Lan Xiaohui remains at the pavilion when the other two leave, staring at the distant stars. There is a deep-seated melancholy gnawing at her heart, becoming deeper still as the night progresses. Her Dao Heart suffered many setbacks recently, and it would not be wrong to say that it is broken, but this melancholy is not part of that damage.

Wu Yulan joins her, later, but doesn’t say a word. The white-haired girl simply sits next to my owner, leans her head on Lan Xiaohui’s shoulder, and watches the starry night sky.

The happiness they felt here, they realize now, was something special and unique. Two months ago, the only obstacle on their path was Yu Shun, but beyond that, their lives were their own. Yu Shun is a difficult obstacle, certainly, but in their hearts, they did not feel that this was impossible; if anything, part of the happiness they felt in this place was related to the fact that in their estimation, Yu Shun was already as good as dead.

Now, however, there is no such certainty, nor happiness or peace. There is a dark cloud of uncertainty now, stretching twenty years into the future, and the dread that lingers in their hearts is that when the clouds disperse, the blinding light of the sun will erase them from the world.

That carefree happiness they once felt can no longer be recovered; that dark cloud will always exist.

I find this rather strange. To begin with, Lan Xiaohui’s life never had any guarantees. Dark clouds always swarmed her future, no matter how she looked at it. Escaping from the forest, joining the Galaxy Sword sect, becoming entangled with Lady Yue and the Heavenly Sword Villa — all these things are dark clouds that conspired to end her life.

Why should this be different? It is just another person Lan Xiaohui has to terminate before she can earn her freedom and reach the apex.

“I think the solution is very simple, Sister Xuelian,” After several hours of silence, Wu Yulan is the first to speak, and there's a devious smile on her lips.

Lan Xiaohui’s eyebrows raise and her lips quirk into an anticipating smile. “Tell me,” she says.

“We just have to kill him!”

Lan Xiaohui laughs, having expected something along those lines. “Is that even possible?” she asks. “How many decades and centuries advantage does he have on us?”

Wu Yulan's smile doesn't fade, however. "But we have Yaoyue," she points out. "We also have very powerful roots and cultivation manuals. And if all else fails, we could ask Aunt Yue..."

Lan Xiaohui ponders Wu Yulan's statement and then nods. She turns over her right hand, toward the sky, and focuses. A flickering but radiant wisp of fire appears above her palm. “Yaoyue, will we be able to use your Inner World to cultivate our new manuals?”

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In theory, my Inner World is suitable for cultivating the sword, but in practice, whether it is fire, ice, a spear, or a sword, it should not matter. My formations are built on the resulting output of progress, not the type of input.

“Yes,” I tell them. “But it will be some time before my Inner World recovers to a point where it can be used. It will need to be rebuilt.”

I also consider this an excellent opportunity to learn more about how my Inner World operates.

Lan Xiaohui nods. “This should be our priority then. We have, for the most part, recovered, but you have not.”

Wu Yulan smiles, and in a most respectful tone says: “Thank you, Yaoyue. You have sacrificed so much to give us a chance. In the end, it did not work out.”

“It was not for nothing,” I tell them after a lengthy pause. I take my time with my reply because I am not certain if what I have to say will be beneficial to them at this stage of trauma resolution. “You have made excellent progress during this time and have learned lessons from the extreme limits. Even if your cultivation was broken and you had to begin from nothing again, these things will be very valuable to you in the future.”

Wu Yulan and Lan Xiaohui make a thoughtful expression at my words, nodding along slowly.

As they process my words, there is a glint of light and hope in their eyes.

“You are forgetting one thing,” I remind them. “If Lu Long had the power to kill the princess, he would have done so already.”

Lan Xiaohui shrugs. “Yes, but how does that help us?”

“Within twenty years, it would not be impossible for me to kill the princess,” I tell them. “So what can a Lu Long do?”

My words leave a deep impression on them. “How is that possible?”

Wu Yulan also sits up and, now fully awake, stares in my direction.

“In hindsight, the formation that suppresses the princess most certainly came from a source similar to the Ancient Sword Graveyard. I know for certain that it is a sword formation and that it is inferior to my Fractured Sword,” I explain. “Within twenty years, it is entirely possible that I will obtain a technique that can have an even more powerful suppression effect, and use it to kill the princess.”

“Is that really true, Yaoyue?” Wu Yulan asks, eyes wide.

“Yes,” I tell them — I am sure of this. “But I will not do it.”

Wu Yulan suddenly jumps to her feet, with a large smile on her lips. She took that a lot better than I had initially predicted.

“That is good!” Wu Yulan exclaims. “Fractured Sword, you say? If you can learn it within twenty years, then what reason is there for us also to not achieve the same? If I have the choice of dying while reaching for a sword, or to live a long and happy life hiding behind my friend’s sword, then I will always choose the former!”

Sword cultivators truly are a unique breed of individual. Even in excess — mainly my capabilities — unlike the former humanity, they still strive to solve their own problems with their own might — another aspect of this so-called righteousness.

Lan Xiaohui’s heart shares the same principles as Wu Yulan’s, and is thus, unsurprisingly, swarming with the same glimmers as Wu Yulan’s. She also wants to obtain this power, for the same reasons.

Dying while reaching for a supreme sword is the equivalent of seeking the Dao and living a life of freedom — without dark clouds hanging overhead.

In the end, my gamble was successful. I managed to motivate them to generate more energy for my existence. It might even be possible for them to overcome this challenge on their own. It is a mutually beneficial agreement.

Exactly what it should be.