AI Cultivation: Reborn as a Sword - Chapter 218: Red Conference (1)

Early in the morning, an Inner Disciple of the sect arrives at Lan Xiaohui’s door and knocks politely, informing my owner, through the closed door, that the first bouts of the Conference are about to begin and that the sect is ready to head out.

Considering how late Lan Xiaohui arrived at the city, this is of little surprise to me, but also to her. It is as though she had intended on spending as little time as possible in this place, and I am not certain if this is because of her aversion toward public appearance, or the fact that she wants to spend more time with me — and my Inner World, more specifically.

I assume it is the latter because there is no better place to cultivate in this world, than within my Inner World. Even though the realm is in disrepair, the constant flow of energy absorbed from the strange sea of chaos surrounding it considerably heightens the quality of the qi, though some impurities within it raise some concern — and further research into this matter will have to wait until my Inner World facilities are rebuilt.

Outside, in the courtyard, the Inner Disciples of the sect are gathered in something resembling a military formation, surrounding the core of elders and top-ten rankers. Though they are not going to war, it is important that the sect shows off its strength and prestige with a well-practiced parade through the streets.

And, for once, Lan Xiaohui gets to experience what it is like being popular and well-liked because all the disciples surrounding her — none of whom she had ever met before — treat her respectfully and with a degree of awe in how they wish her good luck in the matches to come as they move out of her way to let her join the core group of contestants.

The streets are no different in how the folk — commoner and wealthy alike — treat the group passing through, giving way to them and staring with yearning in their eyes. This is to be expected; which one of them did not dream of one day joining any one of these four sects, or appearing in this conference?

The same as it was back then in Star City, the Conference has drawn outsiders and commerce from all corners of the continent; it would not surprise me if every sect on the continent had sent at least one representative to observe or compete.

Though the Sky Continent Martial Conference is largely about the four major sects showing off their strength, some of the lesser sects are also invited to compete in a showmatch type of tournament; warming up the stage for the main event. And though it is very prestigious to compete in one of these, it only serves to show off the superiority of the major sects when they take the stage.

Coincidentally, according to the conversations I manage to overhear — and I am getting much better at filtering out the useless noise — this year, the Broken Sword Manor won the Ascending tournament, as they call the bouts between the lesser sects, against the Solar Radiance sect.

Tian Li, who used to be a member of the Broken Sword Manor, is understandably in high spirits outwardly, but the most minute details of his demeanor show vastly different indicators. Naturally, he is happy that his former brothers and sisters won such a prestigious event, but the pressure and stress it puts on him to show a comparable performance is something that he is hiding very well.

Of the other eight disciples who make up the ranks of the top ten, two are likewise pleased and elated, though a bit less so, indicating that they were from the Solar Radiance sect at one point.

“Sister Zhu, are you not nervous at all? How can you be so calm?” Tian Li whispers to my owner after a while of walking in silence.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

“Brother Tian, I am very nervous,” my owner replies truthfully. However, what has her nervous is not the upcoming matches, but the fact that there is a good chance she will stand across from members of the Seven Killing Swords sect. Also, being surrounded by so many people does not help either.

The wounds in my owner’s heart are difficult and slow to heal, some more than others. After being betrayed by strangers, family, and lovers, trusting someone else, or even being in their vicinity, is difficult to do. As for the matters relating to the Seven Killing Swords sect, the abuse she endured from the Outer and Inner Disciples is difficult to forget or overlook.

However, there is another reason why she is so nervous.

Perhaps it is because of her habitual use of [Nooparallelism] that she is able to read the information locked within my cores, but she is aware of the fact that I am in a Crisis Recovery mode and that this Conference will change her life completely and irreversibly. It does not help that we even discussed destroying a sect, and now that she knows that the sect I am targeting will appear before her, this fulcrum of her destiny appears much closer than she anticipated.

But she is also aware that I have not given her any specific instructions, and her particular mindset makes managing her very simple.

“I will just do my best,” she says.

Tian Li laughs. “I wish I could simply accept things like that.”

Lan Xiaohui smiles to her comrade, but those words were not intended for him — they were for me. It was her affirmation that, even though she may be overthinking things, her destiny is in my hands.

Whether she is right about how close this change in her life is, or not, depends on outside factors I am not aware of yet.

Grand Elder Zhou — so far the only person aware of my nature enough to covet me — may pick this place to steal me from Lan Xiaohui. In fact, I am anticipating this, but it depends on whether or not he is aware that Lan Xiaohui is now a member of the Galaxy Sword sect.

Yu Shun knows that Lan Xiaohui is a member of the sect, but Yu Shun was also my owner once. Even though, last time we met, he said that he no longer covets me, a basic profiling of his personality tells me that there is a good chance he did not inform Grand Elder Zhou in order to progress his own designs for my owner without interference.

However, even so, there are likely countless informants within the Galaxy Sword sect who may have relayed this information back.

The most likely one is…

“I wish Wu Yulan and Yun Fei were here,” Lan Xiaohui says.

“Yun Fei?” Tian Li asks. “Isn’t that the girl that passed thirteen floors of the Pagoda of Introspection?”

Lan Xiaohui nods.

“I heard she got injured in a fight with her former sect brothers and sisters,” another disciple adds.

“I heard they all died — those that injured Yun Fei,” yet another disciple mentions.

“Can you tell us what happened, Sister Zhu? You are likely the only one who knows the true story, no? Yun Fei stays with you at Starsword Peak.”

Lan Xiaohui frowns, regretting that the moment of nostalgia let her blurt out those words thoughtlessly. Nevertheless, she, as the saying goes, grabs the bull by the horns.

“Yu Shun killed them,” she says. Her policy of ‘truth at all costs’ is part of the reason why I refrained from sharing operational details with my owner. Simply put, she is easier to predict when she is being herself.

“You mean… the Black Tiger? That Yu Shun?”

Lan Xiaohui nods. “That Yu Shun.”

That simple revelation is enough to end the conversation on the spot, partly due to their inability to even comprehend why Yu Shun would kill his own, and partly because of Yu Shun’s tyrannical reputation of killing without mercy for even the smallest grievance — including voicing one’s distaste for him; at least, according to the rumors I have heard.

The elders likewise hear this, but they remain silent, mostly frowning at Lan Xiaohui’s words, including Elder Qin who once had quite a few words to say about Lan Xiaohui’s claim that Yu Shun killed those disciples. It is not that she doesn’t believe my owner, but that there is no way to prove it. Even if such could be proved, what can be done? Yu Shun is the heir of a major sect. As long as it didn’t cause political instability, Yu Shun could, simply put, do whatever he wanted.

“We are almost there,” Elder Huang announces after a few more minutes of walking through the streets. “Fight well, and bring glory to the sect!”

“Yes, Elder Huang!” all the disciples reply in unison and stand slightly more upright than before as they head into the open plaza.