Some of the core disciples who saw Hao Wu's defeat all began talking amongst themselves about what they just witnessed, while others simply went back to practicing or left the practice area altogether.

"I don't think anyone else has ever beaten him so easily.", one of the other core disciples said when he heard the news.

"Do you think he could beat Chen Zhen?", another disciple quickly replied with a question. They were all looking at the figure of Jian Chen as he walked away, a calm look on his face.

After Jian Chen had left to do his own thing, Jian Li decided to begin her training for the day as well.

She headed towards the large tree that she usually sat under every morning. It was one of the many ancient trees in the area and gave out enough shade to protect her from the harsh sunlight. Most importantly, it reminded her of her home back in Qianye Village.

Once she arrived at the tree, Jian Li sat down and began meditating. After some time of sitting still and trying to calm her mind, the atmosphere shifted as she felt like she was transported into a familiar space.

Jian Li opened her eyes, welcoming the calming environment that was filled with peacefulness and serenity, as a silent lake and a towering willow tree appeared in front of her. She could see the thick roots of the tree reaching far into the distance through the crystal-clear lake. Other than the slight growth of the tree, not much had changed there in the past six months.

Walking on top of the water, Jian Li made her way to her usual spot below the willow tree and summoned her longsword. Previously, the colour of the longsword was white since her father had mixed Whitesteel with a more common metal. But Jian Li had repeatedly reformed and refined the sword with her Art and some Blacksteel from He Yu, resulting in her white longsword having streaks of black across it.

As Jian Li stared at the sword, a feeling of nostalgia washed over her. The sword had a gentle aura which reminded Jian Li of her family as well as a hint of the calm and serenity she felt whenever she was around them. It was not uncommon for her to spend an entire day practicing her refinement Art on it.

Being a core disciple, Jian Li spent most of her time in the headquarters and was unable to get much of a chance to go outside the sect. Her time was usually taken up by her cultivation and training. As such, her Art of Refinement had already been improved multiple times since her time in the sect had begun.

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For Jian Li, being inside her mind space allowed her to fully experience and connect with the sword she was refining. This helped her to manipulate her spiritual energy better, but she was limited by the fact that she could not store that many materials from the outside world in there since it took a lot of spiritual energy.

After several minutes of transforming the longsword, Jian Li was satisfied with the results. The longsword seemed a little sharper and black streaks on the blade were more prominent than before, which made her feel very excited. It looked almost as though there were some dark flowing veins in the blade itself. Even the weight of the sword had increased.

As Jian Li started to release her hold on the material, she suddenly felt a strong feeling of déjà vu and looked up at the clouds. Her smile faded away when she saw a strange figure falling towards her. Jian Li's eyes widened and she reached out her hand instinctively to catch the person who had crashed into her.

When she finally had a good view of the person, she couldn't help but let out a gasp. She recognised the person as the strange man she previously met while waiting to be reborn again.

He had longer and shaggy black hair, but all his silver rings on his fingers were gone. Even his black robe that used to be pristine had become stained and tattered. However, the same kind and friendly expression remained on his face as he looked at Jian Li.

"You are..." Jian Li gasped out loud, still in shock. She had never forgotten about him after her rebirth, but she never expected to meet him again. At least not like this.

The man nodded in response and flashed an enigmatic smile, which only added to her confusion. "Long time no see. You have grown quite a bit, have you not?"

"How are you here? Is this not my inner world?" Jian Li asked curiously.

"Why do you think I am here?", the man said with a chuckle.

Jian Li was now thoroughly confused as to what was going on. It all felt like a dream to her. Amused, the man pointed downwards, and Jian Li quickly realised she was still carrying him in her arms.

"I can't thank you enough for saving my life last time.", Jian Li said in an attempt to cover up the awkward silence between them.

"Don't worry about it, I was in the middle of helping someone else at the time. Besides, you seemed to be in quite a bit of trouble as well," he said in an apologetic tone.

It was then that Jian Li remembered. She had been stalked by a dark feeling presence while she was in the void after dying.

"Who are you? What are you?", Jian Li asked cautiously. She also recalled that there was another weird feeling presence there.

"A friend. But since we have already met twice, perhaps I should introduce myself properly sometime." The man gave Jian Li a warm smile before he reached out a hand and touched her head.

Jian Li could feel a tingling sensation run down her head and neck as she looked up in surprise. She did not know what, but she could feel that something had just changed.

The man chuckled before he disappeared and Jian Li could no longer sense him. She only had a few seconds to reflect on the strange encounter when she heard a voice ringing through the world.

"You can call me Cor."