there was no horizon above the sea of clouds to block it, the daylight came slicing almost straight down, jolting Gu Chengming bodily out of his meditation.
He rubbed his eyes, rose to wash and tidy himself, and had barely finished when a flying-sword letter came clattering against his window.
The letter was from Sect Head Shen Qianqiu, informing him to gather at the reception hall in the center of the main street at the third quarter of the Chen hour, for an important announcement.
Gu Chengming arrived on time.
Inside the reception hall, the core members of the Wenjian Sect's tournament party had already assembled.
Shen Qianqiu sat in the seat of honor, Elder Han Che standing at his side. Yu Wenqiu leaned against a pillar in the corner, idly toying with the fluff at his cuff, while Su Qingmeng knelt neatly and upright on a cushion, spine straight as a rod, her gaze calm and still.
After Gu Chengming found a seat, Shen Qianqiu came straight to the point.
"Everyone, the format of this Grand Tournament differs somewhat from previous years." Shen Qianqiu took a sip of tea. "The Mohist Gate has officially given notice that part of the tournament's contest will make use of a new artifact called the Floating Heaven Mystic Spirit Mirror."
Most of the disciples present were hearing the name for the first time, and amid their exchanged glances Shen Qianqiu gave a rough account of the Floating Heaven Mystic Spirit Mirror's basic principle and use.
After finishing the basic functions, Shen Qianqiu added a further passage.
"According to the Mohist Gate, the Floating Heaven Mystic Spirit Mirror is not solely for the tournament's use. Before the official matches begin, each sect's disciples may enter the Inner Mirror to cultivate freely by means of the shard mirrors allotted to them. The environment within the Inner Mirror can highly simulate all sorts of real-combat scenarios, and an opponent's projection can be adjusted according to the user's needs. In other words —"
Shen Qianqiu looked around at the disciples present. "You can practice your moves over and over inside the Inner Mirror without any fear of injury. For preparation ahead of the tournament, it's quite beneficial."
As his voice fell, the atmosphere in the reception hall grew lively at once.
The young disciples put their heads together, clearly taking a keen interest in the artifact.
Su Qingmeng's eyes lit up, and then, half without thinking, she glanced toward Gu Chengming.
"All right, once you reach the Mohist Gate's registration desk you'll understand the specifics."
Shen Qianqiu stood and patted down his robes. "This morning, all sects will go together to the main hall of the Mohist Gate to register, and each of you will receive a shard mirror. After that, arrange your own time; make good use of the Inner Mirror's environment to prepare. Chengming, you're the leader of this tournament party — keep an eye on the movements of the other sects while you're at it."
Gu Chengming cupped his hands in assent.
That morning, in the inner city of Floating Isle City, at the main hall of the Mohist Gate.
The square before the main hall was already packed. The parties of the great sects were arrayed by their assigned numbers, banners fluttering, robes of every kind.
The Wenjian Sect's party stood a little forward of center. Gu Chengming stood at the front of the line and swept his gaze around.
Ahead was the party of Tianji Pavilion, a group of young disciples in matching grey-white Daoist robes discussing something in low voices, looking rather composed.
Behind was the Myriad Dharma Sect, a vast lineup — the young disciples alone numbered over thirty. Farther off he could make out several parties of small and mid-sized sects he wasn't very familiar with.
The registration process was simpler than expected.
After entering the interior of the main hall, a Mohist Gate duty officer would guide each sect's disciples to a spacious chamber, in the very center of which stood a bronze mirror about two men tall.
The mirror's surface was no ordinary silver glass, but a kind of deep-blue, semi-transparent material, faint ripples flowing slowly across it — it looked like a frozen pool of deep water. This was the main body of the Floating Heaven Mystic Spirit Mirror.
Each disciple who stepped up had to press a palm to the mirror and pour in a little spiritual power.
The ripples on its surface would shudder for an instant, and then a small palm-sized shard would split off from the main body and float into the disciple's hand. This was the so-called "shard mirror."
The shard mirror looked exactly like the main body, only much smaller.
The Wenjian Sect disciples stepped up one by one to receive their shard mirrors.
When it came to Gu Chengming's turn, he laid his palm on the mirror, and a gentle wave of spiritual power surged in through his palm, as though scanning the spiritual meridians and technique traits of his entire body.
A moment later, a shard mirror detached from the main body and settled steadily into his palm.
By the time he returned from the Mohist Gate's main hall with his shard mirror in hand, it was already past noon.
Gu Chengming went back to the guest courtyards, shut the door, and took out the shard mirror to set it on the table, meaning to study it properly.
Then a system panel popped up before him.
[Free and Unfettered Art — CG Unlocked]
Gu Chengming was startled, only then realizing this was the CG the demon-marble technique had just unlocked last night.
For some reason he wasn't the least bit looking forward to it…
Gu Chengming grumbled inwardly and looked at the CG's title.
[CG: Son Coin]
Gu Chengming stared at those two words, drew a deep breath, and read on.
[When you become another's "father," you may obtain a unique "Son Coin."]
[Son Coin effect: grants your state a short-term boost. This boost can stack.]
[You may become "father" to several people and obtain different Son Coins. Different Son Coins alter the boost's attributes according to the traits of the corresponding "son."]
[Current unlock progress: 10%]
An enormous question mark rose over Gu Chengming's head. "?"
He read the CG's description over from start to finish again, and finally confirmed he hadn't misread.
What kind of path was this? The Dao of Fatherhood?
And what did that "10% unlock progress" mean? Was it saying that the "Father" the little dragon had cried out last night had contributed him ten percent?
With a faintly ominous premonition, Gu Chengming tentatively checked the CG's detailed data.
Sure enough. Beneath the "Son Coin" heading, an already-activated record had appeared in plain sight.
[Son Coin - Dragon Scion (Incomplete)]
[Status: Mistaken Identity.]
[Effect: Current activation insufficient; boost cannot be triggered.]
[Hundred Bones Resonance reacted first, exclaiming in wonder: Truly worthy of Heavenly Emperor Gu! The Heavenly Emperor's might blankets all living things in its grace!]
It was cosplaying Pangu now, too.
[Qingxin Formula, thoughtfully: There are plenty of "adopting a foster father" scenes in the storybooks — taking in a few adopted sons and daughters ought to trigger it, no?]
[Huiyuan Sword Formula, muddled, cut in: Chengming's going to be a father? Then what does that make me…]
[Qingxin Formula shot it a glance: You'd be the mother.]
[Huiyuan Sword Formula: ?!]
Gu Chengming looked at the CG before him, somewhat helpless.
The mechanic really was absurd, yet from a purely numerical standpoint, the four words "boost that can stack" carried tremendous weight.
In his current system, most of the various boost buffs either conflicted with one another or hit a hard cap, and a short-term boost was all the more useful for unlocking the room of [Love's Hundred Bones Resonance].
So this was what they called a pillow arriving just as you felt sleepy?
But how exactly was he supposed to get people to call him father…
Gu Chengming suddenly felt like he had a mountain of treasure but no idea where to start digging.
After a long while he sighed, deciding to set this CG aside for now and take a look at the other branch quest instead.
Gu Chengming picked up the shard mirror and poured spiritual power into it.
In his field of vision a semi-transparent panel surfaced, a few concise options upon it.
[Welcome to the Floating Heaven Mystic Spirit Mirror]
[Please set your in-mirror name —]
Gu Chengming's fingers stopped. A certain possibility had struck him.
Then, in the in-mirror name field, he entered four words.
Loser Calls Me Daddy.
[Hundred Bones Resonance laughed to the heavens: Truly worthy of Heavenly Emperor Gu! With such a name declared, who would dare accept the challenge! Who would dare refuse to submit!]
[Huiyuan Sword Formula asked timidly: But… what if Chengming loses?]
[Hundred Bones Resonance flew into a rage: How could Heavenly Emperor Gu possibly lose!]
[Zhouli Heavenly Harmony Righteous Heart Method mused a moment before speaking: The name is somewhat improper by the rites, yet if judged from the art of war's principle of subduing the enemy without battle, it may well count as a superior sort of psychological offensive.]
Even Zhouli had grudgingly approved it, and Gu Chengming was rather pleased with the name.
In the arena, a name was the only information the two parties could obtain before crossing hands. When an opponent saw the four large words Loser Calls Me Daddy on the matchmaking screen, their state of mind would waver, more or less.
And once they crossed hands and did indeed lose, that momentary falter in the heart, that subtle cognitive humiliation, might just be enough to be recognized by the Free and Unfettered Art's CG.
Of course, all of this was still only his own conjecture for now; whether it would actually work he'd only know once he entered the Inner Mirror and tested it in practice.
With the in-mirror name confirmed, a new prompt surfaced on the shard mirror's surface.
[In-mirror name: Loser Calls Me Daddy]
In the span of an instant his vision passed through utter darkness, then abruptly burst open.
When the light dispersed, Gu Chengming found himself standing in an utterly unfamiliar space.
Beneath his feet stretched a boundless white platform; overhead arched an azure vault of virtual sky, and at the far edge of his sight a faint luminous mist blurred the boundaries of the whole space.
He looked down at his own hands, tried stirring the Hundred Bones Resonance within, and the instant his fist clenched the familiar surge of blood and qi arrived on cue. He then circulated the Huiyuan Sword Formula, turned his wrist, and a standard-issue longsword appeared from nowhere in his palm, the sword qi flowing across its body no different from the real world.
After that he ran, one after another, the Hundred Bones Resonance, the Huiyuan Sword Formula, the Qingxin Formula, the Red Dust Phantom Body Formula, and other techniques, and the results were satisfying — every technique's traits had been precisely replicated, including the base-tone permeation effect of the Zhouli Heavenly Harmony Righteous Heart Method, the blood-and-qi burst multiplier of the Hundred Bones Resonance, even the Hundred Emperor Aid Me CG had been kept fully intact.
Having completed the basic self-test, Gu Chengming activated the spiritual power of the Mirror Heart Bracelet on his wrist for an instant, and only after feeling that layer of purifying, isolating protective shield unfurl steadily on the outer surface of his spirit soul did he set his mind at ease.
For now he sensed no anomaly. The spiritual power within the Inner Mirror flowed smoothly and naturally, the formation structure was stable, and everything looked perfectly by-the-book.
Of course, if the enemy's methods really were subtle enough that even the Mohist Gate itself couldn't detect them, then failing to notice an anomaly on his first entry would be only natural.
After a few breaths, a new prompt popped up on the panel.
[In-mirror name: Tianji Dao-Seeker]
[Sect: Tianji Pavilion]
[Realm: Third Realm, Third Layer]
The white platform beneath his feet began to change. A circular arena about ten zhang across surfaced on the ground, and a semi-transparent spiritual power barrier rose automatically around it.
Across the arena a light flickered, and a young cultivator in grey-white Daoist robes appeared from thin air.
The other party looked to be in his early twenties, with delicate features and a steady bearing — plainly a fine seedling raised by a proper sect.
The moment the Tianji Pavilion disciple saw Gu Chengming, he first cupped his hands in a slight salute, his manner quite courteous.
Then his gaze fell on the in-mirror name floating above Gu Chengming's head.
— [Loser Calls Me Daddy]
The Tianji Pavilion disciple's salute visibly stiffened. The corner of his mouth twitched twice; he was clearly straining to hold back some emotion.
Gu Chengming's expression didn't change as he returned the salute in kind.
"Please."
The Tianji Pavilion disciple drew a deep breath and pulled his gaze from those four words.
The formation patterns at the arena's center lit up.
[Match begin]
…Three breaths later.
The Tianji Pavilion disciple's projection shattered with a muffled thud into a sky full of light-motes, dispersing above the arena.
Gu Chengming withdrew his fist.
Mm. Third Realm Fifth Layer against Third Realm Third Layer — no suspense there.
A settlement prompt popped up on the panel.
[Match over]
[Victor: Loser Calls Me Daddy]
Gu Chengming looked at that line and thought, suddenly, that this system's settlement wording had a certain wit to it.
He wondered how that Tianji Pavilion disciple would feel, once he exited the Inner Mirror and saw the great big Defeated by: Loser Calls Me Daddy on the settlement panel.
As for the Son Coin… nothing had changed.
It seemed a simple arena victory couldn't directly trigger the father-acknowledgment mechanic — or rather, its trigger threshold was higher than he'd imagined.
After all, a bout that ended in three breaths probably didn't leave a deep enough psychological impact on the opponent.
Fair enough. This was only the first match, after all.
[Opponent in-mirror name: Crane Returns to the Clouds]
[Sect: Myriad Dharma Sect]
[Realm: Third Realm, Fourth Layer]
Two breaths.
[Match over]
[Victor: Loser Calls Me Daddy]
[Opponent in-mirror name: Sword Rises Over Azure Waves]
[Realm: Third Realm, Sixth Layer]
Seven breaths. But only because he wanted a longer look at the other's swordplay.
[Victor: Loser Calls Me Daddy]
[Opponent in-mirror name: Fleeting Light and Passing Shadow]
[Realm: Third Realm, Fifth Layer]
Four breaths.
[Victor: Loser Calls Me Daddy]
…
Meanwhile.
Floating Isle City, eastern district, the encampment of the Taiyi Sword Sect.
Though the Taiyi Sword Sect's standing in the cultivation world didn't match the renown of Tianji Pavilion or the Myriad Dharma Sect, it was a genuine first-rate sect all the same.
Founded over twenty-six hundred years ago, its lineage had produced two Sixth Realm powerhouses, and its influence across the southern prefectures of the Great Qian was second only to the Wenjian Sect. The young-generation leader the Taiyi Sword Sect had sent to this Grand Tournament was named Mu Chen.
Taiyi Sword Sect's foremost inner-sect disciple, Third Realm Seventh Layer.
Mu Chen cultivated the Taiyi Sword Sect's sect-guarding technique, the Great Void Sword Canon, a technique renowned for "the mutual generation of the substantial and the illusory." At thirty-four, Mu Chen had already cultivated the Great Void Sword Canon to its seventh layer, a mere half-step behind the pace of the Taiyi Sword Sect's founding ancestor at the same age.
Sect Head Zhongli Yuan's appraisal of him was eight words: "A once-in-a-century talent, a blessing to the sect."
And the last disciple to be called "once-in-a-century" was now a Fifth Realm elder of the Taiyi Sword Sect.
For this very reason, the whole of the Taiyi Sword Sect placed extremely high hopes on Mu Chen for this Grand Tournament.
On the eve of departure, Zhongli Yuan personally summoned Mu Chen to the quiet chamber to impart guidance in person.
The old Sect Head normally kept his moods hidden, but that night he rarely said a few extra words, the gist being that the Taiyi Sword Sect's results in the Grand Tournament these years had been lukewarm, never once breaking into the top five.
"In the tournament, you are to go all out and hold nothing back." Zhongli Yuan finally patted Mu Chen's shoulder and spoke with weighty earnestness. "I do not ask you to claim the championship, but at the very least, let the world remember the sword of the Taiyi Sword Sect."
Mu Chen respectfully answered "Yes" at the time, but what he was thinking was —
Not asking for the championship?
No. He wanted it.
In these few days since arriving at Floating Isle City, Mu Chen had been gathering intelligence on the competing disciples of the great sects.
He had always been thorough, never fighting a battle unprepared.
After several days of sorting through it, he had already sketched out a rough threat assessment in his mind.
There were three formidable rivals worth taking seriously. The first was the foremost disciple of Tianji Pavilion, Wang Yan.
This man cultivated Tianji Pavilion's arts of divination and deduction, and was said to be able to glimpse a thread of heaven's secrets even at the Third Realm.
The second was the eldest senior brother of the Myriad Dharma Sect, Song Gui.
This man was the Myriad Dharma Sect's most skilled disciple in the arts in recent years, and had once, at the Third Realm, slain a Fourth Realm demonic cultivator against the odds.
The third was none other than the Wenjian Sect's Gu Chengming.
This man had the most freakish record of all — enough to make one wonder whether he was some powerhouse who had seized a body and started cultivating anew.
Then again, intelligence was, in the end, just words on paper. How much of those tales of "felling a Fourth Realm cultivator with a single punch" was true and how much false was hard to judge without crossing hands in person.
The cultivation world had never lacked for embellished legends; that a Third Realm cultivator's record had been exaggerated to this degree was not impossible.
Mu Chen gave himself a mental inoculation — take it seriously, yes, but no need to scare himself.
Once he was actually on the arena, it would still come down to the sword in his hand.
…
Today, the Taiyi Sword Sect had gone with the other great sects to the Mohist Gate's main hall to collect their shard mirrors of the Floating Heaven Mystic Spirit Mirror.
Mu Chen turned the palm-sized, deep-blue mirror-shard over and over several times, silently marveling in his heart at the Mohist Gate's standard of craftsmanship.
Back at the encampment, Zhongli Yuan gathered several core disciples together, briefly laid out a few points of caution regarding the Floating Heaven Mystic Spirit Mirror's use, and then let them go experience it on their own.
"The battles within the Inner Mirror won't harm your true body, so try it with an easy mind."
Zhongli Yuan stroked his beard, and when he looked at Mu Chen the expectation in his eyes was not hidden in the least. "Mu Chen, go fight a few rounds and get a feel for this artifact. If you gain any insights, come back and share them with your fellow disciples."
Mu Chen cupped his hands and accepted the charge.
Back in his own guest room, he shut the door and took out the shard mirror to set on the table.
Drawing a deep breath, he poured in spiritual power, and without spending much thought on the name, entered his own true name directly.
Mu Chen first spent a moment inspecting the fidelity of his projection's attributes, running through the first seven layers of the Great Void Sword Canon one by one. Confirming that every figure matched his true body, he nodded, satisfied.
Then he turned his attention to the dueling option before him. Better to find a live person to test his hand against than to swing his sword at empty air.
The wait was short — about five or six breaths — before the opponent's information popped up before his eyes.
Mu Chen glanced at it.
[In-mirror name: Loser Calls Me Daddy] "?"
Mu Chen's expression froze for an instant.
— What in the world?
Mu Chen's first reaction was bewilderment; his second was an inexplicable flare of temper.
Such an arrogant name — he'd have to teach the other party a lesson.
On the white platform, the circular arena surfaced and the spiritual power barrier rose.
The light across from him gathered, and a figure took shape out of the void.
Mu Chen looked it over. Since it was only a spirit soul projection, he could see no more than a phantom.
The one across from him cupped his hands in a slight salute, his manner quite natural.
Mu Chen returned the salute, his right hand already resting on his sword hilt.
The instant the formation patterns lit, Mu Chen drew his sword.
His opening stance was the third layer of the Great Void Sword Canon. Generally speaking, when facing the phantom blades of the Great Void Sword Canon, an opponent would either retreat to open distance and observe, or move to parry the single stroke most likely to be the real one.
Whichever choice they made, they would expose their own weakness in the process of responding.
Yet the other party's reaction was entirely outside his expectations.
In the instant that man's wrist turned, one, two, three — and finally a full ten flying swords materialized around him from nowhere, forming a complete sword formation about his body. All ten flying swords ran in concert, each blade's position filling with perfect precision the gaps left by the others.
When Mu Chen's dozen-odd interweaving strokes of substantial and illusory sword-light crashed into that formation, they were like birds flying into a forest: the phantoms were shattered outright by the ripples of spiritual power within the formation, while the real strokes were caught and deflected by two flanking flying swords, their force wholly discharged.
Mu Chen took half a step back, staring hard at that figure ringed by ten flying swords.
Wait.
He was a Third Realm cultivator — and a Third Realm cultivator was simultaneously commanding ten flying swords in a sword formation?
Even a Fourth Realm peak sword cultivator could generally control no more than six flying swords with precision at once, because every additional sword multiplied the drain on the spiritual sense, and a Third Realm cultivator's reserves of spiritual sense were nowhere near enough to sustain a sword formation of this degree.
— Just what kind of technique was this?
Mu Chen had no time to think it through, because the other party had already moved: ten flying swords bore down on him from ten different angles to grind him to pieces.
Mu Chen drove the seventh layer of the Great Void Sword Canon with all his strength, his sword-light blazing, weaving every one of his sword techniques into the shifting of the substantial and the illusory, parrying, deflecting, and evading at his utmost speed.
His response could not be called anything but excellent. Under the siege of ten flying swords, he held out through the mutual generation of substantial and illusory of the Great Void Sword Canon for a full dozen-odd breaths, and even found an opening to counterattack in that span.
But in the very next instant of his counter, his sword-tip halted three inches from the other party. The spiritual power on his blade, the sword intent, even his own will to fight all turned sluggish in that moment, as though something had soothed them.
— Sword Domain?
The thought detonated in Mu Chen's mind, and in the same moment the other party's fist had arrived.
A terrifying, indescribable might, as though countless emperors' phantoms were layered one atop another, erupted from that single fist.
Blood and qi surged to the heavens; the void trembled.
The instant Mu Chen's "Flowers in the Mirror, Moon in the Water" met that fist, it was like thin ice striking the blazing sun.
Twelve transformations, within a single breath, all collapsed and were snuffed out.
Then that might, undiminished, drove clean through the wreckage of his sword-light and slammed savagely into his projection.
Mu Chen's consciousness fell into a blank amid the violent impact.
The last image he saw was that line of cold words on the settlement panel.
[Match over]
[Defeated by: Loser Calls Me Daddy]
Floating Isle City, eastern district, the encampment of the Taiyi Sword Sect.
In the guest room, Mu Chen's eyes snapped open. He stared at his own faintly trembling fingers, the battle just past replaying in his mind like a revolving lantern.
What on earth had that fist been?
After some unknown stretch of time, footsteps sounded outside the door.
"Mu Chen, how was the experience?" Zhongli Yuan's voice came from beyond the door, carrying a note of expectation.
As he spoke, he stepped into the guest room, and seeing his proud disciple sitting on the couch, face pale and eyes vacant, looking for all the world like a man who'd just weathered a great tribulation, his smile froze.
In a daze, Mu Chen spoke. "Sect Head… someone beat me into being his son."
…
Meanwhile.
The Wenjian Sect encampment, within Gu Chengming's guest room.
Gu Chengming sat cross-legged on the couch, the shard mirror before him glowing deep blue.
He glanced at the Free and Unfettered Art's panel, rather pleasantly surprised.
[Son Coin - Great Void Sword (Complete)]
After winning so many rounds, the coins had finally dropped.
Though at this rate, he'd probably have to fight a few hundred more matches before the next Son Coin…
Long, long is the road, and far.
Gu Chengming sighed and tapped "Continue Matchmaking."
And as Gu Chengming went on matching endlessly within the Floating Heaven Mystic Spirit Mirror, a nightmare named "Loser Calls Me Daddy" gradually came to haunt the hearts of the disciples competing in this Grand Tournament.
Damn it — some powerhouse with twisted tastes is out here bombing the fish barrel!
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