"Follow me, there's a spatial array in the area."

Xiao Yin Yu was the one who spoke up, Yin Long had done nothing but cultivate in this tiny area ever since he entered the grounds of the competition so he didn't even know what could be found within his immediate surroundings. As for Yin Long, he had no concrete plans on where to go next, he already had a good idea when it came to meeting up with his sister so he was fine with simply going wherever.

"Say, how many points do you have at the moment? You seemed to have killed a fair few enemies while guarding my cultivation so you can't be too far away from the first cut-off point."

Yin Long casually questioned as they walked, his hand resting on the hilt of his sheathed sword. He didn't need to have his hand on it to sense the surrounding energy and fractured space, but doing so brought him back to when he was a child and cultivated by simply swinging his sword. It wasn't just a sentimental memory, it also aided his cultivation slightly, it was like a subconscious hypnotization that helped his mind automatically sink into a cultivation state.

Doing it while cultivating would increase the efficiency, doing it while not cultivating would allow him to constantly draw in a bit of Qi from the surroundings without thinking about it. It was far from as effective as normal cultivation, but the added benefit was that he could do it while moving about and focusing on other things. Granted, it could only be done in a place like this where the laws he cultivated were concentrated rather densely.

"Hmm, 78 at the moment, it seemed like you had the poor, or rather good, luck of ending up in a place where a decent amount of beasts lived."

Yin Yu answered shortly after checking her points, but what she didn't know was that it wasn't that Yin Long ended up in a place with a lot of beasts. He himself had a very pure bloodline that had already been altered by his soul and the strange yellow energy, and Jin Wang's body had awakened a trace of the Suanni Lion's bloodline, the progenitor of all lion-type Demonic beasts.

They were both enticing targets for other Demonic beasts, especially those that had so little intelligence that they acted almost solely on instinct. Sadly, those that had such weak instincts that they only recognized a strong bloodline often failed to recognize the strength of those that held said bloodline so they were doomed to die an early death.

"51 points, huh, they must have been stronger than they looked. Oh well, I was going to tell you not to interfere in any of my future fights anyway, just ignore them completely."

Yin Long couldn't help but nod his head slightly when he heard the exact number. She should have started with 23 points thanks to her cultivation and then gained a further 4 from him, to get almost double that showed that the enemies she killed weren't complete rabble. As for not interfering, it had nothing to do with her getting too many points and everything to do with her not ruining his chances to learn something new from the various enemies he could face. It was a pretty normal request, but there was something about the way he said it that made Yin Yu question him.

"None of them? What if the odds are so overwhelmingly against you that there doesn't seem to be any chance of victory?"

She asked the question in a semi-joking manner, mainly to prod a little at the overly specific way he had phrased his statement. But to her surprise, Yin Long rubbed his chin slightly a few times, seemingly contemplating his answer.

"Hmmm, I guess dragging me away when I'm about to die should be fine, if things have reached such a state then I should have learned everything the current me is capable of when facing those enemies."

He continued to walk as normal, but Xiao Yin Yu couldn't help but look somewhat dumbly at him. This was the first time she had seen this side of him so it was only expected that she would respond like this. He spoke so lightly that it seemed like he hadn't thought about his own life at all. Whether or not that was because he was so arrogant that he didn't think there was any chance of death, or whether it was because he was so carefree that he didn't even care if he died while training was something she didn't know. Either way, it was something she couldn't help but mutter quietly about.

"I feel like I'm slowly starting to piece together why that Lan Yun occasionally makes a troubled expression when she looks at you."

She had personally seen how deeply Lan Yun seemed to care for him, and he too seemed to care tremendously about her. She certainly knew that if someone she cared about spoke so unconsciously lightly about life and death, she too would make a rather troubled expression.

She had muttered it rather quietly, at least quietly enough for Yin Long not to hear it, so he didn't react to it. Neither of them had anything more to say about their points or the like, so the last few minutes of the trek were done mostly in silence. As for what laid at the end of their trek, it was a circular stone formation that was a few tens of metres in width and length.

"There it is. It's connected to every other spatial array so we can go just about wherever, should be a piece of cake to reach the spot where you're supposed to meet your friend."

This fractured space had already stretched out to cover the entire galaxy around them, it was vast beyond compare. If the competitors were to traverse it on foot then they wouldn't even be able to cover 0.5% of it, an innumerable number of special places and resources would go unnoticed and untouched. As such, these spatial arrays had been specially researched and created so that they could work even in the fractured space that covered this land.

They were spread out over the entire land, so many that it was hard to count them, all so that the competitors could travel freely. The natives could also use them to move around, it could be thought of as a bit of consideration given to them. Yin Long and Yin Yu stepped into the circle, Yin Long casually giving a response to Yin Yu's statement.

"Oh, we haven't prepared a place to meet up. Running about isn't realistic so I'm planning on meeting her inside one of the arenas, that's where we have the highest chance of encountering each other."

Indeed, with how large this fractured space was, trying to find his sister by running about wasn't realistic. But everyone had to go to the arenas after gathering enough points, there was no better place to meet her. Of course, if she managed to enter the top 50 before then things would become a bit troublesome, as their meeting would end up being projected to the entire dominion.

The circular formation was activated the moment Yin Yu sent a bit of Qi into it, the triangular rocks that formed it releasing a bright light that gathered around Yin Long's group. They weren't instantly teleported away, instead, the lights gathered together to form a large three-dimensional map around them.

Yin Long could move the map with just his thoughts and a bit of his Qi, focusing on various parts of the map would zoom in and display all the spatial arrays in that area. He could even focus it a bit more to receive some general information about the area around the selected spatial array.

There were a fair few points on the map that were darkened out, not responding to his senses when he tried to prod them. This was because these areas had been designated as either dangerous or rewarding enough that they were reserved for competitors who had moved further into the competition. Some would unlock when they beat the first arena, some when they beat the second, and some wouldn't unlock until they entered the final stage of the competition, just before the ranking of the top 100 was going to be decided.

Since Yin Long didn't have any concrete plans on where to head next, he spent a bit of time pouring over the map. Just going in a random direction was fine, but if he could find an interesting place that would be for the best. And as a result, after spending a bit of time going through some random areas, he discovered a spatial array that had an interesting name attached to it.

"Hoh, Swordsoul Guardians? Do you know anything about it?"

The information didn't say anything about this specific name, it just said that the spatial array had been erected in the territory of the Swordsoul Guardians. Yin Long hadn't heard about them before, but with a name like that it was obvious that they had some connections with swords, and that made them priority targets. Yin Yu rolled her eyes slightly as she went through the information she had been given prior, quickly locating the appropriate memories.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

"It's the name of a clan, I've heard that they've lived in this land for almost as long as it has existed. As the name implies, they're guarding something known as the Swordsoul, their unique sword technique is apparently based on this Swordsoul. Well, rather than say that they're guarding it, they're one of the six clans that guards a key to the Grave of the Swordsoul. From what I've been told, there exists one such clan within the various areas that open up as you progress in the competition, the final key, and the grave itself, can only be reached when you've arrived at the final stage of this competition. The six clans and the grave have existed for an equally long time, my master said they were one of the lands that ended up getting sucked in thanks to the fracturing of space, but I've never heard about anyone actually reaching the grave."

She gave out all the information she had been given, but none of it actually included what the Swordsoul or its grave were. She herself didn't know why this was, but she could only assume that it was because her master had intentionally left it out so that she would have to learn at least a few things on her own. As for Yin Long, he hadn't been told any of this so he couldn't help but raise an eyebrow due to how much Yin Yu knew.

"I was asking rather casually, but it seems like you know quite a bit, must be nice to have a strong backing that will prepare the needed information."

He technically had Emperor Starblood who could be considered backing, but he still thought that Yin Long had all the memories of the Lord of Burning Trees. And asking Starblood questions was something Yin Long was extremely cautious about as he didn't want him to become suspicious, that would probably be the same as putting half his foot into the grave.

Yin Long's gaze focused on the particular array erected in the territory of the Swordsoul Guardians, not noticing Yin Yu's expression turning somewhat bitter and helpless. It was easy for him to say it, but only she knew exactly why she had been told so much information, and if she could help it, she would much rather not have that immense 'backing'.

"But a unique sword technique, huh? Does each of the clans use the same sword style or are the differences between the six?"

A unique sword style was probably one of the easiest ways to entice Yin Long, there was no telling how much he could learn from a sword style that couldn't be found anywhere else. If each of the clans had a different unique style then he would have to visit them one by one, but if they all had the same style then he could take his time and check out some other places first. But from the looks of it, it seemed like he was in luck.

"They're different. My master said that their style is based on the particular piece of the key that they're guarding so each clan has its own unique style. But if you're looking to learn it then you should give up on that idea now, they don't accept disciples the way a normal clan does. They're also forbidden from teaching their sword style to outsiders, especially those participating in the competition, I've heard that they formed quite a grudge in the past."

It was only to be expected that there would be grudges formed, this land had been dragged away from its original location and into this fractured space. And then the natives had practically been trapped here, use as whetting stones for future generations of juniors that came in here to take part in the Province Championship. But whether or not there was any grudge, Yin Long simply shrugged his shoulders, his lips curving up slightly.

"Hey, you never know, not like there's any harm in trying."

He connected his mind with the spatial array he had selected, the map vanishing as the light from the stones grew even more resplendent. Yin Long felt space around them move again, a branching and shifting sensation similar to the one he felt when they first entered this special space enveloping him. He could see Yin Yu's expression shift rather uncomfortably as the sensation enveloped them so it seemed like not everyone was as comfortable with it as him.

The sensation persisted for a few seconds, their surroundings becoming blurry as everything in their sight seemed to blend together. When space started to unfurl and return to normal, Yin Long found himself standing inside a stone circle surrounded by a city. The buildings around them were made from a rather dark material that looked like porous stone, what looked like pale ash falling from the sky in a slow but steady stream.

The air here was quite a bit warmer than the frozen wasteland they had just been in, and the peak of a large volcano was just barely visible at the edge of the horizon so he guessed that the rain of ash came from there. There was a fair bit of open space around the stone formation so it seemed like this area served as a bit of a plaza, a few simple wooden shops scattered around.

The people he saw around him were mostly humanoids, with a few people carrying traits of Demonic beast heritage. The group of three received a few stares when they arrived, but as was to be expected, most of them were gathered on Xiao Yin Yu, her presence and appearance drawing its fair share of attention.

Yin Long was already used to this thanks to being with Lan Yun, so he ignored the gazes and turned his head towards what he guessed was the Swordsoul Guardians' location. The thing he turned towards was a large estate, the same black stone material used to construct a large wall around it. At the centre of the estate rose a large building that looked like it was shaped after a rapier's handle.

"Hmm, I can definitely feel it, no wonder they call it Swordsoul."

It looked like a normal building, but Yin Long could sense that it radiated such a concentrated aura of the law of swords that it felt like it stabbed his soul. His sword felt like it was keening softly, humming a tune of yearning as it desired to become part of the aura, even Yin Long's soul started to release a soft throbbing of longing. But while he sensed it with extreme clarity, Yin Yu didn't look like she felt anything out of the ordinary.

"You can actually feel something? To me, it just feels like a normal big clan, perhaps with a bit denser Qi than normal."

Yin Yu tilted her head slightly to inspect the distant building better, but she still couldn't sense anything strange from it. She may use a sword for combat, but using a sword was different from using the law of swords. And that simple fact was exceedingly true with Yin Long, who gave a somewhat mysterious smile as he started to walk.

"Well, I have been told that I was born for the sword after all."

That simple statement was one of Yin Long's earliest memories, back from when he had just been born and brought to Bai Xiang. Little Child born for the blade, some of the first words he had ever heard, and they had stuck with him ever since. Perhaps they had even helped shape a bit of who he ended up becoming.

Jin Wang and Yin Yu followed at Yin Long's side, Yin Yu shaking her head softly since she knew that Yin Long was bound to end up disappointed. As for Jin Wang, he simply prevented anyone from getting close, baring his fangs when any merchants tried to get close to peddle their wares. Thanks to this, the group could reach the stone gate embedded in the wall without any trouble. There were two guards situated in front of the gate, but they had only reached the 4th Immortal Door, so them crossing their spears to block Yin Long's path felt more like a formality than anything.

"Please leave, outsiders are not welcome here!"

The guards did their best to maintain a strong front, but whether it be her appearance or her strength, the presence of Yin Yu made them falter slightly and unconsciously soften their tone. Yin Long didn't continue moving forward after they blocked his path, casually yet politely telling them what he came for.

"Ah, I'd just like to ask a question quickly. I'm pretty interested in your clan's unique sword style so I'd like it if you let me look it over and study it. I can swear that I won't even go close to the key piece you're guarding, I'm only interested in the sword style you've developed."

The Swordsoul sounded interesting, but he didn't even know what it was so he'd rather have the more tangible sword style so that he could add it to his own technique. But perhaps, as was to be expected, the guards shook their heads and firmly rejected him.

"Rejected. Only blood-tied members of the clan are allowed to learn the technique. And on the off-chance that you manage to form a blood-brother, the clan is forbidden from teaching the technique to outsiders like you. As such, please take your leave."

There were a few people moving about not far away, and they were among the few that knew how 'lucky' Yin Long was right now. Normally, outsiders would be chased away much more firmly if they tried to get close to the clan, it wouldn't be strange at all for them to get attacked. But right now he had Yin Yu with him, and that clearly made the guards hesitate to act as they normally would.

"See? The grudge has persisted for so many years that we've already lost track of how it started, it's basically ingrained in their bloodline at this point. They refuse to hand it out to others, especially outsiders like us."

Yin Yu had already expected this outcome, she wouldn't have warned Yin Long about it otherwise. As far as she was concerned, this standoffish attitude was one of the reasons there had never been any news of anyone reaching the grave, only by breaking in and forcing their way into the core of the clan could you get your hand on the key piece that they were guarding. But compared to Yin Yu, who was shaking her head, Yin Long didn't look perturbed in the slightest.

"That's fine, there's more than one way to learn a sword technique."

Jin Wang understood his master so his muscles were already starting to tense up, his lips sliding back as he bared his fangs and growled. But Yin Yu didn't properly understand Yin Long yet so she had no idea what he was planning.

"You..."

Her questioning voice was cut off by Yin Long grasping his sword's handle and drawing it, the unsheathing morphing into a diagonal ascending slash. The blade cut through the crossed spears and opened the path, Jin Wang swatting the two guards aside, only showing a touch of mercy since Yin Long glanced sideways at him.

Yin Long stepped forward and kicked open the gate, which was lighter than expected thanks to how porous the stone was. An open area covered in smaller earthen stages spread out in front of Yin Long's group as the door was kicked open, a few people of varying ages sparring or training on some of the stages. He didn't try to mask the sound as he kicked open the gate, a myriad of gazes congregating on him as he flashed them an excited smile.

"Good evening, gentlemen, I would like to invite you all to a nice spar."