Chapter 1001 - Empty

A few months later, inside the familiar looking house, a girl was lying down on a rocky field, looking at the blue sky. She never expected that without the person who she had been relying on, she could progress even faster.

Of course, it wasn't her cultivation but other aspects.

Not knowing why, a thought of reading the letter that he sent a few months ago came across her mind.

Although her hands were shaking, she raised her hand and took out the letter, reading it.

"I don't have many things to say to you, to be honest. I have taught you everything that you need to know, and the training itself is repetitive. Even without me training you, you will be able to get stronger just fine.

"What I want to mention are a few important things. Firstly, you shall partake in several missions before the Sword Pavilion event comes. Trust me. This will do you good, and don't just because you are confident in your Sword Eye, you keep using it.

"I trust you that you won't use it that much even without me beside you…I want you to experience many things, including how people behave. Haven't you got played by the Grayfig Family? With your talent, you shouldn't get played like that. You lack the experience to incorporate all your ideas into a sharp spear that can destroy your opponent.

"So, yeah, you should go for a few missions. Three will be ideal. That's my first task for you. I hope you can complete it.

"The second thing is regarding the technique I gave you... It's the technique to turn your Sword Qi into Pure Sword Qi, the basic requirement to reach God King. This was the reason why the Sword God could become a God King.

"Of course, you shouldn't feel too proud just because you are able to wield this technique. There are several reasons why not many people can reach God King. They can't master their unique ability to a perfect degree, such as the Sword Qi turns into a Pure Sword Qi…This is something like a normal Fire turns into a Pure Fire.

"You should know what I mean, right? You should keep striving for the goal in your mind and make your way without getting bothered by outside people.

"And this is just a warning for the technique. You can learn to change your Sword Qi to a Pure Sword Qi, but you should turn them completely after you become a God Rank Expert. When it has become the Divine Sword Qi, you will know that it's easier than to replace them and turn them into a Divine Sword Qi, so yeah, no need to waste your time to turn them now.

"Third thing is advice from me. I want you to go to the Sword Pavilion once again, challenging it. I believe the important person that keeps the Pavilion going will recognize the Pure Sword Qi. You might get a bigger reward than the others, so go for it.

"Last but not least, when you leave this world and want to come to my world, there will be someone coming for you. His name is Zark and other than that name, you shouldn't go along with him. And…this is just a precaution, but when you meet that person, you should ask him, "Do guts exist?"

"If he answers with "That's not guts. It means Spirits. And yes, the Spirit Race does exist." Then, that's the guy. I am sorry for this inconvenience, but I have many things going on, so I can only ask you to do this.

"That's all I want to say. I hope you stay safe and be careful out there. Visit your family once in a while, because family is the best thing you have…Of course, a good family that is. Good luck."

Aria couldn't help but smile when she read this. She managed to understand more and more about the outside worlds, including how dark it's out there. It's beyond her imagination. People betrayed her because of reward. Assassins just wanted to live and took the commission because they were forced to.

She had experienced it all, but none of them managed to kill her.

Due to Alex's death, Ilevis announced Aria to be the second favorite disciple, so no one dared to attack her openly. At the very least, history won't repeat itself.

Unfortunately, it also meant that many people would start knowing her existence. When they learned she had learned the Purgatory Sword to the highest degree, they began to attack her by sending assassins and others since they couldn't act openly due to the protection from the sect.

Of course, it only applied to those from outside the sect. If a disciple of the Unsurpassed Blade Sect wanted to kill her, they could try it, but they also needed to be prepared for her retaliation. Luckily, Aria never appeared in the sect, so she didn't antagonize anymore. And the last one had been killed.

In any case, Aria had a really unexpected time for the past few months.

As for the second thing, she was qualified to receive the knowledge about the Pure Sword Qi. Even the Sword God acknowledged her.

He wanted to teach Letizia, Evelyn, and even Rose about this technique, but he needed to send them first to this world to gain the necessary knowledge and how the people here thought about their weapons. After that, even if they wanted him to teach them about this Pure Qi, he would do it without hesitation.

The third one was a bit of a dilemma. Alex might come to her again in this opportunity since no one could see each other and it was isolated from the outside world. As long as he could figure out the Sword Pavilion, he would be able to meet her to see her progress before leaving this world.

However, he had no confidence in doing it, so he only asked her to the Sword Pavilion because she could improve there.

The last one might be the most important. Because of what happened to Evelyn and Silvia, he didn't want the people he knew to suffer such a thing anymore, so he came up with an abrupt code like this. And Zark had the authority to take her by force if someone dared to stop her.

Aria let out a long sigh to the sky. "The sky is clear, but I can't just shake this excitement. There are five levels in the Sword Pavilion, or in other words, five trials. The first time I went there, I managed to pass the second level. And the second time, I passed the third level.

"I wonder, what is the fourth level…And if it's possible to reach the fifth level?" Aria muttered and thought of Alex. "That man must be able to reach that level…If not, I will be confused. Well, I have turned one percent of my Sword Qi into Pure Sword Qi for testing the technique, and I am already pretty good at it. I will halt this progress and just show the Pure Sword Qi when I go to the pavilion. Anyway, I need to prepare since I should get going tomorrow or I will be late."

With an eager expression, she rose from the ground and walked to the house. But when she opened the door, she didn't immediately go in. Instead, she turned around and looked at the empty field.

She remembered how Silvia usually still trained with Alex since she would be the first one to collapse. She recalled how Heilo tried to catch Leka because her dodging ability was a top notch. All those were good memories, but none of them stayed here any longer, turning this lively mansion into a dead mansion with only her inside.

Aria could only shake her head and sigh. "It feels empty now without all four of you…"

…

A few weeks later, Aria had arrived in the town that protected the Sword Pavilion.

With her senses alone, she could find many powerful people all over the city. Whether they came from this city or the other three sects, they came to this place to seek more powerful knowledge from the Sword Pavilion.

'He must have come, right?' Aria thought before sighing inwardly. Even if Alex came, she wouldn't be able to meet him, so there was no point in searching for him. In fact, it would make the situation more suspicious if she met someone.

Because of her nature, Aria came to this place alone despite the peak master wanting her to bring a few people along. She just felt uncomfortable when being surrounded by people, especially those who had hidden intentions, so she pushed them away.

Walking through the city, she arrived in front of a tower that shot into the sky. It looked majestic, but what made it unique was the Sword Qi surrounding it.

Even after a few thousand years, the Sword Qi that the Sword God left behind wasn't depleted yet. However, after getting the knowledge about the Pure Sword Qi, he understood that this tower contained his Pure Sword Qi.

If Alex were here, he might be able to decipher the tower better than her, but she could only suck it out and stare at it.

This purple-colored tower looked extremely powerful as if it was a weapon. She walked closer and observed this powerful tower from up close.

A bit further on her left was a pair of giant doors that would surely let people inside when the time had arrived. She then looked around and sighed. It was a bit hard to go around this tower because its diameter was more than one kilometer, showing how colossal it was.

'Most people actually fail on the first and second stage. When one becomes more mature, they should be able to get past the second stage, but I have never heard someone reaching the fifth stage. Even passing the third stage is considered a genius, and if a Martial Saint can beat the fourth stage, they are geniuses among geniuses.

'Well, I don't really care about the things called talents, but I truly want to see how far I can get this time.' She couldn't help but smile when facing such a challenge.

After a while, she had seen enough and planned to go back. When she turned around, a man passed her.

He had long white hair and wore a graceful long robe. There wasn't a single weapon on his body other than the bamboo fan on his hand.

When observing the girl, the man couldn't contain his smile that would make someone question his manner. However, there was a different meaning in his smile. It wasn't a vulgar smile or even an excited smile. Instead, it was a gentle smile as if a teacher was proud of his student.

'You've gotten stronger…And I assure you, you will just get even stronger from now on.'

She received the thought transmission and subconsciously opened her eyes, turning around to search where it came from. No one but her knew what those words meant. It was none other than Alex's message, the one she had been waiting for.

In other words, Alex indeed came to this place. It made her anxious about what would happen to the tower if Alex beat the fifth stage, but her worry was unnecessary. A careful person like him who would stage his own death should be fine.

She only needed to know that Alex was safe and sound, so she continued walking to her inn while closing her eyes again. She thought, 'So, he really comes. Time to show my progress in this Sword Pavilion then…Well, it's not like we can show anything to the outside world. But yeah, I need to aim as high as possible.'

With that determination, she returned, preparing to enter the tower that would be opened two days later.

Meanwhile, the white-haired young man turned around and watched her back until she disappeared with a smile.

After a few more minutes, he turned around and started staring at the tower from the bottom. A word escaped from his mouth.

"Interesting."