Gu Fangchen sat on the bed, his gaze flickering slightly.
Before changing out the [Angler] profession, he had conveniently spent the four hundred thousand taels of gold in the cave-heaven ring to make the "Lotus Concealed in the Womb" real,
the final gleam and warmth of the [Angler] profession.
The [Thief] profession, just from the name, seemed rather low-tier. But judging from its skill descriptions, it actually carried more of the "gentleman thief" flair, like Chu Liuxiang himself.
When Gu Fangchen first saw this profession, he couldn't help but complain in his heart.
Brother, if you're "passing through a thousand flowers without a single leaf touching your body," then what does that make a flower thief?
Of course, Mirror in the Dust didn't have a "Flower Thief" profession to begin with.
After all, the highest relationship between characters in the game was "friends." There was no marriage system, nor any adult-only content.
The "Life" path, the one closest to a traditional Dual Cultivation Sect, focused more on oddities and curiosity, not lust. In fact, it often made people feel rather physically uncomfortable.
So, "flower thieves" were probably merged into the general [Thief] class.
Many players, simply because the class looked cool, would keep it equipped for appearance's sake.
But the class's abilities were far from bad.
[Passing Through a Thousand Flowers] allowed one to steal an opponent's possessions through sustained physical contact.
Though the five-minute contact requirement was harsh and the random nature unreliable, the phrase "no upper limit" carried so much weight that it canceled out both drawbacks.
That meant, theoretically, as long as he maintained continuous contact, he could steal everything the opponent owned.
Moreover, this could be combined with luck-enhancing items to raise the odds of obtaining high-value objects.
In truth, the [Angler]'s previous skill, [It's Always Me Who Carries], could have been used the same way.
But back then, there hadn't been enough preparation time, nor a suitable environment. Now, this new class gave him a full fifteen days to plan, a luxury of time.
Gu Fangchen was now within Sword Pavilion, so there was no need to rush.
He thought to himself,
"Today's the eighteenth of April. The day when the Seven Sects of the Southwest will unite and deliver their 'Dragon Subduing Challenge' to Sword Pavilion is three days away... that should be enough."
In the original plot, after the Seven Sects issued this challenge, they accused Sword Pavilion of hiding a corrupted sword beneath Dragon Hollow Lake, claiming it was about to break the Dragon Vein seal and bring disaster to the world.
They pressured Sword Pavilion to drain the lake and retrieve the evil sword for reforging.
Naturally, Sword Pavilion refused.
Leaving aside the fact that Dragon Hollow Lake was their ancestral land, if they drained it at another sect's demand, would that not be a massive humiliation?
The swordsmiths of Cuiwei Mountain, a Sword Pavilion branch, depended on the lake's water to keep three thousand forges burning day and night, forging countless fine swords.
If the lake were drained, the forges would go out, and every sword embryo in the works would be ruined.
Furthermore, the lakeside supported millions of commoners whose livelihoods depended on Dragon Hollow Lake.
If the water was drained, how long would it take to recover?
And how would these mortals survive in the meantime?
The Seven Sects, however, didn't offer solutions, only moral grandstanding, accusing Sword Pavilion of selfishness and negligence.
If Sword Pavilion refused, they were labeled as enabling evil.
So the Seven Sects declared, "Since you won't reason, we'll settle this by the sword!"
Sword Pavilion was forced into a corner.
The hot-blooded sword cultivators there, especially the innocent ones like Ning Songjun, would never swallow such an insult.
If they wanted a fight, they would get one.
The entire Southwest erupted into chaos.
This "Rebellion of the Seven Sects" continued until the player-controlled character appeared, by which point both sides were nearly spent.
With no strength to continue, Sword Pavilion was forced to accept imperial mediation,
and agreed to open a passage at the lake's center for investigation.
Who was chosen to descend depended on the player's path.
If the player pursued the Confucian route and aimed for the [Heaven's Equal Through Eternity] ending, then someone from the Confucian Sect or the Crown Prince's faction would go down.
They would find that the "evil sword" truly existed, the Dragon Vein was collapsing, and a military garrison had to be stationed there to "stabilize" it.
Sword Pavilion, powerless to resist, accepted imperial troops.
Thus began the side quest [Open the Heavenly Gate], revealing the truth behind the "evil sword," Ying Baishou, and Sword Pavilion's internal strife.
But in the first five endings, Sword Pavilion always became the first sacrifice, its people tainted by the sword's demonic will.
Only if the player met certain hidden conditions, building enough favor with Sword Pavilion, could they descend themselves,
one of the triggers for the [Six Dusts Return to Purity] ending.
Once below, they would discover that the Dragon Vein was perfectly intact.
There was no "evil sword."
It had all been a Confucian lie.
But most players who went down found the passage collapsing above them,
the lake closed in, and they were crushed to death instantly.
Game over.
Unless they had previously completed a certain Confucian side quest and uncovered a secret about Xie Qian.
Then they would learn that the "Dragon Vein" beneath Dragon Hollow Lake did not belong to Great Wei at all,
but to Ancient Zhou.
Gu Fangchen narrowed his eyes.
"To prevent Sword Pavilion's destruction, I just need to stop the Rebellion of the Seven Sects, and in doing so, stop the Confucians from touching the Dragon Vein."
"Once they access it, Sword Pavilion will be doomed no matter what."
"As for preventing the Rebellion, that's simple enough, "
"As long as I can prove there's no evil sword beneath Dragon Hollow Lake."
"But with my current reputation, even if I borrowed Ning Caiyong's authority, there's no way Sword Pavilion would let outsiders inspect their holy land."
"These sword cultivators are stubborn mules, unyielding to the core."
"And more importantly, the Seven Sects aren't easy prey either. For them to dare challenge Sword Pavilion, they must have their reasons."
In fact, years ago,
they had already taken their first step:
to weaken Ning Songjun.
As Sword Saint, Ning Songjun was Sword Pavilion's very foundation.
After the last civil strife, it was he alone who rebuilt the Pavilion from ruin.
Even after years of recovery, their overall strength remained fragile,
yet with him there, no one dared challenge them.
Thus, the Seven Sects plotted for years, bribing an old swordsmith from Cuiwei Mountain.
When forging Ning Songjun's sword, that man secretly mixed in a trace of Yin-Yang Magnetite powder.
Not the cheap, inferior kind that once tricked Ding Xingfeng,
but the purest celestial-grade meteoric iron.
This material wouldn't damage the sword, in fact, it strengthened it.
Ning Songjun's sword had already been one of the five divine weapons in the world.
Under that swordsmith's manipulation, it approached perfection itself.
No one would ever suspect the weapon.
But when the Seven Sects later activated their "Dragon and Serpent Rising from the Land" formation, centered around Sword Pavilion with other Yin-Yang Magnetite nodes across the southwest, the situation changed entirely.
Ning Songjun's sword went out of balance.
For a sword cultivator, that was tantamount to shattering one's Dao Heart.
And Ning Songjun's stubborn nature meant he never doubted his smith.
He looked only inward, driving himself to the brink of collapse.
At this point, it would be easier to convince him to drain Dragon Hollow Lake
than to suspect his own sword.
So rather than letting him continue to spiral, Gu Fangchen thought it best to fix the root problem directly.
He looked at his [Passing Through a Thousand Flowers] skill and smiled brightly.
He decided to have a "heart-to-heart" with Ning Songjun.
Both were men, uncle and nephew.
What could possibly not be resolved over a few drinks and an honest talk?
Just talk a bit, drink a bit, put an arm around each other's shoulders,
and the matter would sort itself out.
...
Ning Songjun stood at the mountaintop, slowly practicing his sword forms.
"Shhh!"
He sheathed his blade and let out a cold snort, remembering how, on the way here, Gu Fangchen had complained to Senior Ding and made him lose face.
He had restrained himself before his elder sister.
But now that they were at Sword Pavilion, he would make sure to teach that brat what it truly meant to be a Sword Saint.