The slash that cascades through the air folds and unfolds like a wave skimming across the surface, or the flap of a bird’s wings. With each “flap”, space itself shudders and casts off waves that, when they strike the approaching elders, compress and flash-freeze into massive ravines and spires of ice that surpass even the destruction Mu Jingyu could unleash with her [Glacier Breaking Sword]. However, all of this ice forms behind the approaching elders, imparting no physical blows against them.

The golden-eyed, white-haired girl steps in front of the mass of crystal that is now my owner and quietly asks. “Which one of you wants to die first? Don’t bother telling me your name, I won’t remember.”

Nascent Soul Ascension. Sword force and intent as sharp as Lan Xiaohui’s earlier. The pulses I sense from her cultivation are enough to freeze blood in one’s veins; whether they are an elder or not.

However, this is largely because of me and my unbound [Tyranny], amplifying the perception of Wu Yulan’s fierce aura, making it appear tyrannical.

“Stay out of this!” Grand Elder Zhuo hisses. “This is a matter between my sect and Zhu Xuelian!”

“Oh?” Wu Yulan asks. “What sect?”

“You…!” one of the elders roars. “Just because you are the favored disciple of the Galaxy Sword does not mean I will not stomp you to dust if you continue to humiliate us!”

“Zhu Xuelian killed our future patriarch in cold blood! She must pay!” another elder adds.

“Zhu Xuelian carried out a lawful execution — a duel between her and Yu Shun. Yu Shun lost and died,” Wu Yulan says. “I won’t let you take a step closer. Now scram.”

“You…!” an elder roars and dashes forward. “Die!”

This elder is in the peak of Nascent Soul Ascension — far more than an opponent an early-stage Nascent Soul cultivator like Wu Yulan should be able to resist. At least, normally.

Just as the elder takes a step closer, he stumbles to a complete stop.

All the elders stare at the new girl that approaches, with black hair and green eyes, that have a strange, violet glow to them. A mist rises off her body, also purple, and I sense a profound danger in that strange fog. In her left hand, she carries someone’s severed head.

“Yu… Yu Yan… young master…” one of the elders, eyes tearing up, recognizes the person to whom the severed head once belonged. “You killed… you killed…”

Yu Yan — that is the name of Yu Shun’s brother.

“I will ask you again,” Wu Yulan says, stepping forward. “What sect?”

This time, the question sounds too pointed to be ignored as ridicule or humiliation. The elders look toward the stands where the Seven Killing Swords disciples are gathered, only to find it shrouded in the same purple fog emitting from Yun Fei.

And they also see the countless glimmers of light, of flying swords and techniques, as they fly across the sky into the thousand ranks of the Seven Killing Swords disciples.

Immediately understanding what is happening, Grand Elder Zhuo looks toward one of the nodes of the formation protecting the arena and unravels it with his soul force.

“Kill! Kill! Kill!” immediately thunders through the arena, from the three major sects — all three of them.

Yun Fei turns to look at the mass of crystals that became of my owner and her eyes fill with mist, but Wu Yulan’s reassuring hand closes around hers, and she looks away.

“I said scram!” Wu Yulan exclaims, holding her sword out to the side, as if ready to strike.

“Zhu Xuelian…!!!” Grand Elder Zhuo roars, but helpless — and ever the careful overthinker, assuming Wu Yulan’s challenge is a trap — turns around and jumps into the air. “Protect the sect! Retreat to the Ark!”

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The other elders quickly gather themselves, and looking back at Yu Yan’s head one final time, leap into the air after Grand Elder Zhuo.

Wu Yulan sighs in relief, slightly relaxing her fighting stance. “You did well, Yun Fei,” Wu Yulan says.

Yun Fei looks in the direction of the purple miasma and frowns. “They had it coming.”

Within the mist, hundreds of disciples were poisoned by the mist, and left behind only withered, lifeless husks.

Though her cultivation is only in the Core Formation, there is something extremely abnormal about it, but I cannot exactly pinpoint what. What did the Eternal Red Princess do to Yun Fei?

And what about Wu Yulan? Something did not seem right there, either. That extreme sword force… without a doubt, that is the [Fractured Sword] I taught her. Did she comprehend it? In less than a year?

“Yaoyue… what happened to Zhu Xuelian…?” Wu Yulan asks.

I want to blame it on user error, but this time, I cannot deny that I may have miscalculated my adjustment. Her core should have collapsed, and then her Foundation. However, the moment her core collapsed, instead of taking down her Foundation, the sword force burst through her body and encased her in its crystallized essence.

Instead of her cultivation dropping, or disappearing entirely, I sense the response of a Nascent Soul Ascension cultivator from within the mass of black crystals. It is completely outside of my expectations.

As I consider my answer to Wu Yulan, a crack appears on the mass of crystal spikes. Then another crack. Then another.

“Is she… is she waking up?” Yun Fei asks.

“Xuelian!” Wu Yulan exclaims, dropping to her knees, and reaching out to touch the crystals. As her hands touch each crystal spike, they collapse and turn to dust.

And then, with a loud crash, the rest of the crystals implode into themselves, and my owner’s body falls into Wu Yulan’s lap.

A black halo shines over my owner’s head, twisting slowly just like her old [Emptiness Prana] used to do — once every minute. It has the same attributes as an internal art, but how? All of her martial arts should be gone — all except [Fractured Sword].

I direct my [Critical Analysis] at the black halo and recoil.

— Broken Moon Path - Emperor-grade internal cultivation art.

Fascinating.

As for her cultivation, where there is supposed to be no core, there is now a black core. Perhaps calling it a core is wrong — it would be like calling the emptiness a thing. A singularity? It is the only explanation I can find within my database.

“Zhu Xuelian…” Wu Yulan whispers.

But my owner merely rests peacefully in her friend's lap. The halo above her head slowly fades from view, and her skin becomes paler.

"Yaoyue... what is happening to her...?" Wu Yulan asks.

I focus my attention on my owner and analyze her internal system. Eighteen foundation pillars, a black core that is like a singularity, and a Nascent Soul that is like a black mist. Even her foundation pillars, of which there were only fifteen initially, are now a perfect set. However, none of the pillars that we initially created remain; nine of them, the ones that correspond to the direction of Heaven, are created by the abnormal sword force of the [Fractured Sword] method, and the other nine are blazing pillars of the [Salvation Ashes] method. Holding them together is the natural energy and force of the [Broken Moon Path] internal art.

My owner's internal vessel is a profane treasure trove of artifacts; even my sentient core responds with a pulse of envy.

"She is recovering," I tell them, and then add with a bit of pride. "Zhu Xuelian had the great fortune of obtaining an unexpected breakthrough, and requires rest to stabilize her cultivation."

Wu Yulan snorts and shakes her head at my mention of Zhu Xuelian's great fortune. She remembers her own great fortune when she nearly died during one of my similarly miscalculated experiments.

Then she sighs and even smiles at my owner. "Thank you, Yaoyue," she says, and I am not certain what she is grateful for.

"Yulan, we have to go," Yun Fei whispers, throwing Yu Yan's severed head away. "If we stay any longer..."

Another flash of light overhead, followed by a deep rumbling in the area, reminds everyone present of the greater cataclysm at hand than my owner's current predicament.

Slowly, Yulan lifts my owner into her arms and then casually steps onto my vessel. Yun Fei also joins in, standing closer to my hilt with the little room that is left available.

"I wish you could see it, Xuelian. It's like the sky is on fire with fireworks," Wu Yulan whispers, as she powers my [Flight] formations with her sword energy, and we blast off the ground. "You are finally free; the life that we wanted can now be ours."

Yun Fei also nods and quietly whispers. "Please wake up soon, Sister Xuelian."

Wu Yulan looks over her shoulder once more and then frowns. I can only imagine the scene that she can see from here.

"I can't believe the whole continent is at war," Wu Yulan says. "What is going to happen to us now?"

Another unexpected turn. I had suspected that the Heavenly Mountain Pavilion may have used the situation with Zhu Xuelian in order to justify a sanction against the Seven Killing Swords, but I did not think they would actually go to war.

I also need my owner to wake up soon before these greedy sects steal the resources that should belong to me from right under my nose.