"It certainly has been a while," Fuli greeted the quietly standing Castorice while expertly kneading the soft, chubby little pegasus in his arms.
"Doo~"
Little Ica's pudgy body squirmed in his embrace. At first, it let out faint protests, but it quickly melted under his perfectly calibrated strokes, narrowing its eyes and letting out a purr of absolute indulgence.
Fuli had noticed a long time ago that, for some unknown reason, his reincarnated self seemed exceptionally popular with non-human creatures. Unless there were absolutely no other targets around, even mindless Honkai Beasts rarely prioritized attacking him.
His most vivid memory of this was during his challenge on the 5th Floor of the Virtual Space—the Mars Heaven. The boss guarding the floor, Eleanor, had literally scooped him up into her arms and used him as her "pilot." It was practically an incubus-level passive skill.
Initially, Fuli wanted to chalk this up to his cultivation of the Peerless Nine Turns technique, which simulated various Meta-Morph traits and constantly optimized his lifeform. In a sense, he really was half-inhuman.
But then he remembered that he had cultivated the exact same technique in his previous life and definitely hadn't received this kind of VIP treatment. He could only write it off as an unsolved mystery brought about by his reincarnation.
"And who might this lovely young lady be?"
After greeting Castorice, he turned his gaze to the pink-haired girl radiating that warm, morning-sun aura. Surrounded daily by Herrscher-level beauties, the boy was largely immune to top-tier looks.
Yet, Hyacine's pure, warm, and utterly healing temperament felt exceptionally refreshing. If not for the social boundaries between men and women, Fuli would have been sorely tempted to scoop up this angelically cute, petite girl, pat her head, and feed her snacks.
"Ah, hello! I am Hyacine from the Twilight Courtyard, and my codename is—"
At first, Hyacine had been momentarily stunned by the Hyperion 'incubus's' insanely high specs, but she quickly recovered. However, halfway through her introduction, all three of their phones chimed simultaneously, as if prearranged.
They pulled them out to look.
[Wardance Squad Member Confirmation:]
[Fuli]
[Hyacine]
[Castorice]
Adding in Yunli, who hadn't met up with them yet, the members of the Classic Squad had actually managed to assemble in this bustling, chaotic hall in the most unexpected way possible.
"So you're Hyacine!" Fuli's eyes lit up, his enthusiasm immediately cranking up a notch. Yunli had been the one contacting Hyacine previously and hadn't passed her contact info over to him.
"And you must be Fuli—Li-bao?" The petite healer quickly caught on, generously extending her small hand. Her eyes, clear as a sky after the rain, brimmed with friendliness, though they also carried a hint of apology—clearly embarrassed about arriving late.
"Li-bao..." Rolling the uniquely affectionate nickname around in his mind, the sunny smile on Fuli's face grew even brighter.
He was just about to say something else when the usually silent Castorice suddenly spoke up, her ethereal voice carrying its signature hint of polite detachment. "Um, Your Excellency. Should we perhaps move to a different location to catch up?"
Prompted by the reminder, Fuli looked around and realized they were completely blocking the entrance to the trading area, drawing more than a few disgruntled glares from the customers waiting in line.
If it weren't for the terrifying reputation of the Servant of Death keeping people at bay, someone probably would have stepped up to yell at them to move by now.
"You're right. Let's head inside first."
Fuli didn't waste time. He handed the loudly purring Little Ica back to Hyacine, then turned and expertly guided the two girls through the crowd toward a quieter lounge area deeper inside the base.
The moment they stepped into the inner hall, a tall figure slowly walked toward them, silhouetted against the soft lighting.
Her dazzling silver-white hair was styled into a thick braid, and she wore a combat nun outfit brimming with religious aesthetics that perfectly accentuated her phenomenal figure. Her expression was holy and compassionate, like a divine saint descending to the mortal realm to save humanity.
Her overwhelming aura caused the newly arrived Hyacine and the naturally low-key Castorice to instinctively stop in their tracks and subconsciously straighten their posture.
Fuli, however, just looked exasperated. "Kallen, stop scaring the guests."
"Oh come on, you little brat! Can't a big sister enjoy equipping her 'Holy Maiden' trial card for a bit?!"
Having her act ruthlessly exposed to her face, Kallen clicked her tongue in annoyance. Her sacred, inviolable, utterly breathtaking aura vanished into thin air in an instant.
She then turned back to the flustered Hyacine, slapping on a perfectly practiced, professional customer-service smile. "This lovely little lady must be Hyacine from the Twilight Courtyard, right? The Momotaro Dango you reserved has already been packaged. Please check it over."
"Moyomo~" A Cat-Cake waiter hovering beside her conveniently offered up an exquisite paper bag stamped with the Hyperion's insignia.
"Ah! Yes! Thank you so much!"
Hyacine finally remembered what she came for and hurriedly stepped forward to take the bag. She carefully checked the quantity and packaging of the dango inside. Confirming everything was in order, she reached into the small spatial satchel slung across her body to pull out her payment.
She dug around for a few seconds... but her hand grabbed nothing but air.
"Eh?"
The girl froze in place, a flash of panic crossing her face. "That's weird... I definitely put it right here... How is it gone?"
She began frantically patting down every pocket on her outfit and wildly rummaging through her satchel again. As the seconds ticked by, her movements became increasingly desperate.
Seeing this, Fuli and Kallen exchanged a knowing glance.
Got pickpocketed?
Looks like it.
Given the pure and warm temperament Hyacine exuded, neither of them believed for a second that this cute little lady was deliberately trying to dine and dash.
Castorice, who actually knew her, felt the exact same way. The silver-haired girl stepped forward, elegantly folding her hands in front of her. "Excuse me, how many crystals is this item?"
She felt responsible for this. In the kind-hearted Cassie's view, Miss Hyacine probably assumed that with her standing right there, no thief would dare approach, causing her to drop her guard and giving some scumbag an opening.
"Cassie, wait a second! Let me look again! Maybe it just fell into a corner!"
Hyacine was on the verge of tears. If she had only lost the credit card storing her crystals, she could just go to an IPC-affiliated bank and get a replacement. But her spatial wallet contained a massive amount of incredibly rare medical materials and research data hoarded by the Twilight Courtyard—treasures that money literally couldn't buy!
Seeing the girl's eyes turning red as tears began to well up, Fuli suddenly spoke up.
"Kallen."
"Already pulled the surveillance footage for the entire street. Don't panic," the Holy Maiden replied smoothly. In the blink of an eye, she tossed him a set of coordinates.
Invisible, high-speed air currents violently swirled around Fuli's body—the precursor to activating his Lan-Form.
In the next second, his figure completely vanished from the lounge.
About half a minute later, he reappeared at the entrance. He dramatically whipped back the hem of his windbreaker, raising his hand to dangle a cute, fabric wallet in the air.
"Sorry for the wait. I had to make a quick detour to the Realm-Keeping Commission to hand that bold little thief over to the Cloud Knights on duty and explain the situation," Fuli said, tossing the wallet to her. "Check it over. The guy claimed he hadn't even had time to open it yet."
Hyacine frantically caught it, tearing it open to inspect the contents before letting out a massive sigh of relief.
Patting her modest chest, that brilliant, radiant smile bloomed across her face once more. "Nothing's missing! Not a single thing is missing! Thank you so, so much, Li-bao!"
"Jin-bao is an incredibly esteemed VIP of our Hyperion!" the boy puffed out his chest, feigning absolute seriousness. "The customer is God! How could I possibly let some scumbag who made God sad get away with it?"
Ew! So cheesy!
Triggered by his atrocious, greasy pick-up line, Kallen shuddered in disgust, dramatically rubbing her arms as if trying to scrub off goosebumps.
Of course, that was just the peanut gallery's opinion. At the very least, the actual person he helped was incredibly moved.
"Still, I really didn't expect that everyone in the Classic Squad aside from me would be a beautiful girl," Fuli sighed in genuine amazement before shifting gears back to business. "How are your assigned quests coming along? Yunli and I already finished ours. Once the vlog is edited in a day or two, we'll upload it. Do you guys need any help?"
"Thank you for your kindness, Your Excellency, but I have already completed mine as well," Castorice shook her head gently, her tone retaining that faint, polite distance.
Her initial quest had been to participate in an officially sanctioned arm-wrestling tournament, with her point reward scaling based on her final ranking. Thanks to her opponents "warmly letting her win" out of sheer terror, the girl swept first place, and a cool 5,000 points was currently sitting safely in her personal interface.
"Ah! I haven't even started mine yet..." Having just recovered from the wallet incident, Hyacine embarrassingly lowered her head. She had only recently arrived on the Luofu and felt like she was dragging the whole team down.
"It's fine, no rush. We can wait until you're fully settled in." Fuli waved it off dismissively. When it came to being utterly screwed over by the system, who could possibly beat his disastrous minus-80,000 point start? "I remember you're the manager of the Twilight Courtyard. Which district of the Luofu is your base located in?"
"Our base..."
At the mention of this, Hyacine's expression dimmed slightly. The struggles of a tiny faction went without saying. Applying for official territory on the Luofu, where land was literally worth its weight in gold, was harder than ascending to the heavens.
Castorice had actually invited her to temporarily stay at the Mourning Actors' base. The problem was that the overwhelming, vibrant life energy Hyacine constantly radiated would cause severe physical discomfort to the society's members, who were deeply attuned to the concepts of death and eternal rest.
Because of that, she had politely declined her friend's offer.
However, the girl quickly cheered up. Mimicking a classic bodybuilder pose, she flexed her slender arms and flashed a totally energetic smile. "For now, I can only find a hotel—oh, wait, they call them 'inns' here on the Luofu!—to stay at temporarily! But don't worry, Li-bao! It won't be long before the Twilight Courtyard definitely has its own beautiful headquarters right here on the Luofu!"
In other words, you're basically homeless right now, Fuli translated in his head.
He didn't recklessly offer her a place to stay at the Hyperion. They had only just met, and being overly enthusiastic might come off as completely lacking boundaries or having ulterior motives.
"Alright, then contact me once you've found a place to settle down, Jin-bao." He winked his left eye. "As the Captain of the Classic Squad, helping my members finish their quests is my absolute duty."
"Mhm! Thank you so much, Li-bao!"
Just like her own nickname for him, Hyacine naturally and happily accepted the nickname he gave her.
---||---
"They've been gone for ages. Are you still staring?"
A teasing voice echoed right next to Fuli's ear.
Looking out into the distance, he turned his head and saw Kallen staring at him with a smug "I know exactly what you're thinking" expression.
He immediately clarified, "Like Castorice, babr Hyacine seems to be a Chrysos Heir as well."
"Ho! You can even sense that?" Kallen, currently floating cross-legged in mid-air, raised an eyebrow. She unceremoniously reached out and viciously ruffled his messy hair. "Two Chrysos Heirs and a Flaming Heart master of the Zhuming. Your squad is pretty damn impressive!"
"That's nothing! My squad has an IPC high-executive and Schicksal's strongest Valkyrie!"
A white-haired Tuna suddenly sprinted over. Her high ponytail, tied up for ease of movement, bounced aggressively with her steps, radiating pure, youthful vitality.
Looking at her, Fuli instantly hallucinated the Herrscher of Flamescion, and his chest immediately started aching with phantom pain.
He ignored the PTSD and reminded her, "Bianka is participating under a secret identity this time. Don't let your mouth run loose and accidentally dox her."
"Oh, relax! Am I really that unreliable?"
Really? Because I 10,000% don't believe you.
Fuli's face was completely plastered with utter distrust.
This look instantly pissed Kiana off to the absolute maximum. Driven by sheer malice, the girl reached out, clamped her hands onto his cheeks, and violently stretched them outward like she was kneading pizza dough.
Not one to be outdone, Fuli immediately reached out and pinched her cheeks back. The two instantly devolved into a chaotic, giggling wrestling match. With one wrong move, they both went THUD!, crashing onto the floor.
Bronya, who had just finished organizing her data files, walked out of her room only to see these two idiots rolling around on the hallway carpet. You on top, me on bottom, an intensely fierce battle, clothes disheveled—it was an absolute circus.
Bronya: (ᗜ˰ᗜ)
"A-Li, A-Li, listen to me~"
Having successfully replenished her 'A-Li Energy' through their wrestling match, a panting Kiana finally started complaining about her quest.
Her task was to travel to a specific micro-bubble universe, locate a cursed Zhuming demonic sword that had been lost there, pull it from its resting place, and bring it back to its homeland.
The problem was that this sentient demonic sword was incredibly arrogant. It demanded that whoever tried to pull it must possess a master-level understanding of swordsmanship. Otherwise, it would literally self-destruct rather than submit to an unworthy wielder.
"That's easy to fix." Fuli sat up from the floor, dusting off his clothes. "Take me with you. I guarantee I'll pull it out smoother than butter and bring it right back."
"I just said it was my quest!" The big white cat smacked him in annoyance. "If I make you pull it, then I'm not the one completing the quest!"
"So what you're saying is, we need to crash-course your swordsmanship skills right now, correct?" The boy pondered for a moment before suddenly standing up. "I'm going out for a bit."
A short while later, driving his heavily modded Type 59 tank, he smoothly arrived at the haunted mansion.
A cold, ethereal figure stood quietly in the center of the courtyard. She radiated an indescribable, absolute pinnacle of sword intent, looking as though she had completely merged with the moonlight.
As the sword poem goes: The metaphysical sword, unprecedented in history, revered by ten thousand swords, worshiped like a god. The world bestows upon her the title: Transcendent Flash.
Out of everyone Fuli knew, when it came to the absolute purity and unfathomable depth of swordsmanship, no one could surpass Jingliu.
In the brief pause during their intense, clashing spar, Fuli, having suppressed his Master once again, took the opportunity to voice his plan. "Master, do you have any plans to take in a new disciple?"
When sparring with Jingliu, Fuli rarely used his Partial Expansion Jutsu or Tyrant's Barrier. He had only been forced to use them exactly once, back when he first fought his completely deranged, mara-struck Master out of absolute necessity.
The power of those two skills was simply too overwhelming. Even though Jingliu was an absolute anomaly among S-Rank powerhouses, the slightest miscalculation could severely injure her. Besides, the combination of his Divine Revelation Transfer + Saintly Path of Stars + Lan-Stride was more than enough to fight her to a standstill in a pure exchange of blows.
Logically speaking, given the... unspeakable nature of their relationship, Fuli should have kept Jingliu as far away from the girls of the Hyperion as physically possible, lest his crimes be exposed to the light of day.
Unfortunately, the one who wanted to learn the sword this time was his core principle herself. Kiana.
"You... traitorous disciple."
Due to the high-speed, relentless exchange of their offense and defense, the Master's breathing was slightly ragged, a beautiful flush painting her pale cheeks.
She tightly gripped the short sword in her hand, her cold, ethereal voice carrying an almost imperceptible trace of jealousy. "You've only been under my tutelage... for how long? And you're already... impatiently trying to find yourself a 'little junior sister'?"
"It's not that kind of 'addition'!"
The boy didn't know whether to laugh or cry as he hastily explained the exact situation to her.
To be completely honest, for a seedling with utterly absurd base stats like Kiana, as long as she received a few pointers from a true grandmaster, her swordsmanship would rapidly skyrocket to an incredibly high level.
The main issue was that Fuli himself absolutely could not be that grandmaster. He was a textbook example of a street-brawler cultivator. His swordsmanship was entirely stacked through raw talent and brutal combat experience. He was a pure, 100% practical-combat fighter.
Jingliu was undeniably qualified. The only problem was that she was notoriously strict.
"You're saying... a girl you're quite... close with... wants to learn the sword from me?"
Hearing his explanation, the corners of the Sword Champion's mouth curled up into a microscopic arc.
With a sudden flick of her wrist—as if she had just thought of something incredibly amusing—she masterfully deflected Fuli's incoming thrust.
Leaning her body forward, she brought her lips right next to his ear. In a seductive, ambiguous tone completely at odds with her usual icy persona, she whispered, "Traitorous disciple... whether or not I agree depends entirely on if your upcoming 'efforts'... are enough to convince me."
"Convince? Hmph! I'll make sure you won't even have the strength to walk out of here!"
What else could Warden Fuli say to that? Launching a torrential, stormy offensive was the only answer!
After their "routine sparring session" concluded, a slightly breathless Jingliu walked over to the stone bench and sat down, slowly running her fingers through her waterfall-like hair, which had grown rather disheveled.
"Master? About that virgi—cough! About that sword training thing?" The boy leaned in eagerly, his face full of hope.
Having completely restored her usual icy demeanor, Jingliu slowly shook her head. "Although I have no desire to use a disciple to spread my name, since I am taking one in, I must impart everything I know and take full responsibility to the very end."
"I am confident I could teach that girl named Kiana well. However, as I am now, I simply do not have the copious amounts of free time required to strictly discipline an idiot."
Clearly, Jingliu had secretly done some background research on the people surrounding Fuli. After all, he was currently her sole, exclusive disciple, even if he was a traitorous one taken in by pure accident.
"Then why did you hint at it like that earlier?!" Little Li-zi instantly felt profoundly betrayed.
He was furious! He aggressively glared at her!
"Yes. I did it on purpose."
Under the moonlight, a trace of sly amusement danced within the cold swordswoman's crimson eyes—eyes that looked strikingly similar to Fuli's own.
She tilted her head slightly, looking at her thoroughly infuriated, idiot disciple. Raising a perfect eyebrow, she asked, "So? Traitorous disciple, are you going to..."
"Punish... your... promise-breaking... Master~?"
---||---
The next morning. The Hyperion's Dining Hall.
Bronya put down her glass of milk and spoke in a perfectly flat, monotone voice.
"Brother."
"Yeah?"
"You said before that you'd be coming back here to sleep."
"Well, about that..."
Faced with his little sister's extremely serious interrogation, Fuli—who had once again spent the entire night at the haunted mansion initiating a vigorous, bottom-to-top rebellion—averted his eyes guiltily.
Thanks to the Herrscher of Corruption's core constantly suppressing her mara, Jingliu's deranged madness had largely been reined in, and the emotions and warmth belonging to a human were slowly returning to her.
However, as of today, her entire social network was completely destroyed. Naturally, the only person she could interact with was her one and only traitorous disciple.
Unlike modern society, in the era Jingliu grew up in, the master-disciple relationship was viewed with extreme reverence—it was considered a bond virtually on par with direct blood relatives. Even if they had been complete strangers before, the moment someone was officially taken in as a disciple, the relationship instantly became incredibly intimate.
Of course, this intimacy was usually purely platonic, referring to a dynamic akin to a father-son or mother-son bond.
Take Jing Yuan, for example. His assessment of Jingliu was: She taught me the ways of the sword, yet never once allowed me to get close to her... But in the boundless night, what could possibly be closer to humanity than the bright moon ever-hanging in the sky?
Thus, a dynamic like the legendary star-crossed master and disciple Yang Guo and Xiaolongnü, or Fuli and Jingliu—where they were cold on the outside but aggressively intimate behind closed doors—was the absolute exception among exceptions.
But right now, the most pressing matter was elevating Kiana's swordsmanship to complete her quest.
Two hours later. The training grounds on Mount Taixu.
CLANG!
"Ho? So this is the disciple you found for me?"
Yunli casually slammed her massive greatsword into the ground. Crossing her arms, she curiously inspected the incredibly excited white-haired furball standing in front of her.
She then cast a sidelong glance at Yanqing, who was currently observing the environment of Mount Taixu while resting a hand on his hilt. "And you actually dragged the grand Sword Champion of the Luofu here as well?"
"Many hands make light work! We're brainstorming and tailoring the education to the student!" Fuli rubbed his hands together like a greedy merchant. "Don't worry, you two! Once this is done, the payout will be massive!"
"Mhm, mhm!" Kiana nodded so hard her head looked like a pounding pestle. "Please take care of me, little Masters!"
And so, Kiana's Chronicles of Sword Training officially begins!