Jian Li laid her head on the tree, and tears started flowing down her face. The pain was overwhelming. She felt her tears drop onto the tree and drip off onto the ground. She let out a deep breath.

"I..."

Jian Li looked up, tears still streaming down her face, and stared at the willow tree.

Her memories started replaying themselves. She saw herself, when she was younger, standing in front of the tree. She remembered the sky being bright and sunny, and the wind blowing through her hair. She remembered being young, having fun with her family, and lazing around reading books. She remembered being happy.

But something had changed.

Jian Li looked at the tree and noticed how dark and withered it now looked. She remembered seeing the willow tree's branches and leaves swaying in the wind, and how it used to look alive, but the giant tree looked dead now. Jian Li remembered the faces she saw when she first came to the willow tree, but they weren't there anymore. She remembered them screaming out in pain. "Why..."

Jian Li stared at the tree.

"Why?" she whispered.

Jian Li slowly reached her hand out, and gently touched the willow tree.

"I'm sorry." Everytime she entered the vicinity of the tree, the same dark thoughts came through to her, no matter how much time had passed. She had gotten better at controlling them, but they always found a way out of her.

By the time her siblings arrived, Jian Li had already sat down by the tree and meditated to calm herself down. As they approached, her eyes snapped open.

"We'll be leaving soon, but Wen has something to show you first.", Jian Ye said.

"As you know, the first stage of the Jian Family Art is the stage where you are to able to control your energy and refine weapons. The second stage is when you are able to store weapons you have refined inside your soul. What do you think the final stage is?" Wen asked.

Jian Li had somewhat mastered the second stage a long time ago, so she had thought about the third stage for a good while already.

"I think it's something about having the ability to manipulate the soul itself into a weapon. It's really hard to describe, but it's possibly like..." Jian Li's eyes lit up, "It's like being able to shape your soul itself into weapons."

"That's it!" Wen exclaimed. "That's what the final stage is. It's called Soul Manipulation."

Jian Li was confused, "How am I supposed to learn how to do it?"

"I see you've been doing a lot of meditation at the willow tree. I think i have figured out a way to help you. You need to meditate with the willow tree again using it as a focus, and imagine yourself summoning a weapon just like you always have been with your longsword. You need to focus all your energy into the willow tree, and imagine your weapon. You need to shape your soul itself into a weapon. Ultimately, the last step is up to you though." Wen said confidently.

"Concentrate, Jian Li. You can do this!", Jian Chen added on.

After getting encouraged, Jian Li sat down in front of the willow tree again. She focused, turned her energy inwards, and tried to envision her ideal weapon. As she appeared inside her mind space, she found that her surroundings were drastically more different than usual.

Instead of a bottomless crystal clear lake, the ground was as black as night. And replacing the constant light that usually filled her mind space, was pure darkness like she was in a void similar to the one she had been in after dying her first time.

The only thing she could see was a towering willow tree. It was the same willow tree she had always seen in the courtyard, but it looked enormous now, possibly three times the size it actually was.

She stared at the willow tree, and concentrated as hard as she could. She thought of the first time she had held a sword and how big it was when she held it in her hands. She imagined her weapon as she walked over to the tree and touched it with her palm.

Suddenly, the giant willow tree slowly started to morph into something smaller. It was like the tree was slowly being twisted, stretched and finally compressed. The tree was slowly becoming a giant greatsword severeal times the height of Jian Li, as it slowly started to take shape.

The sword was sheathed in pure darkness. Jian Li was speechless. She didn't think she would succeed. But she had done it. She had shaped her soul into a weapon. She could feel her magical essence flowing through her, and out of her, and into the willow tree. The willow tree was the greatsword, and Jian Li was the greatswords wielder.

Jian Li looked at the greatsword, and started to fumble with the handle. The handle was smooth, and the sword felt weightless in her hands. The blade was black, and shined ominously in the void.

Jian Li couldn't contain her excitement. She could not wait to show her siblings.

Jian Li suddenly heard a rustling behind her. She turned around and saw a large wolf. The wolf was a full head taller than her and it was staring at her, mouth open, baring its sharp teeth. She immediately felt a surge of fear.

The wolf suddenly charged at her, and Jian Li instinctively swung the greatsword at it. The greatsword sliced through the wolf's neck without any resistance, and black blood splattered everywhere. As the wolf fell lifeless to the ground, Jian Li's eyes popped open and she reappeared in the real world again, still sitting in the same position as before her meditation.

“Woah..." Jian Li said, still in shock.

"Well, that was rather quick. Did you succeed or do you need me to demonstrate for you?" Jian Wen asked rather surprised. It had only been a couple of seconds and this was her first time actually trying it out.

Jian Li said nothing in response as she tried to summon her greatsword from her mind, just like she had summoned her old longsword hundreds of times before. Only this time, the sword she summoned was directly made from her soul and not reforged from anything else.

A dark glow shone throughout her chest as she grabbed onto the black hilt and pulled the greatsword out of her chest. Jian Li held her greatsword proudly, and stared into its dark, menacing blade.

It was not as large as it had appeared inside her mind but it was still a bit taller than herself. It also had a heavy weight to it as well, so the weightless feeling in her mind was not there. But, it somehow still felt right to her.