The smell of meat filled the air. Chang Siyou, always elegant in how she dressed, went right back to her original self the moment she started eating grilled meat.
Jiang Kai looked at Chang Siyou and felt a wave of heartache.
That familiar feeling of a breakup.
"Senior brother, your cooking is really similar to my friend's," Chang Siyou said. "Some spots aren't cooked through."
Jiang Kai felt a little embarrassed. "Not cooked? Then I'll grill it more."
Maybe Han Yi and that person had too many similarities, or maybe it was because Han Yi chose such a unique place to treat her, but Chang Siyou started talking a lot more.
"Senior brother, with so many people coming to this blind date, none of you even know me well. I guess you're all here for the sake of the sect, right?"
Jiang Kai gave a vague grunt, brushing the question aside.
"Senior brother, have you ever truly liked a girl?"
Jiang Kai kept turning the meat.
Honestly, people might not believe it, but every girl he had ever secretly liked, he truly liked.
But the feeling Chang Siyou gave him wasn't the same as the others.
"Yeah."
"Have you ever done anything crazy for her?" Chang Siyou asked curiously.
"Crazy?"
Jiang Kai was stunned for a second. Suddenly he understood what made Chang Siyou different from other girls.
He once had a bit of a crush on Su Nuannuan too, but he had never done anything crazy for her. But Chang Siyou was different.
For the first time in his life, he confessed to a girl. For her, he came to an unfamiliar main city. For her, he pretended to be someone else. And he even ended up studying at Qingyun Sect for almost two months…
His feelings for Su Nuannuan had faded after they parted, but after he parted from Chang Siyou, he only missed her more.
"I guess so," Jiang Kai said faintly.
"Really envious of you," Chang Siyou said. "I've grown up all these years living exactly the way the elders wanted me to. Not once have I ever done anything crazy for someone I liked."
Jiang Kai looked at Chang Siyou. He could tell that even though she had been in the unknown territory for so long, always in danger, she had still been cheerful. But this time, he barely saw her smile.
"Why do you have to live by other people's expectations?" Jiang Kai said. "We only live once. As long as you're not hurting anyone, just be yourself."
Chang Siyou was briefly stunned. The senior brothers around her were always talking about sect rules and ancestral teachings. Someone who spoke like Han Yi was rare.
After a moment of silence, Chang Siyou asked, "Why do you always wear a mask?"
"Mask? Oh, this… I'm not good-looking. I'm afraid I'll scare you." Jiang Kai casually made up an excuse.
Chang Siyou couldn't help laughing. "Yeah right. I'm joining the War God Hall next month. I've seen all kinds of ghost-type beasts. Why would I be scared of a person?"
Jiang Kai said dismissively, "You say it like you're so brave. If you were that brave, you wouldn't have been scared half to death that one time."
Chang Siyou was stunned. She hadn't lied. She had run into tons of ghostly beasts. She spent a whole year training alone in the unknown region and had never been scared by any terrifying beast.
Except that one time, when she saw a Night Watcher turn someone into a real ghost right before her eyes. That time truly frightened her.
But she had never told anyone about this…
"Which time are you talking about, senior brother?" Chang Siyou looked at Jiang Kai in surprise.
Jiang Kai wasn't in high spirits, and he didn't plan to answer properly. "Nothing, I was just saying nonsense. The meat's done. Definitely cooked this time."
After finding out that Chang Siyou liked someone else, Jiang Kai didn't want to dwell on feelings anymore.
After they finished eating, Jiang Kai brought Chang Siyou back to the Kunlun Guild.
Before they parted, Chang Siyou looked at the gloomy Jiang Kai and said, "Senior brother, even though we can't become a couple, we can still be friends, if you're willing."
Jiang Kai shook his head. "Forget it. We won't see each other again anyway. Take care. I hope things work out between you and the person you like."
With that, Jiang Kai turned around and walked toward the Qingyun Guild.
Watching his back fade into the distance, Chang Siyou felt something indescribable in her heart.
During the second half of the date, she could feel that Senior Brother Han was in low spirits.
Rejecting Han Yi face-to-face was indeed a bit cruel, but since she already had someone in her heart, dragging it out would only be irresponsible to him…
"Senior Brother Han, you're so exceptional. You'll definitely find someone you like."
She remembered Han Yi's words, "Just be yourself," and her mind drifted away for a long while before she snapped back.
"Thank you, Senior Brother Han Yi. I'll remember your words."
......
When Jiang Kai returned, Sun Yuan and the others kept asking about the date.
Jiang Kai felt like he was seeing Yuan Zhu again, who always pushed him to confess and then gossiped like crazy afterward.
"You guys don't train anymore? All you do every day is gossip!" Jiang Kai grumbled and went back to his room.
Sun Yuan and the others watched him go and whispered among themselves.
"He's definitely panicking. I thought something would happen when they went outside the city!"
"Must have gone badly. Han Yi's usually so mild-tempered, but today he actually lost it. Well, that's life. Everyone goes through this stuff."
"Han Yi's probably going to be depressed for a while."
But unexpectedly, the next day Jiang Kai walked right out of the breakup's shadow.
After going through enough breakups, you build resistance.
Zhou Chu's repair work was entering its final stage. Jiang Kai wanted to use the remaining time to learn more ancient martial techniques in Qingyun Sect.
Twenty days later, Jiang Kai was meditating in his room.
Ancient martial arts emphasized body refinement and also qi training. The military had already organized the qi-training methods of ancient martial arts so War God Hall experts could improve their true-qi techniques.
Right then, someone knocked on the door.
"Is Han Yi here?"
Jiang Kai's eyes widened. It was Zhou Chu's voice.
"President? I'm here!"
Zhou Chu immediately pushed the door open and closed it behind him.
"Jiang Kai, the Demon-Slaying Sword is fixed!"
Jiang Kai jumped off the bed. "Old Zhou, hurry, let me see!"
Zhou Chu took out a scabbard, the sword-forging diagram, and half a piece of meteor iron from his card pouch.
"The sword's here. This is the forging diagram, keep it with you. If anything gets damaged, you'll be able to repair it. This is the leftover material. This stuff is ridiculously hard to smelt. I've never seen such troublesome material before. Normal gear doesn't use it at all. If you need more smelting done, you should find a master blacksmith."
Jiang Kai hurriedly grabbed the scabbard and drew the long sword.
As he slowly pulled out the Demon-Slaying Sword, an ancient bronze-colored blade appeared.
Finally, a complete long sword was drawn!
Jiang Kai quickly used an appraisal card to identify it.
[Demon-Slaying Sword (Master-Recognized) (Unique Divine Artifact) (Initial Repair)]
[Further repair requires Thousand-Year Meteor Iron.]
[One of the Three Divine Swords. Current stats: Penetration 232, Strength 1100, Agility 1700, Crit Rate 17 percent, Damage to Demonic Race increased by 60 percent.]
[Special Effect 1: Memory of a Past Life. The Demon-Slaying Sword followed its master through countless battles and still retains part of its past-life memory. After initial repair, it can display partially restored memories of its previous master.]
[Special Effect 2: Resentment Unresolved. The sword's resentment toward the demonic race lingers. When encountering at least a King-rank boss, it can activate past-life memory and launch automatic attacks. Attack strength depends on the previous master's power. After initial repair, the sword can self-recover its energy and return to current max state within 180 days.]
[Special Effect 3: Heart and Sword as One. When using skills left behind by the previous master, Crit Rate increases by 20 percent and Special Attack is increased by 100 percent.]
"Initial repair?" Jiang Kai frowned. This time it didn't fully restore the Demon-Slaying Sword?
The next stage would require Thousand-Year Meteor Iron. He had never even heard of such a thing.
Still, even with just an initial repair, the Demon-Slaying Sword's attributes had changed dramatically.
First, it finally had its own stats. The boosts to Strength and Agility were massive, and it gained Crit Rate too.
Second, it gained a new special effect, Heart and Sword as One. The effect was wild: 20 percent crit and double special attack power.
Jiang Kai could use true-qi attacks under special conditions, and normally he could use fire attacks. With this special attack boost, the effect on him was incredible.
"One of the Three Divine Swords… so there are two others. Must be set bonuses too." Jiang Kai narrowed his eyes.
"Jiang Kai, can we check the previous master's memories now?" Zhou Chu asked urgently. There might be Qingyun Sect's history hidden in the sword!
Jiang Kai snapped back and quickly said, "Alright, I'll give it a try."
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