'As I thought, it's dangerous for me to be around these people from the upper heavens. They're nothing but trouble.' Yuan sighed inwardly as he entered the Sword Temple with Jin Xi.

Inside the Sword Temple was so dark that Yuan couldn't even see his own hands, almost as if he'd entered the void.

"What kind of place is the Sword Temple? This seems different from what I've read about." Yuan asked out loud. Even if he couldn't see her, he could feel Jin Xi's presence beside him.

"The Sword Temple is different for everyone. What you see and hear will depend on your talents and fate."

Yuan didn't say anything else and proceeded to wait for something to happen. However, when nothing happened even a few minutes later, he spoke again, "So, what am I waiting for?"

"Be patient. The Sword Temple is possessing your information. It could take hours to days until it finishes," she said.

"Should've said so earlier…" Yuan sighed.

He then took a seat and closed his eyes.

"Hey, can I ask you some questions?" Yuan decided to start a conversation while they waited.

"That depends on the question."

"The one you address as 'Master', is he the creator of this tomb?" He was pretty confident he already knew the answer to this question, but he wanted to be sure.

"That's right. My Master is all-knowing and powerful. There's nobody in the Nine Heavens stronger than him."

She spoke in a bragging manner.

"What's your relationship with him? How did you end up as his servant?"

"Servant? What an outrageous assumption, you asshole. What made you think I was serving him?"

"You're not? The way you act, I guess."

"I call him master because I am his disciple!" She exclaimed, sounding quite offended.

"Oh, really? My bad."

Yuan was surprised. He didn't expect to have disciples in his past life. Though, if he thought about it, it wasn't too shocking. 

"So did he own a sect?"

"No. Master wasn't the type to stay in one place for long. He's always traveling. Even if he did, he wasn't exactly Sect Master material."

"Then how did you end up as his disciple?"

"..." Jin Xi fell silent for some reason.

"I don't want to talk about it," she mumbled a moment later.

"Then tell me about him. What kind of person was he?" Yuan asked.

"Hmph. You've already asked enough questions. It's my turn to ask some," she said.

And she continued, "First of all, where did you get that sword from the Sword Trial."

"The Empyrean Overlord?"

"So you even know its name…"

"I acquired it from someone else. She found it in this place, too."

"Is that so? And it accepted you as its master, right?"

"That's right."

"Who are you, really?" She then asked.

"Xiao Yang."

"Don't give me that shit again. Your real name."

Yuan smiled, "My name is Yuan, and I came from a place called Earth."

"Earth? Never heard of it."

"Well, it's not within the Nine Heavens, so I am not surprised."

As ridiculous as it sounded, Jin Xi didn't call him a liar, almost as if she knew.

"Why did you come to this place?" Jin Xi suddenly asked.

"Fate brought me here, I think."

Jin Xi sneered at his answer for some reason.

"What's wrong?" Yuan asked.

"You sounded like my master, who always talks about fate."

"Really? Can you tell me about him? The creator of this place is shrouded with countless mysteries, after all."

After a moment of silence, she spoke, "Even though I've known him for thousands of years and even followed him for a good majority of those years, there's a lot that I still don't know about him. Hell, I don't even know what he looks like since he's always wearing a stupid mask for some reason."

'Well, you do now…' Yuan smiled inwardly.

"Master was always in the spotlight, even during his childhood. His immense— heaven-defying talents would attract attention no matter where he went. He also had a lot of enemies and couldn't go a week without fighting someone, most of them being people who envied his talents."

"Master learned Sword Aura at a young age and mastered Enhanced Sword Aura before he even turned 30, earning him the title of Godly Sword Emperor. He is also the first and only person to have ever reached the level of whatever is beyond Enhanced Sword Aura."

"He was so famous that his existence was known throughout the Nine Heavens, yet it seemed like nobody knew his true name or face. I wanted to follow him until the end of time, but alas…" Jin Xi sounded disappointed towards the end, even a little regretful.

"Did something happen?" Yuan decided to dig deeper.

However, Jin Xi shook her head and said, "I don't know. That's the extent of my memories."

"Is that so… Then do you know why he created this place?"

"Nope." She answered without hesitation.

"Master's thoughts are too profound for someone like me. All I am good for is swinging the sword."

Yuan couldn't help but chuckle at her words. She greatly resembled Li Jinxi not just in appearance but nature as well.

He wanted to say something, but his attention was stolen by a white glow that had suddenly appeared in the distance.

"What's that?" He asked.Content © 2024.

"You're about to find out," she said.

Whoosh!

The white glow that started out as a small dot quickly expanded until it consumed all of the void, turning the entire place white.

Thud.

Thud. Thud. Thud.

The sound of approaching footsteps began echoing in the place shortly after.

Jin Xi's eyes slowly widened as she recognized this familiar sound.

A tall figure wearing an ordinary-looking mask appeared in the distance a moment later.

"Master…"

Jin Xi muttered in a trembling voice as she slowly kneeled on the floor and lowered her head.

The masked man stopped in front of Yuan.

"Welcome to the Sword Temple," he said.