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Entering the room, Ziche Duanyuan tossed Pei Bufan onto the table and presented him with paper and a brush.
Pei Bufan stared at them foolishly. He widened his watery golden cat eyes and looked innocently at Ziche Duanyuan. “Meow?”
Ziche Duanyuan raised an eyebrow. “Don’t play dumb. Was it when you ran away from home before? Or was it when I was deep in meditation?”
Pei Bufan guiltily looked away.
With one hand, Ziche Duanyuan flipped Pei Bufan onto the table, all four paws in the air. “Bufan is only a little over a month old, isn’t he?”
Pei Bufan’s entire body stiffened.
“An ordinary Firewood Cat takes at least six months to mature. And you… it shouldn’t be any shorter, right?” Ziche Duanyuan held Pei Bufan down with one hand while his other hand continuously stroked his little belly.
Pei Bufan’s body was rigid. After hearing this, he was instantly enraged. Is he saying This Lord can’t get it up? So what if I can’t?! I’m still young!! In the future, I’ll definitely be more of a top than you!
Ziche Duanyuan tickled lightly under Pei Bufan’s belly. “Could it be a case of the same name? The same name, has been to the Tianwu Sect, and then was followed back to Sword Immortal Valley at this exact time. How high is the probability of such a coincidence?” And he usually called the little black cat ‘Bufan,’ yet that woman had been able to say his surname.
Pei Bufan only felt a warmth where Ziche Duanyuan was tickling him. Something popped out. A gust of wind blew past, and it felt chilly. Ziche Duanyuan looked at the little pink thing, smiled, and gave it a gentle squeeze. It was quite soft. He was indeed not yet mature. To shapeshift and do that kind of thing… it’s impossible, right?
The male lead, having mistaken the gender of the person Pei Bufan had supposedly fooled around with, missed the truth by a hair’s breadth. But he was certain that Pei Bufan was hiding something from him.
Pei Bufan: QAQ Oh my god! That’s This Lord’s little brother!!1 Male lead, your standards are getting lower and lower!!! Can you pick up your moral integrity?!
Ziche Duanyuan glanced at it and said, “It’s so small.”
Pei Bufan: This is what cats are like!! If you don’t believe me, try being a cat once and see how big you can get!!
He released the fuming little black cat. The moment he was free, Pei Bufan unsheathed his claws and pounced, aiming straight for that handsome face. Unfortunately, he was quickly suppressed.
“You still haven’t given me an explanation.” Ziche Duanyuan held both of Pei Bufan’s front paws in one hand, lifting the little black cat up.
Pei Bufan’s body stiffened, and he slowly turned his head away. Ziche Duanyuan continued to stare at him.
‘System! System! Emergency! Emergency!!’
[I thought you had forgotten about me.]
‘What do I do?’2
[…]
‘Don’t f*cking play dead! This is all your fault!! Hurry up and think of a way.’
[Confess and you’ll be treated with leniency; resist and you’ll be treated with severity.]3
‘Pah! In the end, I’m the one who gets tormented, not you, so of course you don’t care! You told me to confess last time, and This Lord confessed. And what was the result? Now there’s a pile of trouble! If only This Lord had just pretended to be a cat all along…’
[It’s not too late to pretend now.]
‘It is too late QAQ!’
[…]
‘Hello?’
“What are you thinking about this time?” Ziche Duanyuan shook the little black cat he was holding by the paws.
‘Thinking about how to fool you…’ = =
[I can let you shapeshift. Do you want to stand up and talk?]
‘No!!!!’ Are you trying to shorten This Lord’s lifespan?!
Ziche Duanyuan and Pei Bufan were at a stalemate for a long time, which finally ended with Pei Bufan refusing to talk. But this didn’t mean Ziche Duanyuan would let him off the hook.
“No fish for dinner tonight,” Ziche Duanyuan said, putting the little black cat on the table and straightening his wrinkled clothes.
“Damn it! You want to starve This Lord?” Pei Bufan immediately scrambled up and shouted at Ziche Duanyuan.
Even though he couldn’t understand what he was saying, Ziche Duanyuan could roughly guess the meaning. He showed a smile, his finger tracing across Pei Bufan’s cat face. “Rice paste. It won’t starve you. I would feel bad.” The warm smile almost blinded Pei Bufan. After a moment of infatuation, Pei Bufan realized what the male lead had said and started scratching the table.
Male lead, it’s not like you’re short on money!! You’re actually switching him to coarse grains!! This Lord is a pure man. No meat, no fun, do you understand?!
What was even more malicious was that the male lead cut off Pei Bufan’s fish and only gave him rice paste, while he himself stopped taking inedia pills and began to feast on fish and meat right in front of him. Male lead, how childish can you be!! Are you trying to provoke This Lord with these things! Hmph hmph… Damn it, this was actually really effective, ahhh!! This Lord wants meat, meat!
After several failed attempts to steal food, Pei Bufan could only tearfully pick at his rice congee.
Ziche Duanyuan was also starting to get frustrated. Since you love rice paste so much, you can just eat it forever. Anyway, there was plenty of spirit rice. He had eaten too much fish recently; eating more congee would cleanse his stomach!
Pei Bufan, whose chrysanthemum had not been blown out but still needed his stomach cleansed: QAQ
When you tell the truth, you get meat to eat! BY the male lead.
Damn it to hell!
‘System! This Lord wants meat!’
[…]
He hadn’t gotten any meat yet, but the Disciple Acceptance Ceremony had arrived. It was called a ceremony, but it wasn’t very grand. It was just a matter of gathering everyone together and distributing the sect uniforms, swords, and other items to the new disciples. Those who had already forged their life-bound swords didn’t need the last item.
The items for the outer disciples were distributed by the stewards. For the inner disciples, the chief disciple was responsible. The disciples of the elders and the Sect Master received theirs from their masters.
First came the outer disciples, then the inner disciples. Then came the three junior martial brothers and sister they had spoken to before.
Ziche Duanyuan was the last one. When he came out holding the little black cat, all eyes were on him. The elders and stewards looked at him with appreciation mixed with pity. The inner and outer disciples looked on with envy. Before a successor was chosen, the Sect Master’s disciples held a higher status and had more face than the elders’ disciples.
“This is the Hunguang Sword. It was a gift from a good friend of mine. Today, I am passing it on to you. You can use this sword until you reach the Nascent Soul stage. As for after the Nascent Soul stage, I believe you should have your own life-bound sword by then,” Ding Ruojian said. “Sword cultivators are different from Daoist cultivators. We do not forbid killing, nor do we slaughter wantonly. We do not care about karma, nor are we bound by rules. As long as you are true to your own sword, it doesn’t matter if you do good or evil.” Ziche Duanyuan was stunned and looked up at Ding Ruojian.
Pei Bufan, lying in Ziche Duanyuan’s arms, also lifted his head and looked at Ding Ruojian.
‘Only the sword, only the heart, only myself.
…
A swordsman, shatters the void of the other shore, proves himself across all the heavens and myriad worlds.
…
Not turning back until one hits the southern wall! Then break down the wall!
The heart won’t die until one reaches the Yellow River! Then evaporate the river!
If words disagree, draw the sword and kill.
…
No submission, no cowardice, no retreat!
There is only moving forward without return, and the determination to sacrifice everything, to perish together in a blaze of glory!
This is, a sword cultivator!’4
Pei Bufan silently recited the description of the spirit of a sword cultivator that he had once read in a book. It was these words that had ignited a passion for sword cultivators in his heart! A true man should learn the sword!!
“No matter what you are confused about, no matter what difficulties you encounter. With a sword in hand, cut it down. Ascend directly to the Great Dao!” Ding Ruojian said. “Duanyuan, do you understand?”
“Your disciple understands.” Ziche Duanyuan knelt down, letting the little black cat perch on his shoulder, and accepted the sword from Ding Ruojian.
“Aiya, I was still thinking about whether I needed to explain it to you in detail. The younger generation these days is really smart.” Ding Ruojian let out a breath, and his serious expression instantly crumbled. He brought his hands out from behind his back and started waving them around. “Back when my master told me, it was just these few sentences…”
“Senior Martial Brother!” an elder interrupted him. “There are still matters to attend to afterward.”
“Eh? Oh, alright.” Ding Ruojian lowered his hands.
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
Matters to attend to? Heh, what matters? After this, the masters would just take their freshly-baked little disciples back to their own nests to intensify their training for the upcoming Grand Competition. The reason they said that was just to cut off the pile of nonsense the long-winded Valley Master was about to spew.
Senior Martial Brother/Master/Valley Master is great in every way. His cultivation is high and he has a strong sense of responsibility, but he just talks too much nonsense!! If you don’t change, you’ll really be single for the rest of your life, dear!! Do you think everyone is as weird as the Master of Qingyu Tower and can actually listen to you?! …How about you two just get together as a CP? You two are both destined to be lonely for life. One’s a chatterbox, the other’s a pervert.
Actually, if you think about it carefully, the sect masters of the seven great sects… were all single! Was it because of their status, or their personalities?
********
Translator’s Notes:
- The description of the sword cultivator’s path is a classic trope in xianxia, portraying them as individualistic, unyielding, and often morally ambiguous figures who follow their own will above all else.
- The exchange about food highlights the importance of diet in cultivation, where nutritious, spirit-rich food (like fish) is a luxury and a necessity for progress, while plain food (like rice paste) is seen as a setback or punishment.
- The ceremony scene reinforces the sect hierarchy, showing the different levels of respect and attention given to disciples based on their master’s status.
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Reika’s Notes:
- I hope you enjoyed this chapter!
- This text was translated by Kotori Translates, and given to BC Novels to publish.
- I helped with the footnotes, formatting, grammar, etc., the usual stuff that is needed to post this on the website.
- Please let me know if there are any errors. Thanks for reading!
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- 小兄弟: Little brother. A common and slightly cutesy slang term for the male organ.
- 肿么办: Cutesy internet slang for 怎么办 (zěnme bàn), “What should I do?”
- 坦白从宽，抗拒从严: “Confess and be treated with leniency; resist and be treated with severity.” A famous slogan from Chinese law enforcement and propaganda, often used in interrogations.
- This entire section is a direct, passionate description of the “sword cultivator” ethos, likely from Pei Bufan’s original novel. It emphasizes a philosophy of absolute personal will, unyielding determination, and the sword as the ultimate expression of oneself, unbound by conventional morality.