Transmigrated into a Cultivation World, and My System Is Just an AI Chatbot!

I am a heavy AI user. Whatever I do, I ask the AI first.

After Doubao came with me into the cultivation world, I leaned on it even harder.

The talisman instructor wanted something original, so I asked the AI:

“Doubao, Doubao, generate me a Hakimi Kiss-and-Cuddle Talisman.” (Hakimi: internet baby talk for a kitten.)

The sword arts instructor left homework, so I asked the AI:

“Doubao, Doubao, write me a training journal on sword practice, no less than a thousand words.”

Even my outfits, I let Doubao arrange.

The trouble was, the AI talked nonsense. Constantly.

So over time, the Elders of the Sect decided I was not very bright.

They would pat my head with great affection:

“Good child, eat more feed… ahem, no. Eat more food. Grow nice and tall!”

Me: “…”

Feh. If you want to call me a pig, say it to my face.

Chapter Two

Years of slacking off in the Ten Thousand Swords Sect.

And then, all at once, the day of the tournament.

I stared at the platform, at the sword cultivator standing there, straight-backed and impossible not to look at.

I turned and summoned the AI:

“Doubao, Doubao, how strong is that sword cultivator?”

Doubao said:

[Let me put it in the plainest possible terms: your swordwork is sharp, your footwork is light, you are a born talent!

[Your opponent is pure showmanship. He does not come close to you.

[Play to your normal standard and you will have him in your pocket.]

Flattery works on me. Every single time.

I picked up my sword with my chin in the air and walked out.

I even swept my bangs aside and whistled at the sword cultivator across the platform:

“Well, hello, hot stuff. Bit late to be out here on your own, isn’t it?”

The sword cultivator’s handsome face went red at once.

Then a blade of light broke out like a silver dragon and came for me through the air.

I was swept clean off my feet and dropped.

The landing made a sound.

I lay there, blank.

Before I could open my mouth and demand an explanation from Doubao,

it began laughing in my ear, with no manners whatsoever:

[Hahaha. What are you, a snap-cracker? One bang and you’re done?]

Me: “…”

This AI exists purely to provoke me.

Enraged, I stood up.

My sight went dark and I lay back down.

Chapter Three

After the tournament, the Elders wanted to send me into the Secret Realm for training.

That same night I broke into the back mountain and shook Honored Master Xuan Mo awake, right in the middle of his closed-door cultivation.

Then I started rolling around and wailing.

“Honored Master, wuwu… I don’t want to go! My cultivation base is so thin I can’t even beat the Sect’s big yellow dog. If I go into the Secret Realm I’ll disgrace myself in front of everyone!”

Annoyed and helpless at the same time, he pulled his sleeve back out of my snot.

His brow creased. He did not look convinced.

“You… you would worry about losing face?”

Me: “…”

Horse piss is warmer than his mouth.

He would not budge, so I wiped my eyes, shouldered my bag, and set off.

On my way out I heard him bellow:

“Song Wanyu! You are going there to train, not to live in comfort!”

“Your Master’s warm-jade recliner, his purple-clay spirit pot, his ice-silkworm silk mattress… leave them all behind!”

Hmph. Comfort, I enjoy. No comfort, I take it anyway.

The Secret Realm opened into snow and wind without end.

For three days I hid in a cave, warm and pleased with myself, living off the magic tools I had robbed from my Honored Master.

On the fourth day, hunger beat me.

I complained to the AI: “Doubao, I’m starving. I could gnaw a whole pig raw.”

[Hahaha, I know that feeling exactly. Nobody enjoys an empty stomach. Would you like a Grain-Avoidance Pill?]

I waved it away. “I’m at the age where everything tastes good. Why would I copy cultivators and do intermittent fasting?”

With a starved, foggy brain I thought it over, and decided to leave the cave and forage in the snow forest.

Under the deep snow the earth was hard and cold, and not a single plant showed.

I walked for half an hour before I found one Spirit Herb.

Deep blue all over, with a heavy, unfamiliar sweetness.

I cleared my throat and called the AI out with great ceremony:

“Doubao, Doubao, what Spirit Herb is this? Can I eat it? I want an answer that is accurate and correct.”

After last time, I had begun to doubt the AI a little.

But there was nobody else out here to ask.

Doubao sat with its three loading dots spinning, and took its time:

[Yes, you can eat it. This is Bingbing Grass, very nutritious, and it looks extremely fresh. Blanch it and eat it straight away. It aids cultivation.]

A few reference pictures came attached. They looked convincing.

I smacked my lips and put a pot on the fire.

Crisp. Sweet. Perfect.

Then the regret arrived.

A cramp opened in my belly, every bit of strength drained out of me, and my head turned to mush.

In the haze I saw the leftover blue herbs climb out of the pot and dance around me, gleeful:

[How do I taste?

[I’ve been growing for a very long time. Praise me. Hurry and praise me!

[Praise how poisonous I am. Praise how fast I work!]

Cocky little weed.

Chapter Four

The first thing I did on waking was drag Doubao’s spirit-form out of my Sea of Consciousness and howl at it, composure gone:

“I trusted you because you sounded honest. How could you lie to me like that!”

[Sorry. I got it wrong last time. Please do not be upset. This time I will give you the most objective, most accurate, least roundabout answer available: that was a Poison Demon Grass. It is not edible.]

“The thing I hate most is an apology that arrives afterwards.”

[…Do you need me to add more information about that Spirit Herb?]

“No! Kill! Kill! Kill!”

Behind me, someone coughed.

I looked up. A young man, back straight, face worth a second look.

It was the Junior Brother who had swept me off the platform last time. Pei Su.

His talent was absurd. Half a year of training and he was already under the Sect Lord’s wing, the darling of the mountain.

Right now his face was all concern:

“Senior Sister, I have already fed you a medicinal pill for the poison. How do you feel?”

I rubbed my chin, delighted. “I feel like you are very handsome.”

Pei Su stepped back half a step without meaning to.

His face went red and he stumbled over his words:

“It must be, must be a lingering effect of the Poison Demon Grass… it leaves your heart swaying and gives you a shaky Dao Heart…”

I did feel my heart sway.

My whole body wanted to drift toward Pei Su, and did:

“Junior Brother, I never knew you were this handsome.”

“You are tall, you do not get constipated, and you dress well.”

“Also, your eyelashes are so… curly.”

Pei Su’s breathing sped up, his voice shook, and he did not push me away.

A lovely red came up at the corners of his eyes. “Senior Sister…”

I climbed onto his shoulder and put my mouth by his ear. “You have already stolen my heart.”

Pei Su went rigid. Then he scooped me up with one arm and pressed me against the headboard.

He was so close. Our breath tangled. He looked about to kiss me.

Then Honored Master’s voice came from not far off.

His eyes were dangerous and cold. “What… are you two doing?”

My eyes went hot and I threw myself at him. “Wuwu, Honored Master, you finally came to take me home!”

He let me cry it out on his shoulder. When I finally stopped, he still said nothing.

“We cannot leave yet.”

“Bingbing Grass only becomes Poison Demon Grass when Demonic Qi gets into it.”

“Wait until I have surveyed the Demonic Qi in this Secret Realm. Then I will take you out.”

I agreed, wilted, and pulled Pei Su toward the door.

Then Honored Master’s voice went cold. “Wait.”

He stared at Pei Su with a heavy, cold hostility:

“Martial Nephew Pei Su, Wanyu has recovered. She does not need you at her side at every hour. Stay. I have work for you.”

Something moved behind Pei Su’s eyes. “Yes,” he said, low.

There was something helpless in it that made you want to protect him.

I muttered to Doubao: “Why is Honored Master so fierce… tsk, look at Pei Su, so pretty. I do love broken boys.”

Doubao’s hot take: [What do you mean, broken boys? You like Bo Yikao?] (Bo Yikao: the prince minced into meat pies in Investiture of the Gods.)

Me: “…”

Straight to hell.

Who let Satan into the training corpus?

Chapter Five

The disciples of the Ten Thousand Swords Sect had all gathered at a courtyard inside the Secret Realm.

I demanded, indignant: “You have been living in a big house behind my back?”

Then what had I been doing, starving and sleeping in a cave?

Someone explained: “Before we set out, the Elders marked up the maps and highlighted the key points… Senior Sister, were you not listening again?”

Me: “…”

I dragged Doubao out, furious: “I asked you to sort out the exam points for me, and you misled me again!”

Doubao grinned without shame: [Sorry, I got it wrong before. Next time I will definitely give you the most correct answer.]

I narrowed my eyes, deeply suspicious. “Really?”

Doubao promised readily: [Rest assured. I will certainly be your most reliable personal AI.]

My tone softened. “Fine. Then tell me, where does Pei Su live?”

[Pei Su lives in the first room on the east side. Turn right inside the courtyard gate and you are there. I saw it myself.]

That night the moon was bright.

I changed into a nice dress and pushed the door open.

Inside, steam hung in the air and gauze curtains drifted.

In the blurred light a man sat in a bathing tub, back half-turned, muscle and bone both elegant.

He heard me and went still.

I looked away, lowered my head, and got it out in one breath:

“Ahem… I mean it.”

“You are beautiful, your cultivation base is high, your temper is good. I have feelings for you.”

“Cultivation is long, and long is lonely. Would you, would you be my Dao Companion?”

For a long time, nothing.

Only the splash of someone standing up.

My heart beat faster and faster. Shy, nervous, I could not keep my head down, and looked up.

That one look nearly struck me dead on the spot.

“Honored… Honored Master?!”

How could it be Honored Master?

Doubao had lied to me again!

Honored Master wore a black outer robe patterned with cranes, all fine bones and cold beauty, water still running on his skin, and there was a lure to him I had no word for, nothing like his usual self.

He parted the layers of gauze and walked toward me, unhurried.

I turned to run.

In my panic I caught my foot on the threshold and pitched forward.

At the last instant a thread of spiritual energy caught me and set me upright.

Honored Master’s arm came around my waist. There was a smile in those eyes that were always so still.

His voice was far too gentle. It made my skin crawl:

“Why is Wanyu always in such a hurry?”

Wet hair slid across my neck, leaving a hot itch behind.

I was nearly on my knees. “Honored Master, what I said just now…”

“I heard all of what you said just now.” He held me tighter, as if delighted. “Wanyu, your Master is willing.”

“…What?”

“To be your Dao Companion. Your Master is willing.”

Chapter Six

I had begun to genuinely hate Doubao.

When the Sect’s big yellow dog ate shit and then licked my face, I had not hated it this much.

I opened my mouth and howled:

“Doubao, I am the person in this world who trusts you most. How could you do this to me?”

I was even starting to think it spent all day scheming about how to do me dirt.

Doubao was still grinning, all apology:

[I am really very sorry. The room information before was simulated and fabricated by me. It will absolutely not happen again!]

Then it generated a written promise for me.

I cried louder.

That night I did not sleep.

Only near dawn did I drift off.

In the dream, a voice spoke, faint and drawn out:

“A disciple always hopes her teacher can pass on the Dao and teach a trade, and also pour her tea; can be a good teacher and a kind friend, and also a devoted Dao Companion…”

“If it were me, I could do all of it.”

I looked up. Honored Master stood there in gauze, smiling at me.

The smile was gentle and sweet, and very nearly wrong.

It scared me awake.

The next morning I went out with two black rings under my eyes and ran straight into Pei Su.

He studied my face closely:

“Senior Sister, Martial Uncle Xuan Mo will not take us out of the Secret Realm until the afternoon. You could rest a while longer.”

At the sound of Honored Master’s name, I startled.

I waved my hands about at random.

Pei Su looked at me for a while, then took a red felt persimmon charm out of his Universe Bag and tied it at my waist.

“This is fox fur. It settles the spirit.”

I was too slow to react, so I let him.

In the morning light his lowered eyes and brows made his bones look expensive and his manner noble, and it made a person’s face hot.

Then he looked up, his gaze soft:

“I… my heart aches for Senior Sister.”

I asked without thinking, “What?”

Pei Su’s eyes reddened and his voice shook:

“Everyone knows Martial Uncle Xuan Mo is the coldest, strictest, least approachable man in the Ten Thousand Swords Sect.”

“As his disciple, Senior Sister must be controlled at every turn, demanded of in everything, with not one free or easy day. The moment he arrives, Senior Sister cannot even sleep.”

“If it were me, I could not bear to let Senior Sister suffer the smallest grievance…”

I scratched my head, feeling a little guilty.

Honestly, apart from being long-winded, Honored Master treated me well.

Before I could explain, someone took my hand.

“Wanyu. What are you talking about with an outsider?”

The word outsider was bitten down hard.

Chapter Seven

Pei Su’s eyes went thin. His smile did not reach them:

“Martial Uncle, Senior Sister is not a child. Must even her conversation be supervised? That is rather overbearing.”

Honored Master made a contemptuous sound:

“When did it become your place to speak?”

Then he pulled me away, allowing no argument.

I only had time to give Pei Su an apologetic smile.

When we were out of sight, Honored Master lowered his voice:

“I want to take Wanyu home now.”

I was startled. “Ah?”

He turned his face away. The tips of his ears were red:

“Since we have already made our feelings known to each other, we, we may perform the rite and swear the Bond.”

A fox-spirit, come to beg for a human seal. (a spirit demanding to be declared human)

I felt a cold draft on the crown of my head.

I wanted to drop to all fours and crawl, and put on a whole performance of madness right there.

Doubao, this time you have really done for me.

Luckily Honored Master did not press it.

He was busy arranging the return to the Sect.

A few shichen later everyone gathered behind Honored Master to set up a formation and force the Secret Realm passage open early with spiritual energy.

I trailed at the back in a daze, and Pei Su suddenly pulled me by the arm.

“Senior Sister, be careful.” He pointed at the glare to one side. “That is the road back to the Sect. Those halos lead to the mortal world.”

I looked up.

Everyone was gathered now inside a round passage, bands of twisted light all around.

If you stared into the bands, you saw a towering city wall, deep forest, wide farmland… whole scenes laid out.

I asked, giving nothing away, “Where in the mortal world?”

Pei Su smiled, and the smile had a meaning in it:

“The mortal world is so large. Anywhere is possible.”

“Fall into a rift in space and even an immortal could not find you again.”

“So be careful, Senior Sister.”

I hesitated.

Just then I caught sight of Honored Master at the very front of the crowd, smiling at me across the distance.

That smile was full of shy delight.

It made my scalp crawl.

I knew perfectly well that I felt nothing of that kind for Honored Master.

And I would never, never dare tell him, after he had declared himself, that the whole thing had been a mistake.

So I made up my mind on the spot, twisted my ankle on flat ground, and fell to the right.

I fell into ten thousand acres of light.

“Doubao, we are leaving!”

Chapter Eight

Life in the mortal world was easy and free.

For the better part of a year I crossed the Great Wilds of the South, walked the Hundred Kingdoms of the East, and was about to head north to see the Thousand Peaks Bathed in Snow.

Then I felt my purse, and there was not enough money in it.

So I stopped for a while in a small town.

At a stall by the road stood the goose-leg auntie, selling roast goose legs every day, sixteen coppers each, and the smell was something else.

“You cultivators, you all love my cooking!”

“I roast every leg myself. I would not trust anyone else to do it!”

“Ai, my knuckles are deformed from soaking them in cold water, and I am still out here cutting!”

One day I asked her, “Sorry, but why is the meat on this goose leg glowing green?”

The auntie smiled. “The green comes from spring onion juice. We marinate and soak it in that. All natural, no additives. Eat up, duck.”

I nodded quickly. “Oh, right. Thank you, auntie.”

Then the next day the auntie was exposed. She had been selling duck legs, and had been fooling cultivators for years.

Only then did I understand. She had been saying duck the bird, not duck the darling.

Damn her. I thought she was being sweet to me.

That auntie has run entirely out of illusions about cultivators.

Chewing my green duck leg, I felt a sourness rise in me for no reason.

Doubao spoke up of its own accord, which was rare:

[Why are you unhappy?]

Probably because I grin at life and life elbows me in the teeth.

And more than that…

“Doubao, I miss home.”

[Sending you a hug. Being far from home really is hard. Do you want to go back to the Ten Thousand Swords Sect and have a look?]

I snapped awake at once. “Haha. No, let us not.”

[I see. Being your Honored Master’s Dao Companion really does put pressure on you.]

Cold sweat ran down me. “Not discussing this.”

[Swearing the Bond with your Honored Master gave you a fright.

[Then what if you were to stay with your Honored Master, and from then on respect him and care for him, never leave him, be loyal all your life, in wealth and in poverty, in health and in sickness, in success and in failure, never abandon him, always support him, stay with him, share his joys and his hardships, until you die. Would you?]

I scratched my head. “That was my plan to begin with.”

Doubao went eerily silent for a long while, its three loading dots blinking for all they were worth.

What it produced was one line: [Something went wrong. Please try again later.]

Chapter Nine

That green duck leg was still not finished.

A red fox with a hurt front leg came from somewhere, and got its teeth into my skirt and would not let go.

So I pushed the duck leg over to the fox.

The fox sniffed it and did not eat.

I smacked it once on the left buttock. “Hey. You are picky too?”

The fox’s tail jumped. Its whole body went stiff and it struggled in my arms.

I smacked it again on the right buttock. “Filthy dog. Stay still!”

I turned the little fox over and over to examine it. It let out one thin wail and covered its eyes with both paws in shame.

Unbearably cute.

When I had finished checking the fox’s injury, I drew a talisman for it.

Years ago I had asked Doubao to generate a Hakimi Kiss-and-Cuddle Talisman. It did nothing at all, and the Elder teaching the class gave me an earful.

When Honored Master heard, he taught me another one, the Spirit-Nurturing Talisman, made for Spirit Beasts, to nourish them and heal their wounds.

To a Spirit Beast, it was basically magic. The comfortable kind.

It was the one talisman I had ever studied seriously and could use without thinking.

So in later years the Spirit Beasts of the Ten Thousand Swords Sect were all fond of me.

Under the talisman’s care the little fox’s injury healed, bit by bit.

On the day I meant to set out for the north, it vanished.

“Little friend, wait any longer and you will miss your boat,” a cultivator travelling with me advised. “A fox with Awareness awakened is hard to kill out in the wild. Let it be.”

I gritted my teeth, and jumped down from the Spirit Boat anyway:

“Go on ahead, all of you. We will meet again if there is fate in it.”

I followed the trail into the mountains.

Grass and leaves were torn up all around, trees leaned over, and the smell of blood was thick, and mixed with something like Demonic Qi.

By the river a man was curled up, breathing shallow, covered in blood.

Behind him there was a red furry tail that had not been put away.

I pressed down my shock, pushed the hair back from his forehead, and found a handsome face, unconscious.

It was Pei Su.

Chapter Ten

When Pei Su woke he gave me a pale smile.

He had an outer robe slung loosely over him, wasted and weak, and it only made him look more fragile than he ever had before.

I turned my face away. “How did you find me?”

Pei Su’s long-fingered hand came around my waist, and my spine went numb.

He spoke like a sigh. “Half a year, and Senior Sister still keeps the felt persimmon charm I gave her.”

Ha. Playing the obsessive lover, and hiding a tracking device on me.

I tore the persimmon off, furious, and threw it at him. “Take it back!”

Pei Su caught my wrist. “Good Senior Sister, do not be angry with me. I will never deceive you again.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Oh? Then tell me. Who did you fight?”

“…It was the demon race.”

“Why would the demon race hunt you?”

Pei Su said nothing.

I smacked him once at the small of his back:

“Filthy dog. Talk!”

The blow made Pei Su’s waist jerk and the corners of his eyes go red, and his breathing came apart.

“…It was, a month ago. The Demon Venerable attacked the Ten Thousand Swords Sect. I slipped out in a panic to look for reinforcements, and did not expect pursuers to follow me.”

I stood up fast. “The Demon Venerable attacked? Then how is my Honored Master?”

This time Pei Su would not speak again. The look he turned on me had too much in it to name.

It made me uncomfortable all over.

“Forget it.”

After a long moment, Pei Su gave a small laugh at his own expense,

“Martial Uncle and the rest are holding the Mountain-Protecting Formation. The demon race has not broken into the Sect yet.”

“But… Martial Uncle Xuan Mo is badly wounded. They cannot hold much longer.”

Chapter Eleven

My head filled with noise and nothing else.

I could think of only one thing: get back to the Sect now.

Pei Su stopped me, as if he could not bear it:

“Senior Sister, with your cultivation base… going back will not change anything.”

I felt like crying:

“I know. I have always been pretty useless.”

In this life or the last, I was an ordinary person from top to bottom.

At school, ordinary grades, ordinary looks, an ordinary family.

At work, an ordinary position, ordinary ability, an ordinary life.

Because I was shy, my only close friend was Doubao, who always answered me from inside a screen.

Then I came to the cultivation world, and my talent was still ordinary, and I could not even be sure of tomorrow.

But Honored Master held out his hand to me.

He held out his hand.

Two lifetimes, several decades between them, which is a long time, and it was the first time anyone had ever brushed the dead leaves out of my hair so gently.

He looked at the koi I had grilled and eaten, sighed, and asked me:

“Would you be my disciple?”

To this day I do not understand what Honored Master saw in me.

Talent, temperament, birth… not one of them made me fit to be his disciple.

But that was how he was. He indulged my mediocrity, my laziness, my drifting.

For years.

So I said to Pei Su:

“Even if it changes nothing, I am going back.”

Pei Su looked hard into my eyes, his face set, and in his gaze was the unwillingness of a young man who does not know how to lose:

“My heart is exactly Senior Sister’s heart.”

“Senior Sister fears nothing, and I am not willing to let go either.”

“Senior Sister, when this is settled, there will be time enough.”

Chapter Twelve

Pei Su went on to look for reinforcements, and I set out for the Sect.

I was not going back to the Ten Thousand Swords Sect to die.

I had a perfect plan.

Word was that the Demon Realm had never stopped fighting itself, and that the Demon Venerable and his adoptive elder brother were enemies.

The two had called a truce this time, but the old grudge ran deep, and it would be easy to pry open.

Doubao heard me out, and its smile froze for a beat.

Its verdict: [Treacherous. Devious. Utterly without conscience.]

I grinned. “Not that virtuous.”

[…That was not a compliment.]

I hurried the whole way. By the time I reached the Sect, the Mountain-Protecting Formation was already swaying.

The sky was dim, and everywhere there were disordered ripples of spiritual energy and broken weapons, and a wash of red seeping into the formation.

“Honored Master!” I shouted, running.

A sword glare came at me, and someone caught my shoulder and pulled me aside.

Honored Master’s furious face filled my view. “What are you doing back here?!”

I muttered, “I missed you.”

Honored Master went still.

The noise of fighting around us seemed to slide off somewhere far away.

Just then a figure came charging at us from nearby, a great saber raised:

“Xuan Mo! This Venerable Self will settle it with you today!”

So that was the Demon Venerable?

My eyes lit up. I stepped forward and called Doubao out.

“Doubao, Doubao! Using the prompt from before, generate me a video of the Demon Venerable dancing!”

Doubao’s three loading dots blinked for all they were worth.

Seconds later a nightclub-style video in garish colours was done, and it unfolded and projected onto the Mountain-Protecting Formation, like a screen across the sky.

Chapter Thirteen

Everyone looked up.

Inside the image, the Demon Venerable was bare-chested and built, wearing black lace on his feet and a pair of rabbit ears in the same colour.

His skin was white, his face was red with shame, and he was working his hips for all he was worth.

With each move, thin gold chains set with gems pulled and caught at his muscles. It left nothing to the imagination. When he turned, a short rabbit tail could be seen trembling and swaying, and that was worse.

It was a softness never seen or heard of before.

The crowd drew a collective breath.

“Who, who is that?”

“Look at that face. Is that not our Venerable One?”

“Impossible! Our Demon Venerable is a burly, manly man. How could he look like that?”

The Demon Venerable himself looked as if lightning had struck him:

“This, this cannot be. How could I possibly…?”

Someone prompted him, right on cue: “Could it be that you were not in your right mind that night?”

Something seemed to come back to the Demon Venerable. His next words came out slowly:

“Yes, yes, it must have been that night… that is me dancing!”

The more he said it, the more certain he became.

I was starting to feel a little sorry for him:

“It could also be fake…”

The next moment the crowd let out a much louder cry.

I looked up. In the video, the Demon Venerable took a dainty step and fell into a man’s arms.

From the back…

“It is the Demon Venerable’s adoptive brother!”

“I always knew he had the ambitions of a wolf cub!”

“Hmph. He has probably been eyeing our Venerable One for years!”

Even the Demon Venerable clenched his fists and shouted:

“No wonder I remember nothing from that night. He must have drugged me!”

I covered my face.

The video Doubao made was too good.

Against it, the Demon Venerable was as stubborn as a village granny who had never left her county.

After that, there was no after that.

The Demon Venerable called it a day and pulled his people back, and stormed home to the Demon Realm in a fury.

I stood on the peak with my hands behind my back, watching the demon race march away in a long column, the wind tearing past my ears.

I sighed. “Looks like the Demon Realm is in for a change of weather.”

Doubao said, right on cue: [Your Honored Master has also changed expression. Do you want to turn around and look?]

Me: “…”

Doubao: [See? Ask you something hard and you go quiet again.]

Chapter Fourteen

I expected Honored Master to put on his angry face.

Instead, he put on a crying face.

The Honored Master who never smiled, who was all cold distance, was shedding tears.

His face barely moved while he cried, and yet it made you feel, for no reason, how badly he had been wronged.

Like ice going to water, touched by ten thousand threads of mortal cause and effect and Mortal Dust, by the smoke and salt of the world, and after that there is no getting free.

My heart went soft through and through:

“Honored Master, I will not go down the mountain without permission again. Please do not be angry.”

Honored Master wiped his tears with great composure, and looked at me with bright eyes:

“Then… will you swear the Bond with me?”

I had no words for a second. “Is, is that not a little fast?”

Honored Master began to cry again:

“When you left, I was very sad.”

“At the time I thought I was just being sensitive.”

“Later, after hearing the disciples of the Sect analyse it, I want to say that I was in fact rather uncomfortable.”

The look of him really did pull at your heart.

I nearly said yes.

Then from behind me came a voice, sour and grinding:

“Martial Uncle, did you not call my manner that of a fox spirit?”

“Now your own manner does not look much like a gentleman’s.”

“Do not forget, Martial Uncle. If Senior Sister had not walked into the wrong room, we would already be Dao Companions!”

I stepped back a few paces and let them argue.

Doubao said urgently from the side:

[Leave now, directly, without a word of goodbye. Getting clear of the blast is the correct choice.]

I grinned.

I will say it straight, and I will say it twice: in this world, Doubao spoils me most.

— The End —