Chapter 35: The Seven Fairies, the Scoundrel, and a Fictional Fiancée

Cosplay? Su Liyue and Ye Xingchen froze simultaneously, their minds conjuring all sorts of bizarre images.

“Exactly! Look, your sword spirit is playing the role of a fairy sister, and her name is Qizai. Isn’t that just like the Seven Fairies?” Mu Wanqing exclaimed excitedly.

“The Seven Fairies?!” Su Liyue instantly recalled that when she had previously told Mu Wanqing the story of ‘The Cowherd and the Weaver Girl’, that girl’s first reaction upon hearing it had been:

“Isn’t this male lead a pervert? Stealing someone’s clothes and forcing marriage? And the female lead actually fell in love with him? She’s definitely a love-struck fool!”

At the time, Su Liyue had even tried to explain: “Maybe some people just like that sort of thing? When it comes to matters of the heart, a dip in IQ is perfectly normal…” Now, thinking back, that explanation only made things worse.

“One Yaochi Saintess is already more than he can handle, and now seven more? Do you think this is the Seven Calabash Brothers saving their grandpa… they’ll go and never return!” Su Liyue retorted.

Seven Saintesses…

In Ye Xingchen’s mind, the background music from ‘Flirting Scholar’ had already begun to play automatically.

One Yaochi Saintess was headache enough. If he really gathered the Saintesses from the Seven Great Sacred Lands… was this to summon a divine dragon to grant wishes, or to gather eight players for a ‘Three Kingdoms Kill’ (TL Note: A popular Chinese card game, similar to ‘Bang!’) military struggle?

The crucial point was that for this ‘military eight’, the female-bodied Su Liyue would also have to be included as a mole!

Qizai suddenly conjured seven clones, forming the Big Dipper constellation array in the air:

“If Master likes it, I can perform ‘The Seven Fairies Descending to the Mortal Realm’ right now~”

“Settle down! If you keep this up, I’ll really send you to the Yaochi Saintess to be her live-in husband!” Ye Xingchen grabbed the hilt of the main sword.

Jiuwu suddenly flew into the midst of the group, its tail feathers rapidly scribbling:

[Seven times the joy]

Mu Wanqing’s eyes, however, lit up. “Yueyue! I suddenly have a brilliant idea!”

She excitedly pulled Su Liyue’s hand.

“At the graduation ceremony, we can have Qizai perform ‘The Seven Fairies Descending to the Mortal Realm’, Ye Xingchen can play the rogue, and you can play…”

“Stop right there!”

Su Liyue quickly clapped a hand over her best friend’s mouth.

“If you keep talking, I’m afraid Qizai will actually turn into seven Yaochi Saintesses to hunt us down!”

‘He plays the rogue, so wouldn’t I have to play the love-struck fool? Playing a duet with myself?’

Ye Xingchen’s expression sharpened, the aura around him instantly turning serious:

“Qizai, how did you come to this world?”

This question concerned the coordinate correlation between two worlds, and might even involve the secrets of the timeline.

Qizai’s sword tassel drooped listlessly:

“Actually, I’m not sure either… After Master suddenly disappeared, I went to find the Yaochi Saintess, Sister… Upon hearing the news, she nearly overturned the entire Yaochi realm and searched for three hundred and sixty-five days with the Tracing Light Mirror…”

‘The foot-washing incident hasn’t been forgotten?!’

Ye Xingchen’s pupils constricted violently, instantly recalling the embarrassing scene when he had mistakenly entered the Yaochi realm back then, where the Saintess was washing her feet.

That fleeting glimpse of her jade feet amidst the hazy mist directly caused his sword qi to go out of control, splitting half of a lotus platform…

“Later, I suddenly sensed Master’s summons,”

Qizai’s sword light suddenly flared brightly.

“But when I came over, I found that Master’s appearance wasn’t the only thing that had changed…”

The sword tip pointed aggrievedly at Su Liyue.

“You even found a new love and forgot the old!”

The phoenix Jiuwu, at some unknown point, had produced a packet of spirit fruits, eating them while watching the drama unfold, much like a spectator engrossed in a TV series. It even used its tail flames to spell out “Amazing!” in the air.

Mu Wanqing immediately pulled Su Liyue closer, whispering into her ear: “Yueyue! Your man sounds like an absolute scoundrel!

He already has romantic entanglements before even reaching adulthood; did he start flirting with girls while still in the womb?”

‘Scoundrel?!’ Ye Xingchen’s mouth twitched. ‘Is it really appropriate to say such things in front of the person concerned?!’

Thus, in the female body of Su Liyue, he calmly patted Mu Wanqing.

“Qingqing, I actually know about this… There’s indeed a rather complicated history between the Yaochi Saintess and Ye Xingchen…”

Her expression was subtle as she spoke these words. After all, no one knew the truth better than she did; she couldn’t very well say that the ‘lovesick one’ was actually pining for her male self, could she?

Qizai, however, suddenly transformed back into human form, mimicking the appearance of the Yaochi Saintess:

“Master, do you still remember that lotus platform from that day? Saintess Sister later refined it into her Natal Magic Treasure, and named it…”

“Qizai, shut up!” Ye Xingchen and Su Liyue exclaimed in unison, a peculiar blush simultaneously spreading across both their faces.

Ye Xingchen instantly recalled Qizai back into his hand, his fingers gently pressing against the sword’s body to prevent her from continuing to utter shocking revelations:

“Qizai, since even you don’t know how you came to this world, then I can’t immediately take you back to see the Yaochi Saintess.”

His voice was low and serious.

“We can’t even determine our current spatiotemporal coordinates.”

Qizai’s sword tassel drooped limply, emitting a faint ‘ding-a-ling’ sound, like a wronged whimper.

Ye Xingchen released his grip and continued to explain:

“Moreover, although this world is different from ours, it likely hides the secrets of time. If we can unravel this mystery, we might be able to find a way back.”

While Ye Xingchen was intently explaining, Mu Wanqing quietly pulled Su Liyue closer and whispered:

“Yueyue, your man wouldn’t happen to be… here…”

She subtly pointed to her temple.

“a bit off? Why does he sound more and more outlandish the more he talks?”

A bead of cold sweat trickled down Su Liyue’s temple.

‘How was she supposed to explain this? Was she to say, ‘Actually, we’re the same person, and we’re from another world’?’

“Well, actually…” Su Liyue suddenly had a flash of inspiration, and held her hands to her chest in a gesture of longing,

“My Xingchen is an extraterrestrial visitor, we are a destined pair, meant to be together. In this life, I will marry no one but him…”

The more she spoke, the more immersed she became, tears of emotion even glistening at the corners of her eyes.

“Just like the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl crossing the Milky Way, or Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai transforming into butterflies to fly together…”

Mu Wanqing, her face filled with worry, reached out and touched Su Liyue’s forehead:

“You don’t have a fever, do you?” She eyed her best friend suspiciously. “Yueyue, you haven’t been infected by Ye Xingchen, have you?”

Su Liyue: “…”

‘No, I was led astray by you!’

“So, Qizai, to go home soon, you must first take good care of this young lady, Su Liyue…” He paused. “She is my fiancée.”

“Fian… fiancée?!” Qizai’s sword body trembled violently, suddenly transforming into human form, bearing the peerlessly beautiful face of the Yaochi Saintess, with tears welling in her eyes:

“Master! You saw the Saintess’s jade feet and now you don’t recognize anyone else, you scoundrel! And Saintess Sister worried about you day and night…”

“Scoundrel, my foot!” Ye Xingchen, seeing that familiar face display a sorrowful expression, ultimately softened.

He quietly transmitted a message: ‘Qizai, haven’t you noticed that Su Liyue is actually… me?’

The sword spirit instantly stopped crying, widening those watery eyes, and circled Su Liyue, scrutinizing her up and down:

“If I sense carefully…”

She suddenly leaned close to Su Liyue’s neck and sniffed.

“There really is Master’s soul aura! However… this doesn’t rule out…”

Qizai suddenly conjured a light screen, which prominently displayed:

[Possibility Analysis]

[1. Master in female disguise (Probability: 30%)]

[2. Master reincarnated (Probability: 20%)]

[3. Possesses Master’s bloodline (Probability: 50%)]

[Suggested Detection Method]

[Feel the stomach for fetal movement]

Su Liyue slapped the light screen away. “Are you doing a delivery inspection?!”

Not far away, Mu Wanqing was utterly bewildered: “Yueyue, what kind of riddles are you two speaking?”

“Nothing!” Su Liyue pulled Qizai into a fierce hug, gritting her teeth as she whispered:

“If you dare to spout any more nonsense, I’ll melt you down and forge you into a back-scratcher!”

Jiuwu flew over at an opportune moment, its tail feathers elegantly writing:

[Code of Conduct for a Certain Sword]

[Article 1: Private life of the Master shall not be publicly discussed]

[Article 2: Discussion of the Master’s romantic history is strictly prohibited]

[Article 3: Violators will be transformed into… a toilet brush]

Qizai transformed back into sword form, looking utterly wronged, and a line of small text appeared on its hilt:

[So, should I tell the Yaochi Saintess?]

[That she might have two Dao Companions?]