[As expected, that's the origin of Jun Bai's name.]
[Ah Bai living in the Jun family—so he's Jun Bai.]
[Though being raised as a girl is pretty realistic. Probably more players treat Yiya as a daughter (lol.jpg)]
The screen returned to beside the waterfall.
Unlike before, beside little Jun Mo Li and little Li Tonghui now stood little Jun Bai.
"After that, Jun Bai followed me to the waterfall every day to watch me practice sword and watch me spar with Tonghui."
"Two years passed like that. I hit a bottleneck, but Tonghui didn't. Finally one day, I fought Tonghui to a draw. The one who had always been ahead was caught up by that guy."
"And not just that—on the same day, I was easily defeated by little Bai, who had never truly practiced martial arts."
The screen flipped again. Little Jun Bai held a slender crimson chain sword and easily defeated little Jun Mo Li—who by then had switched to a dull blade.
"That was my first defeat—and it was at the hands of a younger brother."
[Little Bai is a god after all. Even after one Nirvana and some power decline, he's still not comparable to a mortal.]
[Let's calculate—Second Brother was only ten at this point. Losing to a young god isn't shameful.]
Silver Wolf pondered, then laughed: "This reminds me of the scene in [Tales of Guili] where Phenex crushed everything with raw stats at the beginning."
It really gives strong déjà vu.
Cloud Retainer's thousand years of experience were utterly useless against Phenex's straightforward stats.
And Jun Mo Li's years of sword training similarly appeared powerless against little Bai's innate divine strength.
This was the gap of innate talent.
Yet Jun Mo Li later surpassed that gap—how did he do it? That's what the water friends are most curious about.
The Jun Mo Li in the short film spoke again:
"To be honest, sparring with Li Tonghui had always been winning streaks for me. For ten-year-old me, that was huge motivation—so I was very proud back then."
"That day's draw and loss really hit me hard. But it also made me realize one thing."
"While I was improving, others weren't standing still. There are always people better than you, heavens beyond heavens. My goal of being the number one swordsman in the world was still far away."
The scene shifted. Only little Jun Mo Li and little Jun Bai remained beside the waterfall. Little Jun Bai was swinging the chain sword in his hand.
"The sword technique little Bai used to defeat me was unprecedented. If I could learn it, I felt I could break through my current bottleneck—so I asked little Bai to teach me."
"In little Bai's sword, I realized my own sword was too limited by fixed forms."
"For the first time, I didn't follow sword techniques—I started trying to swing the next sword as fast as possible."
"Then I kept thinking about this and didn't even notice my body was swinging the sword. Finally little Bai's startled cry snapped me out of it."
"When I came back to my senses, the waterfall in front of me had been split open. I couldn't believe I had done it."
The screen split down the middle—top half showed the cleaved waterfall, bottom half showed little Jun Mo Li's incredulous expression while little Jun Bai cheered beside him.
[Ten years old splitting a waterfall—this is actually real…]
[Tian the storyteller's tale had some credibility after all. Though Second Brother splitting the waterfall wasn't taught by Brother Bai, it really was because of little Bai that he learned it.]
"After that, no matter how I swung, the waterfall never split again. But I could still feel my swordsmanship had no more bottleneck."
"Then, I don't know if it was an illusion, but when I split the waterfall, I felt someone whispering softly in my ear. It was a gentle voice—she said—"
The voice in the short film switched from Jun Mo Li's youthful tone to a warm, gentle female voice:
"I'll be waiting—for the day we meet."
[Who? Who is this? The voice is so beautiful!]
[One listen and I know it's my wife! miHoYo hurry up with the model and character!]
[This can't be Second Brother's official pairing, right? Please no! Whether Second Brother or big sister—they're both mine!]
The voice returned to Jun Mo Li's youthful tone.
"Little Bai didn't hear it, so I didn't take the matter to heart."
"After breaking through in swordsmanship, that guy Li Tonghui started losing streaks to me again."
Jun Mo Li's tone clearly became cheerful.
The screen followed Jun Mo Li's narration and showed scenes of Li Tonghui being beaten by Jun Mo Li until his eyes rolled back.
"Second Brother's voice sounds so happy. I can even imagine the smile on his face." Silver Wolf smiled while watching the scene.
It seems—though Second Brother understood the lesson from his defeat, he still really cared about losing to his childhood friend~
The screen now entered an animation segment.
A slender young boy practiced sword beside the waterfall—every swing incredibly fast—while Jun Bai watched as usual.
[Little Bai looks so familiar—like the last segment of [Tales of Guili], same age appearance.]
[Thanks to the person above for reminding me of the knife I was almost forgetting.]
[Looking at Jun Mo Li's styling and age, some time has passed since the previous scene.]
"Then on this day…"
"Monsters that had been silent for a long time came back in force, carrying the god remnants that killed Father, and attacked Qingce Village."
Li Tonghui rushed to the waterfall and told the two that monsters had surrounded Qingce Village.
The camera pulled back at this moment, giving viewers an overhead view—large numbers of monsters emitting black gas surrounded Qingce Village. Villagers fled up the mountain for refuge.
"Li Tonghui invited me and little Bai to repel the monsters."
"It was very dangerous, but I agreed. I wanted revenge for Father—and more than that, I wanted to protect my home, Qingce Village."
The three boys picked up their respective weapons and charged down the mountain with fearless smiles, beginning a great battle with the monsters.
[My god—three kids still in middle school being this brave.]
[These monsters—if put in-game, even we'd need time to beat them with our characters. These three minors dared to take the initiative.]
[Looking forward to these three kids getting scolded by their parents—this is the episode where I most support parents.]
"The monsters were repelled. Naturally, I got scolded by Mother."
"Because I not only rushed toward danger myself, but also dragged little Bai along."
"Mother really likes little Bai."
The screen showed Mother Jun scolding Jun Mo Li. In front of the screen, Silver Wolf smiled in approval: "Just like how everyone uses Zhongli's shield to protect Yiya."
"Cute kids deserve adults' affection—and preferential treatment."
The next moment, Li Tonghui, Jun Mo Li, and Jun Bai appeared together in a bamboo forest.
"After that battle, Li Tonghui invited me and little Bai to a bamboo forest near Qingce Village. He proposed that the three of us—who had gone through life and death together—swear brotherhood."
"I had no reason to refuse. Neither did little Bai."
"Little Bai was the youngest—Third Brother. Next came the question of who would be big brother. Tonghui and I decided to settle it the old way—with a spar."
"Actually, this was basically defaulting to me as big brother. After all, up until then, I had basically always won."
"But in that battle against the monsters, Tonghui received the gods' approval and obtained their gaze—he now possessed a Vision."
"I lost."