AI Cultivation: Reborn as a Sword

Shortly after Mu Jingyu leaves, still stunned by Lan Xiaohui’s last words, Lan Xiaohui stirs from her meditating pose and peers into the darkness of the cell.

“Is someone there?” she asks, to my complete surprise.

“Oh?” a familiar voice hums. “You could tell I was here, little lily?”

When she steps forward, I am completely at a loss at Lady Yue’s presence. I hadn’t sensed her enter the cell, her presence, or how long she had even been here.

“I thought I could smell your perfume,” Lan Xiaohui says, shifting her position to be even more proper than when she was talking to Mu Jingyu.

“Is that so?” Lady Yue asks, tone filled with mirth.

I can tell that, without a doubt, Lady Yue is not wearing perfume at the moment, and even if she was, she would be able to completely conceal its presence.

How did Lan Xiaohui detect her…?

Slowly, Lady Yue approaches my owner who is sitting on her knees, respectfully, greeting her even more respectfully than she would greet her own sect elders.

“You’ve become so admirable, little lily,” Lady Yue says, crouching down to run her fingers through my owner’s hair, trapping a few locks between her fingers. “Your flower petals have become so red in the snow.”

This statement is a reference to when my owner shared her new name with Lady Yue — that her petals only become redder the more opposition there is.

Lan Xiaohui lowers her head. She, likewise, understands the situation she put herself in. This brave decision to cause a scene at the Conference — to paint her bloom red — may have been a bit too daring.

“You are not mad at me, Lady Yue?” Lan Xiaohui asks.

“Why would I be mad at you, little lily?” Lady Yue asks. “Isn’t this what you wanted?”

Lan Xiaohui looks up, lifting her face slightly, just as Lady Yue’s fingers touch my owner’s cheek.

My owner cannot comprehend Lady Yue — for that matter, neither can I. That is why her heart ebbs and swells with fear and trust, rising and falling, interweaving and exchanging.

“I… I think so,” Lan Xiaohui says.

“You are still unsure, even after I helped you get here?” Lady Yue asks, tilting her head.

“Helped me…?” Lan Xiaohui asks. Then, after a moment, her eyes widen. “It was you. The one who sent the letter to Elder Mo.”

Lady Yue blinks, as if surprised. “Who else would it be?” she asks. “Didn’t you ask me to help you? To join the sect, and to fight Yu Shun? Did you forget?”

As Lady Yue speaks, her face gets closer and closer to my owner’s. Before long, she is all but kneeling in my owner’s lap, her lips brushing my owner’s as she speaks. “Didn’t you promise your body and soul if I help you kill Yu Shun?” Now, she winds Lan Xiaohui’s lock of hair around her finger, so close that they look more like intimate lovers than potential master and disciple. “You would even try to seduce me to get your way; what’s the point of acting so uncertain now? You got what you wanted.”

Lan Xiaohui’s cheeks are burning red. Yes, at one point, she definitely thought that even if she had to sacrifice everything, it was an acceptable price to pay. She was a concubine once; what difference did it make if she continued to be one, but to a different master?

As long as she could kill Yu Shun, no price was too small to pay.

But things were different back then. To begin with, Lan Xiaohui didn’t think she had any dignity left or a life beyond killing Yu Shun.

Now, that was no longer the case.

Still, Lan Xiaohui’s lips tremble at the touch, and her heart beats madly at the proximity of the other woman. Her eyes close, breath reluctant to part from her lungs. Her Dao Heart is in complete disarray; this bewitching woman, with only a few words and touches, could unravel my owner’s mental state as easily as if she were wading through water, and not the steel armor of a heart hidden within a fortress.

“What will you do now, little lily?” Lady Yue asks, pulling back slightly. “If you say the word, I will kill Yu Shun for you. You can spend the rest of your life living in peace and harmony, no longer being reluctant to sleep for fear of the nightmares that still haunt you.”

Lan Xiaohui swallows.

Slowly, Lady Yue places her fingers under Lan Xiaohui’s jaw and slightly lifts her face. “Or will you rely on this Blood Emperor Demon Sword to see you through?”

Lan Xiaohui never heard my true name — nor do I know how Lady Yue found out, or how long she has known — but my owner knows, without a shred of a doubt, that the object Lady Yue is referring to is me.

My owner’s eyes snap open. Surprisingly, she is not afraid.

“Is that… Yaoyue’s name?” Lan Xiaohui asks.

“Yaoyue?” Lady Yue chuckles. “Aren’t you afraid I will steal it from you, little lily?”

Lan Xiaohui hesitates for a brief moment, then shakes her head.

“Why are you so certain?” Lady Yue asks. “It is an artifact from another world — it has no peer under the heavens. Even I find it irresistible.”

“Because…” Lan Xiaohui begins, pausing briefly to swallow. “If you wanted to take Yaoyue from me, you would have done so the first day we met.”

Lady Yue stares at Lan Xiaohui.

“Instead, you wasted expensive medicine on me, shared your cultivation cave with me, and even taught me swordsmanship. You even went as far as to make sure I joined the best sect on the continent and even arranged for me to get my revenge,” Lan Xiaohui speaks calmly. “I owe you so much, I cannot ever repay you for your kindness.”

This time, Lady Yue blinks, caught off-guard by my owner’s forwardness and frankness.

Slowly, Lan Xiaohui takes Lady Yue’s hand into her own. “You are right, Lady Yue. At one time, I really thought about using any means to get this far, but it is different now,” Lan Xiaohui says. “It is not just my debt to you, but also my gratefulness. No one else in the world would have done what you did, and that is why I want to show you that you did not make the wrong decision. I will kill Yu Shun! I will prove that I can follow you!”

Lady Yue laughs and looks away, her own cheeks slightly reddening. “Ah, you’ve truly become a little devil, haven’t you?” she says, sighing. “Even little Feixue is over the moon with you.”

What kind of existence is Lady Yue if she can call Elder Qin — a member of a guardian sect — little Feixue?

“She is…?” Lan Xiaohui asks.

Lady Yue nods. “She will never speak of this or mention it,” Lady Yue says. “But her disciple was killed by Elder Li’s disciple. When you killed his son, I thought she would cry for joy.”

Lan Xiaohui lowers her head. “Is that what happened…?”

“Mm, he wasn’t just a disciple to her,” Lady Yue says. “It took a bit of convincing to get her to become your master. I am surprised you didn’t accept.”

“I didn’t want to offend you since I… already promised…” Lan Xiaohui murmurs.

“Offend me?” Lady Yue asks. “Little Snow is my sworn sister. My disciple or hers, what difference does it make?”

“Sworn sister…?” Lan Xiaohui repeats the words, surprised.

“Of course,” Lady Yue says. “I killed Elder Li’s disciple. You killed his son. Like master, like disciple, hmm?”

“Just… who are you…?” Lan Xiaohui asks. “With a few words and a letter, you arrange for me to enter sects like they were public bathhouses, and then to duel future patriarchs of sects.”

Lady Yue chuckles. “If you survive, I might tell you.”

Slowly, Lady Yue climbs to her feet. “If you kill Yu Shun, you will become a member of my clan. Good luck, little lily.”

“Wait…!” Lan Xiaohui calls out as Lady Yue turns around.

“Hmm?”

“Just… may I please know your name…?” Lan Xiaohui asks.

“I thought I told you that I would tell you my name if you become my disciple,” Lady Yue says.

Lan Xiaohui swallows. “You did, but you also just said that whether I am your disciple or Elder Qin’s, it doesn’t make a difference. And I am, technically, Elder Qin’s…”

Lady Yue laughs and nods.

“Like the moon chasing darkness,” Lady Yue says. “My name is Yue Suiying.”

And with that, her presence disappears from the dark cell.