Do I Really Not Seem Like a Sword Cultivator?

[Complete]

[70% of chapters have a 24-hour advance-reading lock]

[Please check out my new wuxia male lead novel with no advance chapters, The Scabbard. Please give it a favorite qwq]

Blurb:

Life is like catkins before the wind,

joy and sorrow alike, scattered like duckweed across the river.

Zhou Ziheng is a bona fide, completely ordinary sword cultivator.

But anyone who sees him just shakes their head and sighs:

"That kid counts as a sword cultivator?"

When people think of sword cultivators, they imagine the clear moon and a cool breeze, white robes fluttering.

When they think of Zhou Ziheng, they imagine arrogance and red robes flying in the wind.

When people think of sword cultivators, they imagine a long sword sweeping across the martial world, righting every wrong.

When they think of Zhou Ziheng, they imagine a long sword and a demon-like fiend who brings trouble wherever he goes.

When people think of sword cultivators, they imagine someone humble and reverent before a spar.

When they think of Zhou Ziheng, they imagine him polishing his sword and checking his reflection before a spar, refusing to fight until he's sure he looks handsome enough.

How could he possibly be a normal sword cultivator?

-

Years later, when the name of the Red Dust Sword Master resounds across the martial world, everyone knows Zhou Ziheng, but no one knows Ji Pingzhou.

In a teahouse, a storyteller is still vividly recounting the Red Dust Sword Master's remarkable exploits:

"Now, the Red Dust Sword Master went alone to Liyang Valley and took first place in the tournament.

Just as everyone thought he was about to become the heir to the Liyang Sword, he threw back his head and laughed: 'How could a mere Liyang Sword compare with the fame of my Red Dust?'

And after winning the championship, he even cupped his hands toward the other challengers and said, 'You all need a lot more practice!'

What dazzling spirit!"

The audience murmurs among themselves. Some admire Zhou Ziheng's boldness, some think he's far too arrogant, and others ask the storyteller, "I've heard the Red Dust Sword Master cherishes his sword dearly. Before every fight, he carefully wipes it with silk until Red Dust shines like a mirror. Is that true?"

Huo Qin slowly takes a sip of wine and sighs. "Who could have guessed he was only wiping Red Dust so he could check whether his hairstyle was messed up?"

Xi Bingyi exchanges a smile with him and teases, "He's stolen all the spotlight from us."

"Remember, in youth we dreamed of touching the clouds and swore to be the finest in the world. Of course he wants to be the finest, so naturally he has to hog the spotlight!"

-

Check out my upcoming novel: Sorry, I'm a Player, a fourth-disaster story with a heroine who is both a player and an NPC!

My next planned novel: Brother's Debt, a romance about a woman who looks out for herself and a complicated relationship with two brothers!

Blurb for Player:

STRATEGY is an ordinary, unremarkable multiplayer cooperative strategy card game.

But the arrival of a new NPC brings the game back from the dead.

No one knows the NPC's real name. Everyone just calls her X.

From the day Zhu Peizhi opened her eyes, she could tell players from NPCs with perfect accuracy.

She lives in an inconspicuous village in the city-state of Malu, where her quiet life is disrupted by a group of strangers.

With the word "Player" floating above their heads, these people are always saying things Zhu Peizhi can't understand.

"Did X post any new quests today?"

"Why haven't I maxed out X's affection yet?"

Zhu Peizhi quickly realizes that her world is a game, and these players are ignoring the worldbuilding of "strategy, cooperation, and conflict" and making X their one and only heroine.

In other words, they're playing a massive dating sim.

But who is X?

-

As Zhu Peizhi unlocks all kinds of strange identities on her player interface, the players gradually discover that X's quests are getting increasingly bizarre and difficult.

Zhu Peizhi has barely become a saint of the Sainuo Church when X, far away in the city-state of Malu, posts a new quest:

[Join the Sainuo Church and bring me the pope's authority.]

Zhu Peizhi has barely entered the Forest of Elves and used her player interface to gain an elven identity when X posts a quest:

[Enter the Forest of Elves and bring me the branch at the top of the tree.]

But even after completing every difficult quest, X remains as cool and distant as ever.

The players even notice that X's affection level is going down instead of up.

It isn't until a player named Zhizhi appears out of nowhere and easily wins all of X's affection that the players finally break down, furious that the game company has put them through a "game-company pig-butchering scam."

Zhu Peizhi smiles.

STRATEGY was never a dating game. So how could this be a pig-butchering scam?

Theme: Raise a glass to kindred spirits.