Must be the Pressure of Marriage...

A muted night.

The next morning, Su Yang and Gu Feidi ate a simple breakfast together and began to fill the deceptive sword marks on the wall.

The inexplicable fight they had last night…

No, in Su Yang’s opinion, it wasn’t really a fight. More like Gu Feidi was angry at him for something, the ‘why’ he didn’t go into detail about.

However, piecing it together from what Gu Feidi said last night, it had something to do with his Sect Leader. He couldn’t ask the younger man upfront about the Leader of his own Sect. A grievance that he couldn’t express in words, choking his insides and making it difficult to bear.

Whatever, the protagonist and the villain would always sharply oppose each other, with neither prepared to give an inch. Maybe Gu Feidi was upset because they were forced into the development of the feelings plot.

Su Yang could only comfort himself in this way.

Unexpectedly, Gu Feidi was the first to apologise.

“I was at fault last night, I should have never treated you like that.” Gu Feidi earnestly gazed deep into Su Yang’s eyes, with no hint of avoiding eye contact. “Whatever the case, you helped me so much already, and never caused me any harm. You even put your life in harm’s way to save me…I should not have fostered unwarranted thoughts and poured out my rage at you.”

Being angry all night long, Su Yang planned to make Gu Feidi’s life a living hell in the name of the Evil Sect’s Young Master. However, after seeing the younger man’s dark eyes and tired expression, everything he planned to say evaporated.

So he snorted with disdain, turned his head and asked, “So what were you angry about yesterday? Was it because I said I didn’t want to leave my Sect?”

Gu Feidi made a long face and replied, “I understand now that you are the Evil Sect’s Young Master. Also tied to your identity, confined to where your responsibility belongs.”

Sure enough, Gu Feidi, as a newcomer in the righteous way, still cared about Su Yang’s identity as the Evil Sect’s Young Master.

Without knowing why, a voice suddenly chimed within Su Yang’s heart—he didn’t want Gu Feidi to get the wrong idea that he was in the same boat as the Evil Sect’s Leader.

This crazy idea was not in line with the original Young Master’s character setting, but the voice reverberated and irresistibly intensified in his heart, until it finally lingered, echoing into the deepest-darkest desire.

Hesitating for a moment, he finally decided to follow the voice in his heart. Just this once. In any case…Gu Feidi’s ultimate goal was already set to destroy the Evil Sect and to end his life.

He gritted his teeth, looked at Gu Feidi, and said wholeheartedly, “In fact, I don’t like my Sect, and I am not staying because the Leader insisted on me doing so. I am not close to him, in fact, I haven’t met him yet. I have never helped him in any martial arts training. I am staying in the Evil Sect for a different reason…but I can’t tell you the reason.”

Originally, he thought that Gu Feidi would pursue the reason. However, when Gu Feidi heard the confession, he was shocked. He grabbed hold of Su Yang’s arms and blurted out, “You never assisted the Leader in any practice?”

Both of his eyes seemed to light up immediately. For a moment, it was like a night sky filled with stars of hope. As he looked at Su Yang with his bright eyes, he couldn’t help confirming again,“You’re not lying?”

Stunned by the questions, Su Yang said without thinking, “Why does he need my help in martial arts practice?”

Ge Feidi then said, “You don’t know what he practices…”

In the middle of his sentence, something suddenly went through his mind. Instead, he said beaming, “...That’s right, it was a rumour after all. It’s just that this rumour appeared too early and for too long, and I really believed it…”

Su Yang had seen how fast and wide this weird Jianghu could spread its rumours. It was really powerful. Hearing this, he rolled his eyes internally, and added, “According to a rumour in the Jianghu, I disbanded my harem for you! They also spread that you and I had an affair during that one night! How could you believe in any of their rumours!?”

Hearing this, Gu Feidi knitted his brows. Despite everything, he pondered over this deeply.

Su Yang: “...”

Hey, don’t do that alright? Scaring the hell out of me!

After a long time, Gu Feidi brought up, “Did you really take away those young men years ago as pets?”

Faced with such a strange question, Su Yang speechlessly facepalmed.

Fine, the original may have taken those boys away for the sake of creating his harem. Unfortunately, he was not allowed to touch them because of what he practiced. Later, once he completed his practice, transmigration happened.

As a good person from the modern period, he would not be doing something as crazy as keeping them as bed servants, so he might as well release them back to their homes.

Because keeping the harem open was out of the question. Besides, it only had boys. Although he did not reject the idea, he was just not interested in experimenting.

However, based on the assumption of the Young Master, he should admit with a smirk that those boys were for his own harem.

So, he summoned his acting skill. As he was about to open his mouth, Gu Feidi’s dark eyes caught his attention, and crashed into his consciousness like an unstoppable force.

So out of nowhere, the words that he was about to voice out took a u-turn, as it changed into, “...No.”

Gu Feidi smiled.

The grin on his lips was very light, but the ripples in his eyes were like a spring breeze dancing across the water.

“Of course…” He continued to smile. “...You are not like what the rumours in the Jianghu made you out to be.”

Su Yang suddenly realised Gu Feidi’s joyful mood. Did he accidentally get in the protagonist’s good graces?!

What was he doing!?...Being wilful by not being so wilful. How would Gu Feidi plot the extermination of the Evil Sect now? Would he even go through the original plot of stabbing him in the heart at the top of the mountain?

So he lifted his chain, curled his lips. “Ah, although this Young Master is not like the one from the rumours, he is certainly not what you imagine him to be. Don’t pretend to know this Young Master well. What this Young Master has done, stating all of them would definitely frighten you to death…”

Gu Feidi glanced at Su Yang but did not expose him. He said with a smile, “All right, back to work!”

As he raised his finger to point at the stone wall full of sword marks.

* * *

In the blink of an eye, five days passed by, and all the sword marks on the wall of the stone chamber had been repaired, leaving only those ancient marks left by the original owner.

Standing in the room, Su Yang looked at the work of art on the wall in surprise and said, “This looks too simple. Are you sure you are reading this right?”

Gu Feidi nodded. “Correct. Although these sword marks are very simple, they still contain some profound technique.”

Su Yang looked at Gu Feidi with admiration and thought, You are indeed the protagonist, you can see the profoundness from this horrendous mess.

Gu Feidi then added, “Go watch by the entrance, and I will see if my assumption is feasible.”

Su Yang stepped back and stood by the entrance like a good boy. He held the torch to illuminate Gu Feidi’s way.

With his sword in his hand, Gu Feidi waved it slowly along the direction of the sword mark on the wall. Occasionally, he looked ahead to the next one and harmonised with one on the wall, then he returned from the start. Occasionally, he stopped and pondered over…went back to the previous action, and redid it, but with a slight change.

After a long time, Gu Feidi suddenly laughed.

“This is indeed a series of sword techniques.” He continued, “The sword moves are simple and direct. With wide movements, best used against an enemy head-on..”

Puzzled, Su Yang asked, “Listening to your tone, this sword technique is not all that powerful like the story made it out to be?”

Gu Feidi replied, “You and I completed our apprenticeship in the House of Jade. We saw techniques like the Gliding Blossom Art or the Returning of Waterfowl Technique. How many other swordsmanship skills in Wulin would amaze us now? Also, even if the master here is indeed the Sword Sage, Bai Jinghong…you have to consider that a hundred years have passed.”

Then he chuckled lightly and concluded, “In the past hundred years, countless talents have been born in the world. How many techniques have been founded on the foundation laid by our predecessors? Wulin is like a wave, as the first wave paves the path for the next one, driving on those ahead, so each new wave exceeds the last one. No inheritance from a century ago could match the principles of the current techniques. Even the skills from my pavilion don't stay unchanged. Instead, they are revised, perfected, and even innovated every once in a while.”

After listening to this, Su Yang felt that this was really logical!

Even in the real world, military training methods from a hundred years ago could certainly never rival modern special forces training. And the same could be said about this martial arts world!

But if that was the case, wouldn't the Sword Sage’s inheritance become an unnecessary plot point? Is the original plot arrangement really for Gu Feidi to cultivate feelings with his future wife?!

So adding him into the equation, as he accidentally shut the door in Pu Lingyun’s face. How would this…How would this end?

Where would he magically summon a wife for Gu Feidi?!

Seeing the speechless and dumbfounded Su Yang, Gu Feidi said chuckling, “At first when I heard the news of the Sword Sage’s inheritance, I wasn’t interested. But my father thought otherwise. He made this arrangement, and I had to accept it. Then my goal shifted to persuading you to give up the inheritance, but you really want it...If you really want it, why don’t you learn the technique?”

Su Yang lost his will to speak as he gave himself another facepalm.

But he had to inquire, “Since you already saw through everything, why spend all this time mending the wall?”

Gu Feidi did not answer right away.

Looking at Su Yang for a long time, he lowered his gaze slightly. Suddenly, the corner of his lip was lifted upward, but instead of a delighted smile, he showed a bitter smile.

Whispering under his breath, “I just…I just don’t want to leave the cave so early…”

Su Yang wasn’t expecting such troubled thoughts from Gu Feidi.

Not comprehending, he asked, “Why don’t you want to leave?”

Could the plot also control the thoughts of the people in the novel and make them stick to the timeline unconsciously?

No, that couldn’t be it. If that was true, Pu Lingyun would have graduated from the House of Jade in time.

“Maybe it is because going back to the outside world means…I would need to face my responsibilities.” Gu Feidi explained, “To linger here, where I can finally relax, relax with...I don’t need to think about all the complicated things.”

Able to relate to this topic, Su Yang immediately nodded his head and agreed, “That’s right, once we go back out, what troubles us would not be lessened. You are the Young Lord of the Tengyun Pavilion, you must have many documents to handle and people to socialise with. I agree, those are very troublesome. In order to avoid those tedious tasks, I also led a group of petal retainers to seek the Sword Sage’s tomb.”

However, Gu Feidi shook his head and corrected, “I don’t think socialising and handling of documents are too complicated.”

Su Yang was even more puzzled. “Then why don’t you want to go back?”

Gu Feidi stared at Su Yang for a long time, but instead of answering, he threw another question, “You’re about to reach your coming of age, right?”

Su Yang thought about it. Coming of age here was twenty years old, then indeed, this body’s coming of age was close. So he nodded.

Pondering for a moment, Gu Feidi’s expression became more complicated. He asked in a low voice, “Then, is the Evil Sect’s Leader…has he arranged for your marriage yet?”

Shocked into silence, Su Yang suddenly realised…

—The responsibility Gu Feidi was avoiding must be the pressure of marriage!

No wonder he wanted to stay in this isolated cave, it was his only escape. Since ancient times, older men and women were most afraid of the pressure of marriage. When he was just eighteen years old and faced with the college entrance examination, his grandmother asked him if he had a girlfriend…Now Gu Feidi, who he guessed to be about eighteen years old, was under pressure to get married, and this was the norm at the time here.

No, that wasn’t right.

Gu Feidi and Pu Lingyun had been friends. Not only were they Shixiong and Shimei, but also childhood friends…Even if he was pressured to marry, he should be happy and not be running away.

Could it be…that Gu Feidi now actually didn’t like Pu Lingyun?

Yes, now that he thought about it—the plot here was exactly the tool used to cultivate their feelings!

In his head: Gu Feidi and Pu Lingyun are at a marriageable age. Their relationship was purely fellow disciples, thus they weren’t too keen on marrying each other. But fate arranged that they fell into the water together and arrived at the Sword Sage’s tomb. They share trials and tribulations, faced with their true feelings. As they spend eternity together, the lists go on and on. As their feelings slowly sprouted into something bigger.

This was the most logical storyline!

But now, Pu Lingyun’s role in this plot has been blown away by the wind caused by the flapping of the butterfly wings.

Su Yang: “...”

What could he do? He didn’t mean for any of this to happen!

However, although it was not totally his fault, he still felt really guilty about it.

So he persuaded Gu Feidi to not run away from his fate and he should treat Pu Lingyun well.

He said, “Pu Lingyun is actually a good lady…”