There's Even a Synergy Effect?!

Strictly speaking, Nuo Tao wasn't exactly a Northerner.

The time she had spent in the northern border was, at most, only slightly longer than Gu Chengming's.

So, was the Knight Dharma sword's criteria for judgment actually based on words and actions?

It didn't have the ability to determine where a person was actually from; instead, it could only judge through speech and then implement harsh regional discrimination. So just now, after hearing Gu Chengming feed Nuo Tao a dumpling and seeing the dumpling fall onto the table, it concluded: Northerner, table, dumpling, humiliation successful.

Gu Chengming's expression was subtle.

Wait, but why? Why would the Life-Defying Calamity-Slaying True Monarch's Dharma sword have such a bizarre sword intent? What kind of sword intent is this even supposed to be?!

Thinking back, when Near Heaven of the Babbling Branch listed those Dharma sword names, he really should have been more alert.

It was just that the name 'Knight' was too misleading. It sounded so incredibly proper—so proper that Gu Chengming momentarily forgot that any 'Knight' grouped together with the likes of Thunder, Raptors, and Warriors probably had nothing to do with protecting the weak.

From this perspective, the Qingxin Art was actually right.

【The Qingxin Art giggled behind its hand: Although I guessed about seventy or eighty percent of it early on, the true intent of this Dharma sword is indeed quite contrary to common sense. It’s actually quite amusing.】

On the other side of the table, seeing Gu Chengming staring into space in the direction of the innocent fried dumpling before her, his expression shifting from stunned to subtle, Nuo Tao began to feel a bit nervous.

She quietly tucked the hand she had just withdrawn into her sleeve even further, secretly regretting if her act of playing pitiful had been a bit too much.

She was a dignified Third Realm thief cultivator with true essence protecting her body; how could she possibly be moved to tears by a scalding fried dumpling?

Anyone with a clear eye could tell it was an act. Could it be that Brother Gu found her affected and was currently looking down on her in his heart...?

The more she thought about it, the more guilty she felt, her eyes constantly stealing glances at the man across from her.

Just as she lowered her head, silently imagining all sorts of tragic scenarios where she was despised, Gu Chengming suddenly looked up and spoke quite naturally.

“Where is Miss Nuo from, exactly?”

Nuo Tao was slightly stunned and answered honestly, “I was picked up by my master and brought to the Myriad Thief Sect when I was very young. I don't have much of an impression of my birthplace.”

She tilted her head, thinking quite seriously for a long while before adding, “However, if we calculate by the Myriad Thief Sect's territory, I should barely count as someone from the East Sea region.”

Gu Chengming rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

He had posed this question, naturally, to figure out the judgment mechanism of this 'Knight sword.'

Was that sudden surge in unlock progress a targeted insult aimed only at the northern border, or was it an indiscriminate geographical broadside?

A single sample from the northern border was far from enough. As the saying goes, a single piece of evidence does not make a case. He had to find someone from another region to verify the truth of this Dharma sword's 'regional discrimination.'

And the East Sea girl before him, who had just reported her origins, was the perfect experimental subject.

In the spirit of the rigorous testing a qualified cultivator should possess, he followed up with the next question.

“Then, Miss Nuo, what do you like to eat most in the East Sea?”

Hearing this, Nuo Tao was taken aback, and then her eyes lit up bit by bit.

Eh? What did Brother Gu mean by this? Asking about her preferences? Why had the topic suddenly become so considerate?

Could it be that instead of being repulsed by her previous move, Brother Gu had been moved by her charm and was now planning to use a discussion about food as a pretext to naturally invite her to dinner?

All sorts of random thoughts crashed around in her head. Nuo Tao couldn't help but clear her throat, trying hard to suppress the smile she couldn't hold back, and acted reserved.

“If we're talking about East Sea food, white-cut chicken is definitely the most appetizing!”

She put down her water cup and gestured with both hands in the air, as if a freshly sliced white-cut chicken had already appeared before her.

“When it comes to white-cut chicken, the most important thing is that the meat must be tender, the skin must be smooth, and it shouldn't be dry when you eat it. The chicken itself has a bit of sweetness, and when paired with soy sauce that has a faint savory flavor, the taste immediately comes out.”

“And ginger paste! Scallion oil works too! Just a little dip, and the fragrance melts in your mouth with a 'shoo' sound. The chicken skin is smooth and springy, and the meat is fresh and tender. Every bite is very comfortable.” Speaking to this point, she added, “That's also my favorite thing to eat!”

After listening, Gu Chengming nodded and raised his hand to summon a canteen clerk.

“Please have the kitchen make a serving of white-cut chicken.”

Nuo Tao's eyes instantly sparkled with stars.

She had only been imagining it, but who knew Brother Gu would actually order the kitchen to make it on the spot!

For a moment, she didn't know what expression to use to hide her inner joy, so she could only pretend to look down and wipe away non-existent oil stains on the table, while the tips of her ears quietly turned red.

As expected! The 'playing cute' tactic was invincible!

She was just about to silently credit herself with a great achievement when she heard Gu Chengming add another sentence.

“Also, while you're at it, bring over a dish of freshly made strawberry jam.”

Nuo Tao: “Huh?”

She didn't react when she looked up, assuming Brother Gu wanted to use the jam as a dessert pairing.

After all, for sophisticated diners these days, having a sweet snack to cleanse the palate after a main meal was a common and elegant interest, nothing unusual.

Before long, the dish was served.

The plate of white-cut chicken was still steaming when it was brought out. The skin was a glossy golden-yellow, and the meat was as white as fat. It was sliced neatly and stacked like a small mountain of jade, its aroma wafting into one's nose with the steam.

Beside it was a small dish filled with strawberry jam as deep red as blood. Its color was enticing, and one could smell the scent of boiled fruit just by looking at it.

Looking at the plate of white-cut chicken she had been longing for, Nuo Tao's mouth almost started watering uncontrollably.

She looked at Gu Chengming, her heart filled with even more secret joy. Brother Gu was so kind; knowing she liked to eat it, he even specially had the kitchen make it.

She even began to imagine Gu Chengming picking up a piece of chicken and saying gently, “Try it and see if it's to your taste,” while she would act calm as she bit into it and give a compliment like “It's not bad,” while actually being so happy she'd be rolling on the floor in her mind.

She picked up her bowl and was about to grandly extend her chopsticks to pick up the first piece, completing her highlight moment of the day with the elegant posture of a beautiful foodie heroine's first tasting, when she saw Gu Chengming across from her pick up the dish of strawberry jam.

The chopsticks in Nuo Tao's hand stopped in mid-air.

She blinked, trying to understand. Was Brother Gu going to set the jam aside separately to use as dessert after the main meal?

But if he was just setting it aside, why did he pick it up?

An ominous premonition faintly rose in her heart. She then saw Gu Chengming's wrist slowly tilt, and that smear of vivid red strawberry jam flowed down the edge of the dish like a flood from a burst dam, pouring straight onto that white and tender jade mountain.

Upon meeting the steam, the jam instantly turned into a strange red sludge, snaking along the chicken skin, flowing through the snow-white cracks in the meat, and seeping into the folds of the golden-yellow skin, ultimately casting the entire plate of white-cut chicken into a nameless piece of postmodern art.

Red and white entangled, thick and tender fused; the atmosphere froze.

Only that plate of ravaged white-cut chicken remained on the table, steaming on its own and silently letting out its final mournful cry.

“?” A question mark appeared over Nuo Tao's head.

Gu Chengming picked up his chopsticks and grabbed a piece of chicken covered in strawberry jam. Under Nuo Tao's almost sluggish gaze, Gu Chengming put the piece of chicken into his mouth and chewed twice with a expressionless face.

Nuo Tao felt as if she had witnessed a murder.

The victim was the white-cut chicken, and the murderer was the strawberry jam.

The primary culprit, Gu Chengming, had acted with extreme cruelty and showed not the slightest hint of remorse.

Gu Chengming chewed slowly and even nodded as if he were being serious.

“The jam coats the smooth and tender chicken; the sweet and sour fruit aroma makes the chicken taste even fresher and sweeter.” He looked at Nuo Tao, his tone very sincere.

“Don't you think so?”

Looking at the plate of white-cut chicken that had been ruined beyond recognition, Nuo Tao only felt her heart bleeding. If the person in front of her hadn't been Gu Chengming, she really would have wanted to flip the entire table right then and there!

Heretic! A total heretic!!

If someone like this were in the East Sea, they would be chased and hacked through three streets by a chef!

Her lips moved as if she wanted to say something, but since this was personally arranged by Brother Gu, she forced herself to swallow her accusation.

At the same time, the Sword Chess system's prompt arrived as expected.

【Performed an action consistent with the Sword Dao of the Knight, Unlock Progress +10】

Under Nuo Tao's accusatory and resentful gaze, Gu Chengming, bearing that sticky strawberry flavor, expressionlessly swallowed the chicken in his mouth.

Subsequently, the Knight sword also gave its commentary.

【So it wasn't a Northerner but an East Sea person. No wonder you're so short.】

【The Knight sword expresses great satisfaction with your feat of fighting across the north and south, making enemies of the four seas.】

Well, so it really just is a simple case of regional discrimination against everyone...

Gu Chengming silently offered a stick of incense in his heart to that chicken as an apology.

...

After finishing dinner, Gu Chengming had someone take away the ravaged white-cut chicken and that pathetic plate of strawberry jam, leaving Miss Nuo Tao alone on the spot, gloomily staring at the empty plate to mourn the deceased chicken.

That mournful expression made it look as if what was lying on the table wasn't a chicken, but a close relative she had raised since childhood.

Gu Chengming took a glance from afar and sensibly did not step forward to disturb her, turning to head toward his own courtyard.

Either way, Miss Nuo's resentment needed an outlet. Letting her stare at an empty plate for a while was better than having her flip the table on the spot.

Back in his own courtyard, Gu Chengming thought to himself that he had finally figured out about seventy or eighty percent of this Knight sword's temperament today.

Regional discrimination was confirmed. As for what other hidden trigger mechanisms there were, it was currently unclear.

The judgment criteria for this Dharma sword were incredibly sinister. If he tried to figure it out on his own, he might not be able to guess the reason even if he spent three days and nights on it.

Instead of sitting behind closed doors and overthinking, it would be better to find a well-traveled senior to ask for advice; it might save a lot of trouble.

With this in mind, he simply strolled over to the side courtyard where True Monarch Liuyun Suyu was staying and recounted the matter of this Dharma sword in its entirety. Finally, he presented the ancient longsword before True Monarch Liuyun Suyu.

“Senior is well-traveled. Do you know the origin of this Life-Defying Calamity-Slaying True Monarch? Why would he forge such a strange Dharma sword?”

True Monarch Liuyun Suyu picked up the sword, turned it over between her fingers, and furrowed her brow slightly.

“Life-Defying Calamity-Slaying True Monarch...” She pondered for a moment. “He seems to be a figure from several eras after mine.”

Gu Chengming was slightly stunned. He had originally thought that with True Monarch Liuyun Suyu's seniority, all the True Monarch seniors in the entire cultivation world would be familiar to her. He hadn't expected this one to be a newcomer.

True Monarch Liuyun Suyu seemed to see through his confusion and explained, “Back then, I was stuck in the crack between time and karma. When this True Monarch rose to prominence, I had not yet broken free from that crack.” She paused and added, “However, all things in the world are observed by the Unfettered River. Anything that has been reflected in the river has automatically left behind some traces.”

“Precisely because of this, some things that can be observed by the Unfettered River have also been recorded by the Moon in the Clouds.”

The implication was that although she had never personally met this Life-Defying Calamity-Slaying True Monarch, she could still piece together some of his life story based on the scattered records left in the Moon in the Clouds.

True Monarch Liuyun Suyu closed her eyes and focused, taking out a moon-white jade slip from her sleeve. She lightly brushed her fingertip over the jade slip, and a sliver of moonlight slowly spread across its surface.

She looked through it for a moment, and her expression gradually became subtle.

Gu Chengming waited for a moment, and seeing her expression, his heart couldn't help but skip a beat.

How indifferent was this True Monarch Liuyun Suyu usually? She could maintain her calm even when facing something shocking, yet now she rarely showed a 'subtle' look, which was enough to show that the content recorded on the jade slip was quite outrageous.

Sure enough, the next moment True Monarch Liuyun Suyu put the jade slip away and looked up at him, her tone carrying a hint of being beyond words.

“Little friend, this Life-Defying Calamity-Slaying True Monarch's Dao Throne seems to be quite miscellaneous.”

“Miscellaneous?”

True Monarch Liuyun Suyu let out a soft sigh. “He didn't just attain one entire Dao Throne main branch; he also plucked several Dao Thrones from other main branches.”

Gu Chengming was slightly stunned, thinking to himself that this was equivalent to blocking the path for others to attain the Seventh Realm.

The Dao Throne main branches had always been single-line inheritances. Once the highest Dao Throne on a main branch was attained by a certain True Monarch, it was equivalent to completely capping that main branch.

No matter how talented or fortunate other cultivators were, they could only waste their lives under this cap, never making any further progress.

“Then wouldn't he have offended all the True Monarchs in the entire cultivation world?”

“Exactly,” True Monarch Liuyun Suyu nodded. “Any True Monarch who wants to move up another step has to curse him in their heart first.”

“This... why didn't anyone seek trouble with him?”

Logically, after offending so many big shots, he should have been hung up to dry at the entrance of some cave dwelling long ago.

“They did.” A hint of a smile appeared in True Monarch Liuyun Suyu's tone. “There were even Eighth Realm True Monarchs, but unfortunately, they couldn't beat him.”

Good heavens, even the Eighth Realm couldn't settle it. This True Monarch's strength was a perfect match for his 'making enemies of the four seas' temperament.

“Then what was his goal in doing something that practically provoked the entire cultivation world?” Gu Chengming finally couldn't help but ask.

According to common logic, offending the entire cultivation world wouldn't be just for a moment's pleasure; there must be a deeper plot.

True Monarch Liuyun Suyu shook her head, plucked another sliver of moonlight from her sleeve, and said slowly, “Because what he wanted was not the Dao Thrones, but the sword intent.”

“This Life-Defying Calamity-Slaying True Monarch loved swords as much as his own life. What he sought was never a certain sliver of the Dao Throne itself, but the unique 'sword intent' that the Dao Throne could nourish. He attained those miscellaneous Dao Thrones in order to take a sliver of sword intent from each to feed the Dharma swords in his hands.”

“Precisely because his sword intent was so incredibly miscellaneous, his Dao Thrones could only follow suit.”

“And precisely because this True Monarch loved swords so much, the Dharma swords he forged in his life were also among the top in the cultivation world.” True Monarch Liuyun Suyu's gaze swept over Gu Chengming's ancient longsword. “For example, the one in your hand.”

She paused. “This sword has an outrageous ability. Rumor has it that it can unconditionally counter all living beings in the world.”

“This is actually quite abnormal. It’s already impressive for a Dharma sword to be able to counter one category of beings. For example, the Dragon-Slaying Sword: because its material and sword intent are all forged around the word 'dragon,' it has an extra countering effect on dragon-kind.”

She paused and handed the sword back to Gu Chengming. “Even more top-tier Dharma swords might be able to expand this countering to a larger scope. For example, things like 'Evil-Slaying,' 'Demon-Slaying,' or 'Delusion-Slaying' refer to broader concepts, so the objects they counter are naturally more numerous.”

“But this Knight sword...”

Her brow furrowed a bit more. “I don't know what kind of method that True Monarch used back then, but this sword has completely jumped out of the ordinary Dharma sword's mold. It ignores race, ignores nature, and ignores stance, having a countering effect on all living beings in the world equally.”

Hearing this, Gu Chengming's expression gradually became subtle.

He seemed to know the reason now.

...

Another two days passed.

During these two days, Gu Chengming hadn't been idle either, occasionally doing a few small experiments with that Knight sword, trying to find more ways to trigger the unlock progress.

Unfortunately, this sword's temperament was incredibly sinister and unpredictable. Often, when he thought he had hit on a new idea, the system would show no reaction; yet other times, a random, mindless sentence would instead yield a string of unlock progress.

Just as Gu Chengming was wondering if this Knight sword had other trigger mechanisms and whether he could unlock its full sword intent faster...

A knock suddenly sounded outside the courtyard gate. Gu Chengming looked up and swept his divine sense over. His brow quirked slightly as he saw a familiar figure standing outside the gate.

Near Heaven of the Babbling Branch stood with her head lowered, holding a small food box in her arms, looking even more restrained than the last time she had knelt and begged for mercy in that abandoned Daoist temple.

The moment Gu Chengming opened the door, she almost reflexively took half a step back, then quickly gritted her teeth and stopped, holding up the food box as she spoke quite awkwardly.

“Lord Gu, I was graced by your mercy a few days ago. Today, I have specially come to prepare a small gift...”

Gu Chengming was slightly stunned.

It wasn't that Near Heaven of the Babbling Branch's visit was particularly abrupt. After all, the Dao foundation oath between the two was still hanging over their heads, so it was actually reasonable for her to act more diligently now. It was just that this 'former Longevity Sect elite mob's' current timid and cowardly appearance was truly a world away from her posture that day at the ruins of the Le Palace, where a single 'The world is silent' nearly suppressed all the Fifth Realm cultivators on the field into turtles.

The contrast was so great that it took Gu Chengming a second or two to match the current submissive image with the murderous elite mob in his memory.

Gu Chengming didn't think much of it for a moment and let her into the main hall.

However, this 'former Near Heaven' walked extremely lightly all the way from the gate to the hall, as if she were afraid that stepping too hard on a single floor tile would anger the master of the house.

Once she was seated, she only dared to sit on the very edge of the chair with half of her bottom.

Gu Chengming even suspected that if he were to suddenly slap the table right now, she might actually fall to her knees on the spot.

Just then, a subordinate came in from outside carrying two dishes of freshly heated small snacks and placed them on Gu Chengming's side.

Gu Chengming casually picked up his chopsticks, looked up, and naturally pointed toward the former Near Heaven across from him.

“Would you like to join me?”

After all, since she had come to visit and brought a food box, he couldn't just let her sit there and watch him eat.

Who knew that before this polite sentence could even land—

Near Heaven of the Babbling Branch waved her hands repeatedly. “No, no, no. How could I dare to dine at the same table as Lord Gu? Lord Gu, please go first; I will just stand by and serve.”

Gu Chengming: “...”

He wanted to persuade her further, but before he could speak—at that very moment—

【Performed an action consistent with the Sword Dao of the Knight, Unlock Progress +5】

That familiar line of text appeared at the bottom of his vision.

Gu Chengming's movements paused.

He could even feel the ancient longsword hanging at his waist tremble slightly, as if letting out a satisfied hum.

The next line of commentary slowly surfaced.

【That's right, women aren't allowed at the table.】

Gu Chengming: “?”

—So there's even fucking gender discrimination?!

【The Zhou Rites Heavenly Rectifying Art is quite gratified.】

【The Zhou Rites Heavenly Rectifying Art is thoughtful; the Zhou Rites Heavenly Rectifying Art has a sudden realization.】

【The Zhou Rites Heavenly Rectifying Art is comprehending a CG.】

Fuck, there's even a synergy effect?!