—System! System-chan!
【Coming right up, Host. How may the System serve you today?】
—Is there something wrong with this script of yours?
【The script provided by the System is absolutely authentic and reliable.】
—Then why does it never line up with reality? Good Big Sister’s precognitive dreams have all come true!
【Ding! Friendly System reminder: Beware of new kinds of scams. Boys, protect yourselves when you’re out and about.】
—What? Are you saying Good Big Sister is scamming me? No way, what would she even gain from that?
【Ding! System reminder redux: The prettier the woman, the more likely she’s out to deceive you. Only the System is your most loyal companion, Host. Sending hearts, muah~】
“Emmm…”
Yan Zhen fell into deep thought after hearing the System’s words.
He had sensed something off himself, though he couldn’t quite put his finger on it.
The only difference between Good Big Sister’s precognitive dreams and the script from System-chan was the method of treating her condition.
In the script, he followed the Beautiful Female Master’s instructions to prepare a medicine pool. The two of them would strip naked and soak in it together, engaging in a dual cultivation-like process without needing full body fusion to cure her.
But in the precognitive dream, it was straight-up body fusion dual cultivation. Over the course of more than a month of constant skin-to-skin contact, their relationship had leaped forward in quality, skipping straight from sworn siblings to lovers.
If Good Big Sister was lying, then how did she know intimate bedroom secrets about his Crescent Moon Blade—which hadn’t even begun its strengthening yet—like the fact that his sensitive spot was his ears, his favorite position was sitting face-to-face, and so on?
Then again, was the script wrong? If he was being honest with himself, the script had plenty of minor errors but no major ones. Yan Zhen and Ji Ya really were just close siblings, not lovers. It wouldn’t get something that basic wrong.
Wait. Why did it have to be a matter of one being true and the other false?
A flash of insight struck Yan Zhen’s mind, followed by a bold hypothesis:
Good Big Sister wasn’t deceiving him. In the precognitive dream, they really did become dao companions—but that was on a parallel world line!
A parallel world line wouldn’t play out in reality; it simply illustrated another possibility.
The script’s path was the correct one that was about to unfold!
The two weren’t actually in conflict at all!
The problem was that Good Big Sister had developed feelings for him even before they met, thanks to the precognitive dream. Her overly enthusiastic attitude made it clear she wanted to turn them into real lovers.
That wouldn’t do.
They should become sworn siblings, not get married.
But it shouldn’t be a big issue. As long as, when he treated her later, Yan Zhen suggested “actually, we can treat it without body fusion dual cultivation,” everything would be fine.
After all, in the precognitive dream, their feelings had developed during the body fusion process.
That kind of affection wasn’t pure—it was mostly born of necessity.
If they could cure her without body fusion, Good Big Sister wouldn’t insist on becoming his lover.
—His thoughts cleared up in an instant!
“Little Brother Yan Zhen, don’t tell me you still don’t believe what Sister said?”
Ji Ya shot Yan Zhen a plaintive look, as if to say she’d already poured out her heart to him—why was he so cold to her in return?
“Ahem, you’ve put it so plainly; of course I believe you. But—” Yan Zhen changed tack: “It’s just too sudden to hear we’ll hook up and become lovers soon. I can’t wrap my head around it just like that.”
“Is Sister not pretty enough?”
“Sister Ji Ya is breathtakingly beautiful, the kind of beauty that could topple empires. But this isn’t about looks—it’s a matter of principle.”
Ji Ya covered her mouth to hide a sly smile, thinking that he really was still that same straitlaced Little Brother Yan Zhen…
Any other man would have pounced on her and gotten down to business by now. Only this blockhead talked about “principles” and even seemed a little resistant. Without some tricks up her sleeve, she’d never get close to his heart.
—Naughty little brother, forcing Sister to throw away her pride and say embarrassing things. You’ll pay for this once it’s done!
“Don’t worry, Little Brother Yan Zhen. Sister understands how you feel. I won’t make you accept our future relationship right away. I just hope we can get a little closer, nurture our feelings properly. That way, when we dual cultivate later, it won’t be out of desperate necessity—it’ll be us, heart and soul, naturally blending together in perfect, blissful union.”
—Hmph, Good Big Sister, you’re overthinking it. No body fusion dual cultivation in my plot!
“Does it have to be dual cultivation?” Yan Zhen questioned. “Sister Ji Ya, what exactly is wrong with you?”
Ji Ya flipped her wrist and held it out to him.
“If you check, Little Brother Yan Zhen, you’ll know Sister’s illness right away.”
I already know without checking… Yan Zhen griped inwardly as he placed both hands on her pulse. He put on a show of circulating his mystic power to probe, then pretended to ponder gravely. Only after scanning her seriously with his spiritual sense did he speak:
“The meridians in your body are clogged with unrefined medicinal power from pills. Not only has your cultivation stalled, but you can’t even bring your full strength to bear in a fight. On top of that, the accumulated dregs have eroded your channels, causing damage that leads to agonizing pain at regular intervals… And since the pills themselves are the root cause, only supreme-grade, impurity-free ones will do—anything less would make it worse. When it flares up, nothing short of a Supreme-Grade Detox Pill can ease it… Yeah, that’s a nasty condition. It’s been going on for a while, hasn’t it?”
Ji Ya smiled faintly.
“Not too long. About three years.”
Three years—the same as the time he’d spent in his own slump. Yan Zhen felt a twinge of resonance and genuine sympathy for Good Big Sister.
“You’ve had it rough.”
“It’s not so bad. Without this illness, Sister never would have met you, Little Brother Yan Zhen~”
Ji Ya gazed at him with eyes full of affection, making it hard for him to meet her stare. He looked away first.
—Tch, don’t hit me with lines like that!
“The treatment method is just as Sister Ji Ya described: dual cultivation with a Pill Refiner who possesses Extreme Flame. More precisely, through dual cultivation, using Extreme Flame and pill refining techniques to treat your body like a furnace and reforge the accumulated medicinal power into a new pill. The concept is straightforward, but the execution is tricky. We’ll need to hammer out the details with my master back home. And… there might be an alternative that doesn’t require body fusion dual cultivation…”
Yan Zhen hinted wildly, but Ji Ya brushed it off.
Of course she knew there was one. In her previous life—or rather, the precognitive dream’s timeline—Yan Zhen had used a medicine pool instead. She’d been thrilled at first, only to regret it every time she thought back on it.
That method took more time and rarer ingredients. If he brought it up, she’d shoot it down with excuses about not having enough time or materials.
“How could any alternative compare to the real deal? Don’t trouble yourself over it, Little Brother Yan Zhen. Just cure Sister’s chronic illness—that’s all that matters.”
—No, no, we definitely need to consider it. I’ll have the Beautiful Female Master teach me how to prepare a substitute medicine pool later.
Despite all the hiccups, Yan Zhen wasn’t panicking anymore.
—I’ll just chalk the precognitive dream route up to a regular dream. Yan Zhen here is taking the script route, y’know!
