Those Things That Happened Back Then... / The More I Think About It, the More Unfair It Feels

Look at them, and then look at you! Mei! You'd better never come out in this lifetime!

She's younger than you, more expressive than you, has a better temper than you, is more aggressive than you, and even her cooking skills are almost as good as Hua's. What are you doing out here?

Are you trying to steal my place as the mistress?

"See? I told you the problem was Mei, not Mei. Mei is the one with the strange traits."

"Huh? What are you saying, my husband? Is it some kind of philosophy?"

What's wrong with me? It's not me. I'm a strange species. Hokushin Mei felt like she couldn't understand a single word.

"It's nothing, I was just praising you. Get your bowl and chopsticks and let's eat."

"Yes, I understand."

Being praised for her cooking skills so directly made Hokushin Mei a little shy, especially since this person was also her "crush".

Hokushin Mei quickly set out the bowls and chopsticks and served everyone their rice.

Sakura sat down, picked up her chopsticks, and asked with some curiosity, "Beichen, have you practiced cooking before?"

"No, I've only ever cooked in the wild before. This is the first time I've ever done this kind of delicate work." Hokushin Mei scratched her head.

"It's easy to understand. If you finally find something to eat in the wild, and you turn it into poison, how can you survive?" Liu Bai explained while eating.

Although clay figures don't need to eat, it's easy for a family to bond by sitting down to eat together.

... Of course, with so many people around Liu Bai, there wasn't enough room for everyone to sit down, so this small simulation was the only place where people could sit.

"Yes, yes, just like my husband said, living in the wild is really tough." Hokushin Mei sighed as she said this, "Well... never mind, there's nothing worth talking about back then, no need to reminisce about the hardships during dinner."

Given Hokushin Mei's wilderness survival experience, it's impossible for her to cook badly; the only surprise is how delicious it is.

"... That makes sense." Sakura nodded. After all, these days, without instant noodles or similar things, it seems impossible to survive outside without certain cooking skills.

"By the way... my lord, do you have enough paper at home? I'd like to write something." Hokushin Mei was completely baffled as to why these people were so surprised by her cooking skills, so she simply asked about herself.

"If it's not enough, we can buy Mei, what do you want to write?"

"Hmm... I wish to summarize my swordsmanship over the past half of my life, so that future generations may have something to remember me by."

When Hokushin Mei thought about having children, she realized something—she probably wouldn't need to wield a sword much in the future.

Putting aside her husband's plans to bring them into the future, just the thought of having children is something she's not ready for now, but she'll definitely have to in the future. At least until they're fourteen, then she won't have to be so strict with them anymore.

If her husband is fertile, she will be almost forty by the time she finishes raising her first child. If the first child is not a boy, she will have to have a second child when her daughter is five or six years old, and she will have to add a son to the family. Before long, she will be over forty by the time she has time to relax, and then she will have to arrange weddings for her son and daughter.

Hmm... After all this, I'll probably be almost fifty by the time I can really have some free time.

What would people outside do if they discovered that the great Hokushin Mei had suddenly disappeared?

What if those people knew that the great swordsman who defeated them was already married?

He decided to write about the first half of his life at the beginning and the second half at the end of his swordsmanship summary, so that his juniors would be surprised when they discovered it.

Hokushin Mei suddenly smiled.

Maybe one day I'll have the chance to tell my children, "Don't let Mom's current appearance fool you, Mom used to be a renowned swordsman in the Far East!"

The swordsman's demise... that's really something...

"... Bei Chen, can you stop smiling? I don't know why, but I feel like cutting you right now."

Chapter 540 Those Things That Happened That Year...

Two years have passed in the blink of an eye.

Over the past two years, Hokushin Mei finally finished drawing her secret manual.

Yes, it's finished.

Hokushin Mei initially thought it was a good idea: she was a great swordswoman, she could simply write down her swordsmanship and be done with it.

Then, when she actually started writing, Hokushin Mei felt numb. She suddenly realized that her hands seemed to have unique ideas that were completely different from her head.

I can't write a single word.

Not to mention writing, Hokushin Mei couldn't even explain it clearly, which made it impossible for Liu Bai, the only cultured person, to write for her. He decisively told Hokushin Mei to get lost and draw stick figures by herself.

However, this method seems to work unexpectedly for the illiterate. Anyway, as Hokushin Mei was drawing, Sakura got into it and joined in with a couple of strokes.

Aside from the subheadings, the only two places with text in this book are the preface and the conclusion. The preface is about her life, and the conclusion... well, it's Hokushin Mei's dream sequence, or rather, her vision of the future. She portrays herself as if she were a married woman who has given birth to several children and is now in her twilight years.

Because it was too embarrassing to look at after I finished writing it, but because it was really enjoyable to write, Hokushin Mei didn't rewrite the completed manual and didn't show it to anyone.

As for Liu Bai, he has been basically offline for the past two years, focusing all his energy on farming stats. Apart from being seen once a day for meals, Liu Bai rarely appears in public. The position of palace chief has been handed over to Yae Sakura, and the position of shrine maiden has been taken over by Rin.

Fortunately, hard work pays off. After nearly 100 million views, Liu Bai finally created a self-replicating entry.

"So, what should we do with the shrine?"

Looking at the Stasis Pod in the "secret base," Yae Sakura asked this question in amazement.

—The so-called secret base is where Sakura awakens.

"If the shrine is left unattended, my father..."

Having followed Liu Bai for so long, even with her limited brain capacity, Yae Sakura has come to understand some technology and realized that in this village, their Yae Shrine is the biggest cancer.

With Liu Bai in charge, there's nothing to worry about. Once they leave, Yae Sakura doesn't even need to think about it; her father will definitely take over the shrine again.

And then... well, it's human nature to forget the lessons learned, so even if Yae Sakura tries to think positively, she still feels that Yae Village will have to revert to its original state in about five years.

"The shrine was burned down, and then Sakura turned into a fox and swaggered away, so that everyone could see it."

Liu Bai already had a solution to this. You want to restore the monarchy? I'll just tear down the very foundation of your divine authority!

Your god razed the shrine and ran away, go have fun!

If you can really maintain this belief, then you're awesome!

"... Shouldn't we post notices? Or proclaim God's will? I'm afraid that if we just do that, the village..."

"The more things are left behind in the name of God, the more troublesome and easily misinterpreted they become... In fact, the power of human imagination is limitless. Once you do something, you have to be prepared for it to be misinterpreted."

Liu Bai pondered that unless the matter of Yae Village was fast-forwarded to the point of enlightenment, it would be impossible to stop it from resurfacing.

Even though he and Danzhu Cangxuan were so careful with their words and actions back then, they still left behind a bunch of scandals. You know, those who made the most wild imaginations probably never even went to the mountain where they lived back then.

There's no solution to this kind of thing, and to put it bluntly, there are plenty of fools in modern society who like to overthink things. In fact, the more developed the internet becomes, the more people can see, especially in this day and age.

If someone is determined to misinterpret something, how can they not come up with a few reasons? What's wrong with talking nonsense? God is gone, and I'm a clergyman. If you don't believe me, who will you believe?

It all depends on whether other people are willing to believe it. Destroying the temple and abandoning the gods, removing the symbolic center of divine authority, is the best decision Liu Bai could make.

Moreover... Yae Village is just a ripple in the tide of time.

If I hadn't been there during the previous crisis, the fate of Yae Village would have been predictable—Sakura's moral compass would have collapsed, Yae Sakura would have been killed by Hokushin Mei, and even if Sakura had killed the Honkai Beast in revenge, she would have been lost and waiting to die. In that situation, Hokushin Mei alone could have massacred the village, and Sakura in her collapsed state would probably have wished that Hokushin Mei would kill her sooner so that she could be freed from her suffering.

However, Yae Village is nothing compared to the rest of the world; for a tiny country like the Far East, it's practically nothing.

"Then let's do it your way. Anyway, one god has already died before, so losing another one... maybe everyone can accept that." Yae Sakura thought about the cherry blossom tree that had disappeared from her yard and felt that Liu Bai's plan made sense.

Sakura God is dead, but no one seems to react much.

"Anyway, it's all after the fact, why are you thinking so much, Sakura?" Hokushin Mei and Yae Sakura have had a good relationship these past two years, so she started calling her by her name directly. "I gave the manual to a merchant I trust. If he's willing, he can help me find someone who's destined for it. If he forgets about it, it doesn't matter if he uses it as firewood for the stove."

Hokushin Mei was quite carefree, after all, this wasn't her final work, and perhaps she could write something even better in the future.

Besides, she felt that the ending of this book was the pinnacle of her writing. As ashamed as she was, she couldn't bear to destroy it. If someone actually destroyed it for her, she might even have to thank them.

Hokushin Mei currently caught in a dilemma: she hopes that her "Sword Master's Love Story" can be passed down to the future, but she also hopes that it will be destroyed immediately so that no one else will know about this dark history.

"By the way, are Lady Sakura and my husband alright?"

"I'm fine," Sakura waved her hand.

Liu Bai pondered for a moment before shaking his head.

These days, there are only a few major events in the world: now, Schicksal is striking Shenzhou; in the future, the Seven Swords will prevail.

The only one that has some merit is the Seven Swords, but this situation is difficult to handle.

Preventing it too early would trigger conflict, while preventing it later would only leave you with a general idea, without a specific time and place. In fact, only Fu Hua, the person involved, knew the exact time and place. Su Mei and the others were left to clean up the mess later. However, this matter was a thorn in Fu Hua's side that she didn't want to mention.

Moreover, Lin Chaoyu himself also has problems.

Some things change once you take action.

Although if Lin Chaoyu had to choose again, she might not make the same choice regarding taking action, but...

Although Su Mei and others kicked Fu Hua out of the Tai Xu Sword Sect, their relationship was only superficially good. Even Cheng Lingshuang directly said, "I don't like you," but no one really went all out. Lin Chaoyu, on the other hand, truly suffered a mutual destruction.

The gap between Lin Chaoyu and Fu Hua is too deep. They have a good relationship, but there is a thick barrier between them. Just like Su Mei once said that the biggest problem of the Seven Swords was their master and senior sister.

This family drama is really frustrating for Liu Bai. How can Lin Chaoyu face Fu Hua now that he's rescued her?

Among the Seven Swords, Lin Chaoyu is the one who tortures himself the most. In the original timeline, excluding the Jiang Sisters may have died of illness and Ma Feima who grew from a weak boy into a burly man, Lin Chaoyu had the most unsatisfactory life.

As a swordsman Honkai Energy, Lin Chaoyu aged far too quickly. Twenty years have passed since he killed his master. Cheng Lingshuang and Su Mei are no longer young, Lin Chaoyu is fifty-six, and the youngest of the others are over thirty, while the oldest are over forty.

However, Lin Chaoyu looked the oldest, which was not because she had not comprehended the sword soul, but also because she had become more irritable. As for the others, Ma Feima probably grew a beard on purpose to take care of Lin Chaoyu. The others all looked like young women in their twenties.

(After the incident actually happened, Lin Chaoyu probably didn't want to live anymore, right?)

Liu Bai even couldn't help but wonder if Su Mei's involvement in the Seven Swords' murder of their master in the original timeline was partly to help Lin Chaoyu reduce her guilt.

Su Mei is the true sage among the Seven Swords. If she doesn't want to get involved in something, she can definitely get away with it, let alone something like killing her master, where she is neither the main person in the problem nor does she have the moral high ground.

What benefit would Su Mei gain from befriending the Seven Swords, who risked their lives to kill their master and the number one immortal in the world? Fu Hua doesn't care about anything, and Lin Chaoyu always has to go out with Fu Hua, so in terms of power, Su Mei is actually closer to being the "vice sect leader".

The risks and benefits are completely different. For Su Mei, this matter is only related to friendship... As for the long-standing hatred of killing her mother? Su Mei knew back then that her mother was wrong, but the fact that she was her biological mother could not be avoided. Fu Hua had saved her life and taught her, so she decided to settle for second best and become her disciple—or even to see what "saving her life" really meant.

It's possible that Su Mei's mother didn't even treat Su Mei like her own daughter.

Incidentally, if Su Mei hadn't been so sensible back then, she shouldn't have "settled for second best" by becoming a disciple and becoming some kind of second senior sister; instead, she would have directly become the successor, almost like Fu Hua's goddaughter.

After all, Su Mei was the first child Fu Hua had ever met whose talent surpassed her own.

Given this situation, it was Su Mei who took the lead...

The tangled web of causes and effects here...

(It would be great if the Honkai world could be compatible with a system similar to Heroic Spirits...)

Liu Bai sighed. Some things are just incomprehensible to the living but understandable to the dead; they're all incredibly troublesome.

"My dear husband, please feel free to tell me what's on your mind."

Everyone's smart enough to realize something was wrong when they saw Liu Bai's expression.

"It's nothing, I just remembered a junior... it's hard to say whether it's a worry or a pity." Liu Bai shook his head, indicating that they didn't need to worry too much.

In the Honkai 3rd world, he remembered that the most lenient resurrection mechanism was actually for the Herrscher; as for others... he hadn't really heard of them.

The rest, such as Feather of the Wind's mental transformation into a human, are all fakes; they only work if people are willing to be deceived.

"Take a break, you guys go in first. Sakura and I will take care of some things at the shrine tonight."

"Um... you're really alright?"

"Fine!"

Author: I've noticed that everyone keeps mentioning these characters lately, so I'll say something. Lin Chaoyu and the Jiang sisters were actually planned by the author a long time ago and are scheduled to appear at the end of the main storyline. After all, in order to Fu Hua's plot more reasonable, we had to make some sacrifices. Of course, we would try to save them if we could, but there are too many issues involved in saving them now.

It must be said that although the Sword Breaking Record is from my lifetime, there's a lot of information that has been extracted from it based on known intelligence...

(Hopefully I won't be proven wrong in my lifetime)

After taking the driving test (Part 3), I have to go out to celebrate an elder's birthday, and also write articles.

Chapter 541 The More I Think About It, the More Wronged I Feel

Schicksal

In Mobius's office, Pardo knelt trembling on a cushion, while Mobius sat in his office chair, looking down at Pardo.

Looking at the trembling Pardo, Mobius bent down with a sneer and pinched Pardo's face with his small hand.

"Huh?"

"You 'huh' my foot." Mobius twisted even harder. "Pardo, haven't I always been good to you, right?"