That evening, when they are done with their patrol and taking inventory of all the things they have at the Starsword Peak, they go to the moon viewing platform and drink tea.
“We don’t have much here,” Wu Yulan says. “Even the kitchen is basic.”
Lan Xiaohui smiles. “At least we can make tea,” she says, gesturing to the two cups.
For my owner, this state of affairs is not something new. In the Ancestral Forbidden Hunting Grounds, she had even less. In fact, she had nothing at all. The one time she had any sort of processed liquid, the one who gave it to her tried to poison her.
For Lan Xiaohui, this place is a vast improvement.
Wu Yulan returns Lan Xiaohui’s smile and sighs contently. “It is beautiful, though,” she says. “The land beyond is rich with dangers, but also untapped resources. Even if this place was just a hut without even a roof, I’d be satisfied.”
Wu Yulan’s reaction to the lack of luxuries is not that much of a surprise considering the fact that she had passed the Pagoda of Introspection with a flawless record. It is strange to me, however, that someone so used to such luxuries could abandon them so easily.
But she is a sword cultivator, like my owner, and her way of thinking could be even more extreme and direct than Lan Xiaohui’s. Perhaps, to Wu Yulan, some things — like worldly luxuries — are worth sacrificing for a greater goal and deeper attainment.
“Sister Xuelian,” Wu Yulan says, “I have some ideas for what we can do here with the facilities, but I would like to hear your thoughts as well.”
“Yulan,” Lan Xiaohui says with an even brighter smile than before, even dropping the sister part. “There may be workshops here, but we do not need them. Yaoyue can process materials and even make pills and pastes.”
At the words, Wu Yulan’s gaze slides from my owner’s eyes to my hilt. I bask in her well-earned admiration.
“I also know a farming method that can both increase the speed at which plants will grow, but also improve the efficiency of the Qi Gathering Array,” Lan Xiaohui explains to Wu Yulan, almost using the same exact wording I used an hour earlier to explain my plan to Lan Xiaohui.
Perhaps it is a bit too simple to be called a plan. I only instructed Lan Xiaohui to kill the demonic beasts of the Core Formation realm around here for their parts and to grow medicinal herbs. With these two things, I can produce pills and pastes for their cultivation.
Now Wu Yulan looks at Lan Xiaohui with that same look of adoration and admiration she had for me. “You are so talented, Xuelian,” she says.
My owner chuckles and shakes her head. “It is all thanks to Yaoyue,” she says, running her hand over my sheath in a petting manner.
“Yaoyue’s guidance saved my life,” my owner says, and I feel that in her heart she is finally ready to talk about this with Wu Yulan. There is a serious look on Lan Xiaohui’s face.
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“A year ago, I was in the Qi Condensation realm. Yu Shun broke my cultivation and left me to die in that forest, but I came across Yaoyue, and, well, now things are like this,” she finishes the brief explanation by gesturing to herself, both to emphasize that she is now at the peak of Foundation Establishment, but also alive.
The words that strike Wu Yulan the most is the fact that Lan Xiaohui just admitted that she had climbed through almost three entire realms of cultivation in less than a year.
“In a year…?” Wu Yulan murmurs, her eyes wide. There is no admiration there anymore — it is just shock and, from the looks of it, terror. It is clear, from Wu Yulan’s expression, that an artifact that can grant such extreme cultivation speed is no longer a great boon, but a great curse.
Even with the sheath suppressing both my [Avarice] and [Tyranny], Wu Yulan still feels both temptation and fear toward me. After all, those two traits are not things external to my existence, but rather a core part of it. I am to be wanted; I am to be feared.
“Xuelian, talent and medicine can only explain so much,” Wu Yulan says. “If word gets out that you possess such an incredible treasure, even the immortal beings from other continents will come to kill you and take it from you.”
My owner nods. “I know, which is why we should upgrade the facilities here, even if we don't intend to use them,” she says.
Then, Wu Yulan smiles and leans back with a sigh. “Thank you for telling me,” she says. “I am happy to have earned your trust.”
Lan Xiaohui’s smile remains as bright as before and she nods with satisfaction. “Even so,” she says, returning to the subject at hand. “I must reach the Nascent Soul realm in two years.”
The declaration of her intent, and now the knowledge that such could be possible, makes Wu Yulan sway for a moment as she begins to understand the magnitude of such an achievement. From the peak of Foundation to the Nascent Soul realm in two years.
It is absurd, Wu Yulan’s expression says.
It is possible, her eyes relay with their gleeful glimmer.
“You too,” my owner adds. “We will both benefit from this.”
Wu Yulan stares at Lan Xiaohui and then once more at me. That same adoring look is back, but now with an addition of deep and somewhat fearful respect.
“Is that smart…?” Wu Yulan asks, her voice barely a whisper above the background sound of water rushing over the cliffs to plummet into the valley below.
Lan Xiaohui shrugs. Of course she doesn’t know if it is smart.
“Our place is not here, Yulan,” she says with a serious tone. “With how far we can go, the Galaxy Sword sect — this continent — is too small for us.”
The way my owner says these words makes me finally comprehend Lady Yue’s words as well. This continent is small when viewed through the lens of the future and what awaits. This is not the place for an existence beyond the Nascent Soul realm.
It is, as both Lady Yue and now my owner put it, too small and too ordinary.
Wu Yulan laughs after a moment as her thinking meat finally processes what Lan Xiaohui is trying to convey. She laughs because her future, at that moment, reveals itself to her. What was a distant possibility shrouded in fog is now like a straight and obvious path.
All she has to do is walk on it, and everything will be hers.
“Then we should go to the sect and obtain seeds,” Wu Yulan says, her voice brimming with joy and excitement. “They will give them to us for free, as long as we return a part of the harvest.”
Lan Xiaohui nods in agreement.
“We should also look for recipes and alchemy manuals,” Wu Yulan says. “But those will cost us contributions.”
“We will also need to hunt the demonic beasts around here,” Lan Xiaohui says. “We can give the parts that we don’t need to the sect for contributions. And materials for the workshops.”
Wu Yulan’s eyes widen as she realizes this too is a possibility and then nods in vehement agreement. “Then first thing tomorrow, let us go to the sect.”
Once more, Wu Yulan laughs out loud and it takes nearly all of her willpower to not squeal with joy. Even though she comprehends the dangers, she also now understands that these dangers are only a risk too great to take for those to who this sect and this continent is not too small.