"But..."
"If you don't like the way you are now, if you're only trying to please me, to get stronger, or to keep me from forgetting you, and forcing yourself to wear this mask..."
"I won't allow it!"
"I don't need you to become perfect, and I don't need you to become interesting."
"I just need you to be yourself."
His words fell.
The courtyard fell deathly silent.
The voice in his mind, always chattering away with question marks and wavy lines, vanished completely.
There was no argument, no teasing, not even the slightest response.
Only a silence that suffocated him.
Then—
[Flowing Light Sword Shadow: CG Unlocked +15]
Silence was its answer.
This seemingly lively newcomer really had been nothing but a complete disguise.
The self-conscious Sword Art thought it wasn't good enough for the person he was now. It thought it was too ordinary, so it desperately imitated that Advanced Flowing Cloud Following Moon Sword Intent, dressing itself up as someone perfect and lovable.
It had hidden its true self inside the still-locked CG, beneath that thick mask.
If he didn't unmask it, perhaps it would wear that mask forever, until its original self had completely disappeared.
A rare crisis...
Gu Chengming's Gal Radar was blaring warnings.
There was no doubt about it.
This was the so-called "special Bond Event" he had once dreamed of.
But this wasn't a lighthearted date scene. It was a branching point on the road to the ending.
One wrong step here, and an irreversible Bad End awaited him.
Perhaps in that ending he would obtain a powerful Sword Art, but he would lose the original, genuine Huiyuan Sword Art forever.
Since crossing into this world, he had never felt such a powerful urge rise from the depths of his heart—a complicated urge tangled up with every kind of emotion.
Suddenly, he remembered the first time he had opened a Galgame.
Ever since then, he had often asked himself why he was so obsessed with Galgames...
Was it because he liked Paper Figures? Because his real life was empty?
No.
It was because of "regret."
Reality was full of too many regrets, too much unrequited love, too many things beyond one's power.
But in a game, as long as you tried hard enough, as long as you were willing to reload your save again and again, as long as you scrutinized every choice and analyzed every line of dialogue...
You could always find the path that led to the "True End."
He had once spent three whole days and nights wandering through a maze to save a side character who was destined to die. He had once filled three thick notebooks with walkthrough notes to get a perfect ending where everyone survived.
He couldn't bear to see any character who had accompanied him meet a tragic end because of a mistake he had made.
Even if they were only a string of data, even if they were only a stretch of code.
To Gu Chengming, they had still been "lives" that had once existed vividly.
And now—
This world was no longer data on the other side of a screen. Everything here was real.
Not even when he'd first learned that he didn't have long to live had such a powerful urge to change things ever risen in his heart.
He couldn't accept the Huiyuan Sword Art disappearing just like that.
Gu Chengming tightened his grip on the Wood Sword. His knuckles turned faintly white with the effort.
If this was his game, if this was his Target of Affection—
Then he absolutely wouldn't allow that nauseating kind of sacrificial ending!
The wind died down.
"I'll reach the perfect ending."
He said it aloud.
PS:
After writing this part, I think I've figured out the story's tone. Don't worry, it won't stay like this.
The musical notes are foreshadowing, and I was just playing around with a joke. There's no need to make a big deal out of it...
Same Misfortune, Different Paths
Ever since the last time he'd asked, the Huiyuan Sword Art had gone silent.
That only made Gu Chengming more certain of his theory.
The one who tied the bell must be the one to untie it.
Since the root of this change in personality lay in Flowing Light Sword Shadow, and Flowing Light Sword Shadow had grown out of Flowing Cloud Following Moon Sword, then to understand the Huiyuan Sword Art's current state of mind, he had to start with the source of that Sword Art.
Of the people Gu Chengming knew, only Elder Yu of Huiyuan Gate and Yu Wenqiu knew much about the cultivation world's secrets.
Though Steward Yu always seemed half-asleep, she was a Third Realm Cultivator and a Steward of Sword Repository Pavilion, so she was bound to know plenty of secrets.
Of course, when you asked someone for a favor, you couldn't show up empty-handed.
Gu Chengming worked late into the night, picking up several side plots from the third part of his storybook that had originally been cut. He polished them a little and compiled them into a volume.
[The Clear Heart Art strongly condemns your slapdash attitude.] [It thinks these plots are clichéd and uninspired, and a complete insult to the reader's intelligence.]
Gu Chengming ignored the lines of text.
A gift was all about the thought behind it.
Throwing together a few premade plots was already generous enough. It shouldn't push its luck.
Inside Sword Repository Pavilion.
Yu Wenqiu sat behind a desk, holding the "gift" Gu Chengming had just brought her. Her expression was complicated.
She glanced at the storybook in her hands, then stole a look at Gu Chengming, who was sitting bolt upright. The tips of her ears had turned faintly red.
Ever since reading the scene where "the master accidentally takes Joyful Union Powder, and the disciple cures her with his body," she hadn't looked at Gu Chengming quite the same way.
On the one hand, she thought it was a hint, irrefutable proof that this kid had designs on her.
On the other, reason told her she might be reading too much into it. It was a storybook, after all, written to appeal to the market...
For a moment, she didn't know how she ought to act around Gu Chengming.
"Elder Yu?"
When she didn't say anything for a while, Gu Chengming tentatively called out to her.
"Huh? Ahem!"
Yu Wenqiu abruptly came to her senses. To cover her embarrassment, she quickly slipped the storybook into her sleeve, picked up her teacup, took a sip, and asked as if nothing had happened:
"Hmm... Xiao Gu, did you come here today for something?"
Gu Chengming didn't think much of it. He assumed she'd simply gotten absorbed in her reading, and explained why he had come:
"Your disciple has run into some difficulties while practicing a Sword move. I heard this Sword Art is connected to a legacy known as the 'Flowing Cloud Following Moon Sword.' Do you know anything about it, Steward?"
"Flowing Cloud Following Moon?"
Yu Wenqiu set down her teacup and furrowed her brow. She thought for a moment, then suddenly realized:
"You mean that Sword Art from Yunyue Sect?"
She paid little attention to the outside world, devoting herself to nothing but storybooks, but she still knew a thing or two about major Sword Cultivator sects like that.
Seeing Gu Chengming nod, Yu Wenqiu grew interested.
She had always enjoyed collecting odd tales and anecdotes. Now that someone had asked her about one, she cleared her throat and began to share what she knew:
"Yunyue Sect is, like our Wenjian Sect, one of the great Sword Cultivator sects of the present age. But they don't practice pure Sword Dao. They practice the Dao Sword, which is a little like Daoning Gate."
"Now, the origins of Flowing Cloud Following Moon Sword are quite interesting."
Yu Wenqiu's eyes sparkled with gossip.
"According to the story, Yunyue Sect wasn't originally a Sword sect at all. It was a Law Sect, a sect that cultivated the Dao through music. Its main Cultivation Method was Flowing Cloud Following Moon."
"They say its sounds became flowing clouds, its notes congealed into icy souls, and when the tune ended, the moon appeared. It was originally a Sound Killing Technique, drawing on the Heavenly Dao's truth that clouds have no constant form and the moon waxes and wanes. Later, a Sword Cultivator of astonishing talent appeared in the sect."
At this point, Yu Wenqiu glanced at Gu Chengming. She saw that he wanted to say something but hesitated, and guessed what was confusing him. So she explained before he could ask:
"Just as our Wenjian Sect has Art Cultivators, there's nothing strange about a Sword Cultivator appearing in a Law Sect."
"That senior thought playing instruments and composing music wasn't satisfying enough, so with peerless insight, he forcibly transformed that musical Cultivation Method into a Sword Art."
"The cleverest part was that he preserved its central truth—that clouds have no constant form and the moon waxes and wanes—while giving it an unmatched, razor-sharp power to kill. As a result, the disciples who had originally practiced music could switch to Sword cultivation without the slightest trouble."
"In the end, that senior proved his Dao as a True Monarch, becoming a True Cultivator of the Upper Realm. He also led Yunyue Sect onto the path of becoming a great Sword Cultivator sect."
As Gu Chengming listened, his expression grew a little strange.
So that was it.
No wonder the Huiyuan Sword Art's personality had become so conflicted.
The Huiyuan Sword Art had begun doubting itself because it was "afraid of being abandoned."
And the predecessor of Flowing Cloud Following Moon Sword had been a Cultivation Method that was "abandoned" in its original form, forced to change its face before it could survive.
On some level, the two had resonated with each other.
Perhaps the Huiyuan Sword Art had subconsciously felt that it could stay by his side only if it abandoned its original "ordinariness" and became something else—something "powerful"—just like Flowing Cloud Following Moon.
Perhaps the original Flowing Cloud Following Moon's resentment was playing a part, too?
Yu Wenqiu hadn't noticed the change in Gu Chengming's expression. Caught up in her story, she continued without pause:
"Flowing Cloud Following Moon Sword is indeed impressive. It's easy to learn, yet its power is no small thing. It's one of the rare Advanced Sword Arts that even ordinary disciples can practice."
"Back when the sect competitions were held, Yunyue Sect's disciples used that move to make life miserable for our Wenjian Sect disciples more times than I can count."
"But..."
Yu Wenqiu changed tack, a smug smile appearing on her face.
"Our Wenjian Sect isn't made of pushovers, either."
"Back then, our sect's Life-Defying Tribulation-Slaying True Monarch only had to look at it once to grasp its meaning. He even pointed out its flaws on the spot, then simplified and refined it into what you now know as Flowing Light Sword Shadow."
"Not only that, but the True Monarch also made a bet with Yunyue Sect's Sect Master."
"In the end, Yunyue Sect had its Sword move copied by us and lost a gigantic Sword Seeking Stone to boot."
Gu Chengming's eyes flickered. "A Sword Seeking Stone?"
Yu Wenqiu gestured to show its size, then explained:
"Supposedly, the Sect Master of Yunyue Sect found it in an ancient secret realm. The Sword Seeking Stone can hone Sword Intent and probe one's heart. It's extremely effective at dispelling Inner Demons and steadying one's Dao Heart."
"It can also test a Sword Cultivator's aptitude and temperament. The closer you get to the Sword Seeking Stone, the stronger the pressure from its Sword Intent becomes, but the more clearly you can see your true self."
"It's ideal for Sword Cultivators who've lost their way and begun doubting themselves."
"Though each use is pretty expensive. With a Steward's merits, I can go at most once a month. Ordinary disciples can forget about it."
"Probing one's heart... seeing one's true self..."
Before you continue