5. Black Suits the Fairy

“A sword duel, you say?”

“My Yinshuang Sword never leaves its sheath without drawing blood.”

After a brief hesitation, Mo Yuyan let out a faintly contemptuous chuckle. As she did, her arms, which held the sword against her chest, shifted slightly, causing the jade sword to lift from its sheath. Though He Yimo’s gaze was initially drawn elsewhere, he was ultimately intimidated by the gleaming silver blade emerging from the scabbard.

What a pristine sword…

He Yimo quickly averted his eyes, unwilling to linger. Internally, he couldn’t help but admire it.

The snow-white Yinshuang Sword, nestled against her chest, seemed to carry an imposing weight—a symbolic “mountain seal” that used its sharp aura to warn off any would-be offenders daring to gaze too long.

“Tell me, Young Master He, how many lives do you have to wager?” Mo Yuyan teased lightly. Thankfully, it was just a joke, and she soon returned the Yinshuang Sword to its sheath.

She rarely bothered mocking the weak—unless they were as shameless as He Yimo.

However, as she pondered further, Mo Yuyan began to sense something strange about He Yimo’s behavior. Was it possible he wasn’t here to gamble at all but rather to lose intentionally for some ulterior motive?

“Let’s skip the bloodshed,” He Yimo said with a nervous chuckle, beads of sweat forming on his forehead.

He glanced around and noticed the willow tree behind the fairy.

“How about we bet on how many buds are sprouting on that willow branch?”

“……”

For once, He Yimo sounded somewhat serious.

As far as he knew, high-level cultivators could sense such details with their eyes closed. This bet was practically a guaranteed loss for him!

Even so, Mo Yuyan raised an eyebrow, her beautiful eyes showing apparent disinterest on the surface while hiding a trace of intrigue beneath her cold gaze.

Her disinterest stemmed from the predictability of such a bet.

But what intrigued her was He Yimo’s true motive for proposing this gamble tonight.

She was increasingly suspicious that his outward lecherous behavior was just an act masking a deeper agenda.

After all…

No sane person would challenge Mo Yuyan to a sword duel.

Even elders specializing in swordsmanship wouldn’t dare humiliate themselves like that.

Unless… he wanted to lose from the start!

“Tsk…” He Yimo clicked his tongue internally. Being scrutinized so intensely by the fairy made him feel immense pressure.

He had underestimated Mo Yuyan’s intelligence.

He had assumed that someone as lofty as her wouldn’t waste time on him and would casually pick an easy win to dismiss him.

That would’ve been best for everyone involved.

But he hadn’t expected Mo Yuyan to take this so seriously!

Since she had agreed to his terms, it meant she was genuinely willing to honor the bet.

Now He Yimo urgently needed a wager that could pique her interest—something neither too easy nor entirely out of her realm of expertise…

“It seems Fairy has refined tastes and disdains trivial bets.”

“In that case, why not play a game of Go with this unworthy young master?”

As he spoke, He Yimo’s gaze fell on a stone table in the corner of the courtyard.

If his memory served him right, the guest courtyard of the Grand Tutor’s residence had a stone table engraved with a Go board. It had been collecting dust for years without use.

But tonight, not only had the table been cleaned, but it was also neatly set with black and white Go pieces.

“Does Fairy know how to play Go?”

As he asked with a smile, He Yimo caught a fleeting glimmer of interest in Mo Yuyan’s eyes.

He knew she was intrigued!

“I know a little.”

“Shall we have a match?”

This time, Mo Yuyan agreed readily, her earlier suspicion fading away.

She approached the well-prepared stone table and turned back with an inviting gesture for He Yimo to take a seat.

“Wait… is this script going off track?”

Sitting cross-legged at the table, He Yimo stared at the neatly arranged board and felt an odd sense of formality creeping into the atmosphere.

Once seated at the board, Mo Yuyan’s demeanor shifted noticeably—her condescension replaced by genuine respect for her opponent.

She even invited him to sit…

And then personally began tidying up the board!

“It’s a bit messy; give me a moment,” she said calmly. In front of He Yimo, she meticulously gathered the black and white pieces into their respective containers using traditional methods.

It took her five full minutes just to clean up the board!

Halfway through, He Yimo couldn’t bear watching any longer and helped sort half of the pieces himself.

“Did Fairy just finish playing a game with someone else tonight?” he asked curiously after they finished resetting the board.

Mo Yuyan glanced at him briefly before replying indifferently: “When I’m bored, I play against myself.”

“……?”

He Yimo raised an eyebrow.

He didn’t recall Mo Yuyan having any interest in Go.

During his time playing Fallen Immortal, she had never once played Go with him.

In the original story, Mo Yuyan was an enigmatic senior sister—cold and aloof in the early stages and later turning into a passionate yet ruthless dark swordswoman who attacked anyone in sight…

What exactly she went through remained unclear. The original plot barely touched on her character arc. Forget about one-on-one interactions like playing Go—the game didn’t even have a favorability system! The female leads lived their own lives while players were left clueless.

“Stop staring at my face and spacing out.”

“Do you want black or white pieces?”

Snapping out of his thoughts, He Yimo noticed that Mo Yuyan had already reset the board. She frowned slightly, clearly impatient with his dawdling.

Blinking back to reality, He Yimo studied the white-robed fairy sitting across from him. Reassured that this timeline’s Mo Yuyan hadn’t yet turned dark, he let out a small sigh of relief and focused on the game:

“I’ll take white.”

“Alright.”

Mo Yuyan nodded lightly and picked up the black pieces to make her first move.

She played with intense focus, carefully considering each placement before committing.

Since He Yimo had no intention of winning, he played casually—half reminiscing about past events while occasionally glancing at Mo Yuyan’s concentrated face . Smiling mysteriously, he asked: “Fairy, do you want to know why I chose white pieces?”

“……?”

Mo Yuyan looked up, puzzled once again.

She didn’t particularly care about such trivial matters.

But He Yimo was anything but predictable.

Not only did he break conversational norms during their talks—his moves on the board were equally erratic. His unorthodox playstyle disrupted her rhythm entirely; she couldn’t make sense of his strategy at all.

Staring into his eyes thoughtfully for a moment, Mo Yuyan eventually sighed softly and relented:

“Why?”

“Though Fairy’s white dress is elegant and pure, in my eyes, black pieces better suit your true destiny.”

“My destiny?”

Mo Yuyan furrowed her brows slightly, waiting for an explanation.

But He Yimo simply maintained his enigmatic smile and stopped mid-sentence, refusing to elaborate further.

This only deepened Mo Yuyan’s confusion as her celestial expression grew more serious.

He could clearly see her delicate hand trembling slightly as she held a Go piece in frustration.

Ah… being cryptic felt so satisfying!

In his past life playing Fallen Immortal, he had endured countless riddles from Mo Yuyan’s cryptic persona.

Now that he had reincarnated into this world, it was finally his turn to let her experience the torment of unanswered riddles!