"This is a story about a common boy from Yanjing and a girl from a small town in the Dongyang district swapping bodies..."
The lamp on the teacher's dormitory desk shone brightly, and Le Yu was writing furiously, starting to adapt "Your Name" for local context, laying the emotional groundwork for Qing Lan to see him as 'a completely different person' in the future.
In fact, the localization was quite simple. If the Imperial Academy was the highest honor for students, then a trip to Yanjing was the lifelong dream of most outsiders.
How much did outsiders yearn for Yanjing? Put it this way, in many local romance novels from Star Engraving County and Xuanzhu County, the male protagonist is often a 'son of a noble', 'disgraced young master', or 'disguised prince' from Yanjing. The ending is usually that the female protagonist goes to Yanjing with the male protagonist to live a happy life—Le Yu hadn't read these romance novels; they were all told to him by Qing Lan.
Thus, localizing "Your Name" was unusually simple. Huiyao people could completely understand the female protagonist's longing for the big city. It's just that the meteor destroying the small town was too surreal, so Le Yu decided to incorporate current events, writing that the male protagonist's timeline was three years later, while the female protagonist's timeline was three years ago. Her small town was destroyed not by a meteor, but was flattened by the Linhai Army led by Lan Yan.
Okay, the anti-war sentiment increased.
After writing about one-third of the outline, Le Yu didn't want to write anymore. It's , creators often don't want to write after they have figured out what to write, "After all, I've already enjoyed it once in my mind, why write it out," so he continued his papyrophilia, writing some snippets to amuse Qing Lan.
After finishing, he put it in an envelope, planning to find a postal channel via the Imperial Academy to send it tomorrow.
Suddenly, Neshe's Heart lightly trembled, and after countless pop-up bombings by Le Yu, Jun Zuo finally replied with a message:
"Go to Wanxiang Forest."
Le Yu immediately changed into a set of black nightwear, took the items possibly needed for a night battle, and quietly left the teacher's dormitory area.
With a distant chime, it was now 9 PM, and most students had already left the academy. The teaching building was empty, as Huiyao had no tradition of nighttime teaching—lights wouldn't do either, as they believed Huiyao people's learning efficiency at night was only half of during the day. Rather than wasting time studying at night, it's better to wake up early for class.
The Imperial Academy campus was huge. Le Yu crossed Meteor Lake and the Pig Feed Dining Hall, and even at full speed using the Lingxu Step, it took ten minutes to arrive at Wanxiang Forest. An ancient forest full of towering trees came into view, with a sign at the entrance: "Swift Blade Assembly Point."
After initial flat ground training of the Swift Blade course, most of it was conducted in Wanxiang Forest. Bai Yu once boasted to Le Yu that he could navigate Wanxiang Forest with his eyes closed. In such a terrain complex and obstacle-rich area, it was an ideal training ground for the Swift Blade Walker.
The passing standard for the Swift Blade course was to pass through Wanxiang Forest unscathed, equating to a qualified Swift Blade soldier in the army; the excellent standard was to move at high speed without slowing down or getting injured, which could directly lead to a role as the leader of a Swift Blade squad; the perfect score was achieved by not touching the ground, traversing through the woods with Swift Blade Boots, which could lead to becoming a Swift Blade instructor in the army.
The reason Le Yu knew so much about Wanxiang Forest was because it had two other characteristics:
There was no custom of couples sneaking into small forests yet. Sneaking into the library was more common. Wanxiang Forest was deserted at night and was a base of eerie rumors—the seven wonders of the Imperial Academy were mostly related to Wanxiang Forest.
In fact, several homicide cases had indeed occurred in Wanxiang Forest, and even the principal didn't manage them much. Bai Yu and Le Yu both believed Wanxiang Forest might be the key location in the sword-seeking competition—without outsiders, complex terrain, it was a perfect place to kill and hide a body.
But the problem was, Wanxiang Forest was very large, otherwise it wouldn't be the exam location for the Swift Blade course.
Jun Zuo asked Le Yu to come to Wanxiang Forest without giving a specific location. He stood at the entrance feeling confused. Suddenly, footsteps came from behind. He quickly hid behind a nearby rock and saw a pair of men and women walking towards Wanxiang Forest.
It was Ming Shuangli and Niruo.
Just as Le Yu guessed, Niruo was Ming Shuangli's sheath, and Ming Shuangli was Niruo's Sword Master. But why did they figure out each other's identity so quickly while Le Yu was still in the dark?
As they passed by the rock, Niruo glanced towards Le Yu's direction before nonchalantly following Ming Shuangli deeper into Wanxiang Forest.
At the moment Niruo glanced over, Le Yu's hand was already gripping the Flaming Bullet in his pocket. This thing, once thrown, could burn for 15 minutes and was difficult to extinguish, making it an essential item for non-sword martial artists in night battles.
Watching them leave, Le Yu silently followed behind. In fact, whether silently or not didn't matter—Niruo clearly didn't mind him following, indicating that the upcoming event was probably a multiplayer activity that everyone could participate in.
Unlike Le Yu's sneaky ways, Niruo and Ming Shuangli were completely unrestrained. Ming Shuangli boldly carried a fancy lantern to light the way, occasionally saying 'I think it's this way,' or 'Oh, it seems to be this way,' or 'I'll go ahead to scout,' like a headless fly bumping around.
But it didn't take long before Ming Shuangli exclaimed in delight, "Arrived!"
Le Yu's gaze went past them, seeing the clearing ahead, almost making him rush forward to touch it.
A heavy golden Heavy Sword hovered in midair, its blade engraved with elegant and heavy patterns, the hilt wrapped in bands resembling burning flames, the blade emitting a brilliant and dazzling golden light. The left side of the blade reflected the vastness of sun, moon, and stars, while the right side flashed with the grandeur of wind, cloud, thunder, and lightning.
Just by looking at it, Spiritual Power trembled, as if one could experience the heavy history carried by the sword and feel the longing of billions over generations!
Even though it was Le Yu's first time seeing the real thing, he had seen glimpses of this sword in history books, various government emblems, on the most common novel cover illustrations, and in every corner of Huiyao— Newest update provıded by 𝔫𝔬𝔳𝔢𝔩⟡𝘧𝙞𝙧𝙚⟡𝘯𝘦𝘵
Absolute Divine Weapon · Holy Sword Huiyao!
The true 'Sacred Sword appears, who can rival; Huiyao stabilizes the world, none dare disobey'!
The foundation of Huiyao's establishment, the final guarantee of a two-thousand-year legacy, possessing world-altering power, a card known to all but unbeaten by any!
Yet what Le Yu saw, the undisputed 'most desirable dream lover' of Huiyao, was just placed in the nighttime clearing of Wanxiang Forest, like a shared bicycle waiting to be taken advantage of!?