Chapter 114: Martial Meeting Begins (15)
The sword is righteous in a way that it can remain free of distractions; whether the obstacle is a close friend or a hated enemy should make no difference. To a sword cultivator, attachments are a great weakness.
Judging by the discussions happening around us, no one else has had issues with the seventh floor, which is to be expected. Most of the cultivators here come from a sect with demonic traditions, and those that come from a righteous tradition likely do not have enough life experience to form bonds of attachment that cannot be discarded.
For Lan Xiaohui, I know this is not the case.
It is unfair to ask such a young cultivator to discard something they have not yet even experienced, Zhu Ye says with a tone of regret in his voice.
Lady Yue shrugs. It is easier to ask a young cultivator to discard it before they have tasted it.
Lady Yues argument makes sense. It is easier to solve a problem before it really becomes a problem. But there is also always the danger of temptation later down the road. It would be much more effective to deal with it after it becomes an issue.
I did not expect Zhu Xuelian to have such a weakness, Zhu Ye says.
Lady Yue smiles. I do not think of it as a weakness. If Zhu Xuelian can abandon her heart here, then she is no better than someone who cannot even pass the first floor of this Pagoda, she says. Even if she should fail here, to me it only proves that she is the most suitable sword cultivator of everyone here.
But will the Galaxy Sword sect see it that way? As far as I know, no one has ever been selected for the next event who did not pass at least ten floors of this Pagoda.
Lady Yue shrugs.
At that moment, they both sigh, and the discussion around them picks up again, noting that many cultivators have been ejected from the Pagoda. This time, no geniuses have fallen victim to the Formation, but judging by the expressions of Lady Yue and Zhu Ye, at least one has: Lan Xiaohui.
Six floors; she could not pass the seventh floor, Zhu Ye says. I did not expect this outcome.
Lady Yue nods. The rivers and the lakes are full of surprises. The road is always unpredictable.
She must be disappointed, Zhu Ye says. Lets go meet her.
Lady Yue doesnt say anything but instead passes my vessel back to Lan Xiaohui.
Once my owner receives me, she hugs me to her chest, and there is a guilty look in her eyes as her tears finally come free. I could not abandon it, she says.
That guilt in her heart; that choice of words; I begin to understand that Lady Yue was wrong about what Lan Xiaohui experienced in the Pagoda of Introspection.
It is made even more obvious when Lan Xiaohui hugs me tighter and tighter to her chest, a sharp determination rising in her heart to never part with me again.
It is not Yu Shun that barred Lan Xiaohui from achieving a better result in the Pagoda it is not her obsession with killing him that she could not abandon.
It is me.
At that moment, a thundering cheer erupts from the crowd as something unprecedented happens. Until now, they cheered for several individuals that have already achieved extraordinary results. Xu Qiang of the Broken Sword Manor, for example, has managed to match the previous best result which only happened twice in the sects history of clearing twelve floors and he was not alone in this. Liu Gong a rogue cultivator from the Sky Kingdom has also managed to clear twelve floors.
But the cheer that happens at that moment is borne of something even more extraordinary. A relatively unknown cultivator from the Seven Killing Swords sect has managed to clear thirteen floors.
This cultivator, when she appears in front of the Pagoda, immediately looks towards Lan Xiaohui with eyes that are full of determination. And her name, which the crowd had not known until then, is chanted at the top of everyones lungs.
Yun Fei Lan Xiaohui whispers.
And then, suddenly, the Pagoda flashes with a gold radiance which becomes multicolored as something even more preposterous happens which silences the crowd in an instant.
Wu Yulan, the mysterious but famous princess of Star City whom no one expected to even participate in this event has achieved what many considered to be impossible and has never happened in the entirety of Galaxy Swords history.
She cleared all fourteen floors of the Pagoda of Introspection, and while the crowd roared and chanted her name, several elders from the Galaxy Sword sect stared in complete disbelief at the girl that was running towards Lan Xiaohui and giving her an equally unprecedented hug which immediately launched a rumor mill that speculated the nature of her relationship to my owner.
Captured between these two bodies, I can only endure the indignity of being invisible to them despite my high Divine grade qualifications to be the most important entity in this area.