You Fought the Sword Champion?

Xianyu: I only took a day off and slept. How did such a ridiculous rumor start spreading...?

Before he could type a rebuttal, his superior quickly withdrew the message.

[Can you come to work as usual tomorrow?]

Perhaps finding it too awkward to address the matter directly, his superior rephrased the question, probing indirectly into Xianyu's condition.

Xianyu's mouth twitched.

What are you worried about? That I got beaten so badly I can't stand...? Could you people stop being so ridiculous?

[No replies outside work hours: I can come to work as usual.]

Xianyu couldn't be bothered to consider his boss's feelings and typed a straightforward denial of the rumor.

[No replies outside work hours: The Sword Champion is just an excellent swordswoman. She doesn't beat up everyone she sees. Where did you even hear that...? That's ridiculous.]

Unfortunately, his superior refused to believe him.

[How about I approve three days off so you can rest properly at home?]

Normally, if his superior had been generous enough to offer three days off, Xianyu would have accepted in a heartbeat. This time, however, he didn't dare take leave.

Taking leave would only make the rumors spiral further out of control.

He could already imagine what version of the story would be circulating by the time he returned to the Divination Commission...

"Did you hear? A Diviner from the Divination Commission got on the Sword Champion's bad side!"

"What? You're behind the times. I heard the Diviner enraged the Sword Champion, and she started throwing punches!"

"Your version's outdated. The Sword Champion beat the Diviner so badly he couldn't get out of bed for three days and had to rest at home-"

All Xianyu had done was sleep and take a day off, yet other people's gossip had gotten him beaten up for no reason.

Who was he supposed to complain to about that?

He tapped furiously on his Jade Abacus.

[No replies outside work hours: There's really no need. I'll definitely be there on time tomorrow.]

After plenty of persuasion, Xianyu finally managed to get his superior to reluctantly believe him.

Soon, the Jade Abacus in his hand chimed again.

[Jing Yuan: Shared this shop with you-This place is absolutely amazing! Spice lovers, rejoice! Pepper soup milk tea so good you'll stomp your feet!]

[No replies outside work hours: ???]

[No replies outside work hours: What kind of cursed combination is that?]

[Jing Yuan: Just tell me you aren't curious.]

As expected of Jing Yuan, he had guessed exactly right.

Pepper soup and milk tea were both favorites Xianyu could never give up. This combination... Damn it, that cursed curiosity of his...

Unable to resist, Xianyu opened the post Jing Yuan had shared and checked the address.

As luck would have it, the shop was right near his home. It was close enough that even a shut-in could tolerate the exercise required to get there.

[Jing Yuan: ...]

[Jing Yuan: Wait, did you just wake up?]

[No replies outside work hours: Yep. I'll go try it for you right now.]

[Jing Yuan: Cat sharpening a knife.jpg]

Jing Yuan's ellipsis carried a faint whiff of a working stiff's resentment, making it hard not to revel in his misery.

Delighted, Xianyu immediately changed clothes and headed out, completely unaware of how close Jing Yuan was to falling apart on the other end.

Jing Yuan glanced at the icy-faced Jingliu beside him, then at the Diviner his master had just spoken to, whose forehead was covered in cold sweat.

Inside, he was utterly falling apart.

Born into a family with generations of service in the Earth-Balance Commission, Jing Yuan had never intended to follow the rules and walk his parents' path. Rebellious to the core, he had joined the Cloud Knights instead.

His life story could have come straight out of a novel.

While still young, he had won his superior's favor through his ingenuity, stood out among a host of gifted martial prodigies, and become the disciple of the Luofu's Sword Champion.

For someone of a long-life species, his past dozen or so years could certainly be called eventful.

Yet everything he had experienced and considered exciting paled in comparison to last night's hot pot dinner.

At first, Jing Yuan had thought it was just an ordinary meal. Then, after everyone had eaten and drunk their fill, Dan Feng's earth-shattering remark had let him experience what it felt like to be struck by lightning on the Luofu.

He had experienced a lightning strike aboard a Xianzhou where all weather was an illusion.

It was late, and time for everyone to leave...

But why was his friend Xianyu supposed to take his master home?!

Jing Yuan didn't understand, but Dan Feng surely had some deeper reason for doing this.

He looked left at the clueless Xianyu, then right at his master, who was not even remotely drunk, and sank into bewilderment.

Soon, his rational side connected every detail he had overlooked during dinner.

His emotional side insisted that his guess was wrong.

But no matter how unwilling he was to believe it...

Why had Dan Feng specifically asked Baiheng to switch seats with his master?

Why had his master, who never ate spicy food, tried the spicy broth?

And most importantly, why had his master's expression soured when Yingxing mentioned a friendship that transcended age?

The truth he had been unwilling to deduce still stood right before him.

His master might like Xianyu.

Knowing about it, Dan Feng had wanted to bring them together, so he had coaxed Baiheng into switching seats.

As for why she had eaten from the spicy broth, the reason might have been simple: it was closer to Xianyu, of course.

Apart from the novels restricted to readers over two hundred, Jing Yuan had read every novel available on the Luofu. He had seen plenty of heroines' little schemes: finding every possible way to get close to their beloved, deliberately asking him to serve them food, sneaking in indirect kisses, and other such tricks...

But when he associated those things with his master... he still couldn't accept it! It was far too jarring!

Or had his master really just wanted to try the spicy broth?

Jing Yuan: Blue brain spinning.gif

This friend of his seemed to have gentlemanly manners engraved in his bones.

Perhaps Xianyu himself had never noticed, but whenever he saw women or children, he instinctively took care of them as though they were younger members of his family.

He would open drinks for them after receiving them, for example, or scoop cooked food out of the hot pot onto a communal plate.

His master, who had known Xianyu for some time, surely knew that about him.

As for her strange reaction upon hearing "a friendship that transcended age," it only strengthened Jing Yuan's belief in the absurd conclusion he had reached.

While slaying those who had become mara-struck, his master had once told Jing Yuan that even if she became mara-struck herself, he must never show mercy.

His master knew full well the cruel fate that awaited those of a long-life species after their long years.

She could speak lightly of her own life and death. If she didn't even shy away from death, why would Yingxing's remark about "a friendship that transcended age" anger her?

In a flash, Jing Yuan understood everything.

But I don't want to understand! If Xianyu and Master get together, where would that leave us in the generational hierarchy?!

Jing Yuan's eyes shook with shock as he looked back and forth between Xianyu and his master. Before he could pull himself out of his thoughts, an immense force dragged him forward.

Focusing his gaze, he discovered that Dan Feng had already used the Vidyadhara secret art, Coiling Leap, to drag the other three away from the scene all by himself.

The High Elder employed his combat technique with exceptional ease, moving ten times faster than Baiheng's Starskiff.

Fortunately, the Luofu had yet to introduce measures against speeding dragons.

Apart from the dragon doing the driving, Jing Yuan and Yingxing were on the verge of throwing up, and even Baiheng, who had been dead drunk, showed signs of waking.

Dan Feng's obsession with cleanliness flared up on the spot. Seeing their reactions made his entire dragon body uncomfortable, and he stopped at once like a Starskiff that had run out of power.

He spent more on maintaining his scales each month than the three of them earned in Strales in a year. They had better not throw up on him.

After getting smacked by Dan Feng for no reason, Yingxing flew into a rage and instinctively let loose a Xianzhou curse.

Once he had recovered, Yingxing asked, "Wasn't Jingliu sober?"

Feeling as though everyone else was drunk while he alone was sober, Dan Feng shook his head with a look that said he had seen through everything. "You don't understand."

Yingxing: "..."

The Master Forger rolled his eyes and turned to check on Baiheng.

Dan Feng's "You don't understand" left Jing Yuan silent.

Dan Feng, you didn't do that on purpose, did you?!

His mind raced, his feelings tangled. "Dan Feng, Master will be angry."

"So what? It's not every day you get to see Jingliu like this."

Dan Feng's smile brimmed with delight at her predicament, tinged with the High Elder's arrogance.

"She won't make a move unless someone gives her a push. What, are you scared?"

Jing Yuan watched him quietly, then chuckled.

"How could I be? As her disciple, how could I not help ease my master's worries?"

A High Elder who continually reincarnated and had no need for romance, and a young officer under twenty who likewise had no romantic experience but had read every novel, decided to play wingmen for their mutual friend Jingliu.