Shin Sumi tried to latch onto something to keep her from being transported away from Xiao Yue, but all her attempts failed.

The twisting sensation in her stomach grew stronger and stronger until she finally felt cold ground under her still crossed-legs.

Taking a deep breath, Shin Sumi inhaled, only to feel a rather muddy Shinsoo enter her dantian.

There was no doubt now, she was back into the sect's grounds, the quality of Shinsoo and the aura around her felt familiar.

A young man clad in white robes was standing right in front of her, his palm extended in a friendly gesture.

Without a second thought, Shin Sumi grabbed onto the helping hand and rose from the ground.

"Senior Brother Fen ...!"

"Hi, Junior Sister Shin. I'm glad that you've completed the Rising Star Tournament. And so brilliantly at that!"

Shin Sumi blushed, not knowing what to say after such a compliment.

"My achievements are nothing compared to those of a genius like Senior Brother" she muttered awkwardly.

Fen Wudao smiled. His expression was warm and honest praise filled his eyes.

"I am sure you have a lot of questions" he began, ignoring her attempt at returning his compliment, "follow me, somebody wants to see you."

And just like that, Fen Wudao disappeared. Shin Sumi's divine sense caught up to him instantly but the speed the young man revealed still left her in awe.

After being used to only Honorary Disciples for months and months, Shin Sumi found that Liquid Realm disciples were capable of incredible speeds.

Effortlessly spreading her power into her legs, Shin Sumi blurred away from where she had appeared, following her senior at a distance.

Fen Wudao discreetly turned his head enough to see the green robed girl almost capable of catching him.

"Only broke through yesterday uh? Fascinating !"

While leaping around at full speed, Shin Sumi observed her surroundings. This was definitely not the lower valley which she was familiar with. From the outline of the dark mountains all around, she could only guess that she was somewhere in the upper valley, the one reserved to Liquid Realm disciples.

Above their heads, the dark sky was tinted with the slightest pink, the first rays of sunlight almost piercing through the never ending heavy clouds.

Shin Sumi felt herself smile. After months under the blood red sky of the trial dimension, it felt good to see a 'real sky', with clouds and a sun.

Following Fen Wudao, Shin Sumi thought about the first time she had come to the Dark Sky Starry Sect. Fen Wudao had brought her along on his flying silver arrow.

She wondered why he wasn't using his item at this time. Could she, too, at some point, fly like him?

The path they were taking slowly left the valley reserved for Liquid Realm cultivation practitioners, climbing one of the nearby mountains instead.

From her first days in the sect, Shin Sumi knew that the pavilions which adorned the mountain's sides were reserved for Inner Sect disciples and Elders.

"We are probably going to Senior Brother Fen's own courtyard. I wonder how different it is going to be from mine" she asked herself in silence.

The trip didn't take more than a couple dozen minutes, as both cultivators were in the Liquid Realm, much faster than Honorary Disciples.

"We have arrived," Fen Wudao said as he started slowing down his pace, "This is my residence."

Shin Sumi didn't hear the last part of his sentence as a sudden divine sense assault petrified her. Almost against her will, Shin Sumi fell to the floor, kneeling on one knee.

It wasn't due to overbearing force, and no order had been given for such action but nevertheless Shin Sumi helplessly complied.

The strength of the divine sense that had suddenly probed her was so out of her league that she could do nothing but yield.

The pressure disappeared immediately, allowing her to breathe. The divine sense was still there but its strength had been cut down by almost a hundred times.

"Please stand, disciple Shin. Congratulations on placing first in the Rising Star Tournament, I wouldn't have expected it any other way."

Again, praise coming from an expert much stronger than herself.

Shin Sumi started stammering awkward words and lifted her head to look at the person that had been waiting for Fen Wudao and her.

Fen Wudao's courtyard was similar to the one Shin Sumi had taken residence in previously, or at least their styles were extremely close.

A large tree two meters wide rose to the sky, overlooking a calm and beautiful pond. The waters were still, like a silver mirror reflecting the dark clouds.

A single stone tile replaced the moss covered bench Shin Sumi was used to. A wooden table with beautiful intricate ornate designs representing a dragon soaring through the skies stood low on the stone tile.

On one side of the tea table were two empty sitting mats. On the other side, the single mat was occupied by an old man whose beard was the same color as his robes, a pure white.

His long hair dragged behind him and almost flowed without wind. His dark eyes contained a sea of wisdom that Shin Sumi could not fathom.

"The eyes of someone who had already lived a few mortal lives at least" she thought as she recognized the Elder Xi that had introduced her to the Sword Pavillion many months ago.

This time though she knew a bit more about that Elder Xi. And with the new divine sense given to her by reaching the Liquid Realm, Shin Sumi could tell that the Elder's cultivation level was much higher that she had believed at first.

"Patriarch" she bowed, "this disciple is truly honored to meet you once more."

Shin Sumi's introduction was courteous and relatively simple. But in fact it made Patriarch Sen's eyebrow slant slightly.

"Oh, you have figured it out already" he referred to 'Elder Xi', "even Wudao had called me Xi a few more times when I first revealed myself to him, eh-eh!"

Standing on the side with his arms folded behind his back, Fen Wudao turned his head to the side, embarrassed by what his master was telling Shin Sumi.

"Don't just stand there, the both of you. Let's have tea, shall we?"

Shin Sumi bowed rapidly before sitting on one of the mats opposing Patriarch Sen. Fen Wudao followed and immediately started preparing tea.

"How was your experience in the trial?" asked Patriarch Sen, seemingly making small talk, although Shin Sumi could tell that the main point was coming quickly.

Shin Sumi recalled out loud some of the experiences of cultivating in the training dimension. She purposefully avoided talking about the Veins of Hell Fire, knowing that this was next in the discussion.

As expected, the subject was brought up by Patriarch Sen, under the eyes of Fen Wudao who only knew half of the story.

"Wudao was the last person to temper the Gold Tyrant Flying Sword in the Veins. He was the tenth, which makes you the eleventh. Have you noticed anything happening with the blade after that?"

In Shin Sumi's eyes, the image of an orb made of Shinsoo threads instantly popped up. She told her listeners everything she had felt from that, recalling every detail in the most precise way.

"I couldn't use the sword for a while after that. It was only after my breakthrough that the sword obeyed me again. Now it works fine but..."

She didn't know how to put into words what she felt. Instead she stood up and made a quick bow.

"If you allow me..."

The Patriarch casually extended his hand, letting Shin Sumi do whatever she wanted. Fen Wudao remained silent, curiously watching the scene.

Shin Sumi sent a sliver of divine sense into the bag of holding that never left her belt. A golden blur later, the Gold Tyrant Flying Sword was out and started revolving around her.

With a tiny motion of her fingers, the sword stopped in mid-air, hovering in between her and the Patriarch, the tip pointing to the side where nobody was.

"Fascinating..." Patriarch Sen said in a low voice, his long white beard drowning his words.

"Was this to be expected?" Shin Sumi didn't know what tone to adopt next. She was obviously talking about the fact that the sword was missing its blade!

Instead of a sharp piece of metal, the carved handle held onto nothing at all!

With a quick glance, Shin Sumi was able to ascertain that Fen Wudao had no idea what was going on either. He looked flabbergasted and at a loss between what his eyes and his divine sense were telling him.

He couldn't see a blade, but he could almost feel one.

The explanation came from the Patriarch after a few minutes of careful observations.

"The Void Sword. This is the original name of this artefact. According to the legend, the master craftsman behind this work of magic had succeeded in creating a heaven-defying blade. One that did not exist.

By combining five elements and using them to power his furnace, the pure gold of his sword turned into nothing."

Patriarch Sen stroked his beard while talking. His hair kept on flying around softly despite the lack of wind and dots of light seemed to magically shine inside the darkness of his eyes.

Shin Sumi was almost entranced. Not by anything magical but by the same spell that takes over the mind of children who are listening to the village elder's stories of the distant past.

"But the master craftsman turned out to be living in the wrong era for his art. The word spread like wind of a sword that could not exist and it soon reached the ears of the most warmongering enemy of Blue Fire Nation.

He was called the Gold Tyrant, a high level expert who had successfully invaded half the continent.

Knowing that his life's work would soon fall into the Gold Tyrant's hands, the master craftsman cursed his own sword. The curse broke his heart, reducing decades of work into an ordinary piece of trash metal, but ensured that the Gold Tyrant would never use his sword for himself, not until eleven generations had passed."

Patriarch Sen's voice died down. He didn't need to say more, both Fen Wudao and Shin Sumi had understood what existed between the lines.

They didn't know how the sword came to be in possession of the Patriarch, nor the origin of the story he had recounted for them. What mattered was that Shin Sumi had completed the Eleventh Refinement.

Just like the genius swordsmith had done in the past, the sword had been tempered in five different types of Shinsoo fires.

Because of that, the curse was broken, the eleventh generation finally able to revive the true Void Sword.

"What is going to happen now" asked Shin Sumi in her mind. "It turns out the sword I have been using for the past year or so is greater than anticipated. I don't want to give it back though!"

Shin Sumi's mind was torn by this legitimate question. She was not willing to believe that such an important item had ended up in her hands just like this.

From what she had gathered, the Patriarch himself as well as Fen Wudao both owned the Gold Tyrant Flying Sword at some point. With the added story about the sword, even she could tell that they would not be able to regain mastership over the item now, especially since it had morphed into the Void Sword.

"Wudao, you know what to do. It is time to test the Void Sword and its bearer."

The Patriarch's voice cut the silence like a glaive. Shin Sumi didn't know if it was her imagination or if the voice had made the temperature drop a few degrees.

She found herself shivering while Fen Wudao turned around and stood up.

The white robed Liquid Realm practitioner's face was expressionless, although his eyes still contained some of the warmth Shin Sumi had seen previously.

Under the sight of Patriarch Sen, Fen Wudao placed himself in front of Shin Sumi and bowed once. Or rather simply nodded his head towards the green robed girl.

By sheer reflex, Shin Sumi bowed as well, still unsure about the situation developing.

"Where did all that tension come from? Are we going to fight?!"

The atmosphere had frozen. The Void Sword was still turning around Shin Sumi who clenched a fist, ready to react and give orders to the sword.

"Should I defend myself?! This is the Patriarch of the whole sect and his direct disciple! Oooooh, what should I do, what should I do..."

Shin Sumi's panic was broken short by Fen Wudao's elegant voice.

"Junior Sister Shin, let us exchange pointers, okay?"

Now they were really going to fight.

Like a spring finally relieved of any pressure, Shin Sumi exploded outwards with all the force she could muster. Her fingers flew in front of her, swiping the air with complex motions.

The Void Sword followed each and every one of her movements, its non-existent blade humming as it tore the air apart.

Fen Wudao seemed frozen in place, compared to the attacks of the Void Sword. The golden handle flew past his face like lightning, the young man evading the strike at the last moment.

Fen Wudao had not been prepared for such speed right at the beginning and actually felt pretty relieved that he avoided being hit by his junior.

His battle spirit even relaxed a little bit when he heard the Void Sword hit a boulder behind him, pulverizing the moss-covered stone into a dozen pieces.

"That ought to slow down the sword for a few breaths of-"

Plic.

A drop had fallen from his chin onto his torso. Without looking at it he knew that the drop had stained his white robes red.

Only a few moments after the Void Sword had flown past him had he realized that it actually cut him. Shin Sumi had not aimed for a specific body part, like his neck, instead only focusing on a high speed blow.

Due to their difference in level, Fen Wudao had evaded it almost easily, but the blade still had entered his cheek.

"The blade doesn't exist and yet the damage does" Patriarch Sen stopped the face-off, ready to put up Shinsoo barriers between the two if needed.

"Ha-ha-ha-ha, please Master, don't! Hahaha this is great!"

Fen Wudao lifted a finger to his chin, a small red pearl stuck to the end of it. He was laughing wildly, his long black hair floating behind him.

He truly looked like a madman but his eyes were still composed and calm.

"You actually managed to hurt me. Your sword drew blood from me."

His words sounded threatening and angry, but his tone was one of admiration. A small vortex formed on his palm, producing a short silvery blue sword that started spinning around him, just like the Void Sword around Shin Sumi.

"Junior Sister, please continue."

Despite the sudden change in atmosphere for the second time, Shin Sumi actually felt relieved. She let out a long breath before reaffirming her stance.

Fen Wudao was not planning on killing or hurting her. As he said, they were just exchanging pointers. This was all only a test, they would not try to get the Void Sword back after using her to refine it. At least that's what she thought.

"Here I go then, Senior Brother."

The Void Sword turned into a golden blur before launching itself forward again.

Now that Fen Wudao had taken out a sword for himself, the combat changed drastically. Every second the two swords, one golden and one silvery blue, clashed with each other a dozen times.

For the first time, Shin Sumi was able to unleash all the potential she felt she had gained with her breakthrough. In a liberating friendzy, she attacked recklessly.

Shin Sumi had opened the Sixty-Four Shinsoo Doors, reaching the great circle of Shinsoo Gathering and unparalleled power. Nevertheless she was only in the lower Liquid Realm.

Her opponent was a well known genius who already spent two years in the Liquid Realm under the direct tutelage of the Patriarch of the sect.

Shin Sumi held her own for a few minutes until she started feeling the tiredness that came from intense fighting. In front of her, on the opposite side of his courtyard, Fen Wudao was still standing straight, one hand behind his back, seemingly unaffected by the length of the fight.

"Should we continue?" asked the young man.

"Eheh, whatever you want, Senior Brother. I could keep going for hours!"

Shin Sumi was smiling in a terrifying way. Finally being able to lash it out at a hundred percent had awoken something in her.

Patriarch Sen sighed out loud, a half-smile on his face, hidden by his beard.

"All right kids, it is time to end this" he said out loud, patronizing both disciples who looked to him like children in a pointless fight, "well done, both of you."

Fen Wudao clearly had the upper hand in the fight, but despite this, the Patriarch had made sure to acknowledge both fighter's abilities.

"The Void Sword couldn't have been in better hands. You do live up to your talent, Sumi. And I'm sure you will continue to do so in the future."

Shin Sumi had put away her sword and was now catching her breath. She suddenly looked up with a puzzled expression at the last sentence of the Patriarch.

"Because of your level of cultivation, you are not like the other disciples, Sumi. The simple fact that you can give a fight to Fen Wudao on the same day of your breakthrough is very telling. It would be a mistake to assume that this is only due to the sword you are wielding. A weapon is only as strong as the one holding it."

Fen Wudao absentmindedly nodded his head in agreement with his master's words.

"Normally a disciple reaching the Liquid Realm would choose one of the five Pavilions. The Star-Sword Pavilion, the Divine-Beast Pavilion, the Shinsoo-Medicine Pavilion, the Cloud-Formation Pavilion and the Light-Breaker Pavilion. If it is of your intention, you may join one of them and your place as a Inner Sect disciple will be ensured."

Shin Sumi knew already about the five different branches within the sect. But she knew something else was coming.

"Or you can join the secret Moon-Ghost Pavillion and become the seventh Ghost."

A sixth pavilion?! Shin Sumi had never heard of such a thing. The fact that the Patriarch of the Dark Sky Starry Sect himself said so was the only thing preventing Shin Sumi from believing it was a lie.

On the side, Fen Wudao was standing as solemn as ever. Only his fingers were fidgeting with something on the inside of his white robes.

It was a small insignia representing a white moon on which a strange shadow was eternally cast. A shadow resembling a ghost.