The Blades Can No Longer Laugh

The unflappable swordsman and the tsundere saber wielder

A retirement story about two legendary martial artists who once shook the world and somehow ended up getting old.

A long time ago, Ren Chunqiu and Xie Canglang were two highly skilled and renowned martial heroes. They were once celebrated in these lines:

"The Canglang sword, a dim star in the dust,

the Chunqiu saber, cleaving through the years."

But they say the two never got along.

Ren Chunqiu and Xie Canglang had known each other since childhood. Each was the "other people's kid" their parents held up as an example.

Whenever their parents met, they competed with each other. Whenever the two boys met, they traded insults, blaming each other for being so impressive and getting them scolded.

As they grew up, they could no longer compete over who was taller, who could climb trees better, or who could raid birds' nests. They had to compete over more grown-up things. After searching around for something, they settled on fighting over the title of Martial Alliance Chief.

They fought for it for 50 years.

In the end, neither of them got the position.

And then they just...

just...

got old.

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