Sword!

Chu Huai Xu watched the spoon fall into the bowl, soaked in broth, lying among the four uneaten small wontons.

Han Shuangjiang sat bolt upright, her expression grave, her eyes carrying a scrutinizing gaze.

The brothel she came from was called Red Sleeves Beckon, a high-end establishment that ranked among the best in the Mirror Kingdom's capital.

She had been raised since childhood under the teachings of "Madam" and influenced by her "Sisters."

In the years of her upbringing, she had grown accustomed to watching sisters deceive men, and being deceived by men in turn.

Since ancient times, many storybooks and novels have written about love born in places of romance and pleasure.

In the capital, there were indeed sisters who were ransomed and freed from this cage.

But some fared well, while others merely traded one cage for another.

Overall, living a life with a man they loved was a luxury for people like them.

"Madam" had often taught everyone: once a man says he wants to settle down with you, stay vigilant.

Especially when some sisters had saved enough silver to ransom themselves and then threw themselves into the arms of their beloved.

At such times, "Madam" would always try to stop them.

If she couldn't, she'd sneer: "You think he truly cares for you? He just doesn't want to spend money to sleep with you!"

—"Freeloading."

In truth, some cases proved "Madam" right.

Once a man's novelty wore off and he grew tired of the bed, he'd regain his rationality and despise your sullied past.

Perhaps that was also a tactic they used to control the sisters.

But it couldn't be denied that true-hearted people existed in this world.

Some people were willing to take a public bus private and relish it.

As long as there were a few examples, it would send many sisters, blinded by love and passion, charging forward one after another.

Han Shuangjiang never imagined that one day a man would look at her and say he wanted to live a life with her.

What's more, the two had only met for the first time last night.

She believed that love at first sight truly existed in this world.

But overall, she wasn't a particularly emotional person.

With Red Sleeves Beckon and the Joyful Sect, everything that happened in these places constantly reminded her that a person must control their own destiny, not pin their hopes on finding a man to entrust their life to.

On the "Borrowed Sword" forum, some players had joked that the game's four World Protagonists catered to the vast majority of people.

Han Shuangjiang was the Great Female Lead, focused entirely on her career—love and romance, get lost!

The two protagonists from the West Continent Moon Kingdom, one male and one female, had a romantic storyline, loving fiercely and passionately, with sweetness levels high enough to make CP fans swoon to death.

As for Xu Ziqing... he didn't seem to do much, but his appearance and aura alone could make fujoshis scream.

Whether you're a zero or not, I see you as a zero! The moment you stand next to a man, I refuse to believe that's just brotherly love!

—Prejudice in people's hearts is a Chengdu.

After successfully joining the Dao Sect, Han Shuangjiang felt she was beginning to take control of her life step by step, and life was looking brighter.

Then Chu Huai Xu pulled this stunt.

—Man, listen to what you're saying!

It's only been the span of a meal, and you're already overstepping, too reckless.

But looking at his face in the morning light, she silently removed the word "too" from her mind.

The Fox Face sitting across from her heard Han Shuangjiang say "I'm done eating," and seeing her clearly misunderstanding expression, spoke up:

"Ha, an Overconfident Woman, truly off-putting."

The Cold-faced Girl heard these terms for the first time and didn't understand what they meant.

But the expression on his face and his tone made her deeply uncomfortable.

Chu Huai Xu tapped his fingers lightly on the table, then leaned forward, getting as close to her as possible, and began to speak in a lowered voice.

"Get this straight—we were personally brought up the mountain by the Sixth Elder."

Han Shuangjiang frowned. "So what?"

What, is this a thousand-mile marriage tied by a single thread?

"Look around at these Registered Disciples and Outer Sect Disciples—do you think anyone else got this treatment?" Chu Huai Xu said quietly, glancing around.

"What exactly are you trying to say?" Han Shuangjiang was starting to listen.

"So, don't you think what matters most to us is cultivation? To raise our realm as soon as possible." He stared at her intently.

The Cold-faced Girl's frown deepened.

Strangely, the moment she put on a serious face, she became even more captivating.

The more she looked like that, the more Chu Huai Xu wanted to sting her, cutting straight to the point: "But you don't have much silver, do you?"

Han Shuangjiang gritted her silver teeth but had no retort.

She only then realized that perhaps as early as at the cafeteria entrance, he had seen through her predicament at a single glance.

Chu Huai Xu stopped looking at her and called out loudly: "Senior Brother! Settle the bill!"

He took out that hundred taels of silver from his bosom and placed it on the table, showing off his wealth.

The man also bearing a Registered Disciple token walked over: "Whoa! Junior Brother, you don't have any small change?"

"Unfortunately, no. Sorry for the trouble, Senior Brother."

"Alright then."

After paying, Chu Huai Xu looked at her again and said:

"To be honest, I only have this hundred taels on me—well, now it's less than a hundred."

"My idea is that during this period, we don't worry about anything else, just focus wholeheartedly on cultivation and study, and see if we can break through to the Aperture Opening Stage before the hundred taels are spent."

"Once we reach the First Realm, there'll be more we can do."

Han Shuangjiang didn't understand and asked: "But why did you drag me into this?"

Chu Huai Xu certainly wouldn't tell her it was because he wanted to leech off her.

Living and cultivating together gave a higher chance of both obtaining the Dao Ancestor Inheritance.

In truth, a Top Courtesan seed from a Brothel had plenty of theoretical knowledge on "how to trick men."

But she couldn't match the guy across from her, who had rich practical experience in "how to trick women."

"As I said before, we might be different from all the other outer disciples."

"We're two outliers."

"In the entire outer sect, maybe only the two of us are outliers."

He looked around, as if out of place with everything around him.

Han Shuangjiang lowered her gaze slightly—she felt that way too.

Chu Huai Xu looked at her and thought: "No shit, because we just got here!"

We're transfer students, duh~

"The Sixth Elder brought us both up the mountain together, and Steward Niu even arranged our lodgings next to each other. Do I need to say more?" Fox Face added.

Han Shuangjiang responded with more silence.

She recalled "Mother's" Admonition to the sisters.

"You think men will spend silver on you for nothing?"

"They just want a key to ram into your brass lock."

"Mother" always put it crudely but not wrongly.

Some sisters had skill and wouldn't hand over the key on the first try.

But some sisters got carried away—after the lock was opened a few times, it was their heart that opened.

And some sisters weren't clear-headed; after being opened a few times by a golden key, they got some gold dust on them and really thought they were a golden lock.

Ordinary men no longer caught their eye.

Han Shuangjiang had just been mocked by Chu Huai Xu, so she wasn't thinking about men and women anymore, but she knew there was no such thing as a free gift or unearned kindness.

She wasn't stupid, so she took the initiative to try and define things: "You want me to owe you a favor?"

Chu Huai Xu shrugged, looking all casual and indifferent: "If you want to put it that way, sure."

"Anyway, I don't want you to pay me back the silver in the future—you and I both know that." He spoke honestly.

After saying that, he started covering his own tracks: "I know it's not much money, so time is tight. We need to break through realms soon."

Hearing this, under Chu Huai Xu's gaze, Han Shuangjiang finally nodded.

Then he watched her pick up the spoon that had fallen into the bowl, guilt-free, and eat the remaining four Small Wontons.

"Too expensive, can't waste it," said the still-hungry her.

Morning light spilled onto the road home as Chu Huai Xu and Han Shuangjiang walked side by side.

Along the way, they barely spoke.

He was thinking about where the Dao Ancestor Inheritance was hidden.

The more practical her was thinking about whether it'd be better to cook and buy groceries herself—the prices here were way too high, even higher than the Capital City.

Han Shuangjiang was already calculating a budget in her head and regretting not having eaten one more Soup Dumpling.

"So expensive, really so expensive," she repeated the poor person's mantra in her mind.

When they reached an open area, Chu Huai Xu looked up and saw the mist-wreathed Inquiry Peak.

He didn't know where the Dao Ancestor Inheritance was, but he vaguely remembered a few spots from the forum where Dao Sect players had uncovered some inheritances.

But he only remembered a few, not all of them.

"Damn it, my memory's still not good enough—why didn't I get a cheat when I transmigrated, so I could have every detail of the past etched into my brain?" Chu Huai Xu grumbled inwardly.

Gazing at Inquiry Peak, his thoughts began to drift again.

Both of them were World Protagonists, so why did Han Shuangjiang alone claim two Dao Ancestor Inheritances, while Xu Ziqing, whose script I've taken, couldn't even get a share?

The reason was simple.

"Don't forget, the Dao Ancestor left behind a sword."

After the Dao Ancestor passed away, the strongest force in the entire Xuanhuang Realm was never any single person.

All these years later, it was still that sword.

(PS: Second update, requesting monthly votes!)