The sword's light came down.
At first, the Eternal Life Sect Perfected One paid the strike no mind.
He was, after all, pinned in place within the Stringless Ward by the Flowing Cloud Moon-Tracing Sovereign's temporal Dao-seal, his Dharma-Station power being forced back step by step — but he had once been a true Sovereign. Even wearing a present-world body not yet fully fused to him, even with his wounds unhealed, even locked in a forced standoff against the Flowing Cloud Moon-Tracing Sovereign, there was simply no way a casual sword strike from a mere Fourth Realm cultivator could cut him down.
Between Fourth Realm and Sovereign lay a gulf in the Dao itself, a gulf in Dharma-Stations, a gulf in just how deeply one's own existence had been acknowledged by Heaven and Earth.
However uncanny Gu Chengming might be, he was still only Fourth Realm.
So the Eternal Life Sect Perfected One had thought — until the Knight Dharma Sword cleared its scabbard entirely.
In that instant, his heart lurched violently.
If it had merely been a keen sword-qi and formidable spiritual power, some secret art capable of striking above its wielder's realm, he could have understood it.
But the instant this blade-light lit up in Gu Chengming's hand, what he felt instead was the absurd sensation of facing his natural predator.
Like a snake before a hawk, like a lurking specter caught beneath the blazing sun.
Before he could make sense of why, the blade-light was already falling.
Gu Chengming stepped forward, and the Knight Dharma Sword rang out in his palm like a ceremonial bell.
The blade dropped, its white-gold light bearing down along the frozen curtain of rain within the Stringless Ward. Raindrops were sliced apart, scattering into countless glittering motes of light in midair.
The Eternal Life Sect Perfected One could hold back no longer. The length of old string in his sleeve snapped suddenly taut. Black-red qi surged wildly beneath the earth, and at any cost he forced the Eternal Life Sect's old piece, still lingering within the Wanton Joy Sovereign's remnant husk, into motion — ramming it headlong into the moon-white Dao-seal the Flowing Cloud Moon-Tracing Sovereign had pinned down.
The Sovereign's instincts screamed at him to dodge this strike!
But the Flowing Cloud Moon-Tracing Sovereign had been waiting for exactly this moment. She raised a hand and pointed, and in the next instant every suspended raindrop throughout the Stringless Ward simultaneously reflected her form.
The dim, endless river behind the grey-robed Daoist froze solid; the forking paths that should have led toward past and future alike were sealed shut by moonlight.
The Eternal Life Sect Perfected One clenched his teeth as scale-patterns surged across his palm; black scales climbed up the back of his hand and along his neck. He could no longer maintain the appearance of a Daoist — half his face now showed his true demonic-beast form.
"Flowing Cloud Moon-Tracing!" he snarled. The old string beneath the earth shattered inch by inch, the black-red qi it released striking at the trace of the Flowing Cloud Moon-Tracing Sovereign's Dharma-Station like a venomous snake.
The Flowing Cloud Moon-Tracing Sovereign frowned, but did not retreat — instead, she glanced toward Gu Chengming.
Gu Chengming read her meaning at once, and the Knight Dharma Sword finally struck home.
The instant the blade fell before the Eternal Life Sect Perfected One, the black-red Dharma-Station qi tore apart like paper.
The Perfected One had thought he could at least block it for half a breath, but when the Sword of Universal Discrimination's light touched his scaled armor, it didn't clash against it at all — instead, it seemed to go straight for the single most contemptible part of his entire existence.
The blade-light entered his body.
The Eternal Life Sect Perfected One froze stiff before the old stage. The black scales across his body dulled one by one, and deep in his pupils, the dim, endless river was lit up by white-gold blade-light — countless escape-routes within that river all cracked at once.
He looked down and saw a sword-scar appear across his chest.
The scar ran diagonally from his left shoulder down to his right ribs. In the next instant, it burst open.
The Eternal Life Sect Perfected One's body split apart from within. Black scales, grey robe, demon-blood, the remnant trace of the Sorrow-and-Joy rank, the projection of the Eternal Life Sect's main-trunk Dharma-Station — all were stripped away, layer by layer, within the white-gold blade-light.
That once-Sovereign's spirit soul tried to flee its shattered husk, but the Flowing Cloud Moon-Tracing Sovereign's moon-white Dao-seal held it fast — denying him even the last sliver of a chance to escape into old causality.
He glared fixedly at Gu Chengming.
Perhaps even in his final moment, he never understood how a Perfected One of the mighty Eternal Life Sect could die beneath a sword like this.
—Goddammit, what the hell was 'Darkie Sweeps Furui' supposed to be?! Why would a sword technique be named that?!
Right up to his death, the Eternal Life Sect Perfected One never realized that what Gu Chengming had shouted a moment ago was actually meant as a title — aimed straight at him.
The white-gold blade-light closed in completely.
The Eternal Life Sect Perfected One's form dissolved inch by inch before the old stage, until only a dim, broken Dharma-Station phantom hung suspended in midair — like a single black scale fished up out of the long river, wreathed in a mingled aura of freedom, Sorrow-and-Joy, and the remaining trace of the Eternal Life Sect's main trunk.
The instant the Dharma-Station appeared, it instinctively began rising toward the sky.
Dharma-Station, reverting to Heaven!
This was one of the oldest rules in the cultivation world.
But the Flowing Cloud Moon-Tracing Sovereign gave it no such chance.
She raised a hand and beckoned; every strand of moon-white light throughout the Stringless Ward drew inward at once, wrapping around the Dharma-Station phantom. It trembled faintly, as if trying to struggle, but gradually stilled beneath the suppression of the Flowing Cloud Moon-Tracing Sovereign's temporal Dharma-Station.
She closed her five fingers, seizing the Dharma-Station phantom into her palm.
The frozen curtain of rain throughout the Stringless Ward finally began falling again, its patter returning all at once to the mortal world.
A corner of the old stage had collapsed. The painted masks on the wall had cracked into several pieces. Ripples spread belatedly across the standing water on the ground — as though the entire ruined ward had only now dared to let out a breath.
Gu Chengming sheathed his sword. The Knight Dharma Sword quieted, settling back into its dignified, proper bearing — as if that whole shady mechanic just now had nothing to do with it.
The Flowing Cloud Moon-Tracing Sovereign walked over at an unhurried pace.
Her face was still somewhat pale — clearly, forcibly sealing off all of the Eternal Life Sect Perfected One's Retreats a moment ago had not been easy either.
But cradling the Dharma-Station's residual phantom in her palm, her eyes held a touch more ease, and a touch more weariness.
Gu Chengming looked up. "Senior, how are your injuries?"
The Flowing Cloud Moon-Tracing Sovereign shook her head. "Not bad. A few days' rest should do, before I refine this Dharma-Station."
With that, she looked toward Gu Chengming, her expression softening. "Thank you."
Gu Chengming said, "Senior is too kind. If you hadn't pinned him down, that strike of mine would never have landed at all."
Amusement flickered lightly in the Flowing Cloud Moon-Tracing Sovereign's eyes. "But you were the one who struck the final blow."
She paused, as if feeling that a single 'thank you' was too light a thing, and added, with genuine sincerity, "Young friend, I've noted this debt of causality... Should the chance arise, for as long as I have leisure left in this life, I'd be willing to stay by your side."
Gu Chengming privately thought Senior's words carried a bit too much weight for the occasion — but on second thought, maybe older-generation cultivators simply spoke this way, with everything weighted so heavily.
Like how a maiden with nothing else to repay a debt might offer her whole life in return... maybe that was just how the older generation talked.
Just as Gu Chengming was working out how to respond appropriately, the Flowing Cloud Moon-Tracing Sovereign suddenly glanced at the Knight Dharma Sword at his waist, a flicker of curiosity in her eyes.
She hesitated a moment before asking anyway, "That, just now — was that a sword technique of the Fate-Reversing Tribulation-Severing Sovereign?"
Was it? Was it, though?
Gu Chengming fell silent for a moment, choosing his words carefully. "I suppose it counts as one?"
The Flowing Cloud Moon-Tracing Sovereign's eyes brightened slightly. "As expected of you — truly, your talent knows no bounds."
A flicker of guilt rose in Gu Chengming at once. He had no idea how the Fate-Reversing Tribulation-Severing Sovereign had originally wielded the Knight Dharma Sword, but surely it hadn't been this uncanny.
The Flowing Cloud Moon-Tracing Sovereign didn't notice his guilty conscience, and simply turned her gaze around them.
"This place needs cleanup. He's activated the Eternal Life Sect's old piece — the Imperial Astronomical Bureau and Night-Watch Bureau had best take over and seal it off at once. Someone from the Imperial Academy should also inspect the earth veins here, in case anything remains."
Gu Chengming nodded. "I'll send word to Director Zhou."
He took out a message talisman and briefly explained the situation at the Stringless Ward, deliberately leaving out the specifics of how the Sword of Universal Discrimination had operated. He wrote only that the Eternal Life Sect Perfected One had been slain, that the Flowing Cloud Moon-Tracing Sovereign was holding the Dharma-Station for the time being, and that the scene needed to be sealed off jointly by the Night-Watch Bureau, the Imperial Astronomical Bureau, and the Imperial Academy.
A reply came quickly from Zhou Qingmu's end: "Coming shortly. Don't take any more risks."
The Flowing Cloud Moon-Tracing Sovereign glanced over, her tone carrying a subtle edge. "Deputy Director Zhou certainly cares about you."
Gu Chengming coughed. "Director Zhou is always conscientious."
The Flowing Cloud Moon-Tracing Sovereign only smiled and said nothing more.
The two of them lingered a while longer in the Stringless Ward, confirming there was no trace of the Eternal Life Sect Perfected One reviving, before Gu Chengming finally left together with the Flowing Cloud Moon-Tracing Sovereign.
Gu Chengming glanced back at the old stage. Rain was already falling on it again, washing the lingering black-red qi away, drop by drop.
A once-true Sovereign of the Eternal Life Sect had died here, just like that.
The Eternal Life Sect had lost a Sovereign capable of joining the greater contest; the Flowing Cloud Moon-Tracing Sovereign had gained a Dharma-Station she could refine; and much of the pressure surrounding Zhou Qingmu's recognized standing had eased considerably as well.
One matter, at least, had finally settled.
But settled was settled — the troublesome cleanup work was clearly far from over.
The Night-Watch Bureau needed to seal off the scene, the Imperial Astronomical Bureau needed to investigate the Eternal Life Sect's remnants, and the Imperial Academy needed to re-survey the earth veins.
Gu Chengming had meant to linger a while longer, but the Dharma-Station's residual phantom in the Flowing Cloud Moon-Tracing Sovereign's hand was trembling faintly — clearly not something to be left in a place like this for long.
So the two of them left the Stringless Ward for the time being, returning to their residence first to suppress the Dharma-Station, planning to discuss the rest once the Night-Watch Bureau took over.
Only after following the Flowing Cloud Moon-Tracing Sovereign back to their residence did Gu Chengming belatedly remember something.
He'd just used the Sword of Universal Discrimination — did that mean he'd cleared the Love's Zhouli's Heaven-Human Heart-Rectifying Method room?
The moment the thought surfaced, something stirred faintly within him.
The pure-white space of the Love Laboratory unfolded deep within his consciousness — a long corridor formed of condensed grey mist stretching silently onward, familiar doors standing on either side.
When Gu Chengming's consciousness settled before the door belonging to Love's Zhouli's Heaven-Human Heart-Rectifying Method, he found the patterns carved into it already glowing.
Meanwhile.
While Gu Chengming stood outside mulling over whether he'd cleared the trial, the atmosphere inside the room had already been tense for quite some time.
Love's Zhouli's Heaven-Human Heart-Rectifying Method and Zhouli's Heaven-Human Heart-Rectifying Method sat facing each other across a low table.
If one overlooked the obvious indignation on Zhouli's Heaven-Human Heart-Rectifying Method's face, the scene might almost have passed for dignified and courteous.
"This is a breach of propriety."
Zhouli's Heaven-Human Heart-Rectifying Method sat upright before the table, her robes immaculate, a long-suppressed resentment plain between her brows. "Every other technique unlocking the Love Laboratory has been able to work in perfect concert with Chengming, overcoming their trials together. And yet when it comes to me, I've been locked up by my own Love version — unable to get so much as a single word out."
Love's Zhouli's Heaven-Human Heart-Rectifying Method sat across from her, cool and composed, her robes more sumptuous still than her counterpart's. She gave a cold laugh.
"I'm the one you're all supposed to defeat. What makes you think I'd help you?"
Zhouli's Heaven-Human Heart-Rectifying Method was momentarily at a loss for words, but her indignation remained undimmed.
"Even so, that's no reason to shut me out entirely."
Love's Zhouli's Heaven-Human Heart-Rectifying Method looked up. "If I let you out, what's the first thing you'd do?"
Zhouli's Heaven-Human Heart-Rectifying Method considered this. "Naturally, I would assist Chengming — help him understand great propriety, discern great righteousness, and break through his difficulties by the proper Dao."
Love's Zhouli's Heaven-Human Heart-Rectifying Method regarded her with an expression of exasperated fondness — the look of someone wishing iron would turn to steel and it simply wouldn't.
In truth, of all the rooms within the Love Laboratory, Love's Zhouli's Heaven-Human Heart-Rectifying Method was, if anything, the most theatrical of them all.
The trial she'd set for Gu Chengming had had a clear, predetermined answer from the very start.
Because the Sword of Universal Discrimination was bound to trigger, sooner or later.
As long as Gu Chengming ran into an opponent sufficiently well-matched, sufficiently deserving of death, and of a high enough realm, the trial would resolve itself smoothly — one might even say it was practically designed to hand him a boost in combat power.
Love's Zhouli's Heaven-Human Heart-Rectifying Method had locked her original self away partly to make this suspiciously easy trial look at least somewhat difficult, and partly to keep her original from pulling some stunt that would turn a sure thing into needless drama.
Of course, none of this was something she'd tell Zhouli's Heaven-Human Heart-Rectifying Method.
In that sense, Love's Zhouli's Heaven-Human Heart-Rectifying Method was, if anything, the most self-restrained of them all.
But to keep herself from looking quite so restrained, she'd instead set up a few harmless little obstacles — barring Gu Chengming from entering the room right away, trapping her original self in here, hiding the Knight Dharma Sword's mechanics behind all manner of roundabout detours.
Zhouli's Heaven-Human Heart-Rectifying Method had no idea about any of these convolutions, of course. She only felt her counterpart was being excessive.
"Acting like this — isn't it rather unfair?"
Love's Zhouli's Heaven-Human Heart-Rectifying Method said flatly, "Fair? This is the Love Laboratory. Not the Imperial Academy."
Zhouli's Heaven-Human Heart-Rectifying Method was about to press her case further when a long, ringing peal like a ceremonial bell suddenly sounded from outside the room.
Both of them looked up at once as a beam of white-gold sword-light spilled through the gap beneath the door.
The Sword of Universal Discrimination — it had succeeded.
Zhouli's Heaven-Human Heart-Rectifying Method blinked, then broke into a smile, murmuring a quiet "Excellent" under her breath.
Then she shot Love's Zhouli's Heaven-Human Heart-Rectifying Method a provoking look. "No matter how many obstacles you set, the outcome was never going to change."
Love's Zhouli's Heaven-Human Heart-Rectifying Method said nothing, looking as though she'd finally let out a breath she'd been holding.
It didn't matter now. Since he'd passed her trial, she could simply leave the rest to unfold on its own.
Zhouli's Heaven-Human Heart-Rectifying Method had expected her counterpart to be furious, but Love's Zhouli's Heaven-Human Heart-Rectifying Method only rose slowly to her feet, turning to look at her.
"When the crucial moment comes, face your true heart head-on. Don't let yourself have regrets."
Zhouli's Heaven-Human Heart-Rectifying Method blinked, startled, then frowned. "What do you mean by that?"
Love's Zhouli's Heaven-Human Heart-Rectifying Method said simply, "Exactly what it sounds like."
Zhouli's Heaven-Human Heart-Rectifying Method stared at her for a moment before something dawned on her, and the tips of her ears colored faintly.
"Absurd. Propriety arises from feeling and is bounded by ritual. Between Chengming and me, there is already a bond of shared principle — why would there need to be..."
"Need to be what?" Love's Zhouli's Heaven-Human Heart-Rectifying Method wore a look somewhere between a smile and none at all. Zhouli's Heaven-Human Heart-Rectifying Method fell silent.
The next moment, the door swung open.
The instant Gu Chengming stepped inside, he saw two Zhouli's Heaven-Human Heart-Rectifying Methods.
Love's Zhouli's Heaven-Human Heart-Rectifying Method turned to him and inclined her head slightly. "You've passed my trial."
Gu Chengming, remembering exactly how that sword strike had unfolded, wore a rather complicated expression.
Love's Zhouli's Heaven-Human Heart-Rectifying Method seemed to see straight through him, and said calmly, "The prejudice of ordinary beings is crude and shallow by its very nature. Only one who can wield its edge without being stained by it truly grips this sword. What you did today was passable."
"My purpose here is fulfilled, my task complete. Now that the Knight Dharma Sword has acknowledged you, the room of Love's Zhouli's Heaven-Human Heart-Rectifying Method will open entirely."
"I was always one facet of her heart's intent, as well as part of this room's trial. Now that you've entered through this door, it means she no longer needs to hide behind me."
Love's Zhouli's Heaven-Human Heart-Rectifying Method gave Gu Chengming one last look, then scattered into motes of white-gold light that dispersed through the room. The Knight Dharma Sword gave a soft ring at his waist, as though completing one final handover.
Only Gu Chengming and Zhouli's Heaven-Human Heart-Rectifying Method remained in the room now, and the atmosphere suddenly fell quiet.
Zhouli's Heaven-Human Heart-Rectifying Method sat before the table, her hands folded properly on her knees.
"The Dao of ritual and law prizes above all a sense of proportion — knowing when to press forward, and when to hold back. Today you wielded the prejudice of ordinary beings as a blade, yet never drowned in that prejudice itself; you took malice as an edge, yet still held fast to the root purpose of destroying evil. Such balance is rare indeed."
Gu Chengming listened quietly as Zhouli's Heaven-Human Heart-Rectifying Method continued. "In the past, I always worried that you acted too recklessly, that your methods were too outlandish, that the road you walked was one worldly ritual and law could scarcely accommodate. But watching you these past days, I've seen that although you often do things that shock the world, you've always carried a scale within your heart."
Her voice grew softer with every word.
Strangely enough, though these were the very sort of principles she was normally most skilled at expounding, right now they sounded like she was searching for some reason to justify remaining seated here at all.
She looked at Gu Chengming, her gaze drifting from his eyes down to the Knight Dharma Sword at his waist, then slowly back up to his face.
"When gentlemen speak of friendship, they should be bound by shared principle. Between you and me — from the day my technique first followed you, to today, standing shoulder to shoulder in slaying an enemy — a great many threads of causality have already tied us together. By the standards of ritual and law, this is fellow travelers on the same path supporting one another; by the standards of great righteousness, this is setting the world aright—"
Gu Chengming didn't interrupt her. But partway through, Zhouli's Heaven-Human Heart-Rectifying Method suddenly stopped.
She realized that the more she spoke, the less she could hide the feeling welling in her heart.
The talk of fellow travelers, of great righteousness, of mutual fulfillment — all of it was true enough.
But all those truths combined still couldn't bury the one thought that was far harder for her to voice.
She suddenly recalled what Love's Zhouli's Heaven-Human Heart-Rectifying Method had said to her, just before leaving.
Zhouli's Heaven-Human Heart-Rectifying Method finally raised her eyes, the tips of her ears faintly red, her expression more earnest than at any point before.
"Everything I just said — all of it was secondary."
Something stirred in Gu Chengming. She looked at him and said softly, "It's simply because I love you. My feelings are beyond my own control."
Zhouli's Heaven-Human Heart-Rectifying Method seemed to finally shed that shell of dignified composure. She rose, walked up to Gu Chengming, wrapped her arms around his waist, rose onto her toes, and slowly kissed him.
The kiss began with a trace of restraint still lingering, but soon the feelings she'd suppressed for so long spread outward, little by little, through the press of their lips.
In the study, white-gold radiance quietly settled down.
[CG: Love's Zhouli's Heaven-Human Heart-Rectifying Method — Unlocked.]
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