Xiao Yin Yu's world had expanded greatly since she started travelling with Yin Long, he had shown her and taught her things that she had never even imagined before. As such, she thought that there was nothing he could show her that would surprise her, she would just accept it all with a simple statement.
'It's Yin Long after all.'
But the thing in front of her? That was something that went beyond anything, it had already left the realm of things that you could just accept. How long had it been already, three days, or maybe five? She couldn't even recall any longer, Yin Long kept attacking without pause so even counting the seconds was hard.
But at some point, as his sword roared and danced, he had died. His heart had stopped and his breathing had ceased, his skin became pale as his blood stopped circulating. But even so, he kept swinging his sword. He grew faster with each swing, each attack brought him closer to her, each defensive swing slowly got closer to the weak points in her attacks and defence.
Truthfully, she could understand the theory behind his death. His mind was already bordering on collapse due to the earlier training, and his body was much the same thanks to the intense training and starvation he put himself through. Frankly, it was a surprise that he hadn't fallen over earlier. But this last push became too much, he overwrote his body's instinctual desire to shut down and kept going, resulting in his organs failing and shutting down for good.
But how did he still move? How did he still grow faster, stronger? How could a corpse move without the law of death or life, and how could it still portray the same emotions and desires it had when it was alive?
She didn't know, she couldn't wrap her head around it. All she could do was keep swinging her sword, to accompany the man she chose to follow in what may be his last dance. He gave his life so that he could dance with his sword, the least she could do at the end was make that dance a spectacular one.
But then she heard it, slowly creeping into her ears like a sinister wind. Music, a low and droning orchestra, like flames slowly picking up in intensity, roars taking the place of instruments as they mixed with the screaming flames. Slowly but surely it rose in intensity, the music rising in tune with Yin Long's sword, approaching its grand crescendo.
But before the sinister tune could reach its zenith, a thump broke through it. Yin Long's sword stopped and he dropped to his knees, what should have been eternally closed eyes slowly opening. And then, Xiao Yin Yu realized what that thump was, it was a heartbeat, Yin Long's heartbeat.
That frozen heart had started to beat again, the stagnant lungs started to pump again, and in what felt like an instant, the pale corpse regained life. But what was even worse was that the expression worn by Yin Long wasn't one of relief or happiness to be alive, he looked dissatisfied. Yin Yu's gaze couldn't help but slide up, but perhaps as was to be expected, Hongzai looked as shocked as her.
"...Yin Long, what are you really?"
Yin Long didn't quite understand the question. Then again, he had no idea when he had stopped fighting Hongzai and started sparring with Yin Yu, he only realized when Hongzai's voice came from behind him. He tried to stand up, but his legs wouldn't really listen to him, his arms also felt incredibly stiff so he reckoned that he could forget about raising them for the moment.
"I'm not sure I really understand the question, so it's hard for me to answer. A wanderer? A swordsman? A brat trying to learn? I guess the answer changes depending on the intent?"
When a question was too open, it was inevitable that the answers would be equally open, vague to the point of being worthless. He couldn't stand up so Yin Long remained on his knees for the moment, regulating his ragged breathing. His blood felt rather slow, like mud crawling through his veins, he could only assume that he had overextended himself heavily in these last few minutes. But as the sound of Hongzai's footsteps rang through the cavern and she stepped in front of him, she asked him a question he hadn't expected.
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"You... How long do you think you've been training now?"
Yin Long may be an insane nutjob with a mad drive for his training, but he wasn't an idiot. Since Hongzai asked that question, her expression a bit tilted, it was clear that something had happened during the training. And going by the question itself, he could already form a few guesses.
"Not counting the start of the duel, I'd say about two minutes at the very most. But seeing as you switched with Yin Yu, and the fact that you're asking like that, can I assume that it's been at least several hours?"
He couldn't help but think back to some of his thoughts as he immersed himself, abandoned himself to the sensation. Time didn't matter, had it ever? From the looks of it, it didn't seem like it was just a random thought that struck him, but a result of him blotting out the passage of time to sharpen his focus. But the answer he got was beyond his expectations.
"13 days. You've been swinging your sword for 13 consecutive days already. And on day five you died. You ignored your body's natural warning signals and all your organs shut down due to the trauma you've been forcing upon yourself. Right now your heart is beating for the first time in eight days. So let me ask you again, Yin Long, just what are you really?"
It was a response that stumped Yin Long. 13 days? That pitifully short amount of training had actually been 13 days? And then there was the second part. He had died? His heart and breathing had stopped and he had died? Was that perhaps why his blood felt slow and thick, it had coagulated since it wasn't flowing?
But why had he died? After all, his body hadn't given off any of the usual warning signals. And if he really died, how come he hadn't felt it and just kept battling, apparently coming to life now?
He had a mostly logical reason for coming back to life after his first death, the pill that had been provided by Bai Xiang. It had dragged his soul out of the Netherworld and forced it back into his body. It sounded outlandish, but it had an underlying foundation of reason, it could be explained and understood.
But this? Where was the reason, the logic? He didn't think that they were lying to him, there was no point in it, and neither of them had proven themselves to be such people. His mind spun for a second before a thought struck him, his eyes narrowing for a second before he closed them.
His consciousness sank into his soulsea, the yellowish-silver sea of Qi greeting him, as well as the cloud of Netherworld Qi that still remained. His gaze fell on his soul, that rainbow-coloured sword that hovered there as if it was the sole monarch.
Normally, the swords he stored in here would draw upon the power from his Qi and the Netherworld energy to slowly strengthen themselves. But now, now his soul was drawing out the power from them, the four swords he kept in his soulsea all so pale that they looked like they were on the verge of flickering out.
The energy flowing out from the swords was flowing into the scaled leaves and the lone weary eye that rested on the handle of his soul, the two emblems flickering rapidly. He didn't even need to touch the eye this time, its stilted and drawn out voice came out on its own.
"My...Dra...Gon..."
Yin Long looked at his own soul, that mess of colours and emblems. There was nothing uniform about it, everything just looked like it had been cobbled together haphazardly. But even so, there was one thing keeping it together, tying it into a single whole. Its shape, the sword it had become. No matter the mess, no matter what else was added to it, that alone would remain constant, that alone would tie it all together.
And as Yin Long looked upon it and realized that, his mind drifted back to his past. His training with Bai Xiang, his abilities, the things Bai Xiang told him. And he understood, understood why he was alive, understood what he was. Perhaps he had known it all along, but never before had he felt it this strongly, understood it this strongly and deeply.
His eyes opened again as he pulled his consciousness out of his soulsea. The training he had received here, the things he had learned, the things he had understood, he felt as if he was looking at a whole new world. Yet at the same time, it was the same world he had always looked at, the only thing that really changed was the angle. But in that angle, he had his answer.
"I am Yin Long, and I am a sword. If my sword breaks, I die. If my sword doesn't break, I am immortal. And my sword has yet to break."
He was the sword, his sword. The thing reflected in his little world was just he and his sword, but he was his sword and his sword was him, so the only thing reflected was him. He wanted to take his sword to the peak, to the apex of creation. But he was the sword, so if he wanted to bring his sword to the apex then he would have to bring himself there.