Xiao Yin Yu could feel her chest heave as she looked at Yin Long's bloodstained body. The sheer aura of confidence and power he radiated as he stood there drenched in the enemy's blood, as well as the unthinkable might he had shown were bad for her heart. She felt like she had gone right back to when he first stepped up for her, when he pointed his weapon at Tao Tiankong and whisked her away in his arms.

Had it not been for the sheer amazement she felt at what she had just seen then she wasn't sure what she would have done to appease this clenched sensation in her chest. But luckily, Yin Long had just blown away every notion of logic she had ever believed in so it was somewhat easy for her to maintain her rationality.

4th Immortal Door, but he took the life of a Demonic beast at the 1st Earthen Door. It was a beast that had abandoned the laws for more physical prowess but that was hardly enough to diminish the astonishing feat he had accomplished. He had almost jumped an entire great realm and butchered his opponent, and he had done so using only his sword skills. Was this why true swordsmen were so rare? Because they were such monsters that the universe wanted to limit their numbers?

She didn't know. If she didn't count Hongzai and Yin Long then she had only ever met a single other swordsman, and she had never actually seen him fight. So if all swordsmen were monsters like this or if it was just Yin Long, she had no proper answer. But if she were to go by what her own subconscious, that little voice in her chest, was telling her, then she would say that it was limited to Yin Long.

"And with that, it's all three."

The voice of Yin Long brought Yin Yu out of her reverie, the crack in his forehead and the marks on the right side of his body fading as he stopped tapping into the Netherworld energy and the yellow law. His bloodline quieted down and his wings liquefied as they retreated back into his body, an intense sensation of weariness washing over him.

A bit of the gash on his solar plexus still remained, and his bones were aching from the continued beating they received, but he didn't consider any of the wounds big enough to worry about them. He had pulled out all the stops and put practically all his skills on display, and while he felt like he wanted nothing more than to sleep for a few years, he had been successful.

He had killed something that was genuinely at the Earthen Door realm, he had grasped hold of that thing he felt that he had been missing and stepped into a new realm. He had grown stronger and a whole new world had opened itself in front of him, providing countless different paths he could take to get stronger, a billion different paths he could sample from to carve open his own.

The corners of his lips couldn't help but curve up, twitching quietly when they failed to curve up further. He was happy, excited, there were no other words he could use to describe it. It was almost to the point of wanting to sing out about the joy he was feeling. But he couldn't really sing right now, his throat probably wouldn't allow that, so he had to settle for the next best.

"Did you see it? You saw it, right? It worked, you know, it really worked, I did it."

Yin Yu felt that it was a little funny as she looked at Yin Long's expression, it reminded her of when she saw children bragging to their parents in hopes of getting praised. But she knew that Yin Long didn't actually want to get praised, he just wanted to share the joy he was feeling, the exhilaration of having taken another step forward, he wanted someone else to have seen the same that he had.

"I did, I saw it all from start to finish, every last step. You really did it, you took it and made it your own, I'm dumbfounded, utterly dumbfounded."

Xiao Yin Yu wasn't going to shoot down Yin Long now, not when she felt like she was seeing an entirely new side of him, one that didn't seem like it saw the light of day that often. Yin Long grinned widely, he simply couldn't bottle up the delight he was feeling at the moment. This was a great step, a leap forward and upwards, something greater than just adding a new sword style to his repertoire.

Yin Long's head turned and landed on the shredded corpse of the two-headed snake. Well, it had swallowed one of its own heads so now it could only be called a serpent with a strange bisected stump where the second head should be. He stumbled slightly as he turned to reach it, Jin Wang moving to support him. But Jin Wang was too large to properly support Yin Long so Yin Yu took over that role so that Jin Wang wouldn't have to shrink down again so quickly.

The corpse was torn up and was spilling fresh blood everywhere, but the aura radiating out from within it couldn't be hidden, speaking of the strength it had when it was still alive. Yin Long's grin wanted to grow a little larger when he sensed that aura, but his lips were already stretched as far as they would go so they just twitched quietly again.

He cast a sideways glance at Yin Yu, who he was currently leaning against to give his body at least a sliver of rest. A faint tinge of awkwardness flashed past his pupils, Yin Yu almost breaking out into laughter when she realized what he was trying to get at. She swiped her interspatial ring and brought out more of the medicinal liquid she had used on him when he first tried to fight while starving, pouring it into the gash on his solar plexus.

Yin Long had relied a lot on his Netherworld energy to heal his wounds, to the point where he didn't really stock a lot of restorative medicine. He hadn't noticed it, but he had grown dependent, only now that he was down to a measly two usages did he notice this weakness.

"Thanks. I'll pay you back in the future."

He couldn't really pay her back right now so he could only mentally note down the debt, she had used quite a bit of medicine on him already since they met up in the championship. Yin Yu honestly didn't mind, to put it in the terms of Yin Long, it was her choice to give those medicines to him so he didn't owe her anything. But as the words were about to leave her mouth, she felt a bit embarrassed at them and changed them.

"Damn right you will, you've got no idea how expensive medicine like this is. I'll never financially recover from using it as if it was spring water."

She almost felt like cursing at herself for repeating what she had told him when they first met up, but at the same time, she was starting to wonder how Yin Long was able to say all those things without even blushing. But then again, perhaps that ability was another one of his charm points, it certainly was good at captivating people. Yin Long still looked at Yin Yu out of the corner of his eyes, the very faint redness that had spread on her neck and the tips of her ears almost made him chuckle, but he didn't mention it and turned to Jin Wang.

"Goldie, sorry, but can I leave the pathfinding to you?"

Finding Hongzai's abode wouldn't be hard, the scars she had left on the ground were practically arrows that pointed towards her, it was just a matter of finding the first scar. Jin Wang nodded his head with a low growl and started to sniff the air, Yin Long throwing the corpse into his interspatial ring.

Yin Long leaned on Yin Yu and Jin Wang sought out their path, the group leaving behind the newly-made clearing and making their way through the forest. Yin Long was planning on walking on his own once he recovered a bit, but Yin Yu convinced him otherwise by mentioning what was likely to happen once they reached Hongzai, the more he rested the better.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

He felt that there was a fair bit of logic in her words so he accepted it and continued to rest while leaning on her, restoring the expended Qi while allowing the medicinal liquid to slowly move through his body. He hadn't completely restored by the time they reached the clearing in front of Hongzai's cave, but he had rested enough to reach about 40% of his full power.

"You've returned."

The voice of Hongzai rang out from within the cave before Yin Long and the others could even say a single word, she had probably detected them before they had even spotted the cave. She came walking out from the mouth of the cave, her black hair still hanging down freely while her dark blue eyes swept over the group.

"You returned much faster than I expected. Do you now understand how difficu..."

"I've finished all three conditions you gave, I've come to show them."

Yin Long cut off Hongzai before she could finish talking, not even the pressure she exuded able to shrink the gleeful curve of his lips. His words were the exact opposite of what she had expected to hear, she thought that he came back after getting beaten and realizing how hard it really was to become a swordsman.

"You...Finished them?"

Yin Long separated himself from Yin Yu's side and brought out his crimson sword, raising it high into the sky. Showing it off was better than any words he could come up with, it would also be much easier for Hongzai to believe.

He brought the sword down after raising it up, the trajectory of the blade suddenly shifting into a sideways sweep as it descended. Yin Long imbued the blade with all the memories and pain he had, severing the wind like he was trying to reject it from his reality.

Hongzai stood there with a dumbfounded look as she saw the sword, the severing of the wind and the quiet howl of pain contained within the weapon. This was beyond anything she had ever seen or heard about, but she knew exactly what this meant.

"...Hunger and loss. I see, yes, there is no mistaking it. You... You can already be considered a swordsman. Tell me, that technique and style, what names have you given them?"

It couldn't be faked, that pain and sadness inherent to the blade, it spoke of a falling arm and words left unspoken, a body deprived of both food and love. It was the blade of a swordsman, a Woehowl that rejected the cruelty of the world, but at the same time there was something else in it, something she pushed aside for the moment. Yin Long put away his weapon and spoke out its name, but he had to shake his head when it came to her second question.

"Esi, the Sword of Starvation. As for the style, I haven't given it a name yet, I'll leave that for the future."

He didn't really know what would be a good name so he hadn't bothered naming the sword style, it wouldn't be too late to do that in the future when he had made more techniques. But Hongzai actually shook her head and rejected his statement, laying it out quite simply for him.

"No, the longer you leave it the worse it gets. Names contain memories and ambitions, they contain the emotions and hopes of those who gave them. A swordsman imbues his emotions and memories into his swords, that's what gives them their power. And the same holds true for names, they are the core and identity of the style, a sword style without a name will forever remain blurry and indistinct, like a wanderer who doesn't know where to go. So think, visualize your own emotions and ambitions, what you desire from your sword style."

A swordsman was a swordsman thanks to the emotions he imbued into his sword, and those very same emotions would give power to the name. It was a more esoteric type of power but a power nonetheless, it was an important step for every swordsman.

Hongzai hadn't said anything about it, and Yin Long didn't realize it yet, but just the fact that she was willing to go into such detail for what could be considered a minor thing proved that she was already starting to treat Yin Long as if he had completed all three requirements and thus became eligible to become her student.

Yin Long hadn't thought about it that deeply, but as he thought about it he realized that it made sense. Memories and pain granted power, so why shouldn't names also grant power? He closed his eyes and delved into his own mind, searching through his own ambitions, what he desired from his own blade.

He wanted it to stand at the top, he wanted his sword to reach the very peak of existence. But was that it? Was that all there was to him? His thoughts drifted slightly, landing on Lan Yun, that girl that was still waiting for him to finish the Province Championship. Province Emperor Starblood had called her nothing more than a puppet, something the Celestial World created to keep an eye on those that escaped the Netherworld. Once it became necessary, they would just detonate her in hopes that the blast would be able to kill him.

That thought stung Yin Long, he didn't want to lose her. Others may call her nothing more than a puppet created to seek out those holding Netherworld Energy, but he chose to believe in her emotions, her purity. She had given her all to him and he would respond in kind. He wanted his sword to be able to protect that purity, and not just hers but the purity of the others around him as well.

Lang Huo, Lang Ru, Tang Fen, Fang Yau, Xiao Yin Yu, Jin Wang, he wanted his sword to cut apart anything that would dare to move against those names, even if it was the Celestial World or the Netherworld that moved. And in that desire, he found the name he sought, his eyes opening again.

"...Heaven Extinction Sword, let that be its name."

Heaven Extinction, even the heavens themselves would be driven to extinction if they dared to make a move. It was a terribly arrogant name, bordering on sinister as it could be taken as him disparaging the Celestial World. But Hongzai simply nodded her head, the name spoke of bottomless ambition befitting the determination Yin Long had shown her.

"Good. Treasure that name and never forget the meaning you imbued into it, it may become the name you'll be known by long after your passing. Now, the third requirement."

Not everyone had the good fortune to reach such a cultivation realm that they would be practically eternal, some people were simply fated to become nothing but dust on the pages of history. But while they became dust, what they left behind would move on towards the future, much like the style created by the long-dead patriarch of the Lang clan. Even his weapons had turned to dust with time, but his style lived on even to this day.

Yin Long swiped his interspatial ring and brought out the shredded corpse, dropping it on the ground in front of Hongzai. Her eyes hardened slightly when she saw the corpse, her pupils sweeping over it to examine it. And while she was still dumbfounded to the point of almost being disbelieving, she knew that there was nothing to do but acknowledge the seemingly impossible truth in front of her.

"...It has indeed reached the Earthen Door realm, and the sword scars match what you've already shown me. And you haven't eaten or drank much either...You really accomplished it."

She could tell that Yin Long hadn't eaten or drank his fill since the time he stood in front of her cave and showed all his moves, he really had fought this beast while on the brink of starvation. Perhaps that was why one of the emotions in his sword was starvation, because of the impact this new sensation had on him. But even though she had no choice but to acknowledge the truth in front of her, actually swallowing it was still rather hard.

"Show me how you defeated the beast, the state you were in."

She couldn't help but ask, or rather demand. What Yin Long had done wasn't your everyday feat, not even the disciples of great clans would be able to mimic this. She didn't even think that the cruel devil with the flood's bloodline would have been capable of this at the same realm as Yin Long.

Yin Long had expected this response, it was what Yin Yu had used to convince him to keep leaning on her. Of course Hongzai would want to see how he beat the beast, how he produced that much power. He stretched out his hand, the wind and space around him gathering in his palm and forming a sword as his crimson wings sprouted from his back.

He didn't draw out the Netherworld Energy since it was still a subject that couldn't be spoken about easily, but he drew upon the yellow law without worry. His forehead cracked open and pulsated with sinister energy, Hongzai's expression hardening into one that could only be called aghast, as if she had seen something her brain simply couldn't believe.

"Th...That crack... You...You really..."

Her two pupils were focused entirely on the yellow crack, her voice faltering to the point where she didn't even seem like she could form a coherent sentence. This was the first time Yin Long had ever met someone who recognized the yellow law, not even he knew what it was. But the answer he got to his question after Hongzai gathered her thoughts was beyond anything he had expected.

"You know this yellow law?"

"Know it? Of course I know it, every Woehowl Swordsman in existence dreams about someday acquiring that law, even a good portion of the other types of swordsmen want to get their hands on it. The Source of Pain, the Prime Evil, the Primordial Fear, the Grand Law of Misery, the Original Corruption, it has many different names depending on who you ask. But the main name used for it is the Law of Yin, the collection of all the world's evil."