You Huaming, much like Elder Qin before, only flies up to a certain point between Star City and the place where the Heavenly Sword Villa is.

Before she leaves, You Huaming withdraws a sound transmission jade from her sleeve and peers into its green, glassy surface before looking up at Wu Yulan.

“My master has approved your return to the Perilous Sword Valley. If you need an escort, Fairy Snow can provide it.”

Without waiting for a reply, You Huaming immediately blasts off into the distance, back the way she came, and quickly disappears on the horizon. Her flight speed is at least twice as fast as Lan Xiaohui’s top speed.

Strangely enough, I realize much later when we are already approaching Starsword Peak, that I haven’t once thought about where I would be if I were You Huaming’s sword instead. On the surface, You Huaming is the superior swordsman of the two — even her name references the hope of the future generation — but as a sword, I know, Lan Xiaohui has a much, much brighter future.

If she manages to live to reach her potential, that is.

Perhaps that is why I never felt a draw toward You Huaming. With You Wulei as her master, and her identity as a disciple of a hidden clan of possibly the most powerful sword cultivators on the continent, You Huaming likely does not suffer a life of hardships or challenges. Certainly, her master sends her on all sorts of dangerous missions, but with such a background there is very little possibility of actually losing her life.

On the other hand, my owner lives on the precipice of certain death for various reasons. Her clash with Yu Shun aside, and even possessing me as a treasure aside also, meeting the princess was an unlikely and unprecedented danger.

Could it simply be bad luck?

As an entity that once understood the past, present, and future of the universe, I know such a thing as bad luck did not exist in my previous life. In this life, perhaps it exists, but I am more willing to consider that this unlikely meeting was simply because Lan Xiaohui was seeking an unlikely power that could move the needle from her path of near-certain destruction.

Lan Xiaohui suddenly speeds up as we approach Starsword Peak, and before I even have a chance to ask her what the reason for her sudden acceleration is, I record that Lan Xiaohui’s top speed has increased by a significant margin compared to before. Still not as fast as You Huaming, but fast enough that even Wu Yulan has to tightly embrace my owner in order not to fall off the sword.

Within a few moments, I realize why she accelerated so drastically.

Standing beneath one of the trees is a familiar figure. Her hair had become a darker color with a sheen of purple trapped in the glints of light. Her once brilliant emerald-green eyes now look a lighter, sicklier color. Despite the changes in her physical appearance, including her lighter skin and deviations in muscular structure, I recognize this figure because I spent the last several months refining her as if she were a toxic element that I wanted to stabilize.

As a result, my Dao of Alchemy got several insights, but with the near-total collapse of my Inner World, very little progress on my insights has been achieved.

Yun Fei looks up when she spots the approaching Lan Xiaohui and her companion, and her initial reaction is a pleasant, if weak, smile. Her second reaction, when she sees the sorry state of my owner, with her torn and singed dress, and the fact that the black lily flower in her hair is now burning endlessly, is one of deep concern.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

Without hesitation, Lan Xiaohui hops off my platform and tightly embraces Yun Fei.

In my owner’s heart, there is nothing but relief and gratitude to see her friend alive. Perhaps it is not so much that Yun Fei is her friend, but the fact that Lan Xiaohui believes that it is, primarily, her fault that these things happened to Yun Fei.

My owner knows better than anyone the hardships she has to go through in life because of her connection to Yu Shun; as a sword cultivator, it is twice as unbearable to see someone else go through something similar because of their connection to her.

Sword cultivators are considered to be righteous, but that is not righteousness in the literal interpretation as far as most people know it. Even sword cultivators can follow the demonic path, like my owner. The reputation of righteousness stems from the fact that sword cultivators, almost universally, oppose injustice — at least, their perception of injustice and unfairness.

Wu Yulan steps off my platform and walks to Lan Xiaohui’s side. She doesn’t embrace Yun Fei like my owner but merely waits patiently.

However, it is Yun Fei herself who eventually separates from Lan Xiaohui and then, surprisingly, hugs Wu Yulan and murmurs a low: “Thank you, Sister Wu.”

This surprises Wu Yulan. “You know who I am?” she asks, while uncertain whether she should reciprocate the contact or not; in the end, managing to do a little bit of both options.

Yun Fei nods. “I heard your voice several times while I was sleeping,” Yun Fei speaks in a low whisper, mostly because of her weakened condition. “We have never met before, but your concern for me and your hopes that I would survive, for Lan Xiao— Sister Zhu’s sake — is what gave me the strength to endure.”

I find it rather unbelievable that she was conscious during that time. I was certain that there was no thread of active consciousness within Yun Fei and therefore did not hold back at all when I was refining her. But it turns out she must’ve felt and endured every painful treatment I’ve subjected her to.

It is not like I had any other options, so even if she was awake, I’d have done the same.

Lan Xiaohui is also aware of this, and her stare toward me is neither judging nor accusing. She understands that Yun Fei was awake for most of my treatments, even when I assured her that this was not possible, but she also seems to understand that if I was wrong about this, then it is unlikely anyone else would be correct either.

At least, she has that high of an opinion for me. After all, I am not an expert in medicine or consciousness.

After a moment, Lan Xiaohui smiles and embraces both of them with a sigh. “Lady Yue said you might wake up after she gave you the Wood Essence Crystal, but… you were in such a bad state, we didn’t think you would.”

Yun Fei smiles. “I only woke up recently. A week ago or so,” Yun Fei replies. “I couldn’t find you anywhere, and I didn’t have the strength to go anywhere, so I just sat here.”

Lan Xiaohui winces and nods. Thus far, Lan Xiaohui had been certain that she had a few months before we had to return for me to continue my treatment of Yun Fei. I have made preparations specifically for this scenario, and they have turned out to be necessary. Without my presence, Yun Fei could survive for several months, with several treatments already inside her body waiting for an automatic trigger to release the stored venom to suppress her Yin poison.

Naturally, without the refinement in addition to the venom, it was merely a life-extending measure and not a treatment.

However, what Lan Xiaohui did not foresee was the fact that Yun Fei could wake up and perhaps get into trouble trying to get to the city, for example. These are the forbidden lands of the Galaxy Sword sect, after all, and everywhere around this peak is a dangerous area.

Luckily, this time, Yun Fei was too weak to go anywhere.

Lan Xiaohui sighs. “Yun Fei, we have a lot to talk about. How about we have some tea together?”

At the mention of tea, Wu Yulan frowns, but then smiles and nods. “That’s a great idea,” she says. “I would also like to replace my last memory of tea with a better one.”

At the reminder of the last tea session, Lan Xiaohui also winces and nods.

Not understanding what the two are referencing, Yun Fei smiles helplessly and nods. “It sounds like your last adventure did not go well. I’d love to hear about it over tea.”